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    Guild Wars 2 Lost Lore: Ofela Soulcleave's Lost Lantern

    November 02, 2021

    Guild Wars 2 Lost Lore: Ofela Soulcleave's Lost Lantern

    Lost Lore: Ofela Soulcleave's Lost Lantern

    Posted: 02 Nov 2021 03:55 AM PDT

    I was doing some more lore research and found another really cool connection I don't think has been discussed before (that I could find), so here it goes.

    Just outside the Black Citadel in the Diessa Plateau, there's a small town called Nageling. It is in most ways a typical Charr settlement, except it has a very unique statue in its center. The statue is of an unnamed Charr and they hold a most peculiar object: a large red lantern. This lantern is the only part of the statue with color. Minus the lantern, it's your common variety metal Charr statue. However, it isn't the only version of this statue in the game.

    Charr players might recognize it from the Memorial Quadrant of the Black Citadel, and below the statue it notes that depicted there is the legendary blood legionnaire Ofela Soulcleave.

    Ofela Soulcleave was a member of Kalla Scorchrazor's warband, the warband that led the Charr rebellion against the Flame Legion to end their tyrannical rule and free the other legions and the Charr women, allowing them to participate as equals in Charr society. Additionally, since Kalla is the legend associated with the renegade elite specialization, Ofela Soulcleave can be "summoned" through the mists to channel some of her power. But we'll come back to this.

    Now this statue is an identical, yet larger, image of Ofela in almost every way, but in the Black Citadel she has no lantern. The hand she holds the latern with in Nageling is empty, leaving her only with her mainhand axe; and if you read the plaque in detail it says she usually dual-wields axes, but on occasion wades into battle with just one for no reason. Seems strange, right?

    If you look around further in the Black Citadel, you'll find more statues of her; still with no lantern. And even in the Blood Legion Keep in Grothmar Valley, her statue has no lantern. So why does her statue in Nageling have this out of place lantern?

    Well, next to the statue in Nageling is an NPC named Marri Strongshot, and she'll tell you some background information about the town. She calls it the "tarnished gem" of Diessa Plateau and elaborates that it was built by a group of elite soldiers to avoid the noise and bustle of the Black Citadel. However, the riches of the town drew the attention of a swarm of Skritt, and so the rich townsfolk fled back to the citadel. The workers, merchants, and soldiers of the town eventually defeated the Skritt there, but the wealthy townsfolk never returned. Thusly, the town was inherited by them, and she says the current occupants are those Charrs' descendants.

    From this information we can infer that the town is pretty old, and that this statue is likely old too; a relic of the Charr's past in the region. Okay, so why does it have a lantern? The answer: because it was the only statue the Charr leadership didn't think to take the lantern off of.

    At some point between the founding of this town and the present day, the Charr decided to alter Ofela's statues to remove the lantern. But why?

    The renegade elite skill is called Soulcleave's Summit, and when used it summons a remnant of Ofela Soulcleave to the field to channel a cast. When summoned, she appears to be holding her axe, as depicted in the statue, but she does not use it in her ability. Instead, she seems to be channeling from her off-hand, and in that hand is a bright light.

    This animation already exists in the game, and it happens when a Charr necro uses a focus. If you want proof, you can find it just Northwest of Nageling, above the halrunting plains. Some ash legion spies there use the animation, and it's abundantly clear that they are necros and that the animation is a match. If you need further proof, the actual ability is a life siphon that drains opponents' health and restores yours and your allies'. Very necro.

    Now we know that Ofela was a necromancer. So what? Well, Charr have a strong stigma against magic. Since they broke from the flame legion, magic (god-derived or otherwise) has frightened them and become taboo. In Grothmar Valley you can hear flame legion cubs tell you how scared the others in the fahrar are of their magic.

    My belief is, at some point, the leaders in the Black Citadel and in the Blood Legion homelands decided that it would be better for Ofela not to be remembered as a necromancer. For whatever reason, they thought it best to remove the lantern. They then lie on her plaque and say "she definitely hated the shaman a lot and couldn't be a necro because she dual-wields axes, even though she only has one here and a mysteriously empty hand that looks like it's holding something that isn't there, trust us" (I'm paraphrasing here).

    So the Charr erased that she was a necromancer from all their histories, altered all her known statues, and tossed onto her plaque some random anti-flame legion propaganda all because they're scared of magic and likely scared of whatever the truth was of Ofela's relationship with flame. They also, for whatever reason, didn't like this lantern being depicted, and I have a theory for that as well.

    Near the end of events in Guild Wars 1, we interact with the instigator of the Charr rebellion, Pyre Fierceshot. The grandsire of Kalla Scorchrazor, he too has a complicated past with the Flame legion, but that's beside the point. Through our various interactions with him and his warband, we find out that the Flame legion has been collecting human relics from all over Tyria and bringing them to Charr strongholds. One of those strongholds was the Cathedral of Flames.

