#anduin being angry is adorable because he's such a weenie

[lightandwinged]

ALSR, Prologue: HULK SMASH

Anduin Wrynn rode as if a thousand screaming servants of the Void followed close at his back…

...okay, ngl, when I first read this line, I thought it said that he “rose” as if pursued by a thousand screaming Void bitches, like got up in the morning as if pursued etc., and my first instinct was to say, “Anduin, sweetie, that’s just 2020 happening.”

Anyway.

Anduin is riding away from some unnamed darkness on his horse named Reverence, which seems ill-advised. Having a named horse and being an Alliance leader, I mean; that’s ended badly before. Mathias “surprise I’m queer!” Shaw is following him, like “Anduin, it’s Westfall, slow tf down” but Anduin’s like

He muses on the huge ass column of debris in the middle of Westfall, and my Kindle highlights the line, “Nothing was permanent. Any city could crumble, but foes could also become allies, even friends. There was no more wisdom in cynicism than in optimism.” Because we are a philosophical young king today.

Mathias “representation” Shaw catches up, and they have some banter about how he totally would’ve whupped Anduin’s ass if they were actually racing, which is true. Anduin reminisces about horse stuff, which is like… again, if you’re an Alliance leader and you like horses, I don’t know that things are going to go so well for you. Also this had better hint at Arthas showing up somewhere in Shadowlands, I stg, if everyone else gets their fave somewhere, Arthas had better be pooping around in the Maw

But I appreciate Roux as an author, because even this horse-shaped reminiscing (like seriously, World of Warcraft tie-in novels are the spot on the Venn Diagram where books for Warhammer guys and books for horse girls intersect) has a point, and the point is another highlighted quote: “Only the fool thinks himself an expert in everything. The wise man admits his limitations and endeavors to know more.” This quote is attributed to Varian sometime when Anduin was a whelp, no specific age, so it leaves me having a lot of questions, but whatever.

Shaw then obliquely calls Anduin a pain in the ass, because Anduin is avoiding a question. On this particular day, Anduin is avoiding said question because Tyrande and Malfurion won’t answer his letters and he feels sulky that just being his adorable self isn’t enough to make up for the NElves totally getting the short straw in every expansion ever, even though he gets that they’re pissed. Like if Stormwind got blown up and it was supposed to be forgiven because… idk, Eitrigg kicked it or something, he’d still be pissed too, and I have a feeling I’ll be yelling this at him in a few chapters.

Anyway, while they’re musing, there’s an explosion nearby, and Anduin and Mathias chase it to what used to be a barn where a man, his son, and a drunk named Jago are all covered in soot. Jago apparently blew up the barn and is drunk because his lover, Wilmer, was one of the Forsaken Sylvanas offed back during the last tie-in novel before an expansion. And that’s fair, dude. That’s fair. Anyway, Jago is miserable and gets knocked out by Alleria Windrunner, who’s Here, Now. 

And just like that, Anduin has to move on because it’s Time, and Alleria is Early (for what? I’ll find out in a few paragraphs, I hope). Alleria has no news to report, presumably about hunting for Sylvanas, and that makes Anduin want to hulk out, bless him.

He’s thinking that HOW THE FUCK CAN ONE WOMAN BE HIDING FROM ALL OF AZEROTH, and as someone who’s done world RP without godmoding on many an occasion, it’s not that hard, princess. For whatever reason, the fact that Alleria hasn’t found someone who’s logically very hard to find--a ranger and Full of Dark Magics--makes Anduin think “oh shit, she’s a bad guy too!” He’s basing this also on that Alleria asked Anduin to let her and Sylvanas face off against N’Zoth together, to give her another chance, which is like… yeah, they’re sisters, dude. We’ve had about 72 bits of writing about this explicit fact. 

Anduin’s sore that he’s been betrayed before and he breaks the fence o snap, and then he’s like “whatevs, let’s keep looking for her.” 

Is this going to be a book about Anduin’s anger issues? That should be fun.