Guild Wars 2 is about halfway through its fifth major expansion, and two expansions into its new content model. As described by the developers themselves, the shorter content model provides ample opportunity for the writing team to address smaller plot threads and mysteries that may not have been able to carry entire expansions before.
With over a decade of story under its belt, Guild Wars 2 has no shortage of mysteries and abandoned plot threads to pull from. Naturally, many players—myself included—have theorized about which of these might make their way into an upcoming expansion—and which will be left unanswered forever (or until ArenaNet decides to make a Guild Wars 3, with even more guilds and wars.
In this article, I'd like to analyze as many of these possible story ideas as I can and determine which are the most likely to see focus in a future expansion—in particular, I'll be focusing on which are likely to be Janthir Wilds's direct follow-up. The core ideas I'd like to analyze are the major mysteries that act as the "X-factor" of each story and the antagonist factions that could potentially serve as the main threat. Without further ado, let's take a look.
Major Mysteries
Both of the expansion we've received under the new content model—'Secrets of the Obscure' and 'Janthir Wilds'—have been focused primarily around answering long-standing questions of the game's deeper lore and story, namely "What the hell is up with the Wizard's Tower?" and "What the actual fuck is going on in Janthir?" I find it incredibly likely that the next expansion will continue this pattern with an equally important mystery.
With that in mind, I have collected here a number of significant mysteries that I believe are on a similar level to the two already answered. Let's take a look at which could lead to interesting expansion ideas and which are better left unanswered.
Malyck's Tree
In the Sylvari personal story, you can meet Malyck, who comes from a tree other than the Pale Tree we all know and love. This begs some obvious questions: where is his tree? Is there an entire second civilization of Sylvari out there somewhere? Were they affected by Mordremoth's call during HoT?
The developers clearly have at least some interest in answering these questions—or at least, they did at one point. They've spoken about scrapped plans for a subplot in HoT that would've focused primarily around Malyck. This never came to fruition, but at the very least it proves that the team did have further plans for him.
As far as mysteries go, Malyck's tree has everything it needs to make for a good expansion hook. The tree and its surrounding areas would serve perfectly as new maps, and it'd be very easy to justify sending the Commander there—it could be a diplomatic mission similar to our adventure in Janthir, intended to recruit the denizens of the other tree to the Tyrian Alliance, and it could very easily be linked to other plot threads, such as the Pale Mother's illness (more on that later) or the ambiguous fate of the ex-Mordrem.
The Dominion of Winds
This mystery is as simple as it gets: the Dominion of Winds has been locked behind several gates since launch, and for the same amount of time players have chopping at the bit to get inside its walls. This simplicity comes with both advantages and disadvantages.
The Dominion of Winds does have the foundation necessary to carry an expansion. With gates in both Lion's Arch and Caledon Forest, the territory it seems to command is large enough to comfortably fit three new zones, which seems to be the baseline for expansions under the new content model. The landmasses at the top and to the left have more than enough room to work with; the landmass on the bottom right is smaller, but could function if the zone is mostly underwater (or if they just change the size of the island). There are also two small landmasses in the center where they could potentially fit a small, Arborstone-esque hub zone.
It also isn't too hard to imagine a plot that would justify the Commander's presence in the Dominion. As it is now a member of the Tyrian Alliance, it would naturally invite another member of the Alliance into its borders if it was facing a big enough problem to necessitate our presence. Imagining what that threat may be is a bit more of a challenge, however—the Dominion is surrounded on almost all sides by allies, and it's hard to see the Karka to its south carrying an entire expansion.
The "Thing" in the Deep Ocean
For a long time, we and the characters both believed that the Elder Dragon of Water was responsible for driving the Largos and Quaggan from their homes in the Unending Ocean. Then, in End of Dragons, we met Soo-Won; recurring character Ela Makkay—who definitely isn't E—concluded that, given the presented timeline of events, Soo-Won couldn't have been responsible, and there was thus another "thing" in the depths.
That's about all we know about The Scary Thing In The Deep, but with that said it's a rather compelling idea to pursue. The Unending Ocean is, well, unending, which leaves plenty of room for new zones. The only issue is that the entire expansion would likely need to be underwater, and while I'd be excited to see how ArenaNet could improve on those systems if they made an expansion focused on it, many players wouldn't want to bother, which could potentially be a significant profit liability.
As far as the plot, the Tyrian Alliance once again provides a perfect launching point to justify pursuing the Big Fucking Ocean Monster (you're surely noticing a trend at this point—the Alliance's existence is really, really convenient). It's been mentioned that both the Tethyos Houses and the Quaggan of the Unending Ocean have refused to join the Alliance, which could be related to an ongoing conflict with the Deep Scary Creature; we could be sent in to curry favor with them by handling the problem.
E's Identity
E is one of the most mysterious figures in Guild Wars 2's story, and players have speculated about their identity for over a decade now. While it is undeniably one of the biggest longstanding mysteries, it also sticks out like a sore thumb among these other options.
Unlike all the other mysteries, E's identity doesn't directly connect to an unexplored area of the world. It's a lot harder to build an entire expansion around a single character than it is a whole region. There's also an argument to be made that E's identity is a mystery better left unanswered—that it's more interesting and has more value to the story if we never actually get a definitive answer to it.
In favor of this idea, it wouldn't be the first time that E sent the Commander on a mission, though we have earned quite a bit more glory since we last heard from them. The overall plot of the expansion doesn't necessarily have to focus on E; they could simply reveal themself over the course of a story in which they are a major character, while the main plot focused on another plot thread.
Doern Velazquez's Homeland
Doern Velazquez is a minor character from the early days of Guild Wars 2's story. He's one of the high-ranking members of the Order of Whispers, and the center of an intriguing mystery.
Velazquez's surname is Spanish, and some of the little dialogue there is with him makes it very clear that he isn't from the Human nations of Kryta, Elona, or Cantha. The implication here is clear: there's a fourth nation out there somewhere, from which Doern hails.
