Zelling made me rethink the Undead's mortality

[Zandalariprelate]

But OP, the arrow was from Danuser Blightcaller, the first human to successfully become a Ranger Lord of Quel'thalas, lead by the ominous Sylvanas!

Feanore you too?

[Feanoro]

Feanore you too?

Don't worry, I'm only parodying the Horde koolaid.

[Claymore]

Don't think too hard about it.

The writers surely didn't.

It's troubling how often this seems to apply to so many facets of the story now...

[Combatbutler]

Undead are just incredibly inconsistent in terms of resilience, in Nazmir for example is an undead that was literally cut in half, ready to go after being sown together again.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Getting_a_Leg_Up

[Verdugo]

Don't worry, I'm only parodying the Horde koolaid.

Isnt that Void Elf poster drinking Alliance koolaid?

[formerShandalay]

The same thing happened to Sylvie herself in Cata, when Godfrey simply killed her by shooting an arrow through her chest. After she had to impale herself on Saronite spikes in her short story just to be able to have a chance of dying at all.

So... since then my thoughts about those 'one shot kills' of undead are simply: uh... magic. And I think nothing more of it.

Even with the whole stuff about the Forsaken falling apart when touched in BtS I only thought, they care about their skin not crumpling not because it actually damages or hinders them, but because it looks even more creepy when it does that and afterwards when they look even more rotten (which was something they were trying to avoid in those circumstances).

[Aeula]

They did it for dramatic effect.

Or he might not be dead, just knocked out so Sylvanas can re-educate him. I doubt most would be able to tell the difference between a K.O’d undead and a dead one.

[Zephre]

Undead's mortality is what Blizzard wants it to be, simple as. There's an NPC in Nazmir that got cut in half that's still alive and has you put him back together.

[Trumpcat]

Everything that the Undead have been doing since the beginning was okay, but Zelling's death made you rethink the morality?

Only comment I have is deeply enlightening and wise: lol

Also, the writers just write drama scenes. They don't connect anything together, plot holes are so big, bigger than the woon in Silithus.

[In Ogres We Trust]

Wait... what? I just recruited him (**SPOILERS TAG APPRECIATED**).

[Syegfryed]

Sir, are you forgetting he was shoot by the might lord nathanos "Danouser" blightcaller? that arrow could hurt sargeras himself.

[Rustedsaint]

Well sylvanas death in silverpine was due a “cursed” bullet according to a poster here(I never done the quest so idk)
Mortality in wow is an odd thing cause I recall carrying around a talking troll head in one of the quests in mop starting zone
It was this quest https://www.wowhead.com/npc=55403/zinjun#starts
I guess he was more whole then I remembered

[Coconut]

Forsaken survived being shot through the head in Edge of Night, with Garrosh specifically counting on their durability as undead. In this very expansion. Paxton is chopped in two but quite calm.

But cinematics are written by Christie "Undead fall apart from hugs" Golden, so Zelling dies to an arrow to the chest.

I've been on ASoIaF-related forums too much lately and I'm disappointed I can't like or upvote posts over here...

[Rafoel]

You don't get bonus HP for being an undead, so I guess they function just like everybody else.

[Felrane]

As others have said Christy Golden wrote them as being weak. The whole point of turning undead in warcraft is for the power it gives. It never used to decay any damage could be repaired through shadowhealing or devouring flesh/blood/souls of others. Goldens version make them frail and weak and most worrying about everything they do because they will just fall apart! Its terrible nobody would want the *gift* of undeath in Goldens world.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Hit it very hard has always been a good way to deal with undead not sure why that would change under golden.

[De Lupe]

I think you are taking the in-game cinematic too literally. They are using in-game models and in-game animations; they don't always line up perfectly.

How do you kill a zombie? You take out the brain, which is what Godfrey did in Silverpine forest. He didn't need special training to know if you shoot something in the head it dies.

The very first quest that Paxton gives you in Nazmir is to hand him his legs so he can reattach them.

The Forsaken do indeed have great durability. The cinematic just failed to demonstrate Zelling being shot in a way that would properly kill him.

[Zandalariprelate]

As others have said Christy Golden wrote them as being weak. The whole point of turning undead in warcraft is for the power it gives. It never used to decay any damage could be repaired through shadowhealing or devouring flesh/blood/souls of others. Goldens version make them frail and weak and most worrying about everything they do because they will just fall apart! Its terrible nobody would want the *gift* of undeath in Goldens world.

Why do you think she introduced Calia new undead form?

[Wondercrab]

Is it just Blizzard though? Look at all the plotholes / stupid things that even George Lucas put in his Star wars prequels. And yet, people find explanations for it. Just one example.

Why else are channels that point out "Everything wrong with...." or list plotholes so popular?

It depends. Almost every piece of fiction has things about it that you can nitpick, but many stories manage to maintain some degree of consistency or internal logic that makes the foibles easy to overlook. I've recently been playing Devil May Cry, for example, and that series is all kinds of nonsensical stupid, but it doesn't really matter because the creators are aware of it and lean into the absurdity hard. It doesn't paint itself as a series that you're supposed to take too seriously, which frees it from having to worry about things like consistent lore or intricate worldbuilding.

Blizzard games are in a weirder place by comparison, falling somewhere mid way between the serious and the absurd, and this is mainly where the problems with their storytelling arise. There are parts of WoW's story that clearly want to be taken seriously, and the devs make efforts to build a rich, intricate world that makes sense. Yet at the same time they want to have the big epic woohoo moments that push all of that aside in service of the rule of cool, which marginalises their worldbuilding efforts at best and creates jarring dissonance at worst.

I've thought for many years that Blizzard's storytelling would be in a much better state if they just did away with their attempts to be too serious and fully embraced the goofy over the top stuff, since that's what they tend to be best at. They wouldn't have to worry about foibles like the one brought up in this thread if the tone of their games was more self aware.

[thottstation]

Paxton is chopped in two but quite calm.

Took me a while to find out who you were talking about. Turns out there are many Paxton's in the game.

Clayton Backston: Boss, how did you survive? I saw you get cut in half.
Anna Bizrim: Ugh, Clayton, we're undead, of course we can survive getting cut in half.
Timothy Zarltin: Sometimes.
Chadwick Paxton: It's no the first time I've been cut in half. Hopefully, it'll be the last.

Either the guy is part of a big family (Horde & Alliance), or Paxton is Azeroth's equivalent of Smith.