sport and news: Know Your Lore: The long game of the naaru, part 1

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Know Your Lore: The long game of the naaru, part 1

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Have you ever noticed that people hate good?

It's funny, and perhaps it's a sign of the times we live in. So many supposedly good people have failed us in some basic way, or used "being good" to excuse really bad behavior, or covered for greed, culpability, fanaticism, or other negatives with a veneer of saintliness. Good doesn't sizzle. And the naaru are very troublesome in this regard, because everything they've done so far appears to be absolutely selfless and beneficial. So from the cynical, modern perspective, the search begins for a string attached.

I'm picking a bit on my colleague Anne Stickney here, who I have (in jest) accused of being a double agent for Sargeras in the past. I'm also picking on Rades, because I just woke up and saw on Twitter that he'd written a "the naaru are secretly evil" post, and my response to that is visceral. I'm very weary of attempts to force the naaru into the role of villain, a role they simply do not fit. At this point, making the naaru secretly evil would be yet another of the "seemingly noble person or persons falls to evil" stories, basically. I think we've had enough of that.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: The long game of the naaru, part 1

Filed under: Lore