While i agree with the general statement i disagree with your reasons
No he wasn’t , thats the whole point of his story, that he was poor leader. But at the near his end he was showing signs of growth and it was such a shame that Blizzard decided to go with “strong and brave whaman” instead of a genuanly interesting and likable character.
As an alliance main while i did enjoy BoD as a raid most of the bosses i didnt want to fight at all and that includes king Rastakhan. Imo Talanji should have died in a last ditch effort to spare her father from the killing blow, have Bwomsamdi apear like in the curscene and say something like " What did you expect my king you did promise your entire bloodline to death" or something like that and have Rastakhan be something of a mirror to Greymane (in terms of they both lost children to the other faction), hell you can even continue Greymane’s ark after that now that he too has killed someones child and how now he sees his deed no bether than Sylvanas’s. I mean its not S tier writhing but i think it could be a cool character exploration for both of them.
Also Horde really needed more cool characters and the likes of Talanji, Knock-off female Trall (i dont know her name), and Maila arent doing anything to help that cause. Thalysra is fine tough.
Yes but this is a game, you know a form of entertainment. We dont necessarily want to see good leaders but we most certainly want to see good characters. See “Game of thrones” for instance (but dont see the last season XD), almost all the leaders there were bad leaders but people were interested in them because they had room to grow. Talanji has been shown to be perfect and her character has been a plank of wood.
I’m a bit curious, hearing this so much… where this misconception came from?
She is not perfect
Have her own flaws, starting with thinking asking help from the Horde was a good idea… and failed to remain free and ended up in a prison, where she would rot with Zul if not the rescue mission wich itself almost ended in a disaster if not Zul’s… creativity
She asked Rezan’s help, wich was cool ,but hardly proof of her perfection since she was more or les his priestess… or at least the loa was a family heirloom
After that her little side compagain against the blood trolls almost ended in another disaster… only luck saved the day (luck: the horde hero)
The events in Vol’dun wasn’t her idea nor under her supervision and the same is true in Zanaldar compagain to clear her own home turf (she went to Naz’mir to her own expedition)
Then her father died and she inherited the throne and Bwonsamdi’s “help” and from rebelious idealist she shown some genuine character development, and had to “grow up”… and she did. Embraced her destiny and as a royal blood everything one would expect from a Heir… but not as a perfect or flawles mary sue… but as someone who is relatable, more than her father as a character ever was
Or at least my opinion
Really would want to know tho’ why everyone consider her perfect and flawles and blank?
In the upcoming Shadowlands book, there’s an assassination attempt at Talanji and she makes her opinion of the Horde very obvious. She is not happy at all. Zappy boi has a crush on her and saves her by accident, it is all very sweet.
Rastakhan was a very cool leader and his death was a mistake because world quests still act as if he’s alive. But it was foreshadowed in the Horde questing in Zul’dazar. I like how the player is very much responsible for what happened with Talanji… but I don’t think Rastakhan had a chance to become a Warchief. The Zandalari barely just joined the Horde.
However, in the previews of the book we can see hints that this “council” thing the Horde is going to try isn’t going to work, and we will probably go to having a warchief again.
Every decision she has made has been the right one, sure there have been some bumps in the road but ultimately it has been the right move to make. And im not saying thats a bad thing for creating a character, but the character archetype she is presenting (the competent princess who no one takes seriously) doesnt mesh well with what was presented. I mean have her fail from time to time. In nazmir we just went and fixed all Loah problems just like that.
Also i didnt see any change in her after she bacame queen. Just the same boring plank of wood she always was. Yeah she mouthed off Sylvanas and Bobsalami but thats what she always has done, doing things her own way and ofcourse thats the right way.
Thats one of the boring things about her, right from the get go we are told what will happen with her, her father will die and she will be queen. Would have been more interesting if the foreshadowing and what not was a bait and it turned out she dies.
On the contrary i see her exactly as that, she is young yet she can call upon the strongest of loah’s for aid, she can go toe to toe with a Blood trolls (High priestess ??? sry i forgot what their leaders were called). She does everything out of the goodness of her hearth. Also where do you goes next with Talanji, she already is powerfull , she already is queen , its kinda like she started from a 10 and went to 15. I will give her this tough if Blizzard decide to go trough with “her seeking revenge” plot , that would actually not be a characteristic of a mary sue.
And these criticisms dont only aply to Talanji ofc, and you are free to like her obviously, but in my eyes Blizzard messed up with her and Rastakhan.
Edit: Now that i think of it the problem with her is not IN HER in general, but how she was presented. Like i mentioned right from the get go we knew what was going to happen, and we didnt exactly get to spend much time with her to know her before she became queen. In contrast we have known Anduin who we have spend time with since he was a child, we saw him grow, develop (kinda) and eventually became king, here again we kinda knew where the story was going but we had time to go trough the story. We are introduced to Talanja already beeing powerfull and already knowing how to be a good leader, that makes her uninteresting to me.
Rastakhan was flawed, that’s why he died.
I am entertained by the new Queen… she didn’t kneel to Sylvanus (Boooo! Bad Banshee…Boooo!) and refused Bwansamdi’s offer (look at him, da mighty Loa, Ha!)… but a Warlock serving the Void Lords, is unlikely to be a fan.
On thing is sure, she lost her mother and the bond with her father was deep - that was clearly shown, Rastakhan cared deeply about her, more than his kingdom I think
She was a Princes - the princes of one of the most ancient and (at least their eyes, but not far from truth) powerful empire of Azeroht, and while Rastakhan was blessed with long life, he was not immortal. So its logical to assume, Talanji recived the best tutors as a heir should be, and was somewhat prepared for the day when his dad bite the dust (its was I guess unlikely event, a bit like what the case in Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles; tho’ the heir of the throne, ol’ Bessy will outlive everyone and the crown and sucession is out of the reach for him, and he is 71 now…)
Like Anduin her fate was to be a ruler eventually, but as you said we followed Anduin’s life, but they are similar really. Both only child, both lost their mother, both are sucessors of a mighty throne and both are carrying heavy burden, and both are priestes
She is the priest o Rezan
The only difference, we were presented facts about her, small facts, but facts, and sorry, I think her decissions not always were the right ones
But I guess its boil down to personal preferences at the end of the day
So lets say, you dont love her and find uninteresting, I say she is and if you put aside the fact, we recived her “almost done”, not “work in progress” like Anduin… then she is a multy layered and complex and have a personality , imho an interesting one
