Kerrigan. A queen or just a hero?

Nonetheless, the original campaign featured the Overmind and two Cerebrates. All those characters are gone and need to be replaced.

See above.

Exactly. Note that Duran was there for Zerg every mission except the last one. (And in that one, Kerrigan verbally sparred with three opponents!) Unless Kerrigan talks to her opponents in each mission, she's going to need someone to talk to.

I think units that lack personalities, such as Hunter Killers, aren't going to help carry the story.

 

There will still be Cerebrates in this campaign, and the Overmind was basically just a larger and more important Cerebrate, so nothing will really change in that regard in StarCraft2.

Same goes. In any missions where the player does not have Kerrigan, they'll still have the Cerebrates just like they did at the beginning of the Zerg campaigns in StarCraft1.

From this it looks as though you'd be happy with just one other playable sentient character for the Zerg campaigns in StarCraft2. In StarCraft1, they started with no sentient playable characters and acquired one throughout their campaign and in BroodWar, they started with the one they'd acquired in the StarCraft1 campaigns and acquired yet another, so why, now that the other has most likely left, is it impossible for them to do it again? There have also been other sentient characters throughout Zerg lore, like Infested Stukov, so it's not as though Duran was never really an Infested Terran or Kerrigan was the one special exception. They do it all the time. Not to mention that Kerrigan is extremely sly and is able to mentally manipulate other characters, like Raszagal, so can easily form temporary alliances with others, which would give her people to talk to.

That wasn't an issue in StarCraft1. They were still able to carry the storyline perfectly with just the Overmind, a sentient unplayable character, and also with Kerrigan, the single sentient playable character for the Zerg. Zerg aren't supposed to be like the Terran or Protoss who have military ranks, etc. They're a swarm of aliens. They should be expected to have tonnes of sentient playable heroes at their disposal, just one or two controlling the masses.

 

I meant blizzard would be increasing the stength of the "backbone" of the zerg but they'd also make it far more dangerous to lose. I've read that blizzard has stated that the queen will also lend itself to offence. But they're still tweaking things like this.

If its not worth microing Kerrigan in that situation whats the point of giving her the extra abilities. You shouldn’t have to make the choice of whether or not to use a unit which is central to your base just because of the sheer amount of abilities needed to make it effective. Whereas if you had Kerrigan as a unique unit she could just lend support from the sidelines when needed and your queen could be totally focused on the roles it was made for.

Sometimes you may get into a situation which requires you to sacrifice your queen in order to save your defence. For example if they are swarming a unit such as the roach (While the bulk of your army is away) and you need to do as much damage as fast as possible you would need to run your queen out to assist. assist your static defences which can’t do damage fast enough. While doing this the enemy sends banelings in to try to take out your defences so your static defences must refocus to kill them. This leaves the roaches up to your queen and possibly also some weaker units. Your queen would have to go down fighting since running away would mean that you can’t do enough damage and your defences would be overrun anyway.

Kerrigan in this situation would be very annoying to handle because shes even more valuable than your base.

Yes but in SC1 you could have more than 1 high templar so a fully upgraded tassadar didn’t mean anything because you would still need to upgrade your own high templars

By taking these abilities off her, especially build. You completely take them out of your arsenal if high templars were a unique unit in SC1 and tassadar’s psychic storm was replaced by an attack similar to yamato gun you would be annoyed because situations where a High Templar would easily counter the enemy would now be a problem due to the changes

But queens can die and when they die your hold of the zerg doesn’t change in anyway. While if Kerrigan died all zerg forces would be cut off from you. As seen by you failing the campaign

She would be a lesser minion in that she just replaces the queens job instead of being able to rule over her swarm and be above even the queens role so having her as a separate unit from the queen makes sense since it gives a sense that she easily commands such powerful units..

I think you’ve started a thing with over use of quote boxes >>

 

Heroes are already as dangerous as they ever will be to lose. If you lose them, you've lost the mission. All heroes are like that and not just Kerrigan. In fact Kerrigan would be better off than the other heroes as she'd be able to instantly Deep Tunnel away if she got into trouble. It's not like Hive Matriarchs wouldn't be Deep Tunnelled away and left there to die as the consequence of that would be far more damaging than Deep Tunnelling away, recovering and returning once it's all over. If you'd lose if you Deep Tunnel your Hive Matriarch away but she'd die if she stayed, then there's no real difference to the outcome of the game if Kerrigan was one of those Queens.

