Death IS senseless. The closer a novel is to reality, the better it’s regarded by critics, as it should be.
I want something realistic. If a character survives just because the story needs him that’s utterly contrived and lazy writing.
You’re talking about darkness induced apathy but GoT isn’t even close to being guilty of that. A whole bunch of main characters make it, only you actually care about them because you know not everyone has plot armor.
Walking dead on the other hand got so freaking old with every character dying and new ones being brought back each season that I had to quit watching. The plot was going nowhere and each season boiled down to “we find a safe haven but then discover it’s not so safe and have to move on”.
It depends. Reality doesn’t have to be the author’s goal.
By the way. Some questions while we are at it.
What do you think about Jon’s ress?
What do you think about Tyrion’s later development?
What do you think about Daenerys?
I can’t help myself, but it seems there is no satisfying ending for you if the morally corrupt make it and those with morals die.
Because to me it seems you can’t appreciate crapsack ending.
You need to be really picky when it comes to historical stories then.
Although…
One of Gradius’ biggest beefs with SC2 is Kerrigan going full Karma Houdini so you two might find some common ground…
Not really. Brood War Kerrigan was a different person. Literally. She had her whole personality overwritten. Sara Kerrigan is not guilty of the Queen of Blades’s crimes, because she had not choice in committing them.
Once she was restored to her original personality she tried to avoid the Zerg entirely, and when that failed she made it a point to ensure the Swarm under her rule wasn’t the universal threat that it had been.
Even if she was accountable for the Queen of Blade’s actions, she did more than enough to atone for them.
There is no “karma houdini-ing” She’s literally not responsible for the things Gradius wants to hold her accountable for.
The entire point of Brood War was that Kerrigan was ultimately responsible for her actions as the Queen of Blades. Randomly retconning her agency away litteraly defeats the entire purpose of the narrative and makes the deaths of Aldaris Fenix and Duke far more pointless than any in GoT.
That’s not even going into the fact that the war crimes she committed in hots ( when she was supposedly herself again) are on par with, if not worse, than what she did as the OG QoB.
Yeah, generally my problem is with her war crimes in HoTS. She got her humanity back and decided to exterminate a bunch of planets of her own free will using the most dangerous biological weapon in the universe.
And it’s not even that she gets away with it, it’s that no other main characters call her out or hold her accountable. Raynor is supposed to be a moral dude and the last good cop in the universe yet has no qualms with her war crimes. He and Kerrigan are psychopaths. I guess the excuse is that everyone else can’t do anything about it and has to suck it up and just not say anything?
@Bifrost I’ll have to get back to you with more detail. But right off the bat I thought Jon’s res was lame and changed the tone of the story. Tyrion’s later development was fine, he’s not omniscient and is allowed to make mistakes. But I don’t like how he gets shoehorned into everything and has been literally everyone’s advisor. He’s been at every small council meeting.
What crimes on HotS?
You mean when she actively spared civilians?
Or when she worked closely and civilly with Raynor’s rebellion?
Or ensured the Zerg would have similar leadership once she left?
What “war crimes” during HotS are you attributing to her? Because the only thing I see she did was depose a maniac while limiting the threat the Swarm posed to the rest of the universe.
https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/sc2/topic/8344294839Someone should call the Doc. We’re back in 2014 !
@Mar
I did something evil now. That’s for certain. On purpose.
I think I might make solid Shadow Priest after all.
Since it has become sort of my hobby, job and an honor…
…I’ll focus on the classic bit of Carrion strain Swarm Host Evolution mission.
I mean I got as far as Kelis fu^king acknowledging this is not kosher.
This mission is happening in an urban area of a city of New Babylon on Planet Cruxas III.
If you play with good enough graphics you can feast your eyes upon coccoons among other things. Invasion of this planet has begun before we focus on Abathur’s experiments. Excuses that Kylisa led the charge are pointless. Kylisa was already brought back into the fold after succesfully conquering Mistaff IV, therefore Kerrigan as the titular “Heart of the Swarm” fu^king knew as Mengsk is my witness.
Zerg are not really fond of the hit and run tactics. They hit. And overrun.
The mentioned above doesn’t disprove some of her redeeming actions like sparing Warfield’s wounded or limiting her fighting to military sectors on Korhal IV after (emphasis on after) Valerian asked her to, but these actions also don’t erase all the sick sh^t she has done in the expansion.
Not gonna list those, since Gradius already provided quite a thorough analysis.
You probably shouldn’t be reading Sci-fi or fantasy then. Departing from reality is kind of the primary shtick. I can respect wanting historical fiction, but youre kind of looking in the wrong places for what you like.
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I’m not sure, but isn’t this the whole reason why we have plot armor? Some character get away with stupid action because they can’t die, yet. For me, the Game of Throne killing off any character you do stupid stuff. It’s not just a senseless cruelty. That’s why nobody ever feels upset with those death. It’s a logical consequence of their actions. (At least that what I think of it, anyway.)
On the subject of Kerrigan, you need to understand that we have debate this intensively for a very, very, very, very, very long time. We are pretty set in stone that she is an evil murder. It really doesn’t help your case that all your predecessors are less than ‘okay’ at making their case for her.
I read your comment, so far it’s much better than theirs. If you really want to debate this subject, then be prepare to stir up a lot of animosity. Try to understand that it’s the subject not you.
The fantastical elements in sci-fi/fantasy are counterbalanced by a realistic plot that treats war as it should be: dark and gritty.
By “realistic” you mean “internally consistent when it comes to wourldbuilding” right?
Just so we’re on same terminology.
The word youre looking for is “verisimilitude” in this case. "the appearance of having internal consistency.
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I love how being on this on forum, discussing lore to a videogame based on fiction, something which could be considered by superficial individuals as inherently stupid keeps my non-medical English vocabulary in check more than anything else.
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Dark and gritty is for edgy teens who think they’re too cool for stories where the heroes win.
The real world has far too much darkness already, fiction should help you escape from that, not add more darkness where it doesn’t have to be.