#gw2 qadim

[moth-tea-merchant]

(sound on) shout out to the best cut scene in guild wars 2. I did not cut off his scream, its just LIKE that

[dualumina]

Alright we're sick again so time for a very important poll

[icebrooding]

Anyway, some pics of this delightfully evil spicy man

[the-blazing-light]

A cat with a gun

[solvevi]

guild wars 2 wing 6 mythwright gambit lore

[dualumina]

Gonna add on the art/fic that inspired us to go down the Zommoros/Miyani writing rabbit hole (and also the inspiration for Zommoros calling Miyani "my dear") would be this reblog chain started by @maguuma-mistfits with their art and @fivebrights with their fic. If Zommiyani is just slightly too rarepairy for you then fivebrights has a few Zommoros/Qadim fics floating around their blog.

If you have any interest in Megamind, then @buginateacup has a deathly amount of fics on the subject. We particularly enjoyed Rings while recovering from a wrist strain (incidentally from playing too much GW2).

Other Writers Appreciation

Alright, here we go again! Now that I've shared my own writing, time to pick on some other people in the GW2 community!

We've got my friend @accidentallyadorable, also known as casualloveroflesbians, also known as the person who wrote a truly terrifying amount of Kasjory fic! As in literally they are half of the tag; I've highlighted my favorites here. She's written a whole bunch of other good stuff too (including very spicy stuff I've heard is quite effective but am too asexual to judge myself) with a variety of different canon characters, so I would honestly recommend just going through his backlog and picking whatever you like - it will last you a while. We've got my other friends @dualumina and their ongoing Zommoros/Miyani fics that I always look forward to (and they will also answer your comments with giant infodumps, which is always fun.) And my other other friend @commanderkenegalle (Deathicus_Sling) who wrote the best Trahearne and best Trammander I've ever read here - it will hurt you and it should. @fireskarr(Skarrfics) wrote an excellent Mai-Trin-lives Wintersday fic here. @draw-you-coward (WingsOfTime) has a writing style I adore and if you're into Canach and Trammander you'll probably love all their stuff, but here are my favorites.

People I only know on Ao3: if you want charr/human romance Mimiga has a series for you, which also has an awesome plot and a cool dervish character! The new ongoing entry is wonderful and their oneshot with Joon and Kuunavang discussing Soo-Won's demise has incredible characterization. Teratornis's slice-of-life Canthan oneshot is funny and features great descriptions. Endothyme has a fantastic classic messed up Mai Trin here. sparxwrites's tumblr seems to have vanished, but they wrote a terrifying Countess Anise here. And if you love OC stuff, Nibswrites and antelopunny have such a wide variety of characters that you'll probably find something even if you skim these two.

And if you just want ABSOLUTE CRACK: here, here, and here.

Again, feel free to reblog and spread this with your favorite writers attached, GW2 or not, whether you got tagged or not! Fanfic writers do not get enough appreciation for all the wonderful work they do.

[dualumina]

Found this really well-made video about GW's lore on djinn, which touches on the events of the last two raid wings for anyone who might not have had the chance to experience them yet

[diesvitae]

17. Mask No matter how many times you change your mask, you can't hide from who you are, as the truth lies within you. Late but not gone, have a bunch of Qadim.

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

#it was either we send you a 30 minute gameplay video or the wiki page for context. so...#but the main thing to know is that the previous ''actually you know what my managerie is missing?'' request#is the line of dialogue right before this one#(basically an evil fire djinn decides he wants to add a water djinn to his private zoo and uses magic to trap water djinn guy)#Qadim is the evil fire guy#Zommoros is the water guy#like that's the absolute bare minimum amount of context#any extra context will quickly lead to a lot more unanswered questions#okay the one other bit of context that doesn't require a ton of explanation: Yeah. Qadim is just That Weird for having a private zoo#like everyone agrees that it's not ''a thing that djinn do'' it's just Qadim being weird like that#gw2#guild wars 2#gw2 zommoros#mythwright gambit#qadim

christ ALMIGHTY

req'd by @dualumina

okay you gave me context and I cannot parse this at all

text: Wha- NO! QADIM!

[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)

[bloominsart]

GW2 Crackpot Theory Time

Instead of sleeping like a normal human, my brain likes to wander the dreary haze between waking and sleep for at least two hours, typically thinking of fictional characters and stories. Particularly as of late, it’s been Guild Wars 2 and Elona. And so last night djinn became the subject my brain would choose to chew on over and over and over. 

Qadim in particular popped up. He’s a cool dude, right? Super flamey and menacing and wanting to take over the world and stuff. But what stuck out to me was how he, as opposed to other djinn, didn’t have his face covered, right? Well. I mean, at first I was like GASP, YAS. But then I thought about it for a second. Aw, beans. Actually, it’s probably just a mask. But then my brain was like: 

HO LAWDY CRACKPOT THEORY TIME. I’m sorry in advance. What if. Djinn’s faces were actually like that? Pointy teeth and rigid jaws and everything. So I decided to see what that might look like. 

I decided to give it a shot. Lookat them chompers. Maybe Qadim’s face, even if it is a mask, is a reflection of what they truly are. I looked at how the faces kinda hollow on the sides, as well as what the bandages look like around their faces to kind of... see how it looked. 

So then I got to thinking, what if... These facial coverings were ALSO a part of the whole binding and enslavement ordeal that so many of them go through. I mean, who would want a spooky sharp toothed being like this floating around? Cover that up, that’s hideous!

That, and/or maybe they do this just to appear less threatening, hence attracting less negative attention and attacks from individuals thinking they are something automatically dangerous. Which might explain why Qadim might not follow the same standard. He is a proud djinn who does not look to make friends with the “lesser” races of Tyria.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. 

How this theory is probably way off the deep end, but it’s fun to think about nonetheless. Okay, so WHAT IF. Joko possibly also took some of that toothy inspiration for his newer soldiers? To appear more threatening to the enemy? But, unlike the GW1 Awakened, which *did* have their faces covered, these do not, because these Awakened are more considered to be “family” to the locals (Vabbians in partiuclar), so covering their faces would in fact dehumanize them and make it more difficult for the citizens to empathize with? 

Eh? Eeehhh??? Yeah, probably not, but it’s fun to think about.

Anyhow, I just wanted to share a slice of the crazy things my mind comes up with when I’m trying to get it to shut up so I can get some actual sleep. I hope it was a fun read, at least. What do *you* think’s under there? 

[maguuma-mistfits]

A little challenge for myself to get used to drawing again: turning Qadim into a water djinn. His most notable features are the lamp, the skeletal face and a lot of bling, so I tried my best to keep them recognizable while giving him a distinctly different feel, as I imagine if they weren’t by and large limited by the game (or perhaps a cultural cohesion) the different elemental djinn would have their own preference when it comes to fashion.

Hugs to @fivebrights for their help and encouragement. ❤

Try Guild Wars for free || Buy HoT or PoF || Buy me a coffee

[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.