Mabon

Mabon

Race

Mursaat, Vision

Profession

Mesmer

Level

80

Rank

Legendary

Locations

• Lonely Tower Fractal
  (Fractals of the Mists)
  
• Wizard's Ascent
  (Skywatch Archipelago)

Organization

Wizard's Court

Image(s)

Vision of Mabon.

“

Our work is important, and I've been able to do a lot of good. It's where I belong. My purpose. No one lives to my age without accumulating a long list of mistakes.

— Mabon

Mabon is a mursaat and one of the most senior members of the Wizard's Court, leading the Bastion of Strength in Amnytas. He shares a long past with the court's founder Isgarren. The Mabon Market is named after him. In recent times Mabon has become the mentor to his latest apprentice Zojja. When not helping with Astral Ward matters, he can be seen patrolling the Wizard's Ascent.

Mabon is eventually revealed to have been one of the founders of the Mesmer Collective under the alias of Obryn and that certain members of the collective such as Countess Anise have been aware of his true identity for years. Despite trying to fight off the Kryptis possessing him during the latest Kryptis invasion of Tyria, Mabon ultimately succumbs to the corruption after being worn out in the conflict. With the last of his strength, he urges Zojja and the Pact Commander to slay his possessor Asthenes, who has linked its lifeforce to his, to end them both but not before giving Zojja final, encouraging words to find a home among the wizards. During the Tyrian Alliance's excursion to Mistburned Barrens, a vision of Mabon guides the Commander and their allies to key locations in the area to reveal past events and Mabon's troubled relationship with his fellow mursaat and the titan Saevus Saxum whose life he has spared in the past. Mabon's ghost eventually appears to the alliance in the heart of Bava Nisos to offer them guidance and explain his role in the origins of the resurgent titan threat plaguing Janthir due to Saevus's actions. To stop Saevus from resurrecting with magic from the Mists after the alliance has heavily damaged the city-wide titan's organs, Mabon's ghost stays behind in the Foundry of Failed Creations to seal the Mists Gate to Bava Nisos with the Scepter of Orr as penance.

Biography

Early years

Bloody origins

Mabon originates from a group of Nayosian mursaat who were exiled to Tyria as punishment by another, more benign group of mursaat millennia ago. These exiled mursaat had children of their own and eventually formed an alliance with the Tyrian elder races of the dwarves, the Forgotten, the jotun, and the seers during an earlier dragonrise to battle the ravenous Elder Dragons. However, the dwarves, jotun and seers failed to come to the Forgotten and mursaat's aid during the assault on the Elder Dragon Zhaitan, leading to casualties on both Forgotten and mursaat ranks. This perceived betrayal soured the mursaat's opinion on their former Tyrian allies, and they swore to make Tyria theirs. They fled into a half-world between Tyria and the Mists using their shadowcraft, leaving the rest of Tyria to fend for themselves.

Embittered by the seers' actions, the mursaat returned to Tyria after the Elder Dragons had fallen into slumber. Around the time of writing of the Tome of the Rubicon, they warred with the seers, nearly wiping out the latter despite the numbers being stacked in favor of the seers at first. The mursaat ultimately managed to cull down the seer horde considerably. Mabon was involved in one such battle but decided to stop fighting against his seer opponent. When the seer questioned the mursaat's reluctance to fight, Mabon admitted his shame and that, according to him, it was not worth killing any more. His opponent, Isgarren, chose to spare and eventually befriend Mabon, leading to an unlikely partnership between the two.

Joining the Wizard's Court

Isgarren and Mabon working in the Wizard's Tower.

Some time after sparing Mabon, Isgarren offered him a choice to undergo "divcia nava," a seer rite of Ascension to become a powerful wizard connected to the flow of magic on Tyria. Mabon accepted the offer and lost many of his memories of his past in the ritual. He still occasionally recalled a masked woman's voice talking about their home in the Realm of Dreams, and he came to believe that the voice signified him not being inherently malevolent despite the mursaat's many crimes. Mabon came to believe that Isgarren might have had a pragmatic reason for sparing him; the seer wizard required help in constructing the World Spire, a conduit powered by a massive Shadowstone to create a barrier preventing extraplanar beings from invading Tyria through the veil. Mabon's curiosity about his past and his race's origins eventually led to him seeking out mursaat external Tyria. Whether Mabon found any mursaat in Nayos or elsewhere in the Mists or not, he nevertheless returned to Tyria to continue his work with Isgarren, which made the seer wizard speculate if the mursaat out there were not worth finding.

