Morathi, mistress of Slaanesh

[hagarthewhiteiii]

Saved by AwesomeElfAenarion from a Slaanesi host.

Founder of the pleasure cult (aka slaanesh cult).

Made the prophecy that malekith would fall to another male wizard and therefor mark all latter with the mark of slaanesh (puppets?)

dragged into the chaosrealm by slaanesh...

am i forgetting something??

-hagar

[Amboadine]

Hello and welcome. It would take a fairly lengthy essay to detail out the exploits of Morathi. Hard to sum her up accurately with a few not really complete bullet points, so yes unfortunately you are missing a lot.
She is an extremely complex character and one of the driving forces behind the Druchii culture.

I would suggest reading some wikis on her history if you want to learn more.

[hagarthewhiteiii]

i bet i could have sympathy for morathi if i know her entire lifestory.... but no sympathy for her.
she is a terrorist.

her boyfriends best friend and her son kiced her back where she belongs.

and it is by far not the last thing we hear from her ofcourse.

HAIL THE ETERNITY KING.

[Haagrum]

Morathi has a few redeeming features (which are overwhelmingly outweighed by her less-positive ones).

For starters, despite countless suitors and the passing of several thousand years, she has never stopped loving her husband Aenarion.

Until the End Times, when she had to choose between her son and her husband's reincarnation, she was unfailingly loyal to restoring Malekith to his rightful throne.

Finally, to steal a line from Firefly's Saffron - "face it, honey. I'm really hot."

Also, it was Caledor who had the Prophecy of Demise. As far as I know, Morathi had nothing to do with it.

[Curse_Bearer]

For starters, despite countless suitors and the passing of several thousand years, she has never stopped loving her husband Aenarion.

...Whom she keeps mummified (alive?) in her tower. Teehee.

[hagarthewhiteiii]

Hello and welcome. It would take a fairly lengthy essay to detail out the exploits of Morathi. Hard to sum her up accurately with a few not really complete bullet points, so yes unfortunately you are missing a lot.
She is an extremely complex character and one of the driving forces behind the Druchii culture.

I would suggest reading some wikis on her history if you want to learn more.

i read as much as i could find and unless one suffers from Stockholm syndrome u have to admit... she s a total female dog.

the elves are a force capable of withstanding the forces of chaos but morathi divided them.

yes she did gain some sympathy or admiration for the elves (aenarion)

[Deadsun]

Morathi is certainly an interesting character. What exactly she is about is something that has been obscured by successive editions of the game portraying her motives quite differently.

In particular i belive there is a major contrast between the older depiction where she was very much the secret worshipper of slaanesh all along the lover and the leader of the Cult of Slaanesh and the more nuanced, power hungry individual seeking the favour of the Cynthari darker gods of the elven pantheon and cutting deals with deamons to return her son to power. In the present incarnation she founds pleasure cults yes, but dedicated to the elven god of pleasure not slaanesh the worship of whom is according to the malus dark blade books [now at least partially reconciled to the current background by ET:K] is prescribed throughout Naggaroth. The addition in the last round of army books and the Tyrion and Teclis novels of her seeking ways to reincarnate Aenarion through Tyrion I belive is something deepens her character further and makes her less a chaos champion and more like an elf. In this regard the attempted summoning of slaanesh as the devourer of all elves is more dramatic as a the final act of vengence of a broken mind.

Of course regardless of morathi's intentions and who she thinks she is, it does appear that her actions throughout have served Slaanesh's purpose mosy ably throughout; she is very much responsible for the schism into Dark and High Elves that weakened any resitence to chaos, has delivered untold elf souls to slaanesh by the six thousand year long conflict that followed and ultimately a road that lead her to, when she felt all was lost, attempt to summon Slaanesh into the mortal world.

In light of this you may argue she has belonged to him all along and when Slaanesh dragged her into the realm of chaos it was to take posession of something that was always his. Perhaps he may reward her yet for her unwitting service binding her ever closer to his will as a demon and lead a new cult of slaanesh army, perhaps he will devour her souls, perhaps she will even find her way out of this and retain something of what she was, she is tricky enough so who knows. All I can say is that how her story has panned out is good enough in itself to be left at that and I hope that any return does not ruin the drama of her final fall or cheapen that realm of chaos and the achievements of malekith in escaping it the first time.

