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Zhaitan
Zhaitan
The Elder Dragon of Death and Shadow. One of the recently awakened Elder Dragons, raising with it the sunken land of the once fallen human kingdom of Orr. Influencing all the dead on said land with its own power, it turned them undead, forming an army called the Risen to wipe out all life on Tyria.- Big Bad: Zhaitan is the primary villain of the game at launch.
- Draco Lich: It's a huge, seemingly undead dragon. Most of its dragon champions are of this sort.
- Eldritch Abomination: It's not really much of a dragon; it's more like a twisted conglomeration of several dragons fused together!
- Final Boss: Of the personal story.
- Killed Off for Real: It is well and truly destroyed in the story's final battle.
- Necromancer: Raised the dead of an entire sunken nation to serve it.
- Orcus on His Throne: After its awakening, it prefers to stay dormant in Orr, sending out the Risen to slaughter and convert the living.
- Plague Master: Spreads its own breed of 'corruption' to reanimate the dead...or convert the living.
Kralkatorrik
Kralkatorrik
The Elder Dragon of Crystal and Fury. Awoke in Ascalon and flew south to the Crystal Desert, leaving behind the Dragonbrand underneath him. All caught in the Dragonbrand were killed and turned into one of his Branded monstrosities. He was also responsible for killing two prominent heroes related to Destiny's Edge.- Achilles' Heel: Kralkatorrik is nearly invulnerable to almost all forms of attacks, with the exception being his own crystallized blood. A weapon was constructed out of Kralkatorrik's blood in an effort to kill him, aptly named the Dragonsblood Spear.
- Alas, Poor Villain: In the final battle, Aurene reflects that the foreign magics of Zhaitan, Mordremoth, and Balthazar drove Kralkatorrik to madness and rage. She has a heart to heart with her grandfather for the last time and he wishes for her to become a harbinger of a better world.
- Arch-Enemy: To Destiny's Edge.
- Big Bad: Of Living Story Season 4, as the Pact Commander attempts to empower Aurene to have her kill her grandsire.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In Eye of the North his back was visible in a lake in the Charr Homelands where he was slumbering.
- Eye Scream: The player directly attacks his eye during All Or Nothing. By the end of the episode, Kralkatorrik's right eye is destroyed.
- Gemstone Assault: He corrupts creatures and land with twisted purple crystals.
- Hero Killer: He caused the deaths of his turned dragon champion and daughter Glaust/Glint and the Asuran genius Snaff, both of whom fought alongside the rest of Destiny's Edge against him. Taken even further when he nearly kills his granddaughter Aurene at the end of Season 4 Episode 5. Fortunately, he failed due to her newly-acquired immortality, but the spike through her heart left her in a death-like state for some time.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: In the final battle, the voice of Kralkatorrik encourages you to put an end to him even as the incarnation of his suffering and madness attacks you and curses your name.
- Kaiju: As you get to witness during your confrontation with Balthazar in Path of Fire. His head alone makes Zhaitan and Mordremoth look puny. Still nowhere near as titanic as Primordus, though.
- Literal Split Personality: During the final battle, the Commander fights against Kralktorrik's Torment, a manifestation of all of the pain he is suffering which acts independently of the dragon.
- Mercy Kill: All the foreign magics he absorbed drove him to madness from the torment it caused him. By the end of the final battle, both he and Aurene are begging for the Commander to kill him and give him peace.
- Necromancer: In the last cutscene of Path of Fire, it is revealed that he now has the ability to turn the dead into Branded, having absorbed Zhaitan's magic much like Mordremoth and Primordus.
- Offing the Offspring: He killed his daughter Glint. He later tries to murder Aurene as well, in many ways mirroring the death of her mother Glint. Only her immortality keeps him from doing so.
- Plague Master: Merely flying over the land turned the land into a purple-tinged desert. The creatures that were trapped in this area turned into "branded" monsters, who are crystal-like purple monsters who bear only a passing resemblance to their original form.
- Purple Is Powerful: Kralkatorrik's crystals that adorn the Branded are purple in color, and Kralkatorrik himself is one of Tyria's deadliest monsters.
- Rasputinian Death: He suffered nearly fatal damage and lost an eye from the battle at the Thunderhead Peaks. A revived Aurene further tore him to shreds, blasted off one of his wings, and forced him to plummet to the ground and be buried by numerous islands from the Mist. To top it all off, Dragon's Watch stop the healing from ley lines beneath him, the combined forces of the Pact destroy his physical body, and the Commander and Aurene are ultimately forced to destroy his heart to kill him for good.
