Guild Wars 2

Well to be perfectly fair, in the blog post Scarlet was also mentioned having researched and interest in thaumanovic devices and such, so that does tie her into the reactor if only by description. Something that any player could have picked up by reading the blog post, and could have come to the conclusion that she’d be a part of it. Hell I came to that conclusion back when I read that blog post back in August and Anet was talking about releasing new fractals.

I think most people are just irritated that its just more Scarlet, and dont really care about how she ties into the lore. Honestly thats my stance on Scarlet. Really doesn’t change the fact that she is stupidly one-dimensional in-game, and any effort to create a more compelling character requires the effort of the player to sift through interviews, blog posts, and wikis.

Treeline, if that’s the case, that would actually give her a lot more credit as a “major” villain. I hope you’re right, but if you are, they need to get to the point already! Really like your analysis though, thanks for that!

clocksword.6052:

Well to be perfectly fair, in the blog post Scarlet was also mentioned having researched and interest in thaumanovic devices and such, so that does tie her into the reactor if only by description.

Would you mind linking this blog post? Not that I doubt you, I just can’t find it. Only reference I found was a single one in the short-story:

After months of painstaking preparation, Omadd’s experiment was ready. Ceara would enter his isolation module, a vast array of thaumechanical devices wired to a coffin-like chamber. Once activated, she would be unfettered by her physical body and could delve into the metaphysical vortex of reality as no one ever had.

Hasnt the reactor released alot of chaos energy?

Oh im calling it now, scarlet blew up the reactor to release these magical energy to trigger the dragons to wake up. Which will then tie her into the events of pre-Scarlet aswell. And we can then truely say “Scarlet did it, scarlet did everything”.

Treeline.3865:

clocksword.6052:

Well to be perfectly fair, in the blog post Scarlet was also mentioned having researched and interest in thaumanovic devices and such, so that does tie her into the reactor if only by description.

Would you mind linking this blog post? Not that I doubt you, I just can’t find it. Only reference I found was a single one in the short-story:

After months of painstaking preparation, Omadd’s experiment was ready. Ceara would enter his isolation module, a vast array of thaumechanical devices wired to a coffin-like chamber. Once activated, she would be unfettered by her physical body and could delve into the metaphysical vortex of reality as no one ever had.

The Ley Line Theory would actually make alot of sense, since, as they were just mentioned in the Fractal, coincidentally, all those “Do Not Touch” Devices just happened to pop up all over Tyria, potentially placed at such “knot points” like the one the Thaumanova Reactor was apparently located at, atleast thats what i have gathered from what you posted.

That said, I hope such unmentioned stuff like those Devices wont escalate as quickly as the Tower of Nightmares did. Besides, going by the Next Release picture, Winter is coming…I mean Wintersday.

Also, Hobotron. yes. very much yes. Surely, his sucks-at-singing Companion will make a return aswell.

I just hope Scarlet will stay out of that Release for now, at the very least.

I have to admit i was annoyed by the fact that Scarlet popped up in the Thaumanova Fractal, as many people were by the look of it, but given all those hints, there might actually be a greater picture afterall.

Here is hoping we are in for a treat with what is around the corner and for once not another “Oopsie Daisy, better luck next time buh-bye!” Scenario.

AysonCurrax.3254:

The Ley Line Theory would actually make alot of sense, since, as they were just mentioned in the Fractal, coincidentally, all those “Do Not Touch” Devices just happened to pop up all over Tyria, potentially placed at such “knot points” like the one the Thaumanova Reactor was apparently located at, atleast thats what i have gathered from what you posted.

Haha! I’ve been thinking this! But I did not want to “reach” in my post without any solid ground. These devices could be litterally anything.

My wild guess with no grounds to them what so ever:

The devices look like some kind of Aetherblade technology to me, already bringing Scarlet into the equation there. Their exact function is anyones guess, but they are found everywhere in the world on seemingly random locations. They don’t appear to be tactical or follow obvious patterns at all.

Assuming that the ley line theory is somewhat correct, and the DO NOT TOUCH devices are in fact tied into this plot, it could explain the locations, but I still have no reasonable idea as to what Scarlet is trying to achieve with them.

It could be anything from tracking/mapping the ley line pattern to trying to disrupt them, causing havoc to the Magic of Tyria somehow.

But even if the devices are tied into the ley line theory, why now? The Reactor meltdown happened more than a year ago. (It was “recent” according to Wiki).

There would have to be some piece in the puzzle she did not have yet. Aetherblade technology could be one factor, but that still does not account for what she has been doing the last few months.

Guess we will have to wait on the Living Story for that one

Oh and the DO NOT TOUCH devices could just as well be a new global clean-up machine, ending littering as we know it.

Terrahero.9358:

Hasnt the reactor released alot of chaos energy?

