GW2: A fun theory on the Mists and EoD

Well buckle up my peepos, because I’m about to bring you on a journey. Maybe not the best journey, maybe with some flaws and empty holes here and there, but ain’t theorizing fun this way?

Alright, almost 99% chance NONE of these will ever happen in the game, but I will present you all a fun lore theory and “connecting the dots together” style of idea regarding the Mists in the GW universe and a possible connection and perhaps a route or two that could give us some possibilities for…. future content after EoD? Mists expansion? Utopia 👀?

Stay and join me on this ride! For real, this ride is going to be a JOURNEY… I warned you!

Alright to give some context, let’s get back to the roots, or not so roots of Guild Wars, no not the second one, but the first game! At the time the Mists was quite a mystery to us in the lore and in the game, giving us questions like… what is it? What does it do? Where is it? How is the Mists? Well to answer shortly, nobody fucking knows truly, but it’s a great tool for Arenanet to explain anything with it. This is probably both fun and cool, and also quite annoying probably in a writing standpoint.

To me the Mists was always fascinating, as bad the usage of it can be sometimes, it’s still a cool concept within the Guild Wars universe to have this weird plane that connects together timelines, spaces and… almost literally everything. So back in Guild Wars we learn early on, that places like Fissure of Woe, Underworld yada yada is all a place within the mists as well, some of these are a certain domain of the human gods. The Mists is however not strictly human gods related, it doesn’t exist because of the human gods, it was there before them as well and they are simply ones who can walk within. It almost reminds me of plane-walking.

Well anyway! So to understand the Mists works as this weird veil that is always present around on the world, everywhere. Some beings learned to use it to become invisible, like the Mursaat did. For some reason, one can only really utilize the Mists if they are “ascended”, originally ascension was used to commune with the gods (old or new, doesn’t matter). It gave the power to enter the mists. The ascension just made it sure that you gained the ability to enter the Mists… WILLINGLY. It didn’t mean that you couldn’t accidentally enter the mists or “fall into it.”

The Mursaat, and in a way, the human gods make it seem like the Mists can be used to hide in plain sight as long someone doesn’t have enough power to sense or see through it. This was never explained how it works exactly, but it works!

Now, when Nightfall arrived as an expansion for Guild Wars, there was another expansion on the table before they scrapped it and eventually we got Eye of the North instead. That expansion was supposed to be Guild Wars: Utopia and the idea behind it was to bring the players into the Mists and be mostly Mists related.

Now, there is very little info about Utopia, obviously because it was scrapped quite early, and very little was made for it, mostly concept arts and a very few assets were done for it in game, which are surprisingly used…

The original plans for Utopia was to drastically change how this expansion would have worked, but since it was so complicated to implement it into Guild Wars to make the expansion work, they actually scrapped the Utopia expansion and instead they brought us the first ever non-standalone expansion for Guild Wars. Hmm, how strange also it was about the time they started to develop Guild Wars 2. 🤔 What a strange coincidence.

Well, it is because, by tech, Utopia is Guild Wars 2, I’m almost sure about this. Utopia was supposed to be working differently than GW where people were instanced in their own zones for PvE and only put together in towns. Nope, for this one they actually wanted multi-player out of towns, to be able to bump into other players. The reason they scrapped and cancelled Utopia was not for its idea, the reason was due to the tech and how GW worked already. This is very important.

Yes, the theory here is, that Utopia can still happen in Guild Wars 2, maybe not as “Utopia”, but its concept/idea. There are a LOAD of lore that still supports it, hence I say it is NOT impossible to happen or to ever come as an expansion. You could ask me, “but why would you want such expansion?” Well simply because it could be a great story! No Elder Dragons here (hopefully), at best we could encounter the Human Gods or go even beyond!

However let me carry you deeper into the lore and why I feel like End of Dragons could be a great possibility to be followed with such an expansion:

So gong back in time again, in Eye of the North we learn via a quest chain, that the Mists surrounds us like a veil, like an ozone layer all over the world which can have holes or really thin border at some spots, which causes beings fall through the Mists. This quest essentially explains that the mists, at some certain places in Tyria, have much, much thinner border with the Mists.

