History VideoGame / StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid

* TheAestheticsOfTechnology: Played with. The Templar who were put in stasis onboard the ''Spear of Adun'' have a more archaic appearance given that they're from another era in the history of the Protoss. While the Purifiers exhibit a sleek, elegant design as opposed to the more UsedFuture aesthetics of Terran machinery.

* AndroidsArePeopleToo: The reason of the Purifiers' rebellion is largely due to (the lack of) this- the Protoss simply did not treat them as equals. Remember that Purifiers are effectively Protoss Androids that have the memory imprints of a Protoss Templar that have lived at one point in the past. Being suddenly told that you're now a Purifier and no longer member of the Templar caste can be a tough pill to swallow.
* AlienNonInterferenceClause: Apparently, the [[spoiler:Xel'naga]] were firm believers of this, [[spoiler:allowing life to achieve ascension]] at their own pace and by their own means after being seeded throughout the universe. [[spoiler:Artanis [[ExplainExplainOhCrap realizes that this revelation implies that]] the uplifting of the Protoss was ''illegal'', [[FridgeHorror which meant that it had to have been a renegade Xel'naga who the Protoss worshipped]]. [[TheDragon Guess how many]] [[BigBad renegade Xel'naga there are]].]]
** Rohana also reminds Artanis that this is Protoss Law as well, chiding him to not interfere with a human war since the law forbid interfering with "lesser beings" unless there was a threat to the Empire. His response was that Humans were not lesser beings at all.

* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: If you're playing with a mix of gateways and warp gates, Karax will remind you to stick to a single warp-in strategy upon trying to warp in units.

* ArcWelding: As the last game of the trilogy that ties up most of the lose ends, ''Legacy of the Void'' provides better clarify of numerous plot points in ''Wings of Liberty'' and ''Heart of the Swarm''.
** In ''Wings of Liberty'', the Tal'darim were trying to stop Raynor from retrieving the fragments of the Xel'naga artifacts, even though this put them at odds with Narud's plans and he's supposed to be their master. One of Alarak's StopPokingMe lines has him give a HandWave that the Tal'darim executor of ''Wings of Liberty'', Nyon, had been over-exposed to [[FantasticDrug terrazine]] and went insane and rogue.
** The Xel'naga artifact from ''Wings of Liberty'' returns and its importance is fully contextualized. [[spoiler:its proper name is the Keystone, and it was a device left by the Xel'naga to aid in transferring their powers to the next generation of Xel'naga when beings possessing purity of form and essence found them. The manner in which the Terrans used it in ''Wings of Liberty'' was a corruption of its function and only possible because of Narud, who is a Xel'naga himself and knew how to do such a thing.]]
** The prophecy of the end of the galaxy that Zeratul foresaw [[spoiler:is revealed to have been a manipulation by Ouros, a Xel'naga, who reached into the minds of "lesser beings" to guide Zeratul to do the things that needed to be done for Amon to be defeated.]]

* ArtificialStupidity: Despite this being the third MissionPackSequel, the AI still had some kinks to iron out. For instance, in the final mission, the AI-controlled heroes had a good chance of charging [[LeeroyJenkins head-on]] into an enemy army and getting themselves killed early-on. There was no penalty for this, but could be amusing to behold. Two heros in particular could spared this by walling them behind shield batteries and pylons, where they could still defend their path out of harm's way, making defense a bit easier.

** A common Protoss strategy in multiplayer is the Proxy Pylon rush, where a player will send a probe to build a pylon outside the opponent's base, build units there, and attack. The Spear of Adun has not only one ability, but two - the player can choose between dropping a pylon anywhere (within sight of a unit), or dropping a pylon and two stalkers and two zealots.
*** It's also the strategy employed in the opening cinematic.
** The Deathball is another common strategy, which involves massing gateway and robotics facility units and going all-in. The first mission does just that, only you start the game with the deathball and get reinforcements along the way with no buildings needed. [[UnwantedAssistance the game even pushes you to press F2 to select the entire army]]
** [[MemeticMutation Mishearings]] of the "My life for Aiur!" catchphrase have been floating around in the fanbase for years. One of the campaign achievements is called "My Life for Hire".

* BackForTheFinale: In a meta example, the soundtrack of ''Brood War'', which has been included in the game. On a related note, the Protoss "Briefing" music from the original game is used in the cutscene that kicks off the Epilogue.

** In the epilogue, [[spoiler:the heroes of all three races fight together to defeat Amon once and for all, with their full power-ups and upgrades from their respective campaigns]].

* TheBattlestar: The ''Spear of Adun'' is practically a Battlestar ''squared''. It carries manufacturing plants and enough templar held in stasis to build entire armies, powered by an artificial star, possessing advanced weaponry that can wipe out entire areas of the map, and by the end of the game is launching entire fleets of Carriers (which are Battlestars in their own right) and other capital ships.

