...And Why does everyone Hate Taran Zhu?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The title says it all.

[KrazyK923]

I don't, he's fucking awesome.

But if I had to guess, people dislike that archetypal character. Or they just don't actually understand the story and the character. That one seems to be the one I encounter more often.

"Taran Zhu's a huge dick even after we helped him with his shit!" is a line I've heard a lot. What it fails to realize is that the Horde and Alliance cause all the problems in the first place.

Taran Zhu's reaction is entirely reasonable to what we did to Pandaria.

[Paula Deen]

This thread, if it isn't meant as a joke to the Tirion thread..... will be full of "xD Pandas are stupid Kung-Fu stuff" people. Honestly I thought the fact that he showed emotion, mainly anger, ALOT of it, really showed me that they didn't think too deeply on his character, granted, he was fucking awesome, but still. I much preferred the Lorewalker Cho type character to Zhu.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

A lot of the time I see people who hate Taran Zhu hate Pandaren in general.
Other than that other people hate him because he just won't die >.>, personally I like him as a character.

[KrazyK923]

This thread, if it isn't meant as a joke to the Tirion thread..... will be full of "xD Pandas are stupid Kung-Fu stuff" people. Honestly I thought the fact that he showed emotion, mainly anger, ALOT of it, really showed me that they didn't think too deeply on his character, granted, he was fucking awesome, but still. I much preferred the Lorewalker Cho type character to Zhu.

I liked him BECAUSE he showed his anger. And appropriately so after we fucked up the continent he was sworn to protect.

I think a lot of people also hate him because unlike virtually every other expansion, when we beat the big bad or are en route to confront him, Taran Zhu doesn't say like "Thank you, heroes! Your service was invaluable" or "You truly are heroes" (Heh, Lorewalker Cho actually does this). He flat out says, "This shit is your fault."

Because it was and is.

[Kaleredar]

Because I have no idea how, when, or why the sod got from the pool in front of Mogu'shan palace into a sealed titan chamber with a gashed out belly.


...but really, I don't hate Taran Zhu. He's an alright character. People decry him for being too "spiteful" towards the Horde and Alliance... well, the Horde and Alliance pretty much did cause every single bad thing on Pandaria to happen. And more than "just what Garrosh did;" the entire opening war stirred up the sha, which in turn took over the mantid, which in TURN forced the Yaungol into kun'lai, which in TURN agonized the hozen and weakened regions to the Saurok, which all went about distracting the shado-pan enough and allowed the Mogu to launch a massive resurgence into Pandaria.

[arcaneshot]

This thread, if it isn't meant as a joke to the Tirion thread..... will be full of "xD Pandas are stupid Kung-Fu stuff" people. Honestly I thought the fact that he showed emotion, mainly anger, ALOT of it, really showed me that they didn't think too deeply on his character, granted, he was fucking awesome, but still. I much preferred the Lorewalker Cho type character to Zhu.

People hate him because he's a hypocrite who blames the Alliance and Horde for bringing the Sha back and then goes and succumbs to the emotions he trained his whole life to fight against. And even after we exorcise the Sha of Hatred from him he still goes around being angry and spiteful toward them, thinking he was better than anyone else (Pandaren in general give in to Pride just as easily as anyone else which was the point of the Sha of Pride being the only one Emperor Shaohao never conquered).

...but really, I don't hate Taran Zhu. He's an alright character. People decry him for being too "spiteful" towards the Horde and Alliance... well, the Horde and Alliance pretty much did cause every single bad thing on Pandaria to happen.

Except it was the Pandaren that decided to bury their problems in the ground and pretend it wasn't a problem. They never bothered to deal with their problems which is why everything exploded in such a dramatic fashion.

Being emotionally-repressed wretches doesn't make them better than anyone else nor does it absolve them from something that's festering under the ground they stuck there in the first place.

[KrazyK923]

People hate him because he's a hypocrite who blames the Alliance and Horde for bringing the Sha back and then goes and succumbs to the emotions he trained his whole life to fight against.

Did...did you play Mists of Pandaria? We cause every single problem in the expansion.

And even after we exorcise the Sha of Hatred from him he still goes around being angry and spiteful toward them, thinking he was better than anyone else (Pandaren in general give in to Pride just as easily as anyone else which was the point of the Sha of Pride being the only one Emperor Shaohao never conquered).

No, he doesn't. He actually begins to soften toward the Horde and Alliance after they help him defeat the Sha of Hatred up to until 5.2 happens when we almost ruin our battles against Lei Shen by fighting one another instead of his forces. And then it just gets worse after that. 5.3 happens and the Vale is desecrated, and then 5.4 happens and the Vale is destroyed and Y'Shaarj's heart corrupts the fuck out of everything.

Except it was the Pandaren that decided to bury their problems in the ground and pretend it wasn't a problem. They never bothered to deal with their problems.

They had the Mantid under control, the Mogu were not a threat to them anymore, and the Sha were not running rampant around Pandaria. All of these things then happen because of us when we arrive.

[Paula Deen]

I liked him BECAUSE he showed his anger. And appropriately so after we fucked up the continent he was sworn to protect.

I agree he was a bad ass, but really, think about this for a second. He swore to protect the continent..... that feeds on Emotion. So how does he try and explain to the new comers that what they are doing is bad? He uses those emotions..... I really do not understand the reason behind it. To make it worse, he does it even in the story line of SoO, IN THE RAID! He should have been much more like Taoshi in my opinion. She was swift, cunning, and silent, much like a real Shado-Pan Warrior would be. I would have much rather seen that than his emotions.