This can easily explain why we have places like the Temple of the Ages on very specific areas only, because here people are strangely closer to the Mists without realizing it. This further explains why the hell does the Shadow Behemoth event happen in GW2. It’s literally next to the old Temple of the Ages where we could commune with the human God’s messengers to ENTER domains found in the mists. Because the Shadow Behemoth very likely finds this specific weak spot in the veil between our world and the Mists! I don’t think it would fall through, considering it has a pre-event with other portals appearing first, so it feels like it plans the little “invasion” before entering. Even in Nightfall we have this weak spot which we use to enter the Realm of Torment to stop Abaddon!

All of these make sense together.

Now, for some reason, they created Eye of the North in a particularly weird way. I’m not talking about the location, yet! When they were working on Eye of the North they were still using some of the Utopia assets they created previously, could it just be to save time? Absolutely! But one could use them efficiently, for both saving time and to subtly create a path for a possible foreshadowing.

At the time they probably already knew they will make GW2, since Utopia’s whole tech concept was the base of GW2, hence why Eye of the North never was planned to be stand alone expansion, unlike… Utopia. Again, do not forget that for Utopia to work as an expansion, the game had to be what Guild Wars 2 is, hence I keep saying that Utopia or anything very similar to that original concept could still happen, they have the tech base to do so.

Obviously a lot changed from the Utopia concepts, since even Asura was supposed to be a cave dwelling race with very different aesthetics and structures. Actually if you get into GW and move your booty to Boreal Station, the whole cave was supposed to be an Asura architecture 🙂 They kept that as it is and just changed the lore that it was made by “prior civilization”, since it’s only used for the quick introduction and probably some of these assets were already finished to use, so it was faster to create that little outpost. However, right after you realize that none of the other Asura architectures look any similar as you get to their zone.

However, some assets were used in some Asura-related zones as well. To this day I believe they left a couple of these assets, including Eye of the North, yes the location, in the game to foreshadow a possible Mist themed content, either in GW or GW2. What an interesting thing that the Eye of the North structure is lore-wise was created by “unknown” civilization and people, as it doesn’t resemble dwarven, Norn, Asura, Charr, Seer, Mursaat or any of the other known architectures and design. However it does fit one concept… which was for Utopia.

Oh, the art was also originally just titles as “Tower”, and the EotN is also a HUGE tower with similar design. So why is EotN so particularly weird? Well to me the whole Scrying Pool is such a weirdly off concept. Oh, imagine if the whole place was intended to hint it being another place where it is super close to the Mists… oh yeah, that would be baaaad.

No, not really. How interesting we have a scrying pool, oh wait, I couldn’t hear, I’m sorry? The first thing you read when interacting with the pool is “The water in this pool is so clear its reflection is like a window into another world.” How strange! Well of course, for use here it only gives visions to guide us through the expansion, but why this strange quote when it just ends up giving us visions? Wouldn’t it be… too much if I would say, that the scrying pool could be either a place where one could enter the mists willingly as a portal, or a certain “object” that allows us to see into the Mists and its infinite versions of our world, past, present, future?

There are just so many things that both make sense, but also go so so far!

But bear with me! Why am I telling all of this? Because for End of Dragons, a good chunk of these canon and semi-canon things also make sense or COULD make sense if actually played out well. Look, I’m not trying to say this is what will happen, but simply giving my ideas of what COULD happen and what could follow EoD if Anet would ever decide to come back to Utopia or to its concept. To this day… to this day, all of those old GW canon lore about the Mists still makes sense.

Yes, we have the Mists in some form already in GW2, a.k.a. Fractals of the Mists and World vs World, as both of them play within the Mists itself, but it’s not like we never ever been to the Mists before, this is NOT about entering the Mists, but perhaps revealing a huge-huge thing within the Mists. Utopia had such great concepts for… civilizations and beings living inside the Mists, being almost their own home. This is why Utopia was and will always be so fascinating to me conceptually.

