by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Author Christie Golden tweeted out that a teaser for her upcoming novel, the Warlords of Draenor set-up entitled War Crimes, has been added to the Amazon product page. The book won’t be released until May 6th, but in terms of giving us a taste of what’s to come, the teaser certainly gives you a solid sense of it. So check out that text, and then come back here for some analysis by yours truly.

Probably what strikes me most about this segment is that it sets the tone for how a lot of characters are going to interact during this trial. Jaina’s rage ought to be obvious, but Kalecgos’ feelings will clearly come into play as well: everyone remembers that Theramore was blown up in Tides of War, but also recall that many blue dragons were slaughtered when the Focusing Iris was originally stolen. To add insult to injury, we’ve learned from historian Sean Copeland that there will be no new dragons born after the Hour of Twilight, so every dragon killed before his or her time is literally irreplaceable. Given how much Golden loves these two characters, watching their struggles in this book will be pretty interesting.

But the real selling point for me is Garrosh’ words at the end. He laughs in the face of this trial. He completely disregards the court’s authority. To him, it’s a farce. The idea of peaceable justice, the very notion that some people could decide by committee that he should die and then having that death rendered by an executioner while Garrosh is bound and defenseless… it’s all so ridiculous to Garrosh that he can only laugh at the prospect. When you come from a warrior culture where justice was decided on the battlefield, the idea that justice can be determined any other way is ludicrous.

Prior to joining BlizzPro, I wrote at great length about the nuances of Garrosh’ character, particularly in the context of his conversation with Taran Zhu in the Patch 5.4 trailer. Love him or hate him, Garrosh is a character with a great deal of nuance, something that the Warcraft narrative as a whole tends to lack. As such, seeing Golden take an opportunity to juxtapose her salvation of the orcish narrative (as displayed in Lord of the Clans and Rise of the Horde) against a character who is the antithesis of Thrall and Durotan will be a sight to see.

We won’t really know how the Garrosh narrative is going to end, and we might not even find it out in WoD, given some statements from the devs that we’re not getting a second round with Garrosh as a boss. But overall, Golden always delivers a solid book, so I expect nothing less from War Crimes. And this teaser has just whet my appetite.

What do you think about the teaser? Ready to see Garrosh face his crimes? Let us know in the comments!