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Hi folks.
I just finished reading up Flashpoint, the latest SC2 novel by Christie Golden. It bridges the gap between WoL and HotS. As they have already stated that HotS begins some time after the events of WoL we can assume that the events of this book will either only be kept within or else summarised at the start of the new campaign.
Below is a summary of what happens in chronological numbered order:
1) The book begins exactly at the end of WoL. Raynor lowers his smoking revolver and picks up Kerrigan.
2) Dropship evacs them off Char.
3) Mutalisks attack on route to Hyperion. They divert to the Bucephalus: Valerian's battlecruiser.
4) Kerrigan is drifting in and out of consiousness. She appears to have regained her human speech and personality, in addition to all her memories as Queen of Blades.
5) Confrontation in Bucephalus hanger bay. Valerian wants Kerrigan studied. Raynor does not.
6) Mengsk warps into the battle with the remaining half of the Dominion fleet.
7) Mengsk orders his son to kill Kerrigan and Raynor.
8) Valerian refuses. He says he wants to study Kerrigan so that the zerg can be defeated for good.
9) Mengsk wants to kill Kerrigan at all costs. He fires on the Bucephalus, willing to kill his son in the process.
10) Both halves of the Dominion fleet begin destroying each other. Valerians fleet, already crippled, gets torn apart.
11) The Hyperion and Bucephalis warp out to safety. Mengsk chases. Valerian loses the entire fleet of 25 battlecruisers. Only the Hyperion and Bucephalis remain.
12) They warp to Deadmans Port for refuge. Matt calls in a favour with Mira Han, who shelters both battlecruisers while they wait for the arrival of Valerians chief scientist, Dr Narud.
13) Kerrigan is regaining her senses while bed stricken.
14) Dr Narud arrives in Deadmans Port. They survive an assassination attempt orchested by the Hyperion bartender, 'Cooper', who remains undetected.
15) Both battlecruisers are under attack by mercenary wraiths. They warp out to the Kirekegaard asteroid belt. Hiding within is the top secret Mobeius facility, the Space Station Prometheus.
16) Kerrigan and Raynor reconcile. Kerrigan appears to be completely human, her presonality and looks Ghost-era, but her hair is still zerg like.
17) Kerrigan agrees to be studied at the Space Station so that they can remove the last zerg mutagens. She arrives along with Egon Stemann (Raynors Scientist), Valerian and Raynor. At this point of time Valerian has proven himself to be one of the good guys and wants to overthrow his father for the good of humanity (sounds familiar).
18) Kerrigan rests on a bed in a isolated ward. Raynor has a private dinner with Valerian and Narud. Stetmann goes to the labs.
19) Narud betrays everybody. He is working for Mengsk. Stetmann is captured and tied up. Raynor and Valerian are surrounded by marines. Kerrigan senses Raynor in danger and regains her full psionic abilities and begins destroying everything.
20) Valerian and Raynor kill the guards and escape, as does Narud with the Artifact (All-In, WoL). Kerrigan rescues Stetmann, who hides behind her for the rest of the novel.
21) Narud unleashes hybrids on Valerian, Raynor and Kerrigan, who are chasing him.
22) The final confrontation happens at the Space Station hanger port. Narud loads his artifact onto a dropship and escapes. A giant hybrid protects his escape in the hanger deck.
23) Mengsk's fleet warps in and destroys the asteroid belt. Both the Hyperion and Bucaphalus are under attack and playing warp around the battlecruiser to buy time.
24) A modified dropship from the Hyperion lands on the hanger deck. It is outfitted with manual guns, controlled by the Hyperion female engineer Annebelle (she is in the cutscenes of WoL and has a portrait in game?)
25) Kerrigan unleashes psionic nova. She kills the hybrid. She also accidently kills Annabelle.
26) They all hightail it out. The Bucaphalus and Hyperion picks them up and they evade capture by flying into stardust(?). They warp to a secure space station within the Umojan Protectorate.
27) After killing Annabelle, Kerrigan agrees to be extensively studied. She allows herself to be sealed in a semi gravity chamber and isolated (the same as can be seen in the HotS trailer).
28) The novel ends. Main points is Kerrigan and Raynors reconcilation. Valerian as a good guy. Kerrigan fully consious, self aware and human but retaining all* her memories. The only thing on her mind is revenge against Mengsk.
It can be assumed from the trailer that the immediate events following this is the insertion of Nova and her ghosts/spectres to locate Kerrigan. Kerrigan breaks free and decides that her best bet to kill Mengsk is to reunite the Swarm. Cue Heart of the Swarm.
*I should note that Kerrigan does not remember Narud, and that while I believe that Christie Golden alludes that she can remember everything else, this might not be actually true.
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Thanks for the summary. Few years ago, I would've bought the novel and just read it through, but now I don't have such time anymore. That said, both disappointed and glad how the plot developed: We all can ignore the novel like the plot never happened with the exception of Valerian confirming he wants to overthrow Mengsk once HotS is out. Those who actually play the campaign and didn't read the book won't be missing out much.
