I think Anduin deserves a nice, long break from lore for a while. Maybe an expansion or two. He is a problem, yes. But I think some other Alliance races and leaders need more fleshing out now.
My desire is to return to him at another time.
3 Likes
Itâs not that heâs a bad character, but Anduinâs archetype overlaps too much with the awful lawful good narrative theyâre pushing for alliance and he sticks out like a sore thumb. If the Alliance had a bit more edge to it or if Anduin had a functional foil at all he would contrast more and feel less redundant.
I also donât get the constant complaints saying that he bends the lore to his whims considering heâs constantly clashing with half the leaders as of 8.3 where Tyrande actually holds him accountable for not helping in Darkshore.
I was actually expecting Anduin to become more of a warrior after Varianâs demise. After watching the cinematic in which Varian tells him to basically man up and step up to the challenge I was like âohhhh crap, here it is, the boy is finally going full Wrynnâ But no, he just went back into his old peacekeeping ways.
3 Likes
I think they sort of hinted at him trying to become more of a warrior in the BfA cinematic but then his sentimental side took over when everyone started tripping over and he defaulted back to his old self.
Itâs still development, his arc still could use a humbling experience or two to sort of help him grow into his leadership position, unfortunately the other alliance veterans suck even more so he doesnât really have anyone to educate him.
That Siege of Lordaeron cinematic certainly wasnât made to promote the expansion we got.
7 Likes
Kind of a weird tangent but okay.
What I liked about the cinematic was that it showed the Alliance as the instigator, validating Sylvanasâ paranoia wouldâve been a better premise than⌠whatever it is they were trying to pull off at Teldrassil.
5 Likes
Not really that weird. I donât think we can use the Siege of Lordaeron cinematic for BfAâs plot because of how⌠different it is from what we got. The Alliance as aggressors, the Horde as defenders, and Sylvanas in an heroic position - even Saurfang being roused by her warcry.
That couldâve been the cinematic of a âfaction prideâ expansion. BfA wasnât that.
13 Likes
Thatâs good because Iâm not using it to describe the plot, Iâm using it to describe Anduinâs development.
Anduinâs development is part of the plot though? The story? However youâd call it.
2 Likes
Thereâs Bfaâs overarching narrative which starts and ends with this expansion (generally referred to as plot, war and old gods and stuff) and then thereâs each individual character arc molded by said story but smaller in scope.
The cinematic mightâve been misleading regarding BfAâs plot but itâs still canon.
Pretty much nothing of what we saw in regards to characters in that cinematic carried over to the expansion either
Anduin finally picks up Shalamayne to fight for the Alliance⌠and next time we see him, heâs holding the Alliance back from finishing off the Zandalari and ending the war (after tens if not hundreds of Alliance soldiers sacrificed their lives in a suicide mission to end the war) because he doesnât want us to be as bad as the Horde.
And the time after that, heâs giving his fatherâs sword to an orc all the way back from Blackhandâs Horde so that that Horde (that he previously claimed to not want to be like) may fix itself while the Alliance watches idly.
Back to the cinematic, Sylvanas ushers a warcry that gets the entire Horde pumped to fight for itself, and even brings Saurfang back to the fray! And then in-game Sylvanas just douses her troops as well as the Alliance in blight and Saurfang quits.
Anduin wasnât himself in that cinematic, Sylvanas wasnât herself in that cinematic, and Saurfang wasnât himself in that cinematic. At least not as seen in BfA
14 Likes
It contradicts what the cinematic conveys. Because on the cinematic we see the Horde all proudly defending Lordaeron, and then when we get to the story itâs a mess with Sylvanas killing her own soldiers and having already set up a blight deathtrap in the entire castle and Saurfang trying to suicide by Alliance and then quitting.
Except in this case what we see in-game is completely divorced from the cinematic? Can you fathom Saurfang being reinvigorated by Sylvanasâ warcry after Teldrassil? Or the same Sylvanas that roused everyone with a âFor the Hordeâ moments later dousing everyone with blight? Did she only pretend in the cinematic and then immediately drop the facade when it was clear trolls and orcs alone would hold the Alliance back?
Hell, it all starts with Sylvanas going âwar is badâ.
They certainly didnât write the story based on this cinematic this time around.
7 Likes
Which still doesnât contradict the cinematic since Sylvanas carried on with the lie until 8.2.5
Yes.
Or is Sylvanas only a pathological liar when it comes to trashing the character?
She didnât? She immediately diacarded it in Lordaeron when she ordered the battlefield blighted while her own troops were still there. The Horde was just blind and deaf for 2.5 patches afterwards.
And where does her narration fit in all of this? Or is it saved for 9.3 where Sylvanas vi Brittania reveals her and Wrathionâs plan was to unite the faction by making herself a common enemy
3 Likes
Well this clearly got derailed, but Iâll play along.
Yes, which still falls within âdefending lordaeronâ.
Also incorrect, dissent started in 8.1 as soon as the story was allowed to move forward, before then even, if you consider this line from Good War:
Every single payload hit its target. Orange flames began to spread across Teldrassil.
Silence fell over the Horde. Even the cries of the captured night elves vanished. Everyone watched in disbelief.
Thatâs what Iâm trying to figure out, you suddenly turned this into an odd fixation with Sylvanas when it had nothing to do with her.
According to Saurfang, he didnât kill Anduin at that moment because he was already hoping for Anduin and the Alliance to kill Sylvanas. Which means his inspired charge was all a fake, and also begs the question ofâŚwhy? If his hope was for Sylvanas to get iced, why rally the Horde behind her? Just take a knee and leave her out there to get overwhelmed.
I donât believe it. I think Blizzard changed the story from what they were planning when they delivered that cinematic.
19 Likes
No. High King is an albatross on the Allianceâs back that needs to go. As long as it is around, it will only tempt lazy writers to continue the half-assed story hooks that weâve been dealing with since WoW turned into a trashy comic book story. The Alliance can never be a âallianceâ as long as âwarchief-liteâ is there to elevate someone above their supposed peers and hog all the attention.
12 Likes
Surprisingly, the Horde likes him no better than some among the AllianceâŚ
More that they let Metzen work on it as his final project without telling him about any of the events that followed or preceded Lordaeron.
9 Likes
He wasnât supposed to be physically capable of that, after being crushed by the Divine Bell. I actually thought it would be really interesting to see the humans led by a king who couldnât be on the front lines.
5 Likes