Guild Wars 2

No doubt the majority of the player base is familiar with the Jotun race. Dwelling in the Shiverpeaks these creatures seem oblivious to the troubles of Tyria. You won’t find many friendly Jotun either. They’d sooner see you sliced for sandwiches than settled peacefully. Most players encountering them wouldn’t think much of them. They are one of a handful of primitive races currently residing within Tyria and yet for all of their simplicity they are an important example of what it takes to survive the scourge of the Elder Dragons. You see rather than embracing the gift of magic they have “lost” it and it is precisely this that is the main reason why they show little interest in the Elder Dragons, nor the Elder Dragons much interest in them. It is magic that draws the Elder Dragons and it is magic that corrupts the races of Tyria. When we speak of this magic we need to be careful to distinguish between the magic of Tyria herself (the naturally occurring magic of the realm of Tyria, which is in balance) and the magic imparted by the so-called Gods of the various races (particularly the Six, whose meddling influence has destabilized many things). The latter form of magic is the primary cause of magical imbalance within Tyria and the foremost reason for the rise of the Dragons. Moreover, regardless of whether the Dragons rose to trouble the races, those same races would strive for the power that magic provides. It’s just like the old saying predicts: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The Jotun were once capable magicians until they descended into the madness that follows on the footsteps of an insatiable lust for power.
But it’s not as though the loss of “magic” has led to the reformation of Jotun society. The savagery of their culture has deepened with their decline.

The Jotun aren’t the only example of a primitive race largely overlooked or even outright ignored by the Elder Dragons. The Centaurs also occupy this category. Although they practice magic, it is not the “dark” magic that empowers the corrupt (necromancy being a foremost example of said “dark” magic as it involves resistance to the concept of death as a result of the fear of it) but more of a judgmental magic, a cleansing force designed to use the earth to heal itself. At this point we have no examples of Dragon-corrupted centaurs.
Opinions do differ about why this is the case. The opinions formed are loosely categorized thus:
1) The developers overlooked the Centaurs (and by implication, races like the Jotun) due to resource constraints.
2) The Centaurs are not in the right region of Tyria to truly feel the effects of the Elder Dragons.
3) The Centaurs are being corrupted and we just don’t know about it yet (such as the Centaurs in the Crystal Desert).

(Of these opinions, the first is probably the strongest response to the paradigm I am proposing. But this does not mean that it is necessarily correct. In mentioning it, however, I am acknowledging that legitimate alternative viewpoints exist that must be explored in order to help us understand the situation within Tyria. So then, we could argue that all of the races that are not represented in the ranks of the Dragon-corrupted are so lacking because the developers couldn’t commit the resources to their representation.)

To return to the matter at hand, we should consider the best course of action for all of the races of Tyria is to relinquish the gift of magic. Intriguingly, this was exactly what one of the noble human kings once pled with the Six for: The withdrawal of the gift of magic. This is the most effective way to truly end the cycle of the Elder Dragons.

Jotun are a primitive race now, but they were once a vastly civilized race. So much so, that they were one of the 5 major races that battled the Elder Dragons in the last awakening. They have also survived multiple awakenings, I believe this information is given on the Jotun path in Arah. They are also very well accomplished astronomers.

The current Jotun society appears to have been a result of the loss of magic. The magic used now, by the races, is the same as the magic that has always been in Tyria. In fact, so far the Gods have not “given” their own type of magic to anyone, instead they have just released the magic of the world, which the seers trapped within the bloodstone.

I personally believe that your idea of giving up magic could have the same effect that happened with the last rising, but without it we would also have no defense against the dragons as they attempt to continue to ravage the world. We CANNOT remove all magic from the world, because every living being seems to be the embodiment of magic. Thus as long as there are creatures living in Tyria, there is still magic for the ED’s to consume.

As to the evils of Necromancy, you seem to have things a little wrong. Necromancy has nothing to do with denying death, in fact the human customs around necromancy show that their job is to accept death as a reality for everyone and everything. During Wintersday in GW1 the followers of Grenth, some necromancers, called for people to be somber and to see winter as a reminder of the impending death of all, while Dwayna’s followers called for celebration for the new life to be born with the coming spring. I understand that this wasn’t necessary to the conversation, but I have been a main character necromancer since I started GW1, and I hate to see players misconstrue the personality of Necromancers. There are evil ones, but there are also evil warriors, rangers, and elementalists.

I don’t believe this would work either as most of the charr legions have given up magic or look upon it with disdain or distrust, but they are attacked by the branded creatures all the same. I believe the only charr you will even find in the brand (the sentinels) are all shown to be warrior type npcs so no magic used there, but they are still under attack. Not to mention if your plan did work and magic was removed from Tyria the charr would have a huge advantage of power over the other playable races.

I am almost certain the elder dragons can corrupt or kill civilians (e.g. non-magic users) just fine. Sure you can argue that there is magic within everyone. But if it is born within everyone, then there is nothing we can do about it.

The dragons exist within the world ecosystem. They sleep and bleed magic out into the world. They awake and feast on magical items to regain it. Then go back to sleep.

It’s possible that the races of tyria simply do not even register on the dragons scale of caring. They are a means to an end, food in this case. And only in the cases of dragons who require them as minions.

Because of this, a dragon essentially has no reason to expend magical power converting a person, or killing/reanimating them, unless that person is either
A. a threat to the dragon
B. a threat to the food supply
C. a threat to its minions

The centaurs exist in an area of tyria that is mostly untouched by the dragons. They are buffered on all sides by humans. The closest dragon to them was Zhaitan, who send the undead into Kryta. However it is quite possible that he decided it pointless to wage war against the centaurs. Why unite 2 common enemies when you can let them kill each other and reanimate them later? We know he can reanimate long dead bodies. If he just weakens the humans, the centaurs will do his work for him.

As for the jotun. Well there’s a mixed bag of possible theories.
One theory would be that the dragons are in some way afraid of the jotun. The jotun were part of, if not completely integral to the dragons defeat last time. The dragons might not want to be so hasty in attacking them.
Another theory is that the jotun had some spell that made them immune to conversion. The dwarves were able to turn to stone to fight the destroyers. Perhaps the jotun had a similar enchantment that lets them be immune to dragon corrupted. Perhaps that enchantment is the reason they began to devolve into the simpletons they are today. And again, the jotun exist in the area’s where Jormags minions are out and about. And in most cases it seems as if jormag prefers to corrupt willing subjects. The sons of svanir, or the champions/offerings that are given to him by the grawl.

Another thing to note. Jotun aren’t really the most prevalent race. They are pretty small in numbers and spread thin, so this is also a possible reason to their lack of minion skins.