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Nice summary. Wanted to read it but i am not sure about it. Some interesting points tho. How come that Kerrigan wanted to remove all her Mutagen from her but still becomes the QoB again (in form at least)
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China6277 Posts
Plot hole: how could Kerrigan retain her memories as QoB but doesn't remember who Dr.Narud is? lol. And for the last part, the stardust created by Mengsk destroying the asteroid belt conceals both Hyperion and Bucephalis from scanners, so they would have time to regain energy and warp further into safety.
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Btw, Kerrigan hasn't the whole memory of the QoB time. That's nonsense. She doesn't remember Narud and she stated that she has forgotten many things. "What was i like? I remember doing terrible things...." Kerrigan with Izsha
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China6277 Posts
On December 30 2012 23:22 Denda Reloaded wrote: Btw, Kerrigan hasn't the whole memory of the QoB time. That's nonsense. She doesn't remember Narud and she stated that she has forgotten many things. "What was i like? I remember doing terrible things...." Kerrigan with Izsha
Yeah that makes sense.
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It is implied in the novel that she has retained her memories and that they are indeed vivid. The only part which she doesnt remember is Narud, of whom she can only remember because he has a very familiar "psionic presence".
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On December 30 2012 23:24 digmouse wrote:Show nested quote +On December 30 2012 23:22 Denda Reloaded wrote: Btw, Kerrigan hasn't the whole memory of the QoB time. That's nonsense. She doesn't remember Narud and she stated that she has forgotten many things. "What was i like? I remember doing terrible things...." Kerrigan with Izsha Yeah that makes sense.
irony? It was confirmed many times that Kerrkerr has amnesia and doesn't remember everything. not only narud.
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Russian Federation1607 Posts
Thanks for the summary! I wonder how Blizzard will describe these events in the beginning of the HotS campaign...
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Is annabelle the blonde or the brunette? One of them has the visor hat right
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On December 31 2012 02:30 Jenia6109 wrote: Thanks for the summary! I wonder how Blizzard will describe these events in the beginning of the HotS campaign...
Maybe it'll be described in an optional 4 part terran mini-campaign
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Russian Federation1607 Posts
On December 31 2012 03:00 Purind wrote:Show nested quote +On December 31 2012 02:30 Jenia6109 wrote: Thanks for the summary! I wonder how Blizzard will describe these events in the beginning of the HotS campaign... Maybe it'll be described in an optional 4 part terran mini-campaign I guess not because Blizzard talked nothing about it while they talked about Protoss mini-campaign in WoL for a long time.
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On December 31 2012 02:30 Jenia6109 wrote: Thanks for the summary! I wonder how Blizzard will describe these events in the beginning of the HotS campaign...
Maybe they will explain this during you install the game.
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As far as I am aware Kerrigan remembers everything except Narud. At the end of the book she perfectly recites some random words she said to Zeratul, and particurly this line:
"She had brought her memories with her."
She even despairs because she is able to remember everything.
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So she just randomly forgets darun so that they keep him in that 'mysterious character' role. terrible
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I think you missed a couple of the plot points, though most of your point was accurate.
+ Show Spoiler + 1. Kerrigan is teetering on the edge of insanity. Multiple times, Kerrigan let out gutteral screams when she would remember particular things she did as the Queen of Blades. She tried to hurt herself multiple times while she was being attended to on the way to the Prometheus space station.
2. I don't think that she is able to remember everything, at least throughout most of the book. It seems to me that she can only recall particularly powerful moments as the Queen of Blades: killing the mother and daughter and feeding them to the zerg, being physically changed into the Queen, her mind and heart being "expanded" by the swarm. That also explains why she doesn't remember Narud; she "recognized" him psionically and felt in danger when he was aboard the Prometheus. She does retain all of her memories as a human being.
3. Kerrigan has regained most of her personality back, but she is a woman completely torn in two: on the one hand she is still the newly independent freedom fighter trying to make the universe a better place, a woman who is in love with Jim Raynor. She even tells him that she still loves him. On the other hand is the remnants of the vengeful Queen, intent on destroying Mengsk for his betrayal. The last lines of the book summarize perfectly though: "Jim's bearded, beloved face drew farther and farther away. And then Sarah Kerrigan was alone with her thoughts and memories of love. Of love and the desire for revenge. And she could not have said which one was the sweeter."
4. The book also does go into detail of the circumstances of the relationship between Raynor and Kerrigan. It explores their first meeting, first date, Kerrigan revealing her true motivations for joining Mengsk, the pair entering a physical relationship, and Mengsk's reaction to the pair growing closer to each other (and less dependent on him).
5. Jim has deep, deep regrets throughout the novel about having to kill Tychus to save Sarah. As they leave Char and go to Deadman's Port, Raynor recalls several instances of his adventures with Tychus in the past and laments that there was no way to save his love and his friend.
Btw, Annabelle is the "Thatcher" portrait in WOL. She was the one whose brain exploded in her skull when Kerrigan killed the hybrid with her psionic powers.
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On December 31 2012 03:43 a176 wrote: So she just randomly forgets darun so that they keep him in that 'mysterious character' role. terrible
You could try paying attention instead of making assumptions, idk.
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The entire storyline with Tychus is poor anyway. I have read Heavens Devils and the followup. He was only post-BW included into the story as a char of apparently major historical significance to Raynor just so that someone was there to replace Kerrigan. Just not as pretty.
