Laranthir? (spoilers)

[Fenella.2634]

I'm quite surprised noone has discussed Laranthir yet. Was he still Almorra's second-in-command by the time of Whisper in the Dark? If so, he should be the next leader of the Vigil.In the story I get the impression that Jhavi could well take this place, but maybe she is just supposed to take over the keep.

Is Laranthir still part of the story, or did he resign sometime ago offscreen? If he's still around, he should return to the limelight very soon.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

It's hard to say. We've not heard of him since HoT.

[Fenella.2634]

Alright, I thought I might have missed or forgotten something.So we have to wait and see what happens.

[anninke.7469]

I think Laranthir is still the guy supposed to lead the Vigil. As I understood it, Jhavi is in charge of Jora's Keep and the whole mess things have become there.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

Working on the assumption Laranthir wasn't forcibly retired, voluntarily retired, or demoted due to the events of HoT (first and last seems very unlikely), he should be the one to lead the Vigil post-Almorra, as he stated in the personal story. He is the second-in-command as of pre-HoT. But since HoT utterly botched the sylvari discrimination storyline, and it's not been touched since HoT outside of the Zephyrites during Festival of the Four Winds (which is rather out of character for them to blame the entire race for Aerin's/Mordremoth's actions), I don't see how we can draw an accurate conclusion.

Though dialogue of Jhavi taking over is present and, imo, a bit out of place unless it's referring to the keep, but Almorra wasn't the one in charge of the keep. To explain those dialogues, I'd assume either a) the HoT situation resulted in Jhavi becoming the Second-in-Command (Laranthir demoted); b) they're meaning that with the prior Keep officer gone, they thought Almorra would take over, but with Almorra dead they now believe Jhavi will be the one to take over the keep/operation until further notice; or c) they're just supporters of Jhavi and want her to take leadership of the Vigil, even though she's not Second-in-Command.

[ThomasC.1056]

Or they just forgot everything about Laranthir because that guy was during HoT, and HoT is past from long ago, and not so many devs are still sticking around from that time. So, the few who could know about him have probably forgotten everything.

And Icebrood saga is supposed to be about Norns and Charrs, not Sylvaris, so why bother about that talking lettuce and self-consistency ?

Let's just hope I'm just being exceedingly sarcastic, and that I'll get a happy surprise seeing Laranthir again and prove me wrong.

[Fenella.2634]

@ThomasC.1056 said:Or they just forgot everything about Laranthir because that guy was during HoT, and HoT is past from long ago, and not so many devs are still sticking around from that time. So, the few who could know about him have probably forgotten everything.That's what I'm a bit concerned about.

Then again, Jhavi is also a rather old character. She was also present during the Personal Story, even though she didn't really have dialogue back then and was just a named background NPC. So, if they dug her up, they must have noticed Laranthir, too.

[ugrakarma.9416]

If he appears again, it will probably be like HoT, commanding some larger scale operation. By the end of Dragon Stand meta hes still safe, so theres no reason to put him as "recovering" status.

Also the writers probably want heavy focus on norm/charr, so the excuse that Vigil is "recovering of Bjora Massacre"(so they cant build up a largar scale operation) will be maintened to keep Laranthir/the pact as whole in offscreen.

Another good excuse to keep him offscreen is him wyldhunt(As far as I know nobody knows what it is so it can be filled with anything).

as side note: theres lots of vigil leaders that live "offscreen". Warmaster Efut was near onipresent in personal history, them "disapeared", the misterious "Lord Rodrigo"(notable also for no wearing a armor) with alongside pre-saga Jhavi, they all arent seen outside the Keep for a long time.

[Teratus.2859]

Gonna be a good thing to bring up in upcoming content imo.

Might finally be time to round off that Sylvari discrimination thing specially now that we're all dealing with a Dragon who is essentially doing something similar to Mordremoth only this time it's on all the races.A Sylvari who resisted Mordremoth is likely the best to lead the vigil since he'd have the most experience fighting against this kind of Dragon power.

A good time to bring back Laranthir imo and have him fill a big role.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@"ugrakarma.9416" said:Also the writers probably want heavy focus on norm/charr, so the excuse that Vigil is "recovering of Bjora Massacre"(so they cant build up a largar scale operation) will be maintened to keep Laranthir/the pact as whole in offscreen.

That would not prevent the Pact from sending in a fleet of airships and troops like they did at Thunderhead Peaks and Dragonfall. Granted, the losses at Thunderhead Peaks is probably something to keep them occupied. I won't expect Pact forces until Episode 3 at the earliest, and even that would just be the vanguard forces like in S4E4.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

Maybe he's still stranded at Dragon's Stand, trying to figure out how to get up "that tree".

Jokes aside, all sylvari commanders are destined to die an atrocious death, so maybe it's better if he doesn't.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

As we saw in Personal Story, people are often recruited out of the Orders into the Pact entirely. After Heart of Thorns, Laranthir after successfully leading the assault on an Elder Dragon, probably has a cushy job in the Pact not far below Logan.

That said the other Commanders could've "retired" like our character did, we haven't seen them since HoT.

[Fenom.9457]

I think Laranthir will become the new leader of the vigil. Jhavi is just running the keep, but with her set up as a new character that’s central in this saga, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her take laranthir’s old position as second in command

[NICENIKESHOE.7128]

Would like to know as well, though I suspect reason will be as simple as no VA anymore given they even changed Kasmeer's one.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@NICENIKESHOE.7128 said:Would like to know as well, though I suspect reason will be as simple as no VA anymore given they even changed Kasmeer's one.

