Even Canach noticed that something was definitely off about her. He seems rather intrigued by her.
Anise is clearly more than just your average ordinary Mesmer. The things she does would likely be impossible for 99% of Mesmers. Yet somehow she does them.
Livia, somehow maintained her youthful apperance and no one knows how. All after she obtained the Scepter of Orr. She claimed to have studied lots of Orrian magic.
—
The question is. Is Anise/Livia a friend or an eventual enemy?
While we all agree Anise is exceptional, most of what she does (aside from mass petrification) is actually pretty average mesmer mumbo-jumbo. (Given mesmerism has no explanation in the setting whatsoever to begin with, being Anet’s go-to “’cause Mesmer.”)
I don’t quite see why she would automatically be Livia out of hiding her age. While they share similar connections, Livia was quite clearly a necromancer. The argument that she may be subclassing and whatnot doesn’t really hold strong when only their title and the non-apparent age are at play.
I don’t think Anise is Livia, they aren’t similar enough, Livia wasn’t a Mesmer (at all) and Anise clearly doesn’t use anything that’s not Mesmer based.
They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
I don’t think Anise is Livia, they aren’t similar enough, Livia wasn’t a Mesmer (at all) and Anise clearly doesn’t use anything that’s not Mesmer based.
But the fact that dual profession was a thing in GW and the fact that ~250 years have passed since the events of GW would make one think that Livia wouldn’t sit idly without developing her skills further or getting deeper in another school of magic.
Your assumption is something like “that person can’t be a professor! Last time he/she was but a primary school student! No way he can be something different now!”.
I don’t think Anise is Livia, they aren’t similar enough, Livia wasn’t a Mesmer (at all) and Anise clearly doesn’t use anything that’s not Mesmer based.
But the fact that dual profession was a thing in GW and the fact that ~250 years have passed since the events of GW would make one think that Livia wouldn’t sit idly without developing her skills further or getting deeper in another school of magic.
Your assumption is something like “that person can’t be a professor! Last time he/she was but a primary school student! No way he can be something different now!”.
But Livia has had quite a long time to master another profession. In fact, Livia has had quite a couple lifetimes worth of time. Imagine what our characters from Guild Wars 1 would be like today, IF they lived the last couple of centuries continuing to train after they Ascended?
All these single class punks, would be cannon fodder.
I don’t think Anise is Livia, they aren’t similar enough, Livia wasn’t a Mesmer (at all) and Anise clearly doesn’t use anything that’s not Mesmer based.
But the fact that dual profession was a thing in GW and the fact that ~250 years have passed since the events of GW would make one think that Livia wouldn’t sit idly without developing her skills further or getting deeper in another school of magic.
Your assumption is something like “that person can’t be a professor! Last time he/she was but a primary school student! No way he can be something different now!”.
But Livia has had quite a long time to master another profession. In fact, Livia has had quite a couple lifetimes worth of time. Imagine what our characters from Guild Wars 1 would be like today, IF they lived the last couple of centuries continuing to train after they Ascended?
All these single class punks, would be cannon fodder.
This is just my guess, but judging by Aethelbert’s final words, his point is that if she really spent multiple life times multi-classing as a Mesmer/Necro then she’d be powerful enough to not need to hide in the first place. Hence why it’s unlikely she’s Livia.
Even Canach noticed that something was definitely off about her. He seems rather intrigued by her.
Anise is clearly more than just your average ordinary Mesmer. The things she does would likely be impossible for 99% of Mesmers. Yet somehow she does them.
Livia, somehow maintained her youthful apperance and no one knows how. All after she obtained the Scepter of Orr. She claimed to have studied lots of Orrian magic.
snip
This is exactly what I’m beginning to suspect. Even the description of Livia was that she was scarlet haired and at first glance, Cobiah Marriner mistook her for a consort of King Baede (Jennah’s great/regular grandfather). At the end of Eye of the North’s cutscene, you do get a glimpse of Livia encountering the scepter of orr and that thing contains vast amounts of power. Given 250 years, it would make perfect sense that her powers improved beyond expected limits.
I don’t think Anise is Livia, they aren’t similar enough, Livia wasn’t a Mesmer (at all) and Anise clearly doesn’t use anything that’s not Mesmer based.
But the fact that dual profession was a thing in GW and the fact that ~250 years have passed since the events of GW would make one think that Livia wouldn’t sit idly without developing her skills further or getting deeper in another school of magic.
Your assumption is something like “that person can’t be a professor! Last time he/she was but a primary school student! No way he can be something different now!”.
But Livia has had quite a long time to master another profession. In fact, Livia has had quite a couple lifetimes worth of time. Imagine what our characters from Guild Wars 1 would be like today, IF they lived the last couple of centuries continuing to train after they Ascended?
All these single class punks, would be cannon fodder.
That’s exactly what I meant. Your point?
Oh I was just adding on to what you were saying. That if we were to imagine how powerful our GW1 characters would have become, being allowed to live since we last played them.
There is clearly nothing stopping Livia from being powerful enough to become an extraordinary Mesmer as well as a Necromancer.
While we all agree Anise is exceptional, most of what she does (aside from mass petrification) is actually pretty average mesmer mumbo-jumbo. (Given mesmerism has no explanation in the setting whatsoever to begin with, being Anet’s go-to “’cause Mesmer.”)
I don’t quite see why she would automatically be Livia out of hiding her age. While they share similar connections, Livia was quite clearly a necromancer. The argument that she may be subclassing and whatnot doesn’t really hold strong when only their title and the non-apparent age are at play.
