Guild Wars 2

Declaration
What follows hereafter is the wild speculation of the untamed imagination. For the spirit of theory-crafting is as much about the mystery of the future as it is about the history of the past.

Introduction
It is my intention in this speculative post to attempt to provide a partial explanation of the motives behind the actions of the Elder Dragons.

Ronan And The Seed
It began with Ronan. When he took the seed of the Pale Tree, he may have set in motion a process long halted by the work of the plant creatures guarding it. The human soldier may not have been meant to take the seed – indeed, the plant creatures (possibly sylvari) may have been trying to prevent anyone – even their own kind – from planting it, in order to spare the realm of Tyria the horrors of what would follow. But they could not stop him. A competent soldier, the human cut through his opposition with a shining blade, heralding the dawn of a new age.

What The Seed Did
In my opinion, the seed began to rapidly consume the magic flowing through Tyria’s ley lines, channels of magic flowing through and from the Elder Dragons. Essentially, the tree is the reason why the Elder Dragons have awoken. Although major magical disasters such as the Searing, the Foefire and the Cataclysm of Orr have siphoned large amounts of energy from the reptiles, these quantities pale in comparison to the amount of magic absorbed by the great oak in it’s efforts to grow and reproduce. Like the trees of our world inhale and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the Pale Tree “inhales” and stores the magic of Tyria. Furthermore, once the tree has done this, the only way to retrieve this magic is to cut the tree down and if it is not stopped, it will destroy everything, every realm of reality (I am assuming that such realms exist, specifically locations such as the Fissure Of Woe, the Underworld and so on).

The Weakening Of The Gods
Members of the lore community have long debated the nature of the links between the six Elder Dragons and the six human gods. In my opinion, attempts to match each god to an Elder Dragon only fail because we do not have development’s inside information at our disposal. However, I would like to suggest that the Elder Dragons may be the source of the gods’ magic and the gods may be the source of the Elder Dragons’ magic. This means that the Elder Dragons are active whilst the gods sleep and the gods are active whilst the Elder Dragons sleep (this is a generalization). More specifically, it means that the Elder Dragons may be performing a very important task when they consume magic; moreover, it means that they may be guardians of the magic of Tyria, magic that is currently being harvested by a massive magical tree with designs on planetary domination whose “dream” may result in the death of the gods.

Zaithan Guarded The Artesian Waters
Of all the places in Orr that Zaithan could guard, it was the artesian waters. When our PC approached Zaithan’s Sovereign Eye, the latter scrutinized us with curiosity, until his vision settled on Trahearne. Realizing his error, he cried out: “Defilers! Poisoners! We see you. We know your foul intent. These waters must remain as they are — and you must die!“ For Trahearne did not come for himself, but for the Dream of his mother, a seemingly-harmless fancy that would save Orr. Or would it?
Cleansing the artesian waters and the removal of Zaithan provided the Pale Tree with access to another realm entirely – the Mists. She would not gain access to the Mists through her children, but with her roots. For Zaithan, in my opinion, was preventing the growth of the tree’s roots and the further weakening of the gods. He was not working against us, but for us. We may not have understood this, however, because we never accepted Zaithan’s invitation to join him. Our hearts are dominated by the fear of being “corrupted”.

Mordremoth Attacks Prosperity
Of all the places in Tyria that Mordremoth could attack, it was Prosperity. Specifically, his minions spawn around a well in the centre of the town rumored to sit upon the course of a magical underground river, the same river along which Malyck may have traveled; the same river that some lore enthusiasts have specualted may be related to the River of Souls – a link between Tyria and the Mists. In my opinion, Mordremoth is guarding this entry point against the incursion of the Pale Tree; he is doing this on behalf of the gods. And Mordremoth may be our best hope. Whilst the other Elder Dragons could be said to be guarding their own territories against the Pale Tree, Mordremoth alone seems capable of affecting the great oaks children and, somehow, preventing the farming of Tyria’s magic.

