Mabon

Mabon

Race

Mursaat

Level

80

Rank

Legendary

Location

Lonely Tower Fractal
(Fractals of the Mists)
Wizard's Ascent
(Skywatch Archipelago)

Organization

Wizard's Court

“

Our work is important, and I've been able to do a lot of good. It's where I belong. My purpose. No one lives to my age without accumulating a long list of mistakes.

— Mabon

Mabon is a mursaat and one of the most senior members of the Wizard's Court, leading the Bastion of Strength in Amnytas. He shares a long past with the court's founder Isgarren. The Mabon Market is named after him. In recent times Mabon has become the mentor to his latest apprentice Zojja. When not helping with the Astral Ward matters, he can be seen patrolling the Wizard's Ascent.

Despite trying to fight off the Kryptis possessing him during the latest Kryptis invasion of Tyria, Mabon ultimately succumbs to the corruption after being worn out in the conflict. With the last of his strength, he urges Zojja and the Pact Commander to slay his possessor Asthenes, who has linked its lifeforce to his, to end them both but not before giving Zojja final, encouraging words to find a home among the wizards.

Biography

Early years

Bloody origins

Mabon originates from a group of Nayosian mursaat who were exiled to Tyria as punishment by another, more benign group of mursaat millennia ago. These exiled mursaat eventually formed an alliance with the Tyrian elder races of the dwarves, the Forgotten, the jotun and the Seers during an earlier dragonrise to battle the ravenous Elder Dragons. However, the dwarves, jotun and Seers failed to come to the Forgotten and mursaat's aid during the assault on the Elder Dragon Zhaitan, leading to casualties on both Forgotten and mursaat ranks. This perceived betrayal soured the mursaat's opinion on their former Tyrian allies, and they swore to make Tyria theirs.

Embittered by the Seers' actions, the mursaat waged a war against them despite the numbers being stacked in favor of the Seers. They ultimately managed to cull down the Seer horde considerably. Mabon was involved in one such battle but decided to stop fighting against his Seer opponent. When the Seer questioned the mursaat's reluctance to fight, Mabon admitted his shame and that, according to him, it was not worth killing any more. His opponent, Isgarren, chose to spare and eventually befriend Mabon, leading to an unlikely partnership between the two.

Joining the Wizard's Court

At some point, Isgarren offered Mabon a choice to undergo "divcia nava," the Seer rite of Ascension to become a wizard connected to the flow of magic on Tyria. However, Mabon lost many of his memories of his past as a result. He still occasionally recalled a masked woman's voice talking about their home in the Realm of Dreams, and he came to believe that the voice signified him not being inherently malevolent despite the mursaat's many crimes. Mabon came to believe that Isgarren might have had a pragmatic reason for sparing him; the Seer wizard required help in constructing the World Spire, a conduit powered by a massive Shadowstone to create a barrier preventing extraplanar beings from invading Tyria through the Veil.

Secrets of the Obscure

Act 1

In 1336 AE, the Kryptis began the latest invasion of Amnytas on behalf of Midnight King Eparch shortly after the World Spire's wards malfunctioned due to the transfer of magic from the dying Elder Dragon Soo-Won to Aurene. The goal of Asthenes, one of Eparch's champions, was to possess Mabon by assaulting his mind and eventually tethering its soul to his so both would survive as long as one of them drew breath. Mabon kept Asthenes at bay although the Kryptis bided its time and waited for its target's moment of weakness as it slowly began chipping away the wizard's defenses.

In order to access the Wizard's Tower which had blocked entry into it due to its defense mechanisms activating following the Kryptis invasion, Mabon and Lyhr devised a way to get inside. It required the arduous process of forging a key in the dwarven forge found at the manifested Droknar fractal in Skywatch Archipelago.

Act 2

Asthenes finally succeeded in its grim task after Mabon had spent much of his strength in saving his comrade Lyhr from possession as well as opening the Wizard's Tower. Despite the possession, however, Mabon was still able to control some of his actions to set up wards in the Bastion of Strength in an attempt to shield parts of it from the Kryptis although his resistance continued eroding under the Kryptis's influence.

The Pact Commander, Zojja as well as members of the Wizard's Court and Astral Ward eventually tracked down Mabon to the Bastion of Strength. However, it turned out to be a trap as the possessed mursaat was accompanied by several Kryptis which ambushed the would-be rescuers. The wizards ended up splitting up in the ensuing battle, leaving the Commander and Zojja to face Mabon alone. Asthenes emerged from Mabon's body to battle the pair directly while its comrade, the Kryptis Lord Cerus, observed the battle on the sidelines via a projection. Regaining some of his willpower, the mursaat wizard urged the pair to slay Asthenes despite what it would cost him. After a fierce struggle, Asthenes was defeated albeit it led to Mabon's demise as well. Before perishing, however, Mabon urged Zojja to find a new home among the wizards.

Legacy

Secrets of the Obscure

Zojja ended up grieving Mabon's death, finding herself lost after losing yet another mentor. This prompted Dagda to have a heartfelt conversation with Zojja, echoing Mabon's words when she offered Zojja a place among the wizards, which would lead to Zojja eventually undergoing the rite of Ascension to become a full-fledged wizard.

During the Commander's confrontation with the Kryptis Lord Cerus, the latter taunted the former by acknowledging Asthenes as one of his dearest comrades who had landed the final blow on Mabon and that Cerus himself had experienced the mursaat wizard's pain much to his delight.

