In the early stages of the expansion, we know that:
Thrall is the protagonist in the Twilight of the Aspects book dedicated to him and his role in the Cataclysm, involving him in the ascension of Kalec as an Aspect;
He also plays a major role in the Shattering novel, where again he is leaving his role as warchief to save Azeroth.
He was involved in some minor shenanigans in the leveling zones like - the goblin starting zone, the pre-patch elemental invasions, in which he played a part in Nagrand and Orgrimmar.
In patch 4.2 heâs a major face for the azerothian resistance, with him discovering Ragnarosâ arrival. He also has an entire questline dedicated to him and him alone, where the druids of the flame stop his marriage and we and Aggra must save him.
and as of 4.3 he becomes The Guy.
Sure, I think people jumped too hard on Thrall, but it is undeniable that he IS the central figure of the resistance against Deathwing, and that in the overall story about the Cataclysm, Thrall-turned-Goâel is a major player.
We were already 1.5 years into Cataclysm when this book was released.
Not to be that guy, but The Shattering switches between around 3-4 different âMainâ Characters because the book highlights the impact of the recent cataclysm on different areas and races.
In your last post you complained about Thrallâs development coming out of nowhere - but they were in the books. Youâre either factoring them in or youâre not. You canât include them for your âHe was everywhere!â complaint only to ignore them for your âHis development wasnât explained!â complaint. That just doesnât track.
You could also say that Sylvanas having her soul divided when she died is pretty fitting for a narrative all about souls and afterlives. Itâs thematically appropriate, that doesnât change the fact that itâs a narrative contrivance.
And it isnât just that itâs cringe-worthy, itâs that itâs cringe-worthy and it hijacks the plot and itâs isolated and itâs irrelevant and itâs contrived and itâs nonsensical and it comes out of nowhere, at least in my opinion. Youâre welcome to disagree with me, but I personally consider it worse than any single storyline that we got from Dragonflight.
I donât know about that, the Tyr 1945 Eugenics Lab that completely recontextualises Tyrâs character but is then never again brought up outside of the Dragon Expedition questlines was pretty weird as all hell to be honest.
On one hand, I get this. On the other, whatâs cooler?
âA bunch of unknown nobodies no one can quite describe killed Arthasâ
vs
âAn elite team formed during the Argent Tournament, headed by Tirion Fordring, took down the Lich King with the Ashbringer dealing the final blow to the dread sword Frostmourne.â
I think itâs objectively a good thing to credit actual named characters for significant historical events instead of leaving it to the featureless blob that is the player character.
Blizz once again falling victim to their insistence at centreing the player at multiple crucial moments without ever actually putting them into the story properly.
Or the alternate option of Jaina and Sylvanas being grievously wounded in the fight against the Lich King, and Muradin Bronzebeard and Saurfang being the ones to actually break Frostmourne.
Things can happen in the book and still be out of nowhere.
Thrall suddenly rejecting the mantle of Warchief in the span of a couple of weeks is still out of nowhere. I would have NOT considered it out of nowhere if there were references to this before, like in Wrath of the Lich King, having Thrall thinking of resigning, about pursuing greater goals.
Thrall refusing to be called Thrall in Cataclysm was weird - why not in TBC, when he discovered his true name? Who knows. Why not in WotLK, when he got some spotlight? Why would the average Thrall fan want to see a Thrall who rejects his mantle of Warchief and rejects his own name? Eh.
Thrall playing a major role? It made sense, heâs a powerful shaman, sure, go for it. But could have been handled better.
It was all a Cataclysm plot written very hastily.
Absolutely it does.
You can insert people everywhere and give them poor reasons/poor writing. Heck, writing a lot about them increases this probability. Mind, I donât think Thrall was placed everywhere, I donât think he was awful-levels of writing, and his presence wasnât really as much as a punch in the eye as Sylvanas for example, but his reasons were really poor.
Imho, Iâd say âThere must always be a Lich Kingâ was working fine until Shadowlands.
I think thatâs a bit of a strong statement. From what I could see of that questline, he was observing how different elements affected the protodrakes but⌠that was it really.
Dazaralor annoys me with this one. Somehow Jaina is Rastakhans killer yet the only sign of her before her boss fight is horde only where she blinks in frost novas and leaves. She wasnt present in the fight. Shaw and Greymane were. Yet she was at the pyramid pinnacle whereâŚRastakhan was not even there he was inside below the throne room while she was dramatically cutscene posing up top.
Its one of the few cases where you see the alliance champion npcs escaping on gryphons when your heading for Mekkatorque and their all human npcs in wrath dungeon armor. JustâŚwhy
Would certainly have spared us from Troll Jaina who supposedly heard stories of heroism from a small horde affiliated troll tribe at an unspecified age and this detail is important considering thereâs canonically just 5-6 years between Zulâs gambit in Cata and BfA⌠Depending on how young Talanji was at that point in time itâs very much within the trope of the below 20 years old prodigy who also has surpassed the thousands of years old Ebonhorn in matters regarding Spirits.
Itâs not worth invoking that dreaded term since I didnât read Shadowâs Rising to the end (it struggled being engaged in it.) but what I know of her in-game really makes me wonder why they kept her around when her dad was so much more hyped up only to be dissapointing.
Playing devils advocate as Id have much preferred an angry, vengeful, warmongering god king, but there are several reasons:
she is the narrative counterpart to Jaina becoming Lord Admiral (a similarly vomit inducing storyline)
she wasnt calling the shots or agreeing with the Hordeâs war plans, only mediated as a diplomat
as a consequence of her being more diplomatic she resonates better with the post-BFA WAR BAD theme than Rastakhan would have, and it would have made him look even worse if he had a sudden epiphany that WAR BAD
Post-BfA WAR BAD shouldâve been done in BfA itself, in the same way Pandaria had it. Through a clear demonstration that itâs actually bad, Undercity in ruins, Teldrassil a smoldering husk (and both free to visit), Azerite actually screwing over the ecology across the world and so on.
Wouldâve preferred Rastakhan as a narrative counterpart to Genn. Both neglectful kings of isolated kingdoms who lost their child to a cruel invader.
It might just be me, but after Dazarâalor, it felt like Talanji somewhat abandoned the diplomatic route and went into a warmongering mode after Rastakhan died. If I remember correctly, the only reason she joined the Horde was to get revenge. Then, she went silent and disappeared out of the story. I havenât read the books, but afaik they still havenât shown her reaction to the truce, which is probably because itâs really hard to justify her supporting it, and god forbid there is internal conflict.