Lonely Tower Fractal

After the Astral Ward's founding in 604 AE, Eparch's Kryptis possessed the first Warden of the Wizard's Court, Taryn. This ultimately led to Eparch's first invasion attempt into Tyria sometime around 635 AE, where the Kryptis targeted the Wizard's Tower with Eparch himself leading the incursion alongside his nephews Cerus and Deimos. The assault led to the deaths of the wizards Akeem and Vass and culminated in Isgarren and Eparch's second confrontation. Mabon was unfamiliar with the magic that the Kryptis were using to block the Astral Ward's path but did his best to stabilize the tower so Dagda and the ward members could push onward and banish Cerus and Deimos. The battle had drained Mabon's strength, so he asked Dagda to open a portal to Isgarren's current location so they might offer the seer wizard some assistance against Eparch.

Mabon eventually recovered enough to join Isgarren's side during the confrontation with Eparch. The seer wizard asked Mabon to lend him his strength so they could finish a banishment spell and expel all Kryptis from the tower while the ward members battled Eparch directly. They were ultimately able to force the Midnight King and the Kryptis back into Nayos despite the tower sustaining heavy damage in the ensuing clash. Mabon expressed disbelief at having seen Eparch's humanoid form and that the demon had brought an army with him this time around. When Mabon tried to ask Isgarren for more information, the seer wizard dismissed any further commentary as the Astral Ward and the Wizard's Court should focus on recovering from the assault and tending to their fallen and wounded.

Interim years

Sometime prior to the Transformation of the Dwarves of 1078 AE, Mabon came to Lyhr, a dwarf who was struggling with his feelings for Rand Waylit in the midst of the Deldrimor's civil war against the insurgent Stone Summit, with an offer to join the Astral Ward and mentioned a deception. Burdened by his feelings and what he had learned, Lyhr ultimately wanted to forget about his past and followed Mabon. Isgarren eventually ascended Lyhr, making the dwarf the latest member of the Wizard's Court.

A group of titans, including Saevus Saxum, successfully invaded the mursaat capital of Bava Nisos on Janthir due to Vizier Khilbron opening the Door of Komalie to enact the Flameseeker Prophecies in 1072 AE and massacred any mursaat they came across. During the final moments of the city's fall, most of the invading titans and the mursaat there had fallen in combat. Saevus, the last surviving titan in the city, encountered the mursaat researcher Manikaz and killed him after chasing him to an alcove near the Golden Lake on the city's outskirts. Mabon visited Bava Nisos after the fall, discovering Manikaz's remains and cursing the fallen mursaat researcher for committing atrocities against their people and the mursaat's other victims. His damning eulogy was cut short, however, when he found Saevus amidst the wreckage. The titan fled deeper into the city, and Mabon pursued him. Angry at the titan massacre, he tempted Saevus to attack him. However, the titan chose to flee into Bava Nisos instead, forcing Mabon to pursue him. Upon confronting Saevus again deeper in the city and preparing to kill him, Mabon suddenly thought back on the words he had uttered during his first encounter with Isgarren in the seer-mursaat war from millennia ago and how Isgarren had spared him despite their races being enemies. Beginning to view Saevus as a kindred spirit and a victim of circumstance like he had once been, Mabon uttered those same words from his Isgarren encounter out loud and decided to give the titan another chance at life just like Isgarren had given him, sparing Saevus's life. Mabon also put a ward around Bava Nisos to protect Saevus and to buy more time before figuring out what to do with the lone titan. However, the mursaat wizard did not know that he had doomed Saevus to a fate more cruel than death—the titan would wait for Mabon inside Bava Nisos instead of traveling back to the Foundry of Failed Creations via the Mists Gate, growing and merging with the city during the long wait due to the excess magic affecting the keystone near the gate. Mabon planned to visit the city again later, eventually discovering what had happened to Saevus. Feeling shame for having failed the titan, Mabon could not admit his folly and kept the information from his wizard allies while leaving Saevus unattended in the warded ruins for the time being. Despite his promise, Mabon forgot about Saevus over time although something in the back of his mind vaguely reminded him of a task he should have done and the consequences of not keeping his word.

