Guild Wars 2

Some things I’ve been re-watching in the trailers of late trying to decipher for fun.

So, a few theories I’ve crafted:

Enemies turned Allies, possibly turned Enemies again, the Mursaat

So, its clear to me that there’s some kind of new visual for what could be the Mursaat returning. The hints to Asuran Architecture that, keep in mind, the Asura found, it wasn’t their original designs is there, with a possible golden city vibe, this seems to be the city Saul found during his exile.

What I find interesting is that we find other Golden places across most of the Silverwastes, some people attribute this to the forgotten but my theory is that the Mursaat and the White Mantle “once” inhabited these ruins but left them after something transpired, what could that something be?

Theory Time:

I Believe the Mursaat were extracting magic from the nearby Laylines, and have been drying up the Maguuma’s natural magic thus drying up the land and turning it from a tropic into a barren wasteland.

The reason we see abandoned forts we are now inhabiting is because they have drained all the magic there was to be found here.

This can be evidenced by the fact there are more Silverwaste style ruins in the Heart of Maguuma trailer showing a giant sinkhole that reminds me of someone driving a drill into the earth, possibly like Scarlet did?

So whats this got to do with the Mursaat and their alliance?

They are a race of self-preservationist survivors that betrayed Tyria not once but twice for their own gain. First by leaving four other races of ancient times for dead while hiding away from the dragons wrath, and secondly when they used their powers to try enslaving the Humans after hearing a prophecy the Humans would be their doom.

I… hope, they do not willingly join us at first. By the way Rytlock was approaching them and the fact he basically kicked the door down one might get the impression we are “invading” their safe haven from the dragon, and forcing them to help us fight it because they have no where left to run.

I like the idea that the Mursaat wouldn’t willingly join the heroes of Tyria, but rather be forced to as a matter of unholy alliance.

This retains their selfish nature while giving them a sort of logical redemption story that revolves more around their ability to judge common sense more than their morals and ethics.

It also begs the question how long can such an unholy truce last? They will help us, certainly, but will they betray us later?

We will see.

I would like to believe the Mursaat will retain that anti-villainous persona of being a morally grey race of preservationists. Their ultimate goal neither to destroy the world nor kill everyone on it but simply to survive.

If we are to believe Lazarus words as “generations would suffer” then potentially the Mursaat would betray us at a crucial moment, possibly a powerful artifact (what glint left behind?) they decide to try coveting for themselves instead of sharing it with Tyria.

I believe their revenge needs to be a subtler one, not the kind that destroys continents, but more a pivotal moment of manipulation where they use us to get what they want and betray us when they no longer need us to get it.

Again, the Mursaat … weather they have this moment of salvation or at least reason, or simply choose to retain their selfish ways, need to be portrayed as what they always were, anti-villains, people that used us, threw us aside, and gained something from it.

The enemy of my enemy…

I dunno what everyone else thinks of this, but id really like these guys to somehow betray us while having some ironic redemption for it. Maybe smack them around a bit and knock some sense into them, or force them to submit to us instead of the other way round.

Pale Tree Number 2, and Possibly 3 and even 4!

Id like to see Sylvari multiculture, rather than having everything too heavy on the pale tree as it stands. It allows us to have a more diverse look at the Sylvari in the sake of lore like the Human nations or Charr Warbands.

Either that, or a much heavier use of each individual cycle and putting more depth into what separates each Sylvari from their cycles.

Either way, what I am sure of is this:

We are going to see at least one more Pale Tree, possibly alive, a friend, possibly. I suspect that if there is more than one, then we will see at least one that is neutral and one that may be somewhat half-good.

I also believe one will be corrupted, and from a concept art picture I saw another may be dead since we see sapling pods laying next to a broken tree corrupted by unhealthy growth and briars.

While I doubt we will see a “tree on tree” battle, id like to see more tree culture, and more use of each tree’s distinctiveness from the other rather than making them too uniform.

It makes each Sylvari “nation” so to speak feel a bit more unique that way rather than making them one cliched race surrounded by the same stereotypes.

Maybe Mallyck’s Tree is nonchalant, and thus the reason it does not dream is cause it doesn’t take a side nor see a need to give its children some false protection from the nightmare? Maybe its a tree that only values survival of the fittest?

There’s a lot of options, lets not make every tree all cuddles and compassion.

Also, the name Pale Tree suggests an identity, I am wondering if each tree has a color code or maybe a name that defines it, e.g. Amber Tree or Blighted Tree, etc-etc.

Another one of my musings, hopefully provoking discussion.

Problems away from Maguuma

Based on the trailer we clearly saw Canach escaping DR surrounded by pitchfork wielding peasants trying to skewer everyone’s favorite anti-hero.

I am pondering if this will lead to some kind of Krytan Civil War long overdue, or even an assassination attempt on the Queen that might stir such a thing.

There is a lot of possibility for tension once news of the Pact Fleet being wiped out reaches the races of Tyria, creating a lot of name and blame and internal struggles preventing them from fully cooperating.

Perhaps this is the symbol of the division of races, while still united against Dragons they dont all have to help each other like mutual pals. The Humans for example might decide that enough is enough and choose isolation as Cantha did.

Maybe the Charr being so far away from Mordremoth dont see it as a threat at this point? Maybe the Norn dont feel its enough of a challenge to their own people to consider it a problem?

Asura might care, and the Sylvari obviously do, which might give chance to give Asura more attention lore wise as-well as everyone’s favorite vegetable people.

I think the story needs layering, regardless, and not just surface level tensions but something that can trouble us now, and leave seeds for later problems post HoT.

In conclusion, food for thought, any one interested in a lore heavy theory-craft?