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Hey Man! Thanks for this summary
Sounds like a fun story to start HotS off with
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Wasn't Warfield on Valerian's side? How come he is in charge of Dominion forces on Char (according to the HotS previews) if his forces actually fought the Emperor's?
I'm disappointed that the Arcturus/Valerian relationship ends up being "Arcturus shoots Valerian, Valerian joins Raynor". It could have been a lot more interesting if Arcturus had cared for his son, or if Valerian himself had his own plans. Simply having a Valerian that is friendly to Kerrigan and Arcturus as a super bad guy willing to kill his own son feels... underwhelming.
There is also the notion that if the hated Emperor sends half the Dominion fleet to destroy the beloved prince's other half, that means Dominion civil war, but I have a feeling the story will never speak about this again. Arcturus has lost over half his armada around Char and the people are against him since Media Blitz, yet I bet the Dominion will still be stronger than ever in Heart of the Swarm. Anyone cares to wager?
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On December 31 2012 05:59 Telenil wrote: Wasn't Warfield on Valerian's side? How come he is in charge of Dominion forces on Char (according to the HotS previews) if his forces actually fought the Emperor's?
I'm disappointed that the Arcturus/Valerian relationship ends up being "Arcturus shoots Valerian, Valerian joins Raynor". It could have been a lot more interesting if Arcturus had cared for his son, or if Valerian himself had his own plans. Simply having a Valerian that is friendly to Kerrigan and Arcturus as a super bad guy willing to kill his own son feels... underwhelming.
There is also the notion that if the hated Emperor sends half the Dominion fleet to destroy the beloved prince's other half, that means Dominion civil war, but I have a feeling the story will never speak about this again. Arcturus has lost over half his armada around Char and the people are against him since Media Blitz, yet I bet the Dominion will still be stronger than ever in Heart of the Swarm. Anyone cares to wager?
1. I think Warfield was brought out of retirement by Valerian to lead the assault on Char. I don't think he knew that the secret mission, and the reason for Valerian to hire Raynor and Tychus to gather the pieces of the Artifact, was actually to save Sarah Kerrigan. It's probable that he defected back to the Dominion once he realized that the true objective was, or he was simply brought back out of retirement by Arcturus because he was a capable commander, "winning" the battle on Char.
2. Arcturus DID care about his own son, and had groomed him from the time he came to lead the Dominion to be his heir. That's why Valerian was able to bring half of the entire dominion fleet to Char; he is the heir apparent. Valerian contracted Raynor for the mission on Char with the express intent of saving Sarah Kerrigan so that she could fulfill the Xel'naga prophecy and save humanity from being destroyed by the Hybrids and Duran/Narud. It is never explained how Valerian is aware of the prophecy, as they are attacked by Arcturus before he can elaborate, but I suspect his knowledge will be explained in Heart of the Swarm. Mengsk is so intent on seeing Sarah Kerrigan dead that he would sacrifice his own son, the heir to his empire, in order to kill her. In fact, he repeatedly offered Valerian the chance to hand Kerrigan and Raynor over to him before he attempted to shoot down the Bucephalus.
3. I don't think it necessarily means Dominion civil war. If asked, Arcturus can claim that he was simply sending the other half of the fleet to help finish off the Zerg on Char. He even may use the event as propoganda to convince the people of the Dominion that he is in fact trying to save them. The only people who could say differently are the people that are actually on the Battlecruisers in the fleet, but as most of them have probably been resoc'd to obey the Emperor or are dead, it is possible that most of the Dominion will never hear anything about the betrayal or battle between the Dominion Fleet. Certainly there will be enough dead Zerg around Char to give credibility to Arcturus' claims.
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Warfield was only mentioned once, and in passing, just to say that "he was there". He wasn't involved in the story at all. It is assumed that he was still on the surface when everyone else bolted and that's that for him.
Is it not implied that Valerians knowledge of the Xel'Naga is everything that he was told by Narud, and something to do with Jake Ramsay? (Shadow of the Xel'Naga, Christie Goldens other books)
We also see how Kerrigan may/will defeat Mengsk in HotS with a ragtag group of zerg swarms. In the space of a few pages Christie Golden wiped out 75% of the Dominion fleet. At the same time the zerg are literally eating each other. This basically equals them back out to the Protoss who had lost almost everything when Aiur fell. I guess all's fair in the Koprulu Sector now.
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Is the book worth reading? I've never read any of Golden's books, I just know she is the one writing all the Wow novels (which is not a plus imo).
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Really good synopsis op. much appreciated!
Does anyone else think valerians face heel turn is basically inevitable at this point? He's the handsome, suave, perfectly blonde son of one of the chief antagonists who joins the group all too easily, seems to have all the answers, and is basically following in his fathers footsteps of fighting the corrupt status quo (which, we all know how that ended up when the father did it).
I mean, at this point I feel like it would be a real plot twist if valerian DIDNT betray raynor/Kerri. Felt the same way about Tychus in WoL... Not a good sign. Honestly, starcraft 2's plot needs more twists that you don't instantly see coming. I remember liking sc1 / bw's stories a lot, and certain major plot points (Kerrigan becoming infested, for instance) took me completely by surprise. Although, to be fair i was like 13 at the time...
