Line #33 Fridge/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm


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11	[[WMG:[[center:VideoGame/{{StarCraft}} Fridge pages\
12	[[Fridge/StarCraft Main page]] - ''[[Fridge/StarCraftI StarCraft/Brood War]]'' - ''Fridge/{{StarCraft II}}'' (''[[Fridge/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty Wings of Liberty]]'' - '''''Heart of the Swarm''''' - ''[[Fridge/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid Legacy of the Void]]'' - [[Fridge/StarCraftIICoOpMode Co-Op Missions]])]]]]
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14	!! Fridge pages are Administrivia/SpoilersOff by default, so all spoilers are removed and all examples folderized, so proceed with caution. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
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18	[[folder:Fridge Brilliance]]
19	* At first, one would think that Kerrigan is just being ungrateful in "Lab Rat" given the Umojans and Valerian were putting their lives on the line in rehabilitating her after de-infesting her with the Xel'naga Artifact, given all the property damage she causes with her Zerglings (or Drones, if you decided to use only them for whatever reason). However, she saw what happened when the UED attempted to control the Zerg (dumb lines about her not remembering being the Queen of Blades aside), and the Umojans and/or Valerian had a LOT of live specimens stashed away in there. If there's even a chance the kid was thinking about trying to make his own private Swarm from what he'd learned studying Kerrigan's physiology, it was probably a worthwhile effort to smash as much of the lab as possible and put the fear of God into as many scientists as possible so long as she didn't kill anybody.
20	** We also [[SatelliteCharacter didn't learn very much about Valerian as a character]] back in ''[=WoL=]'', and we don't have any particular reason to trust that he has noble motives if he's telling Kerrigan to spawn Zerg base structures just because. It's not like these are Joe Average Umojans, this is a black site being privately funded by the heir to the Dominion on a distant, uncharted planet that doesn't even have a proper name.
21	* When dealing with the Primal Zerg, you have no difficulty communicating, despite thousands or millions of years apart. At first, this can be shrugged off as the PsychicLink, until we find out that they explicitly do not have any psychic abilities. The brilliance comes when you pay attention to the things they say: Consume, survive, change. Little else. You're only communicating with them on the most basic level, using concepts any zerg can understand. The Ancient One seems to be an exception, able to express complex ideas like the nature of the Dark Voice, but he is very old, and a unique specimen. The fact that Kerrigan is also a massively powerful telepath is likely also a factor: what they can't express in words, she'll pick off from their thoughts.
22	* Everything that happened with Stukov makes sense when you consider who was holding him captive all those years and their role in ''Wings of Liberty''. For years Narud and the Moebius Foundation could experiment and examine the only person ''ever'' to be cured of being Infested, along with re-infesting him too to see if it was possible. All this time except for having the artifact itself, the Foundation and Narud had all they had all they needed to revive Amon, which is where Raynor and company ultimately come in...
23	* Sarah Kerrigan, as a Queen of Blades who maintains her humanity, looks very subtly different from her previous incarnation. So much so that you have absolutely no problem believing that she has turned over a new leaf. Here's the hint why... ''look at her eyes.'' The tiny little twitches of facial expression that save her from the UncannyValley response make her more human. Now why can she do that? She's herself again! She is no longer influenced by the Dark Voice, who has no need for such petty things as human emotions. It also helps that in her new form, she does not have glowing eyes by default.
24	* Everyone knows that Narud and Samir Duran are the same entity, but Kerrigan never mentions that they used to work together for a while, back in ''Brood War'' with Duran being Kerrigan's henchman, making it seem like they just met for the first time. But remember: Kerrigan's memory of her "queenbitch" days was full of holes, so she really may not have remembered him.
25	* When Kerrigan reaches the Hyperion's bridge in the early part of the campaign, she gets ''pissed'' when she realizes Raynor has been left behind. One may think she's overreacting to emphasize how much she cares about Raynor, but remember what happened to her on Tarsonis. She was captured by Zerg and infested because Mengsk abandoned her, and now Mengsk's son has done ''the exact same thing'' to Raynor.
26	* A long time ago, Jim Raynor promised to kill the Queen of Blades. When he's rescued by a Zergified Sarah Kerrigan, he squibs the chance she freely gives him to put a bullet between her eyes. It seems odd, considering his oath to avenge his friend Fenix, and there's a perfectly reasonable explanation- he knows that she's supposed to save the universe. He can't kill her. There's another more interesting reason; he already has killed the being that killed his friend Fenix. The being in front of him is Sarah Kerrigan, not the Queen of Blades. She died on Char when he used the Xel'Naga device on her, and the Sarah we see in ''Heart of the Swarm'' is a Sarah Kerrigan who turned herself into a Zerg, not the unholy Queen of Blades that used her for its own purposes.
27	* Kerrigan's trolling of Valerian during the first mission seemed like her having a sadistic sense of humor, but remember who she's dealing with; the last Mengsk who tried to control and use the Zerg destroyed a whole planet and was directly responsible for her becoming the Queen of Blades. EvilIsNotAToy indeed. It also gives her approval of Valerian a lot more meaning compared to simply that he loves his people.
