Nathanos Marris Short Story

[Arrashi]

Considering what trolls achieved in the past nope humans don't come close, for the mere fact they couldn't claim enough territory to build a nation that rivaled the ancients troll civilization. Humans as a race are pretty much as old as elves in general but never amounted to anything, until the high elves boosted them in terms of the arcane.

Just you wait till the god-emprah will make his apperance. We will see who will be laughing then longear.

[micwini]

tl;dr sylvanas wants to live forever with nathanos, nathanos wants to die together with sylvanas and be free of undeath. also they murdered his cousin.

thanks! much appreciated.

[lazypeon100]

On the other hand, are we to take the last part of the story as a hint that Sylvanas and Nathanos will be growing apart? Or that Sylvanas is beyond doubt evil? Well, this clashes with everything we've seen in game, and the short story takes place before the Broken Shore intro.

I didn't get that he and Sylvanas were growing apart at all by the end of the story. The implication there was he regretted accepting the gift of sylvanas / the val'kyr because he actually liked his couisn. Even before the transformation, when his feelings were still more dulled (on account of being a decaying zombie) he was still proud of his cousin.

His emotions and senses became stronger afterwards, so seeing as he was already proud of his cousin means his regret afterwards isn't exactly shocking or unexpected. It is consistent with his character in the story because they kept emphasizing his love for Sylvanas above all else, and his love / pride in his cousin.

Which, on a side note and ignoring the human sacrifice requirement aside, begs the question, why the hell did the Scourge not only push the Val'kyr for that role, but even need them at all? It's not the only recent source that pushes this narrative and it doesn't really make sense in a faction all about necromancy.

IIRC, the Val"kyr could rez far more undead at once and at a faster rate than the average necromancer could. Obviously there are exceptions such as Kel"thuzad, The Lichking himself, etc

[Cerilis]

The whole human / elf romances are always disgusting.

Yeah, what kind of elf would romance a human? Blergh!

[derpkitteh]

Dirty trolls aren't, humans win.

Clearly the humans aren't the ''defect'' ones considering it's the Vrykul that lost their king and homeland. Humans are doing pretty well.

elves are a titan offshoot. they wouldn't exist without titan magic.

so elves are titanic.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Yeah, what kind of elf would romance a human? Blergh!

Its probably why Vereesa is so on edge around Lor'themar/Rommath. They must mock her constantly.

[pateuvasiliu]

elves are a titan offshoot. they wouldn't exist without titan magic.

so elves are titanic.

No, the Well of Eternity is a gateway to the Great Dark Beyond.

It's not titan magic. The Titans just destroyed Y'shaarj which in turn created the Well.

They're still dirty trolls :^)

[Garfurion]

I really wish Blizzard would try to keep their quests, stories and books consistent in terms of time-lines.

According to in-game lore Sylvanas became Ranger-General after her mother died:

Thas'dorah, Legacy of the Windrunners, Part Eight

When the Horde invaded, most of the kingdoms of Azeroth did not believe it was a threat. After the orcs burned Stormwind to the ground, a few leaders took notice. The rulers of Silvermoon were reluctant to commit significant aid to the humans of Lordaeron, but Alleria thought that the demon-possessed orcs were a grave danger to the entire world. She led her group of rangers to Lordaeron-against orders-and fought at the Alliance's side with bravery.

It wasn't until the orcs allied with the Amani trolls and turned their attention to Quel'Thalas that the Highborne understood the true threat. Many elven rangers--including Lireesa Windrunner, the ranger-general--died in a bloody attack.

Sylvanas Windrunner would become the new ranger-general, but she passed Thas'dorah to her older sister Alleria. Sylvanas needed to help secure Quel'Thalas; she trusted that Alleria, a Farstrider, would have better opportunities to exact vengeance on the front lines.


However, in Dark Mirror, Sylvanas says to Nathanos:

"You will get your wish soon enough. I am to meet with my sister Alleria. She believes the orcs have set their eyes upon Quel'Thalas and mean to attack our homeland. If her fears prove true, you may be called back to defend Silvermoon whether you want to be there or not."


It looks to me the screwed up the time-line in Dark Mirror since these two pieces of lore seem to conflict with each other and Sylvanas already being Ranger-General before the second war wouldn't look good on her CV

[Raetary]

elves are a titan offshoot. they wouldn't exist without titan magic.

so elves are titanic.

elves arent titanic, elves are with arcane energies mutated trolls.
nothing else.