Oh im calling it now, scarlet blew up the reactor to release these magical energy to trigger the dragons to wake up. Which will then tie her into the events of pre-Scarlet aswell. And we can then truely say “Scarlet did it, scarlet did everything”.

The Dragons (most of them at least) woke up long before the explosion.

lordkrall.7241:

Terrahero.9358:

Hasnt the reactor released alot of chaos energy?

Oh im calling it now, scarlet blew up the reactor to release these magical energy to trigger the dragons to wake up. Which will then tie her into the events of pre-Scarlet aswell. And we can then truely say “Scarlet did it, scarlet did everything”.

The Dragons (most of them at least) woke up long before the explosion.

Treeline.3865:

AysonCurrax.3254:

The Ley Line Theory would actually make alot of sense, since, as they were just mentioned in the Fractal, coincidentally, all those “Do Not Touch” Devices just happened to pop up all over Tyria, potentially placed at such “knot points” like the one the Thaumanova Reactor was apparently located at, atleast thats what i have gathered from what you posted.

Haha! I’ve been thinking this! But I did not want to “reach” in my post without any solid ground. These devices could be litterally anything.

My wild guess with no grounds to them what so ever:

The devices look like some kind of Aetherblade technology to me, already bringing Scarlet into the equation there. Their exact function is anyones guess, but they are found everywhere in the world on seemingly random locations. They don’t appear to be tactical or follow obvious patterns at all.

Assuming that the ley line theory is somewhat correct, and the DO NOT TOUCH devices are in fact tied into this plot, it could explain the locations, but I still have no reasonable idea as to what Scarlet is trying to achieve with them.

It could be anything from tracking/mapping the ley line pattern to trying to disrupt them, causing havoc to the Magic of Tyria somehow.

But even if the devices are tied into the ley line theory, why now? The Reactor meltdown happened more than a year ago. (It was “recent” according to Wiki).

There would have to be some piece in the puzzle she did not have yet. Aetherblade technology could be one factor, but that still does not account for what she has been doing the last few months.

Guess we will have to wait on the Living Story for that one

Oh and the DO NOT TOUCH devices could just as well be a new global clean-up machine, ending littering as we know it.

she could be trying to tame the dragons and there powers, just like what the inquest did with subject alpha. If she controlled the flow of magic around tyria she could in a sense magic starve the Elder dragons and control them.

I’ve said it before in another thread for Fractal Feedback and I’ll continue with my stance.
I accept that they put her in the Reactor fractal. Even to some degree I’m giving ANet kudos on giving her a reason to be there. She was studying energies on a world wide scale.
Fine, great, and its a shame one Fractal has given us more about her than the previous releases featuring her and these alliances.

I think the problem is for most, well at least me, is the implication that she kicked off the reactor explosion. It is a shame that yet another story point has to feature her as the catalyst. Gods forbid other races have their own agendas and goals that don’t feature her.

Now if I’m wrong and she just happened to be there for research and the Inquest borked up their own reactor that’s good. It means she wasn’t behind it after all.

Either way it still doesn’t change the fact that we’ve gone nearly a year with updates featuring her, but we still don’t have a blasted clue as to why she’s doing a lot of this.
Saying that she’s seen the Alchemy, thinks on a different level, or whatever other “mystical” explanation is still a poor excuse for not letting us know her reasons for actions.

I’ve seen this with comic book characters like Harvest and Judas Traveller. The narration and even self dialogue goes on endlessly about how the hero’s attempt is futile and how they can’t possibly understand the villain.

That’s poor writing, because actions have motivations and goals. Heroes can figure them out and they are stopped.
So far with Scarlet (Pre Fractal) we knew (in game) that she learned from various teachers different things, graduated from each of the Asuran colleges, and now is making alliances. We stop them, she shrugs it off, but we still aren’t told what she’s benefitted from the alliances.

Pre Fractal Scarlet’s entire gimmick was “I make alliances you break, but that’s cool with me.” What was the benefit from her Molten crew? Did she manage to make a neat tool with their combined efforts? Discover something within the Charr or Dredge she used for further experiments? Leaned how to make the best PB&J sandwich possible? Same goes for the Toxic Alliance, but at least with the Aetherblades I can make up a fan head canon idea she did it for the flying ships. That’s at least something.

So yes she did have a reason in the Reactor, and it is about darn time she was finally in a place where it makes sense to have her.

while I like the lore and this is an awesome basis for a cracked, horrible villain, this does almost nothing for the Scarlet we see in the game. Everything between the lines is awesome. the cover and content really stink. if we have to look this hard for meaning and enjoyment out of something we’re blasted in the face with every two weeks something is wrong.

in gw1 I disliked prince rurik. after meeting trahearne I missed rurik. now i want trahearne back…

I really like a lot of what is being discussed in this thread. The only thing we haven’t been able to incorporate are the alliances Scarlet has forged. I will add this quote from the GW2 wiki page for Lion’s Arch.

