That’s my point as far as not being reflective or even implicative. I don’t think there’s any intent or statement behind that in a magical world.
To each their own. I would like the people of Stormwind wanting a democracy. But seeing as they story hasn’t cared for that for decades, I don’t really care for that story now. It would be more out of place.
headcanon, there was no addiction, cause of nord and before that the well
Illidan was clearly addicted, that’s why he created the Second Well, even though it was already a forbidden act… and that’ from the in game books.
no he made the 2nd well because of his vision of the endless armies of the legion
I read the in-game books that used to be all over the place. I’ll take their version over yours. It may very well that he subconciously conjured that vision to rationalise his own actions which were driven by his arcane addiction.
it was literally a real vision that you read in his POV that sargeras himself gave him, in WOTA books
I will grant you that. But it was planting that Second Well that enticed the Legion back. And Illidan is stated in the ingame books as being unwilling to give up the magic he was addicted to. The use of arcane magic IS addictive unless the caster exercises strict self discipline. And Illidan did not have the temperament to do so.
Illidan knew that the legion was gonna come back, anyways, Malfurion was wrong, the legion knew where azeroth was and they where coming, illdan knew that they would need the well to fight them back.
Except that they didn’t. The only thing the Well was, was a lure. It provided no benefit, no defense.
its literally in the book, the well does give something, literally power.
I mean you already outted yourself that you havent read WOTA
Actually I read all three books and I don’t recall any such vision. I outed myself for not reading Chronicle because I considered the books too expensive.
Illidan was right about the Legion coming back. The fact that Malfurion and Tyrande had encouraged a society-wide bias against Arcane magic doesn’t change that. Their choice not to use the second Well of Eternity doesn’t negate its power or usefulness if they had decided to use it.
Literally the only reason it provided “no benefit” was because the modern Kaldorei were too squeamish to make use of said benefit.
When Sargeras was burning Illidans eyes out/giving him power, the vision Illidan saw was the Legion conquering/burning countless worlds. I don’t recall him ever saying the Legion was going straight for Azeroth again, but if we’re being technical, I guess the legion would have came for them eventually when they were done scouring the rest of the universe of all life.
He tried to warn the night elves at Mt. Hyjal that the Legion would return—not that it could, but that it most certainly would. However, likely as a result of a fresh victory, along with their misconception that Illidan was simply a power-mad sorcerer, none actually believed him. Even during the Third War, you still had the (misplaced) confidence of, “Well, if the demons come back, we’ll just beat them again.”
Illidan literally goes into a full-on speech about why this is ultimately a losing strategy in the novel that shares his name, but even as far back as the original War of the Ancients trilogy, we were still told that the (overwhelming) force that had already been brought to Azeroth was merely “the tiniest fraction of the Legion’s full might.”
While it’s unlikely Illidan knew about Azeroth’s World Soul being the reason for Sargeras’ Burning Crusade, he definitely knew that the Legion would inevitably return again and again, and that it would be stronger each time it did.
I can’t say I blame the Kaldorei for not trusting a word Illidan had to say, because lets be honest, for all intents and purposes, Illidan WAS a power hungry sorcerer.
He betrayed the resistance, joined the legion, betrayed the legion, joined Ashara briefly, betrayed her and then went back to helping the resistance. Illidan was the drug addicted friend, who one day is your buddy and the next is robbing you at gun point for more drug money.
Except that, to use your metaphor, he was doing it to bring down the drug empire responsible for said drugs, so…
Power was never Illidan’s goal; it was only ever a means to an end. The fact that the Kaldorei distrusted him doesn’t change that.
It’s also worth pointing out that they were just as quick to use him—as in exploit him—for their own gain once backed into a corner.
A suspicion flickered through his mind. He had been imprisoned not from any false act of mercy, but because she [Tyrande] had known that one day he would again be needed. He had been stored here like a weapon hung in an armory.
World of Warcraft: Illidan, pp.8-9
And these are the guys trying to claim Illidan is a villain and they have the moral high ground.
I mean, I know Illidan was ultimatly proven right, but the Kaldorei are a arrogant people, of course they’re going to scapegoat someone like Illidan, because he was different and was willing to do things that the rest of them wouldn’t. I think what hurt Illidan the most is the fact he never tells anyone his ENITRE plan, he just gives little tidbits of his over all goal and is just like “Just trust me” and than acts suprised when everyone else is like “lol nope, we tried that once already and it almost ended in disaster for us.”
It definitely goes both ways: the Kaldorei would never believe Illidan because of their own biases, but of course he never bothered to tell them…because he knew they wouldn’t believe him.
The important difference here, though, is the fact that of the two, only Illidan actually bothers to engage in introspection. Not one do you ever see Malfurion or Tyrande thinking, “Huh, maybe we were wrong about Illidan. Maybe we should have been more tolerant.”
Meanwhile:
What if he was wrong? What if he had miscalculated? His visions were not infallible. Perhaps there was another way and he had not seen it. Perhaps he was blind to a possibility that might win this war without all the sacrifices. He had searched and searched for one and had not found it, but that did not mean it was not there.
World of Warcraft: Illidan, p. 253
If you really think about it, if you put Illidan up alongside pretty much every other major character in the series, this level of self-questioning is kind of unprecedented. Everyone, from Jaina to Anduin to Thrall to Sylvanas, we always see acting in complete confidence of themselves–even when it comes to things like plaguing Gilneas or flooding Orgrimmar/purging Dalaran, rarely if ever do we see any of these characters actually taking the time to ask, “Am I the doing the right thing here?”
That’s ultimately what, in many ways, makes Illidan Stormrage a far better-developed character than anyone on Team Red or Blue. Illidan is quite probably the only major lore character, at least that I can think of, who actively engages in self-doubt and introspection, but still chooses to forge ahead.
Not because he’s ignoring the possibility that he’s wrong, but because he genuinely believes that he’s doing the right thing, in order to save as many lives as possible (remember, we’re talking on a universal scale) in the long run.
Arthas had periods of self doubt when he was a Death Knight, he would remember bits of his past life and for brief moments question what he was doing. Him and Illidan are the only two well developed characters.(Much as I dislike Illidan, they did do him dirty in TBC)
With Arthas though, that has more to do with his soul being forcibly taken and housed mere inches away from his body (inside Frostmourne). That introduces a whole other conversation about how much free will you can truly have if you’re not a “whole” person.
Illidan, on the other hand, actively questions himself and even tries to objectively look at things from the perspective of others.