I mean, I can’t say it’s impossible.
There has been a trend of older characters dying off or being disposed for other, newer characters can take their place. However, I don’t really think we have any particular evidence for this idea other than a vague feeling at the moment, so your guess is as good as any.
Literally a year later
Eyh Squidward? Eyh Squidward? Eyh Squidward? Eyh Squidward?
That’s all been done before.
Evil light users with the scarlet crusade.
Turning a Paladin into evil is Arthas’s whole thing, then we have Yrel that was a figure last i checked people liked on the alliance side that was turned into an evil zealot in the Mag’har unlock scenario.
Like, some may think that Turalyon becoming a villain would be something “new and interesting” but it is the same old tape being played again. Even Uther got hit with that heel turn after death.
I do think Turalyon will die or be used in some way by Xalatath, but I doubt he will become a big bad guy.
Yeah, that’s a fair point. It’s definitely a path that’s been tread and re-tread again. I think some of us want to be hopeful for character development even it’s the same old tropes. Blizzard often recycles the same storylines but they do so because people like them.
Right now, Turalyon feels boring and I’d like to be interested in his story path especially if he’s to be a prominent highlight in Alleria’s story arc. That doesn’t necessarily have to mean that he’s completely villain batted or dies, but to have some more depth or nuance would be nice. Perhaps he truly DOES doubt Alleria or has reservations about her relationship with the Void etc.
I think there would have been an interesting avenue for them to expore Turalyon as a villain to the Horde and a hero to the Alliance during BfA but unfortunately that ship has sailed.
His character arc could be many things.
One major point is how he doesn’t fully trust alleria with the void, He wants to “fix her”. Maybe his acceptance of her void side would fully help Alleria overcome any self doubt. Also, when it comes to doubting the light or struggling with the light, we have anduin right here going trough this, so I think if Turalyon gets a character arc, it should not be with his relationship with the light, since Anduin is going trough exactly that now.
Oh, crap. I just remembered that he’s "Arator the Redeemer." I think we all know where this is going.
In all honesty, I wish they had tread that story with Turalyon rather than Anduin. It would feel more impactful since Turalyon is fully devoted to the Light (to the point of being Lightforged) and I think him wrestling with some inner turmoil about Alleria’s chosen nature VS His devotion would be much more fitting.
(Plus, I’m still WAY fatigued with seeing Anduin in the story at any capacity.)
You say this but look what they did to Tirion.
Something that was suggested in the short story is Turalyon is somewhat loosing his capacity for change. He is embodying the Light, in all its unchanging crystalline perfection.
His growing inflexibility might lead him to say or do something that is… regrettable.
At this point, I don’t expect it to amount to much. Turalyon’s clearly doing his job, and doing it well. The Horde and Alliance have maintained peace under his leadership, and he even makes visits to Silvermoon City where he can move freely, without supervision or being under guard.
If anything, the Shaw/Genn conflict with Turalyon is more likely to end up with THEM as the antagonists at this rate.
How would it be interesting? Did you miss the Scarlet Crusade stuff? Pretty sure they just showed up in the claiming of Gilneas if you need your Light Zealot fix that badly.
We do? Turalyon’s pretty much the last Paladin of note left in the Alliance.
That’s fair. Draenei weaboo was the term I recall back when he first showed up. I think it’s past time he got a model update.
Also, let’s just bring Yrel over from AU Draenor to lead the Lightforged. A Draenei should be leading the Lightforged Draenei.
If he feels boring, I’d account it to the aforementioned, ‘Draenei Weaboo,’ characteristics, and the fact that he’s not so much a character, as he’s a prop for Alleria’s story. Personally, I don’t really hate that so much? Instead of the glorious Human Paladin having his hot elf trophy wife, it’s the Badass Elven Ranger having her silver fox trophy husband.
That doesn’t mean I don’t want Turalyon to BE a character, merely that his role as it is right now isn’t a huge problem to me. I’d hope to see him have a chance to grow and become part of a story when the time is appropriate, probably when the eventual, ‘Light is Bad,’ story comes around and he leads the fight against the zealots of the Lightlands.
Can you provide some sort of source for that? Can’t say I got that from reading the story. Accepting change has kind of been one of the stronger points of his characterization.
Man’s not even on Azeroth for a year and comes face to face with Alonsus Foal, the undead. In the span of five minutes he goes from seeing the man as some sort of abomination inhabiting the corpse of his old friend and mentor (and to be clear, that’s what undead from the Second War largely were, the Horde’s Death Knights back then), to seeing Alonsus Foal the undead as exactly the same person as Alonsus Foal the living.
Like, what took most of Azeroth’s humans over a DECADE to grasp, Turalyon managed in five minutes.
His character changes depending on the writer. Sometimes he’s an Alliance and Light zealot, and sometimes he isn’t.
Actually, Golden always writes him as a nice guy who doesn’t hate the Horde at all. Everyone else mostly doesn’t.
I think there’s still just a pretty intense hunger for some kind of antagonist to emerge out of the Alliance for once, and Turalyon keeps being shoehorned into this mold.
