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On August 04 2010 13:26 Pandain wrote:
Now with Kerrigan being humanified and having no Overmind or zerg leader, I've been left wondering whos going to be the main character in heart of the swarm. Unless Blizzard does some dumb thing where they have to show "flashbacks" of Kerrigan becoming a zerg again, I've been forced to conclude that there's going to be a new character in Heart of the Swarm, much like how in Brood War you were a new cerebrate.
Obviously a human can't(read: shouldn't) be the one controlling the zerg. If the UED was still around and still enslaving the Overmind, that would've been a possibility but with the current state of the campaign I just don't see who's going to be the Jim Raynor of Heart of the Swarm.
Any thoughts?
HotS could be *backstory* (remember, all of the Protoss missions in the SP campaign were played from Zeratul's POV *prior* to his showing up on the Hyperion) covering the entire period between BW and WoL (that's a four year gap, folks) and what was going on with Kerrigan amidst the Zerg.
*Someone* royally screwed over the Zerg Overmind (Zeratul *and* Tassadar agree on that). Arcturus Mengsk played the Zerg against the Confederacy (that is straight from the BW backstory, and WoL vindicates it) and definitely wanted Sarah Kerrigan dead (for the age-old reason of her Knowing Too Much); in fact, Mengsk wanted *Raynor* just as dead (Arcturus, *not* Valerian).
Here's the other interesting storyline - the connection between Arcturus Mengsk, the Hybrids, and the Zerg Overmind (in fact, the Zerg as a whole) being royally screwed over. There is *definitely* a connection (according to as diverse a crew as Valerian Mengsk, Zeratul and Tassadar; remember, Zeratul told Jim Raynor to make sure that Sarah Kerrigan stayed alive). Now, Sarah is very much alive (and has all sorts of Incriminating Information in her head; not the least of which is the major part of how Arcturus Mengsk used the Zerg against the Confederacy (and to an extent, the Dominion as well); it is extremely possible that the ultimate blame for *everything* that Sarah Kerrigan did as Queen of Blades could be laid at Arcturus Mengsk' feet (which gives the man even more reason to want her dead; crimes against humanity usually leads to a date with a wall full of holes)). There is also the very real possibility that Sarah has additional information inside her head (possibly regarding how badly the Overmind got screwed over, and who/what did the screwing) that the Protoss, if not the Zerg, would be very interested in (it's pretty certain that the Zerg would be rather horked off to find that they were used).
Basically, the tie-up (in the third part of the cycle, which concentrates on the Protoss, but will likely have some Zerg and Terran sections) could well revolve around the hunt for Arcturus Mengsk (by Raynor and Kerrigan, by the Protoss (possibly) and even by the Zerg) with all three races landing squarely and ultimately on his head.
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There's no doubt in my mind that HotS main character will be Kerrigan.
My theory is that she'll have to willingly give up on her restored humanity in order to keep the swarm in check. The reasoning is that Blizzard's writers aren't really creative lately, and basically make the same thing in Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft universe. The diablo1 hero tried to hold the demon and got corrupted, Bolvar is somewhat controlling the Scourge, and Kerrigan will have to give up on a happy life with Raynor in order to save the galaxy from the hybrids.
Unless Blizzard fire their predictable writer(s), I'm guessing Kerrigan and Duran will be fighting for control over the swarm on one side, while both Mengks will try to pull nasty stuff on her & Raynor on the other front. Zeratul might be helping with giving her back her power, with another (omg surprise) artifact or crystal of some sort. Raynor will be reluctantly helping her knowing there won't be any coming back, but at least he'll forgive himself after a stupidly melodramatic scene where she tells him everything is okay!
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On August 06 2010 04:06 Phrencys wrote:
There's no doubt in my mind that HotS main character will be Kerrigan.
My theory is that she'll have to willingly give up on her restored humanity in order to keep the swarm in check. The reasoning is that Blizzard's writers aren't really creative lately, and basically make the same thing in Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft universe. The diablo1 hero tried to hold the demon and got corrupted, Bolvar is somewhat controlling the Scourge, and Kerrigan will have to give up on a happy life with Raynor in order to save the galaxy from the hybrids.
