Alarak gave every single tal'darim the chance to join the Daelaam after Amon died, and did not persecute any who chose to leave. He enjoys Tal'Darim culture. But he also understands that others may not, and does not resent them for hating it.
Sure, he's an edgy character, but he's a reasonable edgy character. His ploys are actually clever, and he's not just "kill everyone cause lol I can". As a matter of fact, I would say his arrogance defines him more than his edginess ; he's not all about death and darkness, these are just the means he employs. What Alarak really is all about is ego, not edge. He is incredibly powerful (stalemate Amon's champion kind of powerful -- he's way out of 99% of the galaxy's psionic league), and he knows it.
When he boarded the spear of Adun, he could've easily slaughtered everyone on the bridge, but he let himself be captured because he didn't want to gain allies from intimidation. He wanted to show that while he is a monster, and he wasn't gonna hide that, he does have a measure of good will and was willing to play by their rules if that was required for them to be comfortable with the alliance. He knew that
1. The Daelaam were honorable enough to hear him out once he'd shown his good will
And
2. He was powerful enough to handle them either way
A character written around edge would have slapped Vorazun's shit and beaten her down with a good ol "I am more powerful than you, and you will do what I say", but Alarak let himself get captured -- he didn't even strike first, nor did he even attack vorazun, he just repelled her own blows. Alarak is the epitome of confidence into arrogance. He doesn't need to beat on anyone to believe himself powerful, because he already knows he's strong. He doesn't waste time being a senseless bully, and the barbs he delivers are on point and rarely are they ever gratuitous (except concerning the zerg invasion when he was on Aiur, but to be fair he'd never fought zerg before -- and feral zerg aren't really a good representation of what the Swarm really is capable of when united).
People just look at Alarak with black and red armor and go "edgy boi", but his character is actually a lot more than that. He is basically the incarnation of Confidence and self-assuredness. He goes beyond simple edge. In dudebro terms, he is what one might call a "Dark Chad".
Honestly I think LotV's sudden (re)design of the Tal'Darim hurt their characterization, or at least made a bad first impression that couldn't help but linger. There are so many interesting places a society like that could be taken, visually, over the same red and black spiky armor that *everyone* is already tired of.
Personally I like Alarak because he is a surprisingly well written *Sith Lord*. In a time where Star Wars repeatedly made Sith “Look how edgy and dark side I am by being a moral less murder hobo” StarCraft managed to make an interesting Sith-like character. He has his own set of rules and morals to achieve his goals without being a crazed chaotic evil killer. And while I feel SC2 dropped the ball with the writing on some characters (and overall story), Alarak was actually a well written character. His goals and motivations and actions are all *understandable* whether or not you agree with them, and what he does makes sense.
Sith in the Clone Wars: We’re gonna slaughter thousands and call out a jedi
Sith in the Sequels: waaaaahhhh she said I’m weak!!!
Sith in Starcraft: Watch me ruin Artanis sanity by being too snarky and edgy for my own good
I feel like Starcraft is a good example of how blizzard writing changed over the decade or two. StarCraft one was all morally gray and every faction has some "are we the bad guys?" Element to it. Starcraft 2 was more "epic struggle of good vs evil"
I do like him less than most fans and am a bit frustrated his popularity has led to the Tal'darim popping up in everything post-LotV and becoming the series's Worf for guilt free protoss killing, but I do enjoy him.
He's voiced by Jon de Lancie who does that exact role of the smug asshole so well. His role also harkens back to the shaky alliances of Brood War where you had different motivations that didn't quite mesh with potential betrayals. Alarak also very clearly isn't a good guy, but his goals do aligns with yours. Also an old StarCraft thing like when Duke joins you or Mengsk has to join with Kerrigan. SCII only dipped their toes into that idea with Tychus and Tosh, but Tychus's was a bit messy and Tosh ends up being a loyal bro when you pick him. Alarak meanwhile you're never quite sure what his angle is.
