Guild Wars 2

Mursaat in GW1 were not much taller than humans. Lazarus in GW2 is way bigger. Is there any explanation for his size so far in GW2? I’m not looking for speculative answers like “It must be because he absorbed all that magic from the bloodstone.”

Speculative’s all we’ve got.

He was taking growth hormones to speed his regeneration prior to absorbing the bloodstone

Artistic license in my opinion…

Shoe inserts. You can get 5 inches or more of height with a set of shoe inserts. You’ll need specially modified shoes but he’s had plenty of time to find a good shoemaker.

Lazarus has been resurrected, he was formless for a while. Meaning, being remade, he could’ve been made a lot a taller or shorter depending on the available mass to make a body out off

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Speculative’s all we’ve got.

He is a GOD walking among mere mortals you know :P

In GW1, bosses and boss-like foes were always much bigger than their standard counterparts.

In GW2, veterans are larger than normal foes, champions larger than veterans, and legendary foes larger than champions (elite foes are overlooked in the size-increase due to their original purpose as being dungeon-only regulars).

Lazarus is a legendary rank, thus gets upscaled a bit in size.

Scarlet and many other bosses during the Scarlet Invasions were the same, being much larger than normal NPCs of that race, or in Scarlet’s case being larger than when she was in story instances.

This is all just important foe NPCs being upscaled so that they can be more easily seen, something often done in MMOs.

I mean, just go look at Adelbern in the dungeon. He’s taller than norn. Or the norn bosses in HotW – they’re about the size of necromancers’ Lich Form.

@Amaimon: I don’t recall anything saying he was formless after Eye of the North, when we last see him (chronologically) prior to GW2.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

In GW1, bosses and boss-like foes were always much bigger than their standard counterparts.

In GW2, veterans are larger than normal foes, champions larger than veterans, and legendary foes larger than champions (elite foes are overlooked in the size-increase due to their original purpose as being dungeon-only regulars).

Lazarus is a legendary rank, thus gets upscaled a bit in size.

Scarlet and many other bosses during the Scarlet Invasions were the same, being much larger than normal NPCs of that race, or in Scarlet’s case being larger than when she was in story instances.

This is all just important foe NPCs being upscaled so that they can be more easily seen, something often done in MMOs.

I mean, just go look at Adelbern in the dungeon. He’s taller than norn. Or the norn bosses in HotW – they’re about the size of necromancers’ Lich Form.

@Amaimon: I don’t recall anything saying he was formless after Eye of the North, when we last see him (chronologically) prior to GW2.

He was, wasnt he. Didnt he make a big deal of tearing himself into pieces and storing them in white mantle chiefs. To be reunited in the current bloodstone raid?

I don’t think it is a case of gameplay issues (like Sabetha or Matthias, where their models need to be bigger in order to be better identifiable); we see legendary rank NPCs of normal size anyway (Taidha Covington being one, but mostly friendly NPCs, like Logan and Trahearne).
More likely I think it’s the same thing that happened with the Jotun: the Jotun were way bigger in size in GW1 and when transported to GW2 they went through a reimaginative process, which produced a reduction in their size. The same could have happened with the mursaat: proof for this are the various mursaat armours (busts) found throughout the Stronghold of the Faithful, which appear bigger in size than those in GW1. There might be a counterproof to this though: the hollowed space in the Stasis Chamber seems to be of normal size, if not even smaller than GW1 mursaat.
In addition, following his rebirth, not only did Lazarus’s armour change (which is pretty evident when compared to the various mursaat busts I mentioned above) but his physical size could have also changed.

Size change between games would be the second likely explanation I’d take, and was going to mention but I would still argue that “size of important villains” is still strong (even if Lazarus is now claiming to be an ally, when he was introduced he wasn’t and they wouldn’t change his size, most likely, between such).

And I think Taidha is larger, just not that much larger and thus is still closer to norn/charr sized rather than human sized. But it’s been a while since I fought that boring boss so I may misremember.

Amaimon.7823:

He was, wasnt he. Didnt he make a big deal of tearing himself into pieces and storing them in white mantle chiefs. To be reunited in the current bloodstone raid?

He reformed himself in the end of the event chain. It’s also at that moment that we caused damage to the fragment within the justiciar we were trying to save (and failed to), which caused the entire need for Lazarus to be “resurrercted” in the first place, and was also when Lazarus swore eternal revenge against asura- and mankind.

@Konig: A better example of a hostile legendary rank NPC not being enlarged is Kudu (and his power suit), who’s a rather important villain.