Guild Wars 2

So with Dessa confirmed to be unable to leave Mistlock Observatory we’re stuck with a LOT of questions and no answers. Her reappearance seems to suggest that Mistlock itself is a fractal. Which means the real one (if it even exists) is somewhere else, along with the real Dessa to boot. This also conveniently fits with her belief that the portal in her lab doesn’t come from LA. While this has been somewhat discussed in the past, I feel this new development merits its own discussion. That and the search function doesn’t work, so the old threads are buried somewhere.

tl;dr just what is going on here?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/The-Uncategorized-fractal-and-Proxemics-lab/first#post2624893

Funny. I called it 3 month ago .

To take a guess, I think there is no real Dessa. That whole dialogue about “reliving their last moments every time there’s a Fractal insertion” had to have been there for a reason. My bet is the original Mistlock facility underwent some catastrophe, and the Consortium accidentally opened up access to one of the echoes of that event, or rather the time leading up to it.

So Aaron your idea is sort of that Dessa is just reliving her last few moments continually? Like, she’s now stuck/a copy of her is stuck just before the Mistlock Observatory explodes or is consumed by the Mists or whatever?

Aaron Ansari.1604:

To take a guess, I think there is no real Dessa. That whole dialogue about “reliving their last moments every time there’s a Fractal insertion” had to have been there for a reason. My bet is the original Mistlock facility underwent some catastrophe, and the Consortium accidentally opened up access to one of the echoes of that event, or rather the time leading up to it.

Perhaps Mistlock simply didn’t work when it was located in Tyria. Considering the nature of the experiment, it’s could be possible that whatever destroyed it caused it to get carbon copied into the mists. Ironically, since it does work in the mists, this makes it not blow up there and the original experiment gets to be conducted safely.

So notes about Dessa to consider:

• She had an ex-boyfriend who was part of the Consortium
• She views Lion’s Arch as a place for pirates.
• She doesn’t know what sylvari are.
• She holds a strange reaction to the Uncategorized Fractal.
• She knew people who worked at Thaumanova Reactor.
• She cannot leave Mistlock Observatory; if she tries, the place seems to ‘reset’ and she looses all memory of the visitors.

This shows that:
She’s likely no less than 20-some years old in the world of Tyria, and likely not much older either, giving enough time to not know sylvari (as they wouldn’t have been known for a while after their birth in 1302 AE) but to know folks who worked in Thuamanova when it exploded recently. However, her view of Lion’s Arch points her to being older. We don’t really know how old the Consortium are so that’s not helpful – if we had an age for the two folks she knew at Thaumanova, then it’d be more helpful. Asura can live to roughly 100 years with ease, so we can safely place her as having lived between 1200 and 1300, all dependent on the age of the two at Thaumanova.

The Dessa that we know is likely just a Fractal re-creation, rather than the original person.

My theory:

The original “Mistlock Observatory” was part of what the Uncategorized Fractal was. She died during the Uncategorized Fractal but was ‘recreated’ by the Mists when the place was remade. She somehow escaped to the Mistlock Observatory and because she’s just a memory recreation cannot leave the Mists (if such things could escape, then we may end up having infinite copies of the same person leaving the Mists). Her reactions to the Uncategorized Fractal, as well as why it’s “Uncategorized” is due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Do we know how long ago the Thaumanova explosion occurred? The dialogue of the survivors at the camp in Metrica seem to suggest it occurred not very long ago (a few months to a year at most), but that doesn’t make sense in light of Dessa’s comment about not knowing what Sylvari are. Secondborn Sylvari came about 8 years (I think?) after the Firstborn did, and they’ve been rapidly increasing in number ever since. If the real Dessa truly never saw a Sylvari, AND she was present during the Reactor explosion, that would imply that the explosion occurred at least a decade ago. Seems an awfully long time to be caring for survivors that could have been brought back to Rata Sum for proper medical treatment. (And would likely either have died or recovered by now.)

Theory A: I’m more inclined to think that Dessa wasn’t really there during the Thaumanova incident. Dessa’s been trapped in the Mists for a long time, and is somewhat unhinged as a result. When she saw the Thaumanova fractal (maybe she was asked by Kiel to look into it), she’s created a false memory of being there during the events, perhaps looking at the dead Inquest krewe and thinking they are her old krewemates when in fact they have no relation to her at all.

Theory B: Dessa as we know her isn’t real at all. She’s a creation of the Mists, similar to Razah, that’s been molded off the dying memories and experiences of the real Dessa, who passed away many years ago. This would explain why she’s unable to form new memories and experiences; she’s similar to a holographic recording.

No one’s saying that she was there when Thaumanova blew, just that she used to work with some of the people who went on to work at Thaumanova. The date of the reactor explosion doesn’t really have any bearing on the date Dessa secluded herself within the Mists.

Ah, really? My mistake then. I still haven’t played the new story fractal myself, so I’m just going off the reports of other players.

Dialogue implies that the explosion is no more than weeks – at most months – old by the point of the game’s release (1325). Naturally since everything’s stuck in time until touched by the Living Story, even a year later they act like it’s just as recent.

But as Aaron said for the explosion in relation to Dessa’s age. What would be more beneficial is knowing the age of Thaumanova.

Side note: Secondborn came out 6-7 years after Firstborn, I believe. We didn’t get a set year after, but I think 7 was implied heavily. Though I may be misremembering “several” for “seven.”

Either way, though, your Theory B is more or less what I theorized.