As with many of the other mysteries discussed here, the idea of an unexplored region naturally lends itself to new expansion zones and a story where the Tyrian Alliance sends us to visit a new nation. The one issue with this mystery is that the sole source of information regarding it, Doern, is a very minor character. While it could certainly work and be interesting, the majority of players' reaction to such a plot would likely be along the lines of "the what?"
Antagonist Factions
While the above mysteries may act as the backbone and "X-factor" for a new expansion, an interesting concept alone does not an expansion make. Guild Wars 2 is a video game, and one whose primary focus is on combat. At the end of the day, each expansion's story is largely just an excuse to give us new places to explore and new bad guys to murderize, which means the possible antagonists are our next focus.
There are a few things to consider when it comes to antagonists, namely how large of a threat they could potentially pose to the Commander at this stage in the story, whether or not they may benefit from any advantageous circumstances, and, in the case of returning villains, whether there's still room for interesting drama or developments.
For an example, let's start by considering the Sons of Svanir with these standards. Though there are certainly some Svanir remaining, their organization as a whole was soundly defeated, with both their leader (the Fraenir) and their object of worship (Jormag) killed; what few forces they still have couldn't realistically pose a real threat to the Commander or their many allies. The Icebrood Saga also already touched on just about every interesting thing that could've still been done with the Svanir, leaving very little room for new developments in a future expansion. When analyzed in this way, we can soundly determine that the Svanir will almost certainly never be the focus of a future expansion.
With our methods established, let's begin a comprehensive analysis of every antagonist faction to have made an appearance so far throughout Guild Wars 2 and their likelihood of returning as a major threat. Each entry is ordered in roughly the order they appear in the story (for factions introduced in Core, I went from left to right on the world map).
Arcane Council & Arcane Eye
The Arcane Council is the main governing body of the Asura of Rata Sum. The Council itself has been the target of primarily negative characterization throughout the story. They command a secret service known as the Arcane Eye, which itself briefly serves as an antagonist in the Asuran personal story, and are shown to not only accept, but even protect the Inquest.
On its own, the Council lacks the means to serve as a real threat to Tyria, with Rata Sum being just one of many allies, and the Council and those loyal to it being a smaller fraction of the Asura. That said, they have direct ties to the Inquest, who possess much more firepower, and the full capabilities of the Arcane Eye are unknown. The Council also likely has authority over the Asuran technology used across Tyria, such as Asura gates, and could theoretically cripple the world's infrastructure should they go rogue.
It isn't particularly hard to imagine a motivation for the Council to go villainous, either. Based on Councillor Ludo's dialogue, the Council's participation in the Tyrian Alliance is best described as reluctant or even indifferent; combined with their questionable past and their connection to the Inquest, they could very easily be at odds with the rest of the Alliance if an opportunity for personal profit arrived. This could even lead to a plotline similar to the Charr Civil War in IBS.
Inquest
The Inquest is a large organization of particularly morally bankrupt Asura who run a wide variety of mad experiments in their quest for total world domination. I'll cut to the chase—I believe the Inquest are one of the most promising candidates for future main antagonist.
Whereas the other main antagonist factions for each race have spent large portions of the main story completely absent, the Inquest have remained relevant with significant appearances in the personal story and every Living World season except for The Icebrood Saga. They're also one of the original factions with the highest possible military potential—they seem to have bases all across the world, and not only have we never formally defeated them, we don't even know who their leader is. While we have thwarted their efforts on some occasions, on others we simply furthered their experiments (such as in the Specimen Chamber meta-event).
Furthermore, the Inquest's focus on researching science and magic provides them with even more avenues through which to serve as a physical threat. We already know from Ankka that it's possible for regular people to harness Dragon magic, and the aforementioned Specimen Chamber event showed us that the Inquest has been experiment with Dragon minions for years; you connect the dots. This is just one example—Tyria is filled with so many different technologies and magic systems that the Inquest could abuse to their advantage.
The Inquest also benefits from at least partial support from the Arcane Council that governs Rata Sum. This could provide them with crucial information to launch a preemptive attack on the rest of the Tyrian Alliance, or could even lead to a sort of Asuran civil war if we were to launch an all-out offensive against the Inquest.
Overall, not only do the Inquest have more than enough potential and firepower to pose a real threat—especially now, with Janthir Wilds marking the longest period of time we've gone without seeing them—they're also rife with interesting plot hooks and themes to play with. They may not be the next main antagonist, but they are the only antagonist faction I can confidently declare absolutely will make a major return sometime in the future.
Nightmare Court
The Nightmare Court is the main antagonist faction of the Sylvari, made up of those who chose to disconnect themselves from the Dream and the Pale Mother, experimenting with their morbid curiosity for death and pain to everyone else's detriment. It's also one of the most underutilized factions, in my opinion, only playing small roles in Living World Season 1 and Heart of Thorns and having gone unseen since.
In terms of military ability, the Court stands up surprisingly well. While we did kill their leader in HoT, the faction as a whole has never been formally defeated, and we know there's at least one character—Duchess Chrysanthea—who could have taken over. The fact we haven't seen them in so long also provides them with plenty of time to bolster their forces off-screen. There are also multiple groups of other unaccounted-for Sylvari—such as the ex-Mordrem or the people of Malyck's tree—who could've been recruited into the Court, willingly or otherwise.
The Court itself also still has its share of interesting plot hooks to play with. Duchess Chrysanthea fought alongside us against Mordremoth, and she's stated to lead a mroe "liberal" faction within the Court. Whether this is merely a friendly facade used to keep suspicion off the Court as they build an army, or she is a genuinely good person who might call on us to help reform the rest of her people, her character, and the Court by extension, is just waiting for future development.
Krait
The Krait are a race of xenophobic serpents who viciously adhere to a religion claiming that they are the superior race, awaiting the destined return of prophets that may or may not even exist. They are a frequent sight across the open world of Core Tyria and play a significant role in Living World Season 1, making up half of the Toxic Alliance. Since then, however, they have been absent.
