StarCraft II/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• In Starcraft II, Kerrigan's deinfestation seemed a bit out of character, until I remembered a few things. First, Kerrigan had a really crappy past, to the point where she would be considered a Woobie if she hadn't become the Big Bad of Brood War. Secondly, the infestation process is explicitly stated to remove one's humanity and morals, among other things. Basically it knocks Kerrigan's ethical principles back to that of a child. And what would happen if you gave an abused child an insane amount of power? They might use that power to lash out at the people who hurt them. In this case, the universe. Adding to that, her lack of morals would have made Evil Feels Good. Secondly, it was mentioned that Kerrigan was infested to give independence to the Zerg swarm. But throughout the campaign Kerrigan was basically falling in like with the Voice's bidding. This means that the Overmind's plan failed, and the Zerg swarm is still as trapped in its programming as ever by the voice. Third, and this is the reason I found most compelling, Kerrigan likely thought that Jim had abandoned her on Tarsonis, just like Arcturus. She didn't know that Jim did try to save her (and failed), nor that he left the Sons of Korhal shorly after because of her betrayal by Arcturus. So at the end of Starcraft II, after she gets zapped by the Xel'Naga artifact, seems to regain some sense of humanity, and is rescued by Jim, she realizes that in reality he did care about her (hence her confusion when she becomes slightly lucid), adding to the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming of it all. Though seeing as the upcoming sequel focuses on Kerrigan and she still seems to be part zerg, it doesn't look like she's going to become a straight hero or reverse all of her character development, maybe become something like a type 3 or 3.5 antihero.
  • I wouldn't say the Overmind's plan failed just yet - it's a Magnificent Bastard for good reasons, after all. I personally believe that any being would do anything to ensure the survival of its species, even if it means its own life, but before you call me crazy, hear me out. We don't know when - or for how long - the Overmind saw the vision pertaining to the universe's end; for all we know, it could be ever since the known end of the Xel'Naga. Having seen this, and knowing it cannot do anything on its own to alter the matter, it had to act through other entities. Seizing a powerful Terran psychic (Kerrigan) was but part of the plan. It also had to convince its sworn enemies, the protoss, to side with it in order to halt the Voice's advance, but it knew they would never trust him directly. It was when Zasz died - and Zeratul's mind momentarily touched the Overmind's consciousness - that it learned that the protoss could absorb some of its memories in death. That led to the invasion of Aiur, where it fell and Tassadar killed it at the cost of his own life. Were that the end, I wouldn't post this, but Tassadar was horrified of the future he saw, and awaited another psionic entity's arrival to convey the message. Zeratul came, as Tassadar expected, and learned of the end that both Tassadar and the Overmind foresaw. Zeratul rapidly deduced that even if the protoss were to save Kerrigan, it would mean naught if the terrans did her in instead, so he had to convey the message to the only terran he could trust - Raynor. The Overmind learned that it needed all three races to cooperate to stop the Voice and its hybrids from destroying all creation, and concocted everything it did so that they could. That, my friends, is why the plot is still on track - and who's to say the zerg couldn't conquer the sector once the Voice had been wrapped up?
• A mission in the protoss mini-campaign has a part where you rescue protoss who were stuck mid-warp in time-space due to pylon power being cut off. Just imagine what would have happened to them if Zeratul never restored power...or, for that matter, imagine that happening in any multiplayer game where a player manages to destroy a pylon field before units manage to finish warping in...
• At first, Hanson's side missions might seem pointless, but in reality, they aren't. When Raynor got the call for help, they were in exactly the same position that Kerrigan was in during the Fall of Tarsonis (thrown under a bus for expediency and in danger). Raynor already knew what it was like to fail to save one person from that fate, so he could not simply leave these people to the same fate. It's also why he sided against Selendis; the last time he gave up when there was still a chance, Kerrigan became the Queen of Blades and the results were completely tragic. Raynor probably believes that if he made the choices he failed to make at Tarsonis, then he can gain solace for failing to save Kerrigan.
  • Alternately, the colony of Agria is in essentially the same situation Mar Sara was at the start of (vanilla) Starcraft. Abandoned by their government with just a rebel force to help them out of their plight.
• Likewise, the "zerg were corrupted" plot twist seems random, but considering that Duran was manipulating them back in Brood war and already served an ancient being with goals involving the Xel'Naga, it actually makes perfect sense.
• For a long time, I dismissed the fact that the news was all live as Rule of Funny. But then I remembered something from the novels: The Confederacy ran very heavily edited news posts as fact for a long, long time. Merely passing a law that all news broadcasts must be live would make Mengsk look pretty good.
• It bugged me that none of the brutalisks seemed to be doing anything particularly important. They were just there being very very big and standings around guarding nothing. Then I realized, Egon can't figure out why the zerg would have such a big creature just standing around, and that's why he wants samples for study.

Fridge Horror

Fridge Logic