[Arrashi]

You know i just realised how fucked up and depressing this story is. You would think that its about love, but that dark hag sylvanas cares only about sex.
She is like that one chick who really wants to loose her virginity but has only one friend she can do it without being slutshamed to hell. And that friend doesn't meet her quotas. So she forced that poor guy into others guy body (lenny face) so she can screw some other dude while being able to act high and mighty about what kind of relationship she doesn't have with nathanos. She literally played him like a damn fiddle. And makes it obvious that she would rather fuck his cousin than him (feelsbadman).
Than again, i would not be surprised if in her dungeon she had many candidates for that position of royal peanus. Perhaps this is a fate we saved koltira from ?

[Friendlyimmolation]

Maybe male elfs are underwhelming down there and the Windrunner sisters are size queens? Or maybe they like their men hairy!

They can't get off unless they are with someone who will age and die just like a dog would for a human obviously.

[Arrashi]

They can't get off unless they are with someone who will age and die just like a dog would for a human obviously.

Obligatory:

[Sigxy]

Yeah, what kind of elf would romance a human? Blergh!

The biggest problem I have with it is that the elves doing this is.. kinda stupid. Elves: They can live a very, VEEEERY long life.

The humans? Well... have fun watching your husband grow old, wither and be a wrinkly man who can't get out of bed - can't be fun when he's at an age where he probably can't even remember a thing and just acting a bit loonie - and then watch him die, followed by having to move on to find someone else. Not to mention another sad thing: you'll out-live your own children which is kinda bad. At least when a couple has the same life-limit, they can both grow old together. :<

[tss]

Poorly written garbage catering to shipping creeps.

[Friendlyimmolation]

The biggest problem I have with it is that the elves doing this is.. kinda stupid. Elves: They can live a very, VEEEERY long life.

The humans? Well... have fun watching your husband grow old, wither and be a wrinkly man who can't get out of bed - can't be fun when he's at an age where he probably can't even remember a thing and just acting a bit loonie - and then watch him die, followed by having to move on to find someone else. Not to mention another sad thing: you'll out-live your own children which is kinda bad. At least when a couple has the same life-limit, they can both grow old together. :<

Maybe its all a joke and the windrunner sister aren't race/species mixing idiots. Maybe they take special delight in watching children and husbands die of old age before them?????

[Arrashi]

Maybe its all a joke and the windrunner sister aren't race/species mixing idiots. Maybe they take special delight in watching children and husbands die of old age before them?????

And then keep their bleached skulls in their closet.

[McCulloch]

elves arent titanic, elves are with arcane energies mutated trolls.
nothing else.

The arcane energies they evolved with came directly from a titan world-soul. It's the life blood of a titan. They may not be a direct creation of the titans, but they are somewhat related. I think you can make a fair argument that they are titanic.

[Aucald]

Maybe male elfs are underwhelming down there and the Windrunner sisters are size queens? Or maybe they like their men hairy!

There's a school of thought in the more "meta" branch of high fantasy tropes that long-lived species probably include courtship periods that last for an extended time when compared to relationships with beings with a more or less normal lifetime. Chaste courtship among the Blood Elves could theoretically last for years at a stretch - getting to know one's elven mate before deciding to make a lifetime (several hundred years) commitment to them. Relationships with humans in that vein could be considered a "safe" alternative from a commitment standpoint as you would only need to stay with them for a few decades at the outside. If the apparent social stigma wasn't a strong enough deterrent it might even be considered a kind of starter relationship for the longer-lived elves.

Unfortunately hybrid beings in fantasy stories tend to be some of the worst examples out there - often being precariously close to the dreaded "Mary Sue" waters of characterization. I'm all for half-elves or other hybrids as long as they are well written (e.g. appropriately flawed and/or realistic from both an external and internal standpoint), but the history of half-elves in fantasy doesn't tend to meet that particular standard very often.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Hey, there is always Tannis. He was the perfect half-elf. (Damn Dragonlance Trilogy, someone needs to make THAT into a movie)

One of the only half Elves I stomached reading, and his origins is far more believable then some elf woman going "muh humans"

[Mekkle]

I ship this.

Also good story, little bit more insight of the kind of guy Nathanos is: A sassy mofo.