“One of the main themes of Guild Wars 2 is bringing together disparate, even opposed groups in order to fight a greater enemy: the Elder Dragons. Alone, no race will survive their awakening. Only together can the races of Tyria survive.”

To the OP: Nice write up. One problem: It’s gotten to the point that people can’t see or hear her anymore. They tune her out. It’s like when a football coach can’t get his guys fired up for game day anymore. The only recourse I see at this point is for Scarlet to not be around anymore.

People are going to miss out on great story, and ArenaNet is losing out on conveying that story to us because people are having this Pavlovian response to Scarlet and associating her with the ENTIRETY of the new Fractal update. It’s totally unfair to ArenaNet. At some point she needs to go or they need to cut the fat out of these updates and give us something substantial that shows us why we should care about her.

Scarlet Briar says in the story instance:

I told the Inquest chaos energy was a misnomer. Mind you, dragon energy is tricky, so I can see how they flubbed it.

so it is a fair assumption that she did in fact not cause the Reactor incident. She did however not seem concerned with it either, so I guess she learned what she could from the place. But what many of you say is true. Scarlets twisted mind combined with all the alliances still seems disconnected. We have still little clue as to the purpose of the alliances. And yes, it is very odd that ArenaNet has kept it in the dark for so long, but it could turn out to be a very nice turn to the story, whatever the idea is. There are pieces to the puzzle that we do not yet have. But just because we dont have a motive thrown at us, does not mean it is a bad plot. Only that Tyria probably still is in grave danger, given that we have little clue to the enemys next move.

Disclaimer: I haven’t finished the instance. I very seldom use guides to learn to beat content, and didn’t find the button on the wall to open the control panel, so I never made it past the first phase of the fractal, so I certainly don’t know all that happens. With that said…

First, I don’t hate Scarlet — I’m pretty neutral, and sometimes I think she’s humorous and fun. But here is the issue in my mind: Timeline. Fractals are a way for us to play with time. They show us things that have already occurred, or that will occur in the future. The reactor incident is in the past — the meltdown had already occurred when the game launched. So how the heck are there members of the frost and flame alliance, members of the aetherblades, all of the bad guys from the alliances that Scarlett has created there, in the reactor causing the meltdown?

The story that has been delivered to me with this fractal is that those creatures/alliances existed for a year before we even realized they were in the world. Unfortunately, this just doesn’t fit.

Generally I’m pretty good at suspending disbelief, but I can’t buy into this one. Sorry. No.

I am actually rather sure (I have not completed it though) that there is not a single Aetherblade guy in there.
I have seen loads of Flame Legion Charr and other creatures, but those all existed long before Flame and Frost.

good job treeline. adding to your theory that shes trying to find the real source of magic, the alliance that she built, well more into the recent one, used obelisk to contain magic thats why nightmare court and kraits formed an alliance but scarlet is really just using them to gather info about the obelisk and how the krait used them as their base of magical power.what she will do with the obelisk, we dont know…

Treeline.3865:

From an interview with Angel McCoy:

And there lies the problem as to why I would never accept your reason why Scarlet exist. Angel McCoy created Scarlet and she pamper her to being ZE BEST VILLAIN AROUND! The fact that Angel have the nerve to mess or destroy Guild Wars 1 lore just to make THIS exist infuriates me. It doesn’t help when Angel does not even know the Guild Wars 1 lore and the thread in the lore section pick point those points.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Angel-McCoy-Interview

Not to mention all the Living Story up to this point (excluding the holiday and SAB) was written by Angel in a way to make Scarlet “shine”, nevermind how bad or forced the story is.

Treeline.3865:

Scarlet Briar says in the story instance:

I told the Inquest chaos energy was a misnomer. Mind you, dragon energy is tricky, so I can see how they flubbed it.

so it is a fair assumption that she did in fact not cause the Reactor incident.

Yes, because we can totally ignore this following line.

Scarlet Briar: Reactor approaching critical, panicked evacuation, general mayhem and hysteria…Yep, I’d say my work here is done.
Scarlet Briar: Sorry about all the death, and for the portal pandemonium.

Its heavily implies she start or escalate the reactor explosion. She is not innocent in this instance and in all account, shove in the fractal for no other reason regardless.

Treeline.3865:

AysonCurrax.3254:

The Ley Line Theory would actually make alot of sense, since, as they were just mentioned in the Fractal, coincidentally, all those “Do Not Touch” Devices just happened to pop up all over Tyria, potentially placed at such “knot points” like the one the Thaumanova Reactor was apparently located at, atleast thats what i have gathered from what you posted.

Haha! I’ve been thinking this! But I did not want to “reach” in my post without any solid ground. These devices could be litterally anything.

