This might be splitting hairs a little, but that kind of reaction reads to me more like people reacting to the story itself, and that character just being a proxy for the storytelling decisions they didn’t like at the time.
Side note but the “Illidan is the chosen one -PYSCH not really because chosen ones are dumb” was a good example of doing ‘hey wait and see where we are going with this story before casting judgement’ Blizzard earned a bit of credit with that one. And then immediately squandered it with BFA and Shadowlands.
Call it a memory hole or whatever you like, but that’s the way Blizzard usually gets rid of stories they don’t want to follow up on. They don’t make an official statement saying “This never happened”—they just ignore whatever it is and move forward with the new storyline even if it doesn’t fit with what came before. It’s annoying as heck.
I don’t disagree. But Xe’ra was definitely a focus for the hostility, for being the messenger. Especially when people were assuming she was meant to be a reliable narrator.
Just out of curiosity, do you think it would have been better if Illidan HAD actually been the Chosen One, and allowed Xe’ra to convert him into a lightforged being, therefore retroactively justifying all of his past actions as stepping stones on a path to get him to where he needed to be, like Xe’ra said?
Or do you just mean that Illidan never should have been brought back for Legion at all?
I was on the fence about Illidan being a Champion of the Light. My view can be summed up as “It could work, but needs to be done well, cos it’d be easy to mess this up.”
The main problem was the execution. They set up him as a Champion of Light then pulled the rug out from under us. They claimed he had a big part to play… only for him to contribute almost nothing to the story.
Except you don’t see many Space Odyssey fans calling HAL 9000 evil or a monster even as they disagree with his actions. And Xe’ra had more personality than HAL.
The problem is their hatred is usually based on a double standard and/or they’re in denial about it.
No. Illidan wanted to get face-to-face with Sargeras, no one asked him to be at the Seat of the Pantheon and nothing suggests he was needed there.
He didn’t give up Tyrande, she clearly was not interested in him and is happy with Malfurion. While he sent a message to his brother, they’d said their goodbyes already in Frozen Throne already.
I have a problem with the double standards. Liked character does horrible thing and they don’t bat an eye, but a character they don’t like does a lesser thing and they’re the worst in the world.
Who people like and dislike is a fair take, right and wrong don’t change based on how one feels about the person doing the thing.
I don’t know if there was a way to make that particular storyline work with that particular character. But it isn’t wrong to say that “Illidan is the chosen one -PYSCH not really because chosen ones are dumb” is a bit of a shift in storytelling philosophy. One that had been happening gradually, but this was the first time they were quite so blatant about it.
Early WoW incorporated a “higher” flavor of fantasy, by which I mean a bit more … for lack of a better word … chivalrous. Even on the Horde side. Now, that wasn’t (by far) the only tone present in early WoW, and a “chosen one” storyline wasn’t likely to crop up anyway because it’s an MMO. But it was still the kind of world where “chosen ones” didn’t fundamentally clash with the overall aesthetic. By shouting “HAHA chosen ones are dumb,” they signalled that they were not only closing off a bit of that chivalrous story territory but actively mocking and rejecting it.
Very true, at least it shouldn’t anyway. I think a part of it as well is people will follow what an author says more then whats written. Blizzard has thrown terms like morally grey or anti-hero around in cases that were just, for lack of better words, wrong.
I will be bold and make a statement that I think most will agree: No matter whose “side” you are on in this game, BFA/SL was the dark ages of WoW lore.
I think we’re gonna have to agree to disagree about the one of the most iconic characters in science fiction cinema having less personality the video game wind chime.
If this was real life, then maybe it would matter who has more atrocities to their name. But it seems silly to make an excel spreadsheet in your mind that lists all the crimes of characters and sorts them into being either good or bad. I don’t care about Illidan’s tacit enabling of slavery because the Broken are not real and he still entertains me when he chews the scenery.
Xe’ra committed the worst crime a fictional character can. She was boring.
No one disagreed with the astronauts’ decision to lobotomize HAL, although some might have chided them for not considering the possibility that he might have been able to read lips.
Xe’ra was created to be Illidans biggest cheerleader, which I personally feel often gets lost in conversations about her. So when that backfired and nobody liked her, I suspect thats when Blizz pulled the bait ‘n switch and had her killed off.
Both characters are terrible for their own reasons, and I get why people root for Illidan. For as terrible as he is, there is a certain charm about the character
Exactly! Like I said, they can’t call the worst of the worst “morally grey” then slap the evil label on someone who did much less.
One character being more popular than another doesn’t mean they had more personality. That iconic sci-fi character, neat as he was, was just a red light on a black panel. At least Xe’ra moved and emoted with her voice.
That doesn’t make her evil, or more evil than Illidan.
Nothing you said here disproved my point.
Illidan is definitely an acquired taste. Xe’ra was poorly written, and wasting her on being Illidan’s cheerleader then jobber was a horrible idea.
How do you know when they’re soft retconning something or when something just isn’t relevant to the plot? Because I don’t see why the bad stuff Illidan did in Outland would be relevant to bring up in writing.
I like Illidan more than Xe’ra, I can’t imagine many people who don’t, it’s just his collective actions are much more evil than Xe’ra’s, which were barely evil to begin with.
Xe’ra also being pointed to as a good example of a evil light based character doesn’t help when she hasn’t done anything evil lol.
Watch you, you might be about to get a barrage of rants on all the “terrible” things Xe’ra did. All three of them, circumstances be damned.
I don’t like Xe’ra much myself, I just think she’s wasted potential - she could’ve been so much more - and gets an unfair bad rap from the fandom. I used to like Illidan, but he got so overrated and overhyped - and oddly written - in Legion that my feeling shifted and the illusion was ruined for me.
I’m pretty sure that her plot was decided that way when she was created. There’s not a single thing that is presented as a redemptive feature to the player. On your first meeting she puts you in a 3 day coma and it only goes downhill from that moment. She’s essentially the Naaru version of Dark Kosh.