Following Eparch's death and the end of the Kryptis war, the mursaat statue within Mabon's quarters began glowing although the reason for it remained unclear.

Janthir Wilds

According to A Collective History, Volume 6 which the Pact Commander managed to read upon returning to the Wizard's Tower with the long missing wizard Waiting Sorrow in 1337 AE, Mabon was one of the founding members of the Mesmer Collective. He was known to the collective as the djinn Obryn, Fifth Veil who had saved Duchess Adelaide Barradin's group by slaying the mursaat ambushers targeting them during the White Mantle's rise centuries ago. Countess Anise described the collective as a "passion project" for Mabon and that she had seen him without his mask. The volume also told of Mabon stressing over a trip to Bava Nisos, a ruined mursaat city in Janthir. The trip "was penance for the past, a promise made, 'one former monster to another.'"

Location

The Mists

• Fractals of the Mists
  • Lonely Tower Fractal

Horn of Maguuma

• Skywatch Archipelago
  • Wizard's Ascent

Story involvement

Secrets of the Obscure story

• Act 1
  • Hell Breaks Loose
  • Mother of Stars
• Act 2
  • The Missing Facet
  • Tower of Secrets
  • Mabon's Fate
• Act 3
  • Into the Obscure (as a vision)

Event involvement

Unlocking the Wizard's Tower

[Group Event] Gather essence of awe around Droknar's Light (80)

[Group Event] Collect essence to maintain Droknar's Forge (80)

[Group Event] Purge Lyhr's corruption (80)

Combat abilities

Abilities

Effects

Skills

Stolen skills

Dialogue

Wizard's Ascent

There is much to be done, but I will assist as much as I am able. Now, how can I help?

Who built the beacons?

Mabon: The Wizard's Court—Isgarren, mainly—predates nearly everything else in Tyria, and the beacons are older still.

Mabon: Perhaps only he knows their origin, and perhaps not even him. But they serve their purpose well, regardless.

Do you ever regret joining the wizards?

Mabon: No, I don't. Our work is important, and I've been able to do a lot of good. It's where I belong. My purpose.

Mabon: No one lives to my age without accumulating a long list of mistakes. Before I came here, I was callous and...violent.

Mabon: The truth is, joining the ward might be the only good decision I ever made.

How do you feel about the other mursaat?

Mabon: In truth, I have few memories of my time with my brethren before joining the Astral Ward—a kindness I likely don't deserve.

Mabon: But I have watched events unfold. I've seen our story played out across Tyria.

Mabon: My people chose the wrong path, and when given chances to undo their damage, continued farther down that same road...

Mabon: If there are enough of us left, I hope someday they'll find a better future. But it's our fault things are this way.

Do you think these experiments were justified?

Mabon: I do. I didn't always, truth be told, but I've seen the good that's come of them.

Mabon: You have to understand, there are things we've prevented because of them that Tyria knows nothing about.

Mabon: Everything we do comes at a price, but if what we gain in return is the safety of our world, then we must pay that cost.

Mabon: Hopefully, someday, they will no longer be necessary. If we're lucky, maybe even someday soon.

I'm fine for right now.

In Southern Wizard's Tower after completing Purge Lyhr's corruption

You've done well here, <Character name>—better than I could have hoped. Now, is there anything I can help you with?

So if the key only partly worked, what do we do now?

Mabon: We will need to find additional solutions, it seems. But things are in motion, and there is value in that.

Mabon: For now, we should enjoy this victory; we're only given so many of these, after all.

Do you feel guilty about having to remove memories?

Mabon: Of course. We pay a heavy cost to join the order, and that mantle weighs heavy on my shoulders, even after all this time.

Mabon: But if we are going to make decisions for all of Tyria, we must be free of entanglements with it.

Mabon: No one joins the court without understanding that, though. I'm proud of each of them. Their sacrifice is not lost on me.

After all this, I bet you could use a vacation.

Mabon: Maybe so. I'll admit, there's been little time for rest around here as of late.

Mabon: But when I see the strength of my fellows on the court, the courage of the ward...I know this is where I belong.

Mabon: The truth is, even in these dark times...there's nowhere I'd rather be.

I'll ask later.

Skyward Marches

I found Lyhr, and he's in stasis now, but the situation is dire.

Forging the key made him vulnerable to a deep corruption, and it's wound its tendrils around him.

I'll try to untangle it from him, but I can't do it alone. Please, help me save my friend.

Related achievements

• Secrets of the Obscure: Act 1: We're Friends Now — Befriend a mursaat. (0)
• Secrets of the Obscure: Act 2: Assist Mabon — Assist Mabon in getting to the Hall of Confluence. (1)
• Secrets of the Obscure: Act 2: Tower Snoop — Find and read all of the confidential literature hidden throughout the Wizard's Tower. (1)
• Amnytas: Strength of the Unseen — Learn more about Mabon's past and his impact on the Astral Ward. (3)

Trivia

• Mabon is voiced by Liam O'Brien.
• The name Mabon originates in Welsh mythology likely before the 13th century. Mabon was the son of the Earth Mother Goddess Modron. In the 1960s, Mabon was adopted by pagan groups (specifically Alexandrian Wicca) as the name of the celebration of the autumnal equinox, one of the minor annual Sabbats.

See also

Associated items

• Mini Mabon
• Relic of Mabon
• Strength of the Unseen