Archive for April, 2014

Justice League Coming Faster Than a Speeding Bullet!

So this week Warner Bros. confirmed that they will be doing a Justice League movie with Zack Snyder at the helm and he will be filming it back to back with Superman vs Batman (tentative title, I’m still expecting Superman/Batman or Superman/Batman: World’s Finest or the like).

The Internet, being the Internet, has decided this is a stupid move that will explode in Warner Bros. faces or the most brilliant thing a comic fan could ever hope for, with some arguing so long as we get our comic book heroes on film, the sooner the better.

I fall somewhere in between the extremes.  I’m looking forward to seeing many of the Justice League members on film, but I’m not sure I feel they’re giving it it’s proper treatment.  Part of my reservation comes from the fact that I wasn’t a fan of Man of Steel.  I didn’t hate the film and my reasons for disliking it are probably not the ones people have often repeated since it released, but in the end, I didn’t think Man of Steel was a very good movie and I feel like its weaknesses are going to only become more glaring with each film from Snyder unless he seriously reels himself in.

As for Man of Steel, I liked the beginning well enough. I liked seeing Krypton, though I wish they had made use of past iterations using a bit more crystal motif suggesting that was a common minerals they made use of in their society, but overall I liked seeing it.  Imbedding Kal-El’s DNA with the…DNA of all of Krypton seemed like a strange and unnecessary subplot to me, but I could roll with it.  But soon enough the inevitable happens and we send the baby of steel to Earth.  Now, I actually liked Clark’s scenes on Earth as a child through drifting young adult best.  It showed the challenges Clark’s had growing up as a true outsider on the planet, not belonging and struggling to adapt to all the powers that overwhelm him.

Most of all, though, I liked how Clark had this inherent moral code.  He’s told he should expose his powers because the world wouldn’t be ready to accept it so above all else, he’s taught that he needs to hide that side of him and the fact that, even as a child, he struggles with that idea because he feels he has the ability to help people and he should use it.  To me, that’s the foundation of Superman – he helps those in need.  The movie did a good job establishing that with him saving the bus of children, restraining himself from abusing his powers in the diner by using them against someone, and then saving the men on the oil tanker.

Beyond that, however, I felt the movie lost any sense of character development and even avoided a lot of pesky plot for the sake of disaster porn.  Lois Lane discovers his ship and he saves her from the automated sentry, but then leaves her to die in the ice.  And yes, the scene prior establishes that the temperature should drop so low she’d be dead before anyone found her.  Despite that little nuisance, she returns to the Daily Planet, where Perry won’t run her story, despite some indication he might believe her.  She gets a web news site to run it instead, but we don’t really explore much more of the Daily Planet or Lois’ job so much.  We rush through Lois figuring out who Superman is right off and from a single meeting, we establish…an interest for Lois, I guess?  There’s really no development between Lois and Clark, yet we get plenty of decisions and actions that would need to be rooted in said relationship like Clark turning himself in, but wanting to speak with Lois, Zod choosing to bring Lois to his ship (which isn’t really explained why, I might add).

But once we get back to Earth, well, abandon all hope of characters or plot all ye who watch.  At this point we get the destruction of the world with reminders of where to buy your products.  I’d say the actual town of Smallville is essentially wiped off the map, though the fight in Smallville isn’t as bad as what’s to come.  Superman destroys one of the (I’m just going to call it what it is) terraforming machines and then heads to Metropolis to destroy the other one.  He takes care of that and Metropolis is already pretty devastated from its impact.  With nothing left to lose, Zod decides his only remaining purpose is to destroy Superman himself.  Nothing ground breaking there, but what comes next just really killed it for me…

Superman fights Zod through the crumbling Metropolis.  People flee for their lives, skyscrapers are collapsing, there are quite likely people still in them, there’s destruction all around, explosions, chaos, mayhem, MASS HYSTERIA…..and Superman’s only real action is to keep…hitting…Zod.  Like the whole fight, the entire time, Superman’s focus is attacking Zod.  He doesn’t try to save anyone!  This was my biggest complaint about the film. They completely ignored a prime opportunity to solidify Clark as the protector while building up the hopelessness of the situation and the inability to stop Zod without resorting to desperate measures.  To play keyboard script writer a second, why not have scenes where Superman saves someone from falling debris only to have Zod come smashing down behind the debris, pummeling him into the ground?  Why not have Superman focus on Zod only for someone to get injured by the result of the fight?  There was a chance to show this fight as a truly no-win situation where every decision Clark makes results in a failure on one side or the other.  Fight Zod, people get hurt. Help people, Zod gets the upper hand.  This would have built the tension up to the final scene and offered more weight to the struggle and the desperation Clark is under when he makes that final controversial act to end the fight.

