Pulsecheck: Talanji

[Skytotem]

I'll be blunt. I don't play WoW anymore. I doubt I ever will. BFA really burned me when Blizz promised a grey story and instead... we got the mess with Sylv.

But it's still a fun exercise to think about how the story and how to fix it.

I know a lot of folks aren't happy about having Rastakhan in the RPG for YEARS but then losing him and instead getting a new character made just for WoW, but I'm curious what people think of Talanji after her Loa-Trials and becoming Queen, thanking Sylv and the Horde but joining the Horde "As Equals"?

Is she still too perfect like Anduin? Or has she gotten to a better spot?

If she's still disliked, what could be done to improve or refine the character?

(Inb4 "Remove her" c'mon yall be creative, Even Lor'themar had a decent showing at Isle of Thunder, If Blizz pulled that off with a belf can't we do better than Blizz?)

[GucciWarr]

Respect the damn writers and play the game cause it’s fun, Talanji isn’t a problem the negative attitude and toxicity that came from league players/csgo players in 2008-2015 took its time to reach to WoW but now that it’s here it’s like it can’t go away

[EbaumsTipster]

She needs a personality. She doesn't have one besides "wants to do good things" but that's not a personality, that's a goal. She has basically no character.

[Zandalariprelate]

Talanji got my respect for not being a boot-licker of Sylvanas but also not falling into the wagon of Saurfang which only definition of Honor is helping the Alliance. Sure Rastakhan was awesome in his small screen-time and had an amazing voice actor but I can't fault Talanji for his death as it was something Blizzard has been planning likely from the start of the expansion and considering their old historial with Horde races, they could have slain every single troll leader and left the place leaders as they've done before.

One thing for sure, she isn't a perfect princess like Anduin or a perfect heroince like Jaina and Sylvanas are where reality itself bend the knee to show how awesome these two are.

[EbaumsTipster]

One thing for sure, she isn't a perfect princess like Anduin or a perfect heroince like Jaina and Sylvanas are where reality itself bend the knee to show how awesome these two are.

Lol, yeah she is. She has no negative characteristics, never misses a mark besides the death of Rastakhan and the majority of Zandalar questing is "look how good and noble Talanji is! like our new OC!"

Please let the class know any flaws she has or exhibits within the course of BFA.

[Maljinwo]

Hopefully the novel will dive into her character a little more
So far she's the "Brave princess" that wants to help her people and that's it


I do kinda hate how most NPCs are basically praising her all the time as if she's the second coming of Christ. Hell, Vol'jin calls her the true leader of Zandalar while Rastakhan is STILL ALIVE

[Soon-TM]

Respect the damn writers.

That's quite hard to do when they don't even respect their own work, as evidenced by the countless retcons, some of which are literal 180 degrees turns, e.g. BtS.

More on topic, it's a shame that one of the most anticipated characters in the entire franchise, i.e. Rastakhan, was portrayed as an idiot - and then killed, in order to give Alliance their "fist pump" moment, and to prop up her boring, safe, bland daughter. She's a lot like Anduin, minus the pally/priest part.

[Skytotem]

Respect the damn writers and play the game cause it’s fun, Talanji isn’t a problem the negative attitude and toxicity that came from league players/csgo players in 2008-2015 took its time to reach to WoW but now that it’s here it’s like it can’t go away

Why on earth would I respect the people responsible for the "Morally Grey" story of BFA?

I mean it's a well known fact WoW's story is a mess, these people are clearly present through nepotism, or having jobs in things OTHER than writing that they also do.

She needs a personality. She doesn't have one besides "wants to do good things" but that's not a personality, that's a goal. She has basically no character.

The best thing to do would to tie her more concretely to the Zandalari's whole "Evolve or Die!" angle.

They need to change for the modern era and she needs to make reforms... so the question becomes "What reforms" and how to preserve the good/important aspects of her people's culture.

I think the best thing for her to do would be to make it that Zandalari children can join the Horde to earn a place in life if they don't fit into their whole 'caste system'. This would also force them to respect manual labor and such more, since it's not going to be done by casteless nobodies, but by Horde members, whether returning Zandalari or outsiders.

[Minikin]

I'll be blunt. I don't play WoW anymore. I doubt I ever will. BFA really burned me when Blizz promised a grey story and instead... we got the mess with Sylv.

But it's still a fun exercise to think about how the story and how to fix it.

I know a lot of folks aren't happy about having Rastakhan in the RPG for YEARS but then losing him and instead getting a new character made just for WoW, but I'm curious what people think of Talanji after her Loa-Trials and becoming Queen, thanking Sylv and the Horde but joining the Horde "As Equals"?

