Guild Wars 2

Hi all, I just released a new video about the living story. Based on new patch information (edit: Nightmare Tower), I elaborate on my previous ideas (which started a fair bit of discussion on Reddit last week). I think I’m onto something pretty special here; I guarantee you haven’t heard these living story lore ideas before.

Summary: Here I describe how the Scarlet’s plans all lead to the spreading of toxic chaos magic throughout Tyria as a way to forcefully induce evolution (huh?). Just trust me! I detail how and why this all fits together. I emphasize the importance of chaos residue, a byproduct of thaumanova energy, as the primary agent in Scarlet’s toxins. This chaos magic is what releases The Nightmare Within us.

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-zV7LrD86A

Came here to see if anyone posted this yet as I seen it on reddit. Found it an enjoyable listen. I like speculation videos though. Interested to see if some of the more lore heavy people who visit here can poke some holes in it.

This is actually a pretty good video, i think you might be right about chaos energy, and the husk being a chaos husk.

very interesting just a little confused on your theory with needing krait for mesmers as scarlet has already allied herself with part of the nightmare court and many of their leading members were powerful mesmers (ex faolain, and vevina)

Infamous Darkness.3284:

very interesting just a little confused on your theory with needing krait for mesmers as scarlet has already allied herself with part of the nightmare court and many of their leading members were powerful mesmers (ex faolain, and vevina)

Good question; I struggled a little bit with this myself. I’m not sure if it’s simply the case that krait mesmer magic is stronger, or perhaps more krait in general have access to mesmer magic. It could also be the case that Scarlet burned some of her bridges with the Nightmare Court. After learning about what Scarlet is planning to do, I don’t think the Nightmare Court would want to participate, since Scarlet’s plans not only mess with the Pale Tree’s dream, but the NC’s nightmare as well. It’s honestly not super clear at the moment. This will be something that I’ll be looking out for in upcoming patches.

to tell u the truth I like the video ,and I like the posability that this whole living storyes we had so far could have such a grand plot ,but Im afraid that we’re in for disapointment .What if all of this ends up to have some stupid ending ….sorry for bad english

Wirinus Satinus.8246:

to tell u the truth I like the video ,and I like the posability that this whole living storyes we had so far could have such a grand plot ,but Im afraid that we’re in for disapointment .What if all of this ends up to have some stupid ending ….sorry for bad english

It wont make a difference. Were so use to dull LS content that we half expect the ending to be bad.

I do however think this theory is correct but stories in video games rely on how well they are executed through the game and so far that has been lousy because they release tidbits every two weeks. It’s like watching 10 minutes of a movie and waiting two weeks to watch another 10 minutes each time.

If everyone watched all of wooden potatoes’ stuff and this guy’s we’d not have all this game hate and lore direction hate. They both have been very spot on with Anet’s direction and I’m all for what Anet is doing after seeing all their vids today.

First, I wanted to say that your theory is really fascinating and I think it is plausible. You invited us to elaborate on your theory and so I thought that I would.