Unless Blizzard fire their predictable writer(s), I'm guessing Kerrigan and Duran will be fighting for control over the swarm on one side, while both Mengks will try to pull nasty stuff on her & Raynor on the other front. Zeratul might be helping with giving her back her power, with another (omg surprise) artifact or crystal of some sort. Raynor will be reluctantly helping her knowing there won't be any coming back, but at least he'll forgive himself after a stupidly melodramatic scene where she tells him everything is okay!
Blech. Blizzard is full of fools if they have Kerrigan get re-infested. It would completely invalidate the entire WOL campaign. I've no doubt she'll undergo a lot of changes in HoTS, I'm fine with that as long as she remains human. After everything Raynor and Kerrigan suffered together, they've earned their happy ending. If Blizzard doesn't deliver, then f*** them and their progeny 
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On August 06 2010 04:15 TheBigJ wrote:Blech. Blizzard is full of fools if they have Kerrigan get re-infested. It would completely invalidate the entire WOL campaign. I've no doubt she'll undergo a lot of changes in HoTS, I'm fine with that as long as she remains human. After everything Raynor and Kerrigan suffered together, they've earned their happy ending. If Blizzard doesn't deliver, then f*** them and their progeny
If Blizzard has one consistency in their predictable storylines is that EVERY single somewhat happy ending has to come with a sacrifice.
They use these sacrifices as "cliffhangers". D1 hero sacrificed himself with the soulstone, in D2 Tyriel destroyed the world stone, Tassadar went kamikaze against the Overmind, Raynor killed Tychus to save Kerrigan...
I wouldn't count on that happy ending with angels and balloons floating around to celebrate Raynor and Kerrigan finally making babies. Either Kerrigan will have to sacrifice her humanity to take control of the swarm again (in which case she'd become a monstruosity again, but more merciful) or she'll die at some point (in the Protoss campaign)
Raynor in shiny armor will be brief. Blizzard made it obvious that she wasn't totally reverted to human. There's no way in hell that she'll continue leading the Zerg against Hybrids alongside Terrans and Protoss while keeping her "cleansed" state.
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Just to clear up one point. And possible spoiler.
It seems a lot of people are assuming that Duran is a Xel'naga or that the Xel'naga are evil / behind the creation of the hybrids. They are in fact NOT evil. In fact they wouldn't hurt a fly. They refuse to kill anything, not even other evil creatures. Although it's true that they wanted the zerg and protoss to merge to continue the life cycle, it's unlikely that they were behind any of the events that transpired in the first two games.
The true evil, for those who haven't read the books, is the "Dark Void", which goes by many names. He is a Lovecraftian like super god who was imprisoned by the Xel'naga, and likely has Duran and Narud as his avatar. He is also the guy with the red eyes and shadowy face in the into the darkness mission.
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On August 04 2010 13 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04 2010 13 end_of_the_skype_highlighting:55 Logo wrote:
One thought that occurred to me is maybe Tychus will become an infected Terran. Raynor and co leave is body there (really what choice do they have) and then run into him later.
I doubt he'll be the main character though
who would infect him? all the zerg was purified
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On August 05 2010 14:11 On_Slaught wrote:
I disagree with the person who said that Kerrigan is a combination of 3 races. The artifact was not protoss but xelnaga. So no protoss elements were infused into her. Rather, the reason the combination of her and the zerg works is because she is probably the most powerul human psychic ever. This puts here on level with a protoss and provides the necessary elements for a combination. I dunno whether or not she is human will make much difference but it might. We'll see.
Well I'd actually say she is part of all races due to her psionic capabilities which are more a similarity to the Protoss than actually being related. Though it would still stand that she has an element of something signature of each race.
