Guild Wars 2

As a result, Dessa is trapped within her lab and can never leave.

Spoilers below so be careful!

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Just had this interesting thought after doing the story mode.

At the end we see Dessa try to leave the fractal and suddenly things go wonky. She seems to reset and loses all memory of having just run a fractal or meeting Ellen.
Additionally, Dessa doesn’t know that the reactor has blown up which might suggest she is either very ill informed or in the past before the reactor explosion.

It would also give a good explanation as to why you are doing the same fractal runs over and over for her. Every time you go visit her you are visiting her for the first time and she has yet to run those fractals from her point of view.

So like how she can’t pull people out of the past or other Fractals, she cannot leave her own Fractal and we keep visiting her space in time as a fresh face each time.

Evidence? —--

• Dessa doesn’t know what Silvari are
• Dessa does not know the Fractal gate is in LA
• Dessa thinks LA is run by pirates still (Ok so it sort of is)
• Dessa didn’t know the Reactor blew up
• Dessa ‘resets’ and has complete memory loss of the story mission events at the end when she tries to leave
• Dessa never recognizes you (no dialog changes)
• Dessa runs the same fractals over and over in our point of view
• Dessa comments about not being able to leave (either knows or an unaware comment)

Encarton.3985:

Just had this interesting thought after doing the story mode.

At the end we see Dessa try to leave the fractal and suddenly things go wonky. She seems to reset and loses all memory of having just run a fractal or meeting Ellen.
Additionally, Dessa doesn’t know that the reactor has blown up which might suggest she is either very ill informed or in the past before the reactor explosion.

It would also give a good explanation as to why you are doing the same fractal runs over and over for her. Every time you go visit her you are visiting her for the first time and she has yet to run those fractals from her point of view.

So like how she can’t pull people out of the past or other Fractals, she cannot leave her own Fractal and we keep visiting her space in time as a fresh face each time.

That… is pretty mind blowing stuff going on right here. If this is true, then this makes me look at the fractals in a whole new light.

Therefore every instance is a fractal.

Dessa also does not know the Fractal gate is in LA. So your hypothesis has a lot of back up, but i know deep in my heart that Scarlet did it.

I like it! this is a great explanation!

It would explain her dialog and why it doesn’t change or wasn’t updated to welcome you back to the fractal or recognize you in any way other than “Ah a volunteer.”

I also noticed in the story that she is also very against leaving her fractal and even comments that she just couldn’t. Plus her comments about her friends trapped dying over and over in the Thermanova Fractal… Perhaps she might have a faint idea of what might have happened to herself. So when she says that she couldn’t leave her lab and her work, she meant that it is not possible for her to leave the lab.

Kind of an unfortunate fate if true…

It’s all Scarlet’s fault and I don’t hate her in a good way like I hate Darth Vader or Hannibal Lecter. I loathe that she exists because she is poorly designed as a character.

I don’t know if this is any different… but I remember seeing a while back that if you talk to her as a sylvari, she has NO CLUE what you are? And she still thinks LA is run by pirates (backed up by what BalkanLion said)

Lindelle.3718:

I don’t know if this is any different… but I remember seeing a while back that if you talk to her as a sylvari, she has NO CLUE what you are? And she still thinks LA is run by pirates (backed up by what BalkanLion said)

Oh yeah! Even more evidence that she is probably trapped in time herself…
Kinda spooky.

Fascinating hypothesis

Oh good I still have some of what she says in the chat log.