Why the Krait
You have suggested that the Krait were chosen for their spellcasting abilities – particularly their ability to conceal. We have notable examples of powerful mesmers amongst the Krait. One who immediately comes to mind is the Krait Witch of Caledon Forest who has inserted herself into a Hylek village, masquerading as a Hylek villager. The only weakness that I have noted with this approach is that the Nightmare Court have demonstrated their mastery of this field of magic too and so, in and of itself, it seems highly unlikely that the Krait mesmer magic is the (at least primary) reason for their involvement. Consider, for example, the abilities of such villains as Faolin (arguably Faolin creates illusions that are not designed to conceal as much as to confuse; nonetheless I believe that the point is valid enough for the argument to stand).
Given the way in which the Lionguard have been actively pursuing Scarlet and even thwarting some of her plans it may be that an alternative explanation as to Krait involvement lies in their unique strengths as a race. For starters, no land-based command center of Scarlet’s has proven impenetrable for the wily player-characters of Guild Wars 2 or, for that matter, the Lionguard. This latest project of Scarlet is perhaps her masterstroke and as such she required a new kind of command center guarded by the most formidable forces at her disposal to grant her a higher chance of ultimate success. And the Krait form just such a force. Ruthless warmongers when the horn is sounded, the Krait have no qualms about brutal combat. Moreover, the Tower was built in the center of Lake Viathan so that it was not immediately obvious what was being constructed and moreover because it meant that a costly land-war with the armies of Tyria would not ensue (effectively, the Lake acts as a moat amongst other things). Let’s face it, most of Tyria’s land is a battleground right now and the only truly land-based forces Scarlet has at her disposal are the Aetherblades, Molten Alliance (etc etc) and the Nightmare Court. Although they are able to successfully conduct blitzkrieg-like attacks across Tyria, the strategy of Scarlet’s land-based forces thus far suggests that they do not have the strength of force required to engage in a lengthy land campaign (consider the Nightmare Court, for example, who are estimated to be no more than 15% of the Sylvari population. If this is the case for them it is probably the case for every other racial group represented within Scarlet’s forces except, of course, for the Krait). If the Tower had been constructed on land, Scarlet’s forces would face not only a lengthy siege but also full-scale engagements with the Lionguard who in turn would be able to draw upon the sizable forces of the Pact.
The location of Lake Viathan is also interesting. It appears to be a saltwater lake, although it may instead be brackish. Either way, it is accessed by a tidal channel that is not easily navigated by boats. Moreover, it provides Scarlet with a large body of water with which to rapidly grow the Tower without the need to engage in the lengthy diversion of water courses which, in turn, would draw the unwanted attention of the various races. The trees taken from the Kessex Hills by the Krait are the only resource that the Krait took in visibly large quantities, but given how the Centaurs and even the Seraph have deforested the region a little more wood for the Krait war machine didn’t go amiss.

Chaos Magic
This is an interesting idea and your theory on the evolution of the races of Tyria is very interesting. This conclusion – that the races are being transformed (“evolving” if you will) – is the amongst the top few theories on what the spore is actually doing. The only concern I have about Scarlet’s far-reaching designs is that her initial ire was directed at the role of the Pale Tree and the Dream Of Dreams in the lives of Sylvari. As I read the short story, Scarlet’s intention was to change this somehow. But biological evolution in and of itself does not seem to adequately address this, especially when we consider that the spore affects more than merely the Sylvari. Nonetheless, you may be correct and I am sure that readers would agree that the use of a biological agent – a living being and more than just any being, a plant – suggests that at least Scarlet is attempting to augment Tyrian biology in a similar way to that of the Elder Dragons. As I have previously pointed out before and regardless of whether others subscribe to this view, first the Elder Dragon’s magic and now Scarlet’s “magic” appear to be modeled (loosely) after the concept of disease in the real world. Whether this spore is parasitic, sybiotic or otherwise still remains to be seen. However, I would like to suggest an alternative theory about why Scarlet is releasing it which draws upon the same idea of “evolution”. The spores may be an attempt at mass inoculation on the part of Scarlet against something in particular: Elder Dragonic Corruption. Sylvari, after all, are naturally “immune” to Elder Draconic Corruption and Scarlet may think that the Dream Of Dreams is linked to the Cycle Of The Elder Dragons. After all, it was Caithe’s Wyld Hunt to kill Zaithan; that same Wyld Hunt that took them to Orr; that same Wyld Hunt that exposed a naïve Faolin and Caithe to Nightmare, led Faolin to fall into Nightmare and so Nightmare and Dream respectively to divide the Sylvari as a race. Essentially, the Dream and Nightmare are going to lead to a Sylvari civil war, or so Scarlet may reason.
In suggesting this I am merely pointing that that an alternative explanation may account for what the spore is meant to do. However, I do not wish to detract from the quality of your theory and so relegate this to the naughty corner.

