Been a while! Just watched Blizzard’s Warcraft movie. Back in the days when I was just a few kilobytes, I played this game for hours. I’m not sure I’ll ever know how much in imprinted itself on my imagination, but I do know that orcs, elves, human, and the whole gamut of siege weaponry in the game will forever swirl around in the mixture of fancy that occupies that part of my mind.
Anyway, I mostly enjoyed the movie, but I have a few thoughts I’d like to share on some particular scenes. At this point, I should go ahead and give you a {Spoiler Warning}.
Alright, first of all, let’s talk about one scene at the beginning, when Garona (the half-orc) is grabbed by the prisoner who begs for her child to be set free. Gul’dan only responds with an ominous “But I need them.” The context makes it clear that this is not something we should be happy about. Garona’s hesitation and then pulling away is reflective of her divided nature. Not just that she is half-orc (we’re not told what the other half is, but I bet the WoW players know), but that she is conflicted about doing the right thing and wanting to stay alive. This is important later on.
Secondly, I’d like to consider the character Medivh on the whole. He appears to be a good guy at first, turns out to be a traitor, but at his last moment dies doing something to help the men of Azeroth.
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| “Am I a bad guy or a good guy?” |
I find his development very interesting because it so carefully avoids a black and white reading of who he is. Until it is revealed that he is in fact using the Fell to summon the orcs, Medivh works pretty hard to actually help his people. He saves the soldiers in their first conflict by using a powerful spell and he saves the king and his troops from the meeting gone wrong. Even after he fully succumbs to the Fell, Medivh thanks his dear friend in the tower before sucking his soul out for magic. He then goes to the King and appears to actually agree with Lothar’s plan to attack the Dark Portal even while Lothar suspects him. What this hints to the viewers is that Medivh had good intentions throughout, but was overcome by wicked magic he was trying to use. If we accept the theory that he is Garona’s father, it adds another layer in that he was trying to save both human and orcs (who were the “noble people” he met in a far off land).
Alas, no matter how he tried, however, Medivh lost because he committed evil in order to accomplish a good and that does not work. At least, in reality that is true. It is a clear teaching of the Church that we can never do evil in order to accomplish some good end and this aspect of the movie, at least, seems to accord with that by the way it frames this character.
In a similar vein, I I want to consider the rather unsatisfying ending. Garona and King Llane are surrounded by the orcs after the portal collapses and the king convinces Garona to kill him in order to gain the trust of the Orcs.
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| “I’m going to stab him in the neck later, I hope you’ll still love me.” |
Much like her first appearance on screen, Garona is conflicted in this moment. She initially recoils at the idea killing the man who has become her friend because she intuits that it can’t be the right thing to do. Yet, at King Llane’s own insistence and faced with the certainty of her own death if she doesn’t listen, she caves in. Looking at the events through the immediate lens of that scene (KIing Llane’s voice dramatically replaying over the action) seems to suggest that Garona makes a difficult but heroic choice. In other words, it seems as if the makers of this movie want the viewer to see Garona’s action as the right action and to approve of it. Of course, in terms of objective truth and morality, such an action is in fact wrong. Just as with Medivh, doing evil (especially intrinsic evil like murder) in order to accomplish good is never acceptable.
And yet… it is precisely the comparison to Medivh that leaves me with some faint inkling of hope that the director and writers for this movie are not sold on consequentialism after all. Actually, when viewed with a broader lens than that single scene, there may be a case that the viewer is supposed to feel at least conflicted about if not opposed to what Garona has done.
There are two aspects of this movie that suggest it:
The ominous foreboding we see in Lothar’s reaction
The counter-example of Durotan.
Briefly, Lothar’s reaction is obviously quite negative. The dagger is proof to him that he was wrong to trust her. Khadgar thinks there is an explanation (and there is), so the viewer may feel like this is a misunderstanding. And yet, its not quite clear that Lothar would be a whole lot happier about the Truth. After all, he was appalled at Medivh’s betrayal and was willing to sacrifice himself simply to retrieve the body of his fallen king – how much more would he oppose the idea of killing his king for the sake of survival and a distant chance of doing some later good. The closing scene of the movie suggests that Garona’s action may not help because Lothar is now vehemently opposed to working with orcs and now wants to prepare for all out war with them.
Finally, I want to look at Durotan, the Frost Wolf Chieftan. The movie opens with a warm display of his love for his family. It consistently reinforces his concern for doing what is honorable and noble. It shows that he is a strong warrior and a beloved leader, but that he is also measured, considerate, and even merciful. We see this particularly when he saves Black Hand from the judgment by fire.
Contrary to the all the pressure he is facing, Durotan has the best in mind for his people when he observes how Gul’dan’s power is what is destroying the orcs and their world. This leads him to cross racial boundaries and seek the help of the humans to save his people. All of this frames his scenes in such a way that we viewers are inclined to cheer for him and to trust him as a force for good.
This is confirmed most of all when he does what is clearly the most heroic thing in the entire movie. He challenges Gul’dan one-on-one, knowing full well that his foe’s magic removes any real hope for victory. His motive is not to win, but to to expose Gul’dan – a fact we see plainly in his conversation with Orgrim right before. In that conversation they agree that the Fell magic is destroying the orcs and Durotan says that he will show them that. How can he show the orcs that Fell magic is destroying them? By challenging it’s user to fight that will force him to violate ancient orc honor codes when he uses it to unfairly win the Makgora.
He accomplishes this exact action by dying. Instead of fleeing from evil, instead of cooperating with evil, instead of committing some “excusable” use of evil in order to do some “greater” good, Durotan dies resisting evil to the end. It is his full-fledged resistnance unto death that finally shakes many of the orcs out of their fascination with Gul’dan’s power. True, they still fear him, but that fear is a far less powerful motivator than the claim to Orc honor that Gul’dan had before. If the orcs end up aligning with the humans and escaping the Fell, it will be due primarily to Durotan’s example and influence.
He was wise, but Garona was conflicted. Perhaps Garona is misled because she committed a more earthly evil. She seems to understand that using the evil magic of the Fell even for a good reason is never excusable. Why then does she not realize that using the evil act of murder even for a good reason is not excusable?
Perhaps the writers have set up this contrast on purpose to have a compelling story about the battle between good and evil. Maybe they are simply confused themselves. Either way, I encourage you, dear readers, do not be fooled by the seductive lure of consequentialism. Evil begets evil, even when done with good intentions. As always…
– The Epheisan