Guild Wars 2

So currently 2 of the 3 known portals the the Rift are under or in extremely close proximity to the branded.

The Tomb of Primeval Kings appears to be sat directly under Kralkatorrik’s position (if we can presume the largest branded area in the crystal desert to be where Kralkatorrik stopped.)
Now this is the biggest worry of the two, and while it was corrupted I can’t see Kralkatorrik himself not being interested in the power source of the mists sat directly under his belly…

This leads to my next point. If Kralkatorrik has sensed the power of the portal to the rifts, but can’t access it due to whatever reason (will presume the Primeval monarchs for now), then I’d imagine his Lieutenant the Shatterer would also report sensing a similar power source while casually flapping around Blazeridge Steppes, as the Tomb of Drascir which as PC we have never been in close proximity to, although we came close in GW1.

I’m also presuming that the third gate in the Battle Isles (Heroes Ascent) was destroyed along with the damage from Orr rising, but is that actually confirmed? Because if not Kralkatorrik could happily send endless branded into the Hall of Heroes and the Rift, then simply move his entire army to potentially right next to Lion’s Arch.

I’m expecting a few lore experts to shoot this down through my lack of detailed knowledge of the portals and the workings of the Rift, but surely this is a large possibility considering the magical context of the mists themselves….
What could possibly drive the ED into action more so than a handy access into the biggest (potentially endless) supply of magic on his door step?

Kralkatorrik didn’t stop where that large branded bit is – he was traveling to Glint’s lair, and battled Destiny’s Edge there – after which he flew off in an unknown direction without creating more of the Dragonbrand.

Something to note is that there’s never been an in-game mention of the Drascir tombs having a portal to the Mists. This was a remnant from the E3 alpha demo and the Stories which put Devona and co. as the main heroes of the campaign. So it’s canonocity isn’t 100% (but highly likely). And either way, if that is still canon, then the distance between Drascir and Drascir’s tombs is likely still canon – which might put the tombs just outside the Dragonbrand.

Anyways, I won’t shoot this down because this is precisely my thought on what the Elder Dragons are doing now – their movements seems to be following after two primary sources of powers: the Bloodstones and stable portals to the Mists.

• Zhaitan right after waking sent his armies to the Ring of Fire Islands, which holds one of the five Bloodstones and the Door of Komalie. He’s also been sending armies to Elona, which houses the Mouth of Torment and Hallowed Point.
• Jormag’s continuously pushing south, after having attacking kodan icebergs (which holds magical artifacts it seems), despite his latest conquest survivors (the kodan) fleeing in all directions. In the Far Shiverpeaks there’s a place that is deeply tied to the Mists and since Svanir himself there’s hints of Jormag holding ties to the Mists via the Nornbear’s skill Spirit World Retreat (note: Spirit World/Spirit Realm is another name for the Mists – specifically the afterlife within the Mists) And even now thanks to the Sons of Svanir, Jormag has access to the Mists and is sending icebrood through there (mostly Icebrood Elementals though). South is also where the Bloodstones are.
• Kralkatorrik’s path when creating the Dragonbrand is odd. He avoided all major settlements (Black Citadel, for instance; and even the second-biggest eastern charr fort was missed (though just barely) as well as Ebonhawke), even missing Ascalon City which houses Magdaer and other magical artifacts (as per GoA, Adelbern had been collecting magical objects and placing them in the vault beneath the city since the Foefire), but “managed” to strike Drascir perfectly. Could be coincidence, but I don’t think so – Kralkatorrik’s Branding doesn’t corrupt ghosts, so he’d gain no minions by corrupting Ascalon City and could easily just send minions from the nearby Dragonbrand to fetch the magical sources later given this; furthermore, the Black Citadel and other charr structures hold no magic to them, and Ebonhawke was struck and weakened by Kralkatorrik – he obviously felt it was worth attacking asap, but he was more concerned about Glint. He also corrupted Serenity Temple, which would be a place of magic given its historical relevance to the gods and how the statues of the gods all seem to house divine magic. His attacking Ebonhawke, and corrupting Drascir and Serenity Temple IMO shows that he was being conscious about where he corrupted. The Branded are also heading south – this may just be them going to Kralkatorrik, or it could be that Kralk’s preparing to send his forces towards Elona just like Zhaitan, to the next largest portal to the Mists.
• While Primordus’ movements are largely unknown, its speculated that the Maguuma Wastes was caused by an Elder Dragon – most likely candidate is Primordus, and what’s in the Maguuma Wastes? A bloodstone. Furthermore, Mount Maelstrom is very close to the entrance to Bloodstone Caves and should be even closer to where the Bloodstone underground actually is.

So while I think your line of thought isn’t as well as it could be, I’m in agreement that Kralkatorrik’s possibly toying with the portal to the Mists.

So will we see a new content eventually where we must help the gods fight dragon minions as we once had to fight Dhuum’s, Menzies’, and Abbadon’s Minions in the mists in GW 1? Or perhaps a battle with the 9-some of dragon minions plus the three (now two with Abbadon dead) Evil gods?

9-some dragon minions? Where the heck do you get that number from.

Anyways, I can’t see Menzies and Dhuum allying with the Elder Dragons (nor is Menzies known to be a god). But I suspect they’ll come into play in the distant future somehow.

Sorry bad choice of wording there. What I was suggesting if Menzies and Dhuum (and some Margonites) are still around, we’d be fighting their minions and dragon minions at the same time in the future in the mists. So it would be all 6 dragons’ minions + Menzies’s shadow army and Dhuum’s underworld creatures (and maybe left over margonites) we have to fight, yet not as an alliance of 9 of course as we know in GW 1, two different groups don’t get along when pitted against one another.

