If you’ll forgive me for saying so Amadis and Dreadmoore, neither one of your arguments for why the other is wrong is convincing. Not because you don’t have valid points, but because of the framework Danuser and Golden has put you in. My gut tells me that Amadis is most likely correct considering I tend to put short stories as being somewhat more canon then other forms of media.
But my brain also tells me that the way the Horde pre-quest was framed made it seem like it was happening concurrently with the Alliance one, not in opposition to it as was the case in Zandalar. You appear before or after each PCs mess, rather then directly engage in actions that make the other series of events impossible. Further the idea that the Horde quest, even a non-canon Horde quest, would have one of the NPCs alive when they’re supposed to be dead, and has you directly interacting and talking with them seems just weird, too weird to be intentional.
But in either case, the story shouldn’t be such a botched mess that you should even need to try and decipher lore this way.
The War of the Thorns event I played had me kill all the Horde in quest objectives and then had Malfurion wipe out all the soldiers that were with Sylvanas and had Sylvanas fall to her knee with barely any of her health left comparatively.
I also know in the Horde questing there was an extra cinematic where Malfurion AoE Sunfires Sylvanas and blinds her and one shots the Goblin shredders that were with her.
Those fit the novels to me. And as the Horde quest in Ashenvale does not seem canon, overall what I saw does not agree with your point.
And Lorash cannot have been dead and alive at the same time, and as they brought Lorash back as undead, looks like Blizzard chose dead, and if Malfurion killed him before the Horde made it to Ashenvale the Horde quest is not canon.
It also had the narrative that you were losing, being pushed back, and forced away as the Horde marched forward.
And the fact that you were not a civilian.
The Horde quests are canon. Malfurion sunfiring Sylvanas does not somehow make the book’s depiction of characters thinking about civilians armies fighting and dying correct.
Lorash could’ve died any number of ways, Amadis. And it’s funny you bring him up, because there are further inconsistencies with the book, such as
In Elegy, Lorash is described as having golden hair, but in-game he had gray hair.
But it goes further, Amadis.
Lorash claims to have lived through the exile of the Highborne[6] which took place over 7,000 years ago, but that would make him far older than the high elven life span is supposed to be.
Never before have we heard that the elves who are currently called Blood Elves are this long lived. How old was Anastarian again, Amadis?
I don’t think what happened in the Horde quest contradicts what happened in Good War or Elegy at all. From what I remember of it, a lot of it was cloak and dagger attacking unprepared areas or even areas that had no idea an invasion was taking place. I suspect that the Horde did suffer severe casualties to civilians, but the Horde PC doesn’t see it because the Night Elves aren’t even aware of whats going on where they are fighting, while the Alliance PC is fighting alongside a mobilizing militia that is chomping through the Hordes invading force.
I suspect that NONE of these accounts are actually wrong, they’re all true, and Blizzard just forgot Lorash was dead.
But we took part in those missions. We were told not to kill civvies. You run around bombing guards. Nothing in the Horde quests frames this as a difficult encounter.
The only difficulties are presented by Malfurion, Tyrande, and the daily quest where our cannons shoot their treants and star throwers.
Nah. When I got there the Horde was already in Darkshore, and the Horde made no progress while the world quests were available until Saurfang came back after finding the smuggling route through Felwoods, just like in the novels.
I have not see any statement that says the Horde quests are canon.
However, as Zahirwrite posted:
This says that A Good War is the Horde perspective on the events. Which would mean the quests were not.
There you go, even more proof that the Horde quests were wrong.
Something something A Thousand Years of War something something Sunwell something something akin to immortality.
How old are you? How old am I? What is even real anymore?
Edit: Also it’s very likely the books are completely wrong about Lorash. The author didn’t even know the Night Elves attacked the Blood Elves in BC. I debate their canonicity not because of deliberate inaccuracy, but rather competence.
So you’re saying that the Alliance player was summoned to Darkshore? A veteran soldier?
A non civilian?
No, but you have seen a Dev tell you that NPCs speak from their own POV and not to trust it.
He did not say not to trust your own.
No, it wouldn’t. And to repeat the point that you desperately want to avoid,
These two tales explore the Horde and the Alliance versions of a fateful event, but only you can decide which faction tells it best.
This one says only you can decide which one tells is best. Which suggests that they’re both wrong. And we would know. We were both there, soldier.
Danuser: Don’t trust what npcs say.
Amadis: I will never trust what I personally see again.
Godbless you for refusing to be honest.
Anasterian Sunstrider was the high king of Quel’Thalas, a descendant of the royal bloodline established by King Dath’Remar Sunstrider. His reign, which lasted at least 2,800 years, was marked by several conflicts that threatened the continued existence of Quel’Thalas, ending with his death at the hands of the evil Prince Arthas Menethil during the Scourge invasion of Quel’Thalas.
I mean if it does, it would also mean that Blood Elves can now canonically be as old as Night Elves, or nearly so, which…is…yeah, that shatters the lore, or shatters it even more then it already is.
However I suspect that, as I said before, he simply didn’t know Lorash couldn’t die yet, or alternatively that the Horde designers didn’t know he was dead, either is possible because the creative team splits the lore writers for Alliance and Horde due to reasons I can only attribute to insanity. There’s precedent for this, as I mentioned in another thread Stillwater is still alive despite him dying in Cata, and in fact for the Legion invasions most NPCs who were killed in their zones were somehow alive. Sean Copeland stated that lore shouldn’t tie the hands of writers, so it’s even possible they are deliberately ignoring their own lore and wrote Lorash as alive regardless.
Retcon Battle for Azeroth. Revolution of our time.