I fail to see the difference here when they try to separate “dominated” and “controlled” regarding Anduin.
If your free will is being suppressed so much so that you’re being forced to do things that you never would, then you’re just being controlled by somebody.
This entire bit here seems just like an easy out to eventually save Anduin, giving no actual weight to using him in the first place. Which they shouldn’t have, mind you, because its purely just done for shock value and makes no sense.
But if you’re going to forcibly turn him into an agent of the Jailer, just go full control and have us kill him at the end like Arthas.
I mean they’re literally comparing him to Arthas in multiple 9.1 interviews now, the fact that they’re going to have us redeem him–or worse yet, have Sylvanas do it to halfass her redemption at the last second of her story, is just kind of cowardice on the part of the writers.
They want the shock of a fallen hero without the consequence of it. The impact of Arthas falling but without the natural end of the arc of him doing so. So ultimately it doesn’t matter. What is Anduin going to do post 9.2 when he’s freed? Be depressed and upset that he was used for a puppet?
Man it sure is a new and unique storyline to see heroes repeatedly tortured (Whether physical, mentally, emotionally, or psychologically) over and over again until they become a monster.
Arthas
Sylvanas
Thrall
Jaina
Varian
Tyrande
Anduin
Saurfang
Ner’zhul
Some of them recover, but the ones who do are still hardened and/or cynical and jaded at the world. Once you realize this is the thing they just repeat over and over and over, it makes the story really depressing. There’s more than I’ve listed there, but those were just off the top of my head.
PS nothing they’ve really done so far makes the Jailer seem a threat on par with anything we’ve dealt with in the last 5 or even 10 years. It literally just seems like the current writers were upset that the iconic Lich King was gone so they wrote up a new Redux Lich King and did none of the leg work to make him threatening before we end up facing off against him. And they gave their new Redux Lich King a Redux Arthas with a Redux Frostmourne because this is just “We wanted to do a Wraths storyline but the writers back then wrapped it mostly up already.”
Now if Jaina, Thrall, AND Baine were also corrupted and that’s how the Jailer was going to get the keys from Maldraxxus (Thrall—Draka), Revendreth (Jaina—Kael’thas) and Ardenweald (Baine—Vol’jin) then THAT would have made him seem like a real 4d chess type of villain.
Having Thrall reunite with his mother just for the Jailer to activate him and steal the sigil would be some real evil, Gul’dan-like villain stuff right there, I’d actually be impressed with the writing if Anduin was a half-red herring and there were other sleeper agents too.