Interesting is subjective, so it’s just an opinion I personally have. Feel free to disagree, it’s an open forum. We all know the reclaiming of Gilneas was a bit of a farce, even Scarlet RPers hated it for their lore, so I’m not sure that’s a great comparison. The original Scarlet lore is some of my favorite though. It’s a story beat that I don’t generally get tired of, but I understand if people find it played out.
We have had tons of characters that have played the righteous “good guy” Paladin trope, maybe not current day but it’s been a pretty staple Alliance character since I can remember. Tirion, Turalyon, Uther, Alexandros, etc.
Or yanno, just build up Captain Fareeya.
It’s not really for me either, like I said in my original post, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with his characterization but there’s nothing really interesting there either.
I think he has the potential to be a cool villain if they really wanted him to go down that route (They likely will not, as others have mentioned.) It’s a shame to relegate a longstanding lore character as golden arm candy.
I think the automatic reaction to the title ‘villain’ is to automatically assume it’s a bad thing, but if WoW does anything well, it’s their villains. Some of the best characters in the WoW universe are just that. I don’t hate him, I’m just indifferent. It would be nice to be more than indifferent (or worse) about an Alliance character for once. At least Alleria is showing a bit of promise.
Turalyon would never be a true villain I think. There might be a world where he is an antagonist until he has sense slapped into him, I guess.
Tiron - Neutral, Argent Crusade, not Alliance
Turalyon - Alliance, Yes.
Uther - Dead before WoW even began. Tarnished in Undeath pretty badly.
Alexandros - Again, dead before WoW began.
WoW’s roster of noteworthy Alliance Paladins amount to Bolvar, whom only became particularly beloved retroactive of the Wrath gate, and Muraad, who died just as he became interesting and beloved. Turalyon has been well liked since before his introduction. He’s more or less the ONLY noteworthy Alliance Paladin right now as well.
Lived in Turalyon’s shadow for too long, and Yrel already had an entire expansion building her up. Velen, Yrel, and Hatuun making up a new Triumvirate for the Eredar peoples would be pretty solid to be honest.
Anyone has the potential to be a, ‘cool villain,’ though.
I’m not sure why being specifically Alliance really matters? It’s still a common character trope.
I think it would depend for me how they spun the story to sort out some of the MU/AU nonsense. I’d love to see a new triumvirate though.
Yes, true. But, this is a thread about Turalyon. So the discussion/thought centered around him particularly. There was a time that Tyrande would’ve made a great villain as well, and Jaina was a cool one in BfA for the Horde as well.
Not the one I was replying to, but the one before that.
True. I think once upon a time Blizzard had plans to bring Yrel and the AU Draenei over as antagonists for a, ‘Light is Bad,’ expansion with faction conflict elements, but given that faction conflict is done for good, I don’t see that anymore. Still, it’d be a shame to waste a character as well developed and liked as Yrel, particularly when the events of Draenor were presented from a single side.
We don’t have the AU Draenei’s perspective at all. Personally, I wouldn’t put it past Blizzard to suggest some Dreadlords posing as Mag’har led them to become paranoid about the Draenei, leading to the conflict. Some of the more intensive propaganda could’ve been stuff made up by them.
Indeed, but the merits of Turalyon being a villain aren’t very well expressed beyond, ‘Light Zealot,’ which we’ve had plenty of to begin with. It’s not new, not original, and a waste of a great character whom has specifically been written to NOT be a light zealot.
It’s like saying, “Velen should become the new Lord of the Burning Legion, because he’d be a cool villain.”
Yes, I see. I updated it but that’s just arguing semantics at this point. My comment was more regarding that it’s a common characterization. With things moving into inevitable neutrality, I don’t think the factional alignment really matters with the point I was making in my original post. Which was, there has been a lot of MHPs (or Paladins in general) in WoW’s narrative.
It’s a matter of the most obvious theme that would be cause for him to become a villain (In a hypothetical universe that he did). Like you said, we’ve have plenty of “Light Zealot” characters (Yrel being an example of that) so if he WERE to go villain, it would make the most sense given his characterization so far and what we’ve seen from characters who become too encompassed with the Light. I don’t think Velen being the Lord of the Burning Legion would be an equal comparison.
The more apt comparison would be Alleria fully embracing the Void and becoming a villain that way. (Which, I think would be cool all the same.)
Which is fair. I just wanted to explain why I specified Alliance characters. Fact remains half of your list were not Paladins when they made it into WoW as actual characters.
And Turalyon has specifically been presented as the inversion of that trope, so making him into some Light Zealot villain completely destroys the entire premise of the character.
As I said, this is the man who’s view of the undead changed within 5 minutes of just talking to one.
This is the man who told Anduin they should let the Light guide them, but not control them.
This is the man whom stopped Genn from starting the Fifth War when SI:7 corpses washed ashore with Zandalari arrows fired in a way only Dark Rangers can.
The man is NOT a Light Zealot, and has been demonstrated, time and again, to think for himself and change his mind when new information is presented to him. It’s an extremely refreshing adaptation for a Paladin character, compared to the usual Light-thumping die-hards, zealot or otherwise.