Lore from Edge of Destiny (MAJOR SPOILERS)

[RD]

No, those are two different things. First she mentions how the humans she helped attacked her (I guess too many people went for that mission's bonus...), and then how, when she was still serving her master, she used to kill humans.

Erasculio

Okay, thanks! But then, who are the humans she helped that attacked her? They couldn't just be random humans because... why would she help them? Were there others before us she thought fulfilled the Flameseeker Prophecies? Or after us, was there some other group of destined humans?

[Konig Des Todes]

Did it explicitly state that she killed humans while serving her master? Or was it just those who went to attack Kralkatorrik?

Still reading the book, coming up on the Destroyer of Life part (I'm heavily distracted), so I'm unsure and don't want to skip ahead, but from what someone over on guru2 put up, it was ambiguous in the race of those she killed.

[Gorani]

Did it explicitly state that she killed humans while serving her master? Or was it just those who went to attack Kralkatorrik?

"Did not the very heroes I've sent ("to save the world") return later to battle me again?

==> There she talks about "us" (p.339)

On page 340 she said that she can hear the thoughts of creatures, but Eir had talked about humans in her question. As far as I interpret that paragraph she killed humans before to protect her master, but after hearing his thoughts again (and his plot to wreak havoc on Tyria, like she had described Eir), Glint decided to stop the rising of the Elder Dragons and Kalkratonik in particular.

[Erasculio]

Okay, thanks! But then, who are the humans she helped that attacked her? They couldn't just be random humans because... why would she help them? Were there others before us she thought fulfilled the Flameseeker Prophecies? Or after us, was there some other group of destined humans?

It's not stated in the book. IMO, it's exactly what I mentioned in my previous post - the bonus for The Dragon's Lair. The author of Destiny's Edge mentioned he had played the original Guild Wars, and that was one of the few situations in which Glint could have been attacked by humans and still let them live.

Erasculio

[RD]

I see. So it's a bit of a creative take on FAILING the Bonus. Instead of attacking her right after she told us what we wanted to hear, the author has us coming back later. Still leaves me with tons of questions that probably won't ever be answered lol

I do wonder if the laurel she got Kralkatorrik will end up playing a part in the actual game.

[Konig Des Todes]

"Did not the very heroes I've sent ("to save the world") return later to battle me again?

==> There she talks about "us" (p.339)

On page 340 she said that she can hear the thoughts of creatures, but Eir had talked about humans in her question. As far as I interpret that paragraph she killed humans before to protect her master, but after hearing his thoughts again (and his plot to wreak havoc on Tyria, like she had described Eir), Glint decided to stop the rising of the Elder Dragons and Kalkratonik in particular.

That's not what I was talking about. I meant for the second part - when she's talking about killing those who sought to kill her master while she served him. I was referring to "and then how, when she was still serving her master, she used to kill humans."

Anyways, I finished the book and the later part - which Erasculio said humans - was in fact merely stated as "creatures." Specifically:

I can hear the thoughts of creatures. I am an oracle. I heard their plots against my master, stopped them before they could reach him, killed them in their tracks. But I also felt their agony, their loss. It grieved me.

If it were humans, then that would have a dozen+ implications and contradictions (she's been serving as the caretaker for 3,000 years but fought humans when she was "evil" and humans didn't exist until a long time after that 3,000 years ago, if she said humans, like Era said, then that would mean she was still serving Kralkatorrik while serving as the caretaker of the world, which seems contradictory.)

My thoughts on who those "creatures" were: seer, mursaat, and dwarves (the only races known to live during the time of the writing of the Tome of Rubicon).

I do wonder if the laurel she got Kralkatorrik will end up playing a part in the actual game.

Or the spear... or the dragon blood.

[Scutilla]

Just finished the book, so I figured I'd add my braindump to the pile.

I wouldn't interpret too much naughtiness into the "she loves/belongs to me" relationship between Caithe & Faolain. Since all Sylvari are "born" by the Pale Tree, there is really no reason to fix them on a biological gender of male/female like we do with other GW races. It is just their phenotype, when they appear as male or female to others. Since it would be kind of lame to have an asexual race, I assume the sylvari are pan-/omisexual, so they could fall in love with any sentient being that seems to be worthy of their affection.

I actually hadn't thought about the implications of the sylvari being an asexual race, but your interpretation makes sense. Sadly, I doubt ANet will expand on the subject much (gotta keep the game rated T, after all).

---

On Elder dragons: I thought I'd share a direct quote from the book, since it offers our first real insight into the nature of the elder dragons.

Long ago, I lived in a dragon-dominated world. I saw how they feasted on all flesh, on all minds, on all life. I saw how they ate until there was nothing left to eat, and then fell, sated. The darkness of those days slowly gave to a new dawn- a bright world that did not remember the rapacious beasts. From that time to this, I have feared one of those sleeping dragons. My master, Kralkatorrik.

