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All you need to know about the antagonists of Guild Wars 2
Warning: This thread will contain spoilers regarding revelations made in the Guild Wars novel "Edge of Destiny".
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One should be careful in these dragon-haunted times....
There are a total of five elder dragons, entities of terrifying power whos existance stretches back beyond known history. They are never hinted at in GW1 until the final expansion, Eye of the North which revolves around fighting the (at the time unknown to everyone)Great Destroyer, a general of the Elder Fire Dragon Primordus.
In Eye of the North three of the dragons are visible, Jormag the Elder Ice Dragon seen sleeping beneath the ice of Drakkar Lake. Kralkatorrik the Elder Crystal Dragon seen partially buried in the middle of the Charr Homelands. And Primordus the Elder Fire Dragon seen covered in stone sleeping in a place that had long since become a source of energy for the Central Transfer Chamber, a gateway network set up by the Asura. Nobody was aware of their presence, the Asura believing Primordus to be a simple statue and source of power.
The dragons did not begin to stir up until 1078 AE when the Great Destroyer appeared, causing earthquakes across Tyria and sending the mindless Destroyers after all life. The Great Destroyers purpose was to wake its master, Primordus up from its long slumber. However with the help of various races, the dwarves found and fought the Great Destroyer stopping its task from being completed.
1078 AE: Primordus, the Elder Fire Dragon, stirs but does not awaken.
Elder Dragon Timeline
1120 AE: Primordus the Elder Fire Dragon awakens.
1165 AE: Jormag, the Elder Ice Dragon awakens
1219 AE: Zhaitan, the Elder Undead Dragon awakens.
1320 AE: Kralkatorrik, the Elder Crystal Dragon awakens.
Know Your Elder Dragons
Each dragon has displayed a similiar ability to twist the world around them. Most use this ability to twist creatures into minions, which in turn strike out at the races of Tyria. The nature of the minions differs with each dragon, Zhaitans minions being undead while Kralkatorriks becoming crystal. The nature of the link between minion and elder dragon is unknown however anything corrupted by a dragon is shown to be incredibly hostile to all others.
Zhaitan
In 1219 AE Zhaitans awakening did not pass silently. The undead dragon awoke beneath the sunken nation of Orr, deep beneath the Sea of Sorrows. Slowly the nation rose from the depths at Zhaitans command, the waves consuming the ships of any corsairs or sailors unlucky enough to have been on those waters.
Tidal waves began, sparked by the nations resurgance, submerging the Battle Ilse to the south and flooding the coasts of Tyria. The human nation of Kryta was hit by the waves, flooding their capital, Lions Arch and killing thousands. Zhatians rise was met with anger and the humans attmpted to fight the dragons undead forces...only to be beaten by Zhaitans power.
Even 106 years after Zhaitans rise, the twisted kingdom remains under the dragons rule with undead wandering its shores. Zhaitan dwells within Arah, the place where the gods themselves had lived during their time on Tyria.
Zhaitan will be the major antagonist of GW2.
Minions
Zhaitans Minions are shown to fall into the undead catagory, as obvious by the dragons nature and title, the "Elder Undead Dragon". His minions have so far only been shown in art but have been shown to include undead humans and centaurs aswell as horrifying creatures whos original state is no longer identifiable.
Kralkatorrik
The most recent dragon to wake up, Kralkatorrik did not remain in the area it had woken up in, deciding for unknown reasons to take to the skies to fly south. And this action truely showed the races of Tyria the corrupted nature of the elder dragons.
Flying south over the tragic lands of Ascalon, Kralkatorriks power twisted the lands below its flight creating a scar of horror throughout it. The land and creatures within it became twisted crystal creations as the skies grew dark. Kralkatorriks flight had created the Dragonbrand a scar that would remind the lands denizens of the dragons power. Within the brand, Kralkatorriks minions attack any who trespass these are the Branded.
