Question on Saul's Story *potential spoilers*

So, I just recently got the Bonus Mission Pack, and have been going through the missions, and I have to ask, why did the Mursaat turn around and kill all those main heroes/knights at the end of Saul's Story?

It just doesn't make sense, the reason they give in game is that they didn't want to many people to have seen them, but what would it matter if people did or not, these were people who followed Saul, and all it would have done to see them and fight alongside them is bolster their faith even more, and would have helped make the White Mantle stronger in the end for it.

If we were to relate this to real life, I think the prevailing motivation would be to solidify their supreme authority and power through the use of fear. Even if Hablion had thought "these Gods are terrible, I would never serve them!" he would would know that by opposing them or not exercising their will, he would be killed too.

Even if they only followed the Mursaat in fear initially after they repelled the Charr from Kryta, they probably eventually convinced themselves their cause was just and that the Mursaat had legitimate reasons.

I think the better question is why did they take Saul and what did they do with him. For some reason I believe this will be answered in GW2, and my crazy mind sees possibilities of experiments using Saul in order to preserve the Mursaat race.

This is actually said in the game:

As for why they took saul:

In my reading, the Mursaat chose to remain unseen because it is difficult to analyze (and, by implication, doubt) that which you have never encountered. The Krytans were desperate enough to embrace the Unseen Ones on faith, but faith rarely stands up to scrutiny. When the Mursaat revealed their "true power and glory" to Saul and his followers, they also revealed their limitations. Their power was remarkable but by no means godly, and the Mursaat could not have afforded to let anyone realize that and live. Remember, they wanted to control Kryta forever so that the Flameseeker Prophecies could never be realized. Any seed of doubt in the minds of their followers would have jeopardized not only their influence, but their survival as a race.

Um, Hablion and some others were allowed to live (names escape me atm). There is no way they could have known that Hablion and the others wouldn't have gone and told the Krytans how the Mursaat had taken the head of the White Mantle by force to some unknown place.

I still believe they were using a mobster approach/fear to coerce Hablion and the others to remain loyal. As in, if they didn't comply they would either end up like the others dead on the ground, or be forcibly taken to the same unknown (yet presumed deadly fate) that Saul encountered.

I agree with your theory. In defense of mine, though, let me just say that the Inquisitor may not have been the only Mursaat who could read minds. One of the ones who fought alongside Saul might have deemed Hablion, Dorian, and Thommis sufficiently fanatical to trust the Unseen Ones even after Saul's abduction.

We do not know that The Inquisitor or any of the Mursaat can actually read minds, I've completed that mission and it seemed to me as if the Shining Blade Scout Ryder just told The Inquisitor what he wanted to know, in fear that he would kill her if she didn't and she told us that The Inquisitor 'just took my thoughts from my head' so we wouldn't think that she was a traitor or deliberately giving the Mursaat information.

That's possible, although it does fit the evidence if some of the Mursaat can read minds (although I've always found it interesting that the Inquisitor was an Elementalist, when a Mesmer probably would have been more fitting to the role).

Another explanation could be if the Mursaat were somehow watching the group beforehand and decided in that way which ones were the most fanatical - Jaemes and Rebekeh, for instance, just seem to be along because the White Mantle was the only credible military Kryta had, and while Gisenger and Bryen do seem to be genuine believers, they do appear to lack some of the fanatacism of the three survivors (they talk more like students of the faith than true disciples). If the Mursaat had been observing the group, they could have picked this up.