Eye of Janthir

This article is about for the object encountered in Bastion of the Penitent. For the amulet, see Eye of Janthir (amulet).

Eye of Janthir

Race

Construct

Rank

Legendary

Location

Bastion of the Penitent
(Heart of Maguuma)

“

It was a tool of the mursaat and White Mantle, associated with the people of Janthir. It was a magical construct that could see a person's gifts.

— Exemplar Mehid in Shining Blade Secrets

The Eye of Janthir is an ancient artifact of great power, used by the White Mantle and the mursaat. It originates from Janthir, being tied to the people who once lived there. During the White Mantle's reign, it was used to discern who were Chosen, beings with magical potential, so that they may be sacrificed atop the Maguuma Bloodstone. The Eye disappeared with the White Mantle's fall from power in 1072 AE, and various theories have risen to speculate on its fate since.

History

Early history

The Eye of Janthir was an ancient artifact of great power originating from Janthir and was tied to the enigmatic people who had once lived there. It had an intelligence of its own and was selective of who it would follow. According to the White Mantle cult who worshipped the mursaat as the Unseen Ones, the cult's founder Saul D'Alessio had traveled to Janthir and returned to Kryta with the Eye to identify magically gifted Chosen among the Krytan population each season. Since at least 1067 AE, all of the White Mantle knights who had been promoted to the rank of zealot or justiciar had used the Eye of Janthir to administer the Test of the Chosen to identify people with magical potential. What few knew was that the cult would not take these Chosen to study at the Temple of the Unseen; instead, the Chosen would be sacrificed atop the Maguuma Bloodstone in secret so the White Mantle and the mursaat could use their souls to power up the soul batteries keeping the Door of Komalie shut and prevent the monstrous titans from breaching into Tyria in large numbers.

In 1072 AE, Justiciar Hablion ordered a group of adventurers—including Aidan, Cynn, Devona, Mhenlo and the future Hero of Tyria—to cleanse themselves in the Fountain of Truth before having them escort the Eye to the village of Loamhurst and identify the newest batch of Chosen. When the escort was ambushed by Caromi tengu, the Eye assisted the adventurers by sending out a shockwave which knocked the entire flock of tengu to the ground. The Chosen caravan was later intercepted en route to Maguuma Jungle by the Shining Blade rebels who were attempting to stop the White Mantle's sacrifice rituals. Upon learning the White Mantle's true nature, the Hero and their companions ultimately sided with the Shining Blade to help liberate Kryta from the White Mantle and its mursaat masters. With the White Mantle's fall from power in the same year, the Eye vanished.

Many theories began circulating about the Eye of Janthir's fate long after its disappearance. Some hypothesized that it had been lost during a skirmish between White Mantle and Shining Blade forces while others thought that it had retreated to Janthir, or wherever the mursaat had come from. Drawings of the Eye were recorded in the Durmand Priory along with scholarly theories about its origins and fate.

Living World Season 3

Bastion of the Penitent

Saul D'Alessio is tortured by the mursaat and the Eye of Janthir.

In 1330 AE, a group of raiders accompanying Scholar Glenna found the Eye of Janthir within the Bastion of the Penitent in Woodland Cascades where it was first witnessed above Cairn the Indomitable's station. After investigating the area and following the Eye's trail through multiple obstacles, the raiders discovered that the bastion was a mursaat correctional facility for their political prisoners and that the Eye had been keeping the long lost White Mantle founder Saul D'Alessio—along with other inmates who had later been slain by the bestial warden Samarog in an unsuccessful prison riot—alive for the past 260 years under the orders of the mursaat. Once Saul had been rescued from the demon Deimos, the Eye retreated from the ancient mursaat prison and caused Saul's body to deteriorate without the aid of its life-sustaining powers. With his dying words, Saul revealed his life story and that the Eye had tormented him with guilt and shame in an effort to break his will and convince him to serve the Unseen Ones once more.

One Path Ends

The Shining Blade eventually learned that the Eye of Janthir had appeared in Bloodstone Fen and had begun seeking out its mursaat masters. To fulfill its latest task, the Eye searched for Lazarus's aspects as he was the last known mursaat alive in Tyria. The Eye's search led it to one of the remaining aspects held in the White Mantle Hideout in a cave north of Brisban Wildlands where Exemplar Kerida and the Pact Commander followed it to. Upon witnessing the death of Justiciar Araya who had tried to stop the pair's advance, the Eye retreated and began seeking out another aspect of Lazarus.

The Commander and Kerida continued tracking down the Eye separately in various locations until they learned that it had traveled to Siren's Landing in Orr where it had been spotted entering a sealed reliquary dedicated to the fallen god Abaddon. Upon reuniting, the pair continued chasing the Eye and fought the guardians it had summoned. During this battle the Eye recognized the True Sight dormant in Kerida and the Commander and chose to spare them before it retreated deeper into the reliquary where the last aspect, which the former god Balthazar had hidden during his visit to Orr, was revealed.

Kerida and the Commander used the Shining Blade and the aspects Kerida had brought with her along with the last aspect to revive Lazarus so they could kill the last mursaat for good. When the resurrected Lazarus identified Kerida as the necromancer Livia and tried to turn invisible and escape to recover from the wound inflicted by the Shining Blade, the pair used the resisting Eye of Janthir to reveal the cloaked mursaat and forced him to fight them. Lazarus was slain after a fierce struggle, and the Commander used the opportunity to ask the Eye about Balthazar's whereabouts. The Eye revealed a vision of Balthazar taking an army to the Crystal Desert to fight the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik before it seemingly disintegrated, suggesting that no mursaat remained on Tyria.

Legacy

Secrets of the Obscure

The Eye of Janthir had come close to finding out that another mursaat, the atoning wizard Mabon, still existed on Tyria within the safety of the floating city of Amnytas. However, Mabon managed to stay hidden—whether because his ascension had painted his aura neutral, or the World Spire's magic shielded him from sight—so the Eye shifted from the Tyrian plane of reality after Lazarus's demise. Mabon speculated if the Eye might find other mursaat who could potentially exist somewhere in the Mists.

In 1337 AE, the Eye of Janthir could be seen overlooking the final battle in Nayos between Eparch, the Midnight King of the Kryptis, and the Pact Commander and their allies. After Eparch had been slain and his niece Peitha took the throne as the new Midnight King, the Eye disappeared once more.

Location

Heart of Maguuma

• Bastion of the Penitent
  • The Lockdown
  • The Yard
    • Cairn's Perch

Story involvement

Living World Season 3

• Episode 6: One Path Ends
  • "Where's Balthazar?"
  • The Last Chance

Secrets of the Obscure story

• The Midnight King
  • The Eleventh Hour

Combat abilities

Abilities

• Invulnerable: Unleashes True Sight When Stunned

Effects

•  Battle Vision - Damage to the Eye of Janthir is reduced by 100%.
•  Dangerous Secrets - Powerful magic obscures the Guardian's vulnerabilities. Requires true-seeing magic to dispel.
•  Strained Eyesight - The true-seeing power of the Eye of Janthir is temporarily spent. (Only during The Last Chance)

Skills

• Eye Beam -

Gallery

• 

  The Eye of Janthir tries to break down Saul D'Alessio.

See also

The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Eye of Janthir.

Associated items

• Eye of Janthir
• Mini Eye of Janthir