When it comes to Warcraft lore, I can’t get enough of it. I love the stuff. Great story arcs, gorgeous settings, cool and exciting characters. However there a few characters in the lore who I’m fond of. In fact I find them intensely annoying! The funny thing is, its not the usual suspects like Garrosh Hellscream or Varian Wrynn (despite what I did to his face), essentially because whilst they can be annoying, they are annoying because of the flaws written into their character, which is totally acceptable. No, the ones that really piss me off are often the “good guys”. You know the ones, the guys who aren’t content with just being a hero and have to go around highlighting how made of win they are. So, in my next few posts I’m going to release my well-deserved fury on my top 3 nice-guy jerks of Warcraft. To start us off, this week I’ll be looking at A’dal.
Yes, A’dal! I’m not buying all this serenity and ‘agents of the Light’ crap. The Naaru as a species are not to be trusted. Any Babylon 5 fan will tell you that a race of ancient beings that act all benevolent and take on angelic qualities are most definitely up to something. Sure the Naaru oppose the Burning Legion, but that doesn’t automatically make them the good guys. In fact, their actions seem more than a bit suspicious to me. For a race that is apparently so humble and spiritual, they really seem to like accumulating zealous followers. Not content with an army of Draenei, they’ve now effectively taken control of the Blood Elf military and have made connections within the Argent Dawn. This subtle expansion of their sphere of influence is highly suspect. Oh, and not to mention that Naaru have a shadow/dark element as part of their natural life cycle. That’s right, its part of their biology that half the time they turn evil. Remind me why they’re so great again?
But I digress. A’dal really pisses me off because he/she/it is the poster boy/girl/thing of the Naaru PR machine. Always at the centre of key events in Outland, he (I’m gonna stick with he from now on) is always droning on about the Light and being good and holding hands. When you talk to him in Shattrath he grants you a feeling of warmth and serenity inside your mind. Yeah…. inside your mind – not a place I want anyone poking around, especially not giant space crystals who turn evil on Tuesdays! Essentially A’dal is an expert manipulator. He took command of the Draenei, and managed to arrange the take-over of Blood Elf forces, not once but twice. I mean, that whole thing with the Scryers suddenly switching to A’dals team does seem awfully suspect. I guess he was giving them serenity in their minds too….
A'dal and his buddies go to Northrend for a picnic.
Even worse, A’dal is a massive bloody hypocrite. as can be seen with his little cameo in Wrath of the Lich King. During the Crusader Bridenbrad quest chain, you are dispatched by the Argent Crusade to try and find some help for the noble Paladin, who is dying from the Plague of Undeath. A’dal is happy to help, and in fact shows up with some other Naaru in Icecrown, apparently shepherding Bridenbrad’s soul into wherever good Paladins go to when they die. So, that proves A’dal is a good guy right? Well, no actually. Because this little visit shows something else rather important. A’dal is able to quickly teleport over to Azeroth, more importantly into the heart of Scourge territory, seemingly with very little effort. So why the hell hasn’t he done this before? We’ve been fighting the Scourge for months, millions of lives are at stake and he’s had the power to help us the whole time. Has he? Of course not. Oh he’ll beam over for a hug and a cup of tea when we specifically ask him for a small favour, it makes him look like a big shot. I didn’t see him when thousands of heroes were dying in Northrend. Didn’t see a big Naaru coming in to help with the Wrathgate, or the assault on Icecrown Citadel. So much for the benevolent beings of Light.
Long story short: A’dal is a massive jerk, who just uses his glowy peaceful image to further his own selfish agenda. Quite frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if he munched on Bridenbrad’s tasty soul as soon as nobody was looking. He’s evil, manipulative, and its about time we hit him with a Goblin-built nuclear device! A reckoning is coming A’dal, mark my words!