Also no way Tychus is going to be infested. It would mean there was somehow left over zerg or Kerrigan infests him later. It would also mean that Raynor just left his body on Char which would be a really surprising thing for him to do since they were friends. They purified all the Zerg, they had plenty of time. Raynor carried out Kerrigan so he couldn't carry out Tychus personally but some of his four other marines could carry him out.
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On August 06 2010 04:06 Phrencys wrote:
There's no doubt in my mind that HotS main character will be Kerrigan.
My theory is that she'll have to willingly give up on her restored humanity in order to keep the swarm in check. The reasoning is that Blizzard's writers aren't really creative lately, and basically make the same thing in Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft universe. The diablo1 hero tried to hold the demon and got corrupted, Bolvar is somewhat controlling the Scourge, and Kerrigan will have to give up on a happy life with Raynor in order to save the galaxy from the hybrids.
Unless Blizzard fire their predictable writer(s), I'm guessing Kerrigan and Duran will be fighting for control over the swarm on one side, while both Mengks will try to pull nasty stuff on her & Raynor on the other front. Zeratul might be helping with giving her back her power, with another (omg surprise) artifact or crystal of some sort. Raynor will be reluctantly helping her knowing there won't be any coming back, but at least he'll forgive himself after a stupidly melodramatic scene where she tells him everything is okay!
That might have flown. except that WoL paved the way for *backstory missions* (the entire Protoss sub-campaign is backstory, and all happened during that gap between BW and WoL/between BW and Zeratul showing up on the Hyperion). Because of some details that we now have confirmed (not only did Arcturus Mengsk screw Sarah Kerrigan over, and tried to have her knocked off, he may well be complicit in screwing over the Zerg Overmind), at least some Protoss are horked off at Mengsk (if it turns out that Arcturus is complicit in the creation of the Hybrids, then it is pretty darn certain that even more Protoss will be rather upset with the man). The Zerg (as a species) are not yet aware as to how much they have been used, as the details are locked inside either Sarah Kerrigan's head, or Jim Raynor's head.
The Mengsks - At the least, Valerian and Arcturus, despite being father and son, are at serious loggerheads, and it may well get far worse than it already is. Arcturus wanted Valerian to *fail* on Char (and that was before he found out that Jim Raynor was Valerian's ace in the hole!); worse, he has no idea how much Raynor knows about his machinations (including setting up Kerrigan). Raynor finding that old Adjutant was dead useful; however, finding, rescuing, and curing Sarah Kerrigan was a major prize; inside Sarah's head is literally the information Jim needs to put Arcturus Mengsk up against a nice wall full of holes. If there is any evidence at all linking Arcturus Mengsk and the Hybrids (while Jim Raynor may not have that, Sarah Kerrigan just might), Valerian may well *protect* Raynor and Sarah from "daddy not-so-dearest".
If my theory (and it's just that; *my* theory) holds up, HotS could well be a narrative from Sarah Kerrigan's POV of her time as Queen of Blades (along with some of her last days as a Ghost before the Zerg captured her); especially if there is any linkage between Arcturus Mengsk and the Hybrids (which would also link Mengsk to those radical Protoss that both Raynor and Zeratul tangled with in WoL). That theory could therefore set up a grand original SC/BW faceoff between the core races (Terrans under Valerian Mengsk/Raynor/Kerrigan, the horked-off core Zerg, and the core Protoss), vs. Mengsk's co-opted Terrans/Protoss/Zerg and the Hybrids in part three.
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On August 05 2010 04:04 Last Romantic wrote:
SC1 you were
Terran Magistrate
Cerebrate (Killed by Tassadar)
Artanis
Selendis
UED Captain (killed by Kerrigan)
Cerebrate (killed by Kerrigan)
Ya, this was Blizzard's attempt of revisionists history to try and make the canon make sense. It's clear that they didn't quite think ahead well enough, and there is tons of conflicting evidence. For one, if you were Artanis in SC (of which I don't deny Blizzard NOW wants us to think) than why was he demoted to Prelete, shouldn't killing the Overmind be impressive on your resume? Artanis is constantly portrayed as young and naive, yet, Fenix says in SC 1 "executor, although we have marched over countless worlds together. . ." implying that you are an experience veteran even if you are the new executor.