Mabon gave his approval to the development of the Droknar's Light fractal, which depicted an alternate timeline where the Stone Summit were winning the war against the Deldrimor, to a certain point. After many failed attempts, the wizards seemed to have found the moment and place in time they need for further study. The forge there was intended to work for Mabon's contingency plan on the event of another invasion from the Mists, which he hoped would never be needed. Once the wizards had made final adjustments to the fractal, it and its inhabitants were paused and stored. Research was sealed and archived, accessible only to Mabon and Isgarren.

In In 1070 AE, a group of mursaat assaulted King Jadon of Kryta and his mesmer companions, including the visiting Duchess Adelaide Barradin of Ascalon, who were forced to flee from Kryta's capital of Lion's Arch. The mursaat gave chase to the party, who lost many lives including the king along the way, until the pursuers cornered Adelaide's remaining party in Kessex Hills. Mabon chose to intervene and slew the mursaat to save the surviving four mesmers, taking the shape of a human and introducing himself as Obryn before leading them to safety in the village of Shaemoor to recover. In the weeks after the charr invasion of Kryta had been routed by the White Mantle cult and their secretive mursaat masters, the cult used the disappearance of King Jadon to their advantage to begin the occupation of Kryta. The remaining mesmers of the duchess's party decided that they would not abandon Kryta to its new regime. Adelaide, Velise, Gauvain, Nemah, and Obryn would form the first inner council of the Mesmer Collective, a fledging network of spies and informants that would serve Kryta in the formative years of the Shining Blade and, later, their own kinsfolk in the Ascalonian settlement. In time, the collective's numbers grew. Individuals with ties and connections to larger Krytan towns would form the first outer council and, eventually, the first members of the Shroud. Even after Jadon's daughter gww:Salma reclaimed the throne from the White Mantle with the help of the Shining Blade in 1079 AE, both the Shining Blade and the Mesmer Collective would stay alert for future threats although the collective's interests would end up expanding even beyond Krytan matters. As centuries passed, Mabon kept up the masquerade as Obryn while interacting with the collective from a distance and recruiting more people into its ranks, making some members speculate that he was actually a djinn in disguise. One of his notable recruits was the norn Bengt Tovasson after the two had worked together sealing an anomaly in the Shiverpeak Mountains; Bengt became Obryn's pupil and would rise through the ranks over the decades to become the Fourth Veil of the inner council and one of Mabon's closest friends in the collective. Obryn only revealed his real identity as Mabon to the inner and outer councils much later; however, not everyone in the councils was immediately on board with the reveal and considered expelling Mabon from the collective due to his deception as Obryn and for being a mursaat. Despite this initial distrust and that Mabon to reveal all his secrets such as the existence of the Wizard's Court, he was ultimately allowed to stay as a member. Livia, who had become Isgarren's latest Wayfinder after handing the Scepter of Orr over to him, eventually learned about Mabon once Isgarren and Mabon felt they could trust her enough with his identity. Although Livia had sworn to destroy all mursaat and was initially distrustful of Mabon, she grew to trust Mabon once she got to know him better and realized that he was different from the other mursaat. Livia introduced Countess Anise of the Shining Blade to the Mesmer Collective and Obryn, revealing his true identity as Mabon. Anise distrusted the sudden reveal of a supposedly friendly mursaat after growing up viewing all mursaat as enemies of Kryta; however, she decided to join the collective to spy on them for Queen Jennah. Anise and Mabon eventually grew close enough that she got to see him without his mask on multiple occasions, and she came to wish that she had trusted him sooner.

After the mursaat Lazarus's death in 1330 AE had sent a ripple through the veil between realms and alerted Mabon's mind, Mabon had a vague feeling that he had forgotten to do something in the past and the consequences of not keeping his word. The mursaat wizard also sensed the Eye of Janthir searching for him after it had lost Lazarus, but the Eye was unable to find him. Mabon wondered if his invisibility to the Eye was due to his ascended state of being painting his aura neutral, or because the World Spire might have protected him from the Eye's gaze.

