Guild Wars 2

I know this theory is not popular, but I’m starting to think that Sylvari are actually minions of Mordremoth. And maybe what I’m saying isn’t quite correct or this theory has been shared already.

In the final scenes with scarlet she told us that Tyria will get a “new” master. If you think about it, the first question would be then, who is the old master? Second question is how would you define the word “master”. What sets apart a master from a ruler is that a master has slaves. So to answer the first question, you might want to look at the pale tree and the tablet’s teachings. The sylvari are basically slaves of the pale tree. The dream of dreams which includes the ventari’s tablet basically shapes the sylvari before they are awakened.

The sylvari can’t be corrupted. But how would you explain scarlet? Maybe, just maybe, all sylvari are already corrupted already by an elder dragon before they awaken. And because of that, they can’t be corrupted by another dragon.

The dream of dreams is shared with all sylvari who awoke from the pale tree, and only from that pale tree.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dream_of_Dreams
The link explains it on the wiki. What they know when awakening is planted inside their brains basically. So when scarlet got into the machine made by Omadd, I suspect that the dream of dreams that protect all sylvari from Mordemoth wasn’t able to keep her protected from the elder dragon. The pale tree told her to stop but she didn’t. afterwards it slowly devoured her and she was unable to keep her sanity. As the writers have said, she lost her sanity over time. To me it was an obvious hint towards the jungle dragon when in Scarlet’s Journal it mentioned that it called her from the forest. Also it’s said that what drove her mad, was something she carried within her already before she entered the machine, something I believe all sylvari carry within them.

I think the nightmare tower living story update might have been a huge hint for us about Mordremoth’s way of corruption. The nightmare is something all sylvari share as well. I know Malyck doesn’t share the dream of dreams which is only limited to everyone related to the pale tree. But if Malyck shares the Nightmare with all the other Sylvari, it could very well be related to Mordremoth in my opinion and a very valid clue on who the sylvari are exactly. It’s the nightmares that Scarlet witnessed (according her journal) that made her insane.

In short, I believe the source of the Nightmare within the sylvari is from Mordremoth, and is his method of “corrupting” or bending his minions to his will. And scarlet might have been the first to get exposed to his corruption. The dream of dreams, fueled by the ventari tablet protects the pale tree sylvari (excluding scarlet) from mordremoth. Probably the nightmare court and any other sylvari not bound by something like the dream of dreams are most likely vulnerable once mordremoth has awaken (which just happened).

If the Nightmare is a form of corruption, why didn’t Mordy just use Faolain. Instead, he chose someone that wasn’t part of the nightmare, wasn’t part of the dream, wasn’t soundless. Also, why a sylvari? The other races don’t have a dream protecting them, did it have to be a sylvari for Mordy to corrupt? IS he not able to corrupt non plant based life?

DarcShriek.5829:

If the Nightmare is a form of corruption, why didn’t Mordy just use Faolain. Instead, he chose someone that wasn’t part of the nightmare, wasn’t part of the dream, wasn’t soundless. Also, why a sylvari? The other races don’t have a dream protecting them, did it have to be a sylvari for Mordy to corrupt? IS he not able to corrupt non plant based life?

Like i mentioned, if all sylvari share the same nightmare, it could be that the nightmare itself is some sort corruption that is programmed inside the seeds. That’s why i think that sylvari are minions of mordremoth. The seeds delivers his army, the nightmare within controls it.

Question remains, where did the seeds come from? All we know is that they were guarded in a cave by plants, and there were a lot of seeds. How old are those seeds, and how did they get there is a mystery. Would be cool if they were from the last time mordremoth was awake, means they are VERY old.

To cut your theory off, secondary corruption does not kill an individual. When a charr gets corrupted by let’s say Jormag, he can still be corrupted by Kralkatorrik and followed by perhaps Zhaitan. This is shown in the Crucible of Eternity dungeon. Sylvari die before they get (fully?) corrupted. That’s a difference with other races.

Also, on another note, I’m not 100% sure of this but I believe that the Nightmare exists within the Dream. I therefore believe it to be plausible to be corrupted by the Nightmare, you also have to experience the Dream.

While it would seem logical to think of the Pale Tree as say, a champion of Modremoth that was cleansed like Glint (in this case it was being taken and having the shamans stone tablet placed on it).

However, the fact Anet put in another Sylvari from another tree throws a wrench in that idea because that person had no dream and wasn’t corrupted or evil in any way.
I mean if we do go to Maguma Jungle and do find him again but now he’s corrupted and evil, then it’s brings the theory back. That maybe the corrupted doesn’t start until Mordremoth woke up, but that wouldn’t explain Scarlet…Though there’s a lot of things around Scarlet that can’t be explained. lol

^Things that I have tried to explain here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/lore/lore/Theorycrafting-On-sylvari-corruption/first#post3727322

Jelle.4623:

To cut your theory off, secondary corruption does not kill an individual. When a charr gets corrupted by let’s say Jormag, he can still be corrupted by Kralkatorrik and followed by perhaps Zhaitan. This is shown in the Crucible of Eternity dungeon. Sylvari die before they get (fully?) corrupted. That’s a difference with other races.

Also, on another note, I’m not 100% sure of this but I believe that the Nightmare exists within the Dream. I therefore believe it to be plausible to be corrupted by the Nightmare, you also have to experience the Dream.

