Why morally grey Light makes sense

Compared to the crapsack grimdark that is the Warhammer franchise, Blizzard’s IP is Petticoat Junction. In case anyone has forgotten or is still a Warhamer virgin…

Besides, 2nd edition was known for its proliferation of settings.

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If you look up “Incel” in the dictionary, there is a picture of Illidan.

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I tried but he was crowded out by so much of the player base.

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Illidan: “Friendzoned for 10,000 years…”

Wow Fanbase:

If an evil Light wielder is homosexual, would that make them morally gay?

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Yeah, and there would still be that Shadow Priest RPer starting needless fights in the Blue Recluse, and saying things like

“If you want the rainbow you gotta have the rain”

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ask Anduin in Shadowlands :rofl:

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The Void the champion of cognitive dissonance and doublethink.

The thing with Warhammer is, even though it’s darker than Warcraft, they don’t flip on who’s good (or as close to morally good as Warhammer characters get) and who’s evil in their lore like Blizzard does. For example, Sigmar’s not all powerful or all knowing, but he’s not a villain and the Chaos Gods aren’t heroes.

For another example; even if there’s morality debates, you won’t see the same flip-flopping with Sylvanas and Illidan done on Sigmar, Archaon, Teclis, Settra, Thanquol, Nagash or Kroak (or Guilliman, Eldrad, Helbrecht, Farsight, Trazyn, Asdrubael Vect or the Swarmlord for 40k examples). And Warhammer also samples from Moorcock’s now-overused Order vs Chaos theme.

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Well… yeah… But that is because its nature is to see everything as true at the same time. It isn’t linear in any sense, so its not so good for mortal minds. They break under the strain.

The general theme of WoW for a good while is too much of anything isn’t good. Mortal Reality is only stable when the outer planes stay… well… outside, and in relative balance with one another.

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I tried to make a parody character called Inceliphas the Inheritor but was taken at face value.

I just avoid all Elf centric RP at this point.

According to Chronicles, prior to the Shadowlands retcon, peace and quiet with only the Light is how the cosmos began before the Void invaded that space, and their first conflict caused the Big Bang in WoW.

Some stories have themes and some don’t. Some parts of a story have deeper meaning and some don’t. Some people claim a work has themes and revolve their judgement of the movie’s value around that. Apart from different perspectives, this is done either to sound more intelligent than they actually are, avoid engaging in actual criticism of a story, facing the prospect that maybe the work they enjoy is bad or using one’s brain to explain away problems and inconsistences (because “understanding the theme” supposedly transcends plot, structure, internal consistency and character development smh).

An idea is only as good as its execution, and this poor execution is one of my two main gripes with all this “morally grey Light/evil Light/bad side of the Light” rhetoric.

That’s because no one is really what we’d consider good in just about any Warhammer franchise. The closest to that will happily wade through a lot of innocentr blood if that’s what it takes to get an objective.

That’s your idea of “Elf centric”?

I’m not sure “happily” wading through the blood of innocents is the word to use. imo it’s a “needs of the many vs needs of the few” situation for Warhammer’s most heroic characters, such as Sigmar and his Stormcasts, Teclis and the Lumineth, the High Elves of old and Alarielle to name a few.

Sigmar has strict laws, but isn’t a fan and implements them due to how insidious the Chaos Gods (and in some cases, the undead) are. Teclis, other High Elves and the Lumineth are pretty arrogant because they usually are more skilled than others. Alarielle’s more about the natural balance and now has trust issues. The latter after Sigmar also don’t enjoy the bloodshed, but have a high tolerance for collateral damage. How do you define “goodness”? What’s your threshold for goodness?

No that’s wrong. Chronicle says that in the beginning there was only formless void. Then pockets of Light started to coalesce. Void came first then Light. It’s not stated who started the fight but it’s the clash of Light and Void which caused the ‘big bang’ which created the Great Dark Beyond.

In early vanilla, the progenitors of the universe were not Light and Void but “The Formless Darkness” and “The Nameless Mist” but that readable ingame book has long since been removed. I always thought that was cool because it’s similar to Egyptian creation myth.

But, the Void existed before all other cosmic forces. Even the Eyes of the Earthmother fable confirms this as in the beginning she existed only with Darkness.

The Void existed first.

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I am… Sigmar’s inquisitors LOVE their job.

Most important question - which is more grimdark - Warhammer Fantasy or Warhammer 40K? I vote 40K. I feel like given the choice of living in the Empire or the Imperium, one would be better off in the Empire.

I think the Light vs Void dichotomy is a simple Law vs Chaos dichotomy. Take a look at Yrell, a great example of the corrupt light. She’s also an example of extreme law, taking over the world and mind controlling her enemies to force them to do the ‘right’ thing. That’s law. There’s a way things should be and a way things should be done, and she’s going to make people do things her way, by any means necessary. Also remember the naaru attempting to cure Illidan against his will.

I would like to categorize the light as Lawful Neutral. It errs toward good, but only by circumstance. Under a different set of conditions, it could absolutely have been largely used for evil.

Meanwhile as you mentioned in your OP, a perhaps unintended consequence of the old gods interference is adaptability and creativity. The ability to do what needs to be done and think outside the orthodox. With the titanforged races being literal robots originally, it makes sense to me that they would’ve been creatures of law. That’s typically how robots are portrayed. I think shadow is the opposite of light both in lore and alignment. It errs toward evil, but only by circumstance. Under a different set of circumstances, it could have been used primarily for good.

So I’d say Shadow is representative of Chaotic Neutral.

This ties into the truth that shadow and light are intertwined. A world of pure law (or light) would never change without outside influence. It would be perfectly stable, flaws and all. Likewise, a world of chaos would never be able to stabilize. Any attempt to make it better would be fleeting. They’re both important concepts to the idea of making the world a better place. You need the ability to change things and the ability to hold onto some of those changes.

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