As far as their military potential, the Krait hold up surprisingly well. They hold quite a bit of territory across Core Tyria, indicating they have a rather expansive military, and there's no way of knowing for sure just how many more forces they might have out in the Unending Ocean. In-game lore also claims that they were able to successfully kill the Quaggan goddess Mellagan, which is further proof of their military might.
The Krait's lack of presence in the story also means they've had many years to build up their forces even further while the Commander was occupied with more immediate threats. It's also possible they could have retained the technology Scarlet used to create the Toxic Hybrid; Ensolyss was a decent threat just minutes after being born, so just imagine what an entire army of fully-matured and properly-armed hybrids could do.
The Krait also present a lot of interesting possibilities when it comes to the story. We know little about Krait history and culture and the truth behind their prophets, and they're directly involved with the Quaggan, who we also still have much to learn about. The fact that Krait appear to be so ontologically evil is also a natural challenge to Guild Wars 2's recurring themes of unity—the story has shown again and again that even the most seemingly vile creatures are not inherently evil, and attempting to apply the same to the Krait could make for quite an interesting plotline.
Centaurs
The centaurs are one of the major threats found in Kryta in the open-world of Core Tyria, but they're oddly absent in the game's main story. While there are various tribes of centaurs across the world, the ones we're discussing here are the three that make up the centaur alliance that we fight in Kryta, as just mentioned—the Tamini, Harathi, and Modniir, the latter of which is implied to have subjugated the other two tribes by force.
While the centaurs appear to be one of the most numerous and widespread threats in Core Tyria's open-world, they never come back as a major antagonist later on. This could be because they are a rare case of a faction that was formally defeated in open-world events. The fact they claimed so much territory in Core Tyria only means we took that much more away from them just by completing renown hearts and meta-events, not to mention that their leader, Ulgoth, dies at the end of his associated meta-event.
Given that the centaur alliance is made up of three tribes, it isn't hard to imagine another leader could have risen since then, and there's no way to know for sure how much more territory they might have. Even so, their proximity to Kryta would make it all too easy for our many allies to assist us in any future war against them; it's hard to see them posing a significant threat.
Even more than their lack of military, a lack of interesting potential developments seems the greatest issue to me. At best I could see the centaurs playing second fiddle to a larger antagonist force, but rather than simply going to war with them again, I believe a much more interesting—and, therefore, more likely—development would be for us to seek peace reconciliation with them. Such a development would not only be much mroe inherently interesting than simply fighting them again, it would line up much better with both Guild Wars 2's recurring themes of unity and the ongoing Tyrian Alliance plotline.
Bandits
Bandits are one of the main antagonist factions found across Kryta, and serve as a significant threat throughout Core Tyria's open world and the personal story. Kryta's bandits are more organized than it first appear,s and at least some of them, including Jannaj's Bandits and Sabetha's gang, have ties to the White Mantle.
With that said, mere bandits don't spark much fear at this point in the story. After slaying Dragons, Demons, and a Lich, run-of-the-mill bandits aren't much of a threat to the Commander; furthermore, many of their leaders are killed as part of the Justice of the Blade side story, and the White Mantle whom they have ties to don't fare much better.
It's safe to say that most of the bandit forces in Central Tyria have been soundly defeated, and even were they still at their full strength, it's doubtful they'd be able to carry an expansion on their own. The only way I see the remaining bandits taking part in a future story is if they team up with (or, more likely, get manipulated by) other factions.
Pirates
Pirates are like bandits, but on water. Jokes aside, the main difference between pirates and bandits as they're portrayed in Guild Wars 2 is that the pirates appear to be a large number of disparate, squabbling factions, as opposed to the relatively organized bandits.
The fact that the pirates can be recognized and split into individual groups is actually a big hit to their military potential. Most crew's leaders exist as bosses in the open-world, meaning almost every pirate crew is canonically defeated before the personal story even completes. There are no doubt more pirates out there, but we can't measure what isn't seen in-game, and it's doubtful that there'd be enough of them to mount any real offensive.
Separatists
The Separatists are minor antagonists active in Ascalon, but I've included them here alongside the Kryta-focused factions because they're made up entirely of Humans. The Separatists' whole MO is opposing the treaty between the Humans and Charr—they refuse to forgive the Charr for past atrocities, instead wanting to continue the war and reclaim Ascalon for themselves.
The Separatists were never a large or prominent force to begin with, and while that does mean we never bothered to formally defeat them, it doesn't exactly shine a great picture on their military might. Let's put it thsi way: the Charr are under attack by the most enemy forces by far in Core Tyria, and if the Separatists were their main enemy rather than just a 13th reason, they would've gotten cleaned up by the legions overnight.
While it's possible the Separatists could have built up a larger force while we weren't paying attention to them, there isn't much to be done thematically or plotwise with them anymore, either. If Human-Charr tensions were going to be a main focus of the story, The Icebrood Saga was the time to do it; with that past, I find it unlikely they'll return at all—in fact, one of the DRMs specifically showed that the two races were on the path to reconciliation, so reneging on that development would really just be retreading old ground.
Sons of Svanir
I used these guys as my example. Just go read that section again.
Moletariate
The moletariate is the corrupt government that rules over the Dredge. Having once been slaves to the Stone Summit Dwarves, the Dredge now seek revenge on the surface world, their leaders fostering xenophobia while working the Dredge half to death. They play the role of antagonist in the open world of Core Tyria, as well as a dungeon.
The full power of the moletariate is unknown. We killed one of its leaders, War Minister Shukov, in the Sorrow's Embrace dungeon, but it's unclear if there were others ranked above him and/or who took his place. It seems doubtful that the events of the dungeon alone led to the moletariate's defeat, however, as the Dredge hold quite a lot of territory across Tyria. It's possible that we've only seen a fraction of the full forces of the Dredge, and if we were to take the fight to them in their underground homes, they would have a natural advantage.
