Primordus

Primordus

Race

Elder Dragon

Rank

Epic

Location

Dragonstorm Arena
(Dragonstorm)

“

With the arrival of the destroyers, another age-old prophecy emerged from the depths of time: they are the heralds of the Great Destroyer, Primordus's champion, who was once defeated and sealed away by the Great Dwarf himself to prevent the waking of the Elder Dragon. The fight pushed the heroes of Tyria to their limits, testing their skill and determination.

— The Complete Art of Guild Wars: ArenaNet 20th Anniversary Edition, page 75

Primordus is the Elder Dragon of Fire and Destruction, though also called the Elder Dragon of Fire and Conflagration, often referred to as the Fire Dragon, and the first Elder Dragon to awaken in modern times. He has fought a lengthy battle against dwarves in the Depths of Tyria and forced several underground races like the asura and the skritt to the surface. Primordus's minions, the destroyers, attack anything in sight with the sole intention of killing everything that stands in their way.

Biography

Early years

Primordus asleep beneath the Central Transfer Chamber in 1078 AE.

Primordus was born as the scion of the Elder Dragon Soo-Won, at Mother's Lament. Initially mindless like the others, Primordus would seldom venture out unlike his siblings, preferring the warmth of Soo-Won's curled up tail. But he and his siblings all eventually developed their own personality and fascinations and left Soo-Won for the world, becoming hostile to their siblings and mother.

Like the other Elder Dragons, Primordus is thought to have last awakened 10,000 years ago, around the time of the disappearance of the Giganticus Lupicus, and then fallen back into slumber from consuming all the world's available magic. At some point in the past, Primordus struck Jormag, the Elder Dragon of Ice and Persuasion, in battle and littered the Drizzlewood Coast in the Ice Dragon's shards.

Primordus eventually went into a deep slumber in a cavern deep beneath what became known as Earthshake Basin in Frostgorge Sound. It is claimed in the book titled The Elder Dragons that the Fire Dragon's previous awakening is the only one still known to history. Dwarven legends tell of Great Destroyers which are today believed to reference Primordus and his armies. According to one legend, the Great Dwarf took from his greatest foe, the Great Destroyer, the one thing that gave him his power—his name—and sealed it away until the time of their final battle. To ensure that the name was unspeakable to all but the Great Dwarf, the name was sealed within the Tome of the Rubicon with enchantments. If the true name of either was ever spoken aloud, it would mean the end of the world and summon "the most malignant creature ever seen by mortal eyes".

Guild Wars: Eye of the North

Centuries after the end of the previous dragonrise, the asura discovered Primordus's resting place but mistook him for a statue emitting a high amount of magical energy. Because of this concentration of magical energy, the asura built the Central Transfer Chamber near the dormant Elder Dragon.

After a band of heroes defeated the fallen god Abaddon in 1075 AE, the residual magic from his death led to a temporary imbalance in the flow of magic, which caused Primordus to stir. Primordus was initially supposed to awaken in 1078 AE, but upon the defeat of his most powerful champion, the Great Destroyer, his awakening was delayed by two generations, until 1120 AE. After Primordus's rise, other Elder Dragons began to stir as well, one by one.

Interim years

Destroyers, Primordus's minions, flooded the Depths of Tyria, taking over asuran cities such as Quora Sum and crushing any hopes the asura had of returning to their natural home. Around the time of Primordus's awakening, the last of the dwarves had undergone the Rite of the Great Dwarf, and most dwarves went underground to combat the destroyers. The dwarves that remained closer to surface were said to stand watch at entrances to the Depths, ensuring that the Fire Dragon's minions would never reach the surface. Nonetheless Ogden Stonehealer and Rhoban Orestriker were the only dwarves known to the surface world. However, in recent years destroyers had begun appearing closer and through the surface in increasing rates, suggesting that the dwarves had been losing the war in the Depths.

Primordus invades one of the underground asuran cities.

