Guild Wars 2

The Pale Tree venerates Ventari, not Ronan. Is there a lore explanation for why Sylvari resemble humans instead of centaurs? (I get that the real reason is six-limbed salad would have been a little TOO alien for the user base, but I’m still wondering if they came up with an in-game reason).

We’re not completely sure, but the usual hypothesis is that since the Pale Tree was planted on what was effectively a human graveyard, she was able to use human (and canine) bodies as ‘templates’ for her children – in a similar manner to the Blighting Pods using prisoners or corpses as their templates.

Mind you, on this theory it’s likely that she might have had access to centaur templates as well, but it’s possible that she made a conscious choice not to absorb Ventari’s body.

Sylvari, like all other mordrem, get a blueprint from the blighting tree (or in this case the pale tree). The average mordrem comes from a blighting tree that just violently adds blueprints to it’s gallery whereas the pale tree sticks the model of a human.
Do note, however, they only physically resememble humans, they have completely different ‘souls’ and organs and all that. Just like a wooden carving of a rock isn’t actually a rock.

Ventari was a great spiritual guide for the Pale Tree and for Ronan. Ronan, however, was a much more “normal” guy, just a good, paceful and caring one, and he was the one that planted the seed in the first place.

IMO, while the Pale tree thinks Ventari as a moral ideal to follow, she sees Ronan as her father, as family. Hence she created sylvari as human-like, but teach them ventari’s words.

draxynnic.3719:

the usual hypothesis is that since the Pale Tree was planted on what was effectively a human graveyard, she was able to use human (and canine) bodies as ‘templates’ for her children – in a similar manner to the Blighting Pods using prisoners or corpses as their templates.

That’s disgusting! Headcanon accepted :-D

Amaimon.7823:

Sylvari, like all other mordrem, get a blueprint from the blighting tree (or in this case the pale tree).

Not all mordrem. See Mordrem Thrashers, Vinetooths, Octovines, possibly Breachers/Maws (we see no wurms being afflicted), and bombers (looks like nothing in all of Tyria).

This said, the Pale Tree definitely modeled sylvari in an abstract way after humans – confirmed by devs. The question is more whether she intentionally chose humans, or that choice was forced on her due to xyz reasons and what her choice was was “how human” to make sylvari.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Amaimon.7823:

Sylvari, like all other mordrem, get a blueprint from the blighting tree (or in this case the pale tree).

Not all mordrem. See Mordrem Thrashers, Vinetooths, Octovines, possibly Breachers/Maws (we see no wurms being afflicted), and bombers (looks like nothing in all of Tyria).

This said, the Pale Tree definitely modeled sylvari in an abstract way after humans – confirmed by devs. The question is more whether she intentionally chose humans, or that choice was forced on her due to xyz reasons and what her choice was was “how human” to make sylvari.

Those could be models based on races present during the last cycle, or mix n matches of races. A similar effect is seen with the Destroyers. The ones in gw1 look very alien. The only familiar one looks like the troll which is a caverndwelling race. The rest resemble tunneling creatures and fungi. When in gw2 they follow the asura to the surface, they reshape to model the surface creatures. Harpies, crabs. Etc. Something similar i expect happens with the mordrem in reverse where instead of changing the mordrem entirely, mordremoth just adds blueprints rather than replaces them, creating more and more alien fusions. The breacher and the vinewrath may very well be a culmination of 20 races’ optimal traits