Should Fandral Staghelm Have a Further Influence on Night Elf Society?

Messaggio di Sorja

Warning: I write a lot.

One of my favorite characters from the Warcraft Universe is Fandral Staghelm, and is one who got the short end of the stick when it comes to wrapping up his story line. In short as many of you know, during the events of Cataclysm he joined forces with the druids of the flame after Alysra's betrayal ultimately becoming the new majordomo for Ragnaros.

This sounds pretty cool right?

Well, he died in vain from a player's standpoint. How many people truly understand who this guy was if they never did the quests for him involving morrow grain? I sure as hell didn't when I first encountered him in Firelands; I didn't go to Mount Hyjal and upon getting to his encounter I just murdered him and went on my way without giving him any thought. Hell, even when I did go through that part of Hyjal on another character he just appears as another random night elf with some importance never really explained to the player which is needed for many after Cataclysm removed any chance of them interacting with him in the game prior.

Fandral Staghelm is arguably one of the larger night elves in the Warcraft lore outside of obvious choices of Tyrande and Malfurion (more on them later). He was responsible for assisting Xavius in corrupting the Emerald Dream, present at the founding of the Cenarion Circle (and was an active member throughout his life), for crying out loud he planted many of the new World Trees and was the one responsible for keeping Malfurion trapped via the aforementioned morrow grain!

This elf was one of the only people to openly defy and contradict Tyrande and Wow's Mary-Sue, Malfurion Stormrage. Why is it that he has such an anticlimactic and disappointing demise? It's not even like he was on the sidelines in the game; he was one of the freaking leaders of the Night Elves in Vanilla! People interacted with him on a common basis, and he gets relegated to being a simple baddie who were told to take out of a prison for little to no in depth reason only to kill him in a patch raid as a filler boss?

Let's take a quick comparison between Malfurion and Fandral: Malfurion is a character many love to hate on for better or worse because of how one-sided and bland he is as a character, he always does the right thing (the closest time we've seen him do anything outside of this was in Val'Sharah which hasn't really seemed to affect him in the long run or lead to any true character development from our point of view). Fandral on the other hand isn't even trying to be a villain, sure he's not the nicest guy and his expansionist ideals are quite radical for the current elven culture, but he's simply trying to achieve a goal he believes his people are capable of: reclaiming the glory of Zin'Azshari. It's because of this goal that he wishes to expand the Night Elves' territories, he believes his people are deserving of regaining immortality, he goes against the Cenarion Circle's advice and tries to bring his son Valstaan back from the dead.

None of these are inherently bad things; it's just that they weren't inherently good choices. Yes, he did end up losing his mind over trying to find a way to resurrect his son which led to the more rash choices such as keeping Malfurion asleep in order to ensure he could further perform his work, but this could've only opened up further opportunities for Blizzard to make him act upon more radical actions and instigated a political insurgence against the leaders, Malfurion and Tyrande. His WowWikia page already supports the fact that there was a secret polarization between Tyrande and Fandral, so why not make this conflict more explosive?

Sadly however, Fandral is dead. While I love him there's no retconning this decision, I don't want changing the lore just to make for a relatively minor plot point. Despite this, nothing says that his influence on the Night Elves has to be over quite yet. How many night elves were alive during the War of the Ancients? We know for one it's possible looking at the main elven trio of Malfurion, Tyrande, and Illidan. Whose to say there aren't others who didn't necessarily align with Azshara, but do wish for the empire they once knew to grow and regain it's strength? After all these years of passing down this belief could have grown into a ideology held by many of Darnassus's inhabitants.

Imagine if some of Fandral's druid trainees or followers pretended as if Fandral had reappeared and was hiding out somewhere? Imagine if this cult of personality developed into a full out insurrection between the two elven factions: those who support the expansionist ideals of the rumored Fandral Staghelm versus the followers of Tyrande and Malfurion who wish to withhold their ties and promises to the Alliance.