28	* Donny Vermillion had a back and forth with Kate Lockwell about a possible Zerg-Human alliance because of the Queen of Blades's human side. Kate understandably tells him otherwise. In the final mission of ''Heart of the Swarm'', it is because of Kerrigan's human side that called Raynor back to help her, forming a Zerg-Human Alliance.
29	* All of the Primal Zerg leaders are recognizably older, larger, more evolved versions of the regular Primal Zerg types - Brakk is an ultralisk, Slivan is a swarm host, etcetera. And Zurvan? Well, the first, oldest, most badass Primal Zerg ever to exist is, of course, the world's [[MagikarpPower largest, angriest, most evolved Zergling.]]
30	** On further examination, Dehaka is likely a viper that evolved to become a terrestrial biped as he bears some resemblance to them and he has the same tongue attack.
31	* Towards the end of the game, Arcturus presents himself as a selfless leader and emphasizes his protection of humanity, even in private communications. Could be AlternateCharacterInterpretation. Or it could be that after the disaster in "Media Blitz", Mengsk knows that anything he says, even in private, might come back to bite him.
32	* Mengsk was in possession of the Xel'Naga artifact all along, which obviously raises the question of why he didn't used it to defend Augustgrad from the Zerg. Simple: [[KickTheDog he didn't care]]. For him, it didn't matter if Valerian died, Warfield was killed or Korhal was overrun and many innocents died, all that mattered to him was that [[RevengeBeforeReason Kerrigan died]].
33	* The ''Heart'' campaign was shorter and a fair bit easier than the one in ''Wings...''. Then, you remember the situation at the end of ''Brood War'': Arcturus was granted CruelMercy by the Queen Bitch. The ''Heart'' campaign was a reminder to the players just how easily the Dominion can be crushed by the Swarm. Kerrigan just has to give the order.
34	* When the opening cinematic for ''Heart of the Swarm'' was released, a lot of people were having fun with the viking landing to fight the Ultralisk, and the Zerg winning by attacking through choke points using lots of Zerglings and Ultralisks just seemed a GameplayAndStorySegregation for the cutscene. Cue the Korhal missions, where landed Vikings are one of the more common enemies, the need to build a fast army leads to Ultralisk based armies often, and it is common to attack over bridges and through streets.
35	* In the end, Kerrigan finishes off Arcturus for good, cursing him for having "turned us all into monsters". The "us" she is referring to is actually the entire Terran faction. Because of Mengsk's Dominion, the Terrans had been pushed into a villain role for all the games. Things may finally get better now.
36	* As an expansion, in the ending cinematic of ''Heart'', we see Kerrigan lifting off from the palace while Jim watches. The thing is, if you look closely, the debris of Mengsk's explosion is ''behind'' Jim, meaning that the Xel'Naga artifact is still in one piece in the intact part of the room.
37	** The artifact plays an important role in ''Legacy of the Void'' as well.
38	* Why were the Primal Zerg so against waking Zurvan? Because the pack leaders knew that as the strongest, they're the ones he's most likely to devour in hopes of evolving further.
39	* The interaction between the Zerg Swarm and Primal Zerg mirror, to an extent, the original reactions of the Khalai Protoss to the Dark Templar in the first game. By becoming Primal, Kerrigan became the Zerg equivalent of Tassadar. With the revelation in Legacy of the Void that the Khalai was created by Amon and could brainwash Khalai protoss, the connection becomes even stronger as the Primal Zerg are the Dark Templar.
40	* Throughout the ''Heart of the Swarm'' story and trailers, Kerrigan refers to herself as the "[[TitleDrop Heart of the Swarm]]". At first, it seems like a generic usage of IAmTheNoun. However the ''Heart of the Swarm'' story-mode reveals that Kerrigan is actually right. When Kerrigan was the Queen of Blades, she united the Swarm and almost made an empire out of it, but she had no true freewill thanks to [[GreaterScopeVillain Amon]]. When Kerrigan is de-infested, the Swarm breaks into smaller groups of Brood Mothers who even fight each other. Once Kerrigan returns, she starts gathering them up. By the end, most, if not all, of the Swarm rejoins her willingly. Simply put, Kerrigan gave the Swarm its heart, the one thing it never had. By almost humanizing it (as in showing that it had individuals and people among it), Kerrigan has effectively become the heart of the swarm as in what connects it, and what gives it a actual empathy. This is why Jim forms an alliance to take down Mengsk, because the Swarm is like a actual group now, making them not so different!
41	* Psi Disruptor:
42	** When the Swarm attacks the Psi Destroyer, Kerrigan mentions that, since he doesn't share the psychic hive mind, this is Dehaka's chance to shine. But Dehaka isn't the only one that lacks that psychic link - Stukov doesn't have it either. So why doesn't she send him? When Gerard [=DuGalle=] sent a team to destroy the Psi Disruptor in ''Brood War'', on Duran's advice, and Stukov tried to stop him, Duran shot him for almost ruining the plan. That led to all his torture and suffering at Duran/Narud's hands for the last several years, as well as the death of Stukov's best friend [=DuGalle=]. Kerrigan is showing considerable empathy by not sending him into the exact same situation again.
