- You think us fools? - Yes. But that is irrelevant Gets me every time Easily the best quote from all the LOTV And a perfect introduction to the character
I love the part on the mission where you kill the guardians for him and one screams at you “You know little of Alarak, or you would not aid him.” It’s this perfect little character moment where you learn he’s not just like this because he’s from the society of evil red-coloured Protoss. No, even in that society he is considered a scumbag. It immediately raises the question, ‘What did he do?’.
There was an incident where he instigated a massive Rak'shir and caused over 800 Tal'darim to die, which spurred him all the way to becoming one of the higher ascendants. He's used plenty of schemes like that to reach the top.
>what did he do? According to the lore books and bonus excerpts, he got about 1/3rd of the Tal'Darim killed in a massive backstab-frenzy barely justifiable as a Rak'Shir.
Before I watch your video: - no unnecessary redemption arc - awesome dialogue - perfectly placed him into the middle of the good/evil lawful/chaotic cross. And now: showtime.
Alarak is INCREDIBLY lawful. He just has such a blue-and-orange morality system that his moral code looks byzantine to us at best. One of the side stories put it best: Concerning ascendants who seek to become highlord, they all will tattoo the Chains, the oaths, their religious scripts, upon their bodies, but Alarak's body is pristine, for he tattooed the Chains upon his very heart and soul. He never initiates betrayals, always begins with proper form of combat, and offers clemency to those who are worthy but misaligned. He is selfish, hostile, and not merely apathetic but actively enjoys the suffering of others, but yet doesn't inflict it unless it is merited. Artanis is the White Knight, pure Lawful Good, but Alarak is the Black Knight, Lawful Evil.
@@falsnamae3511 Incredibly lawful is exagerating IMO. While he united the tal'darim in the 1v1 fight, he lied to Artanis to kill the 3 ¿second bad guys? even tho it was unnnecessary (and I guess they would've followed him after winning the 1v1) What I respect about him is that he gives no fuck about honor, glory etc. He only seeks an absolute simple conquest victory, and to crush anyone who stands in his way. While all other Starcraft 2 characters are "lawfull good" plain bread characters, he is an asshole who is clever enough to see that the good guys are the better option for his survival, ascension to power and long term
Blizzard really went, yes we want the actor behind Q an all powerful, scheming, frenemy and said yeah play that angle as a Protoss High Lord instead. And I loved it. You love to hate both smug bastards.
"Im arrogant as F, but I have the power to back it up and Im ready to destroy you trying to prove me wrong." Alarak is that Anime Villain that is the opposite of the hero with the "power of friendship", he is more like the "power of my fist and my brain". He was by far my favorite hero in HotS, his quotes are so fun to listen... his sarcasm is pure gold.
Alarak: Jinara, take command of the attack on Vardona. Jinara: As you command. Ascendant: I don’t get how she became the 1st ascendant, and much less why you let her command the invasion on the planet surface. Alarak: because I want something to watch while getting high on terrazine.
@@brianfhunter he didn't say it was Alarak's power of friendship. He uses the power of friendship of others to his advantage as a tool, in this case, Artanis'.
Alarak seriously is a great foil for the Daelaam and Terrans. And the fact he's still independent is even more amazing with how he's still the very same foil we were introduced to him as. I also love how he's the lense we see the Tal'darim as a society through with the Chain of Ascension and how the Tal'darim view betrayal and honor respectively. And on a side note, I like how Legacy of the Void treats the Tal'darim(at least to me) with how the unit unlock system works. When Alarak us introduced all you get for units is the Blood Hunter, which I view as his only followers who came with him. But later on you unlock more units as more Tal'darim join his cause seeing him as a better leader than Ma'lash all the way up to a fully on-board Tal'darim when you unlock the Mothership. I know that wasn't the thought behind the unit unlock system, but it's a nice thought about how Alarak is slowly building his following as the campaign goes on.
@@PieisDaBest1Dude, I'm surprised we even got an animation. This is sick and I honestly would expect a proper longer animation to get massive amounts of views
The reason Nova's "I guess Alarak won't dight his own battles" insult works is because the Tal'darim value strength in their leaders, which they define as Combat prowess. It wouldn't make sense against Valerian, because the Dominion values strong leadership, not strong marksmanship, in their leaders.
IMO, the Taldarim suffers HEAVILY from the flip-floppy direction of the sequels. What we see when Alarak is around is such a more interesting face for the Protoss. The idea that the Taldarim being a faction so fanatically loyal to the Xel'Naga, that they left Aiur with them (or follow the Xel'Naga, I don't remember precicely) to be warriors for the Xel'Naga is cool, but messy in execution (Didn't the Taldarim saw the creation of the Zerg and their revolt against the Xel'Naga? Or they were Amon's personal followers?). Regardless, the Red-Protoss having a phylosophy of individual power is a nice change of flavor for the Psychic Aliens, together with the "Empower Me" ability for Alarak as an unit, I believe, that it tells a story: The Taldarim leaders have to grow in power and proof themselves capable, so they could wield the powers of their followers. That is a fascinating twist of "the power in unity", IMO. Weeeeell, I maybe be overthinking a fun game mechanic XD
Yep, it shows they made do as Starcraft 2 campaigns where made They could've justified with some ease, make the "religious protect the relics" Taldarim a different group. Say that after the fall of their home planet they went ultra religious and for some reason more xenophobic, so they dont cara if it's Raynor or whomever, the only thing that matters is that he is not a protoss
I love the editing sometimes, that quick cut to Freiza and "Hello Monkey's!" got a laugh out of me, it's exactly the attitude Alarak would have towards Humans.