    A dungeon in gw1, it was a flame legion area that was being held by ghosts attached to the items brought there. These ghosts were being led by a powerful necromancer ghost named Murakai, and she ends up being the final boss for the dungeon. Additionally, she returns in gw2 to be an event boss at the Doomlore Shrine in the Blood Legion homelands in Grothmar Valley.

    Hold on with me here, it gets interesting if you can get through the complexity of it.

    The events of gw1 "end" around 1080 AE. Ofela Soulcleave (according to her plaque) lived from 1090 AE until 1116 AE, when she died at the final battle of the rebellion. She was also blood legion, so she would have been in this area of the world supposedly. I'm positing that her lantern depicted in the statue in Nageling was in fact a human artifact collected by the Flame Legion that she stole during this time.

    Additionally, I don't think she was doing all the work, magically speaking. This lantern had to be special, because she couldn't have been that well trained in necromancy; at least not well enough to have rampaged through the Flame Legion as expertly as alleged by her plaque.

    Also, this lantern is very thematically tied to guild wars' depiction of human necros. Red and black with sharp points, it's very similar to the armor of gw1 necros and also the armors of pretty much all the strong female human necros in guild war 2 (Murakai, Bria, etc.) that wear similar gear.

    So it's a human necro's lantern, but who's? Why not THE human necro: Desmina.

    Most guild wars 2 players will know her from the Hall of Chains, but she has some really deep lore. The first follower of Grenth and the supposed first necromancer, she pledged herself to her god to seek revenge and the power to take it. Grenth obliged, and so she became his first follower around 48 BE (over 1000 years before the events of gw1). And her theme fits. Again, very necro, she's depicted in guild wars 2 in red and black, like most human female necros of great renown, and also just like the lantern.

    Assuming I'm not crazy (debatable/highly unlikely at this point, but whatever), let's put it all together now:

    Ofela Soulcleave, the revered Charr who helped aid Kalla Scorchrazor in defeating the Flame legion and freeing all Charr from the oppression of their magic and false gods, was secretly a necromancer, might have had a complicated relationship with the Flame Legion, and wielded a legendary stolen human artifact that likely belonged to some of the greatest human necromancers throughout the ages, starting with THE human necromancer who also is a direct agent of the human god of death; meaning that the Charr had to rely on the human gods and their magic to deliver their independence from the Flame Legion so they could center their entire culture around the fact that they have no gods and don't need magic to be strong.

    Removing the lantern and rewriting history is starting to seem more reasonable right about now.

    But maybe you're thinking I'm grasping at straws? For the Desmina connection I'll agree with you; it's just a theory. But maybe you're also thinking, the devs just got lazy and reused the Ofela statue with the lantern for no reason and it's not that important. Well, it is.

    With the revamping of the precursor system for legendaries, Arenanet added collections for all the old gen 1 weapons. One of those gen 1 legendaries with a new precursor collection was the Juggernaut, and it has what seems to be a quite ordinary scavenger hunt quest for you to do. But hidden within the collection is the task "Ponder Ofela Soulcleave", which ask you to ponder the statue of Ofela Soulcleave in the Black Citadel; and with it comes a delicious easter egg. The image for the trophy associated with this task is the legendary lantern depicted in Nageling!, not only proving that the statues are linked, but also showing that this is deep lore, very important to the game. It would be crazy to put this much effort into a simple collection trophy unless this was a keystone piece of lore that the writers very much cared about, which I am alleging here.

    And that's not the end of it. I COULDN'T FIND THE LANTERN. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough, but it is nowhere in gw2 as far as I'm aware. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know. If not, there's a legendary human relic floating around directly responsible for all of the Charr's modern history, that if exposed could annihilate all faith in the strength of the Charr forever.

    :)

    submitted by /u/mandala30
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    Commission of my necro main. Turned out pretty well.

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 08:57 PM PDT

    gw2efficiency 8 year anniversary

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 01:02 PM PDT

    gw2efficiency was first released on 1st November 2013, so today is our 8 year anniversary! We thought it would be fun to share some statistics of our journey.

    Thank you for your overwhelming support over the years.

    https://render.gw2efficiency.com/8-year-anniversary.png

    submitted by /u/queicherius
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    Wife's Guardian

    Posted: 02 Nov 2021 08:08 AM PDT

    PSA: Recipe for Superior Rune of Tormenting at the PSNA today

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 10:31 PM PDT

    FOX: [&BEgAAAA=]

    DERWENA: [&BBkAAAA=]

    Edit: I'm London based, so depending on your timezone you may have a different set of WPs. But the recipes are still on until reset :]

    submitted by /u/EmilyNancy
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    I noticed this when I was completing my map completions. Not a single horse in the whole game, just centaurs. :P

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 12:03 PM PDT

    Can we now have bigger Ranger pets?

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 10:05 PM PDT

    I remember, the reason why Ranger pets are small was because it was a technical issue for the devs. Now we have towering Mechs...

