New Turalyon Voice Over and the future for the Lord Commander

Lore Story Forum
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Well, I believe most of you here have already heard/seen Turalyon’s new voice over. For those who haven’t heard, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyIROxDEU88

Well, there’s been a lot of talk about the character’s future and the possibility of him becoming a villain. I came to contribute a little bit because I don’t believe that’s the case, and as I have hopes that Blizzard will plot with him only as “the other side of the coin”

As everyone knows, Turalyon is the High Exarch of the Army of Light, and he is a man of great faith. Based on this, many people believe he is a fanatic, but Blizzard (until now) has not developed him that way.
Turalyon walks side by side with Alleria, and she has a void god (a completely corrupted naaru) inside her. The power she has today is quite surreal, and the depth she has gone into the Void is greater than any other character ever seen.
Still, it’s said by Alleria herself that the only reason her relationship with Turalyon resists is because of the paladin. From his understanding, love and devotion to her. This is not characteristic of a fanatic, as if he were blinded by the doctrines of the Light, he would not stand by his wife.

Other than that, in the book Before the Storm, Turalyon tells Anduin that he learned more from him in a few days than he learned in 1000 years, referencing in him that the undead are actually people like him, and that his master Alonsus Faol was, of course, in a way, still alive.

Another point, now a little out of the lore, that I would like to mention is that in Voice Over we see Turalyon making jokes and pranks. I was looking up old Garrosh and Sylvanas voice overs, and these were always serious. Garrosh has always had strong lines of conquest and power. Sylvanas also didn’t have “little jokes” and stuff like that.

With all this, I do believe that Blizzard will create a conflict between Turalyon and Anduin. But I’m hoping to see something more political, involving the nobles and so on. And maybe we have the “morally gray” that blizzard has been promising forever. Where neither side is necessarily good or necessarily evil.

One of my biggest problems with Anduin these days is the fact that he is “the chosen one”. So whichever side he’s on, he’s the right one. This is poor and boring, and it would be nice to see the High King of the Alliance doing some things he regrets without having to become a villain for it. Likewise, it will be interesting to see Turalyon, the Alliance’s greatest hero, make mistakes in the belief that he is doing the best for both Alliance and Stormwind without making him a villain.

Well, those were the thoughts I wanted to share. What do you think?

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He makes bad calls and feels regret already, especially around BfA. The issue with Anduin is that he’s propped up at the expense of others, and shielded from actual consequence as the “chosen one.” He’s never going to face serious repercussions for poor decisions, someone else with die or get turned into a villain while Anduin whinges over it and then everyone conveniently forgets it happened.

The closest we got to seeing him get his face rubbed in his own failure was in Shadows Rising when he gets chased out of Westfall by the locals with spoiled fruit and called a coward. I don’t expect this to ever come back up because it happened in a book, he’s 100% convinced he make the “right call” regardless of what the peasantry thinks, and like stated; he’s shielded from the consequences of his decisions.

Ignoring the legitimacy issues of his high kingship (I’ve already posted enough on that topic), I think he should have been cashiered immediately after the Siege of Undercity as punishment for all the poor decisions he made regarding the lead up and execution of the battle. He wouldn’t get turned into a villain, we get a break from the Wrynns and possibly Stormwind being the center of the spotlight all the time whenever the faction as a whole comes up, High King goes away or is filled by a non-human for a change, and it brings up some of that GoT-tier political infighting that the Developers said they really like.

Historically Kings who fail in battle as badly as Anduin did are on very thin ice with the kingdom nobility, as well as any allied kingdoms. Stormwind supposedly has some powerful nobles who do not rubber-stamp everything the crown does, and in a normal medieval kingdom those folks would be rocking the boat or covertly considering a replacement. Anduin getting fired as the Alliance war-leader would get him out of the spotlight as he struggles to maintain his rule over Stormwind, and would give us a political subplot story out of the limelight as well as give Stormwind so depth outside of a bunch or rabble who gladly throw their lives away at the drop of a hat for their glorious God-King.

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After hearing his dialogue I don’t think he is going to get villian batted. I think his relationship with Alleria will break down further the more she lets the Void whispers in. He’s a loyal man, but his loyalties may be pushed to their limits.

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I hope his renovations to the castle is to modify the statue of Varina to be shirtless.

And then build a statue of himself also shirtless.

And the statues Danath, Khadgar, and Kurdran in the Valley of Heroes. Shirtless.

I wanna see peak physical condition everywhere I look in Stormwind.

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He’s only really in danger if they commit to another faction war expansion. MoP and BfA liquidated the Horde’s warmongers.

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It has been a hot minute since I read said book but I dont recall this portion. As far as I remember the only time Anduin was in Westfall was the start of the book and dealing with the drunkard upset about him for causing his forsaken buddy(potential lover? Honestly kinda vague) dying.

I think you are confusing your head canon with actual lore. I just checked the book and no the only scene in Westfall in said book was the prologue.(at least none that I could find but I only checked the title for each chapter)

Also, in game it has been mentioned the people love Anduin while in contrast it is the nobles who like Turaylon.

That is not to say there are not dissenting voice but as mentioned in the epilogue gossip text for the Fourth War there are plenty of other who defend Anduin.(like the female dwarf arguing with the male dwarf and saying Anduin is a good king)

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Man… Before the Storm was really just… Like it was so unsufferably lame I legit wish I could forget about this one

But OP’s right. I hope Turalyon doesn’t get straight up villain batted. The Horde had to go through this twice and it never felt nice. Writing him in a way that makes him right/understandable from an Alliance perspective and wrong from a Horde perspective would be just fine. Honestly he has the potential to be much more interesting as a leader than Anduin

Something extremely frustrating Horde side is that the writers just won’t let you hate or even blame Anduin for anything. Having Turalyon as the leader of the Alliance is a good way to fix that

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Honestly Anduin can stay in the Maw with Sylvanas for a few more expacs. We need to let the story breath without his overbearing morality ruining our fun. Storywise no one should want him back considering how badly he handled the war. Considering with Turaylon in charge they have managed 5 years of peace which is something that hasn’t existed since the last time he kicked the Horde butt in warcraft 2.

