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Kralkatorrik

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Kralkatorrik

Image(s)

Kralkatorrik face.jpg

Detail of Kralkatorrik's face.

Torment is blinding. It lies. Its pollution steals my sense. It promises: destroy everything and the pain will cease.

Kralkatorrik

Kralkatorrik is the Elder Dragon of Crystal and Fury, and is often referred to as the Crystal Dragon.[1] A thousand feet tall with a wingspan which easily blocks out the sun, Kralkatorrik is described as being about 20 times larger than his scion Glint. He is often referred to as both a hurricane and sandstorm, having the ability to create and even become the latter.[2] Kralkatorrik has the power to corrupt anything physical with his breath, turning them into the Branded.

Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Kralkatorrik asleep in the Blood Legion Homelands circa 1078 AE.

As centuries passed, he feasted on magic and grew, eventually becoming an Elder Dragon of Crystal and Fury.[1]

Like the other Elder Dragons, Kralkatorrik is thought to have last awakened 10,000 years ago, around the time of the disappearance of the Giganticus Lupicus, and then fallen back into slumber from consuming all magic they could find.[6]

Glaust, Kralkatorrik's champion and scion[7][8], could hear the thoughts of creatures, which allowed her to unravel and stop the plots against her master.[9] At some point Kralkatorrik summoned Glaust to him and revealed that he had had a prophetic vision: he had foreseen a potential future of a world without strife between dragons and other races and without Kralkatorrik himself. Glaust came to believe that the vision had terrified her father who in turn had ordered Glaust to prevent this future from coming to pass.[10]

Running out of magic to feast on in the dragonrise due to the Seers sealing the remaining magic in the world into the original Bloodstone,[11] Kralkatorrik fell into slumber in Grothmar Valley in what would become known as the Blood Legion Homelands. His back would be regarded as a mountain as millennia passed and knowledge of the previous dragonrise faded from memory.[12] Kralkatorrik left Glaust awake as his herald so she could wake her master up once magic levels had become high enough to be feasted upon again. However, Glaust betrayed her master and sire by siding with the mortal races after the Forgotten had freed her from the Crystal Dragon's control with a purification ritual, and became known as Glint.[13]

Edge of Destiny[edit]

Kralkatorrik eventually became aware of Glint's betrayal.[14] Furious, he awoke in 1320 AE and flew south over the charr territory of Ascalon to hunt down his treacherous scion, leaving behind a crater.

When Kralkatorrik flew, a terrible storm of black clouds and lightning was formed around his body. The lands that were touched by the Crystal Dragon's golden breath during his flight turned black, now called the Dragonbrand; the plants, animals, and even elementals turned into the Branded—crystalline lifeforms, shadows of their former selves. The Elder Dragon's passing over Ascalon turned Chief Kronon's ogres as well as Almorra Soulkeeper's warband into Branded. Being forced to end her Branded comrades would lead Almorra to eventually form the Vigil to have her revenge on Kralkatorrik and the other Elder Dragons. As Kralkatorrik flew past the human Stronghold of Ebonhawke and brought the Branded in his wake, Queen Jennah who was visiting the city peeked into the Elder Dragon's chaotic mind only to recoil back in terror when Kralkatorrik glimpsed her.[15]

When Kralkatorrik reached Glint's lair, he faced not only his former champion but also Destiny's Edge, an adventuring guild who helped even the odds with coordinated attacks, and knowledge and artifacts such as powerstones which Glint had provided them with. However, due to Logan Thackeray's sudden departure to save Queen Jennah at Ebonhawke, which was assaulted by the newly formed Branded led by Chief Kronon in the Ogre Revolt, the strength of Destiny's Edge was diminished at a crucial moment.

Glint sacrificed herself by luring Kralkatorrik to her in order to place the dragon-blood yoke around her former master's neck as her last act, which in turn allowed the asura Snaff to access and wrestle with Kralkatorrik's mind in order to force the Elder Dragon to land and for the charr Rytlock Brimstone to attempt to slay the temporarily incapacitated Crystal Dragon with the Dragonsblood Spear. However, even after killing Glint and being distracted by Snaff, Kralkatorrik managed to locate Snaff's position and directed his minions to kill the asura.[16]

After the Branded had killed Snaff, Kralkatorrik regained control of his body. The Dragonsblood Spear thrown by Rytlock bounced off harmlessly as the Elder Dragon took off and flew to safety. The wounds Kralkatorrik had received in the battle left behind crystallized blood on the sand, however, which Caithe collected in case they could be used against the Crystal Dragon in the future.[17]

Modern developments[edit]

Kralkatorrik remained in the northern Crystal Desert for roughly ten years, being among the forces preventing movement into Elona for all except the Order of Whispers.[18] His champions such as the Shatterer continued attacking areas in Ascalon while more and more Branded headed south into the desert to join their Elder Dragon master's side.[19] Since his mother's death, Glint's first scion Vlast culled the number of Branded in the region in order to contain the spreading of the Dragonbrand.[20]

The remaining Forgotten in the Crystal Desert, led by Josso Essher, attempted to purify Kralkatorrik of his corruption via a ritual and turn the Crystal Dragon good like they had done with Glint. However, the attempt ended in a failure, leading to many Forgotten being Branded, including Josso Essher himself.[21]

After being empowered by the magic released from the Elder Dragon Mordremoth's demise in 1328 AE, Kralkatorrik flew off again, moving southwest towards the Domain of Vabbi and extending his Dragonbrand.[22] During this time Kralkatorrik had command over the Death and Mind spectrums from Zhaitan and Mordremoth along with his natural spectrum, Crystal.

