Characters / Warcraft Jaina Proudmoore

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Lady Jaina Proudmoore, Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras

Archmage, Ruler of Theramore, Leader of the Kirin Tor

Class: Mage

Voiced by: Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English/Warcraft III), Laura Bailey (English/World of Warcraft), Elena Solovyova (Russian/Warcraft III), Olga Golovanova (Russian/World of Warcraft)

"Beware, beware, the Daughter of the Sea..."

"You spit on mercy? Then you will have NONE. You want carnage?! Garrosh will get more blood than EVER he bargained for!"

Daughter of Daelin Proudmoore, ruler of Theramore, and one of the few humans that believe that peace can be attained between the two factions. During Warcraft III Jaina was introduced as a young and idealistic mage, and Arthas's former girlfriend. Unfortunately, she became unable to stomach his growing corruption, and at the advice of the mysterious Prophet she led a sizable human contingent to the lost continent of Kalimdor. After a series of battles Jaina formed an alliance with the Horde and Night Elves, and fought bravely in the final conflicts of the Third War. Afterwards, she and her people founded the island city of Theramore and sought peace with the Horde.

Despite quite possibly being the most reasonable human leader, things never seem to go Jaina's way. Some time after the battle of Mount Hyjal the navy of Kul Tiras, led by her father, took over Theramore and pushed for renewed war with the reformed Horde. Jaina, unable to convince her father that the Horde had changed, was forced to choose her peaceful ideals over her own family, and allowed the Horde's champion Rexxar into Theramore, where he killed her father. In spite of her experience and foresight she is very much the junior player in the modern Alliance, compared to Stormwind and its returned king Varian Wrynn. By the time of Wrath of the Lich King Jaina is more or less the sole Alliance leader (or at least the only one who gets any screentime) terribly interested in peace, actively defying Varian Wrynn when he seeks to wage war with the Horde.

This changes radically after the events of Cataclysm. After the defeat of Deathwing, the Garrosh-led Horde bombs Theramore and reduces it to ashes, leaving only a few survivors (her included) who were teleported away by the Kirin Tor. Enraged and horrified by the deaths of her friends and the loss of all she had worked for, Jaina proceeds to try and use the Focusing Iris, the arcane artifact used to power Garrosh's mana-bomb, to flood Orgrimmar and kill everybody in the city. She is talked out of it at the last minute by Thrall and Kalecgos, but she still cuts off her friendship with Thrall, considering him partially responsible for the tragedy, as he chose Garrosh as his replacement despite knowing of his hatred for the Alliance. Her rage now contained and to make up for the atrocity she was about to commit, she rejoins the Kirin Tor as an apprentice, but is surprisingly made its new leader, replacing the deceased Rhonin.

Soon thereafter, she finds herself forced to purge Dalaran of the Horde, as Dalaran's portals were used by the Blood Elves to bypass her wards around Darnassus and acquire the Divine Bell. As such, she fully pledges Dalaran to the Alliance again. These continuous disappointments have all but shattered Jaina's peaceful ideals, and she has since then acquired a much harsher view on the Horde, transforming into a warmonger even more zealous than Varian ever was.

In Legion, Jaina has abdicated her leadership of the Kirin Tor and has left Dalaran entirely in protest of the Council of Six's vote to allow the Horde back into the city.

In Battle for Azeroth, Jaina returns to her homeland of Kul Tiras on a diplomatic mission to negotiate the islander kingdom's re-admission into the Alliance, where she receives a less-than-warm welcome due to her involvement in her father's death and is promptly exiled to Fate's End by her mother, Katherine. Later on, after the internal crises of the nation are solved, Jaina is rescued from Thros by her regretful mother and an Alliance emissary and ascends to the position of Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras after Katherine steps down.

