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Living World Seasons 1 & 2
The Aetherblades
A group of Sky Pirates introduced during the Dragon Bash event who assassinated one of the Lion's Arch council members in an attempt to place one of their members in the council. They are allied with the Inquest and have stolen three of the Pact's airships.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Sort of. When compared to other pirates, their own clothing looks considerably fancier.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Subverted. Most of their plans often fail miserably plot-wise. However, gameplay-wise, they are relatively difficult to fight in large groups.
- Light Is Not Good
- Psycho for Hire: They mostly work for money and want to cause a lot of chaos throughout Tyria.
- Punny Name: The name of the group, the Aetherblades, are based of two words "aether" (which means "upper sky" in classic Greek mythology) and "blade" (since most Pirates have a sword as their weapon of choice, noticeably the rapier).
- Shock and Awe/Blow You Away: Their members use a lot of electric and wind related skills.
- Sky Pirates
- Steampunk: Their clothing style falls into this.
Captain Mai Trin
A medic who tried to revive a Charr representative during the Aetherblade attack on the Dragon Bash festival, but failed. She is later revealed to be one of the main leaders of the Aetherblades, and was hoping to grab a seat in the Lion's Arch council. Later captured and held in prison at Fort Marriner.
She returns in End of Dragons, where she's a bit of a Walking Spoiler.
- Achilles' Heel: She has Nigh-Invulnerability armor during the boss fight. The only way to destroy that armor is by using her right-hand man's electric rounds. This is still relatively difficult to achieve, though.
- The Bus Came Back: Returns in End of Dragons, many years after the Aetherblades were trapped in the Mists, as a Revenant.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: Despite getting new powers in End of Dragons, she can be beaten conventionally.
- The Dragon: To Scarlet.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Spends a lot of time in End of Dragons either drunk or hungover, including her boss fight.
- Demonic Possession: Channeling Scarlet Briar while untrained was not the wisest move.
- Enemy Mine: Defeating her in End of Dragons has Marjory arrest her, but as she's Joon's prodigy she remains useful, and thus tags along with the Commander.
- Enemy Within: The echo of Scarlet Briar in her mind is always whispering to her even when she's blindfolded and in control.
- Going Native: When the Aetherblades escaped the Mists they wound up in Cantha. Mai, able to pass for Canthan, integrated herself with society by working for Joon, quickly becoming the Jade Tech expert's prodigy.
- Lightning Bruiser: Not only is she durable, but she deals a lot of DPS hurt with her bleeding attacks as well.
- The Medic Did It
- The Mole
- Redemption Equals Death: Stops the Yong Reactor from melting down and is killed by Ankka for her trouble.
- Royal Rapier: Not a royal, but a rapier is her preferred weapon.
- Willing Channeler: Subverted. Revenants are supposed to be this, but Mai hasn't been trained and is at the mercy of her own legends.
First Mate Horrik
Mai Trin's right-hand man.
- Arm Cannon: The shoulder-mounted kind.
- The Berserker: If Mai Trin is defeated, he goes into a Frenzy.
- The Brute
- The Dragon
- Easter Egg: There is a special Easter Egg if you use the /bow emote on him (you also get an achievement that way).
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted, Mai Trin named a cat after him.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: If he never fired off his electric rounds, Mai Trin would be completely invincible.
Scarlet Briar
The Big Bad of most of the first season of the Living Story and true leader of the Aetherblades, as well as the mastermind behind the Molten and Toxic Alliances. She was responsible for the assassination/kidnapping attempt of Queen Jennah during the Closing Ceremony of the Queen's Gauntlet and several Clockwork attacks throughout Tyria. She ultimately met her end during the Battle for Lion's Arch, but not before she managed to redirect ley lines under the city to awaken the Elder Dragon Mordremoth; who turned out to have been manipulating her actions for its benefit all along.
- Ax-Crazy: She is clearly mentally unstable.
- The Bad Guy Wins: While getting killed was never part of her plan, she nevertheless succeeds in awakening Mordremoth.
