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Varian is now the official High King of the Alliance
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Post by
Skreeran
give him to a good author (like Golden),Sadly, Golden is steadily going down the tubes when it comes to the Warcraft Lore....Twilight of the Aspects and Tides of War show that very very much /sigh
However, Varian in Wolfheart by Knaak was better and that was when they finally cleared up his split personality thing.Yeah, I have heard that.
Still, I'm sure there are tons of authors who would love to get a shot at a Warcraft book. Look at the quality of the winners of the fan-fiction contests. Golden is still my favorite Warcraft author (though I haven't read
Thrall
or
Tides
), but she's not the only one who can do Warcraft well, I'm certain.
Post by
Adamsm
If you truly want an idea of how bad Tides is Skree, can always read my review of it.
And at least Michael Stockpile is going to be writing a book for the universe 'soon', so there is that. But really, if they feel the need to keep using Golden(which more then likely they will, as the next book down the pipe is suppose to be a Vol'jin one) they should pair her up with another writer, to help keep her on track and to do the storylines she can't(IE anything involving romance).
Post by
Skreeran
Lol, yeah, that was always her Achilles heel. I never thought I'd meet a character I'd hate more than Rhonin until I met Aggra.
Post by
Adamsm
Aye yup.
Which is why I still think any of the Turaylon and Alleria stuff in Beyond the Dark Portal was done by Rosenberg as opposed to her =P.
Post by
588688
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Adamsm
No, it's semi-justified: War of the Ancients is alright for a portion of the first book, the second book is horrible, and the ending of the third book is alright. However, all of the other books are split down the middle: I love Day of the Dragon, but there are a lot of references to D&D and Dragonlance in it, which was fixed in Night of the Dragon...but people still hate it. Stormrage I enjoyed, but others hate it. The first nightmare(Magni's) in the story 'Nightmares' from the Legend series was lame as hell, Jaina was meh and narm tastic with her ending up as the Lich Queen, but Thrall's nightmare was heartbreaking as all hell. The Saga of Trag Highmoutain(first Tauren DK) dragged on and on and on and on, and wasn't all that good(which is sad, since Trag was excellent in the Sunwell Trilogy). Sunwell Trilogy and Shadow Dragons duology were both great. Wolfheart is probably his second best work(after the aforementioned mangas).
Post by
588688
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Monday
So basically the quality of his work is highly inconsitant.
Pretty much. I liked Night of the Dragon, but loathed Day of the Dragon, especially, as Adams noted, the Dragonlance references. For example, the knights hate mages, which makes sense in Dragonlance. However, in Warcraft, you have Arthas, who dated Jaina.
Post by
Skreeran
My biggest problem with Knaak (besides the fact that his writing is so dense I actually have to take breaks in-between chapters), is just the fact that he's always, always, always making new special snowflake characters, whether it be the magical supermage with the liquid metal sword who becomes the leader of the Kirin Tor and marries Sylvanas and Alleria's sister and has the very first set of half-elf babies, or the Cartographer (oh how I grew to hate that word after Stormrage) who has mysterious connections to the Emerald Dream, or the orc who goes back in time and gets a magic axe and manages to be the only one in history who ever wounded the Dark Titan.
His stories are so over the top (why did the War of the Ancients trilogy have to be about time-travel? Why couldn't it have just been an account of the war?), and his characters so unrelatable (in my opinion, your milage may vary), and then the characters he makes only ever get used by him and are rarely ever seen or heard from in-game.
I mean, after I climbed the uphill battle and finished Stormrage (having it on audiobook helped, because I couldn't just put the book down), it has all of his characters attending Malfurion and Tyrande's wedding (Night Elves don't even marry), after which Ysera and Alexstrasza shoot magic laz0r beams out of their hands and purify Teldrassil.
I don't have anything against people enjoying Knaak. As someone who writes My Little Pony fan-fiction, I think everyone is entitled to like what they like, whether other people or not. But I cannot read Knaak. I've tried, but can't.
Post by
Adamsm
So basically the quality of his work is highly inconsitant.
Pretty much. I liked Night of the Dragon, but loathed Day of the Dragon, especially, as Adams noted, the Dragonlance references. For example, the knights hate mages, which makes sense in Dragonlance. However, in Warcraft, you have Arthas, who dated Jaina.
Well they were all meant to be Paladins but yeah, same idea heh.
Post by
Rankkor
Lol, yeah, that was always her Achilles heel. I never thought I'd meet a character I'd hate more than Rhonin until I met Aggra.
amen brother. Amen.
