MHW theory: Did we do the right thing by stopping Zorah Magdaros?
This is a theory I've been thinking about for a while, and decided to put on here. But since this theory is about the end game storyline in MHW, SPOILERS AHEAD!
In Monster Hunter World, the Research Comission is studying the Elder Crossing, a migration of Elder Dragon that occurs every 10 years. And the reason they migrate to the new world? To die. And the Fifth Fleet that we arrive with as the player has followed the Elder dragon Zorah Magdaros as it makes the journey to the New World.
Throughout the first half of the game's story we're tracking down Zorah Magdaros and trying to figure out where it's going and why. Through the events of the game we learn that the Elder Dragons migrate to the Rotten Vale to die, with many of them not making it due to falling prey to Nergigante. So that's the mystery of the Elder Crossing, but what about Zorah Magdaros?
Instead of going to die in the Rotten Vale, we learn that Zorah is to the Everstream, and place where bioenergy flows to all corners of the land. We also learn that Zorah has been storing bioenergy as it moves on. And if it dies in the Everstream, all that energy will be released and cause a chain reaction that will devastate the land. We are successful in diverting him from the Everstream and out to sea. But the main question I had about Zorah Magdaros was why was it going to the Everstream instead of choosing to die in the Rotten Vale? What reason could it possibly have to store up so much bioenergy before its death?
My theory is that Zorah Magdaros had built up all that energy with the intent of unleashing it, but not to cause major destruction. I think it was trying to stop something.
In the previous MH games, we've learned a lot about elder dragons. We know they live a long time, can cause natural disasters to happen just by appearing in an area, and can pose a major threat to villages and towns. But another thing we've found out about them that I think most have overlooked is their intelligence, especially their memory. In some of the games we have seen that some elder dragons can remember individual people and hunters they've encountered in the past. That's what I found very intriguing. They remember.
And memory without a doubt plays an important part in an elder dragons life. They would need to remember numerous things to survive as they grow throughout their long lives. And Zorah Magdaros would have seen countless things in its long life that it'd remember. And my theory about Zorah Magdaros' journey is that he's going to stop something he may have encountered in the past.
My theory is that Zorah Magdaros bypassed the Rotten Vale in order to reach the Everstream to prevent the emergence of the Emperor of Elder Dragons; Xeno'jiiva.
At this point in the Lore of MHW, no one has even heard of or seen Xeno'jiiva before since it's a completely new species. But the Research Commission has only been in the New World for 40 years, and much of it has yet to be explored. However other creatures might have encountered Xeno'jiiva's species before, and possibly even fought with them. It's almost a certainly seeing as this Xeno probably isn't the first of its kind, just the first one we have seen.
Zorah Magdaros may have encountered Xeno'jiiva in the past and even fought against them. And having lived for who knows how many years, maybe encountered them more than once. And if it had, it would have remembered how dangerous they were and the threat they could posed to the ecosystem.
So it's possible that Zorah Magdaros may have made the Elder Crossing, gathering and storing bioenergy as it went in order to have enough power to kill Xeno'jiiva before it could emerge from its cocoon. Maybe it needed to store that much energy because it was too old and on the brink of death and wouldn't have enough power on its own to finish it off. We do know Zorah was headed to Xeno'jiiva because the path we take to reach Xeno was made clear because of Zorah Magdaros.
But if Zorah did reach Xeno, what would have happened? Would it have just killed it and gone back to the Rotten Vale or out to sea to die? Or would have it released all the energy it stored to kill Xeno'jiiva, kill itself, and the rest of the land?
Honestly it's impossible to tell what would have happened. But if it did kill Xeno'jiiva by releasing all its energy, I'm pretty sure the land would have recovered.
Another thing we learned about the Elder Crossing is that after each crossing there is a boost in growth of the plant life. When the elder dragons die their bodies and energies nourish the environment. So even if Zorah Magdaros did die in the Everstream, not only would its energy have devastated the land, it would have fertilized the land for new growth.
And elder dragon rich soil can make plants grow very big very quickly. The Chief Botanist learns this the hard way after fertilizing the ancient tree in Astera with soil from the Rotten Vale. The tree practically grew 60ft overnight after being sprinkled with a handful of the stuff! So even if the land is destroyed, it would have quickly recovered. Well, the plants would have at least, not so sure about the wildlife and Astera.
So, did we do the right thing by stopping Zorah Magdaros? It's difficult to say at this point. But if we let Zorah Magdaros through, we could have been subjected to destruction comparable to a volcanic eruption. But from destruction, comes life.
And this ends my long winded ass theory about Zorah Magdaros. Hope you guys enjoyed this!
