Lore Watch Episode 105: The return of Calia Menethil
Added 2019-08-18 22:58:20 +0000 UTCThis week our Lore Watchers Anne, Matt, and Joe return to the datamined bits of information we have from the 8.2.5 PTR – in particular, the discovery of a new model for a notable figure in lore. Calia holds a direct claim to Lordaeron, and her disappearance and subsequent reappearance is something worth keeping an eye on. What does the future hold for the last of the Menethil line? All this and more on the latest Lore Watch!
For Patrons, we're happy to give you access to the episode before everyone else – enjoy it right over here on SoundCloud! Note that if you want to you can download it from SoundCloud onto your favorite device. And as always, let us know what you think. Thanks for listening!
Comments
Every time Sylvanas was handed a potential for responsibility, she took it. Calia has been nothing but passive, reactive at best. Calia suffered a loss, yes, but compared to Sylvanas?? Even compared to the average Forsaken, who had been made a slave, a predator in control of a monster, hunted or at the very least rejected by whatever living they came across. She was not raised after rotting some, with exposed bones and mummy-like skin, but fresh and alabaster, with a terrific hairstyle. She didn't "awaken" lying on a battleground surrounded by rotting bodies, knowing you can eat some if you want, or called from a graveyard. She was gently raised by powerful beings halo'd in white, the ringing of the Na'ru around her, all ethereal, and, well, clean. This doesn't make her capable of relating to anyone except, maybe the Forsaken raised by the Val'kyr. Calia is not, in my not humble opinion, worthy to step up and claim "her" kingdom. And the Forsaken owe her family nothing. A few wanting to see their remaining relatives do not make for a rebellion. Even the ones who are ready to die, having had enough time in their current bodies, don't present a disloyalty to Sylvanas. I agree that Calia is an element to challenge what "undead" means in the game. (As a race, as a faction... who knows what might happen in WoW 9.0?) But I would be so disappointed if she was raised (lol) to be some sort of savior figure for the Forsaken, let alone for Sylvanas.
Laura Antoniou
2019-08-29 19:24:53 +0000 UTCAnd then there's Calia. She escaped by hiding in a ditch. She ran off to marry some anonymous man, and had a baby. One day, a friendly dead guy with a lovely voice found her and she became a priest and worked for, well, ME as I was so important in the Order Hall and all that. At no time did she EVER try to, say, reach out to any survivors of Lorderon. At no time did she identify herself, say, to King Wrynn (Elder) to say, "Let's take my kingdom back!" Or to Jaina, who she also had known as a child. When the planet was warring against her brother, did she show up with any support, or info? Nothing. She has done *nothing.* And then, the first time she has a chance to meet with people who used to be of Lorderon, she encourages them to rebel against their Queen and thought that would be fine.
Laura Antoniou
2019-08-29 19:05:01 +0000 UTCWhen the Sourge attacked her homeland, Sylvanas fought a terrible, ghastly campaign of everything from open warfare to guerilla tactics, changing ground and mode of combat on the fly while her own troops were slaughtered and raised. She made decisions she knew would cost lives every single day. And of course, she was ignobly slain and raised and forced to be the aware and feeling murderous slave of her own killer. Turned into a weapon against her own people. Knowing who she had been and who they were even as she killed them. Through her own will and power, she took the first weak opening given her and not only freed herself, but her rangers, and who knows how many others, securing them a home, building them an identity, forming them into a nation. She made the Forsaken powerful enough to join the Horde and kept them sustained and safe, devoting her martial and leadership skills t bringing down the Lich King.
Laura Antoniou
2019-08-29 18:52:21 +0000 UTCSylvanas was born and raised in a famous ranger family, expected and trained to lead as her sisters were. She was a brilliant strategist, a point you all made quite clear, because that was her birthright and expectation and her natural ability brought to flower. Whereas Calia was raised to be married off, even without her very consent. There is nothing in the lore that indicates she was trained to be anything but an obedient and compliant princess, or that she even had some alternative dream or ambition other than to not be married off without being consulted. Contrast that to Sylvanas, who brought the only human ever into the ranger ranks, bucking tradition and her entire culture to raise him to lord.
Laura Antoniou
2019-08-29 18:47:36 +0000 UTCI really dislike the idea of Calia Menethil somehow providing a redemption plot point, let alone being the catalyst toward a redemption arc for Sylvanas. And wow, do I seriously disagree that she is some sort of parallel/ mirror character for her. Funhouse mirror, MAYBE.
Laura Antoniou
2019-08-29 18:43:26 +0000 UTCLove the episode, I hope the Calia model means that undead will get new models, you may have noticed how pointy and polygonal the hands are. It wasn't until I saw a cutscene with Bwonsamedi that I realized they were meant to be exposed bone. I hope there might be time to do LoreWatch weekly!
Verdigree
2019-08-21 09:36:15 +0000 UTCI think a potential attack on stormwind, like having it actually occur successfully, feels like a step too far in a story that began with the callous destruction of an alliance capital. The final beat of an expansion that began with the burning of Teldrassil really shouldn't be the sacking of stormwind. Sure, in-universe it potentially makes a lot of sense... but as a product sold to people, not so much. I'm not saying it has to be the fall of a horde capital... it shouldn't be the fall of any capital. There comes a point where you've beaten the horse to death on "WAR IS TERRIBLE," and you go overboard and squash any kind of fun escape into the world you're selling.
Omedon
2019-08-19 00:36:30 +0000 UTC