Is she still too perfect like Anduin? Or has she gotten to a better spot?

If she's still disliked, what could be done to improve or refine the character?

(Inb4 "Remove her" c'mon yall be creative, Even Lor'themar had a decent showing at Isle of Thunder, If Blizz pulled that off with a belf can't we do better than Blizz?)

I think she's getting some spotlight in the upcoming novel no? Something about saving bwonsamdi

[Razion]

She needs a personality. She doesn't have one besides "wants to do good things" but that's not a personality, that's a goal. She has basically no character.

Headstrong and quick to action (rushed into fighting the Blood Trolls), loyal to those who help her (the Horde) and resentful from those that mistreat her (Bwonsamdi). She's a troll of faith but previously this was to the late Rezan so her culture is important to her. Now, due to the bargain that her father made, she's in the uncomfortable position of worshiping a loa that is in part responsible for her father's death and seems to resent this. She pledged herself to Sylvannas and the Horde, but decided not to blindly follow her nor help with Saurfang's efforts. I think it'd be fair to say she has a rebellious streak. She hasn't had a lot of opportunity to be much of a rebel, especially as Queen her duties have mostly restricted her from being the kind of person she would otherwise probably prefer to be, and as a priestess she's quite literally in the business of paying fealty to higher powers - maybe that's a little masochistic, or maybe her duty to family and people were so strong that she felt she has to and just ended up having a talent for it. A humble, rebellious leader would probably be a better summary of the archetype if we had to simplify her.

[Coconut]

Talanji is generally fine imho. She plays a much more active role in the story than Anduin and even Jaina, since she leads the expedition against the blood trolls herself and appears through much of Nazmir, as well as some of the continuing campaign. Both the players and several major Horde characters get to know her and interact with her, and I wouldn't say she has a bland personality (how she may be presented in the upcoming book, we'll have to see).

Rastakhan was a cool figure from the distance, but ultimately he didn't have a personality prior to BFA either. I think creating a successor for him and pulling them to the forefront made sense, since Rastakhan was associated with the failed campaigns in Cataclysm and MoP, as well as the lack of action that led to the problems we had to deal with in BFA. It's hard to start from the inevitable premise that the character did these stupid things, fought against the Darkspear and the Horde and let his empire go to shit for a while, but then when we showed up he suddenly turned into this epic proactive paragon who is wise and all about uniting with us. Creating Talanji allowed them to dissociate the current leader from previous Zandalari failures and hostilities, it wasn't all about replacing Rastakhan with a random female character.

Of course, she couldn't save the mess that was the story of the Fourth War, but no Zandalari character alone could have; they were just a loop in this story.

[cparle87]

I'll be blunt. I don't play WoW anymore. I doubt I ever will. BFA really burned me when Blizz promised a grey story and instead... we got the mess with Sylv.

But it's still a fun exercise to think about how the story and how to fix it.

I know a lot of folks aren't happy about having Rastakhan in the RPG for YEARS but then losing him and instead getting a new character made just for WoW, but I'm curious what people think of Talanji after her Loa-Trials and becoming Queen, thanking Sylv and the Horde but joining the Horde "As Equals"?

Is she still too perfect like Anduin? Or has she gotten to a better spot?

If she's still disliked, what could be done to improve or refine the character?

(Inb4 "Remove her" c'mon yall be creative, Even Lor'themar had a decent showing at Isle of Thunder, If Blizz pulled that off with a belf can't we do better than Blizz?)

How was the story not grey? Both sides did both noble and selfish things. Both committed things that would be war crimes in our world. Both sides showed they blame the other for things the other is not responsible for. Both sides showed they'll help allies in a common cause.

OT: The only thing that confuses me about Talanji is why she's the bobblehead for many of our quests in Kul Tiras when, tmk correct me if I've forgotten, she never went there at all during the war campaign. Would've made more sense to use Gallywix or even minor zone characters.

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Lol, yeah she is. She has no negative characteristics, never misses a mark besides the death of Rastakhan and the majority of Zandalar questing is "look how good and noble Talanji is! like our new OC!"

Please let the class know any flaws she has or exhibits within the course of BFA.

She did nothing to stop Zul and the sand troll general when they were right in front of her even though she knew they were up to no good. She didn't do anything when her father struck his deal with Bwonsamdi, even though she felt a presence that was wrong. Just let her father go "Hey I got it all under control don't worry." There's more but her biggest flaw is inaction.