Now I read some of the newer comments on your video and one caught my attention. One person theorized that Scarlet tried to kidnap Queen Jenna to assist her plan. I did some looking, and some personal speculating, and found that maybe Scarlet looked at the human empire, being the weakest of nations, battling on all fronts and only having a very temporary, fragile peace, and figured they would be easiest to corrupt, being the most beaten down. It could be possible that the illusion cast on the reactor existed before the Queen’s Jubilee and Scarlets attack. We need to remember that the reactor was discovered unintentionally, so how long has it existed? If this is so, it could show that the subtle mutation of beings could take a decent amount of time if they are to be mutated under control. This means that if Scarlet came to attack with an adequate amount of chaos matter, she could, theoretically, mutate the last remaining human settlement. Also, it provides a link to the Charr regions through the portal to Ebon Hawke (if that is what the city in Fields of Ruins name is), and a portal to Lions Arch. Now this would not be used to send troops, but spores. The mass travel of spores would expedite the spreading of the Chaos through infection of heavily populated urban regions. This supports your theory that she is trying to spread the chaos through growth of a new tree, and she was using the krait to conceal it until it germinated, and then some.
Now a look into the Eternal Alchemy, if this is capable of travel, and what is used in Asura gates, as hinted at I the asura storyline for those who chose College of Synergetics (a thing I will come back to) , her interest in the eternal alchemy could be how the transportation through teleportation works (her portals), making it able to expedite her mutation through mass spreading spores. Also, as we see in the College of Synergetics storyline, there is now a way to transport without a receiving end, something that could save Scarlet from the risk of people coming back through her portals, if she chooses to send spores through portals. Just a theory.
I don’t want to detract from your theory, it is very string, I am simply trying to possibly make a few more possible connections.

sierras.6297:

stuff!

Thanks for the input! A lot of really neat ideas there. I do, however, question the use of portals for spreading spores. The very nature of the nightmare tree is that it spreads the spores through the air. In doing so, the spores spawn more nightmare trees (the offshoots dynamic events). And if those offshoots succeed in growing, then the trees/spores spread farther and farther, like a virus/epidemic. It seems like such a roundabout plan to use portals to reach Ascalon when the spores would do it themselves in time.

Great video! I just watched it and made a thread about it! Then I found this thread…

…good bye old thread.

Stephen.6312:

Stephen’s stuff

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback. So many great ideas here. I have heard some of them before, but not others. Thanks for clarifying and tightening up some of the details about the races/factions that I glossed over in the video.

[minor Nightmare Within spoilers ahead]

As for the chaos magic/evolution — I think the idea garnered a bit more credibility after seeing the final battle atop the nightmare tree. The toxic hybrid specifically had a mechanic(?) or property of “evolves rapidly” which I found extremely interesting. It’s still unknown what it means. I’ve seen others talk about the merging of the two races and Scarlet’s casual response to our arrival. Things couldn’t have gone better if we tried, she said. Even in killing the monster (and possibly the tree itself), we were aiding in her grand plan. That part is a little confusing to me. If that’s the case, then why have a tree that is spreading spores? What’s the point of that, if its ultimate demise means nothing at all?

Anyways, with a tiny new insight, the patch brings so many more questions.

Oh! And make sure to watch the dev live stream for this patch. The devs give tiny little hints about what is going on. For example, they said that the toxic krait became toxic from lingering around the fumes for so long that it’s starting to affect them. Little stuff like that makes me feel more confident in the evolution perspective of my theory.

Finnway.2183:

Great video! I just watched it and made a thread about it! Then I found this thread…

…good bye old thread.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it

Another thing, someone on your video commented about how Abbadon’s minion has 6 eyes or something like that. I wonder what the lore connection between the Thaumanova reactor fractal, the Abbadon’s Fall fractal, and Scarlett’s story is. It makes sense, since the Fractal patch is next week, that they both would give us some lore to help set up the climax of Scarlett’s arc. The Thaumanova Reactor makes sense, but what could Abbadon’s Fall have to do with Scarlett?