Average mesmer can summon 10 clones at once? (She did it in personal story)
Average mesmer can summon a talking clone ?
Clearly Anise is not just an “average mesmer”. She’s more powerful than any of player-controlled mesmer since we can only summon 3 clones at once.
Kasmeer will be 2nd most powerful mesmer due to infinite range and duration portal.
She can even blink without line of sight or gap between.
Even Canach noticed that something was definitely off about her. He seems rather intrigued by her.
Anise is clearly more than just your average ordinary Mesmer. The things she does would likely be impossible for 99% of Mesmers. Yet somehow she does them.
Livia, somehow maintained her youthful apperance and no one knows how. All after she obtained the Scepter of Orr. She claimed to have studied lots of Orrian magic.
—
The question is. Is Anise/Livia a friend or an eventual enemy?
In the book sea of sorrows Livia was the examplar of the shinning blade and the Court of the ruler at that time saw her live for hundreds of years without ageing so she probably figured it was a good idea to start changing identity while maintaining her pivotal role to the kingdom?
There’s a few points I think should be added, Livia and Anise both have the same rank within the Shining Blade. Another rumor is the mursaat may be involved in the cutscene with the pale tree. While not confirmed, the Shining Blade are bitter enemies of the mursaat. I don’t know that I necessarily believe these myself, but I do think that it’s interesting that there’s a lot of convergent theories.
Average mesmer can summon 10 clones at once? (She did it in personal story)
Average mesmer can summon a talking clone ?
Clearly Anise is not just an “average mesmer”. She’s more powerful than any of player-controlled mesmer since we can only summon 3 clones at once.
Kasmeer will be 2nd most powerful mesmer due to infinite range and duration portal.
She can even blink without line of sight or gap between.
GAME MECHANICS AND BALANCE.
Otherwise we are saying the one random human necromancer who only is involved in two-three events is more powerful then any of the player ones because she can summon THREE flesh golems at once.
Which is laughable. Certain things implicate Anise is a very powerful mesmer, but game mechanics aren’t among that.
Also, Anise being Livia IMO is very unlikely, because that means in PS she PURPOSEFULLY didn’t use her full power to protect the queen in a very dangerous situation against the Risen, when we know she can easily protect an area from them (IIRC, I’ve heard mentions that any Risen that tried climbing onto the ship she was on, instantly vaporized).
For the one who says Livia was a Necromancer, she can’t be a Mesmer in Guild Wars 2…
You guys, forget Keiran Thackeray. He became a Parangon, from a Ranger.
In the timeframe. That’s also going from a mostly martial job to a… mostly martial job. The two classes had magic as a background.
Of course, the ones saying it’s Livia is ignoring the fact Livia was openly using her necromancer powers when Zhaitan rose, and not once showed signs of mesmer magic during that period.
Why would she suddenly go full fledged, POWERFUL mesmer (without signs of it 70 years ago or so), and hide her necromancer abilities?
Once you get an actual answer for the “How come 70 years ago or so she showed zero signs of any mesmer power, and now is one of the most powerful mesmers around AND shows zero necromancer abilities despite again, 70 years ago openly using them to full ability”
In GW 1, player character can pay a NPC to master a 2nd profession along side their first profession. Livia as a GW 1 hero is player controllable and therefore can expect to be like wise in having a 2nd profession.
However by racial type, Livia matches Queen Jennah (both red hair with light brown skin), and the former Queen Salma matches Anise (both red hair with white skin).
funny thign about this theory is livia was always my discord Nec/me on all characters livia was always emsmer as second profession..
but i highly doubt that Anise = Livia
i think that its just a joke about women never want to tel ltheir true age or canach joking about that…
(im pretty sure about this like 99.5% or so)
but somewhat related .. maybe they know each o… i think they know each other..
I don’t think she’s Livia.
Heck as theories go, I’d believe her to be Gwen more than Livia.
At least we thought Gwen was dead once, pulling a Jean Grey comic book death a second time would be more believable.
No if I had to choose a potential theory on why Anise acts the way she does, I’d say she’s really some off branch descendant of Krytan royalty.
She keeps her youth like a Time Lord just to confuse her past enemies.
Elona, Land of the Golden Sun….and undead…and poison. The travel brochure lied okay?!
In GW 1, player character can pay a NPC to master a 2nd profession along side their first profession. Livia as a GW 1 hero is player controllable and therefore can expect to be like wise in having a 2nd profession.
However by racial type, Livia matches Queen Jennah (both red hair with light brown skin), and the former Queen Salma matches Anise (both red hair with white skin).
Also, it was stated that magic now and magic then isn’t quite the same. People today focus on a single magic type (Necro, ele, etc) and all because trying to master two now is very hard. Still, IF she had mesmer abilities, why were they never implied or mentioned in sea of sorrows? Why would she hide her necromancer abilities in GW2, when they’d be very useful in safeguarding the queen in PS?
Subtlety is the key here.
The Shining Blade know their old enemies the White Mantle are still out there gathering strength, so I believe Livia would’ve hidden her identity a few decades ago in order to hopefully draw them out.
Think about it, if you wanted revenge on a country but knew they had some sort of ultra powerful immortal “witch” protecting them, you’d try and work in secret….but if that witch seemed to disappear years and years ago you might not worry and come out in the open.
Much like Anise using you to get information out of the Nobles, for her to be in the shadows to get better results than herself doing the work, I’d say it was wise.
Dinas Dragonbane, the Danger Ranger
Tri-Lead of Ascension [WAR] of Borlis Pass
