I am dealing with it. By whining about it here.

__________________
1) You can't win.
2) You can't break even.
3) You can't leave the game.

A crying, emotional Tyrande who is only used for being an arm candy is terrible. And unfortunately, that's what the short story shows her to be- A crybaby. Just like they ruined Jaina by making her cry, despite the fact that she didn't cry or show much emotion at her father's death, so have they ruined Tyrande. In Blizzard's opinion, all women cry, even soldiers, which isn't true. Of course, if they state that Jaina was suffering from a depression because of Arthas during Wrath, then, at least, there is a proper reason for her tears, and her character is not ruined. I feel that there are a lot of chauvinists working for Blizzard.

__________________

I wouldn't go far to say chauvinists. Just typical fantasy writers working for a typical fantasy(ish) franchise... with fans who have high expectations of them.

__________________
1) You can't win.
2) You can't break even.
3) You can't leave the game.

Not really. A crybaby piece of arm candy wouldn't have done what Tyrande did in that story. If that's all she was in that story, Tyrande wouldn't have gone to the ruins of Feathermoon to try to rescue Shandris. Arm candy wouldn't have personally commanded an army like in Wolfheart.

__________________

Arthas' story has been fully explained with him routing out Ner'Zhul's personality and explains no redemption with the heart questline. Deathwing is beyond redemption because he has completely sided with the old gods and seeks the destruction of the world, and we see this through End Time. These were true villians, and their deaths were warranted and conclusive.

Illidan is a misguided hero. He was a pawn of the Legion, but he's still a Demon Hunter. Unless he threw that out the window, it is a title that makes his character interesting.

All Demon Hunters are chaotic good archetypes. They will make big sacrifices to achieve a greater goal, personal or otherwise. Just because Illidan was working for the Legion doesn't mean he is loyal to them. He may have been a corrupt, power-hungry madman, but his real motivations have never been explained to the point where we know he was beyond redemption. His thirst for power and chaos is part of the job description. I feel like if this was better explained that it would be a better end for him.

Some of the new quests hint at new theories (Old God corruption?) but it's still ambiguous whether Illidan actually planned to do anything to right his wrongs with the power he gained. Like kill the demon/old god masters. Fight fire with fire, exactly what a Demon Hunter does.

Illidan wasn't working with the Legion in TBC.

__________________

This. The charm of Illidan is that he's such a flawed character. He can't get anything right because he's such a narcissistic asshat that simply cannot let things go any way but his own. He's a tool, he's a moron, and he's a hothead. He's pretty damn awesome.


That said, allow me to quote Arthas "Doesn't anyone stay dead anymore?"

__________________

I think you don't like Illidan. While I disagree with some of what you said, I hope that if he returns, Blizzard will have him mature through having been dead for an extended period of time. If death doesn't give you some form of re-prioritizing or transcendence of silly mortal issues (magical power, love that is not returned), then I don't know what will. I do recall that his corruption was also due to Old God's whispering in his hear, making him insecure about everything, but I hope that this will not carry over. I want Illidan matured and useful dang nabit! I like the OP's direction on it.

__________________
"to be disappointed in self is to have trusted in self"

Can people go crazy without Old Gods ? Illidan had lots of reasons to go insane.

__________________

Sure you can go crazy without the Oldgods, heres some other popular established reasons.

Kil'Jaden is manipulating you.
Ner'zhul is manipulating you.
Mysterious Crystals are manipulating you that may or may not be related to Oldgods.
Sha, doing Sha stuff.
Demonic possession.

An easy way to excuse Illidan's madness would be Gul'dan. BtDP implied that his spirit was housed within his Skull and Illidan did gain his memories.

__________________

He had Old Gods whispering insanity into his ears. He had golden eyes, which made him feel a lot of pressure to make a large contribution to Night Elf society. He loved a woman who ignored him and slowly fell in love with his twin brother who didn't give a crap about her until later. Have any of you desired a woman who desired a guy who didn't give a crap? It's one of the worst feelings in the world. He also was demonized for doing what needed to be done in Felwood and various instances. One thing that pisses me off about BC is that the claim by Malfurion is that Illidan went insane due to losing to Arthas. 10,000 years in prison and everything is A-Okay. One loss in battle and absolute insanity? Shenanigans!