Path of Fire[edit]

Balthazar confronts Kralkatorrik atop Kodash Bazaar.

The rogue god Balthazar, having been denied the deaths of the Elder Dragons Primordus and Jormag whose powers he had been after, set his sights on the Crystal Dragon in hopes of absorbing Kralkatorrik's energy and invaded the Crystal Desert with his Forged army in 1330 AE. Balthazar successfully captured Aurene, Glint's second scion, and used her as a battery for his Warbeast. The former God of War had discovered that Kralkatorrik's unique weakness was his own crystalline power that the Elder Dragon used when making Branded, which also included Aurene, and Balthazar hoped to abuse the connection between the two to bring down the Crystal Dragon.[23]

Balthazar and the Warbeast attacked Kralkatorrik with the Elder Dragon's own magical essence during the Battle of Kodash Bazaar. They nearly killed the Crystal Dragon, had it not been for the Pact Commander who freed Aurene and forced Balthazar to enter the fray in person. As Aurene and the Commander fought Balthazar to prevent the war god from killing the Elder Dragon and destabilizing the magic in Tyria, the recovering Kralkatorrik shot blindly at everyone present on the battlefield.

After Balthazar's death, Kralkatorrik and Aurene absorbed the former god's rampant magic, which consisted of the magic of the Maguuma Bloodstone as well as some of the magic of Primordus and Jormag. Newly empowered, the Crystal Dragon flew across the desert once again, carving a new Dragonbrand in his wake.

Living World Season 4[edit]

Daybreak[edit]

After flying into the western mountains of Kourna, Kralkatorrik began creating pockets of Brandstorms across the Crystal Desert and Elona, remotely striking locations such as the Amnoon.[24] In these Brandstorms, a new type of Branded augmented with death magic, known as Death-Branded, appeared. These Branded could be created from the dead known as Branded Thralls, an augmentation of Kralkatorrik's powers from consuming Zhaitan's magic. Kralkatorrik had been corrupting living beings in the Dragonbrand before, and could turn the land itself into minions,[25] but he had not been able to create minions out of corpses prior to consuming Zhaitan's Death spectrum of magic.[26]

Kralkatorrik also began to send Branded meteorites across Elona, reaching as far south as the Isle of Istan.[27][28][29] The Inquest at Rata Primus had begun research into Kralkatorrik's powers, including the new Death-Branded minions, as well as the Elder Dragon's hive mind capabilities. Though Kralkatorrik had shown forms of hive mind before, upon learning of the Inquest's experiments Taimi theorized that the Crystal Dragon had gained this improved hive mind through absorbing Mordremoth's magic.[30] The Inquest's hive mind experiments featured two Branded in mirrored environments where only one was exposed to external stimuli but both reacted; this was notably different from the previous examples of hive mind among the Branded which, like all other Elder Dragons and their minions, showed to be connecting the minions to the Elder Dragon and vice versa, but not minions to each other beyond recognition of being corrupted.

A Star to Guide Us[edit]

The empowered Kralkatorrik flies to Kourna after Balthazar's demise.

After experimenting with his new powers, Kralkatorrik used the power gained from Balthazar to enter the Mists where he began devouring magic at an accelerated rate while using Branded Riftstalkers, extraterrestrial beings he had found in the Mists and corrupted into his minions,[31] to open rifts between the Mists and Tyria to spread his draconic influence. The Elder Dragon raised one of his defeated Shatterers as a Death-Branded Shatterer via a rift in Blazeridge Steppes and sent it to the Fortress of Jahai to hunt Aurene. Kralkatorrik used his connection to his granddaughter Aurene as a means to keep track of her, sending Branded to each location the scion had been to while causing great devastation in the process such as Branding entire settlements and displacing pockets of areas from the Heart of Maguuma and other worlds in the Mists which appeared throughout Jahai Bluffs.[32][33] Kralkatorrik's consumption of the Mists even caused time anomalies to occur, and a few specific areas such as the Ancestor Tree cycled through multiple points in the timeline in a repeating pattern.

While in the Mists, Kralkatorrik faced resistance in the form of a ghost army led by the ghost of Glint herself. Despite this distraction, the Crystal Dragon did occasionally manage to provide aid for his minions such as intervening during the Pact's battle with the Death-Branded Shatterer by sending Riftstalkers to open rifts between Tyria and the Mists so he could heal his wounded champion. Despite the Elder Dragon's efforts, however, the Death-Branded Shatterer was ultimately destroyed.

