On Redemption and Freedom

Something really interesting happens in the Argus quests available today. If you haven't done them, I'd recommend you do, because there's something new at play here.

It involves the Light and freedom, but not in the way you'd expect.

Spoilers to follow.


The Light is the most obvious "good" force in World of Warcraft. It's literally all about existence and life and peace. By contrast, the opposite of the Light is the Void, which hungers and wants to basically dissolve reality into nothingness.

The Titans, while beings of an Arcane nature, practiced the Light to bring order to the cosmos. The Light cleanses things and is just basically good, like on an elemental level.

Of course, it's not 100% consistent.

We've seen the Scarlet Crusade use the Light, despite being under the control of dreadlords and, in fact, doing great evil. There's also nothing stopping a Horde Paladin and an Alliance Paladin from fighting each other, both calling on the Light to smite each other.

When we found Light's Heart, we eventually discovered that it was a fragment of the Prime Naaru Xe'ra, sent to us so we could hear her message. She identified Illidan as a person of destiny, her chosen one whom she wanted to become the great champion to defeat the Legion.

On Argus, we reassemble Xe'ra and she is reborn. We then present her with her chosen one, and she makes the offer: she will erase all of his past sins, his scars, his demonic corruption. He will become a being of light.

And Illidan says no.

Illidan is not interested in sacrificing his freedom for some new form of power. And he doesn't want to change anything about himself. Yes, he's an abomination by most definitions, but his deformation was done by his own volition. He has chosen the path he wishes to walk down.

But Xe'ra won't take no for an answer.

Binding Illidan in restraining Light, she begins to pump him full of the Light, very much against his will. And so Illidan strikes back, blasting Xe'ra with his eye beams until she explodes.

And we are left to wonder: what now?

After all, isn't freedom one of the greatest aspect of what is good? Xe'ra did not come with an offer: she chose Illidan's destiny for him. Did he have to kill her? Maybe. It's highly possible that she would have never relented.

Illidan is a highly dangerous individual: Chaotic Neutral would be a charitable description of his alignment. But respecting his wishes regarding his own nature and his own will seems like the right thing to do.

The Naaru have always been benevolent figures in lore, but today, one of them seemed more like a monster than an angel.