There's also quite a bit of room for interesting developments with the Dredge. It's very clear that the Dredge as a whole are not inherently evil, as even in Core Tyria we already helped to support rebels against the moletariate; we also have several Dredge allies unafilliated with the moletariate, such as Ivan or, if you want a deeper cut, Varya. I could foresee a future where our Dredge friends convince us to help free the rest of their race from oppression. There's also still plenty to learn about the culture and history of the Dredge, the depths they call home, and the inner workings of the moletariate itself.
Flame Legion
The Flame Legion was one of the main antagonist factions in Ascalon in Core Tyria's open-world. However, not only was its leader killed in the Flame Citadel dungeon story, the remnants of the faction officially joined team good at the beginning of The Icebrood Saga. Next!
Ghosts
Ghosts have appeared as antagonist forces across various points in Guild Wars 2's story, but what I'm referring to here are specifically the Ascalonian ghosts that are at eternal war with the Charr. They're a significant threat across Ascalon's open world and play a small role in Living World Season 2.
The Ascalonian Ghosts view all living beings, not just the Charr, as threats to be eliminated, though they are shown on multiple occasions to harbor resentment against the Charr in particular. They were created by the Foefire, which continues to repeatedly revive them no matter how many times they are killed. It's said that they can only be banished by a special ritual, which Rytlock tried and failed to perform during Living World Season 2.
The Ghosts have a fair share of interesting developments in them. They've only been the diretc focus of a dungeon story, and they're by far the most direct link to the original Guild Wars, meaning a plot focused on them could also tie up some loose ends from the original game. There are also some other related plot hooks worth delving into, such as Magdaer's current whereabouts.
When it comes to analyzing the military strength of the Ghosts, I'm rather conflicted. On one hand, the Foefire can regenerate them infinitely, which inherently gives them a significant advantage regardless of the actual size of their forces or their firepower; on the other hand, the Charr have already been successfully holding them off on their own even with that handicap. The Ghosts have been around since Core but never given focus, meaning the Charr have had them under control for 12 years in-universe, and apparently not even the Charr Civil War was enough to give the Ghosts a real advantage. It's hard to imagine the Ghosts having any way to break this stalemate, and unlike all other potential foes, they have no way to increase their numbers.
Overall, I find the Ghosts receiving significant focus extremely unlikely. What I do find likely, however, is that they could reappear as part of a larger story, with a brief aside dedicated to conducting the ritual again to seal them away for good.
Renegades
The Renegades are a group of Charr terrorists who oppose the peace treaty with the Humans. They play a minor role in the personal story and Core Tyria's open world, and are shown in The Icebrood Saga to have remained active well after the treaty was signed, with the Renegades supporting Bangar's ideals and helping to form the Dominion.
Of course, this fact means that the Renegades as a faction don't really exist anymore, having been incorporated into the larger Dominion. It's possible that some independent groups remain, but that's just being pedantic; any plot the writers might want to do with Renegades, they'd be a million times better off doing with the Dominion instead.
Modus Sceleris
If you've got no idea who Modus Sceleris is, I don't blame you. This faction is a guild which serves an incredibly minor antagonist role throughout some of Core Tyira's open-world. Their presence is incredibly small, only being seen in a few select events.
Despite their meager presence, there are a couple of things that make Modus Sceleris stand out. For one, they're one of very few actual guilds we see in a game literally called Guild Wars; beyond that, its members are shown to use some completely unique skills which, according to the wiki, aren't usable by players or any other NPCs.
With how mysterious and out-of-place Modus Sceleris is, it seems obvious to me that there is some deeper lore behind the guild, and there likely is—or at least was, at some point—some plan to do more with the faction. One could almost argue that this faction itself qualifies as a "major mystery". That said, they haven't made another appearance since Core Tyria, so it's hard to imagine them being particularly important to the main story or returning as a major antagonist at this point. They're mostly included here on principle; the only way I see them making a major return is if the writing team does decide to treat them as a major mystery and make an entire expansion focused directly on them, which... is a thing that could technically happen.
The Knife Tail Gang
The Knife Tail Gang is a truly formidable organization of Skritt thieves. They have never appeared in the main story or even in open-world events. They were instead exclusively used as part of a side story focused on premium gambling items, which had a gimmick requiring you to track down and defeat the Skritt thieves to get your reward.
Yeah, I'll be honest, they're here as a joke. Now, the Lock Bite Gang, on the other hand? That's a Commander-level threat.
The Consortium
The Consortium is a corrupt merchant organization which served as a minor antagonist during a portion of Living World Season 1, being responsible for many of the tragic events in Southsun Cove and attempting to use its power to abuse refugees for profit.
I'll keep this one short: I highly doubt the Consortium will return as a major antagonist. Their place in the story wasn't deemed important enough for their portion of LW1 to be included in the season's remake, they lack any real military force (that we know of), and over time they have transitioned into a (albeit still morally grey) friendly faction.
Aetherblades
The Aetherblades are a group of sky pirates, and they were one of the main forces of Scarlet's Armies, alongside the Toxic Alliance and the Molten Alliance. While the latter two are made up of splinters of other factions, the Aetherblades were a wholly unique force, playing a major role in Living World Season 1.
The Aetherblades were defeated quite handily in LW1, with their leader, Mai Trin, defeated in the story, plus teh group suffering further losses in the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath dungeon. The group would go on to return in End of Dragons, having freed their leader and assembled a new, stornger crew and obtained the ability to traverse the Mists. Even then, they were defeated once more, with Mai Trin herself and her navigator, Ivan, joining Team Good and the other officers, Ankka and Renyak, being defeated in the story and a meta-event respectively.
After their return in EoD, there isn't much left to be done with the Aetherblades. The only significant surviving member is Ivan, who is firmly on Team Good, and it's hard to see the point in them somehow reforming a second time.
