“I do not have proof, but I have my suspicions. I cannot approve of the action.” “Well, of course you can’t,” Jaina said, looking at him uncertainly. “Thrall, what’s wrong?” He sighed. “I cannot approve of it,” he repeated, “but I will not do as Varian demands.” She stared at him for a moment, mouth slightly open in shock. “What do you mean? Varian believes you deliberately broke the treaty. His request wasn’t unreasonable, and he will have the perfect excuse to escalate the situation. We could be looking at outright war!” He held up a large green hand. “Please. Listen to me. I will send a letter to Varian, stating that I did not condone the incursion. I will seek out those responsible. I’ve no desire for war. But I cannot apologize for the violence, nor will I turn over any suspects to the Alliance. They are Horde. They will be judged by Horde. To give them to Varian-no. It is a betrayal of my people’s trust on far too many levels. And frankly … it is wrong. Varian would never stand for such a request from me, nor should he.” “Thrall, if you didn’t give the order, then you’re not responsible, and-” “But I am responsible. I lead my people. It is one thing to rebuke my people for violating a law. It is another to appear to attack their sense of self. Their very identity. You do not understand how the Horde thinks, Jaina,” Thrall said quietly. “That is one thing my unique upbringing granted me. To understand how things are perceived from both sides. My people hunger, they thirst for clean water, they must have wood for housing. They believe they were wronged when the night elves closed the trade routes. They see this unwillingness to fill basic needs as a brutal act-and someone, somewhere, decided to retaliate in kind.” “Slaughtering night elves and removing their skins is in-kind retaliation for closed trade?” Her voice rose. “Closed trade permits children to starve, to be exposed to the elements, to become sick. The logic … I can follow it. And so can others. If I were to condemn this attack openly, when it successfully provided something so desperately needed-it would seem as though I am condemning that need. I would look weak, and believe me, there are plenty who would like to take advantage of such a moment of perceived vulnerability. It is a treacherous path I walk, my friend. I must rebuke them-but only to a point. I will apologize for the violation of a treaty, but not for the theft, or even the murders or how they were performed.” “I am-disappointed that you choose this path, Thrall,” Jaina said, being completely honest. “Your opinion matters to me. It always does. Nonetheless, I will not grovel before Varian, nor play down the desperate survival needs of my people.”
His reasoning stays very IC, I think, even though it sounds terrible.
I consider it blatantly OOC. You're talking about someone who, upon getting to Kalimdor, was brokenhearted about needing to fight the Quillboar and more humans. Who believed his people were *better* than just bringers of war and destruction. Someone who has promoted peace and cooperation over and over again. Someone who was *friends* with the leaders of the night elves.
IC would have been saying that he would investigate it and punish those people because what they did is not and cannot be acceptable, ever.
And I fail to see how *trade* is causing sickness and exposure when they have an extremely large territory which they don't exploit properly (Azshara has forests, and until the goblins maim the land, the Horde appear to do nothing with it). If there were problems, why did no one address it?
Also, as a side note? Wars *take up* resources. Ask anyone whose country has been in a major war. Armies have no way to grow and harvest resources on their own, so they have to take it from the civilian population, who make due with less. THAT is why people were starving, not "trade". Because the Horde were at war and they took everything they needed to survive. While the farming efforts in Northrend were a nice try, not only did they clearly fail, but since the Horde have no bloody shipping lanes because Garrosh is a *moron*, the other thing they could get from Northrend, the lumber that Thrall claims is causing the Horde to collectively starve and grow sick, stays there too.
Sorry, I am unbelievably bitter about this book and its treatment of many of the characters as a whole. Particularly the idea that Thrall took his people to live in Durotar as "penance". If this is how Metzen treats his so-called favourite characters, I would rather be unpopular and obscure.
“I do not have proof, but I have my suspicions. I cannot approve of the action.”
“Well, of course you can’t,” Jaina said, looking at him uncertainly. “Thrall, what’s wrong?”
He sighed. “I cannot approve of it,” he repeated, “but I will not do as Varian demands.”
She stared at him for a moment, mouth slightly open in shock. “What do you mean? Varian believes you deliberately broke the treaty. His request wasn’t unreasonable, and he will
have the perfect excuse to escalate the situation. We could be looking at outright war!”
He held up a large green hand. “Please. Listen to me. I will send a letter to Varian, stating that I did not condone the incursion. I will seek out those responsible. I’ve no desire for war.
But I cannot apologize for the violence, nor will I turn over any suspects to the Alliance. They are Horde. They will be judged by Horde. To give them to Varian-no. It is a betrayal of my
people’s trust on far too many levels. And frankly … it is wrong. Varian would never stand for such a request from me, nor should he.”
“Thrall, if you didn’t give the order, then you’re not responsible, and-”
“But I am responsible. I lead my people. It is one thing to rebuke my people for violating a law. It is another to appear to attack their sense of self. Their very identity. You do not
understand how the Horde thinks, Jaina,” Thrall said quietly. “That is one thing my unique upbringing granted me. To understand how things are perceived from both sides. My people
hunger, they thirst for clean water, they must have wood for housing. They believe they were wronged when the night elves closed the trade routes. They see this unwillingness to fill basic
needs as a brutal act-and someone, somewhere, decided to retaliate in kind.”
“Slaughtering night elves and removing their skins is in-kind retaliation for closed trade?” Her voice rose.
“Closed trade permits children to starve, to be exposed to the elements, to become sick. The logic … I can follow it. And so can others. If I were to condemn this attack openly, when it
successfully provided something so desperately needed-it would seem as though I am condemning that need. I would look weak, and believe me, there are plenty who would like to
take advantage of such a moment of perceived vulnerability. It is a treacherous path I walk, my friend. I must rebuke them-but only to a point. I will apologize for the violation of a treaty,
but not for the theft, or even the murders or how they were performed.”
“I am-disappointed that you choose this path, Thrall,” Jaina said, being completely honest.
“Your opinion matters to me. It always does. Nonetheless, I will not grovel before Varian, nor play down the desperate survival needs of my people.”
His reasoning stays very IC, I think, even though it sounds terrible.
Reply
Reply
And I guess I can see and understand the perspective. Still seems weird, but alas.
Thanks for this!
Reply
IC would have been saying that he would investigate it and punish those people because what they did is not and cannot be acceptable, ever.
And I fail to see how *trade* is causing sickness and exposure when they have an extremely large territory which they don't exploit properly (Azshara has forests, and until the goblins maim the land, the Horde appear to do nothing with it). If there were problems, why did no one address it?
Also, as a side note? Wars *take up* resources. Ask anyone whose country has been in a major war. Armies have no way to grow and harvest resources on their own, so they have to take it from the civilian population, who make due with less. THAT is why people were starving, not "trade". Because the Horde were at war and they took everything they needed to survive. While the farming efforts in Northrend were a nice try, not only did they clearly fail, but since the Horde have no bloody shipping lanes because Garrosh is a *moron*, the other thing they could get from Northrend, the lumber that Thrall claims is causing the Horde to collectively starve and grow sick, stays there too.
Sorry, I am unbelievably bitter about this book and its treatment of many of the characters as a whole. Particularly the idea that Thrall took his people to live in Durotar as "penance". If this is how Metzen treats his so-called favourite characters, I would rather be unpopular and obscure.
Reply
Leave a comment