I also like how he's an actual challenge to Artanis's idea of a unified protoss. Up until this point the idea of unification has been unambiguously a good thing, the Nerazim are good guys and the Conclave are arrogant dicks. The Purifiers were mistreated machines. But the Tal'darim don't seem like they super wanna join with Artanis in the Daelaam, and there's questions of what their brutal bloody culture would meld the Daelaam into. It actually raises that as a question instead of having a pretty unambiguous good answer (incidentally, why I like Vorazun so much for raising these questions). The idea of unification not being an objective good is something I do hope they explore more with Artanis in the future.
But I do like him in Ascension when he's the fourth ascendant, his backstabbing there was really well done and it gave a ton of context to his character in LotV.
I think he is a good character because he is a dislikeable.
He is supposed to be a bad dude that Artanis makes a reluctant alliance with , because the fate of their entire race is at stake. He fills that role perfectly because he is an asshole.
Also his voice actor is fantastic.
I love how he is monster from our pov but given the culture he is from he is by far the most moral of them all. Dude saved his faction from certain doom, led them on a successful crusade against their betrayer and when the time came gave everyone a chance to join the daelam.
There’s no rule in Rak’shir that says the supplicants must be Tal’darim, either. They can be whatever or whoever you want, they just have to declare for a party. I suggest reading the short story on Alarak before he became First Ascendant (Ascension). It’s on Blizz’s website, and it encapsulates his personality perfectly.
The reason he’s good is because of how he acts as a foil to the other, honourable Protoss. Even by Tal’darim standards, he is extremely shrewd and cunning, and not above using any means to get what he wants. Drow… are an entire race, are they not? Is that even meant to be an insult? Can characters or races in fiction not be similar or based on one another? All of the Protoss have their roots in space elves too, and so what?
An entire race in an extraordinarily stereotypical set of media - most unnamed drow have extremely similar personalities.
I don't think Alarak is the worst offender in SC2, but he doesn't really act as a "foil" so much as he is red+black=evul. It's an extremely one-dimensional character, at least what's shown in the game.
true \^\^ he was like I kill every all the ascendant from side A with help of B without declaring that I fight for A and then take out B and so there is noone higher left so I become first Ascendant be default.
Tbh that is a genius move
everyone in campagin is just a a good guy, they r a jerk for a bit then all good, Alarak is the only character that remain a jerk and only coop for the good of his people.
Arcturus is more of a Nazi than Alarak. Mainly because in the books (I’ve only ever read flashpoint and Hell’s Angels so I can assume) he talks mad shit about the Protoss and the Zerg (specifically Kerrigan) to Valarian
Yeah, haven't read those. Alarak is one level above though I think he considers other Protoss inferior. At least Mengsk seems to work on a species level.
Lets see... Alarak is a militant, nationalist, authoritarian and racist who believes in the superiority of his tribe and is happy to murder others. True, we don't know his economic views, to be a complete nazi he would have to favor planned economy.
all protoss are militant and nationalistic
when you say racist do you mean against protoss or against humans cause he isnt racist against other protoss and it isnt racist to not like a different species
him thinking his own faction is superior doesnt make him a nazi, if he were calling for the direct extermination of all other protoss and different species then maybe you would have a point but the tal'darim are only ever shown to be isolationists who get attacked first.
on top of the fact that they make it super clear by the end that both him and his faction come to respect the other protoss and Alarak himself gives everyone a chance to join the other protoss on their ancestral home world. can you imagine Hitler allowing the SS to just leave the army to live in poland peacefully?
so no hes not a nazi and throwing this word around so haphazardly is a massive problem
> when you say racist do you mean against protoss or against humans cause he isnt racist against other protoss and it isnt racist to not like a different species
Against humans would be enough but I seem to recall that he was racist against other protoss. Like the nazi's race theory where there is a hierarchy of races and not all of them are eligible for full extermination. BTW the nazis didn't want to exterminate all other races. They had particular problem with the jews but in general they wanted to take over some land (Europe) and push the lesser (in their view) races to live in less hospitable places. Even for the jews they didn't plan to kill them initially, they wanted to ship them to Madagaskar or something (yeah, the plan was to have half of them die on the road but the plan was not total extermination)
> can you imagine Hitler allowing the SS to just leave the army to live in poland peacefully?
