I just want to get this off my chest because I think a company like Blizzard should be able to have better writing than this garbanzo. At two specific points regarding Faerin Lothar I just thought how in the actual intercourse did anyone think this was a good idea and then presumably approved by other and then put into the game.
When Faerin Lothar and Anduin talk about not being worth of the light. Anduin has of course lost faith in his worthiness of the light after being mind controlled by what is essentially Warcraft Satan to kill the arbiter of souls and steal some magical rune to remake the universe.
Now I don’t think Faerin Lothar know about this but she goes on talking about how she lost an arm and her eye “and she is still worthy of the light” as if being crippled is somehow a moral failing on her part that could have cut her off from the light.
What brilliant writing.
She is offered a prosthetic arm and rejects it. I don’t know what kind of person would reject a functional replacement limb. She just goes on saying she’s use to just having one arm and don’t want to “relearn everything”. ffs just take the arm. This just absolutely smacks of Ackchually being crippled is just as good as having all of your limbs, don’t be ableist.
Please Blizzard, can we have some writing that doesn’t make us roll our eyes in disbelief so hard that were permanently looking into our own skulls?
Yes of course, and I have accepted that Blizz is now a cesspool of diversity politics. But there is a way to write these characters in a believable way.
The reason woke characters are often disliked is because their purpose is to bring the writer’s politics into the story first and foremost. Contributing to the story meaningfully becomes secondary.
Speculation here, but I imagine they wanted to make her a “strong crippled person”, so she can’t have regrets about her arm, she has to glad that she’s disabled, as dumb and disingenious as it is.
On the same level, there is a half-human half-elf (I noticed that only because of the quote) in Hallowfall to whom you can ask “You are half-elf?”, and who will deliver a long textwall about how she is an Arathi while putting her origins second. This is not relatable in any manner, who the hell answers that when asked about their origins?
So yeah, you can hardly expect decent writing when ideologist enforcers are involved sadly.
Absolutely, Merrdine. The Earthen “As he departs” side story on Isle of Dorn is 100 times superior and more relatable, than this story of “main character”.
There were so many ways to better write this story. For example, Faeron lost her arm and eye in a bloody battle against Nerubians . After such trauma she curses the light and loses the holy powers. After 2 years of passiveness and internal struggle she accepts things as they are, adapts to her current conditions and becomes a paladin once again.
Blizzard could’ve made out of Faerin a narrative of a person with disabilities that first goes though a tragedy (i.e. loses her limbs), struggles mightily in her new conditions but then in an interesting and convicing manners adapts and becomes a beacon of light, keeping her insecurities in check, but still having them deep inside, because both disabled and not disabled people have their own insecurities and fears.
But hey, Faerin wasn’t written for disabled players of WoW, it was written for healthy and wealthy board of directors, who pretend to care about society while caring only for their walleT and public image.
Have you ever needed a prosthetic or suffered any sort of permanent disability ?
Personally i have been through several major spinal surgeries which are not fun…would not recommend!
One has to go undergo extensive physical therapy and rehab before you are cleared to continue on your own …i rejected the wheelchair they offered me, mobility scooter etc.
So for Faerin who has learned how to live, fight and fend for herself with one arm for several years it is quite easy to understand why she would reject a prosthetic …she brings up several valid reasons herself A : it threw her off balance due to being too heavy B: there are others who need it more.
She has PRIDE and she is STUBBORN …she does not wanna go the easy route which MOST of us with injuries chose to avoid…it has to do with wanting to remain as indepedant as possible…very well written actually, very believable
As to your first point …people tend to lose a lot of their " self-worth " after trauma like that which is exactly what Anduinn is going through
So if you would not mind keep your BS to yourself just because you don´t have a lick of understanding does not mean others don´t.
Yea no of course, you’re probably the only one whos been through hard times and therefore the best at relating to people.
My point was that she going on about being crippled and still being worthy, to a normal person sounds insane, because the light is all about righteousness, empathy and all around goodness. The light wouldn’t forsake someone for this. Telling this to Anduin is especially bad considering his actual psychological trauma of what he did while mind controlled. Even if she doesn’t know this WE do and trying to equate the two is retarded.
When she dismisses receiving a fully functional arm to replace the one she had lost so long ago it makes her sound so proud, arrogant and stubborn that no normal person could relate to her. Getting it would surely take time for her to get used to but then guess what, she would have two arms again. So wouldn’t her taking the arm be the harder rout at the beginning and then reap the reward of that work later on? Isn’t that more like your spinal surgery and physical therapy?
Most(if not all) people would take a replacement arm in a heartbeat, she rejecting it makes her look arrogant and unlikable.
Where exactly did i say i am the only one who has been through or fallen on hard times ?
I asked about prosthetics or permanent disabilities, specifically.
