Guild Wars 2 - The Bastion of the Penitent Full Story [SPOILERS] 

34:30 "Never seen such a creature- EAT MY DUST!" XD Amazing.

I tripped and scrapped my knee running with snacks for this video.

Damnit, I would consider myself an active (not casual) player since launch, but I just don't have time for raids. I wish I could experience this story firsthand, along with the feeling of clearing a raid. Oh well! That's why I'm watching the video! Thanks

fascinating the way he phrases "and then the mursaat found me", considering the tale we're used to hearing is him finding the city, and the floating beings residing there

HUGE thanks for bringing the story to people who cannot play the raids!! You're awesome!

Honestly guys there was just so much going on here that totally blew my mind and made me geek out. Please enjoy! Oh - And be careful looking below at the comments if you haven't finished the video yet. ENJOY!!!!!

I need to get this off my chest. This patch made me finally consider returning to GW2 full force and to focus on raids. I'm not salty about Saul's story being used in raids and being locked for casual players. To the contrary. It gives me hope for future content and joy that my GW1 fanboyism since 2005 is being brought back to life. ANet honestly friggin delivered. This is what I needed to finally decide to get back.

I really wish we had this quality of storytelling within the main story. It was subtle but it spoke volumes; it was grand in implications, but humble in tying up this old mystery. This is truly quality writing and execution. Unfortunately, college has me pressed for time more often than not, so I haven't been able to raid myself in a while, but I really want to get back into it. Raids are pretty close to exactly what I want from this game. Thanks for the video! I can only imagine the sheer relief you have after holding out for this mystery for so long.

as a non raider been waiting for this and finally lol edit: I understand Why Anet needs to do this :I the difficulty is part of the story which also makes it good, so even i do not raid i wouldn't mind they put important story in raids

My favourite room was actually one you didn't touch upon here, the most southern one. As you walk up to it you suddenly just sort of teleport into it and you're "stuck" in this dark room that has pieces Saul's past reverberating throughout. Probably one of the ways to try and break his mind.

this video has aged like fine wine, i mean the wizards tower has a lot of relations with the demons and now deimos.

I'd been camping your youtube channel waiting for this since I am not a strong enough player for raids but desperately wanted more story. Thank you so so much. I'll continue stalking your channel for more, because GAWD THIS CHAPTER MAN!!! I didn't even play GW1 but thanks to all I've learned from you and Deroir and my own digging in the wiki I am so addicted to this lore I'll never escape.

I just rewatched this. I love how most of the questions that you asked here are now answered in soto expac.😊

The reason I keep coming back to WoodenPotatoes is that he has an inexhaustible interest in this lore and is truly excited by it. No better GW2 RU-vidr out there IMO.

once again, your archival dedication to covering content in this game is coming in handy many years after creation. Thank you WP

As someone who doesn't do raids for various reasons, thank you for covering this stuff. This is very well done and important story I'd miss otherwise.

I never comment something on RU-vid. But his video about the lore between GW and GW2 is just amazing. Thank you so much for this video to the people Who doesn't have time to do raids.

Watching this and thinking of Deimos beeing the brother of Cerus tingles me. Will we get a kryptis lore video - covering the history of kryptis and speculations on how Deimos startet working for the Mursaat?! How are they interconnected? This makes more sense than ever due to the upcoming Janthir expansion which is right after the Kryptis focused expansion. WE NEED MURSAAT / KRYPTIS SPECULATIONS!!!!

36:40 Lazarus the Dire? More like Lazarus the Liar, am I right?

only just started raiding after soto's release so looking back at this is a trip. i missed so many bits of story when doing this raid for the first time because i was so stressed out lmao so thank you for making these videos!

I really appreciate you doing videos on the raid lore, I want to experience the raids but I don't have the time or the skill needed to participate. Thanks!

I joined a raiding guild and started raiding for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I just killed Samurog for the first time tonight. It felt SO good. He's not the hardest boss in the wing but he's still a challenge and after wiping but continuing to make progress we killed him. I'm looking forward to taking on Deimos.

Holy shit i havent been this hyped for gw2 since your LS episode 3 video with Braham! i LOVE these videos! Thank you so much for making this!

