Definitely from Velen.
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I don’t think Anduin is actually all that strong, however his connection to the Light is probably the strongest on Azeroth outside of Velen.
I think it’s the unique combination of this connection and his perceived naïveté that makes him a potential weapon for the Jailer.
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Thank you!
Actually, that’s what prompted this thought. I was talking to a friend about Anduin getting crushed. One guy said, “Anduin’s been through a lot! He was crushed by the Divine Bell!”
And I was like, “Yeah, but he walked out basically unscathed.”
I don’t know. I think Anduin would be a lot more interesting if that had crippled him, so he wasn’t physically capable. Maybe even handicap. (I feel weird being like yeah, cripple a middle schooler, but I remind myself he’s imaginary, and characters are supposed to be broken.)
EDIT: The thought following the “he walked out unscathed” was “why’s he so strong anyways?” And… I knew I could read his wowpedia page, but I honestly just didn’t want to. Figured I’d ask others who might know off the top of their heads before I delved too deeply into the rich and fascinating history of untoasted, white bread.
Let’s be perfectly honest here.
If they did cripple him, he’d likely be moved out the story, only to show up to give exposition and then quietly wheeled back into the shadows.
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You’re probably right. Hard to make lingering physical trauma look sexy in a cinematic.
Unless you turn them into a hyper-preserved bikini-zombie for that sweet, sweet exposed-thigh cash.
Nonsense they could’ve given him an edgy scar like this father. Maybe taken out one of his eyes. Or damaged his face so he had to have half his face covered with a lion mask at all times.
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Now we’re talking. That’s some top-tier, high-selling edge right there.
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I’d be okay with that. The alternative is what we have now where the Wrynn family sucks up the story for the Alliance like a blackhole and makes the story revolve around them.
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I’m a Blood Elf Demonology Warlock named after the 1st Goetic Demon and the Angel of Death/True Name of Satan in Kabbalah and Talmud, I know edge 
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Of course you’d be fine with it.
But ignoring your Wrynn whinging, it’d be a terribly bad look to cripple a character, then just throw said character away because he’s now incompatible with a typical power fantasy.
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You act like there isn’t a legitimate complaint about the Wrynn’s taking up the entire Alliance story when that is exactly what has happened since Cata.
Which is why I will say. I agree with your statement if it was any other character, but because it is a Wrynn I am okay with Blizzard doing that because I am tired of the Alliance story being hijacked and forced to bend to revolve around the Wrynn family.
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Actually, now that I’m thinking about it… Since they wanna hardline Sylvanas and Anduin as rivals, having Anduin have a half-lion mask would have been an interesting parallel for Sylvanas, since her symbol was famously the half-mask. But, that would have required planning and foresight.
You do it commendably well.
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Oop 
Yeah it’s frustrating cuz you can tell what they want to parallel and gesture at eg
- Voljin vs Sylvanas vs Tyrande as empowered by some higher power
- Anduin vs Sylvanas struggling with despair and the legacy of Arthas
- Tyrande vs Calia vs Sylvanas as three “Banshees” in the game
- Parent/Child themes, the Parent helping the Child grow even as adults
- Fallen Prince regaining the respect of their people (Kael’thas, Renathal, gestures at Arthas, Sylvanas soliloquy, etc)
But the execution is so haphazard and lacking in aesthetic threads that 90% of it requires Deep Knowledge of literary theory or whatever, and only some small threads and themes being visible to most people
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You kidding? They’d just Charles Xavier him. Give him a little power boost from being crippled and make him both the voice of reason and the most powerful person in the room despite his disability.
… Actually I guess that is exactly what they did do with him, but just minus the hovering wheelchair. Instead he gets lie-detector bones.
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Doesn’t want to read wowpedia page, which probably have the most accurate answers.
Wants to read random forum poster opinions, the best of which will probably just reference the wowpedia page anyway…
I mean, ok.
You got it.
I wasn’t looking for accuracy, I was looking for hot takes and laziness.
It’s about priorities.
Besides, reading this is way more fun than:
"And on the 5,729th day of the life of our Lord and Savior Anduin Llane Wrynn, he was faced with a challenge, upset by it, but still made the morally right decision.
And on the 5,730th day of the life of our Lord and Savior Anduin Llane Wrynn, he was faced with a challenge, upset by it, but still made the morally right decision.
And on the 5,731th day of the life of-", etc
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You’ll actually find I don’t.
Because I’ve seen the alternative. Nothing.
Blizzard writes for the characters they like (for good or for ill). They keep writing terrible stories for the Horde, because they like the Horde. They keep writing terrible stories for the night elves, because they like the night elves.
But when they don’t care? They ignore them, for decades. Darkspear, worgen, gnomes, goblins that aren’t Gallywix, orcs as a race wthin the Horde, dwarves, the list can go on.
Anduin taking over as the main focus in the Alliance is the result of having someone who actually cares about writing anything on the Alliance side that wasn’t Blizzards usual “let’s kick the night elves to show how badass they are!”
Does it suck? Yes. Am I going to join in on the Wyrn Whinging? Not really, because I know the alternative is nothing at all and waiting for more robocat quests to phone things in.
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Ok, fair enough, but if so, I think you might wanna lead with something other than this.
Just think it might give people the wrong idea, and you’ll end up with less entertaining answers.
I don’t think this is true.
I think they enjoy writing villain stories for Horde and either hero or victim stories for Alliance.
That’s really it.
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I said that because I didn’t want people to think I was being snide, which… When talking about Anduin, it’s not hard to come off as snide.
I wound up being snide anyways, so, more honestly, I did want to know, this is the Story forums, so a good place to ask. Frankly, I don’t like Anduin as a character. I didn’t want to spend all that time reading his wiki page (and I spend a lot of time reading wowpedia pages anyways), because the notion is nauseating. Still, he’s so ubiquitous that you can’t really ignore him, so… I wanted the information for my own reference. Rather than reading a wiki page that would make me want to put a drill to my temple, I asked here, where it’d take less time and be funnier to read.
Same reason I’ve yet to read Elegy or A Good War. It’s not that I don’t want the information inside of them, but I download them, start reading, get about one or two pages in, get angry, then close out.