#because I did not used to give a fuck about Turalyon and Alleria in the slightest

[raccooncityriots]

So now that I know there’s a new coin in the Dalaran fountain, I was going through the old ones.

I know it was just a joke, but I’m sure Anduin wishes he was back to being permanently 10 sometimes lol

Man, I know a lot of people feel a certain way about both Turalyon and Alleria, but the three of them are still my favorite trio/friendship/whatever in Warcraft, I don’t care do not @ me.

[alteredphoenix]

In Defense of Calia: On the Topic of Misogyny and the Criticism of the Forsaken Double Standard

So I like to browse Twitter a lot, mainly for the art but mostly just to kill time. But I also follow people and websites, and one of those happens to be Wowhead. A couple days ago there was an article documenting Calia’s appearance within the Horde Council in the Shadowlands pre-patch, to which she would voice her opinion on the state of the Horde as well as the uncertain future that Azeroth now faces with the breaking of the Helm of Domination and return of the Scourge.

The WoW community can be...very passionate, or inflammatory, depending on your point of view. The same can be said for any big fandom, in all honesty. But I’m not in a lot of fandoms, and, at least where WoW is concerned, there’s a kind of laser-guided hyperfixation in regards to the introduction and development of its characters. Old or new, the fandom watches them like a hawk, but perhaps none more vigilantly than ones that have been mentioned in-game but have not made an actual appearance itself beyond the tie-in novels.

Three of these characters are Turalyon, Alleria, and Calia. However, Turalyon and Alleria are not given this much scrutiny outside of snide quips that “Turalyon is flat and boring/he’s a zealot/he’s the embodiment of the white savior among the draenei” and “Alleria is a fucking psycho for using the Void and wanting the blood elves to return to the Alliance, she’s just like her sisters, it must run in the blood/she’s arm candy to another, rugged Alliance man” whenever the plot calls for their convenience. I would daresay these parts of the fandom would go as far to say that with their developments given within the story, it would be in Blizzard’s best interests to have never brought them so as to “preserve their memory from before the Activision merger”. On the other hand, I would like to note that this sentiment is echoed ad nauseam for practically every character in WoW...but we’ll touch on that a little bit. This piece isn’t about Turalyon and Alleria or the others.

Rather, this is about Calia, and I wanted to give voice to my opinions on the backlash - or perhaps reception would be a better word - she has been receiving. She was a character I came across reading Arthas: Rise of the Lich King and didn’t think much of afterwards; for all I knew, she had died when Lordaeron and that was the end of the Menethil bloodline. However, with her debut in Legion and unique circumstances that followed culminating from the ending of Before the Storm, as well as being tangentially tied with the Light/Void conflict that’ll come to the forefront in the future, I wanted to keep an eye on her character arc.

Needless to say, when I read the Wowhead post, the comments could basically be described like this:

The WoW Community: Gawd, Blizzard is pushing Calia so hard into the narrative.  She’s just another pathetic dev’s self-insert like Nathanos is, even though we only base this off some harmless, tongue-in-cheek posts on Twitter and we need to vent our anger toward another character who clearly has too much development! She’s everywhere!

Be me, off to the side, remembering she was only present in the Priest Class Hall campaign in Legion; takes part in Before the Storm before getting axed in the Arathi Gathering and being subsequently raised into Lightly undeath by a king, her Archbishop, and a naaru that may have influenced her into going to the Gathering; only shows up very late in BfA right after Sylvanas Blasts Off Again at the end of the War Campaign to reconnect with the Proudmoores and help the kaldorei undead as well as the Forsaken Sylvanas ditches; shadows Lilian and the Horde Council in Shadows Rising, and shows up in Icecrown when the sky cracks open and Bolvar is no longer the Lich King that took up the role her brother was in.

I don’t know what popular fanfiction you folks are reading (or whatever tea you’re drinking; I’ve been looking around since the last Calia post I made and I can’t find it!), but that is not what I would call everywhere.

Look, you’re more than welcome to despise Calia as much as Nathanos over baseless claims and double standards, but let’s not pretend there are other Forsaken that’d fill the hole Sylvanas left behind. Because they can’t. They won’t be able to, because for years Sylvanas made up the core of Forsaken identity. Prior to WotLK they were a race that was reviled and ostracized by the world and looked upon with distrust by everyone including the Horde, even as Hamuul vouched for them and convinced Thrall to give them a chance despite knowing full well how cruel and selfish they could be. Their sole purpose was to exact revenge on the man who took everything away from them, destroyed their lives, and raised them into his service against their will.

And even when Arthas was defeated, they had no other purpose but to conquer Lordaeron, find a way to reproduce their numbers, and reaffirm their loyalty to the Horde - because where the hell else are they going to go? Because even if some Forsaken disagree with Sylvanas’s strict institutions regarding the acceptance of their undeath and the complete rejection of their former, mortal lives, not everyone in the Alliance is going to welcome them with open arms; not everyone is an Anduin or a Jaina. You see this with Genn, who despite accepting that not every Forsaken is bad still holds them in contempt, and with Alleria, who, after spending a thousand years in the Twisting Nether fighting the Burning Legion and thus being removed from the changes that occurred on Azeroth, is justifiably concerned that they are no longer the same person in undeath as they were in life. You see this in the way that some families spurn their loved ones when the Gathering takes place.

