wow Fan-Requested Pairing Made Reality in Shadows Rising

[Stan 5,240]

Some players who pre-ordered Shadows Rising got their hands on the novel well ahead of the July 14 release date, and Blizzard made one of the most fan-requested pairings reality. This article contains spoilers.

Blizzard Watch confirmed that Master Matthias Shaw, Leader of SI:7, and Flynn Fairwind end up together and start a relationship in the novel.

Alliance players very well know both characters. Shaw leads SI:7 in Stormwind, and you encounter him during the BfA War Campaign on multiple occasions.

Flynn Fairwind's storyline occurs in Tiragarde Sound, and based on the dialogue; the vast majority thought he had a secret crush on Taelia Fordragon.

However, the developer who designed Flynn confirmed that this was mostly done to give the character more depth and that Flynn was indeed bisexual.

Placeholder for tweet 1280622957442686976

[Borgoff33 101]

so is this just some PC crap or did i miss some lore to back this up that they are gay/bi? im going with PC crap atm

[Hekatos 3]

6 minutes ago, Borgoff33 said:

so is this just some PC crap or did i miss some lore to back this up that they are gay/bi? im going with PC crap atm

Do you also need some lore to back up someone's heterosexuality? 

[Lith 52]

1 hour ago, Borgoff33 said:

so is this just some PC crap or did i miss some lore to back this up that they are gay/bi? im going with PC crap atm

PC crap for sure ? Shadowlands is already full of that *filtered*.

[Alastor7783 11]

I mean... we all knew Activision would shove PC down our throats sooner or later, but personally I was shipping Shaw & Wyrmbane... he doesn't even interact with Flynn in the game (as far as I know)

[Badadada 184]

Knowing Flynn it may be purely related to some siren's magic.

[Grumar 188]

3 hours ago, Hekatos said:

Do you also need some lore to back up someone's heterosexuality? 

heterosexuality is default, you don't need lore as to why someone has only 1 head, now if they had 2....

[drclawixp 6]

24 minutes ago, Grumar said:

heterosexuality is default, you don't need lore as to why someone has only 1 head, now if they had 2....

Says who?

[Grumar 188]

8 minutes ago, drclawixp said:

Says who?

the data, large majority ,like 95%, of even the most liberal countries are heterosexual.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Grumar

[drclawixp 6]

1 hour ago, Grumar said:

the data, large majority ,like 95%, of even the most liberal countries are heterosexual.

How is that relevant to a fictional universe?

[SidonisAntares 290]

oh look its the anti-pc brigade, but if Jaina and Valeera got shipped they'd be looking for their special sock

[KDF 26]

5 hours ago, Grumar said:

the data, large majority ,like 95%, of even the most liberal countries are heterosexual.

So the norm for any population is to include a minority of gay people. To not have any gay people living out their lives in Azeroth (or any other fictional world) would be extremely odd. So really, please, stop shoving your forced hetero-normativism down our throats.

Edited July 8, 2020 by KDF
Grammar

[Grumar 188]

4 hours ago, KDF said:

So the norm for any population is to include a minority of gay people. To not have any gay people living out their lives in Azeroth (or any other fictional world) would be extremely odd. So really, please, stop shoving your forced hetero-normativism down our throats.

no one was talking about their existence being a problem, we were talking about lore supporting it.  when characters just turn on a dime with no foreshadowing or clues. considering homosexuality is by it's nature a rare characteristic to posses it should be established like any other character trait.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Grumar

[Borgoff33 101]

8 hours ago, SidonisAntares said:

oh look its the anti-pc brigade, but if Jaina and Valeera got shipped they'd be looking for their special sock

less "anti-pc" more anti-woke virtue signaling

[Valks 2,375]

This is obviously a pretty sensitive topic and is always going to be a target for people to try and troll or create an argument where there doesn't need to be one. It's fine to discuss things in the context of the game, but just as a semi-warning, do keep it on track with the post and in the context of Flynn and Shaw, or at least Warcraft/Azeroth. 

