Guild Wars 2

How does it make sense for there to be revenants channelling the same legends at the same time? For example, how can the Shiro legend be channelled by multiple revenants in the same instance? I visualize the revenant as some sort of mystic warrior/ medium that communes with the spirits of legendary figures and it doesn’t make sense for there to be several instances of the same spirit being channelled.

The Mists is a proto-reality, the whole WvW thing is actually -canon- in the lore. We are fighting a front against the other alternative realities that the Mists connects to. There are multiple existences of Tyria so basically there can also be multiple existences of the spirits of these legends.

The Mists is a highly complex thing that can’t be explained rationally since it’s essentially a celestial plane.

Great is the mystery of the Mists.

From what we’ve been told through the blog posts, specifically this one, my takeaway is that revenants DO NOT channel spirits. What they draw on is the imprints, ‘echoes’, of extraordinarily important figures on the Mists, which mirrors things that happen in Tyria. While it hasn’t been addressed yet, and hopefully we’ll get an official answer within HoT, my bet is that there are multiple of each of these echoes- given the nature of the Mists, they might even be a theoretically infinite number.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

What they draw on is the imprints, ‘echoes’, of extraordinarily important figures on the Mists, which mirrors things that happen in Tyria.

And beyond Tyria. It’s implied that the Mists might be a multiverse.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

From what we’ve been told through the blog posts, specifically this one, my takeaway is that revenants DO NOT channel spirits. What they draw on is the imprints, ‘echoes’, of extraordinarily important figures on the Mists, which mirrors things that happen in Tyria. While it hasn’t been addressed yet, and hopefully we’ll get an official answer within HoT, my bet is that there are multiple of each of these echoes- given the nature of the Mists, they might even be a theoretically infinite number.

That’s pretty much my take. Channeling a legend isn’t invoking the spirit itself – in some cases, we think that the spirit has actually been destroyed bringing total oblivion (this can apparently happen when a spirit is ‘killed’ in the Mists, and this is likely happened to Shiro and Khilbron). Instead, it’s drawing power from an imprint that the legend left on the Mists.

Fractals might be a good analogy here: the creatures inside fractals are not the spirits of the people who were involved in the depicted events, but new creatures that were created from the Mists by the reflection of those events on Tyria. Similarly, there may well be undiscovered fractals that spawned from significant events in the life of each legend: the final battles of Shiro, Glint and Mallyx, Ventari’s inscribing of the Tablet (which would explain why his skills are so Tablet-focused), and Jalis undergoing the Rite of the Great Dwarf. A revenant can tap into these fractals, draw upon the magic, and use the associated skills.

The Mists being what they are, of course, the reflection is likely imperfect: hence why the skills are related to the power of the legend in life, but not the same (and in most cases, not as powerful, although Jalis seems to have been substantially boosted from how he was in life, and even how he was right after the Ritual).

if we assume that spirits of the past continue to operate as they did in gw1, then as ritualists were unable to produce the same copy of a spirit when summoned, (no two ritualists, on the same PC side, in the same area could summon the same spirit) then we must assume that the revenant is not channeling “spirits”.

however, summoning and channeling are two different things.

the revenant feels like what they are attempting to do in the series i started watchign on netflix called Sens8 (sensate). 6 ppl are able to access the skills and abilities of one another across time and space. so, revenants could be operating like this also.

another thing. we know for 100% certainty that shiro tagachi is dead. he died in woc, and we killed his spirit in one of the last missions in nightfall. both he and the lich are destroyed.

CureForLiving.5360:

Aaron Ansari.1604:

What they draw on is the imprints, ‘echoes’, of extraordinarily important figures on the Mists, which mirrors things that happen in Tyria.

And beyond Tyria. It’s implied that the Mists might be a multiverse.

Not implied, but outright stated.

draxynnic.3719:

Aaron Ansari.1604:

From what we’ve been told through the blog posts, specifically this one, my takeaway is that revenants DO NOT channel spirits. What they draw on is the imprints, ‘echoes’, of extraordinarily important figures on the Mists, which mirrors things that happen in Tyria. While it hasn’t been addressed yet, and hopefully we’ll get an official answer within HoT, my bet is that there are multiple of each of these echoes- given the nature of the Mists, they might even be a theoretically infinite number.

