More Poetry in WoW

(Disclaimer: For whatever reason, whenever I post the paragraphs aren't separating well, so it looks like one huge paragraph. Be patient, I'll try to fix it but I don't know how).

One of the defining features of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels is the poetry that he masterfully weaves into the story. The Hobbits are all too fond of rhymes and riddles, but there are other examples of how the language itself is poetry, consider the scene when Frodo visited Lothlorien:

"It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain."
-The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 365

To me this is a greater example of pure poetry then any contrived rhyme of "roses are red, etc". What it does is allow the reader to be swept up in the moment from the perspective of [Frodo], and experience the wonder of seeing most beautiful scenery our eyes have ever beheld.

Then there is the more common style of poetry as well, such as these lovely examples from the same book:

"Home is behind, the world ahead,

and there are many paths to tread.

Through shadows to the edge of night,

until the stars are all alight.

Then world behind and home ahead,

we'll wander back to home and to bed.

Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,

Away shall fade! Away shall fade!

Fire and lamp, and meat and bread.

And then to bed! And then to bed!"

Also:

"The shadow lies upon his tomb,

In Moria, in Khazad-dum.

But still the sunken stars appear,

In dark and windless Mirrormere;

There lies his crown in water deep,

Till Durin wakes again from sleep."

We may either forget or not know that Tolkien was an award winning poet, not just one of the most beloved story tellers of the 20th century. We are all aware of the influences that he had on our world of game playing and fantasy, but that's not the topic I wish to address. I wonder, sometimes, given Tolkien's influence on just about everything that came after him, why there is little to no poetry in games, particularly WoW.

Now please, as I have not played every game in the world I certainly cannot say that no games incorporate poetry, so if there are examples out there I would love to hear of them. I would also like to make clear that I do not wish for WoW to incorporate Tolkien poetry, I realize that if I want access to that I could play LOTR Online (I actually don't know if there's much poetry in that game), read the books or watch the movies. I also am well aware that the name of the game I enjoy the most is World of WAR-Craft. I just wanted to get the obvious out of the way to spare me the agony of having it pointed out to me in any comment.

In any good fantasy story, I believe that there must be great characters, an easy to follow and engaging plot, and significant conflict. Added to these are the details of the story, in both the characters and the world they live in. The more meaningful the world, the more important are those characters to the survival of all that's good in that world. To me, a world without virtue, without beauty, without love and culture isn't really a world worth saving. If I am a "hero" dropped into a world of pure evil and told that I needed to bring my manifest destiny to the miserable creatures of that world, the destiny of light and life and good and courage, blah, blah, blah, I'm going to look up and say to the one dropping me off, "No thanks, I think I'll let this world destroy itself, there is nothing good here but me, and if I leave no loss to the world, it's already destroyed."

I just can't seem to generate a desire to save something if I'm the only good thing in it. To that end, I look around Azeroth and I see that, according to my character, there is much worth saving, much that was good before, or worthwhile, and that through my efforts that worth can be secured for the future generations. When Deathwing comes he'll do much damage to the world, and why do we care? Because there are things that we value here, whether it's culture, people, etc., Horde or Alliance, there are things we wish to protect or restore to their former peaceful state.

I know this is WARCraft, but we don't war solely because we wish to shed blood. Sure, politics churn the war machine, disagreements add fuel to that fire, and it's people who do things that are considered 'evil' that unite us in our war efforts, but to what end? To continue to war even after we have defeated all the evil that has risen in the world? I understand that there will always be a hatred between Horde and Alliance, but even those parties have joined forces to defeat common enemies.

So, in this fantasy world, in Azeroth, I wonder sometimes that I do not see more of the things I'm fighting to save. I play mainly Alliance, so am I fighting so that my farmers can farm in peace? So that the tailor may weave with endless supply of wool? I want to be fighting for more culture, for writers and artists and musicians, people that are being phased out of our real world for math and science (btw, I am SOOOOOO pro math & science). Schools drop their arts programs when there's a shortage of money, but it's always been my belief that the arts are what makes our world beautiful. So I wish it was more in Azeroth, that there would simply be a deeper culture to save and to protect.

Writers (poets included) have been the source of great controversy in our world because they discuss issues in times and ways that allow for societal introspection without resorting to one-liners and cheap shots (like politicians). Uncle Tom's Cabin, Nineteen Eighty Four, Les Miserables, The Scarlet Letter, and many, many, many others. Where are these wonders in Azeroth? I'm freakin' dying over and over and over to help these Westfall farmers rid themselves of evil beasts and machines (which is fine and all). I'm clearing the forests of Duskwood of the 'bad' Worgen, in hopes that maybe someday these homesteads may be returned to their rightful owners. I'm fighting the scourge in Northrend and doing battle with the Lich King himself to save all lands from death and decay. I'm at War with the Horde on principle alone, they're just so darn ugly, and we know that ugly people need to be killed.

I am the first to admit that I don't know the entire story of Azeroth, I'm not familiar with enough of the lore to make definitive statements, all I speak of is from my own experiences. And what I experience is that there are not a lot of musicians or writers or poets in Azeroth. In real life I fight for their cause in many ways, I wouldn't mind having some artists to fight for in Azeroth as well.

Please, I am open to correction and education on this topic, I'm also open to peotry, if you so desire. The more the merrier.

