Know Your Archetype: Lovable Sidekick (And the Celestial Blessings)

This may strike as an odd pairing of my continuing archetype series and the Celestial Blessings quest line, but they are the ultimate embodiment of immortals, and we as the character, have gone all-in with Wrathion, for better or worse. We are partners in this journey now, and tied together to see it through its ultimate resolution. But Wrathion is purely a character, whereas we mortals have our guilds, friends, and others to see us along the way. Or not, depending on how we behave and treat one another. 

The most famous of all hero/sidekick relationships is that of Frodo and Samwise Gamgee. It is not a linear relationship: Frodo is not all good, all powerful, nor is Samwise solely loyal or trailing in the dust. Far from it. The triptych Gollum, Frodo, and Samwise create intertwine the destiny for all three. Such as it is in Azeroth: we play our own hero, our friends our partners, and the nefarious motivations of the third party.

There are spoilers in this for the Wrathion chain, which most of you are long done with; if you are I'd be interested to know what you thought of these big questions.

Riptide and Empathy: I am sorry your father is trying to kill you, Wrathion.

My friend: I miss you, and I'm not sure what's more painful of a loss -- those friends who are still playing but silent, in their own inner worlds and thoughts, or those who are gone from Azeroth entirely? All I know is the lesson "be careful what I wish for" is causing me chest pains. I wished for more solo content, I wished for an experience on my own time, of my own control, and yet, at the climax of the story, when I need my loyal friend the most, no one can answer my call. I must do it alone.

Nothing ever gets you down, does it Sam?
Um...how 'bout you throw that damn ring now, Frodo? 

Every day in the various social media venues, I read juxtaposed stories of all of humanity: anger, betrayal, love, marriages, celebrations, births, baby's first steps, a good meal or vacation photo. This past week came to a critical mass for me, and I realized I can't sort out the messy mental space that is my broken cognitive workings on my own. Nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, I have always been of the philosophy that it takes strength to know when to ask for help. This morning one of my dearest friends had to reschedule our lunch date again because she was up all night with arthritic pain--she is young, too. Of course I don't mind rescheduling lunch, and I offered my cubs' help for a move she needs to help with, too. Haven't heard from her yet. She's a stubborn Taurus, and proud Montanan, so I don't know if she'll take me up on my offer.

However, I am learning the hard way that Azeroth is a tricky place, this other world, the keyhole vision of another's soul, character, or life. We never really know one another, even when our molecules collide. But this is why, when we are in Azeroth, we must especially remember to treat our friends with respect, care, and space.

Time to take a long, hard look in the mirror, Matty...

Yesterday Lei Shin was kind enough to give me his heart, (well, I had to rip it out of him, but still...) and after talking it over with Wrathion (and he made tacos out of it, with cilantro of course), I was set on my Celestial Blessings quest line. My friend Turk did it yesterday, and zip-zap was done in ten minutes. That was not my experience. For Mataoka's story, it was important to me that she do the melee/Xuen one for the final challenge. After umpteen attempts, she gave up and tried the healing one. She fared better, but still has not completed it. I don't know what's wrong. The dying thing, yeah, that's it. Oh and dragon's blood. That shit will take you down. (If you want to read some real tips, click here.)

What I loved before all the dying part though was the Celestials' dialogue with the young Black Prince. I felt like the overachiever kid in the front row, the teacher's pet,  flailing my hand in the air, "Ask ME Niuzo! I know! I know! Choose me!" but alas Wrathion was chosen every time. But these are big questions:

What is the nature of hope?

Xuen asks about the nature of strength:

Use strength to crush enemies? Come on Wrathion! Xuen is grading on a bell curve, and you're messing up my GPA! Even Nacho Libre finally got this one - service to others is true strength:

I need to summon my eagle powers...

Perhaps the insightful one, or poignant to me, was Yu'lon's - I need to learn this lesson of knowing when it's wiser to let go, be quiet, be still, and let things run their course:

Doing nothing is counter-intuitive to overachievers such as myself. I am not sure I know how to do nothing. My identity is so tied up with 'saving the day' that I barely recognize when someone wants me to do nothing, help by not helping so to speak.

This morning, I was reminded of a player friend who stopped speaking to me months ago. I know it was nothing I did, or any misuse of friendship or time, but it still stings. He's a good guy, and taught me much about the game. But one thing I haven't learned is to not make noise in the silence.

So my fellowship: I will report on when I defeat or heal Wrathion, to the best of my abilities, and obtain my legendary cloak. I shall wear it proudly, but know it keeps me warm, and I did not do it alone.