The people of Stormwind shouldnt want Anduin back and I know most players down’t want him back. Turaylon and Alleria stand to be far more interesting leaders of Stormwind. The Alliance in general could use more variety when it comes to actual war leaders though. Lets see Muradin or Jarod shadowsong step up and lead the armies as supreme commander next.

If they do bring Anduin back I hope this time its as an enemy we can defeat. Either as some light crazed zealot or maw crazy loon.

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Funny that there as a time when the majority of the fanbase was clamoring for “Light fanatic Turalyon”, facts be damned. And now the wind has shifted, and a lot of those people finally see those facts and admit Turalyon is not actually fanatic material.

I think what you said holds some merit. Turalyon sounds fed up with politics already. I like your approach to the matter.

There are two big obstacles to the “Light fanatic Turalyon” idea. 1) It’s too out of character for him. 2) Blizzard has not shown the skill to do that kind of character arc since Warcraft 3.

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The thing that people tend to forget is, if he didn’t turn fanatical during his time in the Army of Light, even after being lightforged, what makes people think he suddenly turn around go all Dues Vult on Azeroth now?

And yes, he was right for being mad about what happened to X’era, he was serving her for thousands of years and she never led them astray. Sure she might have kept certain things from people, but that’s not a crime.

(I will note that Velen does blame both X’era and Illidan for what happened)

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Here’s the thing about Turalyon. He is very easily manipulated, especially by light-based beings.

Recall that he was in a relationship with Alleria for years, even having a child with her, but when he and Alleria joined the Army of the Light, and she refused to stop using the void, instead of siding with his wife and the mother of his child (although they did leave him in Outland), he sided with Xe’ra. Sure he ‘begged for mercy’ from Xe’ra but he made no real effort after her imprisonment to have her released, and she was still imprisoned as of the events of Legion, only breaking free of her imprisonment after the Xenedar was shot down. He was described as having ‘conflicting thoughts’ which, nah, she’s his wife and mother of his son, he shouldn’t have had conflicting thoughts or tolerated her imprisonment.

So sure, now he’s loyal to the Alliance. Now he loves Alleria and is tolerant of her use of the void, but what would happen if say, Yrel and her Lightbound were to come to our Azeroth to spread the message of the Mother of Light (aka Xe’ra)? Do you think he’d stand against Yrel and Xe’ra? Or do you think he’d switch sides and join the Lightbound?

Also, there is the cryptic message whispered by the Old Gods to consider:

“The golden one will claim a vacant throne, the crown of light will bring only darkness.”

We already got the golden one on a vacant throne, the implication behind that cryptic clue is that Turalyon will bring darkness rather than light as the leader of the Alliance.

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He didn’t “side” with Xe’ra. He wanted her to leave her alone/not harm her. And what would you have wanted Turalyon to do? Fight off Xe’ra and potentially the entire Army of Light?

And Alleria wanted to be captured. And if Xe’ra had tried to harm Alleria he probably would have attacked her.

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He was completely isolated from his home planet and surrounded by an endless army of demons closing in on him, for apparently “thousands of years”. Which means he’s been alive for several lifetimes longer than humans should last.

The fact that he isn’t loony is bad writing and doesn’t make sense imo but I’m not torn up that he’s a decent guy either

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Not every soldier snaps in a time of conflict though. It’s not bad writing if one knows anything about turalyon.

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He would probably not based on his past experiences if anything he would probably try to convince them to not be so dogmatic and to follow the lightforged path.

He has already warned Anduin to not blindly trust the light. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be following his own advice or why he would turn on his wife and family considering he has been fine with her use of void upto now.

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Time has an interesting effect on the human mind. A thousand years would have significant effect on the human psyche that would make Turalyon difficult to relate at best, unable to manage a schedule, and worse. There’s also the effect of the brain’s storage limit. A thousand years of life is completely unnatural for a human and should have some interesting effects since they didn’t evolve to live with it like elves and Draenei do.

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Have we ever stopped to think that this sentence may not be what we thought?

Initially, we thought “darkness” was a reflection of villainy on Turalyon’s part, but it could be Alleria’s thing.

Remembering that whoever said this is not impartial, the prophecy comes from the Void, which means it’s only half true.

The “darkness” can be almost literal, saying that the Turalyon government will somehow make way for the Void, perhaps through Alleria, or Anduin himself, as he too will deal with the shadows now.

The whole point is that Turalyon is different from characters like Garrosh or Sylvanas. He doesn’t have the selfishness and ego that these characters have. Maybe he’s a lot more military than Anduin or Jaina, but he fought a war for a thousand years, where there were no civilians or innocent people, it was demons and an army of light, that’s all.

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Turalyon became immortal by Light, a magic, which allows us to assume that he does not submit, therefore, to the natural effects of our physical reality.

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I am so sick of alliance heroes taking all the spotlight. Turalyon and his clique needs to die.

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No it does not. At least not in world of warcraft. We have had another character, Aegwynn, who lived for a thousand years and as far as the story has show she is very much acted like a kind old grandmotherly(if at times sarcastic) figure to Jaina with no particular drawback(being as sharp witted as ever)

Even in real life we would not know what the effect is on being alive for a thousand year+ will have on the human pysche because obviously no one has lived that long(although biblical stories did say humans could like for almost thousands of years in Genesis and said story never treated them as different/unrelatable to other humans)