Kralkatorrik's power continued growing, prompting Glint to send messengers in the form of the ghosts of Eir Stegalkin and Snaff to Sun's Refuge. There, the messengers urged the Commander and Aurene to take the fight to the Elder Dragon in the Mists. However, Aurene shared premonitions of multiple possible futures in which she and several allies always died no matter which combination of forces and equipment they used against Kralkatorrik. Terrified of this future, Aurene fled from Jahai Bluffs, leaving the Commander to find another solution to Kralkatorrik's constant Branding of villages so they could be evacuated on time.

Kralkatorrik eventually sensed a magically potent object, Balthazar's greatsword, which the Pact Commander and Blish had brought into the Mists as a lure. Hungry for more magic, Kralkatorrik approached the pair's location in the form of an all-consuming storm over the battlefield of Glint's army and Branded, causing the greatsword to lash out upon reacting to the Crystal Dragon's presence. Blish sacrificed himself to ensure that the tracker attached to the greatsword would remain active and allow the Pact to keep track of Kralkatorrik's movements. He was devoured alongside the greatsword by the Elder Dragon while the Commander barely escaped the spreading Brandstorm alive with Glint's guidance.

All or Nothing[edit]

Never satisfied, Kralkatorrik continued consuming magic in the Mists. Although he successfully scattered Glint's army after a series of battles, he received grave injuries from the ghosts as well as from the sealings of each rift his minions had created on Tyria. To recover his strength and grow in power, the Elder Dragon entered the Domain of the Lost to feast on the souls there.[34] To continue spreading his influence, Kralkatorrik forged a new Branded champion, the Wrathbringer, as the Shatterer's successor to lead the Branded assault on Tyria.[31] The Elder Dragon also continued opening rifts throughout Elona in his search for Aurene.[35]

Kralkatorrik interrupted his feasting when he sensed Aurene entering the Mists. Realizing that the time had come to finish off the elusive scion for good, the Crystal Dragon chose to personally chase her into Tyria, only to end up in a trap set up by Aurene, the Commander and their allies in Thunderhead Peaks. Upon arrival, the Elder Dragon faced cannonfire from Sayida the Sly's airships and Canach's bombs which collapsed the mountain on him as he was about to reach Aurene deep within the Auditorium of Thunderhead Keep.

Kralkatorrik battles Aurene in the Auditorium.

Using recently forged but less powerful Dragonsblood Spears, the harmonious sounds of a Zephyrite choir, the dredge's reverse-engineered sonic amplifying technology as well as resonating crystals powered up by Branded which had been slain in their vicinity, the Commander and the allied army managed to disorient and damage Kralkatorrik in a lengthy battle while Aurene Branded the Crystal Dragon's neck to the wall to prevent him from escaping. Kralkatorrik opened rifts throughout the keep in response to send in Branded minions to assist him while using Zhaitan's powers to raise defeated minions as Death-Branded.

In the final stages of the battle, Kralkatorrik mustered all his strength to annihilate his opposition which stood in his way to Aurene. Channeling the powers of Zhaitan, Mordremoth, Balthazar as well as his own power all at once, the Elder Dragon released a major surge of dragon energy only to be blocked by Braham's shield bubble which Aurene had boosted with her magic. The resulting blast was enough to Brand much of the Auditorium, knock the allied forces down and leave the Commander and Aurene to face the weakened Crystal Dragon by themselves in the depths of the keep where they successfully damaged one of his eyes and prepared to deliver the killing blow.

However, Kralkatorrik recovered at the last moment and fired another blast of dragon energy to kill the Commander,[36] only to be countered by the scion who darted in front of the Commander and fired a blast of her own to protect her champion. The resulting explosion destroyed one of the Crystal Dragon's eyes and branded half of his face, but also caused Aurene to be impaled by Branded spikes, killing her as her visions had foretold. Wounded but victorious, Kralkatorrik managed to shake himself free from Aurene's Brand and returned to the Mists,[37] leaving the Commander and the remnants of the allied army to mourn Aurene's apparent death.

War Eternal[edit]

To recover from his grave wounds, Kralkatorrik devoured everything in his path in the Mists. However, he was caught off guard by the resurrected Aurene and the Commander who had entered the Mists to chase after him some time after the Battle of Thunderhead Keep. The Crystal Dragon opened portals and entered several realms of the gods in rapid succession, hoping to evade his pursuers for a time until he had fully healed himself.

However, Aurene and the Commander interfered with the Crystal Dragon's plans, forcing him to battle them with his tail and destroy chunks of the realms—including Melandru's Lost Domain, Grenth's Underworld, and Balthazar's Fissure of Woe—in hopes of making the rocks hit the pursuing pair. Kralkatorrik successfully evaded portals, which Aurene had created to lure him back to Tyria, until the pair severed his left wing from his body with a magic blast. The wounded Crystal Dragon and chunks of the torn Mist realms fell through Aurene's portal into the Unending Ocean south of Orr, and their combined mass created a new area—Dragonfall—where Kralkatorrik's back and wings were visible while his head and lower body were buried deep underneath.

