Teldrassil was Dumb, or when Rule of Cool fails

That is why it’s headcanon.

The catapults have a maximum range of two hundred yards.

The catapults hit the tree.

How does this work? There is no canon answer. That’s called a plot hole.

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I tried to get away from plot and focus on Saurfang’s character. I know it’s a plot hole. The point is he was being a bad general regardless of interpretation of the scene or canon.

I’m not seeing how he was being a bad general regardless of interpretation; there’s a perfectly reasonable interpretation where he’s not a bad general, and then there’s the interpretation where we pretend nobody in charge or operating the equipment realized they could just lob rocks from several miles away rather than fighting.

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If they make a playable recap scenario for the War of Thorns, they need to add a line like the one in The Day Deathwing Came:

[the cinematic freezes at the point Sylvanas launches the catapults, with a Saurfang voiceover] “When I reached the shore, I remembered that the catapults had a range of several miles. That would have been helpful to know earlier.”

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You just made me laugh so hard I woke up my cat. Well played.

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That’s not the story Blizzard wanted to tell.

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I agree. It can cut both ways.

Reading the plain text, it could be viewed as two Orcs ruminating about the range of the catapults due to uncertainty on both their parts.

Reading it as Saurfang actually knowing the range while asking a goading question requires inference. It requires assuming Saurfang actually knows the range, even though that is not stated.

I agree on that as well. It always struck me as a bit odd.

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This is actually embarrassing that people are struggling to grasp the burning.

Catapults, cavalry, and a whole host of other armaments can be floated across the sea, from destination to destination. The whole ‘range’ issue, is not an issue.

Wet wood and being in the middle of an ocean are not arguments. Have you ever seen an oil spill? Have you ever seen that oil light on fire? Is it so hard to imagine that the catapult projectiles contained any of a number of flammable and combustible substances?

When you try so hard to hate BFA, that building a campfire becomes problematic for you.

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And if they had floated those catapults out instead of clearly showing them launching from the beach, then half of the complaints about the burning wouldn’t exist.

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Idk, if you read the entire passage then it seems pretty obvious that Saurfang is just giving this guy a major dressing-down. I don’t really see any room for interpretation on this one.

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I find it embarrassing that people will use headcanon to explain plot holes when it suits whatever view they’re trying to push.

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So your interpretation is that the Horde army is incompetent? Or simply that Sylvanas had these long-range catapults, but didn’t tell her army so they could engage in unnecessary close-quarters combat for grins and giggles?

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Therein lies the irony!
You are using headcanon to push your point!

You really think they were fired from the beach of darkshore?

  • facepalm *

Ya…The beach to teldrassil… Srsly omg.

Did you watch the cinematic for the burning? You can see them putting a torch to the payload on the catapult, which is clearly resting on the beach.

If the timestamp in the link doesn’t work, go to 3:50.

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Canon:

    Saurfang issued orders rapidly. He organized the siege crews on the beach and made sure they were aimed toward Teldrassil.

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it is resting on a beach.

You are implying because sylvanus is on the shore, that the catapults are also there. Sylvanus is standing there alone. Where are the catapults, where is nathanos, where are the other soldiers?

They are not there because their existence to the final frame is irrelevant. It exists on a dimension above the current landscape. A surreal depiction of Sylvanus’ perspective.

If you won’t accept canonical evidence, from both the in-game cinematic and the book, that the catapults were on Darkshore and not on a boat floating around Teldrassil, then there probably isn’t anything further to discuss.

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If you couldn’t tell, the sentences I quoted are excerpts from A Good War.

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There is no canonical evidence

What are you talking about? A ship can deliver troops and catapults to teldrassil’s shores

Likely not, you are so far out there is no hope of reeling you back in

Teldrassil has a beach