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Except for the fact that Warfield was given dialogue in the Heart of the Swarm trailer, so we know that he's alive and that he's somehow involved with the war.
It is NOT implied that Valerian's knowledge of the Xel'naga or the prophecy was given to him by Narud, though it is unlikely. Narud pretended to be a scientist specializing in Zerg physiology, I don't think he revealed too much of himself, his knowledge, or his plans to Valerian. Why would Valerian harbor Hybrids in the Prometheus space station if that's what he's trying to destroy? Why would Narud inform Valerian about the prophecy, and give him incentive to rescue Kerrigan, when she's the one who is prophesied to destroy the Hybrids?
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Well, great thread. Also highly recommend you read some info on SC Wikia, especially red part.
Flashpoint
The first phase of the war ended with Kerrigan's defeat and de-infestation at Char. Seeking to keep her out of the reach of Arcturus Mengsk, Raynor and Valerian Mengsk fled to Deadman's Rock in the battlecruisers Hyperion and Bucephalus. Both vessels had taken significant damage. On the way there, the rebels decided to take Kerrigan to see Dr. Narud, due to his reputation as a zerg expert, as well as his expertise about the xel'naga artifact.
Dr. Narud appeared at a meeting with the rebels there. When he wanted to begin examining Kerrigan, Raynor told him that Kerrigan was refusing to be examined. They were interrupted when criminals tried to capture them. Dr. Narud pulled a small pistol. During the battle, rebel commander Matt Horner was injured. Dr. Narud helped treat him.
Dr. Narud and the rebels took Kerrigan to Space Station Prometheus, where Narud was situated. Along the way, his repeated attempts to examine Kerrigan and hide information about the space station annoyed the rebels. Valerian Mengsk even told Narud that he wasn't popular in his sickbay or bridge. In addition, Kerrigan believed his psionic resonance was familiar, but didn't recognize Narud, causing her to wonder if he was disguised.
A frustrated Narud ordered a hostile reception for the rebels, but Valerian talked him down. Kerrigan went to the station's sickbay, where her blood was tested but nothing else was done to her. The xel'naga artifact was also brought the station, where Dr. Narud examined it.
Narud assigned repair teams to their ships and invited the pair to dinner, although these teams were really out to sabotage the vessels. In addition, he had Dr. Chantal de Vries "persuade" rebel scientist Egon Stetmann to visit his laboratories, but it simply enabled Narud's men to capture him.
He invited Raynor and Valerian to a dinner meeting, where he questioned Raynor so thoroughly the latter felt annoyed, as if he were being interrogated. The dinner turned into an ambush, as Narud was revealed to be in contact with Arcturus. In the resulting skirmish, Narud cloaked and fled.
The ambush failed in a sense, in that Kerrigan and her protectors were able to escape Mengsk's grasp and rescue Stetmann, even when Narud released a trio of his hybrids against them. Narud took the artifact took the station's loading bay and put it aboard a transport when Raynor, Valerian, Stetmann and Kerrigan arrived there. One of the hybrids was present, along with many of Narud's troops, and during the battle Narud abandoned the station with the artifact. At the last minute, the Raiders dropship Fanfare, newly armed, arrived. It fired on Narud's transport, but he managed to escape.[3]
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Emil_Narud#Flashpoint
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Something to do with Jake Ramsay then. We'll know in the future :3 And the book is okay, although after reading a bunch of the books from all of Blizzards IP's I will still say that the Nova series is the best (all 3 manga's and 2 books are entertaining reads).
there you go.
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1. I think Warfield was brought out of retirement by Valerian to lead the assault on Char. I don't think he knew that the secret mission, and the reason for Valerian to hire Raynor and Tychus to gather the pieces of the Artifact, was actually to save Sarah Kerrigan. It's probable that he defected back to the Dominion once he realized that the true objective was, or he was simply brought back out of retirement by Arcturus because he was a capable commander, "winning" the battle on Char.
2. Arcturus DID care about his own son, and had groomed him from the time he came to lead the Dominion to be his heir. That's why Valerian was able to bring half of the entire dominion fleet to Char; he is the heir apparent. Valerian contracted Raynor for the mission on Char with the express intent of saving Sarah Kerrigan so that she could fulfill the Xel'naga prophecy and save humanity from being destroyed by the Hybrids and Duran/Narud. It is never explained how Valerian is aware of the prophecy, as they are attacked by Arcturus before he can elaborate, but I suspect his knowledge will be explained in Heart of the Swarm. Mengsk is so intent on seeing Sarah Kerrigan dead that he would sacrifice his own son, the heir to his empire, in order to kill her. In fact, he repeatedly offered Valerian the chance to hand Kerrigan and Raynor over to him before he attempted to shoot down the Bucephalus.
3. I don't think it necessarily means Dominion civil war. If asked, Arcturus can claim that he was simply sending the other half of the fleet to help finish off the Zerg on Char. He even may use the event as propoganda to convince the people of the Dominion that he is in fact trying to save them. The only people who could say differently are the people that are actually on the Battlecruisers in the fleet, but as most of them have probably been resoc'd to obey the Emperor or are dead, it is possible that most of the Dominion will never hear anything about the betrayal or battle between the Dominion Fleet. Certainly there will be enough dead Zerg around Char to give credibility to Arcturus' claims. Warfield was brought out of retirement by Arcturus early in the game. Then he follows Valerian's orders over Arcturus', which qualifies as betrayal. I guess he could have switched side again, though the book doesn't seem to talk about that at all.
