Liars, Portals & the Mursaat, Rising Flames Story Speculation - Guild Wars 2

Today we're back with some good old Living World Season 3 story speculation. Guild Wars 2 really picked up with this most recent batch of content, so it's been lots of fun to guess at where the MMO's storyline might go in the future. Enjoy and let me know what you think about any of these theories!
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[@Triattt]

15:52 "Without him the Dragon would be dead" So basically Lazarus is the anti-Logan?

[@FatalFist]

There's no doubt Lazarus has something planned. But I'm hoping rather than being a villain, he's more a gray character. Someone whose motives you don't necessarily agree with but you accept because the alternative is worse. I think he means to re-establish contact with his people (be them in the Isles of Janthir or beyond within the mists), hence the "virtuous" motivation. It's too easy to write him off as a bad character because people are EXPECTING that betrayal which in turn makes the story just as boring as writing him goody-twoshoes. Kasmeer would have likely told us that we couldn't trust him because I do think he has plans for something that he knows we wouldn't accept but he himself sees no better opportunity or alternative. Ergo, we think he's up to something bad but it turns out to lead to this conclusion of something else - not necessarily bad but not ultimately good either. As they say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Looking for more back story on Rata Novus and even Rata Sum too. I'd like to see what Lazarus would say about Rata Sum specifically, it was a city well present before the Asura breached the surface after fleeing the Destroyers in Guild Wars 1 - Rata Sum was already there. All in all, I just want Lazarus to be more, "Don't start nothing, there wont be nothing." vibe. If anything, I think he'll sacrifice himself to achieve his goal at bringing his people back.

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Good points about Rata Sum! I hope for that a lot too!

[@GaruruMoon]

I agree, making Lazarus not neccesarily bad is what I hope for as well, I agree that he might be responsible for the magic defenses of the egg chamber going down and has plans of his own. the last thing because he just recently came back and the world is now much more different and not mursaat friendly might make him pursue his own idea of how to save the world from the elder dragons destruction and avoiding involving with the other too much. he knows I believe that the player character was invlved in killing 2 elder dragons right? so he can confirm that we are not entirely stupid as the "hero" and might proof to be a viable ally for him, then with his ideas he got on the trail of the egg perhaps and wanted, for some reason, to get into the egg chamber, had assumed the exalted had access and tried to make the defenses believe he was one but his attemp ended up breaking the defenses, obviously he would not want to come out and say " hey sorry, I tempered with it and now its down because of me" - that way he would just be branded as evil again, but could not stay hidden when he saw that the destroyers were about to overwhelm us and get to Aurene and at that point decided to drop in and help, to save her (or just us?). still what our or Aurenes involvement in his plans might be we have no way of knowing and should proof interesting, even if my theory here doesn't turn out true, he had at least SOME reason as to why he was around Tarir, otherwise he would not have been able to jump in to help as he did.

[@Techstriker1]

If the tablets in ember bay are to be believed, he might just be happy to have found people not only willing, but historically able to destroy dragons. I have feeling somehow Rylock's travel in the mists might tie in someone, being Lazarus "has changed perspective" after touching death (I forget the exact quote). But also yes, gray hopefully, not outright evil or good.

[@VarjoPira]

21:00 Good points, definitely lot of potential over there. I was immediately thinking she was interested in resurrecting her sister by involving herself with Lazarus.

[@Icewolfnector]

Yeah. I would kind of like to see her sister to be actually ressurected or something along those lines. Just so Lazarus can twist and manipulate Marjory to his side and create some nice drama when he finally betrays us. And in the end Kasmeer tries to get her back. But Marjory is torn between the love for Kasmeer and her sister and so even more drama ensues ect. OK to be honest that will never happen in GW2, but I would love if it did. Stories where people are torn just because of the strong bonds they share with different people or other strong desires are exiting if done right ^^

[@azure98]

That floor texture in the VR Room is reused assets. That entire floor is a reused asset and that asset is found inside Inquest bases and structures quite commonly.

[@Chessrook44]

There's two things I'm curious about to see if get touched on. One: Rytlock. He's gone back to the Black Citadel and this may be the perfect time for us to walk in on his interrogation and actually learn just what the hell happened in the Mists. Two: Rox. Okay, this is actually more me curious about Rox herself but really, she doesn't seem to have been THAT prolific in things for quite some time. I mean think about it, and everything from the expansion and such. Braham's mother died and he dealt with that, Taimi's dealt with the death of her golem and found a lost Asuran city and has been instrumental in learning about the dragons, Canach has led us to the White Mantle and where we discovered the Mursaat returned (And being a Sylvari in HoT had him in a core position in the expansion), Marjorie you went into detail on... Kasmeer and Rox have had very little spotlight on them, even less on Rox who has done nothing more than find Garm offscreen as she takes care of him. Nothing else. I want to see more Rox! And maybe... Maybe, Rox taking care of Garm, Eir's pet, could lead to a certain lingering plot thread that I am surprised you, and most other people, seem to have forgotten about. What am I referring to? Magdaer. Way way back in the first dungeon, Eir retrieved Magdaer from the Ascalon Catacombs with intent to have it reforged and fixed in order to bring Destiny's Edge together. Well... what happened to it? There has been ZERO news about Sohothin's brother, something that would be key in fixing Ascalon. WHERE is the legendary sword?

[@AlanaPlusMike]

I think the next raid should solve one of GW2s biggest mysteries: The Unsuspicious Rabbit in Mount Maelstrom!

[@bathoms583]

You saw my Kasmeer comment on your Q&A Video! Awesome that you brought that in because it's been on my mind for a while now :D I really like your idea that the writers use the influx of magic to explain Kasmeer's increased powers because that gives them an opportunity to set limits on her powers and make her a little less ex machina. In any case, the Lazarus and Kasmeer meeting has me excited and I really hope that at least Marjory trusts him by then so that we can have some good old fashioned guild drama (Between Romantic partners no less! We haven't had that since LoganxRytlock ;D )

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Wait Kasmeer comment? That QandA is going up tomorrow btw, you might be in it!

