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Kerrigan's actiions could be driven by a desire to stop the bad Xel'Naga (the Void? Can't remember the name). So she isn't necessarily the Queen of Blades, she's just using the Zerg as a tool to fight against the Hybrids. I'd say it's not really status quo if she's fighting for the Terrans, not against 'em. However, I could easily be wrong, as noble motives haven't been hinted at so far in the new stuff.

A yes, the "Dark Voice", another ass-pulled Überbad who somehow services to retroactively rehabilitate the freakin' Overmind. Wasn't introducing that personality-free and easily dominated Overmind Mk II in Brood War bad enough already, Blizzard?

Heart of the Swarm will not end on a high note, it's part two of three, it needs to put the stakes high for the inevitable final showdown. That's the classic rule of Drama.

Simon_Jester wrote:Eh, I don't know. She was a logical heir apparent for the Zerg based on the events of the main game

Her ability to essentially replace the Overmind, as far as I remember, only materialized in that last sentence at the end of the SC1 finale

that she had to do a tremendous amount of scheming and backstabbing in order to climb to the top doesn't seem unreasonable.

Amongst the Zerg, sure, but the idea that she could play everyone else off the UED was absurd. Convincing Raynor I can buy, but the Protoss? Mengsk? Please.

There were a few bits that were done ham-handedly, like Aldaris's rebellion, which would probably have been prevented if the two sides were smart/reasonable enough to organize a meeting under flag of truce.

Oh wow, I'd almost forgot about that. I particularly like how Aldaris is murdered by Kerrigan in front of Zeratul and Artanis just as he's about to reveal the Matriarch's infested (as if that makes sense either), and they act shocked and then banish her for it.

Stofsk wrote:It makes sense if you remember that Aldaris and the rest of the Judicator caste despise the Dark Templar, as they're 'heretics' to their religion, and he also smarted from the protoss abandoning of Aiur. (which frankly was doomed anyway - Zeratul rightly pointed this out in the first mission of the protoss campaign in BW)

But the fact is he was sort of right; the DT Matriarch had become infested by Kerrigan, something which nobody really picked up on until later. That was the primary reason why he rebelled. He could have acted reasonably and met Zeratul and Artanis under a flag of truce, but I guess he just didn't know who to trust and thus made his stand.

Yeah, that's kind of my point. Aldaris basically just declares war on all other Protoss, and leads a large fraction of the race to support him, without even bothering to try and communicate his reasons for doing so with anyone else- not even Artanis, who shows every sign of respecting the Protoss hierarchy and at least being willing to listen.

It's fairly clear that Kerrigan assassinated Artanis at the end of that mission because he was about to give away the secret that the Matriarch was under Kerrigan's control- psychic, I think, not biological infestation. But if Aldaris had delivered the same information to them under flag of truce, it would have achieved his ends far more effectively.

Of course, this is in character for Aldaris; he'd been a self-righteous, inflexible prick since his first introduction in the original Protoss campaign. But it still feels a bit contrived to me. What kind of civil war doesn't feature at least limited attempts between the two sides to communicate and reach a peaceful settlement?

EDIT Really though if we're going to talk about who was stupid in BW, the king of that was Gerard DuGalle. This guy trusted the word of a known traitor, with unknown allegiances and motivations, despite earlier having said 'i cannot abide traitors' to his friend, Stukov. True Stukov did 'betray' DuGalle, but only because DuGalle was so monumentally stupid in following Duran's advice to destroy the Confederacy's psi emitter. All Stukov really did was keep the thing intact to be used to control the zerg. What a colossal tool.

Hmmm. I see your argument.

Then again, I'm looking over the mission briefing. Stukov pulls troops out of the fighting against the Zerg on Aiur to bring them to Braxis, without consulting DuGalle. His first words toward a policy are "However, he must be found. If Stukov is here, he will account for his actions." Which is a reasonable thing for DuGalle to say- Stukov's actions arguably contributed to a major UED defeat on Aiur, and he certainly does need to account for his actions.

Then it is revealed that Stukov disobeyed the order to activate the Psi Disrupter, and indeed reconstructed it, without informing DuGalle; that information does not come from Duran.

That's what makes DuGalle suggestible. The way it's portrayed in the conversation is probably too quick, mind, but I can see how the attitude would flow. It'd make more sense as a longer conversation and thought process... i.e. one too long to fit in a Starcraft briefing cutscene.

TC Pilot wrote:

Simon_Jester wrote:Eh, I don't know. She was a logical heir apparent for the Zerg based on the events of the main game

Her ability to essentially replace the Overmind, as far as I remember, only materialized in that last sentence at the end of the SC1 finale

Her ability to control Zerg as an independent agent is set up before that- that's why she's left behind on Char to finish off the Protoss remnant forces; it seems unlikely that she's being tasked to do that without any troops. During Brood War, she maintains control through (at least) one Cerebrate.

that she had to do a tremendous amount of scheming and backstabbing in order to climb to the top doesn't seem unreasonable.