Before I watch your video...here are my thoughts. He's one of those who have a clear goal and is a no-nonsense person. He sees his objective and uses any means to get what he wants. He's straight forward, and simple. He has great dialogue, and interactions with every other character. There's no attempt to hide his intentions. It's made clear that he's an asshole from the very beginning, but one who makes good if brutal and cold decisions. He's like Brood War Kerrigan, manipulates everyone into helping him get what he wants. Except unlike her, there's no need to dumb down everyone else just to make him win. He's not afraid to let everyone know that he's only using them, but he also reminds them, that it's also for their own good that they help him win.
the thing about Alarak, Tychus and Abathur is that they're simple characters straight to the point, no 4D chess morality shenanigans or whatever, that's why they work. Complex characters work on games like nier, bioshock or others, surely not on Blizzard games.
Complex characters work great when they're either a twist or designed to be some kind of audience self insert. Having too many characters in a story be incredibly variable just feels like going into a world made of adhd and bipolarism
I think the reason Alarak doesn't backstab the Daelam is that it would be inconvenient for him later on to have them against him. And the whole reason he helps them is that it is the most expedient way for him to get to his goals.
Or because he already has enough enemies to begin with, and smart enough to know his limits. Having literally all major factions of Protoss after his head definitely isn't something he desires.
His performance in star trek the next generation was also a sight to behold. He owned that role so hard they couldn't stop bringing him back for later series
honestly I feel like alarak was aware the battle could go poorly hence why he refused to personally command the defenses valarian was at least around organizing and doing something directly so it feels to me like he had the presense of mind to know he could lose and instead hoist the blame on jinara
The short story ("Chain of Ascension") sort of explains what Alarak means by Amon's betrayal. On the surface the Tal'daraim are Amon's favoured servants, but one of the characters in the short story had discovered that Amon actually hated all life and would enjoy seeing the Tal'darim die as much as succeed. This also explains why the various "branches" of Tal'darim have such varying goals. Amon may have instituted a different variant of his "religion" in each branch, just to get them into different kinds of conflict and into dying in different ways. The very "Chain of Ascension" itself is but one of the many lies told by Amon to his servants, just to get them to kill each other while believing that it's for a glorious purpose. In truth, nobody's really going to "ascend". Everyone's just going to get wiped out and then the living world would be remade as Amon saw fit. Over time, Alarak, being his cunning self, might have also come to realize how fucked up all this is, hence his motivation for joining the fight against Amon. The game itself doesn't explain this, which has probably caused a bit of confusion for those who haven't read the short story.
I love Alarak. Like there is nothing I didn't like about him apart from.not appearing more, yet I feel like that is exactly what makes him so amazing. I have learned (the bad way) that some characters only work because they appear exactly what they needed to. Also i love Nova, unrelated but I still hate blizzard clowns in charge for killing the best scifi space fiction for me. Yes, I like it much more than star wars (but only bc of technology and such). Like I was reading the comics just to know that the ones about the war pigs ended ABRUPTLY at some point... that or Im really bad at being a pirate... both can be true so who knows. I hope blizzard will kill itself, sell the rights of starcraft to a good company and they make more games, movies, series, etc. Like it doesnt need to be rts, sc has so much potential to other types of games. Hell a turn based combat like xcom would be AMAZING.
According to IGN/Jason Schreier, there's a non-zero chance there's a StarCraft shooter in the making over at Blizzard. Who knows, maybe they revived StarCraft Ghost?
I AGREE. Alarak is just a badass with insane powers cocky in a way that is enjoyable (and also a drug addict but we don't talk about that) he was PERFECT
While i would love a starcraft 3 i agree that it not returning might be for the best. Also i love that when nova said they had a deal "for now" Alarak made a facial expression that showed he liked how Snarky nova can be as well, i would love to see more interactions with them...
has anyone ever told you the tale of darth Alarak the shit talker, i expect not its not a story the highborn like to tell. edit: oh come on give us Abathur our slugie boi needs love
Good video. Glad to see you talking about what you like instead of what you don't. Very excited for your next video. Guessing it'll have Kane, Overmind, (BW) Kerrigan, and half of all WC3 characters? Also, where was it in the game that Alarak said Nyon was high?
That might've been a mistake on my part. I tried clicking on his campaign unit (from Templar's Return) but he didn't say it. It seems his Coop version actually says the line.
not much to say here, alarak rules. And fantastic vid too, your animations are always a joy to behold. looking forward the next vid as well as future ones like the hybrid zagara story you're (hopefully still) cooking :D
My brain is itching, because of the Protoss color inconsistencies. The Khalai should have blue and orange eyes. The Nerazim green and purple. The Tal'darim red, orange and purple. Screw you Blizzard, fix your game.
2:00 That should not have made me laugh as much as it did. xD I agree to all those points. Alarak was truly a great choice of a character to make for Protoss from Blizzard. I would even go for the slight Transformers comparison. Alarak is a brutal leader but also cunning and joins forces with his enemies if needed in order to reach his goal, just like Megatron against Optimus, Alarak has a similar tango with Artanis. It was truly a bigger window into protoss society and nations which up to that point would be just honorable warriors with a caste system, a shadowy nomad tribe of psychic ninjas and some high on terrazine worshipping zealots. We even had many views of how many Terran factions there are. Not only Dominion but also rebels, mercenaries, refugees, outlaws and lets not forget UED. To this day i really mourn the opportunity to see a "good" zerg hive mind. I know, always expanding bugs with no real mind of their own, but still, imagine just one swarm queen or a surviving cerebrate who decides they had enough of slaughter and just wants to be left alone or defends retreating civilians from an invading brood with their own? Sorry, that was a big leap elsewhere... But the point stands.
And also he is helluva fun to play as in coop mode. I had so much fun with him, becouse his Tal'darim protoss are also cool, that I also bought the comentator pack with his voice to be more immersed :)
Something I have always thought about is why Alarak didn't show up in the epilogue because his whole goal was to destroy Amon and this would be his chance. My only guess is that Artanis didn't tell him
Wow, i really hope to see your opinion on Boss Gorgutz on the next video. Our green boy managed to get through at least 3 DoW campaigns (and that one MOBA-thingy with Super Mario Space Marine).