- Big Bad: The main villain in the first season of the Living Story.
- Character Development: Got some much needed character development at the onset of the Origins of Madness update, where it's revealed that an unknown abomination (later confirmed to be the Elder Dragon Mordremoth) tormented her prior to her becoming full-out insane.
- Deadpan Snarker: Have some shades of this.
- Defiant to the End: Even when she's been defeated, she continues to fight back in a manner similar to the Player Character's downed state.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": She FLIPS when Kasmeer begins taunting her with her true name, Ceara, giving the Player Character the opening they need to put her down for good.
- Driven to Madness: It's revealed that the cause of her insanity is something from the forests that has been whispering to her in her dreams, driving her insane. It's later revealed that said something was the Elder Dragon Mordremoth, who corrupted her while in Omadd's machine.
- Evil Brit: Like all sylvari, she sports a fancy British accent.
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Fake Brit: Her voice actress is Tara Strong, a Canadian-born American.
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- Evil Genius: She managed to study at all three of the Asuran colleges and earned advanced engineering degrees in all three, which can explain her twisted Clockwork creations. The Gates of Maguuma Living Story release reveals that before becoming Mordremoth's minion, she was less intelligent than she later became as a result of Mordremoth's ideas (which she claims were stolen from her despite it being clear that it's the other way round).
- Evil Redhead: Has some shockingly bright red leaves on her head.
- Femme Fatale
- For the Evulz: Why she did all of this? Because it's "fun." Of course, it turns out she does have an ulterior motive: Waking the Elder Dragon Mordremoth.
- Hidden Villain: She didn't reveal herself until the queen's jubilee, although there were hints of her involvement during earlier conflicts in the first half of Living World season 1.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Attempted to do this with Queen Jennah and later on Lord Faren by cooking him.
- Legion of Doom: Managed to form an alliance between the Molten Alliance, the Toxic Alliance and the Aetherblades for the record.
- The former two already being alliances between two disparate groups each, formed by her.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain/Vocal Evolution: She acts fairly childish and speaks with a very high-pitched tone
in Clockwork Chaos, Twilight Assault and Nightmare Incarnate; from Origins of Madness on, however, her voice becomes deeper and more restrained as she gets more serious. - Psychopathic Manchild: She seemingly has the mentality of a young child and wants to have a lot of "fun." Mind you, her definition of "fun" involves attempting to kidnap/assassinate Queen Jennah, sending her Clockwork minions to terrorize everyone in Tyria, making the Crown Pavillion her own twisted "playhouse," and even attempting to make a stew out of Lord Faren.
- Villainous Breakdown: During the invasion events (and if you manage to bring her health down by a large amount), she'll show signs of more mental instability (such as asking the player if you want to "play" with her).
- Has an even bigger one after weakening her through destroying her Ultraviolet Hologram. Her desperation to awaken "Tyria's new master" Mordremoth becomes extremely apparent.
- In the Season 1 revamp, a hidden audio log has Mai Trin walk in on her having a straight up panic attack as she worries that she won't be ready when Mordremoth awakens.
- Villain Takes an Interest: Once the Commander foils her attack on Queen Jenna's festival, Scarlet starts to take a personal interest in them, sending them a letter telling them she'll be watching them closely from now on and even giving them a "gift" (its a bomb).
Aerin
A Sylvari member of the Zephrytes who attempted to assassinate the Master of Peace. Like Scarlet, he is eventually revealed to have fallen prey to the influence of Mordremoth.
Living World Season 3
Lazarus the Dire
One of the Mursaat, an enigmatic race who manipulated Kryta through the White Mantle in Guild Wars but disappeared from Tyria after their defeat. He makes his return in Season 3 of the Living World, splintering the reformed White Mantle and promising his allegiance against the Elder Dragons. However, Episode 4 reveals that Caudecus had sabotaged his resurrection ritual, which means the being calling itself "Lazarus" may not be entirely truthful about their identity or schemes...
For his impostor's true identity, see Balthazar.
