Malfurion: the monster behind happy tree-hugging

[Magemaer]

Man, i used to like Malfurion along long time ago. But it didnt took long to realize how much of a massive c**t this fellow is.

1-Made himself into his teacher's favorite by being a total suck ass. Yes, Cenarius has a fragile ego, yes he is driven by flattering. Not content of pushing himself into this position, he used it to manipulate Cenarius and alienate Illidan from his classes. Which resulted in the very humiliating abondment of Illidan's druidic training.

2-Malfurion is gay/assexual. You know it, i know it. It's written all over his ethos. He cares about big trees, roots, and so on. He doesn't have the least interest for the natural curvelicious beauty of fellow female night elves.
Yes, as soon as he saw how deeply in love and infatuated Illidan was with Tyrande, he made it his mission to seduce her and take her away from his brother. Which he did. Being a manipulative genius, and reading her character, it was all too easy: all he needed was to pose as a good guy, a reliable, steadfast one that supports her independence; while painting Illidan as dangerous, reckless and selfish.
Now, he's not only a jerk for ruining Illidan's emotional life, but also Tyrande's. He's a fake, he's not attracted to her, he doesn't care for her. She's stuck with gay manipulative actor that is no more than an illusion, a projection of her own errors.

3-So he made Illidan be expelled and took his love. Not content, after making himself a spiritual leader of a broken post-war people with a discourse of "returning to past days of purity and glory" (all too familiar huh?), he had his own brother imprisioned for thousands of years. Why? Because he was a freaking war hero, who sacrificed everything to save his world.
10 thousand years imprisioned. By a bunch of traumatized fanaticals.
For saving the world.

4-During the third invasion Malfurion put his hatred against his brother as more important than the war, being a bitch about relasing him. Tyrande released him anyway.
Now Malfurion had to guarantee keeping Tyrande away from Illidan, and make sure his fanatical people would keep hating Illidan.
No problem there. All Illidan cares is winning the war, saving the world. So he do what is necessary. It shocks Tyrande and the night elves. Job accomplished. Illidan is exiled.

5-Being an influential person, he does everything he can to paint Illidan as a selfish power-driven madman. This lie, this image eventually gets spread and it sticks. Everyone sees Illidan like this. When they reach Outland, Illidan is the enemy, to be taken down. No second thoughts.
Black Temple happens.

6-And now years later. Illidan comes back. Doesn't give a f**k about everything wrong Malfurion did to him. He goes on to save the world again and sacrifice himself again. Plus he sends a message of forgiveness and love to his disgusting brother.
What Malfurion has to say?
Does he finally regret a lifetime of wrongdoings?
Can he find room to admire his brother, who despite everything still keeps doing the right thing, and keeps forgiving him?
No, he must be a c**t again.

F**k Malfurion. Just f**k this guy. Someone bury this monster alive.
He lived a false life, wholy devoted to his bitter envy of a gifted brother. He just couldn't accept Illidan's golden eyes, promissed destiny, could he? He couldn't look past it, and pay attention to how noble, bold and caring his brother has always been, specially to him. Nope. Let's just devote our entire lives to hurt and humiliate him as much and as hard as we can.
To hell with this guy.

It's funny how wise writers can sometimes. This bearded dude who's all about nature and sleeping? Is a monster inside. That other one with demon horns and wings, all tattoed, blind, threatning? A loving heroic martyr, who did everything to himself in order to save others.
Just poetic.

[Rhlor]

tyrandaaaaaaaaaa i need youuuuuuuuuuuuu

[Florena]

You should sit down. All that spin must have left you dizzy.

[Aeula]

Most accurate post I’ve seen all day.

[Shiny212]

Illidan's the real bitch dude. Much bigger bitch than Malfurion.

[Hctaz]

Most accurate post I’ve seen all day.

Tyrande is no better either.

He straight up leaves her a message that says "I love you. Everything I've ever done was to keep you safe."

And she goes

"Eh he's lying."

[Arrashi]

I love how you consider someone being gay/asexual to be a "cunt factor".

[Magemaer]

You should sit down. All that spin must have left you dizzy.

Well you have to view the lore before Legion as Illidan being a power hungry betrayer because he wasn't the great hero in that time. His only goal was to seek power and sate his hunger for magic and Malfurion wasn't happy about that.

Illidan's the real bitch dude. Much bigger bitch than Malfurion.

Look, i know you're used to a certain narrative. The one that was imprinted in you first. The narrative of the victors.
But in light of all we've seen, will you still try to sustain it? Will you still buy Malfurion's hating rhetoric?
Conect the dots, fellows. It's all there.

- - - Updated - - -

I love how you consider someone being gay/asexual to be a "cunt factor".

