I like Calia

Lore Story Forum
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Better?

I’m new the forums (started recently). I made my first post from my phone and picked the character I had been using a lot recently. But I do main Horde often, in fact I mained horde from 2007 to 2016, and then both factions interchangeably. I do not identify myself with just one faction.

I’d like to hug Baine as much as I would like to hug Andy.

If I were to choose a faction it would be a Quel’thalas faction however! Quel’thalas for the Thalassian citizens! (Just kidding, just kidding but yes. I love Thalassian elves)

(Now, I’m swapping back to Valyana, and keep Forum-Leveling up with a single character. I might transfer her back to the Horde at some point, and see if I get complaints from Alliance players… Lol)

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No, not really.

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She’s not.

The Forsaken are ruled by the Desolate Council. While Calia is on the council, so is Belmont who made it clear that he doesn’t like her. He tolerates her and thinks she can be useful, but that’s about it.

The odds of him bowing out of the council so that Calia can rule as the Forsaken Queen are rather unlikely.

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Do you think I would get less flak if I simply choose one of my horde mains to post? I do get a lot of anger from the self identified horde players because “I’m Alliance”. I recently made a forum post and was basically put on the grill over and over for it. I’ve played 1000% of the time as Horde, hell – years more as Horde.

Or do you think the Alliance players will be as critical? I just want to chat about the game and characters without the whole “But you are Alliance” nonsense seeping through every time! Lol

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I believe Zuleika is referring to the word on the street - presumably from Golden herself - that Blizzard tasked her with incorporating a “Light Raised Undead” into the story, and it was her idea to make it Calia.

Which leads me and others to believe that the assignment was more about laying the groundwork for what this Character would be a part of. Not so much anything really about Calia, herself.

A bit convoluted, but it appears Blizzard had a role, and Golden plopped Calia into it. So that role might have had nothing to do with Calia or Lordaeron at all, when designed.

A guess based on how Golden described that process.

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Calia is maddening because she almost works. Just go through her story and strikethough all mentions of the Light, replace it with Death, then… turn her from gold/white to a darker shade.

Like, that’s it. She’s fine-ish, she just has this one frustratingly -weird- problem.

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She’s also a Menethil, which – I mean, personally I don’t care for royalty – but in-game that ought to mean something.

She is not anymore “Alliance” than any other Forsaken had been. She’s a Lordearonian (is this the right demonym?) who happens to know people from both sides and had ties with friends of the Menethil family.

She’s not really Alliance (or Horde). It could be argued that she might have been a subject of a realm under the old/classic Alliance, but not by choice.

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I think Calia would’ve been an interesting character for me if they hadn’t been so heavy handed with these weird cringe things like calling her ‘the Pallid Lady’ or making her a “Lightforged” Undead. Then they doubled down on the retaking of Lordaeron by having that seemingly forced dialogue with Margrave Sin’dane about the state of Undeath like they were trying to be like ‘SEE? YOUR CONCERNS ABOUT HER BEING A DIFFERENT TYPE OF UNDEAD ARE UNFOUNDED!’

It felt like a blatant almost ‘break the 4th wall’ attempt to appeal to Forsaken fans with this really hamfisted ‘SEE GUYS? SHE’S UNDEAD JUST LIKE YOU AND ME!’

I was honestly hopeful when I saw her in the Conclave, I thought she would have been an interesting arc for either the living Lordaeronians, The Scarlet Crusade or the Undead Lordaeronians in some way. What we got was just… ???

All this considered, she’s a solid ‘meh’.

I will throw her a bone and say that her character design is VERY dreamy though. I love her armor and her general ghostly/porcelain appearance. I’m usually a fan of most of Blizzard’s character design though.

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I really like it! and as someone who played the original RTS, I love things related to old Lordearon, and she fits the bill.

I can’t say I disagree with you, but Blizzard is not exactly known for their subtlety – unfortunately! Lol

(I have loved some of the more subtle questlines recently however… with DF)

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I don’t hate Calia as a character, I just hate her as a forsaken leader.

Narratively it’s awkward. She’s the sister of the guy who killed most of the people who make up the forsaken, and while I don’t think she should be looking at that as her legacy, I absolutely feel like the forsaken people should be.

While they are largely once-living Lordaeronians, they have also built a culture that scarcely resembles Lordaeron. While they might look at her as a figure of respect, it’s a hard square to circle to picture them just… Following her. Even as one part of the leadership council.

Because she just wasn’t there. When Arthas killed them, when Sylvanas rallied them, when the Alliance rejected them, when they marched on Icecrown, when Arthas fell, when Sylvanas rededicated them to a new purpose, when they raged across the north, when they joined the fight against Garrosh, when Legion sorta happened and they were there too, and when Sylvanas went full Banshee Queen across Azeroth. Calia was not there with them. She doesn’t have those shared experiences.

She isn’t of them. She was never Forsaken.

Because the Alliance did accept risen Calia. Anduin was still talking to her. The Alliance at-large hasn’t been shown to have a problem with her. She cannot understand the forsaken plight, because she not only never lived it, she had nothing but friends to guide her into a life of undeath.

And then there’s the physical differences.

