sobbing crying dry heaving punching the air grinding my teeth eating the drywall kicking screaming exploding into pieces bursting into flames: have you guys thought about The Character?
I've visited the hunting museum in Riihimäki, Finland! It was a really nice and interesting museum, with exhibitions about the history of hunting in Finland, modern hunting, and a trophy room. Definitely worth a visit if you have the opportunity!
This one isn't taxidermy, but I absolutely loved the old black grouse lure they had on display:
I am almost wholly unfamiliar with this big blond (?) man who you talk about as if he was a dog (affectionate) and all I know about him is from you.
So please, tell me all about this Nolan. (Yes this is an excuse to gush about your blorbo)
getting to introduce Nolan? what an honor :3
this might look a little long though, sorry, i was on pc and might have messed up paragraph breaks
okay so, you first see this guy in MWII's Shadow Siege event, and then he's in MWIII, appearing as the first character you play as in the first mission of the campaign. Then he's in one other mission (Highrise) and a couple of cutscenes. He's still managed to capture my interest for such a criminally low screen time... Mostly because he's weird. Like, upon first glance he makes you question things; why is he here, what is he doing, what's his deal. And who knows honestly, that's why I'm here y'know. HAHA
Anyway, he's Inner Circle, goes way back with Makarov as Laswell confirms, being recruited by Ivan and then ''executing orders so well that Makarov takes notice and brings him to his confidence'' (literal quotes from his in game biography btw), serving as his Sergeant until he takes Ivan's place as Captain after they break Makarov out of prison.
I don't know what his motives are, all I know is from his biography is that he's been fascinated with history & great leaders of the past in his youth and he wanted to take part in it. Most likely why he quit Australian Defense Forces for the private sector and kept bouncing between PMCs searching for something more until Ivan approached him.
Honestly I see it as a ''meant to be'' type of thing because, and sorry that I'm literally just taking word for word what it says in his bio, it says that ''Ivan saw in Nolan a man who couldn't be bought, his loyalty and respect had to be someone worthy, with strength of will and vision'' and ''Nolan saw in Makarov everything he admired about the great men of the past, the strategic brilliance, the electric charisma, and the capacity to enact change through violence.'' y'know?
Putting aside how fucking gay that sounds, they're perfect for each other. Makarov is all Nolan was looking for his entire life, someone to give him a purpose (''Makarov, he taught me the power of a strong idea.''), and meaning to his life. You'll see that the word ''brutality'' gets used to describe Nolan's methods a few times, which reflects what kind of man he is to me. He is not (necessarily) a good man, he's not out there to ''do good and change the world for the better'' otherwise he would've stayed at the ADF and kept carrying out peacekeeping operations across the Pacific, no, he just wants to do shit. He's brutal and he's violent and all he lacked was the direction until Makarov came along. Makarov is the guiding hand that Nolan needs, and Nolan is the perfect tool for Makarov to carry out his plans. They have a strange relationship. They depend on each other. You can't have one without the other. Maybe controversial opinion, I don't know. But I firmly believe that there is no Nolan without Makarov. He doesn't help his own case either 🙄 judging by his lines in the game alone. There's many, from campaign and MP, but I think the Warzone monologue itself is enough to prove it. (Also, outside of his own words, simply look at how he gets described in the game)
Anyway, uh, story wise, he's there to break Makarov out of prison, (Making sure to note that he counted down days and hours ever since Makarov was imprisoned) he's there to execute Ivan and take his place, he's there when him and Makarov torture a Shadow for information together, he's also there after Milena gives his location away and leads him to getting captured and interrogated by the 141. Forever mad that that scene was robbed from us, could've given some visuals at least smh, but yeah they. Do a number on him. He doesn't break (see Warzone monologue ^ for this specifically because Oh Boy. 😊) doesn't give them a word, but unfortunately his phone gives him away, as 141 goes through him and Makarov's messages (some pretty worried texts from Makarov in there might I add) Later, he gets out of there with the help of Makarov, a team he sent, which isn't revealed in the game (duh) or through Warzone, but rather in a random blog post about MWIII Season 1 Announcement LMAOOO (This once distinguished soldier is a master of manipulation and close quarters combat. Rescued by Makarov, Nolan plays an integral role in Konni Group's mission.) Then he comes back for the post-campaign seasonal WZ story as he, Dokkaebi and other Konni Operatives take over Urzikstan but I guess that doesn't have any sort of relevance anymore. Ahem. Anyway.
So yeah. That's pretty much most info I could give you on him (someone let me know if I forgot an important detail as it is almost 5 in the morning and I'm slowly losing coherence) He fascinates me, I still don't get him much myself. It's more, ''wow, there's potential, there is so much potential'' like it's so fun to consider... everything. How he would do something, how he'd react, how he'd think or feel. It's so much fun to me. I love him. Which is why you probably can understand that I'm fucking miserable about Modern Warfare 4 but alas. I won't speak on it (I won't shut up and this is already long I guess) So. Yes. That's Andrei Nolan for ya. I basically just repeated his biography to you, but you'd have the same thoughts if you just went over it once. It's like, what the fuck is wrong with you, Aussie boy? Why are you doing this even!! He is so cute. I love him.
ok I pass out now I hope this was somewhat coherent and understandable <3
