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Shortly after starting Guild Wars 2 for the first time, you will hear mention of the Eternal Alchemy and the Cycle of Magic. As you explore Tyria, you may learn more about these concepts, but they are still shrouded in mystery. What are they, and how do they relate to the story? We are here to answer all of your questions.

Related: Guild Wars 2: End Of Dragons - Details Everyone Missed In The Story

Here, we are going to go over what the Eternal Alchemy and Cycle of Magic are. Additionally, we will take a quick look at the 'All'. This will involve information spanning from the start of the game to End of Dragons, which means that you may run into spoilers if you have yet to beat the latest expansion.

The Eternal Alchemy

concept art for rata sum

The Eternal Alchemy is an Asuran concept. Essentially, everything is connected, in a "great, cosmic mechanism". This means that every action and event is linked together in some way. Interestingly, it's not known what the 'mechanism' is.

Since the Eternal Alchemy encompasses everything, this means that dragons are believed to be part of it. The Elder Dragons are 'cogs' in the machine, working towards the unknown mechanism. Overall, The Eternal Alchemy is like a religion for many Asura, although there is no worship involved, like with traditional religions.

Scarlet Briar And The Eternal Alchemy

Guild Wars 2 - Scarlet Briar Promo Image (Scarlet Briar on right in foreground, small green sylvari on left in background)

Scarlet Briar (originally named Ceara) is a Sylvari and main character in Living World Season One. In this story, Scarlet becomes obsessed with learning about the Eternal Alchemy and eventually meets Omadd, who used to be headmaster of the College of Synergetics in Rata Sum.

The College of Synergetics studies and tries to understand The Eternal Alchemy, often dealing with theories rather than tangible research.

Together, Scarlet and Omadd study the Eternal Alchemy, and Omadd eventually builds a machine that Scarlet enters. Inside, Scarlet witnessed what she claimed was the Eternal Alchemy, which drove her to madness.

However, it is believed that Scarlet actually saw the Antikythera mechanism, also known as 'The All'. We will be looking at that later, but first, let's take a quick look at magic.

The Cycle Of Magic

gw2 ley line used to glide

Magic is an important part of Guild Wars 2. It is everywhere, making its way into everything in Tyria. According to the book 'A Treatise on the Mental Puppeteering of Golems', we learn that magic flows through ley lines, that go right through the world. These ley lines carry unfiltered magic, which is called 'ley energy'.

Magic is an essential part of the Dragon Cycle, which we will look at below.

Elder Dragons And Magic

Guild Wars 2 - Zhaitan flying in the air and attacking an airship

Elder Dragons are giant creatures that cause havoc in Tyria. Throughout the story of Guild Wars 2, you will face the Elder Dragons and take them down.

These dragons feed on magic, eating it and causing chaos in the world. When a dragon is defeated, all the magic that they ate is released, and all remaining dragons will then consume it. For example, when Zhaitan was defeated at the end of the main story, its magic was released and eaten by Mordremoth, who then gained some powers from the slain dragon.

The Dragon Cycle

guild wars 2 end of dragons - soo-won being held underground

The Dragon Cycle refers to the events that take place when an Elder Dragon is awakened. First, the dragon wakes, then it causes destruction and eats magic. From there, the dragon falls back asleep, only to repeat the cycle again.

In End of Dragons, we meet Soo-Won, who is basically the mother of dragons. Throughout her life, Soo-Won witnessed her children destroying the world, and she chose to put a stop to it. Rather than continuing on with the Dragon Cycle, Soo-Won volunteers to be contained in New Kaineng City. Later, Soo-Won is also helped by Aurene to stop the Dragon Cycle.

The All

gw2 the all diagram

The All is very similar to the Eternal Alchemy. Overall, it's a representation of the world, showing that everything is connected and moving.

The All is often shown as the moving parts surrounding a central body, which most believe is Tyria. This body is technically unknown, so a few individuals, such as Scarlet, believe that the central figure is the Pale Tree, which guides the Sylvari.

In the image above, you can see the representation of the All, with Tyria in the middle, surrounded by six symbols, one for each Elder Dragon, as well as other circles that are unnamed.

Sometimes, the All is also referred to as Antikytheria, which is a Greek mechanism used to predict astronomical positions.

Imbalance Of The All

dragonvoid, made up of void, with blue and purple mist in background

Within the Durmand Priory's Special Collections room, you can find a book called 'The Map of the All'. In this book, we learn that if the six bodies in the All become imbalanced, then the world will "tilt and all beings will fall off into the void". After reading this, you think, "it's probably a metaphor", but what if it isn't?

Void magic consists of magic from each dragon; Crystal, Death, Fire, Ice, Plant, and Water. At first, Void magic is thought to be Chaos magic, but through End of Dragons, Taimi, Joon, and Gorrik learn that Void magic isn't Chaos. Instead, it's the source of everything.

In End of Dragons, we also learn that Soo-Won maintained order in the world, creating what we know as the All. She couldn't do it herself though, and so Soo-Won created five children to help her push back against the Void. As we know though, these children left her, leaving Soo-Won alone to face the Void.

gw2 soo won under water for promotional art

Although End of Dragons ends with the supposed end of the Dragon Cycle, there are still seeds of doubt. In New Kaineng City, you can speak with Ela Makkay. This NPC will tell you about the tentacled horrors, who are thought to be the minions of So-Won, but how true is this?

Ela Makkay tells you that the horrors started appearing when Soo-Won left the ocean. This could mean that Soo-Won was protecting Tyria from whatever lies at the depths of the ocean. This may be the Void that The Map of the All mentions but time will tell.

Next: Guild Wars 2: Who Are The Elder Dragons?