I never said that microing Kerrigan wouldn't be worthwhile, I just said that if it is more worthwhile, then you'll obviously be microing her, and if it isn't, then you obviously won't. That doesn't mean that you're not microing the rest of your army, in the case of it being worthwhile to micro Kerrigan, nor does it mean that you wouldn't be microing Kerrigan, in the case of it being more worthwhile to micro your army. For example, if you get the greatest benefit from microing Roaches, that doesn't mean you're paying no attention to the rest of your army, and as an old example, if it was more worthwhile microing Dragoons, that doesn't mean that you're not microing Tassadar nor does it mean that he's either being used or not being used. About humanoid Kerrigan lending support while the Queen is focusing on her roles, the Queens role is support, and defensive support at that. Kerrigan's abilities may be changed to allow her to support attacks as well, so there's no reason to say that a Queen Kerrigan could not offer support. You've said yourself that they're usually just sitting at home waiting until you've got no chance of losing which is when you bring them out and have some fun, so in that case, when she is needed she'd be needed for defensive support, which is the same role as your regular Queen.

That's the same for any hero. If Raynor is needed to hold off Roaches while other defences are refocusing to kill the Banelings that they're bringing in to take out said defences, then Raynor is dead and you've lost the mission, just as would happen if you used Kerrigan.

Same with Raynor or any other hero in the same situation.

A fully upgraded Tassadar did actually mean a lot in StarCraft1, especially for defensive purposes. If your base is in trouble, Tassadar is an extremely valuable asset. Seeing as he was just hanging around your base anyway, Kerrigan would be in the same boat and would again be as much of a very valuable asset.

Why would it take Colonies out of your arsenal? If High Templars were unique in StarCraft1 and you got Tassadar without Psionic Storm in the campaign, you'd just use your High Templar for Psionic Storm, as that's what you'd do in normal games anyway, so what's the problem?

That's kinda the idea of heroes. High Templar can die and when they do your hold of the Protoss doesn't change in any way, but if Tassadar died during a mission, it would change what happened quite drastically, his followers would have probably been arrested and possibly the Dark Templar as well, assuming their not killed, which is seen by you failing the campaign.

She'd still rule over her swarm and be above a regular Queen's role so she wouldn't be a lesser minion at all, in fact she'd have become even more powerful, becoming the most powerful unit in the Swarm, rather than being second to Torrasques, which aren't even unique as they're a specialised strain of the Ultralisk.

If I was the one who actually started it, I started it a long time ago.

 

Kerrigan using deep tunnels?? Why do you keep on insisting that Kerrigan will be a Heroic Hive Matriarch?? Isnt the Hive Matriacrh an Evolution of the former SC1 Queen, isnt that enough proof to say that since from SC1 there have always been 2 queens... (QoB & Plain Queen)

Im not saying that its a devolution (air-ground evo.) since Kerrigan isnt so much of a resemblance to those Hive Matriarchs of yours.. (evolution of Kerrigan - Hive Matriarch??) Talking about evolution, the zerg really outdid themselves evolving units with a new purpose in life.... and have we heard anything so far about Kerrigan evolving Herself? wasnt it just a simple thought of phrase saying that "we have evolved" that doesnt conclude that she was one of those who evolved physically.. coz physically what is wrong with her form? isnt legs and blades sufficient enough for her to dominate everyone? who needed extra pairs of legs or enormous size if someone who has the power to control the universe can do it in that form? Would she evolve into an egg laying, creep creeping, colony building type of unit to be more useful in the swarm?? I think not hence there was no one who opposed her after all those years.....

Forgive me but this is how i see the process of evolution (freedoms' eyes)

Overlord----Overseer
Zergling----Baneling
Hydralisk---MORE Hydralishk!
Queen------Hive Matriarch (i know the evolution ussually goes from reptiles to birds) this is an execption
Defiler------Infestor
Ultralisk----MORE Ultralishk!

And what about multiplayer? does that mean that there are multiple Kerrigans during PvP?
Would you really prefer seing a Hive Matriarch Kerrigan, rather than a Hero on her own right?? Having Kerrigan doing that role will somewhat diminish the sole purppose of being the "QoB"..... Does that now stand for Queen of the Base???

Everything about zergs after Broodwar is still a definite mystery.. no one even knew what happened to Kerrigan since they were scared to death even just by reaching her territory, which is possibly why no one knows how they evolved... until SC2 of course....

