#aggralan

Something I just wanna talk about for a bit is how much I...despise the way Thrall's 'real name' thing was handled in the novels.

We meet Aggra in The Shattering and before she's even MET Thrall, she says to Geyah that she doesn't like his name because of its origin and decides that she will not call him by Thrall, but rather by his birth name instead.

When Aggra and Thrall meet for literally the first time ever, she calls him by his birth name to his face. His immediate reaction to this is "don't call me that."

Orctober 2022, twenty-nine

Had to get at least one WoW Orc drawn, even if my focus was more Tolkien-oriented this year! So, the amazing Aggralan of Garadar (SUCH an underrated character and more than equal to her more famous husband, thankyouverymuch).

Also drawn to go with day 27’s post, visually.

(So much has changed since they came through your inspiration back in 1937, dear Jrrt, and I’m glad to be here to see it AND to contribute. Heavy, grateful sigh.)

~

I find Aggra to be a very unlikable character. She is curt and intolerant and commands very little respect. She expresses displeasure with having to tutor Thrall but her mood never improves, even as Thrall’s abilities do. Then, somehow, her persistent sourness and displeasure with Thrall blossoms into romance.​

Golden attempted to give her some definition in The Shattering and Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects but she ultimately just served to be a crucible for Thrall’s character evolution, and now she’s spit out a couple of babies for him and vanished from the storyline. She is only an adjunct of Thrall, and the small amount of character she does have is half nagging wife and half Mr. Miyagi. I don’t know why the “strong female character” trope continually falls prey to strength equaling aggression. (Oh wait, yes I do. Teehee.)

Time to bring up one of the worst quotes in any WoW novelization: 

…She had wanted Thrall to leave. She had wanted him to go for himself, and for his world, not merely for her. He recalled how irritated she had made him, with her quick wit and sharp tongue. She spoke what she thought and felt, when she thought and felt it. He remembered the unlooked-for tenderness of her protection and guidance on his vision quest, and the sweet combination of gentleness and wildness of their joinings. 

—from Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects

While we are told that she’s independent and outspoken, Aggra has zero actual development as an individual character. She didn’t exist before Thrall, and she has failed to exist afterward. Whatever these thoughts and feelings are, we don’t see them unless they pertain to Thrall. But at least she, um, fucks good, or whatever that “joinings” shit means. 

So we have the age-old idea that Thrall “gets the girl” just by orbiting her sphere of influence, and that a girl worth having is willing to sacrifice whatever she needs to for his happiness and character evolution. We see in the Cataclysm questline that Aggra quite literally goes to the ends of the earth for Thrall and again, LITERALLY, picks up his pieces, and her “protection and guidance” physically forms him into a better person. This questline ends with their wedding. What makes Thrall valuable to Aggra, other than him initially being her charge? She is responsible for Thrall, yet they somehow fell in love? Where is Thrall’s investment in Aggra? Consequently, where should we as an audience find investment in Aggra?

Maybe people think this is a clever way to turn the “damsel in distress” trope on its head by switching the genders, but that’s not the issue. The problem is that Aggra’s selflessness being reciprocated with marriage is conflating martyr behavior—and ultimately power imbalance and abuse [see: Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree]—with that of a desirable romantic partner (or mother!!!). I won’t go off on this tangent here, but this is a mentality that breeds a wealth of sexist, toxic behavior and gender expectations, slating women as objects for men to consume for their egos. Aggra’s only demonstrated acts of love are in providing for Thrall unconditionally, even when there is very little evidence of Thrall expressing love and loyalty to her. (Not to get too personal here, but I remember once asking my abusive ex what made him realize he loved me. His answer was “Because of the things you do for me.”) 

This is an even more insidious “gets the girl” trope, as Aggra makes all of the sacrifices and effort and receives marriage in return, a reward just by the merit of Thrall being a valuable man. It gives her worth as an individual (and worth to the story!) by being worthy of him. Thrall and Aggra are written as having an established romantic relationship, but the only evidence we ever see of it is Aggra giving all of her time and devotion to Thrall, and then Thrall declaring her his life-mate by the end of it on principle. This is the Nice Guy’s perceived formula, which is exactly why it is continually called out as objectifying and abusive. It is not a healthy, symbiotic relationship.

“Goku’s fucked his wife but he’s never kissed her. That’s Thrall and Aggra.”

— @zeyan​

Plus, in general, transforming a mentor-apprentice or teacher-student relationship into a romantic one really skeeves me out, and one between a man and woman is especially prone to the aforementioned toxicity. It’s a cheap way to use the fostered communication and intimacy in that relationship as a “natural” way of injecting romance into a plot: they share close physical space (either in a barracks/dormitory situation or short instances, like leaning in during a meticulous demonstration), both are invested in one another, they spend a lot of time together and tackle conflicts together, and so on and so forth. The problem with this, in my opinion, is that the power dynamic is out of balance unless the student can return the favor and, in turn, teach the teacher. What lesson or personal development does Thrall impart unto Aggra? That the Horde is good and Azeroth—his planet, not hers—is worth saving? Something about patience and tolerance? 

All we know about Aggra is what she has done for Thrall. What has Thrall done for her? How has she evolved as a person and character by knowing Thrall? What has Thrall given her? Sure, his ability to communicate with the elements after her training helped to preserve the little that remains of Draenor, but how does that translate into a romantic relationship? How does that nourish her as a person? How does that promote her character and individual growth? Helping someone save their homeland is a noble task, but trauma bonds formed in a crisis are not the most stable. Or romantic. Thrall becomes educated, cultured, changes his career, and Aggra gets to… be alive. 

(Illustration by @fitzefitcher​. Full image here.)

My point is, you could have put Drek’thar or even Rehgar Earthfury—any other orc shaman—in Aggra’s place, and very little would change. Maybe Drek’thar or Rehgar wouldn’t get as “emotional” about the ship being named Draka’s Fury (”oh THRALL you’ve ACKNOWLEDGED WOMEN!!! I have become EMOTIONAL because I am a WOMAN!!!!!!“), but any other orc shaman could have trained Thrall with the same result, including the Greatmother herself. Thrall’s impact on his shaman teacher would remain the same. Choosing (rather, creating) Aggra was only to give Thrall a romantic interest; there is nothing that Aggra as an individual character is capable of that other orc shamans are not, and she is not changed or developed at all as an individual character except by birthing Thrall’s children. And even then, this is not to make Aggra a mother but to make Thrall a father. Aggra only exists to change Thrall’s storyline, and hers only exists because of his. 

I have two comments regarding Aggralan apparently leaving her kids with a babysitter:

Was that a take-that at Metz3n for his shitty “boys’ trip” remark, or a belated self-drag by him as an attempt to atone for it?

Who’s the babysitter?