Shiro's Not Such A Bad Guy... **spoilers**

After you beat Shiro down, Suun and his adepts come running out and turn him into jade, his ghost appear and yells at the other Envoys and demand that they release him.

They inform him that as a newly dead he can't tell them anything and in reply to his "I'll be back" threat they inform him that a special place has been reseerved for him in the Under World.

When he shouts "This is not the end" they reply that "he will wish it was."

The only time that we see Shiro turn nobles is in the one Vid aftter Vizunah mission, just walking around we find that the afliction has also taken peasants, both adults and children.

So is he evil, his deeds speak for themselves.

The main lesson we should learn; never trust a poor furtune teller. If the teller is any good they will charge enought to be well off, and if they can't. then thier advice is as good as their cost; a $.05 fortune is worth $.05.

Imo he was once good and became paranoid, which led to his turning to the dark side.

But I think the emporer did intend to kill him, as he broke the rules (only the emporer is allowed in the temple) and also Archemorous, Viktor and vizu where there. Where they there to assasinate Shiro? - Is my thinkiing.

Why though. I do not know.

Nice topic!

Shiro is indeed a complex character. His motives are not entirely clear, and as you said, it seems he acted strictly in defense of himself. His actions later are most assuredly “evil” so it is obvious that he does indeed *become* an antagonist, though if his initial intentions were that of good or evil is unclear.

I guess it really comes down to sociology. Was it nature or nurture that made Shiro evil? Was he born an evil man, or was he driven to his evil ways through life experiences? Was it destiny that led Shiro to slay the one he swore to protect, or was it simply because he didn’t get enough hugs as a child? Perhaps most importantly, did the fortune teller forsee the conflict at the harvest temple, or cause it?

I guess the world may never know…but to ease your conscience he did unleash a plague that turned a bunch of people into afflicted, and then attempted to take over Cantha. I think that is grounds for some “time out” in the underworld, regardless of his original intentions.

Andrew , you just made me have sympate (sp?) for shiro :|


Editops wrote andres isntead of andrew

tbh Shiro kinda reminded me of Anakin Skywalker, which is why the story in Factions seems so bad, someone was channelling George Lucas.

The fortune teller is Gwen in disguise. 200 years before helping the Char invasion and the searing happen, the immortal Gwen decided to screw around in Cantha. When she thought she might be discovered as the reason behind Shiro's deeds she disguised herself as a sweet innocent child and ran to Tyria.

Okay, what i think is that ArenaNet likes Shakespeare. The fortune teller (three witches) and Shiro (Macbeth) and MacShiro killing the Emperor.
Now the ugly fortune teller knows exactly what is going to happen. But since she's bored and wants to see what mischief she can bring up, she only tells Shiro part of the tale. The part that comes after Shiro attacks the Emperor.

The whole faction storyline is overall, imo poorly written and full of holes.
Anet, i know most people don't play online games for their storyline. But please at least put some effort into a coherant story in your furture games.
Thank you.

What happened to Adelbern?

If you look at the timeline of when this is happening, like right when your toon reaches Lion's Arch (or Kaineng conversely), it very well may be that long ago someone set these things into motion. Maybe the fortune teller set Shrio up knowing what could happen. Maybe someone set the Charr on Ascalon, giving them that final ultimate weapon, so the hero's would help the people flee to the only logical place... Kryta, and from there destroy the Mursaat (who really never messed with us before we messed with them). Maybe the whole liche thing was just a setup to get rid of another powerful army (of undead). It's all a reach, but I'd like to think there is an underlying story to this franchise.

Who benefitted from the Mursaat getting owned? The Seers. Who told Shiro he was going to get killed? A Fortune Teller. What is a fortune teller? A seer. Didn't the Seer in Iron Mines say she has been waiting for us a long time? WTF... we follow a seer and we're hero's, and Shiro follows a seer and he's a goat? Maybe there is a story.

I think Shiro WAS a trustworthy guy and the emperor had every right to believe him to be a good body guard. Loyal, not too smart and good at his job, just what an emperor would want.

