Guild Wars 2

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Except that it’s more than just the three collages she’s famous for.

She studied from the most famous Blacksmith – who holds both direct and indirect multitude of ties to the personal story. She studied under a gladium who also, iirc, has ties to the personal story. And the Pale Tree herself viewed Scarlet as a threat it seems.

But yet… she’s only now being revealed to the open world? When she is being made to have been a super-genius and threat for a while now?

It’s one thing to have “a new villain” and another to have “an ‘old’ villain who’s now being introduced” – at least with Abaddon, all knowledge of him was supposedly wiped out.

Maybe she was believed to be dead after the experiment? I mean she did change her name she may have just dropped off the map for a while as she tried to build up the MA and Aetherblades.

I mean c’mon, a test subject dying horribly in an experiment and the experiments overseer dying as well in a horrific way isn’t entirerly out of the question when it comes to Asura experiments.

The only thing is, the Pale Tree would know… Unless she became Soundless…

Narcemus.1348:

The only thing is, the Pale Tree would know… Unless she became Soundless…

Maybe she has? The machine she was in couldve screwed that whole thing over, maybe she cut her tie when she was trying to strangle the tree or w/e. And even if she didn’t, why would the pale tree speak up? Maybe what scarlet is doing is actually completing her Wild Hunt and her trying to escape destiny is just fulfilling hers? Pale tree speaking up may screw that up shrugs.

Or maybe the Pale Tree knew what she was doing was dangerous, but not what the effect of what she saw would cause. I mean we all know the Pale Tree can’t see the exact future…

Narcemus.1348:

Or maybe the Pale Tree knew what she was doing was dangerous, but not what the effect of what she saw would cause. I mean we all know the Pale Tree can’t see the exact future…

This too, she may have figured it wouldn’t have been as severe as it is turning out to be or a variety of other reasons.

Just as the Nightmare Court represents the evil in Nature, Scarlet represents the evil in Technology.

You may say she’s the true opposite of the Pale Tree.

Durzlla.6295:

Maybe she was believed to be dead after the experiment? I mean she did change her name she may have just dropped off the map for a while as she tried to build up the MA and Aetherblades.

I mean c’mon, a test subject dying horribly in an experiment and the experiments overseer dying as well in a horrific way isn’t entirerly out of the question when it comes to Asura experiments.

Two problems:

Vorpp says he’s heard of Scarlet before as being the sylvari who graduated from multiple colleges (happened before the experiment), and the Pale Tree would know unless she became Soundless (as Narcemus said).

Given Vorpp, it’s pretty blatantly obvious it’s a “well known” fact that Ceara=Scarlet Briar. As well as her past actions.

By the way, I completely disagree with the comparison that was made earlier with Nolan’s Joker. Scarlet isn’t anywhere as deep a character as The Joker, as played by Heath Ledger. The Joker as seen in The Dark Knight actually has a plan. On the surface his acts seems random and anarchistic. It seems as if he’s just creating chaos. But underneath there is a much smarter and darker villain, with an actual objective (even if he claims he’s just like a dog chasing a car, but he’s not). His plans are complicated, and unpredictable, and hinge on what the Joker thinks other people will do. He tries to control them, like puppets, and enjoys a game of chess where the pieces decide to become players, instead of simple marionettes.

Scarlet is nothing like this. She is more like the classic Joker from the Batman comics. She is evil for the sake of being crazy and evil. She doesn’t have any real motives (so far). That makes her a flat, cardboard cut out, villain.

I hope they expand on her motives soon. But I highly doubt she will become any more complex than what we’ve got so far.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Vorpp says he’s heard of Scarlet before as being the sylvari who graduated from multiple colleges (happened before the experiment), and the Pale Tree would know unless she became Soundless (as Narcemus said)..

What annoys me is how Vorpp just casually mentions how she is actually quite known as being a unique none-asura student, who graduated from all colleges. That would have been some pretty useful information BEFORE she attacked the queen. Did no one do any research? Didn’t Logan as captain of the Seraph at least do a background check as soon as Scarlet was mentioned? I hate it when characters in the plot are just randomly thrown the idiot ball for plot convenience.