The True Hero

Given the audience it won't come as a big surprise that one of my favorite movies is The Lord of the Rings trio of movies. I also love any movie Denzel Washington is in because he's just so darn magnetic. Aside from my obvious man-crush, I enjoy movies and stories with great characters.

A debate has raged on in my own mind, a debate that I vocalize with my wife more often than she would like, is 'who is the true hero of Lord of the Rings, Frodo or Sam?'. More importantly, what does this have to do with you or me who play World of Warcraft. Stick around, I'll attempt to make the connection.

To determine who the true hero it has been required of me to not only define the term hero but to further define the words that define hero (I hope that's not too confusing). According to Webster's Dictionary a hero is:

a : a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability b : an illustrious warrior c : a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities d : one that shows great courage

Wow, neither Frodo nor Samwise fit either A or B from above definition. C is only partial, since they are not men they are clearly Hobbits. So I guess we'll have to go with part of C and all of D to help further the case for one or the other.

Frodo: Did he display courage and noble qualities in his quest to fulfill and achieve his goal?
Samwise: Ditto

They both fit that description, crap! That means that they are equally heroes, and that just can't be. I'll have to throw in my own reasoning at this point. A hero must display this courage and other noble qualities while under the hand of suffering. Who suffered more, Frodo or Sam? Frodo carried the ring for far longer than Sam. It's weight, it's power a constant and unwelcome companion through many trials. For all that Sam did to help lift and support his master to the slopes of Mount Doom, clearly Sam did not suffer as a much as Frodo, which clearly makes Frodo the superior hero.

But wait, define suffering? Does suffering include in it a component of sacrifice? If so then is it not fair to say that Sam, knowing the danger he went into and knowing all that he left behind in the Shire offered up the greater sacrifice? He left a place he loved and a hobbit lady he loved to serve his master whom he also loved to the bitter end. He entered a tower filled with orcs against all judgement, he defended himself and Frodo against the wiles of Gollum to the best of h is ability. And even when Gollum thought he had Sam and Frodo trapped, it was Sam who found a way to defeat Shelob, displaying courage not even the greatest of Elf warriors ever displayed. And when all of his strength had abandoned him and his master, it was Sam who, despite the loss of strength, conjured the will to lift his master onto his back and carry him up the side of Mount Doom. Clearly, does this not indicate a greater sacrifice and overt courage than Frodo? Clearly Sam was the true hero.

At the end, however, what was sacrificed by Frodo if not his whole life and soul. Some say that he was weak and lost to the power of the ring, but I think his display of heroism proved that the most noble and courageous are imperfect. So when he claimed the ring for his own it was the epitomy of his sacrificing his life in his quest to destroy the ring. He lost everything, he always believed he would, and yet he persisted toward his goal. Without a doubt, Frodo was the true hero.
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My friends, let us talk shop here. Let us understand each other. We play a game, a fun game, and exciting game, a game with lore, beauty, purpose. We, each of us, can be a hero as great as Frodo or Sam. I'm not talking about giving your life, that would be stupid. What I mean is that the defining characteristic of both of those heroes was they made a choice, a conscience decision to strive to achieve something so many believed to be a hopeless journey. Larisa has suggested, as she did on a comment here, to cut down on blog reading and the such to avoid the negativity that exists from those who have been around for a while and are not as excited as those few who are still fairly new to the game and still enjoy the smallest pleasures.

I understand her now, I get it and it makes sense. Every now and then I may say something ragefilled, but do not construe it as me being fed up with the game and on the verge of a break. I have learned my lesson already, and learned it the hard way. You see, when I first reached 80 I went into a frenzy. For some reason I was always anxious that I was behind the progression curve of every other 80. I was always fighting to gear up and progress up, but my own personality and overly shy attitude often froze me into inaction.

But then I made a choice. I made the choice to remember what I loved about the game, what I enjoyed doing and why I loved it so. That choice saved this game for me, it kept the spark alive. I am a big believer in choice and that only your choices affect your attitude. There may be circumstances outside your control that affect your external life, but you can always choose how you feel about it and how you react to it.

We don't control (directly and absolutely) what changes are made to the game we love. Some changes we like others we don't, but how we react to those changes is up to us. I can't wait until Cataclysm, I think that there are a lot of changes to the world that I will truly enjoy. But until then I've decided to keep on having fun in whatever way I feel like the moment I log in every night. If I feel like leveling a new toon, raiding ICC, trying to get a group to run Naxx or Ulduar, or doing Argent Tournament dailies, or making gold, or taking my 80's into lower level dungeons that I've never seen just to see it I will do it.

I can understand it if people get tired or bored or lethargic, I really do get it. I think it's mostly a natural response when you've been at the same things for years. Luckily I ain't there, I'm here, still considering myself new. And Larisa, I'm still gonna read blogs (but more guarded now). If I see negativity I'm gonna check back another day and see if there's something positive. I don't mind negativity as long as the arguments aren't based on offending rather than working to solve a problem. Still, I rather follow the examples of two of the greatest heroes of fantasy literature, speaking of course of Frodo and Sam, who made a choice that changed their lives and the lives of all those they influenced by their actions. Maybe I can do the same, or Larisa, or you or somebody else in the blogosphere.

Have fun, stay positive, remember those good things that made you love this game in the first place and do them! Be the true hero by your choice!

By the way, the winner was Frodo, but I still love Sam. Not as much as Denzel, but I still love 'em all.