I’ve read the novel. He’s valuable, sure, but some legendary hero? Her mother outright refers to the guy as Sylvanas’s pet, and his entire character basically feels just designed to exist as Sylvanas’s lover, in the same vein as Draka (Aggra) for Thrall.
1 Like
Do you mean Aggra? I don’t think Thrall’s mom is his lover
Oops, you’re right.
1 Like
Special Guest Author George RR Martin
3 Likes
I mean yeah. I guess I was just never that attached to the character. I was genuinely confused who he was when I came back in Legion.
Ohhh plaguelands hunter dude. Idk some Alliance had been sporting enough to not intervene when I came for their Barov’s head and I never felt an intense need to defend a random shack in the woods. So I rarely ran to Nathanos’s defense.
It probably does make the vanilla quests completely incomprehensible but what else is new?
It makes the questgiver pissing himself in confusion at how he could betray them and work for Sylvanas kind of hilarious in retrospect tbh.
3 Likes
Not hilarious, just idiotic
True but there’s a lot of silly stuff in Classic.
I’m very glad the idea Forsaken lose their personality the longer they’re out of the grave was abandoned.
Also the Forsaken were doing some side stuff with the Grimtotems and I don’t think that lead to much of anything. They’ve one of those names I can’t take seriously.
“How could we have ever guessed Lord Perfidious Backstab of House Doublecross could’ve been up to no good?”
8 Likes
I think Nathanos as hunter trainer was an undead with the brown chin.
Bah this could’ve been so good if it were after Legion.
There’s this distinct supremacist air of thought toward Trolls, orcs and Lordaeron.
And it’s not presented as sheer sneering dismissal. The Orcs at this point are invading aliens. The only thing elves know about Trolls is they’re horrible things that live in the woods - Sylvanas is shown the gruesome warnings they leave for the elves on the edge of their territory as a child. Why the Trolls might do this isn’t explained. They’re simply monsters to the Quel’Dori.
There’s a really interesting story here about how Sylvanas from a place of immense privilege was brought so damn low she had to crawl out of the grave. And we could see this more complete understanding of these people start to form. Especially now that her and hers are also considered monsters to simply be disposed of.
And this could be a very interesting story she’s explaining to like Saurfang or whoever.
And instead she’s in hell just rambling to Anduin. Who then retorts about his life of immense wealth was also a bit sad because idk people didn’t expect them to do stuff to earn the right to any of this.
This is just immensely frustrating.
12 Likes
Yeah, he had an undead model, but he also had a living human model. Have you never seen his living human model in game?
He’s in the Escape from Durnholde dungeon, you can go to Southshore in the instance and he’s in the Southshore town hall.
Thats where I put on the aluminum chapeau.
The only reason I can imagine that this particular book would have gotten extra time is because that extra time was the maximum they could afford and the minimum required to fit in rewrites. Quality assurance went out the window. The book is being used to help sell the narrative that seems equally rushed and incomplete.
In a way I sympathize with Golden when she points at Blizzard as the reason behind certain criticisms.
2 Likes
Oh neat. I hated that dungeon.
1 Like
I will admit I think the Sylvanas Nathanos thing thus far is handled okay, and I think him being just ugly therefore interesting isn’t quite right.
It’s seems more to me it’s because she’s met her match. He’s just as quick witted and sassy and nearly as skilled with a bow. We see from the start Sylvanas just doesn’t work with the niceties of Thalassian culture.
She in short has no patience for BS, and neither does Nathanos. She remarks how refreshing it is to trade insults with someone. And they’re not taken as grevious insults but, ya know, playful.
Idk I liked the bit where she catches Nathanos is trolling her by pretending he thinks a random fountain is the Sunwell. And has that
“You’re… interesting” moment.
6 Likes
She is pretty much a blank slate now. It will depend on what they do with her in the future.
“Because she knew what her king was going to say, and the second the words were uttered, it would be real, and everything would fall apart.”
This is why Golden is a frustrating writer.
This actually made me genuinely sympathize. I have unfortunately buried quite a few friends for no reason beyond bad luck.
And that scene of initial puzzling over the vibe of the room, followed by the sinking realization and the quick mental arithmetic of who it has to be is genuinely well done.
That feeling of “I already know who it is but please don’t say it” like you’re trying to reason with an incoming tidal wave is one I’m all too familiar with. Because everything will fall apart. There’s no real alternative. You already know what happened. But despite yourself you’re just quietly hoping you’ve misinterpreted the situation, and nearly anything else said would be a relief. But it’s never anything else.
4 Likes
you don’t have to do the dunegon to find Nathanos, just zone in and go to Southshore lol
Ypu can also see a child tyrant Sally Whitemane.
And a living Kel’thuzad I think.
4 Likes
I also find it bizarre how creepy and evil she made Arthas in the book. Like, yeah he was always evil but he was like Weinstein-esque here talking about making her body dance for him. Which is bizarre because in the Arthas book written by Golden too he came off as more sociopathic and detached/diseased by how evil he was becoming.
She did a similar character assassination to Kael’thas in the Arthas book by making him this creepy incel groomer ranting about how he couldn’t imagine Jaina not picking a supreme gentleman like himself.
7 Likes
I tend to assume every fantasy writer is influenced by Disney villains, and they had a string of creepy males in Jafar and the priest from hunchback.
2 Likes
That is true. In a factionless future, she’s still tormented but it is self inflicted.
I dont think I like it, because everything will seem depressing, but there is a lot of mental health commentary that could be made, and we in the west could really use some of that.