__________________
"to be disappointed in self is to have trusted in self"

He failed one of the most evil beings in existence TWICE. Listen to his dialogue again in TFT, ''I swore to destroy it Arthas. It must be done!''. He was DESPERATE at that point. Plus, he was basically sitting in Outland waiting for KJ to get him. Imagine his thoughts of being tortured in a hellish realm for eternity. Imagine his sanity breaking more, and more, when his forces are destroyed by Azeroth invaders. His supposed ''defenses'' against KJ, being annihilated by mere mortals.

__________________

Yep the whole TBC Illidan thing was a horrible debacle. They didn't even need the "went crazy" BS, all I needed was a little you know... actual story, of which we got very little. At this point, it seems like every end expansion target is being killed because they are crazy. Illidan, Crazy because he can't handle a loss. Arthas, batshit insane to think is dumb plan would work. Deathwing, retardedly insane to goofy levels. Garrosh, seemingly has always been insane to the point of schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder and bipolar disorder... but its cool he's just going to keep riding the crazy rails.

That explanation isn't half bad. My only question is since when does Illidan buckle down before impossible odds? He betrayed Sargeras for goodness sake. I get what you are saying, but I'd think he'd do something more... effective than enslaving Broken, corrupting Orcs, and hiding in a castle in Shadowmoon Valley. He should have hid in a hut like Yoda or cave like Obi Wan, less conspicuous.


I agree. The saddest part is that Deathwing was written AWESOME in the War of the Ancients. I was literally afraid of the guy, he was super cunning. Cataclysm Deathwing: PAIN, AGONY, RARRRRRR. I get it was time to unleash destruction, but a hint of his super cunning and absolute paranoia would have been awesome.

__________________
"to be disappointed in self is to have trusted in self"

I wouldn't call Arthas crazy. Just a spoiled brat.

__________________

The loss made him paranoid, because he was afraid K'J was going to kick his ass for it. And I wouldn't be surprised if that slash from Frostmourne did wacky magical things to his mind.

__________________

I would have loved it if he died in that fight... it would have been a much better use for him.

Well, he was either oh so willing to serve Kil'jaeden before TFT, or desperately saving his ass...



Also, lets not forget that even in TFT, after defeating Magtheridon, he's all "Outland and all of its denizens will bow to me." "I am your lord and master! Illidan reigns supreme!". So yeah, he was a bit unhinged in the "I own this planet" thing (Lord and master? Sounds like godhood aspirations to me), and shows that actually, invading Shattrath wasn't a "lolinsane" moment- he was just protecting his kingdom. All the Alliance and Horde armies? Invaders in his land, trying to destroy his kingdom. Night elf allies among them? Tyrande and Malfurion have betrayed him, and are now trying to kill him. It's a shame that he didn't get out more- there are so many reasons why he should have done what he did, that really, to brand him as forced off as insane for purplz is to ignore what had gone before- especially the Gul'dan skull corruption, general demonic corruption, signing up with KJ... He wasn't exactly stable even before Froutmourne likely ruined his soul, and signalled his failure to serve Kil'jaeden.

In BC, he was basically trying to combine hiding from Kil'jaeden with showing off the fact that, at last, he had finally managed to get people to love him and to follow him. The combination of someone trying to hide desperately, while being a colossal showoff who'd finally achieved a lifetime's ambition, anything like Shattrath or Azerothian invaders being a challenge to his ego, his new world.

__________________
It's all in the mind y'know

He did, from a certain point of view.

__________________

The fact that he had actually won the fight until Frostmourne went all Vorpal Blade probably didnt help his mind either.

I like to imagine the dark energies of Frostmourne did a number on Illidan while he was unconscious and that contributed partially to his insanity.

That makes a helluva lot more sense than 'oh yeah, he just went mad for the lulz.'

__________________