Appreciate the fact the you made the video and got us up to speed as always WP. Still it doesn't change the fact that I won't be able to play this sadly :/ On one hand I really like tha fact that this particular part of the story has been properly resolved but on the other hand I am actually pretty frustrated it did get resolved because it got resolved through a raid :( Honestly speaking, the strength of the story in this raid wing was far greater than ALL 3 wings of the Forskaen Thicket. The moment I saw what the story was about I said to myself "oh boy the story mode on raids discussion will come up again with a vengeance", and it did. If last time people that discussed about it didn't have strong arguments about it being implemented now they do and as I said, "...with a vengeance". There were heated discussions in reddit about this and some got out of hand. I don't justify heated discussions getting personal but I really can't argue with them at this point because in the end they are right about the arguments they present. I played Guild Wars 1, too, just to get prepared for Guild Wars 2, I literally bought this game and every expansion about 4-5 months before GW2 released just to play it for the story which I loved. And now I know that I won't get answers to many of the hot topics of GW just because I don't play raids :/ I feel cheated out and I don't like it one bit that I do. Who can guarantee me at this point that Evennia and the Seers won't be treated the same way? At this point if Anet falls deep into this rabbit hole the discussion is going to become even more heated with every other raid release which is sad, because it is undeniable that raids are amazing for those who play them on a weekly basis and I wouldn't like for the love of god to be taken away from those who enjoy them, at least don't take the story from us that don't play raids. In the end even though I love your vids WP and the in-depth discussions about specifics plot points it still isn't enough for me :/ Wow this got lengthy :D Eitherway keep up the good work mate! Cheers :)

I love how they are adding out of combat mechanics to the classes. Most prominent were those in the last instance in The Head of the Snake, where you could fix turrets, get minions under your control or pick locks. Really adds a great deal of distinction and flavour to the classes. I FELT like a thief whilst picking that lock!

It's sort of insane how much enjoyment I got out of content I'll probably never be able to play. Amazing video. Amazing Raid. I was geeking out watching Teapot's steam and got to do it all over again during this. Thanks for documenting the little details, @WoodenPotatoes . I live for that stuff.

Thanks WP for the video. I'm also one of the non-raiders, but you explain everything so well with the lore and how everything ties together that I feel I did the raid myself also! Your excitement is contagious and I feed off of it. Thank you thank you thank you. I'll take this video as a my birthday present.

Purely in terms of lore and story, this I feel is one of the pinnacles of not only GW2, but the franchise as a whole. I have my issues with W4, specifically what a pushover the first two bosses are, but in terms of design and storytelling it was almost breathtaking.

Great video, you nerdgasmed out as hard as i thought you would when i jumped into a cleared wing and check the lore.

Just did this raid lastnight, went in blind. Some of the most memorable times for sure, the raid was siiick. Thank you for making this vid and giving the backstory.

Dark Souls meets Guild Wars 2

Couldn't wait for you to do a video on it. The first time I fought Deimos, the first thing I thought was " Oh my god Woodenpotatoes will enjoy this so much " :D

I was told that I will never be able to play a raid as long as I play a condition damage mesmer. The only mesmers allowed are chronomancer. I found a build for condition damage mesmer for raid online. I'm building it right now, but I know that I will never get to raid. The teams are too selective. It reminds me of how you'd get rejected in HoH (gw1) under the rank 3. Thanks for the video, I'm a huge fan of gw lore. I'm really glad you take the time to Share the story with us. Your analysis are always on point.

I was refreshing your god damn channel for last hour every minute in hope of this video! You bastard kept me waiting for so long! Lets jump in !

As a dedicated raider who cleared the Wing within hours,but didn't pay any attention to the small dialogues/hints given in the raid, I really enjoyed the explanation in this video :) (especially considering I had no gw1 knowledge of the character Saul)

Thanks so much for getting this video out so quickly WP! My PC died recently so while I can just about struggle through Living World on my laptop, I can't really dive into any harder content. Your videos are what's keeping me up to speed (and making me crave that Eye of Janthir mini too)!

dude i hope you get paid, cos you PUT IN WORK with these videos and you leave EVERY other gw2 video maker IN DA DIRT!!!

Holy shit - really great video that a guildie just had me watch - I'm coming back to GW2 because of you after months off!

