I find the concept of them azz pulling a 6th dragon aspect out of nowhere too obnoxious. So inherently she cannot be written well for me.
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Eh not really. If gleefully frying people with lightning and burning villages/killing children counts as calm and calculating (Iridikron’s sister Ikronia (who’d become ordered into a black dragon) helped with that, but she didn’t have much of a choice since Ras wanted to kill her on sight and the only reason Irikidron got her to spare her was because she might be useful (him and Vyranoth are the intelligent, calculating ones…though he’s a manipulative, calculating jerk and Vyranoth despite her title very much has a heart)…it doesn’t end well for Ikronia >_>
Razageth had two faces. On one hand she was the vicious storm incarnate that murdered for fun, yet she is also capable of being very personable and even persuasive. The book mentioned she had many, many friends among the primal dragons a couple times.
I like to imagine this personable face is the one she showed to gather the primalists, whispering from her weakening prison seal to those what would listen.
She might be a great example of a high-functioning sociopath- the personable side being a facade to draw people to their cause, and the unpredictable, cruel sadist being her true nature.
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For those who don’t know is a public humiliation punishment for male slaves.
Claiming that anyone who disagrees with you had that done to them is just messed up.
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Im not sure if i agree here
Part of my problem is that the odyn questline didnt feel deserved, especially as it feels somewhat incongrious with the portrayal in legion of the stormdrakes.
Odyn is a dick, i won’t deny that, but I dont care to hear it from vyranoth, nor when the scenario feels contrived. Especially when it feels like Odyn was just made weak to make her look better
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I’m of two minds because yours was my immediate reaction: this is not the thing Odyn was a jerk about and we’re just ignoring it? and we’re speedrunning this new thing shortly before we kick him out?
on the other hand, do I really want these writers to spend the narrative space to actually try to handle Helya stuff on screen? And if they’re looking to scapegoat him at least he might serve as a pressure valve for their clear desire to do something with us opposite the Titans.
So I figure it’s a fine mediocre stopgap.
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I just ran through the Netherwing recruitment quests, and this was my reaction, too.
I do want to get to punch Odyn in the face for all the things he did, but the setup and framing of this single questline somehow took the drama and the fun out of it.
To me, the most interesting thing in the Odyn story was that
a) there were reasons to dislike him and want to remove him, but
b) we needed Odyn as an ally (at least for Legion, where the world could end otherwise),
c) while the players IC and most of the setting didn’t know the worst of the stuff he’d done in lore (Helya’s true backstory was just rumors in-game, as I recall),
d) and whatever the past, his current followers seemed genuine in their desire to follow Odyn - even if he manipulated their cultures to revere him and his values, the current generation are still individuals who chose to follow him and are personally dedicated to him
I was thinking that this storyline would involve getting proof of his shady past actions to diplomatically convince his followers to abandon him - or at least start questioning him.
But nope, everyone just casually bandies around the (secret?) details of Odyn’s past, except when talking to his followers and trying to convince them not to keep obeying him.
Vyranoth strolls in and says “you’re dedicated to him, but… what if… you weren’t?” and they all go “oh alright them, I’ll just obey you instead.”
Even Wrathion, the smooth-talker, skips out an opportunity to try to have his cake and eat it too by insulting a happy-to-talk Odyn and instantly starting a fight instead of trying to talk him into letting the dragons go - Even if that path ended in a fight anyway, it’d be more fun and set the characters apart.
…
I wanted the same end state, sure, but I wanted drama when acting it out.
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“I hate the titans for forcing order on us im going to rebel!”
Broth gets lost in the sauce
“Ok well maybe these guys are not that great ill side with the titan side…BUT ONLY IF DRAGONS GET A CHOICE!”
Proceeds to do absolutely nothing
Unwillingly gets blasted with azeroth blessing which is spoiler a titan
Literally has exactly what she originally rebelled and was completely against, titans or anyone forcing their will upon dragons, happen to her.
ThisIsFine.jpg
Yeah totally a great character if you just ignore the fact she goes against her own morals back to back.
It’s interesting to note that for most people the religion they choose is the one they are exposed to as a child.
Did they know they didn’t have to? Do they know there are other options? Are there other options? Hard to make a choice when no choice is presented.
Not really trying to call you out or anything, just something I see a lot. People make claims about choice when no meaningful choice is ever offered.
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I agree with the gist of your point but I think Odyn’s followers aren’t the best examples of that. Even in the real world, where actual mind control magic doesn’t exist to compare to, there’s a big gulf between ‘has a limited worldview due to circumstances out of their control’ and ‘has no free will/agency and cannot make their own decisions, so their choices aren’t real/don’t matter’.
And I really don’t like how this story seems to treat them the same - a sort of ‘rather than expand their worldview so they can make informed decisions (which would take more screentime and in-universe time), we’ll just skip to the end and make the correct decisions for them’. But in a story, I don’t want to skip to the end, I want to experience the journey.
Sure, Eyir and the valarjar and the storm dragons are minor characters, and sure, the results would be the same, but I want to see those characters make that decision rather than have Vyranoth say some generic positive lines and have the silent unnamed NPCs fall in behind her.
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While I’d like them all to abandon Odyn and lock him in again, it does feel like they are just trading one “Strong” leader for another.
It would have been nice if they’d given this the development time and consideration to actually create the narrative of a people realizing they might have better options.
It also would have been nice to have tried to redeem Helya or at least help her break Odyn’s conditioning to keep making more like herself. I can only imagine the nightmare that must be to have an induced compulsion to do to others what you were forced to endure yourself.
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