Also, I refuse to believe the official canon for aesthetic reasons. The idea of Kerrigan claiming the same cerebrate that was made for the sole purpose of protecting her, not only makes sense (why would she trust any other cerebrate), but is a very cool concept and creates congruency for the PCs which is very lacking. Also, no way am I pretending to be a female executor or a rookie Prelete. Plus I like the idea of being a Magistrate, so I pretend there is a unseen character on the Hyperion in SC2 calling the action who has stuck with Raynor through out.
It's clear that when SC was first made, it wasn't intended to be a fleshed out universe, rather it was a hodgepodge of lore, created over time, that became a universe. So the playerhas to fill in a lot of the gapes, and correct a lot of the conflicting or unrealistic data. Even the time line has problem; like "The Great War" lasting less than a year (we've been in Iraq for how long know)? Plus Raynor is only 34 in SC2, yet is portrayed as a greying and aging man. I know some people who haven't aged well, but none quite as bad as Raynor. Espeically if it's 500 years in the future, and we already making head way in technology that can slow down the aging process. But that's the comic nerd in me, one has to suspend one's disbelief.
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Does anyone know what the area of effect was on the final blast of the artifact? Is all of char now zerg-free? That could have a pretty big effect on things.
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Please...
In the end (credits) it clearly states in the thank you part: "YOUR MOM". And seeing she has not been introduced yet I am willing to bet she is the main character of the sql. Not giving the best odds tho but still..
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On August 06 2010 04:32 Phrencys wrote:Show nested quote +On August 06 2010 04:15 TheBigJ wrote:Blech. Blizzard is full of fools if they have Kerrigan get re-infested. It would completely invalidate the entire WOL campaign. I've no doubt she'll undergo a lot of changes in HoTS, I'm fine with that as long as she remains human. After everything Raynor and Kerrigan suffered together, they've earned their happy ending. If Blizzard doesn't deliver, then f*** them and their progeny If Blizzard has one consistency in their predictable storylines is that EVERY single somewhat happy ending has to come with a sacrifice. They use these sacrifices as "cliffhangers". D1 hero sacrificed himself with the soulstone, in D2 Tyriel destroyed the world stone, Tassadar went kamikaze against the Overmind, Raynor killed Tychus to save Kerrigan... I wouldn't count on that happy ending with angels and balloons floating around to celebrate Raynor and Kerrigan finally making babies. Either Kerrigan will have to sacrifice her humanity to take control of the swarm again (in which case she'd become a monstruosity again, but more merciful) or she'll die at some point (in the Protoss campaign) Raynor in shiny armor will be brief. Blizzard made it obvious that she wasn't totally reverted to human. There's no way in hell that she'll continue leading the Zerg against Hybrids alongside Terrans and Protoss while keeping her "cleansed" state.
As I said, then Blizzard are fools. I'm not going to pay for a story that's going to make me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a rusted spoon.
As I said, after everything they've suffered together, if Raynor and Kerrigan don't get their happy ending, then Blizzard can go to hell.
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I really don't see how people keep missing that Narud = Duran. For cry'n out loud, its the same name SPELLED BACKWARDS. Even if he's not Duran, he's probably the same thing Duran was. Come on guys! How many of you had a nickname/handle at one point that was the name of something spelled backwards? (Ok, maybe just me ...)
Also, someone had made the somewhat obscure and debatable connection that Emil spelled backwards is Lime, which can have the meaning to whitewash/clean something in a mixture of lime and water, possibly referring to his "white" color as being a cover. Thus, Lime Duran (Emil Narud) is a whitewashed Duran. It makes sense but seems a bit of a stretch to me there. Maybe the guys at Blizzard were just paying homage to Michael Jackson.
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On August 06 2010 06:12 TheBigJ wrote:
As I said, then Blizzard are fools. I'm not going to pay for a story that's going to make me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a rusted spoon.