- Back for the Dead: The REAL Lazarus is resurrected in the last instance of the Season 3 Finale...only to be killed off immediately after.
- Back from the Dead: It may be centuries later, but he's returned.
- Final Boss: He is the final boss of Season 3 of the Living World Story.
- Last of His Kind: The Eye of Janthir's disintegration after Lazarus' death confirms that he was truly the last of the Mursaat. In Secrets of the Obscure, this is proven false when we meet a friendly mursaat known as Mabon. Isgarren also reveals there are some left outside of Tyria.
- Walking Spoiler: For those who keep abreast of Guild Wars lore, his name is well-known and long-awaited.
White Mantle
Re-introduced into Guild Wars 2 during the raid storyline and Living World Season 3. The White Mantle once controlled the kingdom of Kryta, but were overthrown after their corruption and fanatical devotion to the Mursaat were uncovered. Though defeated, the White Mantle continued to operate in secret, and aim to both retake the throne of Kryta and resurrect their masters.
- The Corruption: Liberally empowers its members and allies with bloodstone magic. Side effects may include a mild case of Red Eyes, Take Warning, insanity, and mutating into abominations.
- Light Is Not Good: Their uniform is comprised of regal red, white and gold.
Path of Fire
Balthazar
The Human God of War and Fire makes a physical return to Tyria in the penultimate episode of Season 3 as an antagonist and the true identity impersonating "Lazarus".
- Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The battlefield for the final battle is perfectly fitting and amazing, as the arena is surrounded by an entire endless sea of fire with Kralkatorrik itself as a spectator. The God of Fire couldn't ask for a better place to duel to the death.
- Big Bad: Of Living Story Season 3 and the Path of Fire expansion.
- Blood Knight: Why he refused to leave Tyria. Unlike the other gods, he actively wanted to fight the elder dragons and not run away from them or back down from challenging them.
- Evil Counterpart: In a sense, to the Commander. They're both immensely resourceful (The Commander has the support of the Pact, Destiny's Edge and Dragon's Watch and more behind them, while Balthazar has an army of mercenaries during the Living Story and the Forged in Path of Fire) and they're both more than capable of taking on armies. They also both get the better of Palawa Joko, Balthazar by betraying and trapping him, the Commander by leaving him behind and taking control of Joko's own army, and they both oppose the Elder Dragons. However, where the Commander wants to stop the Elder Dragons without putting Tyria at risk, Balthazar don't care what happens to Tyria as long as he can kill an Elder Dragon and absorb its magic.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: There was absolutely no indication that he was present in Tyria and although there were some vague hints that "Lazarus" wasn't who he claimed to be, the player would never have predicted that he was Balthazar.
- Kill It with Fire: He's also the god of fire and primarily uses fire magic in combat. This was also a clue to his true identity as Lazarus, who was a necromancer in the original Guild Wars, also prominently uses fire magic in combat.
- Fallen God
- Fallen Hero: He used to be strongly pro-human in the original Guild Wars days, and was certainly not an antagonist. Whatever happened off-screen seems to have eliminated Balthazar's good traits, care for humanity and his sense of honor.
- Final Boss Preview: Done twice as Hopeless Boss Fights, giving the player a good idea of how the final battle against him will be like.
- Hero Killer: He goes one step further than most by killing the Player Character. The player manages to come back to life but still.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He ultimately meets his end by Sohothin, the same weapon that he re-enchanted when its fire extinguished.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Your first encounter with Balthazar in Path of Fire is less of a battle and more him stomping you and your allies into the ground. The second one is even worse when he actually kills you no matter how much you struggle to survive.
- Karmic Death: He came to Tyria to kill the Elder Dragons and absorb their power. Balthazar dies an agonizing death as he himself is devoured by Kralkatorrik.
- Large Ham: The God of Fire and War pretty much devours the scenario whenever he appears.