Also, if I suspect there might be an attack of the queen during her speech, I’d make sure there are anti-airship canons all over the pavilion, and tons of armed security. But the security was oddly lacking during this public speech of the queen.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

By the way, I completely disagree with the comparison that was made earlier with Nolan’s Joker. Scarlet isn’t anywhere as a deep a character as The Joker, as played by Heath Ledger. The Joker as seen in The Dark Knight actually has a plan. On the surface his acts seems random and anarchistic. It seems as if he’s just creating chaos. But underneath there is a much smarter and darker villain, with an actual objective (even if he claims he’s just like a dog chasing a car, but he’s not). His plans are complicated, and unpredictable, and hinge on what the Joker thinks other people will do. He tries to control them, like puppets, and enjoys a game of chess where the pieces decide to become players, instead of simple marionettes.

I agree with your assessment of the DK Joker, because it matches what you see when you stop and figure it all out. He was an opportunist, yes, but there was definitely some advance thinking in his schemes rather than “let’s blow up a hospital”.

I don’t agree with your assessment of Scarlet, as we’ve only seen her in a limited way right now. The childish behavior fits with me because most sylvari seem to have a . . . tendency . . . towards the naive/immature. She seems intelligent, but during the Closing Ceremony it was clear her attention “seemed” unfocused while it was really a misdirection. The first four bombs were obvious . . . the last was not, and did not have a convenient fuse to stop. And it wasn’t exploded until the evacuation point was well to being used.

The invasion Scarlet just seems like an act, her having fun knowing she’s not in any real danger.

I haven’t been into the Playhouse yet, so I can’t speak for that.

I don’t know. Part of me wishes that short story had never been posted, and part of me is more wishing it had been posted the night of the update rather than a couple days later. (I’m guessing other concerns might have had a hand.)

I’m reserving judgement on whether or not she is truly a horrible character until I get to see more. Currently? She hasn’t beat my reaction to Duncan the Black for anger with a supposed “boss mastermind” not living up to the hype. (Seriously, this guy is so incredibly dangerous but he can go down to some smart Swapping and a couple doses of poison/bleed/burning?)

Comparing the Scarlet we see to the Joker as portrayed in the full of the Dark Knight is nowhere near fair. I’d say a better association would be comparing the Scarlet we’ve seen to the Joker only within the bank heist scene. We get no clues of his future plans, we can only see that he has manpower and knows how to manipulate people. I think Scarlet falls a little below just that scene in character development, but it doesn’t mean that she is unusable. I think, if properly done, she could become the villain that this franchise deserves (Har, Har, movie reference).

Narcemus.1348:

Comparing the Scarlet we see to the Joker as portrayed in the full of the Dark Knight is nowhere near fair. I’d say a better association would be comparing the Scarlet we’ve seen to the Joker only within the bank heist scene. We get no clues of his future plans, we can only see that he has manpower and knows how to manipulate people. I think Scarlet falls a little below just that scene in character development, but it doesn’t mean that she is unusable. I think, if properly done, she could become the villain that this franchise deserves (Har, Har, movie reference).

But not the one it needs.

One thing is, do we think Scarlet is completely done now? We have her short story to show her history, but like people say, it doesn’t actually reveal her plan. Her invasions don’t reveal much either, though she does seem organized. Are we assuming we’ll never see more to her plans, and that this is it: chaos? I wonder. I wish I knew.

I don’t think anyone’s assuming that this is the last of Scarlet. We don’t kill her, after all. And if she really is the personal nemesis as things seem to be… she’ll be around for a while.

I know I’m probably wrong, but to me it feels like Scarlet is the Harley and not the Joker. By that, I mean that I don’t think she’s the one truly pulling the strings.
To me, her character feels nothing like the true boss, everything about her just screams “If you have a goal I can follow and can entertain/interest me for more than an hour I’m in. But I’m gonna try to kill you and take over later, just so ya know.”
So far, everything we’ve known about her makes her a terrible main villain, but a very interesting second in command who’s more than willing to take the blame while the real master hides.

