SPOILER The Goliaths And The Colossi's True Nature

Hi. Now, I'm sure many people (mostly on the lore discord) have already speculated this or think this, but I want to compile all the evidence together so more people can have access to it, in the form of a theory of mine.

Theory: The Goliaths and the Colossi are made of rune magic.

The first thing I'm going to do is prove that the Colossi and the Goliaths are connected, which is fairly easy. If you ran The Canyon Colossus a couple of times, you'll notice that there are Goliaths scattered all around the raid, from the maze room where you have to fight minibosses to the room where you have to defend four Goliaths from enemies. If this isn't enough evidence, there's also the fact that the Colossi and the Goliaths are very similar physically: both have a blue streak going down their bodies, both lack legs, both are made out of stone, and both have green eyes (when you open the Lad's eyes in "The Ancient Ones", they're green), assuming the Colossi aren't enraged. So, this is evidence enough to prove that the Colossi and the Goliaths are related, and as such were built by the same people at around the same time.


But you may be asking, at what time? At what time were the Goliaths and the Colossi built? Well, it just so happens that the game has an answer for that question too. It lies within the Grand Archive. I will now quote what I'm talking about:

"The Goliaths of Gylia, as they are named, have slumbered outside of our cities with no truth to their origins.

Overwhelming amounts of historians have tried to figure out their mystery, to no avail.

Texts as far back as from the 5th Age mention them. And unfortunately knowledge before the cataclysm, as with many other things, is gone from our grasps.

[...]

There are so many paths to take when we try to understand something that could very well be ten thousand years old." (Study of the Goliaths)

This means many things: first, there is little to no written history of Gavel before the Gylia Cataclysm of 1400 BP, meaning that many things from back then are vague, and second, the Goliaths, which are possibly 10000 years old, were created before the Cataclysm. It follows that the Colossi were also built around this time, so before the Cataclysm as well.


Now, with this information, I can now go through process of elimination to prove which of Gavel's species is responsible for building the Colossi and the Goliaths. So, let's see which species couldnt've built these constructs.

1. Doguns. This seems to be one of the more popular theories, that the Doguns built the Colossi. After all, it was shown in the Canyon of the Lost ultimate discovery that they were able to calm it, right? While the latter is true, it doesn't mean that they built it, and indeed they didn't. First off, since they lived in the Molten Heights (and it was hard for them to live in the Upper Heights), they couldnt've reached the Sky Islands to build the Ahms Colossus. The Dwarves only created a tunnel between the Heights and the Sky Islands around 573 AP, as the secret discovery "Rulers of the Skies" shows, so how would the doguns reach the Sky Islands? Second, we don't even know if they existed or were civilized enough to build such a construct back in 1400 BP or in the era before it. There's also the problem of the Doguns not being able to live outside the heights, as they are made of molten rock, meaning they'd freeze outside of their habitat. How they managed to bypass this to calm the Canyon Colossus, I don't know, but my point still stands that prolonged exposure to cold temperatures, as they'd have to withstand while building the Colossi, would kill them. Also, their magic is unable to create gigantic stone constructs. Oh, and not to mention, whoever built the Colossi must've also built the Goliaths, since they're linked (as I explained above), and there's no record that the Doguns ever reached as far as the Gylia Plains, nor do I find it possible that they did.

2. Elves. While I do believe that the Elves already existed before the Gylia Cataclysm, I don't believe that they built the Colossi or the Goliaths. First off, they specialize in light magic, and thus wouldn't be the kind of people who would be able to build them. Second, it'd be out of character for the Elves to build them: they live isolated, why would they care about building some gigantic stone statues halfway across the province? Third, there's no actual record of the Elves ever reaching as far as the Sky Islands, let alone before 1400 BP.

3. Dwarves. Some may consider the Dwarves as another candidate. After all, they live quite close to both the Colossi and they like to make huge stone things, right? Well, no. As I said when disproving the Doguns, the Dwarves only opened up the Molten Heights around 573 AP, and the Ahms Colossus already existed before 0 AP. Not to mention that the Dwarves only actually settled the Molten Heights around 100 AP, and we don't even know where they were or if they existed before 1400 BP (though they surely couldnt've inhabited the Gylia Plains to build the Goliaths if they did exist). Furthermore, if it was the Dwarves who built it, they'd know the effect the Doguns have on the Canyon Colossus and would've kept them alive just to keep the Colossus calm. But it's obvious that they didn't know, so it couldnt've been them.