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A-F

• Achilles in His Tent: In Legion, Khadgar travels to Dalaran to initiate a vote to allow the Horde entry back into the Kirin Tor and Dalaran. He wins the vote with only Jaina and Ansirem Runeweaver voting to keep them out. Enraged, Jaina announces that if the Horde will be part of Dalaran and the Kirin Tor, she wants nothing to do with it. She then resigns her membership of the Kirin Tor and leaves the city, which results in Khadgar stepping in to lead the Kirin Tor against the Burning Legion.
• Action Girl: Jaina is an extremely powerful mage and a deadly opponent in battle.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: At least compared to the very polite and formal Kael, Jaina was more in favor of the dashing and daring Arthas, with whom she didn't care much about formalities and rules, when she was still studying in Dalaran. Her next partner, Kalecgos, is an inversion, though, as he is a very gentle and smart individual, whom she loves because he is the only one who can truly understand her and shares her pain.
• Always Save the Girl: In a nightmare in the manga, she ponders what would have happened if she had chosen to stay with Arthas in the hopes of preventing him from becoming the Lich King. Unfortunately, this means sacrificing Muradin when both he and Arthas are in danger, and ultimately becoming the Lich Queen.
• Amicable Exes:
  • When Jaina is sent to support and investigate the Plague with Arthas, she doesn't hold too much of a grudge against him after he very abruptly called off their engagement without truly explaining why. They eventually rekindle their relationship, but again break up when Arthas decides to purge Stratholme.
  • When Jaina angrily leaves the Kirin Tor, after being outvoted in Legion, Kalec stays with them and takes her place in the Council of Six. The two still care deeply for each other and there is no animosity between the two of them, though. Jaina even describes Kalec as the only person who could truly understand her.
• Anti-Hero: Drops her idealistic goals following the bombing of Theramore and the betrayal in Dalaran, having turned into a warmonger with quite the grudge on the Horde and its member factions.
• The Archmage: One of the most powerful mages on Azeroth and cements her claim on the title when given leadership of Dalaran.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Potentially gives one to the player in Mists of Pandaria. During a debate regarding Dalaran and the Kirin Tor's neutrality in the faction conflict (Jaina, despite her anger over Theramore, is striving to maintain the city's neutrality while the Alliance leadership is urging her to pledge Dalaran fully to the Alliance, fearing that allowing the Horde free access to Dalaran could present a security risk), if you tell that, if you were in her position, you would strive to maintain the Kirin Tor's neutrality, she then asks you if you think you could retain such a mindset if you suffered a horrific personal tragedy at the hands of one of the war's factions. One of your responses has you admit that you're not sure if you could.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: When Garrosh announced his desire to attack Theramore, one of the Forsaken attending the meeting warns the Warchief that Jaina is too powerful. While she's never been hostile with the Horde, attacking her would start a fight the Undead felt they couldn't win. With Theramore's destruction, the once peace-minded Jaina now fiercely cries out for the Horde's extermination and nearly flooded all of Orgrimmar with her power.
• Badass Adorable: While being a badass Mage, she's a beautiful woman who has Innocent Blue Eyes and one of the sweetest characters of the entire franchise. Until after Theramore's destruction she lost all her innocence, but is still quite beautiful and badass regardless.
• Badass Boast:
  • Her character quote after the destruction of Theramore is a quite impressive one, especially considering it comes from the poster girl for peaceful relationships with the Horde.
  • Daughter of the Sea is a song that denounces Jaina for her passive role in the death of her father, Kul Tiras' Lord Admiral, and serves to give a warning of her to the Kul Tirans. In Warbringers: Jaina, she sings the song herself and embraces it. At the end of the song, she adds her own verse to it.
    I heard, I heard, across a moonlit sea,
    The old voice warning me,
    "Beware, beware, the Daughter of the Sea",
    "Beware, beware..."
    ...of me.
• Badass Bookworm: She just wants to study and pretty much 'fell in love with her hobby', but is still a force to be reckoned with.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: At her lowest point, she realizes that her plan to destroy Orgrimmar makes her no better than Arthas or even Garrosh himself. Though she doesn't say so, her actions and mindset have become very similar to her racist father, Daelin, who she helped kill to preserve peace in Warcraft 3.
  Daelin Proudmoore: I understand more than you suspect, my dear. Perhaps in time, you will too.
• Betrayal by Inaction:
  • During the Culling of Stratholme, she didn't lift a finger to help Arthas or to stop him, although in the aftermath Uther advised her not to be too hard on herself for it.
  • When Daelin takes over Theramore to attack Durotar and Thrall takes the fight back to him, Jaina again doesn't lift a finger to help either of them. Thrall doesn't interpret this as a betrayal, and Daelin didn't live long enough to say whether or not he did. However, as of Battle for Azeroth, it's revealed word of Daelin's death got back to Kul Tiras and they feel like what she did was a betrayal, turning her into an almost mythical figure known as the "Daughter of the Sea" who has a chilling folk song about how she left her father (who wanted to save her from the orcs) to die. When she initially shows herself, the higher echelons are infuriated that she's returned, and the common citizenry are terrified of her.
  • Jaina turns this onto Aethas Sunreaver in Mists of Pandaria with the theft of the Divine Bell. He wasn't involved^note  He only even learned about the theft after it was already done. but not preventing it made him just as guilty.
• Beware the Nice Ones: And how! She was quite willing and able to give as good as she got from Garrosh. The song Daughter of the Sea even warns people what may happen if her ire falls upon you.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In the climax of Tides of War, after being talked down from destroying Orgrimmar, she instead chooses to help Varian and the rest of the fleet.
  • She arrives with her Cool Ship to save Anduin and the rest of the Alliance army besieging Lordaeron from the Blight.
• Blood Knight: She has become this with her newfound hatred for the Horde.
  • She states there can be no peace so long as Garrosh is Warchief; cut to Garrosh being usurped by Alliance/Horde united forces and she urges Varian to slay all the Horde leadership right then and there.
  • In "War Crimes", Kalec calls her out for this behavior accusing her of "liking this dark place she's placed herself". She doesn't refute the claim.
• Braids of Action: In the Battle for Azeroth, Jaina has done her hair in a braid.
• Break the Cutie: In Mists of Pandaria, after the Horde levels Theramore and kills most of its citizens, Jaina's put into such shock and despair that she turns into the Horde-hating person she once criticized her father, her generals and Varian for, and comes very close to destroying Orgrimmar.
• Broken Ace: Jaina is unquestionably one of the top mages in Azeroth, and not only is she strong, but she was loved by many people in the Alliance, and even some members of the Horde. Despite this, Jaina's life has been such a rollercoaster of tragedy and misfortune that she becomes disillusioned overtime by how much crap gets thrown her way. Each expansion piles on more and more as well, making her someone who has to constantly endure what seems to be a world against her at every turn.
• Byronic Hero: Jaina seems to be progressing towards this. She has a Dark and Troubled Past (both a boyfriend and a past lover turned evil and threatened the world, a home — Lordaeron — destroyed, every attempt at peace blowing up in her face — literally with Theramore's destruction, including her playing a role in causing the death of her own father), is becoming increasingly anti-social (getting more distant from her friend Thrall, refusing to work with the Horde even when there's a common enemy and finally keeping to Kul Tiras) and she seems to be less optimistic yet retain her goals of helping people and her interest in knowledge.
• Cartright Curse: It's directly noted by herself in Tides of War that she is not so lucky when it comes to choosing a "life companion" like Thrall did with Aggra. Both Kael'thas and Arthas loved her, and both turned into crazy men who attempted to destroy the world. She admired Kael and loved Arthas back, but both ended up dying, which is why she remained a Celibate Hero for a long time. Her last lover, Kalecgos, however averts this.