The Other Elder Dragons
In my opinion, Bubbles’ strong association with water is another clue to the dragons’ motive: they are trying to prevent the reproduction (or growth, if you’d prefer) of the Pale Tree. Rather than the Pale Tree being the immune system of Tyria, I content that the Elder Dragons are. I wonder if we have been duped…

Conclusion
Ceara may have realized what is happening under our very noses. What the dragons could not achieve (awakening Mordremoth, a possible motive for Zaithan’s attack on Claw Island and the reason why Jormag has expressed interest in the city) this lone sylvari finally did. She defied the Dream and paid the ultimate price.

“Do not question the Dream, we all must play our part…”

Some flaws in this theory come to mind.

1- The elder dragons have been around before the human gods arrived in Tyria so when dragons sleep gods exist and vice versa doesn’t work

2- Moreover during the PS mission that had us kill the risen priestess of Grenth as tasked by one of his reapers he clearly states that Grenth wants his Priestess back indicating that they are still around but not active in our society

3- According to lore, the human gods were attracted to the magic found in the artesian waters and build Arah in Orr because they were attracted to powerful magic. At that time they had no idea it was Zhaitan that was the source of this magic.

4- During the previous rises of the Elder Dragons there was no sign or record of Sylvari among the ancient races that faced the dragons hence pointing towards the fact that they are a new race. If the Pale Tree is after more control then where was she thousands of years ago during the previous ED rises?

Xukavi.4320:

Some flaws in this theory come to mind.

4- During the previous rises of the Elder Dragons there was no sign or record of Sylvari among the ancient races that faced the dragons hence pointing towards the fact that they are a new race. If the Pale Tree is after more control then where was she thousands of years ago during the previous ED rises?

I agree with points 1 to 3 but I think OP’s idea is that Sylvari were Mordremoth minions. Similarly I don’t think if Destroyers were mentioned as race in previous awakening of dragons.
There was discussion debunking Sylvari as Dragon’s minions, but I still like that possibility.

sAdam.5876:

Similarly I don’t think if Destroyers were mentioned as race in previous awakening of dragons.

Uh, the Dwarves knew exactly what the Destroyers were:

GW WIKI

Dwarven legends say that they are the heralds of the Great Destroyer and that their purpose is to clear Tyria of all life in order to prepare for their master’s final arrival.

Source

Xukavi.4320:

Some flaws in this theory come to mind.

1- The elder dragons have been around before the human gods arrived in Tyria so when dragons sleep gods exist and vice versa doesn’t work

This one is disproved with Odgen’s book mentioning that the gods wrote about the rise of the dragons 20 k years ago.

Xukavi.4320:

2- Moreover during the PS mission that had us kill the risen priestess of Grenth as tasked by one of his reapers he clearly states that Grenth wants his Priestess back indicating that they are still around but not active in our society

I think the gods are creating a star at the moment and need the magical energy (gathered from the dragons) to do so. I know that this will be disproved with the task to free one of his reapers, but there is a huge small detail that is missed about the fight against the orrian dragon. The dragon is not the source of the risen.

Xukavi.4320:

3- According to lore, the human gods were attracted to the magic found in the artesian waters and build Arah in Orr because they were attracted to powerful magic. At that time they had no idea it was Zhaitan that was the source of this magic.

As mentioned before. The gods know about the dragons.

There is still no evidence that the dragon has created the Pale Tree seed. I’ve never read/heard that the terrible plant creatures were hostile towards Ronan. Further do we have some very interesting things around the planting of the tree: dead love (wife), own blood (son) and the worst enemy (centaur) which could be used in normal world for rituals (don’t know if it would work GW universe). Ronans dead is not reported through the game. Going further, we do have a very powerful creature which is maintained since birth (grown into it’s purposed task overtaken in a weak situation after birth). It may be an ancestor tree (whatever this might mean).

The birth of the sylvari is a two step procedure. The Pale Tree produces the body (which is some sort of seed) which falls from the branches into the birth chamber were the actual birth is done. The soul of a human or a dog (probably from a mist) is filled into that body and a sylvari is born. Malyck came accidentally into this world. The barriers between the mists and Tyria are vanishing and Malyck is a human soul which took hold into an abaddoned seed (which maybe was lost from the Pale Tree itself or another tree which usually doesn’t produce sylvari). No dream, no tree, no home. After all it seems that the unchanged seeds may be husks (just to complete the theory).