My wild guess with no grounds to them what so ever:

The devices look like some kind of Aetherblade technology to me, already bringing Scarlet into the equation there. Their exact function is anyones guess, but they are found everywhere in the world on seemingly random locations. They don’t appear to be tactical or follow obvious patterns at all.

Assuming that the ley line theory is somewhat correct, and the DO NOT TOUCH devices are in fact tied into this plot, it could explain the locations, but I still have no reasonable idea as to what Scarlet is trying to achieve with them.

It could be anything from tracking/mapping the ley line pattern to trying to disrupt them, causing havoc to the Magic of Tyria somehow.

But even if the devices are tied into the ley line theory, why now? The Reactor meltdown happened more than a year ago. (It was “recent” according to Wiki).

There would have to be some piece in the puzzle she did not have yet. Aetherblade technology could be one factor, but that still does not account for what she has been doing the last few months.

Guess we will have to wait on the Living Story for that one

Oh and the DO NOT TOUCH devices could just as well be a new global clean-up machine, ending littering as we know it.

The Technology of the Molten Alliance and the Aetherblades. The Hallucinogetic Poison of the Toxic Alliance. All 3 have to do with Magic, more or less. You could call them Experiments, in a way. The Clockheart she created in the TA Path is also yet another of her Experiments, same goes for what she did with the Hologram Technology and her messing with the Watchknights is also yet another Experiment of hers.

If we look at it like that, she is still in a testing phase for now and has yet to actually get serious.

On another person’s note, it would be interesting if she or something disrupted magic flow enough, that our own magic skills are affected. LOL imagine how epic it would be if all of a sudden we couldn’t use certain skills and had to go solve the issue with like literal hack and slash stupidity hahaha that would be pretty …… fun. and innovative imo. feels like we should actually care about what Scarlet is doing because it’s going to affect us rather than be another LS grind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_woman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

Scarlet Woman, the name Crowley used for his female sex magick practitioners in reference to the consort of the Beast of the Apocalypse

This is fitting too

Here again we have people equating “makes sense” to “good character”. It doesn’t matter how much sense it makes that Quigon & Obi-Wan ran into & were helped by JarJar. JarJar is still a dumb character.

Scarlet is dumb because her character is dumb. Her dialog, her personality, her visual design, her proficiency at everything, how she marginalizes past villains by being so powerful. The reactor story makes sense? so what? a million other explanations would have made sense too. In the end, it’s not cool & it’s not a surprise. It’s a way to have this awful character be behind everything in the universe.

If Scarlet needs a bunch of theory-crafting and untold backstory to be interesting, then the designers failed their job to make her a good antagonist.

takatsu.9416:

On another person’s note, it would be interesting if she or something disrupted magic flow enough, that our own magic skills are affected. LOL imagine how epic it would be if all of a sudden we couldn’t use certain skills and had to go solve the issue with like literal hack and slash stupidity hahaha that would be pretty …… fun. and innovative imo. feels like we should actually care about what Scarlet is doing because it’s going to affect us rather than be another LS grind.

hack and slash stupidity?
I thought playing a Warrior was already the meta for success anyways. hmm…

Qawsada.4251:

Treeline.3865:

Scarlet Briar says in the story instance:

I told the Inquest chaos energy was a misnomer. Mind you, dragon energy is tricky, so I can see how they flubbed it.

so it is a fair assumption that she did in fact not cause the Reactor incident.

Yes, because we can totally ignore this following line.

Scarlet Briar: Reactor approaching critical, panicked evacuation, general mayhem and hysteria…Yep, I’d say my work here is done.
Scarlet Briar: Sorry about all the death, and for the portal pandemonium.

Its heavily implies she start or escalate the reactor explosion. She is not innocent in this instance and in all account, shove in the fractal for no other reason regardless.

Exactly.

It’s interesting, but doesn’t tie into the Nightmare tower, and we shouldn’t have to dig so deep outside of the game to find lore and plot.

DarksunG.9537:

Here again we have people equating “makes sense” to “good character”.

I would say it is more of a case that people need to stop shouting about this not making sense, no matter how much you hate the character you should at least consider the facts.

On aside note. Has anyone started plotting the do not touch devices on the world map? I have a feeling they might line up towards something. Would explain why they are here without anything in the update notes.

lordkrall.7241:

DarksunG.9537:

Here again we have people equating “makes sense” to “good character”.

I would say it is more of a case that people need to stop shouting about this not making sense, no matter how much you hate the character you should at least consider the facts.

The simple fact is that, a hell of a lot of players think that the LS story is garbage thrown over the Lore of Tyria ( GW1 and GW2 prior to LS ). No matter how much effort you put in, in an attempt to paper over the cracks, with recent addons to the wiki and pseudo bioenergetics ideas from other sources, the stink from the cracks exist and is growing stronger.