I have a good feeling that with new content we will see the end of Zhaitan’s army, meaning as we kill Elder Dragons, new content will likely stop showing their minions. The reason being their minions will die, due to attrition, because of the inability to make more at the same rate.

In other words, I doubt we’ll see all 6 dragon minions + Shadow Army + Skele’s of Dhuum + Margonites/Demons all in one location.

Rather than “end of Zhaitan’s army” I think it’d just be more of “we won’t see Zhaitan’s army in the new stuff” (yea, semantics) – and this is just about proven with Southsun Cove. The Sea of Sorrows was the risen’s territory, but there’s not one to be found in Southsun Cove which is placed on the timeframe after Zhaitan’s fall.

Also, I’m pretty sure it was said all – if not almost all – Margonites were wiped out after Mallyx/Dominion of Anguish. Those which were left were either re-imprisoned or converted like The Lost/Apostate.

I don’t think it’s impossible to imagine one or two hanging around somewhere that are still loyal to Abaddon (or just hate Kormir), kinda like the mursaat, but I highly doubt there will be an army.

BTW Konig, “new content will likely stop showing their minions.” I said exactly what you were thinking.

The entire elder dragon motivation seems a bit strange to me.

They get power and conquer everything and then….

People who engage in conquest do so for glory, or for power, but everything they corrupt becomes magically bent to their will. It’s like going to a forum and winning a troll war with sock puppet accounts.

They’re not after glory or power. You ignore a very common – far more common than glory – reasons for conquest: resources – which is more or less what one of the two things they’re after: food (aka resource). Another common reason for conquest that you overlooked is just simply territory and control – which is also something they’re after, as well as just general destruction.

They seem to be working under a “I’ll make everything mine, and if I can’t, I’ll destroy it!” mentality – though this is a very general and, imo, poor view on their mentality and they do so for different reasons (by all accounts) and have different methods.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

They’re not after glory or power. You ignore a very common – far more common than glory – reasons for conquest: resources – which is more or less what one of the two things they’re after: food (aka resource). Another common reason for conquest that you overlooked is just simply territory and control – which is also something they’re after, as well as just general destruction.

They seem to be working under a “I’ll make everything mine, and if I can’t, I’ll destroy it!” mentality – though this is a very general and, imo, poor view on their mentality and they do so for different reasons (by all accounts) and have different methods.

Exactly, you need to have some reason to make everything yours.

If they’re after “food” (starving), how are they strong enough to plan and be this strategic rather than bee-lining for food and not caring about the ants beneath their feet?

Are there “neighbor jones” elder dragons one planet over with a porsche and an immaculate lawn they’re competing against here?

Or maybe they’re just so agorophobic and worried about being judged by us mere mortals that they aim to corrupt us all just so none of us can point and laugh and say “tentacle head.. haha!”

Nothing said they’re starving or weak. Their food is magic, and they intend to corrupt the world (what they can of it) – which includes those “ants beneath their feet.”

And some of your posts are making me think you’re beginning to troll…

This raises the question of what the Elder Dragons are. Theres a norn Priory member at the heart just outside Sorrow’s Embrace that got me thinking. She says something along the lines that ‘the Elder Dragons are still aspects of nature.’

The norn she is talking to responds with the question ‘What could be so out of whack with nature that causes it to manifest such destructive forces?’

She responds that ‘thats the question we need to ask ourselves.’

Now its just passing dialog but it got me thinking on what caused the Dragons to manifest in the first place and what are the dragons? Were they are race that developed into the monsters we have today or were they things that materialised our of magical forces as avatars if you will.

If the latter is the case then their motivation could simply be that its what they exist for. They are driven to destroy and assimilate because its the reason they came into existance. That raises the question of what triggered their manifestation.

Frankly we know far to little on the origins of the Elder Dragons at this point to do much more than make guesses.

Elder dragon’s are the ultimate example of chaos elements in my opinion. In many religions, tales, myths, legends, etc, there is one or more chaos elements. There are those driven by hatred or bad things that happened to them, and there are those that are just evil. In that evil they are bringing balance between good and right.

See it as follows. On man has had everything his whole live, and lives i na perfect world. Everyone has plenty of food, lives in big houses, has rich clothes and they don’t have to work at all. You might think he is very lucky. But does he agree?? he wouldn’t know he is lucky cause it is natural to him.

Only cause of bad things happening to us we appreciate the good things. Everyone knows how relaxing it is to come home on friday evening after a hard week of working. But that joyfull feeling of relaxing wouldnt be joyfull without the hard labour of the week.

Chaos Elements are elements needed to experience and value joy. The most powerfull ones are those not driven by motivation but are, like the ED’s, just there. No motivation, no reason, they do what they do.

So in the end they are still aspects of nature, and actually very important ones.

Another way to express this effect is in the first chapter of the Silmarillion (Tolkien). Eru (Iluvatar) and the Ainur start making music following a theme designed by the good guy (Eru). However one of the Ainur (Melkor) started to put new elements of it own into the theme, changing the music and making it sound terrible (He is acting as a Chaos element here). The only way to correct this is for Eru and the other Ainur to change the original theme to adjust and bring back harmony. The newly found harmony will be another theme however.

So in the end the chaos elements are responsable for renewal of the world.

There are kodan in Frostgorge Sound that say the Elder Dragons may be answers to bringing the world back into balance (by resetting the world, basically, is how I take that kodan view) – and others that say they’re a manifestation of imbalance.

If either case is correct, I’d link it to what the Elder Dragons do first and foremost: consume magic (their corruption is just a means to do such easier). To which I’d argue the reason they manifest – regardless of how – would be to reduce the levels of magic. Seeing how they’ve wiped the world clean before, though failed their last rising, which would mean that they devoured all accessible magic, the levels of magic must be rising over time. So they could be an answer nature produced to lower levels of magic in the world.