SC:L Retcons Analysis and Archive

http://sclegacy.com/news/23-sc2/908-...e-and-analysis

Written by me. Be sure to send more retcons if you guys find any. :)

I hate retcons so much >_<

I completely agree. Retcons suck, and destroy the story.

BTW, I just read the link to the interview with Brian Kindregan, and he talks about the player choices in the game. He says that there will be a canon choice, but he wants to avoid the issue as much as possible so they don't "invalidate" your choice.

How about not invalidating everything that happened in StarCraft and Brood War with retcons that completely remove missions and deny the existence of the player character?

Now that's a nice article.

Also, I'm not surprised at the predictable angry reactions to retcons, such as seen in the above post.

Pretty cool Gradius :D
I didnt even relize the part about the cords being cut short until now! Nice find!

I particularly like the constructive tone of the article. It would be great if Blizzard put one person (not the writer) in charge of managing continuity. Especially if they could spot things like old ultralisks with 4 blades and Tassadar adopting a new fashion (and voice! Whyyyyy??).

Also, what were colossi doing on Aiur?

Kind of a response in regards to the article:

-I don't think Nova is mind-controlling units per se. Firstly, it's called "dominate" rather than mind-control. Secondly, it's within her range to control actions via telekinesis, if not thoughts, which is what mind control is. Notice how only one can be controlled at a time, whereas dark archon mind control is permenant.

So no, I don't think this is a retcon, or even a discrepency.

-I'm not sure why the Dark Voice and Voice in the Darkness are listed. Blizzard's statement may have gone against what some people thought, but not any raw data, so it's not a retcon per se. Then again, I doubted they were the same as well, so maybe I'm biased.

-Zeratul knowing about the preservers isn't a retcon. Firstly, a year passes between WoL and [I]Twilight [I]-there's no telling what he learnt in that time and as the first of his prequel missions demonstrates, he wasn't out of the loop with other protoss either.

-Um, isn't Mohandar, like Urun, completely encapsulated in his portrait? Can't really comment on the physical aspect.

-The Tal'darim aspect is irksome, but consider the facts again. The Tal'darim have a year to make the transition from Twilgiht (arrive on Shakuras, gravitate towards the temple) to WoL. A year is enough time to go "rogue," to acquire Khalai tech and establish themselves on various worlds. Lhassir's Braken comments are problematic, but he could be either a) exagerating or b) Ulrezaj revived the cult rather than created it outright. I'm guessing the Tal'darim will feature heavily in LotV, so maybe we'll get some answers then?

-Zeratul encountering Maar doesn't seem that big of an issue. Yes, he knows Duran is in charge of the hybrids, but that doesn't mean he's responsible for creating Maar individually. Take the hypothetical scenario of a country unleashing a virus on the world that I see the effects of (don't ask). I can say-who created this? Well, the country did, but I'm referring to the individual bastard. Bit different of coruse, but it's the same concept. Besides, Ulrezaj was creating creatures similar to hybrids, so Zeratul knew that Duran wasn't the only splicer out there.

-I remember the Anak'sun comments, but not so much Zeratul's words. Can't comment on this.

-The Overmind...I can understand people's reactions to it, but in regards to the information presented here, I'm reluctant to call it a retcon. Firstly, as you say, Zeratul made contact with the Overmind during the Great War, yet as you say, didn't know it was a slave. I don't see this as a retcon for two reasons-firstly, he got the info through Zasz rather than directly. Secondly, as far as I can tell from the story, the Overmind fits the "hijacked personality" scenario. What we see of the Overmind is the Overmind because of the Dark Voice.

In other words:

Overmind: point a. Docile. Dark Voice interferes. Becomes Overmind b. B. turns againgst creators out of will, because b. is current personality. Point a. is not being manipulated, because point a. no longer exists.

As for the directive to destroy the protoss, how clear is that directive? Did the Dark Voice say, "destroy protoss-here's what I know" or was it (you're now Overmind point b. You must expand. You will reach the protoss, but I'm not telling you that). If it's a case of the first scenario, then yes, it is a retcon. If not, then it isn't. The Overmind is swayed, assimilates the xel'naga as part of the directive and learns of the protoss.

Am I making excuses? Some of you may think yes, but actually, what I'm writing here are my thoughts when I first learnt the info. I saw no retcon at the time and don't see one now. The Overmind to me is still a magnificant bastard. Not Darth Vader, but more like Doctor Octopus perhaps. A to B, rather than B with a bit of A. Course at least some survives via Kerrigan, but I think it better explains why the Overmind wanted to assimilate humanity's psionics. The psionics is the excuse, while Kerrigan is the goal. Reminds me of one of the plot twists of Alan Wake and was executed just as well.