Whats the problem of having 2 Queens?? is it so much of a burden to accept the fact that names doesnt ussually predict one's role?? Is it so much of a burden to handle 2 different Queens at a time, one for Base defense and posibly one for both.... lets take for example the terrans, wasnt the siege tank more intended to be used defensively? what happened?? it turned out to be one of the most deadliest deployed unit used for enemy bombardment.... So its a possiblity that a Hive matriarch can be used offensivly but theres no clarifications uptil now if whether it can even plant structures on open field (see Q&A 38 discussion).......

IMHO My only concern is you are most probably ensuring us that Kerrigan is The Queen and that might possibly confuse others since there isnt even 1 absolute proof that it is her... in a way that you keep defending your side, it also gives a double edge cut to those readers making them confused of Kerrigans true form... my sole wish is for us to stop this evergoin thread for now and just hopefully wait for the game itself with regards to these turmoil... or maybe if blizzard will be generous, maybe we will get a glimpse of kerrigan herself sooner..

sorry if I offended you in anyway that i might, but I humbly give my respect to you for your ongoing efforts of battle with Kerrigans role.. You sure are one tough cookie to break... U have the integrity of an iron chunk... Good luck anyway with your belief... we have our own perspectives anyways and it is free to think what we want...

 

Shortened quotes a tad =P

But you are more likely to lose her because she needs to be in the action as apposed to heroes in SC1

I'm not saying she wouldn't offer support but the annoyance of handling the use of 5-6 abilities while assuring there is no chance she'll die would be frustrating and of course theres the trouble blizzard would have creating abilities which reflect the queens but are still unique to Kerrigan as a hero.

Yes but unlike Raynor, Kerrigan is replacing a unit which you can only have ONE of. A queen is the kind of unit which gets involved in these kinds of situations and is one of the only zerg units capable of single handedly taking on a roach. While Raynor is just a more powerful version of a unit which you can have many of (BC, marine etc) thus still taking on the heroes role to a lesser extent (Indiviually) if the hero is forced to flee.

See above

Obvisously Kerrigan would be an asset since shes your queen a role meant to help alot with zerg defence. While tassadar is just the equivilent of a few high templar nice to have in a pinch but not exactly what you totally rely on when your base is in trouble.

You suggested in your old post that buildings could be taken off. I think you didn't understand my meaning of unique. I was saying that you'd only have 1 high templar who would be tassadar. No other High templar would be allowed (Like the queen with Kerrigan). Thus leading to the loss of an essential ability. All abilities in SC2 should be essential anyway since thats how blizzard is trying to balance it.

I said this in relation to your saying that queens almost never died. High templar aren't seen as the commanders of protoss forces anyhow when a queen to a small extent is.

The idea is that Kerrigan is so powerful her pressence does not stop the swarms ability to have another queen in the region. I doubt also that Kerrigan would be happy to evolve herself into something which mirriors a unit whoes main role is to "babysit" your base.

Btw could we get some more people posting here or this thread might as well just move to MSN between Itza and me (Not that it hasn't already)=P.

 

i leave itza at your hands im tired of these endless debate of Kerrigans role since im only thinking my way, my rules, my eyes.... Kerrigan is not a hive queen she is even more.......

 

She won't need to be in the action and if she is, she'll be suited for it. You may say that she won't be used to her full potential if she isn't, but the same goes for normal heroes. If they weren't always used when they could have been, they weren't being used to their full potential. Seeing as you've said that you never used them at every opportunity, you weren't using them to their full potential, but did that really have an impact on the gameplay? Evidently not, as you're arguing to keep it that way and arguing against it changing gameplay, implying that the old way didn't change the gameplay but seeing as the old gameplay still applies, because all you lose is her full potential, which you weren't even using old heroes for in the first place. In other words, she doesn't need to be in the action any more than other heroes do, and seeing as you never used them to their full potential either, nothing's really changing so you're not really losing anything.

Just letting Kerrigan retain some of the her old abilities while adopting some new ones and ones of the Queen would easily be enough. It would tie her back to her old, StarCraft1 self while including some of the Queen's abilities as well as some of her own unique ones. Handling such abilities wouldn't really be that much of a problem. Burrow and Deep Tunnel wouldn't be needed in the midst of a fight, Swarm Infestation is simply activated and the nearby buildings do the rest and same with Toxic Creep as it would most likely be an area of effect, damage over time ability, like a Creep-based Psionic Storm or Plasma Torpedoes and Regeneration would only be useful once they're attacking your major buildings in which case they probably wouldn't have too many units left to worry about, unless you're being completely overrun, and you wouldn't have many either, allowing more time to be devoted to Kerrigan. Basically, Swarm Infestation and Toxic Creep would be abilities that you cast and leave to run its own course, Burrow and Deep Tunnel would only be used if she's being attacked, Build wouldn't be needed, and Regeneration wouldn't be needed in the heat of a major battle. Lastly, Kerrigan would only keep about two or so of them, most likely Deep Tunnel and another, so she'd only require too much handling if Blizzard gave her her own micro-intensive abilities, which they wouldn't.

