#gw2 djinn

[dualumina]

Quick GW2 poll for funsies

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

Alright know what here's a little Guild Wars 2 reblog game for everybody; what mounts (if any) do your characters have in their canon, do they have names? Personalities? How'd they meet??

Spill it all below, tell me about all your creatures!!

[gglitchshit]

*sees a blog called do-you-know-this-queer-character*

heh

joko time.

[solvevi]

guild wars 2 wing 6 mythwright gambit lore

[dualumina]

Gonna add on some of our own djinn toons

Amalon (based on the Elonian words for "love" and "water")

The Mighty Zommoros (self-explanatory)

Akeem (at least an interpretation of what their appearance might be)

As I've come to realise the Djinn are probably one of my absolute favourites of the non-playable races, I wanted to try and make myself a djinn alt. I'll make another post abt him when I have his lore all sorted and not just a mess of the various ideas I have rn haha.

[commander-alsciaucat]

he may be the most annoying raid boss but he's got some serious swag

[kigurou]

I don't normally post here because I am shy af and shit but. I love my time with my friend when she actually plays GW2 and I help her through content.

This was one of my fav moments where I'm screaming at her for running into 4 ANGRY FIRE ELEMENT DJINNS FOR A DAMN CHEST. I did save her yes because I did main Weaver at the time BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT. I LOVE YOU KEL, BUT STOP COMMITTING THE UNALIVE FOR A CHEST. ;-;'''

[dualumina]

Today's science experiment: Do djinn glow in the dark?

First off; a regular (mini) water djinn!

Shockingly not really. (we're not rich enough to buy the other 3 normal djinn so that's all for these guys)

Next up, the Mythwright Gambit gang; Zommoros and Qadim!

Pleasantly surprised Zommoros' eyes glow. Qadim is made of fire so he's doing exactly what he should be doing.

And last but not least, our friends from the Key of Ahdashim... Key and Qadim (the Peerless)!

Key is out here dunking on everybody with 100% glowing armour. Never actually realized Qadim 2 Electric Boogaloo has that forehead orb thing going on.

Guess when ya gotta ponder orbs ya gotta ponder orbs.

[dualumina]

Zohaqan and Nakis are just one example of how frequent tragedy is interwoven with djinn in GW2 canon, and it's soul crushing.

Ellutherius Wintergust was a royal gift to a prince, and due to unstable magic in the area has started showing signs of confusion and memory loss. Despite this, when the prince was still alive, the prince treated the djinn like an advisor rather than a servant, and Ellutherius went and trained the prince in swordfighting, leading the prince to becoming famous for it. Yet the prince always cited Ellutherius as his teacher, and based on the way Ellutherius talks about the prince, the two were very good friends! But now the djinn resides, confused and alone, in a forgotten palace.

The Garden of Seborhin features several djinn that are still bound to work as servants in the area, and one of the options to progress the "Be the life of the party" heart is to locate discontent djinn and beat them up. You aren't given the option to try helping them at all during that heart event.

Also, side note, based on GW1's lore, djinn were enslaved by human wizards after humans arrived in Elona. It's never made clear if it was all djinn, most djinn, or a significant chunk of the population. However, if you look closely at common djinn models, their four arms have manacles on them. Whether that's simply how common djinn dressed before being magically bound or remnants of their bindings is hard to say. One djinn mentions having been a free djinn for at least a century, so at the very least the manacles aren't proof a djinn is bound necessarily. The Key of Ahdashim does NOT wear anything on her wrists interestingly, which might allude to wrist coverings not being the norm among djinn (Zommoros has gauntlets held via leather straps, and Qadim it's hard to tell if it's armour or parts of his body jutting out from his wrists.)

Zaya the Radiant and Vemyen had a long time friendly rivalry between the two of them, which was mostly harmless (given how djinn aren't particularly bothered if they're bottled it seems) that would involve the two routinely stealing from each other, only to later return the items when they'd meet up again. During one planned meeting, the fire djinn Vemyen never showed up. The water djinn Ziya gathers a few people, including the Commander, to help her look for Vemyen, and the group discovers that the fire djinn was sadly branded. However, it's revealed that Vemyen still retained his consciousness and the ability to speak, and is begging Ziya to flee. She refuses and Vemyen, unable to control himself fully, fights the group, ultimately the only option being to kill him (if the event fails, he leaves, and Ziya promises to find him again). The Commander offers Ziya the chance to join the fight against Kralkatorik, which she eagerly accepts. There's an achievement or two dedicated to learning more about Vemyen and Ziya's history, where it's revealed Vemyen was fascinated by humans, and liked collecting their coins and pressed flowers. Ziya dedicates herself to Vemyen's memory by helping the humans that so fascinated him.

