Why Rytlock?

[Deleted]

**** Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read/finished the GW Books, don#t read *****


When I saw the CE picture a few days ago, I started wondering why they chose Rytlock to be such a prominent part of it (in game pet, figurine).

Everything I know about him comes from "Ghosts of Ascalon" and "Edge of Destiny" (the books) and what I read there makes me wonder why ANet chose him instead of one of the other heroes.

Are there any other information available at this point, on him or the other members of Destiny's Edge? (outside the game/beta)

If not, what makes him so special? It's been a while since I read the books, but in my memory the accomplishments of Eir or Master Snaff or Caithe are more worthy of attention.
I also noticed, that a lot of people here are Rytlock-fans and this leads to the same question: Why him? Why not Eir, the founder of Destiny's Edge? Or Master Snaff, who gave his live to defeat one of the dragons? Or Caithe, who always fought for the unity of the races and her friends.

And just to be clear: I have nothing against Rytlock, I like the charr and consider playing one first, but I just don't understand the hype abput him.

Did I miss something?


P.S. As I finished writing this, it came to my mind, that it could have something to do with the concept art: If I remember correctly, the charr's appearance was one of the first to be finished (after humans, but humans are boring and not unique to GW), while the other races where still changed.
For example, the first pictures of Caithe don't look a bit like the playable Sylvari they have now...

[Squirrelbanes]

It purely comes down to the fact that he is the most engaging. He's an action hero superstar. An amazing sword, fierce in appearance, forthright...he ticks all the boxes of a posterboy.
Also...ask yourself, instead of why Rytlock, why not Zojja, Logan, Caithe or Eyr?
Which of them holds the greatest appeal to the largest demographic do you think?
The somber human? The beautiful green plant? The little Zojja?
Or the badass looking one with the flaming sword?

In a word....Marketing.

p.s. want more Zojja :'(

[jvbastel]

Because he's voiced by Steve Blum

[Arkenaw]

Incoming opinions:

Rytlock is awesome, he is the funniest character and has sohothin and is really unique for a charr, not to mention he is a charr
Snaff is dead and anyone who doesn't read the books won't even know who he is.
Zojja was just as annoying and arrogant as every other asura.
I loathe everything about sylvari, so Caithe is the 2nd worst character in DE imo.
Eir is alright, I wouldn't have minded if the figure had been her, she's pretty reckless though
Logan is the one of the worst characters I have ever had the misfortune to read about.

[Deleted]

It purely comes down to the fact that he is the most engaging. He's an action hero superstar. An amazing sword, fierce in appearance, forthright...he ticks all the boxes of a posterboy.
Also...ask yourself, instead of why Rytlock, why not Zojja, Logan, Caithe or Eyr?
Which of them holds the greatest appeal to the largest demographic do you think?
The somber human? The beautiful green plant? The little Zojja?
Or the badass looking one with the flaming sword?

In a word....Marketing.

p.s. want more Zojja :'(

You are right, I could have thought about that myself ;-)

Probably also because he is male, it might be more difficult to sell female heroes to a wide audience (read: especially male audience).
And there are not that many choices for male heroes: Logan is a traitor, Master Snaff is awesome, but dead...
And the characters from Ghosts of Ascalon seem to be less important to the game world. (Which is sad by the way, as I found GoA to be much better written in style and character creation than EoD :-(

[Bonelazy]

I would totally buy it to have a 10 inch tall Zojja figure.

And yeah, Caithe is pretty bad imo. Killeen was a much better character.

[Squirrelbanes]

I would totally buy it to have a 10 inch tall Zojja figure.

And yeah, Caithe is pretty bad imo. Killeen was a much better character.

I'm totally with you here.
/high 5 for under-appreciated asuras.

@OP. Yeah...the only way they'd ever use a female for the postergirl is if she was.....well, u know...wearing next to nothing.
Which incidentally is one of the things I love about GW2...the sylvari, charr, norn and asura females are not designed to be reskinned bikni models.

[Deleted]

I would totally buy it to have a 10 inch tall Zojja figure.

That could quite possibly persuade me to buy the CE as well.

[Leben]

Thanks for the comments about Snaff. Hadnt got to that part of the book yet

[agracul]

because he's a furry cat and people hype about cats ^^

no, really, you can tell that anet (former blizzard entertainment) really likes charr, already because they gave them the original zerg planet's name (Char). They simply love Rytlock.

[Squirrelbanes]

Thanks for the comments about Snaff. Hadnt got to that part of the book yet

You should have suspected something was amiss when you didn't see him together with the other DE members in the promotion videos

[Hegr]

Because he's voiced by Steve Blum

The guy that gargles whiskey and gravel every morning?

[Marn]

He's going to be the next Khan-ur and unite all the charr!

Well, that's my prediction anyway. Not anytime soon of course, but depending on how the expansions go I'd say maybe in about 7 years or so he should be primed for the job.

[Deleted]

This is what I think of every time someone says Rytlock :P

[Deleted]

I think I remember hearing something about the charr being the most representative race, that they embody the spirit of GW the best, so why shouldn't their hero be the mascot? I think it was from the retrospective vid.

[ShesAsuperFreak]

It purely comes down to the fact that he is the most engaging. He's an action hero superstar. An amazing sword, fierce in appearance, forthright...he ticks all the boxes of a posterboy.
Also...ask yourself, instead of why Rytlock, why not Zojja, Logan, Caithe or Eyr?
Which of them holds the greatest appeal to the largest demographic do you think?
The somber human? The beautiful green plant? The little Zojja?
Or the badass looking one with the flaming sword?

In a word....Marketing.

p.s. want more Zojja :'(

I would love Eir much more, female norn are yum.. Jora <3

[Mif]

Rytlock Plushie
Rytlock Statue
Rytlock Minipet

It's a bit much too of a focus on one character at the expense of others imo.

[Blufossa]

I think I remember hearing something about the charr being the most representative race, that they embody the spirit of GW the best, so why shouldn't their hero be the mascot? I think it was from the retrospective vid.

This. /\

And he's not as wishy-washy as some of the other heroes. I think he's a good solid character, albeit a charr and all.

I'll still be cheering him on looong before I ever cheer on Blizzard's mary-sue again!

[Kadeth]

Speaking of the books and such, has there been any word on when the third one is coming out amidst all this beta ramping up stuff?

(Personally I liked Ember better)

[Deleted]

Thanks for the comments about Snaff. Hadnt got to that part of the book yet

I am so sorry

My bad for not putting in a spoiler warning.

And yes, I also loved Ember. And Rytlock lacks the diplomatic finesse and the sense of responsibility to rule all charr. Almorra it is for me