[@SoulSlesh]

I always hoped the wizard tower will be an elite specialization lore location (where maybe necros/elementalists could learn to use more advanced minions/golems/elementals) but your raid/living world ideas make more sense

[@Olodus]

Awesome video as usual WP. Have you ever thought about doing "GW2 Mysteries Solved" videos? As a way of tieing the Mysteries playlist together so to say. Isn't too many that would fit as of yet but the Mordremoth one should probably be considered solved in most ways atleast.

[@qwerty222999]

9:10 It's explained somewhere in the lore that traveling through portals has a cost, thus why large shipments of goods (which the soul batteries are) doesn't get delivered through Asura gates. EDIT: Actually the Wiki only mentions the tuning of a gate to be expensive, not the actual transfer, however one might theorize that it tolls on energy to teleport huge mass (like cargo).

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Good points, also consider that we'd be jumping to the conclusion that the Mursaat portal functions like an Asura gate, when there is a lot of space for it to be far more advanced even.

[@PowerLord83]

Since the dragons absorb the magic essence when a dragon dies. Will this mean's Glint's dragon will maybe be an end boss? The dragon will be all friendly with us and grow up by our side and then in the end it will corrupt itself with all the diffrent magic making itself the surprme Elder dragon.

[@floody9074]

PowerLord83 nice idea but would be bad for gw2, selling a story where you fight the most-extreme of all dragons, Aurene! Lol

[@PowerLord83]

Floody シ Why would it be bad?

[@Anevlo]

I'd rather imagine Aurene be growing with the other glint's child to be giant good and powerful dragons that would be nice to the races of Tyria.

[@FieryFlamingFajitas]

I highly doubt that Aurene will end up being evil. The build up with the egg and going through all this trouble to protect it would be pretty pointless otherwise. I think she's going to be the next Glint and hopefully will absorb all the Elder Dragon essences so we only need 1 (and conveniently it's our ally) which then removes the dragon threat and allows Arenanet to focus on a new story

[@curiosull]

PowerLord83 don't think magic is good or bad, it's only a weapon, who uses it defines it's purpose.

[@Kimimoto]

Hey WP, when you say "click the video to get to vid X" you should use info cards (that can also popup at the exact time) instead of annotations that look ugly and arent accessable for smartphone users :c

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Yeah it's funny actually I'm looking to do this pretty soon!

[@Kimimoto]

WoodenPotatoes Its very easy to use and once you nailed it even less time consuming than annotations!

[@josephisrael5360]

Hey wp just wanted to let you know I love ur videos!!! Iv been watching for a long time and it's funny I love gw 1 and haven't played a lot of 2 bc I didn't have a computer but I still liked following ur channel to keep up until I could, just started playing gw2 but it's on a potato of a computer so I like watching ur channel to see how good the game could look hahah thanks again for ur time and effort

[@sylvainice3048]

Lol, that casual gold-seller report at the beginning of the video - didn't even pause. brutal :D

[@MattyPGood]

Dude's name is Lazarus. I'm pretty sure he's going to "resurrect" the reputation of the Mursaat.

[@aes602]

Good point on his name there. Resurrection of any kind would fit his theme.

[@Delinae]

Like Marjorie's sister.

[@instars2027]

I like how WP has rearranged his GW1 interface to replicate the GW2 layout :D

[@matsuoakatsu]

There are also two more hints leading to the Deldrimor Front: 1) The current rifts event, as all the maps with the most rift destinations seem to be all around Deldrimor front 2)We got a map with Bloodstone Dust, a map with Empyreal Fragments. It's likely the third will give Dragonite Ore, and what better place for such thing than a Dwarf location?

[@deadb4youknow]

Hey WP, Just wanted to say that your videos are like watching short movies for me . Love 'em :D

[@mateuszdziezok8631]

"if you missed that one" ha! no chance for that

[@otakuribo]

Mateusz Osiek I'd love to play Season One; I just barely missed it. :/

[@Johnbastian25]

I've just had an idea about the wizard's tower, or more specifically, the magical technology/ability for sustaining elementals like the ones in Garenhoff. So, if the story (or sub-story via raids) does at some point deal with the wizard's tower, the writers could use the opportunity to learn how Isgarren continuously keeps and tames the elementals, which combined with the surplus of magic from 2 dead elder dragons, could become a force to be reckoned with. The story could then go as far as creating something like Pact 2.0 - however, instead of the pact (merely) being a combination of the 3 orders, what we could have instead is an army of elementals. With this, we could then have story set out so that an army of earth and water elementals are sent to fight Primordus' minions, while the an army of fire and air elementals are sent to fight Jormag's minions. The stuff learnt about elementals could also provide methods to create combined elementals, e.g. a mixed earth and water elemental. Something like this would also in turn provide a way to rapidly build up a force against the elder dragons, since its unlikely the pact will have recovered from the end of LS2/start of HoT, if they are to ever recover.

[@FatalFist]

Next raid might also be Inquest related given how the Consortium and Inquest wrestling with them over Ley Energy. And the Inquest do have Strongholds on the Eastern parts of Tyria as well.

[@waldir-bolanos]

Love the new video transitions!

[@Dasvovobrot]

Im honest, i trust Lazarus. At first i was suspicious but after thinking about it, it looks like he knows we wouldnt trust him, so he maybe even did sabotage the barrier but i believe he needs us to fight a MUCH bigger threat he can't beat alone but doesnt want/can't tell us. I think he want to beat his "masters" (maybe Primordus or... PLOT TWIST: Bubbles) so he can't just tell us!