Ok, thanks for the additional info.

If sylvari die once corrupted, was scarlet just going insane, and she wasn’t corrupted?
Each dragon has a different type of corruption, honestly I don’t know what mordremoth does exactly. Maybe he can simply make minions out of plants and seeds. If the nightmare is not a type of corruption (initially it’s a corruption) that comes from mordremoth (maybe the dream and nightmare is only related to the pale tree), maybe it’s feasible that sylvari are just mind controlled by what mordremoth put in the seed or something. One thing is certain, mordremoth’s presence was inside scarlet before she entered the machine and the pale tree knew. Quote from a wiki page: " Vorpp has speculated that since the only things that were in the chamber were the things that she had brought herself, she must have been exposed to a part of her psyche that had been walled-off, perhaps for her own protection".

Why scarlet and not someone else? Maybe it was simply coincedence. The pale tree tried to protect her from the dragon’s presence to keep her from being controlled by mordremoth (probably not directly). But she kept going, and clearly it only takes 1 sylvari to get him to wake. If it wasn’t scarlet going insane, his waking would have probably happened later sometime in a different way?

DarcShriek.5829:

If the Nightmare is a form of corruption, why didn’t Mordy just use Faolain. Instead, he chose someone that wasn’t part of the nightmare, wasn’t part of the dream, wasn’t soundless. Also, why a sylvari? The other races don’t have a dream protecting them, did it have to be a sylvari for Mordy to corrupt? IS he not able to corrupt non plant based life?

He was asleep. The nightmare court can’t renounce nightmare, just like every other dragonminion can’t. Now that he’s awake, he can control the nightmare.

The proof could be, that a sylvari, who is obsessed by the nighmare, is taken to the altar of the ruined city of arah (Arah explo P2) and cured with the ritual since the ritual can cure someone from the obsession of the dragons.

Tentatively, I’d argue that Ceara did not “see” Mordremoth in the way in which we think that she did – that is to say, she did not look at him with her eyes. Mordremoth has been sleeping below-ground in the western Maguuma. Furthermore, Ceara was initially heading in an lazy south-easterly direction in her vision: She passed Rata Sum, the location of Omadd’s lab, then the Pale Tree. Given this, Ceara was not heading toward Mordremoth, but away from him. The only link to Mordremoth that Ceara may have encountered during her vision is the Thorn Vine. This vine can be seen at Briarthorn Den: It’s growth extends north-westwards. Arguably, this plant is an Elder Dragon champion. It is possible that it was through the vine that Ceara was corrupted by Mordremoth. It remains to be seen, however, whether Mordremoth actually has direct access to the Dream. He may merely only be able to influence it through the vine – i.e. if the vine dies, Mordremoth’s influence over the Dream may end.

DarcShriek.5829:

If the Nightmare is a form of corruption, why didn’t Mordy just use Faolain.

Depending on the time line, Faolain my be dead already, as well as some of the leadership of the Nightmare Court. Although timelines between PS / Dungeons and Living Word is a bit iffy.

Retsuko.2035:

The sylvari can’t be corrupted. But how would you explain scarlet? Maybe, just maybe, all sylvari are already corrupted already by an elder dragon before they awaken. And because of that, they can’t be corrupted by another dragon.

Well one could argue free-will. Sylvari’s seem by all accounts to have free-will. The soundless purposefully separate themselves from the dream, the Nightmare Court purposefully go against Ventari’s teachings.
Sure would solve a lot of problems if all Sylvari would just be slaves to the Pale Tree, no Nightmare Court, no Scarlet.

Jelle.4623:

To cut your theory off, secondary corruption does not kill an individual. When a charr gets corrupted by let’s say Jormag, he can still be corrupted by Kralkatorrik and followed by perhaps Zhaitan. This is shown in the Crucible of Eternity dungeon.

Some debate, since we can assume that Inquest experimentation was also involved. So multiple corruption is possible, the question is would it occur naturally without the aid of inquest experimentation. Which I guess we don’t know, yet.

There is a lot of details here we don’t know enough. The Dream, and the Sylvari’s connection to it, is still very much a mystery. We don’t even know for certain if the Sylvari are connected directly to the dream or its through their connection to the Pale Tree that they can access the dream. Perhaps Malyck did was once connected to the tree and his tree was killed, severing his connection.

I think that the Sylvari’s ‘immunity’ to corruption is either due to their connection to the Dream or simply their physical biology. Modremoth is likely effecting the dream and he can corrupt plant life so I suspect that immunity won’t count for much against him.

Personally I think it’s far more likely that the Sylvari are the product of the Druids, perhaps as a why to ‘arm’ nature and the Dream against the reawakening of Modremoth. It would explain why the Sylvari are humanoid, their location and why a sylvari PC has the ability to summon a Druid Spirit as a elite racial skill.

Lutinz.6915:

Personally I think it’s far more likely that the Sylvari are the product of the Druids, perhaps as a why to ‘arm’ nature and the Dream against the reawakening of Modremoth. It would explain why the Sylvari are humanoid, their location and why a sylvari PC has the ability to summon a Druid Spirit as a elite racial skill.

On that note, I came across an interesting piece of lore while browsing the wikis.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Melandru
In the Scriptures of Melandru it speaks of a godless tribe who were turned into plant beings by Melandru. Given my limited knowledge of the lore, they might have been turned into treant. Still I though it was interesting.