Next the wooden spoon is going to crack open the planet and suck out the magic. Is the plan to make the dragons shrink so we can buy Dragon fairy pets ( + 5 IQ damage resist ) from the BL just like in those weird free to play grinders.

After this LS. I wouldn’t be shocked if it happened.

Angry Dutch.2439:

On aside note. Has anyone started plotting the do not touch devices on the world map? I have a feeling they might line up towards something. Would explain why they are here without anything in the update notes.

Unless she’s found a way to use those towers to control energy I honestly can’t be brought to care about them.
Now if she does something like control the flow of energy on the world to either:
*Kill something with the whole world as her battery.
*Tries to control societies via literal power play (Bend to my will or no magic for you)

Then I might put her back into the “fun Saturday villain” column instead of the “boring filler character” role.

The lore fits but does she need to be a cheesy villain who tells us top secret plans each and every fortnight before escaping, each and every fortnight? It’s just bad storytelling. Would it really have taken the designers 5 minutes to put a few points into the reactor where we could press F and gather clues? That’s a pretty braindead activity too but it’s one step up from the villain telling their secrets every week.

lordkrall.7241:

DarksunG.9537:

Here again we have people equating “makes sense” to “good character”.

I would say it is more of a case that people need to stop shouting about this not making sense, no matter how much you hate the character you should at least consider the facts.

You could have the Enterprise D fly down to Tyria & photon torpedo Scarlet & it would “make sense” because the mists lead to all possible opportunities in all possible timelines. When people say “make sense” they don’t always mean “there is zero possible logical connection”.

Again: it doesn’t matter how much “sense” it makes. In fact, the more they connect Scarlet to the lore the more & more I hate the lore I once loved.

Aye.8392:

Disclaimer: I haven’t finished the instance. I very seldom use guides to learn to beat content, and didn’t find the button on the wall to open the control panel, so I never made it past the first phase of the fractal, so I certainly don’t know all that happens. With that said…

First, I don’t hate Scarlet — I’m pretty neutral, and sometimes I think she’s humorous and fun. But here is the issue in my mind: Timeline. Fractals are a way for us to play with time. They show us things that have already occurred, or that will occur in the future. The reactor incident is in the past — the meltdown had already occurred when the game launched. So how the heck are there members of the frost and flame alliance, members of the aetherblades, all of the bad guys from the alliances that Scarlett has created there, in the reactor causing the meltdown?

The story that has been delivered to me with this fractal is that those creatures/alliances existed for a year before we even realized they were in the world. Unfortunately, this just doesn’t fit.

Generally I’m pretty good at suspending disbelief, but I can’t buy into this one. Sorry. No.

The NPC in charge of the fractals outright tells you at the beginning of the instance that there’s some instabilities in that particular fractal. Meaning things that are not supposed to be there or happening, are there. So the enemies there are there because of the instabilities, not because they were there to begin with.

RyuDragnier.9476:

The NPC in charge of the fractals outright tells you at the beginning of the instance that there’s some instabilities in that particular fractal. Meaning things that are not supposed to be there or happening, are there. So the enemies there are there because of the instabilities, not because they were there to begin with.

That is however the whole point of the fractals.
Stabilizing things. She (it?) says more or less exactly the same during every single instance.

I kind of equate Scarlet to Colonel Miles Quaritch, the military dude in Avatar. A shallow, one sided character. It doesn’t matter to us how deep the ArenaNet writers know Scarlet to be because they know all of the lore. We can only go off of how she is presented. The story could be totally great with an amazing twist, but at this point, all I see is Scarlet saying really dumb, trope-y stuff even though she is supposedly brilliant.

If Treeline’s theory is correct, Scarlet better not find her way into the Order of Whispers base. There’s a certain globe in there that would help with her research significantly.

Starting from the beggining – the Ley Line Theory is 100% relevant. Even Order of Whispers know about these lines of magic fueling Tyria. They got this huge glob with lines and certain points conected by them.
I heard devs have already stated that the story of Scarlet would end in January / February 2014. Judging from that, I wouldn’t hesitate to say these new “Do Not Touch” pillars are made by Scarlet krewe.
Yet, as the historian, I can’t go further then this statement, as it would be pure … conjecture by my side. I stil don’t know how to conect Scarlet’s Alliances, and these weird hybrids she made, into the actual knowledge we got from the Thaumanova Fractal and the Ley Line Theory.

Royal Historian.

So it makes sense that she was tricking the Inquest to experiment with the magical ley lines. I still don’t like it how she controls/convinces every race to do what she wants, we still don’t know why she is doing this? what are her motives? what is she trying to achieve? Even if this arc of the story is to channel the magic into her what will she do with this power? Is she even wanting to use it or deny the dragons from soaking it up?