I'm not talking about warnings or offers to hand them. What I'm saying is that Arcturus had plenty of alternatives: he could have sent a strike team to board the Bucephalus and see what Valerian would do, rather than starting a blood bath. Or he could have tried to talk Valerian's men into changing sides. Opening fire to slaughter thousands of his own men, including his son, means he doesn't really care about them dying - and it's a really stupid way to handle the situation.
The people who could say differently are 1) Valerian himself, 2) soldiers left on the surface of Char who stayed in contact with the fleet, 3) anyone who can make the difference between damages caused by Zerg attacks and Terran weapons, or watches a black box, 4) any survivor of Valerian's fleet, 5) anyone on Mengsk's fleet. We're talking the entire Dominion army being at the same place, what are the odds that the information would not spread?
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On December 31 2012 07:48 Telenil wrote:Show nested quote +1. I think Warfield was brought out of retirement by Valerian to lead the assault on Char. I don't think he knew that the secret mission, and the reason for Valerian to hire Raynor and Tychus to gather the pieces of the Artifact, was actually to save Sarah Kerrigan. It's probable that he defected back to the Dominion once he realized that the true objective was, or he was simply brought back out of retirement by Arcturus because he was a capable commander, "winning" the battle on Char.
2. Arcturus DID care about his own son, and had groomed him from the time he came to lead the Dominion to be his heir. That's why Valerian was able to bring half of the entire dominion fleet to Char; he is the heir apparent. Valerian contracted Raynor for the mission on Char with the express intent of saving Sarah Kerrigan so that she could fulfill the Xel'naga prophecy and save humanity from being destroyed by the Hybrids and Duran/Narud. It is never explained how Valerian is aware of the prophecy, as they are attacked by Arcturus before he can elaborate, but I suspect his knowledge will be explained in Heart of the Swarm. Mengsk is so intent on seeing Sarah Kerrigan dead that he would sacrifice his own son, the heir to his empire, in order to kill her. In fact, he repeatedly offered Valerian the chance to hand Kerrigan and Raynor over to him before he attempted to shoot down the Bucephalus.
3. I don't think it necessarily means Dominion civil war. If asked, Arcturus can claim that he was simply sending the other half of the fleet to help finish off the Zerg on Char. He even may use the event as propoganda to convince the people of the Dominion that he is in fact trying to save them. The only people who could say differently are the people that are actually on the Battlecruisers in the fleet, but as most of them have probably been resoc'd to obey the Emperor or are dead, it is possible that most of the Dominion will never hear anything about the betrayal or battle between the Dominion Fleet. Certainly there will be enough dead Zerg around Char to give credibility to Arcturus' claims. Warfield was brought out of retirement by Mengsk early in the game. Then he follows Valerian's orders over Mengsk, which qualifies as betrayal. I guess he could have switched side again, but the book doesn't seem to talk about that at all. I'm not talking about warnings or offers to hand them. What I'm saying is that Arcturus had plenty of alternatives: he could have sent a strike team to board the Bucephalus and see what Valerian would do, rather than starting a blood bath. Or he could have tried to talk Valerian's men into changing sides. Opening fire to slaughter thousands of his own men, including his son, means he doesn't really care about them dying - and it's a really stupid way to handle the situation. The people who could say differently are 1) Valerian himself, 2) soldiers left on the surface of Char who stayed in contact with the fleet, 3) someone who watches the black box of any ship involved in the firefight, 4) any survivor of Valerian's fleet, 5) anyone on Mengsk's fleet. We're talking the entire Dominion army being at the same place, what are the odds that the information would not spread?
Well, don't forget that we're basically dealing with a totalitarian state here. For all we know mengsk is photoshopping valerian out of the state hologram records and bellowing that he has no son. It doesn't matter what actually went down, as long as there's an official version of events that the facts can be made to seemingly support, state media broadcasts it proudly and questioning the official version publically gets you dragged off by nova and the thought police for some "re education". Also, mengsk's support is likely brittle given his position as a usurper, his son's charisma and apparent authority (rivaling his dad's) ... Not to mention the recent activities of raynor and the Zerg attacks (which valerian had just gone out to stop, making him an hero)... A lack of cold hearted, iron fisted bastardry on his part might have meant defections of parts of his fleet... Maybe the entire thing. That's how it tended to work in a certain real life historical Empire, anyway.
So uh, might be spoilery but
+ Show Spoiler +has any other bw vet noticed what you get when you spell narud backwards?
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On December 31 2012 08:14 Zahir wrote:Show nested quote +On December 31 2012 07:48 Telenil wrote:1. I think Warfield was brought out of retirement by Valerian to lead the assault on Char. I don't think he knew that the secret mission, and the reason for Valerian to hire Raynor and Tychus to gather the pieces of the Artifact, was actually to save Sarah Kerrigan. It's probable that he defected back to the Dominion once he realized that the true objective was, or he was simply brought back out of retirement by Arcturus because he was a capable commander, "winning" the battle on Char.
