Does anyone else think there’s too much of a focus on her bare feet in this expansion?
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Im going to ask we preemptively purge this.
(We know the answer is yes, and probably for the reasons you’re thinking)
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No, I think people see what they want to see.
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I think it works, as it makes her look creepier
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Stop… Don’t ruin this character for me. I know a certain rule always ends with people ruining characters with their proclivities, but don’t not here… not now… not Xal.
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Using a character’s feet to frame another character in-screen is a pretty unusual directorial decision. It happening once is quirky, but twice? Three times, if you count Khadgar being partially framed. Pretty deliberate.
As to why? Showing one character at another’s feet can be visual shorthand for a power disparity between the two. That’s my guess. All three character’s framed with her feet (Khadgar, Alleria and Ansurek) suffer defeat (haha) in one form or another through her actions.
It’s definitely open for interpretation.
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Then don’t look for a few seconds. If I’m honest, I didn’t notice it at all, just through the forum and Reddit. 
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Whenever they do focus on Xal’atath’s feet, it’s always when she’s confronting someone.
It’s meant to show that she is ‘above’ them in a sense, in control of the situation.
For instance, when it happens in the Dalaran cinematic, she’s floating directly above Khadgar’s fallen form.
When Alleria is backed into a corner in the Azj-Kahet, the shot has her positioned directly above Alleria, showing who has the upper hand in the moment.
A similar thing happens at the end of the palace raid, with Ansurek looking directly at Xal’atath and reaching out for her, before Xal’atath brings herself down to someone else’s level for the first time, being brutally honest all the while.
What’s notable is that the end of the War Campaign didn’t have any similar feet close-ups, but this was also an instance where Xal’atath genuinely loses for the first time, where she isn’t in control.
It’s just a visual metaphor for her being a step ahead of her enemies, it’s just one that can be… very easily construed for a very strange fixation.
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I don’t care. But it seems pretty intentional to me.
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Everyone is dancing around the point and it’s annoying.
Are we saying that Xal’atath’s cinematic scenes are intentionally framed in such as way as to arouse foot fetishists? Is that seriously what this discussion is about? That the animators who put these scenes together are snickering to eachother about how hot her feet are going to be?
Because… no, of course not. I’m begging y’all not to be this stupid. Her feet show up in scenes a lot because her character design is barefoot and she floats. You can’t show that someone is floating without showing their feet. It’s not complicated and it’s not a damned fetish.
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A floating possessed elven corpse, and people are worried about a foot fetish was definitely not on my bingo card
The few scenes we get of her feet is to show that she’s in control of the situation and it’s usually when she’s condescendingly talking to whatever character she’s taunting at the moment. Nothing more than that.
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Honestly, It could be either way.
Yes, could be a framing tool, but someone in the cinematic could just be into feet.
Or not even cinematic, but on the design team, Xal’atath got this really detailed costume but she is barefoot? And barefoot elves are more common on the night elf and nightborne side, i dont recall being a thing with thalassian elves, then again, Xal isnt an elf, but an entity posessing an elf, but said entity was also vain enough to get a sick looking costume.
So not really the place to overthink, might not be intentional but her feet are on display and people are joking about that and that brings engagement, win win.
Not sure why you have to insult people about a difference of opinion about a video game character. Like any opinion on this is literally just vibes.
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Before these cutscenes, I always interpreted that to be a mark of her power, that she never sets foot on the ground. To my knowledge, there aren’t very many times her feet actually touch the ground, either.
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What you do not want to admire her oddly HD toe ring?
TBH this HD foot thing began with the Drakthyr visage form. Someone went to a lot of effort to give them better feet.
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She does it once or twice I believe. The biggest moment being when she’s standing over the nerubian queen and telling Ansurek she was nothing more than a tool
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I recognize Xal’atath being framed the way she is demonstrating her being “above” her foes, but do you really think that at Activision Blizzard some weird fetishization couldn’t have wormed it’s way into the product?
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to be fair, we have 3 cinematics where Xal’atath descends into frame slowly and they hang on the feet for a bit.
Realistically it is just a meme, like Zovaal and his [retracted].
Calling it now, cutscene or raid mechanic where she grows super big and stomps on someone/something. Lmao.
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Heigan style mechanic where you need to find the gaps in her toes as she stomps
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