Throw us a kittening bone Anet and stop dragging us through this pile of kitten. At least reveal something of her plans so we feel compelled to stop her. At the moment everyone is just blindly doing achievements with no clue as to what is going on.

My problem with Scarlet is the huge disconnect between the events we are to believe she set in motion and the presentation of the actual character. I can’t for the life of me suspend my disbelief enough to accept that some ridiculous, annoying clown makes all of that happen.

Because they never show how she does arrange all her enterprises, we have to use our imaginations to fill in those gaps. I can’t. I can’t see that character arrange anything more elaborate than whoopee cushion pranks.

Imagine for a moment, if you’ve been following Game of Thrones, Tywin Lannister being portrayed by a bumbling Peewee Herman. Or Darth Vader being portrayed by Rowan Atkinson in full-on Mr. Bean mode. That’s Scarlet.

The problem isn’t the lore, sure, they inserted Scarlet into asuran circles in a story on the website. The problem is that Scarlet doesn’t fit the role. At all.

Qawsada.4251:

Treeline.3865:

From an interview with Angel McCoy:

And there lies the problem as to why I would never accept your reason why Scarlet exist. Angel McCoy created Scarlet and she pamper her to being ZE BEST VILLAIN AROUND! The fact that Angel have the nerve to mess or destroy Guild Wars 1 lore just to make THIS exist infuriates me. It doesn’t help when Angel does not even know the Guild Wars 1 lore and the thread in the lore section pick point those points.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/Angel-McCoy-Interview

Not to mention all the Living Story up to this point (excluding the holiday and SAB) was written by Angel in a way to make Scarlet “shine”, nevermind how bad or forced the story is.

I’d argue she’s a quite talented writer. Quite the experienced one too. Again a random quote from wiki; 2007 should indicate that she’d know a thing or two about GW1 lore:

Angel Leigh McCoy officially joined the ArenaNet writing team in 2007, though her heart was here long before that. She has been a professional writer in the games industry for twenty years, working for Microsoft Games Studios, Wizards of the Coast, and White Wolf, among others.

This is a bit off topic though.

Qawsada.4251:

Treeline.3865:

Scarlet Briar says in the story instance:

I told the Inquest chaos energy was a misnomer. Mind you, dragon energy is tricky, so I can see how they flubbed it.

so it is a fair assumption that she did in fact not cause the Reactor incident.

Yes, because we can totally ignore this following line.

Scarlet Briar: Reactor approaching critical, panicked evacuation, general mayhem and hysteria…Yep, I’d say my work here is done.
Scarlet Briar: Sorry about all the death, and for the portal pandemonium.

Its heavily implies she start or escalate the reactor explosion. She is not innocent in this instance and in all account, shove in the fractal for no other reason regardless.

You are assuming that her work refers to the reactor meltdown. It’s not impossible at all, but as I read it, it’s just a “Reactor melting down? Yep, time to get the beep out of here”. statement. If she was responsible, why would she do the teaching statement that she warned the Inquest who “flubbed it” anyway?

Anyways, would anyone take on mapping those DO NOT TOUCH thingies? Maybe they add up to something. It would be very interesting to see

I am somewhat curious about the blurring of the line between Ceara and Scarlet at this point. From the previous information it seemed like entering the sensory depreviation chamber drove her insane, thus current Scarlet. From the fractal, Ceara is acting exactly like one expects from Scarlet (and even named Scarlet, even though she should be Ceara at that point in time). So, has entering the chamber actually change the personality of the weed lady? Or only thing that changed is her focus of ‘knowledge at all costs’ being replaced with the ‘mysterious goal’ obtained in the chamber?

If it’s the latter, I am surprised even more that amazingly brilliant (too much so) but obviously debased character has not been watched at all by the rest of Tyria.

This is Scarlet, the textbook definition of a terribly written Mary Sue:
She’s excelled in all the asura colleges, even though Asura only do one.
She’s learned engineering from the charr and mastered it in 2 years.
She’s learned metallargy from the norn and mastered it in a single winter .
She’s jumped in the eternal alchemy experiment, which an Asura lets her even though the Asura would’ve done it themselves, since they kind of worship the kitten thing.
Shes convinced enslaving religious fascist fanatics (the flame legion) and communist former dwarf slaves (the dredge) to fight together.
She’s convinced genocidal races (krait) to unite with degenerates from other races.
She’s convinced sky pirates to hijack pact airships and aligned them with the Inquest because why not?
She’s gathered insane amounts of resources in a very short period of time, and puts it to better use than the united pact of 5 races.
Oh, the united pact of 5 races can’t lay a finger on her… even though she’s constantly everywhere and her pirates are hijacking their airships, and Zhaithan is dead and they’re on hiatus.
In her spare time, cause of course she still has some, working on slaving (or making) steam creatures.