Given Ziya and Vemyen's story are one of the most recent interactions involving the Commander and djinn, and the eventual Key of Ahdashim raid showing the Commander actively ended up helping all djinn when the flow of the city's power is shared among all djinn, here's to hoping that the Commander, and others, stopped seeing them as common enemies and servants and now see the value in helping them like all the other races in Tyria.

Also there is some chance that the boost in energy from Ahdashim helped calm Zohaqan down, and eased Ellutherius'memory loss.

The Tragic Love Story of Zohaqan & Nakis, or: a rant about the unnecessarily lonely tormented grief of the storm djinn and how to fix his broken heart

So yesterday I finished reading one of the best long fanfictions I've ever found. If you are interested, here is the link. But by the gods, it made me sad that ANet never continued the story of this canon inter-species homosexual couple.

Down below, I put my own ideas on how their story could end.

But to provide the context:

A powerful male djinn lived on mainland Elona, around the Elon Riverlands. He was not only attuned to one element, as most djinns are, but to three: water, air, and earth. His name was Zohaqan.

Some unknown time before the beginning of the events of Living World Season 4, he fell in love with a male human. His name was Nakis.

Something or, more probably, someone, made the Riverlands undesirable, maybe even dangerous for them. And so, from their dilemma, we have one letter, which Zohaqan left in a cave:

"My darling Nakis, my tender Nakis, my clever Nakis…you're right. Let's go. We'll flee tomorrow."

Eventually, they found their new home on the eastern coast of the northern Sandswept isle. There, they left their own marking. They burnt an image of themselves into a tree on the beach. With it, also their initials, Z + N, in a heart.

Their happy life wouldn't last long, though.

The nearby Inquest somehow managed to capture Nakis.

And eventually killed him, presumably during experiments in Rata Primus.

Poor Nakis's prayer beads would later be found inside the main complex. It is not known how Zohaqan learned of his death. Maybe he stormed the facility Nakis was being held in and found him dead there, most probably from experiments on the scarab plague. Or killed by a mutated specimen. Or turned into a corrupted subject himself. Or maybe, given how magical djinns are, Zohaqan just felt it.

But it is definite that it absolutely broke the powerful djinn. By the time the Commander made it to the islands, Zohaqan had turned mercilessly hateful towards all mortals. In his deep grief, he created large violent storms that threatened everyone on the islands. This is known in the game as the "Gathering Storms" meta event.

Blinded by rage and sorrow, he didn't let anyone near his cave which was very close to his and Nakis's tree.

During the meta event, he would scream:

"There shall be no mercy for your trespass!"

"Heartless fools! You will pay in blood!"

"You mortals feign civility, yet speak nothing but treachery and lies!"

The Stormcaller, as he was nicknamed, was confronted in his own cave at the end of the meta event.

One of the last things he said before he was defeated was:

"They stole from me, and now you barge in here with empty demands? You know nothing! You ARE nothing!"

Some Olmakhan say he was destroyed for good. Some say he is powerful enough to return and continue his grief-stricken rage. Depending on how you understand the canon or non-canon repeating of the meta event, anything could be true.

Either way, his story never had any real closure.

Zohaqan either died alone and was metaphorically spat on, with no memorial or grave for either him or Nakis.

Or, he is now stuck in a loop of living in tormenting grief, getting beaten to a pulp, laying dormant for a while, and then living in grief again. And that's such a horrible horrible fate.

The Commander helped Efi, an Olmakhan cub, with her grief of losing her mother.

I'm asking: Why nobody helped Zohaqan?

Much worse people than him have been redeemed and forgiven in this game's story...

Why not him? He deserves it just as much.

