He’s honestly not that bad on his own.
Grumpy, sassy character with an irrational, unexplained hatred of birds. Handled differently, this could have been entertaining.
Nathanos frustrates me as much as he does because he’s so close to being a good character. It’s a solid archetype; there’s a lot you can do with it. He just needed something to make him really fun.
If he had a character arc, or a foil, or a smaller role in the story, or verifiable actions to back up his strutting? Then yeah, I’d be absolutely on board for grumpy badass who’s not impressed with your Hero Commander title and has no time for your nonsense.
But he’s just…there. Inescapable, way too much of him, and never going anywhere or doing anything. They wasted Nathanos almost as badly as Garrosh, turning what could have been one of their coolest characters in a long time into a spiteful, sneering Snorlax asleep in the middle of the plot.
6 Likes
I like him ok as a character archetype. There have been other characters in that same type of role that I’ve found more interesting (Gul Dukat from Deep Space Nine for instance). Nathanos doesn’t have the luxury of being on screen enough to have any nuances, however. We don’t see a lot of depth, just a lot of snark.
I don’t mind his pretty model - I’ve always felt that the Forsaken needed more models than scrawny, bony human - but that’s probably also the horror enthusiast in me. And I don’t mind him being a love interest/zealot/follower for Sylvanas, but I don’t think that was necessary to add to his character or hers. I think he would have been a stronger character without it, but it was an easy reason for the writers to toss out so his model could be updated.
If he was a person, I’d say he was verbally abusive.
3 Likes
Late to the party but I’m not sure how repeated this line was, so.
I don’t have time for a character that doesn’t respect my space in the story.
We kill gods. But Nathanos “haha that quest where he goes toe to toe with a god empowered high priestess was just unfinished, really” apparently can’t be assed to give out a begrudging “passable work” or “well at least your destructive capability isn’t lacking”.
I don’t hate his character / archetype for being some shirt stain butt wipe who doesn’t have time for flowery speech. I hate his character because he’s just like that to us for no good reason.
Which would be on the up and up I guess if Blizzard didn’t go around wringing their hands every step of pre BfA trying to sell us on “no she’s not the bad guy, really” which meant we’d been plot hole’d into being a toady for a toady with next to no pay off.
Until, allegedly, something in the prepatch I’m still hazy on the details.
I don’t get to choose my role in the story. Blizzard decided I eat gods and poop lightening. I don’t care if not every single npc character gets / cares about that. However, I’m not taking up the emotional responsibility of liking a character specifically tailored to be snide and petty about that very role Blizzard wrote themselves into. It’s insulting to be completely disrespected by some dead dude with a bow for no other reason than Blizzard has mandated him as plot central, and then also be told that we have to work with him the entire expansion pair so suck it up isn’t he just such a breath of fresh air.
Like no dude, you traded me mouldy cardboard for rotting garbage and act like I should be grateful.
Which, frankly, is just Blizzard 101.
5 Likes
I like Nathanos but I guess it’s a combination of the visual style of the character, his voice, and how deadpan he always is. I think the story overall is dumb and some of the character choices are dumb but the feel of the character itself is something I like.
Also I have a chuckle when he says things like “ZOUNDS!” in BGs.
I’m not fond of his Sylvanas simping in Legion / BFA. But I don’t mind characters who aren’t stereotypically flabergasted with awe around us. It was a surprising, if not amusing change of pace to have Nathanos brush us off despite completing a daunting task for him.
Now, knowing how Steve Danuser treats Nathanos as his self insert and my current disliing of Sylvanas’s story progression. Nathanos just is a character I won’t feel anything is lost.
1 Like
have you played Dragon Age: Origins? I think you’d like Shale!
2 Likes
Which is hilarious, because as much as we can make jokes about Nathanos being a self-insert, Shale’s seething hatred of pigeons was entirely because David Gaider’s desk was next to one of the windows in their office during that time and he was slowly being driven insane by a flock of pigeons mating noisily right outside on the building’s HVAC unit.
3 Likes
How dare you cast mirrors into my cherry-picking hatred.
I shalt now proceed to insult your psychosexual behaviors and social status, plebeian!
I lost all respect for Nathanos on the way to Stormheim. A beast in a hat is still a beast? Well a jerk without a pulse is still a jerk.
And I like my hat.
8 Likes
Professor Alois Schreiver, my Forsaken Necromancer, was lost by the Forsaken leadership around Teldrassil. An expensive and rash land war, but a city full of hostages and spare parts at the end? Sure. Torching the whole thing? Oh hell no.
I think he’s an interesting character on paper but blizz never really taps into that ‘you’re utterly devoted to a leader who barely acknowledges you beyond being a useful tool to have’ tragic element that would be good, so yea he just kinda becomes the ‘lol banshee simp’ meme who twirls his mustache at the alliance from time to time.
1 Like
The thing is, Nathanos is a villain who is neither imposing or entertaining. On top of that, we have just spent the past 2 (4?) years taking orders from him. We also can’t really empathize with him because he is a cold dead killing machine, and we don’t see any of his more empathetic moments (the few that there are) in game. It’s all in stories external to the game.
I know a lot of people would hate this idea, because a lot of people think he’s a self insert bla bla bla, but I really think they could have done a better job of making Sylvanas and Nathanos a more interesting couple, but for almost all of BFA we see them apart. Maybe seeing them work together more often and more cunningly would have made them seem more imposing? IDK.
1 Like
Yes, I like Nathanos. Always have, always will.