Guild Wars 2

When we first start playing as a sylvari, the initial cutscenes tells us that the sylvari have been born ‘25 years ago’. Guild Wars 2 starts in the year 1325, so we assume that the sylvari came to be in 1300. Isn’t this wrong?

The wikia, other sites and the official novels state that the sylvari were born in 1302! “The first sylvari sprouted from the Pale Tree in Arbor Bay, emerging in 1302 AE.” As you can see on the wikia’s page: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sylvari

Most of us believe that a firstborn, such as a Caithe, is currently 28 years old when in fact she’s only 26. How did such mistake go past by Arenanet? Or am I missing something important here?

I always just assumed the “25 years ago” was simply an estimation. Could also just be an inconsistency on the part of Anet, as well, obviously.

Not everything said in the game can be taken literally. “25 years ago” reads to me like someone saying “just a second” — it’s never 1/60 of a minute. i.e. treat it as an approximation.

Just because they emerged in 1302 doesn’t necessarily mean that they weren’t still born in 1300. Being that there weren’t very many they could have easily talked and decided to wait to see if more were born before leaving the safety of the Grove.

ArenaNet really like rounding numbers when talking about past events, that’s all (example: the Searing is usually said to be 250 years ago, when the exact gap at launch was 255). The timelines are where you find the exact figures, so 1302 is the proper date. That said, Wintersday has always been the point where the year switches before, so it’s probably 1329 now, making Caithe 26 or 27 depending on how the dates play out.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

making Caithe 26 or 27 depending on how the dates play out.

She doesn’t look a day over 21.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

She doesn’t look a day over 21.

She’s also a plant. We can’t really tell. Lol.

ArenaNet loves to give estimates in their dates – otfen to the 5s and 10s; after all, GW2 didn’t take place 250 years after the Foefire, Searing, and Eye of the North – it only began exactly 250 years after Nightfall (and variances for the rest). Many dialogues – not just the opening cinematic – says 25 years ago. But now that the year in-game is 1329, that makes 25 years ago to be 1304 – this is the main reason for them to use estimates in their dates.

This way, they can just keep folks saying “250 years ago” for whenever referring to GW1 events, rather than going “okay, now its 1329 AE and these events happened in 1071 AE so that makes it… 262 years ago?” Similarly, folks can say “25 years ago” for when sylvari were born instead of having to figure out the math for exact years and keep altering it.

The correct year is 1302 AE for the birth of the Firstborn. Even the Secondborn were confirmed to be born in 1304 AE and “2 years after the Firstborn”.

Mist.6217:

Just because they emerged in 1302 doesn’t necessarily mean that they weren’t still born in 1300. Being that there weren’t very many they could have easily talked and decided to wait to see if more were born before leaving the safety of the Grove.

It’s canon lore that Faolain and Caithe left the Grove almost immediately after waking.

Heraldusluminare.2946:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

She doesn’t look a day over 21.

She’s also a plant. We can’t really tell. Lol.

We could always cut her open and count the rings.

Except that sylvari are made of compressed leaves and vines. The only wood in their body is their bones, and nothing says those bones grow outwards like trees thus they likely do not have rings.

(yes, I’m aware you were joking, but still…)

first born sylavaris should be around 27 years old now :P

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Except that sylvari are made of compressed leaves and vines. The only wood in their body is their bones, and nothing says those bones grow outwards like trees thus they likely do not have rings.

(yes, I’m aware you were joking, but still…)

There’s no evidence that they grow bulkier over time, so yeah, if there are any rings they’d only show how long it takes for them to mature. Possibly not even that – tree rings come about due to seasonal changes in growing conditions, while sylvari in pods may be given perfect growing conditions all year ’round.

We do see rings in that one ear option. Though, I’d agree, nothing in lore about sylvari getting bulkier every year. And we have dev statement that the look of sylvari is only the Pale Tree’s interpretation of a human from the outside.