Maybe a vid on Stukov? I would love a video on Dehaka, but he has very little screen time, despite being a really cool representation of primal zerg and their philosophy. And overall being very fun attempt to represent a primitivistic, yet smart and cunning being. But Stukov has background, but IMO, it was the second game made him really cool, so I'd like to hear what you think about it. Also, "Ressurection" campaign really needs some spotlight. It felt like an acid trip induced fanfic and was really, really weird
Alarak was genuinely the only character in LotV worth talking to. Everysingle other character is speaking the most basic thing in the most elaborate way. While you can say that it's a way of protoss speaking. Sure, yes. Nonetheless in Brood War they speak just as eloquently but you can actually sense their investment into the story and the plot. While in LotV their dialogue is more like "100 different ways to say "Don't give up. We can do this" to your employees" type of thing. And the protoss characters are just blunt with zero negative sides to them. Having just 1 characteristic or so to them. Artanis: always noble and optimistic (no doubts or anything that we see in a short "Reclamation"). Karax is only there to get amased and spit some exposition on us. Matriarch is basically gender-bender Artanis with dark-templar twist on top. Fenix, who's doing absolutely nothing remarkable. He could've been replaced by any new character and literally nothing would've changed. IMAGINE if they gave us some old-fart war-worn veteran (from the days of Conclave). Who would've flipping hated DT's and called matriarch heretic and/or some racial/religious slurs? THAT would've been interesting. It would've created dynamic between our characters. Instead we got constant pep-talking. In the end Fenix actually changes his name, making him actually a totally different character. Why bother with bringing him back anyways? The archive lady. More like Narud/Duran and/or Amon on a speed dial. 'miright? Alarak the only protoss who actually has some balls. Speaks his mind. Has some arrogance BASED on his past expiriences. Instead of pathetic pep-talks tells people to "git gud". That's what makes him so good. He's like a breath of fresh air in a stale office job. Where everyone is named John Smith. And all they do is talking about weather and pep-talking one another.
BW writing is just much better than SC2 writing. Forget the Protoss, just how kickass did they begin the Zerg campaign? "Awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind; the eternal will of the Swarm, and that you have been created to serve me." The delivery of those lines is still seared in my brain years later. Old Blizz knew how to write.
I like talking to Rohana because she's the racist boomer grandma, I only wish she had deeper insight into old Protoss Empire/Conclave attitudes and philosophies as opposed to just going "um ackshually we shouldn't
@@Mrcryptidsarereal I totally agree with you. Although they toned her boomer-racist grany persona down so much. That I didn't even remember that at beginning she had those traits. If I remember correctly Artanis basically says to her twice like "Nana, chill out times have changed" and she's like "ok". Instead of a ballsy "no dark ones allowed on the premises of Spear of Adun" "Taste in your companions has grown more explicit Artanis" or something.
Just replayed LotV maybe months ago ... thoroughly enjoyed listening to Fenix remembering about how he was the Predator, the Terminator, Saving Private Ryan, etc. 😅 But, yeah, I get you. Artanis talks just like Optimus Prime/John Cena, for example. *yawn ... we all love Alarak precisely because he doesn't talk like a typical Protoss, ha.
Alarak, brooding and edge, however its earned and he makes no secret nor an over glorified show of being definition of scum. Plus added that he is directed with annoyance, narcissism, its blended wonderfully while such character architype would be treated with angst in other settings. More so, its rare but a good edge character is one where "I do not mind them getting hurt, but man, I want to keep them around just so I want to hurt them myself."
For some reason Each SC2 campaign has a side character that is just extremely great and arguably a more entertaining and interesting character than the protagonist Tosh for WOL Stukov for HOTS And Alarak for LOTV
I think a StarCraft 3 is now possible. Before I would agree that a StarCraft 3 would be nye impossible but Microsoft has a thing for RTSs so I could see the boys behind age of empires making a StarCraft 3.
I think of him has a fusion of megatron and starscreams. He has the might of Megatron, the raw charisma, the power and cunning of a warlord, but also being a schemers, and a form of dastardly diplomate. Beware for people that thinks starscreams is not a good diplomate nor a good schemers when at the end of the civil war between decepticons and autobot, he become king of the cybertroniens. But Alarak smell too much of charisma in comparaison.
I like Alarak as a character, but I don't like the Tal'darim as a concept and their execution. SC1 and BW had such a huge focus of the Protoss' conflict around how the Khalai and the Nerazim made them a split people, and how huge a deal it was to reunify this people. And then SC2 just pulls out the Tal'darim out of nowhere, and no one treats it like a big deal. Also, if one of the Tal'darim's major traits is they don't make their own technology and just repurpose existing technology, why do their units, in some examples, seem more technologically advanced than standard Protoss units? Wouldn't it make more sense if their units seemed more retro technologically, and/or relied more on the backs of slaves to function like their caste system should suggest? In fact, the story, in several instances, demonstrates the Nerazim as pretty weak compared to the Tal'darim. I think we could have had a more effective origin for the Tal'darim if it was revealed Amon was manipulating the Khala for longer than anyone realized, by taking groups of Khalai over time without anyone within the Khala noticing, and brainwashing them into Tal'darim. It would kind of demonstrate Amon's insidiousness better and raise the ethical of question of how to deal with a new faction of Protoss that only exists because of Amon's manipulation. Some Protoss might be in favor of eradicating them because they're corrupted Protoss, but then some would question "well aren't all Protoss like they are because of Amon's manipulation?" Such a setting would still allow for Alarak as a character to exist too. Idk, just my 2 cents.
It did seem weird that he never bothered making a mind-link for the Taldarim in case they tried to rebel against him. Like, sure they don't have a Khala, but they do have nerve cords and they're devoted to him, so it wouldn't have been difficult to add in.
