Of all the tragic figures I have ever read of, there has never been another as personally affecting to me as he.
Illidan Stormrage was born a Night Elf, and spent his childhood with his twin brother, Malfurion Stormrage, and their mutual friend, Tyrande Whisperwind. They played together, laughed together, ran through the legendary woods of Darnassus together. They encouraged each other to find their callings in life. Malfurion studied Druidism, the magic of the land, under the mighty Cenarius; Tyrande joined the ranks of the Sisters of Elune, priestesses of the Moon goddess, but Illidan found no joy in the usual arts of the Kal’Dorei. Intrigued by the arcane, Illidan began practicing the magic of the Highborne.
When Archimonde invaded Azeroth, Illidan appealed to his brother, contending that the only way to defeat the forces of Sargeras was with sorcery. Malfurion disagreed, and planned to destroy the Well of Eternity, the source of Night Elven magic and immortality, and the quarry of Archimonde. Illidan was horrified by the idea and, in his desperation to continue to practice his life’s calling, was corrupted by Xavius of the Burning Legion. After the invasion ended, he set out to create a new Well of Eternity by pouring seven phials of water from the original into a small lake at the top of Mt. Hyjal.
Upon the discovery of Illidan’s actions, Malfurion was outraged and imprisoned his brother for 10 000 years beneath Hyjal, marking him for eternity as “Illidan the Betrayer”. When the Legion invaded for the second time, Tyrande released Illidan, who led the Kal’Dorei forces to victory over Tichondrius by being transformed into a demon by the Skull of Gul’Dan.
After his metamorphosis, Illidan was banished to Outland by his brother.
Years later, Malfurion would send the Alliance to destroy Illidan, now Lord of the Black Temple and King of the Burning Legion, once and for all.
…
This is all the lore that WoW players needed in 2006 to feel motivated to kill Illidan Stormrage.
Yet Illidan was defined not by his obsession with magic, but with quite a different kind of passion. Illidan spent his entire life in love with Tyrande Whisperwind, who for her part alternately spurned and ignored his advances in favor of the eventual Archdruid Malfurion. Illidan became engrossed by magic, a practice the Night Elves distrusted, because he was fascinated by the mysterious and the novel, because he felt his chosen trade could make the lives of his people better, and because he believed with it he could win Tyrande’s heart.
Imprisoned for millenia after his bid to keep his craft alive, Illidan returned willing to save the very people who condemned him because it would mean protecting Tyrande. Thwarted by circumstance and the decisions of his brother in every one of his attempts to prove himself , Illidan quietly grew stronger until he became a being the Kal’Dorei could not understand, until he was exiled to another dimension because the Night Elves simply were not ready for him.
His character was written perfectly to elicit the sympathies of WoW players. Illidan Stormrage was a fearless adventurer, a revolutionary in the truest sense. He was passionate about his pursuits, to the point that he was a danger to himself and others. His recklessness was tempered only by his empathy; his fieriness was stoked by his imagination. Beneath all the embellishment, Illidan was simply one of us nerds, a people who are punished or spurned for their unusual activities until their talents are needed to cure disease, to go to the moon, to write the story of mankind, and it destroyed him.
And that is why, while some may examine him and see only The Betrayer depicted in the picture above, the real Illidan is simply this: http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls7ffp8PWE1qzgzbqo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1320794916&Signature=ou3eFGAJcLVCso3y7KFVigSVILY%3D