[@creationward5985]

I really like the line from Episode 1 in which Marjory states that she doesn't think people can really change, while Kasmeer believes that people can. It seems to me like the writers could do a lot by reversing that thinking between the characters in this arc- Marjory believing in Lazarus' ability to save her sister and the world, just as Kasmeer is able to detect how manipulative and unchanged Lazarus really is. In addition, the idea that Kasmeer's power makes Marjory's role irrelevant is a very interesting point to begin to stress as this story unfolds. Perhaps their relationship could become strained as Marjory feels like a second wheel all the time, always taking the back seat to Kasmeer's actions and opinions? At the very least some stress could provide an interesting way to emphasize Marjory's skill at investigation and profiling as opposed to Kasmeer's truth-telling ability.

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Even just Marjory being a SUPER hardass on Lazarus because of her perspective would be cool!

[@ILOVEPIEGGWP]

one way portals help for security reasons, so maybe there is another one in a mursaat fortress on the island that only goes out to the shiverpeaks and maybe other areas

[@FatalFist]

There's also concerning Lazarus' power. I think he's destined to sacrifice himself. Like at first he has this diabolical plot, Kasmeer comes in telling us, we stop him and convince him not to so he backs off. Only for a worse case scenario to take place (dragons win or something) and we of course feel obligated to apologize only for Lazarus to go about his original Plan. When we approach him we tell him not to only for him to turn around and put up his hand telling the player that discovered an alternative and sacrifices himself rather than others to breach a portal. As it stands, I almost want to say Lazarus is too powerful (almost God-status) to stay alive. We've seen Justicars siphon power from the Bloodstones (GW1) but the portion of power taken was small in comparison. Lazarus' resurrection was massive, releasing so much energy that was 99% dormant during GW1. So he's really powerful and I think that's setting up something, that all that energy will be transferred. At the point of his death, I'd like to hear him say to the player, "We are redeemed." The lorebooks in Ember Bay are suggesting that the Mursaat were only angry because they kept getting the "short stick". Hell, even one of the books say that they were fighting Zhaitan WITH the Forgotten and that both sides sustained heavy losses - it wasn't like that the Forgotten abandoned them at that moment and only Mursaat were falling to Zhaitan's power. The page instead describes both sides. It's only when the Forgotten leave that the Mursaat then turned to preserve themselves and hide away.

[@gladjohnson3117]

Wait, so Kasmeer's lie detecting ability comes from mesmer magic, and not from being rasied in deceptive high society? I clearly remember it being the latter, explained by some of the devs. Did my mind fabricate all that? Well, even if so, I don't think that powerful magic users can be read so easily. Lazarus is exceptionally strong, it seems, given the ammount of magic he absorbed. Do you really think it's plausible for Kasmeer to mind read or whatever she does a being of that scale and power? She was under a mere impression that some flying hobo wasn't telling all the truth, and suddenly, she can tell if Lazarus, who reversed a freaking explosion of Bloodstone, is not being honest? I don't buy it.

[@drew2178]

WP, in the egg chamber you keep saying it was just old tech but it was a combo of the tech being old and needing to re align its self with the dragon now that its hatched.

[@Remurin]

He WP, I was that guy (remu-) who posted to your subreddit that there IS asuran looking flooring without the symbol existing, and possible connection that the Inquest has knowledge about Rata Novian studys about Dragon Energy (or atleast people like Kudu, one of the higher ups in the inquest.) and even the High councilelor Flax knew about it and hide it from us. What was your stance on that? I doubt it only was "They re-used a texture" when clearly there were more of the same kind without the Symbol on it.

[@mahuyo]

hey wp, i sort of agree with you on the whole Lazarus think, he did said "Our interests are the same", and our own interests are only the same till he say otherwise. But, i don't think now is, or in this season 3, would be a good time where he would betray us, and i don't know if Kaz would be able to tell if he is lying, if he is telling half truths, meaning what he is saying is true, but maybe his goal is different, i would just guess is if her powers are really growing that we might get some hints at his plan from her. And with Marjory, i would have to agree with you on that because she technically did stow her blade away she carried it till she and Lazarus disappear, guessing that she also has some intent with Lazarus, and he did, sort of resurrect. Also, another thought that occurred to me is Lazarus might know the real name for Bubbles, which might add to a continued alliance with him.

[@aRestless]

I actually think it's a very good move to keep Kasmeer out of the picture, simply because when she shows up, she will be the one telling Marjory that Lazarus can't be trusted, and that creates the conflict for Marjory: Either trusting Lazarus who promises to bring her sister back, or Kasmeer's judgement. That could go into a really cool story there.

[@Steel_Crab]

Whilst I agree with you that the Inquest flooring is most likely a dev flub, one possible in-game explanation for it - the Inquest might own the patent (see patent office in asura Golem personal story) on that flooring type, Taimi just bought/acquired it with the logo already on there.

[@curiosull]

Lazarus genuinely wants to help us. He wants to save the world, because they want to rule it.

[@robin4677]

Are we forgetting Lazarus just killed a lot of White Mantle before they could even start worshipping him? If he really had a change of heart he would have had no problem getting the white mantle on his side, the only one rebelling was Caudecus. He can't expect the White Mantle to not follow their confessor if the mursaat were gone for so long.

[@J0n3eR4M]

Hey woody, I don't want to bother you but have you played a mesmer in PvP or some experience with it?

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Yep I hit legend through pure mesmer during season 2, with the cheese condi shatter build.

[@peterrohrbacher1688]

I see what you did there. ;)

[@HalfLifeHalfDead]

But Woody here didn't :D

[@Fakechilada]

gg on reporting the gold seller. Had me worried there for a second that you are going to ingore him.

[@bradleyshaw5987]

I really hope that they don't do the whole " The Mursaat betrayed us again thing", its played out from GW1 and the Mursaat are so cool it would be great to have Lazarus be an actual ally, I think it opens up a lot of places for the story to go.

