I went down a lore rabbit hole again. This is why I love Secrets of the Obscure so much: it’s all rabbit holes. Shoutout as usual to @/icebrooding, my partner in crime when it comes to unearthing SotO lore and piecing it all together.
Let’s go, another long post.
GW2 Wiki: II: The Minister Illuminate
II: The Minister Illuminate
Akeem, the Wizard of the Obscure
The one who brings together our two worlds will die doing so; at the feet of a monstrous force, they will perish.
So. Akeem’s tarot card says they will die “bringing together our two worlds”.
GW2 Wiki: Lonely Tower Fractal - Dialogue
Dagda: Mabon. Isgarren. Pick a god and thank her for your survival…
Mabon: Where are the others?
Dagda: Dead.
Isgarren: All of them?
Dagda: Akeem and Vass. Waiting Sorrow is fine, but… She’s in shock. Won’t speak. Or move.
And we know Akeem died during Eparch’s invasion in Lonely Tower, alongside Vass or even trying to protect her.
(This just a guess based on the name of the Akeem’s Sacrifice POI though, since we know Cerus and Deimos killed Vass but Dagda specifies only Vass and not Akeem in the dialogue that names them her killers. It’s possible Eparch is the one who killed Akeem.)
You can probably see where I’m going with this: Akeem was experimenting with portals into the Mists and that’s what led to Lonely Tower.
One more thing to possibly back this up:
The event chain that unlocks their tarot card has some interesting dialogue about the nature of the rifts between Nayos, but specifically I want to point to the second event in the chain which gives us this little bit:
Event start
Researcher Lezzi: Now we, uh…just need to find a way to close the rifts. Hehe.
Eparch: What’s this, then? You dare peer into my domain?
Eparch: You flatter me. Allow us to give you a warm Nayos welcome.
Researcher Lezzi: Uh-oh…
Researcher Lezzi: You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas, would you?
Researcher Lezzi: You have a rift-closing implement? Oh, you must let me study it!
Eparch notices after some time that we are “peering into his domain”. While events in Amnytas take place during the invasion that forms the backbone of base SotO’s plot, so he would probably be paying attention to rifts opening from the Tyrian side—what if this is what happened with Akeem too?
Akeem was experimenting with portals into the Mists and then “peered” into Nayos a little too long and a little too often, so Eparch takes the opportunity to invade the Wizard’s Tower with Cerus and Deimos and a section of their army.
GW2 Official Forums: ArenaNet Lore-Interview for the German Roleplay Community
INDIGO: As a small addition to Bobby’s observations, Deimos came to Tyria with a mission: to help find ways for Eparch and the Kryptis to breach the Veil (which is what the Kryptis call the ethereal wall between the various realms of the Mists, including Tyria and Nayos). Some secrets may have yet to be told, but Eparch has looked to some very… nefarious tactics to find his way back to lsgarren, even before the events of Secrets of the Obscure. Saul just happened to be the perfect vessel for one of these splinter attacks, although Deimos’s gluttony for suffering would prove dire
But what if Akeem opening portals into Nayos was one of Eparch’s “nefarious tricks”? What if they were being influenced from beyond the Veil? Or was it their natural curiosity and interests into “the obscure” that led to this?
The worst part?
GW2 Wiki: Researcher Lezzi
Starting Defend Researcher Lezzi as she gathers information about rifts
You there! How did you get in here? Actually, wait, nevermind. I need your help. I may have discovered a way to maintain rifts to Nayos long enough to gather valuable data. Lend me a hand.
> Sure, but…is this safe?
> This seems like a bad idea.
Researcher Lezzi: I obtained vital data on the Nayos rifts.
Research Lead Ronald: You obtained vital…? I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO TRIFLE WITH THOSE PORTALS
Researcher Lezzi: And yet, science marches on. That data will give us a huge advantage against the Kryptis. No need to thank me.
If Lezzi has managed to essentially recreate Akeem’s experiments, it’s possible there was no way to close the portals or rifts in Lonely Tower either other than using the other wizards’ powers.
There is however one difference in this event and what happened in Lonely Tower: we have the Heart of the Obscure to close rifts.