Now finally to the theories and my ideas on what to do next:

First things first, we don't know what exactly happened to Nakis. Or where his body is. However, the closest we have to a hint is what I mentioned about him getting turned into a corrupted subject himself. And I could be simply reading too much into this, but: in the southern meta event of the Sandswept Isles, you fight in The Specimen Chamber. Two out of six possible mutated bosses spawn, all of them results of experiments with Elder Dragon magic.

Five of them have names. The last one is simply "Subject Beta".

Subject Beta is a Branded. A male human Branded.

You already know what I am hinting at...

Moving on, there is one more object related to Zohaqan. Under certain circumstances, one of the drops from the event where you defeat him is called "Smashed Vase". Its description says "A small vase, reminiscent of work from Vabbi."

Could it be what Zohaqan was bound to after he and Nakis fled the mainland? If so, does it mean smashing the vase released Zohaqan's spirit all over the islands? Or was the vase smashed before the event?

Lastly, how to fix Zohaqan's broken spirit?

As I mentioned, he is a very powerful djinn. I have never encountered any djinn in the game who could command two elements, let alone three. An Olmakhan elder also thinks that he's powerful enough to come back and return to his mad rampage.

But I do not blame him in the slightest for mourning in such a violent way.

Zohaqan should be redeemed and mainly, given his peace.

Who knows how long the djinns live? How deep their love can go?

However, he sure is suffering alone.

And I wish he wasn't. I wish the writers looked at his story again and gave him a proper closure.

He deserves it.

I, personally, can see three ways this could potentially go in the future:

1: Zohaqan joins the Olmakhan and/or fights with us to destroy the Inquest for good

A friend of mine got me thinking about this, and honestly, it's perfect. Zohaqan is an elemental being. He's commanding entire storms. He shouldn't have to be necessarily human enough to better avoid conflict and soul-rotting revenge at all costs.

But instead of blind rage, he could have taken the years since the second episode of season 4 to calm down just a little and finally not be an enemy of the Olmakhan. I am sure they would be understanding enough to accept him. Instead of putting the innocent in danger, he could finally, after all those years, have a goal, an ambition now: take revenge on the ones who brutally murdered his love, not on simply everybody near.

Zohaqan is voiced by Tommie Earl Jenkins, who voiced Blish, Cloudseeker, or the Wolverine Spirit. That being said, quite recent characters. Shouldn't be that big of a stretch to have him return to this role, too, no?

Still. The Inquest are one of the few major enemy groups that haven't been dealt with yet. It'll surely need quite a big story arc to destroy them for good. The Commander will need all the help they can get.

Why not the Olmakhan, still mourning their lost ones, together with Zohaqan, the heartbroken yet mighty and powerful three-elemental djinn, with revenge on his mind?

After he finally sees the Inquest are no more, he could consider Nakis avenged. And could finally move on with his life as not a threat to everybody around him, though still forever scarred.

2: Zohaqan puts up a fight one last time and is finally and definitely put out of his misery

The saddest of the three ideas.

We did not get any definite answer to what happened to Zohaqan after the end of the meta event. So, even if the writers want him dead and never redeemed, why not make it final?

Just destroy him to the point where his soul simply ceases to be, as the djinns seem to work in the way I assume.

That's better than living in centuries of torment.

3: Zohaqan and Nakis find peace in the afterlife, somehow

I doubt the djinns have an afterlife when they die. They're basically sentient elementals, after all. And though they have souls, could they be ghosts? Have there ever been ghost djinns in either of the two games? I don't think so.

But humans do have an afterlife either in the Underworld or as ghosts in the mortal realm.

Couldn't Zohaqan somehow find a way to the Mists? Or couldn't Nakis's spirit-ghost somehow be bounded to his and Zohaqan's tree so he could be with him for centuries?

If Belinda could infuse herself into Marjory's katana, why can't Nakis stay bound to the tree and use its life essence to be able to communicate and move around, too?

Would that even be possible if, given the worst-case scenario, Nakis's spirit is still trapped in the Domain of the Lost?

____

And this is the end of my rambling essay. I'm very emotional about these two poor guys as they have been my perhaps favorite queer GW2 couple ever since I learned about them a year or two ago.

Their love was so unexpected, so rare. Yet they decided to live so far away from their homes just to be together.

Only to be torn apart by violent death.

