Guild Wars 2

I must admit due to a misunderstanding I was needlesly angry at the writers, so this time I’ll just ask here to get this explained:

In Asura storyline (in missions Test Subject/Field Test to be precise), Gorr proves that his theory (which says that dragons consume magic) is right. Then, in the Pact storyline in What the Eye Beholds Scholar Vivian behaves like if that didn’t happen and the dialogue goes:

Professor Gorr: (gasp) Did you see that? Zhaitan’s agent just consumed a powerful magical artifact!
Scholar Vivian: I saw it, Professor. Your theory is now a confirmed fact. But what was that creature?

But in the notes I saw in Scarlet’s room it said somethign among the lines that dragons don’t consume magic but store it and I don’t really understand that. Does that mean Gorr’s theory wasn’t right after all?

They do consume it, but don’t destroy it. They store it within themselves.

That’s right. Gorr’s theory only went so far as to say what dragons do to magic. He never got as far as working out what happens to the magic next. Some of the asura seemed to think that it suggested that his theory violated the Seventh Law, but if dragons store it rather than destroy it (which between Scarlet and the Zephyrites, I think is clear), then the Seventh Law is saved

I guess those asura were operating under the assumption that the Elder Dragons cannot be killed, and therefore the magic is not recoverable. But it looks like they were wrong!

I’m pretty sure the note said literally “They do not consume” but I guess I’ll have to look for a screenshot first then

The note was talking from the perspective of the Zephyrites and in the notion that “consumption” means “eating, digesting, and then ridding the useless parts of it via feces.”

The Elder Dragons “consume” but not in the traditional sense as the devs have said (nearly word for word there) – in that they “eat” the magic, but they do not “poop it out”. Instead, one can say they sweat it out while they hibernate (or in Glint’s case, and possibly Zhaitan’s, when dead). To say the Elder Dragons consume magic is little different than saying they absorb it through their mouth.

The dragons do not consume magic. They absorb it like a sponge. Dragons do not break down the magic to use it for energy. They simply absorb it, store it and let it leak back out over the years.

Technically speaking, they do consume magic. That’s the word that developers and NPCs use to describe what the Elder Dragons do to magic. Consume. But they don’t go digesting it (at least not in any way we understand currently).

And I disagree with the Elder Dragons not using magic for energy – given that the champions feed the Elder Dragons magic so that they can rise, and they fall to sleep when there isn’t enough magic, it seems to me that they utilize magic for energy and power.

DarcShriek.5829:

The dragons do not consume magic. They absorb it like a sponge. Dragons do not break down the magic to use it for energy. They simply absorb it, store it and let it leak back out over the years.

Basically this, although it’s implied that they leak it out while they’re asleep. The cycle is simple, elder dragons wake up very hungry, eat all the magic they can find, go to sleep and then the magic leaks out of them until they wake up and the cycle continues. It seems that ANet is planning to explore this in more detail in S2 (yay!) primarily the why but the how is already fairly known.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

And I disagree with the Elder Dragons not using magic for energy – given that the champions feed the Elder Dragons magic so that they can rise, and they fall to sleep when there isn’t enough magic, it seems to me that they utilize magic for energy and power.

The personal story pretty much states this, it’s the reason why the Pack killed the Mouth of Zhaitan after all, in order to cut off his supply of magic and in effect weaken him.

It’s not implied. It’s outright stated by the devs (specifically Angel McCoy) that the Elder Dragons leak out magic when asleep.