Guild Wars 2

1185 AE

Gargoyles mysteriously vanish from Ascalon.

I was checking the wiki and I noticed this, do we know anything about this?

Maybe they’re related to dragons? :O

yeah but the weird thing is there dissapearence is very random, not close to any major event

I was wondering this myself. I don’t know of any allusion to this in the books, but if somebody wants to enlighten the community that’d be great. Always hated the little things in Ascalon, but their Crippling-Anguish-you-while-running tactics hold a special place in my heart.

They were all over the place in the first campaign so it is very strange indeed

Yeah, it’s weird it didn’t get properly explained. Maybe the Flame Legion abducted them, to use them as their slaves or fighting force, or maybe they just left, fearing the charr.

They were taken and put on top of an office building in the future by a man with a spiffy goatee.

It could be possible they are related to the Crystal dragon, like minions, and followed its call and are now serving it.

I blame the genocide of my gw1 character committed to get gwamm (vanquishing)

They were probably wiped out from the Charr moving back into Ascalon. I really don’t think they have anything to do with the Dragons.

I thought it might have something to do with the Dwarves turning to stone (such as the Dwarves sacrificing the gargoyle’s to make the Rite of The Great Dwarf possible) …although since I didn’t play GW1 I’m not sure if the Gargoyle’s were actually made of stone like generic Gargoyle’s in any other piece of fiction :-\

The weird thing about this is they disappeared time-wise far from any meaningful event. Just that year, they disappeared. Nothing important happened near that date, at least nothing important we know of.

Lonami.2987:

The weird thing about this is they disappeared time-wise far from any meaningful event. Just that year, they disappeared. Nothing important happened near that date, at least nothing important we know of.

well maybe that’s the year that the people of tyria couldn’t find them any more it could have been a gradual extinction? and who knows they might be else were in the world.

Aye I wondered that also because there was a fair few years between when the dwarves enacted the rite and when the gargoyle’s disappeared….but it’s not really clear if they all disappeared at once or was that date just the last time they were seen,like the population was dwindling but no one really noticed because they never really did much :P

Hunter.6950:

They were probably wiped out from the Charr moving back into Ascalon. I really don’t think they have anything to do with the Dragons.

That wouldn’t explain the current lack of Mergoyles in Kryta, assuming they disappeared along with their Ascalonian cousins.

I assume they are all dead, or left. Actually, a loose piece of lore exists for them in the game. Outside the Black Citadel in Ashford, by the lake with all the tar elementals, there is a heart. That heart vendor will sell you an accessory called ‘Gargoyle Fossil’. Haha :P

Maybe Arenanet decided there wasn’t a place for them in GW2, and since GW1 never had them as being an important race or having any important quests, they were just kicked out of the story.

omgNova.9052:

I was wondering this myself. I don’t know of any allusion to this in the books, but if somebody wants to enlighten the community that’d be great. Always hated the little things in Ascalon, but their Crippling-Anguish-you-while-running tactics hold a special place in my heart.

Same. As much as I hate it, but their strategy is memorable, hehe.

Maybe they went back to wherever they originally came from when they sensed the elder dragons awakening.

Or…

Or…

Or…

We can just go play GW again and prevent their disappearance from happening :p

Aoper.9824:

I assume they are all dead, or left. Actually, a loose piece of lore exists for them in the game. Outside the Black Citadel in Ashford, by the lake with all the tar elementals, there is a heart. That heart vendor will sell you an accessory called ‘Gargoyle Fossil’. Haha :P

Good to know. So it’s like dinosaurs.

Hunted to extinction by Seers…err…Largos.

I mean how else would the “stand here and imbue armor” guys have become what is apperantly a race of assassins? Practice!

They had to go, their people needed them.

I’m assuming something called them somewhere. Like a sense only gargoyles have. Maybe some kind of primordial gargoyle or queen gargoyle or something.
It’s unlikely that an entire family of species got wiped all of a sudden within a year.

My gold is in them being somewhere deep underground.

Did anyone check to see if they left any hard to decipher messages? “So long and thanks for all the fish…”

Mr Mango.3504:

Aoper.9824:

I assume they are all dead, or left. Actually, a loose piece of lore exists for them in the game. Outside the Black Citadel in Ashford, by the lake with all the tar elementals, there is a heart. That heart vendor will sell you an accessory called ‘Gargoyle Fossil’. Haha :P

Good to know. So it’s like dinosaurs.

I was just wondering what DID happen to all the dinosaurs in tarnished coast and sparkfly. I mean we do have raptors still but no Tyrannosaurs or Ceratadons. Did the Dragons coming make them all go extinct?

If they add Tyrannosauruses back into GW2 please please please do not make them warriors again… x_x those mixed with the sin(thief) based raptors & necro Ceratadons at once was to much XD…

Hunter.6950:

They were probably wiped out from the Charr moving back into Ascalon. I really don’t think they have anything to do with the Dragons.

If that was the case, then a charr wouldn’t say they mysteriously disappeared. I’ve seen no mention of how they disappeared – though I haven’t fully explored Iron Marches, Fireheart Rise, or Blazeridge Steppes yet.

Only mention I’ve seen in a Durmand Priory charr in the Black Citadel saying when they disappeared – made it sound like it was an overnight event.

Why did gargoyle exist in the first place? What gave them birth?

Maybe the answers we seek lies in their making.

Ghosts may have kicked them out.

The replies in this forum topic hurt my head.

To the OP: What part of “mysteriously vanished” don’t you understand?

They may have a storyline, they may not, as of right now it is a mystery and everyone is a little focused on the dragons.