It could even be revealed that the ruse that Fandral Staghelm isn't still alive at some point, but the revolution could be to far engrossed to be slowed down by that revelation. This doesn't even have to be a final goodbye for Fandral Staghelm (a farewell I'd find fitting); it could act as a character arc for the stagnant Malfurion. He always seems to find a way to get out with the best possible scenario, but what if this wasn't possible? Remember, he'd be fighting against his own kind and their not likely to be calm about it. What if he is forced to come to the decision to physically fight back against his kin or allow them to commit a heinous act against his followers (think burning down an important place, killing innocents <maybe too far>, but you get the point). This would create new development for Malfurion as he would finally be forced to come to grips with the consequences from his action or lack of it.

And Battle for Azeroth is the perfect time for this to occur! I don't know what exactly is happening, but I do predict that the Night Elves will be displaced for a time being. With tensions running high amongst the elves regarding where to go next, some may believe that a change of place is in order. They bring back a rumor that Fandral Staghelm has made a return and is in hiding, and utilizes this lie to garner support from elves who believe that their race could be something greater again. With this backing they lead a political insurrection against its current leaders forcing everyone to reevaluate who the Night Elves are.

Who knows? The leaders of this insurrection could even grow into larger characters on the spectrum; the possibilities are endless for this story arc. It doesn't even need to be in center focus, have it a side story drawn out over the course of the expansion in which Alliance characters repeatedly go back and learn more about what's progressed. The Horde of course would have to have another story line concurrent with the events, maybe something about a fragmentation of the Echo Isle trolls trying to convince the other trolls to cut ties with the Alliance and join the Zandalari.

This expansion has so much to offer when it comes to shaking this up and introducing new plot points and point of views to the Warcraft universe. I just hope that alongside it, they'll be able to bring back justice to a character who has been quite frankly seen it overdue for years.

TL;DR: First off, I don't blame you.

- Fandral Staghelm died unknown and anticlimactically for a character who has been key component in the
Night Elf lore and many of the events that have occurred across Azeroth (Emerald Nightmare, planting of World
Trees, keeping Malfurion asleep)
- Don't bring him back to life, instead have a series of elves who either were living during the War of the Ancients or
grew up on the beliefs of those who were start a rumor that Fandral has returned and is in hiding after the Burning of
Teldrassil. Those who believe this will rally behind the leader of the rumor and initiate a political insurrection against
Tyrande and Malfurion over the new direction of the Night Elves: the reclamation of their former glory or their ties to
the Alliance.
- It is a prime time for character development of Malfurion who will be forced to confront his actions or lack of it when
it comes to dealing with the insurgency as either outcome will result in violence.
- New figures in Night Elf can be created allowing us to reevaluate what the Night Elves stand for as they either
become heroes or villains to everyone.
- Battle for Azeroth is the perfect time for it considering the Night Elves must consider what their next move should be
after the burning of Teldrassil as many will want a change of pace.

Thanks for reading! Would anyone else like to see this albeit with possible modifications?

Messaggio di Adamsm

No he shouldn't; his story is done and over with, and while he had a 'good' reason to follow the Nightmare, seeing his son die in the War of the Shifting Sands....that doesn't excuse any of the atrocities he committed over the years at the tendrils of N'Zoth in his mind. He should be held up as the ultimate example of what not to do and the reason why revenge is bad m'kay. His scenes in Stormrage were alright, if hammy and out there; the whole freak out when the shadow of his son's ghost was destroyed was hilarious to read. And the flashback to how he created the Druids of the Flame came out of nowhere; would have been nice to see actual build up there rather then just random assault and plot coupon necklace in the Molten Front. Even his appearance in Firelands was in character; he thought he was in command yet again, and he gets rolled over, so no, the death isn't out of character and it fits how we've seen Fandral.

Messaggio di morginar

At best a ghost boss in the nightmare, like elrenthe. That'd be it at best I guess.

Should Fandral Staghelm Have a Further Influence on Night Elf Society?

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