Guild Wars 2

One of the exciting things about the upcoming Path of Fire expansion is the potential interplay and conflict between 3 factions of antagonist…

1 Balthazar and the Forged
An embittered human god, recently empowered with bloodstone magic and the energy from two elder dragons. With revenge on his mind he’s out with army to hunt down another Elder Dragon to obtain yet more power.

2 Kralkatorrik and the Branded
A gigantic Elder Dragon/force of nature, likened to a mountain when dormant and can transform into a sandstorm when active. Has the usual Elder Dragon preoccupation of consuming (all) magic and corrupting life – Kralkatorrik’s crystalline corruption is particularly deadly

3 Palawa Joko and the Awakened
The powerful undead lich who is “ruler of Elona” and not going to take kindly to other powerful entities trying to muscle-in on his home turf.

Arenanet are selling Balthazar as the main antagonist as the expansion lets us “battle a god”. Joko is a nasty piece of work, but historically we know he can be bargained with.

But what about Kralkatorrik? Can he be reasoned with?

Both Mordremoth and Zhaitan could communicate (indirectly in the case of the undead dragon). That was mostly to threaten & antagonise the player, but it suggests conversations with Kralkatorrik are possible. What do you think the hunters reaction will be to becoming the hunted? Will he be concerned?

I have this impression that the Crystal Dragon could be a very conceited entity. I would have thought that if consuming magic is your preoccupation and purpose in life, then Balthazar could be considered a particularly tasty morsel, and Kralkatorrik would relish taking him on (leading to the dragon’s destruction).

Some have suggested Kralkatorrik fathered Glint’s eggs (unverified). Furthermore, Gleam is still a potential player in Tyrian history – was it he who entrusted the Master of Whispers with Aurene? (A popular theory). If there is any truth in these, can the Crystal Dragon’s “children” play a role in helping us influence him?

Given the Edge of Destiny description, I do not think Kralkatorrik can be reasoned with. His mind and goal was practically described as greed personified, arguably with the goal of seeking perfection, and with the mentality of “if I cannot have it, no one can”. When you add that child-like tantrum mentality to a being of god-like capabilities, you get someone who will just shout “but I wanna, I wanna, I wanna!” when you tell them no.

Kralkatorrik was already “the hunted” in Edge of Destiny to top it off, and his reaction was simply “kill the annoying bug that can actually harm me, ignore the rest.”

If any Elder Dragon can be reasoned with, I would argue that it would be either Jormag, Mordremoth, or the fully unknown deep sea dragon.

cocodragon.7916:

I have this impression that the Crystal Dragon could be a very conceited entity. I would have thought that if consuming magic is your preoccupation and purpose in life, then Balthazar could be considered a particularly tasty morsel, and Kralkatorrik would relish taking him on (leading to the dragon’s destruction).

I want to note two things:

Fistly, the thought that “consuming magic is the Elder Dragons’ preoccupation and purpose in life” is ultimately false. It’s a misconception ArenaNet intentionally threw in – like the Elder Dragons being mindless forces of nature – to act as an unreliable narrator. Those are how the typical Tyrians view the Elder Dragons (well, typical Tyrians see them as forces of nature, typical studied Tyrians view them as magic balancers); but when you observe deeply enough, we see that consuming magic is just a side effect of their behavior – they have their own individual goals, unrelated to eating magic, but to achieve those goals they need power, and to gain power fastest they eat magic.

This is why they “balance” magic from one extreme (too much magic in the world) to too little (too little magic in the world) – they’re not actually trying to balance magic, they’re trying to soak in all the magic that they can so they could finally achieve their goals. Except the world’s magic ins’t big enough for the six of them, so that always resulted in them drying up their resources far too soon.