That’s pretty much my take. Channeling a legend isn’t invoking the spirit itself – in some cases, we think that the spirit has actually been destroyed bringing total oblivion (this can apparently happen when a spirit is ‘killed’ in the Mists, and this is likely happened to Shiro and Khilbron). Instead, it’s drawing power from an imprint that the legend left on the Mists.

Fractals might be a good analogy here: the creatures inside fractals are not the spirits of the people who were involved in the depicted events, but new creatures that were created from the Mists by the reflection of those events on Tyria. Similarly, there may well be undiscovered fractals that spawned from significant events in the life of each legend: the final battles of Shiro, Glint and Mallyx, Ventari’s inscribing of the Tablet (which would explain why his skills are so Tablet-focused), and Jalis undergoing the Rite of the Great Dwarf. A revenant can tap into these fractals, draw upon the magic, and use the associated skills.

The Mists being what they are, of course, the reflection is likely imperfect: hence why the skills are related to the power of the legend in life, but not the same (and in most cases, not as powerful, although Jalis seems to have been substantially boosted from how he was in life, and even how he was right after the Ritual).

I’m just going to say ditto, because Aaron and drax said how I’ve been viewing the matter for the most part.

Another way to look at it:

Turai Ossa’s spirit is in the Hall of Heroes. However, during Arcana Obscura, we invoke a ritual made by the Forgotten to create an echo of Turai’s spirit – this echo talks and walks like any ol’ spirit, but it’s a mere copy of Turai’s true soul.

The revenant is effectively doing the same as that Forgotten ritual, except without the walking part.

I also have a question about the revenants and the legends they can channel.

How do the Revenants “learn” to or discover how they can channel Mallyx, Shiro, Jalis, Glint and Ventari?

Can they reach into the Mists and figure out that there are certain legends they can channel, and therein induce the qualities/characteristics they will lend them when channeled? I.e. channel Shiro from the mists because you are in need of high damage, then reach into the Mists to channel Jalis in order to boost your survivability?

How do Revenants get access to this “pool” of legends – from a lore perspective? Does for example contact with some shrine or token of Jalis teach the Revenant how they can channel Jalis, or are these legends all so weaved into the very “fabric” of the Mists that all Revenants will know how to channel them? And more importantly, exclusively these?

Or could you see that a Canthan revenant instead can channel Kuunevang, Archemorus and Viktor? An Elonian revenant channeling Turai Ossa or Commander Varesh?
Or even that another Tyrian revenant lore-wise could channel Prince Rurik over Jalis? Khilbron over Mallyx?

Inquiring mostly out of curisotiy about the lore and in relation to fanfic project

Well, I think there’s a very simple reason we’ll never hear about someone who channels Rurik for survivability…

Jokes aside, those are all the sort of excellent questions we don’t have any answers at all for. Still, the profession isn’t even released yet. We may or may not get more in-game. I for one will be listening very closely for the news coming out of this beta weekend, if it’s true that the entire first chapter of story will be playable.

Yeah, I’d be more inclined to channel the dwarf who decided to stand in one elevated place with nice choke points when we had to defend him than our fabled Captain Suicide who ran head first, randomly, ahead of the group to his untimely demise – in both mechanics and lore (kinda).

As to how one learns to channel a legend, I suspect/hope that such is told with HoT. Anet had said that they want to add more lore of the professions with HoT and will be doing so for both revenant and the elite specializations, so I’d presume there’ll be something in the game showing this, somewhere.

And from that, we’ll learn if other legends could be learned in similar manners.

Hehe, thanks for your answers.. Yes, I know Rurik over Jalis if you were thinking survivability wouldn’t be a tough decision. Paired those names mostly out of concern over campaign where they featured as prominent figures.

Hopefully – as you say – we get to learn more about these topics in HoT and how a revenant comes to power and awareness of which legends they can channel.