After you complete the Fractal the following dialog happens
Dessa: I knew the reactor was dangerous-doubly so with the Inquest involved-but I wasn't ready to watch my friends die.
Dessa: Greeza and Chibb weren't paragons of perfection, but they were good technicians. They deserved better than this.
Dessa: Being trapped in the moments leading to their own deaths? Repeating it with every new Fractal insertion? Horrific.
Dessa: Watching them die was bad enough. I can only imagine how it must feel. I sincerely hope I never find out.
Captain Ellen Kiel: Welcome back. I'm sorry that was so crazy, but you handled it better than I could have.
Captain Ellen Kiel: Chaos energy or dragon energy - either way, Scarlet and the Inquest took this facility too far too fast.
Captain Ellen Kiel: I don't understand sacrificing every worker here and endagering the entire surrounding area. Then again, I'm not evil or crazy.
Captain Ellen Kiel: At least we've got some good info to take back to the people of Lion's Arch. And that's not the only thing we're taking back.
Captain Ellen Kiel: Dessa, you're coming with me. I've got a lot more questions that need answers.
Dessa: I don't- I can't-
Captain Ellen Kiel: You're not under arrest, but I can't leave this machinery in Consortium hands. Now do us all a favor and come quietly.
*Dessa attempts to leave through the Asura Gate and things get fuzzy and she warps back to her usual standing spot*
Captain Ellen Kiel: Nice try, Dessa. I don't know what kind of mecha-magical gizmo you're using, but you can't get away from us that easily.
Dessa: I'm sorry, have we met? Welcome to the Mistlock Observatory. So, are you interested in exploring the Fractals?
Captain Ellen Kiel: You really don't recognize me, do you? You don't remember sending a team into the Thaumanova Reactor.
Dessa: Thaumanova? I've got friends on that krewe, and from what I understand, it's not a safe place to visit. Or work.
Captain Ellen Kiel: Never mind. This is going to take some time to figure out. I'll be back, Dessa. Be here when I come for you.
Dessa: Not a problem. My life's work is here, and I couldn't leave it even if I wanted to.
Captain Ellen Kiel: I understand. At least, I think I'm starting to. My sincere apologies, citizen. Carry on.

After the reset, some of what Dessa says is a repeat of what she said when you first entered the Fractal, such as the line about the Thaumanova Reactor.

I like how you put * spoilers * at the end of your title but actually included the spoiler IN your title.

:(

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

I like how you put * spoilers * at the end of your title but actually included the spoiler IN your title.

:(

If I had more space, I would append Theory to the title, becauset it is nothing more than a theory at the moment.

It hasn’t been proven just yet.

Edit: Maybe that’ll work better.

This is a great, well though out idea. The thought of Dessa, herself, being trapped in the mists has deeper implications than just this installment of the living story and can open up new chapters of game lore and new worlds to build. Your theory has a subtle depth and meaning that is actually powerful and brings the idea of fractals together in an elegant way. Well done.

That having been said, this has to be purely coincidence. I can’t believe that any at ANet could put an idea like this together. There just isn’t any evidence to support that kind of thinking there.

Looks to me she was already dead from the start.

Looks like she got gobbled up by the mists and became a spirit in the mists herself. The moment she tried to leave, she got reset.

In any case, I hope this doesn’t reduce the chances of us getting Guild Fractals to have some proper GvG.

Dont know if it’s a bug or not but when you complete the story, back at Dessa’s Lab, the map of Thaumanova Reactor is “under” the lab itself, as if it was part of it. I entered the fractals again to get a screenshot of it, but now its like the old map again.

Except with the current head story writer and history of the game. We all know this theory is false and Scarlet caused the reset as part of keeping you from figuring out her grand ol boring plan.

Baldric.5864:

Dont know if it’s a bug or not but when you complete the story, back at Dessa’s Lab, the map of Thaumanova Reactor is “under” the lab itself, as if it was part of it. I entered the fractals again to get a screenshot of it, but now its like the old map again.

I didn’t notice that myself, but one of the people in my party did say “I didn’t know her lab was above the reactor.”

I’ll have to keep an eye out for that if I can rerun the story instance.

As for people who are saying they didn’t plan for this, well… if that is true, I hope they read my theory. I wouldn’t mind if they just happened to adopt it…

Also, Dessa was Inquest. Her dead krewe member is labeled as Inquest Technician Greeza. If here krewe was Inquest, so was she.

This theory has been around ever since fractal first came out so nothing new here really.

Memory wipes such as in this case is a good example of terrible and lazy writing. Another example: C3PO in the star wars prequels.

Pretty cool. Actually kind of sad in a way. It’s like Groundhog day.

Chris RJ.1843:

Pretty cool. Actually kind of sad in a way. It’s like Groundhog day.