I actually had no problem with him killing Zod, by the way.  I had a problem, much like Mark Waid, writer of Superman: Birthright, with the fact that the movie failed to establish Superman’s connection to humanity enough to make this final act seem like it had weight.  I understand this is pretty much Superman’s first day on the job, so I don’t expect him to be the Superman we know from the comics and I expect him to fail and I expect people to die, but the wanton destruction in this film was just awe inspiring.  Snyder stated he would think about 5,000 dead and he wanted a mythic proportion of destruction like the Greek gods waged war on one another in a mortal city, but science suggests it’s closer to 100,000+ dead with over a million injured and many more missing and presumed dead.

So with a 2 hour and 28 movie exclusively about Superman, we got fairly little character development on this iteration of Superman, almost no development of Lois Lane or the Kents, and completely no development of Perry White or Jimmy Olson.  Superman vs Batman is going to have Superman, Batman, Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend apparently, Alfred, Lex Luthor, and apparently slipping in appearances by Wonder Woman and Cyborg (likely as their civilian identities).  How little character development do we expect there?  Granted, we might not need as much for Batman and Alfred at this point, particularly as they’ll likely have a solo film to do that, but will we get a full exploration on Bruce’s angle in this film? Lex Luthor’s motivations?  Is Lex going to be a sympathetic villain? If he hates Superman because of the destruction of Metropolis, can you blame him?  Did Superman really do anything to indicate he’s our savior in Man of Steel?

And now Warner Bros. announces Snyder will be directing Justice League immediately after Superman vs Batman.  So we’re going to jump right into a team of 18 possible characters, only two of which have any recent exposure whatsoever outside of the DC animated films and series.  No movie to establish Wonder Woman and we expect the general public to just go with Aquaman, Hawkman or Hawkgirl, Plastic Man, Flash, or Green Lantern, who many will associate with the more recent box office bomb?  Perhaps you introduce them and then spin off their own films, but you don’t even establish Wonder Woman?!

I’ve seen some people claim that Justice League is more well know and doesn’t need the build up that Avengers did to introduce the characters.  I just…can’t fathom that line of thinking. Wonder Woman’s last time in the spotlight of the public eye was about the same time as Hulk on television.  Both Avengers and Justice League have been in cartoons in various incarnations in the last few years.  To think the average non-comic reading public movie goer is going to know these characters is just asking for trouble.  Without the time to craft this film, I really worry about a disaster on our hands.

And again, keeping it small, we expect any resemblance of character development in Justice League for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Hawkman plus the villain, establishing the plot, and then dealing with it all in 2.5 hours?  It’s just a challenge I can’t understand building for the sole purpose of having to face it.  I understand building them up separately risks being compared to Marvel, but I’d expect you’d rather be compared to Marvel with similar success than take such wild risks that you have all the power to avoid.

Justice League

You can explore all of our personalities and motivations in 2 hours, right?

And to top it all off, Warner Bros. is still claiming they’ll be sticking to their date to release head to head against Captain America 3 after The Winter Soldier is basically coming off being the most critically favored comic book movie of all time and is well on its way into the record books.  On top of that, Marvel will be well on their way into Phase 3 towards Avengers 3 and things will likely be coming to a boil.

Warner Bros. just seems to be stacking the deck against their favor right now and I’m not sure it’s going to pay off for them.  Here’s hoping it doesn’t backfire and blow up in their face.

At the very least, I think Affleck will make a great Batman.  Hopefully in a few years, we can say “Affleck was the bomb as Batman, yo.”