It was like they set up Eye of the North with foreshadowing for possible Utopia-like content for Guild Wars 2. Already in Guild Wars: Nightfall, there was a subtle, but somewhat possible early idealizing for them. Remeber this particular Hero, Razah? This weird entity that was somehow born within the Mists and was a Mist entity, the only actual Hero canonically who is able to attune to any main profession?

Lore-wise the Ascension gave you the ability to tap into other profession’s powers, but not fully (since game mechanic-wise you couldn’t have the secondary profession’s main attribute. For example if you were an Elementalist / Mesmer, you couldn’t gain the Fast Casting attribute from the Mesmer side), however Razah was the first who was canonically able to tap into any of them and pick one “main” profession freely. Obviously game-wise Razah still had a secondary profession, but those are game mechanics.

Now one interesting thing about Razah, his appearance:

Alright, examine his look a little bit, apart from looking pretty badass and absolutely fucking cool, there is one particular thing about his appearance. He was an optional Hero to earn in Nightfall, in the Realm of Torment, so basically in the Mists, and first time he says:

“I have been alone for what seems like ages. I am Razah, created from the Mists. I have no memories of my creation, though; the past is shrouded in fog. Abaddon bound me to this plane.”

Now, once again, he was created from the Mists, although he has no memory of where he is from or what his past is. Utopia had concepts for its creatures and people as well, and interestingly Utopia had this concept art for some kind of forest tribe or people or some kind of group:

Isn’t that clothing and tattoo design a bit familiar? Oh yeah it sure is. Now I simply mention this to give more foundation to my theory, that they probably did try to use Nightfall to foreshadow the following concept of the upcoming possible expansion. After all, at the time they were pumping out expansions quite fast.

They didn’t need extreme foreshadowing all the time, it’s something similar to the Fortune Teller who met Shiro in Factions, who we later in Nightfall find out that she was just a servant of Abaddon (if I recall it was a servant only). They didn’t do extreme foreshadowing for any of the expansions, but they always did these subtle little hints. And I do indeed believe Razah was also one of these hints.

Why would foreshadowing of an Utopia-like expansion work from Eye of the North to GW2? It’s so simply, the Mists is not bound by time or a time-line, it doesn’t have to follow directly with some story-line, BUT it could be triggered by some Mist-related event.

This is how End of Dragons came into my mind. I shall explain this theory and wrap it up! I bet you are bored already, or didn’t even bother getting this far 😏.

So, where does End of Dragons play? Yes! Cantha! What super mega important event did Factions have in the past? Yes, the Jade Wind with Shiro’s defeat. Question is, did people forget where this took place exactly?

The Harvest Temple.

Or as some may know, the Kuan Jun Temple, this was used for the Harvest Festival and guess what, it was a spot to commune and reach the goddess, Dwayna, to pray for her blessings. Was the Harvest Temple another weak spot of the Mists? Very… very likely, in my own opinion I believe it was supposed to be one and is possibly why it is also a strangely built tower. What an interesting thing that a lot of points on Tyria where the Mists is rather reachable uses a tower-looking structure, similarly to Eye of the North, which is one I assume to be one as well, with the exception its usage got thwarted in the making and cancelling of Utopia.

Here comes End of Dragons and we have yet to see the Harvest Temple, while it was completely off the maps visually when we watched the Jade Sea stream by Arenanet. They completely ignored that sight through the whole stream. Either way, we know the Harvest Temple was still used regardless of the Jade Sea, with the exception of Factions time when we were busy with Shiro’s return and his shiroken and the afflicted around there.

Now why do I think this could be a good opportunity for a Mist-related expansion to follow EoD? Well for one, they did say that End of Dragons is NOT the last expansion and they clearly plan for more and longer term.