Yup, that's it then. I'm completing the raid build. It has been long enough that I have been avoiding raiding content, but that narrative at the last boss.. oh you touch my tralala.

I didn't know half of this. It was very awesome learning more about the lore and further understanding everything seen and heard in the raid wing as it was cleared. Great job!

Thanks for making this. I Could never find a group to clear or even try these raids so this story outline and analysis is very much appreciated! :D

Damn! I just love your "reading voice"!

WP I would've LOVED to hear your reaction in real-time while you were playing this, when you discovered Saul was the prisoner. This was yet another great video, thank you so much

The raid isn't the only place in the patch that has class specific options for things. In the instanced area where you go back into Caudicus's mansion at the end of the story, you will find turrets that can only be disabled by engineers, Krytan hounds that can be tamed away from their masters by rangers, and skeletons that can be mastered by necromancers when fighting one of the bosses. I would assume there are other places with class specific stuff, but I have only played through it once. I personally love it, it reminds me of Dungeons & Dragons Online and Neverwinter, both of which had class specific stuff, with the former having your race play a big part in what sorts of things you had a bonus towards seeing, noticing, or doing. For example, if you play a Warforged in DDO you will be able to survive under water and be immune to poisonous gas because that race are magical constructs who don't breath, Elves will get a bonus to trap detection and seeing at night if I remember (and so on) This also reminds me of Guild Wars 1, not with your characters, but with some of the enemies. In Guild Wars 2 most of the enemies, no matter what they are made of are vulnerable to conditions, with the exception of some being immune to fire and things like that. In GW1 you would have elementals, Jynn, and other spectral beings that did not have flesh or blood, so they would be immune to bleeding damage and poison. It made way more sense and is a bit disappointing when you face a lot of the same enemies in GW2 and they aren't spec'd like this. Why the hell can I bleed an Earth elemental to death, or a ghost for that matter. It would make the combat a bit more strategic if they changed this up with at least some of the later enemies.

Thank you for this, WP. I would have never likely found all this juicy detail on the raid story (probably because I'm not a raider). This story is fantastic. While listening to you talk about it, I was on the edge of my seat. "What happens next what happens next!?" It brings be back to when I played the Bonus Mission Pack in GW1. I love that not only did they continue Saul's story, but they concluded it. I'm glad he got one last hurrah before finally being laid to rest. As you said, I'm happy they continued to portray Saul as a flawed man who made some really bad decisions, but with good intentions (but I think the charr would disagree XD). That last boss, though, is nightmare inducing. Kudos to the art and animation team on that design!

For the thief unlocking the door, it seems to be a thing with this update, because in the current Living World story final mission, you can turn on dormant turrets with an engineer to help you in a fight. Pretty cool.

All of the dialogue and details in this wing in particular, as someone who doesn't play raids, makes it seem like it is an insane amount of work to produce a wing, even just from the dialogue perspective. They have Glenna who has a ton of parts, and then they have all 5 races to be voiced, as well as potentially some variations for each class/race combo. And then they have to rig all of the voice clips up... crazy how much work it would be (and if it's voiced in multiple languages, you can multiply the work). Almost seems like more work than the living story. But this really made me appreciate how much work they put into the raids. I just wish that I could experience it then, fully (in game, in the atmosphere, and even some of the tension), without having to depend on other players to be able to play through it (I get the impression that you can't get all of the dialogue with Glenna after it's been cleared, if you enter a cleared map). This video is great, but I'd still really like to go through it on my own, with my own character. Glad they do have an easier and challenge mode now though, should help get more people into it.

Thank you so much for making these videos, I love all of this lore that I missed while while I was a very small child.

Really cool vid Wp! Though it's still WOODLAND Cascades, Verdant Cascades was the area in GW1.

Damn your video just made me realize. We now know that, we the commander are Ascended. We are able to see Lazarus, a Mursaat. Which we were only able to do in GW1 once we completed ascension at Augury Rock. So at some point we ascended before fighting Lazarus in LW3.

Thx m8, rly appreciatie this lore even understand more from gw1 now. Was much fun to watch keep these vids comming.

I've done the raid, and I still waited eagerly for this video! There's so much stuff that I just can't catch while doing it - esp since I didn't play GW1.

