#sayeh al'rajihd

[moonlit-grove]

Ambassador Ailbhe with that Largos, Sayeh al'Rajihd for the relationships meme? :O

Assuming Sayeh is single, Ailbhe is always willing to try a relationship. Sayeh would probably not enjoy how often Ailbhe is at court or having to act prim and proper, but she might like seeing her in any of her many dresses. Even if they're not ROMANTIC, they could be pretty good friends if they ever interacted.

Once Sayeh can see past her being an Ambassador, oh man. Shadowed Scions, YES, she would love how strong Ailbhe is and how well she can fight.

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

Character Study: Trahearne

I've seen some posts saying Trahearne has a 'grey morality.' It got me thinking. I have never seen Trahearne as having a grey morality, but I thought about it.

Anyway, I have decided to share my spin on Trahearne's character and how I interpret it, which... I'm surprised I haven't done before. Anyway, on we go!

Disclaimer: this is my interpretation of Trahearne in the context of the idea that he has 'grey morality,' and provide evidence to prove he doesn't necessarily have grey morality. (I've seen people say "it's so uncommon for people to recognize it" as if it's solid canon lore, when that is by no means true. It's a headcanon.)

Whether or not you agree with me, I included a bunch of Trahearne's dialogue, and that stuff is pure gold, so read on!

1) Trahearne's Wyld Hunt: forced on him, or something he cared about?

No sane, rational person would stay in Orr if they really didn't want to. Caithe had the Wyld Hunt to slay Zhaitan, and yet she's almost never in Orr. She went once and saw Zhaitan, and that's... it.

Trahearne may have had an unbelievable devotion to following his Wyld Hunt no matter what, but after a certain number of years alone, in constant danger, with corruption all around, with the unending reminder of the death and pain and misery that is Orr and Risen, and facing all that alone? By yourself? Eventually you just quit. And that 'eventually' is not 'after two decades.' At best it's one decade. Ten years is a ridiculously long time, even moreso for sylvari. And Trahearne, being so young? It would require an incredible amount of discipline to keep going.

We do see this discipline as he holds out against Mordremoth far longer than anyone would have ever expected him to, so there's that, but I see no reason to believe Trahearne would have done the same in Orr without cause.

I do believe that, at first, Trahearne went to Orr because of his Wyld Hunt, because he 'had to,' or even just because it was expected of him. But at some point he did genuinely come to care for Orr, and he really felt the pain of its corruption, and he really did long to see it freed. I don't know how long it took for that to happen, but you cannot study a thing for very long without coming to care for it. So he kept going, trying to find a way to fight the corruption, because he was personally invested in it.

You can see this by the way he addresses the Pact.

In Temple of the Forgotten God, he is giving a speech to Pact soldiers. See what he emphasizes:

Trahearne: For too long, Tyria has suffered. We gather now with newfound purpose. Zhaitan's servants storm our homelands. It is time to bring the battle back to Orr.

In The Source of Orr, about to complete his Wyld Hunt, he has this to say to the soldiers defending him:

Trahearne: Together, we'll ignite a fire to burn away the corruption - and set Orr free!

Trahearne: As you say, King Reza. It's time to wash away the corruption that dishonors this land. Rest in peace; we won't fail you.

This could be read as him saying what he knows people want to hear; but he talks this way constantly. You can't fake it for that long - not after having spent a lifetime without many social experiences. His kind of inspiration and motivation can only come from within.

2) He CHOSE to lead the Pact... twice.

In Retribution, when the Pact is first formed and we return to Claw Island, of course:

Trahearne: I... I never wanted to be a soldier. I'm only a seeker of truth. But... yes. I will lead this pact to the gates of Arah, and together, we will see Zhaitan destroyed. First, to Claw Island. Let us send our defiant message straight into the heart of Orr: Tyria stands as one!

This mission has some altered dialogue. The current version reads as follows:

Trahearne: All my life, I've watched Orr. Studied it. Researched the abominations that Zhaitan spawns. I have avoided the challenge of my Wyld Hunt. I hid, always claiming I was not yet ready. I did not think Orr could be cleansed. I feared failure. But you're right. It is time to act. We'll either cleanse the land... or return to it.

