The well known but unsolved mystery of wizard's fief!

[Mythreal.4390]

Hello guys my name is Rocket Bladerusher and there's something I need to get off my chest.I am truly impressed by the wizard's tower in wizard's fief,So I decided to do a little research on it,surprisingly the tower has roots with verata from gw1, which is amazing.If you dig a little bit further into it youll find out that this town is really interesting.Anyway, I took a little walk around the town and noticed strange noises coming from a house and found some sort of asuran machine.Does someone know anything about this?As far as I know theres never even been any explanation about wizards fief and whats going on there. Ever since I found out about this machine I have been aching to know more about this, please Help!I'm going crazy ;/

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

the asuran machine is part of the asura personal story and unrelated to the other things going on there.

[Zola.6197]

Unfortunately we know next to nothing about the the wizard in the castle. It's been a mystery since GW1.

Down the line I could see it becoming a raid wing if we're lucky, but I'm pretty sure it'll just remain an enigma.

[Dante.1763]

@"Svennis.3852" said:Unfortunately we know next to nothing about the the wizard in the castle. It's been a mystery since GW1.

Down the line I could see it becoming a raid wing if we're lucky, but I'm pretty sure it'll just remain an enigma.

I honestly hope it does stay an engima, cause its honestly probably just a group of Eles/mesmers etc who wanna just be left alone to study magic, and a place to train young human(perhaps other races) who show talent in those classes.

[Randulf.7614]

Agreed, hopefully the air of mystery is retained forever. Its charm is wholly reliant on it

[Zola.6197]

@Dante.1763 said:

@"Svennis.3852" said:Unfortunately we know next to nothing about the the wizard in the castle. It's been a mystery since GW1.

Down the line I could see it becoming a raid wing if we're lucky, but I'm pretty sure it'll just remain an enigma.

I honestly hope it does stay an engima, cause its honestly probably just a group of Eles/mesmers etc who wanna just be left alone to study magic, and a place to train young human(perhaps other races) who show talent in those classes.

I'd prefer to find out what it's all about because mysteries were made to be investigated. :P

[Dante.1763]

@"Svennis.3852" said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@"Svennis.3852" said:Unfortunately we know next to nothing about the the wizard in the castle. It's been a mystery since GW1.

Down the line I could see it becoming a raid wing if we're lucky, but I'm pretty sure it'll just remain an enigma.

I honestly hope it does stay an engima, cause its honestly probably just a group of Eles/mesmers etc who wanna just be left alone to study magic, and a place to train young human(perhaps other races) who show talent in those classes.

I'd prefer to find out what it's all about because mysteries were made to be investigated. :P

Not always. The whole reason people want to know whats going on in the castle is because ANET refuses to say anything about it other than its a wizards tower. If it was explorable nobody(aka a very small portion of the populace) would care.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

I just hope that if we ever find out what is going on, it is neither a raid nor a fractal.

[Deimos.4263]

Secret GM hangout.

[Zola.6197]

@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:I just hope that if we ever find out what is going on, it is neither a raid nor a fractal.

It might be cool to go there as part of the living world. A magical means to deal with the dragons somehow, or perhaps Isgarren has secret knowledge about new scions.

[Kossage.9072]

CONTAINS MYTHWRIGHT GAMBIT RAID SPOILERS

What's interesting is that, based on the clues in Wizard's Fief written and ambient dialogue, there may be a connection between townsfolk who are invited into the Wizard's Tower never to be seen again, the tamed elementals who appear from the tower (and who seem to show signs of anger at being forced to serve), and the mysterious body snatching in the western canyons:

Felna: When I was young, we didn't have elementals running around the city, doing everyone's chores for them. Folks did their work with their own two hands.Player: You don't like it here?Felna: I didn't say that. That castle sure is pretty nice. I'd like to go there someday. Some of the other villages go to live there. I keep hoping for an invitation, myself.
Player: Do you ever get to see the villagers who moved there?Felna: No, but that's not surprising. A place as elegant as that... I'm sure they're just wrapped up in their new lives. And it is very isolated up there. (sigh) I'll admit, I'm jealous.

Tillee: As safe as I feel with the elementals around, occasionally something just feels wrong about them.
Player: What do you mean?
Tillee: I don't know what it is exactly. They just seem angry sometimes, as if they're being forced to do something against their will.
Player: Are they being forced into servitude?
Tillee: No one really knows what they are, let alone why they freely serve us. Honestly, I don't think people here would care if they were.