[@yangzhao1077]

Hey WP, we don't see you talk much about Rytlock going back to Citadal. Can't wait to know more about his journey. Do you think this may have hugh impact on the stories. I assume since more dragons become active and more powerful than ever, we can't defeat them, so we have to looking for answers from the mists.

[@MrGhosty0091]

Great vid as always, but I completely disagree in regards to Lazarus and you hopes for the direction it would take. In games (and many other media) this sort of scenario happens often and it's always as we expect it to be. This sort of plot device doesn't really fool anyone anymore and I personally feel like it would be the easy route to go in that obvious direction. For me personally, I would much rather see a take on the story be that he has the right intentions but because he is who he is and while his goals match the players, his methods may not be acceptable to us. I would much rather see them explore some shades of grey in the world than give us the good/bad binary. Keep the awesome content coming.

[@mdma17]

I think it would be a really cool twist if Marjory actually becomes a disciple of Lazarus. After spending so much time with him, being taught by him, provided sight into the Abyss and maybe even provided powers....necromatic powers by him. Marjory becomes corrupted. Imagine if Lazarus actually gave Marjory the knowledge and power to resurrect her sister, Belinda returns as a half living, half dead tortured soul that Marjory refuses to release because she can’t bear to lose her again. And then Kasmeer can return to the story, witness what her love has become and be forced to destroy her mind and memories (saving her by removing her memories of Lazarus, necromancy but also their relationship)....or kill her.

[@iVenkix]

No thoughts on why Rytlock has been ordered to go back to the Black Citadel? I think there will be more behind this than "explaining this newfound magic" he has. Maybe Kralkatorrik is also active and we don't know it yet because Rytlock is the only one to have enough balls telling us after going back to the Black Citadel while the other Charrs, including Rox, are ordered to be quiet for now.

[@felixthirion9544]

Marjorie talking to Lazarus about how to improve her necromancers skills... New specialization suggered ?

[@ggsagen384]

I think we might actually be going to Divinity's Reach next. At the end of the episode, our character does say, "I have feeling I'm going to be explaining all of this to Kasmere soon." So, I'm thinking perhaps we will go to DR, talk with Kas, who is hangin with Anise, Canach, Logan and the Queen, talk abit abou the whole Caudicus fiasco and then....Blamo!!!! We find ourselves in the Krytan Coupe storyline! (at least that would be my hope.)

[@ggsagen384]

In case you are wondering, he is my idea of the Krytan Coupe Storyline. We discover that the Great Collapse was actually caused by the White Mantle trying to dig under the city walls...and they got a little to close to the surface. This was when Caudicus first met them and bargained with them to help overthrow the queen, no doubt making sure he got top billing as the Confessor out of it as well. By hiding behind a fake wall, no one even knew they were there when they build the Queens Pavillion. Now, with the Seraph stretched thin (yes the queen said they weren't but please....that was just PR to keep the people from worrying) they can bubble up from that deep hole and attack, the ministry guard joining them in the coupe, leaving only the shinning blade, a few seraph and yours truly to defend the queen. Of course, we have to get her out, so we instead go into the sewers (there are two entrances to them after all), wander through the maze of passages and come out to our new map....Lake Doric!!! What do you think WP? Would this be a nice way to introduce the Lake Doric map? I rather like it, but then I'm really wanting us to lose. (The pact ships getting destroyed doesn't count, cause we didn't actually play through that.) I would love to have an instance fighting our retreat through DR...a kind of reverse omage to the Gandaran Moon Fortress mission.

[@djohnbs]

taimi's game music

[@wouterpoll1264]

Wow.. The +2% when you kill a boss and the -x% when you die.. The memories.... (8:13)

[@Teraphas]

I am still convinced that every vision (outside the machine) we have revived has been Gleam guiding us not the egg/Aurene. Just given the cooing baby savings of Aurene upon hatching didn't make me think this is the being that have its such specific and directing visions. Especially given the external pov off the visions. leads me to believe it's a watchful guardian that doesn't have the strength to defend its sibling. because really if glint didn't make it way chance did younger dragons have by themselves

[@_Banjo_]

Always loved the end of prophecies where you run towards the ships! (lets ignore map travel lore ;) )

[@visceras7979]

I think a good story, even tho it may be a bit tragic, is having Majory taking way too many risks in her search to bring her sister from the death using Lazarus without getting played like a fool (come one, this is already so overused in every other media I know) and ending up dying for it and like you said, having Kasmeer going mental and god knows what she could do. I think that would be pretty interesting and would bring some seriousness to the universe. That people are bad, that the Mursat are indeed bad, and not everyone is our friend to fight the elder dragons. It would bring some depth to the story as well as they could play around with this kinda of stuff, Makory's feelings of saving her sister even tho that would mean death for her. Us the player character letting that happen, and how would Kasmeer react to that .. About Aurene, I don´t want her to be just a powerhouse to fight dragons. I think that she is going to be some kind of prophet and will play alongside us, but from the backline. She won´t be fighting, she will be gving us some kind of mental support. Kinda like the relation between the pale tree and the sylvari. Aurene may also find the answer to fight Primordus or something isntead of having another brilliant idea like we had in HoT --" Either way I just don´t want the story to have all the cliche out there that we're all tired of. Bring something new Anet !

[@otakuribo]

Maybe Taimi "borrowed" some tech from the Inquest? I "borrowed" an experimental asura-golem interface from the Inquest once and it turned out ... uh, great! Mostly! Okay so I accidentally fused an asura to a golem. Fortunately, I had a set of charr-sized pliers and pulled her out before the fusion became permanent. Moderate to severe brainal rewiring. No big deal.