So while it’s true that you can say Calia doesn’t have what it takes to be the person the Forsaken need in a post-Sylvanas Azeroth, you must also remember that of all the named Forsaken we know of only Lilian has been given due development. You can’t say the same for Belmont (a loyalist who disregarded Cromush’s warnings about using the plague in Silverpine, as well as fought a losing battle against Tyrande in Darkshore in BfA), Helcular (a presumably former Cult of the Damned affiliate who notably defended Tarren Mill during the Legion’s third incursion), Faranell (another loyalist who created the New Plague and believes Putress is behind Wrathgate, but perhaps unaware of Sylvanas’s possible involvement), and Velonara (who did not want to be want to raised but followed Sylvanas anyway until the Fourth War, eventually siding with the Horde Council). They are merely foot soldiers; outside of maybe Velonara they don’t have the luxury of experiencing the emotional turmoil a newly risen undead goes through the way Lilian Voss does when Thomas Zelling, dying from illness, makes a deal to be raised into undeath and help the Horde in their war if it meant protecting his family. They don’t have the luxury of watching him get executed by the Warchief’s right hand man in front of their eyes the way Lilian and every other Horde leader present did. You would not get the same weight by switching her out with any of them. You could say Lilian would make a decent successor to Sylvanas, and I would not disagree with you. However, Lilian does not have the familial connection that Calia does to Lordaeron, and while Gey’arah poses the question of leadership to her at the Horde War Campaign’s epilogue, it should be noted that Lilian believes there is “another more suited to the task”, preferring to be the hand that would comfort the Forsaken of the trauma of being raised into undeath and, as of Shadows Rising, act as their interim leader.

Then again, neither does Calia. We don’t know where she and Faol were after Lordaeron’s fall (which is one key detail I have seen people not take into account upon their criticisms of her character), but we do know that upon being asked she had refused to reassert her claim to Lordaeron. However, she has common sense enough to know that Faol was not like the other Scourge in the beginning, and later when she met with Elsie, Parqual Fintallas, and the Felstone family.

Whatever happened during that time period prior to Legion, she identifies with the Forsaken. They are, in a way, still her people, regardless of that. This is why I think she would suit the Forsaken best as their leader, not as Queen of Lordaeron that the fandom - or rather, most of the Sylvanas stans - has been so prone to parroting since her intentions to help guide the kaldorei undead and the Lordaeronian Forsaken were first revealed.

And look, I’m a Sylvanas stan, too. But it is very much apparent that Sylvanas only started the Fourth War for her own purposes, has clearly been in an alliance with the Jailer since Cataclysm (yet is hinted to not be entirely subservient to him), and even if she was doing everything up until Shadowlands as an extreme mixture of For the Greater Good and The End Justifies The Means she was still a toxic influence to the more honorable members of the Horde and to the Desolate Council. Even if her behavior were an act to conceal her true intentions, it would still not absolve her completely for all the atrocities she committed and the suffering she caused. Not even Nathanos, whom people have an obsessive, misandrist fixation of being based on someone who’s not despite being in the game for fifteen years prior to that dev joining Blizzard, would not be the best replacement for Sylvanas. Nathanos - the same man who loves Sylvanas so much he would do anything for her even as he pushes aside the brief moments where he hesitates following her orders and expresses shock at her actions - would not have either the Horde’s or the Forsaken’s best interests at heart, for his belongs only to her. After all, you can’t “redeem” a character if the character himself does not regret what they have done and does not want to change for the better.

Which is another thing I have noticed, in the years I have been in the WoW fandom: the concept of “redemption” in the wake of “character assassination” in the wake of events that caused by said characters that are often deemed questionable, which is what I believe makes people conclude the causation to be a source of “bad writing”. This also ties to what I also believe to be the misogynistic undertones the fandom expresses, simply because the events caused by questionable if dubious methods are done by a woman and not a man, which therefore leads to the notion that Blizzard “hates women”. This gives me the impression that these voices would prefer to have Blizzard write their women as someone who are pure and strong and multi-faceted but the minute she performs an action that not everyone is on board with then she is either considered “ruined” or a “dreadlord”, which is merely a cop-out excuse that you only see applied to the female characters (e.g. Jaina) but not the male characters; those men are simply called “evil” or “genocidal”, whether or not they are rightfully so. Then again, men are also considered “ruined” if they are so much as given the spotlight (e.g. Lor’themar in Nazjatar, Baine throughout BfA), but they are nowhere near under as much scrutiny than the women are (unless it’s Garrosh, then you’re going to have to put up with the “Garrosh Did Nothing Wrong” memes). Which leads us back to the hypocrisy the fandom shows towards Calia, a character to whom people call a “Mary Sue” but at the same time an “abomination” who is going to be “Queen of the Forsaken” that is being pushed by Blizzard to make the playerbase hate Sylvanas even more.

And from what we know about Calia, she is neither seeking to become “Queen of the Forsaken” for the foreseeable future nor a “Mary Sue” (if she were, she would’ve succeeded in making all the Forsaken defect to the Alliance and, you know, not die). Perhaps she is made to question if she is capable of providing for the Forsaken (for some, that is, for it was confirmed by Blizzard that not all Forsaken are willing to be lead by another Menethil, and one who had been missing and presumed dead for years at that). Perhaps she is an anomaly, but she is by no means perfection incarnate the fanbase paints her to be.

TLDR Calia Menethil is a character that deserves a chance at getting her character arc and development, and should be judged accordingly instead of jumping the gun.

