Character throughline

Jotun

8 moments on the timeline — from Dragonrise and the Elder Races to Age of Giants.

Appearances, in order

  1. ~10,000 BE-9,490 CC-9,800 DRContested

    The last rising of the Elder Dragons

    Central Tyria

    Around 10,000 BE the Elder Dragons stir into their most recent awakening before the modern age, a rising jotun stargazers later matched against the stars and tied to the disappearance of the Great Giants.

  2. UndatedContested

    Five elder races ally against the Elder Dragons

    Central Tyria

    As the Elder Dragons awoke and began consuming the world, the five elder races — dwarves, Forgotten, jotun, mursaat, and Seers — set aside their differences, formed an alliance, and shared their hoarded magic with one another.

  3. Mythic — the Age of GiantsContested

    The giant races rule Tyria

    The Shiverpeaks · Shiverpeak Mountains

    In the Age of Giants the jotun, the norn, and other giant races rule Tyria, wielding magic the likes of which will never be seen again; their kingdoms are the most advanced in the entire world.

  4. Mythic — the Age of GiantsContested

    The jotun master the stars

    The Shiverpeaks · Shiverpeak Mountains

    At the height of their power the jotun become legendary stargazers, inscribing their astronomical discoveries on great monument stones and building the Mystic Telescope to read the movements of the heavens.

  5. Mythic — the Age of GiantsContested

    The gods favor, then fear, the giants

    Central Tyria

    In an unverified jotun legend, the Six Gods once favored the giants, granting the jotun and norn magic and knowledge of mechanical and magical things — but came to fear that their rising power might one day be turned against the gods themselves. Priory scholars dispute the tale.

  6. Mythic — the end of the Age of GiantsContested

    The giant-kings turn on one another

    The Shiverpeaks · Shiverpeak Mountains

    With no enemies left to conquer and the gods’ threat looming, the jotun giant-kings turn on each other in a lust for power, igniting a civil war that pits brother against brother and all but wipes out their line.

  7. Mythic — the end of the Age of GiantsContested

    The gods take the giants’ magic away

    Central Tyria

    In the same jotun legend, the Six Gods grow unhappy with the giants and strip magic from the jotun and norn, parcelling it out to their favored races and casting the giants into a long darkness. Priory scholars instead blame the jotun’s own civil wars.

  8. Mythic — after the Age of GiantsContested

    The norn turn to the Spirits of the Wild

    The Shiverpeaks · Shiverpeak Mountains

    Where the jotun had no one to save them, the norn turned to the Spirits of the Wild to redeem their strength and self-respect — the moment that split the fate of the two giant races.

Sources