Why does chen exist?

[Deleted]

So today I got Vol'jin, Shadows of the horde.

'Ooh, a cool book about the horde and how Vol'jin becomes warchief' - These very words escaped my lips not 5 hours ago.

I must say I am disappointed by the amount of pandaren in the book. Worst of all are Chen's parts. He feels like the writer wanted the readers to love him but he just comes off as tacky. Chen is an undefinable character because, as far as I can read, he has literally no shortcomings. He is in lots of the chapters, and I have no clue why he exists here. He says things about Vol'jin and him being best buddies, but I am finding it hard to locate a time where they were ever buddies. Apparently Chen knows rexxar?

This book paints Chen as the following character: Someone who is (apparently uniquely, according to the book) a perfect balance of decisiveness and though-fullness, a reclusive man who spends all of his time brewing beer, while simultaneously being a flawless warrior and explorer. I don't want him to be another thrall, because Chen simply doesn't have the lore to justify it.

I feel the same way about Chen as I do with Anduin - though I think that Anduin still has a chance to become badass at some point.

What do you think about the book, and pandaren lore in general?

[Gullabull]

I haven't read the book so I can't argue with you on that point, but I know that Rexxar's campaign in WCIII introduces him to Chen and a troll witch-doctor, after that I assume they all knew one another and kept connections in that sense. He helped Rexxar's mission in Theramore and had close connections with Thrall afterwards as well, so it's not a stretch to assume that he was close with Vol'Jin as well.

In regards to Chen's power, that I am not sure on. He never really was meant to have troubles, he chose to leave Pandaria to explore the world and find exotic ingredients for his brews. His shortcomings were probably in that he was an outsider, and was forgotten by the Stormstout Clan after his departure. He was really one of the first introduction to the Pandaren race that we as players had, so he's bound to be pretty awesome and untouchable.

[Ishana]

Yep Chen know Rexxar from Warcraft 3, here is a clip were they meet. (It is about 6:55 into the clip).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTpKsEw9fvM
I think he is the essence of a master, and they've incorperated into him the aspect of drunken kung fu. Personally I like him

[Kaleredar]

Perhaps there is a better question... what is worth existing for?



*Ahem,* anyway, as has been said, Chen did indeed help Rexxar and Thrall all the way back in Warcraft 3. As for his personality... he's a pandaren monk. They're supposed to be about being mellow and laid-back, while also athletic and quick witted. Just look at the MoP cinematic.

[Gahk]

My personal experience with that novel is that it's just badly written with terrible dialogs and veeeeeeeeery slow paced. It's not Chen's fault really.

[Lavannah]

So today I got Vol'jin, Shadows of the horde.

'Ooh, a cool book about the horde and how Vol'jin becomes warchief' - These very words escaped my lips not 5 hours ago.

I must say I am disappointed by the amount of pandaren in the book. Worst of all are Chen's parts. He feels like the writer wanted the readers to love him but he just comes off as tacky. Chen is an undefinable character because, as far as I can read, he has literally no shortcomings. He is in lots of the chapters, and I have no clue why he exists here. He says things about Vol'jin and him being best buddies, but I am finding it hard to locate a time where they were ever buddies. Apparently Chen knows rexxar?

This book paints Chen as the following character: Someone who is (apparently uniquely, according to the book) a perfect balance of decisiveness and though-fullness, a reclusive man who spends all of his time brewing beer, while simultaneously being a flawless warrior and explorer. I don't want him to be another thrall, because Chen simply doesn't have the lore to justify it.

I feel the same way about Chen as I do with Anduin - though I think that Anduin still has a chance to become badass at some point.

What do you think about the book, and pandaren lore in general?

Sorry to hear that your expectations for Shadows of the Horde weren't what it ended up being. The book itself was meant as a stand alone piece that happened between patches 5.1 and 5.2. It was not the best book in series by far, but at least it doesn't take anything lore wise that's important out of the game. That's been the biggest gripes about prior books, like the Shattering and Tides of War. Both of those had big deal lore moments happen in them and yet we didn't get to see them in the game. They tried to remedy that with novel, and the succeed in some senses, but failed in others.

The book is supposed to be heavily themed on balance, which is the basis of Pandaren society. The book may be titled "Shadows of the Horde", but in several interviews before the book's release they said it would also delve fairly deeply into Pandaren society. It's very much a yin and yang thing. They have the Tushui philosophy, and the Houjin philosophy. We've seen these in game if you've played the Pandaren starting zone, Tushui relies on patience and discipline while Houjin takes action. The plot of the story, overall, was to get Vol'jin and Tyrathan back in balance and find themselves again, to know where they belong in the world after being left for dead. While I personally enjoyed the book, I think they focused a little too much on the balance aspect and not enough on character development and character consistency. We learn very little about Vol'jin that we don't already know, especially if you've been following his storyline since Cata, and all we really learn about Tyrathan is that he's a very skilled hunter with family problems.

Chen is supposed to be a very neutral character, both in the game and in the book. He was originally created as a bonus character after players finished the campaign in WC3, and a lot of people have been wonder if he'd ever appear in WoW(especially those finding his empty keg in the Barrens before it got cracked in half) He seems rather Horde-centric with his friendship with Vol'jin and Rexxar, but he actually has met various people from the Alliance side, including Magni, but Magni's rather unreachable now, so Chen couldn't interact with him(I can't really remember when he first meets Magni, but if you read Pearl of Pandaria then you'll see Magni regaling Li Li with some stories about Chen). Chen's a fighter when he needs to be. He was raised on the Wandering Isle, and left the turtle as an adult to became a Wanderer. He's at his happiest when he's creating brews and sharing them with his friends. He doesn't want to be a warrior, but he'll fight to protect his home and family(If you didn't pay attention the MoP cinematic then go back and watch it again).