Kralkatorrik and islands from the Mists fall into the Unending Ocean, creating Dragonfall.

While pinned under the islands ripped from the Mists and having attacks from Aurene and her new skyscale allies to deal with, Kralkatorrik sensed subsurface ley lines underneath him and began consuming their magic to heal himself. He generated a field of Brand conduits over his body, summoned Brandstorms around himself and ordered the Branded to travel to the area to protect him from Aurene and the allied army.[38] As the allied army led by Almorra Soulkeeper and Logan Thackeray found a way to disrupt the Brandstorms and fought the Crystal Dragon above ground, they managed to weaken him but not kill him as he successfully created a crystal cocoon around his body to allow it to recover. An explosion of energy from Kralkatorrik's body flooded the area with greater Brandstorms which forced the army into a retreat only to repeat the attack later while the Commander and allies worked on a solution to permanently damage the Elder Dragon with true Dragonsblood Spears made from the blood of his severed wing which had landed nearby. After acquiring the first Dragonsblood Spear of the new batch, the Commander tested it by hitting one of the weakpoints on Kralkatorrik's body, making the Elder Dragon roar in pain.

As Almorra and Logan launched another assault to distract Kralkatorrik, a strike team consisting of the Commander, Aurene, Caithe, Rytlock, and Zafirah descended underneath the islands to the cave network where the unconscious Kralkatorrik was buried in and found him consuming the magic of three ley lines. After Aurene had sealed the ley lines while the rest of the group defended her from the Branded, the army above successfully pierced through Kralkatorrik's defenses and seemingly killed him. However, while the Crystal Dragon's body was dead, a source of power still resided within him, so Aurene and the Commander entered his body to destroy his heart from within while the rest of the allies protected the sealed ley lines from Branded reinforcements.

Kralkatorrik finally spoke to Aurene and the Commander once they were close to reaching his heart, telling them to approach it. The minds of the two dragons connected, and Aurene felt Kralkatorrik's pain coming from the warring magics within him which had fractured him. The Elder Dragon revealed that he wanted the pain to end and that he had become a victim of the magic he had consumed which manifested as a violent, endlessly hungry creature of torment.

With Kralkatorrik urging her to claim his power for her own, Aurene and the Commander fought against the manifestation of Kralkatorrik's torment with Aurene sealing off the facets of magic which Kralkatorrik had consumed from powerful entities—the Facet of Fire and War from Balthazar, the Facet of Root and Madness from Mordremoth, and the Facet of Shadow and Death from Zhaitan—in order to weaken the manifestation of torment. Throughout the battle as she sensed Kralkatorrik's pain, Aurene slowly came to understand what her grandfather had gone through and promised to end his suffering.

Kralkatorrik's Torment.

As the battle neared its end, Kralkatorrik revealed that he had heard Aurene's first words and that Glint had misinterpreted his vision of a world without him as something that had terrified him when in fact he had not been afraid of anything, not even his own death. The Crystal Dragon also argued with the manifestation of his torment, claiming that the mortals which Aurene worked with had made her strong instead of weak and that she had not betrayed her own kind but would be the first of her kind. Once the manifestation of torment was defeated, Kralkatorrik voiced his hope that his granddaughter would never have to kill what she loved—referring to his torment compelling him to kill his scion Glint[39]—and asked the Commander to return his blood to his heart. Encouraged by the grieving Aurene, the Commander fulfilled Kralkatorrik's wish and pierced his heart with the Dragonsblood Spear, killing the Crystal Dragon whose final word was "mother."

Aurene took in Kralkatorrik's magic and combined it with the facets she had sealed off earlier. In so doing she fulfilled Kralkatorrik's prophecy and part of Glint's legacy by replacing her grandfather as a new, benevolent Elder Dragon. In the aftermath of Aurene's ascension and departure, Caithe noted that she had sensed Aurene's compassion towards someone she loved, slowly coming to the realization that Aurene had come to care for her grandfather in his last moments.[40]

Legacy[edit]

The Icebrood Saga[edit]

Holographic Kralkatorrik in Hoelbrak during Dragon Bash.

Following the Battle of Dragonfall, Knut Whitebear revived the Dragon Bash festival to celebrate Kralkatorrik's demise and hosted the event in Hoelbrak. Asuran technicians created a sizable Kralkatorrik hologram that would fly around Hoelbrak during the festivities.

