#unaarista

23. Favorite picture of this character? (and an addition from me - is there something you personally enjoy when artists emphasise about her in artworks?)

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

30. FREEBIE QUESTION!! - Fully armoured Maiev or casual clothes Maiev? And why?

From ask game

23. Favorite picture of this character? (and an addition from me — is there something you personally enjoy when artists emphasize about her in artworks?)

YEEES!

I really love it when artists draw Maiev, and even more when they make her the focus of the artwork. In my opinion, Maiev is criminally underrated

To me, she is the image of a truly strong and independent woman who achieved everything through her own efforts, without extraordinary powers or the direct help of a goddess. She made herself

My favorite artwork of her is a piece by Virmeya that depicts not only Maiev, but also Illidan kneeling before her

The scene was inspired by a moment from my friend's fanfic, which I highly recommend to all Russian-speaking Maiev/Illidan fans.

What makes this artwork so wonderful is that Maiev is shown simply, without armor, with a hint of embarrassment — and, most importantly, together with Illidan. It turned out beautifully <3

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

First of all, I don't really agree with how she grew closer to Tyrande in the later expansions (BFA and Shadowlands)

I also don't support her genocide of the Highborne (even though I don't particularly like them either — violence is a bad path) or her attempt to kill Malfurion in Wolfheart (if anything, I'd have understood targeting Tyrande more than him)

To this day, I'm not entirely sure whether Blizzard quietly ignored those events involving Maiev or simply forgave her actions. Once again, this ties into my broader thoughts that WoW heroes can get away with almost anything, and that really annoys me

And perhaps, in the Illidan novel, she should have listened to the Scryers and allied with them against Illidan. Although maybe that would only have led to even greater losses, and Maiev would have ended up imprisoned anyway

30. Fully armoured Maiev or casual clothes Maiev? And why?

Maiev in casual clothes (or at least with lighter armor)

3. favourite scent and why?

18. a compliment you’ve received?

26. share one outlook you have on life?

And a bonus question from me personally: What is the best part of night elves' visual design for you and why? (could be multiple)

Ask game is here

3. favourite scent and why?

I especially love the scent of peanuts, peanut butter and freshly made pancakes. I think it's because those scents make me feel hungry

18. a compliment you've received?

The best compliment I've ever received was work-related. In short, after two months of research and development, I managed to build a decision tree for a voice bot that adapts to what the user says, based on FreeSWITCH

But I don't really dwell on compliments — honestly, I don't like receiving anything more elaborate than just "Good job"

26. share one outlook you have on life?

I try to follow two rules:

- Treat others the way I would want to be treated

- It's better to try and fail than not try at all and regret it later

Bonus question:

What I like most about the night elves:

- matriarchal structure and the warrior nature of female characters — I genuinely feel that night elf women are truly strong. As far as I understand, their design was inspired by Amazon

- their appearance — the skin tones, the long ears

- their pets — moonstalkers, hippogryphs, owls — I really love how they look

- their nocturnal way of life and the way they draw energy from moon wells (and in general, the Moon seems more important to them than the Sun)

But overall, it all comes down to a chance encounter, really

I played Warcraft III as a kid, and my first campaign was the night elf one (Terror of the Tides)

I absolutely loved both the night elf buildings (especially moon wells, altar of Elders and the hunter's hall)

and their units — the huntresses (back then I thought they were riding giant black rats)

And of course, their new hero — the warden (Maiev in particular) — with her very unusual armor (what are those wing-like things on her back?) and awesome abilities

I'd also like to point out that the warden is the only female unit in WC3 (aside from female skins for other heroes) who fights in melee and wears visually heavy (though technically heroic) armor (it's also kind of funny that the warden's armor value (4) < the demon hunter's (4.3), even though he's basically fighting bare-chested)

P.S. I almost forgot about the night elf music — it's absolutely wonderful in Warcraft III This one, in particular, is my favorite: