Guild Wars 2

As the title said, I would like to know what’s the story behind it.

In the picture it appears to be a Kodan(I don’t know the gender, but until further clarification, it’s a male) and a human female(it can’t be a Norn as it’s just too small).
Although his hammer is in a menacing posture, it suggests that he’s holding her back from running towards something/someone that fades away(flying?) in the distance(towards the sunset or some kind of explosion/eruption).
Trying perhaps to save her file, not allowing to act reckless, as her gestures point that she is very sad about what’s happening, hence the arm trying to reach out.

Thank you.

They share the same menace, the same Dragon that threats Norn threat Kodans, they both live in the Ice mountains, or used to, Kodan have their own floating iceberg capital (apparently).

So most likely the Norn wanted to charge by herself against the Dragon or it’s champion and the Kodan (remember they are wise and pure) saw this as futile and prevented her for doing so.

Could had be that the dragon just did something to a friend or family member from the Norn and she in rage was trying to do something foolish.

I have my doubts if she’s a Norn, see look small, almost human-like by the Kodan’s side. Also I get her gesture with the hand as trying to grasp something that she doesn’t want to let go of, as if she is separated from someone, that kind of feeling.

From all the loading screens I have seen so far this is the most beautiful, as it managed to capture emotions as well, not just scenery.

She’s supposed to be Eir Stegalkin (concept art).

Hmm, if that’s so.. maybe this is when Spoiler:Snuff died?

Beyreva.8769:

Hmm, if that’s so.. maybe this is when Spoiler:Snuff died?

Wrong on both accounts. His name is Spoiler:Snaff and that battle was fought in the Crystal Desert, not the Shiverpeaks.

gjegede.1084:

Beyreva.8769:

Hmm, if that’s so.. maybe this is when Spoiler:Snuff died?

Wrong on both accounts. His name is Spoiler:Snaff and that battle was fought in the Crystal Desert, not the Shiverpeaks.

Also, there were no Kodan present there.

I was always under the impression that the Kodan were going to be the companion race for the Norn before the feature was removed.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term companion, they were AI characters similar to the heroes in GW1. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Companion

I thought each race would get a specific race/creature as their companion (or at least as an option). My theory was mostly from concept art released early on

-Norn and Kodan
-Human and Dwarves
-Asura and Golems
-Sylvari and the Druid like creatures
-Charr and Devourers (or something similar)

But that theory doesn’t matter much any more!

HERO.2057:

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Norn believe Kodans are Norn’s that never returned to their human form

They share the same menace, the same Dragon that threats Norn threat Kodans, they both live in the Ice mountains, or used to, Kodan have their own floating iceberg capital (apparently).

So most likely the Norn wanted to charge by herself against the Dragon or it’s champion and the Kodan (remember they are wise and pure) saw this as futile and prevented her for doing so.

Could had be that the dragon just did something to a friend or family member from the Norn and she in rage was trying to do something foolish.

it’s the opposite. the kodan believe that norns are kodan that “fell from grace” and lost the ability to be permanently bear.

as for the concept art, it’s just pretty concept art. there isn’t really a background story to most of them.

I think the loading screen is a teaser for Honor of the Waves storymode.

Eir’s father died in a battle against the Icebrood, but I’m not sure how old she was at the time. That could be a teenage Eir in the picture, but more likely than that it’s just concept art.

Raevel.7820:

I was always under the impression that the Kodan were going to be the companion race for the Norn before the feature was removed.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term companion, they were AI characters similar to the heroes in GW1. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Companion

I thought each race would get a specific race/creature as their companion (or at least as an option). My theory was mostly from concept art released early on

-Norn and Kodan
-Human and Dwarves
-Asura and Golems
-Sylvari and the Druid like creatures
-Charr and Devourers (or something similar)

But that theory doesn’t matter much any more!

Most of this post is right, this is VERY old concept art. (one of the first teasers they gave us) The kodan were indeed going to be the norn companion race so I believe that is what this picture is depicting.

Icarus got it right, this was very early concept art, and it is in fact Eir and I think they originally meant for kodan to be taller than un-beastmode norn. Apparently things changed, as they do, no biggie. Also he’s not holding her back, it was one of those 2.5D movies and they were running together, for some reason they captured that specific moment for the loading screen and so the kodan (who is in the foreground) appears to be reaching out for Eir (who is in the background) its more clear to notice it when you see the video. I won’t link it here, just go to the main website and look at the videos, its the first teaser/trailer.

Earlier concept art of kodan typically puts them much taller than your standard norn – norn being 8-9 feet on average, and kodan being 10 feet on average modernly.

That concept art is likely just showing the two races in size comparison. There’s another similar one where the non-kodan (be it norn or human) is wielding a bow.

@Nay: They didn’t “capture that moment” – that’s the original concept art depiction (all such scenes have an original concept art which they then took the layers of to animate). The trailer cinematic just separated them.

Thank you for all the answers!

@ Koing I didn’t insinuate it originated from the 2.5D as a “capture” in the sense you are putting it, I was saying for whatever reason they chose that moment in the scene to use as a loading screen art, had they used a clip or “frame” (and yes those 2.5D’s were drawn up in frames and layered together) from slightly before or after, the kodan would have been positioned a little better so it didn’t look like he was trying to stop her or reach for her.

All of those come from an original concept art which is layered, said layers are animated individually by those who make the cinematics. I suggest watching this video before talking about it like you know it.

This is the original concept art in its standard state: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/1/10/Eir_06_concept_art.jpeg

They didn’t take the image from the cinematic, they made the cinematic from the image by moving those layers about. You have the process reversed.

You really will argue about any little thing just to argue won’t you? At once time you had a lot of valuable insights to the community, but these days you just wanna nitpick and get the last word. Well, do your thing I’m done with this thread.

Nay of the Ether.8913:

You really will argue about any little thing just to argue won’t you? At once time you had a lot of valuable insights to the community, but these days you just wanna nitpick and get the last word. Well, do your thing I’m done with this thread.

? I don’t know enough about this subject to say who’s right or wrong, but it sounded like he was just pointing out that you got something mixed up. And he wasn’t rude about it either.

Eh, people often take my writing as offensive, arrogant, or otherwise egotistical when I don’t tend to be so if he took it like that no biggie.

If I “argue about any little thing” then it’s not just to argue (though I admit I love debates, something like this is not the kind of debate I enjoy – rather, I prefer theorycrafting debates), but rather to make sure information that’s spread is as truthful as possible. If I’ve changed, then it’s because I’ve seen how easily in lore communities an assumption or misremembrance gets told as fact and how that “fact” get spread around like wild-fire. For example, take the skill challenge from Zone Green – because WoodenPotatoes made a video mentioning that the binary code translates into “Pale Tree” the whole “Pale Tree is an Elder Dragon” hypothesis spread like wildfire – but WP was wrong in that regard, yet there are still folks, afaik, who believes he was correct there.

And for the record, I’m making this post not to have the last word, but in defense of self.

(Side note: yes, I’m in err of making statements of misremembrance when debating too)