• Character Development: Where to begin?
  • Jaina starts her story as a young Idealist, believing she can help the broken Orcs and Humans find peace. This continues to her allying with similar idealist and religious reformist Thrall, Warchief of the Horde, to building new nations for their people in Kalimdor with a peace forged in genuine respect and friendship. This goes into Jaina having to make Sadistic Choice eventually of helping protect this peace from her extremist Father and kill him, or destroy it and live with the consequences. Either way, it would lead to a Sadistic Choice for her.
  • Come Cataclysm, newly appointed Warchief Garrosh is an extremist and destroys her nation and kills all her friends. Jaina becomes consumed with hatred and works to destroy the Horde for the actions of Garrosh. In Mists of Pandaria, Jaina goes even further using Garrosh's Loophole Abuse as an excuse to start a murderous purge in Dalaran of Blood Elf Sunreavers and formally ally with the Alliance. However, this caused the Blood Elves who were considering rejoining the Alliance to completely commit to the Horde ousting her as a "Racist Bigot" much to even Varian's annoyance. Further in War Crimes, many of her allies call her out as "enjoying this dark place she's put herself" as she refuses to move on from The Theramore Incident alienating her friends. Once again in Warlords of Draenor, she refuses to aid the Horde despite Varian's insistence on cooperation. In Legion Jaina's refusal to aid or allow The Horde finally reaches a Rage Breaking Point when Khadgar demands a vote of confidence on her leadership of Dalaran and only one of the Council of Six votes in her favor causing her to abandon the war effort.
  • Finally, in Battle For Azeroth, after a LOT of work patching things up with her family and Kul Tiras, Jaina happily becomes one of the leading Commanders for the War pushing for multiple large scale attacks; going as far as to successfully lead an attack on Zandalar to cripple the Horde fleet, though she does refuse to attack civilians and seems to regret Rastakhan's demise, which only cements Zandalar's alliance with the Horde. However, after Baine returns her resurrected brother Derek to her despite great risk to himself, Jaina realizes she's only been fueling a wildfire of bigotry between the Factions and works with Thrall, Saurfang, Lor'themar, Thalyssra, and other Horde Leaders to remove Sylvanas from power in hopes of ending the war peacefully.
• Cool Boat: In her Warbringers video she raises her father's old flagship, which is an enormous galleon that towers over all other ships. She puts it to very good use at the Battle for Lordaeron, flying the entire ship through the air and using it to turn the tide on the Horde by dispersing the Blight and then blasting the walls open with arcane cannons.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Theramore's fall. Seeing the Horde willing to destroy everything she loved in so apocalyptic a fashion and seeing the likes of Garrosh's orcs celebrate the devastation pushed her over the edge into only seeking Revenge against the Horde.
• Deadpan Snarker: Jaina had a penchant for playful sarcasm in her younger days. After Theramore's fall, the snarks generally have taken a more cynical tone.
• Death Glare: Jaina, with her Icy Blue Eyes can look terrifying when she is angered. At the end of Warbringers: Jaina, she stares menacingly at the sea, with her warning her enemies, "Beware, beware... of me."
• Depending on the Writer: Jaina has a history of this, mainly due to differing views of her character following Theramore's destruction between the game writers, who depicted her as a warmonger with ample Fantastic Racism and Christie Golden, who depicted her as still peace-loving and closer to her initial characterization. This led to several instances of Jaina in tie-in novels having a Heel Realization and seeing her hatred of the Horde as unreasonable and destructive and letting it go, only to reappear in-game as angry and vengeful towards the Horde as ever. Golden joining the game writing staff as of Battle for Azeroth appears to have stabilized Jaina's character with one final Heel Realization following Baine's return of her brother.
• Despair Event Horizon: While of course everything about the destruction of Theramore was horrible, seeing the corpse of her apprentice Kinndy shatter into purple sand when Jaina touched her was the final breaking point.
• Didn't Think This Through: Often the victim of this especially after her fall into revenge.
  • The Purge of Dalaran. Though Jaina ordered that only the blood elves who resisted being imprisoned be killed, since she turned to the Silver Covenant, who hate the blood elves with a passion, to carry out the purge, they predictably abused the situation to massacre the blood elves. Furthermore, the purge ended any hopes of the blood elves rejoining the Alliance not just because of the violence, but because the biggest proponent of that initiative was Aethas Sunreaver himself.
  • Jaina led an attack on Zandalar to force Rastakhan into forcing the Horde out of his Kingdom. However, Jaina apparently did not expect him to fight to the death, causing the Zandalari to swear revenge on the Alliance and formally joined the Horde. Anduin laments how the plan failed but Saurfang later calls her out for being so stupid to believe Rastakhan would surrender peacefully and that the siege would lead to the Zandalari NOT joining the Horde.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Jaina took flimsy evidence at best that the Sunreavers had betrayed Dalaran's neutrality ^note When the Divine Bell was stolen from Darnassus, Jaina's 'proof' of Sunreaver involvement amounted to finding a portal from Darnassus leading to Dalaran. as justification to arrest every Horde affiliated citizen in Dalaran, with anyone who refuses to come quietly being killed. In the Horde side of the Purge of Dalaran questchain, this culminates in her killing unarmed blood elf civilians as they try to run away from her.^note The Alliance version of the questing instance has her teleport them to the Violet Hold Lor'themar is understandably enraged, and even Varian calls her out on this, particularly because it utterly turns Sin'dorei against them and drives them straight back into the arms of The Horde.
• The Dreaded: The Horde knows how powerful she is. When Rokhan and Thalyssra break into the Stormwind Stockade to free Zul the Prophet and Princess Talanji, they encounter Jaina on their way out. When they see her approaching, they don't make any attempts to fight her and just urge the Horde adventurer to run.
• Exhausted Eye Bags: Jaina's new Battle for Azeroth model shows heavy bags under her eyes, contrasting against her pale skin. Her one-woman war against the Legion didn't leave her much time for rest.
• Exposed to the Elements: Jaina still wears a short-sleeved top that bares her cleavage and midriff in Northrend during Wrath of the Lich King, even in Icecrown Citadel, a fortress built on a glacier in an area prone to blizzards.
• Fantastic Racism: Jaina takes on a fierce hatred for the Horde races in Mists of Pandaria after the Fall of Theramore.
  • Orcs in particular make her angry. She hates Garrosh for unleashing the mana bomb on her city and in Tides of War partially blames Thrall for making Garrosh Warchief, even refusing to depose him after she warned Thrall that Garrosh would sooner or later escalate the situation and openly start a war. She refuses to call Thrall by his birth name, "Go'el", to slight him, and directly after surviving the bomb suggested to Varian to "wipe out every one of those green-skinned sons of—" before Anduin cut her off.
  • When she found a portal leading to Dalaran in the wake of the theft of the Divine Bell, Jaina immediately assumed every member of the Sunreavers were traitors to Dalaran's neutrality and ordered they all be imprisoned in the Violet hold, with those who inevitably resisted being killed.
  • In War Crimes, she admitted that she doesn't just hate Orcs, but also wanted the Tauren, Trolls, Blood Elves, Forsaken and Goblins to die too.
  • She managed to make peace with Thrall in War Crimes, but orders her agents in Warlords of Draenor to deny service to the Horde and in Legion staunchly refuses to permit the Horde to be readmitted to Dalaran, resigning when the other members of the Council of Six vote against her. Whether her forgiveness in War Crimes has been retconned, or it only ever went as far as Thrall remains ambiguous.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: In her new appearance in Battle for Azeroth, Jaina took to wearing armor on her right arm, though only her right arm.
• Final Solution: Her attempted drowning of Orgrimmar would've been one if she had not been talked out of it by Thrall and Kalecgos.

