Nathanos Blightcaller retcon or Lor'themar lying?

Lor’themar in Shadowlands:
https://i.imgur.com/tPoxEIj.png

Alliance in vanilla:
https://i.imgur.com/ip7gSaK.png
(Bolvar and the Si7 of all people btw)

Nathanos lore prior to Shadowlands:

"His inclusion in the ranks of the ranger lords was not without its conflicts. Nathanos was on the receiving end of prejudice from his elven comrades, many of whom objected to the presence of a human in their ranks. Halduron Brightwing and Renthar Hawkspear both argued against his inclusion in their ranks, and Nathanos had a particular animosity with Sylvanas’s second-in-command, Lor’themar Theron , who claimed Nathanos felt intimidated by the elven rangers; Nathanos believed he could match Theron shot-for-shot. Kael’thas Sunstrider, the crown prince of Quel’Thalas also opposed the appointment, but Sylvanas insisted on it anyway, impressed with Nathanos’s ability and believing that the high elves must practice tolerance with the outside world. Still, Nathanos felt unwelcome in the ancient city of the elves and tired of their politics, instead choosing to reside in his native Lordaeron, at his childhood home."

So what’s the deal here? Is Lor’themar actively just throwing shade knowing Nathanos can’t talk back to him anymore (because he knows Nathanos would own him) or have Blizzard just forgot that Nathanos was a character that existed before Legion?

They specifically outline he was a very noble man respected by all so it seems very out of character for Lor’themar just to say ummm actually he was a bully!!!

Is Lor’themar the ultimate embodiment of “why do girls love bad guys?”

What do you think?

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Blizzard forgot about that bit of text and Danuser will just cover it up by saying that even the SI:7 can be wrong at times.

(Read: All the time as per their activities in the past 2 expansions)

I don’t think those two bits of lore necessary conflict with eachother. To humans, Nathanos used to be peak of ones abilities, so good that even elves had to kneel.

Lor’themar on the other hand probably felt insecure that a human you achieve such skill. Wasn’t it in one of the short novels that Lor’themar and elf friends were actually the bullies?

It’s probably a case of perspective. Lor’themar thinks himself to be deeply based so he doesn’t see the flaws. Which is fair enough.

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The elves were heavily racist and bullied him a lot in his back story, to the point after doing his service he left Silvermoon to live back in Lordaeron. Lor’themar was apparently part of that and seemed jealous that Nathanos could match him in skill.

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Yeah, which just I think to those well versed in lore shows Lor’themar’s flaws. But reality is more likely that writers just kind of forgot about elves being racist.

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Usually the case with these things I’d say - see also Greymane using “Elf…” as some sort of insult in 8.2 despite right around everything involving Gilneas and the Night Elves, including Genn going against Anduin’s will to go and help them the patch before that line of dialogue lol

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It tends to be the case that Roleplayers or lore nerds try to find extra meaning or depth to the content. Whilst Blizzard goes, haha old man shouts Sylvanas.

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Could very well be that elves and humans have a different perception of Nathanos when he was alive. I believe in that dialogue where Lor’themar is throwing shade, he also says something about how undeath amplifies one’s bad traits in death ( though this could, again, still be him throwing shade.)

But it’s as Arano says, Blizzard tends to change things on a whim when they think it suits them.

Also:

Everytime Genn shouts her name I imagine Sylvanas hiding somewhere doing this:

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I would be quite surprised if the human account of ‘the first human Ranger Lord’ and the elf account of ‘that human the Ranger-General is sweet on’ didn’t radically differ

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Of course Theron tries to tar Nathanos to save face. Sylvanas shoving her boyfriend through the Quel’Thalas hierarchy is an incredibly sore subject. With them both becoming enemies of the state it’s time to push extra hard to destroy the legacy of this long held shame. Meanwhile Sylvanas is to be remembered as a hero of her people in spite of anything because she is, still, an elf.

Nathanos has bigger pee pee than Lor’themar and he’s always been upset about it.

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I found an old picture of Lorthemar(left) “confronting” Nathanos(right) about his bullying.

https://www.dailydot.com/wp-content/uploads/e36/9e/69fed38143bbb886.jpg

I’d say it’s just a matter of Lor’themar’s perspective + him never liking Nathanos much, rather than it needing to be a retcon or lie. I think it’s cool that you can get different takes from different characters.

I wouldn’t find it unbelievable that Nathanos was prickly with the other Farstriders (no doubt partly because of their aloofness towards him) and felt he needed to prove himself their better to be accepted (hence the braggart comment).

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Codeword for racism.

Aloofness born of racism ye

Elves are more subtle in their bigotry like that, since I imagine it’s primarily sneering behind closed doors

You know when you see a dog and you are fond of them and they can do things that even you’re not capable of and some people form close bonds with them, but anyone treating them as a complete equal would be considered extremely odd?

And how they live for comparitively about five minutes compared to us?

That’s how elves see humans

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Blizzard writers have failed to make Nathanos or Sylvanas be hated by a pretty big part of the community to suit their new fixation of changing the Forsaken and their lore. So the next big reveal will be that Sylvanas actually likes to kick puppies and eats cereal with water.

“Noooo! Guys, please hate them! We’re trying so hard! We even went to rewrite their background! Why don’t you hate them!”

I still unironically would love for Nathanos to become the Forsaken faction leader.

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It can always depend on one’s company, and how people act around them. Around humans, Nathanos could have been acting noble. But around elves, his more negative traits could be more apparent.

The impression given is that Nathanos was always quite introverted / not particularly sociable, preferring to stay on his family’s farm for the most part.

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