Hot take: Alarak in a vacuum is incredibly bland an uninteresting. Alarak when he's surrounded by the completely flat and samey characters of legacy of the void and starcraft 2 over all... He really only stands out because he's *not* just another Artanis like how Vorazun has no personality of her own just being a purple=green flavored Artanis and any personality development that Karax *could've* had was quickly brushed aside (the whole thing he brings up about feeling isolated without the kala, they even utterly fail to do anything interesting with that in the short-story they made specifically about that). In any setting with any actual nuance or depth Alarak & The Tal'darim would be so painfully bland. But then Alarak & the Tal'darim would probably have some nuance and depth of their own in any other setting. Good job blizzard.
ОООООЙ ФУУУ БЛИЗЗАРД НЕБАЗИРОВАННЫЕ СЕЕЕЕЕТТИНГ ПЛОХОЙ В ИГРУУУУУШКЕЕЕЕК ПЕРСОНАЖИУИ ПЛАААХАИЕ Я ТРУН И ВЕШАЮСЬ ПОКА КУШАЮ ЭСТРОГЕЕЕНЧИИК ЦУУУУУ Please show me these co-called nuanced settings, I am really interested.
@@metalllich3493 Nuanced settings? Наличие и размер члена у женщины в киберпанке. А если серьёзно то старый канон ЗВ (до Диснея) довольно неплох в своей глубине, если изучать книги, комиксы и прочее. Или например Дюна.
What if Darth Sidious was the main villain of starcraft instead of amon ( He would have been a lot better then amon Because he's actually good villain)
I'm not sure Alarak would flatten Nova in a psionics fight. At just 15 with zero training she levelled a skyscraper, and after being made into a Ghost she mind-nuked a whole cluster of zerg hatcheries.
What made Alarak so enjoyable to me went a bit beyond Starcraft. Because Starcraft 2 came out around the start of the hypersensitive, ultra-political messeging we see today, Blizzard (and many other companies) were making all their plots and characters "safe" and politically correct. Heck, even Kerrigan in HotS (who was _intended_ to be a ruthless anti-hero) kept moaning about how conflicted she was, which just came across as hypocritical about her values and lacking in conviction. It was _such_ a relief to find an unapologetically cool character who didn't stop to extol his virtue every five minutes; TLDR Alarak exuded the vibes that made Kerrigan so interesting in Brood War.
Doesn't matter how fresh and prestigious the spices you use, a bad dish is a bad dish. Sad that they couldn't get the rest of the story to the level of the characters they put in it.
the colour scheme of the tal'darim in WoL is much better then the one in legacy of the void. black in red is some much less interesting then black, blue and silver
- You think us fools?
- Yes. But that is irrelevant
Gets me every time
Easily the best quote from all the LOTV
And a perfect introduction to the character
I love the part on the mission where you kill the guardians for him and one screams at you “You know little of Alarak, or you would not aid him.” It’s this perfect little character moment where you learn he’s not just like this because he’s from the society of evil red-coloured Protoss.
No, even in that society he is considered a scumbag. It immediately raises the question, ‘What did he do?’.
He took 3 vitamin gummies instead of 2 per day.
Backstabbed his friend to became a first ascendant, for example
There was an incident where he instigated a massive Rak'shir and caused over 800 Tal'darim to die, which spurred him all the way to becoming one of the higher ascendants. He's used plenty of schemes like that to reach the top.
>what did he do?
According to the lore books and bonus excerpts, he got about 1/3rd of the Tal'Darim killed in a massive backstab-frenzy barely justifiable as a Rak'Shir.
@@falsnamae3511makes sense. Considering promotion from zealot to high lord would involve a lot of dead taldarim.
Before I watch your video:
- no unnecessary redemption arc
- awesome dialogue
- perfectly placed him into the middle of the good/evil lawful/chaotic cross.
And now: showtime.
Most of the LOTV crew just outright slap.
@@ttpbroadcastingcompany.4460 a fix from the HotS cast
Alarak is INCREDIBLY lawful. He just has such a blue-and-orange morality system that his moral code looks byzantine to us at best. One of the side stories put it best: Concerning ascendants who seek to become highlord, they all will tattoo the Chains, the oaths, their religious scripts, upon their bodies, but Alarak's body is pristine, for he tattooed the Chains upon his very heart and soul.
He never initiates betrayals, always begins with proper form of combat, and offers clemency to those who are worthy but misaligned. He is selfish, hostile, and not merely apathetic but actively enjoys the suffering of others, but yet doesn't inflict it unless it is merited. Artanis is the White Knight, pure Lawful Good, but Alarak is the Black Knight, Lawful Evil.
Alarak: I am perfect, and you will quote everything I say.
@@falsnamae3511 Incredibly lawful is exagerating IMO.
While he united the tal'darim in the 1v1 fight, he lied to Artanis to kill the 3 ¿second bad guys? even tho it was unnnecessary (and I guess they would've followed him after winning the 1v1)
What I respect about him is that he gives no fuck about honor, glory etc. He only seeks an absolute simple conquest victory, and to crush anyone who stands in his way.
While all other Starcraft 2 characters are "lawfull good" plain bread characters, he is an asshole who is clever enough to see that the good guys are the better option for his survival, ascension to power and long term
Alarak also has the advantage of being voiced by sci-fi legend John de Lancie. The man really put in a great performance.
Blizzard really went, yes we want the actor behind Q an all powerful, scheming, frenemy and said yeah play that angle as a Protoss High Lord instead. And I loved it. You love to hate both smug bastards.
Even so, it's still great character in other translations rather than just in english.
So that's not all that's behind him.
Imagine what would happen if Alarak in campaign meet someone being "Sisko" of Starcraft universe :)
I miss Heroes of the Storm's updates. Alarak is one of those few heroes who would have new voicelines when a new character came out.
Also Discord, Chimera of Chaos from an animated horse show
"You wasted my time and your breath. And the former has value."
I always hear those words whenever I try helping my brother with his homework ngl.
"Im arrogant as F, but I have the power to back it up and Im ready to destroy you trying to prove me wrong."