And Waiting Sorrow created the Heart of the Obscure.
Perhaps she did so after Lonely Tower?
The Shield of Tyria
There is one more thing about Akeem piercing the Veil I want to talk about.
GW2 Wiki: Hell Breaks Loose
> What is the Wizard’s Court?
Mabon: We are protectors, not too dissimilar from yourself and your liege. Aurene.
Mabon: While you kept Tyria safe from the threat of the dragon cycle, we watched you from the clouds.
Mabon: Until recently, the World Spire has powered a shield that guarded this world from the Mists…to an extent.
GW2 Wiki: Aging Journal Entry
I suppose Isgarren wouldn’t have gone along with the ritual if there was any lingering distrust between us, since it keeps us together for the foreseeable future. He could have also done it for his personal gain… His “World Spire” isn’t complete, after all, and he needed another pair of hands to work with the shadowstone. I wouldn’t have been able to help him if I hadn’t gone through with it. At least I’m making an impact.
GW2 Wiki: Strength of the Unseen
Isgarren: Nothing that sees this place stays away. And I’ve tried to keep them out for a long time.
Mabon: So that’s the plan.
Isgarren: Mm. The dragons are a headache, but the demon realm is an infection. All of those pockets are.
Isgarren: The dragons could very well be the bacteria fighting off that infection, too. I don’t know, but I need them alive.
Isgarren: I’ve no clue what Eparch wanted. But he wasn’t happy when I booted him back to his bog.
Isgarren was already building the World Spire when he ascended Mabon, but the incident with Eparch and the centaur village solidified his resolve to keep the barrier between Nayos and Tyria firmly shut. That’s what the World Spire is: Tyria’s shield.
GW2 Official Forums: ArenaNet Lore-Interview for the German Roleplay Community
BOBBY: It’s not closer to the Mists due to its altitude, but more because the metaphysical barrier that separates the Mists from physical Tyria had been breached via portals. Bastion of the Penitent, for example, is located in the Woodland Cascades north of Kryta. It’s essentially below ground yet just as close to the Mists as the Horn of Maguuma due to the barrier between realms being compromised or otherwise weakened.
Kryptis don’t think and feel the same way as Tyrians, so when they make their first possession, they don’t know how to process it. Higher Kryptis such as Cerus, Peitha, and Deimos had possessed many Tyrians by the time the wayfinder/commander encountered them, thus their inquisitive observations.
Now I want to call attention to two things here: that the barrier between realms was “compromised or otherwise weakened” and that “higher kryptis such as Cerus, Peitha, and Deimos had possessed many Tyrians”.
Bringing It All Together
Prior to the World Spire’s completion, Eparch and his brother are able to physically make the jump from Nayos to Tyria. There was probably some natural barrier that has always existed here which makes it either difficult or dangerous for kryptis to do this en masse, and possibly the elder dragons themselves were part of that defense.
Isgarren completes the World Spire at some point with Mabon’s help. This feels likely to me to be after Eparch and the centaur village. The World Spire bolsters Tyria’s barrier to the Mists, but specifically against Nayos and other parts of the demon realm.
This may not have been 100% airtight, as kryptis could dream of Tyria and Eparch was possibly able to reach Akeem.
Akeem, whether under Eparch’s influence or not, opened portals between Tyria and Nayos, bypassing the World Spire’s shield and severely weakening it. Very likely one of their own portals is what Eparch used to invade the Wizard’s Tower in the events of Lonely Tower.
After Lonely Tower, Isgarren and the other Wizards tighten the barrier once more, but the damage has been done and kryptis are occasionally able to cross the Veil. This is what allowed Cerus and Peitha to possess Tyrians. This is how Deimos crossed into Tyria to look for other ways to breach the Veil entirely. This is how Kanaxai ended up trapped in the Deep.
And then you get…well, the entire game. Everything from the Personal Story to End of Dragons happens and a metric ton of shenanigans happens with the Mists, all of which likely contributed further to weakening the Veil into Nayos, and each elder dragon’s death was another likely defense down, and one of them started eating their way through the Mists and possibly even branded some kryptis along the way.
And then Soo-Won’s death breaks it entirely.