This is sort of the issue with making Zovaal the big overarching hand behind it all, as well. Because it gives some sliver of agency removal to Arthas, which in my opinion not only cheapens him as a villain but sends an extremely weird and uncomfortable message regarding what he did to Sylvanas and tens of thousands of others at a time when the current narrative is already really weird when we take into account the lawsuit.
The original story was an excellent subversion of what were at the time classic fantasy tropes. Arthas was the handsome prince, the nascent hero, and his own actions led him to choose power over his soul, with the claim of it being to ‘save his people’, even though at that point it was more about himself and his own selfish desires.
Scourge level undeath is the most horrific thing you can inflict on someone in the WoW canon, in my opinion. And what he did to Sylvanas has always been very much stressed as very bad. Profane rituals, violations of body and soul, then months spent as his minion, watching and helping him commit atrocities all while her own mind was still intact.
Making it the Jailer’s fault would be uh… bad.
If he’s meant to be in Revendreth then toss him in there but they shouldn’t make him a victim.
His in game presence in the RTS and in the Old Stratholme dungeon puts Golden’s portrayal as right on the money. Remember her novel was a work for hire and it had to get past Blizzard’s editing.
I’m going to take speculative conclusions based on datamining with a huge helping of salt.
Garrosh wasn’t redeemed, he remained unrepentant. He simply went out like a badass, smacking down someone who underestimated him.
Raises Hand Present! #### Sylvanas! Never felt any sympathy towards her, never will.
Though I don’t actually want Arthas redeemed, I would’ve like him to point out that she’s become no better than him, and laughingly chuck her back into the depths of the Maw. You guys can call Garrosh or Arthas ‘toxic’, but to me it’s Sylvanas and Anduin who are toxic right now- not through their actions per se, but how they’ve been used by the writers. They’re narrative poison, twisting and warping the story around them into garbage.
It’s Blizzard themselves that, in their desperate flailing quest to absolve Sylvanas’ guilt, have inadvertently made Arthas also just a victim of Diminished Capacity Due to Soul Loss. I mean, Arthas did do some evil things before he lost his soul (his entire soul, not just a part of it) to Frostmourne, but his worst acts were committed after. If Sylvanas deserves any mercy because of that, so does he.
They’re still HIS acts. No matter what happened to him his agency in them is clear. His outright prolonged cruelty is above and below what was called for as part of his duty with the scourge. And it’s entirely within his character as established before Frostmourne.
This is not said to give Sylvannas a pass, but it should be noted that what she became is entirely on him.
Soul splitting, to then be restored, is a story device, presented via Uther, to move Sylvanas. There is no reason to think it is some kind of magic turnkey to excuse every Scourge-story-arc actor.
Further, Arthas WILLINGLY gave his soul to wield Frostmourne, he was not cut by it; that’s nothing like Uther or Sylvanas.
(The way to get to them being the same is to extrapolate to a set Fate; at which point Judging them becomes unjust, because no mortal actually had a choice or their own will.)
We should probably take the naming to mean what it already has:
Remnant of Ner’zhul
Remnant of a Fallen King
We get rid of the end of him.
He was a divine-right pig.
Willingly giving his soul to damnation for power, nearly killing his friend in the process, committing murder, parricide, regicide, and genocide as part of that…
You cannot save one who damns themself by their own choice.
TBH he gave it. He chose the deal, can’t steal what’s given.
Yes, he does. No one deserves to be thrown into the maw without even being given a chance.
The only person with the authority to judge is the Arbiter, not someone with pre-existing negative biases.
All souls deserve the opportunity to strive towards absolution, but none deserve it for free. However, for Arthas I very much think that ship has sailed. His fate was sealed when Uther threw him into the Maw and the Zovaal’s grasp. Now, he is a shade of the soul he once was, and as such the most merciful thing you could do would be to destroy his broken remnant and free him with oblivion.
How convenient that the original Arbiter decided to “judge” him into a sword.
Since the writing team has never actually claimed Zovaal was doing anything wrong with souls (what a mistake)… the right place for Arthas was a sword; the Arbiter spoke.
Are souls evil or do anima rich souls get sent to Revendreth to be milked forever?
My point is souls are sent to wherever the Purpose dictates they go to…I would have thought Garrosh would have gone to Maldraxxus being that he was a great warrior in life. But since he was rich with anima, he was sent to Revendreth.
Revendreth is for prideful souls, who have committes great sins. The amount of anima a soul has is not relevant to whether it is “good” or “evil,” but the significance of its deeds in life is what detemines that.
Then explain Lady Vashj…she is extraordinarily prideful of her “sins” in her life…yet went to Maldraxxus.
“Sins”…right.
Didn’t mean anything that Garrosh was literally being used as an anima work-horse/battery…right? Revendreth was using him and others like him as anima batteries so Revendreth can supply the anima to the rest of the Shadowlands…
All of which probably at the behest of “The Purpose”…
Maybe the “Purpose” is the flaw Zovaal is seeking to unmake…
There are many characters whose afterlife placement is questionable, such as Kel’thuzad. Baroness Vashj overcame her pride, and serves Maldraxxus well. She mentions, during dialogue with Kael’thas, that she was sent to Maldraxxus for the many victiories in her name. It seems that skill in war may have outwayed your sins, according to the Arbiter. Might makes right, is how this judge operated. However, it is possible thst it was for the greater good.
Garrosh was completely unrepentant, and would not have been willing to serve any realm.