Alarak is that Anime Villain that is the opposite of the hero with the "power of friendship", he is more like the "power of my fist and my brain".
He was by far my favorite hero in HotS, his quotes are so fun to listen... his sarcasm is pure gold.
Alarak: Jinara, take command of the attack on Vardona.
Jinara: As you command.
Ascendant: I don’t get how she became the 1st ascendant, and much less why you let her command the invasion on the planet surface.
Alarak: because I want something to watch while getting high on terrazine.
His ascension was assured by psychic help + his supplicants are empowering him. He is surely a user of power of friendship
@@Ravil322 - Tools and Slaves are not his friends....
@@brianfhunter he didn't say it was Alarak's power of friendship. He uses the power of friendship of others to his advantage as a tool, in this case, Artanis'.
Alarak seriously is a great foil for the Daelaam and Terrans. And the fact he's still independent is even more amazing with how he's still the very same foil we were introduced to him as.
I also love how he's the lense we see the Tal'darim as a society through with the Chain of Ascension and how the Tal'darim view betrayal and honor respectively.
And on a side note, I like how Legacy of the Void treats the Tal'darim(at least to me) with how the unit unlock system works. When Alarak us introduced all you get for units is the Blood Hunter, which I view as his only followers who came with him. But later on you unlock more units as more Tal'darim join his cause seeing him as a better leader than Ma'lash all the way up to a fully on-board Tal'darim when you unlock the Mothership. I know that wasn't the thought behind the unit unlock system, but it's a nice thought about how Alarak is slowly building his following as the campaign goes on.
- Thankfully, Void Rays.
THIS IS GOLD
Man was flexing with his Hades animation...
Honestly, I'm surprised people actually liked it
@@PieisDaBest1Dude, I'm surprised we even got an animation. This is sick and I honestly would expect a proper longer animation to get massive amounts of views
The reason Nova's "I guess Alarak won't dight his own battles" insult works is because the Tal'darim value strength in their leaders, which they define as Combat prowess. It wouldn't make sense against Valerian, because the Dominion values strong leadership, not strong marksmanship, in their leaders.
Fair point!
IMO, the Taldarim suffers HEAVILY from the flip-floppy direction of the sequels. What we see when Alarak is around is such a more interesting face for the Protoss. The idea that the Taldarim being a faction so fanatically loyal to the Xel'Naga, that they left Aiur with them (or follow the Xel'Naga, I don't remember precicely) to be warriors for the Xel'Naga is cool, but messy in execution (Didn't the Taldarim saw the creation of the Zerg and their revolt against the Xel'Naga? Or they were Amon's personal followers?).
Regardless, the Red-Protoss having a phylosophy of individual power is a nice change of flavor for the Psychic Aliens, together with the "Empower Me" ability for Alarak as an unit, I believe, that it tells a story: The Taldarim leaders have to grow in power and proof themselves capable, so they could wield the powers of their followers. That is a fascinating twist of "the power in unity", IMO. Weeeeell, I maybe be overthinking a fun game mechanic XD
Yep, it shows they made do as Starcraft 2 campaigns where made
They could've justified with some ease, make the "religious protect the relics" Taldarim a different group. Say that after the fall of their home planet they went ultra religious and for some reason more xenophobic, so they dont cara if it's Raynor or whomever, the only thing that matters is that he is not a protoss
Alarack, the best-written villain in StarCraft II, is a villain despite being on your side.
I love the editing sometimes, that quick cut to Freiza and "Hello Monkey's!" got a laugh out of me, it's exactly the attitude Alarak would have towards Humans.
Alarak is awakening the humiliation kink within thousands of StarCraft gamers.
Before I watch your video...here are my thoughts.
He's one of those who have a clear goal and is a no-nonsense person. He sees his objective and uses any means to get what he wants.
He's straight forward, and simple. He has great dialogue, and interactions with every other character.
There's no attempt to hide his intentions. It's made clear that he's an asshole from the very beginning, but one who makes good if brutal and cold decisions.
He's like Brood War Kerrigan, manipulates everyone into helping him get what he wants. Except unlike her, there's no need to dumb down everyone else just to make him win. He's not afraid to let everyone know that he's only using them, but he also reminds them, that it's also for their own good that they help him win.
Pretty spot on!
"Wait, is that... Discord from My Little Pony!?"
Man was I surprised to hear a MLP character in the Protoss campaign... and I cannot unhear it!
Good ol' John Delancie
the thing about Alarak, Tychus and Abathur is that they're simple characters straight to the point, no 4D chess morality shenanigans or whatever, that's why they work. Complex characters work on games like nier, bioshock or others, surely not on Blizzard games.
They do complex things, but they themselves are simple, very black and white, no grayzones.
Complex characters work great when they're either a twist or designed to be some kind of audience self insert. Having too many characters in a story be incredibly variable just feels like going into a world made of adhd and bipolarism
>as opposed to the shortdalrim
so stupid and funny lmao
I think the reason Alarak doesn't backstab the Daelam is that it would be inconvenient for him later on to have them against him. And the whole reason he helps them is that it is the most expedient way for him to get to his goals.
Or because he already has enough enemies to begin with, and smart enough to know his limits. Having literally all major factions of Protoss after his head definitely isn't something he desires.
Alarak's my second favourite character, thanks for doing him justice
John De'Lancie also voiced Discord, and he played Colonel Frank Simmons in Stargate SG1. He also had a role in Charmed.
His performance in star trek the next generation was also a sight to behold. He owned that role so hard they couldn't stop bringing him back for later series
honestly I feel like alarak was aware the battle could go poorly hence why he refused to personally command the defenses valarian was at least around organizing and doing something directly so it feels to me like he had the presense of mind to know he could lose and instead hoist the blame on jinara
The short story ("Chain of Ascension") sort of explains what Alarak means by Amon's betrayal.
On the surface the Tal'daraim are Amon's favoured servants,
but one of the characters in the short story had discovered that
Amon actually hated all life and would enjoy seeing the Tal'darim die as much as succeed.