I swear, every time she yells "GO'EL" I wish I could just put my hands inside the screen and choke her. Slowly.
Post by
Lordplatypus
The train has crashed, the train has derailed and crashed.
Post by
Skreeran
Lol, yeah, that was always her Achilles heel. I never thought I'd meet a character I'd hate more than Rhonin until I met Aggra.
amen brother. Amen.
I swear, every time she yells "GO'EL" I wish I could just put my hands inside the screen and choke her. Slowly.I don't hate the name (although it doesn't really make sense for Thrall to just up and abandon his "I keep my name so I don't forget" policy), I mean, it is a real Orcish name, at least, but it does kinda bother me the way he only uses it because his woman makes him.
What bothered me about the whole relationship thing, really, was actually mainly just the fact that she popped out of thin air to be Thrall's new mate. If it had been someone who already existed, like
Matron Drakia
or something, I might have even been able to tolerate the force, unbelievable romance.
But Aggra has
The Wesley
written all over her.
And, uh, whoops, yeah, kinda derailed...
Post by
Adamsm
Meh, can't derail something that is just based on a random picture on Facebook.
Post by
588688
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Adamsm
And what exactly is an Official Hero Card?
Post by
Rankkor
Meh, can't derail something that is just based on a random picture on Facebook.
I don't think we can shrug it off as "just a random facebook pic" when it's one of the official hero cards Blizzard recently started making that they've posted onto their facebook. Here's Ji Firepaw and Garrosh's hero cards:
http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/46310_10151136954784034_1187884373_n.jpg
http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/384248_10151142618704034_111897513_n.jpg
What we mean by this, is that it isn't anything big. One of the key differences between the alliance and the horde, is that the alliance is a coalition of nations, each independent. Take away that independence, and they're one step closer to being a blue horde.
not even during the days of the first and second wars was there a figure with absolute unilateral power. Lothar's influence could only reach so far and Turalyion's influence was even smaller, considering that he asked support from all the nations for the trip to outland and gilneas flatout refused.
Nothing at all we've seen in the game or books suggests a power-grab by the humans, nor a willing relinquishment of power by the other races, nor anything at all to suggest that the humans or their king had more sway in the day-to-day decisions of the alliance management. We may be ending up seeing Varian being appointed as a Field Commander much like Lothar before him in the upcoming "trials of the high king" quest-chain in the upcoming 5.1 patch, but from there to call him "king of kings" there's a stretch as long as the serpent spine itself.
Post by
Skreeran
I think the Alliance has been a Confederation (A loosely connected semi-permanent organization of independent states united for a common cause, usually with a centralized military, free interstate trade, a single diplomatic face, etc.) for some time now. It may have started as a
Coalition Government
("...created in a time of national difficulty or crisis, for example during wartime, or economic crisis, to give a government the high degree of perceived political legitimacy, or collective identity it desires whilst also playing a role in diminishing internal political strife."), abut has since become something more.
If Varian really has become the High King of the Alliance, then that would indicate that he has been given the role of leader of a centralized government, probably in the same sense as the Supreme Allied Commanders in World War 2.
It sorta reminds me of the Army, actually. In the US Military, Officer ranks go from O1 (Second Lieutenant) to O10 ( General), EXCEPT in time of extreme conflict (the last time it happened was the Korean War), when the rank of O11 ( General of the Army) can be bestowed by Congress. A General of the Army outranks all the other Generals, and is given supreme command over their Front.
I'd imagine High King of the Alliance is the same, a title only given to maintain a united military effort that isn't inhibited by a need for consensus among several leaders. Presumably, the title would be taken back at the end of the war.
Although, I kinda expect Varian to go the Chancellor Palpatine route and never actually rescind the power bestowed upon him.
Post by
Skreeran
Incidentally, despite my deep criticism of Varian, I must point out that, following the last half of Cataclysm and Tides of War, I think he's completely justified. The fact that he's not answering atrocities with atrocities is commendable.
I also think it's interesting that he, at least according to Wowpedia, has plans to manipulate the "Horde rebels" (those opposed to Garrosh's rule, like Vol'jin and Baine), into power of the Horde. While it would be a strategically sound move to force a coup within the Horde and then come down upon it during the internal turmoil, it also may be a sign that Varian is willing to tolerate the Horde's existence once Garrosh is put down.
I can't wait to kill Garrosh, even if some of my characters will have to canonically go down with him.
Post by
588688
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
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