I am sure if we saw Xe’ra life story in more detail and context she would be a feminist icon for some of yall too.
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Thadeus want xe’ra to be a victim for his own religios agenda and the angle/naaru connection.
Xe’ra is not a badly written character. She was indifferent to the pain she caused the PC numerous times, didn’t ask Illidan if he wanted to be lightforged and instead forced her prophecy on him, even when he clearly said otherwise.
Sylvanas on the other hand has been badly written because two dude bros couldn’t agree on which direction to take her and afrisabi was vindictive about it.
It’s why people are upset about sylvanas character and nobody is upset about xe’ra. Xe’ra got what she deserved
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Can you list the qualities of a “feminist icon”? I’m curious. How do you define the characteristics of a feminist character? What are the key traits? And how does Xe’ra exemplify these traits.
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… No. No it isn’t. Vanessa VanCleef isn’t a poorly written female character, even though she’s evil. Azshara is not poorly written, even though she is evil and woman. Yrel’s poor narrative change into a villain (maybe) has nothing to do with her being female.
This is a massive reach. Inconceivably massive. And frankly insulting to women. “Female villains are automatically poorly written for being both female and a villain”? What?? Do you think male characters are poorly written just because they might be villains? Your attempt to rail against sexism ranks among the most blatantly sexist things I’ve seen today, and I visited General Discussion.
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Actually…
- She is badly written (a subject worthy of its own thread)
- She gave the PC time to recover from the initial-mind link (to quote her; “Return to me when you are able.”) Sounds like concern to me
- She did ask Illidan if he wanted to be Lightforged (to quote her; “Do you not wish to reclaim what was lost? To be whole again?”)
I think you’re either grasping at straws to deny my proof or your hatred for Xe’ra blinds you to what she actually does in-game.
And Xe’ra seems coded like a stand-in for a writer’s issues with their mother or Sunday school teacher - possibly Afrasiabi’s given his toxic mindset and control over the story of the Legion expansion (I wonder who his favorite WoW character was…)
We’re on the same page regarding Sylvanas, though (who was the other dudebro that ruined Sylvanas’ story? Kosak?)
You strawman me again, Renautus. A character being female isn’t the same as being a feminist icon. I said Xe’ra is/was the former, but not the latter. I’ll explain how I define a feminist icon if you stop misrepresenting me.
I’m going to assume you misunderstood me rather than quote-mine me to make a strawman argument.
To clarify, I was saying one of the ways that WoW’s female characters are poorly written is when certain ones get villain batted (Tyrande was poorly written, but never villain batted). And as of Legion, at least, Vanessa doesn’t count as a villain.
How do you determine whether a WoW character being villain-batted has anything to do with her being female or not? Are there any who you think fit that criteria?
Ok, yeah, that does make more sense.
I don’t think any character is intentionally villain-batted for being female; rather, I think female characters have a disproportionately higher representation of their power making them “go crazy” and the only solution is to depower them. See Jaina and Tyrande as the best examples.
And when these characters are portrayed as “powerful, crazy women” the common perception of players is that they will be raid bosses for being evil. See again; Jaina (who did eventually become a raid boss) and Tyrande for simple examples.
Sylvanas is a similar, but distinct trope. Rather than power driving her crazy, the power gain made her more obviously evil. This trope, however, is more common to male characters in WoW. Garrosh is a prime example, going from some snobby orc boy living in Nagrand to suddenly a highly skilled warrior and also a racist.
But I don’t see a common thread of women portrayed as evil; women in WoW are more often supporting characters to male ones, and often passive.
While I stand by my position on Xe’ra (a female character who was villain-batted for author ax grinding, not because she’s female), I agree with your assessment of most of WoW’s female characters. I just hope Alexstraza or Talanji isn’t hit with the villain bat (Talanji has legitimate grievances with the Alliance… as Jaina does with the Horde. A conflict between those two could become a “morally grey done right” story).
I do wonder if this means that Elune’s role in making the Naaru has been retconned, given the hints about An’she and the other cosmic stuff.
Xera was not villain batted. She was a bad person all along!
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I don’t know about “bad all along”. Was she “bad all along” when she and the others saved the Draenei who rejected Sargeras?
She is poorly written, and even our own PCs have done worse than her (how many characters have we tortured? MCd into killing themselves or each other? Or sold into slavery?)
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Xe’ra wasn’t evil. She is actual moral greyness, the WoW epitome of “the ends justify the means”. It’s why she was created by the devs, to be an inverted mirror of Illidan’s own morality, so that when Illidan turns down her offer of power, it could be seen as growth.
… Of course it was so ham-fisted, rushed and poorly written that everyone came out looking worse from it, but it is what it is.
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With everything we know about Alexstraza and her backstory, I’m not sure Blizzard would have the stones to try and villain bat her. She may be one of the only characters that they don’t try it with just because of of everything going on in her backstory.
Not to mention I don’t think they should even consider the villian bat as she’s one of the only, if not the only, truly good entities left in WoW.
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I didn’t say she was evil. She had an unhealthy obsession with Illidan and her idealization on who he was and what he should be. When this idealization is challenged she has a melt down and goes all dalek on him. We haven’t seen any alternate version of her to say this is simply a matter of writing convenience. It is exactly what she is meant to be.
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Since I mostly agree with your assessment of Xe’ra, why do some many fans call her evil?
imo this 
is pretty close to calling her evil, Izhkarl.
I wonder if Xe’ra will be retconned into being connected to An’she given the newest lore about Elune.
No, you’re mistaken or making a strawman argument. That’s not my goal. I’m pointing out bad writing and the story elements.