Secrets of the Obscure

Act 1

In 1336 AE, a Kryptis army led by multiple champions began the latest invasion of Amnytas on behalf of Midnight King Eparch shortly after the World Spire's wards malfunctioned due to the transfer of magic from the dying Elder Dragon Soo-Won to Aurene. Different champions targeted different wizards to weaken the defenses of the Astral Ward with the Kryptis Lord Cerus going after Isgarren. The goal of Asthenes, one of Eparch's champions, was to possess Mabon by assaulting his mind and eventually tethering its soul to the mursaat's so both would survive as long as one of them drew breath. Mabon kept Asthenes at bay although the Kryptis bided its time and waited for its target's moment of weakness as it slowly began chipping away at the wizard's defenses.

In order to access the Wizard's Tower which had blocked entry into it due to its defense mechanisms activating and Isgarren vanishing following the Kryptis invasion, Mabon and Lyhr devised a way to get inside. It required the arduous process of forging a key in the dwarven forge found at the manifested Droknar fractal in Skywatch Archipelago.

Act 2

Asthenes finally succeeded in its grim task after Mabon had spent much of his strength in saving his comrade Lyhr from possession as well as opening the Wizard's Tower. Despite the possession, however, Mabon was still able to control some of his actions to set up wards in the Bastion of Strength in an attempt to shield parts of it from the Kryptis although his resistance continued eroding under the Kryptis's influence.

The Pact Commander, Zojja as well as members of the Wizard's Court and Astral Ward eventually tracked down Mabon to the Bastion of Strength. However, it turned out to be a trap as the possessed mursaat was accompanied by several Kryptis which ambushed the would-be rescuers. The wizards ended up splitting up in the ensuing battle, leaving the Commander and Zojja to face Mabon alone. Asthenes emerged from Mabon's body to battle the pair directly while its comrade Cerus observed the battle on the sidelines via a projection. Regaining some of his willpower, the mursaat wizard urged the pair to slay Asthenes despite what it would cost him. After a fierce struggle, Asthenes was defeated albeit it led to Mabon's demise as well. Before perishing, however, Mabon urged Zojja to find a new home among the wizards.

Legacy

Secrets of the Obscure

Zojja ended up grieving Mabon's death, finding herself lost after witnessing the fall of yet another mentor. This prompted Dagda to have a heartfelt conversation with Zojja, echoing Mabon's words when she offered Zojja a place among the wizards, which would lead to Zojja eventually undergoing the rite of Ascension to become a full-fledged wizard and study Mabon's notes about the Obscure. While exploring the Bastion of the Obscure with R'tchikk and Gladium, the Commander came across what turned out to be a lingering remnant of Mabon's essence tied to an artifact. Upon interacting with it, the essence turned into a vision showing Isgarren and Mabon's first meeting during the seer-mursaat war although the reason why the lingering essence had pushed the Commander to witness that specific vision remained unclear.

Some time after Mabon's demise, Warden Assistant Hortensia held a memorial for those who had fallen in battle against the Kryptis, including Mabon. She cited Mabon by urging the grieving Astral Ward to think of their fondest memory with those who had fallen before joining battle again.

During the Commander's confrontation with Cerus, the latter taunted the former by acknowledging Asthenes as one of his dearest comrades who had landed the final blow on Mabon and that Cerus himself had experienced both the mursaat wizard's pain and the possessed Isgarren's anguish over losing his friend much to the demon's delight.

Following Eparch's death and the end of the Kryptis war upon Cerus's sister Peitha succeeding Eparch as the new Midnight King in 1337 AE, the mursaat statue within Mabon's quarters began glowing although the reason for it remained unclear.