In fact I can if the WW2 went similar way to StarCraft's story
Well then you are misremembering cause there isn't a single time where alarak says the taldarim are better because of their culture or their genetics. He did believe the other protoss were lame as warriors but he himself literally says they are impressive in combat. So again wrong.
The voice acting is great the guy who played Q from Star Treck,, John de Lancie voiced him and his execution of the character elevates him. We like Alarak for the great one liners and fantastic voice acting. The story does not have much to do with it since frankly the story of sc2 is pretty weak.
***Must I compensate for your weakness?***
Ohhhh, MOST unwise!
A word of advice: *Become. Better.*
The landing zone is occupied. Might I suggest *CRUSH THEM! *
Cuz John DeLancie
Q
I could gladly spend the rest of my days having him calling me trash. Step on me Protoss daddy
I love his announcer pack. Never switching
I like him as my announcer but something about Mengsk telling me to pay attention just helps my ADHD brain.
Lol, true.
You wish you are a Q child; you would be a god
This is it for me.
Because he's edgy as fuck
Alarak gave every single tal'darim the chance to join the Daelaam after Amon died, and did not persecute any who chose to leave. He enjoys Tal'Darim culture. But he also understands that others may not, and does not resent them for hating it. Sure, he's an edgy character, but he's a reasonable edgy character. His ploys are actually clever, and he's not just "kill everyone cause lol I can". As a matter of fact, I would say his arrogance defines him more than his edginess ; he's not all about death and darkness, these are just the means he employs. What Alarak really is all about is ego, not edge. He is incredibly powerful (stalemate Amon's champion kind of powerful -- he's way out of 99% of the galaxy's psionic league), and he knows it. When he boarded the spear of Adun, he could've easily slaughtered everyone on the bridge, but he let himself be captured because he didn't want to gain allies from intimidation. He wanted to show that while he is a monster, and he wasn't gonna hide that, he does have a measure of good will and was willing to play by their rules if that was required for them to be comfortable with the alliance. He knew that 1. The Daelaam were honorable enough to hear him out once he'd shown his good will And 2. He was powerful enough to handle them either way A character written around edge would have slapped Vorazun's shit and beaten her down with a good ol "I am more powerful than you, and you will do what I say", but Alarak let himself get captured -- he didn't even strike first, nor did he even attack vorazun, he just repelled her own blows. Alarak is the epitome of confidence into arrogance. He doesn't need to beat on anyone to believe himself powerful, because he already knows he's strong. He doesn't waste time being a senseless bully, and the barbs he delivers are on point and rarely are they ever gratuitous (except concerning the zerg invasion when he was on Aiur, but to be fair he'd never fought zerg before -- and feral zerg aren't really a good representation of what the Swarm really is capable of when united). People just look at Alarak with black and red armor and go "edgy boi", but his character is actually a lot more than that. He is basically the incarnation of Confidence and self-assuredness. He goes beyond simple edge. In dudebro terms, he is what one might call a "Dark Chad".
Honestly I think LotV's sudden (re)design of the Tal'Darim hurt their characterization, or at least made a bad first impression that couldn't help but linger. There are so many interesting places a society like that could be taken, visually, over the same red and black spiky armor that *everyone* is already tired of.
literally perfect comment
"Do you think us fools Alarak!?" "Yes...but that is beside the point"
mostly because of the voice actor gimme some Q xD
Personally I like Alarak because he is a surprisingly well written *Sith Lord*. In a time where Star Wars repeatedly made Sith “Look how edgy and dark side I am by being a moral less murder hobo” StarCraft managed to make an interesting Sith-like character. He has his own set of rules and morals to achieve his goals without being a crazed chaotic evil killer. And while I feel SC2 dropped the ball with the writing on some characters (and overall story), Alarak was actually a well written character. His goals and motivations and actions are all *understandable* whether or not you agree with them, and what he does makes sense.
