Konig Des Todes.2086

> @"Plagiarised.2865" said: > Do we know specifically that four are needed? Aurene is "special" and all that. I know you don't like it as lazy writing, but I feel its just as possible. We just don't know enough about The All. Or that The All and the balance of magic are, at least, related. After all, Sadizi says Aurene is able to handle conflicting magic, which would otherwise result in Torment. Sadizi never mentions or hints about Torment. Sadizi talks about the balance of The All, and according to Taimi's research, a bare minimum of four are needed. And as we saw in Season 3, even though Zhaitan's and Mordremoth's magic and domains have been taken over by Primordus and Kralkatorrik, their spheres in The All remained dormant and inert. Aurene could theoretically absorb all the magic in the world and potentially be fine. But all evidence so far tells us that she cannot balance The All alone. And it's be foolish to give it a test run, in all honesty. "Yeah, I think Aurene can handle absorbing another Elder Dragons' power. She's immortal and magic doesn't conflict in her!" *-kills an Elder Dragon-* "Oh god the world's crumbling even though Aurene ate all of that dragon's magic and isn't suffering from Torment!" Not the kind of risk anyone with common sense would take. Canach may make a gamble about the world's fate as a third party, but even he wouldn't perform an act he is aware might cause the world's destruction if it doesn't work out. > > "Only then will the balance of magic truly become stable. Only then will Glint's legacy achieve its ultimate purpose." > > Or why there are six Elder Dragons specifically. We don't know exactly what caused the void, or the balance of The All. Does the system break down and collapse when there is not enough entities specifically? Or is it about how an entity acts within the system. Why would they keep talking about sharing the magic rather than hoard it? Or making it clear that Aurene is "one that can act as a kind of prism, separating and recombining all the magics in the spectrum." > > I'm just saying its possible that Aurene would be it. It is hokey and "she did because she is special!" feeling. But it is possible. There are six Elder Dragons - besides writer desires - because there are six Spheres in The All. As per Season 2: the Spheres are **NOT** the Elder Dragons themselves, but rather the Elder Dragons are directly tied to these spheres which represent some unstudied cosmic power. Some norn scholars think them to be spirit realms, jotuns called them stars, it's unclear. We do know what caused the void, btw - the death of Zhaitan and Mordremoth is what's being referred to. **WE** caused that void and caused the system to begin breaking down. So yes, it does break down and collapse when there are not enough entities. Sadizi's speech is a little weird because he jumps from past to present to past again.

> @"Stephen.6312" said: > > @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said: > > ANet **(specifically, Ree Soesbee - one of the two narrative directors of ANet, making her of the highest lore figure at ANet, at the time)** had long ago established that Elder Dragons without gender in 2010. In other words, it's been long established that, biologically speaking, **ALL** Elder Dragons - even Kralkatorrik, Glint, Vlast, and Aurene - are technically an "it". > > As I have stated before, Konig, I believe that you have an over-reliance on out-of-game sources to help you comprehend in-game "facts". See: [Word of God](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WordOfGod). And for the matter, you have an over-reliance on ignoring *established facts* and denying the very writers' statements to avoid debunking your reaching fanon. > This is a good thing. However, it doesn't mean that the wiki's use of the term "it", when referring to Elder Dragons, is *still* accurate. If it isn't, it's because the Elder Dragon associates with a pronoun, not because they have identifiable genitals. > However, Aurene has penetrated aspects of the Elder Dragons' inner circle, revealing that, indeed, the Elder Dragons *might* have reproductive organs. There is no such revelation from Aurene becoming an Elder Dragon, and we've known since 2005 that a dragon can have children, so the fact that there are family ties does not change this. > > This is likely why we hear nothing about Glint's mother, or Vlast/Aurene's father. Elder Dragons - and high dragons - **by all indication so far reproduced** in a non-standard asexual method - **without need of partners**. > We don't know that. We do not have enough information to make such definitive statements. Until we learn more about the reproductive methods of Elder Dragons we simply cannot rule out the possibility that they are sexually dimorphic. The very lack of evidence, despite going over the topic of dragon family over the past two years, is pretty strong evidence of lacking in this case. > Thank you for pointing this out. Did it ever occur to you, Konig, that the nature of Elder Dragon reproduction, including the biological gender of each Elder, might've been something that the dragons didn't want mortals to know about? Perhaps for fear that mortals would use the knowledge of these things against the Elders? Why would the Elder Dragons, who view mortals as nothing greater than ants worth ignoring, or food, care what the mortals do or do not know about how they have children? You give the Elder Dragons too much credit, because it's been firmly established that the Elder Dragons are *uncaring* for mortals, mortal views, and mortal desires. Besides which, if "Elder Dragons can have children" is a fatal flaw to all Elder Dragons, then Glint, the Forgotten, and/or the Exalted would have spread that knowledge by now. > @"Plagiarised.2865" said: > > @"Konig Des Todes.2086" said: Though I only see the later happening if they forego the whole need to have multiple replacements for the Elder Dragons (which is what will upset me). > > I see you bring this up a lot, Konig, but I still feel like they can make Aurene the sole Elder Dragon. If she circulates and shares magic rather than hoard it? Not without denouncing the entire purpose of Season 3, Path of Fire, and Season 4. Where it is **repeatedly** stated that the issue isn't the balance of magic. It's the balance of The All. That four Elder Dragons are needed _despite_ the remaining three Elder Dragons consuming even more magic - and that the act of an Elder Dragon consuming too much magic, in fact, unbalances The All. If the matter was simply "too much magic", then Balthazar killing Primordus of Kralkatorrik and absorbing either of their magic would be no issue. If the matter was simply "too much magic", then killing Kralkatorrik in the Mists, even with Aurene there to absorb his magic, to reduce some magic from the system, would be no issue. But both were world ending scenarios if they occurred. > Taimi: (big breath) Look, we've discovered that eliminating dragons isn't the best thing for the environment... > Taimi: But what else were we going to do? Keep them alive and just let 'em eat us? > Taimi: So we destroy them and deal with the fallout, but... But what if we can't deal with the consequences anymore? > Sadizi: But when two Elder Dragons were unexpectedly eliminated from the cycle at one time, we believe it created a void. > Sadizi: A void that caused the system to break down and the collapse to begin. > Pact Commander: Kralkatorrik's even stronger and more dangerous than ever. > Taimi: Oh boy. That could seriously accelerate the Elder Dragon imbalance. I should run some worst-case hypotheticals right away. > Aurene: Now we must ride...scion and champion. Flush Kralkatorrik...from the Mists. > Taimi: Right! If he dies in the Mists, that's it. His magic is gone. And so is Tyria. Ergo, while "too much magic" is an issue, it isn't _the_ issue. _The_ issue is the "Elder Dragon [im]balance." > @"Psientist.6437" said: > I would prefer Aurene being the One over resolving everything with dragon sex. Wouldn't really need that since all evidence suggests they reproduce asexually. Plus, we have two fairly likely replacements (Pale Tree and Kuunavang). And if Jormag goes redemption arc, that would give us the mandatory minimum four living Elder Dragons.