The BE's that fight/kill Kael are doing it under the impression that he's no longer serving his people, but the Legion. Yea, he's their leader, but as you go through the Netherstorm Aldor/Scyer quest chains, you learn that he's workin' for the big bad fiery boys.

Suffice to say: the Scyers want him dead because he's "betrayed his people to the legion" and presumably any other blood elf who fights him does so under the same belief. Though whether that's true or not is the focus of the debate. In game, that's what characters believe.

It is my interpretation of the article to say that while Kael felt he was doing good for his people, once he tried to use the Legion to do so he fell into a power that was beyond him thus taking over and truly corrupting him. How I read it anyways.

Well look at it this way. We know that the Scyers know that Kael is working for the legion, who they also know is evil incarnate. The Blood Knights realized Kael was off his rocker when he came in, sacked Silvermoon and took M'uru (who is also possibly evil but whatever). And the rest of the Blood Elves in active duty for the horde pretty much answer to Thrall, making them an enemy to pretty much anything currently in the outlands with a few exceptions.

Both Kael's, and Arthas' stories are about how their weakness of character have led them down the path of corruption. Thrall's, and Jaina's stories are about how their strengths of character have led them and their people into relative peace and prosperity.

I agree that the implementation has been weak at best, but WarCraft Lore has almost always been retroactive, and best viewed in hindsight.

"Kael's decision to ally himself with the Burning Legion not only led him to betray Illidan, but also the Horde and his own people - the many blood elf pilgrims and adventurers traveling from Azeroth."
Soruce: http://www.wowwiki.com/Kael'thas_Sunstrider#An_Unholy_Alliance

So I guess it's the factor of "Well, if he's not with us, he's against us."

OP, you might as well have said: "I don't understand how Americans protesting their President and trying to remove him from office fits in with history"

Just because he's the leader doesn't mean that everyone agrees with his decisions.

Arthas's story makes perfect sense. He grabs Frostmourne to finally get revenge on Mal'Ganis and through it the Lich King takes control of his mind. He doesn't willingly become a Scourge commander, he's forced into it and manipulated for a while before that to be perfectly susceptible to the runeblade's effect.

Shouldn't the things you cited, (i.e. the girlfiend thing, Dalaran, etc.) be motivations for Kael to be a good guy that sides with the horde? Thrall had MUCH worse done to him so does that mean Thrall has some secret motivation to screw the Horde over? Come on guys, be sensible about this. The "lorelol" argument is valid because its real.

The freaking lore sounds like a 5 year old wrote it. Personally I have no problem with Arthas killing off all his former buddies and Kael betraying the BEs and Illidan seeming NEVER learning his lesson. But come on, don't you think it'd be awesome to learn WHY they are like this? So many times we just say, 'uh they went insane' or 'uh it was the magic addiction.' Why can't their motivation be more real or down to Earth like love or anger or revenge?

/sigh, maybe this is a moot point because most wow players really don't care about the lore. I'm just saying.. theres a reason.

I agree with Tol. Arthas didn't necessarily do what he did all by himself. The Lich King planned it all out. He knew how to manipulate Arthas, and drove the boy into his grasps.

For Kael, however, his method of falling is completely different. He does what he wants, what he believes is best. It was all his idea, his doing, that lead him to hte Burning Legion.
(Also, I'd like to say, the theory in the article makes perfect sense to me, and I agree with it.)

You said you wanted down to earth reasons? First of all, if you've ever known/been an addict, it can be horrifying to see the lengths many people will go to score a hit. Kael's desire to cure his race's addiction is perfectly sane. Next, you cited that Arthas is "insane"? No, he was never anything of the sort. Arthas acted as he did at first to save his people. Next, he was under the subtle influence of the Lich King, as well as experiencing his own flaws in judgment and brashness. And finally he took Frostmourne, making the Lich King control more and more of his mind.

You say that these characters of importance need better reasons for what they do? The minor flaws of their character were exacerbated and emphasized simply because they were important. The minor flaw of brashness lead to the increased power of the Lich King over Arthas, and the flaw of over-protectiveness to the point of zealotry in Kael led him to making worse and worse decisions for the long run to protect his people in the short run.

They have reasons.

Arthas was well developed, but all his character development basically stopped once he grabbed Frostmourne, that was the point of no return. He didn't become a scourge commander to save his people, he picked up a sword that he thought had the power to save his people. Once he did so he was damned. Arthas didn't choose to become evil, he was manipulated into a trap, after which he had no more control over his actions then does Highlord Mograine (who was made evil through "wordly" motives).

Kael is similar, all he is after is protection and a cure for his people, but each step of the way he has to keep compromising himself more and more, until the only group he can turn to is The Legion. He didn't just "go insane", he followed a logical progression given the choices he had. He didn't betray his people in his eyes (he was just doing what was necessary), but *some* of his people see it as a betrayal. I see Kael as the business owner that has to keep getting larger and larger loans from the mob, until they are running his business and he is out on the street.

Illidan in WoW is basically the same guy he was in WC3, except he has gone slightly nuts from fretting away in the Black Temple about Kil'Jaeden and Arthas ("even Arthas could not defeat me"). It fits his whiny selfish personality perfectly (He was always trying to help his people, but with selfish motive and taking no responsibility for his screw ups).

That's why I always read my quest descriptions. Majority of the story is told via the descriptions itself, so it is your own fault that you can see the lore behind all that is happening in the game.

We don't know the exacts about Kael'Thas, but christ, it's blindingly obvious if you just read the damn quest descriptions. However, if you skip them all and farm, you don't get a nice cutscene explaining the plot like in the RTS's. Most of the lore in WoW is skipped by idiots drooling over the quest rewards, who then moan that there's no reason for Belfs to kill Kael, even with the massive number of reasons the game presents pretty much from the start of Outland content. And as for Illidan, he isn't 'Just Killed'- his Ashtongue, led by Akama, rise up against him and with the help of a band of adventurers/mercenaries attack him in his citadel. The adventurers are almost defeated, but Maiev's intervention means they prevail, and Illidan dies. The ironic thing is that the entire Illidan fight has more lore and more major characters than ANY OTHER FIGHT IN THE ENTIRE GAME, but people constantly whine about the fight and his death. Do you actually read up on or experience any of these things yourself at all?

That last sentence there is absolutely perfect. If people bothered to think about things and to actually pay attention, they'd realise the plots are complex and well thought up. People expecting huge, obvious cutscenes, however, are going to be disappointed.