Thursday, September 5, 2013

Why I don't think Garrosh Hellscream should die in 5.4

I won't lie, I'm hating the Hellscream family a lot right now.

I've got Grom Hellscream making his orc brethren turn into demonic versions of themselves and turning against his 'brother' Thrall in Warcraft 3, and his son, Garrosh Hellscream, who keeps on killing me in the beta game Hearthstone. Not to mention, there will be an all-out war against Garrosh come Patch 5.4 in World of Warcraft.

If I had to pick between them though, I would choose Grom hands down, for the sole reason that he actually chose to sacrifice himself at the end for Thrall and his orc brothers, ridding the orc race of their demonic corruption by killing the vile pit lord Mannoroth, who tainted a river of water with his blood (long story XD)

Garrosh Hellscream on the other hand, while I can applaud his love and dedication for his brothers, has now (I think) just gone mad with power, to the point that he just doesn't care about anyone or anything, only using them so he can gain more power in the process.

I've done my best to understand why he's like this in WoW lore, even going back and doing the first Mag'har quests in Garadar with him as a completely depressed individual, who was shameful on what his dad before him had done to his race with the whole demonic corruption thing.

After Thrall came to Garadar himself and told Garrosh what his father Grom had done (via a shamanistic vision), and his ultimate sacrifice, Garrosh himself felt uplifted in the fact that his dad HAD done something right in the end, that he had chosen his own path for his people.

Feeling renewed, and with all the qualities that his father had inherited - strength and courage definitely -, he and Thrall traveled to the icy lands of Northrend to begin the campaign against the Lich King. (At least, I'm assuming this is where they headed after the two reconciled).

With Thrall keeping watch over his Horde, he put Garrosh in charge of the Northrend campaign, and this is where I think he started to slip. Armed with the fact that he could be as awesome as his dad, and with the 'I-can-do-anything-I-want-don't-tell-me-off' abilities as a leader, he would definitely start to make some rather brash decisions on what and how he wanted to kill the Lich King. (Just see what he does with the Northrend map when you get to Warsong Hold in Borean Tundra!)

So after the Lich King was defeated in Northrend, he definitely started to feel pretty powerful at this point, thinking he could do anything, or overthrow anybody that tried to rise up against him - especially when Thrall stepped down and Garrosh became Warchief of the Horde. To me, there's also the underlying fact that Garrosh (now aware of his father's actions against Mannoroth and his race's salvation), wants in someway to prove to Grom that he's worthy of the Hellscream name.

Having said that, you can clearly see the way Garrosh acts when Taran Zhu in the Patch 5.4 trailer below (1:12 mark) taunts him about his dad, and how angry that comment makes him.



Now with nothing standing in his way, Garrosh is ready to take on the world, turning his attention towards the continent of Pandaria, and seizing the resources (and weapons), of the land so he can better use them against his enemies, or as he puts it - "anyone that stands against my NEW Horde!"

Which brings me to next week when WoW Patch 5.4: The Siege of Orgrimmar, is released. Yes, Garrosh Hellscream is the last boss in this particular instance, and I'm totally looking forward to kicking his butt!

Like many others, I can't wait to get my revenge on him for everything he has done over his life against the world and people of Azeroth - there are too many innocents to count, not to mention turning particular favourite characters against me, and beautiful locations to desolate wastelands (not going to say here, spoilers :P)

But, as much as I want this angry, evil-mad character to die, I think that would be a mistake lore wise. And here's my own opinions why:

I think Garrosh expects to die in the end - The Horde is all about honor, orcs even more so. The well-spoken Horde phrase, 'LOK'TAR OGAR!' or 'VICTORY OR DEATH!', is not just a bunch of words. When a person wants to sign up with the Horde, they swear a blood oath to those words, meaning you either get through a battle and be victorious, or die an honorable death.

Obviously, the new patch won't have a scenario where Garrosh WILL win - too bad evil characters always go down one way or another -, but to have him killed at the end of the new raid is, I think, a cheating way to end the Garrosh storyline, and wouldn't justify this guy's struggle with his own identity and who he is.

Also, and I know everyone is thinking this, there's no doubt that Vol'jin will attempt to get Garrosh back for what was done to him (Dagger in the Dark scenario), among other things with the trolls. But what if say, Vol'jin kills Garrosh... what then? Vol'jin would be happy he's dead, but he'd turn out no better a murderer than Garrosh, not to mention the guilt that would follow by killing him.

True, Garrosh is such a powerfully evil character right now with an enormous army, and a various array of all-powerful weapons at his disposal, not to mention he plans to dominate the whole of Azeroth (bad-guy cliche), so maybe the world would be better if he was dead. Still, I think that would cheapen the story somewhat.

This is what I'd do. When I attack Orgrimmar next week with my friends and comrades who are against Garrosh, I'll wipe out his army, make a beeline for his fortress or wherever he's holding up, and imprison him, or trap him, just somewhere he won't be able to do anymore damage. Yes, you could have the choice to kill him, but I'm sure that's what he'd want, to die honorably.

But to keep him alive, imprisoned, while his fortress, his army, his POWER... is stripped from him, would just downright humiliate Garrosh. To be kept alive, but lose the battle, and not given an honorable death on the battlefield, would go against everything his beliefs and that of the Horde's would stand for.

No victory. No death. Just imprisonment. I also think keeping him alive would be the most moral thing to do, and in doing so, would free people like Vol'jin (if he does end up killing Garrosh), from the guilt, not to mention not giving Garrosh what he wants... an honorable death, or a quick death at least.

I have a few more thoughts on this, but it would involve spoilers from the new 5.4 raid, which I might bring up after it's been released :)

If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading my thoughts on Garrosh's 'demise', and hope it all makes sense to you ^_^

Please feel free to leave some comments and tell me what you think should happen to Garrosh next patch! :)

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