G-L

• Good Is Not Dumb: The cynical Aegwynn vastly underestimates Jaina's intelligence because of her acting like a fangirl around Aegwynn and the rather innocent look in her face. Jaina manages to shock Aegwynn twice. One, for noticing that Aegwynn's wards aren't actually hers, but were set up by Medivh, and two, after correctly concluding that Aegwynn was the one who resurrected Medivh.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She wears a long hooded purple mantle decorated with runes along with white clothing, and is a kind and elegant lady. She later wears a more elegant purple and white robe befitting her status as the ruler of Theramore. Averted in the new expansion Battle for Azeroth as, while still graceful, she's done away with any purple clothing.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Is depicted this way in the art when using her offensive spells. After she was partially infused with arcane energies from the mana bomb, her eyes constantly glowed a blue-purplish color.
• Growling Gut:
  • In the novel "Cycle of Hatred", her stomach is said to rumble as a constant side-effect of her teleportation spell, with her most recent use causing an incredibly loud growl due to the undigested jerky in her belly.
  • Happens to her again in "Arthas: Rise of the Lich King" when she gets hungry at the Dalaran gardens in the beginning of Chapter 6.
• Happily Married: With Arthas in an alternate timeline. They even have a boy called Uther.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Together with Innocent Blue Eyes at first. Jaina is introduced as young, idealistic and willing to listen to reason, and one of the main forces pressing for permanent peace with the Horde. Following Theramore's destruction, she becomes jaded, cynical and aggressive, and her hair is turned white save for a blonde stripe.
• Heel Realization:
  • When she realizes how close she's come to the edge with her attempt to flood Orgrimmar.
  • In War Crimes, Jaina is shown a vision of herself before Theramore was destroyed. She doesn't recognize her young and kind self.
    She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the scene, but reached out blindly to Kalecgos. [...] And the sight of herself, in a hastily thrown-on robe — Golden hair, kind eyes, a face that bore a single furrow in its brow, lips that knew more of gentle words than shrieks of pain. It was an alien face. Jaina's heart was shattered at the visible evidence of how truly innocent she had been not that long ago. [...] My voice... Did I truly sound so young? [...] Her voice was rich with warmth and gratitude. I was... good, Jaina realized. I was good, then...
  • When Derek is revived as a Forsaken and returned to her by Baine despite the dangers of betraying Sylvanas, Jaina realizes she's only been fueling the Faction War and alienating Leaders from Alliance and Horde who are trying to forge peaceful resolutions.
• Hero Antagonist: Similarly to King Rastakhan, she is not exactly a villainous character by the time she is fought as a raid boss. However, her involvement in the killing of the former makes the Horde go after her.
• Hero-Worshipper: Aegwynn was one of Jaina's idols in her youth and one of the reasons why she wanted to become a sorceress. Aegwynn, though, does not see herself as a hero, having failed Azeroth because of her arrogance.
• Heroic BSoD: Her return to Kul Tiras drives her into one after learning how hated she is, and how her own mother would send her away to be executed despite Jaina wishing to help her. It takes Greymane and the players helping Katherine realize how much Jaina has been through, and for Katherine to finally realize her mistake and apologize to her for her to break out of it.
• Honorary Aunt: Jaina cares for Anduin who in turn refers to her as "Aunt Jaina".
• Hourglass Plot: The irony is not lost on Anduin, who once admired Jaina for her diplomacy and peace-seeking views, and had trouble bonding with his Hot-Blooded father, who advocated a more radical approach against the Horde, that the two of them eventually switched roles with Jaina giving up any attempts to sue for peace, while Varian has taken a more reasonable and diplomatic path.
• Hyper-Awareness: When Aegwynn in Cycle of Hatred makes a snide remark how she would have kicked Jaina out of her cave already if the demon Zmodlor hadn't replaced her wards with his, Jaina quickly retorts by pointing out that the wards were never Aegwynn's to begin with. When Jaina entered Aegwynn's place, she immediately recognized the magic that surrounded the place was Medivh's.
• An Ice Person: Her main forte is powerful ice magic, with most of her magical arsenal based around it.
• I Did What I Had to Do: How she feels about the Dalaran Purge. It's even the name of the final quest in that chain.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Though technically, Thrall and Kalec warn her about not only killing Garrosh but also destroying his entire city (and killing the people within).
• I Hate Past Me: Jaina goes through a lot of self-reflection after the Fall of Theramore and loathes herself for saving the Horde from her father and fellow Kul Tirans, and for stopping Varian from attacking Thrall during the Battle for the Undercity in Wrath of the Lich King. In particular, the death of her apprentice, Kinndy, weighs heavy on Jaina, as she promised Kinndy's parents to protect her and failed to do so.
  