Yeah… I kind of want it to be true but not true at the same time. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad fate for Dessa (she isn’t reliving her death over and over at least) but it is just kind of saddening. Plus I don’t think there’d really ever be a future event that’d let us free her if this was true due to how Fractals seemingly work for now.

Also, on a semi-unrelated note, I think she knows something about the uncatagorized fractal. Wish we could ask her if she knows the crazy cat golem Asura.

I love this theory and hope that it comes true…without Scarlet! The lore and the great story do very well on their own and Scarlet being added just makes it cheesy at the least. Well written and this is a discussion that is rather interesting.

This is probably the best writing since the Bazaar of Four Winds. Minus Scarlet being shoehorned into all of this…

It’s a shame that 90% of the people won’t even see this dialogue between Dessa and Kiel, because they exit the instance as soon as they get the final chest and the achievement. I even got kicked out since the instance owner left before the dialogue had played out. So I missed out on most of it. :/

I can understand that there’s logic behind the design of Scarlet – she is a Sylvari, the youngest, most impressionable race. This means that Sylvari are likely to commit acts that may appear as evil to the older races who have already established a sense of culture., all just to satisfy an interest that she fancied at the time. Unfortunately, her presentation has been less than stellar because of that.

I feel sorry for Dessa. She can never leave, and has no idea what’s happened to her and her krewe.

What? She’s not? I actually thought she was in a fractal this whole time… and now you’re telling me that’s never been confirmed?

I actually had the same idea in my head. But now that i thinking more about it there are some deeper implications if this is true.
This leads to two possible scenarios: a sad one and weird one.

Sad:
If all Fractals are simply figments of past events that means Dessa is one, too. That means that there was a Dessa who opened camp in this mistlock observatory but not anymore.
The observatory was destroyed and Dessa is dead and they became just an other fractal.

Weird:
Dessa came there just like us and created that observatory. But somehow the observetory became a Fractal itself. Dessa (and her crew) was LITERALLY TURNED INTO HISTORY.

Morsus.5106:

What? She’s not? I actually thought she was in a fractal this whole time… and now you’re telling me that’s never been confirmed?

I don’t think Anet has ever officially confirmed it (or maybe I missed something?) but the evidence is pretty overwhelming that she probably is trapped in one.

That or she is just a shut in who hasn’t left her lab in a looooong time.

Encarton.3985:

Chris RJ.1843:

Pretty cool. Actually kind of sad in a way. It’s like Groundhog day.

Yeah… I kind of want it to be true but not true at the same time. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad fate for Dessa (she isn’t reliving her death over and over at least) but it is just kind of saddening. Plus I don’t think there’d really ever be a future event that’d let us free her if this was true due to how Fractals seemingly work for now.

Also, on a semi-unrelated note, I think she knows something about the uncatagorized fractal. Wish we could ask her if she knows the crazy cat golem Asura.

(My theory) It's her lover and she got him trapped there reliving those horrible event over and over for eternity. She couldn't bear to watch what had become of him, and that's why she was silent throughout the fractal, and could only talk long enough to tell you it's time to leave. (Just my little conspiracy theory for the day. None of that is confirmed)

Derom.1205:

I actually had the same idea in my head. But now that i thinking more about it there are some deeper implications if this is true.
This leads to two possible scenarios: a sad one and weird one.

Sad:
If all Fractals are simply figments of past events that means Dessa is one, too. That means that there was a Dessa who opened camp in this mistlock observatory but not anymore.
The observatory was destroyed and Dessa is dead and they became just an other fractal.

Weird:
Dessa came there just like us and created that observatory. But somehow the observetory became a Fractal itself. Dessa (and her crew) was LITERALLY TURNED INTO HISTORY.

Confusing:
Dessa is maybe still alive at her lab in the present at an unknown location, however having found her lab in the past (Fractalized) we just keep visiting that instead of searching for what happened to her lab.

That actually could be an OK resolution to ‘saving’ Dessa. Except that she seems to be from pretty far back in the past when we visit her lab so… I don’t know.

Any of those ideas would be neat. But still tragic in their own ways.

I hope that we eventually find out what happened to her lab as it exists in the present. It’d be kind of spooky finding her old abandoned lab all broken down and abandoned while still being able to then go into the FotM and see her alive there.