I didn't at all. The "cunt factor" is pretending you're hetero, engaging the girl your brother love, then stucking yourself for 10 thousand years under the earth with roots and other male druids for "sleeping".
Not only being a jerk to Illidan, but to her aswell. It's hilarious to see how unfullfilled Tyrande is sexually. And she probably thinks he is "too devoted to nature".

[Uncle]

You have right, but i don't think Malfurion is the one responsabiel to begin with.
I think it's Cenarius himself: did you never have a teacher or a person you disliked with absolutly no reason to that? I think it is what happened to Cenarius: he disliked Illidan immediatly, and began to humiliate him while flatting Malfurion who was his favorite, and Malfurion ego increased because of that.
Malfurion has been a complete moron with his brother, this is cristal clear, but you are wrong on Illidan: he is not a hero, he never was, and will never be.
Illidan doesn't care about saving the world, he doesn't care at all, the ONLY thing Illidan seek, is his brother approbation.

While he was under Cenarius teaching, Illidan began to think he was a worthless being, and then, hen he studied magic with Corvaltus, he realized he was in fact probably better than Malfurion, and that Cenarius WAS a liar.
One notable traits to Illidan, is his enormous ego, a trait well shared among people who suffered humiliation in their youth, when they meet someone who teach them they are not worthless, it can lead the person to develop a huge ego, it's especialy true if the person was made to believe the autor of the humiliation was in fact jaelous of the humiliated.

Illidan never cared of saving the world, in fact, i even think Illidan didn't really care of Tyrande, in fact, Tyrande was just a mean to an end; all of Illidan's deeds had only a single goal: to prove to anybody he was right. But even that, was only a mean to an end...

Funny isn't it? Malfurion is fully a bad person, but he doesn't even realize how horrible he is, but that's not the funny thing, no, in fact, the fun fact is that the ONLY thing Illidan wanted during is WHOLE life was one simple little thing: Illidan only want to hear his brother Malfurion say "i am proud of you."
Behind his ego and his claimed self-confidence, Illidan is in fact a little boy who desperatly begs for his brother recognition.

And the sad thing here, is that Illidan will never have this, because Malfurion is a blindly awful person.

[Villager720]

Tyrande is no better either.

He straight up leaves her a message that says "I love you. Everything I've ever done was to keep you safe."

And she goes

"Eh he's lying."

He was lying - he always lies.
Bro probably saved the world to prove he was better/stronger than his brother - that’s not altruism Holmes.
Everything Illibilly does, excluding his plethora of fuck-ups, always benefits him.

[Arrashi]

I didn't at all. The "cunt factor" is pretending you're hetero, engaging the girl your brother love, then stucking yourself for 10 thousand years under the earth with roots and other male druids for "sleeping".
Not only being a jerk to Illidan, but to her aswell. It's hilarious to see how unfullfilled Tyrande is sexually. And she probably thinks he is "too devoted to nature".

Ever heard about platonic love ?

[Magemaer]

I think you're on to something Uncle. Illidan clearly had his ego crushed due to Malfurion + Cenarius behavior towards him. He had low self-esteem and that guided a lot of his actions.
I think for the most part he's gone past that trauma now, in his adulthood. He shows all signs of acceptance and overcoming ("i am my scars"). I think he always a selfless person, but now he found out that fighting the Legion has gave purpose to his otherwise empty pointless life (thanks, again, to Malfurion). It's for others, but also for him. It brings him fullfillment.
Is he, still to this day, perplexed about Malfurion's envy, and eager for his love and acceptance? Yes, clearly.
Is it the only factor in his psyche? No.

I think his relation to society, and his relation to Tyrande are also pretty heavy weights in him. It's not only Malfurion's rejection that hurt him bad. But hers too. And of his whole original society.
But again, i reiterate, every rejection stems from Malfurion's. It's the Abel and Cain mythos all over again.

[Hctaz]

He was lying - he always lies.
Bro probably saved the world to prove he was better/stronger than his brother - that’s not altruism Holmes.
Everything Illibilly does, excluding his plethora of fuck-ups, always benefits him.

I really and HIGHLY doubt he was lying. They even showed the thing with the Xe'ra quest line where his last conscious thoughts before "dying" in TBC were of her. Who is he lying to then? He also sent only two people messages. He sent one for his brother (sensibly) and one for Tyrande. If he didn't feel that way, what personal gain would he achieved?

No, he's always loved her. The sole reason he wanted to gain more and more power was to keep her safe. That was the reason he did everything. And now he's fulfilled his dreams of keeping Sargeras at bay for her sake.

[Magistrate]

Man, i used to like Malfurion along long time ago. But it didnt took long to realize how much of a massive c**t this fellow is.