Second note: I wouldn’t be too fast to call Balthazar a “tasty morsel” for Elder Dragons. Primary reason being that he waded through an army of magic-consuming destroyers and stood in front of a magic-nomming Elder Dragon to set up his stolen machine. This isn’t even the first case of beings or magic being immune to dragon corruption, and every case (Foefire, Divine Torch, Forgotten magic, Bloodstones) can be tied directly or indirectly to divinity – either to the Six Gods, or to other, unknown, divine resources (specifically on the latter: the Bloodstone).

cocodragon.7916:

Some have suggested Kralkatorrik fathered Glint’s eggs (unverified).

While Gleam and Aurene both should have a role to play (we know there’s a Zephyrite village, we’ll be able to visit where Destiny’s Edge battled Kralkatorrik, and we are dealing with Kralkatorrik more directly ourselves so it would make sense they show up or at the very least get mentioned), I think this theory is full of bullocks.

Main reason being that Glint would not be the first dragon champion to create ‘eggs’ as a means of minion making without ever being pregnant – but more importantly, Glint said that once upon a time the world was ruled by dragons. On top of this, we see not one but two definite dragon species in the world, and one can argue for a few more (note about the second to last link: that miniature shares the same shape as Mordremoth, with the potential exception of short stubby legs but we see on the event icon for Mordremoth fight legs on the snake-like body – if the theory that all Elder Dragons were once normal dragons, then Mordremoth would have been a Mystical Dragon before gaining a lot more power).

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Main reason being that Glint would not be the first dragon champion to create ‘eggs’ as a means of minion making without ever being pregnant – but more importantly, Glint said that once upon a time the world was ruled by dragons. On top of this, we see not one but two definite dragon species in the world, and one can argue for a few more (note about the second to last link: that miniature shares the same shape as Mordremoth, with the potential exception of short stubby legs but we see on the event icon for Mordremoth fight legs on the snake-like body – if the theory that all Elder Dragons were once normal dragons, then Mordremoth would have been a Mystical Dragon before gaining a lot more power).

On a side note, it’d be interesting if the DSD turned out to be a dragon turtle…

Regarding Kralkatorrik… I’m not necessarily sure he can’t be reasoned with. The impression I got from Edge of Destiny was that Kralkatorrik was essentially looking to complete himself, in a fashion, and was essentially trying to consume everything in an attempt to fill the hollowness inside. And part of what made Snaff’s interference in Kralky’s mind so effective was that Snaff basically made himself be everything that Kralkatorrik was missing.

At the time, Kralkatorrik regarded it as an irritation to be destroyed… particularly since he was already primed for a fight when he (it?) arrived. However, it could be an interesting twist for it to turn out that Kralkatorrik has thought on the matter since and decided that the ants might actually have what he’s looking for, something that gets destroyed when they’re turned into minions, and thus an alliance might serve his goals. Or that Snaff is still inside his mind working his influence from within…

I don’t think this scenario is highly probable… but it’s not impossible either.

draxynnic.3719:

At the time, Kralkatorrik regarded it as an irritation to be destroyed… particularly since he was already primed for a fight when he (it?) arrived. However, it could be an interesting twist for it to turn out that Kralkatorrik has thought on the matter since and decided that the ants might actually have what he’s looking for, something that gets destroyed when they’re turned into minions, and thus an alliance might serve his goals. Or that Snaff is still inside his mind working his influence from within…

I don’t think this scenario is highly probable… but it’s not impossible either.

I doubt that last statement. If he really thought that one of the races might have what he was missing, I doubt he would’ve flown even further south. Remember, unlike all the other dragons, he’s not even actively making his minions; him merely flying over the land transformed it and any creature in his path. Something called him to Vabbi after being at Glint’s former lair for so long, and there were probably plenty of people still there, assuming Joko hadn’t Awakened them all. I don’t see Kralkatorrik having a discussion with Palawa Joko (or anyone else) when he could instead just take it for himself. Neither Zhaitan nor Mordremoth gave any inclination that they were interested in peace, either, when they could just destroy any who would dare interfere.

I won’t dismiss Snaff being inside Kralkatorrik as nothing, though. It’s possible that Snaff is still in there, somehow, even if it’s a fragment or echo of the real Snaff, and that could somehow be his undoing (whatever that’ll mean for this part of the story). I doubt it gave him a personality upgrade, though, or a sudden willingness to back off. No, Kralk is probably still happy merely corrupting living beings into things that’ll serve him and his pursuit for an impossible goal.