This also explains why the various "branches" of Tal'darim have such varying goals.
Amon may have instituted a different variant of his "religion" in each branch,
just to get them into different kinds of conflict and into dying in different ways.
The very "Chain of Ascension" itself is but one of the many lies told by Amon to his servants,
just to get them to kill each other while believing that it's for a glorious purpose.
In truth, nobody's really going to "ascend". Everyone's just going to get wiped out and then the living world would be remade as Amon saw fit.
Over time, Alarak, being his cunning self, might have also come to realize how fucked up all this is,
hence his motivation for joining the fight against Amon.
The game itself doesn't explain this, which has probably caused a bit of confusion for those who haven't read the short story.
the greatest RTS villains of all time?
SINDRI!
I love Alarak. Like there is nothing I didn't like about him apart from.not appearing more, yet I feel like that is exactly what makes him so amazing. I have learned (the bad way) that some characters only work because they appear exactly what they needed to. Also i love Nova, unrelated but I still hate blizzard clowns in charge for killing the best scifi space fiction for me. Yes, I like it much more than star wars (but only bc of technology and such). Like I was reading the comics just to know that the ones about the war pigs ended ABRUPTLY at some point... that or Im really bad at being a pirate... both can be true so who knows. I hope blizzard will kill itself, sell the rights of starcraft to a good company and they make more games, movies, series, etc. Like it doesnt need to be rts, sc has so much potential to other types of games. Hell a turn based combat like xcom would be AMAZING.
According to IGN/Jason Schreier, there's a non-zero chance there's a StarCraft shooter in the making over at Blizzard. Who knows, maybe they revived StarCraft Ghost?
Being under Microsoft might give the non-WoW IPs some hope now
I AGREE. Alarak is just a badass with insane powers cocky in a way that is enjoyable (and also a drug addict but we don't talk about that) he was PERFECT
Alright, an Alarak Crossover with Hades wasn't a niche I knew I was in, but I'm here for it.
Did you make that? it's really good!
Yeah, glad you enjoyed!
13:10 That Hades strip was awesome.
While i would love a starcraft 3 i agree that it not returning might be for the best.
Also i love that when nova said they had a deal "for now" Alarak made a facial expression that showed he liked how Snarky nova can be as well, i would love to see more interactions with them...
has anyone ever told you the tale of darth Alarak the shit talker, i expect not its not a story the highborn like to tell.
edit: oh come on give us Abathur our slugie boi needs love
Good video. Glad to see you talking about what you like instead of what you don't. Very excited for your next video. Guessing it'll have Kane, Overmind, (BW) Kerrigan, and half of all WC3 characters?
Also, where was it in the game that Alarak said Nyon was high?
That might've been a mistake on my part. I tried clicking on his campaign unit (from Templar's Return) but he didn't say it. It seems his Coop version actually says the line.
Vorazun : *"You think us fool?"*
Alarak *"Yes, but that is irrelevant"*
And that's how Alarak became the best character xD
not much to say here, alarak rules. And fantastic vid too, your animations are always a joy to behold. looking forward the next vid as well as future ones like the hybrid zagara story you're (hopefully still) cooking :D
Not sure what dish will be next, but I appreciate the support!
In the immortal words of Palpatine: "[...] he's a Sith Lord."
GORGUTZ SPOTTED PLEEEEASE TALK ABOUT HEADHUNTRR
OF COURSE AH WILL!
My brain is itching, because of the Protoss color inconsistencies.
The Khalai should have blue and orange eyes.
The Nerazim green and purple.
The Tal'darim red, orange and purple.
Screw you Blizzard, fix your game.
Imagine working a 9-5 job and just shooting your boss and becoming the boss yourself
This Hades-like animation is godlike
2:00 That should not have made me laugh as much as it did. xD
I agree to all those points. Alarak was truly a great choice of a character to make for Protoss from Blizzard. I would even go for the slight Transformers comparison. Alarak is a brutal leader but also cunning and joins forces with his enemies if needed in order to reach his goal, just like Megatron against Optimus, Alarak has a similar tango with Artanis. It was truly a bigger window into protoss society and nations which up to that point would be just honorable warriors with a caste system, a shadowy nomad tribe of psychic ninjas and some high on terrazine worshipping zealots.
We even had many views of how many Terran factions there are. Not only Dominion but also rebels, mercenaries, refugees, outlaws and lets not forget UED.
To this day i really mourn the opportunity to see a "good" zerg hive mind. I know, always expanding bugs with no real mind of their own, but still, imagine just one swarm queen or a surviving cerebrate who decides they had enough of slaughter and just wants to be left alone or defends retreating civilians from an invading brood with their own? Sorry, that was a big leap elsewhere... But the point stands.
That Hades animation was awesome! :O
Thanks!
Ok you got me with "Silence Heretic!"
Ah, the bread of creation... (crust crunch)
And also he is helluva fun to play as in coop mode. I had so much fun with him, becouse his Tal'darim protoss are also cool, that I also bought the comentator pack with his voice to be more immersed :)
The Hades animation was 😙👌
I LOVE ALARAK SO MUCH HE IS THE REASON I LOVED LOTV SO MUCH.
He has real desepticon energy...
Such a fun vid for my man Weird Al!
Something I have always thought about is why Alarak didn't show up in the epilogue because his whole goal was to destroy Amon and this would be his chance. My only guess is that Artanis didn't tell him
I even really felt like I was fighting Alarak in burning skies or that he lost because we talk to Jinara most of the time.
I like to think that Raynor and Kerrigan saw the talderim without the red skins because they are racist and all protoss look the same to them.
Wow, i really hope to see your opinion on Boss Gorgutz on the next video. Our green boy managed to get through at least 3 DoW campaigns (and that one MOBA-thingy with Super Mario Space Marine).