Summing that up, Queens don't require an exceptional amount of handling, so neither would Kerrigan unless Blizzard give her her own abilities which would require a lot of handling, which they wouldn't for the very reason you've stated here.

Who said anything about replacing? And when have the Zerg ever been based about single units? Who cares if the Queen is the only unit that can take on a Roach? Not only would Kerrigan be able to as well, but when have the Zerg ever relied on a single unit? They're all about swarming and numbers, and not at all about one versus one's, even if it is against another Zerg player. Kerrigan, just like Raynor, is a more powerful version of a pre-existing unit. Why does it matter if there are more than one of those pre-existing units? It's the hero that you've got to worry about, not the others. If the hero dies, you've lost, if the others die, you haven't, so why does it matter what the hero is a heroic unit of?

Again you're assuming that Kerrigan would be the only thing you can rely on for defence. This is simply not the case. You've got all your other Zerg units to defend yourself, plus all the defences you've laid down. The Queen doesn't have to be omnipresent in order for you to survive an attack, otherwise in multi-player games, if they attack two bases, you'd be a goner.

Well of course you'd lose the unique High Templar's ability if you excluded him. You've given a completely irrelevant situation and doesn't correlate to what we were just talking about previously at all. The previous one made some sense, but this one's just... Stupid. Of course you wouldn't have the Queens abilities if you excluded the Queens abilities. How does that prove anything?

I never said that Queens never die, I said that they'd be the most protected units and have the greatest number of abilities to increase their survivability.

To be honest, I have no idea what you're talking about with her presence not stopping the Swarm's ability to have another Queen in that region. I'd said that she'd obviously be evolving to be as strong as possible, most likely overtaking the Torrasque as the most powerful unit in the Swarm, so she obviously would not be any kind of a lesser minion, seeing as she's the greatest unit in the Swarm and she's also their unquestionable leader, so she's not lesser and definitely not a minion. If other heroes were just babaysitting your base anyway, why would it matter if Kerrigan actually had a use and a reason to be there? It wouldn't change anything, as she's still be sitting in your base until it's definitely safe to emerge, so she'd be better off that evolving into a super-offensive attacker than never even gets the chance to attack.

freedom23 is still posting, but I feel he's misinterpreting a lot, but reading that I feel that you may be as well. Tomorrow I'll retype my theory stating all reasons on all levels backing why I suspect she'll return as a Queen.

 

There seem to have been a few false presumptions or misinterpreted points as well, so I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll type up the entirety of what I suspect with Kerrigan and why I suspect it from all points of view.

I'm talking about Kerrigan using Deep Tunnel because I suspect that she'll return as a Queen in StarCraft2. Go back and read my first post, and you'll see my original intentions and reasons for why I suspect it may be so. That is why I suspect that she will be a Queen which is also why I'm talking about her using Deep Tunnel.

I'm not insisting that Kerrigan will be a Hive Matriarch, I'm saying that that's what I suspect based on the information we know and have seen. This is a discussion about what we think will happen with Kerrigan in the campaigns, so this is what I'm thinking. You guys are explaining and giving examples of situations in which hypothetically having her as a Queen wouldn't work in order to justify your own opinion of her being the same as she was in StarCraft1, a humanoid, while I am also explaining and giving examples of situations in which hypothetically having her as a Queen would work in order to justify my own opinion. If I wasn't able to give examples of certain notable Queen abilities in order to prove it would work, how would I be able to explain and give the reasons behind my arguing? I'm telling you guys that it would work, and explaining how. I'm hardly able to do that if I can't hypothetically assume she's a Queen.

That hardly proves anything. The Hive Matriarch is an evolution of the Lair Watcher, which is an evolution of the Queen which is an evolution of the StarCraft1 Queen, yes, but that doesn't prohibit Kerrigan from augmenting herself into becoming a Queen. The title 'Queen' of Blades was self proclaimed and it is purely coincidental that she's got it as it has nothing to do with me suspecting that she'll return as a Queen. However, if Blizzard plays their cards correctly, it could wind up to be the perfect coincidence for them to implement.

I'm not saying that Kerrigan would be an evolution of the Hive Matriarch, I'm saying that Kerrigan will be a heroic Hive Matriarch. Tassadar was not an evolution of a High Templar, he was just a heroic High Templar. I suspect that Kerrigan will be the same. She won't be an evolution of a hive Matriarch, she'll be a heroic Hive Matriarch.

