Azshara is not a terrible person

[Wilfire]

Let's get one thing straight - while Azshara may have done some unsavory things, as far as Warcraft characters go she is nowhere near Gul'dan, Sylvanas or Archimonde levels of evil. Here are some of Azshara's virtuous qualities:

1. Azshara pursued knowledge. She turned her palace into a massive research facility and had the Highborne study the Well of Eternity instead of engaging in their usual decadence. During her reign the Night Elves made remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of leylines, the arcane and teleportation technologies.

What did Tyrande do during her reign? That's right, she lived in a treehouse until Sylvanas set it on fire and dedicated the Night Elves to the worship of a sky fairy that didn't answer their pleas for help when it mattered the most.

2. Azshara understood diplomacy. She forged a peace treaty with the Zandalari to stop their incursions into the Night Elven Empire and the peace actually lasted for years.

What did Tyrande's diplomacy accomplish? She couldn't even get her formal allies to help the Night Elves retake their lands.

3. Azshara tolerated other beliefs. While she may not have liked the Wild Gods, she tolerated them and let them live in peace on Mount Hyjal. And she built Temples of Elune even thought she thought the arcane was the greater power.

Tyrande, on the other hand, insulted Velen when he DARED suggest that Elune might be a Naaru even though she herself knows jackshit about Elune. And Velen is actually a lot older, more experienced and most importantly a better leader than her. Malfurion was right. Tyrande really should keep her mouth shut.

4. Azshara was progressive. Her inner circle consisted of both men and women. Even after her subjects were transformed into the Naga with men having a monstrous appearance and being more suited to melee combat, she still had equal representation in her court.

Tyrande, on the other hand, took an egalitarian society and turned it sexist with sharply divided gender roles. What the fuck, Tyrande?

5. But most important of all, Azshara cared for her subjects. Not in a benevolent way, but she saw them more as her toys and she didn't want other people hurting them. When push came to shove, she tried to save her empire with her own hands.

Tyrande doesn't care for anyone other than Malfurion. When Teldrassil was about to be occupied she convenient left the battlefield. Can you imagine Azshara abandoning her subjects and her capital to the enemy? I sure as hell can't.

I look forward to Azshara's redemption story. She should come back as the true queen of the Night Elves and restore them to their former glory. No more Elune worship, no more treehouses, no more hillbilly sexism. The Night Elves will rebuild their empire under Azshara's guidance and become a force to be reckoned with once more.

Bonus round: Azshara was classy and elegant. For all her ornaments and gems, Tyrande still looks gaudy rather than queenly.

[TickTickTick]

I guess it's pretty popular opinion, but Val'sharah ruined Tyrande in my eyes, beyond redemption. Just obnoxious storyline, "HaVe YuO eVeR lOvEd As MuCh As I dO???".

Azshara's irredeemable perk is vanity though, and I can't see her being commanded by a young human king.

[DemonHunter18]

Azshara wasn't terrible... until WotA.

[Biomega]

I mean, it would be childish to assume someone needs to be unequivocally evil to be a bad person; or to assume that no bad person cannot also have some good qualities.

Azshara sold out an entire planet for personal gain. She willingly and/or negligently caused the direct death of tens of thousands, and the indirect deaths of what likely amounted to millions. She forced a substantial part of her subjects into a mutated new existence without giving them a choice.

It doesn't really matter that she was a patron of the arts, she was (and is) also a narcissistic megalomaniac psychopath.

[Newname1234567890]

Member when she consulted with demons and almost helped destory the world?

[Eazy]

Almost everything you pointed could be the same case with Hitler.

1. Azshara pursued knowledge.

He did read a lot of books.

2. Azshara understood diplomacy.

He has become the head of the third Reich.

3. Azshara tolerated other beliefs.

To a some extent? Yup.

4. Azshara was progressive.

In the eyes of german people? For sure.

5. But most important of all, Azshara cared for her subjects.

He cared for his people.

Bonus round: Azshara was classy and elegant.

Of course.


Bonus round: he cared for animals.


Only deeds tells if someone is terrible or not, your examples are wrong. You only pointed a person traits, not if he is terrible or not.
You can have all of those traits and still be a terrible person.

[FuujCraft]

--snip--

This is not going to end well...

[ravenmoon]

Ofc she wasn't, she also had no regard for life, and did everything to achieve what she and only she wanted. Azshar'as compass was Azshara's will. If you are not a good person, you are a terrible person, no matter how small your "bad" is, but in her case it was a lot.

She may have been good once, Points 1-5 was probably all there was to Azshara before the mask came off - who knows if the Azshara we meet was always her, or something she became with power that ultimately corrupted her beautiful heart.
The Story I would Write About Azshara!