At some point after the Rite of the Great Dwarf, a splinter group of the Stone Summit dwarves tried to find a means to cure themselves of the spell that was slowly turning them to stone. In their desperation to hold on to their individuality, they turned to ancient scrolls recovered from the tomb of Duncan the Black who had once tried to harness the Great Destroyer's power. These scrolls revealed dark rituals that would allow the dwarves to either undo the physical transformation caused by the Rite of the Great Dwarf or at least leverage it for their uses.

Although the ritual appeared to be a success, some dwarves melted from within and were reduced to ash while the ritual priests pondered if they had actually been drawing from a power that was greater and more ancient than the Great Destroyer. Some of those who did not succumb to the initial effects of the dark ritual became erratic and violent, causing in-fighting among the dwarves much to the priests' confusion. Eventually every surviving dwarf in the splinter group felt a sense of burning within them as they began to think less and less. By the time that the attacks of Jormag's icebrood had lessened on the dwarven fortresses, the Stone Summit remnant had closed the gates until all of them succumbed to the effects of their new state and became bound to the true source they had been calling their ritual magic from: Primordus.

Primordus remained underneath the surface in the centuries following his awakening, clearing huge tracts of the underground regions and forcing races such as the skritt and murrellow to flee from the Depths. As a result of the Fire Dragon's activities, destroyers could be found almost anywhere on the surface, including the walled Dominion of Winds where the tengu suffered frequent destroyer incursions. Only the dredge stayed underground in Central Tyria, though their mines remained close to the surface.

Living World Season 3

Rising Flames

After his initial rise and forcing out the subterranean races, Primordus remained largely inactive, having only moved beneath Tyria to spread his destroyers, until 1329 AE. The asura Taimi discovered that Primordus had become active via a ley line energy map within Rata Novus.

Elsewhere, the charr Seis Burntheart began tracking a large disbursement of magic, caused by Primordus moving from Frostgorge Sound to Malchor's Leap. Following the trail, she realized that the Elder Dragon was headed for the Ring of Fire Islands, specifically to Draconis Mons, the northwestern island. After moving, Primordus remained underneath the Fire Islands to consume an abundance of magic left by the deaths of the Elder Dragons Zhaitan and Mordremoth. The affected ley lines were full of death and plant magic, allowing Primordus to augment his destroyers with such magic. The Pact Commander acquired a sample of the new plant and death augmented destroyers for Taimi.

A Crack in the Ice

After examining the destroyer sample, Taimi developed a theory that Primordus and Jormag could be weakened by each other with their unique magical energies. The Pact Commander traveled to Bitterfrost Frontier to acquire a sample of an icebrood that had been infused with death and plant magic. The tests with the samples turned out to be successful. According to Taimi, proximity to the dead Elder Dragons might matter, considering that Primordus had absorbed more plant and death magic than Jormag.

Flashpoint

Simulation of the All becoming unbalanced due to a clash between the energies of Jormag and Primordus's spheres.

Theorizing that she could defeat Jormag and Primordus at the same time by mixing their energies, Taimi created a device using parts from Omadd's Machine, which became known as Taimi's Machine, to do so. However, this device was stolen by the returned, but weakened, human god Balthazar, who was looking for a way to increase his power by absorbing the Elder Dragons' magic. Shortly after the theft, Taimi discovered that one more Elder Dragon's death might lead to Tyria's destruction.

Balthazar brought the device before Primordus and activated it deep within the volcano of Draconis Mons, where the Fire Dragon was located at the time. He inserted himself in the magical stream and began absorbing the two Elder Dragons' magic. When the device was destroyed by the Commander and Taimi, who had chased the fallen god into the heart of the volcano, the blowback and drained magic resulted in Primordus and Jormag being hit by each other's magic and entering a pre-awakening state.

The Icebrood Saga

Visions of the Past: Steel and Fire

Although Primordus had been forced into dormancy, the destroyers continued gathering magic for him and attacked any trespassers in their territory. The minions of the Fire Dragon inhabited old dwarven ruins in Derelict Delve in the Desert Highlands and appeared within ancient dwarven strongholds such as Darkrime Delves and Stoneward Halls in the Far Shiverpeaks alongside the corrupted Stone Summit remnants.

