Lord Odran

Lord Odran's map to the Mists, from the Durmand Priory's Special Collections.

“

The natural state of a phenomenon is often the most revealing.

— Odran's Razor

Lord Odran was an infamous wizard lord whom human chronicles credit as being the first known mortal to open portals from Tyria to the Mists and who traversed the multiverse while also opening portals to different worlds. He also appears to be the artist behind a stylized map to the Mists which is currently in the Durmand Priory's possession and has inspired one of the painted ceilings in the Priory. Randall Greyston suggests that Lord Odran's goal was to seek out the gods. The tales claim that the wizard lord met his end at the hands of the angered spirits of the Hall of Heroes who were seeking retribution for his trespasses.

Biography

Exploring the Mists

Human chronicles offer a legendary account on Lord Odran's famous discoveries and his fate. According to the tales he was a powerful arcanist who specialized in the study of temporal distortions. Using a spell of his own devising and the sacrifice of many souls, the wizard lord opened a portal that offered him access to the Mists and eventually into the Rift, located in the center of the Mists, itself in 851 AE.

The spirits who had given their lives to earn access to the hallowed afterlife were outraged. They turned their fury upon the intruder, attacking Lord Odran with all of their legendary, collective might. But it had been hundreds of years since most of the spirits had interacted with the physical world, and none of them had ever done so in their shadow form. As powerful as they had been in life, they could not harm the physical manifestation of the wizard lord—not yet. He was untouchable here in the land of the dead, and he traveled freely through the Hall of Heroes.

Over the years, Lord Odran learned to use the Rift to travel across the multiverse of the Mists. The tales claim that he opened portals on nearly all of the different worlds, turning the Rift into his own personal gateway. But though he was clever, the wizard lord was himself only mortal, and eventually the spirits of the Hall discovered a way to interact with the corporeal world. Odran's last physical journey through the Rift cost him his mortal life. The wizard lord was torn to shreds by hundreds of angry souls seeking retribution for his trespasses.

Legacy

When Odran's mortal body died, the wards and enchantments that kept his portals hidden failed, and the gates to the Hall of Heroes were laid open to all who were able to find them. The wizard lord had been canny though; Odran knew that one day he too might be ensconced in the Hall of Heroes, so he hid the portals in the most treacherous locations he could find on Tyria. The fear of death, he surmised, would keep the meek at bay. However, the wizard lord, like the Six Gods before him, underestimated the greed of humans. Over time, the whereabouts of the portals were revealed. Though the portals remained difficult to get to, there were those with enough skill and enough bravery to reach them, and the numbers of intruders to the Hall of Heroes rose steadily over the centuries, leading to an unending battle for supremacy between trespassing mortals inside the Hall. The spirit inhabitants took to playing the mortal groups against each other for sport, and visits to the Hall were frequent during the Hero's adventures across the three major Tyrian continents.

As time passed, an artwork said to be Lord Odran's map to the Mists ended up in the Durmand Priory's Special Collections and inspired one of the painted ceilings in the Priory. Priory scholar Randall Greyston would claim in 1325 AE that the wizard lord's goal was to seek out the gods. To this day many portals to the Mists and Mist realms still exist on Tyria, and many of these portals may well have been opened by the wizard lord himself if the tales are to be believed.

Gallery

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  Original Lord Odran's map to the Mists, used in Guild Wars media.

Trivia

The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Lord Odran.

• Although Lord Odran is sometimes referred to as a wizard lord, it is unknown if he had any ties to the Astral Ward and the Wizard's Court.
• The writing on Lord Odran's map to the Mists is in Ascalonian and translates to "beware the danger of secrets kept".