And I assume this level of power was bestowed to other Guardians, as well.
It just struck me this morning thinking about it. Back in Legion, our characters were more powerful than they’d ever been previously. We were hardened elite adventurers equipped with incredibly powerful weapons, and yet it still took a full raid to beat the drained husk of the Avatar of Sargeras.
The Avatar that Aegwynn battled at full power. By herself.
It’s kind of insane to imagine just how powerful she was in her prime.
The question then, is, why was that level of power needed in the past? Did Azeroth face threats on a level equal or worse to hundreds of years ago, compared to what we face now?
How did an organization even acquire the means to make an individual so powerful? That her power dwarfs even people wielding legendary weapons like Ashbringer and Xal’atath.
The Guardian concept is a little bit crazy at times, certainly. Granted, a person selected to become Guardian was basically Captain Planet- the Council of Tirisfal, arguably a collection of the very strongest human and elven mages, combined their powers and granted them to their selection.
So, I suppose if we presume the old Guardians of Tirisfal tended to be at the more Khadgar/Jaina level, and you mooshed a bunch of them together, well, that would be a pretty dead killy individual. Throw in a little “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” and a dash of plot contrivance, and bingo bango, we’ve got an Sargeras avatar stompin’ kill bot.
Still, to an extent, it falls into the category of the Legion being a dire threat that has consumed worlds yet seems to routinely fail at things, all the time.
The thing that if you have to take into account is that it was always Sargeras’s plan for her to beat the Avatar so that he could hide within her soul in order to corrupt her. When that failed he settled for possessing her son, Medivh.
My understanding is that the Guardian’s power was cumulative over various generations. They would pass on the power of multiple mages plus others adding later on.
Yeah, that’s much the point of the Guardian as a plot point. It’s why Khadgar rejected the position of Guardian, because no one person should have such ludicrous power on the high chance that they end up corrupt with it. Aegwynn, thankfully for Azeroth, had most of her corruption retconned.
Honestly I never liked the entire concept of Guardian- so UBER mage. It was walking Deus Ex Machine being so powerful it could itself wipe entire countries.
To me it felt pointless in WoW setting.
Aegwynn wasn’t OP because of her Guardian powers, at least not compared to the other Guardians prior, but because for the first time since the role was created she used those powers to extend her life far beyond the norm and thus was able to learn more and hone those powers for far longer.
