As I watch this again with this interpretation, there’s a lot of things that really click.
There’s Anduin’s facial expressions.
It’s important to note that Anduin has been the person pushing for peace. That when the Burning Legion came to wage war, it was actually an open question whether Anduin would try to push for peace with demons.
He did not—he understands that to have Peace you have to be willing to fight and some foes can’t be compromised or reconciled with. But he hasn’t quite gotten a hang of “which time is which.”
Now, his eyes are a constantly shifting array of fear, sadness, feeling overwhelmed. But determined. All at the same time.
That moment when he’s recovering, and he looks around and sees everyone dying. And there’s this flicker of “God. I did this.” A brief moment of self doubt, feeling lost. But, there isn’t time to dwell on that. He’s committed to his course of action—both strategically and psychologically.
He cries out to the Light for help. The Light, Slack Personified, grants him strength, heals his people, lets him recover from what should be abject failure.
And there’s all these great microexpressions as he’s looking up into the Light. More self doubt. Seeing how fucked up everything is. Vague awareness that he is a part of the problem. Begging the Light to somehow make this okay.
The Light is not actually Goodness. It is Beauty and Tranquility and Slack but it is not Goodness.
But, as a Literal Halo Effect, it is easy to mistake for Goodness. It gives him a moment of peace, it gives him a second chance, and then it gives him the opportunity to resolve himself upon the thing he’d already committed himself to: convincing himself that he is Just, if he can just rally his people and lead them to victory and gain the power he needs, he can someday make a better world. Maybe he’s even right.
And then:
There is Sylvannas’ half smirk at the end. Some gaming site said this well, and my paraphrase is “Sylvannas is some ways the best stand in for a player. She’s given up all hope of the world being fair, so she sees the world for what it is: a game.”
She’s angry at Anduin. She’s angry at everyone. But mostly at this point she’s just playing to win.
As I watch this again with this interpretation, there’s a lot of things that really click.
There’s Anduin’s facial expressions.
It’s important to note that Anduin has been the person pushing for peace. That when the Burning Legion came to wage war, it was actually an open question whether Anduin would try to push for peace with demons.
He did not—he understands that to have Peace you have to be willing to fight and some foes can’t be compromised or reconciled with. But he hasn’t quite gotten a hang of “which time is which.”
Now, his eyes are a constantly shifting array of fear, sadness, feeling overwhelmed. But determined. All at the same time.
That moment when he’s recovering, and he looks around and sees everyone dying. And there’s this flicker of “God. I did this.” A brief moment of self doubt, feeling lost. But, there isn’t time to dwell on that. He’s committed to his course of action—both strategically and psychologically.
He cries out to the Light for help. The Light, Slack Personified, grants him strength, heals his people, lets him recover from what should be abject failure.
And there’s all these great microexpressions as he’s looking up into the Light. More self doubt. Seeing how fucked up everything is. Vague awareness that he is a part of the problem. Begging the Light to somehow make this okay.
The Light is not actually Goodness. It is Beauty and Tranquility and Slack but it is not Goodness.
But, as a Literal Halo Effect, it is easy to mistake for Goodness. It gives him a moment of peace, it gives him a second chance, and then it gives him the opportunity to resolve himself upon the thing he’d already committed himself to: convincing himself that he is Just, if he can just rally his people and lead them to victory and gain the power he needs, he can someday make a better world. Maybe he’s even right.
And then:
There is Sylvannas’ half smirk at the end. Some gaming site said this well, and my paraphrase is “Sylvannas is some ways the best stand in for a player. She’s given up all hope of the world being fair, so she sees the world for what it is: a game.”
She’s angry at Anduin. She’s angry at everyone. But mostly at this point she’s just playing to win.