Did the Xel'Naga Foresee Their Defeat?

[Visions of Khas]

http://i.imgur.com/njiHdtc.jpg

In LotV, we are treated to an interesting vignette: Artanis walks through the halls of Ulnar, brushing his hand against chiseled stone. His recent history is recapitulated before him in mid-relief; he gazes upon the forms of Kerrigan, Shakuras, aureoled zerg... and himself, cradling the limp form of Zeratul. Around him are arrayed formations of stalagmite and stalactite, indicating the caverns have not seen life in well over a 100,000 years.

This sculpture is clearly ancient, its contents mirrored in similar carvings across the galaxy.

But how are they so accurate? With such intimate knowledge of history, one would think the Xel'Naga would have foreseen Amon's fall and resurrection -- and indeed they must have. So how is it that the greater whole of the Xel'Naga not only fell into Amon's trap at Zerus, but allowed themselves to be slain in their crypts in Ulnar centuries later, and then ultimately vanquished when their spirits returned to the Void?

... Or is this kind of conflict a natural, innate part of each cycle?

[ragnarok]

I'm not sure they actually forsaw Amon's return in that regard. Maybe only Ouros did, as he was imprisoned by Amon, the other Xel'Naga at Ulnar didn't.

As for the whole falling into Amon's trap at Zerus back then, technically the Xel'Naga won that battle, as Amon was defeated and sent back into the Void, and Duran was the only one of his servants who survived. Maybe the other Xel'Naga just underestimated Duran.

[Turalyon]

The cynic in me is crying out to say it's just blatant author conceit to get the plot moving where they want it to, but I guess everyone here knows that by now and besides, that's not fun! So here goes...


But how are they so accurate?

Given the shakiness of Xel'nagan foresight (and the inherent paradoxical nature of such a thing), it could just be that what you deem as being "accurate" is more along the lines of it just being awfully "coincidental". Like, maybe it wasn't really supposed to depict Kerrigan back when it was first made, it's just that recent events gave those carvings a current context - you know, brains like to find patterns in things where none exists. And yeah, it does seem kinda "convenient" and is borderline giving credence to the cynical author conceit explanation but we can't rule this possibility out as an in-universe explanation.

Then again, the Xel'naga are supposed to be gods, so all of it could be divine providence as you've indicated - including their own deaths by Amon. Along those lines, it could also be that it was only Ouros who had actual foresight and that he was responsible for putting out all the clues before or when during Amon was uplifting the Protoss and Zerg. Why he didn't just tell the Xel'Naga straight off at any earlier time is anyone's guess though (maybe his foresight saw that telling the Xel'Naga of Amon's treachery led to the total obliteration of the cycle/prevented Kerrigan from being the only solution?).

Amon must have then imprisoned Ouros around the time he was uplifting the Zerg, depriving the greater Xel'Naga his foreknowledge of Amon's greater plans against them (ie: wiping them all out). Ouros being the only one with foresight would also give a possible explanation as to why Amon would even keep Ouros alive for all this time. Course, just like Amon underestimates his control over the Zerg and Protoss, he underestimated the mastery of manipulation that was Ouros as well.

[ragnarok]

This just goes back to having put Ouros in the game, Blizzard should have actually spent more time to explain about him and why he did what he did. Hell, even if Ouros did try to warn the other Xel'Naga and his warnings were rejected, it's still an explanation.

With Ouros being the only one knowing what he's planning, you'd think Amon would have just killed him right away so that he couldn't warn anyone. This goes back to my thoughts on the other Xel'Naga imprisoned Amon in a Void location where the hostile Void energies would kill him, and Amon was forced to keep Ouros alive in order to drain his essence so he could keep HIMSELF alive.

[Turalyon]

This just goes back to having put Ouros in the game, Blizzard should have actually spent more time to explain about him and why he did what he did.

Ouros' value in the narrative is as a plot twist. Having to explain about him or to know about him earlier would've reduced the impact of the reveal. He's supposed to be "not the point" to the story (Kerrigan and defeating Amon is) even though his very nature in the narrative is fueled by fridge logic.


With Ouros being the only one knowing what he's planning, you'd think Amon would have just killed him right away so that he couldn't warn anyone. This goes back to my thoughts on the other Xel'Naga imprisoned Amon in a Void location where the hostile Void energies would kill him, and Amon was forced to keep Ouros alive in order to drain his essence so he could keep HIMSELF alive.