Illidan Stormrage Should Really Stay Dead – Part 2: Illidan’s Fall

Last time I detailed the history of Illidan’s story through the events of War of the Ancients, told in the Warcraft III manual and the War of the Ancients trilogy of novels, and Warcraft III.  Now we’ll take a look at Illidan’s final chapters to his story as they played out in World of Warcraft’s first expansion: The Burning Crusade.

Some players "were not prepared" for Illidan's fate in the expansion.

Some players “were not prepared” for Illidan’s fate in the expansion.

After the fight with Arthas in Northrend, Kael’thas and Lady Vashj brought Illidan back to Outland where he gathered followers and declared himself Lord of Outland, again feeding his lust for power and ego.  Having already imprisoned Magtheridon, Illidan begins building an army in Outland to defend against what he believes is an inevitable attack from the Burning Legion for his failure to destroy the Lich King.  With Magtheridon defeated, Illidan claims the Black Temple as his fortress and sways demons to his side against the Burning Legion by using the Shrine of Lost Souls.  He also begins using Magtheridon’s blood to create the fel orcs.  Essentially, the demon infused Illidan begins building an army of fel tainted warriors to protect him from Kil’jaeden.

For reasons not entirely explained, Illidan authorizes an attack on Shattrath City.  It’s possible since the draenei and eredar are in fact the same race, Illidan perceived the draenei as a threat.  It’s also possible Illidan believed that wiping out the draenei would lower the chances of the Burning Legion coming to Outland and finding him as a result (though Kil’jaeden found him there last time).  As stated, it’s not entirely clear why Illidan chose to wage war against Shattrath. Perhaps Kael’thas had already defected and sided with Kil’jaeden and was instrumental in convincing Illidan it was a good idea, the result putting more forces against the Betrayer and weakening his defenses without the Legion lifting a finger themselves.

After defeating Illidan’s Crimson Sigil guard, Illidan claims not even Arthas could defeat him.  This supports what Blizzard revealed in Classic WoW where after defeating the Dragons of Nightmare, players could access a scene where Malfurion speaks to Remulos regarding his brother and states “Illidan sits atop his throne in Outland – brooding.  I’m afraid that the loss to Arthas proved to be his breaking point.  Madness has embraced him, Remulos.  He replays the events in his mind a thousand times per day, but in his mind, he is the victor and Arthas is utterly defeated.  He is too far gone, old friend.”

Players often say “he went crazy” is Blizzard’s lazy way of writing a villain, but I feel players tend to overlook a lot of details regarding character development through the game (and many have strong lore opinions while openly, proudly, declaring they never read quest text or pay attention to the lore outside game).

Remember Illidan has always been power hungry and has pursued any means necessary to strengthen his power.  He was touched by Sargeras, granted a “blessing” in his magical eyesight and the tattoos covering his body, which glow green from fel energy.  It’s well established that exposure to fel magic slowly drives mortals insane in the Warcraft world.  Next, he’s imprisoned for 10,000 years in solitary confinement, though he does have the Wardens around, Maiev likely conversed with him (probably not very nicely), and Malfurion visited him, but still in solitary confinement.  Next is Illidan’s consumption of power from the Skull of Gul’dan, making him more demonic and further tied to the fel energies associated with demons.  Next, he surrounds himself with demons.  His pride has always been his greatest weakness, his ego more fragile than many care to admit and twice he fails to defeat Arthas.  And then on top of everything else, you factor in the possibility that during the War of Ancients, he may have had Old God influences affecting his mind and you’ve got a character who is well steeped in a slow, but steady descent into madness.

Now players do say that the story surrounding Illidan and his motives weren’t well explained in The Burning Crusade, but I think there’s enough to connect the dots. It’s just not slammed in your face like Blizzard started doing after the expansion.

Illidan is somewhat insane. He’s not outright raving lunatic, but he’s definitely not all there.  He knows the Burning Legion is likely going to come for him for his failures and he’s building an army to fight against them, but the one thing Illidan needs most to defend himself is more power.  Everything in Burning Crusade is centered on Illidan’s building defense against the Burning Legion.  In this alone, he’s not exactly a villain and why would the player really want to do anything to stop him?  He’s more likely a friend as the enemy of our enemy.