The old version changes the order of his sentences a bit, but also had these extra lines:

Trahearne: But you're right, my friend. I must lay down the pen and take up the sword. In the end, it's better to fight and lose than never to fight at all.

One question: why now? Why is now the time to act? This isn't explained in the current dialogue, which is supposed to be 'clearer,' but in the old version he says "it's better to fight and lose than enver to fight at all."

Stuff that happens on the continent doesn't necessarily affect Orr, so a grey-morality Trahearne wouldn't necessarily care. But I think he does, and that is why he has chosen to act.

That is the first time he chose to lead the Pact. The second time is after cleansing Orr, and before defeating Zhaitan.

Trahearne: It has been a part of me since I took my first steps, but now my Wyld Hunt is complete. It's time I redefine myself. A rare and unique challenge... but I have the Pact to keep me busy.

Note: at this point, the Pact is just keeping him busy. This is not yet his decision.

When you find him standing by himself on that one airship by Fort Trinity, this conversation occurs:

Commander: Cleansing Orr seemed "impossible," but we did it. With allies like ours, ridding the world of Zhaitan will be tough, but not impossible. Trahearne: Well said. And you can rely on those allies to stand by you to the very end. My Wyld Hunt may be over, but the coalition that we've built will fight on. I hereby pledge the entire Pact and its resources to your task. By the Mother Tree and all who have made the ultimate sacrifice, Zhaitan will fall.

I used to wonder: why is he pledging the Pact now? Hasn't killing Zhaitan been our mission from the start?

But what he's really doing is pledging himself. To your task. "You can rely on those allies [read: himself] to stand by you to the very end."

From there on out, he is not the Marshal of the Pact because he felt he had to, because it had been in the Dream, because it was needed, because everyone he knew was pressuring him, but rather he chose it, for himself, because it was the right thing to do... and because of you, his Commander.

3) His absence in Season 1 and extremely low-key presence in S2.

I've seen people argue that this means he just didn't care. But Anet tried to make S1 spoiler-free and playable no matter where in the story you were. So he couldn't show up as Pact Marshal, but if he also couldn't show up as not Pact Marshal, in case the player did get that far. Different developers at Anet have expressed different understandings or opinions about what timeperiod S1 was set in, while it was in development, and it was only retroactively stated that S1 comes after the PS.

Trahearne's absence in S1 is completely not related to him. There is an explanation shoved in at the very end: Scarlet Briar was not an Elder Dragon and it was not the Pact's place to get involved with her. The Pact was trying not to appear to be Tyria's police, essentially. Now, the Vigil and the Durmand Priory and maybe even the Order of Whispers were all involved on their own, but they were representing their own orders and not the Pact.

I think it's Laranthir who tells you "the people were here." Maybe they weren't officially representing the Pact, but the people who are the Pact were here regardless.

Either way, I regularly make headcanons concerning what ways he was involved in S1, because the only reason he wasn't is because Anet was being weird.

As for S2 - by that point, the hate for Trahearne had set in, and if it caused his death it certainly could cause screentime reduction. Honestly I don't get the S2 argument, because he was around. He was busy with the Pact in Camp Resolve.

An argument could be made that Trahearne seemed to really not care about Glint's egg, contrasted to other NPCs who are all up in arms over Caithe, not to mention Caithe herself.

But Trahearne could easily have ordered the Commander to come with the Pact Fleet. The Commander's support is the only reason he was able to complete his Wyld Hunt and then kill Zhaitan; he knows that. And yet he flew into the jungle to fight an Elder Dragon (and this is only ED #2, guys, Zhaitan could have been pure luck for all we knew) - he went to fight an Elder Dragon without the Commander, because of how important the egg was.

Trahearne expresses himself with less excitement and strong words and more with consistency, dependability, and action. In this case, his action was to let the Commander go, even though we know he desperately wanted the Commander with him. And rather than delay the Pact Fleet further, waiting for the Commander to join (which I think he'd done already, as much as he could), he did the responsible thing and left, trusting the Commander would catch up eventually.

4) His friendship with Sayeh al'Rajihd.

Sayeh: The Marshal is also a solitary creature. He avoids the attention of others, but not mine.

