Why does no one talk about Anduin? Anyone here care about Anduin's character arc?

[Arrashi]

Well, as I put it in the editted part, if those are shitfests, 99% of writers would wish to be capable of writting shitfest that is well liked for centuries.

Writing skill is pretty much a very subjective matter seeing even professional, well-known writers can't even agreed upon what makes good writing. Is Shakespeare an inept, below average writer whose works induce "irresistible repulsion and tedium", or is he the greatest writer in the English language? Personally, as I reader, I only care whether a story, first and foremost, is enjoyable to read or not. If it is, then it's good enough to fulfill its purpose.

Well liked for centuries ? You mean books that are mostly part of religious movements ? Or just curios ?

As it is, its pointless to compare things written hundreds years ago to things that are written today, with everything we know and with how trends shape.

Oh and being enjoyable =/= being good.

[Mehrunes]

I don't think him running from a battle or slaughtering a village of innocents would make people love him more. I think the forums would have a field day about how terrible he was.

Liking a character as a character and liking them as a person are two different things. Of course people will have negative opinions on him as a person if he does negative things. But that'd make him more alive other than the generic and flawless champion of good #42647372527237498265929 he's been turned into right now.

[Qualia]

Oh and being enjoyable =/= being good.

A fantasy story's main purpose is to bring enjoyment to the readers. From a reader's perspective, a story that is enjoyable to read is good enough to fulfill its purpose. Whether a writing is good or bad is a subject should be left to the professionals - and it's not like they can agree upon it anyway (so in the end, it comes back to whether they find the story enjoyable or not). I'm not a professional writer or literature critic, are you?

[Deleted]

Overall i've really liked Anduin, one of the few characters not relying on pre wow era nostalgia/lore. Now to me it heavily looks like he's being corrupted by old god stuff and we have to go through an arc of him dealing with that, made less interesting by what we know from the web comic. Hopefully after the expansion he unites the two factions with saurfang/thrall.

[Arrashi]

A fantasy story's main purpose is to bring enjoyment to the readers. From a reader's perspective, a story that is enjoyable to read is good enough to fulfill its purpose. Whether a writing is good or bad is a subject should be left to the professionals - and it's not like they can agree upon it anyway (so in the end, it comes back to whether they find the story enjoyable or not). I'm not a professional writer or literature critic, are you?

You don't need to be "proffesional" at something to judge it. And "art is subjective so nothing is good or bad" is most bullshit stance you can take.

[Mehrunes]

Personally, I don't quite get the hatred against Anduin either. One may not be interested in him, but I don't see Anduin as a character so terrible that the players / readers would normally hate.

Where are you seeing this hatred? The primary reaction I see to Blanduin is boredom.

Anduin isn't one without flaw. I wonder if, when people complained that Anduin lacks flaws, they actually were looking for failures that negatively affect his image towards other characters instead. Those are different things, as a character can have flaws and make mistakes without making massive blunders.

But if the flaws don't affect a character negatively, they aren't flaws. They are fluff that masks shitty writing.

At least, Anduin's flaws - which mainly consist of his still rather naive and idealistic view, how he is young and inexperienced, or how he is hardly a competent frontline fighter in both mentality and physical capability, to name a few - are well known both in and out of the game world.

And they are known because we're told of them. Show, don't tell. Blizzard didn't get that memo. As for combat, he one shot a Dreadlord, saved his father from Twilight Hammer and pulled the greatest Light spell cast by a mortal out of his ass in Undercity.

Just jump over those High King threads and you will see, for a character that supposedly lack flaws, people surely could find a lot of those flaws to complain about Anduin taking over the High King role.

Youth isn't a flaw.

Moreover, it's not like Anduin's flaws don't affect the story either: he himself almost died at least twice, possibly more because of his idealistic view (when he tried to reach out to Garrosh).

