Faolain

Faolain

Race

Sylvari

Profession

Mesmer

Level

50, 60, 80

Rank

Normal
Champion
Legendary

Location

Faolain's Lair
(Twilight Arbor)

Organization

Nightmare Court

Image(s)

Appearance before joining the Nightmare Court.

“

The Dream is a nightmare. See the world for what it is—episodes of pain ending in untimely death.

— Faolain

Grand Duchess Faolain is a sylvari Firstborn of the Cycle of Dusk. She is the leader of the Nightmare Court, having succeeded its founder Cadeyrn at an unknown time. Faolain emerged from the Pale Tree with Caithe. Faolain had been all about questions, and Caithe had been all about answers. They were dear to each other and set out together to explore the world. But Caithe's spirit had grown straight and true like a young tree while Faolain's had grown twisted like a poison-ivy vine. When the pair encountered a great darkness, Caithe pulled back from it, while Faolain embraced it. The two have been separated since, but the Grand Duchess has vowed that Caithe will return to her in time, and so often shadows her beloved, armed with pleas and temptations.

Biography

Early years

When the sylvari race was young, most of the Firstborn stayed to tend the Pale Tree, but Caithe and Faolain dared to see the world. Over time, they established a deep bond and became lovers. During their excursion to Orr, they encountered a great darkness—the Nightmare—which Faolain ended up embracing while Caithe rejected it, thus leading to the beginnings of a rift forming between the pair.

In 1304 AE, the Firstborn witnessed the awakening of a new generation who would be known as Secondborn. In these early times, Faolain had taken on an apprentice, Sariel.

A few months later, Caithe and Faolain attended a meeting between the present Firstborn to discuss what to do with the new sprouts, showing different and opposing opinions about how to handle the matter. Faolain took an aggressive stance, arguing against Trahearne about whether to fill the heads of the saplings with Ventari's teachings or not. She tried to confront fellow Firstborn Wynne about the contents of a conversation with the Pale Tree dealing about the fate of the sylvari race. Wynne's refusal to answer her queries made Faolain obsess over what Wynne knew even more. During this time Faolain showed support to the radical ideas of Cadeyrn, the first of the Secondborn who was disappointed by the Pale Tree supposedly favoring Firstborn over younger sylvari. She helped Cadeyrn and other like-minded Secondborn found a group of dissenters who would eventually become known as the Nightmare Court. When the Firstborn learned of the news of asura having kidnapped some Secondborn and experimenting on them like they had done with Firstborn Malomedies earlier, Caithe and Faolain, who knew the land the best due to having traveled far, were sent to scout the area and rescue the saplings. The pair were successful in saving the Secondborn, including Canach, from the asuran researcher Vorpp although Faolain expressed anger at Vorpp escaping unscathed. Faolain's experiences with the asura made her more adamant than ever to not be anyone's fool and convinced her to go after Wynne to force the truth out of her one way or another. Following the rescue, Caithe and Faolain traveled to the Far Silverwastes where Wynne was spending time with a local centaur tribe to research Ventari. Unbeknownst to Caithe at first, Faolain had summoned many of Cadeyrn's dissenters for backup to ensure the pair and Wynne's safety. They tracked down Wynne but were unable to convince her to leave with them as Wynne preferred to continue living among the centaurs. While Caithe tried to sort things out with the centaurs who were on Wynne's side, Faolain attacked nearby centaurs and made it seem like the centaurs had been the aggressors instead. The sylvari backup arrived, and a battle ensued which led to the massacre of the centaur tribe. Caithe and Faolain finally cornered a shocked Wynne in a nearby cave. Faolain left Wynne in Caithe's care while going to fetch thorns of a bristle-burn plant to torture Wynne to reveal her secret. By the time she returned to the pair, however, she heard a scream and saw Caithe holding Wynne's lifeless body which had been stabbed by Caithe's dagger. What Faolain did not know was that Caithe had not killed Wynne out of cold blood but to prevent Faolain from learning the devastating secret Wynne had revealed to Caithe before asking to be killed: the sylvari were minions of the Elder Dragon Mordremoth and meant to serve it while the Pale Tree did her best to prevent that outcome from happening. Following Wynne's death and the reveal of sylvari origins, Caithe was shocked by the growing darkness in Faolain. She told her lover to run and never return to the Grove, refusing to go with her despite Faolain's pleading. Faolain sought refuge in the forming Nightmare Court where she eventually became their Grand Duchess, replacing Secondborn Cadeyrn as the leader. Despite all this, Faolain saw Wynne's murder as evidence that Caithe was like her, and so she refused to let Caithe go as she attempted to draw her into the Nightmare in order for them to be together again. According to Caithe, the Pale Tree never forgave Faolain for what had happened to Wynne.