[lightandwinged]

ALSR, Chapter Six: Down, boy

CHAPTER SIX

Stormwind: Anduin’s Perspective!

I should point out before I really get into this that we’ve been hearing basically 100% Horde perspective here and will be hearing from the Horde again in the next chapter. Which is fine! For every Arthas there must be a Lord of the Clans or whatever. I’m just kind of ??? about this being a tie-in novel when it’s focusing so heavily on one faction over the other BUT I don’t work for Blizzard and I haven’t read a Warcraft novel in ages, so what do I know?

It’s the end of the day in Stormwind, and as the bells toll their sunset song, Anduin and a handful of his cohorts (Genn, Turalyon… wait, it’s just Genn and Turalyon isn’t it? Huh.) head down to the crypts to see six bodies. And I’m just saying, that’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen happen in those crypts.

Turalyon remarks that there may be more corpses somewhere, since at least a dozen spies were sent to monitor the waters between Zandalar and the Eastern Kingdoms. Anduin’s like “shh, not here,” because everyone left in the Cathedral is watching them, to which I say--Cathedral patrons, take the advice of someone who’s visited often and just focus on your own shit. Trust me. Otherwise, you’ll be watching someone give birth to the horned god on one side while there’s a three way duel for the soul of a rabbit on the other, and it’s just a lot. 

(also all of the descriptions of Turalyon involve him being hotter than heat, which is fair if you are picturing him as Travis Willingham, which I am)

In a cold, dank room that smells of fresh death, our three heroes find a row of bodies, very wet and very dead. They’ve each received a single arrow shot directly to the heart, and the fletching on each arrow has been shaved down to make them look like Zandalari arrows, though Turalyon is quick to point out what everyone else has realized: this isn’t how the Zandalari do things.

Genn is like “this is [...] some dark mischief I do not yet understand,” because the only people who can shoot like this are Sylvanas’ dark rangers. Somehow this surprises Anduin and he’s not sure if he buys it, but like. Duh? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it’s a dark ranger.

Genn is angry, “pacing faster, every bit the caged and furious wolf,” and please, please can we someday have someone who writes Genn in one of these novels as being even more dog-like? Not like drinking out of a bowl or anything like that, but like. Perking up when he hears the phrase “good boy” or having to hold himself back from chasing after a tennis ball. This is the stuff that werewolf writers always skip because they’re too busy trying to make werewolves look cool, when in reality, said wolves would do anything for a treat.

So Anduin wonders wtf dark rangers are doing in Zandalar, which yeah, me too, that whole side trip seemed kind of pointless. Turalyon muses that Sylvanas is probably pissed that Talanji didn’t join her on her quest for… whatever the fuck it is she’s questing for, which is correct, and Genn is like “BUT! WE! CAN KILL! SYLVANAS! RIGHT! NOW!” because she is his tennis ball. 

Turalyon, on the other hand, thinks they should hang back and see what happens and see if the Horde stick to their armistice and share Sylvanas secrets with them. Genn is 100% convinced they won’t because Genn is from a PvP server. 

But Turalyon and Anduin are not, and even though Genn is frothing at the mouth angry (like damn, dude, do some yoga or something), Anduin thinks they need to hold off on sailing for more Zandalar fights at the moment. He also doesn’t know if Sylvanas and/or her people going to Zandalar is a trick or if it’s the real deal, and Genn’s like, “I DON’T CARE THE SQUIRREL IS GETTING AWAY LET ME CHASE ITTTTT!!”

Anyway, despite Genn being absurd, Anduin thinks they both have a point, and to make things interesting, he decides that Turalyon and Alleria are on the case of finding Sylvanas (so wait, did the frolicking in Westfall happen before or after this?). And with that, Anduin sulks about being a king who had people die for his cause. Genn tries to make him feel better by saying, “Hey, they knew what they were signing up for,” but the boy king is not mollified, and remarks, “None of us know what awaits us in death, what awaits us in the dark without a dawn.”

Except those of us who’ve been keeping up with spoilers for the next expansion, that is.

[wowheadquarters]

What other race would they recruit for their cause?

For a lovable anon. Ft. a lot of special guests. I would also like to thank @val-entines for the exceptional work they did on colouring the portrait of Prophet-Queen Amarnie.

Anduin: A controversial choice to start this list with but: The Black dragonflight.

Ghost Varin: You just want an excuse to get to see your boyfriend more, we get it. Wrathion: As much as I’d love to have a valid reason to sneak into Anduin’s bedroom every other night, I’d still prefer not to be dragged into all this political mess as someone’s second. I would like to have my opinions, express them, and not just... be on a wild ride whenever Greymane thinks he wants a war.

The Council of Three Hammers: The Frostborn. They are virtually the only “good” dwarves who aren’t a part of the Alliance yet. 

Velog: Yeah, sure, but if we have to travel anywhere hotter than the thawing point, we are just not going.

Tyrande: The Shen’dralar. They had asked us for help anyway.

Mordent: You know, I have been waiting for this sort of audience for quite a couple of years now. I’ve made up my mind: No. Just to spite you, it’s not happening.

Mekkatorque: The mechagnomes, because they are beautiful and also his size.

Mimiron: I don’t know if you remember, but my little creations have... kind of corrupt-defects. Not exactly reliable.

Velen: The Ethereal, namely the Consortium. We need our own all-for-the-business faction to compete the Horde’s Bilgewater cartel.

Haramand: Sure, old man goat. But I am selling you to the highest bidder.