After her ascension, Aurene began purifying Kralkatorrik's Dragonbrand around the world by replacing it with her own Brand while culling the Branded horde.[41][42] Kralkatorrik's demise and the diminishing numbers of Branded allowed the charr legions to focus their attention on what the future of the charr race should be, leading to the political All-Legion Rally which the imperators of the legions attended.[43] Despite being masterless, the remaining Branded continued being a threat, and the legions had built Brand Stompers to neutralize underground Brand shards and to keep the Branded from invading charr territories.[44]

Aurene had not been able to consume all of the magic which Kralkatorrik's death had unleashed. Some of the Crystal Dragon's magic traveled north to the Far Shiverpeaks where it was consumed by the Elder Dragon Jormag and the icebrood champion Drakkar.[45][46]

While conversing with the Pact Commander and Aurene, Jormag revealed that they knew Kralkatorrik's name and claimed that mortals did not have to fear Jormag as they had feared Kralkatorrik. The Ice Dragon insisted that they were not driven to madness and mindless rampage like Kralkatorrik.[47][48]

Physiology[edit]

Powers[edit]

Kralkatorrik is able to turn his body into a sandstorm and solidify parts or all of his body in a quick succession.[2] The Dragonbrand, created initially by his breath and later just by flying over terrain, turns both living beings and the affected land itself into his Branded minions which can be healed or made impervious with special recharging and empowering crystals.[25] Since consuming the Death sphere of Zhaitan and the Mind sphere of Mordremoth, Kralkatorrik is able to Brand corpses and raise them as Death-Branded,[26] and synchronize his Branded to work in tandem with improved hive mind capabilities allowing them to act like one, linked entity.[30]

Since consuming the magic of the Maguuma Bloodstone and some of Balthazar's magic, Kralkatorrik can create less dangerous Brandstorms far from his location, improve his minions' abilities to spread the Brand and corrupt beings,[24], open rifts to enter and exit the Mists at will,[33] and heal his minions through the rifts.[49] He is also able to combine the magic gained from Zhaitan, Mordremoth and Balthazar, as well as his own crystal magic, in a powerful, charged blast and shoot beams of magic from his eyes.

Weaknesses[edit]

Recordings left by the Forgotten and Exalted in Kesho show that Kralkatorrik's unique weakness is his own crystalline blood, including Glint, Vlast, and Aurene. This weakness is created due to the unique resonance that connects the Branded back to Kralkatorrik, making the Elder Dragon vulnerable to his own minions and corruption if he's assaulted with the Dragonsblood Spear or properly amplified resonance crystals vibrating with songs.[23][50][51][52] Upon examining pieces of Kralkatite ore mined from Brandstones, Istani scholars have discovered that powdered rose quartz, if charged with a high-energy environment of a storm or a source of concentrated light such as the Astralarium's mirrors, is capable of cleansing Kralkatorrik's corruption by leeching the energy from the Kralkatite and potentially other corrupted material and discharging the cleansed energy into the environment.[27][28]

Locations[edit]

Crystal Desert
Shiverpeak Mountains

Story involvement[edit]

Personal story[edit]

Path of Fire story[edit]

Living World Season 4[edit]

Event involvement[edit]

Event dragon (map icon).png [Group Event] Engage Kralkatorrik (80)

Combat abilities[edit]

During Beast of War[edit]

Skills
  • Branded Prison - Kralkatorrik's lightning traps enemies in crystal, applying Heavy Aura.png Branded Prison.
  • Kralkatorrik's Ire - Kralkatorrik hurls a crystal meteor at an area.

During Eye of the Brandstorm[edit]

Skills
  • Kralkatorrik's Reach - Kralkatorrik summons lightning to strike the ground, inflicting Vulnerability.png Vulnerability and Burning.png Burning.

In Jahai Bluffs and Thunderhead Peaks[edit]

Skills

In Storm Tracking[edit]

Skills
  • Lightning Strike - Inflicts Immobile.png Encased on any player hit by lightning.

During The Crystal Dragon[edit]

Effects
  • Branded Crystal Shield.png Brand Hide - A thick crystal hide provides immense protection. Remove it by breaking the foe's defiance.
Skills
  • Brand Gust - A cone attack that emanates from Kralkatorrik's eye that deals damage and applies Bleeding.png Bleeding.
  • Crystal Wrath - Kralkatorrik breathes a beam of magic at the target, inflicting massive damage.
  • Head Quake - The Elder Dragon rears his head, and slams it on the cliffside, knocking down all enemies.
  • Stormfall - Purple cracks spread across the ground before erupting in a fissure of Branded energy.
  • Roar - A mighty roar that pushes foes back. Players can find safety behind Aurene's shield. Using  Resonating Blast.png Dragon's Fury while standing next to Aurene can stop the attack prematurely.

During The End[edit]

  • Tail Swipe - An attack where Kralkatorrik attempts to hit Aurene with his tail. Can be blocked with Crystalline Shield.

In Dragonfall[edit]

Skills
  • Brand Meteor - Giant crystal launches from Kralkatorrik's back, leaving large damage over time area of effects.

