[Spoilers] About Aurene

[Matt H.6142]

My theories are

!1. She stays dead, and she joins her mother and brother together in the Mists for the true final fight. She doesn't not return to Tyria.!2. She's a seed in Caithe like Mordremoth was in Trehearne.!3. She's just dead, and we struggle through the hopelessness of it until some 'power inside us all along' moment happens.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Westenev.5289" said:As a Herald, I'm more than a bit miffed at Glint at the moment. Right after this chapter, she saw fit to smugly tell me...

"EVERYTHING HAS WORKED OUT AS I KNEW IT WOULD."

TOO SOON, GLINT. :'(

I am starting to wonder whether that was actually Glint and not some imitation of her created by Kralkatorrik. After all, it was her (Aurene's own loving mother, a prophet nonetheless!) who urged as into action, even though everyone with common sense and intellect (like Taimi, for instance) would go berserk over the idea and tell us that she was NOT READY yet. Arenen herself showed us visions of her failing in any case scenaroi, but we played that down and convinced her to follow our lead - because she trusted us (how sad). Sp we decided to listen to some strange ghostly apparation rather than to our smart friend there. I don't know, the whole thing's just fishy. IMO Kralk arranged everything to lure us into a trap and not the other way around.

[Hesacon.8735]

Aurene also

! counter-branded Kralk, as you could see at the end he was at least half blue from a direct hit from Aurene. That could make Kralk a minion of Aurene, in some sense.

So there's that.

[Blocki.4931]

I find the fact that there was not a magical explosion to be suspect. Aurene does have a considerable amount of magic and Kralk was pretty eager to peace out after he got hit that hard so I doubt he could have absorbed it that quickly. So something is going on there I'm pretty sure.

[Doofenschmirtz.5197]

delete this..did a double comment

[Doofenschmirtz.5197]

My idea

! Okay Krakky hangs out in the Mists...guess where Aurene's spirit is at with her Mom

[Bast.7253]

The problem with Aurene being in the mists and that being the solution for me is that Glint has been in the mists for how long now? If the key is Aurene being in the mists, why wouldn't Glint have been able to accomplish all of this on her own? I guess because of the combined power of Glint and Aurene? But the prophecy implied that there was one dragon that would create the peace that Kralk foresaw. So, either that isn't Aurene and we have to find that dragon which would be stupid at this point, or Aurene comes back. I just don't see any reason for her death to be because she has to be in the mists for this to work.

I also think that the mention of Joko being killed being one of the signs was too random to not mean anything. Out of all of the things we've done together, including slaying Balthazar, why would Joko be the one step in that prophecy that deserves such mention?

Not to mention the "sickness" she felt after she ate him never getting touched on in the next episode. They leave a lot of things like that hanging, but I think on this occasion, and highly hope, that Joko's magic will be the key to Aurene coming back. Also, again, Glint didn't see her own death and Aurene did. So it seems to me that Aurene wouldn't see her death if it was a true death. On top of the talk with Glint and how at peace she was after having that private conversation. Then again, Kralk didn't see his own death but saw a world after it. So how does that work? Is that similar to how Glint couldn't see her own death but could forsee the events after it?

Another theory could simply be that she accomplished what Snaff couldn't and implanted her own mind or can control Kralk, but I doubt that.

Perhaps next episode we finish off Kralk with our crew plus Destiny's Edge and then at the end it could be something as simple as Caithe's flowers regrowing and we know Aurene is back, if we don't get a cinematic of her coming back to life. And then season 5 will deal with the aftermath of Aurene trying to absorb all of the magic now that Kralk is done and we just deal with complete chaos in random zones all over Tyria or even another elder dragon being more active due to all of the excess magic and that leads us to the next expansion.

