His responsibility in him becoming a fallen paladin, yes. But he's pretty explicitly guilty of throwing him into the maw.
That's the theme: Arthas' violence against Sylvanas is what gave her an excuse to do the things she did. The same way Uther justified throwing him into the maw. The same way Tyrande justified her rampage. The same way Jaina was planning on annihilating Orgrimmar after Theramore was destroyed. Punitive justice just perpetuates a cycle of violence.
It's pretty messy, but I get the ideas they were going for. Especially the way the Jailer's "manipulation" & "domination" about how much agency people had at all during this time. Arthas took the blade by choice. All the choices that led him to Frostmorne were selfish. All these characters faced a path that led to their own destruction. Including the rather on-the-nose contrivance of the Night Warrior literally killing you after you get your vengeance. Garrosh & Arthas had opportunities to stop, but they rejected them at every turn. Whereas Tyrande, Uther, Jaina & Sylvanas chose to make a change: That's what redemption is: It's not an "arc," it's a path with no end.
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Or finger's crossed, pre-order allied races ala 7.3.5
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You know it's purely figurative right? And fitting, because even Calia prefers to be known simply as Calia, not Calia Menethil. Arthas tarnished the family name quite completely.
DRAGONMIRE BINGO2024 - 11.0 - The 10th Expansion - The 20th Anniversary of World of WarcraftFor Azeroth!
Fourth time, right? Isn't this basically what the Titans said to us when they bade us farewell and used their power to trap Sargeras to eternally play Cards Against Humanity with them and Illidan?
Side note, not bashing that cutscene, Velen's sigh at the end is legit my favorite moment in the series.
FFXIV - Maduin (Dynamis DC)
The realization that it makes no sense to have an Alliance sympathizer as a Horde faction leader. Sometimes they just add new characters they think are cool. They made Lilian Voss an homage to a mtg character it seems like Calia is also an homage to Teysa Karlov, the Orzhov paragon.
Perhaps they want to feature her in an evil Naaru story, or that early Shadowlands builds had Lilian dialog that was eventually cut completely. It seems Calia could have been involved in a storyline about Lilian & that tidesage who died during BFA.
That's the problem of the constant Sylvanas bashing, even when it makes sense for her to be relevant on a scene, people will hate it simply because it *is* Sylvanas.
Even I would have put a bit less focus on her, but that is entirely reactionary from my part to appease the fanbase that has a hate boner against her.
Based solely on the datamined animations, it looks like "tyrande's judgement" is for her to clear out the maw of all souls. Considering players have been doing this for 2 years for all we know she's going to be gone a few weeks. She's going to roll up in the middle of next expansion like Gandalf the white.
Personally I'm hoping for the Undead Night Elves & Undead High elves (including Sanlayn. The blood princes had unique features but the other Sanlayn were identical to Dark Rangers. No reason why one allied race couldn't represent both groups) being allied races soon.
Last edited by Ersula; 2022-03-02 at 07:45 PM.
As the old addage states, "Behind every great man is a strong woman stopping him from going on a killing spree." /s
JFC what is this? You're comparing the lady he dated shortly to the lady whom he decimated her people, destroyed the sunwell & killed, turning her into an undead servant of a cosmic monster.
The argument that Jaina or Uther deserved the final word over Sylvanas is bad.
I do understand that that's is how Jaina feels, even if that feeling is unfair to herself, and that Arthas is a big part of her life, but both Uther & Jaina would recognize, sheesh, Arthas did way more fucked up shit to Sylvanas: And the cutscene reflects that. I feel like the Anduin defeat cinematic is easily the least *confusing* cinematic of the BFA/Shadowlands era.
Both Jaina and Uther feel like they abandoned him, which is what makes their dynamic work. They were not necessarily wrong to leave him when he was about to do what they considered his greatest mistake, but that doesnt preventthem from feeling like they made a mistake regardless, or that they could have stopped him if they just stood there a bit longer debating.
Jaina has been tortured by this choice her entire life where she has been wondering whether she could have stopped this, and Uther has similarly been tortured by his choice to leave Arthas.
And yet in the end they don't really have a moment with Arthas in the end. Instead we just get that Sylvanas monologue like she has any right on the moral high ground when she was doing infinitely worse than Arthas by allying herself with the Jailer.
The world revamp dream will never die!
You know what I find funny: Jaina was shunned for her wish to remove Horde from the Kirin Tor and Dalaran. And all that after Theramore was bombed by a Horde leader. On the same hand Sylvanas wiped Teldrassil and all seem to be fine with her because she’s showing remorse. Even Tyrande.
MAGA - Make Alliance Great Again
She says that specifically: The scene is one of solace, not condemnation. The sentiment these three people have for Arthas used to be hate, but now it's pity.
She literally says "I became you." and that's not "infinitely worse" because Arthas allied with the Jailer in the exact same way. It's unclear how much agency Arthas actually had (just like Sylvanas) but Arthas' selfish choices came before he died, rather than after, in the case of Sylvanas. That's the only difference. That and now Sylvanas is choosing to change: Arthas could have changed at any point during Reign of Chaos or Frozen Throne but he didn't: That's what makes Sylvanas marginally superior to Arthas.
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Which was not the point of my post.