Thank you for the great video! It was truly both entertaining and informative! I no longer play the game but I still follow its story through your channel, WP. Stay awesome

AHHHHHHHH so many feelings! That was so cool! And so many new mysteries too! I can't wait for the rest of your head of the snake and bastion videos!!!

Thanks for the video. It is a great recap of what happened to Saul in GW1 and how it fits into GW2 story.

Here is idea for why he was kept alive: Eye was supposed to be used in Krytan Civil war, but when Mursat were killed eye didn't have any new orders so it kept on doing what it was ordered to do.

This was so awesome! I'm not a raider so far so this story catch up is so helpful. The beginning of this video really has me nostalgic for GW1 though! I remember the hardmode bonus for the chosen mission more than I thought I would lol ^_^

10 minute intro is the best intro.

Hearing WP wondering where they are teleported before Deimos appears, now I think it's pretty obvious they are teleported to Nayos

Although D'Alessio may have been tragic... he did somehow survive a few hundred years of constant torture intended to break him. Isn't that sort of incredibly badass all told?

I was litterally waiting like a japanese school fan girl for this video :D . Your raid videos about the HoT raid wings were awesome :D :D

the optional stuff is very interesting. Its the background story for the 2 prisoners you encounter during the 3rd boss (the jotun and human).

i love the random "eat my dust" in the middle of a conversation lol

I think that we will see Saul again in the mists. with the final boss fight introducing a different dimension I feel that if a net decides to add another wing to this raid that we will continue to explore it and Saul will be our guide, or rather he will be our "envoy".

Wasn't able to kill Deimos yet. I loved the backstory (as I didn't play GW1) and the resolution of the wing. Really well made video.

Note, I'm writing this down as I'm watching this for the first time. In case it's said later but.... Could it be that in addition to the magic aptitude test it provides, could the Eye of Janthir is also some sort of scrying device? Could it be that the Mursaat are using it as a lens into our realm? Spooky.

*Major spoilers for Secrets of the Obscure expansion story and lore!* Revisiting Bastion of the Penitent after SotO, it seems they did take the same tone and implementation quality when explaining the mystery of the Wizard's Tower :D But while it solved many questions this raid wing pose, it raise many questions still. According to a dev comment recorded on Wiki, Deimos can be interpreted as both a manifestation of Saul's guilt and a being from the mist, but now obviously we know now that he's a Kryptis Royalty. Does that contradict what the devs said earlier, or do the writers now have considered that and there's some link between the Kryptis formation/birth and emotion? We know that they feast on emotion and etc, but not how they're born. Still the question of Deimos's loyalty remains. The current lore suggests that Deimos was trapped in Bastion of the Penitent after a failed invasion from the Kryptis and just decided to play along when the Mursaat moved in. This... seems like a tacky explanation even with the idea that "Saul's emotion was a feast to him", and especially so when we consider that the Mursaat were supposedly exiled from Nayos which is now inhabitated by the Kryptis. I wonder if the Kryptis has some history with the Mursaat that will be revealed in the future. Also I wonder if this place was this grim and dark when Isgarren built it, I'll say that the Mursaat has some heavy influence on the environment of this place. The celestial thing matches unexpectly perfect with how the various Bastions in Amnytas are on the verge of Tyria and almost touch the mist/space, and the fact that they have wizards working on celestial charting and things (Dagda even being explicitly referred to as "the wizard of celestial"). But then, I'll guess that the name of this Bastion should not be taken seriously as "Penitent" is obviously referring to Saul rather than any wizard. And there's still the question of Samarog. The plaque in "Tower of Secrets" seems to suggested that Samarog was like a failed production of "the Obscure" (I might be reading it all wrong)? I remember having a conversation about why the expac was called secrets of THE obscure, and getting the theory that "the Obscure" was probably an entity of some kind. And judging from the device "heart of THE obscure", this "obscure" is becoming more and more like some real thing rather than an adjective. Anyway, just some ramble after the excitment brought by SotO's new lore. I know that the devs definitely aren't thinking of anything SotO revealed to us when making this raid wing, but I can't help trying to find links.

Watching this today : "it's about more details on kuunavang" 6:16 They never cease to amaze us

As someone who doesn't raid simply because he can't find a dedicated group, let me say: God bless you, you glorious man

Now I'm really hyped for Janthir Wilds

The raid music sounds so epic :o Wish I had enough time to get into raiding just for it.

