0 retcons, pure, unadultered comics Med’an
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Unacceptable.
Umbric would be incredibly left field to me as a council member. If that is their play then I would see it as part of a larger effort to compress the remaining silver covenant high elves and the void elves together.
…likely as a first step towards compressing them together with blood elves in Midnight and making a neutral Thalssian elf group.
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I agree with all this. Me’dan is probably one of the worst characters they’ve ever written. I’m glad he’s been relegated to just the comics and has yet to be seen in-game.
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That would be the only logical premise for Umbric to take a seat on the Council of Six.
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Excited to see Umbric’s new model. I don’t hate the idea of him on the Dalaran council but i also have to say that i’m growing incredibly tired of Dalaran/Kirin Tor essentially being the only mage organization that gets any screen time. And i especially don’t care shoving mages of both factions into it. The complete homogenization of the factions and their various organizations is going to become incredibly stale.
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I don’t see how it’s out of left field outside him being a minor character.
Aethas and Meryl both are not referenced as added NPCs right now, and while this could change and / or they’re more encrypted, they currently aren’t in the cards.
Umbric was also leading the charge with the 7th Legion in BFA, and proved himself to be immensely capable there. I still wonder what he would have done if the scrapped Quel’thalas warfront was put in, because they clearly had plans for him.
He’s one of those characters that needs a chance to do his thing, and this… might be that.
We’re going into an expansion where we’re dealing with the void, and while the Blood Elves (rightfully) kicked the Ren’dorei out to protect the Sunwell, other groups might not be as adverse to having an understanding of what’s arguably one of the biggest threats out there right now.
Tossing something that isn’t just a regular elf or human on the council would be a nice change of pace for aesthetics too.
I’ll keep pointing out Lor’themar was pretty much irrelevant until they updated him and started having him do stuff. I see no issue with Umbric being given a more central role in all this. The whole race needs something at this point that isn’t just “we aren’t High Elves” as Alleria runs around looking like… a High Elf.
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Lorthemar is still irrelevant since he neither has a backstory nor any special powers. Ever since Kael’thas died blood elves had a hard time.
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Sorry I can’t hear you over Gideon Emery saying “The beauty of Eversong endures”
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Indeed. He actually had a pretty good showing in BfA: battling the Horde, terrorizing the Horde with Void necromancy, massacring the Horde’s gobbos, shredding the Horde in Void portals, redistributing the Horde’s wealth, attempting to assassinate the Horde’s leaders. But surely these feats of, er, heroism are convincing disqualifiers in Khadgar’s search for a new Kirin Tor council member.
I mean, I’d not want Aethas Sunreaver back on the job either, but for better or worse the KT has a significant red bloc that probably shouldn’t toil under the thumb of a Horde-hating, ex-blood elf, ex-Magister actively plotting against the two factions they represent in Dalaran. Windrunner nepotism aside, Khadgar really wouldn’t be doing much to promote his vaunted “neutrality” with an appointment that compromised, would he? To say nothing of this “elf unification” down the line.
I guess it ties back to Blizzard’s ambivalence regarding Dalaran’s canonical faction allegiance. Archmage Umbric isn’t so surprising if you consider it an Alliance kingdom that only tolerates the Horde. But that’s really, really not how it’s been presented in the video game since Khadgar took over.
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Indeed. People need to stop having amnesia and realise Umbric will try His best to kill Horde aligned people.
Imagine simping for voice actors instead of the characters lol.
Let’s be honest, any decent mage took part in BFA, so that being a disqualifier for the open post is going to severely limit the pool.
To put it another way, would you rather have Jaina, or Umbric on the Council of Six, if you had to pick one or the other?
For all Umbric did, he paid heavy lip service to, “it could be worse,” and, “we’re being super responsible and not letting it get out of hand because we know the consequences. This is a controlled ritual.”
If the Void is actively becoming a threat, I think Khadgar would be interested in finding an expert to join the ranks. I think what would be the weirdest part of Umbric joining the Council of Six, is that we have no lore suggesting he was ever involved with Dalaran. Of course, he’s so underdeveloped as a character that Blizzard could just say, “Oh, Umbric was a high ranking member of the Kirin Tor for millennia before he went back to Quel’Thalas,” or something.
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Valid angle. I totally buy that Khadgar would take Umbric on as Dalaran’s resident Void specialist, especially at Alleria’s behest. But to kick him that far upstairs? That’s a tall order, even if his robes weren’t soaked in Horde blood.
Still, if it is him, I think you’re right, they probably will need to invent some prior history to sell it. Maybe also divulge the name these mages knew him by before he discovered MCR and began answering to Magister Darkness.
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If they plan to do such with Umbric, perhaps they want to use this patch’s Xal’atath scenario as part of an effort to highlight him? Perhaps most the council will be unconvinced of his worth but he proves himself.
It is a trope Blizzard is quite fond of.
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The Horde blood thing is such a weird complaint because the Horde shouldn’t even be allowed near Dalaran at all after Teldrassil with the exact same logic, yet, when it’s an Alliance character that’s participated in retaliatory warfare - like usual - and is outwardly a bit aggressive, that’s a no no.
If the Sunreavers are allowed to be back after a literal nuke with Theramore, they can look the other way at Umbric’s participation in the fourth war after a time skip.
People are way too personally invested in their feelings about the faction war stuff, when in reality, it doesn’t actually matter that much when it comes to story progression. It never has.
They did a time skip for a reason, they’re wanting to move on for better or worse. And while I believe the tension between factions being removed is one of the worst things they can do with this game, I’d also be pleasantly surprised if it is him, and they actually use it to get Rommath to and the Blood Elves to react negatively. Which is a good thing. We need Warcraft stories, and the Horde vs Alliance stuff is a huge part of that.
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Personally I still find Kalec leaving the Kirin tor to be stupid. If the blue dragons entire raison d’etre is to prevent magical items from being missued, Dalaran would be it in terms of organization and he should have kept his voice in it.
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No we can’t. He is killed on sight if he ever enters Horde territory.
Aethas bargained his literal soul by giving away Felo’melorn to the Kirin Tor. Umbric isn’t even trying to apologize for it. Huge difference.
alliance bias. Horde is never allowed to hold grudges while Vereesa and Jaina walk free still protected by her daddies Baine and Thrall.
The Horde characters who did bad always die. Check your privilige blue person.
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I’ve never enjoyed questing for Dalaran as Horde and would much rather it had stuck with the Alliance after MoP. This new MoP: Revisited content actually reminds me how tantalizing its presentation of Dalaran and Silvermoon as magical rivals was; a pity that didn’t last longer than a patch.
Thalen Songweaver didn’t acquit himself with a promotion to the Council of Six. But really, Umbric warring against the Horde in recent memory is much less relevant than his politics. How are you gonna trust a guy to fairly govern Horde-aligned blood elves who hates the Horde and seeks to enforce Alliance rule over the blood elves?
So… which is it? Does yesterday’s bad writing cancel out tomorrow’s bad writing, or would an active, avowedly anti-Horde Alliance racial leader on the Kirin Tor’s ruling council warrant the kind of in-universe scandal you and I agree it should logically provoke?
I don’t even mind the idea of Archmage Umbric FWIW. Lord knows the void elves need to extend their tendrils beyond their crumbling shed and he’s 50% of all the void elves I know. But it’d be an appointment of consequence - undoubtedly negative where relations with Silvermoon are concerned - and I’d rather that tension be explored than dismissed.
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Jaina for sure sorry.