The reason why Princess Talanji is tied to Bwonsamdi is because that’s the deal King Rastakhan made. The deal was to make sure Bwonsamdi is worshiped - AND BY ROYALTY- this is a big deal for loas. Having worshipers gives loas power.
The reason why Bwonsamdi was asked over all the other loas? Because Bwonsamdi is already a strong and a well known loa. The king needed all the power he could get after his loa died (Rezan). Rastakhan also seems to be very relent on loa power which is his weakness. He made a very hasty deal with death.
The only way I can think of Talanji getting out of the deal is by possibly making a new deal.
I believe the old adage is “the sins of the father”. In the real world, some people believe in the story of Adam and Eve. That is a mythological example of whereby the actions of someone affect all others of their bloodline through the ages. It’s a motif that, I think, fits in really with with the fickle Loa. I’s not all that different from the real world Loa either from voudon/voodoo.
As a troll aficionado and a lover of real world mythology, I have very much appreciated and enjoyed their portrayal of Baron Samedi as “Bwonsamdi”. (The way Haitians actually say Baron Samedi sounds exactly like Bwonsamdi, another fun thing the Blizzard writers did!)
If any of you have seen the amazing movie ‘Faust: Love of the Damned’, you’ll know the twist is that Talanji is totally barren and Bwonsamdi is going to be screwed in this deal.
Rastakhan is a couple hundred years old, which is far longer than the normal troll lifespan. Part of that was his pact with Rezan, an extremely powerful loa, that sustained Rastakhan well past what would’ve been his regular lifespan.
With Rezan’s “death,” Rastakhan lost the supernatural connection sustaining his body and he started aging fast. The deal with Bwonsamdi was to restore him life and become the new major patron loa of Zandalar. But that wasn’t good enough for Bwonsamdi, as Rastakhan was already on his second near-death experience in a very short amount of time and probably wasn’t long for this world. He wanted to stay the patron loa for awhile and thus the deal was made binding through his bloodline.
It was a very beneficial deal for Bwonsamdi, taking advantage of a desperate king who wanted to save his own life. It also means he can exploit ending the deal for an even greater benefit with Rastakhan’s successors.
Entire bloodlines being bound to a being of darkness in exchange for earthly power is a long standing trope in fiction and film to show how avarice, desperation or a lust for power can have consequences long past the death of the first to enter into the binding.
I actually liked this turn of events. It gives Talanji much more depth. She (and we) will be running into complications from that bargain for a long time to come.
I know some folks want every female character to be a Disney princess (and every male King Arthur) but give it some time. Complexity and shades of gray are what make for storytelling.
omg we are the bad guys, how many times does this need to be explained. the horde was by a bunch of orcs who drank demon blood, corrupted their homeworld and then invaded ours.
we are literally being led by an undead banshee queen, how can you see this as anything but evil.
Rastakhan didn’t have a choice at the time. All other Loa refused to become the Patron Loa in fear of Bwonsamdi challenging them.
Because abandoning the King in the Battle of Dazar’alor to leave him to die is totally fine, right?
As I said in another thread, Rastakhan didn’t have a choice. It was either: Zandalar falls and no bound bloodline, or Zandalar is saved and there is a bound bloodline.
Gonk refused to sustain Rastakhan and become the Patron Loa of Zandalar. Go to Atal’dazar and talk to Gonk, you’ll find the dialogue there.
Yeah. Because when you have the ability to reclaim your kingdom that has belonged to you since the beginning of time, just throw it all away because… the fleet ends up getting destroyed?
It would’ve been impossible since Zul would’ve been in control of the Zandalari fleet, leaving it impossible to reclaim or rebuild the city.
The deal with bwansamdi only dammed him and his family he didnt reclaim jack.
And do you really think zul would have stayed in the city well we where killing ghuun in the raid. He wouldn’t need the city. Thenonly reason he took the city at all was to break the final seal. Which got broke regardless of bwansamdi.
And really again the events of the current raid have left zandalar in ruins.
Canonically the city is in ruins, its fleet lost, its army weakened, its leadership broken. The empire is lost man. Sure theres enough people left to rebuild but that takes time.
Rastakahn was betrayed from within he was weak. His failure doomed his kingdom. As king it falls on his shoulders and he doubled down when he made a pact with bwansamdi.