Destiny Unfulfilled

There seem to be three versions of this quest: this one for demon hunters, this one for players who have killed Illidan in the Black Temple, and this one for players who haven't killed him. It's pretty cool that they acknowledge all three possibilities.

As someone who really likes Illidan's character and who was waiting to play as a demon hunter again since the days of WC3... I'm not very fond of this questline's undertone.

Don't get me wrong, it's a really great questline. It shows Illidan in what is, for me, the proper way. A rather machiavellian character, selfish but also, in his own way, noble. He is perhaps the most dangerous foe the Legion ever encountered, but he is also a power hungry sorcerer whose hands and soul are far from clean. His "betrayal" of the night elves might have been misunderstood, however he is definitely guilty of other crimes. That's what I always liked about Illidan (well, and the artwork); he isn't evil incarnate like the Lich King, Deathwing or the demons of the Burning Legion, but neither is he a force for good alone. He fights the Legion at every turn, and may care for Azeroth and its inhabitants (especially Tyrande; you'd think he would move on in ten thousand years) in his own way, but by no means is he innocent of atrocities himself, and neither are his demon hunters.

While that is shown quite well (how Illidan sacrificed the night elf mages, for example, shows both sides of his character remarkably well and gives someone who hasn't read the novels insight on how he thinks), Xe'ra's ultimate conclusion and accusation towards non-demon hunters as well as her near-reverence of the Illidari are disturbing. Yes, Illidan might not be an evil monster as portrayed, but neither is he without many, glaring flaws, and same thing goes for his followers. They have sacrificed of themselves, but they have also sacrificed others. In the same manner, while the rest of the adventurers might have been guilty of vilifying and taking down Illidan (even before the rest of his backstory was revealed it was known that Illidan was at war with the Legion and I personally always found how we ended up taking him on as the ultimate villain a bit unsatisfying) but there is no denying that they have saved the world many times from a lot of threats. The Illidari fought at the frontier, their focus the Legion, attempting to take the fight to the demons. Quite an admirable goal indeed, but that doesn't mean the residents of Azeroth waited there drinking, only taking a break to kill Illidan before returning to their partying. The Legion might be one of the greatest threats, but in the meantime someone has to deal with necrolords, forces of ancient buried evil, mad dragons and crazy warlords.

Ultimately, in the context of the game, what the quests' conclusion should have aimed at is acceptance of the past and understanding for the future, not elevating the Illidari to perfection while pointing fingers at everyone else. The idea is to redeem Illidan and his followers in the eyes of the world, but not to vilify the world in turn. It's a bad end in what for me was otherwise a good questline and I feel it devalues the fantasy behind the character I play. I didn't sign up to play the misunderstood saint, I signed up to play the "beat the Legion at any cost" bastard. Again, I'm not gonna say the questline sucks, rather the opposite, but I think the ending could have been handled a bit differently.

What isn't cool is that preachy windchime heaping judgement upon us after all the crap Illidan did. Not to mention calling everyone complicit even if they weren't anywhere near the place.