Guild Wars 2

Just saw this on GW2’s Tumblr page and it looks like we will see what happened to Rytlock here. Looks like he has a Seer headpiece as well. I wonder what that could imply?

Just as Kormir became a god in Abaddon’s stead, Rytlock will become an Elder Dragon in Zhaitan’s stead.

Joking aside, it’s interesting to think of what could happen with this.

It looks like he has a collar around his neck too.

The symbol on the front of that blindfold looks interesting. Kinda like the GW2 logo but obviously not :P.

November is the month that Fractals of the Mists gets updated. It was first introduced on November 16th 2012 and the Fractured patch was November 26th 2013. The next episode of the Living Story hits on November 25th and it will be the last patch in November, almost a full year since the last Fractals of the Mists patch.

My guess (and I said this when Rytlock first disappeared) is that Rytlock ended up in some part of the Mists that we will access via fractals. It will a fractal specific to the Foefire curse on Ascalon (that might explain the fire in the preview image – Foefire and flames) and we learn something that helps us to break the curse, or at least free Rytlock.

ArenaNet said the second half of Season 2 will be packed with throwback to GW1 and what better way to do that then have us actually experience the final fall of Ascalon – the Foefire itself. Not only will it be closure for GW1 players that never resolved the Ascalon plot line, it may even be closure in GW2 if we can finally put our ghostly Ascalonian heroes to rest.

Another exciting opportunity would be to reframe GW1 history from the perspective of a charr. We only experienced it from the perspective of the humans, but seeing a charr’s take on it would be interesting.

When E3 came out, Thalador told me what I thought to be a joke theory.

This… Points in that theory’s direction. I’ve poked him to say it himself.

And I may subscribe to it.

And I have a joke on it too….

The charr fractal takes place right before the foe fire so we already have a charr side perspective of it. There is so many things Anet could tie into here. Perhaps rytlock runs into komir and she gives him vital info on the dragons.

Thanks for the compéring, Konig. ;P

Yeah, back then I theorized half-jokingly that Rytlock would traverse the Mists from his entry point to say, the Hall of Heroes/the Rift — or anywhere in particular where the gods could be found. At this sacred place he would encounter one or more of the Six. Given that he’s a charr to the heart, he would attack them on sight (hehe) but would be incapacitated in a moment’s notice due to a combination of going blind from the burning divinity and being brutally overpowered by them. And here I made a logical jump in the brainstorm and toyed with the absurd possibility (drawing parallels from Saul’s story) that he would be nurtured back to health by the Six or their servants (e.g. the Forgotten) and become enlightened in their ways. Thus, Rytlock Brimstone would return to Tyria as the first charr to convert to the faith of the Six Gods.

And here we are, in the company of a seemingly more enlightened Rytlock wearing a blindfold and speaking as if he was on the most sacred of missions any mortal could have…

Addendum: What would be even grander is if Rurik’s soul — being drawn to his sword — would be Rytlock’s guide pre and post conversion; i.e. on the way in as well as out of the Mists.

Tl;dr: All hail Hierophant Rytlock Brimstone the Holy Convert!

I think the more likely thing for it to be is that one of Abaddon’s demons renders him blind just like they did with Kormir. The statue of Abaddon seems to me to be foreshadowing rather than “scholarly dudes think it looks cool in their library”.

On a personal level I think Abaddon is dead, or rather should be. I know because I killed him and that blind girl that did nothing to help me in the Real of Torment besides being a full-size minipet the whole way ascended to take his place as The Goddess of Truth. I would be severely disappointed to have that ret-conned, but it would make sense if Rytlock ran into a few of his demons in the You-Dub.

The emblem on the blindfold is clearly the symbol of the Six. :p

Or, in another direction…

The Leguonnaire Summoning Stone was introduced to gw1 in 2013, showing off Rytlock. When E3 came out, I instantly thought to that, and theorized he may have gone back in time.

Could he be going back in time, recover Sohothin from the Ring of Fire, and put it where Rytlock found it in ‘his ’ past (Tyria’s future)? Or he chased the sword, resulting in him getting Rurik’s sword, and the sword he lost in E3 goes to where Rytlock had gotten it before – making the Sohothin we’ve seen until now in gw2 a mere copy by the Mists of Sohothin, perhaps explaining why Rytlock was always so secretive to how he got it.

Or semi-joking in the path of ‘he went to gw1’: someone used the stone to fight Abaddon and he stared widemouth in disbelief and went blind from Abaddon’s divinity.