As Grand Duchess of the Nightmare Court, Faolain took to recruiting various noble and well known sylvari, among these being Brangoire and her former apprentice Sariel, whom she eventually took as a lover.

Edge of Destiny

In 1319 AE, Faolain followed Caithe to a burning village that had been overrun by the Elder Dragon Primordus's Destroyers. There, she performed a dark ritual involving blood magic to poison Caithe. As Caithe fought the Nightmare, the poison spread and would eventually leave her no choice but to join Faolain, or die.

As Caithe joined Destiny's Edge which grew in fame, Faolain stalked the group, attempting to bring Caithe into the fold. Meanwhile, the Nightmare Court noticed the dragon champion Glint preparing for the awakening of her master, the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik. Caithe begged Faolain to take the poison from her so that she could fight the dragon, and in the end Faolain acquiesced, taking the corruption into herself and rotting her hand. During this time, Faolain was described as having black leafy hair, eyes, and nails; being a dark contrast to Caithe.

Personal story

In 1325 AE, Caithe headed to the Nightmare Court lair of Twilight Arbor to investigate the kidnapping of local sylvari. She attempted to bring Logan Thackeray and Rytlock Brimstone with her, but the two would not cooperate for long enough to get anything done. Without their help, she was still able to put an end to Faolain's plans with the Pact Commander's help, driving the Grand Duchess out of Twilight Arbor. With Faolain's departure, several prominent courtiers—Count Leurent and Countesses Fyonna and Vevina—began competing for control of the Arbor and the Nightmare Tree within it.

Faolain's whereabouts and what she did after her departure from Twilight Arbor remained unknown. In her absence the Nightmare Court continued to splinter into factions like the Toxic Court with new claimants like Duchess Chrysanthea becoming prominent.

Later that year, the Pact Commander and Trahearne journeyed into the Dream with the Pale Tree's help to witness a vision of a dark future in Orr that might come to pass if they failed to bring Destiny's Edge together to battle the Elder Dragons. While in the vision, they witnessed a scene between Caithe and Faolain where Caithe, having become depressed over failing to reunite Destiny's Edge, ultimately chose to join Faolain's side in the Nightmare.

Heart of Thorns

Appearance after being corrupted by Mordremoth.

In 1328 AE, Faolain journeyed to the Heart of Maguuma and was captured by the Elder Dragon Mordremoth along with other Nightmare Courtiers. She was imprisoned in a cage along with Eir Stegalkin in Verdant Brink while other captured survivors from the Pact fleet's crash—Logan, Trahearne and Zojja—were taken deeper into the jungle. When questioned by the Pact Commander who had come to free Eir and track down the rest of the missing Destiny's Edge, Faolain demanded to be released and claimed that the Nightmare Court wanted nothing to do with Mordremoth as they felt the Elder Dragon's yoke being even more onerous than the Pale Tree's.

After being freed by the Commander, Eir and Faolain were hunted down by a pair of powerful Mordrem Vinetooth, newly created minions of Mordremoth. While fleeing, Faolain stumbled and was helped up by Eir. At that moment the Grand Duchess noticed a Vinetooth stalking them in the canopy and chose to distract the beast by wounding Eir with a thorn in order to get away safely herself. However, in an ironic twist Eir threw the thorn that Faolain had stabbed her with, hitting the Grand Duchess on the back and making her stumble. While the wounded Faolain tried to get the thorn out of her back, one Vinetooth targeted Faolain first and pierced her with its tail in a seemingly fatal strike before taking her away while another Vinetooth attacked Eir and the rest of the party.

