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The original was posted on /r/guildwars2 by /u/Berserkerkitten on 2025-06-17 22:01:53+00:00.
Okay, so ... this is a bit of a heavy subject and I'm feeling a little weird about sharing it, but Guild Wars 2 has helped us through a very difficult time and hey, maybe it'll inspire somebody out there to take a loved one on their very own journey through Tyria.
My girlfriend, her mother Sally and I have played video games together for many years. We've been on Guild Wars 2 since launch, brought some friends from the first game, met some new ones along the way, gf and I did our stuff, Sally did hers. She didn't quite get the hang of it at the time, bit of an older gamer, eyesight and reaction time not quite what they used to be, you get the idea. No biggie.
A couple years ago, Sally was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Operation, chemo, radiotherapy, the full package, maximum dosage, the sort of treatment that'll take years off your life, but will ultimately buy you some good years when it gets rid of the cancer.
It's not very pretty or dignified. You lose your hair, your appetite, the radiation doesn't just attack the cancer, but also a lot of healthy areas in your body, resulting in a lot of damage. We used to go out a lot as a family, but with Sally being in a wheelchair, unable to handle most kinds of food, you just don't feel overly social in that state. So we met in Tyria, instead.
One thing I've always loved about Guild Wars 2 is how you can bring friends along for your personal story. So we accompanied Sally through hers. She had always struggled with this stuff on her own, so we teamed up with her, she got to be the Commander, to call the shots, tell her tale, while we'd be by her side to experience the whole story with her and to render assistance where needed.
Of course doing this sort of thing in a group trivialises everything, but it wasn't about the challenge. It was about staying together, doing something with each other. When it became clear this was going to be a regular thing, we even got Sally's other daughter, my girlfriend's sister to join us on there. She was reluctant at first. I told her that we're all hoping for things to be okay, that we all want to get together again in real life, but with the situation Sally was in, nobody could be sure about the outcome. This was a chance to spend some time together, shape some memories, spend time with each other. And hey, once the cancer is gone, you will have spent a few nights here and there playing video games together - you never know, you might even enjoy it!
It was great! Sally was getting better and a little more experienced, gf and I had blasted through all of the content whenever new updates were released anyway, so now we got to show it all to her sister. We dragged her all over Tyria, showed her all the sights, played world events as we passed them, and the four of us played all the story dungeons together as they levelled up. Good times!
Things started to get a lot better after a while. Sally would insist on facing certain quests, challenges and dragons on her own, to show that she could do it. In a way, they were sort of a stand-in for ... well, you know. She was fighting her very own personal dragon at the time. The treatment helped, the wheelchair was traded for a walker. Well, a silly walker, really, as we're in the UK and the ministry of silly walks enforces these things. My girlfriend and I bought handheld gaming PCs. You know, a bit like a Steam Deck or a ROG Ally? We went with slightly different models, but you get the idea. When Sally was fit enough again to hang out in person, we'd come over with our handheld computers and all played together while we were there. GW2 runs pretty great on these little machines and the game is surprisingly playable with a controller when set up right!
Bit by bit, we've finished every story mission, every dungeon, every meta event, each expansion as a family. Given the situation, some story moments were more difficult to handle than others. Eir's story. A certain moment with Aurene. Soo-Won's last words. We'd also fight side by side on the Eternal Battlegrounds or practice in the guild arena whilst talking sh1t to each other in between fights. And what do you know, just as Sally had made it all the way to see the end of dragons, then made it into the next expansion, the cancer was gone. At least for a while. We made it through Secrets of the Obscure together, started building up our humble, little guild hall one tiny piece at a time. We also had a little place in Hoelbrak, where we liked to hang out when we just wanted to sit and chat for a bit. We liked to sit inside these little tents near the NPC vendors with the carts. Sally had always been crushing on Stefan, so she could keep an eye on him while we sat there and talked. Tyria was our happy place.
Last October the cancer came back. Had one more family birthday together, one last Christmas, one more New Year's Eve. Cancer is relentless. Doesn't care about your plans, your hopes and dreams, it just takes. Your hair, your independence, your dignity, your mind. I was by her side when it took her life.
You may find this incredibly weird or cheesy, but alongside all the photographs and pictures we put up for the funeral, we also had a few of our characters together on Guild Wars 2.
It's hard to even look at this game right now. See all these places we used to go together, the music we enjoyed, watching her empty space in the guild hall and seeing her name on the guild roster, offline for months, never to come back. Don't get me wrong, the three of us are definitely coming back, maybe when things look up again and we can cough up the money for Janthir Wilds, but just checking on there for events right now feels incredibly ... well, you know.
Eh, sorry. It's not my intention to make anybody sad. Thing is, for as much as I hate the way it had to end, for as painful as it still is, and continues to be for some time, there were also lots of incredibly happy, joyful or just plain awesome moments. When Sally felt too weak for us to spend time with her, we could still be together in Tyria. We battled dragons. Heck, we raised a dragon, taught her values, and saved the world. That's pretty badass. And for a while, it helped her fight her condition, visualise it, get stronger. They were some of the best moments we got to share with each other. I will miss them dearly, but I'll also treasure them for the rest of my life.
Things won't be the same without you.
