Narrator: “Late stage capitalism.”
2 Likes
THERE MUST ALWAYS BE [Roll of Thunder] A LICH KING.
That’s what they doing. A “We need both void and light you guys, it’s balance and stuff.” Please ignore the insane cultists stabbing people with bizarre knives on altars in sacrifice to tentacle monsters.
I would not put it past them to retcon the Scarlet Crusade from Demon manipulated crusaders who went off the deep end into insane fanaticism, into the Light made them do it, too much light is bad you guys. Just rob people of agency and responsibility, whatever cosmic force they’re huffing is responsible for anything bad they did.
4 Likes
Two things to note about Arator’s AVENGING WRATH mode going active I suppose.
First is that we only really have his word that it’s the light overwhelming him. Could just be all his suppressed parental issues manifesting as WARRIOR RAGE that he’s incorrectly attributing to the Light.
As funny as that is, I don’t think it terribly likely.
The second is that otherwise well-meaning users getting overwhelmed by the Light isn’t new lore. The Light’s Wrath disc artifact backstory (https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Word_of_the_Conclave#Light's_Wrath) has at least one explicit case of it in Jakhar.
GALLYWIX IS BACK BABY
4 Likes
Arator has to be 30+ years old and yet is dealing with the kind of angst and naivete I’d expect from a 17-24 years old.
With his elven ancestry, if he makes it past the teenage phase over Midnight I’ll consider it a miracle.
1 Like
Look, they can’t have it both. Either elves mature at the same rate as humans and their aging slows down upon reaching adulthood or Arator is mentally a teenager with the trained body of combat veteran and somehow none of the psychological damage being a (mental) child soldier implies.
1 Like
I’m pretty sure Vereesa is/was also considered markedly childish and immature for her age by the elves. Prone to emotion outbursts unbefitting of the austere and graceful elves and all that.
Maybe the apple doesn’t fall far from the step-mother tree. In other words, it’s not an elf thing.
It’s a Windrunner thing 
2 Likes
That’s really concerning. The campaigns are, to me, the main appeal of playing WoW as a game (RP aside), and they’re making them shorter and shorter with each expansion, no doubt to appease endgame players who view leveling as a chore.
12 Likes
I mean she’s chronically insane. Lady already had her funeral of Rhonin in an instance I can’t remember exactly but I would bet it’s in a book, only to do it again in TWW now that Dalaran is no more. Let’s not even talk about how she intended to move to Undercity with her kids as undead people and letting holy bones Anduin decide to end Garrosh or not.
Anduin sneezed on him. Angst is an infectious disease in WoW. Masks on everyone and wash your hands after touching shared surfaces.
Pretty sure that in the new book, from which I qouted the excerpt further up, he stated that he had more in common with the young Human squire of Lord Maxwell Tyrosus, who I think isn’t even a teenager yet, then with his former master, due to his Human/Elven ancestry.
So, do with that information what you will, but the book is also written by Golden, so I wouldn’t tale it to seriously either
“Im always three steps ahead of the competition baby.”
To be the devil’s advocate, leveling characters after the first one into the new expansion is a chore that’s measured in timewalking dungeons. Quests are needed to tell a story and give rewards not available in the endgame content, they don’t have to be an integral part of leveling experience.
6 Likes
You do remember there is more than one void fueled elf, right?
While Midnight is going further with it than I thought it would, at least based on what I’ve seen so far, there’s nothing wrong with pointing out the downsides (that has existed since World of Warcraft came out) of the Light as a power source, while also highlighting how the Void can be used for good by those who are extremely careful.
Considering that Umbric and the void elves were brought to the brink of becoming void monsters during a moment of foolishness, they weren’t extremely careful in the past, but they’ve learned to become that since then. Meanwhile, Alleria unlearned every lesson that she learned in 7.3 and 11.0, hence her capture and being turned into a raid boss in the Voidspire. She let her emotions get the better of her.
As for becoming Light-blinded or whatever it’s called, it seems like that’s a consequence of overzealous thoughts and actions and letting the desire for holy war override all other priorities. It’s a bit on the nose and I think it’s silly that the Light-blinded can be so easily manipulated by the Void, their very obvious one true enemy, but it still has its foundations in that old lore of “the Light rewards those who believe that they are good and righteous.” It’s going to end up empowering self-righteous zealots with their hearts in the wrong place.
The Void’s still the big bad evil force but it can be exploited by very careful people with a lot of self-control, and the Light still empowers the forces of good but it can be used for ill by the self-righteous and the overzealous. The message that I getting out of this is pretty simple:
“You’re aren’t one of the good guys because of the colour of magic that you wield, you’re one of the good guys because of who you are as a person and the quality of your character. Good people are the good guys, regardless of the magic that they wield.”
I wouldn’t call that nihilistic, but that’s just me.
8 Likes
i agree with this. if everyone who used a specific magic was considered wholely good or wholely evil for their using it the setting would be a lot blander. not every warlock who used fel, a tried and proven corruptive and negative magic on both the caster and everyone around them, was a bad guy. iirc didnt one save…anduin or varian? from an attempt on their life sometime in the past. even going as far back as wrath, even the argent crusade allowed the use of a warlock as part of their tournament in one of the most infamous instances in WoW. trifling gnomes…
5 Likes
To be honest I think the bigger, legitimate grievance to have with is that it just ends up largely being yet another unanalyzed Scarlet Crusade Moment and people are just, generally speaking, kind of exhausted of the Scarlet Crusade in all forms, shapes and sizes by now.
7 Likes
Waiting for enemies called Arcane-blinded that go mad from overthinking after watching too many youtube video essays.
I think from Warcraft 3 onwards a major part of the setting and the entire conceit of the Horde as a faction especially in Vanilla and TBC is that being a good person isn’t a matter of what magic you use or being a classic fantasy good guy - it’s doing good things.
4 Likes
It’s not about that all kinds of magic can be used with evil intent. They can, and it’s an absolute norm, but if we were shown more relatable examples of such, it’d make far more interesting story. For example, it wouldn’t be wrong for a tauren druid or a shaman to go and tear people apart if they dig around in the wrong way or just do it too recklessly, but in the eyes of the Alliance it would be considered a case of madness. On the other hand, the Night Warriors would be considered blessed champions among their people, even if for everyone else they are living engines of destruction that don’t distinguish between banners of those who wronged the Kaldorei. And the list goes on and on even aside from the restricted kinds of magic, it’s up to the people and doctrines what to do with them.
1 Like