Kralkatorrik's Torment (During Descent)[edit]

Skills
  • Crystal Torrent - a slow, horizontal swipe that leaves behind Crystal Eruptors, which are large clusters of crystals that deal a lot of damage per second when touched.
  • Crystal Dragon's Fist - an attack where it slams its one of its fists on the platform, creating a shockwave that deals damage and Knockdown.png Knockdown
  • Detonate Crystal Eruptors - a rare attack where it causes each Crystal Eruptor on the platform to explode in a large AOE

Gallery[edit]

Screenshots
Renders
Portraits
Size comparisons
Concept art
Animations

Related achievements[edit]

Notes[edit]

Trivia[edit]

See also[edit]

Gwwlogo.png The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Kralkatorrik.
Associated items

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Living World: The Icebrood Saga Issue 01, pg. 5, GuildWars2.com
    Fortunately, we have Aurene: granddaughter of Kralkatorrik (also known as the Elder Dragon of Crystal and Fury) [...]
  2. ^ a b "Chapter 30: Kralkatorrik", Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King:
    Shrieking, Glint dived onto that back and smashed into Kralkatorrik. Talons tore off scales, and fangs ripped through muscle. Green blood sprayed from it, emerald droplets plunging through the air. Glint vaulted off its back, rose up, and dived again.
    This time, though, there was nothing to strike. The Elder Dragon's flesh had melted into a sandstorm. She tore at it with claws and fangs, but Kralkatorrik was as insubstantial as a dream.
    The dream turned on her. In midair, the Elder Dragon rolled to its back, talons reaching up. Glint tried to loft away, but those claws solidified and grasped her. They pierced her leg and flank and held on crushingly as Kralkatorrik rolled again.
    She flailed but could not escape. She could little breathe. Her lung was punctured and bubbling.
    Kralkatorrik climbed into the sky, hauling Glint away from her lair. Its hissing bulk merged with the storm.
  3. ^ Your Kind of People
  4. ^ Ambient dialogue after Dragon's End meta
  5. ^ Ambient dialogue after Dragon's End meta
  6. ^ The Ruined City of Arah (explorable) Jotun path
    Varra Skylark: This is an amazing discovery! The jotun's sky-sweeper shows a stellar match with the last time the dragons awoke.
    <Character name>: When was that last time?
    Varra Skylark: Around ten thousand years ago. You know what this means? The Elder Dragons may have been responsible for the extinction of the Giganticus Lupicus!
  7. ^ Comment by Chelsey Shuder, Reddit.com
  8. ^ Comment by Jessica Price in "Swarming y'all with questions", Guild Wars 2 Forums
  9. ^ "Chapter 26: Seeking the Sanctum", Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King:
    The dragon’s great eyes went gray. "I can hear the thoughts of creatures. I am an oracle. I heard their plots against my master, stopped them before they reached him, killed them in their tracks. But I also felt their agony, their loss. It grieved me."
  10. ^ Scion & Champion
    Glint: With you, Champion, I share my true legacy—and Kralkatorrik's greatest secret.
    Glint: He foresaw the possibility of a world at peace. A world without strife between dragons and mortals. A world without him.
    Glint: It terrified him. He demanded I help prevent it from coming to pass.
    Glint: But where he saw doom, I saw a gift to the world.
  11. ^ Bloodstones
  12. ^ "Chapter 27: Dragonrise", Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King:
    Ferroc Torchtail's hackles rose. He didn't like the look of that mountain—how it hulked there—spiky, scaly, massive...unnatural. He certainly didn't like that his warband was marching toward it. He had a feeling of doom. [...]
    Across the ridge, spikes of stone flexed slowly.
    Rocks sloughed from scaly ribs.
    Talons cracked out of bedrock.
    The dragon rose from the mountain.
    It was the biggest living thing Ferroc had ever seen. It was the mountain—a thousand feet high with a wingspan that shadowed the world.
  13. ^ The Ruined City of Arah (explorable) Forgotten path
    Warden Illyra: I have learned that the last time the Elder Dragons came, the Forgotten worked with Glint, who hid the old races from the dragons' power. [...]
    Warden Illyra: Yes. Yes! Look at these runes. The Forgotten were able to remove Kralkatorrik's control over Glint.
    Warden Illyra: Glint remained in crystalline form, but she regained her free will and identity. [...]
    Warden Illyra: This is the altar. It was here, before the human gods came, that Glint was freed of the Elder Dragons.
  14. ^ Crystalline Memories
    Glint: Vlast, my child. Your birth begins a new age. A new design.
    Glint: I sense Kralkatorrik stirring in its sleep. Could it know what I'm planning? What you're meant for?
    Glint: Time grows short. I fear what will happen when the Elder Dragon awakens. And I'm sorry you must bear this burden.
  15. ^ "Chapter 28: Siege and Storm", Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King:
    Queen Jennah of Kryta, staring from a window high in Ebonhawke Keep, peered into the mind of darkness.