But Illidan’s also blind to everything but his obsessive goal.  He’s dangerous. He’s essentially training a pack of thousands of rabid wolves to defend him with no leash or perimeter to stop them from killing anything they come across.  You’ve got the fel orcs, who are openly waging war against the Alliance forces from the Second War and the draenei and are happy to fight the Horde as well.  You have demons who aren’t exactly trustworthy allies to begin with. And you have Illidan outright waging war against the naaru and Shattrath City to destroy the remaining draenei on Outland.  He may not be outright evil, but he’s definitely a loose cannon that needs to be stopped.  But there’s one other thing I always interpreted that he was doing.

He’s preparing to create yet another Well of Eternity.

Think about it.  Lady Vashj and the naga in Zangarmarsh have built all these pumps and their draining all the marsh in the area, siphoning it all into one lake, one very large body of water in the center of the area.  And what does Lady Vash (and Kael’thas) drop for the questchain leading towards Black Temple?  They each have one of the remaining four vials of the Well of Eternity.  Why else would Illidan have Vashj create a large body of water and entrust vials from the Well to her and Kael’thas other than to create a new Well of Eternity, the thing he’s been most obsessed with for over 10,000 years, the thing that first gave him his magic, the thing he knows can enhance his magical strengths more than anything else? What better way to fight off the Legion than to increase his power through a new Well.

So we’ve got dungeons fighting the fel orcs where we learn Illidan was creating them to build an army of his own.  We have dungeons fighting the naga who are potentially building a Well of Eternity.  We have Magtheridon in Tier 4 which stops Illidan’s source of creating fel orcs. We stop Lady Vashj in Tier 5, which cuts off his plan to create said Well of Eternity.  We fight Kael’thas who we learned had allied himself with the Burning Legion in betrayal of Illidan.  Then we head into Tier 6, which is to stop the leader that’s been setting everything into motion and causing chaos and strife in Outland, freeing Akama and his broken ones in the process, who I’d say is a bit questionable that his soul is trapped. Seems like they were slaves to Illidan more than allies.

Eventually players reach the top of the Black Temple and find Illidan himself.

Kind of creepy he STILL holds onto the Skull of Gul'dan

Kind of creepy he STILL holds onto the Skull of Gul’dan

And upon defeating Illidan, the following plays out:

Illidan falls to one knee, holding himself up on his fists, with the Warglaives of Azzinoth still clenched in them.
Maiev Shadowsong yells: It is finished. You are beaten.
Illidan Stormrage yells: You have won… Maiev. But the huntress… is nothing without the hunt. You… are nothing… without me.
Illidan collapses and dies.

There you have it, right there in the game.  Illidan collapses AND DIES.  There is no “he didn’t actually die” or “he managed to survive.”  Illidan died in Outland atop the Black Temple. He’s definitely dead.  Yet players clamor for his return to World of Warcraft, so much so that Chris Metzen has teased the idea at two Blizzcons and other appearances, suggesting that he would love to do a redemption story for Illidan.  But there’s just one problem….by this point he shouldn’t be redeemable.  You’re asking Blizzard to write a story to redeem over 10,000 years of selfishness.

I get it. Illidan’s so cool, he’s a bad ass.  Yeah, he’s the Wolverine of World of Warcraft and players think he’s so very important that he just has to be brought back, but there’s so many problems with this idea.

First, it belittles his story.  Illidan is a pretty good example of Blizzard doing a good character.  Illidan isn’t evil, I’ve never said he’s evil, he’s just very selfish in his thirst for power, but he does have some good intentions. He has taken action to protect his people, to save Tyrande, and to prove himself to his brother.  He’s a very flawed character with a pretty good story that presents “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”  I don’t think he’s the anti-hero people claim him to be because he’s honestly not very heroic.  Batman is an anti-hero and while he’s driven by personal motivation, the death of his parents and an obsession to end crime, he takes action to help people, to protect his city.  Illidan’s primary motivation is usually acquiring power and if along the way he finds an opportunity to help someone he cares about, he’ll do that as well.  So I don’t think he’s an anti-hero, but I think he’s one of Blizzard’s best flawed characters who isn’t straight up good nor evil. He’s simply pursued his path, sought what he wanted, and made the decisions when they presented themselves.  To bring him back now would be akin to writing an extra chapter to Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet where the protagonists get up and were faking it the whole time.  It eliminates the tragic ending to the tragedy.