  When Jaina returns to Kul Tiras, she notices how its citizens mourn the death of their beloved Lord Admiral, Jaina's father, and how they hate Jaina for letting him get killed by the Horde. Around Kul Tiras, the people also keep singing the seafarer shanty Daughter of the Sea, which is a constant reminder and warning of Jaina's involvement in her father's death. She eventually embraces the song and sings it herself. When the player and Katherine Proudmoore try to retrieve Jaina from the Blighted Lands, they are treated with visions of Daelin accusing her of letting him die, Varian claiming that her refusal to let him declare war on the Horde during the Battle of the Undercity caused the deaths of thousands, Rhonin condemning her violating the Kirin Tor's neutrality with the Purge of Dalaran, and some deceased Theramore citizens harshly criticizing Jaina for her former peaceful ways allowing the Horde to destroy Theramore. While those visions are actually Drust posing as them, Jaina does not deny their accusations, and she herself is having visions regarding what she should have done towards her father attacking Thrall's Horde and Arthas culling Stratholme.
• Innocence Lost: Jaina was a Reluctant Warrior, who hated resorting to violence and was advocating peace until Garrosh killed almost everyone she loved with a bomb. She has become a person who firmly opposes the Horde and initially after the mana bomb sees violence (as in complete annihilation and genocide) as the only way to stop them, which ironically shocks Varian, who mellowed out thanks to the peace-loving Anduin, who once admired "Aunt" Jaina for her diplomacy and willingness to cooperate with the Horde. She eventually calms down a bit, but still sees violence as the only way to deal with the Horde.
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: When she returns to Kul Tiras at the beginning of Battle for Azeroth, her mother rips off Jaina's necklace. Katherine returns it to Jaina when she makes her daughter Lord Admiral.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Friendship might be a stretch, but at the end of Cycle of Hatred, Aegwynn starts working as Jaina's chamberlain and advisor in Theramore, and they are on a First-Name Basis. Jaina dearly misses Aegwynn after the latter sacrificed herself for her grandson, Med'an, to help him defeat Cho'gall.
• Interspecies Romance: It was mentioned that she had a fling with the Blood Elven prince Kael'thas Sunstrider, and as of Mists of Pandaria, has hooked up with Kalecgos, a dragon.
• In the Hood: Jaina was depicted with a purple cloak and hood in Warcraft III and it has ever been a trademark for her. Though the cloak was strangely absent from World of Warcraft for the longest time, Battle for Azeroth finally gave her a true cloak again, though now a blue-green color befitting her Kul Tiran roots.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: The destruction of Theramore moves her to try to destroy Orgrimmar, but Thrall and Kalec talk her down. She later makes another jump after the theft of the Divine Bell from Darnassus, by purging Dalaran of all Sunreaver influence and arresting or killing everybody associated with the group.
• Karma Houdini: Her comeuppance for ordering the Purge of Dalaran, effectively an ethnic cleansing of the city, amounted to a rebuke by Varian that she brushed off.
• Kill It with Water: Stricken with grief over the destruction of Theramore and the resulting death toll, Jaina poured through Antonidas's library and discovered that she could use the Focusing Iris that the Horde used to destroy Theramore to enslave countless elementals to her will. She came within a hairs-breadth of using it to drown all of Ogrimmar with a flood of water elementals, only being dissuaded by the timely intervention of Thrall and Kalecgos.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": When Jaina figures out that the hermit she just found is none other than Magna Aegwynn, the only female Guardian of Tirisfal and mother of the last Guardian, Medivh, she is ecstatic, much to Aegwynn's annoyance.
• Lady of Black Magic: The most powerful living archmage in Azeroth (with Khadgar being the only real competition), she's usually a compassionate and kind lady who is not afraid to use her magic to both devastate her enemies and protect her people. Only lately has she been too destructive thanks to the mana-bombing of Theramore, but her elegance still remains even if it takes a turn to an eerily sinister elegance.
• Leave Him to Me!: On the Isle of Thunder, she tells the Alliance player to let her deal with Aethas Sunreaver.
• Locked into Strangeness: She ends up with an inverted skunk stripe following the bombing of Theramore, as most of her hair is turned white by the residue of the mana bomb, save for a few stripes of her original blonde.
• Love Triangle: Between Arthas and Kael. Neither really won — or rather, Arthas did for a while before his Moral Event Horizon and eventual Face–Heel Turn turned her away; the [Jaina's Locket] quest and interludes in Arthas: Rise of the Lich King make it pretty clear she still loved/loves him, however. And then there's Thrall.

