Tangential Post to my Women and Blizzard Post

Thrall couldn't imagine Taretha being illiterate.  Books were what had bound them to each other in the first place.  Without her notes, he might never have escaped.  He had thought her fate in the true timeway a brutal one, felt that it was unjust to one who was so kind and greathearted.   

But in a way, the life she had been leading here was almost worse. 

Aggra had accompanied him on his shamanic vision quest, and had, in a fashion, "met" Taretha. 

She should not have died, Thrall had said on that spiritual journey. 

How do you know this was not her destiny?  That perhaps she had done all she had been born to do? Aggra had replied.  Only she knows. 

And Thrall realized with a lurch in his heart that Taretha--in both timeways--did know. 

"To hear this from you--to know that my being alive mattered to anyone, let alone to nations, to...to the history of the world--you don't know what it means to me.  I don't care if I died.  I don't care how I died.  At least I mattered!"  - Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, pp 121-122

There was a lot I hated about Twilight of the Aspects (and I do mean a lot), but this scene here where Thrall speaks with the alternate-universe Taretha Foxton was one of the worst parts of the book.  I was reminded of it after writing my entry on women in World of Warcraft and talking about the purpose many of the female characters seem to serve.  Here in this book is a canonical example of Blizzard (via Christie Golden) stating outright that a female character was created for the sole purpose of being brutally murdered to give an important male NPC motivation.

And this is supposed to be tragic, which it is, but tragic only in the sense that Blizzard believes this is a compelling tug-at-your-heartstrings story.  What would have been a true tragedy?  That Taretha in a world without Thrall could have been something more.  Maybe only Thrall could have been the one to unite the orcs and Horde the way he did, but Taretha still could have done something worthwhile in that world.  Perhaps she was running something of an underground network of people intent on seeing the orcs set free.  Maybe she was organizing a small rebellion against Blackmoore and doing the best she could with what was given to her.  I'd like to think Taretha without Thrall could still be smart, fierce, and canny enough to be a thorn in Blackmoore's side.

What's more, she could have done all that and still be destined to die.  Meaning: She would have served a noble purpose and died with or without Thrall.  That way Blizzard gets to play the "Death was her destiny" trope while still making it terribly tragic (and a death Thrall would mourn while recognizing its necessity) without reducing Taretha to an illiterate, helpless woman who is only strong enough to survive (and have it implied she's raped by Blackmoore under the guise of being something less than a mistress).  That doesn't remove Thrall as being an important component in the correct timeline since we'd still have needed him to ultimately create the new Horde and rid the world of Blackmoore once and for all.

Instead we take the premise that Thrall is the only one we need, that without him Taretha has no purpose and is in fact nothing without him.  Taretha had to be brutally murdered and beheaded by Blackmoore so it'd enrage Thrall and motivate him to end Blackmoore, and that's the only way she could have died and had a purpose.

And look, I'm not even touching what happens to Alexstraza in this book.  Even the freaking Aspect of the Red Dragonflight must become weakened and needs Thrall to set her back to rights again.  Yes, the book was about Thrall, but it could still be about Thrall and how he's Orc Jesus powerful and important he is without de-powering the women connected to his story.  Besides, it's Taretha's fate that I feel is the real tragedy here.

Just one more example of how women in Azeroth can't win if there's a man's story to tell.