Mordrem
The Mordrem are the minions of the Elder Dragon Mordremoth. Among them are the Mordrem Guard, who are converted Sylvari who possess intelligence and greater firepower. While we quite firmly defeated their leader and creator in Heart of Thorns, we know from other stories that Dragon minions can persist without their master. In the case of the Mordrem Guard, there is an ex-Mordrem NPC who appears in the Festival of Four Winds, showing us that converted Sylvari can recover, though still forever changed in a way.
While it's unlikely that the Mordrem—or any other set of Dragon minions, for that matter—could come back serving as a major threat, they absolutely could serve as the plot hook leading us into a new story arc. Mopping up the remaining Dragon minions is a task right up Dragon Watch's alley, and the ex-Mordrem in particular could serve as interesting allies or enemies depending on what grudges they hold.
I'll allow this section to speak for each other Dragon's minions as well, since all the same thoughts apply (minus the Mordrem Guard, obviously).
Zintl
The Zintl are a tribe of zealous and vicious Hylek who live in the Heart of Maguuma. They played a minor role in the open world of Heart of Thorns, threatening the friendly Itzel.
I'll be blunt: the Zintl don't have what it takes to carry an expansion. They were able to pose a decent threat in HoT because we were stranded in the jungle and preoccupied with an Elder Dragon, but at the end of the day they're just a single Hylek tribe, and one that already faced defeat at our hands in one of the daytime meta-events in Verdant Brink. Lorewise, there is actually some interesting potential regarding their namesake god and what actually happened to them after HoT (and our Hylek allies in the jungle, for that matter), but it's hard to see that being the focus of an entire expansion.
White Mantle
The White Mantle is an ancient order of awful terrible evil Humans, to put it simply. While they played a minor role in the Human personal story, their main part in Guild Wars 2's story comes during Living World Season 3 and the Heart of Thorns raids.
Militarily, the White Mantle are in perhaps one of the worst positions of any antagonist faction. They've been more thoroughly defeated than any other faction, with us killing not only the faction's leaders in both the main story (Caudecus) and the raids (Xera), but also their object of worship, Lazarus. They've suffered a major defeat from us on multiple fronts that it's veyr hard to imagine them coming back from.
When it comes to story potential, they don't fare much better. With both the raids and a significant portion of LW3 dedicated to them, we've already delved into a lot of their history. There isn't much left of interest to do with them—and that's before we consider Janthir Wilds, where we're getting even more lore and story related to the White Mantle. It seems likely that the current expansion will exhaust all the remaining potential and plot threads this cult has to offer.
Forged
The Forged served as Balthazar's army and one of the major antagonist factions in Path of Fire. Following their master's death at the end of that expansion, it's stated that the remaining Forged were assaulted by the Awakened. It's incredibly unlikely that a significant number of them, if any, are left, and I don't see any particularly interesting avenues to take with them even if there were.
Awakened & Mordant Crescent
The Awakened serve as major antagonists in both Path of Fire and the following Living World Season 4, with the Mordant Crescent being the elite troops of Joko's Awakened. Following Joko's death in LW4, the majority of the Awakened hold little loyalty to him, instead becoming a new ally in the Free Awakened; the Mordant Crescent, on the other hand, continues to briefly serve as an antagonist, but after we kill one of their leaders—Archon Iberu, who we are actually killing for the second time here—they are later forced to join ranks with us to unite against the greater threat of Kralkatorrik.
As with many other antagonist factions, the Mordant Crescent wound up on Team Good by necessity, and after working with them it's hard to imagine them becoming enemies again. This is amplified by the themes of LW4 and a specific event in Jahai Bluffs, both of which focus on disparate groups choosing to forgive and forget in order to unite against a greater threat.
Even if the Mordant Crescent were to attempt a betrayal at this point, it's unlikely they could muster enough military might for the Commander's presence to even be necessary. Between Amnoon, the Free Awakened, the Sunspears, and the Zaishen Order, we have quite a few strong allies in Elona who'd be more than capable of quelling any attempt to retread Joko's footsteps even without our help.
Zaishen Order
The Zaishen made their debut as antagonists in Path of Fire, where they played a very minor role, joining rank with Balthazar and his Forged. Following their God's death, one of their members, Zafirah, sought revenge on us in Living World Season 4; we managed to persuade her to our side, and she has since reformed the faction into an ally. Next!
Joko Loyalists
The Loyalists are minor antagonists from Path of Fire, though their most notable role is in Living World Season 4, particularly in Kourna and Palawadan. They are Elonian citizens, primarily from the upper classes, who are loyal to Joko despite his corrupt and oppressive rule, primarily because they also benefit from it.
The Loyalists weren't a particularly formidable faction to begin with, and with Joko defeated their numbers have surely only dwindled further over time. It's also likely safe to assume that the champions killed during the Palawadan meta and Archon Iberu made up the brunt of their elite warriors. While it's possible there could be a small number of them out there seeking revenge on the Commander for killing Joko, it's unlikely that they'd pose a real threat, or be worth giving the focus of an entire expansion.
The Shadow Army
The Shadow Army is a faction most Guild Wars 2 players won't know by name. Made up of shadow creatures cursed to face Balthazar's Eternals in the Eternal Battle in the Mists , they're led by the God of War's half-brother, Menzies. While they were a more significant faction in the original Guild Wars, their main role in the sequel was during the end of Living World Season 4, where they were one of the forces pulled into Tyria on the island of Dragonfall.
The status of Menzies himself and the main brunt of his army is completely unknown to us, and the portion we did fight were only pulled into Tyria by accident. That said, Menzies has served as an antagonistic force in the past, aligning himself with Dhuum and Abaddon in the original Guild Wars; with his half-brother dead by our hands, he may have been able to end the Eternal War, and thus may be setting his sights on his next target—Tyria.
A not-God and his army could certainly pose a significant threat to us, and with how much we still don't know about the Gods and the Mists—and how sour of a note the Six left us on—a plot focused on them and/or their relatives could be rife with lore and drama.
The Dominion
The Dominion is the army assembled by Bangar Ruinbringer in his bid to overthrow the Charr legions, and it served as one of the main antagonist factions in The Icebrood Saga, particularly in the Drizzlewood Coast portion of its story.