    Isn't it time? Especially with the Untamed, which has the problem to stand out from other Ranger specs visually.

    submitted by /u/Maarius81
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    Overwhelmed by the classes of GW2

    Posted: 02 Nov 2021 04:21 AM PDT

    So after NW is about to implode I decided to play an actual mmo which has already proven to be one of the best.

    My problem is I can absolutely not decide what to play. I watched the videos, I read the guides and articles but I can't figure out what would fit my playstyle.

    I hope some of you can give me an insight to specific classes/builds so I can figure out which one to start with.

    I usually play DD in every mmo. I really like fast classes with a lot mobility. Double wielding swords. I also enjoy tankier classes with 2handed weapons if they aren't to "easy" to play.

    If it helps: I played deathknight/warrior in Wow, Samurai in FFXIV, dragonknight/nightblade in ESO.

    I am definitely interested in classes that require commitment to understand how they work with a high skill ceiling.

    Endgame goals would be mainly pvp content.

    I hope I could provide enough information and I am really looking forward to your suggestions.

    Hope to see u ingame

    submitted by /u/-MIKZ-
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    Quaggans do NOT react well to Joko

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 07:00 PM PDT

    About legendary jewelry effects

    Posted: 02 Nov 2021 01:52 AM PDT

    Hello,

    There have been several posts about the "controversial" ball effects from legendary jewelry. Anet has given a really good insight about how it's working and why it's difficult to remove them. My sincere question is why don't the just make new legendary jewel and trade it with the one we already have?

    Let me explain.

    Let's take Aurora for example.

    Why Anet does not create a NEW legendary earring, with no effects, without recipe or any way to get it, with the same icon (a bit grayer) and name it "Slumbering Aurora" or something and then have an NPC to trade it for the actual "Aurora" and vice versa? I understand that it's probably a bit more complicated but It would be a solid solution.

    submitted by /u/Nelict
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    TMobile GW2 freebie not there?

    Posted: 02 Nov 2021 04:42 AM PDT

    Even during a war you gotta do business.

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 09:01 PM PDT

    EU Guild Wars 2 PLEASE DO THIS - A fast Guide to Map IP

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 10:40 AM PDT

    DirectX 11 beta going well... :)

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 12:30 PM PDT

    Shadow of the Mad King In A Nutshell

    Posted: 02 Nov 2021 03:53 AM PDT

    How did people first do Chalice of Tears or Searing Ascent JPs?

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 10:02 AM PDT

    Going through all the 'Return to' achievements and I just can't figure out how people ever did some of these jumping puzzles. Did they get a guide or something from Anet? For instance, Chalice isn't even easy to find the start...I'm assuming if you got in there and found the checkpoint, it would clue you in that there is a JP but then it just doesn't make logical sense from there on. Same with Searing ascent.

    For other JPs, if you went to Goemm's lab for instance, you'd see the steps leading somewhere. When I first found it, I kept going and going and it was fun! I died a lot of course but it felt like a puzzle. These in LW3 don't seem to have any logical flow to them - am I missing something? I do like the jps and tend to not look for guides or videos to get through them but for these two in particular, I had to youtube. I'm not sure how else I would have finished them.

    submitted by /u/Zifrian
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    I painted my friend's Revenant

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 06:00 PM PDT

    It's been 9 years, can we fix warrior's movement skills already?

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 01:52 PM PDT

    Do you ever replay personal story choices?

    Posted: 02 Nov 2021 04:18 AM PDT

    I currently have 3 humans, one of each "origin" so to say.

    I thought about creating a 4th one cause the armor looks best on them imo, but I'm indecisive how to spice things up a bit.

    Sure, given that your character is considered the ONE commander in the game, every sort of alt or toon and even other players don't really make sense, cause they all have the same role. But I can look beyond that.

    The thing is, now that I have 3 characters and basically did all the human personal quest, I just don't know whether creating a 4th one that had to replay some part of it (maybe in a different combination) would feel weird.

    I thought about creating a character of another race, for example Sylvari where I still have one option left (Bercilak), but figured I would always eventually run into that issue if I wanna have a 4th character of any race.

    So I was wondering, how do you guys do it? Do you even care about the story choices or is it just some loose frame that you take for creating your own head-cannon?

    submitted by /u/mindkingdom
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    When does GW2 become fun? (Not a Hate Post)

    Posted: 01 Nov 2021 11:02 AM PDT

    Hello,

    I am new to GW2 and currently have a level 15 Mesmer. I was wondering at what point the game gets more fun. I am not trying to hate on the game or anything. I've seen clips of these incredible boss battles with what looks like 100 players more or less. So I have a lot of hope for it to pick up at some point. It's just these early PVE areas are such a chore and it is starting to discourage me. I am trying to meet new players but since I don't have any DLC so I am limited on my chat features which takes that sense of community away as well.

    I don't want to give up on GW2 because I see the potential and most MMO's seem to have a very slow start to them as well.

    At what level does the game get more exciting?

    ​

    Update: Thank you for all the Heroic codes you guys sent! (or offered to send) I was not expecting that.

    submitted by /u/EternalSKY13
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