When Trahearne was in Orr by himself, Sayeh was the only person around. He did have friends; Forgal, Sieran, Tybalt, the Master of Whispers, various random people we later recruit to the Pact. But Sayeh was the only one who would've been in and around Orr. His only companion for months on end.

If anything, this is a testament to how lonely and ostracized he was from sylvari society; he actually has very few sylvari friends. Caithe, Sieran, maybe Occam, the smith. Otherwise, he has found his friends among the other races.

But just because he's friends with a largos assassin doesn't mean Trahearne himself has grey morality. At best, he doesn't care what you do. But he certainly cares what he himself does.

5) We NEVER see Trahearne talking bad about anyone. Ever.

Not the people who mock his Wyld Hunt, not the people who completely misunderstand him and think he's some kind of hero, not the people like Canach who dislike the Firstborn just for being the Firstborn.

A good way to tell what kind of person someone is is to see how they treat people they don't like. Insults, curses? Stiff formality? Lack of respect? Disregard for them as people? Fake sweetness? Talking about them behind their back? Even just venting dislike or resentfulness to a friend?

Trahearne doesn't do any of that. He just avoids them. Constantly. He doesn't even talk about them, and we all know Trahearne would talk to us about anything. We don't even know how he handles people he doesn't like because he surrounds himself only with those he does like.

Or, actually, he has this dialogue in Further Into Orr:

Trahearne: In life, Alhazred was said to be a cruel, vicious man. Death will not have improved him.

And another in Romke's Final Voyage.

Trahearne: You there! If you want to survive, help us defend this beachhead. Sharn the Vindictive: Nice try, Mr Fancy Pants, but we only fight for gold. Run for it, boys! Trahearne: Run, you filthy cowards!

And yet, if anything, this does communicate that Trahearne has a sense of right and wrong. Someone with 'grey morality' would understand acting in only your own best self-interest. Instead, Trahearne calls them cowards, and this is quite clearly a bad thing to be, in his eyes.

6) He has a sense of responsibility.

After the Greatest Fear arc, Trahearne has some comforting words for the Commander. For the 'making another suffer' Apatia storyline, he has this to say:

Trahearne: May I have a word, Commander? I know you think you failed Apatia, but I've experienced that kind of failure, and this isn't it. Every decision I make as Marshal of the Pact means people die. That's the burden I've been called to carry. [...] Apatia gave her life to defeat Zhaitan. The best way to honor her is to see that task completed.

(Note: By 'that kind of failure,' I think he was talking about Riannoc.)

He also has this line in Further Into Orr:

Trahearne: Undead quaggan! Zhaitan will use anything that falls prey to his servants.

And then, in the Ossuary of the Unquiet Dead, these lines:

Trahearne: By the Pale Tree, they're stitching that beast together from body parts!

Trahearne: Those urns scattered around the room are steeped in Zhaitan's magic! [...] Smash them. Smash them all! Risen Prince Ellasal: Who dares? This is a sacred place. First to Lyssa, now to Zhaitan. Begone, or you will defile it! Trahearne: You already defiled it when you betrayed Lyssa and desecrated the remains of her followers. (after the fight) Trahearne: Zhaitan's depravity continues to destroy everything it touches. At least now this place is safe. Well done, everyone.

These lines clearly convey that Trahearne has a sense of right and wrong. Notice the emotion in "Smash them. Smash them all!" - it's not enough to tell the Commander once. He adds 'all' and an exclamation mark. He's clearly passionate about this.

Here's a big one: in Against the Corruption, the failed attempt to cleanse Orr:

Trahearne: No! We were so close! By the Pale Tree... it's impossible. All this, all these lives, wasted. All for nothing. [...] Trahearne: You're right, Commander. The Pact stands between Tyria and destruction. We cannot give up. For a moment, I lost my faith.

He's clearly devastated. And part of it is the lives lost.

And now, for the big one that proves that even for those he might not care about so much, who maybe don't care about him at all, but are his people that he is responsible for.

In The Second Vision, while healing Caladbolg:

Commander: Mordremoth was defeated, by my hand and yours. You... sacrificed yourself to save us all. Trahearne: Thank the Pale Tree. I felt such a terrible fear, to see my kin in the thrall of that monster. [...] Commander: You're taking the news of your death well. Trahearne: It's certainly disquieting. If it was the price to defeat Mordremoth, however, I pay it gladly.

