Why is Garrosh so unusually aggressive now?

[Salandrin]

I just did some of the Landing quests, and noticed while at first, Garrosh seemed pretty cool, when he assisted the Goblins, and they express their thanks, he literally goes on to say he came to save the supplies the Goblins were working on, and even mocks them. Then he threatens them to get to work, by bringing Orcs to make sure of it. Then later, he excessively mocks Vol'jin for no reason at all, and when Vol'jin questions what his motives are, he orders his assassination. I mean wtf, he didn't even do anything.

But when you look at Cataclysm, he had almost none of these traits, and was at least honorable.

[Skytotem]

Because Blizz's been pretty schizophrenic in handling his characterization.

[Wyrt]

He's been excessively aggressive since his spats with Varian in Wrath.

[Golden Yak]

I felt Cataclysm skimped on story progression for him late game. If they'd showed him gradually becoming more brutal, than fine. But yeah, he does seem to go from angry but honorable to 'destroy everything that stands in my way' awfully quickly if you just go by in-game content.

Shame really, Cataclysm could have been for him and Varian what the Burning Legion were for the previous faction leaders. Or even if they wound up becoming enemies anyway, it wouldn't be so jarring to see Garrosh act that way he does in MoP. The novel 'Tides of War' covers a bit of this, but he's still pretty rotten to start with in that.

[Justignoreme]

At 10% the thumb tack he sat on during the Dragon Soul events will pop out of his ass.

[Vokal]

Steroids. Possibly.

Either that or terrible writing.

[Whidbey]

Because Garrosh has always been a deeply disturbed guy who got handed the reigns of something he is unable to handle maturely. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.. especially the weak.

[TheWerebison]

Two words: Plot device.

[Faroth]

He's not all over the place, his development has been progressive, but you do have to read all over the place to keep up with how it's developed.

[Aquamonkey]

Jaina dumped him and he went crazy like all her ex-boyfriends.

[Faroth]

I felt Cataclysm skimped on story progression for him late game. If they'd showed him gradually becoming more brutal, than fine. But yeah, he does seem to go from angry but honorable to 'destroy everything that stands in my way' awfully quickly if you just go by in-game content.

Shame really, Cataclysm could have been for him and Varian what the Burning Legion were for the previous faction leaders. Or even if they wound up becoming enemies anyway, it wouldn't be so jarring to see Garrosh act that way he does in MoP. The novel 'Tides of War' covers a bit of this, but he's still pretty rotten to start with in that.

And slaughtering wounded sailors on a whim, leaving only their captain alive to tell Varian it was specifically Garrosh who allowed them to live is a bastion of peace?

Stating they'd kill the night elves and take whatever they want because it's theirs by right of wanting it?

Saying a REAL Warchief would never ally with human scum is a diplomatic kind of guy, right?

Garrosh has been pretty fairly rotten since Wrath in most portrayals with a few glimmers of potential for redeeming qualities.

[Deleted]

He looked at himself on the mirror for the first time ever.

[Haven]

Blizzard needed a villain out of a random familiar character to make things seem deep and dramatic. Whatever. I can't take the story of this game with any degree of seriousness anymore.

[Adam Jensen]

Steroids. Possibly.

Either that or terrible writing.

By his muscles and his actions . . . both.

[Ergar]

One word. Sha

[Milkshake86]

I just did some of the Landing quests, and noticed while at first, Garrosh seemed pretty cool, when he assisted the Goblins, and they express their thanks, he literally goes on to say he came to save the supplies the Goblins were working on, and even mocks them. Then he threatens them to get to work, by bringing Orcs to make sure of it. Then later, he excessively mocks Vol'jin for no reason at all, and when Vol'jin questions what his motives are, he orders his assassination. I mean wtf, he didn't even do anything.

But when you look at Cataclysm, he had almost none of these traits, and was at least honorable.

The answer is Sha Corruption just like the opening quest in the jade forest.

[Hitei]

Because the player-base hated regular Garrosh and kept whining about him until Blizzard just gave up and decided to kill him off, and so started pushing his character towards a place where it would be logical for both the Horde and Alliance to want him dead.

[Eruionmel]

He's not all over the place, his development has been progressive, but you do have to read all over the place to keep up with how it's developed.

This. It seems like a big jump based on in-game story, especially if you don't read quest text much (I don't). The books, stories, etc. explain a lot more of his progression. Even so, though, I do think they pushed him pretty hard in that direction to get him there.

[Golden Yak]

And slaughtering wounded sailors on a whim, leaving only their captain alive to tell Varian it was specifically Garrosh who allowed them to live is a bastion of peace?

Stating they'd kill the night elves and take whatever they want because it's theirs by right of wanting it?

Saying a REAL Warchief would never ally with human scum is a diplomatic kind of guy, right?

Garrosh has been pretty fairly rotten since Wrath in most portrayals with a few glimmers of potential for redeeming qualities.

Never claimed he was diplomatic or merciful.

There's a difference between not liking the Alliance and being willing to kill your own if they question you.

[DeLos]

Christie Golden:

Garrosh's personality in game and out has done a lot of shifting back and forth. We see him get a lot darker in Tides. How did you go about developing his character?

I think Garrosh has, at his core, a weak personality. He was very hostile about his father and ashamed of his father, and it took Thrall to say, "Hey, look, you know your dad did some pretty amazing things despite everything." He had to get that validation externally. He also had to prove himself in battle externally. And now he is surrounding himself with some very bad and dangerous advisors, externally.

Which actually fits very nicely to how I saw him from the get go. I think of him as a little boy with daddy issues. He has no real self identity. You see it with people all the time in the real world. They wrap their self value and identity around some external source. His was all about his father. When he though Grom was bad, he was near suicidal. No motivation what-so-ever. Along comes Thrall and tells him what a great person his father was. He left out all the bad Grom did, though. So, Garrosh thinks: 'Oh dad was a good guy. A hero. I want to be just like him.' So he becomes overly aggressive. You see it a lot in Northrend. He instigates trouble with the Alliance. He runs around trying to be just a cool as his father. Come Cata he takes it one step further, getting tattoos like Grom. Wearing the horns of the demon Grom killed. Using Gorehowl. He is trying to be his father. Enter dragonmaw orcs. He now surrounds himself with people that play off the weakness and push him to be more and more brutal. People who think the Horde should dominate everyone else.

Basically Garrosh is what happens when you massive amounts of authority to a child who is desperately trying to prove his worth to himself as much as anyone else. And then not having any checks on him.