Just saw this on the US forums, and it managed to make me groan, which is on the higher end of reactions WoW lore can by now elicit from me. I haven’t read the book myself, so if it’s factually wrong… feel free to correct it, but it sounds possible.
So… Alleria and Turalyon go around Zandalar, and it seems that Alleria repeatedly drags information out of prisoners’ minds (even civilians, as far as I read), and Turalyon goes so far as to actively help her to hold them down, using the Light. Jaina seems to be outraged by this, but Anduin is okay with hearing about it. It doesn’t sound like it’s harmless, either.
The interrogations are painful. Alleria tortures an Orc mother with her crying child watching, and the end result causes her to be half conscious and blabbering gibberish. The Void then lets Alleria know that the mother will eventually recover but be mentally scarred. They do the same to a Human smuggler later, which is what Jaina sees.
The US thread is about how Anduin is suddenly okay with that clearly, erm… “morally gray” stuff, but I’m personally more annoyed by Turalyon, actively standing by and helping out. If that is true he certainly doesn’t fit the paladin archetype anymore. Which kind of sucks, because… is there anyone in WoW left who does?
Also… considering this is a newer author for WoW, I would be surprised if the character implications of this stuff would be taken up within the game. So we might just go from that to Anduin the Faultless and Turalyon the Paragon without any acknowledgement.
I’ll leave my expanded view on the whole thing once I finish, but it was surprising to have Turalyon and Alleria merrily going about with said practices.
And most of all, with Anduins full endorsement.
It was one of the bonus (as in interesting twists), the book has for me. I expected Alliance frictions but not in THAT way.
Just as a side note, they do so against refugees fleeing Arathi and the war front of Stromgarde. Not in Zandalar.
Ps: They also missed the bit that had them torturing an apothecary (one that just acted as field medic) that was protecting said refugees.
Alleria and Turalyon tortured 3 people for information about a genocidal maniac fugitive. Shocking. Shall we start making a thread for every person the Horde tortured for information? I feel like we’d spam threads harder than Erevien.
They tortured a doctor that tried to protect civilians, a desperate mother that wanted to shelter her son (did so in front of him), and some poor dude that wanted to make some coins for his starving family.
Regardless of how founded the reasons were, I think that the signalled intent the author had regarding those actions, went a tad beyond the usual morally impecable modus that they often make the Alliance have.
I’m not saying that these are enough to condemn them. But I find it surprising that they went with this angle.
Apparently, the “war hawks” are no longer Shaw or Genn, but Turalyon and Alleria.
It was said in 8.2.5 that Sylvanas had the loyalty of the people. These people supported a genocidal psycopath who started a world war. Quit pretending they are so innocent.
That’s not the standard I use to measure a paladin or a priest of the Light. Yes, it wouldn’t even be really worth mentioning, if Sylvanas’ forces had done this. It’s not even noteworthy that Alleria is doing this. We know she and her little club aren’t meant to be paragon of virtue. But Turalyon and Anduin? That’s exactly what they should be measured against.
I’ll try and expand later with all the pros and cons I found regarding the book. Currently in my mobile phone and can’t type elaborated threads.
But yeah, think of A little Patience but put Talanji instead of Tyrande, and Thrall instead of Varian.
You people complained throughout all of BfA that Anduin was supposedly not ruthless enough with the Horde after all the crimes they committed against the Alliance. Now Anduin is acting in a more decisive and strong way and you are still complaining?