Haurchefant Memorial at a recent 30th anniversary event

[Zojha]

His whole purpose in the narrative was to be a character that we cared about and couldn't save, and to be remembered afterwards.

And I cringe at it every time because I never particularly cared about him. It's one of those points where I very clearly go:"Nope, the WoL is not 'my' character at all." and just pretend it's Derplander that should be standing in that cutscene. He's the real WoL, I'm just an actress re-enacting his deeds in a play or something. It's really the only way I can justify my character standing in those cutscenes at this point.

[Iscah]

I can understand not caring about him as much as the story intended - I'm not even sure I would have paid as much attention to him if I hadn't been spoiled about his death, but because I knew it was coming I also realised we were 'supposed' to care about him. (At the point I'd gotten spoiled, I'd only met him in the Coerthas story arc of ARR, and he hadn't been particularly outstanding as a character at the time.) It's hard to know if I would have gotten attached to him anyway throughout the story of Heavensward - I think I would have - he did a lot to help us, being there for us after we fled Ul'dah and bringing us to safety in Ishgard, coming to our rescue in battle.... but every interaction with him, for me, was overshadowed by the thought "I know you are going to die". I wish I could know how my thoughts towards him would have gone without that knowledge.

Ultimately though, even if I didn't (or wouldn't have come to) naturally care for him, my character does and therefore I should too, so to a degree I "made" him an important character to me. And I did, genuinely, cry at his death.


(I'll be interested to play through the Coerthas storyline again, once I get there on my alt character, knowing that Haurchefant is a long-term important character and not just "the guy in charge of the town we're currently adventuring in", important to the local storyline but not particularly beyond it.)

[MuseTraveller]

I used to love Haurchefant and loved that we got a minion of him that I hugged all he time... but his death felt rubbed in our faces over and over and OVER again. Short stories, that HW journey, the Fortems shield,the undelivered letter, ok we get it, we must feel sad about him forever. I hate to say it but I reached a point where I don't want to hear about him anymore. All this is great but, its enough. I feel like it's being milked now.I suppose I still love the character but I'm really fed up with his death.

[Iscah]

Short stories, that HW journey, the Fortems shield,the undelivered letter...

Haven't come across the letter; is that one of the Moogle postman quests? I need to do those.

I loved getting the shield though. So far as I can be proud of something my character received in a story, I'm proud of it, and will most likely be using it as my paladin shield for the rest of the game. Again, it's something special to my character, and it's an honour for her to bear it.

And I liked the 'journey of reminiscence' quest overall, and there were some really beautiful quotes in there (Vidofnir's section particularly) but - given that it was clear from the start that it was going to end at Haurchefant's grave - the actual scene there was rather abrupt and anticlimactic. (Getting the emote was handled badly, I think.)

[Lexun]

Idk he is just as rememberable as the other characters that were introduced and then quickly killed. I dont see his death really that sad.

[ArcaviusGreyashe]

I think some of you don't get is that it wasn't a "he was briefly introduced and then killed" scenario. I, and I have friends that started around the same time I did (2.0/2.1) who share the same feeling, didn't feel like Haurchefant was a wonderful character, but he definitely was our favorite.

At the same time we all progressed, rather slowly through MSQ, as it was kinda the only thing to do back then, we were talking about every NPC in a much more detailed way. And I remember Haurchefant was a character we all liked very much. He had his way of talking, his way of being just a dumbass that we all loved... I don't know, there's not only his perpetual attempt to flirt with the WoL, neither his "heroism". He was a full character, with his flaws, his qualities, and everything in between. He made us laugh, and that was all we would care about, back then. When he died, the WoL lost a friend that cared for him/her, while, with Papalymo and others, it was more of a "friend that cared for his/her cause", as someone stated, some messages ago.

Then again, it was a whole other mentality back then. Maybe it's just me being a nostalgic b**ch, but I feel like characters from the 2.X storyline were much better than later on characters. Probably because we cared more about them since MSQ was the main content, but I remember dearly Moenbryda, even though she dies an hour after being introduced.

On the other hand, Aymeric, that seems deeply loved by a lot of people... I couldn't care less about him. He lacks realism, he lacks sincerity. He's just a walking cliché, and I feel like many people are like that... Especially during HW, which I will always consider as the worst expansion this game had, especially when it comes to storytelling, but that's my opinion. On the other hand, I do like some of the SB characters. Some may have the same effect on me Haurchefant had, when they die, because they're human.

[Iscah]

Okay, I may be out of this discussion now if you’re talking about other characters later in the story, because I stopped reading when I saw the name in that last paragraph (being vague in case you edit it to hide spoilers) but I assume that means he’s going to die and I’m not up to that part yet.

[ArcaviusGreyashe]

I didn't spoil anything, was just saying "IF those people die, I'll be as sad as when Haurchefant died", but yeah, edited anyway, sorry for being inconsiderate.

[Lium]

The title of this thread totally spoiled this for me. I'm not even in HW yet. Still getting through all the level 50 MSQ quests.

This is actually the second death that's been spoiled for me. The first was Moenbryda when I was checking on my MSQ progress and saw a quest in the chain titled: "In Memory of Moenbryda". I was like, "Dang it!" This just goes to show you, if you want to remain spoiler free, stay off the internet.

[The_Promised]

and just pretend it's Derplander that should be standing in that cutscene. He's the real WoL, I'm just an actress re-enacting his deeds in a play or something. It's really the only way I can justify my character standing in those cutscenes at this point.

Don't get your point here. The midlander on cinematics is hot and feets well on the warrior of light. And if they put our chars on cinematic they will probably not put you or me. If a char be on cinematic one day will be probably inspired on the world first clears raiders from pve or on the rank 1 on the pvp (feast). They deserve to be on official cinematic not our chars. So I'm happy with the hyur guy, he is hot and looks badass. Is still better and more original than the Brad Pitt from wow cinematic.