No they are not. Which this example illustrates. If Sylvari die, instead of being corrupted, then they can’t be dragon minions.
Exactly like what we see with dragon minions when attacked by other Elder Dragons / minions.
No Glint confirms it spectacularly. Glint had to be given back her free will through a ritual by the Forgotten.
We have absolutely no idea what exactly the ritual itself entailed. It also didn’t remove the corruption, it just gave Glint her free will back. She remained crystalized for the rest of her life.
For all we know, the spell that freed Glint could have bombarded glint with thoughts to the point where it drowned out and cut off her connection to Kralkatorrik, like some sort of massive mesmer mental attack. We know elder dragons and their minions are susceptible to illusions and mental attacks.
It’s silly to say “This confirms or disproves that!” when we don’t even know that “this” is. Just because Glint regained free will by one method, doesn’t mean new methods won’t be found in the future.
You are failing to understand the actual argument. We know Sylvari die, instead of being corrupted. However, Subject Alpha shows that different draconic energies can be combined without killing the subject. In other words, Sylvari aren’t dragon minions, or they wouldn’t die from corruption.
Dragon Minions DO die from corruption from other Dragons. Just an example, if a Branded gets hit by Blightghast the Plaguebringer’s corrupting breath it will just die. That’s how it happens in nature.
Subject Alpha is not natural. We have no idea how it was created. The Inquest could have engineered their own unique corruption by copying the traits they wanted, thus it didn’t truly have different draconic energies. The Inquest could have administered the varying corruptions to different parts of the host body simultaneously so they don’t over lap and block one another.
We don’t know. It’s wrong to say it proves anything when it could just as easily not be the case.
Additionally, we know that every dragon minion is completely and utterly devoted to it’s master, and has no free will (Sons of Svanir are not dragon minions, and some Risen join willingly and thus retain free will). Glint was the only dragon champion that we know of, that was given back it’s free will by the Forgotten. Svanir shows that the only other alternative, is death. So Sylvari can’t be dragon minions, they have free will!
We also know that dragon minions are autonomous, are susceptible to illusions, even if the illusion is of the Elder Dragon they allegedly follow, can be damaged and dominated by mental attacks.
Glint also laid Eggs. And the Dragon that hatched wasn’t a Dragon Minion despite Glint being corrupted. If the Pale Tree is a freed Dragon Champion, its children would likely have free will just as Glint’s child does.