2. Arcturus DID care about his own son, and had groomed him from the time he came to lead the Dominion to be his heir. That's why Valerian was able to bring half of the entire dominion fleet to Char; he is the heir apparent. Valerian contracted Raynor for the mission on Char with the express intent of saving Sarah Kerrigan so that she could fulfill the Xel'naga prophecy and save humanity from being destroyed by the Hybrids and Duran/Narud. It is never explained how Valerian is aware of the prophecy, as they are attacked by Arcturus before he can elaborate, but I suspect his knowledge will be explained in Heart of the Swarm. Mengsk is so intent on seeing Sarah Kerrigan dead that he would sacrifice his own son, the heir to his empire, in order to kill her. In fact, he repeatedly offered Valerian the chance to hand Kerrigan and Raynor over to him before he attempted to shoot down the Bucephalus.
3. I don't think it necessarily means Dominion civil war. If asked, Arcturus can claim that he was simply sending the other half of the fleet to help finish off the Zerg on Char. He even may use the event as propoganda to convince the people of the Dominion that he is in fact trying to save them. The only people who could say differently are the people that are actually on the Battlecruisers in the fleet, but as most of them have probably been resoc'd to obey the Emperor or are dead, it is possible that most of the Dominion will never hear anything about the betrayal or battle between the Dominion Fleet. Certainly there will be enough dead Zerg around Char to give credibility to Arcturus' claims. Warfield was brought out of retirement by Mengsk early in the game. Then he follows Valerian's orders over Mengsk, which qualifies as betrayal. I guess he could have switched side again, but the book doesn't seem to talk about that at all. I'm not talking about warnings or offers to hand them. What I'm saying is that Arcturus had plenty of alternatives: he could have sent a strike team to board the Bucephalus and see what Valerian would do, rather than starting a blood bath. Or he could have tried to talk Valerian's men into changing sides. Opening fire to slaughter thousands of his own men, including his son, means he doesn't really care about them dying - and it's a really stupid way to handle the situation. The people who could say differently are 1) Valerian himself, 2) soldiers left on the surface of Char who stayed in contact with the fleet, 3) someone who watches the black box of any ship involved in the firefight, 4) any survivor of Valerian's fleet, 5) anyone on Mengsk's fleet. We're talking the entire Dominion army being at the same place, what are the odds that the information would not spread? Well, don't forget that we're basically dealing with a totalitarian state here. For all we know mengsk is photoshopping valerian out of the state hologram records and bellowing that he has no son. It doesn't matter what actually went down, as long as there's an official version of events that the facts can be made to seemingly support, state media broadcasts it proudly and questioning the official version publically gets you dragged off by nova and the thought police for some "re education". Also, mengsk's support is likely brittle given his position as a usurper, his son's charisma and apparent authority (rivaling his dad's) ... Not to mention the recent activities of raynor and the Zerg attacks (which valerian had just gone out to stop, making him an hero)... A lack of cold hearted, iron fisted bastardry on his part might have meant defections of parts of his fleet... Maybe the entire thing. That's how it tended to work in a certain real life historical Empire, anyway. So uh, might be spoilery but + Show Spoiler +has any other bw vet noticed what you get when you spell narud backwards? LucifroN and VortiX are behind this! The true evil has been discovered!
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It wouldn't make sense for Warfield to take Mengsk's side. In the Char section, he said he how didn't know how Raynor and Tychus were good guys to work with (he said Mengsk labeled them as terrorist and criminals while instead, they were fighting side by side along with his Warfield and his army).
I mean, at this point I feel like it would be a real plot twist if valerian DIDNT betray raynor/Kerri.
Yeah. Starcraft so far has been people just backstabbing each other left and right. It'd be more fun and interesting if that didn't happen for once -.-.
In SC1, you had Mengsk, then Duran (he introduced himself as an ally to the UED at first), Kerrigan to Raynor and others when they were against the UED, she said she just wants the UED (and their baby Overmind) defeated and she won't try to take over the universe after that (of course she goes back on her word about that and just goes after everyone once they destroyed the baby Overmind). And now in SC2, we have Narud but fortunately, just Narud.
(Yep, remember the UED was gosu enough to control the baby overmind. They needed Zeratul, Mengsk, Raynor, and Artanis and all their armies to defeat the UED.)
Tychus case is kind of weird, especially with what his VA said about him - Tychus had no choice. His VA's interpretation was that Tychus intentionally hesitated and instead of pulling the trigger right away, gave Raynor enough chance to shoot him instead... His VA said that Tychus didn't care about Infested Kerrigan, the murderer, but Kerrigan as sort of an innocent person and as someone that was betrayed by Mengsk... are they really separate or the same person? So Tychus hesitated (he wasn't sure anymore when he saw Kerrigan deinfested), and if he had to be taken out by either Mengsk or Raynor, he wanted Raynor.
So, I don't really count Tychus as someone that backstabbed at all (he was hiding something sure, but he didn't go after Raynor, he tried to go after Kerrigan).
I forgot if Raynor told Tychus or not (he told Matt), but he said they needed Kerrigan (specifically someone that can control the Zerg, as an ally) against the Hybrids.
