Guild Wars 2

Amaethon.8710:

They are made in the image of humans. Humans have genders. Thus, Sylvari also have genders. (They also behave in a similar fashion; eating, drinking, having sex, etc…)

Not to mention the fact that ALL plants have genders as well. Any plant species is either male and female, requiring breeding between any male and female plant. Or some are male and female, able to breed between any two or sometimes even self polinate. However, no species is neither.

I’d be more interested in what they eat and how they process it, to be honest. Everyone always thinks of sex first, because, well, it is sex. The curiouser question to my mind is diet.

They eat what humans eat. They process it with plant organs that replicate the process of biological organs. But we don’t know if it’s a1:1 replica but we know it probably isn’t because we have confirmation that the Pale Tree only saw the outside of humans. Also, they do photosynthesize but it doesn’t replace eating. it just makes them more vibrant.

I really wish the sylvari had been genuinely androgynous, but despite what we’re told in terms of them being gender-blind, even beyond them being made in the image of gender-binary humans, they still have the same mechanical and aesthetic gender distinction as every other race in the game. It’s almost like Anet really wanted them to be one thing, but for some reason were deterred from actually putting their money where their mouth is.

I’d have like to have seen genuinely androgynous bodies, shared armour sets, shared character customisation options, animations differing based on something besides gender (such as their natural attitudes determined by their cycle), etc. It’s always frustrating when a game ventures into really interesting territory, but stops short of ‘taking the risk’ and falls back on old conventions.

It’s almost like Anet really wanted them to be one thing, but for some reason were deterred from actually putting their money where their mouth is.

This is true but I don’t think it’s an issue of putting their money where their mouth is. A-net did specifically state that they stopped short of pure androgyny because they thought the player base would have a difficult time identifying with them. So they decided that lorewise, they are the Pale Trees interpretation of humanity.

So they were open about their intent and they were open about their choice. if they were purely artists who didn’t need to worry about paying anybody when the game came out I might agree with you. But they are a business with artists that work for investors. they have to make business decisions as well as artistic decisions.

Faowri.4159:

I really wish the sylvari had been genuinely androgynous, but despite what we’re told in terms of them being gender-blind, even beyond them being made in the image of gender-binary humans, they still have the same mechanical and aesthetic gender distinction as every other race in the game. It’s almost like Anet really wanted them to be one thing, but for some reason were deterred from actually putting their money where their mouth is.

I’d have like to have seen genuinely androgynous bodies, shared armour sets, shared character customisation options, animations differing based on something besides gender (such as their natural attitudes determined by their cycle), etc. It’s always frustrating when a game ventures into really interesting territory, but stops short of ‘taking the risk’ and falls back on old conventions.

Well I don’t know about your Sylvari but my female Sylvari (the gender I chose at character creation) is currently wearing light T2 pants, and if we’re assuming that the T2 cultural armor is growing from their bodies my Sylvari has male plant genitalia on her butt. o-o She also wears the flower packpiece, which has these yellow things coming off that could be called pollen, which is another male characteristic. Sounds pretty genderfluid to me.

Edit: since according to what I understand she doesn’t have female reproductive organs because Sylvari don’t reproduce, thus she isn’t hermaphrodite?

It’s been clarified that the sylvari have sexual anatomy relevant to their gender; they just can’t reproduce. Best way to think of them visually and anatomically is as a mimicry of binary-gender humans, since the Pale Tree made them in the image of human beings. I’m sure there are exceptions, just as there are with humans, but when the sylvari are described as being gender-blind, it’s more in the sense that they view gender as more of an aesthetic or physical attribute, like hair colour or skin tone and no more important than those from a romantic point of view.

The thing that makes this unconvincing (to me at least) is that there’s still a lot of the usual binary-gender restrictions going on in terms of armour design, character creation options etc. Basically, we’re being told on one hand that they’re gender-blind and that they don’t have the usual gender roles, but then on the other, we’re limited in customisation choices based on the character sex we choose at the start. It’s not consistent, as far as I’m concerned.

Dustfinger: I appreciate that there are always often misguided business or marketing reasons for not challenging the video game norms (just look how many reports point to publishers still being reluctant to support female protagonists in games, despite the latest statistics pointing to women being half of the gamer population), but that doesn’t mean I have to like them :P I just think it’s a real shame that we were touching an idea like genderfluidity here, which is such a sorely misunderstood and underexplored concept in a whole heap of media beyond video games, but didn’t quite get there.

Of course the devs and designers may have intended not to go all the way, and I’m sure other people might be perfectly happy with them the way they are. I just feel personally that the sylvari didn’t quite materialise to their full potential as a designed race, so I find it a little disappointing. They are still my favourite race, however

or what if we are the part of the reproduction cycle of the pale tree? what if we are walking seeds? after time our head fell down and became a seed

This^ The sylvari do seem to be the ‘fruit’ of the Pale Tree.

