A few things of note, Serophous:
Lets go back to ls1 when we first meet brahm. Rytlock doesn’t believe what he says, and is “too busy”. Looking back, this could suggest he was researching a way to get rid of the ghosts already.
He was too busy due to the huge influx of sudden refugees brought by the Molten Alliance attacks. The entire leadership at the Black Citadel was – hence Rox’s first instance with the meeting of tribunes and Imperator Smodur.
The one pic we see him with fiery eyes. Could he be possessed? Unsure. He could also, once again, going through some ritual or spell to protect himself. We don’t know what books he was looking in to when figuring out the ghosts.
This was just concept art for the ritual, presumably. The concept art, while used as a loading screen, did not make it in-game visually. And it doesn’t seem to have held any significance thus far. I would take its canonocity with a small grain of salt.
It wasn’t part of the twitter teasers either.
Next we see him with a blindfold on, and wearing a different armor. There is also the quote “my journey has just begun”. In other words, after the initial trial, he has yet to prove himself. So he was given another quest.
I think this isn’t “proving himself” so much as his return to Tyria.
Again, he dove into the mists, went through some trial, and was given a new mission. So, who are “they”? Well, my first thought are the ghosts, that since mord was able to attack scarlet through omads machine (and maybe the machine actually sent her to the mists, and not the eternal alchemy). That and with the gods gone, there really isn’t anyone guarding or stopping intrusions. This part I want to believe, but I don’t know enough about the dragons (technically no one does) to know if they possess this kind of power.
Mordremoth is more about Mind, not spirits or the Mists. That’d be Jormag, if any Elder Dragon, who is the only dragon to have known influence on the Mists (though Zhaitan supposedly did draw at least one spirit from Grenth’s domain).
And why would ghosts become gw1-scarab-like plants?
The second theory is rytlock was sent out of the mists some how, and went to the second pale tree (discovered that there may be a second one by doing the sylvari story line). This one probably wasn’t able to defend against the dragons attacks, and once the tree fell, her children were corrupted and twisted.
Possible. I’ve heard thoughts that Rytlock ended up coming out of the Mists at the old Temple of Balthazar that was in the Falls.
I believe (just a belief) that the person who gave glints egg to the master WAS the pale tree with the plans told to him what to do when mord awakens. It would explain why mord wants the egg so badly.
The voice of the being that gave the Master the egg was a deep, masculine voice.
Doesn’t fit the Pale Tree at all.
Note though, the sword isn’t by his side still.
Actually, you can just barely see it, but it does seem to be on him in the final picture (“Be ready for anything”) we’ve gotten. On his left side, you can see the hilt. It clips with his armor though, and as such is mostly beneath the armor’s flaps.
The final pic Shows an up close pic, and we fully see the new armor along with “be ready for anything”. In theory, rytlock probably reported back to whoever sent him out, and they are ready to move.
I think they’re quoting Rytlock’s lines from E8, personally. The first images for the No Point of Return teasers we’ve been getting were quoting E3 and E4 stuff, and the latter ones that point to what we’ve seen, such as the Master of Peace’s “I have something I can no longer protect” is again, quoting the NPC’s words in Season 2.
So I think that these will be phrases we’ll be hearing personally when we see Rytlock again (presumably E8).