Have we heard anything so far about Kerrigan not evolving herself? Why wouldn't she? The rest of the Zerg have, and not just the new units like Roaches, Corrupters and Infestors, all of them. The Zerglings have, the Hydralisks have, the Ultralisks have, etc, etc, so why would Kerrigan remain the same? The phrase 'we have evolved' includes herself, and unlike you've mentioned or suggested here, I'm not basing my whole opinion off that one line. There isn't anything physically wrong with her, but why would that mean she's content with remaining as she is? She's a paranoid and power-driven egocentric dictator of a hated and disease ridden swarm of aliens, so I don't think she's going to want to be as powerful as possible. Kerrigan wasn't even the most powerful unit in the Zerg Swarm in StarCraft1, so she's definitely got room for improvement and a goal. She's not stupid enough to weaken her surrounding forces so logically she's going to improve herself, and she's had four years to do so. Even if she didn't want to improve herself, both the Terran and Protoss are getting stronger with more powerful weaponry and more durable weaponry, so if she remained as she was she'd slowly slip behind and become much weaker by comparison.

Kerrigan obviously has an obsession with Queens so it's not unlikely that she would augment herself to be like one. She named herself the 'Queen' of Blades, during the four years between BroodWar and StarCraft2, she's obviously been putting a heck of a lot of time and effort into genetically improving the Queen both physically and role-wise. She has absolute power over the evolutionary path of the Zerg and she's grown Queens from being small, weak basic harassment spellcasters, to being huge, powerful, durable, independent leaders of the Swarm's Hive Clusters. Due to this obsession and paranoid need to grow stronger and stronger, it's entirely likely that she's augmented herself into a Queen through genetic manipulation of the Queen's DNA and the DNA used to enhance the Queens in the first place. With all of the genetic manipulating expertise of the Zerg Swarm combined with her paranoia, she's bound to have augmented herself into something much more powerful and that has a much more direct control over the Swarm. Unlike the Overmind that commanded Cerebrates to command the Swarm who was eventually betrayed, Kerrigan has destroyed almost all the Cerebrates and now psychically controls the Swarm herself and has direct control over her defences, by deploying her own Sunken and Spore Colonies, along with Swarm Infestation. She's got the means to do it and the reason to do it, so why wouldn't she?

Yeah, those are pretty much all the evolutions we've been told about for StarCraft2, but that doesn't prove anything or suggest any reason about whether Kerrigan will be a humanoid or Queen or not.

I've never said anything about Kerrigan being in multi-player games which agani leads me to believe that you're misinterpreting something. Heroes have never been in multi-player games and no-one here has talked about implementing heroes into multi-player games. I'm just saying that I suspect Kerrigan will return as a heroic Queen or hive Matriarch, just as the Devouring Ones were heroic Zerglings, etc, Kerrigan would be a heroic Hive Matriarch. No heroes ever appeared in multi-player games as no multi-player games include heroes at all.

Everything is a mystery is one of the reasons that leads me to believe that something big has happened. If they emerged from the shadows and were just the same as they were before, just with some added Roaches and Corrupters, etc, it's not going to be anything spectacular. However if she emerges from the shadows and has undergone a full body and genetic augmentation forming her into a Queen, a true leader of the Hive Cluster, then that would be spectacular. They've built up the vanishing, hiding and emergence far too much for just having a few extra units, so something special has to have changed, and my theory is that it's Kerrigan.

Again, this leads me to believe you've misinterpreted something along the way as I haven't said anything about it or against it previously.

I'm not ensuring everyone that this is what Kerrigan will be like, I'm stating and explaining my opinion, just as you're stating and explaining your opinion that Kerrigan will not be a Queen and remain as a humanoid. Neither of us have enough proof to say whether we're right or not, both of us are just saying what we suspect based upon the information that we have available to us.

I'm not arguing about Kerrigan's role, I'm arguing that I suspect she'll return as a Queen. In StarCraft1 she was basically an Infested Terran hero, now I suspect she'll have evolved beyond that to truly become part of the Swarm. As I said before, I think you might be a bit confused on some points, so I'll retype my whole theory tomorrow or at a later date. By the way, this post went over the character limit so I'm posting my reply to marinefreak in a separate post.