M-R

• Magic Mirror: She has one to communicate with Rhonin and Varian in The Shattering and Tides of War.
• Magic Staff: Antonidas granted her his own magical staff, which she continues to channel her magic with. In Mists of Pandaria, she charges it up with the Thunder King's power.
• Making a Splash: Going hand in hand with her ice magic, she also has a great deal of control over water. She even attempts to summon a giant tidal wave to drown Orgrimmar.
• Mayfly–December Romance:
  • Subverted. One of the noted reasons why she never had a romantic relationship with the centuries-old Prince Kael'thas was because of his age. While she admired and respected Kael, and didn't find him unattractive at all as he looked more her age, there was something that always made her nervous around him.
  • Played straight with Kalecgos. He is a youngster of the Blue Dragonflight, but he still is at least a thousand years older than Jaina and will easily outlive her unless she starts using anti-aging spells like Aegwynn did for a thousand years.
• Merlin and Nimue:
  • Antonidas was Jaina's age-old mentor and she in turn his finest and closest pupil. Jaina viewed him as a close friend and also perhaps as a Parental Substitute. When Dalaran was rebuilt, she commissioned, paid and designed a memorial for him.
  • As one of the archmages of Dalaran, Kael'thas also instructed Jaina in magic. While this wasn't physically apparent, Kael was several (hundred) years older than Jaina, and while he was romantically interested in Jaina, Jaina had already fallen for Arthas.
• Misplaced Accent: Despite having been born in Kul Tiras, Jaina doesn't have the proud sailor's accent most of the nation, including her immediate family, has. Justified by the fact that Jaina spent her formative years growing up in Dalaran and adopting the local accent.
• Moral Luck: In retribution for Theramore, Jaina attempted to drown the city of Orgrimmar, which would have killed thousands of innocent people and only did not do so because Thrall physically held back her conjured tidal wave in place until he and Kalecgos could talk her down. This is particularly noticeable as following this Jaina was praised for her strong morals by the Kirin Tor, which is doubtful they would have done had she actually succeeded in her attempted mass murder
• Moral Myopia: Jaina plainly considers Sunreaver agents helping the Horde steal the Divine Bell to be an unforgivable violation of Dalaran's neutrality. But her helping the Alliance secure and hold the Divine Bell was somehow not a problem.
• Ms. Fanservice: She is a tall and very beautiful woman always depicted wearing robes that show her belly and cleavage.
• Music for Courage: In a way. Daughter of a Sea is a Kul Tiran song to remind the people of Jaina's Betrayal by Inaction and denounce her for choosing the savage Horde over her nation and its people. Warbringers: Jaina shows Jaina acknowledging her mistakes and her turning the words to "Beware of the Daughter of the Sea" for Kul Tirans into a warning to her enemies.
  Jaina: "Beware, beware, the Daughter of the Sea. Beware, beware..." ...of me.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • When her father attempted to destroy Orgrimmar in Warcraft III, Jaina sided with Thrall over him and allowed Daelin to die in battle. Years later, during the Battle for the Undercity, she would stop Varian's attempt to kill Thrall and Sylvanas in an desperate attempt to the factions from descending into open war. After the destruction of Theramore, as well as other destructive acts committed by the Horde against the Alliance, Jaina has become a staunch proponent of the Alliance dismantling the Horde, forcing her to reevaluate her past decisions.
  • She has that reaction when she realizes in Tides of War that she almost drowned both Orgrimmar and the Alliance fleet, that Varian secretly led to ambush Garrosh, with a giant tidal wave that she summoned.
  • In the Battle for Azeroth comic, Reunion, Jaina visits Kul Tiras for the first time in years and witnesses her mother mourning her father's death with other Kul Tiran citizens. When she realizes how this act broke the people of Kul Tiras, just as she broke after Theramore's destruction, and how in particular her mother is disappointed and hurt and blames herself for raising Jaina incorrectly, Jaina is brought to tears.
  • Finally when Baine returns her recently resurrected brother Derek to her; Jaina has a realization that she's only been fueling the Faction War and not trying to end it like her allies called her out on in War Crimes.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • Up until Theramore's fall, Jaina perceived her greatest mistake to be not being able to stop Arthas. Uther didn't blame her for this, but Jaina still felt she could have prevented Arthas from going down that dark path. In Wrath of the Lich King, she seeks to make this right by helping against the Lich King. Battle for Azeroth makes it clear that Jaina still thinks she should have stopped him.
  • Her inability to convince her father to stand down against Thrall is one that Jaina couldn't let go, even though it was not her fault at all. In Battle for Azeroth, her return to Kul Tiras ends up making this return in ways worse than before, and she feels so guilty over it, she accepts being blamed for it even though many know she didn't actually kill him.
  • When Theramore fell, Jaina, as its ruler, blamed her naivety for trusting in peace between the Alliance and the Horde. She intends to dismantle the Horde, so that they can never rise in power and another Theramore can never happen again.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Tends to bust out new tricks for something and then never use them ever again. Notably includes making a sailing ship fly and conjure magical Arcane cannons on it's port-side when normal Arcane Blasts would have worked fine, projecting an army of ice and water elementals onto the tiers of Zuldazar, and other various abilities that are never seen again.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the belief the Sunreavers had betrayed Dalaran, Jaina acted quickly to inter them and had those who responded with violence killed. Unfortunately, it turns out Varian was in the middle of trying to convince the Blood Elves to return to the Alliance when it happened, and she destroyed any chance of that happening. Even worse, the whole thing was all part of Garrosh's plan and she acted exactly as he expected.