So slight theory crafting here what if saramog was formally the forgotten prisoner, just corrupted and tortured into his current form. The forgotten were responsible for freeing glint so is it possible that that ritual could be used to enslave. we've seen quaggan formchange so forgotten might have that trait as well. pretty sure saramog has scales as well

Damn, GW2 writers CAN write, apparently. The lore in this raid is phenomenally well written, I applaud them. They still have some hiccups when it comes to dialogue, but that's head and shoulders above their previous endeavours. And the implications here are huge! That sign on the Deimos' chest, specifically, left me in a bit of shock - looks very familiar to the revenant armor Rytlock is using. Demon's design iself is very reminiscent of it and matches the theme almost perfectly. I can see the dots between revenants, Deimos, Samarog and Mursaat, but I've not idea how to connect them. God, they are good at teasing. Speaking of strange unexplained things. Blue flame in a furnace at Lake Doric? What in world is that about?

solitary confinement. good one Anet. Saulitary

there are also parts in the living world story were you have sections some classes have special interactions.

Dude that demon looks like a DAI demon !! so cool

I just want to put this out there WP. I have followed your channel since the beginning of GW2 and I have played since the beginning of GW franchise and this is actually disheartening. I feel this is the best story they have had in GW2 finally in relation to GW1, and I am a casual player that cannot block out time to play the raids. With that personal feeling in mind, I can't help but feel other people must also feel this way and they could be loosing player base. You have to understand that you think its great because you play raids. GW2 is your job basically, but for other people who can't make it their life, raids are not that easy to get into/play, and that makes a good story that many people have wanted blocked off to casual players.

Regarding the Forgotten: Aren't we already close to confirmed to meet/see them once we start going to the Crystal Desert area in the fight against Kralkattorik? Assuming Kralkattorik wouldn't move. Regarding Samarog: It's highly possible that it really was a former prisoner. As for what it was, I predict that it's not entirely a new race or if it was, it would be a demon from the Mists that the Mursaat imprisoned in the facility during as Samarog was captured when the Mursaat moved to the Mist. My theory regarding Samarog is that it's an experimented-on prisoner. I wish I'm able to find the crest on Deimos on Samarog just to make a better connection. Sad about the Jotun and the Human especially since we're required to kill them before even be able to talk to them. Regarding Deimos: I feel like Deimos is actually a "shadow" of Saul, much like the "blighted" versions of characters in the fight against Mordremoth OR a different entity designed to watch over Saul especially since in the last part he tells Saul to "Not until you obey." referring to Saul as a different person. If we find more about that crest on his chest then maybe it'll shed some light on it. Have we seen something like that that's even slightly related to Mallyx or any demon/realm from the mist? It feels awfully, como se dice, Mistwarden. The "shadow world" feels more like a mirror into Saul's own torture prison designed by the Mursaat or maybe it has a connection as to how the Eye of Janthir works in picking a Chosen especially due to the fact that it "chooses" someone to be a sacrifice. Wherever the PC is getting sent to is... different to say the least but regarding the description of how close the whole Janthir area is to the Mist, it isn't impossible for those areas to be realms in the Mist. Overall, loved this. I'm surprised at myself being able to watch a 1-hour long video. Apparently, geeking out and being a nerd with lore speculations, etc.(a good hobby of mine too; not a lot of people I know in-game share it though) really makes time fly. Thank you for this.

Hey, there's an empty grave in Demetra the Priory can stick him in. Hell, if I recall there's a scholar out that way.

Hey Wp, love your videos about the lore of GW2, i try to get into it myself thanks to you. What am i curious about after this video is: what are your thoughts on the expension? Do you think Anet will go further into Mursaat territory like traveling to mist( like WoW did with Burning Crusade) or put a focus on the elder dragons again based on what Taimi told us in LS3E4? Another question related to this: When do you think expensaion will hit? I saw GuildGab of AuroraPeachy and they speculated it would hit at the end of this year, like to see or hear your perspective on it. I hope you answer this question bc i like to hear your perspective on it. Keep up with the videos and looking forward to more lore stuff :D