* BigBadEnsemble: For the first time in the franchise's history, averted. Unlike previous instalments where there were many bad guys with their own agendas, there's only one BigBad, and every enemy faction left work for him.

* BrickJoke: Back in ''Heart of the Swarm'' there was a civilian car you could (usually accidentally) destroy during the Ultralisk evolution mission, prompting a lone terran marine to burst from a nearby building, screaming "Oh man, my car! I just paid that off!". In the ''[=LotV=]'' mission "Brothers in Arms" you can find and (purposely this time) destroy the same car, and sure enough the same marine pops out to complain "Oh man, my car! Why does this keep happening?" Doubly funny because in his first appearance he was complaining to at least six giant murder machines that would promptly turn him into LudicrousGibs, which probably makes the fact that he's still alive at all an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.
* TheBusCameBack:
** ''Wings of Liberty'' and ''Heart of the Swarm'' had stories focusing mostly on the conflict between Terrans and Zerg; the Protoss did show up, but [[DemotedToExtra they had a minor role]], and those who showed up were either Zeratul (who only came to provide vague foreshadowing about the prophecy and Amon's return), colonists and [[ApocalypseCult the Tal'darim]], while the Protoss society on Shakuras barely gets more than a few mentions. ''Legacy of the Void'' focuses on them and their struggle against Amon. This was quite justified because Artanis spent years planning the reclamation of Aiur, and could not do that as long as the Zerg Swarm and Terran Dominion were still a threat.

** The new UI changes in patch 3.0 brought back the iconic campaign selection of the [[VideoGame/StarCraftI original and its expansion]].

** The epilogue missions use the briefing, battle and battle results interfaces of each game in the trilogy - the first mission uses the ''Legacy of the Void'' style, the second uses the one used in ''Wings of Liberty'', and the third one uses the one used in ''Heart of the Swarm''. You also get to used a setup that can be obtained in each game's campaign mode, albeit your setups will not carry over, and are actually fixed.

** LostTechnology: By the same token, technology which requires the use of solarite is implied to be ''much'' better than what the Daelaam currently have, but is not in current use for a long time. Thus, not only was solarite technology largely lost until recently, even the means of finding them have been largely neglected.

* CurbstompBattle: The first level is a tutorial based on giving the player a massive number of free units to reclaim Aiur with. The zerg infesting that area on Aiur [[spoiler:all die accordingly, but Amon may have something to say about that...]]
** The battle between [[spoiler:Zeratul and Artanis is one. Zeratul realizes that Artanis outmatches him both physically and psionically, and instead goes for a]] HeroicSacrifice [[spoiler:in order to sever Artanis's nerve cords.]] - giving true meaning to his quote (above) prior to his charge.
** The fight between the second reaver and Kerrigan. The first one was apparently powerful enough to severely weaken her, and when the second shows up, it proceeds to dole out a merciless beating until Artanis comes to her rescue.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Subverted, Artanis' seeming use of a LimitBreak in the "Alone" cinematic seems like this, and then you later learn he actually has an ability that does exactly what's depicted on screen. See GameplayAndStoryIntegration below.
* CustomBuiltHost: [[BigBad Amon]] created the Hybrid to serve him, with one particularly huge body being his to use personally. [[spoiler: Fortunately, you are able to destroy it just after he is unleashed by [[OrbitalBombardment bombing the general area back to the stoneage.]]]]
* DawnOfAnEra / EndOfAnAge: By the end of the main campaign, an new era has dawned for the Protoss, whereby [[spoiler:robots (Purifiers) would be counted as protoss and as equals]] and the Khala, [[spoiler:a tool of enslavement devised by their uplifter, Amon, was abandoned. There's still a ways to go, but relations with the Tal'darim have improved. Alarak allows any of his people, one opportunity to join the Templar ranks on Aiur, Alarak having been impressed with their brave deeds.]]

** Lampshaded- you get the "End of an Era" achievement for completing the campaign (assuming you also completed ''Wings'' and ''Heart'' beforehand).

* DidNotSeeThatComing: Artanis and Zeratul are completely caught off guard when [[spoiler:Amon corrupts the Khala]]. Neither thought that Amon would be able to so completely derail the invasion of Aiur.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The final boss; he even LOOKS like a Cthulhu! [[spoiler:Turns out all Xel'Naga look like that.]]
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: Ulnar. [[spoiler:It's a massive Xel-Naga construct world floating in a rift between universes, where nothing is supposed to be able to go without being destroyed. It is supposedly the origin point for both the Xel-Naga and all life in the universe, and Artanis is directed to go there and awaken the Xel-Naga so they can crush Amon.]] And when you reach it, you can clearly see that you have not yet unlocked fully ''half'' of the game's units.