[@Tyloric]

Is it bad that I want Lazarus to be a good guy? That might just be the Mursaat fanboy in me, though. As for a potential new raid, I would love something a bit more straight forward this time. Something classic, like in GW1. No crazy mechanics just a straight forward go over here, fight a mini boss to get the key, unlock the door, fight the big bad. And that might just be the nostalgia in me.

[@FatalFist]

The Lore books at the Mursaat Stronghold implies that they really were trying to work with other races but in the end felt betrayed, therefore they wanted revenge. Why create scriptures that, at the time, would only be read by the White Mantle. I think this is very suggestive in playing a role moving forward, no doubt we may see some bad Mursaat (as we do the Inquest, Bandits, etc) but I think largely their culture was misunderstood. Remember, they were sacrificing souls to keep a door locked that opened the way for a force that was created specifically to dominate the world of Tyria. We see that the Exalted are constructs (much like Juggernaughts in Cantha) fueled by the souls of those transfered into them to give them power. Jade Armors IMO are very similar, if a bit more crude. In one of the Personal Story sequences of the Asura even, someone gets trapped in a Golem and their personality becomes more rudimentary and singular. The exalted were well more advanced than Jade Armors but at the same time, they share a common trait.

[@TehXilee]

Honestly I think it would be more cliche to just make him a full on traitor. Perhaps he will have meant something else by "the preservation of this world" but I still think it would be better if he remained a good guy. This is a member of a wise, old, race and the guy has been to the mists. Pretty sure by now he wouldn't be holding a grudge against his old enemies.

[@Sunari]

I could see potential for gray area "betrayal" or something, where it's more our character ends up not agreeing with his plan or choice for courses of action and Lazarus sees fit to go ahead regardless. There is a part of me intrigued though on seeing him become at least somewhat dependable even if there are sour moments here and there as he tries to possibly work with these new races where the old ones failed him and his people. Perhaps he's even witnessed events from the mists and sees promise in offering a second chance to put his abilities to use for many rather than just personal. Alas only time will tell and my curiosity burns all the while DX

[@UltimateWeeGee]

I thought it was implied that the reason the magical shield failed was because the shield was attuned to protecting Glint's magical attunement (Pretty sure the Luminate explicitly says this) and the reason it failed was because the baby just absorbed a chunk of Mordremoth's magic which caused a discrepancy in the magical attunement. My main issue with what you suggest about Lazarus here is that he doesn't NEED our permission to do anything. I don't see us giving him orders or allowing him to do anything... He's not our prisoner. He can phase out of reality or kill us with the flick of his wrist. I mean, he's borderline god-like. It's by his grace that we are allowed to continue doing what we're doing, if anything.

[@Rune_Scholar]

If he can phase, why hasn't he? There is some suggestion that he no longer can and that he may not be able to use agony or that it wouldn't affect us. But I see what you're saying. What does an entity that can and has slain 2 beings on the tier of gods, has succeeded where others failed, pushes through adversity unwavering, and uses elite skills and magic to do so have to fear from anyone? I just described the player character by the way. Lazerus: "I just absorbed enough power to place me on the level of gods and dragons! Muahaha.... Oh look at that incomprehensibly capable being that just killed 2 godlike elder dragons. Hmmm...nah, nothing to fear."

[@UltimateWeeGee]

Is there any evidence to suggest he can no longer use spectral agony, or that it wouldn't affect us? I haven't seen it, but I'd like to know if I'm missing something. We haven't undergone the Ritual of Ascension and become Chosen like the protagonists of GW1 who were able to fight the Mursaat. I'm pretty sure he uses spectral agony on the Destoryers during that fight, actually (and not us, which is the big twist). He obviously wants us alive for some reason. Technically "we" didn't kill Zhaitan, the deus-ex-machina laser did. And we didn't kill Mordremoth by attacking him directly -- we had to enter his mind and sacrifice Trahearne. At the end of the day the only reason killed the Elder Dragons (or will in the future) is because the Developers want us to... They'll find an excuse to make them killable by the player one way or another. Taking on a Mursaat directly without becoming Ascended would be suicide, unless the Devs give us plot-armour because they want to kill him and the Mursaat story off quickly.

[@Watcher863]

Right, so Taimi is an Inquest agent, Lazarus is our new best frenemy and Kasmeer is becoming a new Pale Tree, got it.

[@affey]

Along the same vein of Kas+Jory+Laz, it may be the case that Jory is led to believe that her sister can be brought back to life. But Kasmeer tries to convince her that Lazarus is lying and Jory has to make a decision about who to trust. Then she chooses Lazarus because the temptation is so strong that her sister might be salvageable. And that's how Kas and Jory ultimately break up, maybe even one of them dies :O

[@Rune_Scholar]

Why do they ultimately have to break up? Why make the assumption that that will happen in the end anyway?

[@Prinskorv1001]

About the mursaat portal in thunderhead; the mursaat and the white mantle came through it into the shiverpeaks in the mission (Thunderhead Keep) didn't they? If that is the case then it should be a two-Way portal.

[@valgrian]

Or maybe a slightly different twist on the Marjory/Lazarus/Kasmeer scene? Marjory gets attached to Lazarus in hopes of resurrecting her sister, then Kasmeer exposes Lazarus as the bad guy, and Marjory finds herself with an Anakin's Choice to make. Any chance she goes the Vader way a little bit?

[@MrThorbjoern]

oh! mesmer getting stronger. what about the queen and countess anise?

[@Rayalot72]

1:24 Not www.pvpbank.com again. This is what happens when you use map chat in LA for any reason. Conspiracy: this is a sponsored video.

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Oh man you won't believe how much they're paying me!

[@TehXilee]

Or maybe Taimi has ties with the Inquest now? I have a feeling that Taimi is slowing starting to go down the same path as Scarlet but since she won't have the influence of Mordremoth to worry about she'll probably just horribly mess up somewhere down the line but not become evil.