The Dominion is an interesting case as far as factions go. It was formally defeated in IBS, with its leader captured, all of its other top officers killed, and most of its territory reclaimed, including its main base, the Frost Citadel. Even so, it's a rare case among defeated factions in that we've actually received explicit confirmation that its remnants are still active, based on some dialogue in Janthir Wilds.
It's hard to imagine the Dominion coming back from such a crushing defeat to serve as a major threat again, but it would be quite natural for them to team up with other—perhaps more powerful—factions in their bid for revenge. Whereas for most other factions here I mention that they could team up or be manipulated by a stronger faction as a technicality, with the Dominion it feels like the natural evolution of the faction. The fact the writers went out of their way to mention the Dominion in JW may also indicate they have further plans for it.
Stone Summit
The Stone Summit were an ancient faction of xenophobic Dwarves. While most of them fell in line after being turned to stone by the Rite of the Great Dwarf, we learned in The Icebrood Saga that a splinter group left on its own terms, building a fortress out in the Shiverpeaks where they would eventually attempt to tap into Dragon magic to empower themselves, only to end up becoming mindless servants of Primordus.
Said splinter group was more or less defeated by the Steel Warband during the Forging Steel strike, though it's possible that some remain or that there are other such groups. Even those of the Stone Summit who didn't head out on their own may still harbor the desire for world subjugation, and we know very little about how many there are and how powerful their forces could be; with their main enemy, Primordus, out of the picture, they could certainly turn on us and make another go at world domination.
The Stone Summit is a solid "maybe" for me. As described above, we really have no information as to how powerful they are, but I do find it hard to believe they have enough remaining forces after so many years at war with the Destroyers to have a great chance at taking over the surface world. Were they to remain underground, however, that would severely limit how much of Team Good we could send to fight them, giving them a more realistic fighting chance. With how mysterious Dwarves are in general—and how ontologically good most of the ones we know are—a Dwarven antagonist could have a lot of potential, as well.
Jade Brotherhood
The Jade Brotherhood is one of several major antagonist factions active across Cantha, and they play a significant role in End of Dragons' story, though their tenure as a villainous force is cut short when Ayumi convinces them to set their differences with us and the Speaker aside to unite against the greater threat of the Void.
Following the ending of EoD's main story, they then go on to receive further focus in the Gyala Delve epilogue. Here the portion of the organization that hasn't gone insane from Demonic corruption firmly entrenches itself as a part of Team Good. Given this development, I find it very unlikely that they'll turn around and become antagonists again later.
Speakers
The Speakers are another major faction active across Cantha, and similar to the Jade Brotherhood they played a significant role in End of Dragons' story. They too put their villainous ways on pause to join forces with us against the Void, but unlike the Brotherhood, we didn't get to spend any additional time with them afterwards.
While our additional adventures with the Brotherhood firmly cemented them as good guys, it's still quite possible that the Speakers could resume their previous role as antagonists. Alternatively, there could be a development where we attempt to reconcile with and properly reform the Speakers, similar to the extra time we spent with the Brotherhood.
In terms of military might, the Speakers are shown to have decently-sized forces, and in particular the Wardens that make up a portion of their ranks are quite formidable foes. Even so, they certainly don't pose a world-ending threat like our main adversaries tend to, though being based in Cantha does grant them the advantage of being quite a bit harder to bring all of our allied forces against.
Purists & Ministry of Purity
The Purists are another major antagonist faction in End of Dragons, though they play a smaller role overall compared to the Jade Brotherhood or Speakers, primarily being localized to New Kaineng City.
The Purists seem to have a significant presence in Cantha, as well as some support from the government—one of their main leader, Minister Li, was a direct advisor to Empress Ihn before we defeated him. Cantha's distance from the rest of the world would also make it a tad harder to muster our full forces against anything less than a world-ending threat. Though we did take out a major player, the Purists as a whole are by no means defeated, and I can say with confidence that we will see more of them should we ever return to Cantha.
Naga
The Naga are a race of serpents found in Cantha. Once a peaceful people, they became hostile to Humans after the Jade Wind, blaming humanity for the destruction of their homes. Today they live in small tribes, seeking to exact their revenge on us land-dwellers. They serve a minor antagonist role in Cantha's open world.
We know very little about the Naga, so a plot focused on them could provide a chance to learn more about their culture and history, or even to attempt to reconcile with them. All the same statements could also be applied to their allies, the Kappa.
With the Naga dwelling in small tribes, they wouldn't serve as much of a major threat. Even were they all to unite, along with the Kappa, it's hard to imagine them being any sort of world-ending disaster, though a unified front could pose a genuine threat to the isolated Cantha. This does bring up another line of thinking.
While we're used to considering every new main threat as a global threat, that doesn't necessarily have to be the case in the modern era. In some ways, a force being weaker could be a benefit to its viability—would the other members of the Tyrian Alliance truly be willing to dedicate their forces to fending off a relatively small force of Naga and Kappa that only really threatens parts of Cantha? Even if an antagonist isn't powerful enough to stand against all of our allies, they might not have to if they aren't a global cataclysm—and that goes double if they're operating out of the more isolated regions of the world.
Kryptis
The Kryptis are demons hailing from the realm of Nayos. They served as the main antagonists of Secrets of the Obscure, though a portion of them were revealed to be friendly partway through the story. With these friendly rebels led by Peitha, we joined forces to take down Eparch, installing Peitha as the ruler of Nayos.
With the entirety of SotO focusing on the Kryptis, I find it inherently unlikely that they'd be the focus of another expansion, especially so soon, regardless of any in-game considerations. I do have plenty of those considerations as well, however: we quite soundly defeated the Kryptis, with only small and disparate groups of Eparch loyalists left. Their new leader is quite firmly on Team Good, so it's very doubtful that they'd return to the role of villains.