 

well defended ill guess well just have to continue the proceedings through the court lol.... id have to say you sure did defended your side of the zerg and im almost out of contradictory comments to keep up with your phase, so i guess thats it for me now... we'll just have to wait for blizzards outcome of these and see who was more accurate with our predictions... its a 50/50% chance anyway so goodluck.... ill battle you out with the next hot topic so wait for that bwahahahaha!!! ^_^

oh and btw i've just noticed today that somehow the main topic is kind of degrading what a hero means....
"Kerrigan a Queen or just a hero?" Maybe the one who posted this can edit the title to "Kerrigan a Queen or a Hero"
the word "just" seems to be inappropriate for the poll....

 

Probably not. Blizzard said they were wiped out "as far as we know" at BlizzCon, and later said this more explicitly:

* SC:L - During the lore panel at BlizzCon - you mentioned that all the Cerebrates had been destroyed by Kerrigan - does this include Daggoth? Many people on our sites are wondering this because he was such an independent and intelligent Zerg character - and they feel if he is dead it's quite the loose end.

* Metzen - Daggoth is dead, along with the rest of the cerebrates. Kerrigan is the sole power behind the Swarm now. It’s possible that Daggoth could not sustain himself without the Overmind and other cerebrates to power him. We’ve suggested before that the Overmind and its cerebrates were symbiotically linked. The cerebrates were not designed to exist without their creator. That’s a partial reason behind the cerebrates’ merging into a new, singular Overmind during the early events of Brood War.

Source: http://www.sclegacy.com/content/interviews-6/scl-metzen-interview---lore-exclusive-28/

I am not advocating "no change" or "must change", I am advocating sentient characters, mobile or not, who can talk to Kerrigan. There will be no Cerebrates, so most likely these characters will be similar to mobile, non-Zerg heroes.

[qutoe]Same goes. In any missions where the player does not have Kerrigan, they'll still have the Cerebrates just like they did at the beginning of the Zerg campaigns in StarCraft1.[/quote]

They will not. And it wouldn't matter whether Kerrigan appears in every mission or not; the storyline will be boring if she does solliliquoys.

That's all a possibility, but that's also rather "iffy". What are the chances that Kerrigan will be manipulating someone every mission, when no one trusts her anymore?

I think you meant that they should not be expected to have tons of sentient playable heroes... Sure. But they'll need more than one for Kerrigan to not look like a nutjob talking to herself.

I have proposed a heroic named Queen as one possible companion (which would entail not giving Kerrigan Queen abilities). IMO Kerrigan is also too small and, well, human-shaped to use most of the abilities. I wouldn't expect her to be laying eggs on the battlefield, but abilities like Deep Tunnel are not a problem. If there's no heroic Queen (other than Kerrigan) in the lore, she'll need some other companion. The most likely is Ethan Stewart, but that's assuming he survives book three (and who knows if he will).

 

About the Cerebrates, I wasn't aware that all of them had been destroyed. I knew a lot of them had been, but I thought some had been left to help Kerrigan with certain projects and missions. Either way, it doesn't really change anything and definitely doesn't prohibit anyone from talking to Kerrigan. Just Kerrigan, or just a single sentient playable character, would still be more than the Zerg had at the beginning of their StarCraft1 campaigns, which was just the Overmind, or just a single sentient unplayable character. Having old characters die does not mean she'll just be there on her own, as new heroes and characters are created for each expansion and sequel.

Either way, destroying all the Cerebrates just reinforces her paranoid state, which reinforces the reason why she would want to become more powerful and have a more direct control over the Swarm, not just psychically like the Overmind or Cerebrates.

There were tonnes of soliloquies in StarCraft1, basically as instructions to the player and the reasons behind said instructions. However, as I said earlier, there most likely will be another sentient Zerg hero, and if not, Kerrigan is a master at verbal sparring and mental manipulation. Just because Kerrigan is the only Zerg hero it doesn't mean that there won't be any Protoss or Terran ones to threaten and insult or even to mind control into a forced alliance to help out with a mission.

She doesn't have to manipulate someone different each mission. In BroodWar she mind controlled Raszagal for a lengthy period of time. Trust has nothing to do with manipulation. Kerrigan could manipulate anyone regardless of trust. That's the point of manipulation otherwise it's just lying.

Whoever said she'd have to talk to herself? First off, you're there as well, and secondly, just because there are no other sentient Zerg heroes, it doesn't mean that there aren't any Terran or Protoss heroes in that mission.

