Guild Wars 2

You can stop guessing, I sat down and had a think and figured it out for you guys.

Now obviously this is just my hunch, but I think its a pretty good one. It won’t explain all the stuff that happens because it looks like Anet is going to branch out the story, as depicted by Rytlock slamming his sword in to the ground in the newest cinematic (don’t you know that’s bad for swords?)

Here’s my explanation of what we, and scarlet, see in Ormadd’s machine.

First of all, whats in the center is the pale tree, or A pale tree. All the way through the cinematic. What Scarlet saw she interpreted as the pale tree being choked by a vine. What she heard however was the pale tree saying “We must all do our part.” This sickened her. Her whole story is about how she doesn’t want to just be a cog in the machine. She wants to make her own destiny. So she was glad when she saw the tree strangled by a vine.

The most important, and most revealing information Scarlet gave was this:
“But I reject that call. I reject the notion that that I must choose the Dream or be lost to Nightmare. The forces that push us this way or that can be redirected. They can be set against one another to the detriment of both, and now I know how.”
So important they excerpted the short story around this theme.

So who was Scarlet setting against each other? Well, she knew about Ley lines. She knew the pale tree is sitting at a nexus of the lines, and she knew that the dragon could send vines of itself through the lines all over Tyria. However, the dragon wasn’t going to be awake for another 43 years or so. So her whole event was locating the ley lines so she could shock them to wake the dragon and send it searching through the lines for the pale tree.

When it finds it, it will complete Scarlet, and our, vision. (yes the orb that smashes in to the center is mordremoth, not zhaitan.)

Here’s the thing though, the order of the orbs is out of order to the awakening of the dragons. Maybe the order actually has no parallel to the waking of the dragons, or, maybe it does in a way.

We know that the cycle of the dragons pouring through the citadel gate and devouring all magic then returning to the darkness of space inbetween the galaxies is a cycle, so what if what we’re seeing is not this cycle but the previous cycle?

We know that there used to be a huge dead tree in Dry Top. We know that Ventari’s refuge sat underneat the roots of the tree, similar to how the Pale Tree sits exposed up in the air and the Sylvari make their homes under her.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ventari's_Refuge
If it really were a previous Pale Tree, it would have been dead for several thousand years by Ventari’s Refuge time. What if however, the previous pale tree taught the ancient centaur who passed their knowledge down to Ventari who passed in on to the current pale tree? Heh.

Now think about this, The Pale tree came from a seed, one amongst many that somehow had been stashed in a cave. If there’s a seed, it must have come from another plant. How did they get there? how long were they there?

Perhaps prior to the destruction of the previous tree, someone had hid them away to save them. And, perhaps the reason the orbs are out of order in Ormadd’s machine is because what we see, and what Scarlet saw, was the destruction of the previous tree. Sylvari can somehow transfer their knowledge via the dream, is it possible she had this knowledge locked away somewhere inside her? It seems like the dream could be partitioned off by the pale tree, though Mordremoth is somewhat slipping through. Perhaps mordremoth is linked to other pale trees elsewhere too. Maybe other trees have gone so far as to become completely soundless themselves, or are just completely part of the nightmare. Perhaps its not the nightmare that is the anomoly, but the part that the pale tree keeps sealed away as the dream.

Now, I kind of doubt they’ll see the destruction of the pale tree through, there’s way too much base story stuff that would need to be changed, but I think a major part of the series will be saving the Pale Tree from Mordremoth.

“She knew the pale tree is sitting at a nexus of the lines,” assumption with no evidence.

“We know that the cycle of the dragons pouring through the citadel gate and devouring all magic then returning to the darkness of space inbetween the galaxies is a cycle, so what if what we’re seeing is not this cycle but the previous cycle?” are we talking about the same game?

actually the dead tree described by nicholas is most likely the weird tree stump that was in the original dry top. we’re not exactly close to ventari’s refuge.

why would the “guidelines” of the centaurs have to come from a previous tree? the only reason the pale tree follows those tennets is because ventari taught them to it. there is nothing that points towards a previous tree, much less one that coincidentally follows the same tennets as a race that, as far as we know, didn’t even exist during the previous rise.

as for “seed coming from another plant”, you’re starting to walk the “chicken or egg” conundrum. and in a world where “magic did it out of nowhere” is a valid explanation, you can’t just assume it’s the seed of another pale tree, especially since the current pale tree doesn’t seem to have any seeds of her own.

overall your theory is full of “what ifs” and hardly anything backed by the game itself.

PS: it’s Omadd, not Ormadd. i can’t stand that typo and i don’t understand why it’s so common >.>

BrunoBRS.5178:

“She knew the pale tree is sitting at a nexus of the lines,” assumption with no evidence.

Its what she, and we, saw in the machine. It shows the nexus of these lines with the pale tree at the center.

are we talking about the same game?

y so serious?

actually the dead tree described by nicholas is most likely the weird tree stump that was in the original dry top. we’re not exactly close to ventari’s refuge.

Why? There is an actual tree at Ventari’s. If you look in the one single link I used, look at the picture of the refuge, there’s a tree, as I described, up in the air, just like the pale tree was, with people living under it.

why would the “guidelines” of the centaurs have to come from a previous tree? the only reason the pale tree follows those tennets is because ventari taught them to it. there is nothing that points towards a previous tree, much less one that coincidentally follows the same tennets as a race that, as far as we know, didn’t even exist during the previous rise.

That was pure speculation, but it would be a neat tie in.

as for “seed coming from another plant”, you’re starting to walk the “chicken or egg” conundrum. and in a world where “magic did it out of nowhere” is a valid explanation, you can’t just assume it’s the seed of another pale tree, especially since the current pale tree doesn’t seem to have any seeds of her own.

