I’m super biased about all this because I’m a filthy tree lover and don’t really like character death as a plot device to begin with. Characters don’t have to die to tell a compelling and dramatic story.
I really hated Eir’s death. While I feel like it was somewhat well executed (no pun intended), I just feel like it wasn’t needed. She was just used to make Braham… Well, it kind of just made him angry and changed nothing about his actual role in the story.
I feel like Faolain went too quickly. But pacing is an issue I had with the story as a whole.
And then there’s Trahearne. Still unsure why people hate him so much. I always liked him and the partnership that was built between him and the player character. Also I’m a sylvari player so he’s my brother from… uh, the same mother. I digress.
Even if I ignore the weirdly shoehorned in “oh Mordremoth’s weakness is the Dream” that was so last minute I was like wut, I still am unsure on what the hell even happened in the last instance. Despite the fact that I really loved the gameplay in the final battle, I feel like the story fell flat.
Personally I would have liked to see Trahearne and possibly other sylvari who had been, uh, “incorporated” into Mordremoth there with you in the Dream to help destroy his mind. Also totally not sure why he was able to take hold of Trahearne at the end. Kind of felt like it was just an excuse to kill him (like pandering to the people who were jealous of a fictional tree man). I think what I would have loved to have seen was the corrupted sylvari, such as Trahearne, were left inside of Mordremoth’s “body” and their spirits lived on as the Maguuma Jungle (since there was a throwaway statement at one point saying that Mordremoth is everything). Considering Trahearne had enough power left in him to get you to the Dream in the first place, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch. It also removes him from being a major role in the story without killing him.
I also feel like they could have done more with being a sylvari character and hearing Mordremoth’s voice. I only ever heard it in story instances, not while roaming, and it made listening to my character and Canach talking about how horrible it was have less of an impact.
Also don’t even get me started on all the unanswered questions that this leaves us. Did Ventari know? If not, why? And what about the sylvari born in other areas of the world? Where were they? Were they affected by Mordremoth? Was their disconnect from the Dream protecting them? What even happens to sylvari when they die? These might not be the kinds of things that bother most people but I’m really into story ;; I also could be getting ahead of myself here because future Living Story content could answer these but I got the feeling this was supposed to be the end of an arc. But maybe I’m wrong.
I don’t want to be hugely critical on Anet, because for the most part the story was told very well. Tarir and the Exalted is something that I love so god kitten much. I could spend forever in Auric Basin. And everything to do with Glint. I’m really excited to see where things go with the egg. It was really just Hearts and Minds that spoilt it a bit for me.
All in all, I won’t be complaining if anything gets retconned in the future.