A little long of a post now, but they have plenty of directions they can go and I predict and hope that Aurene will be revived with Joko's magic. Especially considering Kralk for some reason didn't just eat Aurene, and that she didn't shatter like Vlast did whether Vlast did that intentionally or not. Glint, though, looks pretty shattered and had a similar encounter with Kralk, so the fact that she's still in tact leads me to believe there's a reason. Just hope yet again, beyond reason, that the wait will be on the shorter side this time. Who knows, maybe instead of random mail from Caithe and a few dialogue lines we'll get lucky and get some Caladbog style mid-wait quest chain in which find out Aurene is alive again. (Wishful thinking.)

[perilisk.1874]

My idea:

! They'll reveal that she was primed to become an Elder Dragon in Glint's lair, but needed to get hit with a massive amount of energy to actually complete the transformation process. Note that, unlike in her vision, she wasn't actually branded despite taking the brunt of that breath attack. I think that's because she (or the magic given to her, anyway) absorbed the bulk of the energy, Kormir style-- though she still died regardless due to being impaled. That said, I don't think she can replace Kraalkatorik as a ghost, so resurrection is a necessary step 2 (and it provides a sort of narrative symmetry between her story and the PC's). Like forging the spear -- set the mold (Glint's trial), heat the material (thanks, Kraalk!), and then quench it (resurrection).!! There are several justifiable ways to pull off a dragon resurrection (doubt there's another Eater of Souls in Dragon Heaven, though), but there's a lot supporting the Joko theory -- one, it makes the manner of Joko's death essential to the plot, rather than just casually dispensing with a fan favorite character to move on with the dragon story. Two, they shoehorned in an awakened sylvari in the final fight -- an answer to a question no one has ever asked, but which pre-emptively justifies using Awakening magic on a purified minion of Kraalkatorik. Three, they've repeatedly indicated that divine magic (even from fallen gods) retains its nature after being absorbed by dragons, by pointing out that Balthazar's sword and priestess can sense his presence inside Aurene. Now, nothing so far has confirmed that Awakening is divine magic, and Joko certainly isn't a god whatever he might say. But comparing it with ordinary necromancy is like comparing the foefire with elementalism, and the raids usually have at least some tenuous connection to the larger plot, so... what if it's Underworld magic that Dhuum sealed away on general anti-undeath principle, and Joko (who seems plenty familiar with the Underworld) managed to get his hands on it? If she's still got it, then rumors of her mortality are drastically... overstated.!! I mean, sequestering herself away to commune with long-dead prophets before steeling herself to become the central player in an ancient plan that saves the world and fundamentally changes the metaphysics of reality by letting herself be pierced with spikes and then self-resurrecting after a bit, during which time all the people who though she would just show up and kick ass scatter and grieve and starting wondering where it all went wrong... I mean, it's a little on the nose, right?

[Bast.7253]

Yeah, there's just no way the Joko bit was a coincidence. I think if anything is a "red-herring" or whatever it's the whole moment with branding Caithe. I think people are looking farther into that than they should be and ignoring the more obvious with Joko's magic. If anything, I feel like Caithe's branding was more of a way of showing what elder dragon Aurene's power will be and relieving the doubt of the team in that moment, not her implanting her psyche or whatever via Mordremoth magic. Her branding may come back later in the story as a signal that her connection with Aurene is back which leads us to go find Aurene and realize she's back and alive, but I don't think it will be anything more than that.

The awakened sylvari thing is interesting but could just be because they read the forums and were like, "well let's just add this in as a fun bit to answer a question that a few people had and let them speculate." But the awakened sylvari, plus mention of the lich's death, plus the domain of the lost. It's just so much foreshadowing to me that along with wanting Aurene back as a non-mists only being, would anger me because they put in all of these pieces of a puzzle that would be meaningless if not expanded upon.

And also, people keep mentioning how angry they would be that they just brought Aurene back to life in the next episode via Joko, but seem to be forgetting or omitting the fact that last season we had two active elder dragons that were simultaneously put back to sleep with a machine while also revealing a long dead Mursaat is a human god in disguise. I mean, the Aurene ate Joko and resurrects herself makes a heck of a lot more sense and has had a lot more plot development than that ever did. We also end the episode completely different than we have any other episode that I can recall... with a classic black screen saying "I don't know." Similarly done to how transitioned through the Domain of the Lost chapter in Path of Fire story. It's the traditional "to be continued.." black screen cliffhanger. Would make perfect sense that we just pick up immediately where we left off this episode. (Hopefully not in Lion's Arch with freakin' mail and actually in the instance with a cinematic of Aurene coming back to life or Caithe's brandedness coming back and speaking for Aurene through her letting us know that we need to continue to pursue Kralk and that she'll rejoin after we kill him or something.)

