BFA & Shadowlands story has jumped the shark, no other way to put it. It's night and day. Legion and earlier was a fun pulp adventure story. Then Metzen left...
One of the most puzzling habits of this new team is their penchant for convoluted "plans within plans" (Sylvanas, Jailer, Dreadlords, now Elune), which they seem to think is brilliant storytelling when in reality it's extremely strained and makes the characters look dumb, not smart.
Elune intervened for Tyrande because Tyrande has the IQ of a potted plant and was about to get stabbed for trusting Vashj. Then she obliged and lowered the shield again. Elune did bugger all to meaningfully help the night elf cause in all of the War of the Ancients, War of the Shifting Sand etc. where the baddies were such that if the allied forces lost everyone everywhere would keel over. Her grand contribution to a situation where the stakes are one city being fed-exing the souls somewhere and forgetting about it are in line with her previous behaviour on that front.
Regarding the Malfurion situation is it actually confirmed that Elune physically stopped Sadfang? From the description I figured that was metaphorical and it was the weight of his angst keeping him from doing his job with Sylvanas as ever giving him too much credit. Tyrande certainly interprets Sadfang as being the one to spare Malfurion rather than attributing it to divine intervention which is why she doesn't kill him on the spot.
It's told in oblique exposition in overly technical bs just like virtually everything in this expansion, but yes. While hijacking souls to put elsewhere isn't too difficult, see Odyn, Helya or Bwon who all either keep the souls they take in a pocket realm or in a physical location like the Necropolis, if the souls do go to the Shadowlands then they pass by Oribos since the gates need to be opened for someone to pass through and not just end up chow in the In-Between.
Is this particularly compelling? No, the night elf goddess's first appearance being being fucked over by a logistical filing error just shows you how out of touch the writers are with the actual emotional and story stakes.
Dickmann's Law: As a discussion on the Lore forums becomes longer, the probability of the topic derailing to become about Sylvanas approaches 1.
Tinkers will be the next Class confirmed.
The moment deities are involved in the power levels, things go legs up. In D&D 3e there was this manual that was basically a salad of statblocks pertaining to Gods and this stat called divine rank. The thing made gods fightable and inevitably impoverished the mistique about what a God was.
Shadowlands already irreparably damaged the concept of death and afterlife, and Elune is a dreadful foreshadowing of what might be to come, already getting comparisons with the Winter Queen in terms of cosmic relevance and - alas - power.
And I can't help but find comparisons with that manual.
Goddamn, I really need to stop bothering coming here. We finally got Elune talking and saved Tyrande's life, in what may be the most important moment in their lore's history and people are still complaining about it relentlessly.
Do we even do any lore discussion anymore or is it absolutely, 100% complaining?
Some of the stuff I wanted to actually DISCUSS:
I admit I saw this ending differently, with Tyrande either dying or forsaking Elune entirely, and never suspected we'd see Elune in "person" addressing her own failings like this. I want to be disappointed due to not getting what I expected, but seeing Elune be vulnerable and address her mistakes to the night elves she failed was what Tyrande needed to come back from the brink of her self-destruction. And the night elves themselves. I think to Shadows Rising and Tyrande looking into the eyes of the night elven warden they captured that Sylvanas had sicked on her, looking into the eyes of a soul consumed by hatred.
The story gave not what I expected or wanted, and yet I'm happy with it, all while still interested in how the expansion as a whole ends. For an expansion that felt a bit more distanced from our "core story" than BFA with all these alien realms and covenants, 9.1 has done a good job from what I've seen so far in bringing the character moments with familiar faces needed to be invested in the story as part of the whole.
Alright, let's bite.
How do we classify the incompetence of Elune in checking with - apparently - her sister?
Why does Tyrande have to come back from the brink of self destruction if she already chose to go over that same limit to have her vengeance? A vengeance that gets denied by the same entity that allowed those powers to be wielded in the first place, let's not forget.
Is Sira Moonwarden right in that Elune forsook her children at the Darkshore and beyond so that she could - again - help her sister?
Has Shadowlands done a good enough job in preserving the mistique of death and dying?
What do you mean?
It might help to understand if you have followed the Ardenweald quest chain as well as completing the Power of Night part of the 9.1 content. When someone invokes the Night Warrior the destructive power also somewhat warps their outlook, at least one former Night Warrior had to be taken out by a friend so their destructive tendencies wouldn't become a bigger threat than what initially caused them to ask for the power. What we see in the Power of Night quests is former Night Warriors being gathered not just to take out Tyrande before she becomes a threat but to somehow cleanse the destructive energies and save her.Why does Tyrande have to come back from the brink of self destruction if she already chose to go over that same limit to have her vengeance? A vengeance that gets denied by the same entity that allowed those powers to be wielded in the first place, let's not forget.
When Tyrande asked Elune for greater power to take out Sylvanas she wasn't acting rationally as she was under the Night Warrior's power. After the ritual she manages to retain the power of Elune but is no longer possessed by those destructive tendencies and, now that she knows the Winter Queen has some sort of plan for saving the lost Night Elf souls, is capable of making a rational choice how to proceed with that power.