As second thought, interesting how the End of Dragons Trailer has a few interesting lines:

Aurene: “I know you, yet I don’t.”
Voice: “You will soon, little one.”
Joon: “Who are you talking to?”
Voice: “Just an echo in the Mists. A possibility.”

I always felt like these lines are quite important. To me it is quite strange that the Mists is mentioned, that the unknown voice might be talking through the Mists to Aurene, but perhaps it thinks we are from a different reality of the Mists, as we know that it can show the past, present and future as well and slight or huge alterations of our world as well.

I find it very, very interesting that the Mists is even brought up all of a sudden. Also, let’s not forget my theory of the Harvest Temple being a possible “gate” or a weak spot for the Mists, and then seeing this particular concept art, which is very highly likely to be the Harvest Temple:

How strange, the Jade Sea, and very possibly the Harvest Temple… with strange Jade energy swirling around it, all pointing to the sky… with a Dragon!

I have a few ideas for what could possibly come with EoD if my theories somewhat add up, although they very likely won’t, but theorizing is a lot of fun!

The Deep Sea Dragon could be not in our world, only a champion of it. Interesting we never seen a champion related to the Deep Sea Dragon 🤔. All the previously mentioned races who escaped the Unending Ocean could have just seen its Champion and people think THAT is the DSD.

Harvest Temple could be a gate to the Mists, a rather powerful one, which can lead the Deep Sea Dragon into our world from the Mists. How could it be so mysterious? Maybe because it is SWIMMING in the Mists as it being a huge… Unending infinite Ocean?

Why does Joon say “your children would be trapped in the past, if not for me.” ? The fact we do not know the unknown voice is the ONLY reason we do not know where the story goes actually. It feels like Joon talks to the voice first with that sentence, and then talks about the general people of Cantha, the sudden end of her sentence as she says, “A century of progress cannot end this way. I’m not— Cantha’s not just a spoke in some grand cosmic wheel.” is rather suspicious to me.

To me it gives an impression of struggle, it almost make me believe that she seen something or a vision of Cantha that simply became part of “something bigger” as she mentions the “grand cosmic wheel.” As if there is something bad coming, at least what she might have seen, and she tries to completely change Cantha in the way it doesn’t become a mandatory part of it to carry on what is supposed to happen or come. As if trying to break a prophecy.

I do have the idea that the voice is actually located in the Mists, and is basically trying to weave things in the way it is supposed to be, but what if the unknown voice is an alternate Joon from a different Cantha? 👀 Where things are either worse or are even better? What is the Voice is the actual real Joon, and the Joon we see swapped place with her? Weird how this Joon talks to the voice about perhaps the Canthan people as “your children”.

I cannot dismiss the fact that there could be a cool Mists related time-travel in the story again, much like the Asura Personal Story has it as well with your alternative evil future self. What if this Joon simply came to Cantha from a future Cantha to make it into the Cantha she lived in, knowing how its tech came to life and how it works, so “their worlds are carved from the jade that I gave purpose.” and then she “promised them a future.” But it also feels like she is trying to reach something, that I cannot grasp. The conversation between the two is really, really strange.

I do not know, but all this little foreshadowing we don’t understand fully yet, could also lead to a Mists themed expansion, not to mention we are very likely out of old GW maps and content Anet cannot remake, since we explored almost every old original areas from Guild Wars and its expansions. We can only get new now, either in Tyria or in the Mists, both is possible. The Harvest Temple could be such an amazing “accident” to happen to open some kind of gate into the Mists that we cannot really control, unlike the WvW Mists portals 😄

There is so, so much to see in the conversation that happens in the trailer, they all have so much different meaning, but either way, End of Dragons could be a very good way to set a path for a Utopia-like expansion, either after EoD or after another expansion. There is so much potential in such expansion.

No, I’m not going to give up on my Utopia dreams >:(

I could go on and babble more and more regarding the Trailer, buuut I already made a giant wall of text and I’m also wanting to sleep, so I shall stop here! If you made it this far, thank you!

If you have anything to add to it, feel free to comment below!