I feel like Anet could redeem themselves and pull some seriously decent twists with her character and the alliances she’s apparently “leading.”

Mickey Frogeater.1470:

Just as the Nightmare Court represents the evil in Nature, Scarlet represents the evil in Technology.

You may say she’s the true opposite of the Pale Tree.

I love this concept, if her character had a bit more to it this would be really nice to see come up in game.

You know a character is poorly written when a Hobo-Tron has a more believable character background…

Narcemus.1348:

The only thing is, the Pale Tree would know… Unless she became Soundless…

Yeah this was the impression I had after reading her short story. Wasn’t she intentionally ignoring the pale tree because she was seeking her own sense of individuality? I just wish they had somehow made this more clear within the game content, I think more people would have been happier if they had just mentioned she was a soundless within the game.

Still she was pretty disappointing overall. Her curiosity and desire for individualism was ok, but then it apparently grew into stock villain megalomania. That really takes away from any potentially interesting tidbits of information related to the nature of the Eternal Alchemy. Also it doesn’t really sound like seeing the Eternal Alchemy unhinged her in any way: she acts just like the Inquest by stealing and meddling with others for the sake of furthering her own desires. She was like that from the start. Furthermore she appears to be plagued with confirmation bias and interpreted whatever she saw as proof that she can and should destroy everything she didn’t like about the world. Kinda lame.

So there are equal yet opposing forces in Tyria represented by The Dream vs. Nightmare scenario. We already know that. Does this have anything to do with the rise and fall of the Dragons? Is this some argument for Creation vs. Destruction? Are the Elder Dragons meant to purge the world periodically the begin the cycle again? Or is the conflict between the Pale tree and the Nightmare court something completely different.

Scarlet’s rampage didn’t really answer any significant questions about the world at all. I was hoping there would be more we could sink our teeth into.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that Scarlet is not the personal nemesis.

I say this because of her level of threat. The threat of Scarlet is growing to extremes, almost equaling the threat of the Elder Dragons when it comes to the established races. Because of the level of threat imposed upon her, it seems almost necessary for her to be defeated/killed. For her to be left alive would be like putting a chain on Zhaitan and swatting his nose with a rolled up newspaper.

I think the Nemesis is going to be someone completely different, remembering that this is entirely opinion. Personal Nemesis are usually someone of around the same level of power as the individual and they have ways of creating problems that the PC may have to struggle with, but in the end they lose, fall back, and start over. The level of threat they create are almost never as great as to take out a kingdom, or in this case almost 3 kingdoms at once. They are more of an annoyance that are related to the big threat (My mind jumps to Team Rocket).

PLOT TWIST

Ceara truly did die when she delved her mind into the Eternal Alchemy. What she saw was not the Eternal Alchemy but instead the afterlife for sylvari – an ethereal showing of the sylvari life cycle. The truth is that Faolain had heard of Ceara’s accomplishments and wanted to draw her into Nightmare and found Omadd’s lab, but was too late. In anger of her tardiness, she used her magic like a puppeteer’s strings to animate Ceara’s corpse and voice, killing Omadd.

Now, using Ceara’s corpse as a front, Faolain has married Caudecus to solidify the Sinister Triad alliance. “Scarlet Briar” is merely a false identity created from Ceara’s past to hide the true villains behind it all, and using Faolain’s magic and the Inquest’s technology, the trio has agreed to take out Divinity’s Reach first, causing a bit of chaos in Ascalon and the Shiverpeaks in an attempt to get the Flame Legion and dredge to join the Sinister Triad (the centaurs were to be the fourth member, but the death of Ulgoth made the plans change) – the Molten Alliance was merely a “test” to see if they can work together and the results proved that they can… so long as they don’t fail.