Kasmeer sounded the same during Bound By Blood. Is that a more recent development? Or do you mean Rox's VA that was changed for S4E2.

[ugrakarma.9416]

I doubt that VA will be a great reason to hold a character. Zojja's case is specific, because Anet created the hype around it. But laranthir, whos cares about his voice actor?

i guess Anet learned the lesson, and will not invest/hype much more to bring remarkable VA for a characters with a long journey in the lore.

Did it to villains is the best path, because villains are not to stay here forever(so they "remarkable" VA) like Balthazar, Joko..., ... so they did it to Jormag too, since Jormag will not be inteded to "stay here forever".

[Fueki.4753]

I saw Laranthir perfectly healthy chilling in my home instance in Divinity's Reach, a few days ago.

[Abraxxus.8971]

I saw him not long ago fighting the Shadow Behemoth in the swamp in Queensdale.

[anninke.7469]

Alrighty, let's do a tiny little necromancy here (I intended to make a new thread but remembered this one so here I go).

As it contains spoilery things for S5.2:

! According to a letter found in Jora's Keep, Laranthir requested and got "a temporary leave of absence so he may return to the Grove."!
! So, where does this take us (and him)? Did he just need a rest after all the fighting? Is he still in the Grove and we'll need to find him and tell him all the news?!
! Is there more to it? Will there be complications? Vigil stuff? Sylvari stuff? Something completely different?!! I'm pretty intrigued (and set for a disappointment maybe?)...

[Fueki.4753]

@"anninke.7469" said:Alrighty, let's do a tiny little necromancy here (I intended to make a new thread but remembered this one so here I go).

As it contains spoilery things for S5.2:

! According to a

letter

found in Jora's Keep, Laranthir requested and got "a temporary leave of absence so he may return to the Grove."!

! So, where does this take us (and him)? Did he just need a rest after all the fighting? Is he still in the Grove and we'll need to find him and tell him all the news?!

! Is there more to it? Will there be complications? Vigil stuff? Sylvari stuff? Something completely different?!! I'm pretty intrigued (and set for a disappointment maybe?)...

I think this is just an excuse Arenanet rushed out to have a Norn, fitting for the story, be the new leader.It's almost as if Anet thought her being part of Svanir's family wasn't a good enough reason for her to join in.

That aside, I can't imagine Laranthir fitting as the General.He's better as a leader of smaller, temporary groups that are formed for specific purposes.

[thepenmonster.3621]

@"Abraxxus.8971" said:I saw him not long ago fighting the Shadow Behemoth in the swamp in Queensdale.

You know the RNG gods once gave me Scarlett's rifle. The terrible choice of gold or fashion wars was before me. I chose the gold.

Then I spent it on the sexy librarian glasses.

[Ultramex.1506]

He is sharing the same fate with Zojja

[Aeon.4583]

As it comes to Laranthir, it is highly possible that he took a leave of absence from Vigil for some time, Taking under consideration that Pale Tree is\was injured ( possibly cannot reproduce any longer ) and that Sylvari population been reduced around her, his presence in Grove will be more appropriate.

[Fenella.2634]

Thanks for finding the letter. :) That clears things up.I mean, it's been how many years since the Vigil was founded? Surely things change over time, that's normal. So yes, it is obviously an excuse to get a norn into a prominent role, but at least there's some consistency and Laranthir has not been simply forgotten.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@Fueki.4753 said:

@"anninke.7469" said:Alrighty, let's do a tiny little necromancy here (I intended to make a new thread but remembered this one so here I go).

As it contains spoilery things for S5.2:

! According to a

letter

found in Jora's Keep, Laranthir requested and got "a temporary leave of absence so he may return to the Grove."!

! So, where does this take us (and him)? Did he just need a rest after all the fighting? Is he still in the Grove and we'll need to find him and tell him all the news?!

! Is there more to it? Will there be complications? Vigil stuff? Sylvari stuff? Something completely different?!! I'm pretty intrigued (and set for a disappointment maybe?)...

I think this is just an excuse Arenanet rushed out to have a Norn, fitting for the story, be the new leader.It's almost as if Anet thought her being part of Svanir's family wasn't a good enough reason for her to join in.

That aside, I can't imagine Laranthir fitting as the General.He's better as a leader of smaller, temporary groups that are formed for specific purposes.

I would agree it sounds like a rushed excuse.

Not because they thought Jhavi didn't have enough reason to join, but because they either forgot Laranthir was second-in-command, or didn't expect people to go "where is Laranthir to take over/why is Jhavi taking over?"

The main reason why I say it sounds rushed, is because every other book in the achievement for Ep2 is from the same author, talking about her interactions with Still Waters Talking and her fall to Jormag.

That said, I could see them taking Laranthir's leave and using this to open up either a Side Story where we share the news and learn a bit about the founding of the Vigil that involved Almorra's "darkest time" that LAranthir (which seems to have involved Jhavi, Rodrigez, Efut, and Fuji Shadowbane), or using this to bridge in some loose sylvari plot threads like Malyck, the Awakened Sylvari, and the Pale Reavers/Carys.

I'd also disagree that he's better as a small leader, he shows to be very tactical in the personal story imo.