    It was unlike any she had wrestled before.
    A sandstorm. A chaos. Bottomless hunger. Endless outrage.
    She glimpsed it for just a moment, but that was enough. In that moment, it had glimpsed her.
    Crying out, Queen Jennah reeled back from the window. Countess Anise caught her, staring in dread at her queen.
    "That's what they look like," Jennah said, panting. Her eyes were like mirrors. "That's what it's like to look into the mind of a dragon."
  16. ^ "Chapter 32: Battle of the Crystal Desert", Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King:
    Snaff stared at his reflection in the compound eye of the beast—stared so long that he passed through the reflection and found himself on the other side...
    Within the dragon's mind.
    It was like standing in the eye of a cyclone. All around, a great storm raged, tearing down the heavens and churning up the sands and whirling all in primordial chaos. Tortured coils of cloud mixed with dissolving seas of silt. The winds scoured away rock and rill, tree and blade, flesh and bone—and tossed them all in a crystalline tempest.
    All things were fuel to that storm.
    Everything was a feast to Kralkatorrik.
    How does one fight a hurricane? [...]
    But only now did he understand.
    The center of every vortex is a great emptiness—a hollow longing. The storm tries to fill the emptiness, but the more it hungers, the deeper the emptiness becomes.
    And Kralkatorrik's hunger was insatiable.
    To draw the dragon, Snaff had to become the eye of the storm—to be what Kralkatorrik was not. [...]
    Enraged, the dragon sought this delighted mind, this maddening contentment. The eye of the dragon shifted, fixing on the ruined sanctuary far below.
    That was where it lurked.
    But not for long.
    The minions of Kralkatorrik would root out this intruder.
  17. ^ "Chapter 33: Sundering", Edge of Destiny by J. Robert King:
    Caithe walked along the Dragonbrand—the wide swath of destruction laid down by Kralkatorrik. Every once in a while, she would bend down and pull a large green crystal from the sands.
    "Dragon blood," she said, staring gladly at one such stone before sliding it into her pack.
    It was lonely work, wandering these desolate places, searching for the secrets of Kralkatorrik and the Elder Dragons. But it was even lonelier when she traveled to Hoelbrak or Rata Sum or Divinity's Reach or the Black Citadel only to find that her onetime friends had become strangers.
    But they would be friends again. Someday, they would join her. Someday, they would fight the dragons again.
  18. ^ The Movement of the World: Order of Whispers
  19. ^ Desert Gate Guard
  20. ^ Book of Vlast
  21. ^ The Way Forward
    Sadizi: That was Josso Essher, one of the legacy's main architects. Sadly, he was lost in the attempt to convert Kralkatorrik.
    <Character name>: Wait. "Convert" Kralkatorrik?
    Sadizi: Yes. The Forgotten dared to try, but the hunger of the Elder Dragons is too strong. It proved a tragic failure.
  22. ^ Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire—Road to the Desert
  23. ^ a b The Way Forward
    Josso Essher: Kralkatorrik's unique strength—its power to crystalize objects—is also its singular weakness.
    Josso Essher: Its creations share a fundamental resonance that connects them back to the crystal dragon and makes them vulnerable to each other.
    Taimi: A fundamental resonance that makes them vulnerable...
    Taimi: Whoa! So that's why Balthazar was after Vlast! He needed a scion of Glint to kill Kralkatorrik! But Vlast's gone, so that means...
  24. ^ a b Eye of the Brandstorm
    <Character name>: We should check in with Jory and Kas. See if they've caught up to Kralkatorrik.
    Taimi: They already checked in. Kralk is perched in some mountains. They said it's acting strange... [...]
    Rytlock Brimstone: A Brandstorm? Again? I don't see any sign of Kralkatorrik.
    Taimi: If Kralk HAD flown over, we'd be walking jewelry right now.
    <Character name>: Looks like Kralkatorrik's learned a few new tricks. [...]
    Rytlock Brimstone: Commander, if Kralkatorrik's minions can Brand people even when it's not nearby...we have a very big problem.
  25. ^ a b Defeat the Branded earth elemental
  26. ^ a b Comment by Andrew Gray in "Elder Dragons Zhaitan and Mordremoth", Guild Wars 2 Forums
  27. ^ a b Research Notes
  28. ^ a b Yasna
  29. ^ The Astralarium ambient dialogue
  30. ^ a b The Road to Rata Primus
    PA Announcer: Imagine! Communications technology enhanced by the unique hive-mind abilities of Kralkatorrik's minions.
    Taimi: What? Their hive mind?
    Taimi: I wonder if that ability is something Kralkatorrik absorbed after Mordremoth's death. Some piece of its magical nature...
  31. ^ a b Comment by Andrew Gray in "What were Riftstalkers and the Wrathbringer?", Guild Wars 2 Forums
  32. ^ A Shattered Nation
    Taimi: Commander! I finally heard from Kas and Jory—and it's not good. They lost Kralkatorrik!
    <Character name>: Define "lost."
    Taimi: They said he just...vanished! I think he— [...]
    <Character name>: How did you know the Shatterer would be here?