Champions

Chapter 1: Truce

Several months after the awakening of Jormag, Primordus began to stir. The energies within Tyria began to churn, slowly growing stronger, causing seismic activity. This change was noted by the Elder Dragon Aurene, who spoke to Jormag about the growing earthquakes, believing Jormag to have caused them. Jormag explained that Primordus's hunger grew as he stirred. The Ice Dragon then referred to Primordus as their twin, adding that Primordus would set the world ablaze, and referred to a choice coming ahead.

Soon after, Primordus's activity was again noticed by Braham Eirsson, who attempted to speak to Jormag through their corrupted Voice. Jormag again called Primordus their brother and noted that the Fire Dragon was incapable of subtlety. Jormag then declared that the balance of the All was a mere mortal superstition and that Primordus could be killed, but not yet.

As the Commander traveled to Rata Sum at Taimi's urging, Taimi explained to them that there was a massive amount of tectonic movement, far above the usual amount of it, and that some of it was Primordus, some of it was likely ley energy and that she still had not figured out what one spike was. Destroyers then began to burrow out outside the Advanced Metamystics Lab and Rata Sum Port Authority and the conversation was ended as the Commander and their allies battled the destroyers.

After the initial wave had been driven back, Taimi noted that the destroyers seemed bigger than previous specimens. Alerted to more tremors, the party went to drive off another wave of destroyers attacking the Arcane Council at the Port Authority. After clearing away the rest of them, a large destroyer, allegedly different to archival descriptions of them, appeared and was killed. The Commander then announced that any place feeling the slightest tremor would need to prepare for destroyer attacks.

Back at the Eye of the North, the Commander witnessed Aurene and Jormag arguing about whether killing Primordus was necessary. Aurene then gave the Commander a gift to allow them to absorb destroyer essence to empower themself. This ability also included absorbing the additional essence granted to champions to empower the Commander more than regular destroyer essence would allow. After being upgraded, this ability grew effective at empowering the Commander.

Taimi called the Commander to Soren Draa where destroyers were attacking. After evacuating civilians, powering defense golems and killing destroyers, Taimi, Braham and the Commander headed into Wildflame Caverns where they battled a destroyer champion and eventually defeated it. During this battle, Taimi began arguing with Braham about whether Jormag was more of a threat than Primordus or not while revealing that she was sharing discoveries about Primordus with Jormag. Despite having noticed unusual scouting behavior from the champion, Taimi dismissed such findings by claiming that destroyers could not reason.

Taimi then called the Commander about a destroyer attack on the sylvari village of Watchful Source, with the Commander this time putting out fires, activating sylvari plant turrets and killing more destroyers. After this, Ryland Steelcatcher, Jormag's champion, appeared and assisted the Commander with destroyers as they approached the location of another destroyer champion in Skrittsburgh, a large settlement of skritt already known to have a destroyer infestation. They defeated the champion and then they returned to the Eye.

Destroyers soon began attacking Lion's Arch's northern gate, and then assaulted the settlement in Cornucopian Fields. The Commander attempted to rescue civilians, kill destroyers and put out fires this time. The Commander then ran to Ascalon Settlement and, together with Jhavi Jorasdottir and Marjory Delaqua, battled several waves of destroyers there, including one resembling the large destroyer differing from archival accounts of its race. A large flying destroyer champion resembling a harpy then appeared and, after a fierce battle, was killed. Both Jhavi and Marjory realized that the attack on Lion's Arch had been a diversion while the destroyers' true target had been the Ascalon Settlement instead. The pair quickly dismissed such a tactical maneuver as unimportant, however, believing that Primordus only thrived on chaos and wanted to spread destruction by attacking the most vulnerable.

Chapter 2: Power

After a heated debate between Jormag and Aurene, Ebon Vanguard scouts noticed destroyer activity around Ebonhawke increasing. The dragon minions soon attacked the stronghold and its defenders, aided by allied reinforcements. With the aid of the charr United Legions, the destroyers were eventually pushed back into the heart of the stronghold, where the Destroyer of the Third Fortress appeared. After a fierce battle, the destroyer champion was slain by the Pact Commander with the help of Lady Kasmeer Meade and Imperator Crecia Stoneglow.