On the other end of the continent, Shodd has become discontent in working in the lab of the asuran Commander. He joined the Inquest and learned of the Steam creatures’ current existence in Lornar. Using them, he gained ranks to leadership, replacing Kudu. And it was he and Caudecus who agreed upon attacking Divinity’s Reach (Shodd being stuck in his desires of genius, power, and glory recalled the mention of the Battle of Divinity’s Reach by the Grand High Sovereign). It was also Shodd who retrofitted the Watchknights into the Twisted minions and it was through both the Inquest and White Mantle/Bandits that the Aetherblades got outfitted. The humans of the Aetherblades are in fact merely bandits, while the charr of the Aetherblades come from the Renegades – who secretly work for Bangar Ruinbringer – and the norn come from nearby pirate crews.

At the moment while Faolain and Caudecus use the guise of Scarlet Briar to cause anarchy in the west, Shodd is hitting it up with the twin Councillor sisters, Ludo and Zudo, in order to further Inquest connections in the Arcane Council. Using these connections, he intends to tamper with Kiel’s research into the Thaumanova Reactor – using the chaos magic to open a tear into Universe A that the Grand High Soverieng came from (Universe 1 being the current universe).

However, this plan fails, and instead of more steam creatures like Shodd wanted we get…

CORPORAL BANE Mother kittens! Coming from Universe Alpha where humanity has redominated the continent and then some, the commandos storm through to liberate humanity from the yoke of oppression by other races and the Elder Dragons. Bane’s first move is sniping Shodd and Evon in Lion’s Arch, and then he moves on west with his commando unit to wage war against the Sinister Triad alongside the forces of the Seraph (being Bane, he doesn’t care for the aid of Wardens or Peacekeepers, though they give it). This culminates in a full out war westerward, ending in a final confrontation between the PC, Bane, Logan, Caithe and Zojja versus Faolain, Caudecus, and Lazarus – whom are backed by…. an imprisoned Mordremoth! Who in actuality awoke the same time as Primordus (because Primordus was pushed back, but the other Elder Dragons’ awakenings were unaffected by this) but subjugated by the then-healed Lazarus.

In the final confrontation with the Sinister Triad, Faolain and Caudecus bite the dust, but Lazarus escapes into the Mists cursing humanity and asuranity once more – but this time slapping the sylvari onto the list of those who’s generations shall suffer for their transgressions against the Unseen One. Unfortunately, Mordremoth escaped in the confusion and flew eastward, spreading the Blighted across the landscape of Kryta and Ascalon (which will replace most of the spawns of Risen, Bandits, and Nightmare Courtiers).

With the initial threat of the Sinister Triad attempting to topple the human kingdom now gone, Banes heads to Orr and kittenslaps Trahearne for sitting on his kitten during this whole conflict and declares Orr a human refugee nation for all humanity. He then takes over as Marshal Bane and leads the Pact forces, backed by the Commandos, westward where they take out the Big Chicken (aka Shatterer) for good and goes further east across the Blazeridge to confront Mordremoth. Slaying Mordremoth thousands of feet into the sky, the Elder Plant Dragon falls into the inactive remains of Hrangmer – which upon impact, breaks through the rock and turns the volcano active once more, burning through the planty flesh of the dragon. Bane then leads his Commandos to the sadistic Blood Citadel where charr prisoners go to be “truly punished” and ends Bangar’s wildcard-reign and the Renegade threat.

At this point, Cantha finally makes landfall on continental Tyria, specifically at Orr. Thanks to Bane declaring it a human refugee nation, Cantha begins setting up shop there to launch a land invasion on Elona – turns out they’ve been at war with Joko for quite some time, but the DSD had kept their naval warfare to a minimum. Siding with the Canthans, Bane leads the Commandos and Pact southeast into Elona, where they confront Kralkatorrik and chase it into the Hall of Heroes. Bane decides to leave it at that because, heck, it’s not human land he’s in anymore and Joko’s now a more pressing matter!