Titans(pawn)
The titans are demonic entities oft created in the Foundry of Failed Creations. Several titans and their spawn have served as the main antagonists of the current expansion, Janthir Wilds—or, at least, the first half of it.
There isn't much to consider with the titans, really: they're the current villains, obviously they won't be the focus of two expansions in a row. Nothing else needs to be said.
Concepts
We've gone over some of the major lingering mysteries and considered just about every possible returning villain. Now comes the fun part: let's take them both, throw in some open plot threads for a little extra kick, and write some fanfiction put together some proper theories.
The following are some of my ideas for where future expansions could take us. For these theories, I'll be working on the assumption that any future storyline must answer a major mystery or follow up on a similarly significant open plot thread. In reality, that isn't necessarily the case: future expacs could very well take use to new locations we've never heard of or pit us against new enemies (such as the case in SotO), or they could follow up on unanswered questions from the original Guild Wars that I don't know enough about to theorize on.
With that established, let's get to the theories!
Return to the Heart of Maguuma
Janthir Wilds provided us the answer to one longstanding question, that being the status of the Pale Tree following the Shadow of the Dragon's attack on her in Living World Season 2. JW revealed that she is still in the process of recovering and is sick with a strange disease, one which Dagonet and Caithe are eagerly searching for a cure for. The search for this cure is Caithe's primary motivation for joining our adventure in Janthir, in fact. I find it very likely that this plot thread will continue to develop in the next expansion.
There are a number of other open plot threads related to the Sylvari, and the greatest would have to be Malyck's tree. If there really is another Tree and a whole second civilization of Sylvari out there, it stands to reason that they may be able to help us find a cure for the Pale Mother; locating this tree to invite its denizens into the Tyrian Alliance would also be to everyone's benefit and continue the Alliance plotline established in JW.
Of course, our story needs a conflict, and I believe the most natural way to provide that conflict would be if someone else got to the other tree before us: the Nightmare Court. With their extended absence form the story, the Court has had plenty of time to build up its forces under a new leader, and they may have even located Malyck's tree specifically to recruit the Sylvari there into the Court, possibly by force. Also unaccounted for are the ex-Mordrem, who we know very little about the fate of; the Court could have recruited them as well.
It's also possible that the Court could be more of a morally grey force rather than an outright villain. The most likely candidate for its new leader is Duchess Chrysanthea, who fought alongside us before and is stated to be a "more liberal" leader than Faolain before her. Perhaps she has reformed the Court into a force for good, helping the ex-Mordrem to recuperate and locating the other tree to establish positive ties with them. If this is the case, it's also possible that not all of the Courtiers agree with her more peaceful ways—perhaps there is a schism within the Court, with the more villainous faction taking advantage of the ex-Mordrem and the people of Malyck's tree. The Duchess could reach out to us to assist her in a civil war against the more radical half of the Court.
This idea's strength lies in how thorough it is. By roping in the Court, the ex-Mordrem, and Malyck's tree into our search for a cure, we could answer every big looming question about the Sylvari in one fell swoop.
War for the Depths
With Primordus gone, the Asura of Rata Sum may be seriously considering returning to their previous home in the depths. It's unlikely that they'd completely abandon their surface territory, but reclaiming what was lost to the Dragon would certainly be in their interest. The Asura may enlist the Commander's help, expecting to have to deal with some lingering Destroyers; what they aren't expecting is that somebody else has already moved in.
The Asura aren't the only ones who were forced to the surface by Primordus's rise. The Dredge also once called Tyria's depths their home, and the same could be said for the Dwarves, though we've seen a lot fewer of them and know less about where they've since gathered. Given there's already been a few expansions since Primordus's death and the Asura haven't made a move yet, it's possible that one of these other forces has already moved in to the territory that once belonged to them.
This would naturally lead to conflict, but it would be a more morally complex one than most we face throughout Guild Wars 2's story. The Asura may claim the land is rightfully theirs, but it wouldn't be right to just kick the new denizens out of their new home, especially if they aren't inherently villainous—in the case of the Dredge, the Commander may empathize with the plight of the oppressed people, especially if we get input from our good buddy Ivan. This may lead to a plot where we, and possibly our allies in Dragon's Watch, are acting against the interests of the Asura or perhaps even the entire Tyrian Alliance to stand up for what we believe is right, mediating between the Alliance and the depths-dwellers.
While some of the Asura may see reason and agree to coexist with the other depth-dwellers, or to simply let them have the territory, this opinion would certainly not be universal. In particular, the Arcane Council and/or Inquest may prove to be quite aggressive in staking their claim over the territory. At the same time, the depths-dwellers may not have a perfect moral high ground either—the Dredge are ruled over by the corrupt Moletariate, and the Dwarves may consist partly of xenophobic Stone Summit; similar arguments could be made about various other groups that may be living there. This could lead to a situation where the Commander and company are fighting a battle on two fronts, trying to liberate and/or reform the depth-dwellers while simultaneously holding back the advances of the Inquest and prevent sabotage by the Arcane Eye.
What I particularly like about taking the story in this sort of direction is that it would continue the recent trend of more deeply characterizing the Commander. The Gyala Delves epilogue in EoD, while a rather flawed story, placed the Commander in a position of reflecting on their past, and in SotO we recieved very strong characterization in how the Commander opposes the way Isgarren operates the Astral Ward, culminating in their conversation with Lyhr: "I would save the farm." Putting the Commander at odds with their powerful political allies in order to protect and support the weak would be a very interesting and natural evolution of their character.
Staging an expansion underground in the depths comes with another benefit: it would provide a convenient segue to exploring the oceanic depths. While the mystery of the ocean monster is compelling and JW has opened new plot threads in the Quaggans and Tethyos Houses' refusal to join the Tyrian Alliance, it would be difficult to dedicate an expansion to those ideas simply because it would almost certainly have to be entirely underwater, and underwater content is flawed in a number of ways and widely unpopular. That problem could be largely circumvented, however, if only a portion of an expansion was dedicated to the deep ocean plot.
