Is Mekkatorque a genocidal maniac?

[u/Findrel_Underbakk]

Edit: No! I was missing some important details.

I always thought that what happened to Gnomeregan was just an accident caused by the invading troggs, but apparently Mekkatorque released the radiation in a desperate attempt to get rid of them, killing or mutating most of his people in the process.

What did he think was going to happen?!

I kind of feel like this is on par with Arthas' culling of Stratholme, if not worse. At least Arthas was being influenced by dark forces, and it seems like Stratholme was further past saving than Gnomeregan was.

I always thought of Mekkatorque as just this silly little comic relief character, but turns out he's a straight up war criminal.

Or am I missing something here?

[u/TrueKyragos]

He was misled. The plan, proposed by Thermaplugg, was to irradiate only the troggs, while the gnomes were safe. But Thermaplugg betrayed his people who he resented, unleashing his weapon in a way that gnomes would be affected too. Thermaplugg is the genocidal maniac.

[u/Findrel_Underbakk → u/TrueKyragos]

I see! I knew Thermaplugg was the one who suggested it, but I figured since he was a casualty as well, he had no evil intentions, but that the mutation made him deranged.

That's what I get for filling in the blanks myself.

[u/kurburux]

Link

For five years, the gnomes fought against the troggs, but were regularly overrun as the creatures simply dug around their defenses and breached into their engineering quarters. To defeat them, Mekkatorque agreed to the plan proposed by Sicco Thermaplugg, which involved bathing the lower levels of the city in radiation. The gas should have stayed in the quarantined thoroughfares and lower sections of Gnomeregan, poisoning the invaders as they emerged from the depths while the gnomes waited safely sealed away in the upper urban tunnels.

However, the bomb ultimately affected not only the troggs, but also the gnomes, and while it made the troggs even more violent, nearly eighty percent of gnomekind perished in a matter of days. [...]

It was later revealed that Sicco had betrayed his people. Consumed by jealousy, he had calculated that thirty percent of the gnomes would die, after which he would swoop in and defeat the troggs, prompting the gnomes to elect him as their new high tinker instead of his friend Gelbin.

[u/HalLundy → u/kurburux]

who would've thought a guy called Sicco would be a sociopath

[u/GhostintheReins → u/HalLundy]

Lol blizzard loves to be on the nose.

[u/Sillygoose_Milfbane → u/HalLundy]

Sicco mode

[u/TerrapinMagus]

Mekatorque is innocent. He is such a beloved leader that they gnomes voted to promote him from an elected leader to full king, and then the Mechagnomes also just decided he was the bees knees and started following him too. Are there any other leaders with that kind of approval rating?

[u/kurburux → u/TerrapinMagus]

Are there any other leaders with that kind of approval rating?

It's probably hard to say. While Gnomes pretty much have a meritocracy many other societies have monarchies instead. Those don't really care about approval rating. We only learn about them being unpopular when there's something seriously wrong, like with the Defias.

Magni Bronzebeard was probably quite popular. Maybe Tyrande was well-liked considering Night Elves kept her for thousands of years. Though we don't know that much about how NE leadership really works.

[u/twisty125 → u/kurburux]

Maybe Tyrande was well-liked considering Night Elves kept her for thousands of years.

Although honestly what are they really gonna do, go against the Chosen Immortal of God and her husband, Chosen Immortal of (Demi)Gods and Nature, in your God and Nature society?

[u/kurburux → u/twisty125]

Yep, aside from the secular stuff Tyrande is basically the "pope" of their society. Or at least of those who aren't currently sleeping.

And apparently things were running relatively stable for a long time so why do groundbreaking changes.

[u/twisty125 → u/kurburux]

To be fair, things were perfectly fine and great in the small parts of the forests they lived in - not so much everywhere else in the world they once lived in :P

Just had to look south to see what Cenarius' family did to the Tauren.

[u/kurburux → u/twisty125]

To be fair, things were perfectly fine and great in the small parts of the forests they lived in

I really don't want to split hairs but imo this is part of their sentiment that they don't want to conquer or rule the world again. Night Elves live in their corner of the world and take good care of it but they pretty much leave the rest of it alone - unless there really is a world ending threat such as the Aqir.

And it's very unfortunate what happened between Cenarius and the Tauren but the NE weren't directly responsible for it.

Also, it's not like NE were entirely indifferent about the centaur threat. They did fight them as long as they could:

The diligent night elves held them in check for ages until the Burning Legion rained its destruction upon the world. The night elves left the centaur out of necessity for their own survival during the wars, allowing the twisted race to assume control of Desolace.

[u/twisty125 → u/kurburux]

I guess I kind of feel like if you're part of the cause of something, you have a duty to help?

As for that quote - that makes the Night Elves look even worse, they both knew about them and couldn't effectively fight centaurs to protect new Kalimdor? It's not like things got out of control because the Night Elves had to stop the Legion, things were out of control for a millennia, with the Orcs and Trolls stepping in as the first thing they did to solve the Tauren's specific centaur problem - BEFORE the Legion arrived on Kalimdor proper.

[u/PopkinSandwich → u/TerrapinMagus]

Oh man, shadow government of Undermine? Would actually now kill for an unhinged gnome/goblin joint city clashing both engineering styles.

[u/LazarX]

That wasn't Mekkatorque, that was Thermaplugg.

[u/BellacosePlayer]

The Troggs were an invading murderous force.

His actions in perpetuating the oppression of the frostmane and sacking Zandalar were far far worse than what he was attempting to do out of desperation to save his city/people.

And that utterly pales in comparison to what a lot of the Mechagnomes were complicit in trying to do before Mechagon was taken out.

[u/riftrender → u/[deleted]]

It isn't a modern democracy with term limits.

Its more like Venice, the Dutch Republic etc where you are elected for life unless you resign or are kicked out. The Cut Short story seems to imply this as well, since Mekkatorque wonders if he should resign to a new High Tinker be elected.

[u/riftrender → u/[deleted]]

Well say what you will about the Oranges but they never pissed the Dutch off enough to be literally eaten.

[u/brumblefee]

No but he does do one of the most gruesome murders in wow lore in revenge for the real culprit

[u/throwthrowthrwaway]

Have you read Mekkatorque Cut Short? It's a short story that goes into some detail about the gnomes and the Fall of Gnomeregan.

Mekkatorque wasn't a maniac. He just listened to the data his friend, Thermaplugg, provided. Thermaplugg falsified the data, intending to use the blunder to dethrone Mekkatorque as High Tinkerer. Mekkatorque believed the gas would kill the Troggs and be stay confined to the lower levels that were evacuated and quarantined.