Abathur rant (because I'm a Dehaka themed account so obviously) but why do we never get Abathur's opinion on the hybrid??
I'm not a SC loremaster so maybe there's something in the books, but in game there's really nothing. The game even seems to almost be teasing at Abathur having a pretty big reaction to seeing the hybrid for the first time.
His introduction makes it clear he's an old part of the swarm from the rule of the Overmind, who's whole objective was to integrate the Protoss in the swarm. Abathur being the evolution master would've likely been at the helm of swarm experiments relating to this. This leads into the fact he has a WHOLE CAPTIVE PROTOSS brought to the leviathan, not under Kerrigan's orders but just because he "likes to try." Kaldir is the first time you fight Protoss in HOTS so this is definitely alluding to the fact that Abathur has worked with Protoss essence before, likely in the Overmind's pursuit of achieving perfection by merging their two races. A smaller detail, but it'd also be a funny explanation as to why Abathur is incredibly dismissive of Terran essence, seeing as he's already gotten to work with what could be considered his "endgame" in Zerg design.
Then he meets Stukov, created and experimented on by Narud, who's structure is so advanced Abathur is immediately willing to capitulate. Narud, a creature so far beyond Abathur he was the one to finally create the hybrid Zerg-Protoss organisms the Overmind spent its whole existence attempting to do.
And Abathur has nothing to say on it. DEHAKA (See it all circled back around) has more to say on the hybrid (Really Amon but what he says can apply to both tbh), and a really interesting perspective on them too. Because they are an endpoint, they are the stop of change which is what Dehaka and the primals' whole philosophy of existence revolve around. They are an existential threat, not just because they're the incredibly powerful minions of Starcraft satan, but because they will bring an end to their very way of life in such a total way. If only there was another zerg character with strong and iconic opinions about evolution and the impossibility of "perfection," a very interesting choice of words considering the Overmind's position that the assimilation of the Protoss would render them an eternal swarm and perfect.
What caused Abathur's change in perspective in HOTS compared to the Overmind's? Did the futility of his work with Protoss essence lead him to believe perfection in the sense of a hybrid being impossible? What if he actually succeeded in making something, and was disgusted at his own creation? What if Abathur's revelations were what led to Kerrigan's own realizations about the plans of Amon? What if we could've had a conversation between Abathur and Kerrigan discussing this and the wider implications on the two? What if HOTS had good writing?
Was all the build up I just talked about intentional? Probably not, but it's interesting to see how there's this deeper current to Abathur's character that is shown throughout the game, just not usually noticed because it never has its climatic moment where the pieces are shown to actually be pieces of something greater and not just the graspings of a tumblr rant talking about a decade old game. Again, literally one line from a book and this whole thing falls apart LMAO, but I've been a firm believer and supporter that Starcraft does a good job telling its story even if you never engage with outside material, and that in general it's something all media should strive to do.