And only to have almost zero backstory, no definite answer as to what happened to the bereaved, and no answer to whether the spirit of the dead one is already in peace in the Underworld, or not.

I hope these two will get a closure sometime.

[miragecounseling]

because i like polls

now pick your favorite from my favorite types of enemies in gw2. i think their designs are really cool, they have fun attacks, they have good combat dialog, etc.

(not every one of them is ALWAYS an enemy, but all of them have at least some sort of enemy you can fight in game. ie there are good choyas, but theres also choya u can murder)

[icebrooding]

Impulsive thoughts win again (aka I have no idea what the hell this is it just wouldn't leave my brain after seeing that his head literally empty)

[ritens]

gw2!Necca because sometimes a mesmer has to be green. Curiosity got the best of him annnd he got himself stuck in a djinn bottle and that's his life now.

[dualumina]

Her touch cool and refreshing like the water of a narrow stream on a hot summer day.

@dualumina this one’s for you.

[wall-legion]

And while I'm on here you know what, I'm undeleting the theory from the other day. Here goes of what I can remember, plus some new thoughts since I've had a few more days to let it percolate!

With the addition that I am now aware that "Isgarren appeared to Turai as such, it was in Turai's journal", I have one thing to say to that: how do we know what's real in regards to documentation left around in the game. The current maps we are playing in are obviously lousy with a magic we as the Commander/Wayfinder are completely unfamiliar with and cannot do a vibe check on. Beyond that, we have never met Turai (living anyways) as the Commander/Wayfinder so we have no reference for how he sounds. In short, I am chalking a lot of the documentation left around up to magic manipulation/unreliable narration until proven otherwise.

And to get back to the theory as it once stood: Isgarren claims that he is a Seer. If we go back to the Guild Wars 1 wiki, a Seer appears like the one in the image below.

The face is correct for Isgarren, but he is blue and not black and as someone on Discord pointed out, Isgarren is lacking "the weird Seer pizza feet".

Also of note at that link: there was a dead Seer at Zinn's lab back in Guild Wars 1. There certainly isn't one now in the fractal. 🤔

But now to the meat of the matter - if Isgarren is not a Seer, then what? I posit that is in fact a djinn, as seen below in a screenshot from (once again) the GW1 wiki.

Now to make my case...

1) djinn can shapeshift, while it is never indicated in the lore that Seers are able to. Yes the argument can be made that "his magic" but;

2) Isgarren seems to prefer a form of elemental magic in the fight against us, which is also indicative of djinn. He gives Garenhoff the elementals, as well. The magic in the boss fight against him is admittedly different but I circle back to my point of the realm having magic we don't know how to utilize;

5) djinn are also capable of choosing paths of good or evil, like most mortal races of Tyria; and finally,

3) djinn are native to Elona, where Turai's ascension failed;

4) djinn are historically enemies of demons, explaining Isgarren's beef with Eparch and his ilk;

6) Seers are written in the GW1 wiki as being genderless. I don't think GW2 would arbitrarily decide to start gendering a character from a race they wrote as being genderless almost twenty years ago.

I think Isgarren is a djinn, and I have my doubts now as to whether this is even the real Isgarren or someone playing at being him- or them. But I suppose time will tell.

[gglitchshit]

omg hi, I didn't know you before today but please give me as many of the numbers from the gw2 ask game for gliaster as you want. I am fascinated.

HIII finally after more than half a year. I am here. With all of the numbers. Thank you so much for the ask and the interest in my lil rat. 🥺❤

GW2 ASK MEME 3: Back and worse-er than ever (accepting still I guess. Just slow.)

Putting it under a readmore because. Long. (Also cw for some animal cruelty mentions, dark topics implication and the usual spoilers for LWS4E3 long live the lich~)

1.) Your character is now the leader of their species, whatever that looks like for them (Arcane Councilmember, Imperator, Royalty, etc). How do they govern and what sorts of changes would they make if any?

They would certainly reform education in some way. That's all I can think of rn... :')

2.) What class would your character just absolutely blow at?

(CW: Animal cruelty)

Ranger. They would use any and all animals they find/come across for some kind of fucked up experiment. None of them would stay alive.😞

3.) What person impacted them the most?