[Biomega]

Honestly, after having played through all the story quests multiple times, I still couldn't tell you what Talanji is all about, or what her personality is. I guess I might just not get how "I'm a strong independent woman" gels with "my entire existence is defined by being my father's daughter". Probably on me.

[LemonDemonGirl]

She needs a personality. She doesn't have one besides "wants to do good things" but that's not a personality, that's a goal. She has basically no character.

I can agree with you on that.
She's pretty much "I'm my father's daughter!"* and "My people need saving". I was fine with her until they decided to kill of Rastakhan and make her Queen. Her portrayal in the new book's preview doesn't help. But I think if she brings Bwonsamdi Sylvanas' head and breaks the pact her father made, I miiiiight be a bit more ok with her


*That's kind of what I have going with Ahmanet, oh sh**. I think I'm going to change it soo not everyone knows who her father is lol

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Hopefully the novel will dive into her character a little more
So far she's the "Brave princess" that wants to help her people and that's it


I do kinda hate how most NPCs are basically praising her all the time as if she's the second coming of Christ. Hell, Vol'jin calls her the true leader of Zandalar while Rastakhan is STILL ALIVE

Isn't having (almost) everyone like you kind of a Mary Sue characteristic?

Also, damn I can't believe Vol'jin said that. It's defiantly clear that they were trying to hype her up to be the next Zandalari leader, but that's just not good sounding, especially coming from Vol'jin

[Super Dickmann]

Her greatest issue is that she's just kind of boring. I didn't find her an obnoxious protagonist and her thing with Rokhan was fine, but most of the interesting stuff happens around her and to her, not because of her. Her characterization in the preview of the next book - before she inevitably learns about friendship anyway, is a good angle for her. She should be disillusioned - she came out to ask the world for help and while the Alliance captured her, invaded her city and killed her dad, her interaction with the Horde consisted of either other trolls - who she'd be predisposed to like due to her hero worship of Vol'jin, or Sylvanas's people who are no longer in power and are sacriligeous besides what with being undead. She should still seek out to be good but focus heavily on soft power and outreach to other tribes and be, while maybe not actively bitter towards the factions long-term, then far more cautious about them and seek to extend her hold on them.

There are tons of hooks for her - inheriting the deal with Bwonsamdi, fixing Zandalar, her relationship with the other tribes and the factions, picking up the pieces of the Empire, etc. They just need to be used. She's far from a lost cause and there's really not all that much wrong with her except the character shilling going on.

Her dad was better though.

[Lord Pebbleton]

I honestly don't have an opinion about her. I could have appreciated her father because of his numerous mentions throughout WoW, but I really don't care about her. I think Bwonsamdi is a much more interesting character to follow if I had to choose one of the two.

[matrix123mko]

I even like it. I didn't like how she hasn't fallen into temptation of killing Jaina but it is passable.

[qwerty123456]

That's quite hard to do when they don't even respect their own work, as evidenced by the countless retcons, some of which are literal 180 degrees turns, e.g. BtS.

More on topic, it's a shame that one of the most anticipated characters in the entire franchise, i.e. Rastakhan, was portrayed as an idiot - and then killed, in order to give Alliance their "fist pump" moment, and to prop up her boring, safe, bland daughter. She's a lot like Anduin, minus the pally/priest part.

It had nothing to do with an Alliance fist pump moment it was the Horde's insistence on getting Zandalari that doomed Rastakhan. You can't have a god king playing second fiddle to a warchief.

[Grazrug]

She is among the better characters of bfa and doesen't fall behind the awful Baine friendship group that many other characters suffer from. If she stays angry during shadow's rising and shadowlands she might become the best character the horde has.

[Grazrug]

I can agree with you on that.
She's pretty much "I'm my father's daughter!"* and "My people need saving". I was fine with her until they decided to kill of Rastakhan and make her Queen. Her portrayal in the new book's preview doesn't help. But I think if she brings Bwonsamdi Sylvanas' head and breaks the pact her father made, I miiiiight be a bit more ok with her


*That's kind of what I have going with Ahmanet, oh sh**. I think I'm going to change it soo not everyone knows who her father is lol

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Isn't having (almost) everyone like you kind of a Mary Sue characteristic?

Also, damn I can't believe Vol'jin said that. It's defiantly clear that they were trying to hype her up to be the next Zandalari leader, but that's just not good sounding, especially coming from Vol'jin

She defied the horde council and calls them out on failing to offer the zandalari anything useful. I'd it stays like that everything will be fine.