The first Sylvari emerge from the pale tree in 1302 AE, the current game year is 1326 AE. She’s done all of that in a maximum of 24 possible years, if she’s a first generation sylvari. If she’s not first generation she’s still a teenager.

And most annoyingly, she has no real goal besides “learning about magic” which she could plenty easily do without going through any of this.

It isn’t because the lore doesn’t fit, they’ve made it fit. But you have to turn off your brain to believe she’s possible as a super villain.

Shadoekin.3928:

And worst of all, this is what Anet is trying to pass off as a congruent storyline, as if the players don’t know any better.

Ding.

Then add all the other things the living story could have focused on: What happens to Orr after Zaithan? What’s up with the crystal desert? The straight to Cantha is open since zaithan’s navy is gone. So is Elona since you can sail down the ebon river or around the coast, and you don’t have to go through the crystal desert. What’s happened to the Ring of fire after the portal to the foundry of failed creations closed? What’s happened to the Mursaat’s Isle of Janthir homelands? What is Mordremoth, and is it a 6th jungle dragon?

Its like going from a Ferrari to a skateboard. Even if they wanted to do this, the magic question could easily be resolved without this terrible character.

Singer.8740:

I could go on but the simple fact that i had to point all this out simply shows that you know nothing about Scarlet because you want to hate her to much. If she was really such a villain sue…

It’s Mary Sue not villain sue: “Mary Sue stories—the adventures of the youngest and smartest ever person to graduate from the academy and ever get a commission at such a tender age. Usually characterized by unprecedented skill in everything from art to zoology, including karate and arm-wrestling.”

Read what you just wrote, factor in the character being less than 24, possibly a teenager, and tell me it doesn’t fit the description.

1. Mastering multiple asura schools when even geniuses Snaff and Zojja only did one fits the above description.
2. Firearms and Artillery are apart of war machine engineering which is fairly
obviously what the Iron Legion specializes in. She spent 2 years in the Iron Legion learning how to use them (and it probably included maintenance and creation).
3. “She spent a winter learning metallurgy as an apprentice of Beigarth the Smith,” Direct from wiki. She only spent a winter there. She spent 2 years with the charr, where she learned about engineering and weapons.
4. With the amount of insane Asura we’ve encountered in this game, Ommad never needed Scarlet to begin with. Considering he’s “Headmaster Emeritus of the College of Synergetics”. He doesn’t need a Sylvari. And the entire point of the Isolation chamber was seeing into visions of the eternal alchemy. There’s hundreds if not thousands of asura who’d sacrifice themselves for the honor of it.
5, 6, 7. That’s exactly the problem. She’s a Mary Sue character behind every event in the LS.

Enokitake.1742:

Singer.8740:

I could go on but the simple fact that i had to point all this out simply shows that you know nothing about Scarlet because you want to hate her to much. If she was really such a villain sue…

It’s Mary Sue not villain sue: “Mary Sue stories—the adventures of the youngest and smartest ever person to graduate from the academy and ever get a commission at such a tender age. Usually characterized by unprecedented skill in everything from art to zoology, including karate and arm-wrestling.”

Read what you just wrote, factor in the character being less than 24, possibly a teenager, and tell me it doesn’t fit the description.

1. Mastering multiple asura schools when even geniuses Snaff and Zojja only did one fits the above description.
2. Firearms and Artillery are apart of war machine engineering which is fairly
obviously what the Iron Legion specializes in. She spent 2 years in the Iron Legion learning how to use them (and it probably included maintenance and creation).
3. “She spent a winter learning metallurgy as an apprentice of Beigarth the Smith,” Direct from wiki. She only spent a winter there. She spent 2 years with the charr, where she learned about engineering and weapons.
4. With the amount of insane Asura we’ve encountered in this game, Ommad never needed Scarlet to begin with. Considering he’s “Headmaster Emeritus of the College of Synergetics”. He doesn’t need a Sylvari. And the entire point of the Isolation chamber was seeing into visions of the eternal alchemy. There’s hundreds if not thousands of asura who’d sacrifice themselves for the honor of it.
5, 6, 7. That’s exactly the problem. She’s a Mary Sue character behind every event in the LS.

A Villain Sue is what you call an evil Mary Sue. look it up. A Mary Sue describes a heroine.
Marksmanship and ordinance are not part of engineering. “Engineering is the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to design, build, and maintain structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes”. They belong in the area of military expertise and training.
Indeed i got the two time frames mixed up. apologies. Does not change the fact that she did not or want to master ether discipline. Asegai was a sniper and demolisionist not an engineer.
Ommad did need Ceara because as a sylvari she is hardwired into the pail tree which as we learned from the the short story is connected/ part of the eternal alchemy.
Just because a villain or hero is recurring does not make them a Sue. If this was true iconic villains such as the joker from batman, or lex luther from superman, or james moriarty from sherlock holmes would also fall under this catagory. (and before you bring it up. a male mary sue is called a marty stu or villain stu.)
You have to many presumptions in your post originating from a biased view toward the character.