• Only Sane Woman: Until Theramore, anyway.
• Parting-Words Regret: A constant, when it comes to the people she loved before they died.
  • They weren't her final words, but Jaina firmly opposed Arthas' plans to cull Stratholme of the Undead Plague and did not support him in doing so. Her "betrayal" and breaking of her promise to never leave Arthas hurt the emotionally vulnerable Arthas deeply and only reinforced his belief that he was doing the right thing, because acknowledging her words would mean that he would become a mass murderer. Her real final words to him (as a living human) were to beg him not to go to Northrend, but she again refused to accompany him to Northrend, which only made Arthas feel betrayed even more.
  • Jaina's attempts to show sympathy and compassion only made Kael angrier, especially as Arthas, Jaina's former lover, whom Kael was jealous of, was the one who destroyed Quel'Thalas, killed Kael's father, corrupted the Sunwell and brought the high elves to near extinction while desecrating their corpses.
    "He murdered my father, Jaina, just as he murdered his own. I—I should have been there."
    "To die with him? With the rest of your people? What good would throwing your life away do for—" No sooner had the words left her lips than she realized that it was the wrong thing to say. Kael'thas tensed and cut her off sharply.
    "I could have stopped him. I should have."
  • Her final conversation with her father was the two of them arguing, as Jaina accused her father of intolerance for not listening to her, nor understanding her views to solve the conflict with the Horde peacefully. Daelin insisted that he does understand more than she believes, and that she in time would too. After Theramore was destroyed, Jaina recalled this conversation and deeply regrets the price she had to pay to learn the lesson her father wanted to teach her.
• Playing with Fire: While she primarily plays around with water and ice, she also mixes in powerful fire magic to torch her foes.
• Plucky Girl: Even after Archimonde's "The Reason You Suck" Speech after destroying her encampments, she calmly replies with "Is talking all you demons do?" before teleporting away.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: Most of her hair is turned white following the bombing of Theramore, giving the appearance that she's older than she actually is.
• Psychotic Smirk: She gives a subtle one when it looks as though Varian is about to go through with her suggestion about dismantling the Horde while they're weak from Garrosh's defeat. Given how peace-driven she used to be, this is rather unsettling.
• The Purge: Jaina had the Horde purged from Dalaran after the theft of the Divine Bell. Jaina does order that the blood elves merely be imprisoned in the Violet Hold, but she's pretty open about how anyone who resists will be killed. The fact that she turns to the Silver Covenant, who hate the blood elves, to perform the rounding up process doesn't help, with plenty of their number predictably taking advantage of the situation to kill blood elves in droves.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Initially. Then the mana bomb is dropped on Theramore... Now she's the warmonger while Varian has mellowed out^note or is at least less aggressive-as-default.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Jaina delivers quite an epic one to Aegwynn in Cycle of Hatred when the latter wants to be left alone and not help against the demon, Zmodlor.
    Aegwynn: What do you know of responsibility? For eight—
    Jaina: Yes, I know what you did, Magna, you've told me quite a bit about your failures, your deceits, your lies, your arrogance — but what you've also reminded me of is that you never once shirked your responsibility as Guardian. Everything you did — from facing Zmodlor to defying the council to siring Medivh — was done because you believed in what you did. Regardless of your mistakes, of your defeats, you never once shirked that responsibility. Until now. You asked me what I know of responsibility, and right now I'd say more than you, because you never had to be responsible to anyone save yourself. I have led people into battle, and I have ruled them when the battle was over — and right now, the people who have trusted me need me, and it may well be because of a demon you were supposed to have killed. I will not see everything we have built here be brought down by your self-pity, Magna.
  • She also gives one after killing several Horde soldiers who'd tried to kill her after Theramore's destruction in Tides of War, before finishing off the sole survivor. She also gives a slightly altered version of this speech in the Alliance version of the Theramore's Fall scenario, while fighting the last boss.
    Jaina: Your people are despicable cowards. You are nothing more than rabid dogs, and you should be put down. You spit on mercy? Then you will have none. You want carnage? Garrosh will get more blood than he ever bargained for.
  • She gives one to Varian and Anduin when they object to her plan to destroy the Horde.
    Jaina: I don't know what's happened to you, Varian Wrynn, but you've turned into a coward. And you, Anduin, I am sorry for my part in keeping you a gullible child. There's no hope for peace; there's no time for strategy. I have their ruination in my grasp. You're a fool for not seizing the chance!
  • Her revived brother Derek gives her an invoked one which shakes her to the core. He tells her how Baine and other Horde members risked their lives to free him and tell him the truth about Daelin and return him to her. This finally wakes Jaina up into remembering that not everyone in the Horde is as evil as she tried to believe.
• Red Baron: To both the Alliance and Horde, Jaina was "the Lady of Theramore", a staunch ally of peace. To the people of Kul Tiras, she is "the Daughter of the Sea", the woman who betrayed her father and left him for dead.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • She goes on a brief one after the Horde destroys Theramore, planning to summon a gigantic tidal wave to destroy Orgrimmar and kill all the orcs within. Thrall and Kalec talk her out of it, though, reminding her that if she does as such, she'll be just as bad as Arthas or Garrosh.
  • Goes on another with the Purge of Dalaran, this time no one talks her out of it.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: A princess of Kul Tiras in all but name, and very active in the on-goings of Azeroth.

