I consider Bolvar to be neutral only in the sense that, say, Calia is neutral. Yes, he’s not active with his home faction at the moment, but all his history, ties, and resonance are with characters on one faction.
I think what irks me is that for you, he’s an old friend, while for me, he’s hardly more than a literal “who?” I’d like to have some old friends in that slot more often than once a decade.
I mean, pure daydream, but use Cairne. Particularly in Arve…Avara…Lothloria… TREE NATURE FUN LAND.
Everybody loves Cairne. And he could have a cool ghost body.
It’s pretty much confirmed that Taelia is getting involved in this. They didn’t introduce her as Bolvar’s daughter right before this xpac only to not involve her. The real question is how hard they go in on the Taelia / Anduin shipping.
…
I do hope that they reign Bolvar in. I didn’t have any real gripes with Khagdar in either WoD or Legion, but Magni was a bit much. I really don’t know what they were aiming for with him. Bolvar though seems like a fundamental waist of a character to have in that role - goes from jailer of the damned and leader of all death knights to dude yelling at you to kill some troll in a cave for a few gold.
Baine: Father, is that you!? I have longed for a chance to speak freely with y-
SLAP!
Caine: Listen here, calf. I swear to the Earth Mother, by the time you get out of this zone I am going to make a BULL out of you!
I have never heard of this character.
What did they do and why would they matter in shadowlands?
I mean, presumably they would introduce a new character is what he was implying. Somebody new to develop a larger scope of cast and history for Azeroth.
Get over it.
He’s more of a Scourge hero now anyway.
“But the WOONS, champyun! Won’t ye think o’ the WOONS?!”
And that’s another thing.
Blizzard, please, please stop calling us Champion or Hero. I’m just sick of those terms.
I’m hopeful we’re going to be called Maw Walker this expansion since that’s at least unique and new, and unlikely to ever come up again.
Honestly I do like it whenever the game remembers my toons’ military rank and has someone call them Commander. Doesn’t happen often, but it still occasionally comes up.
…despite being promoted to general. I don’t think we’re ever called General outside of the promotion scene tho.
Get real. This is Blizzard we’re talking about.
If Cairne were alive in BfA leading the Tauren they would have had him do everything that Baine did. If they can botch Saurfang’s character they sure as hell can make a mess of Cairne.
I don’t see Bolvar as Alliance but certainly more Alliance leaning in themes and story. I might be less bothered if it felt like he either had some ties to the Horde or at least had fully cut ties to the Alliance but like Magni, Bolvar has family in the Alliance and that family will be involved in the story.
Personally I was kind of holding out that Vol’jin might be in a similar role but alas it isn’t to be the case. I do expect that Horde characters will experience Bolvar’s story with his daughter with literally zero context building up to it. It frankly is a similar problem to Calia but at least with Calia she has some rough connection to the forsaken. Bolvar is generally far more one sided.
I wouldn’t call Bolvar narratively neutral though at this point. Like with Khadgar and Magni, while his story and connections tie him to the Alliance where there are none tying him to the Horde. I don’t really object to him being the lead character but it is going to feel again like the Horde is being tacked on to a narrative not designed for it.
I think Horde players just once would like a lead neutral character to be someone they felt they had even a vague connection to rather than someone originally from the other faction that is suddenly inexplicably chummy with them. When did Magni suddenly become my characters best friend? I don’t think my character had ever even met him prior to the start of Legion.
Then stop saving the planet, ya ween!
EDIT: Nevermind that was Brann
Dude, it’s been ten (10!!!) years since he donned the Helm of Domination and became the LK. Technically, he died in 2008. People get green cards much quicker than this.
It is such a stretch to say he is still an Alliance character.
He isn’t an Alliance character persay, even though his origins are coming from the Alliance. He is a character with Alliance connections and really ONLY Alliance connections. There are no links between him and the Horde. The Alliance however has not only a shared history but people he has direct connections such as Anduin who he raised and Talia, who is literally his daughter and is confirmed to be part of Bolvar’s story in Shadowlands.
He is someone personal to Alliance players. To horde players he is a guy who sat on the Lich King’s throne some time back and has been rather snarly to us the few times we have interacted with him. To the Alliance he is a character they can feel a connection to and who any emotional beats tied to his loved ones with resonate with. To the Horde, he a burned guy who spent the last 10 years sitting on a cold seat being broody. Horde players haven’t even met Talia yet.
For me, being a “Character” of a faction has always been about ties to said faction, and not about being an actual member of it.
I’ve always considered Gazlowe a Horde character, long before BfA, cause he has ties to Horde characters and only Horde characters. He has no connections to Alliance, and never really does anything neutral like with their players. The fact he wasn’t an actual member of the Horde wasn’t a requirement for me, the bonds and ties he had is what made him that.
Tirion, however, I did consider a truly neutral character, since he did have some ties to both factions, through being a former Alliance member before being exiled, and for his bond with Eitrigg which is what got him exiled to begin with. He had ties to both, so he felt neutral.
When Thrall was the Earthen Ring figure head and was leading the fight against Deathwing, he was still a Horde character to me. Sure, he had some ties to the Alliance through Jaina, but those were heavily outweighed by his ties with the Horde.
Bolvar is an Alliance character to me regardless of him no longer being an official member. His home is Stormwind, his ties to the Wrynns, his familial connection through Taelia, are all Alliance. He has nothing tying him to the Horde at all.
Maybe if he had like Deathbringer Dranosh as his second in command, friend and confondant, I could see it, but as it is he has nothing tying him to the Horde. Long time Alliance players have a reason to care about him, but Horde only players don’t.
That said, I don’t want anyone to be a world character, even if it was going to be Vol’jin or Cairne or something.
I’m pretty much of the same mind. Bolvar earned his neutrality. He did not give a tuck about screwing over the night elves’s dragon friends, or anduin’s paladin friends.
Bolvar’s pretty willing to do whatever he needs to do, to get something done.
With characters like Malfurion and to a certain extent Magni or even Khadgar, I get it, but while Bolvar had an important position in the alliance before he gave all that up to become the Lich King.
Let me say it again.
The Lich king.
Don’t think of him as Bolvar anymore, think of him as the last Lich King, and leader of Acherus as that’s essentially how he’s acted since legion.
Bolvar is a former regent of Stormwind, surrogate father to the current High King, former general of the combined Alliance armies, and his daughter is currently part of the Alliance military.
That’s a stretch? Nobody is claiming that he is still a member of the Alliance, but he is certainly overwhelmingly Alliance-adjacent. What are his ties to the Horde, again? A 30 second conversation with Dranosh Saurfang?
I point you to all the people on this forum arguing that Bolvar should have aided the Alliance in the battle against the Horde because it only made sense for his character.
Edit: And this is typical of the “neutral” expansion mentor-figures. They are almost exclusively drawn from an extensive Alliance history. The one time there was an exception to that, Thrall, he shared duties with Malfurion and Alliance players still freaked out about having to work with a Horde character. They still complain about it. To this day.
Yes it is because the character in question is Bolvar, The Lich King and not Bolvar, Regent of SW.
Nobody is claiming that he is still a member of the Alliance
That’s what the premise of this thread has been. If this is not the point, i suggest to y’all to better communicate your points.
he is certainly overwhelmingly Alliance-adjacent.
You contradict yourself immediately after, anyway.
My advice to you would be to adjust expectations. This character has not been Alliance affiliated for a long time.