It struck me this week, that I am still waiting for closure on stories that I started 17+ years ago. Namely Starcraft and the Wheel of Time. Although there must be others. What other stories have drifted through limbo this long? I lost track of Wheel of Time shortly after Robert Jordan died, and decided to wait until the last book is out before finishing it. To my joy and consternation I have discovered it is finally finished! Joy because it is closure, consternation because my optimistically titled "to-read" shelf is already overly full and somewhat intimidating. This is largely because I still insist on spending my time in digital skinner boxes instead of reading.
Starcraft 2 is not quite a skinner box, but it IS still fun. In my time as a man-child, few games have pleased me more than the Starcraft series. I'll grant, it's a direct graft of every major SF series in recent memory presented in a pleasing and non-offensive fashion, but I still love it. I was initially disappointed that the new story was such a re-hash of the original plot, but in playing it through again so I could play the new expansion I changed my mind a bit. It's not high-brow literature, and the story itself is more than a little stereotypical, but I was strangely affected by it anyway. At the very least, I'm excited to see the end to a story left dangling over a decade ago, especially the bits involving Raynor and Kerrigan.
And as silly and potentially problematic as their relationship is, Raynor and Kerrigan were always the heart of the story, but their particular kind of tension can't be sustained indefinitely for a variety of reasons. "Will they or won't they now that she's a mutated alien hive queen?" gets kind of tired 20 years on. The arc in starcraft 2 is interesting, and the last couple lines between them strangely affecting. They basically absolve her of all responsibility for the first acts of genocide on account of her being mind controlled and all, but then, given the choice between a life with Raynor and control of the alien swarm that can give her revenge against Mengsk, she chooses the latter without hesitation. Which means the romance roulette wheel finally lands on "they won't" with finality, and thank the Xel'Naga for it. At last I have closure on these silly, stereotypical characters.
From there, it's more or less just simple revenge. Raynor graciously decides to help destroy Mengsk, because he wants to kill him too, and, well, she was going to anyway. I really kind of admire how they portray Kerrigan. She's not a hero so much, but she's strong, independent and doesn't take much shit from anybody. It's too bad that how they present her in both outfits and pose basically makes her look like a space prostitute. Seriously, when she mutates into an alien hybrid for the second time, they give her bone high heels and bone sculptures that leave her breasts largely exposed and shaped around her ass like she's wearing a bone g-string bikini. So, you know, the typical "strong woman" as imagined by video game designers.
Still, after she and Raynor share a tender moment exploding Mensk and his office from the inside out, she takes a breath and simply says: "Thank you, Jim. For everything."
And he replies, "My pleasure darlin'." And as she gently floats away on bone wings with no conceivable flight properties, "It always was."
Tropes, cliches and problematic relationship dynamics aside, I like that ending. It is a "True Thing" in human relationships. Don't we all know someone it's always been our pleasure to spend time with, no matter how weird it gets? Mostly though, I just like it because it's finally over. As far as I'm concerned, the main story reached it's conclusion and for what it was, it was relatively satisfying. Yes, the protoss and Kerrigan still need to defeat the insane god coming for them, but that just feels like loose ends at this point. The only likable and relatable Protoss protagonists died with Tassadar and Fenix,and the only bad guy with a constant, malevolent presence in the series just made a state change from water and carbon to vapor and ash. So, for the 3rd installment it's just going to be moving some pixels around until you get a movie showing an explosion at the end, in the usual Blizzard fashion, or so I assume. I'll play it, but for me, the story really ended here. With a post-human psychic renouncing everything she knows to embrace a greater destiny, and a lonesome cowboy finally willing to admit the woman he knew is gone, and was probably never who he thought she was to begin with.
It's about damn time.
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