Who is the bestr written character?

[Aucald]

Gul'dan is probably my favorite character in the Warcraft universe, although I'm unsure if I would say that is because he is the best written or simply the most consistent throughout the story's evolution and over the many games, stories, and novels.

[thesmall001]

I'll also play devil's advocate and say that Garrosh was one of the best written characters. His gradual rise, "too close to the sun" moments, then fall was really quite well detailed. They explored a lot of his depth and, whilst you'll never hear much agreement with it on here, I feel his development from loose-cannon into full on villainy was very natural. I always saw Stonetalon as an example of the greatness he COULD have achieved; with everything else demonstrating why he would always CHOOSE not to do so. His lust for victory, glory and control over honour was what separated him from the Horde Icons, and that was a struggle he was set up for from the moment we landed in Northrend.

I despised Garrosh because he reminded me of one-too-many schoolboy elites and childhood bullies from over the years. He wasn't necessarily wrong but he was right in a bad way. I think, in his case, the road to hell was paved with good intentions and that made his death so poignant and sympathetic. The voice crack on "You -left- me to pick up your pieces" will haunt my days. But all of that depth, from the daddy issues to the internal conflict and insecurity (that runs consistently from his early days in TBC to his ultimate denial in Warlords) made him one of the best written characters, and certainly best written villains. Even better than Arthas.

Arthas was well written in one book. The games, both TFT and WotLK, failed to really pick up on any of that depth. Most of it could be explained away as "a magic sword ate his soul so he did bad things" and, unfortunately, a lot of his potential as this "arrogant but well-intending zealot of his own ideal of justice" just got boiled down to "kill the bad guy because he's scary".

[Deleted]

Gul'dan is probably my favorite character in the Warcraft universe, although I'm unsure if I would say that is because he is the best written or simply the most consistent throughout the story's evolution and over the many games, stories, and novels.

Those can be the same. Even Arthas' story contradicts itself.

I'll also play devil's advocate and say that Garrosh was one of the best written characters. His gradual rise, "too close to the sun" moments, then fall was really quite well detailed. They explored a lot of his depth and, whilst you'll never hear much agreement with it on here, I feel his development from loose-cannon into full on villainy was very natural. I always saw Stonetalon as an example of the greatness he COULD have achieved; with everything else demonstrating why he would always CHOOSE not to do so. His lust for victory, glory and control over honour was what separated him from the Horde Icons, and that was a struggle he was set up for from the moment we landed in Northrend.

I despised Garrosh because he reminded me of one-too-many schoolboy elites and childhood bullies from over the years. He wasn't necessarily wrong but he was right in a bad way. I think, in his case, the road to hell was paved with good intentions and that made his death so poignant and sympathetic. The voice crack on "You -left- me to pick up your pieces" will haunt my days. But all of that depth, from the daddy issues to the internal conflict and insecurity (that runs consistently from his early days in TBC to his ultimate denial in Warlords) made him one of the best written characters, and certainly best written villains. Even better than Arthas.

Garrosh had a pretty good story that went from TBC all the way to WoD. And in hindsight he was right most of the time. Remember his warning to Sylvanas?
Or how strong the Iron Horde ended up becomming?

I even understood why he turned against the Horde. He didn't really want to be Warchief, but Thrall promised him that he will have advisors. Well most of said advisors gave him death threats. He was pushed into a nest of vipers, with pretty much Zaela and Nazgrim as his only allies.
My only problem is that his shift into totally nazi level evil was too sudden. Come MoP he was already there.

[XDurionX]

It's pretty obviously Basic Campfire. Can't wait for it to lead the Horde.

[Kyux]

Lot of good points to discuss. Nice list.

For me personally Arthas gets one minus point cause he is basically a copy of Anakin Skywalker. And the way they ended his story was the dumbest retcon blizzard ever made (and that is saying something) but he definitely IS the most developed.

Jaina: I would argue that she is being less rational as time goes on, but that IS a valid resonse to the horrors of war. And it IS more gradual than the almost 180% shift between Cata and MoP Garrosh. We'll see what they do with her character.

Sylvanas: My problem with her is that very little is being done with her for all her screentime. She was driven by nothing but vengeance till WotLK and a wish to evade death ever since. Cataclysm came out seven years ago. Sure she is a millenia old elf, but I find her character too static.

Varian: I liked him in the comics and the whole story with the two Varians. Shame Knaak had to ruin it all with all that nonesense of him being a reincarnated Ancient because reasons.

Oh yes, Stalvan. I loved that questline. WoW is quite good with minor villains like Stalvan, Dark'Khan and both VanCleefs.

What was the retcon with Arthas? And I think he is similar to Anakin, but the whole fallen hero is too often used to be called a rip off of Star Wars. It's too common.

As for Jaina being less rational, what makes you say that? I think her decision to not work with the Kirin Tor was wrong. One should put aside their personal grievances in the face of total world destruction. But I can also 100% see where she's coming from. She trusted the Horde and they broke that trust many times. It'd be insane to trust again and expect anything different (from her point of view).

As for Varian, yeah I agree the ancient thing was dumb. It makes his prowess less special. I liked how he changed as leader in MoP thought.

Also, Ondray mentioned Genn Greymane. I agree actually. I like how he's brash, rough, and tough on Anduin but logical and seems like a real character. He can be selfish and speaks his mind (like Ondray said).

Having read what thesmall001 wrote, I kinda agree. Garrosh did make sense. I didn't like that in the end it was just Sha. It would have been better for his flaws to be entirely personal. Like Varian's skill, Garrosh's flaws coming from an external source diminishes it a bit. Also I agree that his descent was too fast.

