Scarlet Briar was the antagonist of the first season of the Living World in Guild Wars 2. However, at her death there was a dialogue that still annoys our editor Alexander Leitsch.
It is 2014, Tyria is sinking into chaos. The Sylvari Scarlet first attacks the game world with a giant puppet, and later with an oversized drill the capital Lion’s Arch. Hundreds must flee, many die, and it is up to my group of heroes and me to protect the residents of Tyria from even greater evil.
But why is this insane woman attacking Lion’s Arch at all? There are theories and, through data mining, a somewhat logical explanation. But a few pieces of the puzzle are missing, and that’s why I am looking forward to the big showdown, a final and tough boss fight on the “Briar Breaker” – that is the name Scarlet gave her drill.
But the dialogues in this showdown drive me to despair. It hurt and still hurts so much because I feel robbed of an epic moment.
“That doesn’t matter now. You are at the end”
Scarlet is lying on the ground. She breathes heavily but still speaks in complete sentences. There comes a dialogue and finally she begins with the sentence I’ve been waiting for more than a year:
Don’t you want to know why all of this? All this chaos and destruction?
YES! Yes, it screams out of me. The moment comes that I wait for in every movie and every series. The villain manically explains his story, his motives behind all the terrible deeds. I eagerly soak up these moments. Is there a good thought behind all the evil? And did the person suffer such hard blows of fate that not a spark of light remained in the heart?
But then my companion Braham Eirsson simply destroys everything: “That doesn’t matter now. You are at the end.” BAM. Other members of the hero group agree with him. Scarlet does not continue her conversation. The air is gone. I never find out what the crazy Sylvari thought behind all this…
You can watch the scene again in English here (from minute 1:20):
Of course, all the important things are clarified in retrospect. The Sylvari are a people that actually serve the Elder Dragon Mordremoth. When he awakens, they should plunge into a battle against the other races of Tyria.
The Pale Tree, on the other hand, protects the playable and allied Sylvari from the dragon’s influence. Therefore, they can make independent decisions and fight him later. Scarlet had figured all this out.
But why did she try to awaken the Elder Dragon with her drill instead of waiting for his natural cycle? Did she simply want to plunge the world and the Sylvari into chaos? Or did she have a plan to stop the dragon? Was there perhaps a chance for the mortal races in the premature awakening because Mordremoth had not fully recharged his energy?
The action could theoretically have had good intentions behind it. So maybe…
Yet I never learned the exact details. Scarlet died without revealing her motives. Our group of heroes in general, but Braham in particular, simply had no interest in this story. And that annoys me.
I still feel like I’ve missed an epic moment in the story. And unfortunately, the brilliant final battle with Mordremoth, introduced in 2015 with the expansion Heart of Thorns, cannot compensate for that.
Have you ever experienced such a moment in gaming that still occupies you years later? Or were you perhaps there live in 2014? Feel free to share it in the comments.
In a few weeks, the story in Guild Wars 2 will take entirely new paths. The new expansion Secrets of the Obscure will be released:
Guild Wars 2 gets new expansion in August – Brings the area I have been dreaming of for 18 years