[@Facerollist]

Any theories how Rytlock will factor in moving forward? To me his part of the story is one of the most exiting parts.

[@RSmeep13]

I really really hope that the next raid continues to use magnetite shards and doesn't get a new but equivalent currency

[@kurohonhon]

Hi WP, I know it's a bit of additional work, but maybe you should consider covering the chat in your videos. From what I can see some bots are whispering you linking websites where you can buy gold. I am aware of the fact that these bots whisper lots of players; however, they may be using you and your videos to advertise these websites even more.

[@lexalice5667]

You want a crazy theory? Here you go We know 100% certain someone stayed in Glints lair after her death. That someone being an Asura who was remarkably talented with controling minds. I'm talking about Snaff! There are rumours that Snaff is still somewhat "alive" in the crystal dragons mind, so what if some remnant of Snaff still lingers in the lair and gave Aurenes egg to the Master of Peace? Probably just a bonkers idea my mind came up with after rereading Edge of Destiny. Still, WP, what do you think are the chances we'll see Snaff ingame? He was just such an awesome character. Would be awesome if you could answer this in a QnA or just give your thoughts on the theory. I'd love to hear it!

[@FatalFist]

While I'm all for Snaff, the game doesn't do the book justice when it comes to talking about him. We know he sacrificed himself for Destiny's Edge but they still failed with that and the group became torn up, with Eir feeling completely responsible. It's just, the game doesn't do very well to really talk about him outside of one-line dialog from characters. So majority of players who haven't read the books would just feel, "Meh" about him.

[@v_ChimChim_x]

Honestly when it comes to the floor pattern, it wouldn't take them long to remove the inquest symbol if it were re-used assets. I mean I can open up that floor pattern in photoshop and just copy one of the tiles and paste it over the inquest one in under 5 minutes.

[@sadrien]

May I remind everyone about the beetle shaped stones on the floor of raid wing 2 that signified caudecus being involved with the white mantle...

[@Shinakami]

I don't feel like Lazarus has much motivation to be evil at the moment, the mursaat where scared in gw1 and acting out of fear, he swore revenge on the white mantle betrayers, that being said he could be selfish and not care who gets in the crossfire and betray on the fly as a means to an end. Also on the Marjory side I feel like the fact she pulled her sword when walking away as a small hint to her motivations.

[@wafflingmean4477]

Hey WP, just on the theory of Marjory and her sister's soul, when I replayed that instance Marjory didn't take out her sword when she walked away with Lazarus. I'm not saying the theory is discredited by this, but that was a small factor which pointed her story in that direction, one you pointed out. I'm just thinking that maybe either my game bugged or she's not meant to take out her sword then, or she doesn't do it every time maybe? I don't remember what she did the first time I played that instance. I still love this theory though.

[@riverbord5353]

She did that when I played tho, she took it over her shoulder.

[@JordanSedai]

I feel like the raids almost need to cover stories that lead into the main story. Otherwise, you will have people angry that there's story that they can't get to, and then you have the complaint that they need to have solo-able raid stuff again. I know how they did it, what with the ability for you to go in after the fights and check out the items and lore and environment, but still, if they're making deep stories, they should be open to as many as possible.

[@Dasvovobrot]

My money is on Wizards Tower being a One-Boss-Raid

[@Dasvovobrot]

with living story being the "background" story to it

[@bradleyshaw5987]

The fact that 2/3 remaining dragons, not counting the deep sea dragon, are active makes me think that ANET is trying to end the whole dragon storyline of the game I almost have a feeling that by the next Xpac we will be in a position to kill the last dragon, either Kralkatorrik or the DSD, and then after that Xpac maybe we'll start moving into Cantha/Elona and onto new stories, Palawa Joko and the new Emperor perhaps.

[@Rune_Scholar]

No, no no. They clearly are done with Cantha. WHY is that what everyone begs for??

[@bradleyshaw5987]

I would just like to add that even though I made this comment 6 months ago it is still not that far off base. In LS3 or this next XPac we seemed to be poised to kill both Jormag and Primordus (or just leave them in their pre-awakened state) and as the leaks proved we are moving closer to Elona and seemingly onto new enemies (Balthazar and possibly others).

[@theb_man1234]

I see the new potato transitions :D

[@wowomah6194]

Oh shiznit. I just realized, so maybe the dragons will be rushing to the bloodstones? Wouldn't that make sense? So maybe Lazarus' goal is to absorb all the bloodstones before the dragons can get them, but..then what?

[@KingAenti]

I actually thought the barrier went down because Aurene has Magic of Zhaitan and Mordy in her and since the new destroyers also have that magic they were able to get through. And for the raid into the reedemed realm (or whats it's name): why would we go in there and raid it? Shouldn't it be "good" since Kormir is now in control of it? That's why I'm also more on the wizard tower side.

[@sylvainice3048]

I keep waiting for someone to touch on this. Where is the potential raid story here? I'm as excited as anyone to see ANYTHING about the gods, but you don't raid heaven - you raid hell. Unless heaven has some seriously messed up stuff going on..

[@Tsukamy]

*SPOILERS* *WARNING, SPOILERS 2 CHAPTERS LVS3* I feel like it makes sense tho that Lazarus is the one who broke that Shield which protected the Egg. It was his only way, fast, clear, to force us to be ally with him. Also he didn't kill us the first time we saw him with Caudecus. And as a French I really liked his voice at this moment : he sounded so angelic and everything, when he explained his "new" vocation. And then he said "...and so the others might die by the flame" with such a sadic and demonic voice (his true nature after all :D). PS : I am saying this and I haven't see your video WP, might edit it if needed :)

[@eaSyRoca]

Hey wp, what happened with the spirit quest tonic (you know, that thing you have to ping if you want to join pugraids). i remember everyone used to be quite hyped about it, as it seemed to be supposed to trigger some actual sort of quest. But then all it ever did was bring out some animations and starting a timer without further explanation. And then everyone forgot about it (except for pugraids - pugraids never forget about the tonic). Have i just missed whatever happened with it or is this 'spirit quest' still kind of a mistery? maybe the devs planned something which never ended up in the game? I'd be curious about your opinion or - if i actually just missed the news - to hear whats behind all this. cheers

[@Swedish_Brute]

I dont think that arenanet would've missed something big as inquests logo in the texture, they could've easily fixed that if they didnt want the logo there. But IF they missed it, then holy shit they need to step up their quality test game

[@OniZai]

Maybe they will have Kasmeer being busy with that Mesmer Collective group thing, no?

