Saddest and/or darkest moments of Arkain [SPOILER]

[Deleted member 304046]

Hello everyone, BatDominion1996 here. While I did not have any plans to create any threads (in general or in regards to Arkain) and I am inclined to limit my presence here on Hive (mostly relegated to posts and comments about Inara, Orcs/Tribal Dominion and its characters), an idea had popped into my head that could perhaps be a good basis for a separate thread. In some of my posts I had briefly mentioned moments from Arkain that I considered to be dark and/or unpleasant, and I was thinking about making a thread for this particular subject, which would also allow you, the fans, to share your own opinions on.

Essentially, this thread is about which moments from the Legends of Arkain were/are the darkest, most depressing, bleak and unpleasant for you. Or which moments you found to be the saddest and the most tragic and/or made you feel in a certain way? Perhaps it was the death of Merlon Seabright? Or maybe the Last Talk between Gardon and Van Durce?

Though the title refers to moments (as in individual instances, individual/singular events, scenes, etc.), it can also include things such as character arcs (Aedale's corruption), backstories (Logan's loss of his family), fates of certain characters and so on.

I hope this thread will be somewhat useful and others will tell their own opinions.

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

If I have to mention some moments that make me feel unpleasant:
-The wolf regiment killing women and children. I know neither humans and orcs are good, but see the wolves killing the women and children after Inara told to them the location of the Darkmind hideout made me very angry. In that moment I thinking who is in truth the monster.
-Genethas kills Aaron. That scumbag DARES to call Salana's friend crazy when he's a demon slave, filth and trash. I hope either Van Durce or someone else kills him, painfully.
-The dead of the Salrian villagers. During the battle in orden to help the centaurs to wipe the Knights of Salria, Redfist intervene and takes control. Futhermore we spot an ablaze village and crimson soldiers whom dares to say that "not orc collaborators shall live". They BURNED HUMANS just because these people traded with the centaurs. Redfist is not better than the orcs they swore to fight.

 

[Deleted member 304046]

If I have to mention some moments that make me feel unpleasant:
-The wolf regiment killing women and children. I know neither humans and orcs are good, but see the wolves killing the women and children after Inara told to them the location of the Darkmind hideout made me very angry. In that moment I thinking who is in truth the monster.
-Genethas kills Aaron. That scumbag DARES to call Salana's friend crazy when he's a demon slave, filth and trash. I hope either Van Durce or someone else kills him, painfully.
-The dead of the Salrian villagers. During the battle in orden to help the centaurs to wipe the Knights of Salria, Redfist intervene and takes control. Futhermore we spot an ablaze village and crimson soldiers whom dares to say that "not orc collaborators shall live". They BURNED HUMANS just because these people traded with the centaurs. Redfist is not better than the orcs they swore to fight.

Thanks for commenting!

Though the latter two moments did not feel unpleasant for me (those actions of Redfist are, however, very evil), I absolutely agree with you on the Wolf Regiment. The scene with helpless Inara is severely harsh and it is the main reason which made Zoia and the Wolf Regiment my least favorite individuals in Arkain. Aside from that, the chapter Hunt for Riches is also extremely painful because of Amari's banishment. It is hard to watch the cutscenes and play that chapter knowing what happens to her.

 

[Championfighter25]

In no particular order mine would be:

- The "Last Talk" interlude. Gardon and van Durce know they've been wronged and technically shouldn't be fighting against one another, but it's too late to do anything about it, especially since the fate of an entire continent was to be decided.
Quite an unfortunate end for 2 people, who while visibly not on good terms at all, ultimately had respect for each other and wished things were different.

- Krom reflecting on his existence in the "Last Laugh" story.
As the oldest still existing being in the Arkain universe, he's lived through a lot and now that Aridon is inactive and Krom's the last undead Arkainian, he's at a loss about what to do.
He was already my favourite undead before this and after this story, he's probably the character who I would consider the most tragic, especially when you factor in that he has no free will, so for a vast majority of his existence he's been a puppet. (In a way)

- Pentiss deciding the best course of action against Quiraness and her forces would be using the Peacemaker. It's a part of a bigger problem about how messed up the society of the Dark Elves is in general.

 

[Navy45]

Here are a few of mine :

- The whole aftermath of the Gates of Hell's offensive at the end of the SHB : On one side, Merlon died, can't get any sadder than that. And, most importantly, you have king Dorten realizing how fucked he is. His son is presumed dead in demonic lands, Gardon used the lands he owned with Dorten's blessing to ressurect Zainor with control over the elves. Meanwhile, the dwarves have forbidden any contact with the humans for their treachery and, if any paladins survived, they sure won't wanna help him. All that when he thought the empire finally showed their true face and they would be able to free the Kingdoms. Honestly, the whole Zainor/Kerrel cold war hasn't had a single level yet and it's still my favorite plotline in Arkain.

- On the orcs' side, Rangul's death. He was far from a saint but he did the best he could for his people and he was starting to grow close to his daughters once again. The poor old orc never got to see the orc kingdom he wished for.

- For the undead, I am a big fan of Haran'tel-kazor. He sacrificed everything to protect his people, used any amount of power he could get access on, all to discover that he was only fighting a very small part of the undead, that his actions eventually benefited the undead and that all the methods he used to free his people will be put to use by their slavers with himself at their head.

 

[Zergy]

For Me, the Saddest Moment when reading the lore of Arkain, it was Claire Greendale's Journal. She points out her Tragic past, how she lost her family, describe the Love and Horrors that war showed, and her fear of being harmed if she was discovered by her trusted yet questionable allies that she was confessing her true thoughts into a book.

