Gods of Tyria

This article is about the human gods. For other deities, see Religions of Tyria. For the old gods from the canceled Utopia campaign, see Old Gods (Utopia).

Spoiler alert: The following text contains spoilers relating to the story of Guild Wars Nightfall.

Dervish forms of the Human Gods of Tyria: Dwayna, Melandru, Lyssa, Balthazar, and Grenth (respectively from left to right). (Kormir and Abaddon do not have a form named after them.)

The Human Gods of Tyria are the most commonly worshiped pantheon of gods in Tyria. They are the beings who, in the religion of humans and other advanced races, are credited with the creation of the world of Tyria, providing knowledge and magic to the races, and bestowing the Favor of the Gods. One of their titles, the Old Gods, is given because they have left the world of Tyria during the Exodus of the Gods at year 0. In the timeline BE stands for Before Exodus and AE stands for After Exodus.

Pantheon

The current pantheon of human gods are:

• Dwayna - The High Goddess of Healing, Air, Warmth and Life (stated as head of the pantheon)
• Balthazar - The Heroic God of War, Fire, Strength and Challenge.
• Melandru - The Mother Goddess of Nature, Earth, Protection and Growth
• Lyssa - The Twin Goddesses of Beauty, Water, Energy and Illusion (individually, they are Lyss and Ilya)
• Grenth - The Arbiter God of Darkness, Ice, Death and Judgment
• Kormir - The newborn Goddess of Order, Spirit, Knowledge and Truth

Aside from the six aforementioned gods, there are other known fallen gods. They are Dhuum, Grenth's predecessor who was overthrown by Grenth for being an unjust God of Death, Abaddon, Kormir's predecessor who was imprisoned for attempting to overthrow the other gods, and the unnamed predecessor of Abaddon, only mentioned by the Apostate.

History

According to legend, the gods used to live on Tyria while they were creating it - however it is now known that while the gods used to live on Tyria, they did not create the world but simply brought humanity to Tyria at an unknown time in the past. Three of the True Gods - Balthazar, Dwayna, and Melandru - used to make their home the city of Arah in the area known as Orr. Abaddon might have also lived in Arah, this is unknown due to all knowledge of him being erased.

In the year 1 BE, Abaddon gifted all sentient races with the gift of magic, but it was abused by all as each race tried to use this gift to destroy the others. After a plea from King Doric, the gods sealed most of the magic away in the bloodstones in order to reduce the amount of magic used, and thus reduce the damage done. Abaddon, who opposed the reduction of magic, attempted to lead a war against the other gods and was imprisoned in the Realm of Torment following his defeat. The other five gods then left Tyria for good and went into the Mists in an event known as the Exodus of the Gods.

Since the Exodus, the Gods have not directly intervened with any affairs in Tyria, although they still watch the world and grant it Favor of the Gods.

Recently, it has been discovered that some of the realms of the gods are under attack. Dhuum's demonic army is assaulting the Underworld in hopes of freeing the former God of Death from imprisonment in the Hall of Judgment. Menzies is assaulting the Fissure of Woe with his Shadow Army to obtain his half brother's throne. There have also been attacks on The Hall of Heroes path leading from the Tomb of the Primeval Kings and the Dragon Festival in Cantha was attacked before the events of Nightfall.

Yearly, Grenth and Dwayna have a "battle" to gain favor from the races of Tyria in order to determine if winter should last longer, or if spring should come sooner. It appears that only humans, dwarves, and norn celebrate this occasion. The norn are likely only involved for the party, as the change of seasons has little to no effect on their land.

Gods in Tyria

The presence of the True Gods can be felt in the present day when the world has earned the Favor of the Gods.

Avatars

• Balthazar: Champion of Balthazar (a ghostly knight resembling many eternals)
• Dwayna: Avatar of Dwayna (an angelic apparition resembling Dwayna's statues)
• Grenth: Voice of Grenth (a dark specter resembling a rift warden)
• Melandru: Melandru's Watcher (a spirit resembling a druid)
• Lyssa: Lyssa's Muse (a face in a wreath)
• Kormir: Avatar of Kormir and Seer of Truth (a blindfolded, golden version of herself)

Patronage

• Balthazar: Command & Spear Paragons, Fire Elementalists, Scythe Dervishes, Protection & Smiting Monks, and Warriors.
• Dwayna: Air Elementalists, Divine Favor & Healing Monks, Leadership & Motivation Paragons, and Wind Dervishes.
• Grenth: Assassins, Necromancers, Ritualists, and Water Elementalists.
• Melandru: Earth Dervishes, Earth Elementalists, and Rangers.
• Lyssa: Assassins, Energy Storage Elementalists, Mysticism Dervishes, and Mesmers.

Notes

The Guild Wars 2 Wiki has an article on Six Human Gods.

• Humans often refer to the pantheon as:
  • The Five Gods or The Five (before Guild Wars Nightfall)
  • The Six Gods or The Six (after Guild Wars Nightfall).
• Other races most commonly refer to them as Human Gods (with varying capitalization).
• They are known by many titles:
  • Ancient Ones
  • Ancient Gods
  • Old Gods
  • True Gods
  • Tyrian Gods

See also

• History of Tyria
• Lore
• Orrian History Scrolls

---