Guild Wars 2

Warning: contains spoilers of the Sylvari’s personal story quest line “Where life goes”

Ever since I started playing, the origin of the sylvari has been bothering me. We learn that the first sylvari were awakened about 25 years ago from the Pale tree. But is this really true?

Ronan found a seed in a cave, which later became the Pale Tree. Where did this seed come from? It can hardly have appeared out of thin air. Isn’t it more likely the seed came from another tree?

When you travel to Caledon Haven (an outpost in Trader’s Green – Caledon Forest), you hear a duo of Lionguard discuss the Sylvari. They mention the Sylvari having “the wisdom of the ancients”

Full dialogue:
“We’re here to help the Sylvari integrate into society, right?”
“It is our duty as older races to help these sprouts grow and learn.”
“Why do so many of them seem to have the wisdom of the ancients?”

Why do they know so much? They couldn’t have collected so much knowledge in just 25 years. All this information seems to come from the Pale Tree, or The Dream, but how did that obtain all the knowledge?

In the personal story quest line “Where life goes”, you meet a Sylvari named Malyck, who doesn’t come from the Pale Tree. In fact, he mentions another tree to the west. Most likely deep in the Maguuma Jungle, or even beyond that. The Sylvari from this tree do not experience The Dream.

Going by this, isn’t it likely that there are more trees out there? If there are two, why not three, four or even more? Why are the Sylvari the youngest race? The Sylvari awakened from the Pale Tree 25 years ago. What about the other trees? Could it be that the Sylvari are much older than we think? Could they actually be the oldest of the 5 major races? The Sylvari could easily have lived to the far west, beyond the Maguuma jungle where the other races didn’t come.

This does not explain their knowledge and wisdom mentioned by the Lionguard though. It could be that different trees are connected to the same Dream (with an exception of Malyck’s tree, who could be “malfunctioning”) and share information. However, in that case the Sylvari of the Pale Tree should have knowledge of the other trees and the lands beyond the Maguuma Jungle (or wherever the other trees are. Maybe even on a totally different continent?)

Any thoughts on this matter?

Late For Tea.1846:

Why do they know so much? They couldn’t have collected so much knowledge in just 25 years. All this information seems to come from the Pale Tree, or The Dream, but how did that obtain all the knowledge?

…

This does not explain their knowledge and wisdom mentioned by the Lionguard though. It could be that different trees are connected to the same Dream (with an exception of Malyck’s tree, who could be “malfunctioning”) and share information. However, in that case the Sylvari of the Pale Tree should have knowledge of the other trees and the lands beyond the Maguuma Jungle (or wherever the other trees are. Maybe even on a totally different continent?)

Any thoughts on this matter?

All the Sylvari share the knowledge of the Pale Tree, which also works in reverse. The Pale Tree probably passed down her knowledge that she has experienced since she was planted and first has consciousness. She might have been staying still the whole time, but 250 years is still a lot of time for her to learn large quantity of things around her. I wouldn’t say that the Sylvari coming from the Pale Tree is ancient, but I think it’s possible that there’s one “World Tree” deep within the Maguuma Jungle, that is much older than all other races, while holding back the corruption of the sixth Elder Dragon, possibly “Mordremoth.”

Silvary may or may not be the offering of Melandru or a rebirth of the druids

Just to point out at the end of The Eye of The North expansion pack from GW1, we saw the pale growing for a few seconds (for the many people who haven’t played any of GW1)

Before sylvaris are technically born they live in The Dream. Here they learn knowledge from the Pale Tree and about their Wyld Hunt (goal of life I think) but only few sylvaris experience the Wyld Hunt.
Here is a small piece of the explaination of The Dream at the gw2 wiki:

“The Dream of Dreams, also known as the Inner Dream or just the Dream, is the name of the mysterious state of consciousness sylvari experience prior to their “awakening” into the real world. In this state, they experience visions of the outer world and become acquainted with it through the past experiences of other sylvari. In this way, they learn things both trivial and vital about their future lives. Although the Dream is left behind by sylvari upon awakening in the real world, everything a sylvari experiences in his or her subsequent life is added to the Dreams of sylvari not yet born."

Sylvaris are in some way born as adults so The Dream is used to gather knowledge while humans have their childhood to gain knowledge.

Is there any info regarding the gestation period? Do they dream for years or months (weeks would probably be a bit on the short side)?

Nageth.5648:

Is there any info regarding the gestation period? Do they dream for years or months (weeks would probably be a bit on the short side)?

There doesn’t seem to be anything about this but I can tell you that it took about 200 years from the tree’s planting to the first golden fruits to bloom and give birth to the firstborn sylvaris (Caithe being one of them). That was 25 years ago in the current in-game time.
But if I have to guess I’d say it’d probably take a couple of years for the gestation period (1-4 years. Sounds realistic to me).

Based on the fact that the Pale Tree took over 250 years to grow to the point where it could start producing sylvari, and may not yet be fully mature (as far as we know it hasn’t produced any seeds of it’s own) I think it’s safe to assume they have an extremely long life cycle.

Add on the fact that many seeds can stay alive in a sort of suspended animation for potentially hundreds of years in the right conditions and I think it’s entirely possible that sylvari have been around before but no one except maybe the forgotten remembers it.

My theory is that the seeds that sprouted the pale tree and Sylvari may have been the creation of another elder dragon. One that send it’s people out without need to destroy other races. It would fit with their immunity to the other dragons’ control and their purpose to fight the elder dragons could be rivalry between the dragons. Nothing really to support it though. Just an idea.