I don't exactly remember the circumstances of his interactions with Garrosh in War Crimes, but in the Divine Bell incident he got hurt because of the Divine Bell crumbling on top of him after he hit it with the mallet. That's not him almost dying because of his idealism. It's him almost dying in an unforeseeable consequence of his heroism. Terrible example.

His inexperience in leadership might have cost the Alliance an ally - namely, the Nightborne. Varian might have been able to carry out diplomatic maneuver during Legion to make a more friendly relationship before they made their decision to join the Horde thanks to Tyrande's unsavory remarks, but Anduin had his hand full trying to cope with the loss of his father and the his new responsibilities.

Nightborne are on Tyrande's hands alone. Well, that and them being extremely similar to Blood Elves (to the point even their history mirrors each others') so it was bound to result in positive relations there.

A lot of leaders, mainly the Horde at least, don't even see Anduin as someone on the same level because of his lack of experience (and age). We have seen all those blunders and more in game or in various short stories. I swear, it seems like people surely just slap the term "Mary Sue" to any character that got their stuffs together nowadays (or not even to that extent in Anduin's case seeing he still has a lot of shortcomings he need to, and is fixing).

Other characters being dismissive of a character, particularly their enemy, isn't a flaw.

Moreover, I don't quite agree that carrying Mary Sue's traits is bad by default.

You don't agree that carrying the taint of the poster trope of Shit Tropes Inc is bad by default? What's next? Teh Chosen One isn't bad by default either?

[Hyral]

he's willing to risk the very world he KNOWS the Void wants to corrupt in order to sate Genn's misguided bloodlust.

When did this happen? Stormheim happened before we knew about the void. Did I miss some datamined text or something?

[Utigarde]

I certainly care, it's one of my favorite stories. I just don't whine about it, which is what every single Sylvanas thread is, either whining about her, or her haters.

[Nefarious Tea]

When did this happen? Stormheim happened before we knew about the void. Did I miss some datamined text or something?

Anduin has known about the Old Gods since absolute minimum Cata, as he is involved in a quest chain in Stormwind dealing with the Twilight's Hammer. He knows what they want, and what will happen. As leader of the Alliance it also stands to reason he's got a good idea where they come from. And yet, instead of being like "hey there's a problem here," he's going to war with the Forsaken because that's what Genn wants.

I wasn't talking about Stormheim at all, where, I should like to point out, Genn disobeyed a direct order from Anduin when he ambushed Horde forces. He was told to only engage defensively (ie. defend and counterattack), and yet there were no repercussions from Stormwind. It's almost like say... Anduin doesn't actually have any power in the Alliance, and is just a puppet.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

But what if he needs the troops and they would be willing to fight alongside the alliance? Maybe their would be problems because of their racism that he has to solve. I also doubt that the Crusaders would be racist towards Draenei, Dwarves or Night Elves. They would probably despise Void Elves and maybe Worgen.
It would just be a opportunity to explore the flaws of Anduin's faith. You could also do this with the lightforged Draenei, but it seems that Blizzard has no intention of exploring something more radical, as it was implied with the X'era cutscene, and they end up being not different from regular vindicators.

Scarlet Crusade has been racist toward elves in the past. Given their xenophobia, I suspect they would towards Draenei as well despite the light. For sure Void Elves and Worgen.

[Jastall]

Oddly enough, Anduin was more interesting to me when he was a weak, naive, peace-loving idealist.

Blizzard should've made a bigger deal about the divine bell incident. It should've left him permanently crippled and barely able to lift his arm let alone his sword. That would've given him an interesting challenge to overcome. He would've been forced to use his own skills instead of leading from the frontlines like his dad, he wouldn't have the option of being a plate-wearing pseudo Paladin. He would've been forced to work as a priest and as a diplomat, a real flaw, that would've been compelling.

I agree with this. Make him a half-cripple that has to rely on the Light and his diplomatic abilities. Make him caustic without being an asshole due to this event. Don't make him the High King just because he's the human king as it feels unearned. Make him quarrel with his co-leaders as to the Alliance's course, such as publicly admonishing Genn for his actions in Stormheim which would not only make sense for his character but be seen as a flawed moment, especially by die-hard Alliance supporters.