Genn: The Vulpera. For... reasons.

Kiro: Thatr’s nice in theory. But a) I am not willing to be alligned with a guy who is both a furry on main and afraid to say it, and b) we get along with the Horde just nicely, thank you very much.

Aysa: The Saberon. I am a humanoid bear, I have no shame of being a furry on main.

Ashripper: Heh, good luck. Uniting the Saberon for any kind of cause is like herding cats. Aysa: You are cats. Ashripper: Yep. That’s why it’s so fitting!

Alleria: The centaurs. They are basically a cavalry on their own!

Kammah: I am not fighting by the side of... of.... them! Shodo: You dare to show your face here? You... you mule! Alleria: Gentlemen, please! Oh, never mind, they are after each other’s neck again.

Turalyon: Uhhhh... The Tol’vir maybe? I don’t really know, I think we’ve run out of the good races by now.

Phaoris: I think that we give this a gentle yet firm no, just because you’ve disappointed and offended half of azeroth races, the Tol’vir included. Toralyon: Fair.

Jaina: Tuskarr! Sorry, I mean Kalu’ak. I mean, my most fovorite sea-and-fishing people. And they swim on turtles!

Ko’nani: Will there be enough food for all of us? Atuik: And will there be a lower temperature so we wouldn’t boil alive?

Thrall: The Wild Gods. Go big or go home.

Malorne: Go home, Thrall. Go home.

Spirit of Vol’jin: I say dem kobolds, juss’ for da fun.

Ghost Garrosh: Give me one, one good reason why we should keep kobolds around! Spirit of Vol’jin: Well, we’vve kept Gallywix. Ghost Garrosh: Point taken. But what about the horrible smell? Spirit of Vol’jin: Eh, dem kobolds get used to it soon.

Baine: Moonkins! Or wildkins, the correct term is wildkin, right?

Aroom: (Very sadly shakes his head.) Hoot hoot. Baine: Fed up with fighting. No, no, don’t apologize. I understand. We can be friends, thought, right? Aroom: Hoot hoot!

Sylvanas: What about the Botani?

Phylarch: The great cycle of nature does not care for your struggles. When your bodies fall and rot, our roots will feast on you. Eventually, we become all and all becomes us. You shall join us when the time comes. Sylvanas: That was super creepy. I’m having second thoughts.

Lor'themar: What about the Vrykul?

Sigryn: What about us, little thing? Lor’themar: Can we get into an alliance with giant women? Sigryn: You think you are worthy of it? I doubt it.

Gallywix: Gilgoblins. In case we need to move our factories underwater because of... tax evasion? Tax evasion is not evil, right?

Gurboggle: Glub glrlll! Raaaaaaa! Kill!

Ji: Can we, maybe, just maybe, join forces with a dragonflight? My preferences would be the Red one, but any dragons are good dragons.

Alexstrasza: Young man, if you want to screw a dragon, just secure yourself a date. A man with cooking like yours shouldn’t find it all that difficult.

Thalyssra: What about the Netherwing? They indeed are very interesting dragons.

Neltharaku: (Suspiciously eyeing Occuleth’s “scientific devices”) No.

Mayla: I’m thinking about the Mutlocs. They are cute.

Mrgl-Mrgl: I have a list of reasons written on this patch of seaweed of why that is a bad idea for both parties included.

Geya’rah: Ogres. Definitely the Draenor ogres. Where you need power, there it helps to have an ogre or a band of them.

Rexxar: Well, theoretically speaking, I still have the position of the Chifteain of the Stonemaul, I’ve just been vacationing. Rexxar: But You said Draenor orges. I have no idea who is in charge there. Geya’rah: I bet a wolfskin that they haven’t got a clue either.

Talanji: What about de Arakkoa? I be fond of feathers, and I do not find deir culture too different from ours.

Terokk: You guys, one version of me is batshit crazy and has to be summoned from I don’t know what offerings placed at a large pile of skulls, and the other version of me is quite busy and has a crippling depression. Terokk: What I am trying to say is that we haven’t got it together enough to help you get your stuff together too. Terokk: Though... If Talanji is single, I could be persuaded...

Taedal: The Tehal. I am very aware that they aren’t part of the Warcraft universe, but you know, neither am actually I, my Golden Torch demons or my whole fucking expansion. Tehal are a part of my expansion and I would very much like to strike an alliance with them against my sister and the Old Gods. Plus, they are really and literally hot.

Amarnie: I actually think this very possible. If you help my children to put this whole place together and... Hold on, I have a list in here somewhere. Here. I need to have all of these things sorted out before we are able to efficiently help somebody without risking extinction. Taedal: Wow, this is going to be quite a chainquest.

[theshaofpride]

Okay, I try not to get into this whiny  “wow lore is doing me wrong!!” discourse, but I have to say:

I feel completely disconnected from every single thing that’s gone on lorewise this expansion. It all feels very...one sided? I don’t know? Not only has the Horde gotten nothing since the opening quest chain (Sylvanas and Nathanos are in Stormheim, but why? What are the implications of her fucking with the Valkyr? Why does it matter? There’s nothing there!), but even in terms of the Alliance characters who are getting lore, they all feel one dimensional, flat, unlikable.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Anduin, Jaina, and Moira, and Varian was one of my top tier favorite characters, but instead of dealing with those guys we get the eternally awful Tyrande and Malfurion, and the whole Warcraft 2 squad (Khadgar, Alleria, Turalyon) are, at least in my opinion, stale. I thought we might get some interesting Windrunner sister wangst, but aside from one conversation between Alleria and Vereesa, Blizzard hasn’t really delivered. The quest chain surrounding Void Elves sounds promising, but I’m still sitting here, waiting for Blizzard to make me care about what should have been an extremely compelling and important lore expansion.