Their disappearence coincides with the release of the HoM calculator and the sudden need for stacks of granite

Phrixscreoth.6895:

Did anyone check to see if they left any hard to decipher messages? “So long and thanks for all the fish…”

If by “fish” you mean “death by the hundreds” then yes Mr. 42 man. (or woman I suppose.)

What about Risen Knights ?
They do look like Gargoyles.

I have a feeling that all that hunting for Gargoyle Skulls might have killed them off.

That or the Foefire.

Nerdlife.2965:

What about Risen Knights ?
They do look like Gargoyles.

Nope, if you get a good look they’re regular humans that had draconic alterations (additional limbs becoming wings, and a second, draconic, head above their original ones).

Anyone find more info on this? I believe the answer might be hidden somewhere in the world, most likely ascalon or around the orange part area of Kryta. I’m interested because I believe here lies the answer to finding Final Rest for my Necro. The other hint I have is the gargolye fossils but apparently the staff can’t be crafted?:/ which is weird because most weapons can be crafted.

Anyway any updated info would be nice.

Well dragons consume magic, gargoyles clearly are magical beings…?

As someone else stated, it’s probably just they’re a rather pointless/loreless race, so they were removed. As for an ingame reason, could be expansion of more powerful races in general (for those complaining the charr aren’t in kryta, there are centaurs and humans waging wars over there)

@Zogyark: Haven’t found new information myself, sadly.

@Mystic: It certainly doesn’t seem to be an expansion of more powerful races. The dialogue makes it sound like gargoyles disappeared overnight. That doesn’t happen by invasive species.

I believe that, for some reason, Gargoyles were drawn towards Kralkatorrik. This could be because they are crystalline type creatures and are the minions of Kralkatorrik.

ReginWoods.8573:

I believe that, for some reason, Gargoyles were drawn towards Kralkatorrik. This could be because they are crystalline type creatures and are the minions of Kralkatorrik.

I dont think their disappearance matches up well with Kralkatorrik becoming active.

They decided to take all of the horses and go somewhere where they could live in peace and harmony.

Gargoyles are a strong telepathic race with tremendous mental faculties. The true Gargoyle civilization was underground. The ones we saw and fought on the surface were idiots who were exiled or got lost as younglings, for their race tolerates no weakness of either the body or the mind. They are driven, goal-oriented, and passionate beings but they have no interest in conquest. Their silicon brains give them a logical approach to problems that other races lack. They knew of the Dragon’s awakening long before the other races of Tyria, and set their plans into motion a thousand years before the Guild Wars. In 1185 AE, as humans measure time, the Gargoyles fled Tyria in magical spaceships to a far-off world of their own choosing.

The Asura knew about them, of course, but never mention them to anyone because they’d hate to admit there was ever a race more intelligent than the Asura.

ReginWoods.8573:

I believe that, for some reason, Gargoyles were drawn towards Kralkatorrik. This could be because they are crystalline type creatures and are the minions of Kralkatorrik.

Issue is twofold:

Gargoyles are stone, not crystal.

Kralkatorrik was still asleep when the gargoyles disappeared (over a century difference).

Yeah, being a primarily underground race, until the catacombs collapsed apparently trapping them above ground, I would assume that they found some way to get back into places that they prefer. But honestly there is absolutely no reason for their disappearance as far as timeline is concerned, they disappeared somewhere between Jormag’s and Zhaitan’s awakening. The only thing on the timeline even near this year is the death of Ventari, which is hardly connected.

Maybe the Gargoyles were drawing their magic from Human Gods, which explains their presence near Gods’ Shrines. And since the gods left the world to itself, they probably needed another source of power, and they turned to the Dragons, thinking they would be nice to them but got all killed at the same time.

Just a theory, don’t bash at me

Hunter.6950:

They were probably wiped out from the Charr moving back into Ascalon. I really don’t think they have anything to do with the Dragons.

Gargoyles weren’t just in Ascalon, they were in Kryta as well as other areas. It seems like Dragons are a more likely answer than Charr. Although the Charr could have culled the Gargoyle population… drastically.

Maybe Gargoyle on toast is a Charr’s Favouriate dish.

In The natural world when a new Species is introduced to an area it tends to have an effect on the localized Species maybe the gargoyles just became extinct due to the change in the food chain.

Perhaps, they were fragments of a slumbering Elder dragon…. that re-conjoined when it “awakened”

Unless the stone gargoyles had a similar calling to the stone dwarves to fight Primordus after he awoke, which in of itself is imo unlikely, there’s no relation between the gargoyle’s disappearance and the Elder Dragons’ awakening.

Gargoyles disappeared in 1185 AE. From both Ascalon and Kryta.
Zhaitan rose in 1219 AE, in Orr – that’s 34 years later
Jormag rose in 1165 AE, north of the Far Shiverpeaks – that’s 20 years earlier.

Both Zhaitan and Jormag show no relation to events in Ascalon, and Jormag shows no relation to the events in Kryta. It’s unlikely either is related to the gargoyles, and if Primordus/Kralkatorrik is, why a nearly 70/120 (respectively) year gap between their awakening and the gargoyle’s disappearance?

I think too many people are trying to relate too many things to the Elder Dragons – which is actually the opposite of what ArenaNet said they want to do (make their stories “wider” and not “deeper” – that is to say, not connect everything together making a deeper plot) – and in fact, they do what they said they wanted to do (bandits, centaurs, Ascalonian ghosts, ogres, and so forth aren’t tied to Elder Dragons).

Also it’s highly unlikely that the charr killed them off, because the person that mentions their disappearance as mysterious in game is a charr and a member of the Durmand Priory. If the charr killed them off either the charr or the Durmand Priory would know, and neither do.

Maybe it’s something to do we Mordramoth? We know he uses earth-based magic, and Gargoyle’s are stone?