Why are the Utraean's depicted as "good guy's" in DS1 LOA?
| Submitted by Huzthe_goblin on Sat, 2014-07-12 17:06 | ||
I know that the Zaurask, Hassat and goblin's are helping the Shadowjumper and/or causing chaos but still why do they try to make you feel sorry for the Utraean's in most of the game. From what I learned in my many year's of game play and lore reading the Utraean's kinda caused everything in LOA. The Utraean's enslaved the Zaurask and Hassat, Did little Dr.Frankenstein experiment's in the hall's of the lost and they Consider themselves the master race in Aranna. I don't know what you guy's think but they sound pretty evil to me. |
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Well in the past the Utraeans did cause most of the major problems in Aranna. However by the time of Legends of Aranna, they are mostly wiped out, control nothing, and are seeking forgiveness for all that their race did in the past. At least that is how I see it based on what I have read.
Yeah they did get wiped out pretty good, it's pretty ironic that the thing's that pretty much endangered them were the race's they enslaved and made. Then again I would be rather mad if the dude's who made my race thought "well they don't do much sooo let's enslave them!".
I agree with bare_elf's interpretation of the lore. There's no doubt that the ancient Utraeans were arrogant, power hungry, ambitious and completely lacked morals and I think their story is one of the best in computer games history in the way they were struck down at the pinnacle of their power by their very own creations.
It actually mimics quite closely the lore in the Planet of the Apes, especially the modern interpretations.
It also is quite clever in raising the moral point of whether the current descendants of the Utraeans should be blamed for the mistakes of their ancestors or judged on their current actions. Again this mimics quite closely events in the real world with countries that in the past were responsible for quite heinous atrocities - do we now blame their descendants for the actions of their misguided ancestors?
It would also be interesting if Dungeon Siege allowed different paths to completing quests and even conversations and had moral implications for the player's actions like many of Bioware games like Baldur Gate, Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic. Then you could have decided within the game whether to aid the Utraeans or even side with the Zaurask and even the Shadowjumper himself.
To me, it's unquestionable that we shouldn't hate on the then-present Utraeans. Not only were they most likely not the people who imprisoned or created them, but they seem to realize the mistakes they've made (at least some do... I don't really recall what many of them said to be honest). As bare_elf and iryan said, they were an arrogant race, which is likely why you don't ever see them in the following games, as they are most likely extinct.
While, yes, Utraeans seem to be the only race mentioned in the timeline at the time that were like this, the Cinbri weren't necessarily any more evil the Humans, Elves, Dryads or the Utraens. I think it really comes down to there only being a very few evil races; the mysterious Shadowjumper and the Seck. The Seck seem to have no redeeming qualities about themselves, as they hardly seem to have a culture that surrounds 'civil' things. I'm pretty sure it's said that the Seck were from the darkness and/or Hell anyway. As to what the Shadowjumper is, I can't seem to recall it having ever been specified, but I can't seem to recall him having any motives I can relate to, unless you count wanting to destroy Aranna because of the Utraeans sealing him away... But even then, I'm pretty sure they sealed him away because he was an evil being.
Ultimately, I don't think the Utraeans are too much worse then the other races during their time, and after their existence/era. They simply were too much of a flawed group of beings that they couldn't survive for as long as the other races have.
Come to think of it, considering Humans seem to be older than Half-Giants, Dryads and Morden, why don't they seem to get recognition of their now ancient ancestry? What happened to the other awesome races in DS3? I can understand the Morden and Dryads dying out, but what about the Agallans and the Half-Giants? Did they die out due to their lack of breeding, or am I forgetting something about the story that Dungeon Siege III adds/presents to the players?