Do anything but turn him into this mass rezzing super Priest/Paladin that everyone worships and can do no wrong and is the goodest and honorablest thing ever at 18. The comic that gave him titanium-plated plot armor doesn't help matters.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Because nobody likes him. He is a major reason why horde is seeing an influx of players in BFA. Story wise, Alliance is fucking dumb now. Also Sylvanas is a character we've loved and played with for far longer. She's on par with Thrall or LK in terms of our most loved characters. Anduin is just a goody boy whiny ass child that is about as interesting as dirt.

Nah, if they did poll right now there'd be more players who like Anduin than Sylvanas. And it would not be close.

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Personally, I don't quite get the hatred against Anduin either. One may not be interested in him, but I don't see Anduin as a character so terrible that the players / readers would normally hate.

Honestly I think it's mostly Horde fans bitter about where Sylvanas's arc is headed.

[Life-Binder]

Wrathduin

there you go, OP

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Anduin is a case study in how not to develop a character. He was a multifaceted character before. A son struggling with his father's disappearance, then with not fitting his expectations. A Light that dabbled in the Shadow if needed. An Alliance member that was idealistic, then learned from his mistakes while still maintaining the core tenets of his ideals.

???? He is still same Anduin, but you have to let him grow sometime.

Now he's changing into a mix of Varian and Warcraft Paladin Cardboard Cutout #infinity +1.

You're basing that all on one cinematic? Even in cinematic, he appeared to have moment of doubt.

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Are the people bashing Anduin for being perfect now the same ones who used to bash him for being weak?
Are you just mad because they let him get stronger? You wanted him to be a kid forever?

[valax]

All I see are Sylvanas threads, now Saurfang threads because he's interacting with Sylvanas.

When Genn is talked about, they only talk about him because of his interactions with Sylvanas, Vol'jins closing & upcoming arc are brought up on the the Forums with...you guessed it, Sylvanas.

Does anyone care about Anduin? Is anyone curious as to what he will do in this expansion at all, of how he'll interact with the other leaders? Or are Alliance players actually more interested in the Horde narrative and Sylvanas than thier own stories and central characters?

Is it a fault of his character not being interesting in the least or what exactly?

I'd like some darkness with that holy priest sincerely . Right now his character is flat , we know since he was a kid Anduin always predicated peace , even when face to face with Garrosh Hellscream. I feel azerite is the right temptation to throw at him . By the way he reacts to it in the legion epilogue , it suggests he's fascinated by it .
For a change I want the alliance to be the ones morally black , and I hope the azerite / Jaina's bloodthirst will bring us just that.

[Life-Binder]

Nah, if they did poll right now there'd be more players who like Anduin than Sylvanas. And it would not be close.

LOL, not a chance

besides her being more interesting/grey area, she is a major WC3 character like Thrall, LK, Illidan etc.

WC3 is holy, just by virtue of that, any important WC3 character would beat out any WoW-only character (the only exceptions maybe being Garrosh and maybe Varian)

[George Lucas]

Scarlet Crusade has been racist toward elves in the past.

Wasn't aware of this. When did this happen?

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

LOL, not a chance

besides her being more interesting/grey area, she is a major WC3 character like Thrall, LK, Illidan etc.

WC3 is holy, just by virtue of that, any important WC3 character would beat out any WoW-only character (the only exceptions maybe being Garrosh and maybe Varian)

We shall see: https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...-you-fight-for

[Friendlyimmolation]

Wasn't aware of this. When did this happen?

they killed a blood elf merchant they had caught.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Wasn't aware of this. When did this happen?

Just re-reading and maybe I was wrong there. They are all-human, but I am not sure about their racism. Somehow I got that impression? Maybe someone else remembers for sure?