Guild Wars 2

A recent discussion has emerged within my guild recently about where exactly current necromancer minions come from.

So far, two camps have emerged. People who say that current minions are merely constructs summoned from the Mists, and that necromancer minions are functioning as they always have, just minus the corpses (because that mechanic was a pain).

Now, there are numerous in-lore examples (Both GW1 and GW2) that demonstrate that minions are in fact the twisted rotting remains of the recently deceased, born again to serve a necromancer’s purposes. Examples of the other side of this argument seem to be very few, with only one prominent note being portrayed.

The example many so far have cited is from Trahearne, during one of the story missions (none of them have been sure which) in which he explains that because his minions are summoned from the Mists, they are immune to Zhaitan’s influence.

Can someone please clear this issue up definitively? Thanks.

Well, it is known that undead minions can be summoned from the recently deceased. In Ghosts of Ascalon Killen re-animates the corpse of one of the enemies they recently killed in order to walk ahead of them and check for traps.

Oh yeah, just like in the old pre-Searing catacombs training mission… good times…

Trahearne could be referring to something like the animating spirit that brings (temporary) life to the minions is drawn from the Mists? I don’t know; it makes just as much sense for them to be animated by the necromancer’s will through magic.

I think I recall reading somewhere pre-release that necro minions were supposed to be composed of dead matter, but from what’s buried deep underground rather than from a fresh corpse… but I don’t recall the source or whether it was official or speculation.

See that theory makes a lot of sense to me because of how much dead matter there is in the soil of Tyria, I mean the widespread warfare and the vanquishing done by heroes in the past really left plenty of matter to work with, not to mention constant intrusions of dead corpses on the shores to pull into use.

Yeah. These are the sorts of things I would think of before jumping to ‘these creatures are summoned from the Mists’. Some people just don’t want necromancers to be necromancers anymore, I guess. :P

I don’t recall any mention from Trahearne about his minions coming from the Mists…

Anyways, all lore shows that necromancy still creates typical undead. All NPC necromancer sans Trahearne during one personal story step (actually, perhaps not even sans that as there were bodies there too) that I’ve seen only create minions when recent deaths or corpses are, in script, nearby – take Aria in Kessex Hills, who creates a small army of Flesh Golems from the bodies of Daithor’s experiments.

So PC minions are likely just a mechanical thing for coming out of the ground/that black hole thingie. Most likely because, well, you can really make minion mastery a reliable skill build if you have to summon minions after a death, and it would break the whole “the PCs never die” if its allowed to from revivable NPCs or PCs. But mechanically, the PCs/NPCs do die in the same sense as an actual death of other NPCs.

I’ve always thought of necromancy as forcing the dead away from the underworld unto the surface of Tyria, thus claiming the power of gods for yourself.
I would suspect if in future releases, people would be punished by the ruler of the underworld due to what the necromancers have been doing

Except the god of the underworld is Grenth, who grants his powers to the necromancers. Necromancers do not hold the souls of the dead, they merely create minions from dead flesh. These creatures are puppets, and nothing more.

I doubt sincerely that Grenth is still the source of necromantic powers. Dwayna doesn’t appear to power Guardians, and non-human Warriors don’t pray to Balthazar. It looks like power over Death is just another type of magic now.

He’s the ultimate source from which the knowledge on how to use the powers of necromancy came from. That doesn’t mean that other races haven’t learned the skills from others and used it themselves.

That’s not entirely true. Norn necromancers, ritualists, and mesmers call upon Raven, who also governs souls of the dead.

Grenth is the god of death and ruler of the Underworld, true, but he’s not the end-all-be-all of magic. Just of judging souls. And even then, we’re not sure if he judges all souls.

The gods do not control magic, but they do hold influence over it (what with the blessings as seen in GW1). Dwayna doesn’t power guardians only because the Six Gods are silent – thus their blessings no longer reach Tyria (well, except human racial skills), but the roots of Guardians (Monks and Paragons) were able to be blessed by Dwayna.

And it’s got nothing about “now” for necromancy being “just another type of magic” – rather, the types are Preservation, Aggression, Denial, and Destruction – as it has been since 1 BE (on the world of Tyria that is). Its the same in GW2 as in GW1.

Bottom line: the gods were never the “ultimate source” of magic or professions – they’re just tied to the professions. The Six Gods do, however, rule over some of the afterlives in the Mists – the Underworld where souls seem to go by default included.

I guess I am wrong. My earlier statement should have been that Grenth is the Ultimate Source of human necromancy, which is mechanically identical to every other race’s necromancy. Just a quick thought though, in GW1 we only ever see two races animate minions that I can ever think of. And those races are humans (Verata) and norn (that one guy you have to hunt down, cannot remember name). I do not believe that any other race in the game is shown to reanimate minions, and interestingly enough, those two races are the only ones that have “dieties” that preside over death. Now obviously things have changed since then, but it is still an interesting thought.