As I said, after everything they've suffered together, if Raynor and Kerrigan don't get their happy ending, then Blizzard can go to hell.
This is the epitome of everything wrong with our culture. This is why Disney methodically ruined every classic in the literary canon. People are unable to recognize the function of art, which is to unite the viewer with either human suffering (tragedy) or human joy (comedy), and NOT to serve poetic justice in every single story.
Perhaps you would have liked it better if Hamlet avenged his father then lived happily ever after (see the Lion King), if so then I suggest you stick with Disney and leave real literature to the adults.
(not to imply that I am remotely comparing Blizzard to Shakespeare or saying that SC is literature or even art. Just pointing out the mentality implied in this post)
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On August 06 2010 06:53 fathead wrote:Show nested quote +On August 06 2010 06:12 TheBigJ wrote:
As I said, then Blizzard are fools. I'm not going to pay for a story that's going to make me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a rusted spoon.
As I said, after everything they've suffered together, if Raynor and Kerrigan don't get their happy ending, then Blizzard can go to hell. This is the epitome of everything wrong with our culture. This is why Disney methodically ruined every classic in the literary canon. People are unable to recognize the function of art, which is to unite the viewer with either human suffering (tragedy) or human joy (comedy), and NOT to serve poetic justice in every single story. Perhaps you would have liked it better if Hamlet avenged his father then lived happily ever after (see the Lion King), if so then I suggest you stick with Disney and leave real literature to the adults. (not to imply that I am remotely comparing Blizzard to Shakespeare or saying that SC is literature or even art. Just pointing out the mentality implied in this post)
Good books or good stories that happen to be video games are intended to be escapist. As you say, they aren't art and the developers shouldn't try to make it that. I indulge in such things to be entertained, not depressed. I think we got more than enough tragedy from Starcraft 1.
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I must say I envy you if you manage to feel so strongly that a fictional character "deserves" a happy ending. Personally I find "and they lived happily ever after" endings to be extremely unfullfilling.
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I'm crazy but...why is the overmind pulsating in Zertaul's mission? Why is it even protected? The Zerg under Kerrigan would have no reason to protect it and it should be just a corpse by now. I think that 1. Kerrigan still has some zergy parts(she can survive char without clothes for crying out loud!). 2. The overmind is the way to win the war, but Kerrigan needs to revive it there for making her the "key". The newly revived overmind will attempt to make peace with the protoss and Kerrigan will merg with the protoss and zerg, creating an even stronger hybrid then the ones that Duran posses
Just my 2 cents
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Tychus is dead. Stop talking about him. His story ends here!
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i thought kerrigan got her psionic ability augmented through a powerful crystal. The Xel'Naga artifact may have reversed the infestation but not her psionic ability (because the nova only hurt zergs after all). I don' think blizzard is creative enough to give a satisfying reason for changing Kerrigan though
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On August 05 2010 04:04 Last Romantic wrote:
SC1 you were
Terran Magistrate
Cerebrate (Killed by Tassadar)
Artanis
Selendis
UED Captain (killed by Kerrigan)
Cerebrate (killed by Kerrigan)
you were not Artanis in Starcraft. There is no evidence that Artanis was ever an Executor. He is appointed praetor following the death of the Overmind, and it doesn't say what he did before that. Furthermore in SC:BW his line "I am not worthy even to speak his name" (referring to Tassadar) is not characteristic of someone who helped him out of a good number of tight spots. It would make more sense if they were never acquainted.
Also, Selendis can't be the second Protoss Executor. If you beat Selendis in SC2, she says "you are as cunning as the stories say" which wouldn't make sense if they had already worked together to ensure the Protoss evacuation. Also, in both SC and SC:BW Fenix's manner imo is generally indicative of you being old friends, making me think that you are the same Executor in both games, especially considering that you are never greeted as a new executor and it seems like for all the world like the Protoss only ever have one executor at a time. This last would definitely explain why there is a distinct need to replace Tassadar before the start of the first Protoss campaign.
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EPT
