Hello. So now with the short story that just came out “We Ride Forth” we got some very clear answers on the nature of death knights (And recently risen death Knights) Especially about what emotions they feel in undeath. So now as a Roleplayer myself, i’ve sometimes come across 4th Gen Death knights and the general answer that i’ve been given when i’ve asked. Is that 4th gen dks are more emotional and not as blood thirsty as the Death Knights that were risen under Arthas. We see in the short story this line
“They could not know love, joy, or anger like the living did. But
Mograine had fought with these three Horsemen against the greatest
threat Azeroth had ever faced. Through the crucible of combat, he had
come to know and admire their stalwart spirits and their implacable
hearts”
And this
“Of all the emotions to carry over into undeath, I was
given sorrow, Mograine thought mournfully.”
So if you rp a 4th Gen dk. How do you approach this? This is not meant as an attack towards any such roleplayers, I am just curious of their opinion and engage in a dicussion. (Also I have no idea if I did this forum stuff right. This is my first time posting.)
Most likely? Yes, they would more a lot* emotional. As they aren’t subjected to the same training regime as previous death knights that were raised by the Scourge; they are not put to death if they display positive emotions.
They are raised, equipped with armour and weapons, and sent out into the world.
*they are still undead, which still drastically twists one’s personality.
I mean more as in… Are the emotions perhaps not something that they repressed but just falls natural to death knights. Like this line right here from the book “Of all the emotions to carry over into undeath, I was
given sorrow”
He is implying that the rest of his emotions were torn away when he was raised
It also depends who raised you and how of course. Former scourge undead had their negative emotions amplified and positive ones pushed back. Most of 3rd gen Dks were given hate or anger.
Death Knights are not completely emotionless. They can feel positive emotions, if only for a short time and it is rare. Powerful moments do trigger these types of short positive shows of emotion.
A fun little show of their, for lack of better word given our numerous races, ‘humanity’.
Negative emotions however are always strong with death knights though and 4th generation, the ones raised by Bolvar, are no exception.
It is one of the many differences that separate us from that of a warrior. Lack of emotions or positive ones, leaving negative ones to fuel us instead to make us killing machines.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but new dks have been trained haven’t they? By the Ebon Blade? The difference is they aren’t trained by the scourge, therefore, not trained to kill all life on the planet. Just the bad life.
Is that not a considerable enough difference?
According to the new story “We Ride Forth” - page 1
Nazgrim had expected to spend years training them to wield their new power, but almost all of them were sent back to their old homelands, forced to find their own way in a world that would fear and despise them. Nazgrim couldn’t imagine sending fresh recruits to war without trying to teach them how to survive. One day, he overheard Mograine challenging Bolvar about it.
“Even Arthas trained his new slaves,” Mograine said.
So… They are not even trained in the slightest. Reanimated, given an armour, a weapon… and sent back to the world of the living.
Tho it’s very easy to just be an exception because it’s not like Bolvar bothered to tell anyone his plans, so a new DK that got adopted by some group in the EB is perfectly viable.
It sounds like one of the more interesting death knight developments in recent years. Bolvar is basically going by the scattershot method, fully knowing that there will be newly risen death knights that go off the deep end and do more harm than good.
Yeah, for example, The Ebon Onslaught takes new death knights under their wing and we instruct them on everything the WotLK era death knights learned.
Runecrafting, ghoul raising, getting a deathcharger, etc.
Those without wouldn’t be as trained but still dangerous. Perhaps more unstable as well without knowledge or training that most death knights have gone through.
The effect of being raised into undeath can radically change your personality but like I said, Mograine is a death knight raised under the banner of the Scourge. He was subjected to a training regime that saw death knights be executed if they displayed positive emotions, or if they had a name deemed too bright.
4th gens are not subjected to said training regime, so while their emotions might be stunted due to undeath, they’d probably be much more expressive with them than other generations.
It actually encourages me more to dust off my human DK, as it clears up some issues with him being ‘4th Gen’. He was basically the son of a noble, kitted out and sent off to fight the Good Fight against the Legion, and promptly got blatted in a horrible way on the Broken Shore.
Fastforward a bit and he… is surprisingly chill (every pun intended) with the whole thing? He’s realised/admitted his family were all horrible bores anyway, he’s now actually a quite competent fighter now, rather than a fop on a horse, and even though people are (understandably) wary and even scared of him now, they do find he’s very useful as a mobile, talking shield.
Hmm actually, this could be a nice guild idea. To teach new dks how to wield the power. Something that is DK related, yet does not stand upon piles of skulls of fallen enemies.
Well, as said in the post above; that is what the Ebon Onslaught is doing - teaching newly risen (even reanimate them ourselves from time to time) with our very own instructor! Including trials and the such.
it has very little potential as the center-plot of a guild, I would say. It’s not long-lived in the slightest. A side-thing they take care of however, as Arindha said? Now that’s cool
Well I usually do episodic roleplay. IE valid only through certain expansion. So I’d say for short-term guild an extended arm of Ebon knights set to train the newcomers it would be nice.