Guild Wars 2

We first learn of the link between the Great Jungle Wurm and the Nightmare Court upon entering Twilight Arbor. Therein, we encounter more of the wurm’s brethren, called “Nightmare Vines”. They began their lives as commonplace Maguuman Jungle Wurms, only to become corrupted by the phenomenon that sylvari term “Nightmare”. They join the ranks of a number of other plants affected by nightmare: Sylvari, sylvan hounds, husks and so on and so forth.

Prior to the rise of Scarlet Briar sylvari were considered to be the highest sentient plant-being affected by nightmare. However, new information has emerged from the Scarlet Briar saga, suggesting that there is a another (possibly sentient) plant affected by nightmare: The thorn vine.

Traveling throughout the Maguuma Jungle you may have inadvertently spotted it, snaking it’s way slyly over cliffs and canopies, shyly beneath the verdant soil. Entering Briarthorn Den, it can no longer conceal itself, a mass of lethal barbs and purple rhizomes commanding the attention of all who behold it. Even the Pale Tree cannot ignore the vine. A climber by nature, the vine courses its way from Briarthorn Den to the base of the great tree and from there, has proceeded to scale it. This is that vine which Ceara saw, after which she named herself: Scarlet Briar.

The vine’s role in nightmare is not fully understood: Is it merely affected by nightmare or affecting it? In an effort to answer this question, we will first turn our attention to the nature of climbers such as the vine. Most climbers are considered parasitic. Often using hooks such as thorns to affix themselves to a host, climbers use tall plants as support in their search for sunlight and other forms of nourishment. The intent of vines such as this is to survive at any cost, expending as little energy as possible in the process. But using real-world models to help understand the nature of creatures within a fantasy MMORPG is always tricky. Thus, the vine may not be using the Pale Tree as a support in it’s search for traditional forms of plant nourishment: Rainwater, sunlight and so on; instead, the vine may be feeding off of the “Dream magic” of the tree. When we consider the course of the vine, this possibility becomes more plausible.

The vine’s growth extends north and west. Within Caledon Forest, it appears to course through Ogham Wilds, a place sacred to sylvari because it is the location of a landmark straddling the barrier between the Dream and the real world. In the Kessex Hills, the vine also hugs Lychcroft Mere. The lake is fed by both the tide and a waterfall with near-identical particle effects as those observed at the Ogham Wilds during the sylvari starter instance “Fighting The Dragon”. To the west, in the Brisban Wildlands, the vine passes close-by the site of Destroyer activity in the east end of Skrittsburgh before entertaining the site of a seemingly-eternal struggle between ghosts of the White Mantle and the Shining Blade at Aurora’s Remains. Given the nature of these locations, it is possible that the vine feeds off ambient magic in general – not just “Dream magic”. However, I’m sure everyone would concur that “Dream magic” is by far the most abundant form of magical nourishment available to the vine at this time.

With this in mind, we could argue that the vine grows toward sources of magic in the same way that real-world plants grow toward light. But does this mean that the vine is actually responsible for the nightmare? There are indications that it is heavily involved in the spread of nightmare. For starters, many of the locations at which the purple (and sometimes yellow) rhizomes of the vine can be observed, nightmare courtiers are nearby. The most infamous example of a nightmare haunt is Twilight Arbor and, true to form, the vine does not disappoint us: Faolain’s lair (available in TA:EXP), in which she has nurtured her nightmare tree, is overrun with the rhizomes of the vine. Given Faolain’s role as the leader of the Nightmare Court operating from Twilight Arbor, this is probably significant. It suggests that the vine may have been instrumental in Faolain’s descent into nightmare.

But we are hard-pressed to explain how this might occur. One possibility is that Faolain’s abnormalities (observed from the moment of her awakening) are not accidental. Faolain is said to have awakened with black hair, eyes and nails. It is possible that she became blighted during her development as a direct result of the injuries sustained by the Pale Tree at the hands of the thorn vine. In the short story “What Scarlet Saw” the vine is said to have opened wounds on the tree; vines have long been considered one of the foremost spreaders of diseases amongst plants for this very reason. Furthermore, the vine itself passes through Wychmire Swamp (rhizomes of the vine can be observed traveling through the dead roots of rotting trees in the area), at which a dynamic event involving various forms of blighted growth can be observed, one form of which is a thorn vine, cleared immediately before the spawning of the Great Jungle Wurm. It is possible that the vine itself has become infected with blight and has passed this on to the the Pale Tree and her fruit, including Faolain.

If this theory is correct, Faolain is the first of a number of carriers of blight within the sylvari population. Skeptics will probably argue that not every member of the Nightmare Court exhibits the same symptoms as Faolain – that is, they don’t all have black hair, eyes and nails. However, the blight does not have to spread to every member for every member to be “lost” somehow to nightmare. However, it should be considered that any member with said symptoms is probably closer to nightmare than others.

Sorry, a couple of corrections: Faolain’s lair is in TA:Story and the sylvari starter instance, if I remember correctly, is not called “Fighting The Dragon”.

Really neat! It’s great to see these ideas fleshed out. I see now how the different points you have talked about end up fitting together.

there may be something to it, I will definitely have a look at those vines in-game, never payed close attention to them. And to add to your theory, I think it´s been confirmed that the Nightmare corruption is also physical in some way, plus one that falls for the Nightmare can´t return back to normal.
To add to this,in Edge of Destiny book (spoilers!), Caithe has this black mark on her when she is somewhat falling to Nightmare, cured by Faoline at the end (but I´m not sure with this, it´s been a while since I read this)

You are a really good writer you know. Your form of writing is really appealing and I always have a great time reading your stories, seeing you put effort in making it and coming up with the theory. We need more of fresh looks at things in the game, because very few are doing this at this moment. while I sometimes dissagree with your theories, this is a very exciting theory. I havent done any research about this but in my interpretation of the poem Scarlet is trying something with a thorn vine. “Next part will sting” I immediately thought about some sort of thorn vine. It might be she has grown it underground. and the Probes are maybe guiding the way it grows. It is hard to put a finger on her end game. Also it is really difficult to know what the big world wide event will be because it could be a lot of things. I am getting more and more excited for next patch!

at this point i think i figured something out

The vine is dragon corruption, specificaly the jungle dragon corruption. He feeds on the dream turns the sylvaris to nightmare and is building an army of his own. Did it ever hit any of you that Faolain and the nightmare court could actualy be unwilling dragon minion actualy ignoring their true master? That thorn vine could hardly come from any other possible source

One little correction, Faolain is not teh founder of the Nightmare Court. Firstborn Cadeyrn founded NC.

Faolain later took the Court over and is/was leading it ever since.

Other than that, your theory seems to hold water, gonna check out on the vines though!

And correction @zwierz – Caderyn was a second born.

Ah, good catch! My bad, 100%, I’m no expert in sylvari lore hides under the table in shame. I apologize for sloppiness, should have checked wiki before posting.

Next playable race : thorn vine. Seems legit ;p