Because Varian was raised in a brutal world where his home was destroyed by Hulking giants. Where he was trained his entire life by the sword because that was expected of him. Where his anger towards the monsters that destroyed his Home and killed his family. He is captured by them and forced to fight as a gladiator in their ring. Varian being a Hulked out(admittingly blown out proportions but so is everyone in wow) aggressive king towards the Horde makes sense for the character.
Then lets look at Anduin, A boy raised in a kingdom as old as him that was destroyed by the Horde. Raised by people who lived through the invasions of the Horde. Has no inclination to fighting so gives up the sword and focuses on the light. His friends city is blow up by the Horde, Has his body crushed so badly by a Orc warchief and watches his father give them one more chance to prove they had chance.
Then we come to BFA, the Horde commit another genocide. Anduin picks up his fathers sword and is some how a better fighter with it than his father. He seems more concerned about limiting the losses on the Hordes side than the Alliances and is constantly looking for peace with them. The only time he ever shows any kind of anger towards anyone is because hes being affected by the Void.
Now which of these two characters makes sense based on the events they had gone through.
Your right and I get that some politics will always seep in as the writers are going to be influenced by the going onās in the world. I just wish it wasnāt so hamfisted into the Narrative.
Quoted for truth. Garrosh tried the smack in the face with any blunt objects available tactic and it ended up giving Anduin magical spider sense esque powers.
The Anduin issue canĀ“t be fixed with a regular beating nor deathā¦ we just need to ālose himā in some rando closed room inside Torghast and destroy the key with a mana bomb -you know, so all the keys in all the AUs get destroyed with it-.
You wanna act like theyāre the same person, and should make the same choices, because theyāve had similar things happen to them? Thatās REALLY shtty character development. And Anduin DID train as a warrior, he just hated it. That doesnāt mean the skill isnāt there. And where are you getting this idea that heās better at fighting than Varian?
Again, I NEVER said Anduin wasnāt masculine. Please point out where I did. He is masculine without being a hyper-machismo roid monster with rage issues, like Varian was. That is a thing that exists. I KNOW, shocking.
Considering they have both had the same experiences and Anduin is his fathers son. Yes I expect there to be some carry over, the same charcterā¦no.
So no you never said Anduin is Masculine. He isnāt supposed to be yet he runs around fighting better than characters that trained their entire lives. Yet you claim he represent Non toxic masculinity like its some sort of badge of honor.
Your misguided hate for actual well developed masculine characters like Varian is why we arenāt going to agree. You seem to see any concept of a warrior male who embraces his feelings and acts human as some sort of monster.
Where Anduin who is unreasonably pacifist based on the events of his life and the universe around. is some sort of guiding light for the story.
Good lord, I LIRERALLY SAID he is a NON-TOXIC EXAMPLE of MASCULINITY. jfc, I donāt think I can talk to you anymore. Clearly you have no idea what the word even means.
EDIT: āUnreasonably pacifist,ā yeah, weāre done here. There is nothing unreasonable about his desire for peace. I donāt hate Varian, btw. I just like Anduin better.
Right? JFC, Iām like, gobsmacked, idk how someone can understand something SO littleā¦ Anduin is literally a shining example of HEALTHY masculinity, and I really, really donāt want to see that stamped out by the edgelord club of Muscles and Rage.
Baal I know you like to twist other peoples words out of context but that isnāt what I meant.
My point is that Anduin is a priest who was never skilled with weapons and was crippled. Yet can fight better than warriors that have trained their entire lives. This is a mary sueish trait to simply prop up the charcter he hadnāt earnt that ability. The fact Anduin has never had anything mean to say about the Horde in his entire time in the story regardless of what they do or have done is what makes him unrealistic.
Yet when a character who trained his entire life and gone through some horrific ordeals acts realistically to events is seen as ātoxicā just because he is muscular and shows his feelings. Though the ill admit the whole Goldrinn power up wasnāt needed and hurt the character.
There has to be a balance in the charcter, Anduin is way too skewered in one direction.