** The Tal'Darim faction is the Cannons. Their most notably durable unit is their mighty Mothership, but the rest of the faction favors sheer destructive offense at the expense of survivability if the enemy manages to endure their onslaught.

* FiveManBand: The five main characters each fill a specific role in their group. Artanis =leads the counter-offensive against Amon and is the main protagonist, Vorazun acts as Artanis' lieutenant and right-hand woman, and is second to him in terms of ranking, Fenix[[spoiler:/Talandar]] is a Purifier dragoon with colossal brute strength for prolonged frontline combat, Karax is a Khalai Phase-smith (engineer) overseeing the operations of the ''Spear of Adun'' and upgrading and activating its support systems, and Rohana, a Grand Preserver awoken from stasis on the ''Spear of Adun'' who holds the memories of all previous Protoss and offers Artanis advice based on how his actions compare to Protoss traditions and history.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: One of Kerrigan's StopPokingMe statements is that the past seven years feel more like seventeen.

* BladeOnAStick: The Aiur subtype of Zealot is armed with these. It allows them to perform a SpinAttack.

* DecoyProtagonist: Zeratul is almost the only Protoss character until Legacy of the Void, even having his own mini-campaigns in Both Wings of Liberty and the prologue of Legacy of the Void, but Artanis ends up being the protagonist of Legacy of the Void.

* FiveManBand
** TheHero: Artanis - Daelaam Hierarch who leads the counter-offensive against Amon and the main protagonist.
** TheLancer: Vorazun - the Matriarch of the Nerazim who acts as Artanis' lieutenant and right-hand woman, and is second to him in terms of ranking.
** TheBigGuy: Fenix[[spoiler:/Talandar]] - a Purifier dragoon with colossal brute strength for prolonged frontline combat.
** TheSmartGuy: Karax - Khalai Phase-smith (engineer) overseeing the operations of the ''Spear of Adun'' and upgrading and activating its support systems.
** TheChick: Rohana - Grand Preserver awoken from statis on the ''Spear of Adun'' who holds the memories of all previous Protoss and offers Artanis advice based on how his actions compare to Protoss traditions and history.
** SixthRanger: Alarak - the Tal'darim highlord who arrives late, helps out, uses Artanis for his own cause, then goes off to settle his own world with his people.

* LuckyTranslation: ''Adun'' is also a Malay word, meaning ''to mix'' or ''to blend'', which is quite the fitting name for the ''Spear of Adun'' as through the course of the campaign's story, Artanis seeks to rally other Protoss factions, and even the Zerg and Terrans themselves, to form an army capable of defeating Amon.

* ExactWords: Repeated mention is made of a prophecy stating that "The Xel'naga will stand against Amon in the End War". [[spoiler:"The Xel'naga" in this instance means the only Xel'naga that isn't Amon, an ascended Kerrigan]].

* PowerUpLetdown: [[spoiler:Ascended]] Kerrigan is supposedly a PhysicalGod with [[spoiler:the power of the Xel'Naga]]. However, it's a huge case of GameplayAndStorySegregation: she's basically just got stronger versions of the same abilities she already had in ''Heart of the Swarm'', and is still easily overwhelmed by handfuls of enemy units. Even Amon's constructs are capable of killing her easily if she gets targeted by more than one at a time. While she does have an ability to wipe out the entire map of enemies, it also has a very huge cooldown.

* * DecoyProtagonist: Zeratul is almost the only Protoss character until Legacy of the Void, even having his own mini-campaigns in Both Wings of Liberty and the prologue of Legacy of the Void, but Artanis ends up being the protagonist of Legacy of the Void.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: a later mission involves Artanis destroying the Psi Network which allows the protoss to warp structures to anywhere in the Koprulu Sector from Aiur. Thereafter, Artanis' protoss are... still able to warp in structures. (In fairness, the ''Spear of Adun'' might have its own private Psi Network. And besides, we were still able to do it during the early missions of ''Brood War'', when we were still struggling to get the Khalai Remnant from Aiur to Shakuras. The Psi Network has never bothered to observe current events before, so why start now.)

* BackForTheFinale: In a meta example, the soundtrack of ''Brood War'', which has been included in the game.

* SequelDifficultySpike: The campaign in ''Legacy of the Void'' is considerably more challenging than either ''Wings of Liberty'' or ''Heart of the Swarm''.

** The Deathball is another common strategy, which involves massing gateway and robotics facility units and going all-in. The first mission does just that, only you start the game with the deathball and get reinforcements along the way with no buildings needed.

** A common Protoss strategy in multiplayer is the Proxy Pylon rush, where a player will send a probe to build a pylon outside the opponent's base, build units there, and attack. The Spear of Adun has not only one ability, but two - the player can choose between dropping a pylon anywhere (within sight of a unit), or [[UpToEleven dropping a pylon and two stalkers and two zealots]].