Finnway.2183:

Another thing, someone on your video commented about how Abbadon’s minion has 6 eyes or something like that. I wonder what the lore connection between the Thaumanova reactor fractal, the Abbadon’s Fall fractal, and Scarlett’s story is. It makes sense, since the Fractal patch is next week, that they both would give us some lore to help set up the climax of Scarlett’s arc. The Thaumanova Reactor makes sense, but what could Abbadon’s Fall have to do with Scarlett?

Before I made this video, I spent a lot of time trying to reconcile Scarlet’s stories/plans/LS content with the idea of Abaddon (and Grenth). Ultimately I think it’s just opening up a can of worms; really more trouble than it’s worth. We would need so many more updates just to link it up to Abaddon. And others have pointed out to me that Abaddon was extinguished in a way that prevents any sort of resurrection. However, I think I also read somewhere that before Abaddon died, he dispersed his magical ‘essence’ into chaos magic. I really don’t know anything about that — I didn’t play GW1 and the wiki didn’t help. I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea that some ‘essence’ of Abaddon is held within chaos magic, but I don’t think that he’s a central player to the story at all. Just as you are saying now, I said on Reddit that having both fractal options during voting would lead to different perspectives of the same story. You’re not alone there! I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Maybe we’ll get the Abaddon story next year? Thanks for the input

Psynch.4087:

sierras.6297:

stuff!

Thanks for the input! A lot of really neat ideas there. I do, however, question the use of portals for spreading spores. The very nature of the nightmare tree is that it spreads the spores through the air. In doing so, the spores spawn more nightmare trees (the offshoots dynamic events). And if those offshoots succeed in growing, then the trees/spores spread farther and farther, like a virus/epidemic. It seems like such a roundabout plan to use portals to reach Ascalon when the spores would do it themselves in time.

My thinking was that the Tree will release spores, and majority of those spores will land in Kessex Hills and maybe Queensdale. Some may go as far as Lions arch, but those will be far fewer. What does she have by infecting these low population areas, I mean Kessex hills has probably 200, maybe up to 500 residents, that’s being generous. And these people are mostly Seraph and Lionguard, so they can easily pack up and go if the threat is to great, or will die fighting. I saw that by utilizing portals, as we see she has already done for movement of troops, she could bypass the areas of lowest threat or importance.

Now look at her objectives, EVOLVE THE PALE TREE. While letting the spores take their time and spread through nature, it would be much more effective to create a portal and send hundreds, if not thousands, of spores down on the Pale Tree and surrounding areas like Caeldon Forest. With enough spores, they will catch root and it will become very difficult to uproot all of them.
Depending on how many spores the tree emits, this could be repeated over heavily populated areas such as Lions Arch, or The Black Citadel. If the tree reactor would be left to reproduce on its own, the process would take much too long and the races of Tyria would find a way to combat it. With their superior forces, they would wipe Scarlet. This is why it would be imperative for her to overwhelm them, instead of slowly spreading, allowing for her enemy time to find weaknesses and exploit them.

Is there a possible link between the Nightmare species and the Realm Of Torment? The Realm Of Torment is also called The Nightmare Realm and it is where Abbadon was imprisoned by 5 other gods, hence the potential connection.

Abbadon’s followers were imprisoned with him and corrupted and turned into demons, just like how Chaos Magic mutates creatures who are exposed to it.

Imprisoned with him are his worshipers including the Margonites, former humans turned into demons by Abaddon, and demons of torment.

This would also make sense in terms of continuing the themes of GW1. Abaddon was responsible for a lot of antagonists in GW1. If Scarlett is bringing us an alternative version of his magic she is continuing those themes.

During his imprisonment, Abaddon sought a way to return to the world, sending out demonic servants to subvert the mortal realm. It was a servant of Abaddon who persuaded Shiro Tagachi to murder Emperor Angsiyan, causing the Jade Wind, and Abaddon sent titans, who acted as gods for the charr and gave them the capability to perform the ritual of the Searing. When the charr assaulted Orr, Razakel convinced Vizier Khilbron, who was also a follower of Abaddon, to read the Lost Scrolls and sink the land in the Cataclysm.