Yeah you are only digging the hole deeper here my friend because you are proving not only being unable to understand and " normal " person just…ursch facepalm
" fully functional arm " holy heck i did not know the Arathi were experts in 40 k levels of prosthetics and can create better prosthetics then any other! Because Faerin does not point out that their heavy and unwieldy and sure she could probably adapt to one if she took a couple of months off…
Adapting as she already has is the " hard " part and she did it on her own which let her kept her independence …and having been in a rehabilitation facility for injuries such as these i can say NO most people would not just take the arm in a heartbeat that if anything would be unbeliveable " oh i lost my leg…guess ill go get a new one!"
She has come to terms and accepted who she is now versus who she was then… taking an arm willy-nilly would just undermine all hard work for what… having a somewhat functional, heavy and unwieldy replacement…?
Only one i find to be arrogant here is you Merrodine
Maybe I’m weird like that but I actually don’t think I need to lose an arm to know I want to have two of them.
Concerning the level of technology the Arathi possesses. You are right, I don’t actually know the full extent of it. what I can do is look at every other instance of technology showcased by the different races and factions.
Lets see… We have tanks, mech suits, airships, spaceships run on crystals and magic, oh and mecha gnomes that straight up replace their body parts with metal prosthetics.
While Warcraft is a fantasy universe a lot of the technology is weirdly advanced and alot of it matches or surpasses technology of the real world. So ffs don’t pretend anyone came away from that conversation thinking they were talking about some glorified metal chunk vaguely in the shape of an arm just hanging from her shoulder.
If I cant convince you its normal to want a lost limb replaced or that remedying a massive handicap doesn’t somehow invalidates any previous work done to overcome it… I mean I don’t know wtf to say to that.
What got me with the Faerin-Anduin exchange was that it was a conversation he could/should have had with Turalyon/Velen, two multi-millennia old light enthusiasts who have probably experienced or witnessed similar issues in the past. (Turalyon needs something to do. They’ve been wasting him since Legion)
Instead, Anduin’s melancholy is being dragged out, and that would be a compelling and novel idea if Thrall hadn’t already done it for 3 expansions and if Magni hadn’t just pulled the same thing with his speakership.
She is a paladin who’s main goal is to protect her people. If you believe that being stubborn is the right mindset when your main goal is to protect others… Btw. what is the easy route and can you back-up your claim?
What are you even talking about? Her current replacement is an unmovable heavy shield.
This part is very bizarre to me. I’d expect such an answer from somebody who’d like to escape his origin but right there it was just… weird?
I’m one of those “strange” people who get what you are saying. Psychologically, things aren’t always straightforward. I’m disabled too and have been through a lot none of which has been of my own doing.
When struggle has been an occuring theme in life, perspective on what truly matters changes. The challenge of missing or losing something, be it limbs, organs or something mentally, which is considered “normal” to have by the surrounding world does very profound things to one’s self image.
We have to redefine our identity and what to us counts as strengths and weaknesses. I believe that Faerin is meant to reflect that complexity of emotions. It doesn’t really matter what kind of job she has, because her character mirrors an important internal aspect that some people might not be aware of or care about, but others will.
My reaction to the situation where Faerin is offered an arm did not at all seem off or lacking in sense. It indeed was very relatable. She is comfortable and confident in how her body operates, which makes her efficient as she is.
This also addresses the fact that a lot of clueless people in this world busy themselves telling others what they need and want in order to be happy. Which is a show of both disrespect and lack of empathy.
Don’t assume you always know better…I think that is part of the message with Faerin.
For instance in my case with the mobility scooter that would have been the " easy " route and gotten me around, saved me a lot of pain and trouble BUT it would have gotten me dependant on the scooter to move around in my day-to-day, learning to walk again and dealing with the pain is a lot harder but worth it because i remain independant and can get around on my own.
Faerin could have gone with a replacement arm and become dependant on that to always work for her to work but instead she chose to weld a shield to her shoulder and learn how to fight one-armed and remain as independant, reliant on nothing but herself.
As for the second part…so it just like the rest of armour then no ? it´s part of her armour, it´s not a part of " her " small difference to some perhaps
Because if you armour breaks you can still function the same …just a bit squishier
Just imagine if one of your arms just stops working and you are wielding a two handed sword, sword and shield etc.
Not the best situation to be in!
So Faerin could only " function " as long as her prosthetic arm functioned which given that it is a metal piece of equipment might be a bit too much to ask for…at least in my opinion.
I am honest, I still think that this whole topic is silly. I think that talking about dependency is a silly thing since everybody uses everything in their power to become stronger. What is dependency in a world where everybody except warriors are dependent on some sort of magic?
Almost every single NPC in the game mind you …magic is a lot rarer then you would think, we are just special because we are the " chosen one " or players of the game i suppose.
I think a lot of the story are characters not doing that " not drinking the demon blood, not making a pact with Sargeras etc etc etc "
The current spider queen did all in her power to become " stronger" to make her people " stronger " sooo… depends on ones perspective