New drinking game; sip every time this guy uses the word, “actual.” 
Go!
Drink! 
Drink!
Drink!
Drink!
Drink!
Drink!
Please, no more. My liver… 
17 Likes
Dis is a game.
Yes, there is that too. Which couldn’t have been much fun in any city (with how much fel and shadow magic some of the classes make use of), let alone in the Maw/Shadowlands.
1 Like
This do be a video game
I think people are too focused on just the Shadowlands aspect of Anduin’s storyline. It also doesn’t help that many of the events that would likely traumatize a 10-15 year old boy all happened offscreen in comics, novels, etc.
Keep in mind:
- Lorewise his father was split into two men that had both disappeared for different lengths of time (1&2 years respectively)
- Onyxia was disguised in plain sight and killed several people upon revealing herself
- Anduin was kidnapped by Onyxia
- He witnessed a Scourge invasion of Stormwind
- Helplessly watched his friend/bodyguard Aerin die in an earthquake during the Cataclysm when she was crushed in a falling building
- Was held hostage by Moira during the initial succession crisis in Ironforge
- Was nearly killed by the Horde and shipwrecked alone on Pandaria for several days
- Witnessed first hand how far Garrosh had fallen and was nearly killed by him
- Witnessed the return of the Legion and was nearly killed by them in a failed assassination
- Watched in horror as Sylvanas went back on her word during The Gathering, ordered the deaths of her own people, and saw her murder Calia
- Fought in the Fourth War
- Saw visions of what N’Zoth would do
- Was captured, taken to The Maw, and forced into Zovaal’s service
- Nearly killed Kyrestia as his first act under Zovaal’s control
- Gathered all the Covenant Sigils for Zovaal, outright destroying the souls of multiple innocents in the process
All of the pre-Shadowlands stuff? That was in a ten year span. All the stuff that happened before he was king? That was before he was 17. His imprisonment in The Maw and servitude to Zovaal? That was about one year of his life in lore. Keep in mind that Anduin is a character that wished for peace, watched multiple friends/innocents die as a child, witnessed firsthand a Scourge AND Legion invasion, witnessed the Cataclysm and the widespread damage firsthand while in Dun Morogh, lost his father in a brutal manner, slowly had to learn the horrors of war firsthand, had to learn that sometimes fighting cannot be avoided, and then was imprisoned in WoW’s version of hell before being used as a weapon (and fully aware of it to boot)
Yeah, after that much messed up stuff happening from the point he was 10 years old, up until he was 21, I could totally understand him wanting to bounce for five years. Anduin’s PTSD goes far beyond the things that happened in the Shadowlands. Overall, Azeroth is actually a pretty messed up place that is in a CONSTANT state of war, be it the usual Horde/Alliance nonsense (at least up until the end of BfA), some sort of cosmic/undead horror, etc.
This world has gone from one crisis to the next, and unfortunately for Anduin, he has NEVER had a chance to properly deal with any one situation. This is a boy that became a man in a shattered, war torn world. This man has not known what true peace is since he was about nine years old.
Honestly, it’s actually a miracle that MORE people in this world aren’t forever messed up by it.
30 Likes
It was really up to Blizzard to show us that and THEY FAILED. yet again. But maybe they’ll flesh that part out a bit in the expansion cause I was watching that scene like “boy shut up, Jaina literally had a bomb dropped on her that killed everyone she knew. Almost killed her. She went through the same SL crap you did. Not even going into what she had to endure at the hands of her own mother in BFA Maybe women are stronger than men. shrugs
2 Likes
When Anduin was very young, he was a priest, running around in Pandaria.
Then as he got older and his dad died, he became a paladin.
Then SLs happened and he was forced to become essentially a DK although he wasn’t dead or undead.
So I’m thinking his head’s been messed with but it’ll pass.
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Jaina had a period of being unhinged (justifiably) as well, she nearly destroyed Ogrimmar.
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A short period. How long in War Within has Anduin shirked his responsibilities? Is it comparable?
There is no help if that’s how poorly you interpreted it.
6 Likes
Jaina was never subjected to Domination in the same way Anduin was…
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Even though their trauma is vastly different. (And everyones response to trauma will be vastly different)
It took her close to 7-8 years to stop seeking to destroy the Horde with all her power.
Before Dragonflight, Anduin had been wondering to come to grips with what happened for 3 years. We will need to wait and see what kind of time will have pasted during Dragonflight.
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IDK, I see him as a failure of a father because his father had worse things before Stormwind’s reign such as the fall of his reign, the death of his father, his enslavement in Nagrand, and the death of his wife.
He just stayed in the friendzone of a dead banshee who is sweeping the maw collecting more Nelf souls that were still left.
IDK about that problem, and a pretext for Blizzard to use a character in that way or a reflection of a PTSD resulting from the disaster that occurred at Blizzard and the disgusting lore of the Kirians, Sylvanas and DF.
The only thing I know no longer matters now, this expansion and its saga is what was needed for WoW and with its 20th anniversary it is enough for me that, as Melzten said, it was enough to commemorate this great MMO.
About five years for Jaina actually according to the current timeline (Theramore was the tail end of 29 ADP, BfA was 33-34 ADP)
SL>DF has kinda contradicted itself at some points. End of SL was 36 ADP. It was stated that there was a three year timeskip, but DF is intended to have started in 40 ADP.
Honestly? The official timeline is kinda messed up. Classic/Vanilla originally progressed in real time, each expansion took place in the span of a year in universe, and there was originally a three year timeskip from Wrath>Cata. Hell, there were even quests in Cata that referenced some of the events of Classic-Wrath being at X years in the past!
Anduin was stated to have become king when he was 17, but that didn’t mesh with the old timeline (born in 15 ADP, Legion would have been in 36 ADP originally with a 21 year old Anduin if we factor in two years for Classic, one per expansion up to Legion, and a three year timeskip from Wrath>Cata)
Instead of acknowledging that mistake, Blizzard instead opted for a retcon that compressed Classic into just a year and ignored the timeskip (yet they never fixed the quests that referenced any of that)
At this point, I more or less roll with it, but it’s still sometimes a sticking point for me, especially as I’m a big lore freak with several of the IPs I enjoy, as well as the fact that when you REALLY stop to look at everything that happened in the course of the revised WoW timeline, you realize there has literally been NO peace for ten years and that it’s one major disaster after another.
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Timeline
3 Likes
I skipped Shadow Lands. He was mind controlled…I’m sorry DOMINATION MAGIKED by The Jailer so he could stab the big blue angel woman with the generic sci-fi title instead of a name.
Then he fite raid.
What else did he do? Did the big lady die? I think she lived. I played through Shadow Lands but everything kind of flies at you out of order when you’re not doing it patch by patch as it’s current.
I also kind of assumed he became undead? Sort of like how Arthas became undead simply by taking up Frostmourne. But I guess The Jailer just liked dressing people up? He got better. It was just a phase.
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You americans really have problems with drama story telling right? It’s the first food storyline we have since years
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It’s not the food we deserve but it’s the food we need.
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Hey name is Kyrestia. I made a post about everything Anduin has been through.
Clearly you did not read it.
6 Likes
Auto correction is the best way to describe how far away we are still from the perfect AI
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This post was beautifully written and I think the cinematic does a disservice in recounting Anduin’s trauma.
5 Likes