I'm not going to issue any action against anyone for what has been said so far, but I just wanted to remind everyone to behave, basically, in case things go south.

[Badadada 184]

Point taken.

[Teufel 331]

Not enough with shippers tainting everything they touch, now the 'fan-requests' have reached WoW.

And, of course, it HAS TO be two males without any romantic chemistry (or any chemistry, if I remember the quests correctly) or a hint at homosexuallity/bisexuality at all. 

Can only hope next thing won't be "hey gyus, did you know Queen Tiffin was black". Looking at you, Rowling.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Teufel

[manymooa 0]

On 7/8/2020 at 8:00 AM, Alastor7783 said:

I mean... we all knew Activision would shove PC down our throats sooner or later, but personally I was shipping Shaw & Wyrmbane... he doesn't even interact with Flynn in the game (as far as I know)

He actually does a little bit in the alliance war campaign. Part of it the player, shaw, and flynn sneak into dazar'alor to steal the abyssal scepter.

Edited July 10, 2020 by manymooa

[Hyperion77 2]

On 7/8/2020 at 9:00 AM, Alastor7783 said:

 he doesn't even interact with Flynn in the game (as far as I know)

Did you not even do the Dazar'alor part of the war campaign leading up to the raid?  I mean, there's a whole scenario where they're flirtily jabbing at each other while we steal the Abyssal Scepter from Dazar'alor.

[Leovanni 0]

On 7/8/2020 at 9:04 PM, Grumar said:

no one was talking about their existence being a problem, we were talking about lore supporting it.  when characters just turn on a dime with no foreshadowing or clues. considering homosexuality is by it's nature a rare characteristic to posses it should be established like any other character trait.

What a rancid vibe this has and screams "I don't in real life or the game". LGBT people are not rare, most studies show rates at 30% of most populations. Blue eyes are rarer by far. And in context of the game, they have an entire cute quest line together. Also why isn't this "establishing" it? Do we have to play 20 questions over 3 expansions to establish that thrall is a father or is simply and suddenly stated at the end of an expansion raid? *filtered*

Play the game or leave please ❤️

[Grumar 188]

14 hours ago, Leovanni said:

What a rancid vibe this has and screams "I don't in real life or the game". LGBT people are not rare, most studies show rates at 30% of most populations. Blue eyes are rarer by far. And in context of the game, they have an entire cute quest line together. Also why isn't this "establishing" it? Do we have to play 20 questions over 3 expansions to establish that thrall is a father or is simply and suddenly stated at the end of an expansion raid? *filtered*

Play the game or leave please ❤️

I'd love to see those studies considering the census shows under 5%, going to liberal college campuses and gather info there doesn't make it a valid result. Lots of characters have, completely subjective word by the way, "cute" quest lines together though the game, that's why it's not establishing it, just cause you go grab a cup of coffee with someone does that mean you're going to end up boning them? and thrall is a terrible example cause him and aggra have the chemistry of bleach and ammonia they ended up together for same reason simply cause blizzard demanded it. plus as stated before heterosexual is normal there fore it's not a surprise when someone becomes mother/father really.

[Hyperion77 2]

1 hour ago, Grumar said:

I'd love to see those studies considering the census shows under 5%, going to liberal college campuses and gather info there doesn't make it a valid result. Lots of characters have, completely subjective word by the way, "cute" quest lines together though the game, that's why it's not establishing it, just cause you go grab a cup of coffee with someone does that mean you're going to end up boning them? and thrall is a terrible example cause him and aggra have the chemistry of bleach and ammonia they ended up together for same reason simply cause blizzard demanded it. plus as stated before heterosexual is normal there fore it's not a surprise when someone becomes mother/father really.

