Guild Wars 2

So, what’s up with her? What happened after she got the Scepter of Orr?
I vaguely remember people talking about her before the GW2 came out – I remember reading something weird about her waking up the Dragons or something.
Is she mentioned anywhere in GW2?

She appears in the Sea of Sorrows book for a minor role. I believe the Scepter was mentioned but she didn’t actually possess it, or at least it never appeared.

Here is what the wiki has to say on it:

In 1256 AE, after the Rising of Orr, Livia was still the personal bodyguard to Kryta’s monarch and was called an Exemplar of the Shining Blade, a title now held by Countess Anise. She was aboard the Balthazar’s Trident when it was attacked by Dead Ships, and used her magic to prevent Risen attackers from coming aboard. Livia claimed to have studied much of Orrian magic after acquiring the Scepter of Orr, and had retained her youthful appearance. How she had managed such a feat is not known—some tales said she’d sold her soul to become an immortal lich, and others claimed that Livia sacrificed prisoners in the dungeons of Divinity’s Reach and used their blood to give herself eternal youth and beauty. There were hundreds of legends, usually told around Mad King’s Day, when children were trying to scare one another with spooky tales.

Livia’s current whereabouts are unknown.

In GW2 itself, there’s but a single airship named after her. However, she is a late secondary character in the novel Sea of Sorrows, where she is more or less just being a member of the Shining Blade. No word on what she did with the Scepter or rather she still has it, but a lot of people draw a connection between that artifact and her unnaturally long life.

EDIT: Ninja’d by Larynx, but the wiki makes a mistake. Anise is the Master Exemplar, the head of the Shining Blade. Livia, as of Sea of Sorrows, was addressed simply as Exemplar, which appears to be the rank immediately under the leader. For an example of normal Exemplars, play CM explorable mode.

So we can assume she’s still alive somewhere?

She was actually the leader of the Shining Blade in Sea of Sorrows, who’s soul purpose was to protect the Krytan line (in SoS, that was Edair – who’s whereabouts and/or fate are also unknown.)

70 unnaccounted for years go by, and Jennah is now the Queen of Kryta…

With the magic of the Scepter, they both could feesibly still be alive…somewhere.

We can guess. While age doesn’t seem to be a factor, there are any number of other ways one can die in Tyria. It’s a possibility, but to assume either way is a shot in the dark.

Nick.6972:

So we can assume she’s still alive somewhere?

It’s probable that she is immortal or has a very long life due to the Scepter of Orr. She was about 20-30 years old during Eye of the North in 1078. She appeared in Sea of Sorrows in 1256, which is 178 years later. It’s not much of a stretch to assume she’s alive in 1325 as well.

Livia = zhaitan

Aaron Ansari.1604:

EDIT: Ninja’d by Larynx, but the wiki makes a mistake. Anise is the Master Exemplar, the head of the Shining Blade. Livia, as of Sea of Sorrows, was addressed simply as Exemplar, which appears to be the rank immediately under the leader. For an example of normal Exemplars, play CM explorable mode.

That’d be my fault, somewhat. Santax put she was called Master Exemplar, I removed the Master but missed the later bit of “the same rank as Countess Anise.”

Fixed.

GussJr.1643:

She was actually the leader of the Shining Blade in Sea of Sorrows, who’s soul purpose was to protect the Krytan line (in SoS, that was Edair – who’s whereabouts and/or fate are also unknown.)

Nope. She is only called an Exemplar and is treated as above the other Shining Blade members that are present.

I’m pretty sure Cobiah refers to her as the ‘leader’, however, I have been known to over contextualize things – I will try and find the passage.

Either way, she and Edair have gone poof somewhere in Tyria…I think they are both still alive, and together. (And if so, and they are using the scepter to prolong their life, I think it is quite possible he could be the mysterious ‘-E’)

I do not think it is simple coincidence that Marjorie’s story was released on the official news page just days before Sea of Sorrows was released for purchase.

Marjory’s story was put up for DragonBash which introduced E. I don’t think there is a grand conspiracy about it…

It is stated in the book and the wiki (though not directly) that Livia put the Scepter of Orr back where she got it from after Kryta was at peace. And I agree with the comments that she perhaps became a lich like Khilbron did after using the scepter’s power. She is however the previous Exemplar of Kryta before Countess Anise proving that she is either undead or Immortal. There is also talk from GenCon that Livia is the real master of the floating Castle in Kesseks, but I think she living in Majesty’s Rest.

It never said she put it back. Just that she didn’t keep it for long. What she did with it is fully unknown.

Khilbron was a lich before he got the Scepter of Orr. And Livia is far from some rancid decayed undead like Khilbron was.

Countess Anise is Master Exemplar. Livia was, last we saw, merely an Exemplar – a lower rank.

Never heard anything about Livia being in the Wizard’s Tower… Would ask for a source from a dev about that.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but how does one exactly become a lich in GW?

That little line, trying to put a reason for Livia’s eternal youth, always peeked my interest. Her possibly selling her soul to become an immortal lich. We don’t know if that is true or not, but if it was; who/what would you trade you soul too? Demons? Grenth? Abaddon(pre-NF)?

And, are there more ways than one to become a lich?

We don’t really know how one becomes a lich. All we know is that a lich is a powerful (often necromancer) undead who’s soul is somehow bound to their body (unlike conventional liches who’s soul is bound to an artifact), and the soul must be ripped out by force – hence why the blood batteries killed Khilbron (there was no shattering of a phylactery there – despite the existence of the Ascended item which I feel really diminishes the uniqueness of GW lore if it ever is made to hold any amount of lore weight).