All in all, Arthas is the best written character. That's my answer to OP : )

[purebalance]

I think AU Gul'dan was pretty dope

Not really. He had 0 reason to kill the shaman in his village, yet did it just to look cool to the people watching. He only encountered the citizens of Azeroth over the course of Draenor yet somehow when he took all of the power that would fuel the portal, he decided to use it to fuel the portal instead of challenging KJ because "he knew they would band together and somehow find a way to beat him because they always do" which is funny because that very thing still happened so why bother with anything. In AU draenor he should have been weak as hell for a variety of reasons such as he was being drained for god knows how long to fuel the portal and he was only a warlock for a VERY short time before being drained. He is the dark version of a Mary Sue.

[Deleted]

What was the retcon with Arthas? And I think he is similar to Anakin, but the whole fallen hero is too often used to be called a rip off of Star Wars. It's too common.

The retcon? Remember how he stabbed his own torn out heart that he kept frozen under the lake to fully and irreversably kill off his own humanity?

Well after he died it turns out he totally had his humanity left and was keeping the Scourge in check otherwise they would have swarmed over Azeroth unchecked( as if they weren't doing that in the first place). Except the Forsaken show that most undead act totally normal with no Lich King around.

[thesmall001]

Those can be the same. Even Arthas' story contradicts itself.



Garrosh had a pretty good story that went from TBC all the way to WoD. And in hindsight he was right most of the time. Remember his warning to Sylvanas?
Or how strong the Iron Horde ended up becomming?

I even understood why he turned against the Horde. He didn't really want to be Warchief, but Thrall promised him that he will have advisors. Well most of said advisors gave him death threats. He was pushed into a nest of vipers, with pretty much Zaela and Nazgrim as his only allies.
My only problem is that his shift into totally nazi level evil was too sudden. Come MoP he was already there.

It wasn't that sudden, as it appeared if you only played the game, he had 3 books (Shattering, Wolfheart and Tides of War) that all explored his very gradual descent to that mindset. Shattering taught him the value of humility. Wolfheart taught him the sting of humiliation. Tides made him choose between the two and he chose to win over choosing to win /well/ and that was the moment his fate was really sealed.

In that moment, the rest of the Horde leaders (who had actually supported him none-the-less) told him -they out-rightly said- "there's a right way to do this, and a wrong way, and we'll only support you if you do it our way" and he chose not to listen. In doing so, he alienated his advisers, and then he chose to extend a fist instead of a hand to his people. He blew up Razor Hill Inn to crush dissenters. That was the moment.

War Crimes really did an astounding job at letting him openly reflect on those decisions. I'm actually glad that they didn't make him repentant about his choices because, in the end, he would rather justify himself with delusion than ever show (what he saw) as the weakness of humility ever again. I love that. It such a small thing that scaled up well.

[LoLcano]

Arthas and Illidan(before Legion champion of light crap )

[Deleted]

The best written characters of this expansion were the Nightfallen. They had well-defined personalities and a good story arc. A shame we didn't see more of them on the Broken Shore.

[My User Name]

Tirion Fordring from the comics to vanilla to WotLK.

For an awesome character like that he was really, really underrated tbh.

[In Ogres We Trust]

Anything from the RTS versions of Warcraft. In terms of WoW, AU Gul'dan, Garrosh (depends upon the portion of the arc), and Wrathion are my favorites.

[thesmall001]

Having read what thesmall001 wrote, I kinda agree. Garrosh did make sense. I didn't like that in the end it was just Sha. It would have been better for his flaws to be entirely personal. Like Varian's skill, Garrosh's flaws coming from an external source diminishes it a bit. Also I agree that his descent was too fast.

Garrosh was in control until the very end. The Landfall story-line made it very (well... "quite") clear that Garrosh would not allow anybody to use the Sha unless they were able to completely dominate and control the power and make it their own. That's what he did. He made it a tool to be used and never surrendered to corruption. The whole point was that the hidden 7th Sha "Pride" was the most subtle of all negative emotions because it doesn't need to "do" anything to somebody. They will eventually fall prey to it all on their own: As Garrosh did.

[CaptainV]

In Warcraft?

Arthas, no question of it.

Runners Up:

Illidan, Jaina, Maiev, Malfurion, Tyrande, Sylvanas and Kael.


In WoW Itself?

Varian, no denying it.

Garrosh and AU Gul'dan come close though im fond of Khadgar too.

[ReVnX]

Pre-cata Thrall and Jaina, Garrosh, Gul'dan, Arthas

It's difficult for me to pick just one

[Friendlyimmolation]

Rommath is pretty far up there for being one of the most consistent characters in attitude and opinions.

Im not sure who the best written is.

[thesmall001]

The best written characters of this expansion were the Nightfallen. They had well-defined personalities and a good story arc. A shame we didn't see more of them on the Broken Shore.

One-upping this. In terms of literal "writing", the Nightfallen had some of the best characters and witty lines and food-for-thought moments with tons of symbolism and reflection on story up until now. The Insurrection story in 7.1 was as much as I dared to dream. I'm okay with them taking a break in 7.2, we're getting more of them on Argus and I really hope they remain a force to reckon with in future expansion. Don't leave Our Girl behind!

[Rend Blackhand]

i really liked Ner'Zhul from Ris elf the Horde all the way to when he joined with Arthas. I don't think he's been mentioned yet so I'll choose him.

[Deleted]

Rommath is pretty far up there for being one of the most consistent characters in attitude and opinions.

Im not sure who the best written is.

Well the race seems to be up between Arthas, Varian, Gul'Dan, Jaina and Garrosh

[Rend Blackhand]

Rommath is pretty far up there for being one of the most consistent characters in attitude and opinions.

Im not sure who the best written is.

Maybe the reason that Rommath is so cool is that there isn't very much lore about him and because of that, blizzard have been short of opportunities to ruin him.