Guild Wars 2

This is something that I’ve been considering for some time. Is it possible that the clever Asura share a common ancestor with the primitive skritt, or even that the Asura are an evolved sub-species of skritt themselves?

The evidence

- Asura and Skritt both hail from the subterranean depths of Tyria, both having fled their homeland as a result of the waking of Primordus. The two species lived in close proximity, and in similar natural circumstances.

- The Skritt and Asura both possess rodent-esque features, with rounded ears bearing slight points, and short, stunted noses. The Asura closer resemble domestic rodents, such as hamsters or gerbils, potentially a result of evolution following an ascension from primitive lifestyles. They stand at similar heights, both being fairly short of stature. It is also often difficult to differentiate genders within the two races, with males and females often sharing several similarities aside from their voices and fashions.

- The two species also possess the same number of digits on their hands, three fingers and a thumb. Both have three-toed feet with all three toes pointed forward, a trait found in few Tyrian creatures, and almost no other bipeds.

- The Skritt have been found to gain intelligence as they gather in great numbers. Skritt have managed to form small colonies of capable, intelligent groups, and the more that gather, the more intelligent they become. There is no way of knowing the limit of this intellect gain, so if the Skritt were to form a full civilization, say on the scale of the Asura, they could potentially become a race comprised entirely of geniuses with limitless intellectual prowess.

- Being creatures of advancement and drive, Asura often look forward and rarely look back. As a result, their history before their rise from the underground world of Tyria is largely unknown. The Skritt, being primitive creatures, also have little information regarding their history.

- The Asura possess a powerful drive to discover and invent, while the Skritt are victims of an ever-present urge to collect shiny and valuable-seeming items. Both races possess an inborn sense of unending ambition. The Skritt, being more primitive, focus on material gain and physical goals, while the Asura, possessing greater mental capacity, are able to focus on metaphysical and intellectual advances and achievements.

This evidence could be purely coincidental, or there could be more to the tense relationship between these two curious cultures than meets the eye. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter as well.

I think it is definitely possible that somewhere along the evolutionary chain there is a link. If there was though it would be much like the link between humans and and apes or chimpanzees/whatever xD.

That being said it could also be possible that the Skritt are some long forgotten Asuran experiment gone wrong xD or some other such sillyness.

at the very least, Asura and Skritt share an ancestor as far as race design goes, specifically this guy:

!http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/first-asura1-345x600.jpg!

I’m pretty sure one could argue they share an ancestor in game as well

Similarities in height and the way the live are no indication of a common ancestory, a rather common mistake people make in evolution. It could easily just stem from analogy, that means two species that live in the same environment will have similar life styles. Compare for example birds and bats. Both have wings, but they are not related. Another example would be the common mole and the marsupial mole, both look almost identical (sans fur color), but they do not belong to the same family tree. They just occupy the same evolutionary niche.

To determine if Asura and Skritt are in fact related, we had to take a look at their bone structure, or their genes.

Hah, I hope so. That would take those shaved badgers down a peg or two.

I think there’s as much of a chance of that as there is of the Humans and Grawl being related (popular Charr theory) or the Charr and the Grawl being related (popular human theory). It would be fun to learn more about asuran history, and I sure hope that when we delve underground to deal with Primordius more information will come to light on matters like this.

Humans don’t originate on Tyria, it’s pretty much impossible that they evolved from a Tyrian species, unless the gods came to Tyria, took a species and then came back thosuands, if not millions of years later with a evolved version, which I doubt.

Also Grawl are simians, while Charr seem to be feline. I don’t think they are in close relation. If anything, I could see the Grawl being related to the Norn or dwarves, maybe even both. Possibly even the Jotun and other giants. One has to notice that all those races a very humanoid, but from what we know, they can’t be related to the human race. Now having one race that looks completly like another, except height, without being related, is a bit of a stretch, but okay, I’ll accept it. But all those different kind of giants, Norn, dwarves and Grawl all seem to stem from simians, without being related? I don’t think so. I think they share a common ancestor, with the Grawl being the first to split from the family tree.

I know and understand the situation, I’m just saying it’s no different from other theories. I mean it wasn’t until GW2 that we learned that the humans aren’t native to Tyria, before GW2 it was assumed that the gods made the whole planet (remember?). Theories will rise and fall until new information brings things to light.

If you have the “making of GW2” book I think there’s a mention somewhere that a common ancestry between Asura and Skritt is indeed part of what the devs intended for these two races.

Both look like rats, at least.

Eh … imo, Asura look more like weasels, or mustelids in general. That’s the part that throws me, re: common ancestry. Also, the dental differences … although, both of these issues can be explained by evolutionary divergence. Especially when we don’t know if the Asura have used their magitech to manipulate their own genome.

Advent.6193:

Also, the dental differences …

Try as I might, I haven’t been able to find an image or description of skritt teeth. I assume they have standard murine teeth, but they don’t really ever -show- their teeth. All pictures I’ve found of them show their mouths closed, and when their mouths are open in personal quest cut scenes to talk, you can’t actually see any teeth in their mouths.