43	** Another possibility: Stukov has been implied to have psionic powers of ''some'' kind, which, hive mind or no, Kerrigan could have considered vulnerable to the Psi Destroyer, leaving Dehaka as her best and surest option. Stukov's unit class in ''Brood War'' is a Ghost, implying above-average psionic potential, so the latter theory has credence to it.
44	* In the final mission, most of Raynor's men consist of elite mercenaries rather than regular troops. While this is clearly done for balance purposes, why would they so willingly jump into a meat-grinder of a battle in such numbers? Well, if you paid close attention in ''Wings of Liberty'', you'd remember almost all of them are former Confederates and UED, which means they all have a massive score to settle with Mengsk themselves.
45	* Kerrigan's speech at the end is a direct mirror to her speech in ''Brood War''. At first, it just seems like an ending, but when compared to the speech in ''Brood War'', Kerrigan's evolution is much more pronounced. Where she was a monster who was alone, now she's a hero surrounded by loved ones, even if they are creepy monsters.
46	* In ''Wings of Liberty'' and early in ''Heart of the Swarm'', Mengsk is shown as having slightly greying black hair. Yet, during the final cinematic, his hair is completely grey. What caused his hair to grey completely in just a matter of months? Why, the Swarm reviving and Kerrigan coming for him, of course!
47	* ''VideoGame/WingsOfLiberty'' had a mission called "Welcome to the Jungle" where you're tasked with harvesting Terrazine before your opponent destroys enough sites to fail your mission quota. "Awakening the Ancient" has a similar objective but with harvesting biomass and it also takes place in a jungle!
48	* Mengsk was ''never'' going to walk out of that office. Even with Kerrigan crippled by the Xel'naga Keystone, Raynor was waiting just outside the room. And he had three instances where he could've killed the despot himself in that cutscene - he could've blasted Arcturus while he was frying Sarah, or crushed his head in the grip of his PoweredArmor right after his one-liner, and very nearly took the shot after throwing him across the room while he was prone and stunned. The only reason Jim Raynor didn't kill Arcturus Mengsk that day is because he wanted Sarah Kerrigan to have the honors.
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52	* So Amon is long dead until just before ''Heart of the Swarm''. [[AlwaysABiggerFish The question is what killed him,]] because it implied he didn't just die of [[AntiClimax old age]].
53	** Maybe it has something to do with the fact that apparently there are no longer any living Xel'Naga in the universe.
54	** ''Legacy of the Void'' clarifies that his "death" is merely banishment back to the Void. For him to stay dead, he has to be killed within the Void.
55	* When Stukov assists in the final mission, his entire army consists of aberrations and infested Terrans of all kinds. This seemed like to just play to his type (Dehaka uses Primal Zerg while Zagara uses standard Zerg fare) until you realized that they probably still had the virophages on Skygeirr Station. Especially since the guy in charge of the defense noted how they should put the infected out of their misery, implying he saw it as a FateWorseThanDeath. Stukov is probably using this to get his revenge for being imprisoned for 4 years as a lab rat.
56	* If you spoke to Ariel Hanson about the Artifact in ''Wings of Liberty'', she notes how the Artifact is only a few thousand years old, as opposed to the millions of most Xel'Naga artifacts. It can de-infest infested Terrans, and cause severe damage to other Zerg. It can also siphon energy from one being into another. Seems pretty convenient, that it just so happened to be able to destroy Kerrigan's control of the swarm and channel energy into Hybrids for Amon. But if Amon found out about the Overmind's plot to create an independent leader for the Swarm, the artifacts might have been created by Amon in the event of his death, as well as a failsafe in case Kerrigan was not completely under his control. It would explain why the Tal'Darim were guarding the pieces; they already knew why they are important and why they must not be stolen. They just had no idea Raynor was working for Narud at the time.
57	** In ''Legacy of the Void'', when the Protoss examined the artifact, they verified that the artifact was indeed millions of years old. Terran analysis had failed to detect that the artifact can actually self-repair/renew. Also, its true capability is to convert various forms of energy into one another seamlessly.
58	* A minor one, but given the Dominion's actions in the second mission, Arcturus Mengsk effectively declared war on the Umojan Protectorate. Who knows what kind of Terran vs. Terran war was occurring while Kerrigan was away on Zerus. It might also explain why Korhal is not more heavily defended by the time Kerrigan arrives.
59	** Pretty much impossible, the Umojans only control three worlds while the Dominion control dozens. Declaring war on a foe that so vastly outnumbers and overpowers them would be suicide and the battle would be such a {{curbstomp\|Battle}} the battle's effects wouldn't be noticeable. The ease with which Kerrigan breaks the Dominion is simply due to how big a power gap there is between the factions.
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Context Fridge / StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm