#wowlore

[metagirl]

Stranglethorn Vale questline ✓

We met the baby raptor Ohgan'aka and had to navigate through Zul'Gurub, but mainly a lot of hunting in the jungle! This region was once ruled by the Gurubashi Empire, it seems under stress they have broken down into "petty" conflict between the tribes.

[esperanta-dragon]

Post-Legion lore did not happen

Please reblog if you agree that lore post Legion should be scrapped and start over again. I am done with WoW lore post Legion. And I would like to know how many of you agree with what I am going to write. I know comic is on hiatus now, I am doing all my best to break the art block and come back to it. I know why I started focusing on death knights. And no regrets I spent so much time creating headcanon, filling out gaps Blizzard never even noticed. Because after Shadowlands, I know I can go nuts. They will never work with them ever again. The potential in Shadowlands was incredible. They did not use them. So... I can go nuts. Create something better.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am the type of writer who never compromised canon, I was only filing out gaps, I was never bending anything or retconning. I always managed to fix everything that didn’t make sense and still not doing retcon. 

But now? How I am supposed to be faithful to lore made by people who are retconning what worked fine and not even knowing their lore? Throwing away lore we loved? Details we liked? And throwing into lore an ultimate bad guy they made up 2 years ago despite telling us he was here all along? Nothing works. Everything is broken. I don’t want to work with this piece of crap. There is zero chance to fix it and fill out gaps, it’s like trying to fill out a cavern with soil. 

It does not even feel like Warcraft anymore

It’s like a crossover with a game we never heard about

The lame rip-off of Thanos? No thanks

Sylvanas being “please feel sorry for me, I didn’t want to do this, I was manipulated, I didn’t know he was bad!”

Working with 5 characters all the time like they have no other characters fitting better for important tasks

Putting characters or disposing of them for no reason and in the end not working with them (Taelia, Calia, Baine, Genn, the list is super long)

The concept of Shadowlands does not work! When you kill the body, you kill a soul in it? Shadowlands as the last stop before oblivion? BS! Despite Maldraxxus is build around building constructs for souls so they can have a body!

We already had concept of Shadowlands since WotLK. And even longer I think. It was cooler. It fitted perfectly to the lore and the world we knew. Shadowlands were supposed to be the copy of Azeroth, something like Emerald Dream. Why we couldn’t get this?

Why did we had to get a cosmic war with 98% characters we don’t even know? Why we couldn’t go for afterlives of Azeroth and Draenor? They would do a fan service and everybody would be happy! But this is too much work, isn’t it Blizzard, it involves BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR STORY

Characters we know and which supposed to know each other don’t talk to each other! 

Where is Arthas?!

Where is everybody? Where is Tirion? Tiffin? Elena Mograine? Durotan? Lothar? Where the hell is everybody who died and we wanted to see meet their loved ones?

We are talking about dominance magic yet we ask character with 0 knowledge about it when we have order of elite undead who are specialized in it?

Giant plot holes everywhere you look!

Characters do stupid things and behave like idiots (and forcing player to behave like idiot too) so the Jailer can win

MACGUFFINS EVERYWHERE

Maldraxxus was supposed to be about the Scourge, yet it doesn’t feel connected at all?

This stupid concept broke the whole afterlife that was in lore all along until this stupid expansion. Why the souls stayed at Light’s Hope and not coming to Shadowlands? How does the raising undead works? Can necromancy rip the soul from Shadowlands? Were death knights judged by the Arbiter before raising to undeath or they didn’t even managed? Deathchargers are from Shadowlands, so what realm they are from?!

More I analyze Shadowlands, more I refuse to accept it as canon...

Guys, please... how many of you would be happy if Shadowlands (and for sure many things from BfA) did not happen at all? Just to analyze what worked, take the small amount of nice things from it and create Shadowlands how they were supposed to be? Maybe even throw away The Jailer? And the stupid cosmos war?

Please, tell me I am not the only one...

Edit: Yo guys, just to be clear about BfA. It looks like a masterpiece from Neil Gaiman next to Shadowlands. The thing why I said I would restart it too is, it was rushed, there were too many themes put together, it didn’t hold well together and it was like prequel for Shadowlands. Many things would have to go and it would have to be heavily edited and put on right place if Shadowlands never happened. But BfA still can be worked on. It can be fixed. It would have to be changed, it would have to be still retcon but it can be fixed. A lot of things were good here, just badly executed. They just rushed to give us underwhelming crap full of retcons because the guys realized it won’t work without changing the whole history of the world.Shadowlands on the other hand? Beyond repair.

[akatsy]

Baine Bloodhoof and Hamuul Runetotem rescuing Garrosh Hellscream from the Quilboar, just prior to The Cataclysm.

[cordeiliadavington]

OOC Rant: Mermaids WTF?

So, I'm not sure if I have missed something lore wise but where did all of these mermaids come from in RP? Are they off shoots of Naga? Maybe a different breed of murloc? Did Queen Ashara give birth to a Murloc/Naga hyrbid? Can someone link me to a page on the wowwiki explaining this sudden phenomena? I am just really confused because they don't seem lore friendly in the slightest. If someone could explain this to me I would feel a lot better about this. Phew, rant over.

[esperanta-dragon]

I feel like there is a need to write down why so many people hate Sylvanas so much, me included. Maybe you can’t stand her too OR you love her and you don’t understand why the hell people can hate such an amazing character. Here is why. And I will try to write this down logically as possible. No “hur dur I hate her because she is a bitch!”. No, I will put down all things so you can understand. And one sad disclaimer... it’s not the character’s fault.

WHY WE STARTED TO LOVE HER

Sylvanas showed up in Warcraft III as a Ranger General of Quel’thalas. She was protecting her country for quite some time when Arthas attacked Eversong Woods in order to get to Sunwell and resurrect Kel’Thuzad as a lich. Sylvanas paid with her life and her soul to protect her people and her country. She was made banshee and was forced to do things against her will and serve the Scourge she hated. But she was still plotting her revenge, didn’t give up until the moment came and she took the chance. She reclaimed her body back and almost killed Arthas, and took over Lordaeron City. Then she took over the undead slowly freeing from the Lich King’s grasp and gave them a place where to stay, becoming their Queen. And since then, she was planning to kill the Lich King for good.

That’s why we loved her (I never did, I will explain that later why). She really kicked his ass. She slapped the Scourge in the face. She never gave up and was doing everything to achieve her goals, her revenge. There are not so many such strong female characters, so resolute. She was not good but also not evil, she was shady, she was not the boring good guy. So why the hell people hate her? She is perfect! Let’s go to what happened during and after WotLK... Because here it starts.

WRATH OF THE LICH KING

As I said, many people adore Sylvanas since Warcraft III. But they don’t understand the character is not the same. She was never good, she was an anti-hero, that’s the fact (the Ebon Blade are also anti-heroes and they are not bad, they just do necessary things to keep the Scourge in check). She was doing everything to take revenge on Arthas. And everything means that she had no problems walking over corpses of her allies. Causalities because of my fault? Pfft! No matter as long as the piece of trash sitting on the Frozen Throne will get what he deserves!

This was pretty much visible after Wrathgate when Varimathras and Putress tried to take over Undercity and Alliance and the Horde saw what she is doing inside the city. Still fine, it was in character, she was doing EVERYTHING to take revenge on Arthas. Everything. That’s why she existed, why she kept going. Even back then, I didn’t hate her. She was still a very well-written character. This is what a character in her position would do. 

But once everything was done, the Lich King was taken care of, she realized there is no point in her existence. She saw the Lich King was not destroyed. They only replaced him. So she threw herself from the Icecrown Citadel and fell on saronite spikes, the only thing that could definitely kill her.

And she ended up in a dark place. And the pain she felt was not like anything she felt before. It was the most horrible, the most inconsolable place. But val’kyras came down to her and sacrificed for her to get her back. Now we know what happened as we progress in the Shadowlands but... let’s say this was the beginning of the end for a good character Sylvanas once was. This was a start of cliché, inconsistency, and a great example that good characters should be allowed to go and leave so they can be remembered as a good characters.