I think the big question with Narud is he's helping Mengsk or is he doing his own agenda (assuming he's related to Duran in SC1). Everyone teaming with or against (and nothing in between) Mengsk and just creating this 1v1 situation makes things boring.
I liked it when the UED was there too (the UED, at least its government and whoever is making the choices, aren't really "good guys" but at least the guys you seen in BW were good: both Stukov and DuGall seemed reasonable and didn't seem to bad guys at all). I liked that you had to fight Raynor, Zeratul, Kerrigan, Mengsk as the UED (it added a fun FFA and less black and white element to the story).
Stukov did get revived (I know some people thought it was lame he got revived but I'm fine with not killing off characters in SC if it means we have less and less characters to work with. Again, boiling it down to Raynor, Kerrigan, Zeratul, and Mengsk is kind of boring >.>).
Speaking of that, I miss Aldaris too. (Yet another somewhat cool guy that got killed off.)
Yeah, he was kind of jerk to Tassadar and everyone at first but he became reasonable in the end (though he later made a really silly decision with right out randomly fighting Zeratul and Allies instead of just telling Zeratul that Kerrigan was using them all this time >.>).
Though their death had meaning and they will be remembered as the cool guys of SC1BW.
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I wonder what are the chances of Earth sending another UED mission for LotV. They supposedly got no information after the initial triumph and had no idea that Dugall's forces are basically wiped out after worth.
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Where did Kerrigan come in contact with Narud actually? I mean, yeah, she came in contact with Duran. But is it the same person? I don't think so. Not physically at least. So from where should she know him?
Did they came in contact in WoL (I honestly can't remember, it's been such a long time..)
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ohh, it's an arrow in the title, I came here expecting an argument about why WoL is better than HotS and why HotS is going in the wrong direction or something related to gameplay/balance etc. not having heard of flashpoint or christie golden.
Surely they'll be some cutscenes to show the important bits. I wonder if they'll give raynor more cheesy lines XD
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On December 31 2012 17:32 Grendel wrote: Where did Kerrigan come in contact with Narud actually? I mean, yeah, she came in contact with Duran. But is it the same person? I don't think so. Not physically at least. So from where should she know him?
Did they came in contact in WoL (I honestly can't remember, it's been such a long time..)
Chris Metzen basically confirmed that Narud is Duran.
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On December 31 2012 08:14 Zahir wrote:Show nested quote +On December 31 2012 07:48 Telenil wrote:1. I think Warfield was brought out of retirement by Valerian to lead the assault on Char. I don't think he knew that the secret mission, and the reason for Valerian to hire Raynor and Tychus to gather the pieces of the Artifact, was actually to save Sarah Kerrigan. It's probable that he defected back to the Dominion once he realized that the true objective was, or he was simply brought back out of retirement by Arcturus because he was a capable commander, "winning" the battle on Char.
2. Arcturus DID care about his own son, and had groomed him from the time he came to lead the Dominion to be his heir. That's why Valerian was able to bring half of the entire dominion fleet to Char; he is the heir apparent. Valerian contracted Raynor for the mission on Char with the express intent of saving Sarah Kerrigan so that she could fulfill the Xel'naga prophecy and save humanity from being destroyed by the Hybrids and Duran/Narud. It is never explained how Valerian is aware of the prophecy, as they are attacked by Arcturus before he can elaborate, but I suspect his knowledge will be explained in Heart of the Swarm. Mengsk is so intent on seeing Sarah Kerrigan dead that he would sacrifice his own son, the heir to his empire, in order to kill her. In fact, he repeatedly offered Valerian the chance to hand Kerrigan and Raynor over to him before he attempted to shoot down the Bucephalus.
3. I don't think it necessarily means Dominion civil war. If asked, Arcturus can claim that he was simply sending the other half of the fleet to help finish off the Zerg on Char. He even may use the event as propoganda to convince the people of the Dominion that he is in fact trying to save them. The only people who could say differently are the people that are actually on the Battlecruisers in the fleet, but as most of them have probably been resoc'd to obey the Emperor or are dead, it is possible that most of the Dominion will never hear anything about the betrayal or battle between the Dominion Fleet. Certainly there will be enough dead Zerg around Char to give credibility to Arcturus' claims. Warfield was brought out of retirement by Mengsk early in the game. Then he follows Valerian's orders over Mengsk, which qualifies as betrayal. I guess he could have switched side again, but the book doesn't seem to talk about that at all. I'm not talking about warnings or offers to hand them. What I'm saying is that Arcturus had plenty of alternatives: he could have sent a strike team to board the Bucephalus and see what Valerian would do, rather than starting a blood bath. Or he could have tried to talk Valerian's men into changing sides. Opening fire to slaughter thousands of his own men, including his son, means he doesn't really care about them dying - and it's a really stupid way to handle the situation. The people who could say differently are 1) Valerian himself, 2) soldiers left on the surface of Char who stayed in contact with the fleet, 3) someone who watches the black box of any ship involved in the firefight, 4) any survivor of Valerian's fleet, 5) anyone on Mengsk's fleet. We're talking the entire Dominion army being at the same place, what are the odds that the information would not spread? Well, don't forget that we're basically dealing with a totalitarian state here. For all we know mengsk is photoshopping valerian out of the state hologram records and bellowing that he has no son. It doesn't matter what actually went down, as long as there's an official version of events that the facts can be made to seemingly support, state media broadcasts it proudly and questioning the official version publically gets you dragged off by nova and the thought police for some "re education". Also, mengsk's support is likely brittle given his position as a usurper, his son's charisma and apparent authority (rivaling his dad's) ... Not to mention the recent activities of raynor and the Zerg attacks (which valerian had just gone out to stop, making him an hero)... A lack of cold hearted, iron fisted bastardry on his part might have meant defections of parts of his fleet... Maybe the entire thing. That's how it tended to work in a certain real life historical Empire, anyway. Did the Dominion give you the feeling he controled the media in WoL? In any case, Raynor and Horner state that UNN has turned against Mengsk after Media Blitz.