Her Beginning
Azshara's beginnings and origins are not told, but if I were to tell the story of her, it would be incredible. I would write it in such a way that justified why and how she rose to such heights, and was so revered to an almost divine status. I would not make her evil at the core always, quite the opposite actually, but I would show how she got addicted to attention and adoration, and how she learnt cruelty and hatred for anything that wouldn't bow to her or she couldn't control. Azshara would start off a lover of the forest as well as the arcane, a really good person too, but the turning point would be the rejection of the ancients on Mount Hyjal and her first real defeat in the sense of something she couldn't claim and get - it would serve as a turning point where her love for nature, the thing that balanced her arcane acumen, died and the inner motivation of her intention to use the arcane to achieve for all things - (yes I would write it such that it wasn't progress for the sake of progress).

Her Fall
Her next stage in her fall would be her clash with the Order of Elune and goddess, consider to be chosen and blessed of the goddess, Haydene would sense Azshara's changing path and would see two possible futures, the one we get of disparaged world going through all we have gone through, or another where Azshara leads Azeroth , her people and all others behind to level that rivals the titans (as the arcane mage legendary staff said - and a key to the defeat of the Legion and the void). The point of no return happens in the confrontation with Haydene - it is at that point the old gods having noticed her meteoric rise, talent and power make a move to subvert her destiny and get to her, it ends with Azshara being responsible for the death of the high priestess, though no one realising it (it wasn't intentional, but it ends that way, and Azshara ends up liking it much more than she thought, once that door of darkness opens, it only grows). This when Azshara turns her heart from the Goddess Elune, and no longer cares for the role of the priesthood - and while the priesthood are still a major caste of kaldorei society she can't actually get rid of in the current setting, she determines she would win the hearts of the people above nature, above the goddess, and she would be their first love.

I would reveal secret things about Azshara, her destiny, her connection too Azeroth, the search amongst the stars, and a motivation to have the kaldorie overcome all threats, even thouse beyond the world the lead to the research that eventually lead to the discovery of fel and the legion, and heow she is enticed not just by Sargeras' power, but what seems a much quicker route to achieve ther end, while struggle to take the time to reshape everything to her perfect standards and win over the Order, the people and transform the lesser races into something worthy when with Sargeras' power they could all be wiped out, and she could start again and do the job properly.

At this point Azsahra is consumed by lust for power that would lead to all the events that bring us to 8.2

Her Fate
I won't end her story there though, Azshara's defeat and the demise of N'zoth would be a turning point for Azshara once again, it took a cataclysm to destroy the night elf empire, hardly within her control, but her second defeat, with a power that she had thought vast, ultmitaely failed, for the first time Azshara's is exposed to weakness and doubt that nearly everyone must face in early childhood and adulthood. The reason this wasn't learnt during the sundering was because the old gods were around to give her an alternative path, so in her eyes, she wasn't truly defeated.

Consequently 8.2 marks a rebirth of sorts. You see at heart, Azshara really was talented person that had neverlearnt the lesson of humility. It changes her significantly and thus leads to her new chapter for her and her naga people, and it leads to her eventually wanting to heal all she hurtand destroyed, including the elves, but no one really trust her, and the naga would never play a part in our journeys except for the vital information, resources, and secrets we need to fight the void. We take it, the naga join the factions, and Azshara changes them, finding the old god forms hideous. Elune, the arcane and nature are involved in a transformation spell that restore an elven form to the naga, but Elune puts a curse on them, till the naga fully atone for their crimes, water will always restore their twisted form, and she ensures their are reminders in their elven form of the path they once took. And thus you have a naga race that has two forms: In water they are always in naga form, however outside water they can shift at will between their modified elven form and their naga form. Naga are restored in largely two ways, one based on the night elf form with purple skin (scales and some features from their naga form) persist, and one that is based on the high elf form with peach pink skin, using blood elf faces but with similar features to the night elf ones. WE now guess that the night elf looking ones join the alliance, and the blood elf looking ones the horde, but there is also a story to this too, as the naga have different factions, and not all are loyal to Azshara after 8.2, so there is a tale as to how each group ends up where it is.. and no , it's not clean cut, nor even in numbers, nor do the groups on the faction represent all the naga.

[darkoms]

Let's get one thing straight - while Azshara may have done some unsavory things, as far as Warcraft characters go she is nowhere near Gul'dan, Sylvanas or Archimonde levels of evil. Here are some of Azshara's virtuous qualities:

1. Azshara pursued knowledge. She turned her palace into a massive research facility and had the Highborne study the Well of Eternity instead of engaging in their usual decadence. During her reign the Night Elves made remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of leylines, the arcane and teleportation technologies.

What did Tyrande do during her reign? That's right, she lived in a treehouse until Sylvanas set it on fire and dedicated the Night Elves to the worship of a sky fairy that didn't answer their pleas for help when it mattered the most.

2. Azshara understood diplomacy. She forged a peace treaty with the Zandalari to stop their incursions into the Night Elven Empire and the peace actually lasted for years.

What did Tyrande's diplomacy accomplish? She couldn't even get her formal allies to help the Night Elves retake their lands.

3. Azshara tolerated other beliefs. While she may not have liked the Wild Gods, she tolerated them and let them live in peace on Mount Hyjal. And she built Temples of Elune even thought she thought the arcane was the greater power.

