Zhaitan is a primordial Elder Dragon of death and shadow, who appears as a major antagonist in the videogame Guild Wars 2.
Description[]
Zhaitan 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.
Zhaitan's primary spheres of magic are death and poison. His body appears decayed and rotten, with four tattered wings, and several tails instead of back legs and prominent horns. His lower jaw is instead a mass of serpents. His size is massive, with the head of just one of his serpents dwarfing a human, although he is quite small compared to the other elder dragons. His minions, created mostly from the dead, are known as the Risen.
History[]
After his last dragonrise, which predated most of Tyria's written history, Zhaitan fell asleep deep underneath an island. During ten thousand years after in which the current races colonized the world, the gods of the human race founded their city upon the island, named Orr, due to the magical energy the dragon was emanating below(although they did not know this to be the origin). Centuries after the gods had left Tyria and Orr had been sunk into the sea during an immense war, Zhaitan awoke much later after sensing the magical imbalances caused by the death of the god Abbadon, and other elder dragons awakening. His awakening caused Orr to rise up from the ocean, creating a devastating tsunami, followed by the appearance of his Risen armies initially created from the many corpses still present on Orr, who would attack neighboring nations and consume any magic they could find, slowly increasing the size of the dragon's armies as well.
After doing battle with his armies and champions, the major races of Tyria would eventually form a pact, and launch a combined assault on Orr to try and kill Zhaitan using a fleet of airships. While Zhaitan and his champions took down many of the ships and made advancing over land and sea difficult and costly, The Glory of Tyria, a massive airship built with weaponry designed to kill elder dragons, wounded and eventually brought down Zhaitan for good in the skies above Orr. His death sent a surge of magical energy across the world, beginning the process of unbalancing Tyria and empowering the other elder dragons with his magic, giving them access to the powers of death and re-animation. His dwindling Risen armies remained active in the following years, but became more and more chaotic and unchained without a master. Meanwhile the Sylvari race would spend the years after working to purify Orr from its twisted state.
Abilities[]
Being a creature of magic, Zhaitan has considerable control over death and shadow magic specifically, such as being able to utilize necromancy. He can also spew poison and summon tendrils to attack nearby threats. His unique dragon energy also gives him the power to corrupt and control corpses, turning them into his minions and champions, as well as allow him to feed upon the magic they collect and see through the eyes of certain champions. This unique biology also makes him mostly resistant to conventional tactics of killing him.