One of the… “strongest” additions in BFA was Jaina’s narrative arc even though for almost all of the Kultiras leveling experience she was very much absent.
So before Kultiras she had this “beware of me” vibe.
Then she reconciled with her mother.
Then she had a little back and forth between wanting to kill horde and wanting to save them until she and Thrall had their moment and things are alright again.
So what happened? Is this a full circle? Or is this proper development?
What was the message and the over all lesson she learned from her past?
Jaina is a frustrating character because on the one hand as a fan of the OG cast I really enjoyed Jaina and her arc of bringing peace between the Horde and Alliance in WC3. On the other hand I liked her more recent more villainous direction because it threatened to add some much needed diversity of thought to the Alliance. She would have been a decent foil to the Horde, unfortunately she was redeemed almost immediately and the Horde never had anyone to “hate” in the Alliance throughout BfA which left Horde players in a weird spot narratively speaking.
Thankfully Tyrande seems to have taken up the mantle of “Designated Interesting Alliance Character” so we’ll see what happens!
Jaina as far as I can tell is where the Alliance should be in term of how it reacts to the Horde. She isn’t going to start a war but if the Horde even attempts to do anything that endangers her, her people or her allies, you know she wont hold back. She is also no longer “peace at all cost” to the point she would sacrifice her father. Having said that, I wonder what this Jaina would have done had her father attempted his take over of Theramore? I doubt she would have let the Horde just kill her father, but I also doubt this Jaina would have been too keen about her father’s aggressive stance.
Half and half i believe, the first half is interesting because she was paying for the choice she made, she believed in peace, and it exploded in her face spectacularly, she’s one of the characters that didnt got scot free for making the wrong call and she stayed alive to pay for all of it, she lost her father and her city and almost lost the rest of her family and hometown, plus she got thrown on that creepy island and she almost dies, its a bit cheesy drama but i dig it, not that bad.
The other half sucks, forgiving the horde AGAIN while she should be dismantling it, what happened with “im listening now father”?.
As far as im concerned i would’ve prefer her to be more pragmatic and dont forgive the horde a second time, but the feeling i got from her is that now that her mother/ kul tiras forgave her and Baine gave Derek back she is pushing for peace again, which sucks, its not the jaina i was sold at the beggining of the expansion, i do not like this part of the character development, im a bit mad but it doesnt ruin the character IMO.
EDIT: I believe you can live and let live without forgiving someone, it makes the character more human IMO, but that is a struggle and i dont see that struggle on this new Jaina, it got magically pushed aside because of this character development arc and that is what i dont like.
We have the rare opportunity to draw a more ruthless side of the Alliance at this time, with players like Tyrande, Alleria, Genn, Moira in the foreground, facing Anduin, Veleen, Khurdran, Jaina, and as neutral liaisons Malfurion and Turalyon. But if Blizzard will take this step, I don’t know. But it would be exciting if the Alliance-hero-Cast would be split into Righteous Good/Righteous Evil/Righteous Neutral.
Honestly, I wonder if the Warbringers short was made when they had a somewhat different storyline in mind for Jaina (it seems that the Warbringers were some of the first stuff made for the expansion), and that’s why it doesn’t match too well with the rest of her story arc.
I’d just like to see an Alliance character who isn’t righteous, for once. They used to exist in Vanilla.
I am not sure I agree with her characterization being villainous or her being redeemed. What was she being redeemed of?
Or are you saying to Blizzard anyone who strays from this “Peace no matter what” path is automatically a villain that either needs to be put down or redeemed?
I liked Jaina’s arc at the start of the expansion with her family and dealing with her dad. I think the two cinematics during the questline to save her (the Thros and Tandred ones) are my favorite cinematics of the expansion, and her Warbringers is one of he best pieces of media WoW has put out in years.
But once she was saved and Ashvane was taken care of, things went off the rails pretty quickly. Suddenly Kul Tiras loves her out of nowhere, and then suddenly she’s back to peace out of nowhere. To be clear I prefer peace Jaina over angry Jaina, but the change doesn’t make sense. Nothing caused it.
Also “what’s different this time?” “We are.” No there was nothing different that exchange was gibberish.
I don’t know, ever since post-Dazar’alor she’s been Anduin-tier in pretty much everything. She even compared Genn to Sylvanas after he advised they push their advantage and win the war after the siege. Everything after that was her pushing for peace and forgiving the Horde. I remember the scene in Nazjatar where she had to convince Genn, Shandris AND the player character that it was worth it to trust the Horde again. She echoes that in the cutscene after rescuing Baine, and again at the end of the expansion when she stands with Anduin when he announces his armistice.
Going from what we saw, I’d say Warbringers: Jaina was an aberration. Because starting with the Battle for Lordaeron, Jaina’s position seemed to be “Peace is a great goal but evil warchiefs must be dealt with.” Not the dark position Warbringers implied, but a much more moderate one. She got less intense from there as the expansion went on.