Nah, Amon thrives in the Void. He is at his most powerful there and draws power from it. It's why Ouros can't do anything while he's imprisoned there. If Amon was drawing power from Ouros, Ouros should have just killed himself and gotten the others to. I think it makes more sense if Ouros had some inherent value that Amon doesn't have as to the reason why he hasn't been killed - the foresight I mentioned is something that Amon can potentially use.

[TheEconomist]

He's an Elder Thing from a hundred different Lovecraft rip offs. Explaining him would be like explaining Dwarves, Elves, or Dragons.

[ragnarok]

Ouros' value in the narrative is as a plot twist. Having to explain about him or to know about him earlier would've reduced the impact of the reveal. He's supposed to be "not the point" to the story (Kerrigan and defeating Amon is) even though his very nature in the narrative is fueled by fridge logic.


No, I call that Blizzard was too damn lazy to bother trying to explain all this to the fans, so they decided that the fans might overlook this, and therefore they didn't have to explain it at all.

[Turalyon]

I'm thinking that the lack of explanation for Ouros is merely because he wasn't actually conceived as a character until late in proceedings (and probably as a reaction and explanation for "Tassadar" in WoL). He was just an expedient way to finish off the prophecy plot point about Kerrigan being the "chosen one" to defeat Amon. One of the (many) reasons the epilogue is terribad is because everything is just rushed and squeezed in as an attempt to tie the 3 disparate entries that was Sc2 into a unified "trilogy".

You can still call it "lazy" to be sure though. It's just that it's not lazy in terms of them not giving out details (since it's difficult to know if there were even details beyond what it was) but lazy in terms of the initial conceptualisation and final use of Ouros.

[Visions of Khas]

Kind of makes me wonder about Zeratul's and the Overmind's vision of an apocalyptic future. Doubtless it was granted by Ourous; but was it a simulated future meant as a scare tactic, or a clear view of an alternate timeline?

Whom else saw these visions? Some Terran cults were exposed to it. Does Amon not have the same ability? Kerrigan claimed to be able to see multiple timelines when she ascended.

[ragnarok]

I'm thinking that the lack of explanation for Ouros is merely because he wasn't actually conceived as a character until late in proceedings (and probably as a reaction and explanation for "Tassadar" in WoL). He was just an expedient way to finish off the prophecy plot point about Kerrigan being the "chosen one" to defeat Amon. One of the (many) reasons the epilogue is terribad is because everything is just rushed and squeezed in as an attempt to tie the 3 disparate entries that was Sc2 into a unified "trilogy".

You can still call it "lazy" to be sure though. It's just that it's not lazy in terms of them not giving out details (since it's difficult to know if there were even details beyond what it was) but lazy in terms of the initial conceptualisation and final use of Ouros.

Personally I never saw Ouros as any initial concept on Blizzard's part, more of an afterthought or something. Likely they felt "Oh we need to explain why Tassadar survived all this time." That part they got right in that it wasn't the real Tassadar, but they didn't realize by creating Ouros they had to explain him too, and why he wasn't able to do more.


Kind of makes me wonder about Zeratul's and the Overmind's vision of an apocalyptic future. Doubtless it was granted by Ourous; but was it a simulated future meant as a scare tactic, or a clear view of an alternate timeline?

Whom else saw these visions? Some Terran cults were exposed to it. Does Amon not have the same ability? Kerrigan claimed to be able to see multiple timelines when she ascended.

It depends, VoK. What I think happened is Amon had the ability to see into the future, but he couldn't see far enough, which means all he could see was the Overmind was going to defy him, but he couldn't see just what the Overmind was really planning to do.

As for it being a mere scare tactic, I doubt it. After Skygeirr, Izsha made it clear that the swarm had been Amon's tool, and he'd use them again, to which Kerrigan promised she's make preparations against him as soon as Mengsk was dealt with.

[Visions of Khas]

With regard to preparations, I suspect Kerrigan and Abathur sifted through her Primal genetics to identify what mechanism made Zerg susceptible to Amon's control, and dispersed a counter as much as possible across the Swarm. Otherwise, I simply don't see her having the willpower to oppose his rule of the Swarm.

[Gradius]

How is it that Ouros got captured considering the main Xel'Naga defeated Amon at Ulnar? Did the rest of the XelNaga really just go back to sleep when the job wasn't done, Duran was still running around, Amon was killing other Xel'Naga in the void, and Ouros was prisoner in the void?

Ouros can communicate with beings in the living world. He could send a message to the rest of the XelNaga and be like "yo don't go to sleep, I'm a prisoner here and Amon is planning to kill you all."