Amongst the Zerg, sure, but the idea that she could play everyone else off the UED was absurd. Convincing Raynor I can buy, but the Protoss? Mengsk? Please.

By the time Kerrigan got to Mengsk, he was entirely in her power and a fugitive from the UED. He had every reason to ally with her to regain his empire. His actions made sense given his own motives, as far as I can tell. His one mistake was not making greater allowances for Kerrigan's treachery, but given the strategic situation on Korhal at the time she turned on them, I'm not sure he could have secured himself against them.

Simon_Jester wrote:

Stofsk wrote:It makes sense if you remember that Aldaris and the rest of the Judicator caste despise the Dark Templar, as they're 'heretics' to their religion, and he also smarted from the protoss abandoning of Aiur. (which frankly was doomed anyway - Zeratul rightly pointed this out in the first mission of the protoss campaign in BW)

But the fact is he was sort of right; the DT Matriarch had become infested by Kerrigan, something which nobody really picked up on until later. That was the primary reason why he rebelled. He could have acted reasonably and met Zeratul and Artanis under a flag of truce, but I guess he just didn't know who to trust and thus made his stand.

Yeah, that's kind of my point. Aldaris basically just declares war on all other Protoss, and leads a large fraction of the race to support him, without even bothering to try and communicate his reasons for doing so with anyone else- not even Artanis, who shows every sign of respecting the Protoss hierarchy and at least being willing to listen.

According to the background lore, Artanis was actually the Protoss executor of episode 3, i.e. he directly disobeyed Aldaris and sided with Tassadar. So... maybe Aldaris didn't trust him any more.

Then again, I'm looking over the mission briefing. Stukov pulls troops out of the fighting against the Zerg on Aiur to bring them to Braxis, without consulting DuGalle. His first words toward a policy are "However, he must be found. If Stukov is here, he will account for his actions." Which is a reasonable thing for DuGalle to say- Stukov's actions arguably contributed to a major UED defeat on Aiur, and he certainly does need to account for his actions.

Then it is revealed that Stukov disobeyed the order to activate the Psi Disrupter, and indeed reconstructed it, without informing DuGalle; that information does not come from Duran.[

That's what makes DuGalle suggestible. The way it's portrayed in the conversation is probably too quick, mind, but I can see how the attitude would flow. It'd make more sense as a longer conversation and thought process... i.e. one too long to fit in a Starcraft briefing cutscene.

Yeah, my other problem with that is Stukov didn't inform DuGalle of what went down on Aiur. It was Duran who was out of position and thus Stukov was forced to withdraw.

But DuGalle should never have listened to Duran in the first place. It feels the most contrived piece of writing in that entire campaign. Unless he is like, really really prone to suggestion. How he went from 'i consider you a turncoat Duran' to 'holy shit i believe you when you say my trusted friend for decades has betrayed me'.

By the time Kerrigan got to Mengsk, he was entirely in her power and a fugitive from the UED. He had every reason to ally with her to regain his empire. His actions made sense given his own motives, as far as I can tell. His one mistake was not making greater allowances for Kerrigan's treachery, but given the strategic situation on Korhal at the time she turned on them, I'm not sure he could have secured himself against them.

I agree; Mengsk is a immoral schemer who will ally with anyone and then discard them when their utility to him has met an end. He allied with General Duke, who at the time was one of the Confederacy's most able field commanders. Kerrigan was his right hand girl until he decided she was no use to him. Mengsk allying with Kerrigan is arguably the most understandable plot development.

As for the protoss, they didn't ally with her willingly. She kidnapped the Matriarch and used her as collateral to get Zeratul to do what she wanted. Fenix and Raynor are less understandable. I can't remember BW exactly; I don't recall why those two joined forces with her. It may have been a 'who is the lesser of two evils' because the UED wanted to take over the entire sector. At the time it appeared as though the UED were the greater threat. Actually they were- they had completely conquered the Dominion, and were successful in taking over the second overmind and thus controlling the zerg. Meanwhile Kerrigan had very depleted resources and forces.

Stofsk wrote:According to the background lore, Artanis was actually the Protoss executor of episode 3, i.e. he directly disobeyed Aldaris and sided with Tassadar. So... maybe Aldaris didn't trust him any more.

Huh. Oh. OK. That kind of makes sense. Forget I said anything.

Yeah, my other problem with that is Stukov didn't inform DuGalle of what went down on Aiur. It was Duran who was out of position and thus Stukov was forced to withdraw.

But DuGalle should never have listened to Duran in the first place. It feels the most contrived piece of writing in that entire campaign. Unless he is like, really really prone to suggestion. How he went from 'i consider you a turncoat Duran' to 'holy shit i believe you when you say my trusted friend for decades has betrayed me'.

I think part of the problem is that we only actually hear about 15-20 minutes of dialogue between them during the campaign, tops; a lot of plot has to be compressed into that which would make more sense taking place over a more extended period of time.

