Long Live the Lich happened in the middle of a season, and while it was amazing I do think the implications it could hold get largely forgotten about in favor of the memes and the impending danger Kralkatorrik strikes before and after. Which is fair, big crackly dragon go brrrrrrrr
But I just replayed LLtL and...I want to touch on that final speech a bit. Particularly this part of it.
“The scars you've gouged into [the world] spell out your name for all to see. I confess, I was happy to take credit for your "victories." But did you ever stop to wonder what that says about you? That so many bought what I was selling? They call me a monster and you a hero. The world expects Palawa Joko to dare to throw reality into chaos. But surely no mortal would be so monumentally STUPID as to destroy a dragon, the life force of this world. Let alone two. And a god to boot? Perhaps they will finally thank me for luring you to me...”
This speech feels like more than just gloating, more than he’s taking down a thorn in his side that offended him once. And one could argue from “luring you to me” that the timing of this plague was anything but an accident. Especially when the initial start of it also includes Joko addressing the commander directly.
But before we really touch on that, how about the start of those words. The commander’s actions gouging their name into the world as scars, the fact that Joko knew people would believe him, and the fact that Joko was aware of how integral the dragons are to the balance of magic. This lends some immense depth to his character, far past what anyone who only played gw2 might’ve initially understood.
Joko is old, he’s ancient with legends and a reputation that built a very threatening empire lasting ages. The earliest mention of him (unknown whether he was already awakened or still alive at the time) was 757 AE, when he built the Bone Palace and was presumably already an adult with an army to some extent. LLtL happens in 1331 AE marking him as over 600 years old at minimum. He has seen the Guild Wars (and was very much his own threat in them), he has witnessed elder dragons awakening and slumbering. He was likely very aware of the fight Destiny’s Edge took to Kralkatorrik that ended with a slumbering elder dragon in the Elonian desert. And he’s likely very very familiar with the inner workings of magic as a whole. He’s showy and blustery but he also perfected his own immortality along with having a perfected knack for bringing anyone else back from the dead and tying them to his will. Not as ghosts or through the means of the commander, but solid reconnections to dead bodies by their spirits. Strong enough to hold even after he’s been killed. It’s almost no surprise at all that, through all that research and learning, he undoubtedly learned what the elder dragons are to the world, as magical keystones to its functioning.
It’s no surprise that even when an elder dragon slumbered within reach and cut him off from further conquering the world, that he did not send his endless armies to fight it. It’s no surprise that when the Commander killed dragons he was Very Much Aware of it, and took the chance to add to his own chaotic reputation. But then the fight is brought to him, the dragon on his doorstep is the threat and the Commander is here. And this dragon being killed could upend his entire dynasty with a magical release he’d undoubtedly studied centuries ago.
So what does he do? He fast tracks a plague. He calls the Commander out directly to face him. He lures you right in with a threat you can not refuse. This was more than theatrics, though he masked it so well as that. He could’ve set off the plague without ever notifying anyone who had a chance against him until it was too late but he chose to call you in with time to fight. With time to think you’d win if you faced him directly. He’s nothing if not dramatic still, he won’t assassinate you in private when killing you can add to his own reputation. But he does need the Commander dead. Before you gouge any more scars into the world right on his doorstep.
This was never about an official release of the plague which he could likely reengineer years later still. This was about stopping a threat he saw as even bigger than himself. And that shakes me to my core.
Personal Story= Very slow but it has its moments
Living World Season One= Ok but did it really happen?
Living World Season Two=Pretty Cool
Heart of Thorns= Big Sad.
Living World Season Three= Big red crystals go boom (also Darth Jennah)
Path of Fire= God man, big anger.
(More to come once I've played them)
