Guild Wars 2

Is there evidence that “exile” is a theme for the Norn people displaced from the Far Shiverpeaks? Longing for the true home? “Next year in the Shiverpeaks”? “We will hunt once again in the land of our ancestors”?

I haven’t seen it and am wondering if it’s a plausible strand of Norn cultural identity.

Well the Norn don’t exactly strike me as the people who care where they are, as long as they can do their thing. That’s why so many of them go on adventures, they want to see the world and do stuff legends are made off. A home is, were they can enjoy their mead and tell their stories, no matter where that is.
The reason the Norn were so shattered by Jormag taken their homeland, was not that they lost the land of their ancestor, but more that they had faced a foe they could not defeat. They want revenge on Jormag and show the world that nothing can stop a Norn. Taking back their old homeland is merely a bonus.

It’s been ~160 years since the norn were lead south by some of the spirits of the wild. To put into perspective norn have been in their current location longer than Lion’s Arch and Divinity’s Reach have been in existence.

I think it still is a bit of a theme, to some at least. As Buddhakeks talks about though; returning home is intimately tied with the great challenge of defeating Jormag, more so than taking back their ‘homeland’. After all no norn are still alive (to knowledge) that actually lived in the Far Shiverpeaks.

I suspect you’re both right: it certainly doesn’t seem to be a strong theme if it is one.

Thinking about timelines, though, I note that according to the wiki article on Norn “A norn might live to 120 and maintain their good health and vitality for a long time, though very few die of old age.” That suggests to me that it’s quite possible for people around now to be the children of people who were pushed out of the Far Shiverpeaks, complete with tales their parents told them. (It’s also possible for today’s norn to be the g-g-g-g-grandchildren of Norn who left: we don’t give enough playtime to the inter-generation complexities of a species that can be vigorous (and, presumably, reproductively active) for what might well be six of its own generations.)

The idea that Norn cultural ties to place or climate are less strong than the importance of building one’s story is something I’m only now beginning to understand fully. It does make me wonder who will tell some of the stories, but it’s a fascinating premise for development.

Norn don’t dwell on the past. Legends are made by accomplishing great deeds in the here and now. No Norn pines for the past like humans and Charr do. A Norn’s only interest in the past is knowing what kinds of feats they must accomplish to make their own legend.

If norms don’t dwell on the past, who tells their stories?

To put into perspective norn have been in their current location longer than Lion’s Arch and Divinity’s Reach have been in existence.

Divinity’s Reach, maybe, but LA’s been around for over 1300 years. (Doric’s summer residence was there, making it technically older than Kryta itself, as the kingdom was founded about three centuries later.)

As for the “exile” theme, we can’t say it’s ONLY the Norn. The Asura were “exiled” first, when Primordus drove them to the surface (a process which started with the events of the Great Destroyer, and continued up until Primordus itself woke up some 42 years later).

And norn DON’T dwell on the past. They put great store in it – they revere those who came before and what they did – but they LIVE in the present. Their original homelands, from which they were driven, ARE part of their cultural identity. They want to reclaim it. But while they are exiles, they don’t indulge in “exile mentality”. They live their lives in their new situation, waiting for the time when they CAN return.

That is the difference between them and, say, the Charr – whose displacement was a driving force for them, engaging in a war of reclamation that began the moment they were driven out, fluctuating in intensity as the situation changed (wall up, wall down, foefire), but they wanted their home back, and weren’t going to wait.

As for our other exiles – the Asura – they seem to have adapted to surface life over the past 250 years, and integrated into the multiracial surface society. I’m not entirely sure how many of them would want to go back below even once it becomes possible.

But that’s Charr and Asura. And these are Norn, who do want their home back, but know that now is not the time. So, for now, they make sure each generation remembers, but live their lives as normal until the time comes.