Taelia in Shadowlands (spoilers....)

So… just saw this on wowhead, and since we talked about this before, I just thought to make a thread about it.

So… Taelia is going into the Shadowlands, because her father is there, and apparently if your father is an undead lord of the damned and on a mission in the realm of the dead, that’s what you do. It’s only logical.

Aaaand she seems to be leading the push for a rescue mission for Anduin and the “Peacemakers” in the Maw.

So… she is in the Maw to play hero, while Anduin is playing damsel in distress. Wasn’t that the basic “romance” everyone and their grandma predicted for Anduin since their shared little moment in BfA? Well, there is the next step to that.

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After an expansion that explicitly introduced her as his daughter it was kinda obvious that the second he became prominent, she’d be featured shortly after.

In all, the whole dialogue was rather predictable.
I do find weird that they threw Calia into it too. Was the theory about her being Taelia’s mother entirely discarded?

And Taelias presence in SL may be putting some red flags onto Bolvar’s back. After meeting her, and saving Anduin once more, his character is kinda done from a narrative perspective. All his pending archs would’ve been dealt with.

At first glance I agree that it’s somewhat forced, but one thing to bear in mind is that Lord Admiral Jaina Proudmoore is amongst the imprisoned heroes in the Maw. It’s not a stretch that Katherine would task Taelia with going to the Shadowlands to help with the rescue efforts.

Calia is another story entirely, but I assume she is present because Arthas will be getting an appearance at some point as the story develops further.

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Alright, lets be honest and not kid ourselves: There were a thousand more suitable and efficient picks over the rookie with the big hammer.

If Katherine wanted someone with experience dealing with the dead, or the dark energies that permeate the Shadowlands, she had quite some obvious guys that could do the job perfectly. Ranging from any member of the Order of Embers (who are literally trained to fight the likes of the Drust), to any other experience fighter from Boralus or Stormsong like Brother Pike.

The reason the story pushed Taelia to be the one there, had more to do with meta requirements over what seemed logical ingame. And there is nothing wrong with that, but lets call it as it is.

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But I also want to add, that I don’t see much of a problem with them choosing Taelia. It was extremly predictable and cliche, but cliches mostly work at what they are supposed to do: Give us an emotional understanding of the story. I probably prefer this to keeping Taelia out because other people make more sense in the moment. Because we don’t see every moment, and if we want Taelia’s and Bolvar’s reuinion on screen, it has to happen in times of dire need that warrants them wasting our time.

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Of course the meta plot is what dictates that Taelia is there. But there is atleast one hook one can latch onto. They could have her escort a regiment of people from the Order of Embers and other notable Kul Tirans like Brother Pike. But this is a new expansion, the focus isn’t Kul Tiras anymore. Choices have to be made as to what characters get the spotlight for this new chapter, and obviously Taelia would be brought in as Bolvar is a central character of the plot.

Now, that being said, this reunion seems rather early to me. They just went there and it’s done. I guess you guys might be correct in that this will kickstart Anduin’s romance with Taelia with him as the damsel in distress.

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I feel like if Taelia wasn’t there, the forums would complain about it anyway. “Did Blizzard forget about Taelia? She was revealed as Bolvar’s daughter, why isn’t it acknowledged in an expansion where he is a prominent character?” and so on, and so on.

I don’t mind her being there. While as far as combat goes she is not the best choice, she is related to Bolvar. If you want to pressure the Lich King into doing something for you then I think it’s perfectly reasonable to use his daughter as leverage. Plus she’s always struck me as a strong-willed person–the fact that she wants to go see her dad doesn’t seem surprising at all.

That’s true.

Well, I do feel like Blizzard could’ve accomplished so without needing to drag a teenager all the way down to hell/heaven in order to have this family meeting. But guess that if they are to go for high fantasy angle, there are little chances for them to meet under more mundane conditions.

Want to add, as full disclosure, that I’m not bothered by it in the slightest. Wouldn’t be the first time the story requires from characters to jump through weird hoops in order to put forth these developments.
But in all, yes, I do feel like this meeting could’ve been addressed in other ways.
Let alone that is rather curious how easily Taelia has taken to the fact that his dad is now a flaming zombie. Or how she basically guilt trips him into spying Satan.

The less characters we will see going in Shadowlands the better. Shadowlands shouldnt be like a walk in a park place where armies go in and fight the baddies.

This is not Outland - what Turalyon and squad did, going into other planet to wage war and stop the orcs. Its a realm of death and suffering with its own horros beyond the mortal minds compretantion and any army going in have to face those obsticles ans when young girl like Taelia appears there acting as a hero kinda undermines the whole dangerous vibe of the place. Unless… she will know the cost of entering the place where she shouldnt be.

Everything we have learned about Shadowlands undermines the afterlife so it kind of fits.

I fully expect a full army of the Alliance and the Horde arriving in the Shadowlands sooner or later. Similar to how the factions arrived in Pandaria in the first content patch.

Truth be told, I think I’d enjoy that more than the sudden focus on “cosmic scale” everything in Shadowlands has.

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