WHAT CHANGED

Look, I came to WoW really late. I was playing on WotLK free servers as I could not afford to pay for official servers. But I knew the story in WotLK and I was still pretty ok with Sylvanas. I don’t remember hating her this much. She was well written.

It was Cataclysm Firelands patch when I finally could come to official servers. And Sylvanas was already doing pretty shady and disgusting stuff. I played Forsaken starting quest line so I know. Raising undead like the Lich King did? No problem for her. She even said she is like Arthas but she is working for the Horde (she never cared for them anyway, it was just more beneficial for her). What happened in Gilneas was not alright. Who gases the whole zone and making it inhabitable? Alright, let’s say Horde was expanding and Gilneas was next to Lordaeron. Alright. But back then, I finally dove deep into lore and I’ve noticed many people are really devoted to Sylvanas. It seemed almost like a cult. And every time I asked people, why they love this psyhopathic banshee, they were like: “She is my Queen! I love her, I would die for her! She is cool, she is taking care of us, she has a good heart!”

Something was amiss here... I couldn’t understand this. I couldn’t see what they saw. I saw a shady, ruthless and careless psychopath who is using her loyal subjects to save herself from something. And many people believed it even in BfA. Me and my friend had to show them excerpts from short stories where she say that “once they were arrows in her quiver, now they are bulwark against the darkness”. They couldn’t believe they loved Queen would not love them back!

But hey, still, I wanted to understand why people love her. I would understand if it would be still Warcraft III or WotLK, that’s fine. But Cata? Legion? BfA? Shadowlands? 

So I started reading all books, short stories where she was. Articles about her. I tried to catch the glimpse of why people loved her: the majority told me she is still good and has a good heart and she is an amazing person. But I didn’t see it. Maybe I am stupid and I don’t understand, I am missing something... So I kept studying, trying to see anything good in her, I was failing. I saw a character falling more down into a pit full of anger and hate. Her loyalists said she was an amazing creature, loving, caring.

And the more I was told by people that she is caring and she has a good heart, the more I was getting disgusted and angry because the more I was reading about her and the more her loyalists told me, the more I saw what Sylvanas is: inconsistent character.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH SYLVANAS

In one book she was written like this. In another book, she was written like that. In one quest it was like this, then it was like that. In one expansion she behaved this way, in the next expansion, it was that way. She was doing more and more twisted things and her loyalists kept telling me she has a good heart. My frustration was growing to the point I could not stand her. It felt like I’ve met the person I knew was torturing her friends but when I met them, they told me with bruises on their faces and definitely mentally abused that she is amazing and it’s not her fault, she is just misunderstood and I should love her too.

When she killed Liam Greymane, loyalists were like: “I have no clue why Genn hates her so much! That stupid dog should die!” Yeah right, somebody kills your son and destroys your home, you have no reason to be angry, it’s ok.

She burns down Teldrassil and they said: “Why Tyrande wants to kill her? I hope Sylvanas kills her first!” Sure, somebody burns down a city with thousands of innocent people, it’s fine, let them go, no hard feelings. And sometimes these people are able to justify her actions with: “But this is fantasy! There is different morale than in real world!” Please, guys, never ever write a story. Never touch it. You will end up like Steve Danuser making characters to behave like idiots and without emotions. Stay away. Please. Do world the favor.

I was trying really hard. Trying to figure out what kind of character she is. Find a pattern. Because you can write a chaotic character and still find a pattern and it can be still a consistent character. But Sylvanas? I felt more and more that not even Blizzard knows what to do with her, how to write her... she felt more and more inconsistent and out of place with every expansion. And you know what? That happens to characters which are kept in the story longer than they should. If character losts a meaning of their existence, there are only two options: you either let them go or you have to find them a new meaning. And in case of Sylvanas, the second option led to a narrative disaster.

We were told by Blizzard: “Don’t worry! Everything falls in place! It makes sense what she does!” But after the Sanctum of Domination finale? It was a big fat lie...

