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lupinepariah · 4 years

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Jormag is Such a Mood

As I wait for episode 3 I feel like I'm twisting in the wind as I worry that ArenaNet might let me down with the coming story. I hope that this is the turning point for them that I wish for, where they'll stop relying on cheap shlocky shock value to tell their stories. After a while, it's easy to feel numb and cold towards X or Y character that one cared about dying because you sort of expect it. It's an unnecessary amount of suffering and death.

There's been an ongoing shift in the stories they've been telling and a strong message regarding mental health interwoven within. It covers topics like invasive thoughts, trust, and how we suffer because we're too afraid to talk (let alone talk to one another). I think that these messages are important and more relevant now and to their contemporary audience than ever before. Kralkatorrik's torment was a literal representation of the suffering that invasive thoughts can cause, it was also almost a treatise on how to combat them too with Kralkatorrik challenging them by stating the truth whenever they spoke, supported by the Commandrer and Aurene. It's just a shame that Kralkatorrik had to die.

I get why he did and that's not a bad message either. If a person is in an extreme amount of pain then allowing them to end that pain is compassionate and empathetic. In doing so, they humanised Kralkatorrik and completely changed how the Elder Dragons are perceived. In that moment, everything was made anew and they could tell stories with their dragons that they would've never had the chance to before. There might be other dragons out there who're decent people, or those who're just being tormented.

With Jormag, they remind me of a frustrated therapist. I mean, frankly, that's exactly what they remind me of. "Maybe you should listen."

What they're doing with the Commander is necessary to help those with cognitive dissonance to reach the same conclusions but it's also a frustrating bout of dramatic irony. The player's character is being stubborn, foolish, and quite frankly dumb. I appreciate what they're doing though, if indeed I'm right. I mean, they built up the trust with Aurene so that Aurene can convey things to the player. Not the player character, the player. Bangar, for example. Aurene told the player that there's no purpose in killing Bangar and that I find especially pertinent. This is why I have so much fragile hope.

Jormag sounds like someone who genuinely wants to help. Yet they're misunderstood, demonised, typecast, and no one wants to listen to what they're actually saying. Worse for them is that in the narrative there's a proper mind controller at play—be it Abaddon, Jormag's torment, the deep sea dragon, or perhaps even all of the above—and that isn't immediately clear to the player. You need a good sense for intrigue plots and general observational skills to pick up on that.

Anyone paying attention would've noticed how Jormag is constantly telling everyone that they want to talk, not fight. They're asking questions. They're being persuasive. What they're doing isn't mind control. Yet what happened with Rytlock and Crecia at the end of episode 2 was mind control, it was outright mind control. That isn't Jormag's power. What's even more odd about that is how they yelled about their voices not being their own, Jormag has no reason to broadcast that through them. There's more going on here.

There's so much frustration and anguish in Jormag's voice. I have to give it to the voice actress of Jormag for pulling that off so successfully, and to ArenaNet's sound direction team too. I mean, it's unmistakable. If you know what you're listening for, Jormag sounds very, very frustrated. They really want to help, they want to get you to listen because you don't know what's going on. They're just so opposed to suffering and that's something they reveal to you plentifully in their whispers.

I mean, look at how everyone needs therapy! I will harp on this because it's relevant.

Rytlock — He's always running away from his partner and son to find ways to be worthy of them without realising how worthy he is. This is why he tells us in Path of Fire that he needs a win. He's obsessively looking for ways to overcome his own self-esteem issues, Rytlock has very poor confidence and a lot of invasive thoughts regarding his own self-worth.

Crecia — From Crecia's perspective, Rytlock ran because he's unreliable and afraid of responsibility. She also questions whether she had any part in it, whether it was her fault that it happened. This has left Cre with some fairly bad abandonment issues and codependency, she's looking for anyone to be her rock and to help provide her with safety and emotional stability. Someone who won't run away, basically. This is something that Bangar is exploiting for his own benefit.