Morsus.5106:

Encarton.3985:

Chris RJ.1843:

Pretty cool. Actually kind of sad in a way. It’s like Groundhog day.

Yeah… I kind of want it to be true but not true at the same time. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad fate for Dessa (she isn’t reliving her death over and over at least) but it is just kind of saddening. Plus I don’t think there’d really ever be a future event that’d let us free her if this was true due to how Fractals seemingly work for now.

Also, on a semi-unrelated note, I think she knows something about the uncatagorized fractal. Wish we could ask her if she knows the crazy cat golem Asura.

(My theory) [spoiler]It’s her lover and she got him trapped there reliving those horrible event over and over for eternity. She couldn’t bear to watch what had become of him, and that’s why she was silent throughout the fractal, and could only talk long enough to tell you it’s time to leave. (Just my little conspiracy theory for the day. None of that is confirmed) [/spoiler]

Ooo interesting. I kind of like that idea.
If only one of the cat golems was named Dessa or her name/picture was referenced/found somewhere within the fractal…

i dont know a lot about the fractals so this may not be feasible, but what if:

Dessa was in the reactor at the time of the explosion and then she got trapped in the mists due to it?

An asura at the entrance of the ruins says that the explosion ripped the fabric of reality itself. Could this be possible?

Encarton.3985:

Morsus.5106:

Encarton.3985:

Chris RJ.1843:

Pretty cool. Actually kind of sad in a way. It’s like Groundhog day.

Yeah… I kind of want it to be true but not true at the same time. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad fate for Dessa (she isn’t reliving her death over and over at least) but it is just kind of saddening. Plus I don’t think there’d really ever be a future event that’d let us free her if this was true due to how Fractals seemingly work for now.

Also, on a semi-unrelated note, I think she knows something about the uncatagorized fractal. Wish we could ask her if she knows the crazy cat golem Asura.

(My theory) [spoiler]It’s her lover and she got him trapped there reliving those horrible event over and over for eternity. She couldn’t bear to watch what had become of him, and that’s why she was silent throughout the fractal, and could only talk long enough to tell you it’s time to leave. (Just my little conspiracy theory for the day. None of that is confirmed) [/spoiler]

Ooo interesting. I kind of like that idea.
If only one of the cat golems was named Dessa or her name/picture was referenced/found somewhere within the fractal…

They could always update it. Maybe a message scratched into the wall “Dessa can you hear me?” “Dessa can you get me out?”
EDIT: Or better yet we’ll find out that he and Dessa had cat’s with those names.(another EDIT:) Maybe when you walk in, one of the cats will walk over to you. One of the workers will mention something like “Him? Oh that’s just ol’ Tom.” and if you talk to some of the workers they’ll make comments about someone getting stuck in a fractal, or Dessa’s husband going missing. "Careful, don’t get stuck in there like [insert name here]| or “Whatever you do, don’t mention [insert name here] to Dessa. She’s still upset about what happened to him.”

If the Lab is a fractal who constructed the Asura gate to and from LA? And why do we need the Lab to go from one fractal to another?

Underdark.3726:

If the Lab is a fractal who constructed the Asura gate to and from LA? And why do we need the Lab to go from one fractal to another?

The Consortium seem to have something to do with the Asura Gate in Lion’s Arch so they might know something we do not. It could be that they managed to somehow link to Dessa’s lab, perhaps by accident, and then seeing how she can send groups of adventurers throughout Fractals with her machinery they decided to make use of her better understanding + research.

While I think the devs have confirmed that all fractals are in the players’ past, if Dessa’s lab is a fractal, they might not all be in Dessa's past.

Meaning, if Dessa’s lab is an imprint of history that occurred before Thaumanova, it’s possible that at some point she just left Mistlock and returned to Tyria, and was subsequently (much later, probably, taking into account how far out of date her knowledge is and how recently the Reactor blew) killed in either the Reactor disaster or the events shown in the Uncategorized Fractal. Or she could even still be alive somewhere.