9 minutes ago, I'm glad I got to witness the birth of a masterpiece
Maybe a vid on Stukov? I would love a video on Dehaka, but he has very little screen time, despite being a really cool representation of primal zerg and their philosophy. And overall being very fun attempt to represent a primitivistic, yet smart and cunning being.
But Stukov has background, but IMO, it was the second game made him really cool, so I'd like to hear what you think about it. Also, "Ressurection" campaign really needs some spotlight. It felt like an acid trip induced fanfic and was really, really weird
Alarak was genuinely the only character in LotV worth talking to. Everysingle other character is speaking the most basic thing in the most elaborate way. While you can say that it's a way of protoss speaking. Sure, yes. Nonetheless in Brood War they speak just as eloquently but you can actually sense their investment into the story and the plot. While in LotV their dialogue is more like "100 different ways to say "Don't give up. We can do this" to your employees" type of thing.
And the protoss characters are just blunt with zero negative sides to them. Having just 1 characteristic or so to them.
Artanis: always noble and optimistic (no doubts or anything that we see in a short "Reclamation").
Karax is only there to get amased and spit some exposition on us.
Matriarch is basically gender-bender Artanis with dark-templar twist on top.
Fenix, who's doing absolutely nothing remarkable. He could've been replaced by any new character and literally nothing would've changed. IMAGINE if they gave us some old-fart war-worn veteran (from the days of Conclave). Who would've flipping hated DT's and called matriarch heretic and/or some racial/religious slurs? THAT would've been interesting. It would've created dynamic between our characters. Instead we got constant pep-talking. In the end Fenix actually changes his name, making him actually a totally different character. Why bother with bringing him back anyways?
The archive lady. More like Narud/Duran and/or Amon on a speed dial. 'miright?
Alarak the only protoss who actually has some balls. Speaks his mind. Has some arrogance BASED on his past expiriences. Instead of pathetic pep-talks tells people to "git gud".
That's what makes him so good. He's like a breath of fresh air in a stale office job. Where everyone is named John Smith. And all they do is talking about weather and pep-talking one another.
BW writing is just much better than SC2 writing. Forget the Protoss, just how kickass did they begin the Zerg campaign?
"Awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind; the eternal will of the Swarm, and that you have been created to serve me."
The delivery of those lines is still seared in my brain years later. Old Blizz knew how to write.
I like talking to Rohana because she's the racist boomer grandma, I only wish she had deeper insight into old Protoss Empire/Conclave attitudes and philosophies as opposed to just going "um ackshually we shouldn't
@@Mrcryptidsarereal I totally agree with you.
Although they toned her boomer-racist grany persona down so much. That I didn't even remember that at beginning she had those traits. If I remember correctly Artanis basically says to her twice like "Nana, chill out times have changed" and she's like "ok".
Instead of a ballsy "no dark ones allowed on the premises of Spear of Adun" "Taste in your companions has grown more explicit Artanis" or something.
Just replayed LotV maybe months ago ... thoroughly enjoyed listening to Fenix remembering about how he was the Predator, the Terminator, Saving Private Ryan, etc. 😅
But, yeah, I get you. Artanis talks just like Optimus Prime/John Cena, for example. *yawn ... we all love Alarak precisely because he doesn't talk like a typical Protoss, ha.
Lord alarak of the taldarim is my favorite starcraft 2 character
Aside from him being a cool character he also has cool attacks and skills
I really like him in Heroes of the Storm, too. Whenever he dies he blames you, the player xD
Great video
alarak's 3rd passive gives you a permenant deathfleet in co op and Oh good lord it ANNHILATES STUFF
Dayum, now I want a starcraft hades
i would love a video about kane, he was my goat rts villain during my childhood. seeing him prob appear in the next video got me hyped.
Best RTS villains you say... Well, my life was always for Kane
I like that he is a professional shit talker
All of this grandstanding and showboating just to immediately suicide himself into the first Zerg wave of the final LOTV mission.
You have to admit that in the last mission of the protoss they didn't do him much justice.
Yeah, though that's more a symptom of the heroes not respawning
Was kinda hoping there would be a Zerg and Protoss mission packs, with the Tal'darom and Alarak for the protoss one.
Idk if you've known this but one person pointed out that if you look closely to Alaraks head you can see :3
Hey man, Cool video you ( and GGG) Inspire me to try and do my own Starcraft 2 video's.
Anyway nice video please keep it up. 👍
2 reason why i love alarak:
1. He's badass
2. Voidrays
Alarak is the undisputed GOAT no question.
StarCraft’s Vegeta
im really waiting for the abatur one :)
Basically Alarak is who Kerrigan should've been and should've remained as
If you ever make a game, do the art by hand, I cannot get over how good it is ❤
I just really like Alarak's VA :P
I Bought Alarak Just to hear Taldarim Mothership voice and To play with Alarak
And its funny to toss around enemies))
...and also, John de Lancie. Alarak's main ability is hotkey "Q". XD
Why is Alarak so awesome?
He exists! End of story! 😈
Ngl, alarak and artanis feels like megatron and optimus, with a much more patient megatron
Alarak is my favorite. John de Lancie did a fantastic job.
Really wished you would have talked a bit more about the short story, its the coolest alarak has ever been
Alarak, brooding and edge, however its earned and he makes no secret nor an over glorified show of being definition of scum.
Plus added that he is directed with annoyance, narcissism, its blended wonderfully while such character architype would be treated with angst in other settings.
More so, its rare but a good edge character is one where "I do not mind them getting hurt, but man, I want to keep them around just so I want to hurt them myself."
Wait. Alarak considers what happened to Stetmann a fate worse than death?
Apparently so
For some reason
Each SC2 campaign has a side character that is just extremely great and arguably a more entertaining and interesting character than the protagonist
Tosh for WOL
Stukov for HOTS
And Alarak for LOTV
I think Tchus and Abathur would also qualify
Also did I mention I love Nova?
