Nathanos was one of the cooler characters in Vanilla. Not many knew about him, kinda’ like how Saurfang wasn’t super famous before they put him in the spotlight in WOTLK and later BfA.
In Dark Mirror, Nathanos’ cousin is sacrificed to build him a stronger, new body. The story ends with Nathanos feeling a glimmer of regret over it, showing that while they are Undead they still have human feelings.
Then in BfA he’s just… fully evil and does whatever Sylvanas wants. I thought they were building Nathanos to eventually tell Sylvanas “No” and choose his people ( the Forsaken ) over her. Replace her as the Forsaken leader with someone who’s morally gray but not full blown crazy evil.
I guess I expected too much from BfA, but I don’t really understand why they’d hint at it in the story and then never deliver.
Yep, this was always who he was. The only real ball-drop around Nathanos is the loyalist questline where he keeps going “ahh good you have uncovered the rebellion’s plans … ok keep helping them they’ll never see that coming”
and then the rebellion succeeds
At least he was a fantastic bastard all the way to his death.
I mean Nathanos really became popular in Vanilla due to the fact that he was a jerk towards the player character every single time no matter what you do for him. Even during BfA he treats you as nothing more but a tool to be used in the hands of his mistress and the Warchief. Which was refreshing for most considering most Characters in the game treat the player character as an ally, friend and hero. But not him. You were just a dimwit that was send to do what you were told.
He -could- have had potential but he really was just a one trick pony… He was never gonna betray Sylvannas and there were many like him. He really was the “Right-hand man” type of character and died as such.
Plus, he did praise you quite a few times for a task well done, it’s just that he didn’t put you on a pedestal for it or put all the Horde’s hopes on you. It was a welcome change. I hate being called the champion or the chosen one over and over again, only to do as I am told with no smidgeon of agency. This dissonance erases all immersion for me, personally.
Could they have done Nathanos better? Yeah, absolutely. But I for one enjoyed that he wasn’t kissing our feet during every quest.
Saurfang has been a meme since he first cleaved people to death in Classic, and just as well known. He got the spotlight as the leader of the Might of Kalimdor.
Very stunted feelings, you said it yourself best. It was just a glimmer of regret.
As we see here, he clearly got over it. As the Champion of the Banshee Queen he did exactly what he has been doing since Classic, serve his lady.
When we first meet Nathanos in Classic he sends you to murder his old comrades for the crime of possessing ledgers with information of his living past. It is one of the first quests he gives us. He was always more black than gray.
Nathanos’ character development towards the Horde champion between vanilla and his death is some of the more subtly and better written interactions in the game (and therefore almost certainly an accident).
In Vanilla he’s basically dismissive of you - you’re an upstart adventurer, he’s the Champion of the Banshee Queen, a literal raid boss.
Come Legion, his lady love is suddenly focusing a lot more on the Champion and giving you attention and jobs that, really, should be his. Your power has grown and his position is threatened. This is him at his most hostile to you, because you’re no longer just an upstart, you’re a threat.
By the time BfA rolls around though - and especially if you’re a Loyalist - Nathanos has had time to adapt, and seen that while you are useful, you’re not a threat to him (and more importantly, Sylvanas). She still has, and always will have, use for him. Multiple times in BfA he tells you ‘good job’ and shares with you vulnerable secrets about himself like his distinct disdain of birds.
Regrettably he didn’t survive to continue being a sexy-voiced edgelord, but he went out strong.
Did they drop the ball with Nathanos? Not at all. In fact him not praising the Champion constantly was good.
While I’m not sad that he went out the way he did, I do wish that we’d got to see him join the Horde Council and watch as Thrall, Baine, et al. had to deal with his sass. At least then one person on the council would have some grit to them.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/654008353076412452/1105459712541073458/n4wdaq7dm0421.png honestly a really touching part of BfA it was nice to see him open up like that
I can take or leave the romance stuff. If it was platonic between two friends who believe in one another’s skills and philosophies and there was legitimately no romantic spark? That’s neat, I can dig that.
If it’s what was previously a healthy (for them) romance now tinged and twisted by the toxicity of Undeath as they desperately chase the spark of what once made them feel alive, while burdened by the negativity of their curse - perhaps even with Sylvanas lamenting it, while Nathanos is more well-adjusted, and there being animosity born of that? Well damn that works too.
Nathanos started off as a unquie individual who didn’t give a damn about you and your status. That is what made him interesting. Unfortunately, my opinion of him soured heavily due to the over-exposure of him in the expansions.
I don’t want to be constantly praised as the ‘champion’ or ‘hero’. But I also don’t want someone like him constantly sneering. It comes rather grating to hear and turns uniqueness into something I rather do without.
There is at least a bakers dozen characters who don’t care about you or who you are in BFA alone.
Secott the Goldsmith, the zul’dazar mining trainer is very dismiss of you for instance.
Nathanos was just VERY vocal about it, all the time.
I used to defend Danuser when Dark Mirror came out, we hadn’t really seen much from him at that point. Surely he’s just a bit weird and that one twitter post being odd about the story is just a coincidence, right?
Nathanos wasn’t a problem per sey, imho. It’s okay to have characters who are pricks. It was just the consistantly weird blue bird posting by a dev that taints the character.
