Plotholes: The Nightmare, Dream, other Trees
1. It’s during the HoT story that sylvari are under constant crutiny, HOWEVER, by Caithe and Canach’s hand, they redeemed themselves, because 2 sylvari aided in the execution of the elder dragon. Of course it wasn’t a day 1 white card, but it really helped the persecuted sylvari from restoring their moral position within the pact and society. So by the end of HoT, and shortly after, the sylvari quite effectively redeemed themselves.
As for the dream, at the time, this story wasn’t written as detailed, or it was a preparation or whatever, they gave us a vague dragon fight so we had a dream that pulled us into the war against the elder dragons. It’s the player’s Wyld Hunt to defend the world from the elder dragons, not specifically any one.
But your last point is true, the Nightmare Court was teased bigger than the final product turnt out to be, in fact, the Nightmare Court has been very lazy. Kind of like the inquest they go yapping “look how evil we are” and then proceed to sit back and wait for something to happen
2. It was a truce based on a common enemy, and a harsh loss for the sylvari. The nightmare court knew that waging a war against the pale tree or the pact at this time was senseless, and borderline suicidal. A wounded pup knows when to retreat. A truce is a truce, not a peace-sign. They’ll be back.
3. Yes, this was, sadly, cut content. There’s evidence in the story that suggested Mallyck (or his original) was going to be a part of the story, but it was cut. I don’t know why, maybe the story got too complex, or confusing for anet’s taste.
These aren’t plot holes, contradictions within the story, just neglected plot threads that ANet hasn’t gotten back to. The Nightmare Court and Malyck are confirmed to have originally been part of the plan for HoT that got cut for scoping reasons, and the first episode of S3 confirmed that anti-sylvari sentiment is still going on in the background.
Although, I’m actually not sure what you’re getting at with your first point. Having the Shadow of the Dragon attack us in the tutorial seems to support that sylvari aren’t on Mordremoth’s side.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.
What direction is ANET going with the Sylvari? There are so many plotholes:
1.) We learn that they are not affiliated with the turned Mordrem in HoT and are hunted just as aggressively as the Pale Tree’s children by Mordremoth.
-This is contradictory to the Sylvari PC story in which the very first boss we fight within the dream is the Shadow of the Dragon, which is Mordremoth’s champion.
-In the Sylvari PC’s awakening story the Shadow of the Dragon that we fight is representative of the encroaching nightmare.
2.) There is a new duchess of the Nightmare Court (Chrysanthea) after Faolain and Mordremoth’s death who agrees to a temporary alliance with the Pact. This is never elaborated upon after HoT’s end.
3.) Malyck and the other Sylvari trees are still unexplained. We pushed into the Maguuma dragon tainted by Mordremoth and found no other evidence of other trees that exist to oversee Sylvari communes outside of the Pale Tree.
I agree 100%
I feel Anet started stories and quickly slashed them without giving us the details.
For instance as a Sylvari character for 2 out of 3 of my story lines, i heard comments all over the place during the HOT release whether in LA or HOT areas.
There clearly would be backlash and groups of people who dont trust them which would only create friction between the other races as well since so many people would die.
The story is 100% ex-machina for me at this point.
As a primarily sylvari player, it is definitely highly frustrating to see so many unfinished important hooks and plots, be it the anti-sylvari sentiment or a serious heart-to-heart with a slowly recovering Pale Tree about letting us and the whole Pact run right into Mordremoth’s jaws without warning. (No, mom, the whole song and dance with the memory seeds back in LS2 does not count because it didn’t reveal the big secret until it was way too late to save our fleet.)
At the same time, though, the last time my charr ever got to feel like charr was in the first chapter of the vanilla Personal Story, so I’d kind of understand that it may be time to focus on something else by now.
Either way leaves something to be desired, though. I really hope we get some development/closure with Mama Tree before long at least (the brief chat after the Caladbolg event was welcome, but too brief). But I also really hope that the writers will add more racial dialog where appropriate in future story chapters. Like the much-criticized lack of a special human reaction to Big B.
3. Yes, this was, sadly, cut content. There’s evidence in the story that suggested Mallyck (or his original) was going to be a part of the story, but it was cut. I don’t know why, maybe the story got too complex, or confusing for anet’s taste.
It was almost certainly cut because ANet was running out of time on HoT and just didn’t have enough resources to implement everything they wanted to implement.
Although, I’m actually not sure what you’re getting at with your first point. Having the Shadow of the Dragon attack us in the tutorial seems to support that sylvari aren’t on Mordremoth’s side.
I disagree, it could very easily be Mordremoth trying to take control of the Pale Tree so he would have another blightling tree further East. Considering that the Pale Tree herself can’t seem to fight it for whatever reason (being that you are recruited in the tutorial to help kill it), this would make sense if it happens to be the case. He just wasn’t expecting every newborn of this tree to actually rise up and resist the corruption.
3. Yes, this was, sadly, cut content. There’s evidence in the story that suggested Mallyck (or his original) was going to be a part of the story, but it was cut. I don’t know why, maybe the story got too complex, or confusing for anet’s taste.
It was almost certainly cut because ANet was running out of time on HoT and just didn’t have enough resources to implement everything they wanted to implement.
I’m not saying time wasn’t a factor, but the devs have stated the decision was made for narrative reasons, that the urgency of a plot defined by a rescue mission couldn’t allow for side trips. As it stands, I think the damage was done anyway between the egg and Rata Novus, and they’ve admitted there’re things they wished they’d done differently, but I can at least understand what they were aiming for.
Although, I’m actually not sure what you’re getting at with your first point. Having the Shadow of the Dragon attack us in the tutorial seems to support that sylvari aren’t on Mordremoth’s side.
I disagree, it could very easily be Mordremoth trying to take control of the Pale Tree so he would have another blightling tree further East. Considering that the Pale Tree herself can’t seem to fight it for whatever reason (being that you are recruited in the tutorial to help kill it), this would make sense if it happens to be the case. He just wasn’t expecting every newborn of this tree to actually rise up and resist the corruption.
Right. He could have been trying to take control, which means that she was not on his side. That’s what I was saying.
R.I.P., Old Man of Auld Red Wharf. Gone but never forgotten.