Note: he doesn't say Pact soldiers "in the thrall of that monster." He doesn't say those who followed me into Maguuma or those who trusted me. He says "my kin." He means all sylvari.

Even those who mocked his Wyld Hunt once upon a time, even those who didn't like him, even those who were never his friends. Seeing them under Mordremoth's control was awful enough that he didn't mind dying. If this is his mindset now, in the dreamscape, when he cannot remember how he died, it was certainly part of his mindset when he asked you to kill him.

"The ultimate sacrifice" is what he calls death. And he made it - not for you, not for the Pact, but for his kin.

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

You have slain my heart, sir, and now my brain rises up in its defense to list Trahearne's friends:

Forgal/Sieran/Tybalt

Sayeh al'Rajihd

Caithe

He absolutely has friends! My heart's life depends on it!

pickles

[set early Pact days]

It is late morning, and the Pact has just finished wrapping up their weekly general meeting. Trahearne is wondering if it is socially acceptable to shoo everyone out of his office so he can grab something to eat—he’d missed breakfast—or if that isn’t the kind of professional behaviour that is expected of a marshal. This job is difficult—he doesn’t have any precedent.

Keep reading

[shadowstrikes]

Something I noticed while replaying the personal story for the idkhowmanyeth time.

If you do the storyline with Apatia and meet Sayeh al'Rajihd for the first time, then are re-introduced to her by Trahearne, the player character greets her saying “May your steps be relentless.”

I said to my partner, that it would be kind of interesting if the Commander’s comment there is actually a bit of a cultural faux pas for largos, that you don’t say “May your steps be relentless” as a greeting, but only as parting words.

It seems strange to me, that after having only encountered one largos that the player character so quickly uses turns of phrases that they’ve heard used and are using it incorrectly, but not in a way that causes offence, so much as it just sounds alien to the ear.

idk, random thoughts and we don’t talk about largos that much that they’re cool.

[drunkcleric]

A quick doodle because I couldn’t help but laugh at the dialogue between Sayeh al’Rajihd and the commander

Trahearne she so much as glances at a cabbage I’m running

[falamh]

[rytlock-brimstone]

Sayeh al'Rajihd

[moonlit-grove]

General 43.

oooohhhh >:3c

Almost none of them knew why she was there. No one knew, no one needed to know. But Trahearne sent her to work with another Largos. A different House, but surely she would have heard of what she’d done. Trahearne could feel the tension between them, even not sylvari, he could sense it. He could slice through it with Caladbolg.

Sayeh glared at Zhaleh. Zhaleh tried to ignore the glare. The marshal wanted to speak up, wanted to ask if they knew each other. Sayeh spoke before he could.

“Is the weight of your sins too heavy?”

What? Trahearne looked to his Commander, confusion clear upon his features. She visibly flared, shimmer of ice on her wings the only tell that they twitched angrily.

“I carried out my duty to protect the House.”

Sayeh scoffed, wings twitching once. She looked to Trahearne, “I will honor my debt to you. But,” she glared once more at the Commander, “I will not play nice with an exile.”

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

I'm picturing Trahearne's non-existent funeral right now.

Just think of all the people who would've been there: and I'm not even talking about the Pact.

Canach would be there, extremely uncomfortable about this whole thing but here to pay his respects anyway.

Izu Steelshrike, Trahearne's tengu smith friend.

Riel Darkwater, who owes her rank to Trahearne's aid.

Ridhais, his bodyguard, crying.

Rytlock, who can't help but respect Trahearne's sacrifice even if Rytlock didn't know him.

Caithe, of course, his sister, letting her emotions out for the first time.

Sayeh, representative of her race, lurking in the shadows but there, even though she paid her oath, because they were friends.

So many people that Trahearne affected during his life. He should've had a funeral, or a memorial, or something, anything other than plain nothing.

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

Brainstorm on getting to Cantha

Okay so hear me out. Show of hands who wants to know how Trahearne met Sayeh and why she owes him? All of you? Great.

Show of hands, who thinks Anet will ever tell us? -pin drops- Thought so.