Following their invasion of Ebonhawke, destroyers began to surface within the Durmand Priory outposts of the Forge and the Grotto in Thunderhead Peaks. They inflicted heavy damage on the outposts and inflicted many losses, while Deldrimor dwarves surfaced as well to fight back against the dragon minions. Retreating from the outposts, the allied forces eventually launched a counterattack, clearing destroyers and finding the Destroyer of the Last Forge feeding on the Forge's magic. With the use of altered Dragonsblood spears to crack its carapace, the destroyer wyvern was eventually slain.

Chapter 3: Balance

Primordus emerging behind his champion, Braham.

During an icebrood attack on the Dominion of Winds, Braham Eirsson and the Great Spirits of the Wild agreed on a plan to counter the Elder Ice Dragon. In order to fight back against Jormag, the Great Spirits would awaken Primordus and direct him to do battle with the ice dragon. After Braham explained their plan to Aurene, she agreed to watch over him. Fighting off destroyers, Braham channeled the magic of the Spirits to lower the lava and eventually encountered the Destroyer of the Last King when about to awaken Primordus to control the Elder Fire Dragon. While battling the wyvern, the Spirits offered Braham encouragement and eventually he managed to slay the beast.

Chapter 4: Judgment

Primordus, along with Jormag, was lured to Anvil Rock, a potent ley line nexus, where the twin Elder Dragons and their champions would be forced to face each other and fight. With Aurene and the help of allied forces, the Pact Commander had distracted the dragon champions, Braham and Ryland, and the flow of magic was redirected away from the dragons and changed via Aurene's prismaticite. Both Primordus and Jormag eventually became weakened and enraged, lunging at each other for a brief fight before ultimately destroying each other, leading to a magical fallout.

Legacy

Jormag and Primordus's deaths led to the magical imbalance stabilizing. The shock wave of their released magic radiated outward, coursing through ley lines and permeating the air. However, it did not strike the Eye of the North and was not absorbed by Aurene much to the surprise of both Dragon's Watch and Aurene herself. Instead, the released magic traveled south. Following the Fire Dragon's demise, many destroyers perished, and only stronger specimens persisted for the time being.

Physiology

Primordus sleeping within the Primal Kiln.

Instead of corrupting living beings, Primordus and his champions seem to prefer to create minions called destroyers solely of earth and fire, usually spawning them in pools of lava, and these minions are created in mockery of living creatures. Reflecting this, Primordus and his minions only care about killing and then moving on, and are never seen corrupting or capturing like other Elder Dragons and their minions. However, it is still possible for destroyers to corrupt living beings, where rock encases the creature until the body turns into lava, though no such destroyer has definitively been seen. At least one champion, the Destroyer Queen, has created destroyers in egg-like pods, implying it to be a corrupted living being though it could simply be a unique champion or a new form of creating destroyers.

Powers

With the deaths of the Elder Dragons Zhaitan and Mordremoth, Primordus absorbed magic released by their deaths, granting him the ability to imbue destroyers with Death and Plant magic, causing their appearance to change and them to grow in strength. While sleeping, Primordus evolved or altered himself to better process the magic of the slain Elder Dragons, allowing him to selectively filter it.

After Kralkatorrik's death, Primordus received magic from the deceased Elder Crystal Dragon and improved a link to his destroyers resembling a feedback loop. When destroyers burn, the resulting energy makes Primordus more powerful, which in turn makes the Destroyers more rabid in a continuous cycle which eventually results in the Fire Dragon awakening.

Weakness

After sorting through information left by the Rata Novans, Taimi discovered that the Rata Novan acquired information regarding a potential weakness for Primordus and that his unique magical spectrum could be negated all together. Taimi theorized that Jormag's unique ice magic spectrum could be the unique weakness of Primordus. After the Commander acquired samples of destroyers and icebrood enhanced by magic from the deceased Zhaitan and Mordremoth, Taimi was able to confirm her theory on a small scale. When Balthazar stole Omadd’s machine, Taimi ran simulations confirming that Primordus and Jormag were each other's weakness.