And I get it, maybe this good v. evil Alliance stuff back at Warcraft’s roots just isn’t my cup of tea. But it just feels like something has changed. It feels like Blizzard is afraid to give characters complexity and nuance, depth and room to grow, choosing instead to cast them as Supremely Good, 2 Edgy 2 Live, or Absolutely Abhorrent. I always loved Wrathion because he kept us on our toes, never knowing if he was trustworthy or not but also not overdoing it with the edge. Blizzard had every opportunity to do something similar with Khadgar and/or Illidan and they just...didn’t. Khadgar is played as kind of a chaotic guy but never once does the canon question his motives or paint him in any shades of grey, and Illidan is still just the poster boy for every fedora-wearing nice guy drowning in moral relativism. And it’s sad that, for all I’ve said making fun of him, I actually think Illidan is the best-written character this expansion because they did leave a tiny ounce of room for interpretation, kind of, sort of, maybe. He might act like the next member of the Suicide Squad, but at least he isn’t completely flat? And if brooding edgebaby is the best, that’s... sad. 

I really hope Blizzard turns this around. I really hope they do something risky with Velen at the end of this expansion (it seems like the pieces are there!) or use the Sylvanas/Genn storyline to show faction perspective and how it can impact our view of a character instead of just...telling us what to think about who is good and who is bad. The MoP lore had its flaws, sure, but I found myself caring about each and every one of those characters in a way I haven’t felt since. C’mon Blizz. I want to care again. 

[wowheadquarters]

Interview with Nathanos

Q: Nathanos, I need to know how you manage to sound so evil. You could say "I love puppies" and it would menacing and I need to know your secret.

Nathanos: Being dead and dressing like a gnometal fan 20 years behind the fashion helps. Besides that... it’s a trade secret.

Q: You might rather be dipped in acid than answer this question, but here goes: do you luuurve the Dark Lady? It’s very important to know. 

Nathanos: I wouldn’t say I “luuurve” anyone.

Q: How many puppets do you have? Any change you could reveal your favourite?

Nathanos: 2. I use them as targets. I like the smaller one better, although hitting it from 75 zyards stopped being a challenge years ago.

Q: Humans! Amirite? (this is your cue to express your feelings on the living)

Nathanos: Yes. They breathe loudly. They chew with their mouths open. Nathanos: And they ask questions. (Very ugly look.)

Q: I mean, working with all the Horde races, how's that gone for ya?

Nathanos: Well, I report directly to the Banshee Queen, now Warchief. Whatever I don’t report to her and it isn’t under my command, which aren’t living troops most of the time, that doesn’t concern me. Nathanos: That is, I have been successfully ignoring the Horde and our relationship is so far fine.

Q: How's it feel to have your splendidly undead yet straight standing form?

Nathanos: Stiff. Very, very stiff. You see, I had this very dead Goblin surgeon to replace my spinal chord, which is no longer of any use to me, with a rather strong wire. It works, but it cannot be called comfrotable.

Q: Would you consider owning a cat?

Nathanos: Yes, I have considered it even. Nathanos: Certain lich then threatened to sue for copyright. Nathanos: And let’s face the cold cruel facts: The Cult of the Damned gets a lot of lawyers. Good lawyers.

Q: Least favourite Alliance leader besides the dogman?

Nathanos: As of recently, Highpriestess Whisperwind.

Q: Your favourite alliance leader?

Nathanos: A tough question. But perhaps Thane Wildhammer. I feel... a kind of a hunter’s kinship.

Q: Least annoying Horde race? Beside the dead, of course.

Nathanos: The Tauren. They don’t get in the way.

Q: Morning person?

Nathanos: Is this a face of a man who sleeps?

Q: If you'd like to say, what is your personal opinion on the nature of the alliance between the Horde and the Forsaken?

Nathanos: We are beneficial to each other. We benefit to the Horde and eahc of its races, which is why we are allowed to stay in the Horde. Each of other Horde races benefits to us, which is why we’ve decided to stay in the horde so far.

Q: Favourite foods! Tell me, I'm looking to expand my culinary adventures.

Nathanos: I... don’t eat. Or have working taste buds any longer. But when alive, I used to be fond of vegetable pies. Or basically anything I didn’t have to hunt for and cook and someone else did it for me. Which is basically fruit and vegetable. But I preferred salty over sweet.

Q: Do you follow Kottkrig on Tumblr? Because they post the most amazing undead folks.

Nathanos: On what? What’s tumbling thing you are talking about? Also please, don’t send the undead thorough post without their consent, it is the most uncomfortable and the parcels get lost often.

Q: If it comes to the do, would you give your life for the Dark Lady?

Nathanos: I already had. I think that speaks for itself.

Q: In your own words, how would you describe yourself? Don't be coy

Nathanos: Dead. Dead tired. Surprisingly well looking for being dead. Good at my job. Repressing sarcasm and failing it, because it begins to boil over the metaphorical pot.

Q: Do you like Sylvanas? As in like-love not just as a friend or role model.

Nathanos: Yes. Nathanos: I still wouldn’t say I “luuurve” her. Nathanos: Lure, maybe.