Janthir Wilds

According to A Collective History, Volume 6 which the Pact Commander managed to read upon returning to the Wizard's Tower with the long missing wizard Waiting Sorrow in 1337 AE, Mabon was one of the founding members of the Mesmer Collective. He was known to the collective as the djinn Obryn, Fifth Veil who had saved Duchess Adelaide Barradin's group by slaying the mursaat ambushers who had targeted them during the White Mantle's earlier rise centuries ago. Countess Anise described the collective as a "passion project" for Mabon and that she had seen him without his mask. The volume also told of Mabon stressing over a trip to Bava Nisos, a ruined mursaat city in Janthir. The trip "was penance for the past, a promise made, 'one former monster to another.'"

While scouting Mistburned Barrens on one of the northern Isles of Janthir to find a way into Bava Nisos in 1338 AE, the Commander came across what appeared to be a wisp near the Valley of Agony, the site where the Seers had suffered a notable defeat at the hands of the mursaat during the ancient seer-mursaat war. Sensing a familiar presence in the area, Isgarren decided to accompany the Commander along with the kodan Poised Arrow and Waiting Sorrow while shielding the party from the Spectral Agony which still lingered on in the valley centuries since the end of the ancient war. The party began hearing echoes of a familiar voice which led them to the wisp.

When the Commander used the Heart of the Obscure on the wisp in an effort to identify the sprite's power, the party were suddenly ambushed by an army of mursaat ghosts, including the wraith of the famed mursaat Yagon who had created Spectral Agony and helped turn the tide in the war in the mursaat's favor until Isgarren had killed her. After fighting off the ambush, the party noticed the wisp taking the shape of none other than Mabon. What appeared to be a memory of his began to play out, and they watched a vision of his arrival in Janthir in the aftermath of Bava Nisos's fall.

After experiencing the vision, Waiting Sorrow suggested that the party trace Mabon's path in case it provided them with any leads about the city's final days, Mabon's actions upon visiting it, and a potential way in. The Commander's further explorations led to more encounters with Mabon's memories taking the form of wisps which revealed visions; it appeared that the late mursaat wizard had left these magical imprints behind for a reason. The wisps led the Commander to remaining bloodstone shards which the Commander neutralized with the Heart of the Obscure, revealing old texts and freed mursaat ghosts who shed some light on the fallen city's final days and how the gifted mursaat researcher Manikaz had resorted to sacrificing his own people in an attempt to stall the city's fall.

The visions also revealed how Mabon had discovered Manikaz's remains and cursed the misguided mursaat for bringing death in his wake, and that Mabon had identified the being responsible for Manikaz's death as a lingering titan from the original titan invasion of Bava Nisos. The mursaat wizard had then pursued the titan deeper into the fallen city which the party was unable to enter due to a protective ward of unclear origins shielding the entire city. The revelation troubled Isgarren as Mabon had never told him about the titan encounter upon returning from Bava Nisos, and the seer wizard wondered what else his mursaat friend might have kept hidden from him.

Location

The Mists

• Fractals of the Mists
  • Lonely Tower Fractal

Horn of Maguuma

• Skywatch Archipelago
  • Wizard's Ascent

Story involvement

Secrets of the Obscure story

• Act 1
  • Hell Breaks Loose
  • Mother of Stars
• Act 2
  • The Missing Facet
  • Tower of Secrets
  • Mabon's Fate
• Act 3
  • Into the Obscure (as a vision)

Janthir Wilds story

• Repentance
  • Into the Valley of Shadow (as a vision)
  • A Legacy Damned (as a vision)
  • Penance for the Past (as a vision)
• Absolution
  • A Titanic Undertaking (as a ghost)
  • Salvation's Cost (as a ghost)

Event involvement

Unlocking the Wizard's Tower

[Group Event] Gather essence of awe around Droknar's Light (80)

[Group Event] Collect essence to maintain Droknar's Forge (80)

[Group Event] Purge Lyhr's corruption (80)

Combat abilities

Abilities

Effects

Skills

Dialogue

Skywatch Archipelago

Wizard's Ascent

There is much to be done, but I will assist as much as I am able. Now, how can I help?

Who built the beacons?

Mabon: The Wizard's Court—Isgarren, mainly—predates nearly everything else in Tyria, and the beacons are older still.

Mabon: Perhaps only he knows their origin, and perhaps not even him. But they serve their purpose well, regardless.

Do you ever regret joining the wizards?