[Amarel]

You could easily make a case for her being a victim / plaything of a God, and yet still being able to show unwaveringly loyal to those she loved.

[Daeron]

Morathi is a complex character indeed, probably because she has changed in facts and story over time.

I'm not sure if the point of this topic was to discuss society's gender roles and depiction of women in literature but here is my theory: she is (part of the) proof of the outdated gender roles in old fairytales and fantasy. She is the cliché porte-bagage, a symbol, which the writers (all males AFAIK?) use to depict what they dislike about women. She is the seductress, dominatrix, unrespectful and unfaithful lover, the dominant mother, the pushy partner, the epitome of unreason, overly demanding, deceptive, plotting, conniving, always emotionally incomprehensible, rarely suitably clothed, creator of drama, poisonous, jaleous and... irresistably beautiful, aware of it and using it as a weapon. She is the evil stepmother in snowwhite. She is the evil witch in Sleeping Beauty. She is "what's wrong in this world". She is what makes good men rotten.

But of course, it would be a rare case if a male fantasy writer would permit manhood to lose. So her most "redeeming" quality is her submission to the epitomes of man(elf):
- Aenarion, who is God given flesh with brawn and a sword.
- Malekith, the 'wronged' boy and her ceasless efforts to make him King... Because for some reason she can't reign Naggaroth herself.
- Tyrion, who is the new toy boy with brawn and a sword.

She is not an interesting personality, because she barely has any personality. She is always predictably evil, but unpredictable in her actions because the writers have no real flesh and blood in mind when writing about Morathi. She is a writing construct, a symbol, which is why she can be present in every story yet never be the main protagonist of a story, much like the devil who never seems to exist on his own but always plays through others. She isn't made to "connect" or "relate" with. If anyone ever did succeed to relate to her, by all means, do share the piece of fluff that managed to achieve that.

It's why I'm always amused when she is brought on the scene... she always holds the promise of theatrics.

[Calisson]

Impressed with Daeron's deep analysis.

[T.D.]

she is (part of the) proof of the outdated gender roles in old fairytales and fantasy. She is the cliché porte-bagage, a symbol, which the writers (all males AFAIK?) use to depict what they dislike about women. She is the seductress, dominatrix, unrespectful and unfaithful lover, the dominant mother, the pushy partner, the epitome of unreason, overly demanding, deceptive, plotting, conniving, always emotionally incomprehensible, rarely suitably clothed, creator of drama, poisonous, jaleous and... irresistably beautiful, aware of it and using it as a weapon. She is the evil stepmother in snowwhite. She is the evil witch in Sleeping Beauty. She is "what's wrong in this world". She is what makes good men rotten.

[Melle]

:shock:
Impressed with Daeron's deep analysis.

Dito

[direweasel]

Likewise. Never thought of Morathi in the way he describes before, but at the same time, I can't find any fault with this logic either.

His take on it reminds me of Nicholson during "As Good as it Gets", when that chick keeps pestering him on how his character writes women so well. He responds in that dry, deadpan way that only Nicholson can, and says "I think of a man, and then take away reason, and accountability."

[Tarbo]

She is always predictably evil, but unpredictable in her actions because the writers have no real flesh and blood in mind when writing about Morathi. She is a writing construct, a symbol, which is why she can be present in every story yet never be the main protagonist of a story, much like the devil who never seems to exist on his own but always plays through others.

This. So much this. Morathi is a concept, not a person. She is a literary device, appearing when needed and ignored when convenient; played for fool in the one and supreme Xanathos Gambler in the other. Which oddly makes her more sympathetic to me, because I feel she always gets shafted literature-wise.

She's like a deus in machina: need a war? Roll in Malekith. Need a civil war?

She isn't made to "connect" or "relate" with. If anyone ever did succeed to relate to her, by all means, do share the piece of fluff that managed to achieve that.

Agreed, though I have to add... few official WH characters achieve this. But maybe that's just me.

[Makiwara]

Garagehammer had a great segment on Morathi in their Dark Elf review where Chris Yu had a pretty unique spin on the character. That being said I don't know how much it holds true with the newer representations of her as Hekarti reborn and so on.

The only twist in her character I actually liked was the whole Tyrion love affair thing when she convinced herself he was Aenarion reborn, that I liked.