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yukieCrimson Hall music! It has a sax in that sounds rather "Akio Car"-theme-esque.
A thing I wish the WotLK expansion had done is touch on the Blood Elves' legitimate beef with Arthas. And, y'know, explained why he seems to have thins Thing about elves....
The Crimson hall, and the Blood Princes' and Lana'thel's story, intrigue the hell out of me because they give me so much potential to PLAY WITH. I mean--for one, Lana is not avenging a boyfriend. That's something. Thalorien was not her lover or her husband, he was her best friend. It's unusual to see that in a franchise that seems to have narfed out a lot with gender role business. And not only is this the case, Lana manages to hold her own against wtfhax!Arthas for a while before he AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs and wins.
I really, really wish more of this story had been touched on in depth. Like--we know roughly who Valanar and Co. are with regard to their rank before death, and what happened to them, but little else. I would have LOVED to have seen something of their story, or Taldaram's, or AAAANY of the elfpires'. Who were Kal and Val before death? Why are they so close (the 'dear brother' thing--)? Who is Taldaram and why is he entrusted with such a big deal project? We know Kel and Val are asskickers if we have a DK and met them in the starter zone, but Tal is just kinda there. Who is he besides a dramatic pyro who has a habit of teleporting wayfuck across the room for the purpose of nomming boosted lowbies? AND! WTF happened to Atherann and Theraldis? SO much of the stuff dealing with the San'layn is SO intriguing. And the whole idea of the San'layn themselves beggars the question of what the heck is with Arthas's preoccupation with the Blood Elves seriously he has got an entire wing that is basically a harem there is something going on here you cannot tell me there is not.
There's a lot of things I wish had happened. For a big one, I wish we'd seen Garrosh get genuinely scared of LK, because, fuck, Ner'zhul is THE boogeyman after Gul'dan. He broke Draenor. He's become the opposite of everything orcs pride themselves on being. He has no honour. He doesn't sleep. I would have frigging LOVED to see Garrosh's loudmouthed bravado depicted as covering up his own fear and trying to convince himself that he is a bad enough dude torescue the presidentkick the Lich King's ass. BUT--yeah. Characterization was one thing Wrath needed some huge help with.
I wish too that we'd seen evidence of the relationship that the Arthas novel introduced, i.e. Arthas and Varian being OMGBFFand having more chemistry than any of the canon pairings because Christie Golden hit up the Blizzard beer bong too many times. I mean, there's some stuff going on that you can easily parse as deliberate trollan--how the plague of the zombie invasion was spread, for example, and again with the plagued grain at Farshire. Like that's such a "HAY VARIAN THIS REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING?" But then Varian hasn't gotten much in characterization full-stop outside the comics, let alone consistent thoughtful characterization, so NARF NARF POIT EGAD LOOKS LIKE AH GOTTA RITE THIS MAHSELF.
...And now I'm stuck with the mental image of( my version of) Varian hearing about the Crimson Halls, kind of BLINKING A LOT FOR A WHILE and then going, "...Why...does that bastard have a harem full of--of--elfpires!?"
And Jaina's all "Long story."
In conclusion Aethas is so freakin' Kael and no one can dissuade me from this.
A thing I wish the WotLK expansion had done is touch on the Blood Elves' legitimate beef with Arthas. And, y'know, explained why he seems to have thins Thing about elves....
The Crimson hall, and the Blood Princes' and Lana'thel's story, intrigue the hell out of me because they give me so much potential to PLAY WITH. I mean--for one, Lana is not avenging a boyfriend. That's something. Thalorien was not her lover or her husband, he was her best friend. It's unusual to see that in a franchise that seems to have narfed out a lot with gender role business. And not only is this the case, Lana manages to hold her own against wtfhax!Arthas for a while before he AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs and wins.
I really, really wish more of this story had been touched on in depth. Like--we know roughly who Valanar and Co. are with regard to their rank before death, and what happened to them, but little else. I would have LOVED to have seen something of their story, or Taldaram's, or AAAANY of the elfpires'. Who were Kal and Val before death? Why are they so close (the 'dear brother' thing--)? Who is Taldaram and why is he entrusted with such a big deal project? We know Kel and Val are asskickers if we have a DK and met them in the starter zone, but Tal is just kinda there. Who is he besides a dramatic pyro who has a habit of teleporting wayfuck across the room for the purpose of nomming boosted lowbies? AND! WTF happened to Atherann and Theraldis? SO much of the stuff dealing with the San'layn is SO intriguing. And the whole idea of the San'layn themselves beggars the question of what the heck is with Arthas's preoccupation with the Blood Elves seriously he has got an entire wing that is basically a harem there is something going on here you cannot tell me there is not.
There's a lot of things I wish had happened. For a big one, I wish we'd seen Garrosh get genuinely scared of LK, because, fuck, Ner'zhul is THE boogeyman after Gul'dan. He broke Draenor. He's become the opposite of everything orcs pride themselves on being. He has no honour. He doesn't sleep. I would have frigging LOVED to see Garrosh's loudmouthed bravado depicted as covering up his own fear and trying to convince himself that he is a bad enough dude to
I wish too that we'd seen evidence of the relationship that the Arthas novel introduced, i.e. Arthas and Varian being OMGBFF
...And now I'm stuck with the mental image of( my version of) Varian hearing about the Crimson Halls, kind of BLINKING A LOT FOR A WHILE and then going, "...Why...does that bastard have a harem full of--of--elfpires!?"