[Kaleredar]

Except it was the Pandaren that decided to bury their problems in the ground and pretend it wasn't a problem. They never bothered to deal with their problems.

They're the lambent shadows of an old god. What, exactly, were they supposed to do? Just deal with the Sha being there?

[bison91]

pandas are great. had one in the army

[KrazyK923]

Being emotionally-repressed wretches doesn't make them better than anyone else nor does it absolve them from something that's festering under the ground they stuck there in the first place.

Nothing suggests that the Pandaren buried Y'Shaarj's heart there. In fact, it seems far more likely that the Titans did and set the Mogu there to watch them. There are several strong hints implying this from Norushen looking like a Mogu, to various archaeological artifacts talking about the Mogu sticking pretty much only to the Vale until Lei Shen thought he was above the Titans.

Shaohao didn't know that sealing Pandaria off with mists would lead to its very slow downfall. Nobody did. Hell, barely anybody outside of the Shado-Pan even knew the Sha were a thing by the point in time we show up in Pandaria. Lorewalker Cho, who is probably the most learned Pandaren on the entire continent, even says he thought they were just myths.

I agree he was a bad ass, but really, think about this for a second. He swore to protect the continent..... that feeds on Emotion. So how does he try and explain to the new comers that what they are doing is bad? He uses those emotions..... I really do not understand the reason behind it. To make it worse, he does it even in the story line of SoO, IN THE RAID! He should have been much more like Taoshi in my opinion. She was swift, cunning, and silent, much like a real Shado-Pan Warrior would be. I would have much rather seen that than his emotions.

His anger makes sense. Even though he is the head of the only quasi-military they have, he doesn't have some blanket rule over Pandaria. Time after time his council of "Don't let these dudes stay and fuck shit up" is ignored, and time and time again he has to try and come in and clean up after us. Taoshi is a badass, but she's not really dealing with the political ramifications of the Horde and the Alliance, she's just doing as she's told by Taran Zhu.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

He was willing to not sugar coat things and be blunt about. Yeah his message was right, presentation was harsh to but I'd say some of us would feel like him if some dirtbag organization did the same to our homes. If anything the Titans fighting the Old Gods actually made the Pandaren future victims of their old battle. To blame the Pandaren for the Sha is.. well dumb. How are they supposed to know galactic beings decided to store the heart of an Old God in their homeland? Obviously the Titans hid it well enough. It sucks but the truth is


The characters ingame don't have metaknowledge. We as readers and those that experience it know all this thus we can be like "Wtf Taran Zhu why you bitching" but really Taran Zhu is going by what he sees. Course a lot of more overzealous folks won't want to see that.

[Kaleredar]

Nothing suggests that the Pandaren buried Y'Shaarj's heart there. In fact, it seems far more likely that the Titans did and set the Mogu there to watch them. There are several strong hints implying this from Norushen looking like a Mogu, to various archaeological artifacts talking about the Mogu sticking pretty much only to the Vale until Lei Shen thought he was above the Titans.

Indeed; the pandaren were little more than slaves, if they even existed/were anything more than furbolg-like proto-pandaren at that point. There's no way they buried Y'shaarj's heart.

[KrazyK923]

He blamed us because we were actually caused all the bad things.

[7seti]

I liked him BECAUSE he showed his anger. And appropriately so after we fucked up the continent he was sworn to protect.

I think a lot of people also hate him because unlike virtually every other expansion, when we beat the big bad or are en route to confront him, Taran Zhu doesn't say like "Thank you, heroes! Your service was invaluable" or "You truly are heroes" (Heh, Lorewalker Cho actually does this). He flat out says, "This shit is your fault."

Because it was and is.

No, it wasn't. At least, not if you play Alliance.

Seriously, there is absolutely nothing the Alliance could have done to prevent the destruction of the Vale. We stayed to fight the Horde, it got destroyed. If we'd just stuffed Anduin in a sack and gone home, it would still have been destroyed.

Alliance or no Alliance, Garrosh would have gone after the heart sooner or later. Plus if they hadn't been there, he gets a bonus Divine Bell.

That's why I hate him. He insists on treating the factions with equal blame when one of them is doing 99% of the damage.

[KrazyK923]

Yes, you're right. And he doesn't come to the Alliance's Shrine and try to kick us out either.

This doesn't really even matter, though. He was right in what he said.

Cho... the outsiders... THEY did this... we should never have let them in...

His anger isn't misplaced. He's ignored several times during the MoP storyline. First is by both Pandaren mayors in Jade Forest, and we fuck shit up. He is then ignored by Xuen in the Vale intro, and ultimately the entire thing is destroyed.

People ding him on becoming corrupted by the Sha of Hatred, but if the Alliance and Horde didn't arrive, the Prime Sha would not have been released in the first place.

Honestly, wasn't that the point of the whole "What is worth fighting for?" bullshit Metzen kept trotting out during the MoP reveal at Blizzcon 2011? The fact that our war caused literally everything bad this expansion?

[Super Kami Dende]

I found Taran Zhu to be a great Character.

For once I felt like my Hero actually had to prove his worth to someone throughout the Lore.

[Littleraven]

because hes the first character to call the alliance and horde on their bullshit. he is literally the first character we have ever encountered that saw right through us from the very beginning.

also....i fucking love him. hes a badass that was dealt a shitty hand. not only does he have to deal with the mantid and yaungol, but the madness that the horde alliance "race war" as he calls it brought to pandaria.

[Hecz]

I had higher hopes for Taran Zhu than to see him get his ass kicked all the time.