* TheBattlestar: The ''Spear of Adun'' is practically a Battlestar ''[[UpToEleven squared]]''. It carries manufacturing plants and enough templar held in stasis to build entire armies, powered by an artificial star, possessing advanced weaponry that can wipe out entire areas of the map, and by the end of the game is launching entire fleets of Carriers (which are Battlestars in their own right) and other capital ships.

* DeathFromAbove: Your Arkship comes with an OrbitalBombardment option (Orbital Strike) that Karax will eventually bring online and is already crazy-powerful, and you gain the second (Purifier Beam) deeper into the game. You can take it UpToEleven and purchase more powerful ones (Solar Lance and Solar Bombardment respectively) as you progress in the game.

** Campaign missions in ''Legacy of the Void'' continue [[UpToEleven and expand upon]] the previous chapter's trend of strategically worthless bonus objectives that'll cost the player tons of units and time for little to no benefit other than unlocking an equally useless achievement. Some actually impede your progress, piss of allies, or make your life harder in some other way. If you happen to be a completionist, prepare to do lots and lots of idiotic things over the course of the campaign.

* DawnOfAnEra / EndOfAnAge: By the end of the main campaign, an new era has dawned for the Protoss, whereby [[spoiler:robots (Purifiers) would be counted as protoss and as equals]] and the Khala, [[spoiler:a tool of enslavement devised by their uplifter, Amon, was abandoned. There's still a ways to go, but relations with the Tal'darim have improved. Alarak allows any of his people, one opportunity to join the Templar ranks on Aiur, Alarak having been impressed witnessing their brave deeds.]]

* DawnOfAnEra / EndOfAnAge: By the end of the main campaign, an new era has dawned for the Protoss, whereby [[spoiler:robots (Purifiers) would be counted as protoss and as equals]] and the Khala, [[spoiler:a tool of enslavement devised by their uplifter, Amon, was abandoned.]]

* StoryBreakerPower:
** At the beginning when Amon seizes control of the Golden Armada on the second mission of the ''Void'' campaign; if Artanis was able to keep this huge army, then the Khali Protoss would be able to reclaim Aiur and completely prevent Amon from reincarnating as Amon would be denied access to the Overmind's corpse where he can have his host body synthesized. Zeratul's reputation is also ruined due to his previous actions that were seen as betrayal, preventing the Golden Armada from taking his warnings about Amon's return seriously and postponing the invasion of Aiur. As a result, the Golden Armada falls into Amon's trap.
** Kerrigan's Swarm is also forced to retreat to mend their losses after suffering huge casualties due to Amon's AdvancingWallOfDoom in the Temple of Unification. This ensures that Artanis will need the help of the Purifiers and Tal'Darim to mount a successful attack on Aiur, and gives a reason why Kerrigan can't attack in concert with Artanis. Likewise, the reformed Terran Dominion & Raynor's Raiders are being attacked fiercely by the possessed Golden Armada & Moebius Corps and can not assist Artanis.

* BlueIsHeroic: You're blue the whole time. [[spoiler:The reformed Terran Dominion and Kerrigan's Swarm are a shade of blue as well.]].

** Encounters with the Terrans are reduced compared to their encounters in ''Wings of Liberty'' and ''especially'' ''Heart of the Swarm''. They are fought against less times than the Zerg and Protoss, and they are quickly dealt with. You visit Korhal to repel a large-scale Mobius Corps attack meant to steal the Keystone from the Capitol (two missions) and finally at Revanscar after the Nerazim discover their hideout where the Mobius staff are breeding Hybrids. {{Justified}} as the Terran Dominion is now focusing their efforts against Amon's forces and has generally accepted the Daelaam as allies, and Moebius Corps is fighting against you because they've become BrainwashedAndCrazy by the Hybrids they've created.

** At the beginning when Amon seizes control of the Golden Armada on the second mission of the ''Void'' campaign; if Artanis was able to keep this huge army, then the Khali Protoss would be able to reclaim Aiur and completely prevent Amon from reincarnating as Amon would be denied access to the Overmind's corpse where he can have his host body synthesized.
** Kerrigan's Swarm is also forced to retreat to mend their losses after suffering huge casualties due to Amon's AdvancingWallOfDoom in the Temple of Unification. This ensures that Artanis will need the help of the Purifiers and Tal'Darim to mount a successful attack on Aiur, and gives a reason why Kerrigan can't attack in concert with Artanis.

** Sentinel Zealots aren't the flashiest Zealot variant, lacking the Aiur Zealot's Whirlwind attack that deals SplashDamage, and the Centurion's phasing-charge that lets them charged through your solid troops to attack and stun enemies. However, their ability to reconstruct themselves upon death and have another full health bar makes them very effective as a meat shield, and if two game minutes are allowed to pass without them dying, they can rebuild yet again.