Konig: as for where the scepter is see my “( )”, I never said nor implied that the scepter turned Khilbron into a lich only that he was a lich. As for the Exemplar rank…. Livia was acting in a “Master position” seeing she was close to Prince/King …Jennah’s grand daddy, and leader of the Shining Blade at that time. Perhaps master was added later to the title that we do not know. And the scuttle butt about the Wizard’s tower was at GenCon this past summer not on a web page. And like I said I don’t put much stock in it.

As for the the Khilbron ascended item perhaps its still had magical residue left in it who knows. All I know is i enjoy seeing the throwback GW1 items.

*Please note I tend to talk riddles seeing that people think I’m over harsh when being direct. I appologize for any confusion.

“And I agree with the comments that she perhaps became a lich like Khilbron did after using the scepter’s power” (not in any parentheses) kind of seems like you thought Khilbron turned into a lich after using the scepter’s power since Livia would be “like Khilbron” but eh.

Livia was just higher ranked than the others and more knowledgable due to her age and associated wisdom. She was still called an Exemplar in the novel by the Shining Blade agents, and Anise is a Master Exemplar not an Exemplar.

I never said there was a webpage but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t have been a video or interview or something. Can’t provide a source or anything other than “at GenCon” and “talk from”/“scuttlebutt” (which doesn’t even place it as coming from ArenaNet rather than fan speculation/rumormongering – a great way info has been distorted in the past).

I can see Livia stepping down from the Master Exemplar role after a period of time. It is always a good thing for an organization to have a change in leadership from time to time, and she might get more flexibility if she is a regular Exemplar. The Master Exemplar usually has to stay within a safe distance from the King/Queen, incase they are even needed. If she stepped down to a regular Exemplar position, and the new ME was someone she trusted, she would be able to move around much easier, to deal with and investigate other threats.

Plus, the nobles and the Ministry might have had mixed feeling if she kept the job. Sure, she’s an incredibly skilled and experienced necromancer, but she’s also still a possible immortal in a very powerful position advising generations of royalty. After awhile, they would probably be afraid she would start playing puppet master.

True point on stepping down – in the Unknown Parents human story step The Sting Logan says “[…]wouldn’t that seem a little suspicious? You out walking alone, the queen nowhere in sight… At least I move about on my own regularly.” in regards to Anise being the decoy for their ambush.

About the Ministry though, while we don’t know when they were formed they didn’t become a powerful power (per se) until Jennah’s father’s death – he died when she was too young to rule, and the power of ruling the nation was given to the Ministry. That’s part of why they want to deminish Jennah – to get the power they had, back. Or so sayeth Logan during Liberation (not up on wiki, as you got that from talking to him at the beginning of the story step). So even if they were around back then (and there’s no mention of them in Sea of Sorrows), I doubt they would have had enough power and/or balls to argue against the Shining Blade’s long-living Master Exemplar.

Here we have, The Lich Queen. Big hopes she’ll eventually kill Mr. “It won’t end well”

But don’t you see… if Livia tries to kill Trahearne…

It won’t end well…

Trahearne will kill Livia and absorb her immortal soul, thus becoming unkillable and will lead the easiest made union of groups that hate each other to kill the Six Gods whom he shall also absorb their immortal powers and become The One And Only, The Salad Head, the god of spotlights, bipolariarity, and monotones.

/end bad joke

Konig Des Todes.2086:

But don’t you see… if Livia tries to kill Trahearne…

It won’t end well…

Trahearne will kill Livia and absorb her immortal soul, thus becoming unkillable and will lead the easiest made union of groups that hate each other to kill the Six Gods whom he shall also absorb their immortal powers and become The One And Only, The Salad Head, the god of spotlights, bipolariarity, and monotones.

/end bad joke

Then we’ll need Gordon Ramsay to fix things up.
“The Salad’s End”

Rym.1469:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

But don’t you see… if Livia tries to kill Trahearne…

It won’t end well…

Trahearne will kill Livia and absorb her immortal soul, thus becoming unkillable and will lead the easiest made union of groups that hate each other to kill the Six Gods whom he shall also absorb their immortal powers and become The One And Only, The Salad Head, the god of spotlights, bipolariarity, and monotones.

/end bad joke

Then we’ll need Gordon Ramsay to fix things up.
“The Salad’s End”

the imperial chefs!! thats why we go to cantha – its all fitting together

Vizier Khilbron was turned into a Lich when he used Abaddon’s forbidden magic to repel the Charr invasion. in other words, the now dead former god Abaddon turned him into a Lich.

that’s not to say that Zhaitan couldn’t have turned someone into a lich, however. i imagine that the undead dragon would have had that power.

as for that bad joke above… isn’t “The Monotones” the band that Ben Stein started?

hmmm, so Livia might still be alive and wandering around Tyria… i hope Palawa Joko doesn’t recruit her for his evil schemes… that would depress me into a meteor-nado rage…

#bacon

that wasnt abaddon magic, that was abaddon tricking him into using ancient scrolls from before magic was re-sealed

Hmmm… What if current owner of Scepter of Orr is now….Palawa Joko? We could work with Livia to get it back from him in a future Living Storys. He’s a kitten ed mummy-lich, not as scary, but hey! We haven’t seen him nor his creations since Nightfall!

Livia, just like a White Wizard, will return at preciously the moment she is needed to protect Kryta.

I believe Livia is Anise

I think Liadri is Livia in disguise, to challenge and recruit new champions for the krytan throne.

CHIPS.6018:

Livia, just like a White Wizard, will return at preciously the moment she is needed to protect Kryta.

Precisely?

Because a wizard arrives PRECISELY when he means to :P