Using Searing Cauldron-infused Moahawks, Banes rains crystal missile fire of death over the Desolation, killing many of the normal undead there and obliterating the sulfurous wastes for good (as well as drying up that pathetic excuse of a dammed river) and launches a land invasion. They battle with Joko’s forces from the Temple of Ascension to the Hallowed Point, which is revealed to be the location of the Destruction Bloodstone (the sulfur being caused by the deadly magic of this bloodstone). Using a soul battery stolen from the war with the Sinister Triad, the Commandos kill Joko atop of this bloodstone and seal his soul within the soul battery for all eternity. Thus liberating Elona from the undead once and for all. All hail the liberated human nation!

But the threats aren’t over yet! There’s still three Elder Dragons left in Tyria (world).

Bane sees the threat of Jormag looming ever closer. As he leads his forces north he comes across some old hag and her whiny cub of a son who keeps nagging about following his own path despite following in his mommy’s footsteps. It gets to the point where this annoys Bane greatly, so he roundhouse kicks Braham into Jormag’s mouth (likely from either one of the kodan Sanctuaries, or one of his Moahawks – skaald stories aren’t really consistent here). Jormag chokes on Braham’s whinery and suffocates to death. “Job well done, norn!” Bane shouts as he sings tales of the bravely suicidal norn as Rox weeps in the corner over a lost love – whoever that is.

Next, Bane decides to turn his attention south, to the deep sea dragon! You see, Sayeh caught his eyes – or rather, her mostly-exposed butt did. He couldn’t help but help the woman in need! Using Pact submarines and Canthan technology that advanced in a similar manner to his own world’s technology (but not quite as advanced yet), the combined forces of Largos, Canthan, and Commando (the Pact has since been disbanded – the Commandos proved to be a good enough fighting force, and with Jennah and Logan now together, humanity’s place feels secure in the continent so who needs racial allies?) go deep into formerly krait-infested waters and use similar electrical grappling hooks that crippled Zhaitan to pull the name-still-unknown Elder Water Dragon to shore. Beached and marooned on Southsun Cove, Bane’s top scientists and magicians use a prototype weapon of mass destruction (which will later be used to force the other races into submission through fear Cold War style) – the combination of The Lost Scroll’s magic and the Searing Cauldrons! Using this magic, the island, housing the remaining karka, the DSD, and Consortium heads (“kitten ed asuran capitalists!” sayeth Bane) disappears forever. Not a trace of land is left, and all is well.

However, upon the detonation of this weapon, Primordus feels a massive magical surge on the surface. Having devoured the last of the stone dwarves, he finally makes an appearance – by popping through the Great Collapse, shooting that pathetic excuse of an arena through the hole and watching it land, crushing the royal palace (thus ending the royal line… again). Banes, being the militant “fight fire with fire” man that he is, tries the same attack on Primordus – though more concentrated, human homeland and all. Primordus, being made of fire and stone, shrugs these puny magic missles of fire off, having consumed all asuran and dwarven magic underground thus being superpowered and laughs before spouting a monologue of self-importance and how he intends to wipe all life out. Then he chomps down on Bane and one by one fulfills his gloating speech.

All life on Tyria (world) has ended, Destroyers reign supreme. The land is a barren, molten, wasteland. A few pockets of Flame Legion and other life may exist here and there, having learned to thrive off of ash, but they don’t last too long. Decades pass, Primordus has consumed most of the world’s magic. Now destroyers that are formed come out tiny, thus fulfilling the true history of Universe 1 – the outcome seen in the second portal of the Infinity Ball storyline!

Decades more, perhaps centuries, pass. A rift opens as Primordus becomes sleepy, having consumed all the magic he can handle for years upon years. The Six Gods step out and Grenth freezes Primordus’ fiery behind, and Balthazar decapitates the dragon while Kormir sits in the back. Dwayna comes up and sighs, saying “looks like we’ll have to start from scratch. Bring in some new lab subjects from Earth.” And Lyssa opens a portal into the Mists as Melandru terraforms the world. Cycle restart.

Guild Wars 2 Fin.