[@DCrswims]

Hey WP, what do you think about how perhaps Zhaitan and Mordremoth's aspects got split among the other dragons? for instance Primordus got death and plant, perhaps Jormag got shadow (or is it poison) and mind. also going off this, do we know the secondary aspects of the dragons?

[@jsn8954]

maybe it was Moto that made the assets that is used. wild thoery: Moto and the Inquest?? ohoh scary :D

[@whyrenXD]

Here are my thoughts: To that holographic chamber, it was not realy finnished by Taimi but also by Moto, and after seeing the trubial mode in SAB i have no doubt that Moto would be part of the inquest. For the Eggchamber part: I realy don't understand why every non human charakter misstrusts Lazarus and why, especialy as Sylvari, the Commander doesn't notice he gets corrupted by that Crystaldragon. Maybe Arena Net threw the Idea of having diffrentdialog options according to race completly out of the window :/

[@Endirioss]

WP, I've heard you say this multiple times now, do you really think that lazarus was already alive when the bloodstone exploded and THEN absorbed the explosion? because from what I understood in the first episode, was that somehow the explosion was part of the operation Rebirth of the white mantle, which would mean it was the reason lazarus is even alive today and not that the explosion was something that happened and lazarus just so conveniently happened to be there to absorb it?

[@chaosgyro]

I would love to see the universe where Marjory does A Bad Thing to save her sister, Kasmeer comes in as human lie detector to stop it, and Marjory winds up with two dead women instead of one. That sort of soul crushing guilt and trauma makes for awesome character development. Alas, I don't think GW2 exists in that universe.

[@Rune_Scholar]

But the ever present "bury your gays" cliche does apparently.

[@chaosgyro]

There isn't another prominent romantic couple in the story, gay or straight, for which this emotional weight applies. There CERTAINLY isn't another couple currently engaged in activities creating potential strain on their relationships or vitality. And finally, a good death done well can add boatloads of power to a story, and I would happily see Anet mow down a horde of individuals of any orientation to achieve that end. Yes, admittedly they sort of half-assed tried with Caithe and Faolain, but that was hampered by the poor presentation of the vanilla personal story and the abysmal length of HoT. Also, I would be all for trying to kill off Queen Jennah, but her relationship with Logan isn't even truly confirmed to be ongoing and is entirely off-screen.

[@TheDarkRaaven]

Hey WP, i just though about something. With all the "hey look primordus is active and jormag too". Do you think ArenaNet want to get rid of the elder dragon story for the next expension so they can expands on less restrained stories ?

[@sephism]

Moto is the leader of the inquest and we are all living inside of one of his simulations. Next patch Elon Musk will make an appearance to confirm this.

[@Nemui89]

3:40 moto helped taimi finish the simulation chamber, what if moto is secretly inquest? :O

[@NekkoNubcakes]

out of topic..but was wondering if in anyways if aurene will mebe start corruting ppl or make cute minions u knw tht kinda thng

[@DarthJane]

Wasn't the exit portal at the start of the first mission of the fire island chain?

[@priceoffame]

Personally, I think it would be way more interesting for Lazarus to NOT betray us. Like, who isn't expecting him to turn out actually bad? He's soooo suspicious. Wouldn't it be great if for once in a story like this, our suspicions weren't actually true, and we gain an ally instead of an enemy?

[@priceoffame]

I mean, maybe his motivations and methods don't exactly match ours in the end? But maybe he genuinely does want to help. I do agree that the "saving Aurene" thing was calculated by him to get in our good graces, but that doesn't make him evil, just really damn sneaky.

[@Kid_Gorgeous]

I really like the idea of going into the realm of the gods but maybe not as a raid but rather main story. Imagine if a dragon can somehow tap into all that magic thats floating about in the mists or the realm of the gods? It could make for some very interesting stuff (dragon vs gods). Also since Lazarus absorbed the powers of the bloodstone, that kinda makes him an elder dragon in a way no? What would keep him from absorbing all the loose magic from a defeated Primordus or Jormag or something? At the end of the day he might be the biggest threat of all.

[@Kid_Gorgeous]

or he could just be a good guy and sacrifice himself to power up glints kid.

[@FieryFlamingFajitas]

I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure the game mentions at some point that there's an elder dragon that is able to exist simultaneously in the physical world and in the mists (kinda like how Mordy could exist in the physical world and in people's minds)

[@LegendaryMythril]

what reason would we have, plot-wise, to go to the southern shiverpeaks? just wanting to go to thunderhead keep and a dwarf saying he's from there isn't enough reason. to fight jormag? hoelbrak is far closer to him than thunderhead.

[@crushing_the_losersof_the_7726]

I want to know why we can't just get into the Raids and join up with those who are currently raiding w/o having to get a group together we can just join those Raiding Parties already there, or if we can go to Lions Arch wait for those who want to raid to get together. Also do you see Guild Wars 2 include Guild Wars 1 so we can work on Our Hall of Monuments sectors of what we have accomplished and still do need to accomplish.

[@alphacat564]

What if Lazarus is acting good so that he can leech off our success when we kill the elder dragons i.e absorbing their magic? His inception into the story was him absorbing tons of magic and maybe that has made him hungry for more (bloodstone madness)

[@zigaro5482]

We haven't seen Kasmeer or Braham because they haven't finished their new outfits.