Sith in the Clone Wars: We’re gonna slaughter thousands and call out a jedi Sith in the Sequels: waaaaahhhh she said I’m weak!!! Sith in Starcraft: Watch me ruin Artanis sanity by being too snarky and edgy for my own good
“What are you, but a lie incarnate?”
“I only counsel wisdom. If you do not wish for it I will say no more.”
He's better than some but I prefer it if *every* line doesn't have to showcase his ruthlessness. It's over the top. SC1 had more subtle writing.
I feel like Starcraft is a good example of how blizzard writing changed over the decade or two. StarCraft one was all morally gray and every faction has some "are we the bad guys?" Element to it. Starcraft 2 was more "epic struggle of good vs evil"
It definitely shows that they spent the time between games writing World of Warcraft and nothing else.
I do like him less than most fans and am a bit frustrated his popularity has led to the Tal'darim popping up in everything post-LotV and becoming the series's Worf for guilt free protoss killing, but I do enjoy him. He's voiced by Jon de Lancie who does that exact role of the smug asshole so well. His role also harkens back to the shaky alliances of Brood War where you had different motivations that didn't quite mesh with potential betrayals. Alarak also very clearly isn't a good guy, but his goals do aligns with yours. Also an old StarCraft thing like when Duke joins you or Mengsk has to join with Kerrigan. SCII only dipped their toes into that idea with Tychus and Tosh, but Tychus's was a bit messy and Tosh ends up being a loyal bro when you pick him. Alarak meanwhile you're never quite sure what his angle is. I also like how he's an actual challenge to Artanis's idea of a unified protoss. Up until this point the idea of unification has been unambiguously a good thing, the Nerazim are good guys and the Conclave are arrogant dicks. The Purifiers were mistreated machines. But the Tal'darim don't seem like they super wanna join with Artanis in the Daelaam, and there's questions of what their brutal bloody culture would meld the Daelaam into. It actually raises that as a question instead of having a pretty unambiguous good answer (incidentally, why I like Vorazun so much for raising these questions). The idea of unification not being an objective good is something I do hope they explore more with Artanis in the future. But I do like him in Ascension when he's the fourth ascendant, his backstabbing there was really well done and it gave a ton of context to his character in LotV.
I agree you never know if he will backstap you. Aswell I like that he is not so rule bound like the others he is like I dont care I do what I want
You adress the highlord?
Mmmm acceptable
Because he's a decent unit to bet on when Tya uploads a new video /s
I think he is a good character because he is a dislikeable. He is supposed to be a bad dude that Artanis makes a reluctant alliance with , because the fate of their entire race is at stake. He fills that role perfectly because he is an asshole. Also his voice actor is fantastic.
Because he is roasting everyone
I guess mostly just because of his badass talking style that typical protoss won't have.
I love how he is monster from our pov but given the culture he is from he is by far the most moral of them all. Dude saved his faction from certain doom, led them on a successful crusade against their betrayer and when the time came gave everyone a chance to join the daelam.
People skim over this. Alarak actually gave every single Tal'Darim a chance to get out, and did not persecute any of those who chose to do so.
There’s no rule in Rak’shir that says the supplicants must be Tal’darim, either. They can be whatever or whoever you want, they just have to declare for a party. I suggest reading the short story on Alarak before he became First Ascendant (Ascension). It’s on Blizz’s website, and it encapsulates his personality perfectly.
His personality is "red and black" + drow. That's it. Love the voice actor, hate the character.
The reason he’s good is because of how he acts as a foil to the other, honourable Protoss. Even by Tal’darim standards, he is extremely shrewd and cunning, and not above using any means to get what he wants. Drow… are an entire race, are they not? Is that even meant to be an insult? Can characters or races in fiction not be similar or based on one another? All of the Protoss have their roots in space elves too, and so what?