-Made himself into his teacher's favorite by being a total suck ass. Yes, Cenarius has a fragile ego, yes he is driven by flattering. Not content of pushing himself into this position, he used it to manipulate Cenarius and alienate Illidan from his classes. Which resulted in the very humiliating abondment of Illidan's druidic training.

So, you liked him for no reason without knowing anything about him and then didn't like him because of the core of his entire character. OK.

2-Malfurion is gay/assexual. You know it, i know it. It's written all over his ethos. He cares about big trees, roots, and so on. He doesn't have the least interest for the natural curvelicious beauty of fellow female night elves.
Yes, as soon as he saw how deeply in love and infatuated Illidan was with Tyrande, he made it his mission to seduce her and take her away from his brother. Which he did. Being a manipulative genius, and reading her character, it was all too easy: all he needed was to pose as a good guy, a reliable, steadfast one that supports her independence; while painting Illidan as dangerous, reckless and selfish.
Now, he's not only a jerk for ruining Illidan's emotional life, but also Tyrande's. He's a fake, he's not attracted to her, he doesn't care for her. She's stuck with gay manipulative actor that is no more than an illusion, a projection of her own errors.

1. Pretty shallow reason not to like someone. 2. Gay and asexual are two completely different things. 3. Caring about nature defines someone as gay? 5. He's a druid and a night elf, it would be silly to not expect him to care deeply about nature. 6. Manipulating someone and/or being a shitty friend defines someone as gay?

3-So he made Illidan be expelled and took his love. Not content, after making himself a spiritual leader of a broken post-war people with a discourse of "returning to past days of purity and glory" (all too familiar huh?), he had his own brother imprisioned for thousands of years. Why? Because he was a freaking war hero, who sacrificed everything to save his world.
10 thousand years imprisioned. By a bunch of traumatized fanaticals.
For saving the world.

He didn't have Illidan imprisoned "because he was a war hero." He had him imprisoned because of his choices to achieve an end. The end to which he aspired, deflecting the Burning Legion, was good, but to do so he conspired with the enemy and secretly created a second Well of Eternity--because of the way he chose to go about this, all anyone outside of his own mind would objectively be able to see was a man who abandoned his people, plotted with the enemy, and recreated the source of power that led to the destruction of the known world. It would have been foolish for Malfurion and Tyrande to not punish him, and as an adult he would have had to make peace with that fact--he could do it his way, but he would have to pay for the transgressions he chose.

It's funny how wise writers can sometimes. This bearded dude who's all about nature and sleeping? Is a monster inside. That other one with demon horns and wings, all tattoed, blind, threatning? A loving heroic martyr, who did everything to himself in order to save others.
Just poetic.

I think that's one way of looking at it. Another is that Malfurion is a person that has (selfish) desires and motives. Illidan did, too, in his beginning, it just looks like it took much longer for Malfurion to get over his issues. By Legion, he's doing pretty selfless and dangerous things to defend the Dream. Illidan also is far from flawless--he murdered and sacrificed his friends and fellow Elves, abandoned and committed treason against his own people, and much more to gain the power to "do what needs to be done." In the end, it wasn't even Illidan and his prowess that finally defeated the Legion. It was us and the Pantheon.

But you're right--Malfurion never matures to the point of owning up for his mistakes and selfishness. This could be explained partially by Blizzard not giving him, Illidan, and Tyrande screen time together to explore and resolve these issues--for good or ill. But like you I agree it's more a reflection of his character. He never seemed concerned about his old choices while Illidan was presumed dead or imprisoned after Black Temple.

I agree that Illidan seems to have made the better choices (if we're choosing between two bad people) because his choices were justified against a universal threat. Simultaneously, both have huge flaws in their choices and history, and Illidan didn't actually fight or defeat Sargeras.

[Villager720]

I really and HIGHLY doubt he was lying. They even showed the thing with the Xe'ra quest line where his last conscious thoughts before "dying" in TBC were of her. Who is he lying to then? He also sent only two people messages. He sent one for his brother (sensibly) and one for Tyrande. If he didn't feel that way, what personal gain would he achieved?

No, he's always loved her. The sole reason he wanted to gain more and more power was to keep her safe. That was the reason he did everything. And now he's fulfilled his dreams of keeping Sargeras at bay for her sake.

You're telling me you believe a guy who actively worked for Kil'jaeden, failed, fled, enslaved a world, consumed the skull of Gul'dan because the power "should be his", killed people who tried to stop him from making another Well of Eternity, consciously used his own armies as fuel for a soul engine, and then that whole "lets blow up Northrend" thing.

Yeah. All to keep Tyrande safe. Def. Totes.