Q: What do you think of the other Windrunners sisters Vereesa and Alleria? Have you had any contact with them?

Nathanos: I maintain the Quee- Warchief’s personal correspondence. So technically speaking, yes, although it’s not an official contact.

Q: Do your hounds have names?

Nathanos: More or less. All are called Fang.

Q: If Rhonin was still alive do you think you would form a club with Turalyon called "Surviving a Windrunner"

Nathanos: No. Because for the simple reason that I don’t qualify as surviving, you see?

Q: Is there anything that you miss about being alive?

Nathanos: It is going to sound odd... I miss the subconscious maintenance.  You all don’t have to focus on moving or breathing or anything. We dead? If we try to talk without air in our lungs, we don’t make a sound. I literally have to focus on expanding my chest, on flexing my arm... Have you any idea how many muscles you must use to talk? Or to do the simplest facial expressions?

Q: Do you like being Sylvanas-' lil bitch?

Nathanos: Oh yeah. You have no idea. And because I am not moving from this position any time soon, you aren’t going to have any idea for a long, long time.

Q: So, did you like the Desolate Council wanting to meet with their living family members or did you want to protect them from the pain of remembering life like the Dark Lady has?

Nathanos: You know... I didn’t really give a fuck and I am still not giving it. I consider the Warchief’s decision wise, but in my opinion the Council should have been informed of the risk and then let each memeber to either take or refuse it.

Q: Can you also scream like a banshee like sylvanas did?

Nathanos: I am a Dark Ranger, not a banshee... But let’s give ti a try. Nathanos: Erhm, erhm. Nathanos: AUUUAAAAAGHHHHHH! (Violent coughing.) Nathanos: It has been empirically proven that I cannot scream like a banshee, or at least not without extensive prior training. Nathanos: Could you hand me that lung? I think I coughed it out somewhere over there.

Q:  Personal thoughts on all the races in the Horde’s ranks?

Nathanos: Loud and big Orcs. Nicely violent but a bit too independently thinking Trolls. Slow and not causing problems Tauren who have the best weed. I have a personal antipathies with most of the Sin’dorei since being alive. Goblins are weirdos and inefficient in being so. The Pandaren are a bit unreliable. Shal’dorei are simply crazy but easily manipulatable wherever needed. The Zandalari are Trolls who are very proud. Mag’har are nice, desperate, and surprisingly having a lot of insights. The Highmountain Tauren have troubles coming thorough the doors and it’s really amusing.

[wowheadquarters]

I have a little idea for the 1k followers. As I followed this blog recently, I was wondering about his history. If you feel like it, could do a summary? Like, why did you start it? Your first joy/disappointment. Any thing that we haven't see that you might want to share. Absolutely anything about the blog and you. (If you're comfortable with it of course)

This is a very good idea, lovable anon, I’ll try.

History:

It was 17th November 2015, somewhen in Tuesday afternoon. I don’t remember what exactly sparked the idea of starting this blog, but I can say for certain that it was heavily inspired by the @bleachlists (which is, if you ask me, better humor than canon Bleach). And thus the first list was born.

(I never expected this blog to get famous. Or followers besides bots for that matter. I hoped, maybe, for a little circle of, like, 5 actual readers. I certainly didn’t think I would keep this blog for longer than 4 months. That’s how it is with me usually, I have bursts of inspiration but lack long-term dedication. The fact that this blog is still going is a miracle.)

At first the lists were written in the “chat” style. I had to make up my own prompts, because the two followers or so only hearted the posts but didn’t interact with me at all otherwise. That’s why the activity was very irregular at the time, I was writing when I was inspired and thus a month could pass without a word from me and then boom, three posts in a week. Additionally, I wasn’t writing only lists, but also short stuff, kind of like “Slice of life from Azeroth.” Of these the most famous is Chromie and Dragons and in my opinion the best one and not enough appreciated one is Kel’thuzad’s Heard Of Sylvanas’ Plans.

The first breakthrough came in January 2016 when an anon, who made me happy so much that I called them “lovable” in the list and kept on doing so for all following anons, requested the very first requested list, the Care of Babies list. For a long time this has been the list with the most notes. Now there are too many lists to keep count and Tumblr doesn’t do “the best of your posts,” but still it is one of the most popular posts I have and along with the Chromie and Dragons it still pops up in my notifications. Around April 2016 I had stable enough queue of requested lists to stop making up my own prompts, thus I could completely rely on prompts from followers, most of them from anons.

Another important milestone was August of the same year: First of all, I came up with a posting schedule (Fridays and Mondays, but two months later I understood that was too fast - It ate the prompts faster than they were prompted, and I wasn’t managing it). Then Taedal was added to the lists, at first he was meant as a joke, as I keep reminding him and everyone else, and somehow it happened he stayed here. Additionally, Varian and Vol’jin’s deaths were acknowledged, putting Anduin on the list. Soon after, Garrosh joined in from beyond the veil to annoy Vol’jin in his afterlife.

About this time the blog began to create it’s own lore (and not only the L.O.R.E.), and I even had the (short-spanned) will to mystify people that Taedal is going to get his own expansion. I even had a sideblog dedicated to Taedal (in fact, it was Taedal’s own blog, intentioned as a RP blog but somehow it never…got much traffic) and even a wiki. The wiki still exists! I like to think of this as the Golden Age of HeadQuarters verse, when I even got fanfics on AO3 and a dozen of drawings for this blog even. This blog lives in an alternate universe where there is a new isle west of Pandaria and Garrosh adopted 37 dead children in the afterlife and learned to be a better person (not necessarily the same as good person, but let’s not lose hope).