But. This dialogue from The Source of Orr if you played the Apatia storyline:

Sayeh a''Rajihd: Silent swimming and dark blades. I am unused to such a large gathering. Are you sure we need them all?

Commander: Twice you've given me aid. Once with Apatia, then at Abaddon's temple. I am in your debt.

Sayeh al'Rajihd: You offer debt? I will take it. By the Concordat, we will be twinned until our balance is made even once more.

Oops. Commander trying to express gratitude never went so wrong as the time they accidentally got themself indebted to a morally-grey assassin-killer largos-hunter fish lady.

But anyway: this is my current favored theory for how we're getting from the Icebrood Saga to Cantha. Largos live in the sea, there's every possibility they go to Cantha all the time.

So Sayeh is going to show up and demand our oath to come to Cantha and beat the dragons there.

Even if it's just a plot device to get us there. Hopefully we get some info. I mean, then we'll get haters hating Sayeh because this is literally ancient dialogue from eight or nine years ago. But everyone who actually appreciates the story will cheer and Anet will get a morale boost and hopefully we get post-EoD content sooner. (Or at least with more PS references.)

But also. There's so many ways we are just. Like. At the mercy of this morally grey assassin-killer. I imagine it would be easier to just go along with her than fight her. (Especially since she could just do her vanishing trick and then assassinate us.)

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

OH

But you know I CAN'T do that.

Know why?

Because Anet didn't tell us. I don't know Forgal well enough to write that. I don't know his history and I don't know why he's stern and gruff and I don't know what his opinions on the other Orders are and I don't know what he does when he's stressed out! I don't know what he does when he's emotionally vulnerable! I don't know what he does when he's physically vulnerable! I can default to 'he attacks it' but that's not always the answer and he would know that! Or would he? We don't actually KNOW! We need to know these things!!

But we don't know this stuff.

True story: I have a long-term fic in progress set in the PS. Forgal is a major character.

Last night I looked at my writing and said, "he sounds like BRAHAM." his speech patterns, his emotional vulnerability - I had him trying to apologize to an ally he had wronged and Anet I do NOT know how to do that!! What does he do when he feels shame? Does he hide from it (unlikely) or confront it (very Forgal-ish) or does he have some awkward probe the person until THEY initiate conversation that would be a sort of - like -

This is what I mean when I say we don't know him. We know Sieran loves cherries and we know Tybalt loves apples, but what about Forgal? What are his likes and dislikes?

How does he respond to compliments? What is his reaction if someone genuinely insults him? Insults his dead family? Threatens him? Pushes his buttons? Flirts with him?? Makes disparaging comments about his partner? How does he escalate a conflict, disengage, or report to a higher authority?

We do not even know his opinions about the other Orders. We can guess he's okay with the Priory (he's friends with Trahearne, after all), but would he think an alliance with them would be profitable? And what about the Order of Whispers?

What was his life like between the fall of Port Stalwart and the founding of the Vigil? When did he meet his wife? What were his kids' names? How old were they when they died? Is there any specific powerful Icebrood that killed them, and did Forgal get his revenge? Was his family corrupted and did Forgal kill them, or not? (If not, this is something we should know so we can put them to rest for him!) Why is he a friend of Almorra's? Did he hear about the Vigil and come join, or did she know him beforehand? Or was he one of those whose existence prompted her to form the Vigil?

Does he have a special reason for being in the Vigil that would invalidate my AU idea about him being a Lionguard instead?

Does he have any personal nemesis? Does he have any friends other than Almorra and Trahearne? If not, why? What is his relationship with Laranthir and Efut? How did Trahearne get his respect? How did they meet? What would Forgal's opinion of Sayeh be? What was Forgal's reaction to first hearing about/seeing a sylvari? Is it still weird for him to see them since they've been around such a small percentage of his life (and old people are famous for being resistant to change)?

He was old enough to have seen original Lion's Arch. What does he think of this?

Did anyone he know die at Port Stalwart - or Port Noble - or original Lion's Arch - was he present during some of the battles in the novel Sea of Sorrows? Could he have known Cobiah Marriner (or his crew) personally? What does he know about Risen and Dead Ships that was lost with him? Or that Trahearne got out of him... and then died himself?

We cannot carry on the legacy of Forgal Kernsson without knowing these things.