So it sounds like the dragons lived on Tyria in the distant past, and are really just giant animalistic eating machines, rather than the rivals to the gods that some of us originally thought they were. Snaff even says when he's in Kralk's mind that while the dragon is capable of rational thought, underneath all that it's all hunger and rage.

It's not stated in the book. IMO, it's exactly what I mentioned in my previous post - the bonus for The Dragon's Lair. The author of Destiny's Edge mentioned he had played the original Guild Wars, and that was one of the few situations in which Glint could have been attacked by humans and still let them live.

I'm honestly not sure. Her first line "three hundred years ago" almost certainly refers to the GW1 heroes, and states she was attacked first. Her following line states she went out and killed humans who plotted of killing Kralk (odd, since no humans should have known about him before now). She then says she did this for centuries.

My conclusion is that she's talking about two different groups of people. If so, it's a bit of a retcon to the Dragon's Lair mission- the GW1 heroes deliberately sought out Glint as an ally, and only fought her if someone got too close to her eggs and she retaliated. And of course, if you do trigger the bonus it ends in the death of one side or the other, though Glint arguably "got better". And it's a complete mystery who these humans who plotted against Kralk are, or when they lived.

One other note on Glint- though she may be dead, don't forget she has a child. Hundred plat says he/she will be playing some role in GW2 now that mommy is gone.

---

Moving on to a less epic subject...

The book's notes on currency seems to match up with what we saw in the GW2 public demo. Silver replaces gold as the basic unit, with 100 silver to the gold piece. Statues of wood are commissioned in silver, stone in gold. An asura sells scrap parts for 1-3 gold a piece. The repayment for burning down a warehouse and its contents is 500 gold. Admission to the gladiatorial arena is a silver. The Edge of Steel pays 250 silver (2.5 gold) for rooms and a feast after its first match.

Overall, the value of the gold piece seems to have skyrocketed in the past 250 years (perhaps due to scarcity?). It's a far cry from when a single head of lettuce cost a gold piece (from the Gates of Kryta mission).

---

Finally, one thing that jumped out at me about the norn that are converted by Jormag:

The men return... as frozen icebrood. The women return... not at all.

I can think of several implications for that, the least unpleasant of which is that norn women are naturally resistant or immune to Jormag's charms and thus useless as minions. Which would explain why Svanir was corrupted and Jora wasn't in EotN.

[Konig Des Todes]

On Elder dragons: I thought I'd share a direct quote from the book, since it offers our first real insight into the nature of the elder dragons.

So it sounds like the dragons lived on Tyria in the distant past, and are really just giant animalistic eating machines, rather than the rivals to the gods that some of us originally thought they were. Snaff even says when he's in Kralk's mind that while the dragon is capable of rational thought, underneath all that it's all hunger and rage.

There's actually more than that quote. And it's linked to Snaff battling Kralkatorrik's mind. The constant referring to Kralk as a storm, with the eye of the storm being what Kralk wants. Yes, they do hunger and are full of hatred. But it doesn't appear, to me, to be pure black. As you said, they're capable of rational thought.

Her following line states she went out and killed humans who plotted of killing Kralk (odd, since no humans should have known about him before now). She then says she did this for centuries.

She never said she killed humans. I posted the exact words above. The only term given in that paragraph is merely "creatures."

Regarding the group that went to kill her before they knew she was their ally... it actually probably refers to the heroes of Prophecies, for two reasons:

1) She called said group of 300 years ago the Chosen to fulfill the prophecy.
2) She said that at the time the Elder Dragons bellies emptied. Implying more than one. But we've only experienced the case for one: Primordus (and possibly Jormag via Svanir).

This implies that at some point after Eye of the North, some heroes of Prophecies (PC or henchmen, dunno) return to Dragon's Lair thinking her to be an enemy.

As for when she guarded Kralkatorrik and killed creatures during said guarding: It would be over 3,000 years ago - and in fact may be up to 3,000 years prior to GW1 - as that is when she became/was designated as the guardian of Tyria.

Overall, the value of the gold piece seems to have skyrocketed in the past 250 years (perhaps due to scarcity?). It's a far cry from when a single head of lettuce cost a gold piece (from the Gates of Kryta mission).

Do note that said head of lettuce was a rip off (and at 4 gold), and that 3 gold coins could clothe an entire family. Course, we don't know the size of the guy's family.

[Fenrir godslayer]

Just finished the book last night (took two days...I couldnt put it down )...

I took the scene with glint to mean:

Upon the awakening of Primordus in 1120 AE, our characters must have been roughly...60-70? years old around that time (based on the calculations in http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forum...d.php?t=495758 ).

Now, it stands a reasonable chance that our characters would have at least heard the stories of Primordus's awakening, and realising the threat this one dragon posed, perhaps they then viewed Glint as a threat, much like the speculation on here, and so went to challenge her (although, they were probably not in the best shape to be fighting even a lesser dragon by this point).

Best explaination I could think of anyway, and was the first thing to pop to my head while reading that part.