Queens don't sit there laying eggs, that's what Hatcheries, Lairs and Hives basically do, besides, if Queens do lay eggs, who's to say that Kerrigan would share that ability? Kerrigan is only too human shaped for if you're assuming she's humanoid, which I'm not. You might be, but you can't have a conversation like this assuming she's humanoid because it makes it impossible for me to show that having Kerrigan as a heroic Queen would work. It's like if someone was arguing that Raynor's suit may have been upgraded to have grenade launchers, like the Marauder. If that person was only able to talk about the old Raynor suit, which has little to do with the new Raynor suit, how're they supposed to argue that it may or may not work? This is what I'm doing with the Queen so you can't say she's too small and humanoid for certain abilities, as I'm saying she'll return as a Queen in which case she wouldn't be too small as humanoid, as she'd be a Queen.

Why can't Stewart come in anyway? Why is it all dependant on Kerrigan being humanoid? Either way he can still return, so why would it matter if she's a Queen?

A lot of these points have been against there not being other heroes in the Zerg campaign of StarCraft2, but why does that matter? It's not as though a humanoid Kerrigan could have more companions than a Queen Kerrigan, so what are you trying to prove? Yes, the Overmind won't be there and neither will Duran or the Cerebrates, but what has that got to do with Kerrigan being a Queen or not? Either way she's still just the only sentient hero.

 

At the beginning of the StarCraft I campaigns, in the very first mission, Daggoth and Zasz also speak to you (the player).

Obviously. These characters could be people like Ethan Stewart, or a sentient Queen. They need to be sentient, and being mobile heroes isn't impossible either.

She only killed them because they could form a new Overmind. When she made Ethan Stewart into a sentient Infested Terran, she deliberately intended to make him a general and consort. She let him run an operation on Aiur virtually undirected as well -- she was not directly controlling his troops.

According to the BlizzCon Terran Campaign and Lore videos, "you" won't be there. When you're playing as Terran, "you" are Jim Raynor, not the former nameless commander. When you're playing Zerg, "you" are Kerrigan. She can't talk to you, since she'd be talking to herself.

Queens are really big, which suits insect queens. (Google a termite Queen. They're huge. They have to be.)

They do! That's how they create structures in the game. They make buildings like a Protoss Probe (walk to point, put down beacon, walk away as beacon becomes new building) only the beacon is replaced by an egg. Some structures, like Swarm Clutches, continue to resemble eggs as well.

What other abilities to Queens have? Beyond their combat abilities (Kerrigan has better combat abilities), they Deep Tunnel, lay eggs and create Toxic Creep, all of which revolve around base building. Even if you could come up with a good lore reason for Kerrigan to have such abilities, they're useless when she attacks enemies away from their base (and mostly useless if her enemy's base isn't Zerg).

I am making that assumption, because all the concept art for Infested Kerrigan in StarCraft II shows her in a general humanoid form.

You could stick a grenade launcher under the rifle barrel, they do that nowadays. (Realistically, a unit like the Marauder would never exist. Cool game concept, poor military concept.) But that's moot. Kerrigan's form is still humanoid.

I mentioned Stewart because you said the Zerg wouldn't have sentient heroes (beyond Kerrigan). Unless I misread something. See above for why she doesn't transform.

Kerrigan has an advanced Infested Terran project going, deliberately creating sentient Infested Terrans. I have to use Ethan Stewart as an example because he is (so far) her only successful advanced Infested Terran. There's nothing to indicate she can't replicate that success with other Terrans. There's a decent chance that Stewart will appear in the game, provided he survives Dark Templar Saga #3 (which is coming out in 4-1/2 months or so).

And yes, Christie Golden went into great detail describing his new physical form (it's humanoid, but the extra bits are actually pretty different from Kerrigan's). Does that mean Blizzard made a hero model for him? Maybe.

So, to whit:

1) I disagree that Kerrigan can be a Queen unit, as all the concept art of her says otherwise.
2) i disagree that Kerrigan will be the only sentient character, as
a) Ethan Stewart is practically being written into the campaign.
b) Even if he dies, another character like him can be made.
c) Both StarCraft I and Brood War had more than one Zerg sentient character, although only Brood War had more than one sentient "Zerg" hero.

Sources:

Lore Panel: http://www.sclegacy.com/content/editorials-8/blizzcon-2007-starcraft-lore-panel-editorial-44/ (read and watch the video; it's an hour long so you would need to skip around a lot)

Terran Campaign Video: http://www.gamespot.com/video/939643/6176222/

StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Shadow Hunters

Concept art at www.starcraft2.com (there's a lot of art). Here's a sample: http://starcraft2.com/images/artwork/ss53-hires.jpg

 

In the mission briefing, you only see the Overmind. Once you start to play, that's when they introduce the Cerebrates. Either way, the number of sentient characters there are and how quickly they are introduced does not impact on Kerrigan being a heroic Queen. It would be exactly the same if she was humanoid, so being a Queen changes nothing.

