#idk just in general I love talking about it cuz Arengar's supposed to appear as perfect Commander

[the-blazing-light]

🖊 FOR ARENGAR (@commanderhorncleaver)

HDJFHFJT OKAY sorry it took forever to answer but I finally have something I wanna ramble about, which is really a part of a larger theme with Arengar: how despite all his attempts to appear as a perfect Commander he's actually a deeply flawed person, far from that golden facade he tries to maintain, be it not out of any malicious intent but rather to give people that hope they need, an idol they can believe in and follow to keep them going, fighting the fight that needs to be fought.

Arengar's stubborn, hard-headed and short-tempered, he's got a very firm view of what is right and wrong and is quick to get annoyed with people and draw conclusions. He can be quite harsh when it comes to it and has a tendency to overlook other people's feelings at times, in part due to his own diffictulty with emotions and understanding those of other people. Despite that he's also got an unintentional bias towards certain people, i.e. him forgiving a lot of things Rytlock did for a long time, things he wouldn't forgive anyone else, because he's still got that deep-running respect towards him as a Blood Legion Tribune, only finally losing his temper with Rytlock throughout Icebrood Saga, which was a bad time for Arengar in a lot of other ways.

So all that, combined with his intent to appear as the perfect pact commander everyone wants to see causes him a lot of stress, because at the end of the day, he's just a charr. He can't be perfect, no matter how hard he tries, and that glowing golden image of a hero he himself built is weighting down on him every day, every time he makes a mistake, or snaps, or feels bad or down, anything, well, that makes him a person and not just a symbol. That causes Arengar to repress his emotions and trauma heavily, after all, no one wants to see The Commander mop around, they expect him to always be ready to jump into action, to fight and lead, an approach that causes Arengar fall down hard after Icebrood, when all the pain and emotions get too much to hold down.