[@creationward5985]

I'm constantly curious as to why so many people in the comments want to see Lazarus as a good ally. From my perspective, having gotten into the GW franchise about a month before HoT released, Lazarus is a rather large, omnipotent, and other-worldly being that hasn't really had much precedent for being in GW2. For such a powerful ally to emerge so suddenly seems like a deus ex machina to me. Since Lazarus' intentions are already being questioned by so many characters in the story, including the player character, it would take a lot of convincing and time for me to trust Lazarus. Also, if the story is constantly "X elder dragon is the big bad today" it would seem flat and without deviation. I would love a story in which there are more enemies than just dragons, their minions, and the occasional crazed Krytan.

[@Teraphas]

CreationWard to me it has to do with mursaat being grey villains in prophecies. makes me hopeful they will turn it on its head and have lazarus by a grey hero. that we may not end up thinking everything he does is great but he is the ally we need. I also don't think he will betray us as much as we will not anticipate his true goal as we will fall prey to the First Rule, people are stupid they will believe anything they want or fear to be true

[@Ithamir]

It's like starting watching a series at season 6 and say that the powerful guy that hasn't been seen since season 1 is deus ex machina. It kinda is but it kinda isn't at the same time. Poor writing in gw2 leans to the second option sadly... Edit: And next expansion we're (according to leaks) going to Elona. Which means Palawa Joko is there. Which might be the new big bady. I suggest reading a bit on him. He was my favorite character in GW1.

[@KseniyaInternational]

Do you think Taimi is going to become evil? Her fascination may drive her insane?

[@Ithamir]

I hope not. Scientist have to be curious. They often have to push the boundaries of current morality to advance science. As of now she seems totally ok to me. If she starts doing tests on live beings, such as dragon minions or chaks then I think we should start worrying. Although we do it in our society. Hope I didn't make it too serious.

[@KseniyaInternational]

Haha yeah I just thought that perhaps her liking of Scarlet may lead to some consequences where she might be conflicted that some research she is doing might hurt somebody else. But then again, she is an azura, not a sylvari so maybe she will be able to resist mind-control. We'll see, can't wait for new episode.

[@kirrikio]

If we have 3 dragons that are being awoken, could we have 3 simultaneous DLC releases for each dragon, where the Pact separate to fight 1 dragon each? Obviously this isn't based of anything, just an actual question?

[@tkorful]

I actually thought that the defence mechanism for the egg was malfunctioning for a longer time and just now we found out cause it was supposed to be triggered. You do not notice an alarm being broken until you see the burglar in your kitchen with a stick of salami, do you ? :D Thoughts?

[@WoodenPotatoes]

Well reasoned, you could be right and there is nothing to it!

[@Jolomolocostroco]

maybe Taimi broke it cuz she interfered with the security?

[@PanBelacqua]

My personal assumption was that the wards, in their old age, weren't properly able to make the calibration switch from Egg-Aurene to Dragon-Aurene, for whatever reason. The logic error in "It's sorta the scion, but different." exposed a flaw in the security, allowing for other signatures to enter the space. Destroyers, Lazarus, Marjory, and Caithe.

[@BartmossTV]

WP, removing the Inquest logo from the texture would've been really, really easy if they wanted to. Might still be a mistake, but, I wouldn't discount it so easily.

[@WoodenPotatoes]

What's that thing about not associating conspiracy with stupidity? I think that's what happened here! An oversight.

[@BartmossTV]

Right, my point is that it wasn't simply asset use for the sake of not having to do a new texture. It's likely an oversight, but then again, GW always had little hints and leads and teases all over the place, so I'd say it's too early to call it conclusively.

[@BartmossTV]

PS: It may be that the Inquest co-opted an older symbol for their organisation, which might make the most sense if the placement is not a mistake.

[@nolaalima5763]

They do have that asset without the Innie logo on it, though. I'm not arguing that this might have been a mistake, but Anet /does/ really like to bread-crumb little things that generate this kind of controversy, even if it's a false-flag. That said, if it is canon that the Inquest logo /is/ there, that doesn't even mean anything particularly nefarious. The Inquest aren't always amoral jackasses. The things they make and work on can be incredibly useful and beneficial to the world, but what makes them villains is that they don't subscribe to moral boundaries in the process, and they are very selfish with what they do discover. However, they are on the cutting edge of many fields, and they are still technically the only existing megakrewe. If Taimi found this VR machine and put out the call for some help getting it up and running (which she seems to be able to do considering some of the banter of the asura in the Rata Novus instance and out in the Fire Islands) it's not completely out of line that Inquest contractors might take interest. By helping Taimi rebuild the device, they get brownie points that Yahk can use to keep the Arcane Council off their ass a bit, and they also get to see how this thing works and take that back with them to the megakrewe to use for their own machinations. Do I think that Anet intended for this subtext? I don't really know or care. Ultimately, it's there and as it stands, harmless, but it's a thread that the lore team could grab and expand on if the need ever arose, and it's neat to speculate on what that could potentially look like! ...Even if it just turns out that Taimi's flooring guy is an Inquest... "What? His rates are good and he gets the job done!"

[@BartmossTV]

Nola Alima Excellent points, Nola. I doubt Taimi would have a problem getting Inquest help - she's certain to think she can outwit the Inquest, and she's been shown, time and again, to do her own thing, no matter what her peers or elders tell her. An Inquest connection may make for a good Taimi subplot/complication, too..

[@Moldovanu24]

But what about the Tengu and The Dominion Of Winds?

[@LegendaryMythril]

5:00 them graphics

[@Philiptanzer]

I'm siding with Lazarus regardless, to be honest. He's all I've ever wanted :D

[@VII_Spiritual]

🔥 vid bro.