In my book Blair gave his life in the service and defense of mankind (the only way he could go out).
The way he went out is (as we can tell form the post) a very volitile subject. The thing is as soon as video games began to construct stories for thier main characters, they became something else. They becamed a part of literature. There are a few ways in which a story can proceed in literature, but the most prolific are the feel-good, fairy-tale 'everyone is happy and better off in the end' story and (my personal favorite), the greek tragedy. The WC seiries is following the model of a Greek tragedy. borrowing from Sadics (read it by the way, it's a very good analysis) post borrowed from Loaf, think about the steps and then think about greek tradegy writings like the Iliad and Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare, but still a greek tragedy). New guy, proves himself in battle, suffers a major setback, proves himself once again, main character in a glorius battle, rakes up huge anounts of emotional baggage along the way, finally decides that he can't live in a normal way any longer (he's seen too much, been through too many horrid situations, can't live with his demons), etc etc etc. the best stories by far are the greek tragedies because you grow emotionally attached to the characters. That is one thing that has struck me as I've been reading this thread. Almost everyone here went through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief cycle in reactance to blairs death (not a by the numbers science, but practical none the less). Denial, anger, helplessness, acceptance, etc etc have all been seen on this board. (I too went through these, but now I must agree with Sadic and Loaf about the reasons for blairs death).
in the end, WC is a greek tragedy that has come full circle (with Casey carrying the torch now) and has attracted a loyal following because of its story.
(good lord you could write a thesis on the similarities of WC with a greek tragedy or the emotional attachment people feel for those involved in one . . . hint hint to all those psychology and literature students out there
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