On my phone so this will be quoteless and appear to be fragmented thoughts….

I have become apathetic towards the L.S. As it seems to have dragged (especially the grindy parts) on and Scarlet and her story have seemingly been poorly introduced to us. The Pale Tree imo should have had an option prior to this update same with the Asuran in Rata Sum (screen shots in another thread) and the Charr and Norn, especially after she made her first showing to us. Marjory or one of our other contact’s should have had us speaking with people when it was realized she was a threat and behind the shenanigans . Some detective work for us instead of out of game source and grind mob smashing. Scarlets dialogue is weak for such an ‘overly achieved’ character i.e. “Die,die,die,die,die!” The Odd alliances between different species should be explained… Mia Trin???

From the fractals ( I haven’t done it yet) but Did Ceara say the “teaching” line or did Scarlet? Did Scarlet say the death and destruction lines or did Ceara? I am curious as if part of what Ceara seen in the alchemy was herself back at the T.Reactor? Just an idea.

From the Tower of Nightmares cut scene did anyone else notice she made more of a hissing noise or just extended her s’s more? Before she left. Not sure if her prior speech patterns were like that or not. Are the krait under some sort of spell or toxin, since they glow green and the Nightmare members do not, as far as I have noticed.

The “do not touch”, I plan mapping/finding those Thursday night/friday morning unless someone else gets them done. Anyone know if there is just one per area or more and are just randomly found?

I am truly hoping that the writers do give us a wow of a ending, as they mentioned it was.
Perhaps when I check with the pale tree and asuran councilman maybe some better clues will pop up as to what she is trying to avoid….or create as she has probably lost her mind.

Thanks Treeline for making this post, almost a bit of an ugh having her in another area, but it does go with the new lore and Ceara/Scarlet’s story…. hopefully it will turn out well.
In the books does it say what year the reactor blew? If we had that information we could almost put a time line together of when she started doing all of this from when she awoke from the pod. Least make it more linear for some of us…

seems like others posted while i was typing away.
*http://wartower.tumblr.com/post/60458277036/this-lorespecial-is-about-scarlet-briar-the-evil

GarthDreamWalker.7806:

The “do not touch”, I plan mapping/finding those Thursday night/friday morning unless someone else gets them done. Anyone know if there is just one per area or more and are just randomly found?

Do keep us updated and thanks for the effort!
So far I have not seen more than 1 per map.

GarthDreamWalker.7806:

On my phone so this will be quoteless and appear to be fragmented thoughts….

I have become apathetic towards the L.S. As it seems to have dragged (especially the grindy parts) on and Scarlet and her story have seemingly been poorly introduced to us. The Pale Tree imo should have had an option prior to this update same with the Asuran in Rata Sum (screen shots in another thread) and the Charr and Norn, especially after she made her first showing to us. Marjory or one of our other contact’s should have had us speaking with people when it was realized she was a threat and behind the shenanigans . Some detective work for us instead of out of game source and grind mob smashing. Scarlets dialogue is weak for such an ‘overly achieved’ character i.e. “Die,die,die,die,die!” The Odd alliances between different species should be explained… Mia Trin???

From the fractals ( I haven’t done it yet) but Did Ceara say the “teaching” line or did Scarlet? Did Scarlet say the death and destruction lines or did Ceara? I am curious as if part of what Ceara seen in the alchemy was herself back at the T.Reactor? Just an idea.

From the Tower of Nightmares cut scene did anyone else notice she made more of a hissing noise or just extended her s’s more? Before she left. Not sure if her prior speech patterns were like that or not. Are the krait under some sort of spell or toxin, since they glow green and the Nightmare members do not, as far as I have noticed.

The “do not touch”, I plan mapping/finding those Thursday night/friday morning unless someone else gets them done. Anyone know if there is just one per area or more and are just randomly found?

I am truly hoping that the writers do give us a wow of a ending, as they mentioned it was.
Perhaps when I check with the pale tree and asuran councilman maybe some better clues will pop up as to what she is trying to avoid….or create as she has probably lost her mind.

Thanks Treeline for making this post, almost a bit of an ugh having her in another area, but it does go with the new lore and Ceara/Scarlet’s story…. hopefully it will turn out well.
In the books does it say what year the reactor blew? If we had that information we could almost put a time line together of when she started doing all of this from when she awoke from the pod. Least make it more linear for some of us…

seems like others posted while i was typing away.
*http://wartower.tumblr.com/post/60458277036/this-lorespecial-is-about-scarlet-briar-the-evil

I agree with this. Very informative post looking at both pro’s and con’s of scarlet. That podcast was a great find. good job all round.