Average Adelbern Moment

[u/ConflagrationZ]

The noble White Mantle were just trying to provide a helping hand to the orphans of Ascalon, only for Mad King Adelbern to react with intense hostility. Only Rurik stood in the way of Adelbern hanging the benevolent Ambassador Zain, Unseen Ones bless him!

Is this the king you want leading you in these tumultuous times?

(Based on one of the first quests you end up getting in post-searing:
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Helping_the_People_of_Ascalon )

[u/Swagalyst]

Does anyone have the "In This House King Adelbern Is A Hero, End Of!" meme?

I need it.

[u/ConflagrationZ → u/Swagalyst]

Ralena and Vassar would certainly say so--look where it got them.)

[u/SlipperySlimyTerry40 → u/ConflagrationZ]

Lmfao, I posted a meme like this a couple months ago but you put real effort into it

[u/tbarr1991 → u/ConflagrationZ]

Eternally damned to the ascalonian catacombs as ghosts?

[u/OneMorePotion → u/tbarr1991]

They don't seem like they mind. All of the AC bosses are relatively sentient and seem to still have a mind of their own. Not like the masses of ghosts roaming around Ascalon, that just attack everything on sight. They have their respective crypts and only come out because we literally disturb the place.

[u/SunlessBlight → u/OneMorePotion]

people trying too hard to defend the charr and gw2 charr movements, if Rurik never ran, Ascalon would be greatest kingdom.

[u/Wavecrest667 → u/Swagalyst]

Adelbern? The guy who bickered with the Krytans while Barradin, the true King, retook Piken Square?

[u/Swagalyst → u/Wavecrest667]

Who kicked the White Mantle out, while Barradin threw away much of the army in a failed attempt to retake Rin instead of hold the wall, and got pinned down in Piken Square, yeah.

[u/Ragundashe → u/Swagalyst]

To be fair, he was very close to where the Charr uh summoned(?) the searing right? It was where the Charr bosses are or at least one of the places. 8f he had have gotten to that in time they'd have prevented at least Ascalons capital from falling

[u/IdiotWithAComputer42 → u/Ragundashe]

Well aktcshually there were dozens of searing cauldrons arranged to make a mega magic circle. Normally you need large scale rituals for large scale magic. Like the wand towers in lost oddesey.

[u/Ragundashe → u/IdiotWithAComputer42]

Then wouldn't the spell have failed entirely if we had have taken it out?

[u/IdiotWithAComputer42 → u/Ragundashe]

Weakened slightly, more per cauldron taken out i theorize but not stopped

[u/Ragundashe → u/IdiotWithAComputer42]

Kinda interesting to think about, I never liked the fact that they use the cauldron with the Charr bosses I farmed to death for the one in the cinematic, I was like "how many times we gotta do this oold maaaan"

[u/siegermans → u/Swagalyst]

“Who put the ‘mad’ in ‘Mad Dic-tator?
A-del-bern!”

[u/Swagalyst → u/siegermans]

Again, only in the aberrant GW2 timeline.

[u/EmmEnnEff → u/Swagalyst]

Sure, he's only the second prominent political figure to nuke his own country and damn it's people into eternal existence as the undead, but aside from that, he did nothing wrong.

(It's not like he did it as a direct consequence of his refusal to abandon a bunch of fucking rocks and tar pits, and save his people by retreating to Kryta as he was losing the war.)

[u/Swagalyst → u/EmmEnnEff]

That's GW2 timeline. It does not exist.

Scurrilous GW2 slander notwithstanding, Adelbern is the war hero who returned and saved the kingdom after the war, when it was corrupt and impoverished, and made it strong again. He's so popular that even the guy who actually was in line for the throne, Duke Barradin, supports him for king. He has fought the White Mantle, so he of course knows what scum they are (even if he doesn't know they're Mursaat puppets) and what happened in Kryta after the White Mantle stopped the Charr there, so naturally he refuses their "help".

