Guild Wars 2

I was reading up on druids in the GW lore and saw that they always appeared as spirits in GW1. However, in GW2, the only evidence of druids are their husks.

Were the GW1 druids simply outside of their husks while you interacted with them? Is there any evidence of husks in GW1? Just wondering how to reconcile these discrepancies.

There actually are still spirit druids in GW2- they just go by Arboreal Spirits now. As far as the husks go, they certainly aren’t in GW1… but 250 years is a long time. It could be that since the first game they chose to take physical form.

Also, I suspect husk is a misnomer- the events in that area suggest that the druids remain within, and are simply dormant.

Actually the Druids do NOT inhabit the husks for the most part, there’s a few events where the Druid spirit can be escorted back to their husk and a bunch of plant life begins to flourish around it though.

Here’s some text from the renowned heart (Scholar Issa) in the Toxal Bog relating to these husks:

-What’s the Durmand Priory doing all the way out here, anyway?
-We received word that the asura had discovered some petrified husks that resembled the ancient druids. But the druids disappeared centuries ago, so we came to investigate.

-What are you hoping to find?
-Answers. Are these husks of ancient druids? Where did they come from? Why do they still pulse with energy even though they appear dead? Why is the Inquest interested in them?

To me, the dialogue indicates that the appearance of these husks was relatively recent. Like, druids have been gone for centuries — suddenly, husks!

Curious to read how you all interpret this text.

Druids were originally humans who “shed their flesh” to become closer to the Maguuma. As the heart dialogue Psynch quoted, the husks seem to be a recent thing though we do have one druid stating it is its ‘husk’ – and that it left due to being called south. What this calling was is unknown, whether those husks were always there and simply recently discovered or had recently appeared (druids moving in and leaving their husks) is unknown. Either way, it would appear that the druids don’t treat them as mobile bodies, otherwise why leave it to head south if the husk could? (and there’s the lack of movement upon completion of said event)

I would argue that the husks are simply immobile “homes” for the spirits to inhabit while not on the move, and they recently just got discovered. Issue with that is that there are husks in the now-destroyed Henge of Denravi, where we should have seen some in GW1.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

snip

Agree with all of that. The reason I started this thread is because I think that the behavior of these druids is telling of something really important, but it ultimately rests on when this arboreal spirit was ‘called down’.

The premise of my thought is as follows —

There are two sets of druidic husks. One in the Toxal Bog near the Henge. The other is around Twilight Arbor (two in the swamp and ~4 above TA). If you look at the orientation of the husks, they’re all ‘reaching’ in a very specific direction: toward the site of nearby GW1 Melandru statues.

This leads me to think that the druids left their husks to either gather at the Melandru statues, or get ‘instructions’ from the statues. Ultimately, I believe they are congregating for something. Why do I think that? Well, the arboreal spirit that you are helping is and elder druid. First, it refers to its husk as an ‘elder husk.’ It’s also much larger than the other husks. If we think back to GW1 at Bloodstone Fen, there is a moment where a group of druids come together to ‘call’ the elder druid because the ‘jungle is in peril.’ I’m saying that this arboreal spirit is an one such elder druid who was recently called out because the jungle is again in peril.

What peril? Well, that all ultimately depends on when we think these druids left their husks. Considering the elder’s vulnerability outside of its husk, I imagine that they haven’t been out for very long. So I wonder if this might be an indication of a major recent event in south-west Maguuma.

Would love to hear some feedback on this idea, as I’m planning on making a video about it soon.

Durzlla.6295:

Actually the Druids do NOT inhabit the husks for the most part, there’s a few events where the Druid spirit can be escorted back to their husk and a bunch of plant life begins to flourish around it though.

Actually, it’s because of that event that I believe all the husks are inhabited. While the spirit is gone, the husk is defoliated and swarming with flies, but while inhabited the husk is green and swarming with a fattier sort of bug. All the husks in the swamp are in the later state, save only those recently drained by the Inquest. Furthermore, the dialogue of the spirit makes clear that his natural state is at rest within the husk.

@Psynch Nice catch, both with the size of the “elder husk” and the direction, though I’ll point out it isn’t absolute- while most of them seem to point south, I did see one facing east. It also seems to me that they aren’t looking towards the statue, which would be off a little eastwards of where most of them are facing. Still, food for thought.

As for Wychmire, I didn’t see any husks- only mosshearts, living and dead, and the giant stone faces that share no similarity with the druid husks. And again, nearly all of the husks seem to be occupied, so if something is happening to the south it seems only one of them tried to find it.

There is a sort of trail of husks above TA, and it looks like it leads into TA. Walk directly south of Wychmire WP and into the little nook with shadow imps in it. As for the one facing east, I figured that since it’s otherwise surrounded by the tree trunk, the only way for it to exit is to face east in that particular spot.

It’s hard to distinguish what is a husk and what is a dead mossheart. It seems like a husk might be a dead mossheart inhabited by a druid (because a druid is ‘naturally’ husk-less. Any thoughts on that? Attached are two images, one is a husk in the Toxal Bog, the other is a husk/mossheart at Wychmire.

Bog: http://i.imgur.com/UtQ5VTYh.jpg
Wychmire: http://i.imgur.com/5f4cgOGh.jpg

Well, there are a few things that differentiate them. Husks without fail are found upright, with one arm outstretched, whereas dead treants are fallen upon the ground. Husks have the appearance of willowhearts, while all in Wychmire look like mosshearts. Finally, there are mosshearts everywhere in Wychmire, so it stands to reason that there would be some dead ones in the places where the swamp’s darkness is strongest.

As far as the druids inhabiting treants… I find nothing implausible about that. They are already much alike, differing largely only in intelligence and corporeality.

All of that makes sense. I’m thinking of the trail of mosshearts that sort of lead into TA from above. Why is the trail there? That’s what I’m trying to work out currently.

From above?

/15 and whatnot.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

From above?

/15 and whatnot.

Just trying to give a sense of where exactly this trio of husks area. They’re not located in the main swamp w/ the jungle wurm, but rather above the TA wp (actually in between TA and Wychmire wp.

Oh, by the shadow imps? I always thought the imps just play rough with mosshearts.

yeah, very well could be.