Guild Wars 2

Just something that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while…by killing Zhaitan, we’ve proven that the dragons can be defeated, and that we have what it takes to do it. And yet, both the Inquest and the Flame Legion have since voiced their certainty that the dragons will destroy us. The Flame Legion’s taunts mean little by themselves, but coming from the Inquest it’s an entirely different matter, as they seem to know more about the Elder Dragons than any other group in Tyria. What do you guys think? Do they know something that we don’t?

IMO, the Inquest haven’t really said that the dragons will kill us all. I mean, if they’re working on harnessing their energies, then that in some degree means they’re confident the dragons can be subjugated. Yes, Alpha went awry as did Kudu, but I doubt they’d take that as a sign to stop. If anything, that’s a reason to keep going, since they got so close.

@Mystic: I think he’s referring to the Arah Mursaat exp path, in which Belka said (I have to paraphrase since it’s not on the wiki) that the Inquest would take the knowledge of the mursaat and leave the world like they did, returning once the Elder Dragons returned to sleep and wiped everyone out.

This was post-Kudu and Alpha, and in the Inquest base in Arah, the risen were fully subjugated (titled “Dominated” even).

So I’d say it’s very clear the Inquest think the Elder Dragons will still wipe us out. Despite Zhaitan having clearly been killed.

As to the question Aaron asks. What do they know we don’t? I don’t know, but what we don’t know… I suspect has ties to Tequatl’s powerboost – since we’re promised it holds story tied to the Living World.

Honestly though, I’m not sure the Flame Legion think the ED will wipe us out. The exact words:

“You could never understand because you and your people are destined to die in our fires. Your time is coming. You should prepare yourselves. "

“Nothing. Never mind. Go fight your dragons. If you don’t, they’ll annihilate you. "

(Then he doubts the ED are a threat to him). This tells me that he believes we may beat them – but only if we fight them. However, despite this, “our time is coming.” Given the Molten Alliances’ ties to Scarlet, he could be referring to her grand schemes to change the fate of the world, and his doubting of the ED as a threat could stem from Scarlet’s own superiority complex and belief that she knows the Eternal Alchemy and believes the only thing that might pose a threat to her is the Elder Dragons (something she’ll soon learn she’s very very wrong about, I hope…).

But with the Inquest’s view… that poses a different question. And their knowledge may have stemmed from their research on the Risen they’ve learned to control fully. Which as said, I believe ties into Tequatl’s power boost.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Despite Zhaitan having clearly been killed.

I have not seen his remains/corpse.

Yeah, but it was confirmed by the devs. Zhaitan is dead, all hail Tequatl!! I mean, kitten, hes outlived his creator by more than a year! !

Yeah, but it was confirmed by the devs. Zhaitan is dead, all hail Tequatl!! I mean, kitten, hes outlived his creator by more than a year! !

Aye, I was referring to the mursaat path. The exact quote is “We’ve only just begun. With this knowledge, we can become like the mursaat themselves! We will leave this world to the Dragons, and then return and rule once they sleep again.” (I’ll update the wiki sometime later today.)

As far as Tequatl’s upgrade goes… a random power boost to a dragon champion would not alone be enough to cause such a sense of fatalism. Maybe if Tequatl truly is ascending to become the next Elder Dragon (here’s hoping not), or has truly been subverted by Bubbles, with Bubbles being so much more powerful than Zhaitan that we don’t stand a chance… or maybe if the devs have backtracked on their statements, which has been known to happen before, and Zhaitan pulls a Tequatl and returns no matter how many times we kill it… but all of these things are far-fetched in their own way, the last in particular.

As for the Flame Legion, as I said in my post, I’m personally inclined to discount his statements. I mentioned him only because he makes a curious contradiction: he says both “you and your people are destined to die in our fires” and that “We’ll be here long after the dragons have swallowed you and yours.” Last time I checked, a person couldn’t die twice, let alone an entire race. I still find it more likely that he was simply trying to deflect your inquiries, but a sound argument could be made that “our fires” are power from the dragons, particularly Primordus. Of course, even in that case his threats are as likely to be blind superiority complex as foreknowledge of irresistible cataclysm.

For Tequatl, I’m thinking it is in the line of all the other theory I saw mentioned – that the risen will get stronger over time – that all of Zhaitan’s magic will, instead of flowing to Tyria, will flow to them. And the fewer risen there are the stronger they get.

Would tie into the Orrian risen getting larger and temple priests getiing stronger if ArenaNet ever wants to do story on those updates.

The endgame in that scenario would still be “Last one standing gets to be Zhaitan!” It may not be Tequatl in that case, but in a way the idea of some forgotten thrall at the bottom of the ocean ending up with all that power is even worse.

I would argue there is a very fine difference.

Though there is little support, I would argue that only Elder Dragons themselves can truly corrupt. Minions take magic and send it to the Elder Dragon, who corrupts then return the magic. Take out the Elder Dragon and your renewable source of corruption becomes finite. You can spread it or concentrate it, but it becomes a limited source.

Furthermore there is nothing to suggest that a minion’s death results in the return of the magic – a dragon’s magic remains thus can be siphoned but what about non-dragons among the minions? Their deaths may result in complete removal of that corrupted magic.

Point being, it’s a war of attrition but they can get stronger as their numbers die down because the remaining corruption is concentrated down. But when it’s gone, it is gone.

In that sense, the “last one standing becomes Zhaitan” is only true in a power sense. Though it can also become stronger than Zhaitan was… But it would still be the final one.

Alternatively, it may be that Zhaitan can be reborn – that it is dead but due to the nature of the Elder Dragons will eventually return.

I’d rather go with the concentration of corruption and magic. Alongside the fact that sans Kralkatorrik (newly awakened and injured) and possibly Mordremoth, Zhaitan is the weakest Elder Dragon give or take, and fighting him cost a huge amount of resources for the Pact. Even the deep sea dragon seems stronger given it pushed out the krait and karka of all species. And Jormag and Primordus had a neck of a long time to build up strength via consuming asura / kodan, jotun, and norn magical items.

Zhaitan did not die. The beast was defeated. There is a difference.

Perhaps Zhaitan will become just like a title after all tequalt is just the name the hylek have given to that dragon…perhaps its new name is Zhaitan. (just thinking along the same lines ex. Roberts from the princes bride)