- Seers: Similar to his daughter and granddaughter, Kralkatorrik has some form of an ability to foresee the future. The commander learns from Glint about one of Kralkatorrik's vision where it foresaw a world without him, a world where Tyria somehow won against the Elder Dragons.
- Shock and Awe: Lightning is the primary elemental force utilized by Kralkatorrik and the Branded. In fact, you risk getting struck by lightning if you're standing on ground heavily corrupted by Kralkatorrik.
- Spacetime Eater: Season 4 sees him begin devouring the Mists — the very fabric of reality itself.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: During the boss fight it's explained that Kralkatorrik's Torment convinced the Dragon that devouring the Mists to end his own existence was the only way to escape his pain.
- Takes One to Kill One: Due to a unique resonance that connects the Elder Dragon and his crystalline offshoots, Kralkatorrik is his own greatest weakness. This extends to his scion, Glint, and her offspring in turn.
- Thinking Up Portals: After absorbing Balthazar's magic, he gains the ability to open portals between Tyria and the Mists. This lets his Branded attack anywhere on Tyria without warning while Kralkatorrik gorges on the Mists.
- Took a Level in Badass: As a result of absorbing Balthazar's magic, Kralkatorrik becomes even more powerful in Season 4.
- Walking Wasteland: Or Flying, in this case. When Kralkatorrik flies, everything under his shadow is corrupted. Creatures are Branded as is any vegetation that survives and the land itself is twisted into an alien, crystalline environment.
Jormag
Jormag
The Elder Dragon of Ice and Persuasion. The dragon that forced the Norn and the Kodan out of their traditional homes in the north. The only part of it that actually appears at the beginning of the game is one of its teeth - which is easily as big as a small building
◊. After the events of Flashpoint, they go back into hibernation, but eventually resurface as the main threat for the Icebrood Saga.- Affably Evil: What sets them apart from the other Elder Dragons is their overt friendliness even as they and their followers commit unspeakable atrocities.
- Big Bad: Jormag is the main antagonist of Living World Season 5, the fittingly named Icebrood Saga.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Theoretically this should apply to all Elder Dragons, but as the one most willing to talk with us, Jormag has illustrated it the best. Early on in the Icebrood Saga, Jormag's words and actions don't seem to make sense: simultaneously insisting over and over that they're good while massacring and playing with the minds of our allies. After Jormag is fully awakened, Primordus is as well, forcing the heroes to temporarily accept Jormag's claims to deal with Primordus' attacks. This doesn't last very long before Jormag betrays the alliance. When confronted about this, Jormag's perspective becomes more clear. To them, defeating Primordus is the height of goodness, meaning nothing can be bad if it is in service to that goal. Jormag instead saw it as a betrayal from us for not accepting their righteous way of dealing with the situation. Since that includes such things as placing hundreds of innocent civilians in an icy curse to perhaps serve as minions in the far future, we end up finding a way to lure Primordus to our side instead.
- The Corrupter: While all elder dragons physically corrupt lesser beings into instruments of their will, Jormag is uniquely inclined towards the psychological kind of corruption, promising power to those who become its followers. This can be seen most prominently through the Sons of Svanir, Jormag's willing worshippers.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Jormag almost qualifies as The Unseen, except for a single brief shot of its head in silhouette
◊ which appears in the Norn character intro cinematic. - Gaslighting: As the dragon of whispers and persuasion, Jormag is very good at making people doubt their memories or perception, even without magic. They keep Aurene unsure and unsettled for most of the Saga.
- An Ice Person: It corrupts creatures and people with a bizarre form of ice.
- Non-Human Non-Binary: While all Elder Dragons are beings above mortal concepts of sex and gender, most are nonetheless referred to with gendered terms, if only in some cases for the convenience of those speaking of them. Jormag is explicitly portrayed as non-binary, using they/them pronouns exclusively.
- No Ontological Inertia: After its death, those who were blessed by it, mainly the Frost Legion, instantly drop dead. Stronger individuals such as Bangar and Ryland are able to survive, but are left extremely weakened.
- Polar Opposite Twins: During Season 3, Taimi speculates that the only weakness that Jormag and Primordus have are each other and plan to pit them against each other. During the Icebrood Saga, it's revealed that Jormag and Primordus are mirrors of each other in many, many ways. Beyond the obvious ice and fire elemental comparison, Jormag is revealed to be the most talkative and lucid Elder Dragon, while Primordus is revealed to be actually mindless.
- Samus Is a Girl: To a degree. The Sons of Svanir refer to Jormag as male, but when they finally come into the story proper in the Icebrood Saga, they have a multi-leveled, androgynous (skewing slightly feminine) voice, and are consistently referred to with gender-neutral pronouns.