I don’t remember exactly on what occasion in the 2017 the Interviews were added, but they were the first not-list which were requestable (that is, they weren’t the short filler stuff I used to make before). I think it was to celebrate the first 100 followers but I might be wrong. The first Interview was held with Taedal, by my decision, and ever since then the Interviews went by request every twenty days, moved to every other Wednesday, later as of not-so-recently, every other Tuesday. In the history of the Interviews, there happened to be only one which wasn’t published, because nobody asked any questions. (It was Interview with Kel’thuzad, pt. 3, and I jokingly said that “ when we met, the Archlich thought I used the Interview as an excuse to go out for a date with him and things went awkward” which resulted in this Top N list).

From there things went rather fast. To here actually. As a celebration for 600 followers (or was it 500? Memory fails me) I began writing Top N, sort of as of a filler in between the Interviews, so actually now this blog has moved back to the biweekly posting scheme very close to the one from 2016. Earlier this year (2018), there was a list about attack on not-Theramore, where I made up a character especially for my timeline speculations - because timeline shenanigans, it is a bronze dragon, and because it is representing me, the character is called Authormi. That is a very poor play on the word “author” (because I am the author of this blog) and the “-ormu/ormi” suffix characteristic for the Bronze dragonflight. Coincidentally, it was also the first time I have referred to myself with any sort of name here on this blog (besides the FAQ where is a link to my main blog) and I am using it since.

An important part of the blog is post maintenance when I try to at least twice a month (but if I’m very responsible, then every Friday evening) go thorough the blog, update the Interview, Top N, and L.O.R.E. pages, delete old request asks and so on. However, over the years a good number of not-request asks had piled up in here. They were…not filtered here and the blog seemed messy with them. Which is why Authormi vs. Inbox tag was created and from time to time when too many not-request asks pile here, I dump them into these post as a sort of archive. I admit that it is not, uh… ideal in case you are looking for something specific, but it keeps the blog clean. Well, cleaner.

The most recent new development of the blog was the addition of the Allied Races leaders - Alleria Windrunner for the Void Elves/Ral’dorei, High Exarch Turalyon for the Lightforged, Jaina Proudmoore for Kul Tiras, First Arcanist Thalyssra for the Nightborne Elves/Shal’dorei, Mayla Highmountain for the Highmountain Tauren Tribes, Overlord Geya’rah for the Mag’har Orcs, and Princess Talanji for the Zandalari. The choice of the leaders is taken from the information on the Allied Races from Wowpedia.

Speaking of Wowpedia, it is my primal source, besides personal experience, when it comes to writing the lists. I used to rely on WoWWiki, but, uh… that one turned a bit messy a couple of years ago and I never get around to check on it now. When I don’t know something, I look it up on Wowpedia. If it’s not on Wowpedia, I consider it a Free Real Estate lore wildcard, which means I can bullshit it out as long as it is lore/character consistent. I pride myself on giving the characters (leaders) some actual character, because, now correct me if I am wrong, Blizzard writers confuse character personality for that wind flapping pole. I am not saying that I am writing “good” or “pure” characters. They have faults, they are prejudiced, foolhardy, depressed (in not romantic ways), mean, holding grudges. Some, like Garrosh, Genn or Gallywix, are more straightforward in their flaws than others, but I am pouring a cup of sour traits to everyone here. (What I am saying here is: Be critical when you read your favorite leader’s opinion. They might not be right and/or honest.)

Overview, as of today, Monday 19th November 2018:

Published 174 lists, 24 more in the queue + bunch of requests hanging in the asks among the posts. (Somebody needs to do their maintenance)

Published 25 Interviews, 9 more in the queue + some in the asks too, I think I saw one request or two.

Published 21 Top N lists (most favoured number for N is 10), 0 in the queue.

1009 followers, woooo! I love you all. Except the 1009th one who is a porn bot, you can go fuck yourself. ‘Xcuse me. 1008 followers now!

The blog is 3 years and 2 days old. Happy birthday!

Authormi’s pick of lists to read (besides the one linked):

What they say far too often: Vintage one, so you see what the old style was like.

What do the think of the heroes: Meta one!

Their pick for a movie night: There were no guesses on what movie is a Ayeroth-verse of what Earth-verse. I am proud of some of those titles.

No Orc Invasion: The first timeline speculation, which I really lvoed. If somebody was to write that AU, I’d read it actually.

If they could erase one person from existence: Another timeline speculation. I like making those!

Draw the squad: Maybe you could draw the squad?

Watching Les Misérables: This one was an especially important journey for me, because this list is why I saw the musical in the first place. Later I read the book too (I love the book), got into some Les Mis RP, made some very good friends out of that… Yeah, I owe this one lovable anon who requested it a lot. (More or less, now I am also a professional Valjean RPer, except I don’t get paid for it. Whenever somebody who knows me joins a new RP server and they haven’t got Valjean, they usually ask me. Like… what? How? Why? Why do you all think I am a good Valjean? Why- Never mind, this is a Warcraft blog. Moving on.)