- Leitmotif: Named "Enter the Fire God", it's played as his battle music in Path of Fire. It truly gives off the feeling of dread and imminent destruction that Balthazar's presence causes in his enemies.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: After the Player Character declines his offer to become his minion, he swiftly prioritizes their death, knowing that he can't let one of the biggest threats to his plans stay alive. His initial attempt was foiled by Vlast, but he succeeds when he unexpectedly ambushes the Player Character while they're all alone. While he did toy with them, it was only to draw out Aurene so that he could capture her.
- One-Man Army: He may have lost his divinity, but he's still a powerful fallen god of war. When he was pretending to be Lazarus, he managed to help hold back Destroyers during their assault on Aurene. In the first encounter in Path of Fire, Balthazar does not hold back and easily defeats the heroes.
- Pet the Dog: Despite everything, he still care for his hounds and gets not-so-subtly angry when they're defeated.
- Physical God: Although his dialogue in the final instance of Episode 5 implies that he somehow lost his divinity and is significantly weaker than he should be. He was stripped from his power and title by the other gods, after he refused to leave Tyria and fight the Elder Dragons by himself even though it could have cataclysmic consequences.
- Playing with Fire: He's the God of Fire. Even his sword immolates the air with every swing.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: In lore, he is known to be accompanied by two fiery hounds, Temar and Tegon. The two hounds are also the final bosses of Episode 5 of Season 3
- Walking Spoiler
- War God
Herald of Balthazar
- Arc Villainess: She takes on the role as the antagonist during Act I, fighting you several times during it. She's eventually defeated as the final challenge in The Sacrifice.
- Dark Action Girl: She's the champion and a commander of the Forged, and one of their deadliest.
- The Dragon: To Balthazar.
- Dying as Yourself: In her final moments, Devona's mind becomes her own again and she begs the Commander to kill her god.
- Fallen Hero: It's heavily implied that she's Devona, a henchman from the original game.
- Kick the Dog: She has no qualms attacking and killing defenseless villagers in the middle of her battles just to hurt the Commander.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Claims this of the Pact Commander during their first encounter, describing herself as having noble intentions until Balthazar made her one of his Forged. In her dying moments, she begs the Commander to stop him.
- Something Only They Would Say: Not one for the Commander, but the player. "There's little I hold in higher regard than loyalty."
Living World Season 4
Palawa Joko
The last Primeval King and Scourge of Vabbi, Palawa Joko is a powerful lich who rules over a large territory of Elona, notably the Desolation and Vabbi. He is the mastermind behind the Awakened undead forces who threaten northern Elona and the Player Characters.
- Asshole Victim: Being Eaten Alive is a terrible way to go, but if anyone deserved such a terrible death, it was Palawa Joko.
- Berserk Button: If the Twilight Oasis fractal reflects his personality properly, he really hates being questioned. Just try to tell him that you want to ask him some questions in the fractal.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Subverted. At first it may seem like that Joko will be the secondary Big Bad of Path of Fire, but he's trapped in the Domain of the Lost, courtesy of Balthazar.
- Book Ends: His first "proper" assault against Amnoon has him blindsided by Aurene's Big Damn Heroes and complaining that the Commander "brought a dragon" and that "there's no dragon in this show!" His last scene is of him putting on an act of being killed, only to "rise from the dead" and gloat that he's truly immortal - just in time for Aurene to surprise attack him again, and this time end him properly.
- The Caligula: Under Palawa Joko's rule, there are only two options. Be his loyal servant, or die. Even the former option won't save you if his minions think that you're not serious enough about your devotion to Joko.
- And the reveal of Koss' fate in Daybreak proves that dying won't help either, as Joko might just bring you back and try to force his will on you anyway as punishment for defying him in life.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Commander taunted and left him behind in the Domain of the Lost and took control of his army. Palawa Joko retaliates against this slight by threatening and invading all of Tyria as well as trying to get Taimi killed by suffocation.
- Enemy Mine: Proposes an alliance with the Commander, telling them that they don't have a chance against Balthazar and the forged without his army. The Commander agrees with Palawa Joko that they do need the Awakened to defeat Balthazar. However, they also recognize that they don't need Joko himself.