I think a StarCraft 3 is now possible. Before I would agree that a StarCraft 3 would be nye impossible but Microsoft has a thing for RTSs so I could see the boys behind age of empires making a StarCraft 3.
I think of him has a fusion of megatron and starscreams.
He has the might of Megatron, the raw charisma, the power and cunning of a warlord, but also being a schemers, and a form of dastardly diplomate.
Beware for people that thinks starscreams is not a good diplomate nor a good schemers when at the end of the civil war between decepticons and autobot, he become king of the cybertroniens.
But Alarak smell too much of charisma in comparaison.
The shor'tarim Lowlady Ylyryk is way superior!
I like Alarak as a character, but I don't like the Tal'darim as a concept and their execution. SC1 and BW had such a huge focus of the Protoss' conflict around how the Khalai and the Nerazim made them a split people, and how huge a deal it was to reunify this people. And then SC2 just pulls out the Tal'darim out of nowhere, and no one treats it like a big deal. Also, if one of the Tal'darim's major traits is they don't make their own technology and just repurpose existing technology, why do their units, in some examples, seem more technologically advanced than standard Protoss units? Wouldn't it make more sense if their units seemed more retro technologically, and/or relied more on the backs of slaves to function like their caste system should suggest? In fact, the story, in several instances, demonstrates the Nerazim as pretty weak compared to the Tal'darim.
I think we could have had a more effective origin for the Tal'darim if it was revealed Amon was manipulating the Khala for longer than anyone realized, by taking groups of Khalai over time without anyone within the Khala noticing, and brainwashing them into Tal'darim. It would kind of demonstrate Amon's insidiousness better and raise the ethical of question of how to deal with a new faction of Protoss that only exists because of Amon's manipulation. Some Protoss might be in favor of eradicating them because they're corrupted Protoss, but then some would question "well aren't all Protoss like they are because of Amon's manipulation?" Such a setting would still allow for Alarak as a character to exist too.
Idk, just my 2 cents.
It did seem weird that he never bothered making a mind-link for the Taldarim in case they tried to rebel against him. Like, sure they don't have a Khala, but they do have nerve cords and they're devoted to him, so it wouldn't have been difficult to add in.
How do I vote for the next one? Can we get an Overmind video please?
I'm doing a special video for October. I'll do another poll when that's done
Can you do zeratul next?
Hot take: Alarak in a vacuum is incredibly bland an uninteresting. Alarak when he's surrounded by the completely flat and samey characters of legacy of the void and starcraft 2 over all... He really only stands out because he's *not* just another Artanis like how Vorazun has no personality of her own just being a purple=green flavored Artanis and any personality development that Karax *could've* had was quickly brushed aside (the whole thing he brings up about feeling isolated without the kala, they even utterly fail to do anything interesting with that in the short-story they made specifically about that).
In any setting with any actual nuance or depth Alarak & The Tal'darim would be so painfully bland. But then Alarak & the Tal'darim would probably have some nuance and depth of their own in any other setting. Good job blizzard.
Oh yeah and being voice acted by John Delancy carries him super hard
ОООООЙ ФУУУ БЛИЗЗАРД НЕБАЗИРОВАННЫЕ СЕЕЕЕЕТТИНГ ПЛОХОЙ В ИГРУУУУУШКЕЕЕЕК ПЕРСОНАЖИУИ ПЛАААХАИЕ Я ТРУН И ВЕШАЮСЬ ПОКА КУШАЮ ЭСТРОГЕЕЕНЧИИК ЦУУУУУ
Please show me these co-called nuanced settings, I am really interested.
"Oh, if only your takes could ignite the same heat within your bondmate when you retire to your bedchambers."
@@metalllich3493 Nuanced settings?
Наличие и размер члена у женщины в киберпанке. А если серьёзно то старый канон ЗВ (до Диснея) довольно неплох в своей глубине, если изучать книги, комиксы и прочее. Или например Дюна.
@@NevermoreDD старый канон зв это скибидитуалетная клоунада которую писали 138 разных человек, не имеющих понятия, что они хотят с ней делать
What if Darth Sidious was the main villain of starcraft instead of amon
( He would have been a lot better then amon Because he's actually good villain)
Alarak bodied Nova so hard in HotS. Good times.
I'm not sure Alarak would flatten Nova in a psionics fight. At just 15 with zero training she levelled a skyscraper, and after being made into a Ghost she mind-nuked a whole cluster of zerg hatcheries.
Good point! Though it's kinda hard to gauge Alarak's actual power since he usually has other people backing him up
@@PieisDaBest1 That and his powers seem to be more focused like the ever beloved laser and his force push-esque wave instead of AoE
What made Alarak so enjoyable to me went a bit beyond Starcraft. Because Starcraft 2 came out around the start of the hypersensitive, ultra-political messeging we see today, Blizzard (and many other companies) were making all their plots and characters "safe" and politically correct. Heck, even Kerrigan in HotS (who was _intended_ to be a ruthless anti-hero) kept moaning about how conflicted she was, which just came across as hypocritical about her values and lacking in conviction. It was _such_ a relief to find an unapologetically cool character who didn't stop to extol his virtue every five minutes;
TLDR Alarak exuded the vibes that made Kerrigan so interesting in Brood War.
Sadly he, Stukov, Abathur, Tychus and Tosh were not enough to save the game's awful campaign stories.
Doesn't matter how fresh and prestigious the spices you use, a bad dish is a bad dish.
Sad that they couldn't get the rest of the story to the level of the characters they put in it.
the colour scheme of the tal'darim in WoL is much better then the one in legacy of the void. black in red is some much less interesting then black, blue and silver
Personally, I would have flipped around the white and black of the Purifiers and Tal'darim.
@@R17inator maybe, connect the too colour wise could also have been interesting
do you plan to do the same about the nerazim matriarch ?
maybe
@@PieisDaBest1 well, it's not a no, so they are still hope
Before watching: Because everyone else so boooooring!
Why is it that only Terrans are allowed to have personalities in SC2?
engagement