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

@"cptaylor.2670" said:

And also, people keep mentioning how angry they would be that they just brought Aurene back to life in the next episode via Joko, but seem to be forgetting or omitting the fact that last season we had two active elder dragons that were simultaneously put back to sleep with a machine while also revealing a long dead Mursaat is a human god in disguise. I mean, the Aurene ate Joko and resurrects herself makes a heck of a lot more sense and has had a lot more plot development than that ever did. We also end the episode completely different than we have any other episode that I can recall... with a classic black screen saying "I don't know." Similarly done to how transitioned through the Domain of the Lost chapter in Path of Fire story. It's the traditional "to be continued.." black screen cliffhanger. Would make perfect sense that we just pick up immediately where we left off this episode. (Hopefully not in Lion's Arch with freakin' mail and actually in the instance with a cinematic of Aurene coming back to life or Caithe's brandedness coming back and speaking for Aurene through her letting us know that we need to continue to pursue Kralk and that she'll rejoin after we kill him or something.)

I have a bit of another theory going on. Aurene was the most immediate dragon to absorb Mordremoth's magic. Think back carefully as to why we had to kill Trehearne.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@"Alimar.8760" said:Ok guys, please don't click on the spoiler unless you want major spoilers but these are my thoughts.

 

1. Aurene ate Palawa Joko

2. Palawa Joko is a lich.
3. Joko can come back from the dead.
4. Aurene can now come back from the dead.
5. Please?
6. Please tell me I'm right...
7. cries

Tell me you felt the same way. Also props to the new tech that introduced camera control and the custom animations for the last scene. Definitely adds a lot more to the game that I didn't know I wanted.

Joko doesn't come back from the dead.

Joko never dies.

Key difference.

Aurene dies.

Full thoughts.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@"perilisk.1874" said:I think sometime back in LS3, someone ran across some arenanet art or concept art of baby aurene, titled something like "baby undead crystal dragon". So, there's that.

I came across it and brought it up once. Might be what you're remembering, might be someone else. But here's a link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/K8ErB

It just refers to Aurene having magic from Mordremoth and Zhaitan upon hatching (though the artist accidentally says Primordus instead of Zhaitan).

[perilisk.1874]

@"cptaylor.2670" said:Would make perfect sense that we just pick up immediately where we left off this episode. (Hopefully not in Lion's Arch with freakin' mail and actually in the instance with a cinematic of Aurene coming back to life or Caithe's brandedness coming back and speaking for Aurene through her letting us know that we need to continue to pursue Kralk and that she'll rejoin after we kill him or something.)

Well, time can pass differently in the Mists and in Tyria, so while it might not be very long for Aurene, I think it will be long enough to justify the time gap, and have everyone scattered and dealing with the end of the world as they see fit -- getting crazy drunk, getting married to their longtime SO, taking out as many Branded as possible, or trying some last ditch plan C to beat Kraalkatorik without blowing up Tyria (it's probably a terrible plan that would inevitably fail). Well, everyone other than the Pact Commander, who will probably spend the last days of existence killing Awakened Archon Iberu over and over. I wouldn't be shocked if the team fell apart and abandoned the commander after this epic fail, and Zojja comes in at the last minute to provide an outside perspective and remind them not to repeat the Destiny's Edge plot.