[Visions of Khas]

Did the rest of the XelNaga really just go back to sleep when the job wasn't done, Duran was still running around, Amon was killing other Xel'Naga in the void
Mmmmyep. That happened.

[Turalyon]

Kind of makes me wonder about Zeratul's and the Overmind's vision of an apocalyptic future. Doubtless it was granted by Ourous; but was it a simulated future meant as a scare tactic, or a clear view of an alternate timeline?

I'd like to think that it was a fabrication of Ouros and that he was manipulating things to his own ends (creating a self-fulfilling prophecy), just like how Amon was "supposedly" masterplanning the end of the cycle (which still makes no sense since he already accomplished that from the get-go by neutering the Zerg and Protoss from becoming ever becoming Xel'Naga). All them Xel'Naga are devious and deceitful arseholes in Sc2. So, in a round about way, it's fitting that Kerrigan is now one of them. :p

Course, it doesn't explain why the temples seemingly have images of Kerrigan in them. Maybe Ouros discovered/knew about the Terrans right from the beginning and secretly prepared the way for them to eventually counter Amon's scheme. I mean, it can't be that far-fetched when we consider the "planning" required in Amon's scheme being almost pulled off.


Whom else saw these visions? Some Terran cults were exposed to it. Does Amon not have the same ability? Kerrigan claimed to be able to see multiple timelines when she ascended.

When you think about it, out of all the other Xel'Naga that were killed, Ouros is the only other one (apart from Amon's lackey Duran that is) that's not killed. Surely, there must be a reason, right? I imagine that if precognition does exist within the Xel'Naga, that only Ouros had some degree of it. It's the only reason I can think of as to why Amon would spare/ imprison him and not kill him much earlier (since he would try to use it to his advantage).


With regard to preparations, I suspect Kerrigan and Abathur sifted through her Primal genetics to identify what mechanism made Zerg susceptible to Amon's control, and dispersed a counter as much as possible across the Swarm. Otherwise, I simply don't see her having the willpower to oppose his rule of the Swarm.

But Primal Kerrigan is on a different level than original infested Kerrigan. She supposedly has both the purities now which I assume means she has more power over the Swarm and more than what Amon does over the Zerg compared to before? *shrug*


How is it that Ouros got captured considering the main Xel'Naga defeated Amon at Ulnar? Did the rest of the XelNaga really just go back to sleep when the job wasn't done, Duran was still running around, Amon was killing other Xel'Naga in the void, and Ouros was prisoner in the void?

Ouros can communicate with beings in the living world. He could send a message to the rest of the XelNaga and be like "yo don't go to sleep, I'm a prisoner here and Amon is planning to kill you all."

This line of questioning is based on the presumption that Ouros is naturally and morally "good" (as in that he bears good-will to other Xel'Naga and other lifeforms), of the "right mind" and/or has no other hidden agenda. We really know little about him but we can infer a lot from what we do get. On the face of things, he's willing to be deceitful (pretending to be Tassdar) to get what he wants (to pass on his legacy to Kerrigan specifically). He's willing to do this no matter the consequence. He urges comparatively more morally good people to risk their lives and others under them to bring a person who relished killing people, had killed "billions" and was willingly doing immense collateral damage trying to ultimately kill one man as a means for "atonement" of her past crimes, to him and give that person who is obviously of not sound mind herself, even more power. Hmmmm.

Makes you wonder really. Maybe Ouros was actually in partnership with Amon and they had a falling out leading to the state we eventually see them at. Who knows? ;)

[ragnarok]

How is it that Ouros got captured considering the main Xel'Naga defeated Amon at Ulnar? Did the rest of the XelNaga really just go back to sleep when the job wasn't done, Duran was still running around, Amon was killing other Xel'Naga in the void, and Ouros was prisoner in the void?

Ouros can communicate with beings in the living world. He could send a message to the rest of the XelNaga and be like "yo don't go to sleep, I'm a prisoner here and Amon is planning to kill you all."

Possibly, unless Amon blocked the communications or something.

Or it's possible that when the Xel'Naga won the battle at Zerus, Ouros made a sacrifice to seal Amon in the Void or something like that. As a result, all the other Xel'Naga thought Ouros was killed, not realizing Amon kept him alive (this of course would then depend on just what abilities Amon still had in defeat)



With regard to preparations, I suspect Kerrigan and Abathur sifted through her Primal genetics to identify what mechanism made Zerg susceptible to Amon's control, and dispersed a counter as much as possible across the Swarm. Otherwise, I simply don't see her having the willpower to oppose his rule of the Swarm.