So yeah. I'll, er...dodge the vegetables now.:p

Player characters...well, all we've got is that they're "dead and gone," not that they never existed. I don't think there's really a single retcon there, as we know nothing of the BW characters (bar the cerebrate in Hybrid) and the GW player characters...well, the magistrate exists, and I see him as being part of the SoK, just kind of behind the scenes, since LC is a sidequel rather than a novelization. Cerebrate in QoB was handled well IMO and Artanis...well, that may be an issue. Not really a retcon, but I think it would have been better if the executor character was actually made a character rather than regulated to Artanis in GW and effectively made a seperate character in BW.

-New Gettysburg: Yeah, I never actually thought it was a space platform in the first place. Yes, it uses such a tileset, but I got the impression that it was to represent a high-tech city.

-Aeon of Strife: What we see in Firstborn is the end of AoE, not the start of it. Simply put, Aiur's landmasses are devastated in mass warfare, the protoss pound themselves back to the stone age level. As for Proving Grounds, Khas traveled there after the initial healing, likely through a warp gate, not during the Aiur strife. I don't see a retcon.

-Artwork...to be fair, the CMC-660 was given an in-universe explanation. But yeah, I find this irksome. Not so much a retcon as simply a shift of artwork, but irritating nonetheless.

-Protoss teleportation is not a retcon per se, as all we saw was protoss disapearing. There was never any actual statement of their souls burning or some-such. Still, I think it's appropriate-life is more important than pride, and as Fenix says, "there is no shame in defeat as long as the spirit remains unconquered."

-I guess you may have a point about the archives aspect, though that was never relevant to the plot. Maybe they do it at archives through preserves? Anyway, it's a moot point. For souls and prophecy, it's subjective as whether these are bad or good, but I'd argue that StarCraft was essentially space fantasy from the start and that the soul and prophecy concept was around long before WoL.

Conclusion: You may notice that I disagree more often than I agree. Still, I'm an inclusionist and tend to look for mitigation rather than outright accepting retcons or even seeing them as retcons. To me personally, a retcon is a case of complete incompatability, with NO ROOM WHATSOEVER for compromise. And there aren't many cases of that.

Course there are other retcons, ranging from the minor (e.g. Korhal's destruction and population) to the major (e.g. the timeline retcon...ugh. Still got a sour taste in my mouth).

Doesn't mitigating the lore more or less dilute it?

I'm very interested to see what Gradius' responses are to your suggestions/points. He's one of the most knowledgeable lore guys I know of - period.

Thanks for your input though - we always strive to make our articles as high-quality as possible!!

~LoA

It depends in what context you mean by mitigating.

For me, an example of StarCraft lore mitigation is Korhal. Originally said to have 5 million deaths via missiles launched from Tarsonis, it was later said to have 35 million deaths via missiles launched from battlecruisers. I think the latter method has a more realistic delivery system, but less realistic casualties (then again, the planetary population figures for WoL might suggest otherwise). Mitigation anyway, is taking the middle ground-e.g. through wiki editing, say Korhal was nuked and millions were killed, but don't specify the method or casualties, but make note of them in the notes section. It's not perfect, but the essence is the same-Korhal nuked, millions die, SoK formed. The storyline is still intact.

Anyway, it may just be me. It's rare enough for me to post responses on forums, especially in canon debate, where there is no right or wrong answer. Yes, it irks me every time the "Overmind retcon" is mentioned, but everyone's entitled to their opinion. When I want to express myself over a certain issue, I usually express it via a fanfic (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6422468/1/Trinity would be the most recent one-shameless plug). Even if people agree or disagree with my stance, something's been constructed either way

Retcons can in retrospect be both good and bad...

A developer shouldn't be afraid to expand or at least make use of the exisiting story and make something new out of it but in the same time, not screw up the exisiting one..

One part that reeled me in was Urun and Mohandar...
i didn't have a problem with Urun too much and one could argue that Mohandar was behind armour, explainging why we can't see his wrinkeld face (though his arms are visible) but those are characters i thougt were great and wanted to see more of, yet barely had a place in WoL... however, this might all be explained in the next coming games so there should never be any final words

(i still think they were the best characters in the game)

really fun read, Gradius... whether one agreed or not