Valik Shin.9027:

The charr fractal takes place right before the foe fire so we already have a charr side perspective of it. There is so many things Anet could tie into here. Perhaps rytlock runs into komir and she gives him vital info on the dragons.

That’s the Searing, actually.

These theories make me cackle. Heheh.

If that really is the case, then I suppose that’s good enough reason to revisit the Fractals again. I always thought Rytlock would be in the Mists in some form or another.

Sirius.4510:

Don’t you worry, this is merely Rytlock’s Gandalf moment.

July 31st…

Sirus and me predicted that.

Rytlock Blindstone the White.

Bow to the kitty.

Looks like ending the curse of Foefire is going to prove more difficult than it initially looked.

I believe that the fire in the picture points to Rytlock having gotten Sohothin back somehow.

The blindfold reminds me of human Ritualists, and of Razah, who may be around in the Mists somewhere. It would be great if he made an appearance.

I also think that Rytlock should not survive an encounter with one of the human gods, as a Charr. He is their declared enemy.

It will be intersting to see in how far (and if at all) our characters will be a part of it. Will we go to the Mists? Or will we simply see Rytlock return, changed in some way?

Frosch.7809:

I also think that Rytlock should not survive an encounter with one of the human gods, as a Charr. He is their declared enemy.

I don’t recall the gods ever saying that the Charr were their enemies? They certainly favoured humans, but that doesn’t mean other races are their enemies.

Balthazar believed that humanity should rule Tyria.

But even though centaurs and humans are diehard enemies, he has centaur Eternals.

I could easily see even Balthazar accepting a charr convert.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

I don’t recall the gods ever saying that the Charr were their enemies? They certainly favoured humans, but that doesn’t mean other races are their enemies.

The Charr see themselves as the enemies of the gods. If you are an olympian-style deity with almost human-like weaknesses and a “lesser” creature that declares itself to be your enemy steps in front of you, how do you react? Especially given Rytlocks temper.

I am not taking into account that the Charr have tried to exterminate humanity, since the gods pretty much abandoned their roles as protectors of humanity (not that they ever did much anyway), and that they basically served Abaddon.

Rytlock is deeply rooted in the beliefs of his race. “There are no gods for the Charr” is their mantra. Rytlock would have to leave everything behind, his place in the Charr society, his status, everything that defines him. Small chance that that is going to happen.

Rytlock actually seems to be a rather unconventional charr in regards to belief. He put up with (read: got along well with) Logan for a full year, after all, and in the Loyal Soldier sire charr storyline mentioned learning human history and religion from Logan (though he doesn’t name Logan).

So of any charr, Rytlock would be near the top of the list of “charr who’d convert to a religion and/or charr who’d accept a peaceful relation with divine beings”.

The only way i could accept it to happen would be if it has already happened: Rytlock’s answer to the question how he got the sword: “Irrelevant.” comes to my mind here.
But i would not feel well with the idea. A tribune of a Legion secretly being a convert to human gods, that is…foremost a bad joke, secondly hard to imagine given how strict the Charr society is. Despite Rytlock’s tolerance of humans (which i do not see as much in him, by the way). A big risk to lose everything for what? It could be the price for being able to handle Sohothin though. But i still think it is unlikely.

Frosch.7809:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

I don’t recall the gods ever saying that the Charr were their enemies? They certainly favoured humans, but that doesn’t mean other races are their enemies.

The Charr see themselves as the enemies of the gods. If you are an olympian-style deity with almost human-like weaknesses and a “lesser” creature that declares itself to be your enemy steps in front of you, how do you react? Especially given Rytlocks temper.

Depends on what my long-term objectives were.

As has been commented before, I think the gods have probably been frustrated by the charr, but extermination of them is not in their plans (possible exception of Balthazar, but I think Dwayna and Melandru won that argument in the end). If the gods had wanted the charr extinct, they likely could have done so while they were still around, rather than urging Doric to show mercy. That they didn’t may have been simple mercy, or may have been part of a longer-term plan by which they wanted the charr for some purpose in the future.

Either way, if I was one of the gods (let alone all six) and someone with Rytlock’s temperament came at me declaring himself my enemy… then I would neutralise him, then calmly explain why I am NOT their enemy. While gods were defeated in GW1, this was while they were in a weakened state and being attacked by parties of eight. Rytlock is tough, but I don’t think he’d be able to solo Abaddon or Dhuum as they were when we fought them in GW1, let alone Dwayna or Balthazar with their full powers and freedom.