4. Orcs. lol

So, now we've crossed out most of Gavel's intelligent species. I didn't mention some of them (such as the Hobgoblins or the Hobbits) because it's simply impossible for them to be valid candidates. This leaves only one valid candidate, which in my opinion is realistically the most likely one. At this point, you probably know what I'm talking about.

The Villagers. Of course, they're the most likely species to have built both the Goliaths and the Colossus. They fit all the "criteria": they existed before 1400 BP (Secret Discovery: Gylia's Cataclysm), they lived in the Gylia Plains (Gylia's Cataclysm again), the Canyon (Thesead) and the Sky Islands (Secret Discovery: The Fallen Protector), and they were certainly capable of building such large constructs (see things like the Guild Hall or Llevigar for comparison). Not to mention that the Goliaths literally have villager noses. You may think, "well shouldn't the modern villagers know about their ancient history?" but I remind you that most of Gavel's history before the Cataclysm was lost or wiped. So, it fits.


Now, for some, this might be enough. The Colossi and the Goliaths were built by the Villagers. Cool. However, I'll go a step further. I'll prove the exact villager civilization that built them: the ancient rune-using civilization of Gavel.

Now, Blastbasher has a great theory (https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/2400-bp-theory-spam-i-guess.288885/) on them, but for those who don't know, I'll quickly run this civilization down.

The rune civilization of Gavel is a villager civilization that, according to Az's lore, was destroyed in a cataclysm (no, not the Gylia one) that occurred when the 5 runes were combined ("Fracture in Reality" secret discovery). This caused the cataclysm itself, as well as the formation of the Forgery, which draws its power from a fracture in space-time that was most likely the "Ground Zero" for the combination of the runes. This will be important later. Anyways, another consequence was the appearance of the Rune Guardians in Gavel and (most likely way later on) Corkus (Order of the Grook dialogue).

First things first, how can I be so sure that this ancient civilization existed BEFORE the Gylia Cataclysm? Well, I'd like to recall once again that there is little to no written history of Gavel before the Cataclysm. Also, the secret discovery lore for "Fracture in Reality" says that the runes were combined ages ago, which implies a very long time ago. If the downfall of this civilization happened after the Gylia Cataclysm, wouldn't you think there'd be way, way more sources and records of this? Since there aren't, I can safely place the collapse of the civilization before the Gylia Cataclysm, therefore fitting into the timeline we've set for the Colossi and the Goliaths.

Second, you might say that I'm wrong by basing my knowledge on a piece of item lore (namely, Az), but I'm not at all. First off, an Item Team member said that as long as item lore doesn't contradict any other established canon, in which case the item lore always loses out, then it can be interpreted as canon. Second, Az's lore is simply a "summary" of the information we already know: that the runes were combined, and the civilization collapsed. So yes, in this case it most likely is canon, not to mention that if it wasn't and the civilization DIDN'T collapse, it'd either still exist today or there would be records of it.

Third, we can safely say that this rune civilization lived all over Gavel because we can find one of their ruins in the Llevigar Plains (Secret Discovery: Spider Ruins), we know they lived in and around Cinfras because that's where the Forgery is, and we know that they even lived in the Sky Islands at some point. How do we know?

Spoiler: Tol Altar

That's right: the Tol Altar in the Sky Islands. This is the most decisive piece of evidence that the rune civilization also inhabited the Sky Islands at some point, though they were probably not the same people that later worshipped the Ahms Colossus up until the Fracturing (why would they praise their own creation?) because it says that that civilization collapsed around 0 AP, when the Ahms Region was fractured, which is far later than the rune civilization that we've already looked at.


Okay, now we've covered the rune civilization that I believe was the one that built the Goliaths and the Colossi. But I bet you're already thinking: "This isn't decisive evidence, just timelines". And I would agree with you, but if I didn't have any final, decisive evidence, then I wouldn't have made this theory. Lucky for me, there is decisive evidence that can prove this theory right once and for all.