    General Almorra Soulkeeper: Short answer is: we didn't. Saw Kralkatorrik bring his lieutenant back from the dead. Tried to put it down for good.
  33. ^ a b Legacy
    Blish: Kralkatorrik's presence in the Mists is destablizing the border between our world and the next. [...]
    Taimi: Oh, no... That's it. Kralkatorrik's attacks—they're all places Aurene was at first. SHE'S the connection!
    <Character name>: That crystal monster—he's HUNTING her! [...]
    Snaff: Kralkatorrik has begun to consume the magical energy inside the Mists!
    <Character name>: Just like he consumed Balthazar's magic! That explains all the chaos out there...
    Snaff: If allowed to continue unabated, he will devour reality itself.
  34. ^ The Crystal Blooms
    Ghostly Messenger: Commander—dire news from Glint. Our forces are scattered. We can't hold out any longer.
    Ghostly Messenger: Kralkatorrik has entered the Domain of the Lost. He's devouring everything in his path. Destroying or scattering the dead.
    <Character name>: Well, that explains all the ghosts. How bad do you think it is?
    Ghostly Messenger: He's wounded—we've done real damage. But now he's feeding again. Regaining power. If this keeps up...
  35. ^ The Auditorium ambient dialogue
  36. ^ a b Tweet by Peter Fries, Twitter.com
  37. ^ Requiem: Rytlock
  38. ^ Landfall
    <Character name>: Kralkatorrik's buried—I can't see his head. He's covered with Brandstorms and lightning. Getting close'll be dangerous. [...]
    Taimi: Kralk's impact broke into subsurface ley lines? Oh, no, no, no, no!
    <Character name>: What's ley energy doing here?
    Gorrik: Kralkatorrik's absorbing it! He's healing!
  39. ^ Guild Chat Episode 85 - (Spoilers) War Eternal Tom Abernathy: At the end of the story Kralkatorrik says "I hope you never have to kill what you love." Is this referring to Glint? Yes. What Kralkatorrik is saying in that moment is that this madness compelled me to do things that I did not necessarily want to do, and that's been a horrible thing for him to have to bear and experience even while he's essentially trapped inside this giant, tormented dragon body. So yeah, Kralk has regrets, he's got a few.
  40. ^ Descent
    Kralkatorrik: Mother... [...]
    Caithe: I felt her compassion in there. As if—as if she saw someone she loved, in great pain. Was Kralkatorrik...?
    <Character name>: No dragon is meant to contain that much power. Balthazar, Zhaitan, Mordremoth—their magics were tearing him apart.
  41. ^ Coming Home
    Crecia Stoneglow: The Elder Dragon. One of our scouts spotted it doing...something to the old Brand scars just south of here.
    Crecia Stoneglow: What are its orders?
    <Character name>: Aurene doesn't take orders from us. As for the Brand scars—we believe she's purifying them, for lack of a better word.
    Gorrik: The process is entirely benevolent. [...]
    <Character name>: Aurene's not a weapon. She's taken a personal interest in repairing Kralkatorrik's damage.
  42. ^ Researcher Grunn
  43. ^ Revels & Rivals
    Marjory Delaqua: Aurene's the least of your worries.
    Malice Swordshadow: She's the root of them. Kralkatorrik's no longer a threat, and right now nobody knows exactly what that means for us. [...]
    <Character name>: But you...you understand that Aurene's not a threat. You're the visionary.
    Smodur the Unflinching: Wish the other imperators could see it. With Kralkatorrik gone, might be time we all sat down and had a little chat...
  44. ^ Vetia Foerazer
  45. ^ A History of Still Waters Speaking: Part Two
  46. ^ Bjora Marches Vigil patrol ambient dialogue
  47. ^ Bangar Ruinbringer
  48. ^ The Invitation
    Jormag: You fear me as you feared Kralkatorrik. That is natural. But ice fortifies. Ice protects.
    Jormag: All this war, all this pain... Aurene wants to end it. And I can help her. I want to help her.
  49. ^ Destroy the Death-Branded Shatterer
  50. ^ Sun's Refuge ambient dialogue
    Naja: Strange. A part of me rings like a bell when I hear the water running over these crystals.
    Naja: Wonder if you could make musical instruments from Brand crystals. If the Brand scar could sing like a harp.
    Naja: Hm. Wind would have to be right.
  51. ^ Scion & Champion
    Glint: Kralkatorrik and his minions share a common resonance. This strength can also be a weakness.
    Glint: With the right resonance, crystal can not only be broken, but molded. Shaped.
  52. ^ The Crystal Blooms
    <Character name>: So tell me about this idea for the resonance crystals.
    Taimi: Same idea as forging Dragonsblood weapons—only, instead of a few Brand shards, we're breaking down a whole dragon.
    Taimi: We just need to figure out how to boost the resonance output, which is where the dredge come in.
    Taimi: Charge 'em up, make 'em sing—and they'll kill Kralk right in the resonance frequencies!
  53. ^ Comment by Eve Eschenbacher, Reddit.com
  54. ^ Ronald Kury's ArtStation profile, ArtStation.com
  55. ^ Comment by Cameron Rich in "Question on (Spoiler)", Guild Wars 2 Forums
  56. ^ Comment by Cameron Rich in "Kralkatorrik Size", Guild Wars 2 Forums