Clearly they are not corrupted cause only a small number became raven priests, and they never succeed cause they are villains, also the light doesn’t reward anything, its not a thinking thing, it has no more thoughts then the electricity in your house does
I believe you’re taking the Naaru and the light and thinking they’re one and the same. They’re not. The light doesn’t care, it just requires conviction and a strong belief that one is doing the right thing and a person will still be able to wield the light
It was like I said earlier though. Temptation takes time. A falling from grace is gradual. Dreadlords are masters of cunning and deceit. We exposed Mal’Ganis’ plan before it had full time to take effect.
The Light has always had some agency in Wow. The elements, shadow, and light have often been associated with specific qualities.
No it hasen’t, it doesn’t think, the naaru have agency, but the light doesn’t
That is what I mean though. If the Light only requires belief, then the Scarlets wouldn’t have fallen to temptation. Their single-mindedness and focus would be incorruptible as they embody the most pure nature of the light.
Chronicles says the Naaru are the purest form of expression of the light in the universe. The light must have some degree of sentience for the Naaru to embody its qualities.
They aren’t corrupt in the traditional sense of what corruption means. They’re religious zealots upped to 11. All Mal’ganis did was take their worse impulses and used them to turn the entire group paranoid.
The Scarlets view Everyone else as being corrupt because of their paranoia.
Yet know the Light doesn’t leave people. People leave the Light. It is powered by faith or will. It “leaving” is people losing their faith in their ability to use it. Similarly to how Thrall’s inner conflict can interfere with his shaman abilities.
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Yes, that is why I left that part in quotations. Arthas is being deceptive here, but the point stands that his actions removed him from the Light. My point is that it is more than just faith that requires one to truly "lose the light”. Anduin may have believed he lost the light, but he never did. Arthas and the Scarlets through their actions have significantly strained their connection.
Their worst tenet was their faith. Their belief system was a perversion of the Light. That is why their end is poetic. They preach against corruption but are too proud to see it stirring inside them.
That’s not accurate according to the lore. Their actions only strained their faith because they doubted themselves when doing them.
Like it takes a real strange person to not feel any doubt while killing innocents.
It really isn’t and wasn’t though because they were using the light just fine. Again, the light DOES NOT CARE just as long as one believes what they’re doing is correct.
Their paranoia was their undoing. Not their faith in the light
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Exactly. When do the Scarlets have a lapse in faith? Their rigidity is what brings them to darkness.
It has to be more than just belief. The Light is an entity comprised of hope, joy, and compassion. Chronicles states that before creation “Light swelled across all existence in the form of a boundless prismatic sea. Great torrents of living energy flitted through its mirrored depths, their movements conjuring a symphony of joy and hope”. The Light is alive to some extent. It seemingly intervenes to stop Tirion from being resurrected as a DK.
I don’t think it is a stretch to say that the beings who lack compassion and hope dwindle their own light. As I mentioned before, a fall from grace is gradual. Sure, they use Light in the moment, but the end is always the same- undead or wielding dark magic.
They lapse when they turn to the void, we see shadow priests. Otherwise some of them are delusional enough to keep using it.
Not only does it not have to be, we are told in explicit terms that it is only belief or willpower. Word of God. Speculation doesn’t counter that.
Doubt is not the only emotion associated with the Void though.
We know from the Shas that Hatred, Pride, and Zeal are tied to Shadow.
And the Void itself is the opposite of the Light in nature. So hope, compassion, and joy would be countered by emotions like doubt, hatred, and anger.
The Scarlets strongly embodied pride and hatred.
And? None of this is contrary to only need faith or willpower to use the Light.
If that was the case then they would still be using the Light. The Light would shield them and protect them from any attempt to corrupt them.
But the Light isn’t single-minded conviction, it is also hope (i.e. faith), compassion, and joy.
The takeaway from the Scarlets is this is what happens to those who lack compassion and are blinded by hatred.
Some of them do, though.
Only if they were 100% pure of faith. But not all of them are.
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Hey
Member the fallen paladins of the Scarlet Onslaught?
I member.
I think we can assume that they truly believe what they are doing is right to an absurd degree. It might not be 100% percent, but the threshold is much higher than a sane individual. It would make more sense to exploit their conviction.
Like I said before, it would be a process that takes time. Arthas didn’t become the Lich King over one night.
The point is, some can and do lose faith.
Some don’t.
And this is what affects their connection to the Light.
Loss of faith is one element though. I think saying it was only due to faith erases a lot of what drives the Scarlets. The dungeon journal even describes the Halls as “once hallowed”.
It is also hard to reconcile that without retconning the Light as a compassionate entity.