Before I come to the cinematic, let me tell you what made me hate her beyond every possible measure: her fandom.

HITLER HAD A GOOD HEART!

In Legion, she was doing shady stuff. But in BfA? She became a Hitler. She burned down Teldrassil because... IDK she snapped and wanted to show one elven archer that you can kill hope? And what kind of catapults she had has reach 20 km? What kind of catapults can burn down incredibly big tree SOAKED in water with thick bark. Was that azerite or... no, I am not gonna get angry. And I won’t even start with the b*shit Blizzard pulled: “Look, just because Sylvanas is right in front of Teldrassil doesn’t mean it was her who burned it down!” They had to lie to us to look that they can create a better story than what it actually is.

She destroyed Undercity so Forsaken lost their home. Is this how you take care of your subjects if you are loving and caring? I think not.

And with her actions, millions of souls from the whole cosmos are going right into the Maw for eternal suffering. And why? Because she was scared. Because instead of thinking about herself and trying to change, she rather schemed with the god of death... who was responsible for her misery. And even teamed with Kel’Thuzad, who was reason of her fate in the first place! And yet, after all this, after mass genocide, destroying souls, millions, maybe billions of souls are suffering because of her... and you can still tell me there is still good in her and she deserves redemption arch... And with love say: “She got us into this, she will get us out of this <3 ^_^” So somebody is making everybody suffer and some people are like “Ooooh it’s fine, I support her! I bet she will realize what she is doing and she will save us!” Would you say the same about Hitler? That he was misunderstood, he was trying to fix something that’s why he murdered millions of people? I am just asking what kind of people her loyalists are in real life.

I have a question... would you still love her if she was a man? Or decomposing undead? Or if she wouldn’t be sexy elf at all? If she would be ugly? I think we all know the answer (disclaimer, beautiful people are not always kind and nice, what a surprise). I bet she would be already killed or hated by majority of the community at least two expansions back. Why Garrosh had to stand trial for war crimes and Sylvanas doesn’t? To be honest, I never liked Garrosh, I hated him, but I never hated him as much I hate Sylvanas. He was at least consistent to his very last moment. But I am fed up by the fact that everybody keeps excusing what she does just because she is a sexy elf. This is not character I can respect. How can you say about such character that she is cool when you know she is commiting genocide? Let’s replace her with ugly elf and let’s see how many of you will still love her.

If you love her because she is a crazy homicidal maniac and you want her to do evil stuff, go ahead, nothing wrong with you, it’s fine. You love her because you think that she has a good heart and she is sending millions of souls into hell because she wants to help us? Take your pills and think twice before going on date with a manipulative person who will use you, beat you but will tell you they love you so much while cheating on you. Thanks.

If you are lying to yourself that she is good and has a good heart because you are afraid you wouldn’t like her anymore as a bad guy, then you love illusion you made around her, not the character itself. And you should seriously think if you really love the character if you need to change it that much in your mind to keep loving her.

GRAND FINALE

“If they are gonna give her redemption arch, I am gonna puke.” Many people told me, they would not. They are not gonna do it. She is beyond redemption, she is antagonist, period. Guess what, they did. The cheapest way possible.

Blizzard kept telling us everything will make sense in the end, why she did all these things. But it did not. And it only confirmed my greatest fear: Sylvanas is an inconsistent character since Cataclysm.

Sylvanas was afraid to go to the Maw. So she got an amazing idea. Let’s free the god of death, the malevolent creature trapped there because for sure he is suffering just like me, and injustice was done to him. He is the reason of my suffering because he made Helm of Domination and Frostmourne, that’s why I was killed and I am like this? I am sure he is a good guy, in the end, let’s remake reality so there is no life and death! That guy must be pretty ok. Oh wait his job is to torture souls? No, I don’t believe he is bad.

So when Jailer gets all he wanted, ofc he say that he will remake all reality and everybody will serve. And Sylvanas realizes: “Oh my, he is just like the Lich King! I didn’t want this! I will never serve!” Even she served him for the past few expansions. And suddenly she sees he is a bad guy. Suddenly.