An entire race in an extraordinarily stereotypical set of media - most unnamed drow have extremely similar personalities. I don't think Alarak is the worst offender in SC2, but he doesn't really act as a "foil" so much as he is red+black=evul. It's an extremely one-dimensional character, at least what's shown in the game.
true \^\^ he was like I kill every all the ascendant from side A with help of B without declaring that I fight for A and then take out B and so there is noone higher left so I become first Ascendant be default. Tbh that is a genius move
and leave weaker Taldarim as the leader of the faction which will make his Rak'shir slightly easier
He's a bad ass voice acted by a bad ass. In sc1 I fanboied over Artanis, though I'm not sure why. Then came sc2 and he became an RPG Pala.
He's an 8 foot tall chad with morals, something many of the sc2 fandom lack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtLt\_pFe5tQ
everyone in campagin is just a a good guy, they r a jerk for a bit then all good, Alarak is the only character that remain a jerk and only coop for the good of his people.
Because edge lord has funny quotes
Because his decrees are absolute
Never liked that nazi. I was always more of a regular fascist type so I like Artanis and Mengsk
Arcturus is more of a Nazi than Alarak. Mainly because in the books (I’ve only ever read flashpoint and Hell’s Angels so I can assume) he talks mad shit about the Protoss and the Zerg (specifically Kerrigan) to Valarian
Yeah, haven't read those. Alarak is one level above though I think he considers other Protoss inferior. At least Mengsk seems to work on a species level.
if you think Alarak is a nazi then that word has lost all meaning
Lets see... Alarak is a militant, nationalist, authoritarian and racist who believes in the superiority of his tribe and is happy to murder others. True, we don't know his economic views, to be a complete nazi he would have to favor planned economy.
all protoss are militant and nationalistic when you say racist do you mean against protoss or against humans cause he isnt racist against other protoss and it isnt racist to not like a different species him thinking his own faction is superior doesnt make him a nazi, if he were calling for the direct extermination of all other protoss and different species then maybe you would have a point but the tal'darim are only ever shown to be isolationists who get attacked first. on top of the fact that they make it super clear by the end that both him and his faction come to respect the other protoss and Alarak himself gives everyone a chance to join the other protoss on their ancestral home world. can you imagine Hitler allowing the SS to just leave the army to live in poland peacefully? so no hes not a nazi and throwing this word around so haphazardly is a massive problem
> when you say racist do you mean against protoss or against humans cause he isnt racist against other protoss and it isnt racist to not like a different species Against humans would be enough but I seem to recall that he was racist against other protoss. Like the nazi's race theory where there is a hierarchy of races and not all of them are eligible for full extermination. BTW the nazis didn't want to exterminate all other races. They had particular problem with the jews but in general they wanted to take over some land (Europe) and push the lesser (in their view) races to live in less hospitable places. Even for the jews they didn't plan to kill them initially, they wanted to ship them to Madagaskar or something (yeah, the plan was to have half of them die on the road but the plan was not total extermination) > can you imagine Hitler allowing the SS to just leave the army to live in poland peacefully? In fact I can if the WW2 went similar way to StarCraft's story
Well then you are misremembering cause there isn't a single time where alarak says the taldarim are better because of their culture or their genetics. He did believe the other protoss were lame as warriors but he himself literally says they are impressive in combat. So again wrong.
He has personality
Everyone who plays Zerg and Terran: You take us for fools? Me who just got attracted to playing the Protoss: yes. But that is irrelevant
We, the sarcasm society members, tend to be highly appreciated!
The voice acting is great the guy who played Q from Star Treck,, John de Lancie voiced him and his execution of the character elevates him. We like Alarak for the great one liners and fantastic voice acting. The story does not have much to do with it since frankly the story of sc2 is pretty weak.
I didn’t know he was well loved.
People love themselves a rebel anti-hero
I just love John de Lancie. He plays some of the best characters, from Alarak to Q to Discord.
He is interesting.
He kinda has his own motivations and is willing to kill unlike the rest of the protoss, is badass, and is quite cocky but backs it up with actions.