Sieran and Tybalt were presented as simple characters - full of emotion and intensity, but simple. That is good - they are good as simple characters. That is why they are so loved.

But Forgal's design is that of an extremely complex character. And it was done so extremely poorly. This is why I can see people crying over Sieran and Tybalt but referring to Forgal as "that norn guy." Because Anet did his story wrong and awful.

The worst part is I can't even fix it in a fic because I don't even know him well enough to do that. I'm good at making stuff up and filling in the blanks, but there is literally not enough information for that.

Storyline Study: Order Mentor

When you joined your Order at level thirty and met your mentor at level forty, each of the three was instantly revealed to be a different person altogether from the other two.

Tybalt Leftpaw, Lightbringer of the Order of Whispers, was on his first-ever field mission. He was very blatantly calling for you in a sort of undercover way, and simultaneously panicking when you tried to mention the full name of the Order. Your supposed mentor was as new to this as you, had a (sometimes very human-teenager) sense of humor, and had a rather sad backstory balanced by his good nature. You knew he liked apples.

Sieran, Magister of the Durmand Priory, was full of reckless abandon, disregard for authority, boundless curiosity and a heart for the little things. She was confident in her role and her ability, and unhesitatingly took you into dangerous places for the sake of exploration and adventure while brushing off rebuke like a tree sheds sap - even when it was heartily deserved. You learned to be rather frightened for her.

Forgal Kernsson, Warmaster of the Vigil, was an archetypal gruff, stern old mentor whose every drop of praise spoke volumes. But he also carried a sort of wildness to him, that rough edge from growing up a hunter in the Shiverpeaks, coupled with every willingness to say it like it was if it was true. He could be surprised, he could observe calmly when something was new, he could snark like the rest of them and even say things he didn't mean from time to time.

They all fought the dragons - they each more or less took it seriously. But Tybalt was a partner and friend, you were keeping Sieran in check, not the other way around, and Forgal trained you mercilessly.

You all grew together - they had each changed for the better by the time they died. Tybalt had learned that he was worth something, Sieran had learned friendship was worth everything, and Forgal had learned... well. He'd found a student to be proud of, a partner to fight with, a friend to trust... a child to carry on his legacy. But I'm not sure, exactly, what Forgal learned - what the point of his story was.

Sieran was more-or-less well suited to her role in the story; she symbolized innocence and cheer and optimism and the beauty of the world - so you could recognize what was being lost by the dragon's onslaught. Tybalt's story was one extremely well-suited to his character; he taught you that working together was vital to survival, even when neither of you knew exactly what you were doing - a valuable lesson as the story progressed. Both of their stories fit well enough into the three-mission story sequence concluding in their death.

But Forgal was different. He was the mentor who dies partway through. He was the one who trained you and taught you all he could, who died imparting one last gem of wisdom. Or, he should have.

I am not attacking Forgal. I am attacking ArenaNet. We had too little time with Forgal for the story Anet was trying to tell with him. He was like Obi-Wan but without showing up again as a ghost, without the prequels, without being able to send Luke to Yoda - without, most significantly, being able to explain why he'd said Luke's father was dead.

We don't know Forgal. We don't understand him. We only know his family died to Icebrood... but why is he with the Vigil, specifically? Why is he a good friend of Almorra's - allowed to butt in and insult a diplomatic ambassador with barely a reprimand? Forgal is the character that tells me the Vigil has been around decades, not a mere five years. Was he in another military? Forgal was over a hundred years old. You don't join a military at that age and, five years later, are a highly self-disciplined warrior such as he was. Maybe he was Lionguard? Hear this: Forgal is actually older than Lion's Arch. If he'd survived, he would have been old enough to bear witness to all three incarnations of that city. But, apart from being able to recognize the Orrian Scout on sight, this is only a trivial piece of lore.

