From The Desk of Erethas Greywing

[Erethas]

We Need No Heroes

Dear readers of this humble column, I should start this article by apologizing for my long absence from these pages, as I was recovering from a chronometry-realated accident. The time I spent staring at the hospital's ceiling, however, gave me time to think about a very serious, yet very, very subtle problem that plagues our society.

You see, on the bed next to me, there was a maimed soldier who had to return from Northrend on account of his injuries. Now let me tell you that I have the utmost respect for all members of the Stormwind Army, no matter the rank or duty. Of course, even a humble cobbler is a valuable member of the kingdom, and he ensures in his own way that our nation with stride forward, but members of the military are the ones who actually put their lives on the line in order to serve and protect the rest of us.

After I thanked the man for his service to the King, I asked him how he got his injuries. He said that a ghoul attacked him from behind and ruined his knee. I then asked him how could the ghoul had come behind their lines of defense, and he admitted that he broke rank to chase after a fleeing necromancer. And to my question as to why would he do that, there was no answer. But even in his silence, the answer was clear.

It has come to be that our society idolizes the so called “Heroes”. The word is as old as the first time man has raised sword against man, but in recent times it has acquired a very particular meaning. You can't set foot in a tavern (not that I would in most of them anyway) without hearing about how “So-and-So the Great and his companions killed the vile Such-and-Such”, and any variations thereof. The villain always changes, sometimes it is an old god, others an elemental lord or a demon, lately it's powerful members of the Scourge, but the pattern is always the same: A group of “heroes” storms the enemy's stronghold and defeat him, thus saving Azeroth and earning their due recognition, along with whatever shiny bits they manage to drag back to town from his treasure room.

Now I don't want to discredit all stories. In fact, our very own glorious leader King Varian Wrynn is a living testament to tales of heroism with his victory over the dragon Onyxia. However, most of the time these stories are merely exaggerated accounts of mercenaries just doing the work they were assigned.

You see, both in Northrend and in Draenor, due to the nature of the enemy our commanders had to eliminate targets of strategic importance so that our armies had the tactical advantage on the field. However, these targets not only were difficult to engage with the formal tactical approach of an infantry company, but it would also give the enemy distinct advantages. Due to this, the usual approach is to hire specialists who can engage these targets on more favorable conditions.

And now I am sure you wonder, what is so bad about these people cherishing their victories, especially since they are so important to the war effort? The issue is that the public has come to view these “heroics” as the only important events in the war, and dismisses the service of the rank-and-file footman. But is in not this footman who has to stand resolute in the face of a swarm of undead charging his position? Sure, it might not sound so heroic when you claim that you were the one of hundreds who fought at a battle were no enemy had a particular evil sounding name, but these battles were the backbone of the campaign. It was due to these soldiers and their efforts that we are safe today, not just some fancy swashbuckler or haughty wizard who killed the right monster at the right time and came back with it's head on a pike to prove it.

And to make matters worse, young and impressionable people want to imitate these “heroes”. If it was just the occasional boy who though he was a great warrior and charged a bears cave I would not care much. The problem however is that, like I said at the start, this notion that you need to be a hero and ignore the traditional battle practice of holding your rank is slowly seeping into the minds of our soldiers. And that can be catastrophic. You never hear about the “heroes” who didn't make it back, do you? Believe me, there are a lot of those. But when a mercenary fails to dispatch a target deep within the enemy lines, we can always send another. If a soldier, however, breaks his formation and gives the enemy a weak point in his unit to exploit, then the results can be disastrous.

I understand the need of the people to look up to someone better. And we are lucky to have real heroes like King Varian Wrynn or the late Lord Bolvar Fordragon, and above all Sir Aduin Lothar, whose deeds can inspire us for generations to come. But not fakes who are merely after the rewards, or even that particular mage about whom I wrote a couple articles back, whose name I will avoid mentioning here lest I summon her hordes of rabid supporters.