Braham — He's made a lot of mistakes. The spirits distrust him, he's been too cocksure and egotistical in the past and it's gotten him into trouble and each incident has only sullied his reputation further, and on top of that he has serious mommy and daddy issues. Yet he's a big, strong norn! He's a meaty meat-shield, he can power through anything. He doesn't have any need for emotions. This is why he's always falling to pieces and anything that the Commander does is just putting a band-aid on it and little more.

Marjory — In her relationship she has to be the strong one, she's taken it upon herself to be masculine in order to protect Kasmeer. The problem with this is that she's not facing her past or even talking about it. There are things in her past, deaths, that haunt her. Such as that of Belinda whom she's unable to let go. If you don't talk about your losses, you can't ever let them go.

Bangar — Riddled with feelings of inadequacy. He feels as though he's the least successful of the imperators who've all achieved greater things than he has. Smodur and Malice played a greater part in the treaty, after all, which Bangar stood against because it was Smodur's idea. Bangar is strongly opposed to Smodur as Smodur is the successful charr imperator that Bangar has always wanted to be. He wants to be important, to be remembered, and this has driven him to want to be Jormag's champion. Furthermore, his cognitive dissonance has fed into xenophobia. Since Smodur wanted a treaty, Bangar's hatred of Smodur festered into fears of what humans might do to the charr again, given the chance.

Ryland — Daddy issues. Daddy issues. He's Mr. Daddy Issues. I mean, he has a technological version of sohothin. Did anyone else notice that? There's so much in the way of daddy issues here. He recognises that his father is incredible but he feels like his father has no value for him, that nothing that Ryland could do would ever, ever be good enough for the great Rytlock Brimstone. He's turned to Bangar because he needed a father figure, he needs someone who'll be proud of him.

This is why Guild Wars 2 is driving me crazy right now.

I mean, we have a bunch of characters who're desperately in need of therapy. We have a game that's had some generally positive messages about mental health. On top of that we now have a therapy dragon who's just so frustrated that no one's listening to them, because all they want to do is help ease the suffering. They're tired of suffering. The culmination I'm hoping for is that we end up with Jormag on our side because that would make sense narratively. It's where they seem to be heading.

I mean, if we had Jormag with us? All of these poor babies could get therapy. Between Aurene and Jormag they could finally get the help they need. They all need to talk! This really NEEDS to happen! This is why it's so frustrating because I share Jormag's frustrations. I've encountered so many people in this real world of ours who need help, who need therapy, yet they snub this advice because they feel it suggests there's something flawed about them instead of realising that every living person needs therapy sometimes.

Tyria needs a source of therapy. Jormag freed from their torment would be an amazing way to handle that. I mean, Fraenir called it the Age of the Dragon. I want to see that! I'd love for there to be a Grand Dragon Council or somesuch, where the kindly dragons free of torment congregate to discuss how they might best help Tyria. Each dragon has something they could bring to the table. Jormag has therapy. Which Tyria needs so, so badly.

Plus, it would further the positive messaging about this topic. I want ArenaNet to please, please do this. It'd be an amazing way to tell people that therapy isn't a dirty word. Jormag is so perfectly suited to fit that role. I mean, everyone loves Jormag anyway and no one wants them to be evil. I don't think any Elder Dragon beyond Aurene has had the kind of following in the fan community that Jormag's accrued. They're incredibly popular.

I'm not going to be childish and dump the game if Jormag ends up being a reductivist moustache-twirling villain but I have to speak about this. It would be so, so disappointing and it would stab all the good messaging they've done regarding mental health in the back. It would undo the good they've done. Plus, it would make very little narrative sense. I mean, we're supposed to be easing off of this whole MURDER EVERYONE thing, after all. We know that killing Elder Dragons just makes everything worse. So why not let Jormag live?

Guild Wars 2 is dangerously close to becoming my favourite game. It's just time for hope to shine through the darkness. There's been enough death. There's been enough murder. And there's certainly been enough suffering. It's time for things to change. The best way to indicate that would be to have Jormag join forces with Aurene.

Then Dragon's Watch could get the therapy it needs, along with Bangar and Ryland.

So many people in Tyria need therapy.

Maybe they should listen?

#guild wars 2 #jormag #arenanet #please don't screw this up

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