We always knew that Mistlock Observatory was in the mists, didn’t we? I don’t know where else it would have been floating. Is there anything to confirm that the observatory is specifically a fractal rather than just a place in the mists?

So I think a better question is whether the observatory is built from mist matter or built from real materials that were taken into the mists. Who built the first portal back to reality, and how? How did they test that the engineering of the portal would work within the mists? It’s all rather puzzling. Perhaps the observatory is a duplicate of a Consortium lab in reality, that doesn’t necessarily need to have been successful, and it was the reflection of that lab within the mists (with reflections of Dessa and her krewe) that actually did all the hard engineering to forge the link back to reality.

This is explicitly stated in the story mode through two lines Dessa says, so this thread is more a spoiler than a theory.

Scarlet did it.

Quarktastic.1027:

Dessa and krewe are solidified pieces of the mists. So yeah, mystery solved. I’m surprised no one has posted this bit of dialogue yet.

She is saying their research krewe solidified mist shards, she is not saying she is one.

Dessa’s lab is a fractal.
I thought the story ending made that painfully obvious? With the way it reset and then she has no clue who Kiel is and everything?

I <3 this, because it actually adds context to why Dessa would say the exact same lines every single time we’re in that place.

Dessa knows that she is trapped, she even mentions as you complete the story how sad she is over having to witness her former krewmates’ deaths over and over.
She is fully aware that she cannot leave the Observatory, and no Scarlet did not do it.

She is not inquest. When you enter the story she says former krewmates, clearly Her Krew split when that she refused to to join the inquest, every time you meet inquest she does not exactly speak kindly of them.

And here is my theory what is going on:
Dessa and her krew orginally went to the final fractels obtained something that they should not and was trapped by it. Dessa is the only one who probably knows, she know every fractel that you enter, and she is fully aware of her situation.

I also have another theory:
Dessa, captured and created her own capture, she probably learned something, which she knew could never be brought to light, she fixed the gate so that she cannot leave it, and if she tries it will reset her.

And stop hacking on Scarlet she is not poorly written, you people really just don’t like Sylvari to be focus

here are my proves:
People cry over trahearn= Sylvari.
People cry over Scarlet: sylvari.

Face it people you just dislike the that the new race gets to shine as villain and hero

by the way: I bet trahearn is going to Kick Scarlet’s kitten

@warllockmaster I didn’t mind Trahearn so much, but Scarlet just feels like a bad copy of TDK’s Joker. I’m fine with Sylvari taking the lead as heroes or villains, just make them decent.

I wonder whether all of this has something to do with the Rata Sum fractal…

Morsus.5106:

@warllockmaster I didn’t mind Trahearn so much, but Scarlet just feels like a bad copy of TDK’s Joker. I’m fine with Sylvari taking the lead as heroes or villains, just make them decent.

I thought so at first, but she’s quite different from the joker by now. Unlike him (Who is more Chaotic Evil or Neutral Evil), Scarlet feels Chaotic Good.

I seriously think the reveal will be that she’s not actually bad, she’s just taking extreme and morally questionable measures to further an ultimately positive solution to a dragon threat.

Carighan.6758:

Morsus.5106:

@warllockmaster I didn’t mind Trahearn so much, but Scarlet just feels like a bad copy of TDK’s Joker. I’m fine with Sylvari taking the lead as heroes or villains, just make them decent.

I thought so at first, but she’s quite different from the joker by now. Unlike him (Who is more Chaotic Evil or Neutral Evil), Scarlet feels Chaotic Good.

I seriously think the reveal will be that she’s not actually bad, she’s just taking extreme and morally questionable measures to further an ultimately positive solution to a dragon threat.

That doesn’t really seem to fit with the theme they’ve established for her so far. And Joker from TDK seemed more Chaotic Neutral. Not really a reason for doing anything, but he’s gonna do it anyway :p

Wow :o

Carighan.6758:

I seriously think the reveal will be that she’s not actually bad, she’s just taking extreme and morally questionable measures to further an ultimately positive solution to a dragon threat.

It’d be a fitting end to a story of a mary sue villan…because apart from being perfect in everything, she also tries to save the world.

Sorry, but even I don’t have THAT little faith in Anet’s writing staff.