(Author’s note: this started as a joke in an IM chat with Thalador. Originally meant to just be the joke about Faolain and Caudecus, but turned into this.)

-stares at Konig for a few minutes and slowly starts clapping-

You had me at kittenslapping Trehearne x,D

Baktwerel.9108:

-stares at Konig for a few minutes and slowly starts clapping-

You had me at kittenslapping Trehearne x,D

ty <3

Ashes.9586:

I know I’m probably wrong, but to me it feels like Scarlet is the Harley and not the Joker. By that, I mean that I don’t think she’s the one truly pulling the strings.
To me, her character feels nothing like the true boss, everything about her just screams “If you have a goal I can follow and can entertain/interest me for more than an hour I’m in. But I’m gonna try to kill you and take over later, just so ya know.”
So far, everything we’ve known about her makes her a terrible main villain, but a very interesting second in command who’s more than willing to take the blame while the real master hides.

I think you can introduce a limited amount of leaders above leaders. First we had Mai Trin, who was working for Scarlet. It would be kind of lame if Scarlet in turn, is working for yet another villain.

Given the back story they posted, it seems obvious that Scarlet is the new main nemesis.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Ashes.9586:

I know I’m probably wrong, but to me it feels like Scarlet is the Harley and not the Joker. By that, I mean that I don’t think she’s the one truly pulling the strings.
To me, her character feels nothing like the true boss, everything about her just screams “If you have a goal I can follow and can entertain/interest me for more than an hour I’m in. But I’m gonna try to kill you and take over later, just so ya know.”
So far, everything we’ve known about her makes her a terrible main villain, but a very interesting second in command who’s more than willing to take the blame while the real master hides.

I think you can introduce a limited amount of leaders above leaders. First we had Mai Trin, who was working for Scarlet. It would be kind of lame if Scarlet in turn, is working for yet another villain.

Given the back story they posted, it seems obvious that Scarlet is the new main nemesis.

Well, I hate to bring up this theory again considering it’s a big thing with Sylvari, but it might be an interesting introduction to Mordremoth. Scarlet being a hidden dragon’s “claw” or in this case “vine” so to speak. Especially considering her ties to the inquest and their rather intense research of the dragons’ magic.

I honestly hope she is working for Mordremoth or something along those lines.

“First we had Mai Trin, who was working for Scarlet. It would be kind of lame if Scarlet in turn, is working for yet another villain.”

I think the whole molten-aetherblade storyline is short of named villains. There is no dredge/flame legion/molten leader. There’s no named inquest leader in the aetherblades. The only named pirate leaders are in jail and there was nice potential for a jail break as part of this invasion but it seems rather late now. There might be a traitor amongst the good characters but the best way to hide that in the story is to have more named villains. Canach, the consortium, and the hobo-tron might come back into it but the current invasion events would be better for having more named villains with their own dialogue.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Baktwerel.9108:

-stares at Konig for a few minutes and slowly starts clapping-

You had me at kittenslapping Trehearne x,D

ty <3

I actually want to draw this scene, but I don’t know how long it would take me to do.

I also have to say that was a nice little story Konig.

Stooperdale.3560:

There is no dredge/flame legion/molten leader. There’s no named inquest leader in the aetherblades.

On the first, the Molten Firestorm and Molten Berserkers were individual leaders of each facility, it was said in an Scott and Angel’s story synops explanation video a while back (yeah, more lore not available in the game).

And the Inquest did have a leader in the Aetherblade. It was Frizz, aka Mister Electrical Stunning Wall with Golems who got crushed by a generator or some such. He was the Inquest leader – or seems to have been. Certainly led that lab, and led those around him.

ZenSwift.5918:

I actually want to draw this scene, but I don’t know how long it would take me to do.

I also have to say that was a nice little story Konig.

TY, it was fun to write up.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

(Author’s note: this started as a joke in an IM chat with Thalador. Originally meant to just be the joke about Faolain and Caudecus, but turned into this.)