In a sense he's also supposed to be a bit of a comic relief, a respite from the dark and bloody world. That exact thought is brought up by Vol'jin himself: Chen comes off as a clown so others that don't know him underestimate him. Overall he's a good natured and well meaning Pandaren who wants nothing more than to find where he belongs in the world. He gets that at the end of the novel too.

The book I think ends in the wrong spot (not to mention severely inconsistently if you managed to run the world event in Durotar in patch 5.3). In my opinion, the book should have ended after Vol'jin returns home, not still at the Monastery chatting with Taran Zhu(I'm not going to even start on Taran Zhu's character inconsistencies). I'll cut it a break though, Michael Stackpole had next to no prior involvement with WoW before being chosen to write this novel, so he really didn't do too bad a job in terms of writing in my opinion. I think Christie Golden may have done a better job in regards to knowing the lore in greater detail, but I haven't seen her do the dark and bloody stuff that happened in Shadows, and Shadows was quite bloody by the end of it. It wasn't the best though. The 'epiphanies' characters were supposed to have were blatantly obvious and very underwhelming once we finally got them. I personally think too much was put into the book, with all the Pandaren lore and the Zandalari and Shado-Pan and personal character dilemmas.

[Skytotem]

I think OP has a point regarding Chen having no flaws.

Seems to be a quality of pandaren in general, which makes them grating.

[Deleted]

This book paints Chen as the following character: Someone who is (apparently uniquely, according to the book) a perfect balance of decisiveness and though-fullness, a reclusive man who spends all of his time brewing beer, while simultaneously being a flawless warrior and explorer. I don't want him to be another thrall, because Chen simply doesn't have the lore to justify it.

In other words, the typical chinese Zui quan (drunken fist) master adventurer.

[checking facts]

chen exists because mommy stormstout and daddy stormstout had no TV.

[Florena]

I like the pandaren as a whole but yeah Chen himself doesn't serve much purpose. He's involved in the valley of the four winds to help us 'get to know the pandaren' I guess. He has a fairly touching storyline trying to meet his family members in the dread wastes and most of them him finding dead. But he never really does anything to advance any of the major plots, and serves no real purpose other than 'hey remember him from WC 3?'

[StationaryHawk]

I think OP has a point regarding Chen having no flaws.

Seems to be a quality of pandaren in general, which makes them grating.

Except for Taran Zhu, who does have flaws, and therefore everybody seems to hate him.

Pandaren just can't seem to win.

[Sandrox]

Except for Taran Zhu, who does have flaws, and therefore everybody seems to hate him.

Pandaren just can't seem to win.

I think everyone hates Taran Zhu is because hes an arrogant asshole who blames everyone else for his problems and doesnt understand what the Alliance and Horde are really fighting for.

[Imnick]

I can't believe this book set in Pandaria, about Vol'Jin, heavily features both Pandaren and Vol'Jin's very close friend.

Did you play Warcraft III or...?
That's when all your questions like "when did Chen meet Rexxar" are answered, it literally happens in the game. You even play as him.

[Kathranis]

First up, Chen was one of the heroes during the Founding of Durotar campaign in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, so yes, he's pretty well acquainted with most of the Horde heroes, especially Rexxar. These connections are the main reason he was given a prominent role in Shadows of the Horde.

In-game, Chen was primarily used as a sort of bridge between Pandaria and the world at large, as he's an outsider returning to his ancestral homeland. He has an outside perspective, but familial and cultural connections to this place. Though Chen was a marquee character, Lorewalker Cho and Taran Zhu ultimately became more important to the overarching story because they were natives to Pandaria and thus had greater stakes than Chen.

[Rosstafa]

I thought Chen was a pretty awesome character in the book and MoP as a whole. As mentioned, he is both an outsider and native to Pandaria, so we get a bridge between our world and theirs. He's learnt a lot about Azeroth and the Horde's way of doing things, so that's influenced his outlook.

[Baracuda]

He's a drunk, that's his weakness.

[Raiju]

Except for Taran Zhu, who does have flaws, and therefore everybody seems to hate him.

Pandaren just can't seem to win.

Because taran zhu makes his own problems our problems, then has a go at us for it.

[Skytotem]

Except for Taran Zhu, who does have flaws, and therefore everybody seems to hate him.

Pandaren just can't seem to win.

Well no, he's like Baine, we're supposed to not see his flaws as flaws, his flaws are supposed to be good traits according to everyone in the lore :P

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I'm mostly just upset that the Book treats Vol'jin like he was Rokhan in that campaign, Vol'jin and Chen didn't meet for that long in WC3.

[Herazim]

He's a drunk, that's his weakness.

Ah but you see, being drunk brings forth a whole new fighting technique. Look up the Drunken Master movie.

[Lavannah]

I'm mostly just upset that the Book treats Vol'jin like he was Rokhan in that campaign, Vol'jin and Chen didn't meet for that long in WC3.

They had to tie it in somehow. Vol'jin barely had any sort of screen time in most of the past stories anyway. It's literally been this expansion, a short quest line in 4.2, and the retaking of the Echo Isle prior to 4.0. I know very little about the original WC games 'cause I never played them, I just know bits of story I've read about on WoWpedia. Blizz holds the pen to this world, if they need Chen and Vol'jin to know each other better than they've portrayed in the past, then they do it. Sometimes you wish you could wrestle that pen away and avoid some things….*coughcoughallpoopquestscoughcough*