In the final chapter of Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, fan favorites Kasmeer and Marjory proposed to each other. The developers reveal how long and rocky the road to this scene was.
These are Kasmeer and Marjory: The two characters have accompanied Guild Wars 2 players through the story of the Living World for many years. Kasmeer was born into a wealthy, aristocratic family, but the family lost everything they owned because of their brother Kyle’s gambling debts.
To somehow make ends meet, Kasmeer looked for work and found it at the Delaqua detective agency. This belongs to Marjory Delaqua, a necromancer with Canthan roots.
The two women became partners and experienced numerous adventures and perils together throughout the course of the Guild Wars 2 story. Although their paths kept parting, a romantic relationship developed between the two.
In the final chapter of End of Dragons, that relationship was cemented with a double marriage proposal. Developers Matthew Medina and Morgan Lockhart discuss the couple’s development and the difficulties encountered during the most important scene in the epilogue.
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It was never the right time
Narrative designer Metthew Medina came up with the idea of putting the marriage proposal in the addon’s epilogue. Since the relationship between the two characters had already extended over several chapters at the time, there had already been several attempts to marry the “Jory and Kas”. But somehow it was never the right time for it:
As their story progressed, there were two other times when the Narrative Team considered formalizing their relationship: at the end of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns and again at the end of Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire.
[…] But the timing of such an announcement wasn’t ideal, and we’ve been pushing those plans further and further into the future. Maybe in a time when Tyria isn’t on fire and the characters would be having a quiet moment with friends.
According to Medina, the perfect opportunity presented itself at the end of Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons. The designer created a scene in the Dead End Bar, but expected his proposal to be rejected again. But things turned out differently and the scene was firmly integrated.
The cinematic team also lent a hand with the most important scene, the kiss between the two fiancés. Over the course of several weeks, the team developed a storyboard and created a sequence of animations assembled from a combination of skills and emotes.
“We didn’t want to chain them together unnecessarily”
The marriage proposal episode was written by developer Morgan Lockhart. As a queer woman, she was very excited about this opportunity. According to her, it was important to keep the balance in the relationship:
We didn’t want to chain them together unnecessarily, but we didn’t want a fake relationship here either. They both had important jobs to do in Cantha that separated them for long periods of time. But we brought them back together during key scenes and tried to give the players little hints on how to keep their relationship going.
[…] Just as importantly, they are together in the last two chapters. […] With the last great battle against the Elder Dragons over, they can now move forward together into the next chapter of their lives.
Morgan Lockhart
Lockhart says that writing the marriage proposal was really difficult. Writing about love without coming across as cheesy isn’t easy, says Lockhart. So she decided to talk about Kas and Jory’s journey together and just be honest.
Before the last fight, the dragons were “the first, second and third priority” of the two NPCs and their allies. They had all put their private lives on the back burner because the danger to the world was too great.
The epilogue was therefore also an opportunity for the developer to continue the stories of other characters. While Kasmeer and Marjory know what’s next for them, others have yet to figure it out for themselves. Some of them found closure, others gave clues as to what to do in the future.
What did you think of the final chapters of End of Dragons? Did you enjoy the epilogue with Kas and Jory? Write us your impressions in the comments.
By the way, Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG that you can also play alone. You can find more in our list:
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