I don't think so, it isn't the first time she has "allowed" mass death and destruction to affect her children, most notably during the War of the Ancients/Sundering, the Battle of Hyjal and the Cataclysm.Is Sira Moonwarden right in that Elune forsook her children at the Darkshore and beyond so that she could - again - help her sister?
Not sure if there was that much to preserve, with all the undead hanging around death has always seemed more like a revolving door than some great mystery. At least there is still unknowns and uncertainty about what afterlife someone will get sent to once they're dead.Has Shadowlands done a good enough job in preserving the mistique of death and dying?
The whole incident strips Tyrande of any agency.
In the wake of Teldrassil and fully aware of the consequences, Tyrande invokes the Night warrior. She has made her decision; probably not the best decision of her life but she's a hot-head and it fits with her character. She decides that she is happy to forfeit her life to get rid of Sylvanas. Again, not very practical but this is the same Tyrande who killed a bunch of her own people to break Illidan out. Yes, the rage may be amplified and warped but its pretty much inline with a reasonable reaction to having your people brutally massacred.
So what does Elune do? She pulls the plug so we can sit around and draw off the bad mojo. That way, we can have Tyrande let go of the rage, shrug her shoulders at the genocide and get stuck into #rebuilding.
This is up there with the whole making excuses for Sylvanas. 'She did it cause she only had half a soul.' Neither are satisfying conclusions because you've gone against what we know of the characters. I was OK with Sylvanas burning down Teldrassil because 'fuck the living', and I'm OK with Tyrande going crazy and sacrificing herself to take out Sylvie, because she likes to jump in with both feet. And Elune, the Goddess who doesn't like to intervene puts a stick in the wheel and says 'Nah Tyrande you can't be allowed to think for yourself.'
Last edited by Smallfruitbat; 2021-08-03 at 08:38 AM.
It's a real shame what happened to the Night Elves. They've been handled so terribly over the years, with practically every element of their culture and society attacked and weakened to account for ridiculous plot twists.
It seems to be a problem across the board in fantasy settings in recent years where every non human race has their plot elements destroyed and/or eroded away so the focus can be on 'human potential' instead.
I think the cinematic sets up Elune in a smart way, and if I had to bet, id say:
- shes fighting a cosmic war, with realms of life under attack on a cosmic level from multiple fronts (Death, Void etc etc). any of 'our problems' might be a huge deal to us obviously, but its just a small thing on Elunes plate.
- shes losing said war / being stretched too thin / cant sustain her actions forever
- shes depressed, lonely, vulnerable and even disheartened as a result of the above
I think all the above make for ripe future story content. Who else is invading the Realms of Life? Does Elune need help? What happens to life itself if the goddess responsible for its role in the great cycle is depressed and losing hope? etc
This is 'World of Warcraft' not 'Universe of Warcraft' every time they introduce another cosmic faction they water down the story they are already struggling to tell in game.
The entire incident between the Winter Queen and Elune happens because the communication between two entities of the same power happens unilaterally. Elune receives a call for help, decides to act and does not answer the message, thinking the cascade of souls would be eloquent enough.
The Winter Queen, offended, holds a grudge against her sister.
The pettiness of Elune - or whatever trait runs in the family - continues. All of the Night Warriors recipients we interact with get consumed one way or the other by its power: either by madness or because their lives get extinguished as they further their chosen purpose. Elune stripped Tyrande of her powers at the height of it, and as valid as her self destructive tendencies in that instance were, got superseded by Elune wanting a body to communicate with The Winter Queen.
Tyrande then chooses purification invalidating all she did previously in her Night Warrior quest, she cannot choose vengeance.
The part about the souls is perplexing. The Maw Walker is personally gathering Kaldorei souls from the Maw, tasked by Ysera herself, and freed a sizable number from Torghast as well. If there is a plan to vacuum them off super hell, it would make most of what the player did invalid. Which might not be surprising, but is still classified as questionable writing at its best.
Sira's anguish. Now, as we know Elune tampered with the souls of her selected people, choosing to hold off in the instance of the burning of Teldrassil and rather set them to Ardenweald. Could Sira presumably know the souls of her peers got damned, her resurrection via the Val'kyrs coming with a moment of clarity given the ties with Sylvanas and the Jailer? It's quite possible that's the case. Would make it quite fun, a mortal understanding what's happening and Elune not being able to.
The undead being around due to necromancy and death magic never took anything from death as a metaphysical concept. The vision/ spirit of Varian, of Uther, the lament of Frostmourne's prisoners and Terenas held significance due to their different stories. And now we find out they get sorted by the magical hexagonal hat in worlds where there's magical horses that die while dead.
Pardon my sarcasm but what the hell.
Aptly said. There's an apparent issue with the scope of the narrative, as if going constantly above and beyond to increase spectacle could somehow do any good.