And Jaina's all "Long story."
In conclusion Aethas is so freakin' Kael and no one can dissuade me from this.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 08:21 pm (UTC)(The cynic part of me suspects that they're just in there as TCG fodder.)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-22 01:07 am (UTC)I keep being stricken with this mental image of some Sin'dorei adventurers hearing LANA'THEL singing that though not knowing it's her, and hurrying to see WTF is up, and there's Lana with her wine glass all "Well, I'll be damned, Taladaram, you were right, that whole siren's-call phenomenon business IS legitimate!"
no subject
Date: 2012-02-22 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-22 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-22 06:37 am (UTC)Seriously, I'm fascinated by the whole San'layn and darkfallen thing (wiki just confuses me which is a subset of which) and where they came from and all, so any insights you have on this will be gobbled up by a timid woodland creature crouching at your feet.
(Of course this is parallel to my whole fascination with the felblood elves.)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-29 11:43 pm (UTC)During the events of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, Illidan was tasked by Kil'jaeden to destroy the Lich King (KJ's creation, who had gone rogue). The first time, he tried doing this by cracking open Northrend with the Eye of Sargeras and was stopped by his brother Malfurion, but not before cracking the Frozen Throne and doing some damage (enough that LK's chosen death knight Arthas started losing his powers, and Sylvanas and her faction of undead were freed from the LK's enslavement).
Illidan fled to Outland to hide out from Kil'jaeden, since he'd failed, and he was subsequently joined there by Lady Vashj and Prince Kael'thas, who'd brought with him a large group of blood elves. The blood elves pledged themselves to Illidan's service in exchange for knowledge/help on how to cure/sate their magical addiction. Shortly after they conquered Black Temple, Kil'jaeden showed up pissed off and Illidan bought himself some time by explaining he was just gathering his forces for an invasion of Northrend to kill the Lich King. So off they went to the north of Azeroth.
There was a giant race to the Frozen Throne between Illidan/Kael/Vashj's forces (the Illidari) and Arthas Menethil and Anub'arak (the Lich King's minions). The Illidari were trying to get there to destroy it, Arthas and Anub'arak were trying to get there to save the Lich King, whose power was weakening. Eventually was a huge battle at the site of the Throne between the two armies and the Lich King's goons ended up basically roflstomping the Illidari and most of the blood elves died. Arthas and Illidan had a duel but Arthas won and merged with the Lich King's soul and became the cranky bastard you came to know in WoW, Kael and Vashj took Illidan back to Outland with the few soldiers still alive.
The darkfallen are the reanimated remnants of the blood elves in Illidan's army that died. Lana'thel was the first raised by Arthas, and she in turn raised the San'layn to serve her and the LK. They are simply an elite faction within the darkfallen, who serve as generals and advisors to Lana'thel and Arthas. Each Blood Prince has a specific area and/or task given to him directly by Arthas. ie Valanar was in charge of Borean Tundra and wiping out both the taunka and infiltrating the Alliance forces at Valiance Keep, Keleseth was in charge of Howling Fjord and cemented the allegiance of the vrykul to Arthas, etc.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 12:52 am (UTC)Thank you so much! I kinda/sorta knew some of this, but the very key piece I'd entirely missed was that beginning of the third paragraph - "darkfallen are the reanimated remnants of the blood elves in Illidan's army" and the central place of Lana'thel (I did the QD quest, but didn't raid as far as Blood Council in Wrath).
It entirely makes sense now that you've explained it (and yeah, wth was Taladram doing just chilling in Old Kingdom? Was he on academic probation, or did he just dig Nerubians?)
(Not to mention: geez, Arthas, Sylvanas and then Lana'thel ... keep this up and people might start to see you as a vindictive misogynist.)
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 03:37 am (UTC)But yeah, Lana'thel was high up in the Scourge hierarchy. I was really disappointed that Horde at least didn't get more quests that really explained the connection with the blood elves.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 07:05 am (UTC)Dangit Blizz.
Now I'm gonna have to make things up.
(And I keep getting these mental images of Lana "NO CHEAT CODES" and Arthas is like "L2P")
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 07:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 12:58 am (UTC)Also, it will never ever stop being awesome to me that bookish, cordial, keeping-my-sharp-things-in-a-lovely-box Keleseth is the one commanding all the respect from the vrykul--all of whom are total bara beefcake and like a foot and a half taller than he is. At least.
Man, though, Valanar's infiltration was completely brilliant and I keep finding it a bit sad that he didn't have too hard a time of doing what he was doing.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 01:12 am (UTC)*chuckles* what a great phrase.
(And this reminds me of a pic I saw on dA the other day of Asric daydreaming; she mentioned that the epic dagger she wanted to give him came out looking like "Prince Valanar's letter opener".