We make certain assumptions. Gravity works, if you slice a thing with a sword your sword doesn’t magically turn to rubber, seeds are likely from plants. Then “chicken and egg” paradox isn’t an actual paradox if a person takes half a second to think for more than a single generation. A mystery, maybe, but definitely not a paradox.

overall your theory is full of “what ifs” and hardly anything backed by the game itself.

My thread a posted as a huge disclaimed has what iffs? OH MAH GAWD! DX

PS: it’s Omadd, not Ormadd. i can’t stand that typo and i don’t understand why it’s so common >.>

I know, I do it just to bother you specifically because I knew you would read it. : ) (Thanks for the correction)

no, that’s what you’re taking from the vision. all we saw were the pale tree, followed by a bunch of orbs representing dragons and a middle orb that we don’t really know what it means. nothing about that cutscene is about leylines.

“y so serious” isn’t an answer to “where the hell did you get space dragons from?”

the book is describing the geography of dry top. dry top had a rather out of place tree stump. the book is talking about a tree stump. why would the book be referring to a stump from the tree at ventari’s refuge, which is far more to the north? also, the tree from ventari’s refuge wouldn’t leave a stump behind if you cut it down, just a look at it would be obvious.

yes, but we must make the least assumptions possible if we want to find a reasonable answer. each assumption increases the chance of the theory being wrong. as for chicken and egg, i did say conundrum, rather than paradox.

i’m just saying that if you’re gonna go all “guys, stop the presses, i got it”, then your disclaimer holds little water.

BrunoBRS.5178:

“y so serious” isn’t an answer to “where the hell did you get space dragons from?”

It was a reference to the Reapers from Mass Effect, as the vision from the Machine has people pointing out similarities between the Elder Dragon cycle and the Reaper cycle.

BrunoBRS.5178:

no, that’s what you’re taking from the vision. all we saw were the pale tree, followed by a bunch of orbs representing dragons and a middle orb that we don’t really know what it means. nothing about that cutscene is about leylines.

“y so serious” isn’t an answer to “where the hell did you get space dragons from?”

the book is describing the geography of dry top. dry top had a rather out of place tree stump. the book is talking about a tree stump. why would the book be referring to a stump from the tree at ventari’s refuge, which is far more to the north? also, the tree from ventari’s refuge wouldn’t leave a stump behind if you cut it down, just a look at it would be obvious.

yes, but we must make the least assumptions possible if we want to find a reasonable answer. each assumption increases the chance of the theory being wrong. as for chicken and egg, i did say conundrum, rather than paradox.

i’m just saying that if you’re gonna go all “guys, stop the presses, i got it”, then your disclaimer holds little water.

I’m not sure why you’re so fixated on this tree stump. I said there’s this other tree, its in the air, it’s near ventaris. I wasn’t talking about the stump. You were. I said no I’m not talking about the stump, you’re all NO BUT THE STUMP. Yes I know about the stump, it wasn’t the tree I was talking about. And, for all we know, the stump could be another tree from even another cycle. We have no idea how many cycles there have been. But, if these remains of pale trees are thousands of years old, they’re also likely essentially petrified by now, and extremely hard, almost like iron.

DraconicDak.9340:

BrunoBRS.5178:

“y so serious” isn’t an answer to “where the hell did you get space dragons from?”

It was a reference to the Reapers from Mass Effect, as the vision from the Machine has people pointing out similarities between the Elder Dragon cycle and the Reaper cycle.

well, see, not everyone played mass effect ¬¬

so in the end, we weren’t talking about the same game >.>

@Rukh – i’m talking about the stump because you’re using nicholas’ text as evidence.

“We know that there used to be a huge dead tree in Dry Top. We know that Ventari’s refuge sat underneat the roots of the tree, similar to how the Pale Tree sits exposed up in the air and the Sylvari make their homes under her.”

my point is that the “huge dead tree in dry top” has nothing to do with the huge tree from ventari’s refuge.

“And, for all we know, the stump could be another tree from even another cycle.”

or, you know, it’s just a tree. why do you jump to the most unlikely assumption? the odds of it being a normal tree over being an ancient pale tree are astronomical. in fact, the only thing that possibly hints that pale tree(s) isn’t a new thing is that it was a seed that got planted and no one knows where those seeds came from. going from that to “every large dead tree mentioned in guild wars lore must be an ancient pale tree that the dwarves forgot to write about”.

BrunoBRS.5178:

DraconicDak.9340:

BrunoBRS.5178:

“y so serious” isn’t an answer to “where the hell did you get space dragons from?”

It was a reference to the Reapers from Mass Effect, as the vision from the Machine has people pointing out similarities between the Elder Dragon cycle and the Reaper cycle.

well, see, not everyone played mass effect ¬¬

so in the end, we weren’t talking about the same game >.>

@Rukh – i’m talking about the stump because you’re using nicholas’ text as evidence.

“We know that there used to be a huge dead tree in Dry Top. We know that Ventari’s refuge sat underneat the roots of the tree, similar to how the Pale Tree sits exposed up in the air and the Sylvari make their homes under her.”

my point is that the “huge dead tree in dry top” has nothing to do with the huge tree from ventari’s refuge.

“And, for all we know, the stump could be another tree from even another cycle.”

or, you know, it’s just a tree. why do you jump to the most unlikely assumption? the odds of it being a normal tree over being an ancient pale tree are astronomical. in fact, the only thing that possibly hints that pale tree(s) isn’t a new thing is that it was a seed that got planted and no one knows where those seeds came from. going from that to “every large dead tree mentioned in guild wars lore must be an ancient pale tree that the dwarves forgot to write about”.

I wasn’t using Nichola’s text as evidence.

I think you have something here. Seems plausible.