Word of God clarifies that Jormag identifies with no particular gender and is happy to let people perceive them in whatever way makes them most amenable to their will. The Sons of Svanir's perception of the dragon is presumably colored by their overt misogyny.
Primordus
Primordus
The Elder Dragon of Fire and Force/Conflagration. The first Elder Dragon to awaken. Its gradual awakening and the rampage of its minions led to the Asura and Skritt leaving their underground homes behind, while the Dwarves all underwent the Rite of the Great Dwarf to fight it, as they still do to this day. Just like Jormag, he was forced into hibernation at the climax of Flashpoint. He only resurfaces near the end of the Icebrood Saga.- All Your Powers Combined: Due to absorbing the magic released by Zhaitan and later Mordremoth upon their deaths, Season 3 of the Living World reveals his army of Destroyer minions are beginning to manifest infused with plant and death magic.
- Almighty Idiot: Primordius is unique among the Elder Dragons in that he is barely even sentient, if even that (even Zhaitan, who never speaks, is shown to have cunning and intelligence). He's more akin to a wild animal or a force of nature.
- Arch-Enemy: Even though Primordus is effectively a mindless beast, he still manages to possess a special hatred for his twin, Jormag. When Braham becomes Primordus's champion, what little remains of Braham's sanity and mind is reduced to a single-minded desire to "kill ice".
- Early-Bird Cameo: It doesn't appear in Guild Wars 2 until late in Living World Season 3, but it was first seen at the end of the original Guild Wars: Eye of the North asleep in the chamber of the Great Destroyer◊ (one of its champions).
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: While it was pretty big, it's actually much, much bigger than it was portrayed in GW1, as can be seen when you see it for the first time at the climax of Flashpoint.
- Kaiju: spoiler:We only saw Primordus' head in Flashpoint, but that encounter is enough to show that Primordus is horrifyingly gigantic. For reference, Mordremoth's physical avatar is tiny in comparison.
- Magma Man: It creates the Destroyers out of lava.
- Momma's Boy: Soo-won states he once was when he was young. Tragically no longer the case.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Unlike the other Elder Dragons, Primordus has absolutely no interest in corrupting mortals, preferring to burn and kill anyone crossing his path or his minions.
- Your Size May Vary: As mentioned above, he's far larger in Guild Wars 2 than he was in the original Guild Wars. He's much smaller on the battlefield in Dragonstorm than he was in Flashpoint.
Mordremoth
Mordremoth
The Elder Dragon of Plant and Mind. During its sleep it drove the Sylvari engineer Ceara insane, causing her to go on a rampage as the Mad Scientist Scarlet Briar which culminated in her disrupting the leylines in Tyria from Lion's Arch and leading them straight to the dragon itself, thus causing it to awaken. It influenced another Sylvari, Aerin, to sabotage the Zephyrite fleet in an attempt to snatch Glint's egg - which the Zephyrites had been protecting - for itself. It's later revealed that the Sylvari are in fact its minions and are meant to serve it, and it's trying to regain control over the Sylvari of the Pale Tree so they can fulfill their destiny.- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Inverted. The good guys have to go into its mind and fight its avatar there, as it's too big to beat physically...its roots are spread throughout Tyria, and like a weed, it could grow back from them even if the surface parts were destroyed.
- Big Bad: It takes personal spotlight as the main villain for the second season of the Living Story and Heart of Thorns.
- Evil Laugh: Tends to laugh in the final battle of the Dragon's Stand meta event.
- Evil Sounds Deep: When it talks to Sylvari, its voice takes the form of a deep, growling whisper, courtesy of Nolan North.
- Fat Bastard: When you fight its mind in the final mission of Heart of Thorns, its avatar is a rather obese reptilian monster, which likely symbolises its hunger for ley energy.
- Genius Loci: The entire Maguuma Jungle is its body.
- Greater-Scope Villain: For the first season of the Living Story, being not directly involved in the story but responsible for corrupting Scarlet and subtly guiding her actions.
- Green Thumb: Its corruption takes the form of thorny vines. Its minions are the Mordrem, usually consisting of plant corruption taking over a dead creature's corpse, raw plant matter being formed in imitation of animals and sentient beings (that includes Destiny's Edge, which becomes a plot point in Heart of Thorns) or just taking control of plant-based creatures, such as Sylvari.
- Industrialized Evil: Despite being associated with nature, Mordremoth is arguably this. It has strong
Lawful Evil tendencies, as evidenced by its scheming, and instead of chaotic and uncontrolled corruption of other Elder Dragons, the way its Mordrem are created is equal parts gruesome and efficient - see Send in the Clones below. - Kaiju: Its physical avatar, the Mouth of Mordremoth, is GIGANTIC.