If your rule is contested, you want your soldiers on your side because they are your ultimate way to stay in power. In a realistic situation, shooting your own troops means all units you've attacked will defect and support the rebels, so will soldiers that care more about their comrades than about you. Anyone who wants to overthrow you will also seize the opportunity. The only reason totalitarian states could get away with what they did is because they had a tight control over the military and that there was no inside opposition at all. Mengsk had neurosocialised soldiers all right, but he didn't brainwash the entire population.
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On December 31 2012 18:45 Lunareste wrote:Show nested quote +On December 31 2012 17:32 Grendel wrote: Where did Kerrigan come in contact with Narud actually? I mean, yeah, she came in contact with Duran. But is it the same person? I don't think so. Not physically at least. So from where should she know him?
Did they came in contact in WoL (I honestly can't remember, it's been such a long time..) Chris Metzen basically confirmed that Narud is Duran.
But they aren't the same. Not physically. Yeah, they are the same person. But they have completely different physical appearances. So how is it a plothole that kerrigan can't remember someone who isn't the same?
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Based on the numbers given in the book I would estimate that Mengsk's decision to fire on Valerian resulted in between 100,000 (lowest number) and 250,000 (highest number) casualties in fleet losses.
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On December 31 2012 21:24 Telenil wrote: Did the Dominion give you the feeling he controled the media in WoL? In any case, Raynor and Horner state that UNN has turned against Mengsk after Media Blitz.[...]
Mengsk isn't afraid to take care of such matters the hard way. There's even a cutscene in WoL where you can see some marines raiding the UNN studios. I don't think the UNN will be a real problem for Mengsk and his propaganda.
On December 31 2012 22:02 Grendel wrote: But they aren't the same. Not physically. Yeah, they are the same person. But they have completely different physical appearances. So how is it a plothole that kerrigan can't remember someone who isn't the same?
Well, in WoL Kerrigan clearly knows who Dr. Narud is, as she "can see through his petty charade". I wouldn't count this as plothole though, since we don't know exactly how much she really remembers.
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Interesting. Can't wait to play the HotS Campaign.
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51318 Posts
Nice, sounds like was a fast paced novel! So Zerg is still killing everything even without Kerrigan at the helm? Or is it just Mengsk trying to kill everyone now?
Glad Kerrigan is a good guy again :3
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The notes at the bottom of the SC wiki kind of foreshadow.
" "Narud" is "Duran" backwards. The two characters possess distinguishing accents. While Duran exhibits an accent typical of Northern Africa, Narud has a European accent. He also possesses the same facial hair style as Samir Duran. Blizzard confirmed a connection between them, but didn't define it.[6]
"Emil" may be derived from Latin Aemilius, a family name, which means "to rival, to emulate, to copy."
At BlizzCon 2011, the story panel said that Samir Duran and Emil Narud may be the same character. Upon inquiring on whether he appears in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Chris Metzen commented "You might have met him already. You totally did, by the way."[7] "
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I finished the novel. I think it was poorly written. The only value was in information what happened between WoL with Hots and mentioning known places. I'm reading Nova and it's way better so far.
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On February 08 2013 05:33 Tuczniak wrote: I finished the novel. I think it was poorly written. The only value was in information what happened between WoL with Hots and mentioning known places. I'm reading Nova and it's way better so far.
Isn't most of the fiction surrounding this game poorly written? #booksnob
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On February 08 2013 06:32 wUndertUnge wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2013 05:33 Tuczniak wrote: I finished the novel. I think it was poorly written. The only value was in information what happened between WoL with Hots and mentioning known places. I'm reading Nova and it's way better so far. Isn't most of the fiction surrounding this game poorly written? #booksnob Any fiction surrounding any video game is poorly written. Read all of the Gears of War books. Story was ok, writing style was not.
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On February 08 2013 07:09 maartendq wrote:Show nested quote +On February 08 2013 06:32 wUndertUnge wrote:On February 08 2013 05:33 Tuczniak wrote: I finished the novel. I think it was poorly written. The only value was in information what happened between WoL with Hots and mentioning known places. I'm reading Nova and it's way better so far. Isn't most of the fiction surrounding this game poorly written? #booksnob Any fiction surrounding any video game is poorly written. Read all of the Gears of War books. Story was ok, writing style was not. I'm half way through Nova and it's quite good. No evident flaws which cheap books suffer from. Flashpoint is full of those.
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