That said, I don’t think we should be expecting to frock Hierophant Brimstone of the Six Gods yet. Part of the reason given for the withdrawal of the gods, after all, is that they see humanity as entering a stage where they can look after themselves as adults rather than be cared for as children – this may mean that they themselves are at a stage where they don’t particularly care about worship and are more interested in allies. The charr are already effectively allied with humans – forming an alliance, as equal partners (in standing if not necessarily in total power) with the gods may actually be a logical next step. Particularly if the gods are offering something that can be useful for the charr – putting a divine mandate behind the peace process, for instance.

So if Rytlock does return bearing a message from the gods, then it may not be as a priest, but as an ambassador.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

So of any charr, Rytlock would be near the top of the list of “charr who’d convert to a religion and/or charr who’d accept a peaceful relation with divine beings”.

I can see the latter being the more likely of the situation, especially if the Six (or at least some of their servants/avatars) decide to help with the Foefire ghost problem. The former would be a bit OOC. Rytlock might gain a good amount of respect for the Six if he meets them, but I doubt he’ll be “Praise be to Kormir!” or “Balthazar give me strength!” anytime soon.

And let’s face it, the Charr’s whole “God killing” philosophy, at least concerning the Six, is just about useless rhetoric at this point. Unless they develop some sort of super weapon, the Six horribly, horribly, outmatch them in about every way, and since they have cut most ties to Tyria, they are out of reach for any real combat to occur anyway.

The Charr might as well accept that whole situation and move onto other problems. Which is something I can see Rytlock doing.

To be quite honest, the first thought I had when I saw the picture was “Rytlock is going full Illidan”.

Rym.1469:

To be quite honest, the first thought I had when I saw the picture was “Rytlock is going full Illidan”.

Many of illidan’s warcraft III quotes would totally fit Rytlock:

“I’m blind, not deaf.”
“I grow impatient”
“You dare speak to me?”
“Is that all?”
“Die, fool.”
“None may challenge me!”

Ritualist confirmed! D;

New Legendary confirmed!

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Valik Shin.9027:

The charr fractal takes place right before the foe fire so we already have a charr side perspective of it. There is so many things Anet could tie into here. Perhaps rytlock runs into komir and she gives him vital info on the dragons.

That’s the Searing, actually.

It’s the foe fire. The charr never breached ascalon city before the day of the foe fire. The charr used the searing to breach the wall but we’re unable to breach the city

Valik Shin.9027:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Valik Shin.9027:

The charr fractal takes place right before the foe fire so we already have a charr side perspective of it. There is so many things Anet could tie into here. Perhaps rytlock runs into komir and she gives him vital info on the dragons.

That’s the Searing, actually.

It’s the foe fire. The charr never breached ascalon city before the day of the foe fire. The charr used the searing to breach the wall but we’re unable to breach the city

According to Wiki, it was the searing. I’d also have to agree based on the content itself.

Valik Shin.9027:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Valik Shin.9027:

The charr fractal takes place right before the foe fire so we already have a charr side perspective of it. There is so many things Anet could tie into here. Perhaps rytlock runs into komir and she gives him vital info on the dragons.

That’s the Searing, actually.

It’s the foe fire. The charr never breached ascalon city before the day of the foe fire. The charr used the searing to breach the wall but we’re unable to breach the city

It’s not actual history. But an alternative version of history. This was told to us in an interview. It IS The Searing. Just check the fractal’s wiki page, which even cites the interview hth TowerTalk.

Nothing says that is Ascalon City, by the way. It could be Surmia, Drascir, or the other cities north of the wall.

I’m glad I read this thread. I’m no pro Lore-master, but I do enjoy keeping up with it and I NEVER saw the Wayfarer’s Reverie. Never! I’ve missed it everytime. So, while all the Rytlock stuff is cool, I have now marked my calendar for WR next year.

Hey guys. Im REALLY curious about the symbol on the blindfold. “Konig des Todes” said that it’s the symbol of the six gods. I didn’t find ANY symbols for the six gods. Where’s your source? I really don’t know about that.

Does anyone have any idea what symbol that is? I tried covering the symbol with other symbols in Photoshop.. not Shiro Tagachis Symbol, no Charr Symbols etc

It was the aforementioned “half-joke” on Thalador’s theory.

Aka, not a fact but supposition if Thalador’s theory is in the right direction.

I think it is similar to the Charr ideograms (the style). Perhaps it is a new word of the Charr language.

I looked through the different alphabet used in game for the different languages and to me it looks closest to Elonian.

I believe Rytlock took a wrong turn in the Mists, and somehow ended up in Lothlorien. And you know how those Elves are about strangers casting eyes upon their woods…