So on the discord a thought came up; Shadowlnds would have been a lot more interesting if there was actual drama instead of the lowbrow crap-stirring and canned one-liners that populated that cursed expansion.
So in a much more drama-inclusive setting that we know the writers admire known as Game of Thrones, a big story hook in the first season is the discovery that Cersei’s children aren’t the children of her lawful husband and king, but in fact her twin brothers. Since blonde hair is a recessive trait, natural blondes are far less common than people wish they were. As was often repeated in the early days before the writers killed the show, “the seed is strong.”
Discovering his true lineage would explain much of the typical moodiness an sadness that Anduin can’t go 5 minutes without expressing. It could have led to many drama-filled cinematics, novel stories, and introspective that made a annoying Nepobaby far more relatable. It could have been a story facet that Sylvanas could have exploited, felt genuine sympathy for (since only human characters are allowed to generate any sympathy), and for the lack of any Alliance drama a succession crisis for Stormwind.
So my fellow lore-heads, what do you think? How could this story facet be explored? How much better could arguably the worst explanation of the game have been?
Also daily reminder that you too can join the Unofficial Story Forum discord! https://discord.gg/6fuhsB7
It would have made his similarities and comparison much more interesting. And of course the strife of your father being someone evil and the doubt that comes with that connection.
It could also place his friendship with Jaina in an interesting light. Especially if she knew but helped hide it.
Yeah, let’s turn anduin’s mom, who had a tragic death into a cheater for no good reason just because a character is blonde in a setting full of blondes…
…who said she has to be a cheater? There’s a generous amount of vagueness and ambivalence surrounding her past, much less her marriage with Varian. Don’t forget she basically has no purpose in the story but to be someone for Varian to get all angsty over, and for Anduin to be more tragic and sad. She was dead the moment they decided to explore Varian and Anduin’s past.
It’s a little hard to care what the meat in the refrigerator thinks.
For anduin to not be Varian’s son we have 3 possibilities.
1)adoption.
2)infidelity.
3)someone did something terrible for her.
We can rule out option 3 for your arthas proposition, because nothing in Arthas life pre DK would suggest he would go that low.
Option 1 would be kinda acceptable, but again, no good reason to ever develop said plot.
Option 2 is what i assumed you were going for which would only make a character that we know nothing of that is supposed to have a positive presence to have a negative one.
Also, Anduin’s whole plotline works best because he is Varian’s son, both the contradiction and clash of their personalities, but how Anduin failes or exceeded the expectations dumped on him because of his lineage. Him being anything but varian’s son would just be a plot twist for the sake of the plot twist, It doesn’t have, in my opinion, the potential to make any story better, and all of the potential to make many stories worse, specially since that would open the path for “alliance has a claim to lordaeron” from many players even more.
It adds a connection between two characters that otherwise have only a vague passing resemblance in terms of story arcs and visual design. All this really does is take away all the things that make Anduin a unique character and makes them traits that somehow were received from his biological father (who he would’ve never known).
I think it’s a fun idea. Anduin was a follower of the Light who lost his faith because of circumstances outside of his control, much like Arthas, which is a good place to start.
My ONLY possible hesitation really is that Arthas, as least in his novel, seemed terrified of the idea of having children when Jaina brought it up, and it doesn’t seem like he was particularly interested in that kind of thing otherwise. It would be possible, and giving the child away to his best friend honestly seems like a completely feasible turn of events. Accidentally get a girl pregnant out of wedlock, and your childhood friend’s wife can’t seem to get pregnant herself. Boom! Free heir.
Not what I was going for, but heaven forbid human characters in the Alliance have any faults or depth. Can’t have any Alliance characters have any characterization.
Which has nothing to do with Varian being his biological father. If anything it would give Anduin something in common with all the father’s and mothers he and his father have sent to their deaths for ideological grounds.
Bastards do not have the inherit rights of their biological parents. He can push for it but the fact he’s a bastard is a net negative in that storyline.
Blame Blizzard for being short-sighted and unoriginal in Alliance character arcs.
Allegedly yes. Remember she has no characterization outside of getting stuffed into a refrigerator for cheap drama.
That is because they have no model for her, and she is basically a footnote in Anduin’s story. People can recognize Varian and Saurfang instantly. In contrast everyone would of been confused who this random blonde haired generic npc lady is.
I strongly dislike this idea. Anduin would gain nothing as a character for being Arthas’ son, other than some cheap fodder for scandalous gossip. It would also involve rewriting existing lore. Varian was a few years older than Arthas, and Arthas’ big visit to Stormwind to take his paladin oaths happened in the brief time period between Anduin’s birth and Tiffin’s death. Arthas and Jaina didn’t become a couple until after he came back from Stormwind, and Arthas only ever had eyes for her. For Anduin to be Arthas’ son without violating the current timeline, there would have to be time travel involved.
If you want to lean into Anduin having any sort of Arthas angst, consider that he likely would have been an adoptive uncle to Anduin had the Scourge never happened. Anduin already has plenty of angst and trama about his childhood thanks to having a hostile black dragon hanging around the keep all the time trying to seduce Varian.
She was a major supporter of the stonemasons. Her death was rather suspiciously convenient for the black dragon who was trying to steal her husband.
I think there has been enough of Arthas. It was a lame chapter that exults on some bratitude. A fart cloud being lectured at by Sylvanas was the best end to it.
As much as I think the Wrynn fandom is over blown, it would seem a degradation of Stormwind to make Anduin the son of Arthas. And for what?
Oh please. We saw how the forums and the fandom reacted to Teldrassil.
I think making Arthas the son of Blackmoore would be better - we find out he was never royalty or a Menethil to begin with.
Stormwind has shifted to the spotlight, and desperately lashing some Lordaeron idolatry to Anduin is something that only the most damaged minds could conjure.
There is little abivelence. If there is one story trait Metzen has subscribed to its that Alliance heroes are not cheaters.(to the point that Daelin’s half elf daughter was written out)
Varian and Tiff loved each other and Arthas’ one and only love was Jaina.
He did not. The story was ONYXIA tricked both The nobles(they made them think it was shoddy work) and the masons(they made them think they were being underpaid and made them demand for an unreasonable amount of money) and Varian tried to negociate. Learn your lore.
Yeah, this is the part where he tried to cheat them. Instead of just paying what was owed/originally agreed upon, he tried to negotiate out of that deal. Which he broke anyway after his wife died.
He literally was trying to get the masons to accept the original deal. But they(the masons) would not because they wanted an unreasonable higher sum. Again learn your lore.