Spell of the Violent Tongue: The first time it has been brought to my attention that I think about the characters in a way a lot fo other people doesn’t, because this list surprised a lot of readers, and by surprised I mean hit into feels so hard they complained to me. I talked about it with my mum later (family support is an important thing for me and mum is fan of Warcraft), and I’ve been told that “I treat the characters maybe a bit too realistically.” PSA for everybody: Warcraft is a story about broken people and violent racism.

Their God Tier: For the people who are fan of Homestuck too. (Homestuck itself is good. The fandom is weird)

Garrosh’s 37 ghost children: By which they became more or less canon on this blog, a regular stuff which is to be counted with.

How do they insult people: The most recent popular post.

Interview with Azshara: My personally favorite thing I have ever written for this blog, as in, I don’t think I am going to peak it.

Interview with Luxien: Because I want to press Taedal’s story and “expansion” to everybody, read the interview with his older evil sister.

Top 10 favorite characters: I suppose you are a bit curious who my faves are, so here you go.

Top 10 changes to the story I would do: By heart I am a storywriter. I give such things a lot of thoughts. But as I’ve mentioned earlier, lack of dedication is… making things hard.

Other cool stuff to check out (maybe?):

Taedal’s expansion wiki, of course. I have a lot of thoughts about that world and story and… I would love to went about it a bit, too.

This very cool fanfic on AO3.

The official portrait of Taedal.

The official portrait of Authormi.

The description of this blog, as taken from my personal blog:

wowheadquarters (WoW HeadQuarters, World of Warcraft Headquarters, WoWHQ) is by far my most popular blog, despite being younger than SNTS. I add new content twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday. I never thought I’d make more than 10 posts in total, but there we go. I admit that the original idea comes from bleachlists, but it has sort of evolved since then. I am trying to keep the blog not contradicting the canon, but some things in the HeadQuartersverse might not always agree with the official lore

Final words from Authormi:

Oh my fucking god, this is really unbelieveable that this thing is still going on. I never expected this blog to live beyond a month. I never thought I’d get more than 20 followers. I have 1000 now? That’s… is that Tumblr-famous? I’ve never had this many followers. Do you all read this? All the stuff? Am I shaping your view on the Warcraft universe? This is too much power for one person to have.

You want to know what’s actually my happiest memory connected to this blog? It was actually some time back (because my memory is a mess, I can’t tell you how far back), I had a really, really stuffed couple of weeks. A lot of to do, but also mentally exhausted, I was in a bad place for a bit there. Usually I am able to kick myself in the ass, sit down and make up the list on the go, even if it is bound to be miserable wreck of text, I write it. Sometimes when I am super done and tired, I write it on Saturday evening and pretend it’s Friday and so far everyone’s been so kind and there’s been no comment to that. But in those two or three weeks I just… couldn’t. Even clinging to this self-made structure was too exhausting. I wasn’t on Tumblr for basically the whole time (my main blog was fuelled by the queue). Sometimes when I am in a good place, I write lists in advance and schedule them, but at that time no such a thing took place, so this blog went silent without announcement and I couldn’t care less. When I finally found it in me to come online, my inbox greeted me with various people who were asking me if I was okay and whether or not I am still alive written in a very worried manner. And you know… reading that helped me a lot at the moment. It was a reminder that somebody here cares for me and cares for what I do and… Yeah, it was a damn motivation to get myself together a bit and write stuff and do some stuff. Since then I’m trying to announce in advance if I think I am not going to make it, and even then I am still trying to write the list as soon as possible when I am fit to.

A story for your amusement on this “write it when possible” note. This summer I was with my 4 younger siblings (my oldest sister, still younger than I, turned 18 last Thursday, the youngest sibling who also happens to be a sister is 4, but I don’t live with all the siblings, blah blah divorced parents blah blah, not related) and dad and grandfather in the beautiful village (or town?) of Au in Austria. I took my old laptop with me (I’ve got a new one recently) which had battery that could live on it’s own for, like 10 minutes. The house we were living in had no wi-fi, but there was a village-wide public wi-fi… which din’t reach the house. The nearest was at the bus stop, but that one was shaky, and the good reliable hotspot was at the park, 10 minutes of walk away from the house. Now, it was nearly Friday and I needed to post the list. So I wrote it int he laptop’s notepad, then turned off its life support, took it and dashed across all of Au to the wi-fi hotspot, formatted the document into a list, and hit post. About 2 minutes later, the laptop died.

I am thinking about making another blog directly meant for the asks, request or not, and those would stay there. What do you all think? Maybe I would lose things there, I am quite capable of it.

I’d love to talk about Taedal and his demons and his entire story a bit more. But I haven’t got, like, a reason to do so. I am sort of insecure in this matter, I sort of have the feeling that nobody really cares for Taedal here. “What are you thinking, a ‘good demon’ OC?” (Ask me about Taedal and his faction and the Broken and Distant Worlds expansion. I have an expansion and half planned in my head.)

There is some kind of an expectation or anticipation in me to have someone from Blizz discovering this blog and some big consequences happening. I am not sure whether I want it to happen or not. I mean, I am a bit… too-critical of their work in attempt to please the crowd here. (It’s easy to search for flaws when you take the good stuff as the norm. You are actually doing a good job, Blizzard, in the terms of game developing and marketing. But there is that one post going around which says that Warcraft lore/story is written by 9 people who cannot talk to each other. In this spirit, I am sure that there are 4 people writing charcter psychological profiles who don’t know of each other’s existence. Your animation is a snack, though.)

Wow. I suck at summaries. This is as brief as it gets.