In 1075 AE, worshipers of Abaddon, General Kahyet and Warmarshal Varesh Ossa attempted to enact Nightfall, thereby returning Abaddon to the mortal plane with the Great Margonite Temple as the center of his rule.

NOTE: I’m not suggesting she is a servant of Abbadon. I’m merely suggesting her character continues certain themes.

It’s not logical for the Elder Dragons be the main villains because they’re not evil. They are more like a part of Tyria’s “magic eco-system” consuming magic when they awake and bleeding it when they sleep.

The natural role of the Elder Dragons is to keep magic balanced by consuming it and drawing it into themselves. Every few thousand years, the Dragons awaken and consume everything around them, thereby reducing the world to a low level of magic, before going back to sleep. From then, the magic they have consumed bleeds out into the world, only for the Dragons to awaken once more and the cycle to begin again.

I’ve never played GW1 either. But your video made think and I got reading the wiki.

Finnway.2183:

Finnway quote

I’m loving that you went through the trouble of searching for all that info. It can be so fun when you’re hot on a trail of some lore. I went down that same line of thought (it goes DEEP). But see my answer to a similar question:

Before I made this video, I spent a lot of time trying to reconcile Scarlet’s stories/plans/LS content with the idea of Abaddon (and Grenth). Ultimately I think it’s just opening up a can of worms; really more trouble than it’s worth. We would need so many more updates just to link it up to Abaddon. And others have pointed out to me that Abaddon was extinguished in a way that prevents any sort of resurrection. However, I think I also read somewhere that before Abaddon died, he dispersed his magical ‘essence’ into chaos magic. I really don’t know anything about that — I didn’t play GW1 and the wiki didn’t help. I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea that some ‘essence’ of Abaddon is held within chaos magic, but I don’t think that he’s a central player to the story at all. Just as you are saying now, I said on Reddit that having both fractal options during voting would lead to different perspectives of the same story. You’re not alone there! I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Maybe we’ll get the Abaddon story next year? Thanks for the input

Psynch.4087:

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-zV7LrD86A

crap, now I wish Scarlet never dies in lore… I want this to happend now, I want to be a corupted charr with greather power serving Scarlet
best lore movie speculation I’ve seen

Finnway.2183:

Another thing, someone on your video commented about how Abbadon’s minion has 6 eyes or something like that. I wonder what the lore connection between the Thaumanova reactor fractal, the Abbadon’s Fall fractal, and Scarlett’s story is. It makes sense, since the Fractal patch is next week, that they both would give us some lore to help set up the climax of Scarlett’s arc. The Thaumanova Reactor makes sense, but what could Abbadon’s Fall have to do with Scarlett?

I made that comment. I am Exiledboswer on youtube. Its a monkier I made for myself when I was still dabbling in a Mario fan game engine program called SMBX. I was the one that drew that conclusion about Abbadon falling into chaos after his defeat the first time and unleashing that chaos after his death at the end of nightfall;

“The idea that the eyes on everything affected by of chaos has 6 eyes like Abadon’s former minions in gw 1, is that Abbadon gave into his own internal chaos (you proved this by showing how the Skritt turn into something new, something different when they hug that chaos material. Its a lot like what Abbadon did to his own people.) corrupting his own self with all his vast knowledge and secrets, becoming a fallen god thus, this could provide a link in a way that all chaos and its affects are mutual. But its not to say as you have already disproven that this all leads back to Abbadon.”

Also remember he corrupted his own followers, the Margonites, with his power which in-turn, was chaos magic in of itself.

It may be that scarlet is trying to recreate Abbadon’s chaotic tendencies and his chaos and its effects, or that its just that chaos magic had this sort of effect all this time all along.

Note: I do not make vids on youtube. I lack the equipment/expertise necessary. When I do get a new rig, I plan to even do GW 2 stuff of my own along with other unrelated stuff. I might even dabble into GW/2 lore.

Hi everyone!
I have bumped this – I know. But I have done so because we have forgotten about the lessons of Thaumanova and given the nature of some of the recent developments in Scarlet’s story, it might make a bit more sense and be relevant to our current investigations.