After he judged us worthy, we should have had long training sessions with him - sparring matches wherein he would easily fend off our blows while simultaneously teaching us about the world, all the wisdom he'd gathered, expounding just a bit on the history of the Elder Dragons (perhaps customized for player's race!) - and then we go off and have a real Vigil mission. Perhaps remove the racial sympathy 'choice' and have all five! A sparring match before each one, with a different lesson (the racial sympathy missions were awfully short anyway). And if you want to keep the idea implied by the term 'racial sympathy,' you could change the tone of some of them, make the player more reluctant and Forgal more impatient, have a middle-of-mission lecture on why it's important to work with everyone - this way you joining an Order feels less 'oh you've always been sympathetic to other races' and more 'wait who are these people.' But you know the real kicker? These training sessions would have made us actually feel like we were a treasured part of his life, the kid he never had, that he takes the effort to train us and takes the time to correct us when we're wrong, that he shares his history with us.

And then, at Claw Island, he would place a hand on our shoulder and tell us - hey - don't worry. You did good. You tell my tale and you take my lessons and put them to good use, you hear me? Listen to Trahearne over there - I've told you a bit about him - he's a good kid, he's smart and he knows what he's doing. And - partner? Partner, I need you to put me down if that blasted dragon raises me.

And we're in tears and Trahearne standing there also puts up a fight and tells him not to go, but Forgal goes anyway, roaring his defiance at the dragon - and his famous line, "you may win the battle, dragon, but you will never defeat our spirit!" And maybe he adds - "you may defeat me, but I will be avenged!" like some cartoon villain only you know - you know that means you.

That is the storyline Forgal deserved. (I selfishly also fixed it just a bit with regards to Trahearne, but...) I don't care if we add an extra ten or twenty levels to the game to account for the four extra racial sympathy story chapters.

And see, now you'll argue that that's biased in favor of Forgal, to do all that with him but not the other two - and that's part of the idea.

Forgal isn't like the other two. He shouldn't be compared to the other two. The storyline we have is good for the other two. Extending their stories would feel... false. Yes, there are supposed to be parallels between the three Orders, but... in that case, ArenaNet should have done something entirely different with Forgal.

How about this: Almorra assigns us to someone else for a mentor, but we show such epic promise she switches us to Laranthir. His storyline? It's right in his idle dialogue at the Vigil Keep - he's always sought love. This puts his storyline on par with Sieran and Tybalt. What about Forgal? He's a Lionguard that all three Order mentors know well. We do racial sympathy with Forgal plus our Order mentor (doing those with only one ally is kind of absurd anyway). This can help set-up and foreshadow the tactical significance of Claw Island, too - and hey, maybe Forgal can even survive that! Or maybe he doesn't survive it but our Order mentor does! (Yeah, that fits better, since Laranthir is important in HoT.) And then, once the Pact is formed, their stories end more naturally without regard for the Order parallels, which would keep the story unique - where your choice of Order still matters even when it doesn't anymore. Tybalt didn't have to die - in fact, it's kind of absurd that he did since his story was about finding his own heroism, and then he dies. He can die later, perhaps, after he's thoroughly proved himself. (And hey, throw in an encounter with his old warband! Bonus lore points!) And Sieran 0 maybe Sieran could go through a heartbreaking transformation in Orr, the land of the dead - you see something far more heartbreaking than her death as she loses her spirit, and you and Trahearne both resolve that even if you're super-busy with the Pact, you can still cleanse Orr together to save Sieran. (This makes cleansing Orr a personal thing for you as well as Trahearne!) And Laranthir - well, I don't know what he was doing originally. Maybe he stayed back at the Vigil Keep to manage things, but you still see him now and then and he gives good advice and (since his storyline was about falling in love or something) you get to tease him about whatever's going on in his life, and then later he shows up again in HoT.

I'm going to stop - I already just presented a rough outline of a whole rewrite of core PS, I'm not going to step into HoT territory. (But since his storyline was about falling in love - ? Anything could happen really. Maybe his love died in the crash (we don't actually know of any characters who died in the actual crash. Awful shame) and that's why he takes the lead against Mordremoth. That would give him a cool motive.)

Anet I want this now.

I only wanted to say how unfair Forgal's story was to him, and then I came up with this whole thing - ? Some of it included a few helpful fixes for the Trahearne hate - this isn't something I can write out into a whole fic since I have a main fic and while this is a significant AU it's not quite enough for a whole fic but also far too much for just a headcanon - maybe I'll invent a new Commander.

[falamh]

Subtle, Falamh.

[falamh]

"Wait by the largos and don't touch anything."