Guild Wars 2

As we know, the Norns believe that there exist Spirits of the Wild everywhere, who can be of animals or things (Mountain is a Spirit just like Bear, at least it was said so in the Norn Week prior to the launch of GW2). And in HoT, they ventured into a far-flung land. Do you think that some may have felt the tinge of some unknown Spirit of the Wild there ?

Ameyalli, the goddess of the Itzel and Nuhocs is a lot like the Spirits of the Wild in that she is the Jungle and its “nature”, like Bear is the spirits of bears and represent there nature. I think it could be possible for some Norns, especially if they are truly devoted/spiritual, to actually adopt Ameyalli in their beliefs. Other creatures may have brought the attention of the Norns, like the Smokescales, Arrowhead, Vampires, Brisleback, etc.

If so, which virtues or knowledge do you think those creatures (and possible the Karka) would come to embody ?

Edit : More generally, a lot of creatures in central Tyria are unaccounted for when it comes to the Spirits of the Wild (at least to my knowledge), such as the griffons or skelk.

First off, while it’s quite certain that unknown Spirits of the Wild might exist, we don’t know exactly what a Spirit of the Wild really is or how they come to be, so I don’t think it’s safe to say every creature has a correspondant Spirit (just saying for clarity).

Regardless, to answer your question: I’d say that Tiger would be a good canditate, perhaps even Wyvern. As for the characteristics associated to them, I’m honestly clueless about the various saurians you proposed, but the idea of a Karka spirit is interesting: it could symbolize tempering, resistance and/or adaptability. The Tiger could symbolize confidence, courage, might and/or anger, while the Wyvern could symbolize pride, freedom and/or victory.

In addition, the Griffon is known to be a minor Spirit of the Wild.

Regarding Ameyalli, I believe it’s reasonable to think it could be a spirit of some sort, similar to the Spirit of Fire as presented by Kodan; perhaps it’s the Spirit of Nature.

Per chance, would you remember where Griffon as a Spirit was mentioned ?

Also, I really like your interpretation of Karka. As a Spirit, I think that it would be really hard to contact and convince to grant boons, but the powers It could bestow upon an hunter could be great indeed, especially near the sea. The others spirits you proposed are also quite interesting, i think that they could well represent all thos traits you described.

As for the Saurians, I could see something like this :

For the Bristleback, family, protection and proactive action to defend oneself and his kin. After all, in the jungle, there is many case of an adult Bristleback defending her spawns by attacking the player if he is near by.

For the Smokescale, deception, misdirection and viciousness, since those creatures really like to strike from odd angle while blinding their prey.

All in all, Spirits tied to those creatures would be hard-pressed to answer prayers, either because they never had anyone calling for them, or because they could be even less inclined that other Spirits to help, considering the environment their “species” thrive.

Tropical beasts’ Spirits could well be called by Norns living in Lion Arch or the southern half of Timberline Fall, if they have settled here since a long time. Snow Leopard probably can’t grant much gifts so far in the South of Tyria.

Valmir.4590:

Tropical beasts’ Spirits could well be called by Norns living in Lion Arch or the southern half of Timberline Fall, if they have settled here since a long time. Snow Leopard probably can’t grant much gifts so far in the South of Tyria.

Unless Snow Leopard is broader than that one species. She might cover all of the smaller ‘big cats’ that rely on stealth and cunning, such as stalkers, jaguars and lynxes – she’s just called Snow Leopard because that’s what the norn are most familiar with.

Valmir.4590

Per chance, would you remember where Griffon as a Spirit was mentioned ?

It’s stated on the wiki (link), but I really can’t recall the origin of said knowledge and if it’s in or out of game (but I guess it’s in-game somewhere).

Also, the descriptions you made of Bristleback and Smokescale are really fitting.

Griffon is mentioned in the Out of the Skies mission in one of the norn story branches in the “Defeat Our Ancient Foes” storyline where the PC can choose to go hunt for the griffon Windshear. After defeating Windshear, the following dialogue takes place:

Eir Stegalkin: Claim your prize Slayer. Plunge this steel into Windshear’s heart.
<Character name>: Hear me, spirit of Griffon! Your son, Windshear, was worthy prey. His heart’s blood honors my steel.

It’s a shame that some of these minor spirits like Griffon, Mink etc. don’t get that much time in the story as it would be interesting to explore their respective stories. Perhaps we’ll learn more once/if we get more norn and Spirits of the Wild lore in future stories (whether Living World seasons or expansions) as there’s lot of interesting stuff there waiting to be explored given the Spirits’ role in the norn fleeing from Jormag.

Griffon is also mentioned by Wintersday NPCs, particularly the “Festive Griffon Shaman” that appears in Hoelbrak (near where Tixx appeared in 2012), and iirc is mentioned to have liked the festivities of Wintersday.

As for “what a Spirit of the Wild is” – the kodan and norn seem to hold similar beliefs around them (and the kodan attest this to the story that norn are devolved kodan of the tribe that lost their Voice). And the kodan talk about the origin of all spirits, in a way. Presumably all Spirits of the Wild originate similarly.

I’ve always seen Urgoz and the “forest spirits” as well as Zhu Hanuku and the “sea spirits” that the Kurzick and Luxon talk about to be distant Spirits of the Wild. Seems likely to me.

I’m hoping that some of the older spirits actually make a return. I’m a Roleplayer and have collected/collecting everything spirits of the wild related. I play a shaman of Owl, who has kind of made a return. But I’d like more in game lore around them to come out. Including new spirits the further North we get.

Tazirai.2859:

I’m hoping that some of the older spirits actually make a return. I’m a Roleplayer and have collected/collecting everything spirits of the wild related. I play a shaman of Owl, who has kind of made a return. But I’d like more in game lore around them to come out. Including new spirits the further North we get.

Speaking of Owl, it still fascinates me how Jormag could have potentially “eaten” a metaphysical embodiment of a species. I still wonder what that did to owls across Tyria.