The Naaru actually scare me quite a bit. It’s possible that their views on worshipping the Holy Light may be a bit on the extreme side as demonstrated by some of their followers in Shattrath. An arrakoa makes mention that his people must be blessed by A’dal and accept the Holy Light because anyone who doesn’t worship the Holy Light is simply a vessel for evil.
…WHAT THE HECK IS A’DAL TEACHING THEM?!?!
I love the theory of a’dal turning evil at some point, and i must agree.
one of the points people use to describe the goody’s are using the light but as we have been seen at the tauren pala quest, the light can be alot
i’d really like an antagonist whom uses light powers against us
could be a very original idea
I think you’re onto something here. A’dal as a raid boss would be brilliant!
It’s one of those “Everything happens for a reason” type things I think. A’dal probably could teleport over to Icecrown and eff up Arthas’ shit pretty easily, but chooses not to. Probably for the same reason the Bronze Dragonflight doesn’t go back in time and like. Kill Arthas as a baby or something. As dumb as the explanation is, they said there always has to be a Lich King. So it’s up to us and tirion and Bolvar to take care of that situation, becuase A’dal can’t take over as the lich king. Although it’d be pretty hilarious to see A’dal sitting on the frozen thrown with that little lich king helmet hanging off of him.
Lol, interesting imagery there.
But the things is, the Bronze Dragonflight have a very valid excuse – killing Arthas when he was a kid would mess up the timeline irrevocably, which causes even greater problems for the world.
The Naaru have no such responsibility, and have sworn themselves to the protection of all life, as part of their duty to the Light. Yet, they only seem to show up when it suits them. Whilst obviously I don’t expect A’dal to ‘do a Bolvar’, a Naaru on the battlefield against the Scourge would have been a massive boon. The overall outcome would be the same, but countless lives could have been spared in the march to Icecrown.
Everything happens for a reason seems to me what parents say to their kids when they’ve been caught breaking one of their own rules.
I agree.. he should have been at the Wrath Gate and saved poor ol’ Bolvar *sniffles*
I like your idea of him turning evil. Though I guess that would be too much work for Blizzard sadly having to remove him from his piedistal in Shattrah and everything. Still.. would have been some awesome lore right there
Draenei paladins suddenly.. hmm outcasts?
As an avid sci-fi tv show/movie watcher I have an aversion to things that seem too good to be true. The most recent example I can think of is the new “V” series on ABC. Those “visitors” are all good… right?
Also when I first met the Naaru… well… they seemed too good to be true and usually people/things like that cause more harm or great disappointment.
Then again I probably dislike the Naaru based on my bias against the Draenei and the impact they had on the Orc homeworld. After all it was the crystal light/dark beings that brought them there in the first place.
I can’t wait to see who else you have on the chopping block… Tirion perhaps?
[...] from the Barrens Chat has got A’dal all figured out. I just have to quote my favourite line here: “Oh he’ll beam over for a hug and a cup of [...]
Shiizin – as has been mentioned before (I forget where), Tirion actually is a bit of a bloodthirsty maniac: he set up a coliseum so people can fight gladiator-style to the death! Take the fight in ToC5 after the faction champions. Before you get to fight Paletress/Eadric, you have to kill (actually kill!) 9 weaklings who appear to be perfectly innocent!
And then in Crusader good old servant-of-the-light Tirion allows your raid to slaughter 6 or 10 of the Horde/Alliance’s finest fighters. Why? Aren’t we supposed to be in this together, to bring the Lich King down?
And let’s not mention the piles of Northrend Beasts he manages to come up with every week. He must have some kind of inside deal going with the Lich King to turn out countless armies of them for his own amusement. Ditto for the Val’kyrs.
[...] my hatred for Med’an and A’dal, of all the characters in Warcraft it’s Fordring who gets on my nerves the most. The reasons [...]
[...] they exposed my beloved Shaman class to the filthy Alliance; or perhaps it was because, like the cursed Naaru they hold so dear, the Draenei are just so disgustingly warm and fuzzy. They are probably the race [...]