I doubt that'd have made a difference. I'm willing to bet the only reason Amon didn't contest her for control over the swarm in LotV was more due to because he had the Golden Armada and the fact the swarm wasn't at its peak (even by the end of HotS it was still only a shadow of its former self compared to the beginning of WoL)

[ragnarok]

I'd like to think that it was a fabrication of Ouros and that he was manipulating things to his own ends (creating a self-fulfilling prophecy), just like how Amon was "supposedly" masterplanning the end of the cycle (which still makes no sense since he already accomplished that from the get-go by neutering the Zerg and Protoss from becoming ever becoming Xel'Naga). All them Xel'Naga are devious and deceitful arseholes in Sc2. So, in a round about way, it's fitting that Kerrigan is now one of them. :p


For this, I mostly disliked that Ouros still saw himself so above others, seeing the Protoss only as lesser beings. This is why I had hoped that by the time of Evolution the Protoss people would stop seeing the Xel'Naga in such a way. Or at the very least, see them on a lower level than holy gods. Of course if Kerrigan is still one, then obviously they'd look in the other direction.


But Primal Kerrigan is on a different level than original infested Kerrigan. She supposedly has both the purities now which I assume means she has more power over the Swarm and more than what Amon does over the Zerg compared to before? *shrug*

It is NOT purity. If she had that purity she never would have needed Dehaka's help with the Psi Destroyer. As I see it, there's still enough corrupted Zerg blood in her, just not enough for Amon to influence or control. And as for being able to control the swarm like that, I doubt it. Amon is the creator of the corrupted swarm, I felt he would have ensured his control cannot be taken away. The main Q here is did Amon actually make a concerted effort to take the swarm away from Kerrigan by the time of LotV, or did he just feel the feral Zerg on Aiur were enough.

[drakolobo]

Course, it doesn't explain why the temples seemingly have images of Kerrigan in them. Maybe Ouros discovered/knew about the Terrans right from the beginning and secretly prepared the way for them to eventually counter Amon's scheme. I mean, it can't be that far-fetched when we consider the "planning" required in Amon's scheme being almost pulled off.
In essence all murals and prophecies are manifestations of the manipulation of the matter of, ouros , in essence the mural that sees for artanis was created specifically to influence in artanis did not exist previously golds could influence slightly in ulnar to modify the walls, xelnaga skill about their constructs


Makes you wonder really. Maybe Ouros was actually in partnership with Amon and they had a falling out leading to the state we eventually see them at. Who knows? ;)

cool idea

[ragnarok]

How is it that Ouros got captured considering the main Xel'Naga defeated Amon at Ulnar? Did the rest of the XelNaga really just go back to sleep when the job wasn't done, Duran was still running around, Amon was killing other Xel'Naga in the void, and Ouros was prisoner in the void?

Ouros can communicate with beings in the living world. He could send a message to the rest of the XelNaga and be like "yo don't go to sleep, I'm a prisoner here and Amon is planning to kill you all."

You know Gradius, another possibility (given that Blizzard didn't explain all this) is that perhaps Ouros was a Xel'Naga Amon had captured and imprisoned LONG before any of all this got off the ground, as in well before he even went to Aiur to uplift the Protoss people. Of course, if we're to use that, then it makes you wonder why did the other Xel'Naga just forget about him and everything....

[Gradius]

Of course, if we're to use that, then it makes you wonder why did the other Xel'Naga just forget about him and everything....
Exactly, so why did you even bother bringing this up?

[Turalyon]

It is NOT purity.

The purities are retconned from essence into "great changeability" and form into "great psionic capability" in Sc2. Ouros believes Kerrigan fulfills this requirement which leads him to endow his power to her. Therefore, by the games logic, she has both purities.


If she had that purity she never would have needed Dehaka's help with the Psi Destroyer.

It has nothing to do with the purities. The Psi Destroyer works against those who utilise the psionic hive-mind that "Swarm Zerg" use. Kerrigan still uses that to control the "Swarm Zerg" so that's why she's still vulnerable to it.

Dehaka and the "Primal Zerg" don't have a psionic hive-mind link, so they are not affected by it even though being "Primal Zerg" does apparently mean having this recently retconned version of "purity of essence".

[Visions of Khas]

Dehaka and the "Primal Zerg" don't have a psionic hive-mind link, so they are not affected by it even though being "Primal Zerg" does apparently mean having this recently retconned version of "purity of essence".