HotHit.6783:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Personally I might be inclined to believe that as the Pale Tree grew she observed the world around her and created children that would be at least in some ways familiar to the world around them.

While it doesn’t debunk the explanation, this theory is unlikely for three reasons.

Firstly, Malyck. A Sylvari supposedly from a tree seperate to the Pale Tree, he has no memories of the dream or his grove and seems to be good natured, like our Sylvari. It might not seem like much, but this means there's more than one Sylvari grove and that unless that grove also based Sylvari on humans, their form is naturally what it is. In the personal story for Sylvari characters who believe most in Ventari’s teaching that “Where life goes, so two should you”.

Next, if the Pale Tree WAS basing the Sylvari on existing life, why not centaurs?

Finally, if she designed plant people based on humans, why make them drastically fairer than them?

The Sylvari were the real threat the entire time, spreading across tyria at a alarming rate.

Killapeas.4821:

HotHit.6783:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Personally I might be inclined to believe that as the Pale Tree grew she observed the world around her and created children that would be at least in some ways familiar to the world around them.

While it doesn’t debunk the explanation, this theory is unlikely for three reasons.

Firstly, Malyck. A Sylvari supposedly from a tree seperate to the Pale Tree, he has no memories of the dream or his grove and seems to be good natured, like our Sylvari. It might not seem like much, but this means there's more than one Sylvari grove and that unless that grove also based Sylvari on humans, their form is naturally what it is. In the personal story for Sylvari characters who believe most in Ventari’s teaching that “Where life goes, so two should you”.

Next, if the Pale Tree WAS basing the Sylvari on existing life, why not centaurs?

Finally, if she designed plant people based on humans, why make them drastically fairer than them?

The Sylvari were the real threat the entire time, spreading across tyria at a alarming rate.

If you’re referring to the whole ‘The Pale Tree is an Elder Dragon’ theory then please stand still while I cast Meteor and destroy you >.>

marketing .

Maybe we’re approaching the Sylvari-Plant analogy from the wrong direction. Maybe they’re not reproductive in nature, like flowers, fruit, or seeds. Maybe they’re a resource gathering part, like roots or leaves.

Think about it. We know Sylvari contribute their experiences back into the Dream, allowing each generation to have more finely tuned knowledge. Maybe this knowledge is one of the things the Pale Tree needs to perform its functions. Leaves to gather sunlight and oxygen. Roots to gather water and other nutrients. And Sylvari to gather information about the world, and the societies that inhabit it.

As such, sexual forms for Sylvari serve as a means of allowing for different viewpoints in interacting with other people in the world. Through the male form, the Pale Tree gets a male perspective on these societies. Through the female form, the Pale Tree gets a female perspective. The “uploading” of these experiences back into the Pale Tree allows for gradually more sophisticated Sylvari… but what ultimate purpose this serves is unknown.

So, Leaves for air and light. Roots for earth and water. And Sylvari for society and knowledge… and also for protection. Indeed, that may be the main purpose of the Sylvari, after all. With an incredibly slow reproductive rate (we only know of one Tree and a few seeds from legend), perhaps the purpose of the Sylvari is to create a stable environment in which the Tree will not suffer disaster at the hands of other sentient beings (such as Elder Dragons, or humans with the idea that you could make some AWESOME equipment from Elder Tree heartwood…).

tl;dr: Sylvari have sexes because the animal based races have sexes, and the Tree needs both perspectives to do its job.

Confusing >.< Who/what fertilizes the Pale Tree?Where do new sylvari even come from?Do sylvari guys wrap it up before sticking it in,or are they immune to STI’s like they’re immune to the dragon’s corruption?Does the fact that imagining the female plants making out slightly turns me on in a weird way make sense?What is the meaning of life?what are we doing here?WHO AM I? o:

Oglaf.1074:

When they are asexual? Apart from the fact that players need the ability to pick one in order not to feel shafted vs the other races?

Sylvari are not as a rule asexual. They have sex and have the desire for sex, most of the time. Gender and physical sex are also not concepts that always go together. One might have parts we consider male and therefore have a physically male sex as we currently define such, and yet identify as and be gendered as female.

For my guild I wrote out a little primer on how we do gender versus sex versus sexual orientation, because I see the Sylvari as being rather complex in that regard.

Juunro.7082:

I’d be more interested in what they eat and how they process it, to be honest. Everyone always thinks of sex first, because, well, it is sex. The curiouser question to my mind is diet.

I read somewhere in a dev interview that their stomachs are actually pitcher plant sacs. I assume they eat basically what humans do but they perhaps process the waste differently. I don’t exactly see any Sylvari toilets lying around! I think that’s something you could customize for your characters, since each Sylvari could very well be a variation on a theme. Your Syl could drop leaves, or give off a Co2 like gas instead of well, pooping.

^crap in public to save the environment?convenient O.o