However, Faolain had survived the attack and was converted into a powerful Mordrem beast resembling the Vinetooth that had taken her. She reappeared in Auric Basin trying to fool Caithe—who was carrying Glint's Egg—to hand the egg over to her. The timely arrival of the Pact Commander's party prevented this from happening, and Faolain failed to stop the Commander from taking the egg to the safety of Tarir where the Exalted would protect it from the Mordrem.

Faolain continued to antagonize the Commander's party several times as they pushed their way to Mordremoth. She taunted both Caithe about the sylvari's destiny as their creator Mordremoth's servants and Braham Eirsson about Mordremoth causing the death of his mother Eir. She unleashed improved Mordrem based on Logan and Zojja on the party but in vain as the party successfully defeated the Mordrem and saved the severely weakened Logan and Zojja from blighting pods. After a long chase, the party cornered Faolain at the Heart of Thorns in the Dragon's Domain and slew her with Caithe having come to terms with putting her former lover to rest in order to end Mordremoth's hold over her.

Location

Maguuma Jungle

• Twilight Arbor (story)
  • Faolain's Lair

Story involvement

Personal story

• Chapter 6: The Battle of Claw Island
  • A Light in the Darkness (as a vision)

Living World Season 2

• Episode 7: Seeds of Truth
  • The Newly Awakened
  • Meeting the Asura
  • No Refuge
• Episode 8: Point of No Return
  • The Mystery Cave

Heart of Thorns story

• Act I
  • Prisoners of the Dragon
• Act II
  • Prized Possessions
• Act IV
  • Bitter Harvest

Combat abilities

In Twilight Arbor (story)

Abilities

• Resurrects Allies

Effects

Skills

• Resurrects Ally - Resurrects a fallen Destiny's Edge illusion.
• Rebuke - Knocks back all foes in a PBAoE radius.

Stolen skills

In Bitter Harvest

Abilities

• Corrupted by Mordremoth

Effects

Skills

• Maul - A 3-hit combination attack using both front claws.
• Lunge - A charge attack that does a large amount of damage which causes  Knockback and  Knockdown for 3 seconds.
• Enflame - Applies  Enflame onto enemies, resulting in AoE tendril attacks following them.

Stolen skills

•   Branch Bash
•   Throw Gunk

Drops

Name	Type	Rarity	Quantity
Thorny Seed Pouch	Container	FExotic	1

Related achievements

• Heart of Thorns: Act 2: Deathless Escape — While being pursued by the Mordrem beast, do not die. (5)
• Heart of Thorns: Act 2: Flawless Escape — While being pursued by the Mordrem beast, avoid taking any hit. (5)

Gallery

Concept art

• 

  Early concept art by Kekai Kotaki.

• 

  Caithe and Faolain at a Pale Tree concept art by Ruan Jia.

Screenshots

• 

  Faolain piercing a soldier in the Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Expansion Teaser Trailer.

• 

  Eir Stegalkin stabbed by Faolain.

Notes

Anomaly:

In Bitter Harvest, Faolain's skill "Enflame" is labeled as being used by Salazan in the combat log.

• Although Faolain is described in Edge of Destiny as having jet-black hair since emerging from the Pale Tree, her in-game appearance does not reflect this appearance in the flashback sequences of Living World Season 2 which take place before the events of the novel.
• Faolain wears Nightmare Court armor, sans helm. During Seeds of Truth, she wears Dryad armor.
• Faolain's rank changes between normal (A Light in the Darkness, Season 2, Bitter Harvest), champion (Twilight Arbor (story), Prisoners of the Dragon), and legendary (Prized Possessions).

Trivia

• Faolain is voiced by Julianne Buescher.
• Faolain means 'little wolf' in Irish, which may be a reference to her personality.

See also

Associated items

• Faolain's Blossom
• Mini Faolain
• Mini Vinetooth Faolain