The Val'Kyr: Part Two

So in my last entry I talked about the Val'kyr. More specifically; what they are, where they've come from, and how they fit into the current story of the Forsaken. Now I'd like to talk a little about what our Forsaken characters might think of them.

So we know that Val'kyr are solving one of the plights of the Forsaken in that they're enabling them to bolster their numbers. Not all of our characters have the scope and  perspective that we do as players, however, and it's entirely possible your character could view the Val'lkyr in a negative light for one of many reasons. Keep in mind though that Sylvanas has ordered the use of the Val'kyr, so a character questioning them will be questioning Sylvanas, to certain degree. But this fact also gives us a great opportunity to weigh our character's thoughts on the Scourge, and how that measures up against their loyalty to the Dark Lady.


We even have an NPC, Argent Apothecary Judkins, who has deflected from the Forsaken because he thinks Sylvanas has changed. To quote him: “I once worked for the so-called "Banshee-Queen", Sylvanas, as an apothecary. I used to admire her, but something's changed within her. She's not herself anymore.”

And now, some of the possible reasons your character could dislike the Val'kyr:

1. They're tools of the Scourge, formerly used by Lich King, and that didn't change until his death. Unlike the Death Knights who defected from the Scourge relatively early in the war on Northrend, the Val'kyr were with the Lich King for the long haul. And in case you missed it, Forsaken 101 (with the exception of Scourge loyalists) is that you don't like the Lich King. It's probably fair to say how your character views the Val'kyr will be similar to how they view Death Kights, although Death Knights have had a few years at this point to prove themselves.

2. They may be stealing the spotlight if you roleplay an apothecary. In my last entry I spoke about how the Royal Apothecary Society existed at first to re-create the plague of undeath that made the Forsaken in the first place. (In vanilla World of Warcraft they told the Horde they were working on a cure for their Undeath, suckers.) This was a goal they never really obtained, and then all of sudden these winged hot shots from Northrend swoop in and do half of their job for them, which is finding a way to make more Forsaken. I mean sure, they can still work on the whole plague thing, but, with the Kor'kron breathing down their neck the in apothecarium, doing anything interesting with the plague hasn't exactly been easy.

Even if you're not roleplaying a member of the society, the breakthrough of making new Forsaken might have been something your character felt was due for members of their own race, not former tools of the Scourge with pretty feathered wings and garter belts.

3. If your character has some secret angst and self loathing, they may share Garrosh's views on the Val'kyr, to a certain extent. Although if they live and function within Forsaken society they're probably going to keep it to themselves. The Val'kyr are taking an afterlife away from slain humans, and instead making them Forsaken. While it's true some of the freshly risen in Deathknell choose to simply kill themselves upon being risen, and they're told they don't have to serve Sylvanas, logic like that doesn't usually get through to an angst character.

They could also just think it's too close to Scourge tactics for comfort, which I'll elaborate on more with my next point.

4. If your character is a member of the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow, and maybe a little old for a Forsaken, they might feel that Necomancy is a tool of the Scourge used for creating slaves. Now,  this is making a small assumption on my part, but I think there's some necromancy involved with the Val'kyr since they're, you know, raising the dead. However I wasn't able to find a cannon source for what kind of magic they're using, so take that as you will. Being a member of the cult and expressing the view that Necromancy makes slaves are not mutually exclusive. The Cult is growing and expanding in a lot of ways, but I'll save that for another entry. Also, if you're going this route,think about how your character would react to the sight of Death Knight ghouls; there's some great possibilities there.

Consider also the flip side to all these reasons as well. It's incredibly likely your character could cheer the arrival of the Val'kyr, and praise them as beautiful beings who will ensure the continued survival of the glorious Forsaken.

A Forsaken that has more of a 'hive mind' is probably going to think well of the Val'kyr, since they're servants of Sylvanas and contributing to the growth of the race. Additionally the Val'kyr seem to have duties other than simplty raising shipped in corpses from Deathknell; they have become involved in the Foresaken's wars, which we see in the new Forsaken zones with Cataclysm, and this is something any Forsaken who has spent time on the front lines will appreciate. And they're not just involved in the battles in the Foresaken starting zones, they also play a defining role in the battle for Andorhal in the plaguelands; they essentially won the battle for the Forsaken when they were pressed. Obviously, this is another point for characters that favour the Val'kyr.

I recently did the Andorhal quest chain through Alliance eyes, so I'm offering up a few printscreens of the quest dialogue I saw to give you guys some insight, as I know many of my readers don't venture over to the blue team. I found seeing that story from the other perspective to be very interesting. (The screen above is confirmation that Andorhal was lost, and the one below speaks a little of the tactics the Val'kyr use.)

In closing, the Val'kyr are a big part of the new lore we got for Cataclysm and they represent some pretty major changes to the Forsaken as whole. Explore what your character thinks about them and take the opportunity to dig deep. Just because the Lich King is dead doesn't mean we have to stop considering what our characters think about the Scourge.