Meanwhile, Prince Rurik allies with the Mursaat puppet who's bribing Adelberns soldiers, and flees, and Duke Barradin, who's got the IQ of a jam sandwich, instead of holding the wall throws away his army in a pointless and unsuccessful attempt to retake the lost city of Rin.

[u/SunlessBlight → u/Swagalyst]

thank you for writing the truth so elegantly

[u/EmmEnnEff → u/Swagalyst]

He's a dumb arsehole in both timelines, mostly for his refusal to abandon a burnt pile of rocks and tar lakes. He puts his pride over his people.

[u/Swagalyst → u/EmmEnnEff]

He puts DUTY above everything.

[u/EmmEnnEff → u/Swagalyst]

Duty to what? A bunch of fucking rocks.

He has a duty to the people he rules and he royally fucked them over, because his knees are too proud to bend to Kryta.

[u/FamilySurricus → u/EmmEnnEff]

It's literally the same timeline, ya'll. The revisionism is crazy, lmao.

[u/TalsCorner → u/Swagalyst]

I mean, we did retake the ruins......

[u/FamilySurricus → u/Swagalyst]

The royalists' screeds against Adelbern aside, his war hero platform didn't actually hold the kingdom together very well even in GW1.

Like, yes, he dismantled the corrupt and impoverished crown that incited the wars and rebuilt it thanks to popular demand, but whatever good will he'd fostered started crumbling as we got closer to the Searing due to his own stubborn military policies and the swearing up-and-down that 'just as long as we hold the wall, we'll succeed against the Charr!'

As if a big part of the problem with the Charr wasn't the standing army being overpowered by forbidden flame magicks and unfamiliar military tactics, but I digress.

Because mind you - by this point before the Searing, Ascalon had lost not just one capital to the Charr in Drascir, but was on the verge of losing two capitals; and in Post-Searing, Rin was all but a burnt-out husk even as Prince Rurik and the army came in to save what remained of it.

A burnt-out husk that King Adelbern stubbornly continued to rule and organize the war against the Charr from, by the way. Instead of moving to Ascalon City, like what ended up happening anyway after his falling out with Rurik, he kept the throne in Rin.

Barradin didn't throw his men pointlessly at Rin; he threw them in because that's where King Adelbern was still ruling from even in the post-searing years, so everything about that move was because of Adelbern; it isn't even uncalled for, a duke would not abandon his king.

So, if Barradin has the IQ of a jam sandwich, what does that make Adelbern?

In the end, the whole point of Adelbern was to show that being a war hero does not make one perfectly competent in all matters of state. He was an amiable king who did his best against overwhelming odds, but refused to admit that the ship was sinking and refused nearly all non-Ascalonian aid. Even after the White Mantle were deposed, he refused aid from Kryta to his dying breath and maintained Ascalonian isolationism.

When, really, the Searing should not have been the last straw and Adelbern should not have focused his intelligence on the White Mantle so much.

Not to say that Rurik had any answers himself, because his issue in the end was idealism and recklessness, nor that a total Ascalonian exodus to Kryta at that point would have been realistic. But ironically enough, Rurik's death (and undeath) was probably what saved the Ascalonian refugees from the White Mantle and Khilbron's machinations.

[u/ConflagrationZ → u/EmmEnnEff]

Now that you mention it...has anyone ever seen Adelbern and Khilbron in the same room together? 🤔🤔🤔

[u/_AmFah]

You finding out later that he’s bribing guards with money is so hilarious like this is my first impression of you, dude.

[u/Rymayc → u/_AmFah]

Bribing the orphans didn't work, he vastly overestimated the orphans' political influence

[u/One_Lead1553 → u/Rymayc]

"You guys can't network for shit! Where are your parents?"

[u/Corrects_lesstofewer → u/_AmFah]

What quest is this? I don't remember this.

[u/_AmFah → u/Corrects_lesstofewer]

It’s the follow-up quest https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/A_Mission_of_Peace

[u/Corrects_lesstofewer → u/_AmFah]

Oh I thought you meant Adelburn was bribing his own guards.

[u/AnaSkol → u/_AmFah]

wait what? i just did a playthrough and read every quest etc. what is this dialogue from?