I both love and hate how each answered question leads to a series of more questions, but from a story standpoint that also helps retain interest so I can begrudgingly accept this. However beyond the question of what they wanted him to do and when the eye will reappear...I'm curious and hopeful to see what other mysteries from GW1 will find answers in the future O: I'm also grateful for these videos as I want to know the story, but it'll be a long while before I really give raids a shot more for personal reasons/doubts than any fault of the game. I really like the racial touch they splice into responses in the raids and that it seems like more than just the starter of an instance might provide dialogue as I noticed in your video here. The fact that a thief can really be a "thief" in this raid is an even cooler touch, and wouldn't mind seeing spots in later raids that other classes have some sort of special moment like that as an acknowledgement to the primary class. I feel like every time I see the Mursaat I become more and more curious what they look like beneath their armor given their humanoid structures. Had a passing fancy/pondering if a human or something could ever ascend/become one somehow despite knowing they're an older race of Tyria.

The other place in the end fight is pretty Realm of Torment-y, more specific than just the Mists or underworld.

Thanks a lot for this Video! I am not a raider and really happy to experience the story through your Videos

You know what would be a interesting Profession Mechanic like how the Thief "locl pick" the door? Engineer has the ability to sabotage The Boss stage thus setting boss difficult to Easy Mode. Can't call Engineer not Meta anymore when they are the only ones that can access Raid's Solo Mode and make it easy to clear raid without effort. :p

I got to enter a cleared instance of the wing and it definitely seemed a lot cooler than the previous ones. Unfortunately I never played the majority of the GW1 story, so the impact is probably lost on me. As a retired raider, I still wish ANet would look into a 'story' mode type raid difficulty. I know some players would rather experience it for themselves and can't due to time constraints.

It is for videos like this that I support you on patreon. :) Keep up the awesomeness!! :D

“I never thought a freaky floating eye could be such a terrifying entity” *The Eye of Sauron knows your location*

Calling it right now, the Eye of Janthir is not itself wanting to harm the players in their quest to complete the raid but in monitoring the former facility it has taken notice of the player throughout their journey. A silent observer hoping for someone to end the madness. Seems way to obvious that it'd be controlled by the Mursaat and they themselves are evil. I think it's a misunderstanding as are most ominous things.

Wow. TEN WHOLE YEARS of waiting on that story thread.

If the Isles of Janthir ever come into the game, I hope appearance-wise they look alien and desolate--sort of like the Stonefalls map in ESO!

Still magical in 2023. Thanks WP

Coming back to this now, Deimos kind of reminds me of the creatures from Nayos

there's a lot of additional chat options with Glenna in between each boss btw WP. so make sure u go back and check those out :D

Awesome vid! WP could you do a checklist of unfinished mysteries?

Thank you very much WP for the video. Loved to see it.

To everyone who thinks they cant do raids. THATS NOT TRUE. Raidingis actually not that hard. find a few training raids ideally Wing 1 or 4 since they are the easiest. or search for a guild that trains new people. its really easy getting in it and after the first two weeks u want to do it everyday ^^ My guild is doing training on tuesday and friday in the evening. maybe u will catch us.

...holy shit, i missed a lot ....i need to get into raiding!

I have always wondered if the Eye isn't actually a living thing. Like actually a Mursaat higher up or some kind higher being to them that some how ascended and is now just a magical construct. We have woefully little background on them Mursaat, Seers and Forgotten. I have always wanted to more about those races.

Personally, on the topic of putting so much story behind the wall of 10 man content, I don't raid, even though I want to get into it eventually. I really don't mind them putting story behind the raid because what's more important to me is the fact that we are just getting more story in general. For years we have been playing this game wanting more lore and stories answered, and now we're getting it. As long as there are videos like these where i can experience the story, I don't mind that i don't get to play it. What is key is that we can see that ANet is getting much better at handling in depth story telling while also connecting it to game play. Hopefully they can take these new skills they are learning and take it to the next expansion.

gw2 was my "first" mmo. i played gw1, but i was too young and i had a character on my brothers account, so i could play. i never did pvp, or any other end game content so i didnt get experience on that. now, in gw2, ive been playing since the betas, but i still dont have that kind of exp. the problem is, people in my server only wants people with experience to raid, so its really difficult, or impossible, to start raiding, even tho i really want to try it.