I ask myself everytime we do something that is suppose to be good. But the NPC’s (The characters in lore that is) tell me to don’t ask questions.
But to the answer to this spefific inquiry,… something something, past can’t be altered due to … rules set in place by the bronze dragonflight or something, while the story being told, and being put in the shoes of Artha’s goons…
I honest to god have NO idea.
What makes us different than Arthas? I got a bronze drake mount and he didn’t.
That is, unless they go postal.
I’ve yet to see someone answer what art has was supposed to do other than purge the city lol
The difference is that uther and jaina are there as its happening. We would be looking back, going against the protectors of the timeline. The real choice is not really to change arthas but rather to disagree with the bronze flight. How would our characters know what is better?
Interesting Theory, genocide of digital people… so shameful.
Alright OP. There is a really nice little video on YouTube about what would have happened, should Arthas not of culled Stratholme. The short version is, the Scourge would have run rampant through Azeroth, inevitably doing exactly what they were made to do. That being wipe out all living things on the planet to pave the way for the Legion. So no. Arthas did the correct thing regardless, saving the world by slaughtering a city of already screwed people. The price of a few for the good of the whole. That is how ethics work.
Been a while since I’ve done the instance, but I recall that the only mob we kill in the instance that’s not a zombie, demon, or dragon is Salramm the Fleshcrafter, and he was kind of a murderjerk so killing him was justified.
In the event you’re trying to do the whole “video games make us violent in real life” thing, that nonsense was obliterated roughly 25 years ago, and I sincerely hope nobody’s that desperate for a straw to grasp.
That misses everything I was pointing out.
I think that was more of what could have happened. Presumably the “best” scenario was Arthas packing it up with Jaina the moment Medivh went on his whole you need to go to Kalimdor shtick.
Well that sort of makes it worse, don’t it?
The fact remains, culling one city saved countless people from becoming mindless zombies.
We get quests to slaughter critters and people as soon as we make a character. What difference does Stratholme make from all the rest?
Exactly. Arthas doesn’t even have that. All he knows is the undead are taking over his homeland and if he does not stop them, they will overrun it. The only knowledge we both have is there is no cure for the plague, only to cull those infected. All knowledge of the goals of the Scourge, Kel’Thuzad, and the Lich King, beyond conquest, are only known to us.
We are taking the word of the bronze dragonflight that things should play out this way. This sort of authority fallacy is probably the most common cause of atrocity and we just do it, because bronze. We at minimum as corrupt as Arthas in this. Really we are worse because we aren’t backed into a corner and lacking information as he is.
I’m not sure if books have changed the story, but according to the game, the Burning Legion and Scourge were only stopped at the last possible moment. The battle at the world tree was only a delaying tactic. Arthas bought precious time for the Alliance of Azeroth to organize, far more than anything at the world tree did. If the corruption of Lordaeron was all inevitable anyway, he was the one who directly saved Azeroth by turning back the initial Scourge invasion back into Northrend and delaying it there while the orcs, humans, and night elves fought amongst each other.
Messing with time isnt that easy, and has severe consequences. Nozdormu proved this to the infinite dragon that wanted to save her sister from black dragons. Every attempt made not only resulted in the sisters death anyway, but also caused worse things to happen, like the black dragon discovering the bronze eggs she was guarding and destroying them. A way was eventually found, but only through extremely great effort. Such a small thing as that, took so much work to fix without ramifications. Which is the lesson Nozdormu was teaching, it’s better to protect what worked out than it is to try to save everyone and risk everything.
Also, alternate timelines flickerin and out of existence all the time. Best to worry about your own timeline rather than complicate things even further with cross-timeline shennanigans. The Maghar were a mistake.
This, however, is still quite possible. Amanthul gave Noz a vision, supposedly of his death. That vision is what caused Noz to become Murozond and oppose the true timeline.
We now have three possible outcomes for Blizzard to inevitably take.
Arthas’s story was a beautiful and pure tragedy. Unfortunately, various writers at Blizzard seek to revise in game history.
Arthas saw Stratholme as the trolley problem and made the call to kill a few to save many. What Arthas should have done is report back to Lordaeron thereafter to explain what happened instead of mindlessly chasing Mal’Ganis.
But the various writers decided to, at minimum
Ultimately, Arthas was not in the wrong at Stratholme. His thirst for vengeance as opposed to justice, was what led him into becoming the Lich King.
Conflating the Lich King’s lies to his Death Knights (WHO LITERALLY BETRAYED HIM) with what actually happens in the game is so disingenuous…
You’re right, he got a cursed runeblade called Frostmourne and became a Death Knight. Funny, I also don’t remember that happening.
Which. Did. Not. Happen. To. US!
You’re as thick as pig swile.
Again, the entire questing experience is Arthas slowly trying to make us ready to be “reaped” and become his elite death knight troops(the Wrath box even has the whole about “staring at the abyss, it stares back at you”). A good chunk of questing(like say Zul’drak) has us making morally questionable actions.
You would have gotten one if we all ended up losing to Arthas, which is the point. We miraculously did not lose.
Because we WON! But that was Arthas’ goal, gather the greatest heroes of Azeroth and ultimately turn them into Death Knights to lead his forces. Which is what Ner’zhul did on a very individual level to Arthas.
I am not sure how you can miss the basic theme of Wrath, it would be like missing the whole “what is worth fighting for” theme of Mists.
Critical thinking isn’t your strong suit, is it?
And missing a basic theme of Wrath seems to be your failure.
You’re trying to say that people as the PLAYERS not the characters, are morally in line with an evil character. Your lack of any form of actual, rational thought is very blaringly obvious. Yes, Arthas wanted the 'heroes of Azeroth" to be his generals. Yadda yadda. But that has nothing to do with your initial post where you were very adamant there and in your title that " Anyone who did Culling of Stratholme instance is as morally corrupt as Arthas."