Second, how would it make sense?  Illidan didn’t dissipate into a flock of bats or smoke. His body fell to the ground and stayed there when he died. He’s transformed and demonic, but he’s not a pure demon, he was still a kal’dorei.  What, after five years of decomposition his body just comes back together?  Someone snuck past Akama’s forces and dragged the body off to Auchidoun to preserve it so they could resurrect him years later and he’d suddenly be a good guy?  It’s very difficult to properly bring Illidan back into the storyline at this point.

Third, do we really want another “I didn’t really die!” storyline?  Players were making fun of Kael’thas not really being dead as soon as it started with Magister’s Terrace (because apparently they ignored the cut scene in Shattrath after you turn in the quest for defeating Kael’thas).  Cho’gall has died and come back for use again (twice even).  Kel’thuzad is defeated twice (though that one made sense by typical lore standards).  Sure, World of Warcraft is essentially a comic book story in video game format, but do we really want to get to the point where we think “oh, they killed X, wonder how long before he comes back to life” like we do with comic books?

And fourth, and finally, do we really want to keep rehashing old characters?  Do we need Illidan back?  Isn’t his story complete and couldn’t new characters rise up instead?  We already have a demon hunter in Felwood in Cataclysm, we had two demon hunters named in Burning Crusade, and we had more training outside Black Temple.  Couldn’t a new character come into the storyline, one of Illidan’s first disciples who have trained under him to be a demon hunter longer than the others?  Someone who embraced Illidan’s belief in fighting the Legion with the Legion’s own fire and believed that, while ugly, the demon hunters are necessary?  A character not afraid to walk openly into Darnassus, boldly into the Temple of Elune, and tell Tyrande and Malfurion to their face that they’re wrong for shunning his order and that Illidan could have been the kal’dorei’s hero if he hadn’t been so quickly condemned, and despite their reaction, is able to safely make his way out of Darnassus as well.

Personally, I’d much prefer to see a new character like this, one who represents the aspects that made Illidan interesting, but doesn’t deny his mentor’s flaws either.  We, as players, complain that Blizzard has run out of ideas, but we then shackle them to reusing the same characters they’ve already used and completed the story for rather than urging them to create new characters with the themes we like best.  World of Warcraft has comic book themes, but it shouldn’t get caught up in the comic book tropes like this.  Old characters can still shine, some are long overdue for their moment in the spotlight, but characters who have had their story start, climax, and resolved should stay buried and whether you agree with how their story ended, it’s still best that it stays ended so that new stories and new characters can rise in their place.

There’s simply too much to lose and very little to gain with a needless resurrection.  Illidan Stormrage should really just stay dead.

Illidan Stormrage Should Really Stay Dead – Part 1: Illidan’s History

Blizzard has their fifth expansion for World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor, in development right now.  The game is currently in alpha but is nearing closed beta, which attendees of PAX East were gifted invites to.  And though the expansion is still in fairly early stages of development, players are already speculating on what will happen and what characters may be seen in our adventures on Draenor prior to its demonic-go-boom fate.

Blizzard has their work cut out for them with this expansion mainly in making the story seem cohesive. Players are already confused and split on the concept of the expansion, which wasn’t terribly well explained at Blizzcon when it was announced.  Personally, I think they should have gotten Chris Claremont of X-Men fame to come help them explain it. He’s pretty familiar with these zany plots that would fit quite well into a comic book.

Here’s the simple explanation as I understand it.  Garrosh escapes imprisonment on Pandaria and, with the help of Kairoz the bronze dragon (or perhaps infinite dragonflight?), manages to escape through time and space to Draenor before the orcs were corrupted by the Burning Legion.  He stops all that demon blood drinking nonsense from happening and unifies the orc tribes (mostly) with his knowledge of better technology to forge an army dubbed the Iron Horde.  He then manages to activate the Dark Portal from 30 years-in-the-past Draenor as a time AND space gateway to modern day Azeroth.  So basically the orcish Horde of Draenor 28-30 years ago is not corrupted but invading modern day Azeroth.  And that’s where we begin.