*Shows a picture of them surrounded by 500 Joko statues. Surprisingly.*

*Coughs* Anyway, yeah, the moment the asura first learned about Joko in a corner of a library, the impact was made. Gliaster cares about nothing but necromancy and seeing that there was this powerful lich out there was just the cataclysm of everything. Like a god. That man was so otherworldy for Gliaster in everything, even decades later they can't let go of him. Ever.

4.) Assuming they're a commander, how close were they really to Destiny's Edge? To Trahearne?

5.) What would they look like as the side character in someone else's story?

IDK I can only think of as a trope, like in general. Cuz yeah they're kind of a side character for Joko but it's Complicated.

Anyway, they would be the type of side character that's like always around in the background, kind of like as a running gag. Not even them personally always but like a picture of them. Just always there in the corner of your eyes... Always watching.....

6.) They're now a heart NPC/part of a string of quests. What does that involve?

Hhh I have way too many ideas for this. One that would be similar to the Vabbi heart at the Necropolis (Help the living and the dead at the Necropolis) with processing and honoring the dead but also one where they're in Tyria in disguise (they're a wanted criminal in there so gotta be careful lol) spreading Joko propaganda which would be just the opposite of a heart in Ebonhawke. 😭 (Help the people in Ebonhawke). I'm sooo original.

Something other I can think about is some generic asura stuff helping around the lab or with experiments, possibly again involving animal cruelty or even worse, but I already wrote a similar heart for Rikka. 😞

7.) Do they have any skills or abilities that their class wouldn't normally have/just go about their class differently in some kind of way?

Ohhh boy yes they do. 😈 So, they're a necromancer, but with some sub-abilities similar to other classes/specializations' abilities.

For example they CAN "manifest sand shade" like an in-game scourge, but it's actually sand manipulation. They can use sand to lift or carry objects, for example caskets or even themself. They like to make themself taller this way hehe.

They can also summon fire in/around their left hand due to a Djinn's blessing, but can only use it as a light source and can't attack with it.

But most importantly, and also the most powerful of them all, they can manipulate other living beings' blood in their veins, essentially controlling them like puppets. This costs great energy though, so they only use it as a last resort. Later however, when they themself become a lich, this limitation ends and this becomes their main way of practicing necromancy.

8.) How willing are they to bend/break the rules for their cause (be it selfless or otherwise)?

They will literally commit murder for it so yes, very willing.

9.) What's an AU for them you think could be fun to explore?

I do have two AU ideas... one of them fun, one of them just fucked up (and fun. for me.)

The fun: Inquest AU sort of, but so far it's only in the Mists because Inquest member Gliaster is my WvW toon, and haven't really explored it much. Only fashion-wise. Yet.

The fucked up: An AU where Joko somehow has remains. For Gliaster to keep to themself and do whatever with it. And probably prevent any future tragedies that exist in their main verse because of this... :') Exploring dark/taboo sides of my OCs like my life depends on it...

10.) Would/does knowing their backstory change how people (in general but also Tyria at large) view them?

Probably not, it's not like they have a tragic backstory and that's why they are "evil", why they like necromancy or are siding with Joko. Even when they become a lich and seek revenge against Aurene and the Commander, their past doesn't really redeem them.

11.) How accurate is their reputation/image compared to how they really are?

Quite accurate. They don't really show a fake image and are very honest. Their reputation is basically "murderous traitor" in Tyria and "weird little cruel guy who's also Joko's lover" in Elona, so yep.

12.) Have they "completed" the map? What does that look like in your canon?

In-game they do have full map completion of core Tyria and every other map as well because they're my main and I do every story with them, but in canon... A bit of here and there in core Tyria. They used to have a travelling era before they permanently moved to Elona. But they surely have the Crystal Desert and Elona "completed." But they don't explore every tiny bit of areas like how it is done sometimes in-game to get map completion.

13.) What is the worst/funniest/dumbest article that could be written about them in Tyria's trashiest gossip mag?

In Tyria...some big dumb lie of how they betrayed and murdered the Priory excavation team on their way to Elona. People would blow it out of proportion for sure.

Then in Elona.....people would probably distastefully curious and disgusted about their sexual life with Joko.

14.) Biggest misconception about them?