Because Calia doesn’t even vaguely look like the forsaken. All the big faction leaders have unique models, but they are all very easily recognizable as a member of the race they represent.

Calia, like Sylvanas before her, is not that. She looks like a pallet-swapped human. If you stand her next to Jaina, the only thing you’d notice is that Calia really needs some sunlight for her complexion. You put Voss next to Jaina, and you instantly know they are nothing alike beyond the most basic levels.

And that’s without going into the coin-flip of Dark Lady vs Pale Lady titles, just to remind you Calia is not Sylvanas, in case everything else didn’t tell you already.

Calia is fine. Calia in a leadership position of the forsaken is less so.

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51

She’s the legitimate heir to the throne of Lordaeron. Her presence changes the Forsaken claim among the living to being one where they can no longer refute as the heir of Lordaeron she acts as a bridge between the two factions.

Lordaeron will likely be completely revamped in Midnight and she’s going to be a key figure. When people say, “I don’t like Calia.” It reminded me of Garrosh when he first came out as the leader of the Horde in Cata or Varian Wrynn who people hated right until Mists and Legion.

People have short memories and hate anything which they find different and new. Calia Menethil in 10 years will be highly regarded and will eventually get a huge following as did Sylvanas fans/ Varian’s/ Jaina’s/ Greymane’s and so on.

Let go of your prejudices of what you think should be, and accept what maybe. Before you know it. You may very well be championing for the Pallid Lady! Who knows 10-15 years the universe of Warcraft maybe very different than today’s. Don’t judge a book before it’s read and don’t judge a character that’s just been introduced to you without giving them a chance to grow and develop.

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Couldn’t agree more. As I mentioned before, I played Warcraft I and II in the 90s (yes, I know I am reporting on my age!), and goodness was I in for a surprise when Warcraft III came out.

“Who the hell is Sylvanas?! Where is my Alleria?!” (All of Kalimdor, Nightelves, and retconning orcs to not be evil felt so strange to me. To this day I still find Night Elves a bit shoehorned… but that is perspective to ya)

There have been lots of retconning and changes, and introductions of characters that now people regard as “classic” and “OG”. I don’t forget the hate for Blood Elves in 2007 either, and these days I don’t think I see any single thread about how “Blood Elves” are an affront to the Horde’s aesthetics and values. Before the Blood Elves, and during Vanilla some people felt that the Forsaken didn’t belong either.

Hehe. But yes, yours is a good point.

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Yes, this was confirmed by Christie Golden herself in a tweet (or whatever they’re calling them now).

I do. Particularly if you post on a blood elf.

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People hated Varian because his in-game portrayal was… Not very good. Him meeting pandaren for the first time and all he can think to do is fistfight them is about the most telling thing about his character. It wasn’t that he was just new, it’s that Blizzard was going out of their way to portray him as unlikeable.

Garrosh… Y’all got short memories, because I remember an equal amount of love for Cataclysm Garrosh as there was hate. By MoP he was hated, but by MoP it was clear he was being set up to be hated.

Better examples of hating the new would be characters like Thalyssra. The worst thing she did was get upset when Tyrande made it clear they would not be friends, then joined the blood elves who made it equally clear that they will easily be besties. That’s it, her sole crime. I mean yeah, she and every single other Horde leader not named Saurfang stuck around during the war until a rebellion happened, but that’s less a Thalyssra Bad issue and more of a All Horde Leaders Bad thing.

Yet people hate on her. Especially Horde players. Because nightborne bad or something.

But it’s not all the new leaders people hate. Mayra doesn’t get any hate. Umbric seems pretty okay in people’s eyes, from what little we see. The, uhh… Lightforged Draenie lady? I, uhh… Don’t think people hate her? But I don’t ever see mentions of her.

Geya’rah catches some, but she’s designed to be a pretty aggressive figure so I don’t think it’s her newness that people hate her for and more a general distain for overly-aggro characters. Personally I think she’s fine, and I’d love to see how Thrall deals with his aggro AU quasi-sister.

I think the complaints around Calia have some validity, just like the ones around Varian. Hopefully we see some development with Calia that makes her more tolerable so she doesn’t have to become beloved after a suitably heroic death.

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“May the bloodied crown stay lost and forgotten.”

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I feel called out, even if I can’t dispute your statement in the slightest.

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Nope, I’ve just noticed that some posters don’t take certain sentiments seriously if they are paired with blood elf avatars. It’s one reason I’m not posting on my blood elf right this moment, in fact.

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This brings me back to 2007! Good times…

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I think Calia can work pretty well as a half-trusted outsider who is on the Council primarily so that the Forsaken can exploit her political connections.

I also think that the massive backlash against her is the only reason that she isn’t currently wearing a crown, or occupying a position generally equivalent to such, and therefore I’m extremely grateful that we had that backlash and it was recognized by Blizzard.

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I feel like she gets more hate from Alliance players who feel like she betrayed them. The main complaints I see about Thalyssra from Horde players are either that she’s a weak mage and Jaina fangirl or that the Nightborne have taken magical focus in the Horde away from Blood Elves. Both of which are kinda valid complaints, in my humble opinion.

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