But letĀ“s be fair Baalā¦ Anduin is another toxic example of masculinityā¦ just not in the usual way (heĀ“s toxic because he sends the message that only ubber sensible guys are REAL males). The way I see it actual masculinity involves both sensibility and testosterone filled recklesness -both are kinda crucial for the development of any irl human. Are less sensitive females -like myself- ātoxic examples on feminityā? Cause I disagree.
The way I see it, the toxic portion is the branding part related to the very complex human behavior associated to both males and femalesā¦ at the end we all are huamn beings and usually have BOTH types of emotional responses.
Show me where he can āfight better than warriors that have trained all their livesā? Heās adequate, but where he really shines is his healing, as displayed in that gorgeous BFA cinematic. I have seen ZERO of this evidence suggesting heās better than a seasoned warrior.
Correct, but youāre attributing that to āBlizzard hating Real Masculine Charactersā instead of āAnduin is Lawful Good Mary Sue and is a symptom of the larger Alliance narrative problem the Horde players have repeatedly pointed out for yearsā.
Because itās Mary Sue, Human Potentialā¢, and stripped all the Druid-races of their power/agency.
Edit: Anduin is supposed to be Masculineā¢, but in the Lawful Good Naive Himbo-Adjacent variation. Heās a goody two shoes idiot who is never allowed to be a bad boy in the narrative. Thatās the point and problem of the character.
But to say he isnāt supposed to be masculine is a yikes.
He sucks because heĀ“s a plain pet character whose development is basically āact like a Purity Sueā and nothing else. HeĀ“s not even complex enough to embody actual irl masculinity tropes.
HeĀ“s the MOST toxic thing to ever influence the writting of this game. Literally any character that gets painted as oposed to him gets ridiculed and villain batted to Sunday Cartoonish levelsā¦ he HAS to appear in all and every story beat this game has had since MoP and letĀ“s not talk in how devs will even DISPLACE other characters from that same narrative to make space for him.
HeĀ“s a lore black hole of the worst kind, ergo my comment over the only solution to the āAnduin Problemā being his existence being IGNORED in the narrative. Even in the realm of the dead he somehow became more āimportantā than characters associated with death/undeath for a decade and a halfā¦
In the same cinematic he smacks an actual warrior into the ground. Or the leaping through the air to stab a battle tank. Or the latest stupid reveal that he can launch through the Air and stab a titan level being in the chest.
I mean Varian got done in by a few Felguard but hey he was probably only the greatest warrior on Azeroth at the time.
Yes, 100% agree, but if you encounter Anduin IRL I think heās more the:
Within the narrative he is toxic, but he is not an example of toxic masculinity, but rather the narrative toxicity of Lawful Good tropes when taken to their functional extreme.
Very true, Sadly I felt it also detracted from varian tying his anger to some worgen curse like some excuse.
Eh, I guess they are trying to make him seem more masculine. However it doesnāt fit the character, you canāt just slap armor on a character and give him a sword and call them masculine.
Its another symptom of him being given skills that he doesnāt earn. It also detracts from other warrior charcters as that is their only given skill set.
Well, as I mentioned heĀ“s not even complex enough to portray an actual accurate irl human masculinity model. Casue people like him literally DONĀ“T exist. and to pretend this imaginary unreachable āpedestalā of masculinity is something irl guys MUSt achieve is laughableā¦ and yes, toxic too.
Guys just need to learn to act like decent human beings that will screw up sometimesā¦ NOT acting like āangelsā does NOT make them any less masculine. Just like me acting like a rabid sass machine doesnĀ“t make me any less femenine. The brands in themselves ARE toxic.
I regret to inform you that they do, but while theyāre not Toxic in the formal sense of the term, they are very much violently Self Destructive and unfathomably useless and ankle-deep personalities because life isnāt made for Lawful Good people.
Lawful Good Himbos are real and out there. *X Files Music plays *
I can agree with this, even then I think Anduin is on another level based on the universe he is in and the events happening around him.
I think proper emotion in characters is important. Its why Varian was interesting to me as he had a form of PTSD. He had to slowly overcome that(which the whole goldrinn thing ruined).