Just speculating, the episode will start with Caithe sensing Aurene's presence and reaching out to the PC to see if they felt anything too. They'll return together to wherever they left her body (Glint's lair, maybe?), but will have already missed her -- everyone without a direct connection will disagree about what it means (some siding with PC and Caithe and saying we should search for her, others insisting it's just a stage of grief and the Inquest probably carried her body off to study it and that we need to focus on stupid plan C) and she'll make a dramatic entrance later on in the episode when plan C is busy going pear-shaped and blindside Kraalkatorik.

[perilisk.1874]

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@"perilisk.1874" said:I think sometime back in LS3, someone ran across some arenanet art or concept art of baby aurene, titled something like "baby undead crystal dragon". So, there's that.

I came across it and brought it up once. Might be what you're remembering, might be someone else. But here's a link:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/K8ErB

It just refers to Aurene having magic from Mordremoth and Zhaitan upon hatching (though the artist accidentally says Primordus instead of Zhaitan).

Awwww... I probably shouldn't be looking at that after this episode.

[BigBragg.8354]

Would Aurene coming back with Joko's magic in some way corrupt her? She may be better off left dead. As well as the world.

I would enjoy visiting her and her family in the mists though.

[perilisk.1874]

@BigBragg.8354 said:Would Aurene coming back with Joko's magic in some way corrupt her? She may be better off left dead. As well as the world.

In Episodes 4 and 5, they showed that the Awakened might physically be undead, but they are still basically human (or Charr, or whatever). Without Joko around to control them, they're no more corrupted than Sylvari. Technically Aurene is still fleshy, but I'm guessing that she'd go full crystal if she came back the Joko route, to avoid the yuckiness of having our sweet baby dragon as a zombie. That, or we learn that Joko perverted the magic for his own ends, but it can be used as life magic (sort of like Abaddon and Kormir having different takes on the same domain)... the latter would be interesting, since she might be able to restore the Awakened to their normal forms as well.

[tlenex.7901]

My thoughts are that if kralk is alive so it is his ability to merge time and places like we saw old Orr in EP4. Could there be some way to use this ability to our adventage?

[orion.8457]

Only 1 thing to say: #bringbackaurene plz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BigBragg.8354]

@perilisk.1874 said:

@BigBragg.8354 said:Would Aurene coming back with Joko's magic in some way corrupt her? She may be better off left dead. As well as the world.

In Episodes 4 and 5, they showed that the Awakened might physically be undead, but they are still basically human (or Charr, or whatever). Without Joko around to control them, they're no more corrupted than Sylvari. Technically Aurene is still fleshy, but I'm guessing that she'd go full crystal if she came back the Joko route, to avoid the yuckiness of having our sweet baby dragon as a zombie. That, or we learn that Joko perverted the magic for his own ends, but it can be used as life magic (sort of like Abaddon and Kormir having different takes on the same domain)... the latter would be interesting, since she might be able to restore the Awakened to their normal forms as well.

They also foreshadowed a good amount about dragons succumbing to power at the beginning of this episode. I suppose a bit of it would be where does Joko end and his power begin.

[starhunter.6015]

Don't think Aurene is down for the count, Glint told her something in secret, she didn't go poof like Vlast, Balthazar or spew out countless amounts of Magic upon death.Aurene may of ascended or in the process of doing so becoming even stronger.

[yann.1946]

What if we make a new dragonbloodspear from aurene?

It could be a weapon capable of storing the magic of the elderdragond

[Nath Forge Tempete.1645]

Aurene became Krak by spitting in its mouth LUL gross

[Ashantara.8731]

Just replaying for achievements, and in the light of the outcome I am more convinced than ever that that was not Glint with us in the trial rooms. That was pure manipulation of our minds. Well played, Kralkatorrik.

[trixantea.1230]

Am I the only one here who doesn't want to see that little blue dragon again?

[maddoctor.2738]

Aurene reviving because she ate Joko would be lazy writing.Keep in mind that Aurene sacrificed herself to save the commander, this means we are more important than her. If Aurene knew that she is the only hope for Tyria, she'd let us die and let our other friends work with her to save the world. Saving the commander means WE are more important than her in stopping Kralkatorrik, and not because we are the player. Or at least I HOPE it's not because we are the player and find something else.