Well, the Hive Mind was Amon's "corruption", as Primals are proudly very individualistic. *sigh*

I'd think their innate psychic sensitivity would allow them to feel the Psi Destroyer's field as a buzzing in the back of the head, but it doesn't have the fatal feedback loop in the Hive Mind to take advantage of.

No proof of this, just speculatin' and shit.


Possibly, unless Amon blocked the communications or something.

Probable. Amon controlled the Void at that point, so nothing happened without his say-so. Which makes me wonder; the Dark Templar used the Void, but lore always stayed they were very well aware of the dangers in its use. I'm guessing Amon was this innate danger. So did DTs use Amon's corrupted Void energies, but sparingly to avoid his attention; or did they pull upon small pockets of uncorrupted Void energy?

[ragnarok]

Exactly, so why did you even bother bringing this up?

It's also possible that Ouros was one of those who was considered paranoid by the other Xel'Naga. Of course, if that's the case it'd mean that Ouros wanted to be absolutely sure Amon was REALLY gone after his defeat at Zerus, whereas the other Xel'Naga's arrogance in thinking they won the battle, so Amon's threat was over with. If that's true, it's no different than Mengsk's mentality (though his had better grounds) at Tarsonis, thinking the zerg would kill Kerrigan. But then again, everyone believed the zerg would have done that prior to the SC1 zerg campaign....


The purities are retconned from essence into "great changeability" and form into "great psionic capability" in Sc2. Ouros believes Kerrigan fulfills this requirement which leads him to endow his power to her. Therefore, by the games logic, she has both purities.


That is merely his belief, which I feel was nothing more than blind faith. And in any case I felt if the ascension had to happen, it should have had better strings attached. This was something I discussed with Stratos before Blizzard gave us any info for LotV: that while Zeratul led Kerrigan to Zerus, he had contingency plans in the event she chose to abuse that power.

Similarly it would have been reasonable for Ouros to put a similar backup plan. Amon certainly had a point to Raynor and Artanis in saying what grounds did they have that Kerrigan wouldn't abuse the Xel'Naga power....

[ragnarok]

Probable. Amon controlled the Void at that point, so nothing happened without his say-so. Which makes me wonder; the Dark Templar used the Void, but lore always stayed they were very well aware of the dangers in its use. I'm guessing Amon was this innate danger. So did DTs use Amon's corrupted Void energies, but sparingly to avoid his attention; or did they pull upon small pockets of uncorrupted Void energy?

This is why I'm saying Amon did not bend ALL of the Void to his will. And in any case, Void energy is considered dangerous regardless of Amon's corruption. After all, it was the Void energy that killed the Overmind in the first place. The stalkers' particle disruptors used Void energy and that had damaging effects. The Tal'darim's bane blades, along with their Ascendants' Agonizing Blast (drawn from the Void) proved extremely damaging, and they retained these powers even after LotV, which proves Amon's corruption was never a critical factor to make Void energy deadly.

[Turalyon]

That is merely his belief, which I feel was nothing more than blind faith.

His belief coincides with the actual truth that Kerrigan has the purities - otherwise, she wouldn't have "ascended" when Ouros transferred his powers to her and Artanis wouldn't exclaim that she was a Xel'Naga when that happened.

[ragnarok]

His belief coincides with the actual truth that Kerrigan has the purities - otherwise, she wouldn't have "ascended" when Ouros transferred his powers to her and Artanis wouldn't exclaim that she was a Xel'Naga when that happened.

I felt that wasn't the proper way to ascend, merely Ouros pulled some strings and broke tradition for the sake to beat Amon and all that.

[Turalyon]

I felt that wasn't the proper way to ascend.

There's no other information in the game to suggest that there is even a "proper way". Regardless of the how, you need both purities to become a Xel'Naga, which Kerrigan had and did respectively.

[ragnarok]

There's no other information in the game to suggest that there is even a "proper way". Regardless of the how, you need both purities to become a Xel'Naga, which Kerrigan had and did respectively.

I mostly just went off what Artanis got from Ulnar, that it's supposed to be the two destined races. That should have been the way it's done, and was done like that in the past.

[Visions of Khas]

There's no other information in the game to suggest that there is even a "proper way". Regardless of the how, you need both purities to become a Xel'Naga, which Kerrigan had and did respectively.

