Guild Wars 2

Now we can somehow agree that the Pale Tree (or any person who is in a high position and should be knowledgeable about certain events) is not really honest with us.

There are a lot of inconsistencies between what she is telling us, what is happening and what we are able to observe.
While it can be just the fault (mistakes, something overlooked etc.), this can also be by design.

As we only have limited information, this theory is actually a bit loose, but please, let me entertain you for a bit:

The attack on the summit was staged
I mentioned inconsistencies in the things she told us. However one thing she has mentioned is, that she started to raise her defences.
As I do not expect her to be stupid and that she is knowledgeable about Eldar Dragon tactics in some way, I expected her to be prepared against air and plant based attacks.

The whole Tree is her body, so I expected her at least to be a safe haven. A place where the protection is the greatest (though protecting the roots should have been the prioity maybe?)

I thought it was a bit over the top to have Mordremoth`s minion apear like an infection in the body of the Pale Tree.
If the Shadow of the Dragon would have put them down or spawned them, it would have been a different matter, but they seem to have appeaered out of nowhere in a protected area (Heavily guarded, etc…)

The Shadow of the Dragon looks like the being Sylvari Player encounter in her tutorial, which should represent Zaithan or Eldar Dargons themselves.

While we can now argue that Mordremoth created it or has access to the Dream or Nightmare to tap into that design to give it shape, I would go into the direction that The Pale Tree staged the attack

We know the Pale tree can create life , she created the Sylvari, fernhounds, etc…
What stops her from creating something imitiating the enemy to get a point across.

The World (ugh) summit clearly was not in the PCs favour from the beginning. Each leader had a way to weasle out more or less.
A common enemy that unites everyone would help to speed things up.
While we can put it down to a traitor in the own ranks, the whole szenario was just too perfect, as everyone agreed to help after it.

It was actually foreshadowed by Aerin in Episode 1, that one leader will die or be taken down. This could also be a plot.
Maybe Aerin wasn`t in control, but actually send by the Pale Tree to aquire the Power of the Zephirites.

The good and benevolent Pale Tree, only going for the greater good, despise the consequences.

However, we have not enough proof or informations at the moment, but the Idea somehow came to me.

I totally agree with the idea that the Pale Tree staged the attack, but I didn’t expect that it plays the victim. I thought she uses it to take another leader out, but that attack unites the nations better. All racial leaders were attacked and that is a very good way to unite them against one enemy aside from their common sorrows.

Just some more observations:

The creatures spawn inside the chamber and the light of the tree turned out. I think the lights are natural luminescence and open up the question why they turn off while the dragon approaches. Either the Pale Tree was attacked from the “inside” which endagers the whole Grove or it was managed/controlled by the Pale Tree. After some of them are slaughtered and the dragon was beaten everything turned peaceful. We didn’t do anything inside the Pale Tree, so the danger is in the Grove with either an infected Pale Tree or a lying Pale Tree.

The timing was perfect. It’s a pattern which I realized during SoS and PS.

Many people link Nightmare Court and Mordremoth. The Nightmare Court seeks for a way to release the sylvari from the dream into the nightmare. They only have one Pale Tree and their prior idea to release it is that Ventari’s Tablet needs to get destroyed. Either the Nightmare Court is wrong or the dragon doesn’t really care about the Pale Tree, maybe even the destroying of the tablet is not a solution, but the dragon didn’t take the opportunity to do it. Further was the Nightmare Court not active during the whole story (so far).

The strange disguise Anise used and her absence in the Omphalos chamber hints that she might know more or surmised the attack.

Unfortunately, as with LS1, a lot of inconsistencies are likely to be bad storytelling. All the “Why didn’t so and so do this?” type questions were pointless in LS1 and we just had to draw conclusions from what characters actually did and said in the story.

I’m guessing we’ll never find out how Mordremoth attacked the roots of the Pale Tree or how the Pale Tree defended itself. None of the characters will ask, nobody will tell, nobody will try to find new defenses, and the players will have to follow this vision instead. My take on it all, from a storytelling perspective, is that the Pale Tree could tell everything the player character needed to know about Mordremoth, the Nightmare Court, Soundless Sylvari, the Dream, etc. This would spoil the plot so the Pale Tree inexplicably tells us nothing we need to know, gets knobbled, and gives us a cryptic vision instead.

One thing – Pale Tree Avatar ask us too stay a little longer…. then champion approached. Maybe our PC (2nd of Pact) was true target. Vision was something important to lure us. Morde is clever, he influence Pale Tree with wisdom that can help us too take advantage of this. It is sided blade, he will split too much to lure us again and that will doom he.