Rata Sum is built on the Tarnished Coast, quite close to the ocean. Assuming their home in the depths isn't too far away, it stands to reason it would also be close to the ocean. Therefore, the expansion story could evolve after we deal with the initial conflict in the depths, with its final part having us leave one of the caverns out into the ocean. There are numerous ways the plot could progress form there if the team did take this direction, but this segment has gotten long enough already, so I'll leave it at that.
Playable Tengu (Real) (Not a Scam)
Come on, we all knew this would be here. You simply can't predict future GW2 stories without an obligatory "maybe we'll finally enter the Dominion of Winds next time!" This mystery has been around since launch, and players have been asking for it just as long. With the DoW joining the Tyrian Alliance, it's looking more likely than ever that the Commander will finally be granted permission to enter.
As pointed out when I discussed the DoW as a major mystery earlier, the territory it appears to occupy is large enough to host an expansion's worth of maps on its own. A non-insignificant portion of the maps would likely need to be underwater, but that isn't a big issue. What is is trying to imagine what problem could possibly threaten the DoW.
With its central location, the DoW is flanked on all sides by allies: the Sylvari to the west, Kryta to the north, and Lion's Arch to the east. Southsun Cove is home to the karka, which could pose a danger, but it is also inhabited by settlers who should be friendly, though they likely couldn't serve as a military deterrent to any incoming threat.
I believe the most likely threat to the DoW would have to be an internal one. We know very little about its culture, after all: while it's easy to view them as a monolith, the nation was formed by a variety of Tengu tribes, and they may not be as united as they appear from the outside. Perhaps a faction within the Dominion doesn't approve of joining the Tyrian Alliance, and based on that or another motivation, begins to sow terror within the walls.
An internal threat would also make it very easy to make the expansion's villains a real threat. Even while facing a crisis, it's doubtful the Tengu would want to open their borders entirely after so many years of isolation. They might only allow the Commander and a small force to enter, forcing us to work with very limited support and resources.
With its proximity to the ocean, an expansion taking place in the DoW also benefits from the same idea I expressed for the depths: the expansion's story could be split in half to cover two concepts, with the first having us explore the DoW and the second having us travel further south to explore the ocean depths.
Core Tyria Mop-Up
In online discussions on potential future expansions, an idea that crops up pretty often is the idea of a return to Core Tyria—a story which brings us to new zones connected to each region of Core Tyria, similar to Living World Season 3, and lets us take a closer look at how the story so far has impacted the areas we once knew.
This idea has quite a few benefits, and one of the greatest is that it would provide the perfect opportunity to mark a whole bunch of the antagonist factions we discussed above off the plot thread checklist. There were a lot of factions for which my conclusion was "this group is too weak to serve as the main villain, and there isn't enough interesting content left with them to carry a whole expansion." This ceases to be an issue if we're trekking across all of Core Tyria, since none of the individual factions would have to serve as the "main" villain or carry the whole expac themselves. We could instead hop from region to region, mop up whatever villainous remnants remain there and exploring the one or two interesting things left to do with them before jumping to the next area.
While this idea comes with advantages, it also has some inherent disadvantages. Most stories have a focused main plot for a reason: it's compelling. Even in a game, where story comes second to gameplay, having a single main goal to work towards keeps you engaged and compels you to continue; even if you run off on tangents and side-quests, everything you do gradually builds towards that main goal. Each previous expansion provides players with such a goal: "Take down Mordremoth", "Hunt down Balthazar", "End the Dragon Cycle", "Stop the Kryptis invasion", "Destroy the titans". In contrast, "Run around Tyria and bully washed-up villains" isn't particularly compelling, as a goal or as a marketing ploy. An expansion story doesn't just need to advance the game's story, it needs to convince new players to buy the game and veteran players to keep spending money; a strong, focused goal gives the marketing department a lot more to work with.
That said, there are ways to get around this issue while still sticking to the core idea of returning to Core Tyria and resolving various leftover plots. One solution would be for our rogue's gallery of weaker villains to form a united front. Perhaps they hope to take control over Tyria by joining forces, or perhaps their allance is just a desperate ploy to get revenge on the Commander in particular; in either case, a villainous alliance would allow the individually weak factions to pose more of a real threat, and it would turn our unfocused journey across Tyria into a more cohesive story.
An even better solution—perhaps you could even consider it to be an evolution of the prior one—would be for all of these smaller factions to be the pawns of a more threatening main villain. This would bring the same benefit of keeping the story more focused, while also keeping the game's overall story moving forward rather than spending a whole expansion taking a break to resolve old plot threads. As far as who might be the one pulling the strings, it could be a looming, unaccounted-for threat such as the Inquest, or, alternatively, the coordinator could be an enemy who poses a more political threat rather than a physical one, such as the Consortium.
Conclusion
By the Six, that was a long-ass article—three times the length of my previous post, in fact. I struggled somewhat to keep up the motivation to work on this one, hence why it took me several weeks to get it out. To a certain degree, I think that may be due to the fact that it comprised largely of just base-level analysis of the game rather than a whole lot of my own opinions, conclusions, or ideas; once I got to writing the full theories at the end, I found I had much more motivation to keep working.
Overall, genuinely trying to predict the story of future expansions is a fruitless endeavor. There are numerous factors at play that I couldn't even begin to account for; at the end of the day, this type of thought experiment is just for fun, and, as I pointed out at some point in this monster of an article, is basically just glorified fanfiction.
As with all of my posts, the main purpose is to share my ideas and spark conversation among the community, so I'd love to hear what the community as a whole has to say on this topic. What are your opinions on my theories? Do you have any fleshed-out theories of your own? Do you think I discounted a faction that has a genuine chance of reappearing, or are there any factions from the original Guild Wars or the extended lore that you think might make a future appearance? Are there any other major mysteries or open plot threads that you'd like to see addressed in a future expansion?
I'm looking forward to the Reddit comments on this one, assuming the average Redditor is actually willing to read over 10,000 words of me rambling about my favorite video game.
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