S-Z

• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Jaina leaves Varian's funeral in a huff when Anduin and Velen refuse her demand that the Alliance declare war on the Horde and instead decide to continue to fight the Legion alongside it. Later, when the Council of Six decides to allow Horde mages back into the Kirin Tor, Jaina angrily resigns out of protest.
• Self-Made Orphan: A rare non-evil example. Jaina Proudmoore is more or less directly responsible for her father's death, even if she didn't kill him herself and still hoped he could be reasoned with. Not that the Knight Templar didn't have it coming...
• She Is the King: Her mother names her Lord Admiral after Jaina saves Boralus by rescuing their lost fleet to stop Ashvane's assault.
• She Who Fights Monsters: Heavily, heavily zigzagged. Since the destruction of Theramore, Jaina has constantly gone back and forth between wanting to destroy the Horde and allowing herself to admit that the Horde isn't entirely evil:
  • In Tides of War, as revenge for the destruction of Theramore, Jaina almost destroys Orgrimmar with a huge tidal wave. It's subverted when she's talked down by Thrall and Kalec, who causes her to realize that her actions would make her no better than Arthas and Garrosh.
  • However, in Mists of Pandaria, her personality has still shown to be shifted and she still maintains a strong anti-Horde stance, leading to a double subversion. This leads to the Purge of Dalaran, as well as Jaina demanding that Varian dismantle the Horde after the Siege of Orgrimmar (which Varian decides not to do).
  • A triple subversion comes in War Crimes, where she admits that the orcs are not all like Garrosh when Tyrande tries to exploit her testimony, is genuinely upset when she sees her evil Tides of War self, and finally mends the fence with Thrall at the end.
  • Despite that, a quadruple subversion comes in Legion where the Horde being forced to retreat during the Battle of the Broken Shore leads to the Alliance task force being decimated and Varian dying, which causes her to go back to aggressively advocating a war of annihilation against the Horde. So much so that she furiously leaves the Kirin Tor when they vote to allow the Horde back to Dalaran.
  • You guessed it, Quintuple subverted in Battle for Azeroth, hopefully for good this time. After Baine goes through a lot of trouble to deliver the recently revived Derek Proudmoore to Jaina before Sylvanas could turn him into a sleeper agent, Jaina realizes that her hatred for the Horde had only been fueling the war between the factions. She then helps Thrall and Saurfang rescue Baine from Sylvanas, and teleports all of them to Thunder Bluff once Baine is free. When Thrall fears that Sylvanas will burn Thunder Bluff down in retaliation (just like how she burned Teldrassil), Jaina encourages Thrall by stating that Sylvanas can be stopped if the Horde and the Alliance face her together, recalling how they stopped the Legion from destroying Nordrassil.
    Jaina: Once before you and I stood side by side on the slopes of Mount Hyjal. That World Tree did not burn.
• Ship Tease: With Thrall prior to the Ship Sinking. Also add "Jaina looks like the human girl that cared for Thrall when he's young." She also gets some with Varian at Icecrown Citadel. Also add "Jaina looks like his dead wife", as well as the fact that her relationship with Anduin is very much that of a mother and child, furthering implications.
• Shock and Awe: After imbuing her staff with the power of the Thunder King.
• Spanner in the Works: She was one to Sylvanas in the Battle for Lordaeron. Jaina single-handedly dispel the plague and break through the wall with her battleship. Later, she teleport the Alliance leader to safety after Sylvanas sprung her trap in the throne room.
• Squishy Wizard:
  • Supposedly, being a spellcaster with no armor or proficiency in melee.
  • Hilariously averted initially in World of Warcraft, much to the amusement of the fanbase. She does more damage by hitting you with her staff than by casting fireballs and as a boss has a very big health pool.
• Stealth Expert: Jaina actually is really good in hiding herself or making herself invisible and also occasionally listened to conversations she wasn't meant to hear, though it never fooled her master, Antonidas, nor Medivh or Aegwynn. When she visits Kul Tiras for the first time, she also changes her appearance, so no one can recognize her.
• Stripperiffic: Since her debut in Warcraft III Jaina was always seen wearing robes with an extremely low bust-line, and she's always baring her midriff, even when she's fighting demons, recapturing the Undercity, charging after The Lich King in the bowels of Icecrown Citadel, and so on. This is averted in Battle for Azeroth, with her new robe only revealing her neck and a limited amount of cleavage.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Now that Jaina's mother Katherine has an in-game model, apart from Katherine being older, a bit leaner and lacking a skunk stripe, Battle for Azeroth reveals that Jaina is otherwise the spitting image of her mother, Katherine.
• Summon Magic: Almost never joins a fight without summoning a water elemental to help her and is capable of summoning several more if need be.
• Super-Senses: Jaina can enhance her eyes or ears with magic.
• Survivor's Guilt: She feels guilty for surviving the mana bomb that killed her friends, most of the best the Alliance military had to offer, some members of the Kirin Tor (including its leader), and her subjects. Rhonin's Heroic Sacrifice and the death of her apprentice in particular weigh on her. In Rhonin's case, he did so because he wanted to fulfill Krasus' final prophecy, as Jaina was meant to lead the Kirin Tor.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Very good at this. Also tends to do this to your tank if you try to take her down.
• Tragic Ice Character: She's a powerful sorceress, master of all schools of magic, but is most often associated with ice, especially since the destruction of her city of Theramore, after which her life became one tragedy after another.
• Took a Level in Cynic: After all the years of speaking favorably about peace between the Alliance and the Horde, Garrosh thanked her by completely annihilating her city, killing many of its citizens and Alliance members who came to Jaina's help. When she came back to Theramore to look for survivors, Garrosh's men found her and were going to take her head as a trophy to their warchief. It's no wonder she has stopped believing in peace and now views Horde races, orcs in particular, with disgust.
  • Averted in Rise of Azshara when she finally lets go of her hatred and accepts help from Lor'Themar in Nazjatar and aids Thrall & Saurfang's Rebellion against Sylvanas.
• Unwitting Pawn: Her reaction to the theft of the Divine Bell, imprisoning every blood elf in Dalaran and killing those that resist, was exactly what Garrosh wanted her to do. It put an immediate end to the negotiations between Lor'themar and Varian about bringing the blood elves into the Alliance and committed them to warring against the Alliance in retribution for the purge.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: While calling Jaina a villain would be an overstatement, "Daughter of the Sea" paints her in a villainous light, and is a rather resentful recounting of her misdeeds. She would later use it as a normal Villain Song: Jaina even quotes it during her boss fight in the Battle for Dazar'alor, while its instrumental version is played as Background Music.
• War Hawk: Has taken on the role where Varian left off, trying to stir the Alliance towards war against the Horde even after Garrosh has been defeated.
  • Averted, as of Rise of Azshara she realizes the folly of continuing the Faction War.
• Water Is Womanly: Jaina Proudmoore is a beautiful, elegant archmage with powerful water magic, having the power of the water elementals strong enough to drown an entire city.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Mists of Pandaria.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In Legion, she completely disappeared from the story after she resigned from the Kirin Tor, with no explanation given as to why she left during the biggest Legion invasion in Azeroth's history. She wouldn't appear again until Battle For Azeroth where it's revealed in Reunion that she kept fighting the war against the Burning Legion alone.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Before the Fall of Theramore permanently changed her, Jaina was usually the one who called others out for breaking truces and alliances over a common enemy. After Theramore was destroyed, though...
  • Gives one to Thrall over not replacing Garrosh, then later gets one from Thrall and Kalec for her plan to destroy Orgrimmar^note instead of just killing Garrosh himself.
  • Then later gets another one from Varian after he finds out what she did to the blood elves of Dalaran^note because it ended his ongoing secret negotiations for the blood elven nation-state of Quel'Thalas to rejoin the Alliance.
  • She and Lor'themar get one together from Taran Zhu for perpetuating an endless cycle of revenge^note in a land where negative emotions can literally physically manifest and said manifestations can literally deform and/or mind control people.
  • Jaina and Anduin both get called out by Varian after the latter learns in War Crimes during Garrosh's trial that Jaina helped Baine with funds to fight back against the Grimtotem, who violently took over Thunder Bluff and Mulgore. Worse, she apparently dragged Anduin into this, though as Varian later learns, it was a coincidence, as Anduin fled from his captor, Moira Thaurissan, in Ironforge with a Hearthstone Jaina gave him and suddenly barged into a conversation between Baine and Jaina. This meeting also had positive consequences though, as Baine and Anduin both gained mutual respect for each other.
  • Both Anduin and Saurfang call her out on killing Rastakhan instead of capturing him.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: During the Battle of Dazar'alor, she strictly forbids the Alliance forces from going after civilians and noncombatants.
• You Are in Command Now:
  • Leads the Kirin Tor after Rhonin's death.
  • In Battle for Azeroth she becomes Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras after her mother steps down.
• Younger Than They Look: Jaina's white hair belies the fact that she's yet to turn 40.

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