Now, Blizzard tried to explain it’s not a time travel story and it’s not…really.  It’s like an X-Men story, only a bit in reverse.  Bishop and Cable stories were usually centered around either character going into the past to alter history and prevent their own future from occurring.  Garrosh has done the same thing, only instead of altering history, he just brought history straight into the present as an army.  So basically at this point, if anything, you’ve created split timelines and alternate timelines.  Players are questioning what this means, of course.  In the alternate timeline, Azeroth is never invaded, so what does that mean for all the characters of the Alliance we know and love?  No invasion, no Legion fueled orcs, no failure to win means no Lich King.  So Arthas may have no reason to go nuts.  It’s a great set up for some What If… stories.

But Blizzard isn’t focusing on that.  They’re focusing on a force from the past attacking the present.  Thrall meeting his father doesn’t mean something could make Thrall not exist. Honestly, there’s a little bit of “just go with it” on this one.  We’ll have to see how they work everything out, but I don’t expect a neat little package because it IS time travel as the catalyst and time travel into the past always mucks things up.  At least with Bishop and Cable they were genuinely looking for a way to erase their timeline from existence (though in comics you just create yet more timelines rather than erase any of them).

One character I’ve seen players speculate on is Illidan Stormrage.  With no Legion on Azeroth in the Third War, he won’t consume the skull of Gul’dan, so maybe that’s how Blizzard brings him back. Maybe they resurrect him. Maybe with time travel, they alter the past and he’s never killed.  Any way imaginable, whatever it takes, somehow they feel Blizzard MUST bring back Illidan Stormrage.

I say they shouldn’t.  Ever.

Illidan Stormrage is dead and needs to stay that way.  To do anything else with the character is going to ruin him and his story.  Sure, he can appear in flash back stuff, but modern times, he really needs to stay dead.  Fans claim he didn’t get the story he deserved, but I think his story was actually one of the better ones in Warcraft and has a beginning, climax, and denouement for a conclusion.

I'll grant you that he always looks cool

I’ll grant you that he always looks cool

Illidan’s story begins over 10,000 years ago now as a young night elf with great talent in the arcane arts.  When the Highborne were preparing to usher in the destruction of the world bringing Sargeras to Azeroth and Malfurion, Tyrande, Cenarius, and the Dragonflights planned to enact a plot to destroy the Well of Eternity, Illidan abandons them and sets out to warn the Highborn simply because he doesn’t want to lose his magic when the Well is destroyed.  Illidan had no remorse in betraying his brother due to his addiction to the arcane energy and his jealousy of Tyrande’s feelings for Malfurion.  Illidan swears above all else to protect the Well of Eternity from destruction by any means necessary.  During the battle, Illidan fills vials with the water from the well, planning to keep their energies for himself after the demons crush the night elf civilization.  The battle causes the portal to go unstable and…..’splosion.  The Sundering results in splitting the land, but some survivors find themselves on Kalimdor.

Now, these details are more fleshed out and explored, as well as altered, in the War of the Ancients Trilogy where three characters from current times get thrown into the past during the events of the War of the Ancients.  Illidan still abandons his allies in order to preserve the Well of Eternity, desiring to keep the source of his magic in tact.  He was also allured by the powers the Burning Legion wielded, which allowed his own thoughts to be swayed by the satyr Xavius and while Illidan believed he was acting to defeat the Legion, he wound up helping them by strengthening the portal with the Demon Soul.  This was the main alteration to the original story; Illidan had good intentions but was swayed by darker thoughts planted by Xavius.  His decision to kill his brother to win Tyrande, his plans to obtain the Demon Soul to stop the Legion when he was really being used to acquire it for them, etc. all make Illidan seem to be the victim.  But the key point is that he would never have thrown in with the Legion if he hadn’t decided to protect the Well of Eternity for his own selfish desire for power in the first place.  In this, the original Warcraft III manual and War of the Ancients still agree.