In the Gylia Plains, there's a NPC called "Camar" which lives in a house dug within a mountain close to the Lad. His dialogue is very interesting, and it reads as follows:

[1/5] Camar: Gah! You gave me quite the scare there, human! Don't see many people walking through here, mostly sentient stone.
[2/5] Camar: You see, I've been observing these creatures for years now. They fascinate me, especially that big one that comes out only once in a while.
[3/5] Camar: Now, these here golems walking the Cinfras Plains are ancient, but the big guy makes them look like newborns. That one is at least one millennia old!
[4/5] Camar: He's made out of metal that not even the dwarves recognize and covered in runes not even the elves can decipher.
[5/5] Camar: If I were you, I'd admire it from afar, like me. I've seen the thing tear bandits into bits without hesitation!

Since this NPC (apparently) already existed before 1.20, it can't be that he's talking about the Lad or any other Goliaths, instead he's most likely talking about the "Plains Guardian" rare mob that spawns in this region. But, that doesn't change much at all, because as you may guess the golem mobs and the sentry mobs are obviously related to the Goliaths since they're of the same nature and made of the same materials, also they're both animated stone objects. Here we get confirmation that these stone constructs are at least one millennia old, AND that they're covered in runes. Assuming that all golems are made of rune magic (which implies that the Lad is also made of said magic because, when we pick up his head for "The Ancient Ones" secret discovery, it's called "Ruined Golem Head"), this would also connect them to the Colossi, which in turn will also be made out of rune magic themselves, as they're also animated, ancient stone objects.


But wait, there's more! And for this, we'll have to look a bit at rune magic itself. Remember how I said that the Forgery draws power from a crack in spacetime caused by the combining of the runes, and that it'd be important later? Yeah, it's important now.
So, as I said, the crack was caused by the runes combining, which means that rune magic is capable of controlling not only time (which I already proved in a past theory of mine), but also space. Why does this matter? Well, let's look at the Ahms Colossus and the Fracturing.
Thanks to secret discoveries in the Silent Expanse, as well as "The Lonely Abyss" secret discovery in the Sky Islands, we know that the Void is a "limitless expanse transcending the concepts of space, time, and reality itself", and the "Space Between Realities" secret discovery in the Silent Expanse calls it the space that lies between the realm of physicality (AKA our entire world, from Gavel to Fruma to Wynn etc.) and the realms of influence such as RoL and Dern. So, it follows that the Ahms Colossus used rune magic to tear a hole in the fabric of space itself and plunge part of the Sky Islands into the Void, turning them into Void Islands. This, or the Ahms Colossus was able to bring part of the Void itself into our own realm of physicality, therefore forming the Void Islands, which I find more likely because it'd explain how Ynnos was able to detect a collision down in the void or how the crane mechanic even exists in the first place.


So, that's it! I had a lot of fun writing this theory and I thank the wynn lore discord for showing me things that I wrote in this theory that I wouldnt've found out on my own.

TL;DR: The Colossi and the Goliaths are connected and were built before the Gylia Cataclysm by a Villager civilization that used rune magic.

Thanks for reading!

 

Camar did indeed exist before 1.20, I made a theory thread about him in like august of last year


Good theory, I wish we got a ultimate discovery-esque cutscene of the Forgery now. Maybe that could be added as something you can see by throwing a forgery chain piece onto the Temple of Time altar

 

Sadly I don't think the CT will anything to the Temple of Time anytime soon unless they need it for a quest

 

I must admit, this theory is very interesting.

Also I really appreciate the sources.

 

Forgot to mention, in the quest "Blazing Retribution" you have to retrieve a fire axe from Gregg'r, and that axe has runes on it (as the dialogue implies, because Gregg'r says "Niiuthazek" while reading the inscriptions on the axe, AKA "Nii Uth Az Ek"). Also, he implies that this axe was created by the Villagers, that's probably where he stole it from. Even if you don't believe him because he's an Orc so he's not very smart, this quest takes place in the Llevigar Plains so it could only have been the Villagers. This is just more evidence that the Villagers are capable of, and DID use, rune magic.