Why invade the terran sector?

[Gradius]

Why did Kerrigan invade the terran worlds instead of protoss planets while looking for artifacts in WoL? Considering that pretty much all of them (bar the one on Mar Sara) were in the possession of the Tal'Darim, why even invade the terran sector at all? Why not invade Shakuras? Sure, Kerrigan doesn't have the benefit of hindsight, but why would the terrans have it, and not the protoss, who do pretty much nothing but investigate this type of stuff? Clearly, if the protoss were so bored that they had a fake battle with Raynor on Haven that barely even concerned them, then they weren't hard-pressed by Kerrigan at all.

[The_Blade]

I'd say she knew about the artifacts through the prophesy. She also found that Terrans were producing hybrids. So, Terrans might have some artifacts. Yet again, she acts like a 10 year old with a large hammer.

[Visions of Khas]

To be fair, we don't know that Kerrigan didn't invade Protoss space, too. We have absolutely no perspective of her incursions into non-Terran regions. She did, however, invade two of the planets you found Artifacts on, one of which was inhabited by Protoss. You also have to consider that she was aware Duran was working for the Dominion and suspected his mass production of the Hybrids, so focusing on comparatively weak terran worlds first kind of makes sense.

[Turalyon]

Sup Kerri, we heard you like artifacts so we... Eh, you can fill the rest in. Makes just as much sense either way.

I'm still having trouble with the fact that even despite having the most numbers on her side, spread out looking for the artifacts and most likely knowing about them first before Raynor did, she still managed to not even secure one.

[Gradius]

I'm not saying Kerrigan didn't invade any protoss planets, but that the bulk of her invasion seemed to be centered on the terran fringe worlds.

To be fair, we don't know that Kerrigan didn't invade Protoss space, too. We have absolutely no perspective of her incursions into non-Terran regions.

"Clearly, if the protoss were so bored that they had a fake battle with Raynor on Haven that barely even concerned them, then they weren't hard-pressed by Kerrigan at all."

Selendis (leader of the protoss military) was bored during Wings of Liberty. That's the impression I got for why this unnecessary battle on Haven was even taking place. Shakuras and Aiur are seriously the #1 target I personally would have considered if I was looking for any xel'naga artifacts whatsoever. The conclave literally had treasure chests of the things that they kept away from everyone.

She did, however, invade two of the planets you found Artifacts on, one of which was inhabited by Protoss. You also have to consider that she was aware Duran was working for the Dominion and suspected his mass production of the Hybrids, so focusing on comparatively weak terran worlds first kind of makes sense.

Well that's my point. Given that pretty much all of the artifacts but one were in the possession of Tal'Darim, why pursue the attack on the fringe worlds? Narud certainly isn't giving her any useful information. She failed to gain access to the Moebius data cores. She failed to find Narud's hybrid lab, so she's not really getting anything else from attacking the terran planets. Why persist with the invasion?

[Turalyon]

If one was inclined to think the Zerg invasion was centred mostly against the Terrans, maybe she was trying to get to Narud? If she can find him and coerce the location of those artifacts from him, then it'd be easier for her to go and collect them later.

Doesn't explain why she would then spread her forces so thin and all over the sector though. Maybe she was both trying to find Narud in Terran space whilst also hedging her bets by sending forces all over the sector to cover all instances not knowing that she'd be making herself vulnerable for a counter attack. This could kinda make sense given Kerrigan's arrogance? That's all I got unfortunately.

[FanaticTemplar]

Actually, that's my best guess - she wasn't specifically hunting the artifacts because she had no idea where they are, she was hunting the Moebius Foundation so she could find out. I guess.

But to be honest, I have no idea what she was doing. I'm not entirely certain why she even wanted the artifact and her characterisation in the Prophecy arc is completely inscrutable to me. Heart of the Swarm gave me zero illumination in that regard.

[Turalyon]

But to be honest, I have no idea what she was doing. I'm not entirely certain why she even wanted the artifact and her characterisation in the Prophecy arc is completely inscrutable to me. Heart of the Swarm gave me zero illumination in that regard.

Yeah, that's a really good point. I don't remember if there is anything definitive about Kerrigan actually starting the invasion because she was looking for the artifact. As to the "why", I assume it's because it's so that no-one else could potentially use it against her.

Oh and don't worry, I think the writers are just as adrift in the sea of confusion as we are.

[FanaticTemplar]

WAIT I'VE FIGURED IT OUT!

It's going to take a lot of meandering, so try to follow along.

I've mentioned before how the Prophecy arc obviously went through a complete revision - and was never actually finished - because as it stands now, its timeline goes

1- Zeratul and Kerrigan discuss a Prophecy and its repercussions.
2- Zeratul finds an ancient undeciphered Xel'Naga prophecy which must not fall into Kerrigan's hands (and Karass gives his life to ensure this).
3- Zeratul gets the prophecy deciphered, goes to Aiur and learns another prophecy from the visions of the Overmind.

There are three distinct prophecies there. The prophecy Zeratul discovers on Ulaan, which eventually leads him to the final prophecy from the mind of the Overmind itself. But what about that first prophecy, the one Zeratul and Kerrigan discuss in the cinematic and during the first mission? Obviously it can't be the second prophecy, because Zeratul hasn't collected it yet, nor has he had it deciphered by the Preservers, and we are explicitly told that Kerrigan must not get her hands on it. And it can't be the third prophecy, because nobody gets that one until the end of the arc.

Except, I think it is the Overmind's vision they're discussing. It clearly deals with the oblivion of both Zeratul and Kerrigan and probably the entire galaxy, and it specifically makes mention of "the final agonising moments of [the Protoss] species". the Prophecy cinematic was completed very early in the development of StarCraft II, I think it even predates the splitting of the campaign into three games. And it's obviously supposed to come directly before Zeratul's appearance on the Hyperion - Zeratul is still wounded from his fight with Kerrigan in that scene, and the scenes were shown as such when they were revealed all those years ago. The cinematic likely couldn't be changed to fit with the version of the story they ended up going with, and they just had to make do with it.

What this means is that for whatever reason that has been lost to subsequent rewrites, both Kerrigan and Zeratul knew of the Overmind's vision during that encounter. Now, imagine that the vision had a more explicit reference to the Terrans being responsible for Kerrigan's death than the throwaway line we got in the final version. That's why Kerrigan assaulted Terran space - it was a preemptive strike to try to save herself.

[Turalyon]

^ Wait, is this theory ditching the whole "Kerrigan was looking for artifacts" motivation altogether?

The "hedging bets" theory makes more sense. If Kerrigan's intent was to wipe out all the Terrans before they could do the same to her, the Zerg forces wouldn't have been spread out and that she'd brook no chance of counter attack (Char would've been more heavily defended than what is shown in WoL due to her paranoia of being killed). If the Terrans were such an important threat to be neutralised, wouldn't all her Zerg forces be concentrated exclusively on the Terrans?