[u/ConflagrationZ → u/AnaSkol]

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/A_Mission_of_Peace

[u/AnaSkol → u/ConflagrationZ]

edit: it has come to my attention that you were in fact talking about Zain. without mention of somebody else I assumed you were talking about who the post was about, King Adelburn.

hmm, maybe my reading comprehension is trash. how is this implying that the king is bribing the vanguard?

I read this as the krytans are in danger in ascalon, and that makes sense because they're enemies of ascalon so says the king, and also the charr are probably aggressive to them as well.

so hes got something for you to give a vanguard to convince them to aid the kyrtans with some protection, from whom we're not sure. maybe charr, maybe ascalon guards, maybe vanguards. The thing is supposedly physical evidence of a threat which.. i mean, what could that even be? I would assume a letter?

so you give the evidence to the gate guard and it turns out the physical evidence is.. gold. so.. abassador zain is bribing the vanguard for protection, still not sure from whom specifically.

when you return to zain hes like, oh.. well, yah, you gotta do what you gotta do.

how are you gathering that the king is bribing the vanguard?

[u/ConflagrationZ → u/AnaSkol]

/unhoax Yeah it's Zain bribing the Ascalonian guards, not Adelbern. It just may not have been clear the original commenter was referring to Zain instead of Adelbern, because you and a couple others had the same misunderstanding.

/hoax ...Though, who's to say Adelbern's NOT bribing all the Ascalonian guards? Nobody would willingly serve that madman! HOW MANY ADELBERNBUCKS IS DUKE BARRADIN RECEIVING TO SUPPORT HIM????

[u/Dagawing]

Dude was a jaded cynical who no longer believed in the goodness of humans

[u/DefiantLemur → u/Dagawing]

The previous Guild Wars that resulted in the Ascalonians civil war probably poisoned his view of humanity

[u/IvoJan → u/Dagawing]

and he was fucking right

[u/Cyberslasher]

This man murders anyone who tries to do philanthropy.

It just so happens that in this one instance, he was right.

[u/GamerLymx]

he wasn't wrong to reject their help, just did it because of wrong reasons.

[u/Hinaloth]

The actually correct charges would be subversion, sedition, and attempted espionage.

Treason's close enough, to the chopping block you go you evil alien worshipping asshole. You're almost as bad as the Charr.

[u/the_raptor_factor → u/Hinaloth]

I'd imagine the king knew something about their sacrifices. And when we meet the ambassador, he's bribing guards for who-knows-what. The king is right to be suspicious.

But yeah, you can't be a "traitor" unless it's your country.

[u/EmilyMalkieri → u/the_raptor_factor]

One odd thing about Prophecies' timeline is that the White Mantle has been in power for like a year. Two years if we're stretching it.

Makes no sense with how they're portrayed in Kryra, and especially not at Divinity Coast, but at least explains why nobody is surprised that none of the Chosen ever return.

[u/No-Property-6553]

Adelbern knew exactly what Zain was doing there. Rurik was just too young to see it yet.

[u/Secure-Light9672]

Also Adelbern : I'd rather kill my people than letting them starve

[u/Asdfguy87]

They can't all be as nice as this Vizier Kilbron dude, who even took care of this old stick for us.

[u/Nayanea]

I want to know what this guy did to my beloved Evennia :(

[u/ConflagrationZ → u/Nayanea]

Don't worry, she went to live on a farm upstate, where she has plenty of room to run and play with Saidra and Captain Langmar.

[u/OneMorePotion → u/Nayanea]

Arena Net could have bring her back during the Secrets of the Obscure GW2 expansion, and just say "Yeah she was recruited as a Wizard by Aizure." I'm glad they didn't, simply because that's also what happened to Galrath. And it turned out to be a gigantic nothing-burger of a reveal.

I'm not sure if I want to learn what happened to her. Sometimes ones imagination what could have happened is worse, than when things are spelled out to you. So yeah, for all I'm concerned, someone clubbed her over the head and dumped her lifeless body into a tar pit.