I'm curious, really, who are you to think one word is subjective while simultaneously subjectively calling Thrall and Aggra's chemistry "bleach and ammonia"?  Further, who are you to dictate what is good and what is bad storytelling?  Obviously, it's a subject that you don't like which is why you're so aggressive toward the issue.  If a scenario together where they're interacting and flirtily jabbing each other isn't "establishing" the story that the writers want to take, what constitutes "establishing" it?  I mean, Flynn is a relatively new character, no?  So a quest that was a little ambiguous in patch 8.1 was later expanded upon in a novel and it's not properly "establishing" their sexuality, tell us what, if any, is the correct way to establish someone's sexuality in a fantasy world.   Just because you didn't pick up on the clues, it doesn't mean that it wasn't there.  Obviously a lot of people speculated this relationship when the scenario first came out... so somebody picked up on the clues, no?  Why do you hate that a couple of characters ended up being gay?  Is it homophobia?  Regardless of what the "default" sexuality happens to be, the writer has full control over how he writes his characters.  To be butthurt over fictional gay people is kind of telling of where you stand, isn't it.

[Grumar 188]

6 hours ago, Hyperion77 said:

I'm curious, really, who are you to think one word is subjective while simultaneously subjectively calling Thrall and Aggra's chemistry "bleach and ammonia"?  Further, who are you to dictate what is good and what is bad storytelling?  Obviously, it's a subject that you don't like which is why you're so aggressive toward the issue.  If a scenario together where they're interacting and flirtily jabbing each other isn't "establishing" the story that the writers want to take, what constitutes "establishing" it?  I mean, Flynn is a relatively new character, no?  So a quest that was a little ambiguous in patch 8.1 was later expanded upon in a novel and it's not properly "establishing" their sexuality, tell us what, if any, is the correct way to establish someone's sexuality in a fantasy world.   Just because you didn't pick up on the clues, it doesn't mean that it wasn't there.  Obviously a lot of people speculated this relationship when the scenario first came out... so somebody picked up on the clues, no?  Why do you hate that a couple of characters ended up being gay?  Is it homophobia?  Regardless of what the "default" sexuality happens to be, the writer has full control over how he writes his characters.  To be butthurt over fictional gay people is kind of telling of where you stand, isn't it.

Shaw isn't new though, no one cares if they randomly add a new gay character, it's when they just suddenly turn old ones gay for no reason with no hinting for DECADES. Shaw has been in the game since vanilla, we're supposed to believe now all of a sudden almost 20 years later he's gay, i thought homophobia wasn't canon according to blizzard in WC universe why hide it then for well over a decade? see when you actually think a little THAT'S when it all starts to fall apart. nothing they say adds up and it's clear they're doing it for their pandierng points.

Edited July 13, 2020 by Grumar

[Teufel 331]

On 7/12/2020 at 8:08 PM, Hyperion77 said:

 Further, who are you to dictate what is good and what is bad in storytelling?

There ARE standarts in storytelling, and those are not subjective. Even Thrall and Aggra, even if their reasons to actually becoming a couple - especially from Aggra's side of things, are "Plot demanded it so" share visible chemistry in the books. Not exactly a romantic one, but it's undeniably there and goes along with Aggra's character having a sharp tongue she aims at anyone she wants.

This "establishment" here is as much BS as thinking Shaw and Greymane are a thing, because over one cinematic the latter singled out and identified the former by the scent in the crowded square, to top off their eye/voice game before they went to Anduin. Shippers just tend to see "clues" regardless of those actually being there. Also, as mentioned above, Shaw being "suddenly gay" after 8 expansions is mind-sratching in a world where homophobia doesn't exist, and neither the social stigma about it does.

And the worst thing about this one - it adds NO narrative or character value for either one. Especially Flynn, who will be thrown into a large trashcan of characters whose sexuality is their only notable characteristic in the next year.  Seriously, people will remember Scrollkeeper Nola for longer, and she's just there for memes. Given they introduced an equally forgettable token trans at the same time, this "pairing" was just used as a basis to appeal to SJW-minded players, not because it was there in the first place.