And then, Jailer gives her half of her soul back... So... this is the explanation? She was doing all this because she was not whole? Is this an excuse for genocide? Now we will all feel sorry for her? Tell her it’s ok, you were not yourself?

I am saying this all the years and I will say it again: the Ebon Blade are order full of those with a fate like Sylvanas. The whole order. Multiple characters suffered under the Lich King like her, lost themselves, were made to kill their friends, their families. And they, too, took revenge on him. But instead of going crazy and trying to hurt everybody because they were hurt, they tried to help and protect people. Maybe they are missing part of their souls too. But are they running around, burning innocents, committing genocide? No. So please, the is no excuse, she was aware of what she was doing. I am not buying this and for sure this won’t make me feel sorry for her. It was her choice. You can be depressed and hurt into the very core and still decide not to be homicidal maniac.

Another annoying thing is, Blizzard kept telling us she is a master strategist and she is highly inteligent. Would a highly inteligent person try to help somebody responsible for her suffering? Being ok with them? There was not shown how come she is ok with the Jailer! Look I thought she is smart but after the cinematic, she does not look like that.

What was her plan anyway? Did she believe such creature won’t betray her, he won’t dump her? I was hoping he will dump her and kill her. That would be the only ending fitting for the character. I didn’t want another Kerrigan, I didn’t want redemption arch for her... I was hoping I will finally like her as a villain. Now I can’t... there is no way I will like her ever again because Blizzard probably can’t do just evil characters. There always must be something behind, some explanation why they are like this. “I was good this whole time!” And I am tired of this... Suddenly I like Garrosh because he was an asshole but he was consistent. He had a good ending. He “died” like a boss.

THEY SHOULD HAVE LET HER DIE

And I mean it. If they would let her go after WotLK, it would be a good ending for her. Tragic end for the tragic character. She fulfilled her purpose and she would be remembered as a good consistent character. But she is making a lot of money, many people love her (not anymore, even people who liked her hate her now and her fanbase is getting smaller) so Blizzard decided they have to milk her as much as possible.

I think everything good should come to an end. “You would either die as a hero or live long enough to become a villain.” In this case “You would either die as a good character or live long enough to become inconsistent and annoying character.” And it happened.

Remember how people were angry how Thrall is getting a lot of attention in Cata? Haha, good old times. How about Sylvanas in 3 expansion cinematics (and some side cinematics like Reckoning, etc) and 2 expansions fully focusing on her (and some other expansions where she is a lot too). How about the 15th figure in a row. And 4th Blizzcon art. And I can keep going.

Metzen had favorite characters... but they were never overused as much as Sylvanas. Vol’jin was warchief for 1 expansion where he did nothing and then he died so she could take lead in story. So many characters are forgotten, pushed down so she can be on the spotlight. And I am sick of it. This is not single player, this is MMORPG. The world feels ridiculously small thanks to this, we have more characters than Sylvanas + 5 characters they keep using and recycling all the time.

And keep using Sylvanas and putting her into the spotlight all the time did not help. You can start hating character you liked before just because you have enough of them and you want to see other characters. This world has a big potential. So many characters are unused because of Sylvanas. Because the lead narrative designer loves her so much that he had to make her the main character of WoW and doesn’t care there is a whole world to take care of. And he does the worst job possible. Because he tried to make her complicated and complex and in the end he was just trying to make it look like that but it didn’t work out. It was just inconsistent. It didn’t fall in place.

Her plot armor is so laughable and it’s the most annoying thing about Sylvanas. How characters around her are so stupid and dumb so they can let her do such stuff (hello Horde in BfA). The whole universe and Blizzard especially is protecting Sylvanas of any harm. How can you like such character when it behaves like Mary Sue? I didn’t want to see cinematic how she comes and beat up really powerful guy without any issues. You know how interesting would be if Four Horsemen managed to arrive earlier and they wouldn’t know if to fight the Lich King or Sylvanas? No, Blizzard wanted to show lady Sylvanas Plotarmor.