- The Man Behind the Man: Scarlet and Aerin's insanity is traced back to its corrupting influence. It's also implied to be connected to the Nightmare, although to what extent remains unknown for now - although the Nightmare Court is not affiliated with it, they use similar creatures and magic.
- Its Dragon Champion is eventually revealed to be the Shadow of the Dragon that Sylvari fight as their first boss in the Dream. The champion returns to directly assault the Pale Tree during the world summit and finally meets its end at the hands of the Player Character during a climactic showdown in the Golden Cave when it tries to bring down the player for good.
- Manchurian Agent: Potentially all Sylvari. When the Pact fleet bombards the Maguuma Jungle from above in a pre-emptive strike, Mordremoth takes control of many but not all Sylvari in the fleet who then go on a rampage and help it destroy the fleet. Heart of Thorns even includes events involving questioning Sylvari to determine if they fell.
- Mind Rape: Caused Scarlet to go mad with the whispers in her head, and later broke down Aerin's mind as well. Later does it with other Sylvari in Maguuma - including the player character, if they're one.
- Only Mostly Dead: After you defeat it, it can potentially (and almost does) return to full power through Trahearne, and you are forced to kill him to ensure the dragon's permanent death.
- Our Zombies Are Different: From Zhaitan's Risen, that is. Unlike the more classic Orrian undead, which are simply reanimated by draconic magic; Mordrem Wolves, Trolls and Teragriffs are rather corpses of animals and monsters infested and taken over by Mordremoth's plants. That would make them Parasite Zombie.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: While all Elder Dragons technically apply by the virtue of being dragons, Mordremoth is particularly notable for this, with many of its minions having a reptilian or amphibian appearance. While this can largely be explained by the fact that Maguuma, Lost World as it is, is teeming with saurians for Mordremoth to corrupt and imitate; even those Mordrem that are nothing but plants are often reptilian-looking.
- Even its avatar body in the Dream is not a dragon, but a fat, mini-Kaiju-like dinosaur.
- Purple Is Powerful: Much like Kralkatorrik and Zhaitan. Its most powerful minions usually have a purple glow to them, which serves as its secondary colour alongside orange.
- The Reveal: The Pale Tree (and thus the Sylvari) come from Mordremoth and have always been meant to serve it, thus making the Sylvari of the Grove Mordremoth's minions.
- Send in the Clones: As established in Heart of Thorns, this is its signature ability. Unlike Jormag, Zhaitan, or Kralkatorrik, it cannot corrupt things that are not plants directly - as such, it instead has its minions take its victims to prison camps, where they are starved to death and studied. Once they die, their bodies become fertilizers for plant matter used to grow imitations of whatever living creatures Mordemoth has captured: animals, monsters - or powerful heroes.
- Shockwave Stomp: Can pull this off with its head in the Dragon's Stand meta event, with enough force to instantly down and kill players if they're hit by it.
Soo-Won
Soo-Won
A dragon found deep beneath the sea, responsible for driving many creatures of the sea onto dry land.- Big Good: Surprisingly; she protected Cantha from the tsunami caused by Orr's rising from the ocean depths, has watched over the country for hundreds of years, and has willingly been interred in Joon's reactor to provide power for Cantha, and once the other dragons are slain, doing her best to purify the ley lines of Void magic despite being incapable of handling the strain herself.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: At the end of End of Dragons, the Void magic overwhelms her and drives her to try to bring about the end of the world by reverting it to primordial chaos.
- Death Seeker: In the end, she doesn't want to die, but knows and acknowledges that she must for the safety of the world, and goes to that end willingly... up until outside forces conspire against her.
- Monster Progenitor: She was "The One Dragon" meant to enforce universal balance, but being too overaspected to Water she couldn't handle all the other aspects, and thus gave birth to the other five Elder Dragons, making her the source of the dragon cycles and all the suffering it's caused (something she herself is not happy about).
- Naval Blockade: Started its activity about 50 years ago in the Unending Ocean and drove away many sentient aquatic species, such as the Krait,
Quaggan (pacifist manatees with Super Mode), Largos, and Karka. Also foils any chance to reach Cantha via ship. Later revelations bring the actual reason for the blockade into question, along with if was actually intentional that the various peoples were forced out of their homes. - No Name Given: Its name was not revealed for years, although Living World story chapters teased it started with an S. It was finally revealed in End of Dragons to be Soo-Won.
- Parents as People: While she originally created her children as tools, she came to genuinely love them. Regretting deeply their ultimate fates.
