Guild Wars 2

I’m not sure if talking about the back item and how it’s made counts as a spoiler or not, so read at your own risk.

So… Apparently, the new back item is a Mord vine that we raise and take care of. It’s not evil because we somehow purify it as we take care of it. Now, this actually has some VERY important implications.

This is the first time we’ve seen confirmation of cured dragon corruption. Glint rebelled, but I don’t recall anything saying she had somehow purified herself. This is different, this is straight-up purification from dragon corruption.

Looking at the steps to care for the seed and grow the back item, I can’t help but wonder if any of this somewhat matches what the seed for the Pale Tree was put through.

It also means it may be possible to purify one of the Branded or Icebrood. It also makes me think that Rytlock will return from the mists corrupted by Mord, and we’ll have to capture him and purify him to save him. But that last part is just a guess.

Anyone agree? Disagree?

It may be that the Pale Tree (and this vine) are specific types of living minions bred by Mordremoth eons ago. However, unlike other dragon minions (which are existing creatures that are corrupted and infused with draconic energy, making them “patient zero” type casualties and recovery of them a near-impossible process), as individual living creatures, the Pale Tree, Sylvari and the vine have the capacity to make their own choices provided they aren’t re-corrupted by direct exposure to Mordremoth’s mental corruption.

This vine, while appearing to be touched by Mordremoth, has been grown from seed under the good influence of a hero of Tyria.

“Appearing” is the key word. Present tense. The description doesn’t say it has been purified, only that it has been grown under a good influence. (Plus, the huge magical influence of all the scavenger hunt items if they are actually canon.) It is possible that the vine is still probably corrupted, hence it still retaining the purple color, but it might not be under Mordy’s influence anymore.

Glint rebelled, but I don’t recall anything saying she had somehow purified herself.

She rebelled, but that was only after she was captured by the Forgotten when she was still a champion of Kralk, and they used a ritual to sever and block Kralk’s control over her. She was neutral for awhile, but her telepathy allowed her to read the minds of the lesser races. After some time, she started to sympathize with their plight, and I’m sure she didn’t much care for her ex-master at all, and she decided to help the lesser races survive against the Elder Dragons.

Well I certainly hope this isn’t a ploy to hint at the Pale Tree’s origin…

Leyline infused Pot -> Ventari’s Sanctuary apparently situated on a powerful Leyline crossing
Purified water -> Pure waters around Ventari’s Sanctuary
Phantasmal essence -> Planted on the corpses of family
Nurtured by a hero -> Nurtured by Ventari

So yea, I see your assumption.

^ Why not?
It would be rather interesting to get some more backstory about the Pale Tree.

lordkrall.7241:

^ Why not?
It would be rather interesting to get some more backstory about the Pale Tree.

Because it would make a lot of lore followers rage and/or quit for days/weeks/months, since we spent nearly two years disproving the “Sylvari are Mordremoth’s minions” theory.

Which to be fair have only even been made on assumptions, just like this.
But yeah, the lore community does seem to lock into the whole: “My theory is correct and the lore-writers doesn’t have a clue”-mentality quite a bit.

lordkrall.7241:

“My theory is correct and the lore-writers doesn’t have a clue”-mentality quite a bit.

Not so much “doesn’t have a clue”. It’s more like, “They haven’t given us enough examples to show us otherwise.” Though, they have been giving us more examples the last month or so, much to are distaste, since we have been actively disproving it for the last two years.

But you have disproved it based on assumptions rather then actual facts, correct?

Depends on what points the different theories are using, since it differs from author to author. Some of the common examples used in the different theories can be disprove with ingame examples (i.e. Sylvari can’t be corrupted because they are already dragon minions) or they can’t be disproven due to lack of evidence because they are assumptions themselves (i.e. Pale Tree is a dragon minion/champion).

First example has counter evidence from CoE. They might have been born in a lab, but it’s a clear example of multi-corruption minion existence. The second can’t be disproven because of the lack of knowledge altogether on the subject. The only thing we really know is that the seed came from a cave filled with them, and it was guarded by plant monsters. That’s about it. Without more information on the matter, you can’t really make an argument either for or against it, since there is no facts to really back it up either way.