[Sigxy]

You're telling me you believe a guy who actively worked for Kil'jaeden, failed, fled, enslaved a world, consumed the skull of Gul'dan because the power "should be his", killed people who tried to stop him from making another Well of Eternity, consciously used his own armies as fuel for a soul engine, and then that whole "lets blow up Northrend" thing.

Yeah. All to keep Tyrande safe. Def. Totes.

While I wouldn't be against the idea that Illidan just wanted to try and be "better than everyone else", it'd be really weird if that image of Tyrande was there for absolutely nothing when you see him 'die' in the flashback to TBC... '.'

[Qualia]

<Text>

That was one long response for what surely was just a joking / shitpost :P

Illidan never cared of saving the world, in fact, i even think Illidan didn't really care of Tyrande, in fact, Tyrande was just a mean to an end; all of Illidan's deeds had only a single goal: to prove to anybody he was right. But even that, was only a mean to an end...

He cared about both. It's not like those two goals were mutually exclusive. Illidan both desired power and wanted to save the world. If he only has a single goal of proving himself right, TBC events wouldn't have unfolded as they did. Going with the novel, ironically, the entire TBC fiasco could have been avoid had Illidan actually only wanted to prove himself right instead of wanting to save the world / defeat the Burning Legion as well. If he, in an attempt to show that he did the right thing, had told the Alliance and the Horde that he and his Illidari saved both factions from annihilation at the Dark Portal, or communicated his plans better with his non-DH followers, we or Akama might not have assaulted the BT at that time.

You're telling me you believe a guy who actively worked for Kil'jaeden, failed, fled, enslaved a world, consumed the skull of Gul'dan because the power "should be his", killed people who tried to stop him from making another Well of Eternity, consciously used his own armies as fuel for a soul engine, and then that whole "lets blow up Northrend" thing.

Yeah. All to keep Tyrande safe. Def. Totes.

None of those contradicts with his stated goal of defeating the Burning Legion to protect Azeroth / Tyrande at all cost (which was said in his monologue in the novel as well). It's not like he was an all loving hero - as he pointed it out himself, he is driven by darkness as much as any desire to do rights. Everything you listed only told us that he wasn't a good guy and he only cares for a limited group of people he was close to, but it doesn't say or imply he was lying.

[Raziella]

Illidan's obsession with power and victory at any cost absolutely fits with an obsession with a woman. It's not love, it's chasing after another unobtainable obsession and refusing to let go. That's his character.

[Hctaz]

You're telling me you believe a guy who actively worked for Kil'jaeden, failed, fled, enslaved a world, consumed the skull of Gul'dan because the power "should be his", killed people who tried to stop him from making another Well of Eternity, consciously used his own armies as fuel for a soul engine, and then that whole "lets blow up Northrend" thing.

Yeah. All to keep Tyrande safe. Def. Totes.

Yeah you have a lot of this lore twisted. He actively "worked" with KJ in order to kill the Lich King who was a minion of the scourge. This was also solely out of fear, and also why he went to go blow up Northrend. This was never a point of contention. He even told Malfurion why he was doing what he was doing.

He consumed the Skull of Guldan because Arthas told him that it was being used by Tichondrius in order to corrupt part of his homeland. He needed the power in order to defeat the demon.

He didn't actually enslave anything in Outland. That was basically all retconned out of existence since Blizzard poorly wrote that in anyway. All he did in Outland was free people from Magtheridon and then build an army of Demon Hunters in order to go to Argus and defeat the Legion. Kael'thas did all of the bad shit and framed Illidan basically. That is how it just is in the story now.

He didn't kill anybody who was trying to stop him from making another well. He walked up to Hyjal and made it in secret. There was nobody to kill.

He used his own army because (if you've played Legion) he knew it was the only way. He said he would rather sacrifice a few people than his ENTIRE WORLD.

He was always fighting for his world and for Tyrande. You're just twisting the lore to suit your own needs when the examples are written right in front of you.

- - - Updated - - -

Illidan's obsession with power and victory at any cost absolutely fits with an obsession with a woman. It's not love, it's chasing after another unobtainable obsession and refusing to let go. That's his character.

Which is fine, and still fits my point as well.

Illidan was always power hungry, but his desire to save Azeroth was solely because of Tyrande. He would have just joined the Legion and jumped ship otherwise. Somebody like him would never really care about random strangers. He wanted to be powerful, but then he also wanted to save Tyrande and the planet she loved.

[Qualia]

Actually, you got this bit wrong, although I do agree with your point that some of what he listed was explained in the novels, and none of them actually contradicts with Illidan stated goals at all.

He didn't kill anybody who was trying to stop him from making another well. He walked up to Hyjal and made it in secret. There was nobody to kill.

He killed some Highborne nobles and guards when they tried to stop him from making the new Well after they discovered it, almost killed Jarod as well.