Rognik.2579:

Remember, unlike all the other dragons, he’s not even actively making his minions; him merely flying over the land transformed it and any creature in his path.

Er, no. He created minions by breathing on the land while flying. He is actively making minions – all dragons are.

It’s made point blank clear in Edge of Destiny branded are made proactively too. Even in-game it’s made point blank clear (Sentinels become encased in crystal or struck by the Brandstorm and get infused by corrupting energies).

Rognik.2579:

Something called him to Vabbi after being at Glint’s former lair for so long,

Now this is an interesting thought. While it could just be him relocating for more desert lands to conquer, thus having no particular reason for going to Vabbi itself, if something called him there… He landed at the Mirror of Lyss.

What makes this an interesting line of thought is that we left a dragon near there, 250 years ago. And as we see with Gleam, and Aurene, the Elder Dragons tend to be drawn to good, non-betraying, dragons (oddly, Primordus is the one who went after Gleam and Aurene, not Kralkatorrik).

However, drax may have a point too – Kralkatorrik could have gone to Vabbi because he decided he could try interacting with them, but thought he made too much damage in Ascalon. Over the 8 years he was in the Crystal Highlands, he might have come across Elonian refugees and decided to study this first-hand. But being an Elder Dragon he’s not exactly careful with his actions and movements. Would be an ironic twist if he went to Vabbi not to cause problems, but did so just by being “incomplete”.

Rognik.2579:

I don’t see Kralkatorrik having a discussion with Palawa Joko (or anyone else) when he could instead just take it for himself. Neither Zhaitan nor Mordremoth gave any inclination that they were interested in peace, either, when they could just destroy any who would dare interfere.

The point drax makes is that Kralkatorrik has, so far, been unable to take it for himself.

I would disagree with the Zhaitan and Mordremoth statement. Rather than “not wanting peace”, they were more of the mentality of “if you oppose me, I’ll just have to kill you”. Mordremoth does offer the PC to join him a few times, more so if sylvari, he just wasn’t very convincing.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Rognik.2579:

Something called him to Vabbi after being at Glint’s former lair for so long,

Now this is an interesting thought. While it could just be him relocating for more desert lands to conquer, thus having no particular reason for going to Vabbi itself, if something called him there… He landed at the Mirror of Lyss.

What makes this an interesting line of thought is that we left a dragon near there, 250 years ago. And as we see with Gleam, and Aurene, the Elder Dragons tend to be drawn to good, non-betraying, dragons (oddly, Primordus is the one who went after Gleam and Aurene, not Kralkatorrik).

Shiny is a possibility. Going after the traitor champion Glint doesn’t necessarily set a precedent that he’d go after a Saltspray that, as far as we know, are not corrupted by Elder Dragons at all. On the other hand, we’ve seen that the Elder Dragons appear to consider lesser dragons in general as ideal subjects for making into champions: Glint was said to be corrupted, not created, by Kralkatorrik, and then there’s the blighted wyvern bosses in Heart of Thorns.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

However, drax may have a point too – Kralkatorrik could have gone to Vabbi because he decided he could try interacting with them, but thought he made too much damage in Ascalon. Over the 8 years he was in the Crystal Highlands, he might have come across Elonian refugees and decided to study this first-hand. But being an Elder Dragon he’s not exactly careful with his actions and movements. Would be an ironic twist if he went to Vabbi not to cause problems, but did so just by being “incomplete”.

Double irony if it turns out that the Branded are aggressive mostly because Kralkatorrik was feeling threatened enough by Joko and Balthazar that he’s gone back into full-on defensive mode.

One of the things that struck me is that Kralkatorrik appeared to land near the Garden of Seborhin, but avoided transforming it. Makes me wonder if that was deliberate or just luck. If he has decided to go on a quest for inner peace, that might give another reason why he’s gone to that particular location.