FallLeavesSaint.8409:

My theory is that the seeds that sprouted the pale tree and Sylvari may have been the creation of another elder dragon. One that send it’s people out without need to destroy other races. It would fit with their immunity to the other dragons’ control and their purpose to fight the elder dragons could be rivalry between the dragons. Nothing really to support it though. Just an idea.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

Your theory is closer to the truth than you think… From what I can gather the Sylvari of the Pale Tree are ‘corrupted’ by Ventari’s Tablet. The Elder Dragon you speak of may very well be the one you face in the Dream, as there is a 6th, yet to be named, dragon. It’s minions are known as the Sylvari, much like The Destroyers, The Risen, and The branded. Those no longer corrupted by Ventari’s teachings are known as the Nightmare court. My guess is that this dragon only exists in the Dream much like the White Stag (in the White Stag storyline) exists in both the dream and the physical world… or should I say the Nightmare as I would think the Dream is a product of Ventari’s teachings. The Dragon’s body may very well be the Pale Tree itself… who knows. There’s also more than a little resemblance between the dragon you face in the Dream and the Sylvari, like the odd glow they all have.

Yagyu Jubei.5271:

FallLeavesSaint.8409:

My theory is that the seeds that sprouted the pale tree and Sylvari may have been the creation of another elder dragon. One that send it’s people out without need to destroy other races. It would fit with their immunity to the other dragons’ control and their purpose to fight the elder dragons could be rivalry between the dragons. Nothing really to support it though. Just an idea.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

Your theory is closer to the truth than you think… From what I can gather the Sylvari of the Pale Tree are ‘corrupted’ by Ventari’s Tablet. The Elder Dragon you speak of may very well be the one you face in the Dream, as there is a 6th, yet to be named, dragon. It’s minions are known as the Sylvari, much like The Destroyers, The Risen, and The branded. Those no longer corrupted by Ventari’s teachings are known as the Nightmare court. My guess is that this dragon only exists in the Dream much like the White Stag (in the White Stag storyline) exists in both the dream and the physical world… or should I say the Nightmare as I would think the Dream is a product of Ventari’s teachings. The Dragon’s body may very well be the Pale Tree itself… who knows. There’s also more than a little resemblance between the dragon you face in the Dream and the Sylvari, like the odd glow they all have.

Ah…. this again…

Right, time to destroy this yet again by mentioning Malyck the Sylvari from another tree, who strangely acts like the Sylvari from the grove (apart from the apparent lack of a dream) If what you think was true surely Malyck would act more like the nightmare court do.

Sparky Sights.9174:

Ah…. this again…

Right, time to destroy this yet again by mentioning Malyck the Sylvari from another tree, who strangely acts like the Sylvari from the grove (apart from the apparent lack of a dream) If what you think was true surely Malyck would act more like the nightmare court do.

Unless Malyck broke free/ fled / was banished from his own nightmare-court-type-tree

What if each Pale Tree was part of a larger dragon being that represented the plant/forest aspect the Sylvari represent ? The Pale tree could be champions to this dragon the way the Claw of Jormag , the Shatterer and Zhaitan’s Champions all represented each primordial dragon.

On a seperate ntoe, I’m kind of liking the idea of the plant-based primordial dragon being the opposite of the other primordial dragons. Where each of them represent a destructive force of nature (Undeath, Ice, Fire, Water, Crystal, etc), the plant, or ‘life’ dragon would represent Life, and its minions seek not to destroy the world, but rather, to live and co-habit with them.

Granted its just a theory. Its just as plausible that it could be a representation of Melandru, though, thats human religious propaganda XD

Iristrismegistus.1293:

What if each Pale Tree was part of a larger dragon being that represented the plant/forest aspect the Sylvari represent ? The Pale tree could be champions to this dragon the way the Claw of Jormag , the Shatterer and Zhaitan’s Champions all represented each primordial dragon.

On a seperate ntoe, I’m kind of liking the idea of the plant-based primordial dragon being the opposite of the other primordial dragons. Where each of them represent a destructive force of nature (Undeath, Ice, Fire, Water, Crystal, etc), the plant, or ‘life’ dragon would represent Life, and its minions seek not to destroy the world, but rather, to live and co-habit with them.

Granted its just a theory. Its just as plausible that it could be a representation of Melandru, though, thats human religious propaganda XD

And if a seed is planted in a barren, war-torn land, perhaps it will began to restore the land?

Maybe that was the hidden agenda behind Traehearne’s wyld hunt !

….which means that Caladbolg could possibly be a pale tree seed.

0_0

….now I really wonder whether Arenanet might go with this. XD

Honestly, I’d prefer it if the sylvari were the planet’s immune system. This would imply a rather fatalistic ending where the sylvari would die out after the last elder dragon is defeated which sounds more interesting than having a reversal where all the sylvari are really defected bad guys.

Nageth.5648:

Honestly, I’d prefer it if the sylvari were the planet’s immune system. This would imply a rather fatalistic ending where the sylvari would die out after the last elder dragon is defeated which sounds more interesting than having a reversal where all the sylvari are really defected bad guys.

Personally, I would prefer the bad-silvary-reverted-by-Ventari’s-tablet much more original and intriguing. It would be an interesting twist which honestly, before reading this thread, I even didn’t think about, and if the Ventari’s Tablet broke… well…

The righteous, self-sacrificing kind of Sylvari brings to characters like Threarne, who, I think, we all know how annoying can be, isn’t it?
(although I’m prone to give part of the guilt for his irritating character to the voice actor)