Then there's not quite the clear distinction of the Purities as we were led to believe. And I think a lot of that rests with the Zerg. Their hyper-evolutionary traits brought out the best in Kerrigan, twice: Once, during her initial infestation, and again on Zerus. Her ability to wield such powerful psionics should be Purity of Form (what I see as the physical capability to house, withstand, and be augmented by immense psionic power). What's less clear to me, then, is where the Essence is involved. I always considered the Overmind itself to be that Purity, but that's not the case in SCII canon.

[ragnarok]

Then there's not quite the clear distinction of the Purities as we were led to believe. And I think a lot of that rests with the Zerg. Their hyper-evolutionary traits brought out the best in Kerrigan, twice: Once, during her initial infestation, and again on Zerus. Her ability to wield such powerful psionics should be Purity of Form (what I see as the physical capability to house, withstand, and be augmented by immense psionic power). What's less clear to me, then, is where the Essence is involved. I always considered the Overmind itself to be that Purity, but that's not the case in SCII canon.

Only the first time for the hyper-evolutionary. From what I saw, that only existed in the corrupted zerg. The primal zerg don't seem to have this, as the 2nd time was just the catalytic fluids from the pool.

[Turalyon]

I mostly just went off what Artanis got from Ulnar, that it's supposed to be the two destined races. That should have been the way it's done, and was done like that in the past.

Well, Kerrigan is of two races afterall: Primal Zerg and Human/Terran. As to the "destiny" part, it's about the purities being destined to appear in two different races, not that the Zerg and Protoss are specifically destined to have the purities. Besides, the Xel'Naga are the architects of such "destiny" and the purities. Since Ouros is one of them, what he says about what qualifies as meeting the requirements to be of the purities trumps whatever Artanis thinks/interprets it to be.

The only reason I can say this with any confidence, is that the retcons over retcons allow this interpretation.


Then there's not quite the clear distinction of the Purities as we were led to believe. And I think a lot of that rests with the Zerg. Their hyper-evolutionary traits brought out the best in Kerrigan, twice: Once, during her initial infestation, and again on Zerus. Her ability to wield such powerful psionics should be Purity of Form (what I see as the physical capability to house, withstand, and be augmented by immense psionic power). What's less clear to me, then, is where the Essence is involved. I always considered the Overmind itself to be that Purity, but that's not the case in SCII canon.

The purity retcons are actually pretty clear in and of themselves - it's just that it muddies what came before. What they want, is for you to forget what you knew...

Purity of form was far simpler in Sc1 where it was defined as merely the peak physical embodiment of life. In Sc2, it's retconned into meaning "great psionic potential" - which may or may not require having "good" (whatever defines "good" that is) physical traits. Once again, Kerrigan has always had psionic potential despite that she happens to also be so special and the actual unique epitome of this trait (which is more to do with writers opting for "Sue-ness" and going down the "chosen one" path).

In Sc2, purity of essence is defined as the "capability of great change" (which makes no literal sense since something "pure" comes with the inference that it is unadulterated/not capable of change) whereas in Sc1 it was about the fundamental nature of something that stayed the same despite great change (sure, it's somewhat esoteric but it flows on from the manual's history where the Protoss experiement was a failure - I guess that's why no-one ever understood it). The Overmind was instrumental for the latter interpretation, whereas in Sc2 it's a restriction on the purity because it's enslaved and that the hivemind that pervades the Swarm Zerg is an unnatural creation and corruption of said purity. That's why the Primal Zerg were conceived as an out (one of the many reasons why their representation is distasteful). Kerrigan becomes a primal Zerg in HotS, so she attains this retconned purity of essence version.

It's kind of interesting in a way since the Sc2 retcons of the purities are consistent with the at-the-time retcon that Protoss couldn't be assimilated/infested by Zerg. The reason given then was that it was the Khala - which fits in with what LotV tells us in that Amon wanted to stop the cycle and that the Khala was corrupted by Amon's influence. Sc2's purity retcons "clarify" (if one can see it as that...) the reason for Protoss assimilation by Zerg not being possible (which was a retcon itself) is that it was Amon's doing all along.

[ragnarok]

Well, Kerrigan is of two races afterall: Primal Zerg and Human/Terran. As to the "destiny" part, it's about the purities being destined to appear in two different races, not that the Zerg and Protoss are specifically destined to have the purities. Besides, the Xel'Naga are the architects of such "destiny" and the purities. Since Ouros is one of them, what he says about what qualifies as meeting the requirements to be of the purities trumps whatever Artanis thinks/interprets it to be.

The only reason I can say this with any confidence, is that the retcons over retcons allow this interpretation.



Partial retcon, the other is because of the need for redemption, which Blizzard's execution was pitiful