Eventually Kralkatorriks journey came to an end i nthe place we once kenw as the Tomb of the Primeval Kings, a sacred place that had been warped and destroyed by the dark god, Abaddon centuries ago. This area was also a place kept safe by the serpent race, the Forgotten for a single reason - the entrance to the lair of the prophet dragon Glint whos fate is currently unknown.
The Branded
Victims of exposure to the elder crystal dragons path, the branded are twisted crystallized versions of the being they had once been. Charr, Humans, Devourers...anything that has come into contact with Kralkatorriks power becomes branded. The Branded rarely leave the Dragonbrand.
The Shatterer
A high ranking minion of Kralkatorrik and "special rank of dragon", the Shatterer terrorises the Dragonbrand, attacking those who dare enter it. Unlike the Branded, the power of the Shatterer is much greater than that of a typical minion.
Primordus
Sleeping deep beneath Tyria, Primordus was the first dragon to awaken. His place of slumber was in the depths with a layer of stone covering the dragon giving him the appearence of a statue. At some point the subterrain race the asura found the chamber, realising that the "statue" was magical and could be used as a source of power and as such they decided to build the Central Transfer Chamber, a central hub for their genius gateway system. Unfortunatly they didnt know the "statues" true nature.
Three years after the rise of Kormir, Goddess of Truth earthquakes shook Tyria. Chasms were created by the earthquake and the asura feld the depths, retreating to the Tarnished Coast . The Central Transfer Chamber had become overrun by firey creatures - the Destroyers.
The Destroyers
The Destroyers are firey, nearly mindless creatures that seek to purge all life from the depths of Tyria. Without mercy, the Destroyers rampaged through the depths causing various races to turn their attention to them. The Destroyers were not alone though and a commander directed their attacks through a single hive mind. This commander was the Great Destroyer a doomsday creature recorded in dwarven legends. The Great Destroyer was the general of Primordus, meant to awaken him from his slumber. However the five races, the humans, charr, norn, asura and dwarves, came together to fight this threat.
The dwarves had long since known about the Great Destroyers existance though didnt seem to have knowledge of its true purpose. They called upon the power of their god, the Great Dwarf and invoked a spell upon themselves that changed them to stone fighters who hunted the Destroyers relentlessly. A final assault was launched and after a lengthy fight the Great Destroyer was destroyed. Primordus remained asleep......at least for awhile.
The First Dragon Awakens
42 years after the Great Destroyers defeat, Primordus awoke, calling his servants from their slumber and twisting stone and fire into new servants with his breath. Even today Primordus remains in the depths his forces attacking creatures unlucky enough to get in their way. Destroyers have occasionally been sighted in the abandoned dwarven mines.
Jormag
Jormag the Elder Ice Dragon was the second of the elder dragons to awaken. It resides in what was known as the Far Shiverpeaks and was once found encased in a icy lake at the area known by the locals as Drakkar Lake. The local Norn usually avoided the lake due to a feeling of unease coming from it however in the past there had been events, believed to be connected to this dragon.
A Norn by the name of Svanir attempted to unlock a faint magical energy emerging from the lake, but in doing so an unreal power engulfed and corrupted him, forcing him into his Norn Bear forum and causing him to lose control and rampage throughout the Far Shiverpeaks. His sister, Jora who had been with him at the time also took some of the effects of this, however she resisted the power causing her to temporarly lose her ability to "become the bear" while keeping her sanity.
Jormag awoke in 1165 AE. Its minions attacked and destroyed the norn town of Gunnars Hold and the norn engaged the dragon in battle. Outmatched the norn were drivne from their lands, but they did not go without a fight. A norn known as Aesgir fought the dragon and lived to tell the tale, taking a single fang from its maw. Today that fang hangs in the norn settlement of Hoelbrak, a trophy of their battles with the Ice Dragon. The norn agreed that should a hero ever manage to break the fang, they will rise up and defeat Jormag once and for all.