Tyrande, on the other hand, insulted Velen when he DARED suggest that Elune might be a Naaru even though she herself knows jackshit about Elune. And Velen is actually a lot older, more experienced and most importantly a better leader than her. Malfurion was right. Tyrande really should keep her mouth shut.

4. Azshara was progressive. Her inner circle consisted of both men and women. Even after her subjects were transformed into the Naga with men having a monstrous appearance and being more suited to melee combat, she still had equal representation in her court.

Tyrande, on the other hand, took an egalitarian society and turned it sexist with sharply divided gender roles. What the fuck, Tyrande?

5. But most important of all, Azshara cared for her subjects. Not in a benevolent way, but she saw them more as her toys and she didn't want other people hurting them. When push came to shove, she tried to save her empire with her own hands.

Tyrande doesn't care for anyone other than Malfurion. When Teldrassil was about to be occupied she convenient left the battlefield. Can you imagine Azshara abandoning her subjects and her capital to the enemy? I sure as hell can't.

I look forward to Azshara's redemption story. She should come back as the true queen of the Night Elves and restore them to their former glory. No more Elune worship, no more treehouses, no more hillbilly sexism. The Night Elves will rebuild their empire under Azshara's guidance and become a force to be reckoned with once more.

Bonus round: Azshara was classy and elegant. For all her ornaments and gems, Tyrande still looks gaudy rather than queenly.

Lol, did not read after ''Azshara let the wild gods to live on Hyjal''. Azshara could NOT do anything with them and it irritated her very much. This is not a sign of her mercy and kindness.

[Niroshi]

Virtually none of those qualities are redeeming.

Also lol "she cared for her subjects". She literally invited the apocalypse down on her people's heads. Why even make this about Azshara when you obviously just want to whine about Tyrande?

[Wilfire]

Virtually none of those qualities are redeeming.

Also lol "she cared for her subjects". She literally invited the apocalypse down on her people's heads. Why even make this about Azshara when you obviously just want to whine about Tyrande?

If Azshara is irredeemable then so are Garrosh and Garithos, both of whom are regarded as having done nothing wrong.

[darkoms]

Virtually none of those qualities are redeeming.

Also lol "she cared for her subjects". She literally invited the apocalypse down on her people's heads. Why even make this about Azshara when you obviously just want to whine about Tyrande?

This guy just troll

Infracted.

[Arikara]

Knowledge is a tool, the usage and implementation of which determines whether it is good or bad.

Politics is a tool, the succesful use of which gets you what you want.

People are tools, the manipulation and employment of which grant you power.

Azshara cares for nobody and nothing except tools that obey her command, and power to make the world kneel and worship her. She is an arrogant, self-centered egoist who uses everything and everybody to further her agenda, rather than being content to simply live and let live. Cleverness without compassion is worse than useless.

Azshara is the spitting image of a terrible person. She has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

[Sorrowseer]

I usally get a hate on for redemption arcs, but would love one for her.

I guess it's pretty popular opinion, but Val'sharah ruined Tyrande in my eyes, beyond redemption. Just obnoxious storyline, "HaVe YuO eVeR lOvEd As MuCh As I dO???".

Azshara's irredeemable perk is vanity though, and I can't see her being commanded by a young human king.

Haha, totally agreed.

[RadasNoir]

I mean, so long as we're using Azshara as a jump off point to criticize other characters we don't like, she certainly makes for a much more entertaining antagonist than Sylvanas. While Azshara is definitely powerful and cunning, she's not nearly as powerful and cunning as she thinks she is, and such delusional narcissism (backed up be genuine ability) makes the outcome of any sort of encounter with her less certain, and thus potentially much more interesting.

That, as opposed to the Villain Sue that Syvlvanas has become, who is such an unstoppable mastermind that even before any sort of conflict, we all already know she's won. And even if she does suffer any sort of setback, it will turn out to have been apart of her plan all along.

[Doffen]

She might not be evil, but as far as personalities goes, no, she is a not a good person. She is arrogant, obnoxious, rude, insulting and so on.

Not evil doesn't equal not terrible person

[Lawlhero]

The only thing Azshara cares about is getting God-like D. First Sargeras, then N'zoth, I wouldn't be surprised if she's trying to get in the Jailers pants in ShadowLands

[Soeroah]

"She was a progressive"

I had an aneurysm

[matrix123mko]

I guess it's pretty popular opinion, but Val'sharah ruined Tyrande in my eyes, beyond redemption. Just obnoxious storyline, "HaVe YuO eVeR lOvEd As MuCh As I dO???".

She is pretty immature.

Azshara's irredeemable perk is vanity though, and I can't see her being commanded by a young human king.

I can imagine her doing that for fun in her private chambers.

[Acherus01]

If Azshara is irredeemable then so are Garrosh and Garithos, both of whom are regarded as having done nothing wrong.

Only by nutcases. And now you are one of them.

Infracted.