You know there’s a chance that as long as this remains on here, it will become the plot line of GW2…

Narcemus.1348:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

(Author’s note: this started as a joke in an IM chat with Thalador. Originally meant to just be the joke about Faolain and Caudecus, but turned into this.)

You know there’s a chance that as long as this remains on here, it will become the plot line of GW2…

There’s a greater chance it will not happen.

. . . the challenge of including something made by a fan into official lore THAT central as opposed to, say, just a couple NPCs or a conversation? And I don’t mean writing or coding challenge, I mean legal issues.

(And yes, I know there are ways around it entirely but I’ve found many companies prefer to steer away from those rocks rather than wholeheartedly try to sail through.)

Narcemus.1348:

You know there’s a chance that as long as this remains on here, it will become the plot line of GW2…

Given Bobby Stein’s comments on the responses to Scarlet’s character.

I find that immensely doubtful. Even if Anet were to ignore the legal issues Tobias mentioned.

And in the (paraphrased) words of Thalador: “That’s still a better plot than where it seems we’re heading.”

I really want to see Banes again now…..

Part of me always wondered if GW2’s first April Fool’s would have been Terminator 3 in GW1 while Terminator 4 in GW2, thus finishing out the references, but thus it never happened. BTW, I was joking and didn’t expect anyone to really take those ideas.

Another thought on your story Konig. Ceara did not die, and really is Scarlet. We end up killing Scarlet somehow through the Super Adventure Box. Players rejoice (either because they defeated a major threat, or they thought she was terrible and needed to die). Halloween comes around, the signs of the Mad King’s Return appear once more, only this year, instead of the Mad King popping out of the fountain in the middle of LA, we have Scarlet appearing, being the only sylvari that has a spirit found within game (most likely having to do with her astral-projection experience). Over the last month she took over the Mad Realm from Mad King Thorn, and is now looking to invade from the Mists. Biggest ArenaNet Troll against the players ever, lol.

I used to work in a RPG store. Scarlet is entirely too much like what pretty much every teenage gamer new to fiction blathered on about to me – “let me tell you about my character, and how its just so much cooler than any other character you’ve ever heard of…” Honestly I would have hoped the ANet writers had more self-esteem. So far Scarlet is strictly amateur hour-grade.

Permission to study at all three colleges… Seriously. We’re supposed to believe the proctors of each college would EVER share their secrets with someone who can’t show loyalty to their previous college and wants to come study with you now?

Not. Kitten. Likely. “But my character is the bestest ever! (plausibility be dammed!)”

Studying with the Hylek was more interesting AND more plausible. They could have gone places sticking with just that. Or a single Asuran college and a tour of the minor species. Could have has shades of the personal storyline seen through other eyes.

Nike.2631:

Permission to study at all three colleges… Seriously. We’re supposed to believe the proctors of each college would EVER share their secrets with someone who can’t show loyalty to their previous college and wants to come study with you now?

Yes, that seemed extremely out-of-character for the Asura. I would have found it far more plausible if she “wanted” to study at all 3 colleges, but higher ups directly intervened, and kicked her out on false pretends. Then later on, have her break into the college and steal their work, so she could home-school herself. That sounds way more acceptable to me.

Nike.2631:

Studying with the Hylek was more interesting AND more plausible. They could have gone places sticking with just that. Or a single Asuran college and a tour of the minor species. Could have has shades of the personal storyline seen through other eyes.

Her stay with the Hylek was remarkably short. When she mentioned studying with the Hylek, I was surprised, and assumed that perhaps the Hylek were slightly more advanced than we all assumed…. but no, it was just poisons and such. I wish they would have expanded on that bit.

But you know what, this painfully shows us that the writers themselves think that the Hylek are boring. Which is unbelievable. They realize that they’re just a bunch of undeveloped frog people, and do nothing with it. This would have been an excellent opportunity for them to expand on the Hylek, and give us a deeper understanding of their society through Scarlet’s eyes. But apparently the writers don’t really love all their characters. They create a lot of empty fluff around them, that they occasionally rush past.

