Guild Wars 2

Part 1 of 2:

Spoiler Warning for those who haven’t done the latest Living World content.

Theorycraft Warning: If you don’t like half-baked fan theories, turn back now.

What We Know: Scarlet is planning an attack on Lion’s Arch and Captain Ellen Kiel is one of the few who is preparing for this onslaught. (You’d think the Captain’s Council as a whole would be more savvy to this threat, but apparently their hubris rivals that of the Arcane Council.) Scarlet has prepared for this attack by amassing a large and varied force and has created and concocted many deadly weapons.

What May Be: We’ll likely face the culmination of those efforts in Lion’s Arch facing off against all these enemies and technological weapons. The Captain’s Council may be caught off-guard but we heroes will be prepared for the threat. We’ll destroy the minions ravaging all across Lion’s Arch and finally take the fight to Scarlet to kill her for good.

Scarlet’s Legacy: But what happens then? Imagine Scarlet, in her dying breath, holds a device at the edge of Lion’s Arch’s harbor. Right before she dies, she activates the device and falls into the water. The residents of Lion’s Arch break into celebratory revelry, but it doesn’t last for long. The ground begins to violently shake. Could this be Scarlet’s trump card? To destroy Lion’s Arch in one final desperate act via earthquake? If only.

The floor of the harbor begins to rumble, a split in the ground grows bigger and bigger. Suddenly it erupts and something massive emerges: an Elder Dragon!

Good Vibrations: Wait, what? Stop right there. A dragon!? That’s lunacy! Okay, okay. So as epic as that scenario could be, it’s seems a bit unlikely considering this is the main player hub, and I don’t see ArenaNet making that big of a permanent change to the city what with all the destruction that would cause. That and the implication from this would be that there’s been a dragon under Lion’s Arch even before Guild Wars 1 and you’d think there’d have been evidence of some weird going-ons because of it.

Let’s turn to Scarlet’s origin story and her intentions thus far. We know that even before she cracked inside Omadd’s machine she was troubled by a dark influence. She had turned to Sylvari menders for help, but it was to no avail. When she experienced the vision inside the machine, the Pale Tree tried to protect her from going too far, to being exposed to this influence. That makes me believe that the Pale Tree is already aware of this threat, which is likely to be an Elder Dragon what with all the hints we’ve been given thus far.

Scarlet’s actions up to this point suggest that she is searching for this Elder Dragon. She is using her thumper technology to pinpoint the location of the dragon with the use of ley lines. Instead of there being a dragon under Lion’s Arch, what if the significance of the city’s location is that of a huge ley line? Scarlet’s goal may be to tap into the ley line using thumper vibrations, locate the dragon elsewhere and awaken it.

Part 2 of 2:

When Plants Attack: But what Elder Dragon would she be after and why? If anyone’s ever rolled a Sylvari, it should be readily apparent. In the Dream we face off against a plant-based dragon and assuming the Pale Tree knows about it, this is the very thing she was trying to protect Scarlet from. While it was suggested that this particular experience was caused by the Nightmare Court, that doesn’t rule out that possibility that they’re involved with dragons. There are connections with the creatures the Nightmare Court uses and the study of dragons by the Inquest at the Infinite Coil Reactor. The next Elder Dragon we face could very well be the “jungle dragon”, or as its name is theorized: Mordremoth.

While we players were able to overcome the dragon in the Dream and set out on our journey, Scarlet didn’t fare so well mentally. In the Dead End Bar, we hear a recording of Scarlet being frustrated with the influence that speaks to her. She is struggling to maintain her independence but has likely lost that battle a long time ago. At this point she is unknowingly a puppet to an Elder Dragon that wishes to be awakened to consume the world’s magic. It would be fitting that a Sylvari would be the one to usher in a plant-based dragon. My hope here would be that the dragon is located in the Maguuma Jungle and that we’d get to explore that section of Tyria. We’ve already seen hints of more Sylvari and Mother Trees located in that area from the Personal Story with Malyck. And there was an interview that connected the dragon with the Maguuma Jungle.

Alternatives and Random Thoughts: There are many ways to easily change the tone of the story and the implications of Scarlet’s involvement. For instance, what if Scarlet amassed all that power to fight the dragon, even going as far as using that potent poison to kill it? Maybe the poison is magical in nature and she aims to inject it into the ley line acting as a vein direct to a dragon’s heart. It’s unlikely considering her dialogue with the influence, but it’d make an interesting twist nonetheless.

Another alternative theory is that the new big bad is not a dragon at all. I’ve seen it said that we’d be seeing a nemesis we already knew. If not the dragon from the Dream, then what? Well, maybe it could be the Mursaat for instance. We saw slight murmurs of their presence in the Brisban Wildlands. It’s unlikely given the build-up, but it sure would make for something different than the standard dragon threat common in fantasy games.

Though if we are going with dragons, it really could be any of the remaining Elder Dragons considering the ley lines reach across all of Tyria. It could even be Jormag and his minions invading Lion’s Arch as has been suggested previously. (Or we could awaken all the dragons, because why not.)

Also, let’s not forget that had Evon Gnashblade won the election, we’d have investigated the Fall of Abaddon, and it’s uncertain how that’d tie back into Scarlet and her pursuits. What would Scarlet have found in that fractal that could relate to dragons or otherwise? Could there be a connection to the gods as the dark influence instead?

What Do You Think? Will Scarlet try to destroy us all or is she trying to help us by killing an Elder Dragon? Are we even going to face dragons up next in the Living Story or something else entirely?

I actually posted a daft comment in the Tequatl thread, which I would throw up as theory if anyone wants a bit of fun.

I don’t know about sylvari being dragon minions; I think Scarlet appears to be arguing between personalities - that is, she has some kind of dissociative identity disorder, but the second personality has since asserted itself into dominance. She should be medicated and receive psychological assistance pronto.

However, that’s not quite as epic as dragons and magic, so I’m going with my Tequatl theory for now.

As for the why? She’s a fruit loop, it could just be fun and she really does think it’s her playground. She’s said similar before.

But that’s too mundane. So... All the stuff you came up with is fine by me. Except sylvari as dragon minions. If that happens, my lads are going tosulk and come over all emo about it.

It will be Godzilla. With a Scarlet do. Scarzilla.

Ceridwen.6703:

I actually posted a daft comment in the Tequatl thread, which I would throw up as theory if anyone wants a bit of fun.

I don’t know about sylvari being dragon minions; I think Scarlet appears to be arguing between personalities – that is, she has some kind of dissociative identity disorder, but the second personality has since asserted itself into dominance. She should be medicated and receive psychological assistance pronto.

However, that’s not quite as epic as dragons and magic, so I’m going with my Tequatl theory for now.

As for the why? She’s a fruit loop, it could just be fun and she really does think it’s her playground. She’s said similar before.

But that’s too mundane. So… All the stuff you came up with is fine by me. Except sylvari as dragon minions. If that happens, my lads are going tosulk and come over all emo about it.

“Saladborn” – Brilliant. That made me smile. And you misunderstand me. I didn’t mean to imply all Sylvari are an Elder Dragon’s minions. I meant that the nature powers they use are closely tied to the jungle dragon, especially the Nightmare Court which twists it into something evil. Whether the Nightmare Court knows of this association or not, we don’t know, though nothing points to them being aware of it. They could be unwittingly harnessing the powers of an Elder Dragon.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

It will be Godzilla. With a Scarlet do. Scarzilla.

Egads! It looks like Zhaitan isn’t the only one who learned how to resurrect a Giganticus Lupicus.