Not quite a misconception but their looks are quite misleading; they're small and have quite a high pitched voice. Probably nobody would assume from first sight that this little creature tortures and murders people on the regular. First, for science/knowledge, then in Joko's name, and later, their own satisfaction.

15.) What is their favorite and least favorite part of being the commander (or whatever role they play in your canon)?

While they enjoy the privilege of being close to Joko, they also love the luxuries that come with it. What they don't like...hmmm...Head empty no thoughts, so nothing comes to mind, but might edit later if I think of something. :^D

[manasurge]

GW2 30 Day Challenge

8. Favourite expansion?

Surprising to absolutely no one who knows me, it's Heart of Thorns!!! (HoT). As a Sylvari player this seems to be kind of a commonplace (bc of the extra Sylvari flavour that comes with it), but also I just really like the Mordrem and the HoT metas, and it's the beginning of the Aurene journey AND it was sort of "started" by Scarlet Briar (whomst I love and adore), so there's just lots of neat things! I also love the Mordy Meta fight bc it's cool to be able to see a lot of his details, even if his dialogue is a bit silly (tho it is unfortunate that Zhaitan didn't get the same treatment). I know the maps are a bit hard to navigate (TD especially), but after having a little bit of a routine doing metas and all that, I've gotten used to it lol. I wasn't crazy about PoF bc I just don't really care about Balthazar and even more Human lore (also I hate the Forged with a burning passion, and wild Djinn and JACARANDA are also my bane). EoD was still the nicest Human lore expansion imo. I think EoD and SoTo will be tied for second place for these reasons only: Soo-Won/Aurene/Elder Dragon content/pretty scenery and Peitha lol (also the QoL updates too). Story-wise I love HoT and it is my favourite, even despite all my grievances of all the things that weren't included or removed due to restricted time reasons and whatnot. I do feel that it's a really good idea for RP immersion reasons that there are a lot of things that are unique to different races like what they did with HoT, and I wish they did that more with the other expacs/LWs (except for humans now bc THEY HAVE ENOUGH!!! I am still salty for IBS not being Norn and Asura focussed. It should've been I was looking forward to that wtf!! makes no sense!!!! ljflsf). Below is just me being sad and salty about things not included in HoT that I'm forever mourning:

Although i"m going to be FOREVER salty about the vast amount of Sylvari lore that wasn't included/removed for time reasons and everything else (I'm still sad). Malyck never came to help us, Diarmid's portion was cut (leaving a confusing plot hole during the progression), NO NIGHTMARE COURT PORTION (I'm so salty about this!!!!!!!!! literally a super big thing that wasn't included, leaving another huge plothole with nothing extra with Duchess Chrysanthea, making it confusing to see her there. Literally they should've just replaced one of the other lanes as the Nightmare Court lane cuz HoT is kind of a big deal for Sylvari lore!!!), also another thing I am a bit salty about is like... there's no apologizing from ANYONE about the mistreatment and racist discriminatory treatments towards the Sylvari AFTER it all had been concluded??? like, instead we got the Sylvari still APOLOGIZING for it all, despite it being even harder for THEM, even if they themselves (as the individuals) didn't do anything, and like, I don't remember seeing any NPCs apologizing for acting that way towards them. Also outside of HoT, Sylvari have had little to no development or presence outside of this either. I know they're the youngest race with basically no history, but it's still sad. Human and Charr have lots of settlements and history everywhere, Asura get to at least have the presence of Asura tech everywhere as well as settlements like Rata Novus, but Norn don't really have much of anything ither, and I feel like they should. I think at this point in the expansion progress we're just sitting on the sidelines... again :/ Also there's like.. the absolute silence after the Pale Tree was badly injured. Like, we get little tidbits here and there WAY afterwards, but really no direct action taken to help her. Let us do something to help!! even if its' just Sylvari side!! Like, it feels like they just stopped using her as a character after this and it makes me so sad. All the other races have their active "Leaders" but we still don't. Just feels like we were thrown under the rug :( heck we don't even really get to TALK to her afterwards! I want mom to be okay!!!! Also like.. no more Nightmare court development or story afterwards either. We get little tidbits of a couple in Wizard land, but other than that it's just radio silence.

Sorry I went off on a bit of a tangent T_T