Garrosh, Vol'jin and the Dagger in the Dark
(Warning: Spoilers for the Dagger in the Dark scenario. Which you really should do, if you haven't yet. Pretty interesting lore consequences.)
Garrosh really isn't winning himself any friends recently, huh? Pissing off Taran Zhu & the Pandarens by escalating the war on Pandaria land (and if you REALLY want to see this, go check out the 5.3 PTR datamined info...yikes!), ticking off the Alliance AND Lor'themar with the whole Divine Bell fiasco, enraging Jaina and turning the Kirin Tor against the Horde...and let's not forget the shocking incident with Vol'jin in Dagger in the Dark.
Welp.
Okay, this looks pretty bad. Garrosh's lackey lures Vol'jin into a cave with no witnesses (except you), and straight-up tries to assassinate him? And then you think back to the meeting on the beach, when Vol'jin shows up and Garrosh is none too pleased to see him. What happens just before Garrosh gives Vol'jin the Dagger in the Dark mission?
Garrosh Hellscream and Rak'gor Bloodrazor exchange hushed words.
Bombing Theramore was pretty bad, but actually betraying and killing your own allies simply for annoying you? For disagreeing with you? Aw man, we're into full-on ruthless tyrant mode, aren't we? :(
Well, this is what everyone is saying, anyway. HOW COULD HE DO THAT TO VOL'JIN! OMG GARROSH HAS GONE TOO FAR! I CAN'T WAIT TO KILL GARROSH!!
Well, I actually remain unconvinced.
This whole incident is actually pretty sneakily written. Did Garrosh ACTUALLY order Rak'gor to assassinate Vol'jin? Or was Garrosh's crony just way overenthusiastic and eager to please his beloved Warchief? We never actually find out for certain...we're just left with Vol'jin's assumptions and Rak'gor's murderous actions to interpret. After all, where's the hard evidence? There's no secret missive signed by Garrosh ordering Vol'jin's death. There's no Rak'gor gurgled death whisper specifically implicating him.
What COULD have happened is that Garrosh might have taken Rak'gor aside and told him to lean on Vol'jin to keep him in line, maybe even rough him up a little. You know, push him up against the lockers, knock his books down and steal his lunch money, that sorta thing. Think about it...doesn't that sound more in line with the Garrosh we know? He's arrogant, and he's not afraid to bully or rough people up to get his way. But assassinating someone? Does that really seem like his style to you? That's not Garrosh. That's...actually, that's exactly what Gul'dan did way back when he ordered the assassination of Durotan and Draka, Thrall's parents. Interesting. But anyway, that's something Gul'dan would do. The coward's path. And Garrosh is no coward.
Misunderstood orders, you might be asking, lip curling skeptically? I don't think it's that implausible, really. Why? Because this is what Garrosh DOES. He delegates, and trusts his soldiers to handle things and interpret his wishes appropriately.
Unfortunately (for EVERYONE), what Garrosh wants and what his minions think he wants are sometimes very different things.
So which is it? A covertly-ordered hit on Vol'jin? Or yet another Kor'kron warrior who ended up being overzealous in carrying out Garrosh's orders? At this point, it's a mystery. But you know, it sure seems familiar. Remember what happened to Kelantir Bloodblade and Frandis Farley in Tides of War? They were critical of Garrosh, so Malkorok found them when they were in the Razor Hill inn and destroyed it before they could escape. And just like with Rak'gor/Vol'jin, we don't actually know the extent of Garrosh's involvement. Did he order Bloodblade and Farley's deaths? Or did he just trust Malkorok to discipline the dissenters, not realizing what "discipline" would mean to the malicious Blackrock orc?
Vol'jin, Chen and we players all assume Garrosh has gone off the deep end and is ready to just take out anyone who opposes him, but the reality might be simply that he doesn't realize how dumb and/or bloodthirsty his most trusted warriors can be. Garrosh is harsh and out for blood, but an actual backstabbing murderer? I dunno. I just think we should be a little wary before jumping to conclusions, declaring him guilty and crying out for his head before we know the truth.
Because we all know how that worked out for Cairne.
Anonymous
daaaaaaaaaaaaaang, son.
April 2, 2013 at 11:17 AM
K. White
I hope you're right, Rades, but I have little faith in Blizzard using any sort of nuances like that. :-/
April 2, 2013 at 1:14 PM
Shadda
As a member of the Alliance, I feel pretty justified in declaring him guilty of warcrimes...
Personally, I don't think Garrosh is behind the attack. Malkorok, the Blackrock orc who's currently leading the Kor'krom, seems to have his own agenda, part of which involves making Garrosh as paranoid as possible. It's possible that he's behind the assassination attempt.
However, that means that Garrosh is either falling for Malkorok's tricks or unable to stop his own people from killing his co-leaders... a bad sign either way.
April 2, 2013 at 9:28 PM
Anonymous
Malkorok.
Hey, we haven't seen Malganis for a while. Has he had enough time to build another body since possessing that Scarlet Crusade guy in Northrend?
The way Garrosh is acting sounds perfectly good, if you're a demon.
April 3, 2013 at 4:46 AM
Anonymous
So he's not crazy, he's just incompetent. Repeatedly, in the same way over and over. And this incompetents costs lives. Innocent lives, the lives of allies, the lives of previously neutral factions, ect. . .
Yeah, not winning much sympathy here.
April 3, 2013 at 6:59 AM
Anonymous
I believe we are missing a player here who is whispering in Garrosh ear?
who is giving him advice?
last one we knew was giving him advice ended up poisoning Garrosh blade.
April 3, 2013 at 9:56 AM
Anonymous
I kinda think, even without knowing precisely what Garrosh said to Razgor, that I'm a little on Garrosh's side here.
What does Razgor shout when he stabs Vol'jin? "He knew you were a traitor!" In other words, Garrosh specifically expected Vol'jin to be disloyal to the Horde at some point. Why would he think this?
Well, I seem to recall a conversation between the two that ends like so:
Vision of Vol'jin says: And when tha time comes dat ya failure is complete and ya "power" is meaningless, I will be dere to end ya rule swiftly and silently.
Vision of Vol'jin says: Ya will spend ya reign glancin' over ya shoulda and fearin' tha shadows, for when tha time comes and ya blood be slowly drainin' out, ya will know exactly who fired da arrow dat pierced ya black heart.
Like, Garrosh's falling out with the other leaders of the Horde is the point of the current Horde storyline, but I think only Vol'jin has said, to Garrosh's face no less, that he will literally backstab him someday. Good going, Vol'jin, making yourself a bigger target than even Sylvanas.
I don't think there's any question why Garrosh thinks Vol'jin is untrustworthy.
April 16, 2013 at 10:27 AM