Town Guard Plesci: Sometimes, late at night, I hear strange noises echoing in the canyons.
Mayor Manrin: What kind of noises?
Town Guard Plesci: Well, I swear they're screams, but not... you know, human.
Mayor Manrin: Oh, you're just trying to scare me. You know the wizard will keep us safe.

Clandint: Did you hear about the body snatching?Tillee: Where?Clandint: Somewhere west of the canyon.Tillee: Thank goodness for the wizard. He keeps us safe.

The recent raid, Mythwright Gambit, also shed some light on Isgarren by adding to the mystery. As Zommoros writes in his research notes:

For example, the wizard Isgarren came to my forge long ago seeking special compounds that I imagine were used for some magical purpose or another. I heard of this after the fact, and was most curious what one of his stature might want to get out of my collection! But upon closer investigation, I realized with a hint of despair that there was no record of what exactly Isgarren tossed into my forge, nor what he received in return, as the skritt are rather poor at maintaining proper documentation. [...]
I maintain hope that someday that curious wizard will return with need of my services. Should the situation arise, I plan to inquire at length about the nature of his work and just where he has been all this time. But, until then, all I can do is have Miyani keep an ear to the ground. It has been a very long time since Isgarren has been seen or heard from, so I have my concerns.

What's interesting about that is, based on raid lore, Mystic Forge as we know it seems to be relatively recent construct given Miyani's relatively young age and the suggestion that she had been responsible for taking Zommoros to Central Tyria from Elona in "The Four Djinn" book. When comparing Miyani's age and the origin of the Forge to dialogue from the elderly Felna that Isgarren had been sending out tamed elementals for a few decades now, Isgarren's visit to the Forge must've been relatively recent, within 20 years at most (depending on Miyani's exact age).

Given how Qadim, the main antagonist of Mythwright Gambit, escaped the raid alive albeit changed after he was affected by the magic of the Mythwright Cauldron, and the suggestion that there may be an evil djinn cabal of some sort out there when comparing Miyani's backstory in The Four Djinn book (where she angered air, earth and fire djinn for siding with water djinn Zommoros in their eternal debate over which element was superior) and what little is hinted at in Zommoros's Journal, we have more things to think about:

Speaking of which, I have no idea to whom he's showing off his menagerie. Is there some djinn cabal I'm unaware of that takes pleasure in the collective suffering of living things? More likely that wretched fire djinn is simply imprisoning these creatures for his own amusement.The items I collect have historical relevance and value. Qadim's collection will grow old and die, yet mine will live forever.
Well, I suppose that's not entirely true. Qadim's collection SHOULD be growing old and dying, but for some reason I cannot ascertain, it is not. The lifespans of his little subjects seem to have been altered, perhaps due to the strange nature of time within his domain, perhaps through some other magical influence. I've no idea. What I DO know is that for his captives, dying of old age is not the escape it used to be.

What if this other magical influence is this possible cabal using Isgarren's experiments to e.g. lengthen the lifespans of Qadim's menagerie? What if Isgarren is held in his tower against his will (hence no one hearing about him for a while) with the cabal using his research for their own vile purposes? Granted, if it turns out that Isgarren has been turning oblivious townsfolk into elemental servants for whatever purpose over the decades and either him or his ancestors doing who knows what in the tower (as well as the power of the tower going beyond that due to enigmatic villains like Galrath trying to uncover its secrets in The Villainy of Galrath, the very first quest which was designed for Guild Wars Prophecies), the tower may hold keys to more answers than we can imagine at this point. Will Qadim have retreated to the Wizard's Tower now that his alteration freed from his bond with his lamp, or will more secrets be hinted when it comes to Isgarren's mysterious existence? Only time will tell, but recent developments have added more to the lore surrounding magic, djinn and however Isgarren may be involved in it all.

It would be just as interesting if it turned out that Grand Wizard Garren, the architect of the gardens of the Upper City of Divinity's Reach nearly a century ago, was actually related to Isgarren, either being an ancestor or possibly Isgarren himself who had prolonged his lifespan via whatever means. The fact that the gardens' theme goes to celestial bodies hanging above it, and the story's recent focus on Mists and astral planes, we could have a connection here. Perhaps it would tie into the lore of Lord Odran, the infamous mage who mapped the Mists and tried to uncover the secrets of the universe, in case Isgarren wants to follow in that mage's footsteps. :)