- Extreme Omnisexual: If his harem is of any indication, he doesn't appear to be picky when it comes to races, what with it including an ogre, a harpy, and a Choya.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Propaganda claims that he's the one who defeated Abaddon, Zhaitan, Mordremoth and Balthazar, all of which are blatantly untrue. He also claims to be the "last Primeval King", but the ghosts of the Primeval Dynasty see him as nothing but a pretender.
- Fantastic Racism: In sharp contrast to his tastes when it comes to brides, his hatred towards centaurs is such he's apparently eradicated them from Elona in the 250 years since Nightfall. The only traces left are the skeletons propped up in his Bone Palace.
- Faux Affably Evil: While he cracks jokes and tries to present himself as a benevolent ruler, his actions betray him as absolutely vicious and vindictive. The Venn Diagram of "Joko being funny" and "Joko being horrifically cruel for his own amusment" overlaps significantly.
- It's All About Me: And how. He has statues in Kourna that constantly spout propaganda about how grateful his subjects should be to serve him through their lives and afterlives, and once attempted to publish a 118-stanza poem about his greatness.
- Jerkass: He's not particularly pleasant to have a conversation with, to say the least.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Just as he's about to say his name in full during his speech to the Commander. Interface Spoiler is averted, as the subtitles displays his dialogue in full as though he truly was about to say his intended phrase.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Oh boy. Back in Guild Wars 1, he used to be a Harmless Villain as an ally, barely having any grip on his minions as they shambled around and was certainly more comical than dangerous back then, though still a competent necromancer. Now he has a massive army, conquered most of Elona, carried out genocides and done horrific and vile actions to characters such as Tahlkora and Koss.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Plans to recreate the Scarab Plague that decimated Elona, but with all of Tyria as the target... and with an enhanced, even more fatal version.
- Our Liches Are Different: He's a long-lived necromancer with an army of his own.
- Resurrective Immortality: Killing him won't keep him down for long, as he is empowered by magic that resurrects him whenever he dies. He ultimately loses it along with his life when a dragon literally eats the magic out of him.
- Revenge: In Living World Season 4, he seeks to exact revenge upon the Commander for leaving him behind in the Domain of the Lost and taking control of his army.
- Sorcerous Overlord: He's a powerful necromancer who rules over a considerable amount of Elona with an iron fist and a massive army of undead minions.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He delivers one to the Commander after getting back up after being seemingly slain. It is... Decisively, and more thoroughly fatally, interrupted by Aurene.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Thanks to heavy indoctrination and propaganda, the people of Vabbi believe Palawa Joko to be a benevolent and noble king, to the point they view "awakening" as an honor.
- Villainous Breakdown: As the Commander leaves Palawa Joko behind in the Domain of the Lost, he is reduced to howling curses at them and swearing revenge.
- Woman Scorned: Does not take it well when the Commander rejects his Enemy Mine offer, and a great deal of his insults afterward treat it like a romantic rejection.
- Would Hurt a Child: Not only do his minions kidnap Taimi, but he also gets Awakened Inquest to seal her inside Scruffy 2.0 and set it to suffocate her to hurt the Commander.
Archon Iberu
- Bad Boss: He is willing to sacrifice his own minions to save his skin.
- Face–Heel Turn: Iberu was once a sunspear who opposed Palawa Joko, but was converted to serve the Lich King.
- Fallen Hero: As mentioned above, Iberu used to be a Sunspear.
- Flunky Boss: Summons Awakened minions to help him and act as bodies to drain life from.
- Kill and Replace: On the receiving end of this, courtesy of the Commander.
- Life Drain: Can restore his own health by draining his minions of life.
- Token Human: Sort of. The Awakened are undead humans, but Archon Iberu stands out by still being alive while occupying a high-ranking position. This may be one of the reasons why it's easy for the commander to impersonate him.
The Icebrood Saga
Bangar Ruinbringer
Imperator of the Blood Legion, and Rytlock's superior.