One possibility that occurs to me is that Duran may have some degree of psychic ability- at least enough to subtly influence DuGalle in close proximity.

As for the protoss, they didn't ally with her willingly. She kidnapped the Matriarch and used her as collateral to get Zeratul to do what she wanted. Fenix and Raynor are less understandable. I can't remember BW exactly; I don't recall why those two joined forces with her. It may have been a 'who is the lesser of two evils' because the UED wanted to take over the entire sector. At the time it appeared as though the UED were the greater threat. Actually they were- they had completely conquered the Dominion, and were successful in taking over the second overmind and thus controlling the zerg. Meanwhile Kerrigan had very depleted resources and forces.

Yes. I'm pretty sure a big part of it was that Kerrigan had, after abandoning the Protoss main body on Shakuras, gone back to Aiur and helped bail out Raynor and Fenix- who had stayed behind to cover the evacuation and been cut off from the warp gate. So they had no information about how Kerrigan had betrayed Zeratul and Artanis, and at the same time felt that they were in Kerrigan's debt. Raynor would be predisposed to fall for a ploy similar to what Kerrigan used on Shakuras: "I'm a free agent now, Jim, and the UED will overrun the entire sector if we don't do something about them."

Which, of course, was true so far as it went.

Fenix's decision to follow along is difficult to explain, but understandable if his forces wound up closely integrated with Raynor's Raiders.

Edit - Stofsk basically covered what I was going to say.

Though, I question where Kerrigan is shown to be independently commanding Zerg. You said she stayed behind on Char to take care of the Protoss there, but didn't she have the player Ceribrate with her?

Yes. I'm pretty sure a big part of it was that Kerrigan had, after abandoning the Protoss main body on Shakuras, gone back to Aiur and helped bail out Raynor and Fenix- who had stayed behind to cover the evacuation and been cut off from the warp gate. So they had no information about how Kerrigan had betrayed Zeratul and Artanis, and at the same time felt that they were in Kerrigan's debt. Raynor would be predisposed to fall for a ploy similar to what Kerrigan used on Shakuras: "I'm a free agent now, Jim, and the UED will overrun the entire sector if we don't do something about them."

If I remember correctly, Fenix and Raynor were all on their own on Aiur surrounded by hostile Zerg broods. Nothing in the UED mission where you attack their base suggests Kerrigan was helping them at all.

TC Pilot wrote:Though, I question where Kerrigan is shown to be independently commanding Zerg. You said she stayed behind on Char to take care of the Protoss there, but didn't she have the player Ceribrate with her?

That was early on, when the Player Cerebrate is still guarding her. The fluff apparently says it was killed on Char, leaving Kerrigan there by herself with part of the Swarm.

I think it makes sense. When the Overmind died, command of the Swarm defaulted down to the next leve of command - the Cerebrates.

TC Pilot wrote:Edit - Stofsk basically covered what I was going to say.

Though, I question where Kerrigan is shown to be independently commanding Zerg. You said she stayed behind on Char to take care of the Protoss there, but didn't she have the player Ceribrate with her?

I believe the player Cerebrate was taken to Aiur with the others- Kerrigan may not have been the only Zerg-controller on Char, but she was definitely in charge.

If I remember correctly, Fenix and Raynor were all on their own on Aiur surrounded by hostile Zerg broods. Nothing in the UED mission where you attack their base suggests Kerrigan was helping them at all.

Fenix and Raynor had at least some forces attached to them, and the Protoss sent back some reinforcements through the warp gate on Shakuras (see the end of Protoss expansion mission 2). It's not clear what they were up to on Aiur all that time, but I think it likely that at some point on Aiur (probably during the events of the UED campaign), Kerrigan got in touch with them and offered them some degree of support and a safe haven.

Kerrigan gets another cerebrate in Brood War. Might be the same from SC1 main campaign.

I think it is described in fluff how she killed them all off to enhance personal control over the swarm, though. Which would make her a goddess, instead of the previous control model that was the Overmind, who was the swarm. Kerrigan commands it, but is not it itself.

Simon_Jester wrote:I believe the player Cerebrate was taken to Aiur with the others- Kerrigan may not have been the only Zerg-controller on Char, but she was definitely in charge.

Well, based on what, exactly? Fluff outside the game is all well and good, but that's sort of my point.

It's not clear what they were up to on Aiur all that time, but I think it likely that at some point on Aiur (probably during the events of the UED campaign), Kerrigan got in touch with them and offered them some degree of support and a safe haven.

I just looked through some of the briefings, and the 1st Zerg mission has Kerrigan reminding them how she contacted them on Aiur and told them about the UED and the infant Overmind. So yes, apparently she did get in touch, but there's no evidence of support of any kind.

Edit - actually, what I find most annoying looking back through Brood War is this line:

Raynor: "It may not be tomorrow, it may not even happen with an army at my back, but rest assured, I'm the man who is going to kill you someday! I'll be seeing you."

Words spoken in anger to loved ones rarely keep, especially when tempered by years of remembrance and drink.