The Fifth Elder Dragon
The four elder dragons, Primordus, Jormag, Kralkatorrik and Zhaitan are known through Tyria. Each has affected a race in one way or another and each are held with contempt by the races of Tyria. However there is one more elder dragon known to exist. In the deepest waters of the sea a dragon awoke, though the name and location of this dragon is unknown. It is simply reffered to by the community as the "Deep Sea Dragon" and will have its name revealed some time in the future.
Dragons of the Past
Before we learned of the Elder Dragons existance, two major dragons featured in the Guild Wars story and remained the most powerful dragons seen in GW1. These dragons were Glint and Kuunavang
Glint (GW1)
Glint is the first powerful dragon we come to know about in Guild Wars: Prophecies. Resideing on the continent of Tyria, she was the first creature to be placed on Tyria by the old gods to oversee this new world. This was a task she was given along with The Forgotton who were to aid her - she was to be the Caretaker of Tyria.
Glint was located within the Dragons Lair which in turn is located in a single grain of sand in the Crystal Desert - its never explained why she hides away like this but it is most likely the same reason The Forgotton took refuge in the Desert. Within her lair she compiled the Flameseeker Prophecies and 800 years later she helped the heroes who would take part in these, pushing them to fulfill the prophecies.
She was rather mysterious - she never told the heroes the exact details of the Prophecies but instead allowed them to blindly complete them. After the heroes encounted her in the lair, she did not reappear until the defeat of the Flameseeker - and when she did appear it was to congratulate the heroes. After the heroes leave, the dragon seemed to take the Scepter of Orr (a poweful object that had been used by the flameseeker) that was left behind making us question her motives. She then proceeded to help the player in defeating the titan army that had began invading Tyria in the wake of the Flameseekers attempt to dominate Tyria.
Glint was not heard from ever again, however years later the Great Destroyer rose from the depths. Its minions, the Destroyers, set out to eradicate all life causing turmoil throughout Tyria. Hidden by the Brotherhood of the Dragon, a Dwarven order that served Glint, was a baby dragon - a child of Glint. The Destroyers managed to find a way into the crystal shard this baby dragon had been hidden in and slowly began to make their way towards it. Why they did this was not known, nor was how they managed to break into the fortress that should never had been found. Their attack was crushed and the baby dragon lived on, its future yet to be seen....
While Glints remained out of sight for the following 200 years after the titans defeat, she was once again confronted, this time by the legendary adventuring guild Destinys Edge. Its was through this confrontation that she revealed her true origin - she was a champion of the crystal elder dragon, Kralkatorrik. Glint revealed that she had long been a servant to an elder dragon and knew what they would do once they had awoken from their slumber. Fearing the eventual awakeing she had prepared to fight her master and aligned herself with Destinys Edge in order to destroy him. However Kralkatorrik proved much too strong for Glint, and after managing to place a device upon him she was killed for her betrayel.
Kuunavang (GW1)
The second powerful Dragon of Guild Wars. Kuunavang differed from Glint in both looks and lore - while Glint took on the shape of a modern European Dragon, Kuunavang was based more on a Oriental Dragon. Another difference from Glint was she appears to be from a type of dragon that is native to Cantha - the Saltspray Dragon. So she was not the only one of her kind.
Kuunavangs origins were never revealed, however she had power equal to Glint. Kuunavang was trapped under the Harvest Temple due to the Jade Wind, an event that had changed the land of Cantha forever. Since then she had become corrupted by the cause of the Jade Wind, Shiro the Betrayer, until the two rival factions, the Luxons and Kurzicks united to defeat her. She then proceeded to help the the factions defeat Shiro once and for all. After this her fate, like Glints was unknown - she played no further role in the future of Tyria.
PLEASE NOTE
This thread deals with the Elder Dragons of Guild Wars 2. The original thread which dealt with all dragons in the Guild Wars series can be found here.
Edited by Free Runner, 21 January 2011 - 04:33 PM.
