Mordremoth is the primordial Elder Dragon of the Jungle, who appears as the main antagonist during the videogame Guild Wars 2's second Living World Season, and its Heart of Thorns expansion.
Description[]
Mordremoth is one of seven known "Elder Dragons" that have existed within the Guild Wars world of Tyria. The Elder Dragons are primordial beings of magic that have existed as long as any advanced race has known, responsible for maintaining the balance of magical energy in the world. Normally the dragon hibernate for thousands of years until a disturbance in magic is sensed, causing them to awaken and begin ravenously consuming magic however they can find it(this also includes any forms of life they find, as all life in Tyria bears some magic) until the world is near depleted, then returning to slumber whilst the magic in their bodies slowly leaks out again. Despite their important role, the elder dragons are known to be cruel, gluttonous, and uncaring in what source of magic they devour. Even worse, the dragons upon awakening use their powers to corrupt the land they pass through and create champions and minions that clear any obstacles for them, as well as consume magic on their behalf. These minions may be created or corrupted from living beings. Thus, a dragonrise is incredibly destructive, and has known to have resulted in mass extinctions over time. Furthermore, when an elder dragon is killed, the flood of magic leaving their corpse wreaks havoc on the environment.
Mordremoth's main sphere of magic is plantlife. Unusually, its unknown if this dragon has a conventional body anymore. Its mentioned that mordremoth has a connection to and uses the entirety of the gigantic Maguuma Jungle as an extension of itself, with the hollow shell of a gigantic tree in the middle of the jungle called the Heart of Thorns being the epicenter of its power. The closest thing to a true body is the Mouth of Mordremoth, a massive serpent-like creature rooted in the mist-covered terrain near the Heart, wrapped in vines and having a dull woody face. Its mental avatar bears a similar face, but has an ogre-like body instead, and is much smaller. Mordremoth's minions are usually corrupted plants or plant-like creatures created directly in massive trees known as Blighting Trees, and are called the Mordrem. The Sylvari race is also technically a purified form of Mordrem, possessing free will, though they are vulnerable to the dragon controlling their minds and corrupt their bodies.
History[]
Following the last dragonrise about ten thousand years ago, Mordremoth fell into a slumber. During this time, roughly a century ago, a human soldier named Ronan discovered a cave containing some of his minions and some large seeds, one of which Ronan took. He would eventually plant it on his family's graves and tend to it with the help of the centaur Ventari. Long after the deaths of both, the sentient plant, named the Pale Tree, would grow to massive size and birth the plant-like humanoid race known as the Sylvari. Much of the Sylvari were completely unaware of their true origins or that Mordremoth in his slumber was attempting to breach into their shared mindscape known as the Dream and corrupt them, being held back by the Pale Tree.
In the modern era, the jungle dragon was the last one awaken, with others having been active for almost a century prior, and following the death of Zhaitan. Mordremoth reach out to Scarlet Briar, a lone sylvari who had tried to distance her mental connection to the Dream, making her vulnerable to his whispers and driving her mad. Assembling an army over the course of several years, Scarlet attacked the city of Lion's Arch and drilled deep into the harbor. Though Scarlet died in the assault, the drill disrupted a natural subterranean flow of magic called a Ley Line and redirected it into the jungle, feeding Mordremoth and letting it emerge. Over the next year or so massive vines spread underground through central Tyria from the jungle, erupting out of the ground along with Mordrem and attacking settlements while also feeding on ley line magic and anything it else. The dragon also sent a large number of mordrem to attack the Grove, home of the Pale Tree, while a meeting of world leaders was present. Though the mordrem failed to kill any of the leaders and spurred them to take action, the Pale Tree was severely injured and put into a comatose state and removing much of the protection the Sylvari had.
An initial airfleet assault by the Pact, the multi-race fighting force that had slain Zhaitan, was wiped out almost immediately, with huge vines ripping airships out of the sky, while Mordremoth unleashed a mental call that caused many sylvari to succumb to his will and turn into the Mordrem Guard that attacked their former pact members. Among those that went missing was the Pact's Marshall, a sylvari named Trahearne. Despite this, survivors, including a number of Sylvari who were able to resist the dragon's influence, regrouped after the Commander, second in command of the Pact, joined the fray and pressed through the jungle, gathering some extra allies in the local frog-like Hylek tribes, the enchanted armor known as the Exalted, and pitting the magic-eating athropods known as the Chak against the mordrem to weaken both. During this, the Commander of the Pact along with his team discovered mordremoth's blighting pods could create Mordrem replicas of any creature, alive or dead, that was put into them. Realizing the jungle dragon planned a massive invasion into Tyria, the commander and company pushed behind enemy lines into the epicenter of his domain. To their dismay Trahearne had been badly corrupted and permanently rooted to a blighting pod, but the sylvari provided them a way to defeat the jungle dragon: through Trahearne, their minds could enter the dream and destroy Mordremoth's own consciousness. Within the mindscape the jungle dragon conjured illusions of fallen loved ones to try and break them, but commander and his team were able to twist the dream towards their favor by defeating the conjurations, forcing Mordremoth to create an avatar and fight them directly while the Pact assaulted the Mouth of Mordremoth in the real world. Although he was defeated, a piece of his mind lived on within Trahearne, forcing the commander to quickly kill him at his request to end the dragon for good. The death of the jungle dragon caused all the vines throughout the world to go limp, though the mordrem remained and grew deranged without command. The surge of magic from the dead dragon proved to be especially harmful, destabilizing the natural balance of the world and partially contributing to the nearby Maguuma Bloodstone, a massive container of solidified magic, to destabilize and explode. The plant magic of Mordremoth would be absorbed and used by the nearby elder dragons Primordus and Jormag.
Mental Avatar used within the Dream
Abilities[]
Mordremoth possessed complete control of plantlife within the Maguuma Jungle, able to twist and move them to his own ends. He also could corrupt plants into minions or create them with the use of Blighting Trees. Curiously the dragon has a connection to the mindscape known as the Dream, but cannot fully control it nor easily intrude into it, although its influence is strong enough that he can manipulate and control weak-willed Sylvari. Finally, the dragon can move its mind to another mordrem body as a last resort to survive, as well as move the minds of deceased mordrem into new bodies.