Central Tyria
Age of Giants
A jotun legend of a primordial age when the giant races — the jotun, the norn, and other giants — ruled Tyria wielding magic the likes of which will never be seen again. It ended when the Six Gods stripped that magic away, sowing confusion that turned the giant-kings against one another.
Events in this era
- 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.
- 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.
- Mythic — the Age of GiantsContested
The gods favor, then fear, the giants
Central Tyria
The Six Gods once favored the giants, granting the jotun and norn magic and knowledge of mechanical and magical things — but as the giants’ power grew to rival their own, the gods began to fear that the giants would use magic against them.
- 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.
- Mythic — the end of the Age of GiantsContested
The gods take the giants’ magic away
Central Tyria
Grown unhappy with the giants, the Six Gods strip magic from the jotun and norn and hand it in measured bites to their favored races — ending the Age of Giants and casting the jotun into a long darkness.
- 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.
- ~10,000 BE-9,490 CC-9,800 DRApproximate
The Elder Dragons return to slumber
Central Tyria
Around 10,000 BE the last rising of the Elder Dragons ends and they sink back into dormancy; the ancient Great Giants vanish from the northern continent, and the surviving races begin to rebuild.