Scarlet’s study at the 3 colleges is almost entirely without conflict. She finishes them all up, the last one taking a bit longer because it was so interesting, and then she got kicked out. That is pretty bland. Having to convince the Asura to let her study here, and wrestling with the Asuran societal structure and hierarchy, would have been a great opportunity to inject more conflicts into her back story. It would have allowed them to make a more compelling character, by showing us the injustice that was done to her, just for being a curious mind. But that’s not how this came across. The story did not invoke any sympathy for her, nor teach us anything new about Asura or Hylek society. It is as if they are afraid to dig deeper into actually fleshing out these concepts.

I’m not the first to coin the term “Villain Sue”… but that’s because I was away from the internet when the event started. It fits.

Scarlet’s background could easily have worked out if she was a particularly bright sylvari who the Inquest agreed to teach in exchange for her participation in experiments that were too dangerous to risk valuable asura on, but which required a willing participant (such as the experiment to look into the Eternal Alchemy – they’re going to want someone who’ll give back useful results). Instead we get this polygon that’s studied under four races, including all four major asura leaning institutions (counting the Inquest as #4). And yet, none of her teachers stop to consider that she has a track record of abandoning her teachers…

If she is to have studied under all those people… then that IS something that could have been shown, rather than told. She could have been a character that showed up in all those places before she went bad. In fact, she could have been made a sympathetic character, whom we help a few times before she eventually disappears (to become Scarlet) – making the enmity just that much more personal than a Jokeresque figure that appears out of nowhere. I suspect the issue is that by the time they had the idea the timeline was already too advanced, but there’s definitely a missed opportunity there.

The third thing is that the story makes a big deal about a ‘third way’ orthogonal to the Dream and the Nightmare Court. Notwithstanding that that’s the Soundless, when you look at her behaviour and apparent motivations, it’s 100% Nightmare Court. She has the sadism of killing and torturing innocents for the fun of it as most Nightmare Court, and she covers it with the same thin veneer of self-justification of wanting to free the sylvari to make their own decisions as the Nightmare Court… with the same underlying spoiled-brat “I want to do what I like and you’re so horrible for daring to suggest otherwise!” attitude that lead Cadeyrne to form the Nightmare Court in the first place. About the only reason I can think of why she’s not Court is that she thinks she’s too much of a special snowflake to follow in someone else’s footsteps, and/or can’t bear the thought that she’d have to start near the bottom of the Court hierarchy if she did join. Maybe this is a deliberate flaw in her character rather than an oversight, but at the bottom line… however much she might try to deny it to herself, she’s Court through and through.

Then, as previously mentioned, there’s the thing that Scarlet was apparently known as the sylvari who studied with all those people, and yet nobody thought to make the connection with Mai Trin’s Scarlet until now. I hate Idiot Ball plots. With the searing fire of a billion suns.

One thing that does have potential is her apparent dislike of Kryta. That could simply be a matter of the Jubilee making DR a convenient target, but it could imply a deeper reason – she’s seen something about humans in the Eternal Alchemy that she doesn’t like (possibly some connection between humans and the sylvari that she’d like to sever, possibly something else) or that she does in fact have some patron that’s driving it. I guess we’ll see.

Interestingly enough, in the story the only race she didn’t learn anything from are humans.

It’s not clear that that’s saying anything beyond her not thinking humans had anything worth learning. ArenaNet really hasn’t given humans anything they clearly stand out with – there are areas where when you think about it and read between the lines you might see where they still have advantages, but nothing that’s going to make someone like Ceara decide that if she wants to learn X, she should go to a human. Especially since Ceara is obviously an engineer, while the human strengths that remain are less technologically oriented.

Maybe she viewed the humans as being too religiously dogmatic for her tastes?

DevilsAdvocate.1426:

I refuse to believe a character such as that is the person behind the molten alliance and can properly command the aetherblades. She’s fat too immature for the role.

I was expecting a brutal and cold character. Instead, we got a petulant child.
2/10, she’s at least amoral.

We are two then…