Darkest moment is that even the undead are no good as well. They claim to bring balance, yet Aridon allows some the Ejara and Ardoz Nexi or Nexuses (I really dont) to conduct cruel experiments on their own captives. And I thought the demons were that cruel? No wonder Brain doesn't like Aridon. Aridon is somewhat of a Hypocrite himself when you picture it.

Redfist is kinda a tragic character if you think about it? His rage and hate consumed once a good honorable man causing him to commit heinous crimes against his own race. If it wasn't for Rangul and Hartnog's actions the Legends of Arkain wouldn't have been born.

 

[Deleted member 304046]

Thank you, everyone, for your comments and opinions!

Aside from Inara's suffering at the hands of the Wolf Regiment and Hunt for Riches chapter, there are two stand-out things for me, one of which is particularly bleak, while the other was very unpleasant.

Urshan:

I know he did not have much screentime and perhaps he is more of a supporting character, but I always found Urshan to be a sad character in a way that others weren't. Not necessarily that he is more tragic than everyone else, but just that his story, situation and things told about him felt specifically bleak, gloomy, dreary and sorrowful, accentuated by his somewhat shorter description in Character Sheet. Cunning for his kind, yet only capable of becoming a low-ranking lieutenant in the Demon society, sent to death as an expendable cannon fodder, losing his life and becoming bound to Aridon's will. Despite smaller amount of screentime, I interpreted Urshan as not being evil, in contrast to many Demons from Souleater and Darkblade Legions (in terms of alignment, I would put Urshan either in True Neutral or Neutral Good territory, though that's for Arkain Alignment Chart Thread, not this one). Unlike Ornassion, who got the chance to kill Hesrathion, some other Souleater Dreadlords and might get his revenge on Kersidar, Urshan may not get the opportunity to kill Erganoth and his fate might not be avenged. If I was a powerful being and would be able to break someone from Aridon's control, I would definitely free Urshan.

The Bad Ending of Golden Guard's Path in the Second Human Book:

While the End of Orckind chapter is indeed a very dark ending and perhaps should be the most depressing one for me (due to extermination of my favorite races, factions and characters, as well as the murder of Aedale), it's actually the evil ending of Van Durce's chapters in the Second Human Book that felt the most unpleasant. From Lisara taking complete control over Aedale, especially if she realized that Lisara was using her all along and painfully reacted to being betrayed by her, Van Durce thinking Marin is safe and well, believing that their crusade will commence successfully, only for him being told that Marin is missing, while soldiers and machines guarding him were dead/gone, getting distressed, Lisara and Krogar the Conqueror capturing Marin, while taunting him and telling that their master did not intend for Van Durce to live, to Lisara destroying the entire Golden Guard fleet. Van Durce and most, if not the entire Golden Guard died without launching their crusade against the Emperor, either succeeding or die trying, Marin was spared just so he could live with guilt for the rest of his life, Lisara completely consumed Aedale, Cora is dead (Cora is dead in the Golden Guard path no matter what, even if the players chose Scarlett and made Cora leave the Ironfist) and Largoth is delighted about deaths of Gardon and Van Durce, speaking like they were his toys and puppets, with the Empire of Rodan firmly in his hands. Of course, Sir Praxeus is alive, protecting the Kingdoms with his Paladins and the Purificator, the Demon Invasion was put to the end, the Undead are still active and, most importantly, the Tribal Dominion still exists, so this scenario isn't as dismal as the End of Orckind, but it did left a certain impression on me.

 

[Mvicio]

-Haran´s fate. This one is pretty tragic, i mean, you are the champion of your people, you´ve been in war with your former masters a long time, you sacrifice everything, his lover, his friends, his heritage, the nerubien society at all just to win a war that you can´t win. Your enemy have been toying with you and once you are powerful enough you get killed and your race became enslaved to your former enemies will.

-Redfist backstory. It is implied that Redfist was a good man once, during his first marriage, but lost his life, his wife and his daughter to other race he didn´t have any issue with (well, humans and orcs are enemies but that wasn´t a vengeance).

-The blackrazor clan fate. It was a clan that could match against the major orc clans, but Iszog made (not on purpose) a part of the clan became rebels, they fought and lost, but the clan remained weakened. During Rangul alliance, they couldn´t try to take over like Bloodhand or Skullblade, also they lost like half of their warrior to empower Rath (this ones later join the dominion so that´s a plus) and the rest join The Destroyer and Bloodhand clan, among the minor clans. You tried everything to reach a decent power in orc society just to lost it in a matter or weeks during the war.

-Both Teran and Salana, those two were the only elves that wanted the elves to join the war actively before Larantos betrayal. Teran is killed when both gardon and undead forces enter the forest and Salana is betrayed and needs a lot of years to heal up, despite them doing the proper things everytime.

-Anything related to Pentiss becoming Mistress of the dark elves, especially the peacemaker.

Darkest moment is that even the undead are no good as well. They claim to bring balance, yet Aridon allows some the Ejara and Ardoz Nexi or Nexuses (I really dont) to conduct cruel experiments on their own captives. And I thought the demons were that cruel? No wonder Brain doesn't like Aridon. Aridon is somewhat of a Hypocrite himself when you picture it.

Well that´s pretty much like Gardon´s mind control or Herdon taking over the ironbarks from the elves. New forms of power to use during a cruel war. Both are regrettable.