- All for Nothing: All that death, all that subterfuge, all that alienating everyone around him, and Jormag effectively double-crosses him by not only making Ryland its new Champion, but relegating him to the role of its new Voice, effectively turning him into a glorified intercom box.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: This was more or less Bangar's original plan in the Icebrood Saga. Beat the Commander's Elder Dragon by snagging one of his own. Not only does this completely backfire on him, but it goes so poorly that the heroes are forced to essentially fulfill his original paranoia by doing their own version of his plan in order to fight the dragon that he unleashed.
- Berserk Button: He has quite a few, but implying that his hateful views ruined his family and those he took an interest in is a big one.
- Fantastic Racism: Absolutely despises humans, and the only reason he signed the ceasefire agreement with them is because he didn't want to risk a civil war with the Ash and Iron legions. Eventually this extends to anyone not Charr, as when his forces move into Drizzlewood Coast, he orders all of the resident Norn and Tengu who don't flee fast enough to be slaughtered because they might be enemies.
- The Ghost: For seven years until his debut in the Bound by Blood prologue for the Icebrood Saga, he was mentioned but not seen.
- Rytlock at one point mentions he stole Iron Legion cannons and aimed them at the Black Citadel, which might have something to do with it.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Bangar's plan to take control of Jormag as his own personal Elder Dragon leads directly into Jormag taking control of him.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Is fully convinced that every loathsome action he's undertaken is for the sake of keeping the Charr race alive, and even says as much to Almorra.
- Put on a Bus: While the most heavily converted of the Frost Legion started dropping dead almost immediately after Jormag's defeat, Bangar somehow survives to be hospitalized, though he's said to be in really bad shape and not expected to last long.
- We Can Rule Together: Somewhere deep in his shriveled husk of a heart, he wants Almorra back. However, her telling him off one last time is enough for him to kill her.
- Wrong Assumption: Bangar is convinced that the Commander has wrangled an Elder Dragon to be their personal weapon of mass destruction and wants one of his own to keep up in the arms race. He cannot comprehend that Aurene works with the Commander willingly because they're both heroes.
Ryland Steelcatcher
Bangar's second-in-command, and the son of Rytlock Brimstone. When Bangar awakens the Elder Dragon Jormag, Ryland, not Banger, becomes their Champion.
- Entitled Bastard: Once he's been chosen by Jormag as the dragon's champion, he quickly becomes a smug asshole and even gets called this by Braham.
- I Just Want to Be Special: He's a top-class and highly regarded soldier but that ultimately proves not to be enough for him.
- It's All About Me: Only becomes apparent after he's chosen by Jormag.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Starts out as the voice of reason compared to Bangar's more bloodthirsty plans. After Bangar is relegated to the Mouth of Sauron role and Ryland takes command of the Frost Legion, this switches, as Bangar is burned out and bitter and Ryland has gone full One World Order.
- The Starscream: Eagerly jumps ship and leaves Bangar to rot when given the chance to take command of the Frost Legion.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Tries to put the blame for his actions on his parents not being all that involved in his life, even though paws-off parenting is the standard procedure for all Charr, and Rytlock regretted - and was trying to make up for - the years of not being there.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He thinks he's this, anyway.
Steel Warband
Comprised of Cinder Steelcatcher, Nicabar Steelweaver, Ranoah Grindsteel, and Vishen Steelshot.
- Blood Knight: Ranoah and Vishen especially enjoy fighting, bombing, or shooting anything that looks even remotely like an enemy.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Cinder is obsessed with burning things, Nicabar enjoys whipping up concoctions out of some seriously weird ingredients, Ranoah constantly cracks bad puns and treats her tank like her baby, and Vishen is Too Kinky to Torture and treats threats like flirting. However, as your allies in the southern siege of Drizzlewood Coast make a point of reminding you, they are all very good at their jobs - and deadly because of it.
- Death from Above: As the warband's copter pilot, this is Nicabar's specialty.