Because the anti lore crowd wants to rage about everything. Even if they completely and utterly mis understand the base concept of the cinematic.
Elune did the whole soul thing after the burning, not before. Not during, after.. but these kids just want to rage about it without using facts.
I actually understood it as she let them die, so that their souls went to shadowlands. Instead of intervening and saving them. Anyway, what would be the "soul thing" you mentioned? Everyone who dies goes to shadowlands anyway, so there was nothing for Elune to do in that regard.
Where would their souls go then if Elune didn't "let them pass to SL"? Could she somehow stop / redirect those souls from going to SL? To where? If she has that kind of power then she is as close to omnipotent as we've seen in the game so far. Considering that to our knowledgenone of the powerful characters avoided Shadowlands
Last edited by procne; 2021-08-03 at 10:26 AM.
I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.
I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.
Probably turn into wisps, then, due to their ties to the forest. Elune doesn't have any power or jurisdiction over the realm of death.
You might say "oh, but Ysera" was before the system of Death was broken, the night elves were after, and she didn't know that. She can apparently send them in the right direction, but she does not have powers over the realm of death.
While I don't think it's tied to the core campaign to put it on a clear timeline, this is where I'd put the quests where night fae members go to locate and rescue night elf souls from the Maw that eventually leads to the post-quest dialogue between one of them and Tyrande.
Who, I looked it up, was the priestess who stayed behind on the tree and sang the prayer to Elune from the Elegy short story.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/st...rt-story/elegy
I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.
I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.
Yes Elune heard/felt the cries of hunger from Ardenweald and sent souls of the recently deceased NElves to Ardenweald to help with the anima drought. Considering no-one, including the eternal ones, knew what was happening prior to our intervention in the Shadowlands what makes this an act of incompetence?
Are you entirely sure that Elune only spared Tyrande because she wanted an avatar to communicate with her sister? It looked more like it was just to save Tyrande's life, possibly as a response to Tyrande asking for yet more power but I originally thought Ysera might have had something to do with it, unless you think it's a complete coincidence that the dragon arrived exactly at the right time to stop Sylvanas hurting the depowered Tyrande. Something along those lines makes more sense than Elune withdrawing her power and risking Tyrande's death at the banshee's hand and knowing that the Covenants of the Shadowlands would be able to work together and gather former Night Warriors who would be able to perform a ritual and with the Winter Queen's help prevent Tyrande from going full-meltdown, just to have more direct communication which only becomes necessary once Elune discovers that the souls never made it to Ardenweald.The pettiness of Elune - or whatever trait runs in the family - continues. All of the Night Warriors recipients we interact with get consumed one way or the other by its power: either by madness or because their lives get extinguished as they further their chosen purpose. Elune stripped Tyrande of her powers at the height of it, and as valid as her self destructive tendencies in that instance were, got superseded by Elune wanting a body to communicate with The Winter Queen.
Yes, when Tyrande's mind is no longer clouded by the wrathful power of the Night Warrior and when she has a better understanding of what is happening in the Shadowlands she chooses to help the dead souls and Ardenweald rather than continuing trying to kill Sylvanas. I don't understand the problem with that.Tyrande then chooses purification invalidating all she did previously in her Night Warrior quest, she cannot choose vengeance.
Currently the plans are unknown, I assumed from context that the Winter Queen's plan involved using the rescued souls to aid Ardenweald, I didn't think she was talking about "vacuuming souls off super hell."The part about the souls is perplexing. The Maw Walker is personally gathering Kaldorei souls from the Maw, tasked by Ysera herself, and freed a sizable number from Torghast as well. If there is a plan to vacuum them off super hell, it would make most of what the player did invalid. Which might not be surprising, but is still classified as questionable writing at its best.
It's an interesting take but given Sira's history it's also possible she simply lost faith and saw Elune as another figure abandoning her.Sira's anguish. Now, as we know Elune tampered with the souls of her selected people, choosing to hold off in the instance of the burning of Teldrassil and rather set them to Ardenweald. Could Sira presumably know the souls of her peers got damned, her resurrection via the Val'kyrs coming with a moment of clarity given the ties with Sylvanas and the Jailer? It's quite possible that's the case. Would make it quite fun, a mortal understanding what's happening and Elune not being able to.
We've had very firm evidence since Vanilla that "souls" can survive death with a complete personality, and WotLK showed that these souls can be transferred to other planes of existence and used as a power source. Then Legion showed how afterlives are "places" with Odyn intercepting and collecting souls. The only big revelation really was the idea that an entity is in charge of judging souls and sending them to the appropriate afterlife.The undead being around due to necromancy and death magic never took anything from death as a metaphysical concept. The vision/ spirit of Varian, of Uther, the lament of Frostmourne's prisoners and Terenas held significance due to their different stories. And now we find out they get sorted by the magical hexagonal hat in worlds where there's magical horses that die while dead.
Pardon my sarcasm but what the hell.