Why is Talanji angry with Jaina rather than Genn?

This one has been bugging me a little bit for awhile. In the latest novel, Talanji is all hot to seek revenge on Jaina for her father’s death. But why Jaina? In game, Genn is the one who arrives with the Alliance’s murderhobo detachment to confront Rastakhan. Jaina isn’t there for the fight - in either the Alliance or the Horde version. So shouldn’t Talanji want revenge on Genn rather than Jaina (Assuming the standard Blizz logic of putting everything on one character)?

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Jaina led the assault. She probably assumed that she spelled the wand that created the fog in Nazmir too.

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surprised she isnt angry at voljin after what he did in cata

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That actually makes sense.

Mid-Cata Zandalari were a contradiction of Vanilla, Wrath, and even early Cata Zandalari.
MoP explained (via Lorewalker Cho) that they were acting because Rastakhan lost influence and the Zandalari people flocked to Zul’s guidance.
Early BfA questing expanded on MoP as well, by more or less supporting the notion that Zul was not acting with Rastakhan‘a blessing, but that, despite the political failure that was the MoP campaign, he managed to return to a position of power by the time of BfA, though he had lost most of his followers.

That said, while Cata did not explain it, Cata “Zandalari” were actually those who followed Zul, and Talanji has no reason to be upset at Vol’jin for defying them.

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Coz jaina has bigger plot relevancy. so they had to make her angry at jaina coz its more cool.

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Well, if you go by the Horde raid experience, you really don’t see Genn at all. But you do see Jaina and she delays you reaching Rastakhan. Talanji never saw Genn, I think.

When you reach a dead Rastakhan, I don’t recall the Troll there telling you Genn was responsible or even there, but it has been a while since I did that part of the raid.

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I actually thought that Genn was there in both versions - but his dialogue changed depending on whether it was the Horde or the Alliance version.

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She was the most visible part of the attack and supplied the Kul Tiran fleet, but agreed, it is odd to pin all the blame on her.

Wyrmbane masterminded the plan, Anduin signed off on it, Genn spearheaded it, and Jaina supplied the ships. In the grand scheme of things, I’d be more angry towards Anduin.

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I guess I see it as a style choice, with just enough good cause to make sense. Jaina is there, afterall. I agree with the idea that Talanji should be just as mad at Genn and the Alliance as a whole, not just Jaina. But Genn is not on the forefront of diplomacy, and he outright says he doesn’t care about the Horde, and he is more interested in finding Sylvanas. Lumping more Horde enmity on Genn does nothing for the story, since he is happy to fight anyone in his way. BfA has been largely about helping Jaina cope with her life choices, and she does have compassion for the Zandalari people, and she wishes to grant them time to mourn. It adds more weight to the events Jaina goes through to try to balance right and wrong.

On a “meta level”, I would say the stories of Jaina and Talanji are similar, and they enhance each other. They are both daughter’s of misguided rulers who watched their father’s rule end in violence. They both go through trials to claim leadership of their people and gain their trust. There is a lot there for the writers to tie together and compare and contrast.

But more practically - Jaina is there. Jaina slows the Horde and Talanji long enough for the Alliance to kill Rastakhan. She even peaks her head out from the top of the pyramid. And she personally delays the Horde and the Zandalari who are chasing the Alliance, to aid the Alliance withdrawal.

As we start the fight, Talanji’s commander reveals she knows a little about Jaina. I would imagine other Zandalari do, as well. Possibly Talanji herself. So, she may focus her ire on Jaina because she knows their stories are so similar, while Genn is more emblematic of everything she has always fought against, so it has less “drama”.

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Jaina lead the assault on the city, it’s that simple. It makes sense to blaime the enemy general. She is especially furious with Jaina, but did hold a understandable grudge against the Alliance. Now it seems more like she would be ok with only seeing justice done for what Jaina did.
On Horde side I did not see Genn anywhere.

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Genn is definitely there on Horde side - just with different dialogue:

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True at the very end. Let me rephrase it. As Horde we saw more from Mekkatorque than from Genn and I don’t think Talanji even saw Genn. She new about Jaina though.

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Fair enough. I think your meta level explanation is a compelling one.

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On Horde side, I don’t know if we actually see Genn, as much as we are told he was there and what he says.

However, we do actually deal with Jaina herself a few times. As we approach Rastakhan and the Alliance Monk and Mage team, she slows us down with her spells and adds. Then, she slows us down again at the end in a proper boss fight.

Oh, thanks :smile:

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I suspect Talanji pretty much hates anyone involved in the attack. Jaina is a stand out since her ships lead the assault and she was clearly heavily involved in the attack. However I doubt Talanji would pass up skinning Genn alive either given the opportunity.

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I assume because it was considered an attack by the Kul Tiran fleet. Which Jaina commands.

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But isn’t the common narrative of Horde players, that only the person who directly did it is responsible?
I mean not a single horde member but Sylvanas was resposible for teldrassil, was’t it?
So by that logic Talanji has no right to have a grudge onto anyone beside the on person killed Rastakhan?

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No and get over yourself.

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Who said rights has anything to do with it? That narrative isn’t one Horde players push. It is one Blizzard does. Don’t blame us for their writing. Personally I find it just as stupid as you do. If they wanted to blame everything on Sylvanas they should have done it in a smarter way.

Plus, Tyrande clearly hasn’t let the horde off the hook and while I doubt it will ever come to more than her being rude and unpleasant at horde players since more would mean her becoming villian fodder, Talanji’s rage is just as impotent and will come to nothing of value. Frankly I won’t be suprised if two expansions down the track Talanji would have forgotten at some point and be BFFs with Jaina without any actual explanation cause that is how Blizzard writes horde characters.

Jarringly. looks sideways at Lillian Voss

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It’s something you can kind of nitpick, though I feel like there’s enough room for doubt. Jaina may not have been in the fight itself, but she did visibly stall the troops who were going to rescue Rastakhan.

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