And the worst thing is, I feel like Shadowlands are my last expansion in WoW. This is where the story ends for me. And I know that many characters won’t get resolution, many story arcs will never close because they’ve put too much effort to work on Sylvanas and ignore other characters. So many characters could have met. Lore in Shadowlands could have been expanded about The Scourge, death knights, rune magic, etc... it did not. 

So no, Sylvanas is not one of the best characters created. If this is the best WoW can muster then there is nothing to be proud of. We would have good or better characters if Blizzard tried to work with more characters and give them space and a chance to develop. But we will never have them because Sylvanas took the spotlight.

Sylvanas for me is the character who will be put on guidelines on how to not use a character. This character will be perfect for DO NOT character development guidelines. And the whole story of WoW at least in BfA and Shadowlands is a great example of how to destroy the world with an amazing setting and characters. 

I hope I’ve made this clear why many people hate her. Because it’s much more complex problem. This character was misused, written horribly, overused, was given a poor and cheap story arch, made look stupid and it no longer makes sense. And on top of that, many characters will never get a resolution, many storylines won’t be finished because all story was focused on her and not on the world. World which was supposed to be “everybody’s story” was made story about Sylvanas. Just because she sells.

Good job Danuser, I hope you are happy.

Tl;Dr: Sylvanas is inconsistent since Cataclysm because Blizzard tried to make her complex character artificially and failed horribly. She should have died after WotLK and never made Warchief. They should have let her go so we can remember her as a good consistent character

P.S.: I am not native speaker, sorry for grammar errors.

[esperanta-dragon]

Yes, I am fast. Yes Blizzard revealed patch cinematic on Blizzcon so it's no longer a spoiler, it's out officially. Still I made a warning. Yes I will be commenting via quick comic strips.Blizzard... did you seriously gave Darion's story arc to Anduin? Instead of working with Darion, you gave it to Anduin? Are you aware these two were pretty similar even before this? If yes, can we please connect them somehow? Or... Gosh. I think I am mad now.

https://www.patreon.com/esperantadragon?fan_landing=true

[esperanta-dragon]

Steve Danuser be like: I will destroy more than 20 years of history, do a lot of retcons, give you MacGuffins, will use the same 5 characters all the time and will make them look like idiots and try to convince you the bad guy and the whole concept of Shadowlands was there all along since Warcraft III despite I came up with it like 2 years ago, all of that just so I can give Azeroth Hitler a redemption arc and show you that she is actually caring and loving and wanted to help you all. Please love her, she is the best and we don’t have any other good characters to offer!

[esperanta-dragon]

I made sketch of this back in October but it feels much older. Maybe because I am doing so many things that I am losing track of time and projects.

Anyway, I started to see that people on Tumblr are starting to talk about this more and more. These two have incredible a lot in common. And I am not surprised that internet already made this ship. I am not shipper but this one makes sense to me and I can understand why people do it. Here are reasons:

Never met their mothers

Fathers incredibly powerful, living legends

Lost their fathers at a young age

Experienced life-threatening situation as kids/teenagers (Anduin - Divine Bell, Darion - Stratholme)

Huge, almost crushing responsibility at a young age

Underestimated by many because of their age, turned out they are capable of things others, even older can't do

Both on a high position, the fate of the world rely on them (many times)

... both are blond (even their fathers are not, they are more like their mothers), it’s last point because it’s obvious, but still it’s funny

I can continue with this topic for hours. Blizzard never used this. Even it's obvious. I just want a dialogue. A conversation between these two. I don't want much. But I am still sad when I imagine these two could be communicating for years, exchanging letters, insights, ideas, philosophical questions. Discussing undead, then Arathi in Before the Storm. Anduin is basically Darion... but he survived. Don't tell me these two never met. Blizzard had the opportunity in Before the Storm. They had the opportunity in The Maw starting questline. They still have a chance in Shadowlands. But I am afraid this will end up unused. Because I can imagine these two could have interesting conversations. They could be even friends. Well... we can't have everything. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/esperantadragon