What the emperor didn't pick up on was that Shiro had already been influenced by the fortune teller. The last prophecy she gave Shiro went so much against what his believes were that he killed her for it, so even then, he was faithful to the current emperor.

The voice in his head repeating over and over again, I'd say, is what sent him over the edge and made him strike first rather than wait for the emperor to make his move.

I can't see the emperor being able to kill Shiro, after all, this is his body guard, someone who's rather good at fighting. Then again, if the emperor wanted Shiro dead, he'd just have to ask Shiro to suecide, and Shiro would have complied without question.

Do we actually know what happened between him dying and him becoming an envoy? The way I see it, in the time between being dead and becoming an envoy, he went through something that made him hate the emperor and his family enough to work his way into becoming an envoy, and then taking revenge on the new emperor for his original death.

Of course, when the other envoys laugh evily and point out that we don't want to know what's in store for Shiro, I'm wiling to take their word for it and hide from them.

The cinematic is different than the final game story, as it has him looking all evil and intent on killing the Emperor from the beginning, whereas he is supposed to be conflicted with the choice of "me or him" in the actual game.

Just like the cinematic for Prophecies has some weird orcish monsters over running everything.

Just inconsistent story telling. I've never been bothered to read anything the quest givers or other NPC's tell me. There isn't anything in this game that really draws me into the story, and the cut scenes are little more than a nuissance. In the Baldur's Gate series I read absolutely everything.

Perhaps the fortune teller told Shiro about the wrong emperor. It was not Shiro's emperor who tried to have him killed, it was the emperor of 200 years afterwards that wants him killed. By the time we step into Factions, we realize Shiro is the threat we must face and Togo goes to tell the emperor. The emperor then wants us to kill Shiro. So the fortune teller was right about the emperor trying to kill him, but wrong as to which emperor. So Shiro killed his emperor, thinking it was he that was trying to kill him, not thinking about the future and only of the present.

As to the emperor letting Shiro and his guards into the temple, maybe it's because he's gotten to the point where he's trust Shiro with his life that he'd wan't him to constantly be by his side to protect him.

yea ill say she didn't see her own death commin

Nah, she knew he'd kill her. She set him up knowing it would cost her her life.

now wingzro might have a good point there,maybe she was looking so far ahead into the future and that is the reason she didnt see her death coming.

Actually that's a pretty good idea.. I never thought of it that way....

the following story are totally make up, read it as a joke like "Scary Movie"

The old fortune teller controlled by Glint (same voice) who was pissed by Kunavung 200 years ago (maybe because ANet make minipet off Kunnavung's look but not Glint), So she tell Shiro that he will be killed by Emperor, which she purposely telling of the wrong Emperor (current one, Glint can see the future). then she secretly inform the leaders of Luxon, Kuzicks and Obsidium Frame that Shiro want to kill Emperor. on the day of Harvest Ceremony, She pass her voice into Shiro's mind, force him to gone mad and kill Emperor. she tell him about the Jade Wind Magic (In fact a Jade Wind Curse against Kunnavung with side effect on other creature in cantha). During the Casting of the Curse, VIzu steb Shiro from the back, Archmores and Viktor then has the chance to kill Shiro.
unfortunately the spell was completed before Shiro's Death, Jade wind Release, corupt Kunavung and torture her soul for the next 200 years until our hero release her from Jade Wind Curse.

Shiro was a good guy, like Emperor said he was dedicated to protect innocent people. but he turn evil because he was pissed by people who make his name bad and people who believe the incomplete sotry that pass down generations

the interesting thing about a story is the viewpoint. When you change it, the plot becomes different.

How about this one....

A woman seeks revenge for the death of her sister. Sounds pretty typical but it's the subplot of The Wizard of Oz. Before you read the last sentence you probably weren't thinking the woman was evil.

That's why I think storytelling is such an amazing thing. So many different viewpoints and ways to tell a story, and there isn't always one best way to.

The cause of many a Guild Wars death.

I think the old witch was the evil one. Shiro was just her pawn.