- I Regret Nothing: Nicabar's Last Words as his chopper goes down."They were worth it..."
- Mad Scientist / Wrench Wench: Ranoah's favorite thing to do is upgrade tanks to be more deadly and gleefully try them out on living opponents.
- Morality Chain: For Ryland. Bangar points to his rage over their loss as a major reason for Ryland becoming Jormag's Champion.
- Punch-Clock Villain: None of them really have an interest in Bangar's Dominion propaganda. They're just there because Ryland is. Unfortunately, it gets them all killed.
- Shoot the Hostage: How Cinder dies.
- The Quiet One: Nicabar doesn't do near as much shit-talking as the other members of his warband.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Vishen starts sounding very...excited when talking about the Stone Summit's "profane rituals". In Drizzlewood Coast, she even calls Malice Swordshadow threatening her kinky!
- Undying Loyalty: Even when they're losing badly and the Commander is begging them to surrender, they refuse to bail on Ryland and his ambitions.
- Worthy Opponent: Efram certainly considers them as such, remarking that the Legions will probably tell stories about their battles for a long while.
End of Dragons
Ankka
A former acquaintance of Gorrik, who lost contact with him after the destruction of the Thaumanova Reactor and ended up falling in with the Aetherblades. Unfortunately for Gorrik, their reunion is definitely not a happy one...
- Bad Boss: Thinks nothing of turning the Aetherblades who took her side over Mai Trin's into Risen to get an edge up in a fight.
- Broken Bird: Her experiences have turned her from a bright Asura engineer into a cruel, selfish Aetherblade pirate who can scare other Aetherblades.
- Creepy Monotone: Once the introductory zone is dealt with, she speaks entirely in this.
- Insane Troll Logic: She repeatedly espouses the belief that the world needs to be reverted to nothingness, and that anyone trying for any progress towards a better world is "trying to be a god" and are therefore either supremely selfish or evil.
- The Mutiny: Led one against Mai Trin in the first act of End of Dragons.
- Necromancer: Necromancers are par for the course in Tyria, but Ankka is notable for her ability to raise corpses into Risen using Zhaitan's magic. Specifically the corpses of her former crewmates. And they don't have to have already died, she'll just kill and auto-raise them if they aren't fighting well enough while still breathing.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Ultimately, her plan is to depower Aurene and use the stored, drained magic to overload the final Elder Dragon of the original six, turning her into the Void Dragon that will reduce the world to nothing but formless chaos.
- Sanity Slippage: Originally a decent person - by Inquest standards, at least - the destruction of the Thaumanova Reactor followed by her joining the Aetherblades and getting trapped in the Mists lead to the repeated murders of alternate Fractal versions of herself and the other pirates to gain their equipment to escape. Additionally, the knowledge of the Elder Dragons' lifespans lead her to believe that her and others' life and lifespan was worthless as nothing they could do would make a noticeable difference in the world. Compounding that, she picked up the new Harbinger specialization for Necromancers and had been delving deep into using Zhaitan's death magic, which certainly didn't help.
- Sense Loss Sadness: Her time in the Mists and her Sanity Slippage have left her emotionally numb, barely showing any passion or emotion even as she plots the end of all things. As she dies, she admits that all she truly wanted was to feel "stimulation" again.
- Straw Nihilist: Her motivation, when stripped down to the bare minimum, is that nothing she or anyone else can do to change the world will amount to anything when compared to what the nigh-immortal Elder Dragons can do, so therefore the only "right" thing is ensure no one has a lifetime in which to make changes, Elder Dragons included. This also conveniently ignores the fact that the Commander has managed to make monumental changes in the world that will last for eons thanks to having killed five of the six Elder Dragons so far and raising Aurene to take their place.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: She never raises her voice and always speaks with a light, conversational tune. Certainly doesn't make her any less threatening. She could speak of ending the world and devolving everything into Void like she's asking about your day.
- Walking Spoiler: Her actions and motivations are the driving force behind the plot of the expansion; to explain one you need to explain the other.