Mabon: No, I don't. Our work is important, and I've been able to do a lot of good. It's where I belong. My purpose.

Mabon: No one lives to my age without accumulating a long list of mistakes. Before I came here, I was callous and...violent.

Mabon: The truth is, joining the ward might be the only good decision I ever made.

How do you feel about the other mursaat?

Mabon: In truth, I have few memories of my time with my brethren before joining the Astral Ward—a kindness I likely don't deserve.

Mabon: But I have watched events unfold. I've seen our story played out across Tyria.

Mabon: My people chose the wrong path, and when given chances to undo their damage, continued farther down that same road...

Mabon: If there are enough of us left, I hope someday they'll find a better future. But it's our fault things are this way.

Do you think these experiments were justified?

Mabon: I do. I didn't always, truth be told, but I've seen the good that's come of them.

Mabon: You have to understand, there are things we've prevented because of them that Tyria knows nothing about.

Mabon: Everything we do comes at a price, but if what we gain in return is the safety of our world, then we must pay that cost.

Mabon: Hopefully, someday, they will no longer be necessary. If we're lucky, maybe even someday soon.

I'm fine for right now.

In Southern Wizard's Tower after completing Purge Lyhr's corruption

You've done well here, <Character name>—better than I could have hoped. Now, is there anything I can help you with?

So if the key only partly worked, what do we do now?

Mabon: We will need to find additional solutions, it seems. But things are in motion, and there is value in that.

Mabon: For now, we should enjoy this victory; we're only given so many of these, after all.

Do you feel guilty about having to remove memories?

Mabon: Of course. We pay a heavy cost to join the order, and that mantle weighs heavy on my shoulders, even after all this time.

Mabon: But if we are going to make decisions for all of Tyria, we must be free of entanglements with it.

Mabon: No one joins the court without understanding that, though. I'm proud of each of them. Their sacrifice is not lost on me.

After all this, I bet you could use a vacation.

Mabon: Maybe so. I'll admit, there's been little time for rest around here as of late.

Mabon: But when I see the strength of my fellows on the court, the courage of the ward...I know this is where I belong.

Mabon: The truth is, even in these dark times...there's nowhere I'd rather be.

I'll ask later.

Amnytas

Mabon's Astral Projection south of the Courtyard of Gathering Strength

Mabon: My friends and allies. We are nothing without strength—and I do not speak only of muscles and steel.

Mabon: I speak of the power that each of us brings to the Astral Ward, as individuals and as a unit.

Mabon: And as a unit, we will weave through every battle with intention and craft. No fight is kind, but let us be just.

Mabon: The Bastion of Strength is a home of discipline.

Gallery

• 

  Mabon in front of a Kryptis Rift.

• 

  Ghost of Mabon

• 

  Ghost of Mabon with the Scepter of Orr.

• 

  Repentance key art.

Related achievements

• Secrets of the Obscure: Act 1: We're Friends Now — Befriend a mursaat. (0)
• Secrets of the Obscure: Act 2: Assist Mabon — Assist Mabon in getting to the Hall of Confluence. (1)
• Secrets of the Obscure: Act 2: Tower Snoop — Find and read all of the confidential literature hidden throughout the Wizard's Tower. (1)
• Amnytas: Strength of the Unseen — Learn more about Mabon's past and his impact on the Astral Ward. (3)
• Scales of Dragrimmar: Inspiration of Deldrimor — Help Mabon balance Lyhr in Skywatch Archipelago

Trivia

• Mabon is voiced by Liam O'Brien.
• The name 'Mabon' originates in Welsh mythology likely before the 13th century. Mabon was the son of the Earth Mother Goddess Modron. In the 1960s, Mabon was adopted by pagan groups (specifically Alexandrian Wicca) as the name of the celebration of the autumnal equinox, one of the minor annual Sabbats.
• Designer Matthew Medina has jokingly referred to Mabon as a "lovable little mubbin."
• Mabon Market shares the same name, and Mabon used to regularly check the state of market as per his Aged Journal, suggesting that in-universe, the names of the two are related.

See also

• Mabon (Astral Projection)

Associated items

• Mini Mabon
• Relic of Mabon
• Strength of the Unseen