#vabbi

Instead of sleeping like a normal human, my brain likes to wander the dreary haze between waking and sleep for at least two hours, typically thinking of fictional characters and stories. Particularly as of late, it’s been Guild Wars 2 and Elona. And so last night djinn became the subject my brain would choose to chew on over and over and over. 

Qadim in particular popped up. He’s a cool dude, right? Super flamey and menacing and wanting to take over the world and stuff. But what stuck out to me was how he, as opposed to other djinn, didn’t have his face covered, right? Well. I mean, at first I was like GASP, YAS. But then I thought about it for a second. Aw, beans. Actually, it’s probably just a mask. But then my brain was like: 

HO LAWDY CRACKPOT THEORY TIME. I’m sorry in advance. What if. Djinn’s faces were actually like that? Pointy teeth and rigid jaws and everything. So I decided to see what that might look like. 

I decided to give it a shot. Lookat them chompers. Maybe Qadim’s face, even if it is a mask, is a reflection of what they truly are. I looked at how the faces kinda hollow on the sides, as well as what the bandages look like around their faces to kind of... see how it looked. 

So then I got to thinking, what if... These facial coverings were ALSO a part of the whole binding and enslavement ordeal that so many of them go through. I mean, who would want a spooky sharp toothed being like this floating around? Cover that up, that’s hideous!

That, and/or maybe they do this just to appear less threatening, hence attracting less negative attention and attacks from individuals thinking they are something automatically dangerous. Which might explain why Qadim might not follow the same standard. He is a proud djinn who does not look to make friends with the “lesser” races of Tyria.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. 

How this theory is probably way off the deep end, but it’s fun to think about nonetheless. Okay, so WHAT IF. Joko possibly also took some of that toothy inspiration for his newer soldiers? To appear more threatening to the enemy? But, unlike the GW1 Awakened, which *did* have their faces covered, these do not, because these Awakened are more considered to be “family” to the locals (Vabbians in partiuclar), so covering their faces would in fact dehumanize them and make it more difficult for the citizens to empathize with? 

Eh? Eeehhh??? Yeah, probably not, but it’s fun to think about.

“Vabbi's Necropolis” by Flora-Silve: http://bit.ly/2IwTsZr