Location

Shiverpeak Mountains

• Dragonstorm
  • Dragonstorm Arena

Story involvement

Living World Season 3

• Episode 5: Flashpoint
  • Heart of the Volcano

The Icebrood Saga

• Episode 5: Champions
  • Chapter 3: Balance
    • Wildfire
  • Chapter 4: Judgment
    • Dragonstorm

Combat abilities

Skills

• Apocalypse Rain - Rains down magma orbs over the battlefield.
• Cataclysm - Slams his head down on the ground, causing lava to burst up.
• Primordus Inferno Aura - Causes anything near him to burn to death.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  Primordus during Heart of the Volcano.

• 

  Primordus during Wildfire.

• 

  Primordus and Braham during Dragonstorm.

• 

  Jormag dominates Primordus during their battle at Anvil Rock.

Concept art

• 

  Unused 2007 concept art by Kekai Kotaki.

• 

  Guild Wars: Eye of the North concept art by Daniel Dociu.

• 

  Heart of the Volcano loading screen by Tsveta Komaticheva.

• 

  "Primordus Sketch" by Tsveta Komaticheva.

• 

  Concept art by Zhengyi Wang.

• 

  Concept art by Zhengyi Wang.

• 

  Dragonstorm loading screen by Zhengyi Wang with Jormag and Primordus.

• 

  Champions Chapter 4: Judgment wallpaper with Jormag, Ryland, Primordus and Braham.

Renders

• 

  Render by Marcus Jackson.

• 

  Render by Marcus Jackson.

Size comparisons

• 

  Size comparison of all Elder Dragon and dragon champion models as of War Eternal.

• 

  Size comparison of Primordus, Jormag, and Aurene.

• 

  Size comparison of Primordus's models from Flashpoint (left) and Champions (right).

Other

• 

  Animation of the battle between Primordus and Jormag (open to play).

Related achievements

• The Dreamer III: The Lover: Dream of Primordus — Dropped by Destroyers.
• Frostfang I: The Experimental Axe: Essence of Primordus — Use a Destroyer Jar after defeating the Megadestroyer in Mount Maelstrom to fill it with essence.
• Frostfang I: The Experimental Axe: Distilled Essence of Primordus — Distill your captured Essence of Primordus in the caves below the Dominion Killing Zone in Kessex Hills.
• Transfer Chaser: Transfer Chaser — Complete each task to track a disturbance in magic's flow. (10)
• Flashpoint: Excess Energy — Find all the lingering fragments of Primordus and Jormag energy in the Heart of the Volcano instance. (3)
• Dragonstorm: Double (Elder) Dragon — Defeat Primordus and Jormag 10 times in the Dragonstorm encounter. (16)
• Dragonstorm: Light Him Up — During the Dragonstorm encounter, attack Primordus 30 times while he is exposed. (2)
• Dragonstorm: Skritt Hot — During the Dragonstorm encounter, dodge Primordus's Apocalypse Rain attack 25 times. (5)
• Return to Champions: Revenge of the Dragons — Defeat Primordus and Jormag 1 time in the Dragonstorm encounter. (0)

Trivia

• Primordus has his own leitmotif, called "Primordus's Theme", which was composed by Maclaine Diemer.
• Primordus (like the English word "primordial") comes from the Latin word primordium, literally meaning "the first to come [in order, in a series, in history]"—more metaphorically, "a beginning."
• With Flashpoint's release, ArenaNet has addressed the model change for Primordus by claiming that it is unknown if the slumbering dragon found in the cavern in Guild Wars was actually Primordus himself or one of his champions. However, back in 2009 they had stated that the Central Transfer Chamber was built adjacent to Primordus.
  • Text in The Complete Art of Guild Wars: ArenaNet 20th Anniversary Edition, released in 2020, has since reasserted that the statue in the cavern was in fact Primordus.
• Primordus and Zhaitan are only Elder Dragons, that have been encountered, who never speaks on their own, either being unwilling or incapable of communicating intelligently. Only Primordus's bonded champion can offer a glimpse to mindset of the fire dragon.

See also

The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Primordus.

•  Primordus Energy

Associated items

• Plush Primo
• Primordus Dye Kit
• Primordus Hologram Generator
• Volcanic Throne

References

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Elder Dragons