After the Sundering, Illidan climbs Mount Hyjal and pours some of the vials of the Well of Eternity into the lake there to create a new Well of Eternity. Again, this is purely so he could have access to power for himself and he shows no remorse for re-creating the very thing that brought the Burning Legion to Azeroth to begin with.  Illidan is imprisoned when it is determined he can’t be swayed, too enthralled by the grip of the arcane.

So to recap key points so far:

1. Illidan selfishly tried to prevent the Well of Eternity’s destruction so he could keep his power.
2. Illidan selfishly filled vials with the Well of Eternity to keep for himself.
3. Illidan selfishly re-creates a new Well of Eternity so he can keep his power.

Moving ahead 10,000 years, the Burning Legion return to Azeroth and Tyrande opts to free Illidan from his prison to fight them.  Illidan leads his own force of night elves into the Felwood to hunt the demons, intending to prove the Legion no longer had sway over him.  He encounters Arthas who tells him the Skull of Gul’dan is the cause of the corruption and that Illidan can have that power.  Illidan doesn’t trust Arthas, but still takes the bait and does exactly as he’s told.  He obtains the skull, breaks its seal, and, again desiring more power, consumes it for himself.  Illidan is affected, transformed into a demonic form himself, perhaps arguably transformed into a demon himself, and upon sensing the demonic power within, Tyrande and Malfurion turn away from him.  Illidan leaves the night elf forests feeling his efforts and sacrifice are unappreciated.

So at this point, we have a selfish night elf who has sought power in every chance he’s had, but arguably makes a sacrifice in order to save his people. By consuming the powers of the Skull of Gul’dan, he was able to defeat the Legion’s leader in the woods and stop the invasion.  He’s shunned for it, but that’s the burden he bears.  He’s a tragic hero in a sense at this point and it’s easy to see why the player is meant to feel pity and remorse for his fate.


Kil’jaeden offers him a deal, to scratch off that pesky Lich King in exchange for more magic and power than Illidan has dreamed of.  So Illidan summons the naga (former highborne who summoned all these demons 10,000 years ago to begin with) and brings in some satyr, because having demons work with you when you’re serving a demon is definitely how to go about proving you’re not demon corrupted anymore.  He corrupts some furbolgs along the way and heads off to obtain the Eye of Sargeras and heads off to use it to destroy the Frozen Throne and the Lich King.  Some argue that this is a sign that he’s still a hero, but remember he’s still doing this at the behest of the Burning Legion and for an offer of greater magic and power (because the enhanced power from the Skull of Gul’dan still isn’t enough apparently).

Since he failed to do the job, he flees to Outland to escape Kil’jaeden.  He begins wiping out demons in Outland, hoping that by eliminating the demonic presence, he’d escape Kil’jaeden.  Again, Illidan does none of this out of a sense of good, or because it’s the right thing to do, but purely out of self preservation.  He defeats Magtheridon and imprisons him beneath Hellfire Citadel.  However, all of Illidan’s success proves to be too little and Kil’jaeden finds him.  Illidan saves his neck by claiming he was gathering forces to fulfill his mission from Kil’jaeden and he’s given one last chance.

Kil'jaeden and Illidan

“You done goofed”

Illidan again fails to destroy the Lich King, defeated by Arthas but rescued by Kael’thas and Lady Vashj and taken back to Outland.  So throughout the War of the Ancients story and Warcraft III, Illidan is not a hero and he’s not really even an anti-hero.  He’s mainly a selfish character who only seeks out power for himself, repeatedly allying himself with the Burning Legion for promises of said power.  There is no redeeming story for Illidan through all of this, he has been consistently traveling down the path of a villain.  Granted, he sometimes did things for Tyrande, having always had feelings for her and he does initially want to drive back the Legion and prove himself to Tyrande and Malfurion both and it could even be argued that he does take great risks in order to defeat the Legion no matter the cost by consuming the powers of the Skull of Gul’dan.  One might even say it was an act of desperation to prove himself. After all, Illidan didn’t know it would make him a demon, but on some level, he has always sought power for himself.

In part 2, I’ll explore the Illidan story in The Burning Crusade and finalize my thoughts on why Illidan should simply stay dead.


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