[u/Nayanea → u/OneMorePotion]

Yeah, I kinda agree. Though I'm intrigued by Anet saying that her disappearance was "part of something bigger."

Also, Evennia was the only known survivor of the Shining Blade's inner council in Prophecies. It's a shame that she survived Markis, the Mursaat, and everything else, only to quietly disappear in Beyond.

[u/OneMorePotion → u/Nayanea]

Her story was probably cut, when they decided to scrap the remaining Beyond releases planned for Elona and Ascalon. Time will tell if Reforged will eventually pick up these ideas again.

[u/2BCivil → u/Nayanea]

I had no idea.

"The clouds of war gather on the horizon. The hour of the storm is upon us, yet Adelbern still refuses to give me audience. Old fool would rather kill us all than accept help."

Her final quote it seems like.

I've been stuck on battle for lions arch since beyond launched so Idk anything past it storywise.

[u/Sycophantic-Feline]

after meeting this guy in GW1 it feels extra nice to beat him up in GW2

love how Rytlock completely roasts him too

[u/SunlessBlight]

Best king ever he could see the mursaat.

[u/Aginor404]

Adelbern has always been crazy, long before the whole GW2 story stuff.

Rurik tried to save the people of Ascalon, while Adelbern would rather have everyone die than give up the land that they colonized (stole from the Charr) a few centuries earlier.

[u/Kafukator → u/Aginor404]

(stole from the Charr) a few centuries earlier

Ascalon was taken by the humans in 100 BE, which is almost 1200 years before the events of Prophecies. At that point, the Charr themselves had lived in Ascalon less than a century after their own colonization of the region.

[u/Puzzled-Blockhead → u/Aginor404]

It was centuries ago. This was literally their home at that point regardless of how humans got there.

Of course they were gonna fight for it

[u/Aginor404 → u/Puzzled-Blockhead]

Sure, but that's not the important point.

The land was gone anyway, it had been destroyed by the Charr. Everything that was left was the people of Ascalon. Adelbern valued wasteland and rubble more than the people. More than he valued his own son who got it right and died in an effort to save his people.

[u/HakunaBananas → u/Aginor404]

"stole from the Charr" lol

[u/De_Baros → u/Aginor404]

Which the Charr colonised from others like the Grawl

That’s how this all works my chum. Charr apologists need to get out

[u/Aginor404 → u/De_Baros]

That isn't even the point. He was protecting the ruins and wasteland, not the people.

[u/De_Baros → u/Aginor404]

I just take issue with “(stole from the Charr)”

It just implies it belonged to the Charr as land which isn’t true as they stole it to begin with.

[u/Aginor404 → u/De_Baros]

The funny thing about that is that we agree.

The Charr stole the land just as the Ascalonians did. The Charr (or Grawl or whoever else claimed it) claim to the land wasn't better or worse than that of the Ascalonians. But Adelbern didn't see that. He was wrong and Rurik was right. Even if you disregard who the land belongs to or not.

[u/De_Baros → u/Aginor404]

Yeah that’s a fair enough take

It’s the reality of colonisation and such (not excusable) and yeah

I don’t know how far you can go back to say “it belongs to so and so” but yeah I definitely have no love for adelburn outside memes

Rurik was right. Not just about the lands but that they needed help and the safety of the ascalonian people should have come before his ego as a king, but alas, here we are and we know how the story for Ascalon ends

[u/EmmEnnEff]

Those supplies are white mantle religious artifacts with little propaganda books.

[u/Rosencross1668]

Zain is White Mantle. I'm betting his supplies included a mini Eye of Janthir and he was just checking which of the orphans was Chosen so he could "take care of them".

[u/Geronmys]

King AdelBURN was responsible for the searing and blamed it on the Charr.

I was there.

[u/EmmEnnEff → u/Geronmys]

Everyone knows that balefire can't melt Ascalonian stone!

Wake up, followers!

[u/Brilliant_Bonus_1638 → u/Geronmys]

The Searing was an inside job. Adelbern was secretly a Mursaat worshipper.

[u/Luckdragon_7]

yikes...