I've never said that characters like that wouldn't exist. I've said that I suspect she'll return as a sentient Queen, not that she'd be the only sentient Zerg hero. Yes, Ethan Stewart and other sentient heroes may be introduced, so what? How does it impact upon Kerrigan's form?

Only several Cerebrates could merge into a new Overmind and only then if ordered to by a greater Cerebrate, in other words, Daggoth, who was basically the second in command of the Zerg Swarm. Lesser Cerebrates would not be able to issue such orders as they wouldn't be powerful enough to.

So what if Kerrigan created Stewart to be a general? How does that impact on my speculation? Whether or not there will be more than one other sentient character, and whether or not one of those characters will be Stewart has no impact on Kerrigan's form.

If she can't talk to you, she'll talk to the other characters, both good and bad. Even so, that doesn't stop her thinking out loud. She's the one commanding the Zerg Swarm, so seeing as we obviously can't carry out our missions if she doesn't tell us, i.e. herself, what they are, she'd have to think out loud. For our sake. Again, I've never said that there won't be any other Zerg characters, but that's not to say that I've said there will be. I'm not here to talk about how many characters the Zerg will get in StarCraft2, nor am I here to talk about who they are and what their role will be. I'm here to share and explain the fact that I suspect she'll return as a Queen, which has no effect on the other characters as it's just the same as if she returned as a humanoid, only she'd have a different model.

I'm aware of that and again, it has nothing to do with her returning as a Queen. The Queen isn't actually that enormous. The webbed legs take up a lot of space, and the rest is basically the abdomen and the back of the head, which would be useful now that she's obviously honed her psychic abilities and is controlling the entirety of the Swarm. The actual humanoid torso part of the Queen is the perfect size for Kerrigan. Besides, since when is size a bad thing? Size basically correlates to power within the Zerg Swarm, not to mention outside the Swarm as well, so would suit well.

Depending on how you look at it, I guess you could say that such buildings are hatched from eggs, but when considering that they're created in the same way as other Zerg buildings which are obviously not hatched from eggs, then they're not. Swarm Clutches may have resembled eggs, but they've been removed and replaced with the Sunken and Spore Colonies.

I've already gone through this and all the other abilities. The Hive Matriarchs or Huge Queens or whatever they're called now have Burrow, Build, Deep Tunnel, Regeneration, Swarm Infestation and Toxic Creep. Apart from Burrow and Deep Tunnel, they're all defensive, but as we've been told heroes will get their own abilities, unique to those of other units, and also seeing as she's still Kerrigan, she'd probably retain some of her old ones as well, which would mean that some of the normal Queens abilities would have to be taken off her, so she wouldn't have to be so defensively focused. Heroes are usually kept in their bases anyway, seeing as how attacking with them is just an added risk, so even if she did retain most of the Queen's abilities, at least she'd have a use for them there.

I'm not saying you can't have that assumption, but you having that assumption does not stop me having my assumption that she will return as a Queen, nor does it make it illogical. Neither of us have any conclusive proof, we're both just speculating. Most of the concept art shows her in her humanoid form so far, as it's mostly been based on the story so far, not to mention that if they were indeed hinting at Kerrigan returning as a Queen and intending for it to be a surprise as a huge unveiling, it would kinda ruin it if we already knew, dontcha think?

You completely missed the point of that analogy. I wasn't saying how it would work, nor am I saying that they'd do this instead or anything like that. I was giving an example of a character being changed, Raynor in this situation, just like Kerrigan in my theory, and saying that suspicions of change cannot be disproven by anyone saying 'well it wasn't like that in StarCraft1', as if everything was the same then obviously nothing would be different so seenig as there have to be changes, what things were like in StarCraft1 does not prove anything.

I never said that you wouldn't have other sentient heroes, but that's not to say that they're needed. However many heroes Zerg have in the StarCraft2 campaigns, Blizzard will make it work. If there are tonnes of sentient Infestations and Queens, etc, then Blizzard will make it work that way. If there aren't and there's only Kerrigan, Blizzard will make it work that way. Either way, it does not effect what form Kerrigan will or may return as.

I'm referring to the old Kerrigan as humanoid purely because she's more humanoid than the Queen, which is in fact also humanoid. Humanoid just refers to something that resembles the figure, which the Queen definitely does as well. Blizzard definitely uses this classification as in World of WarCraft they classify Centaurs, Dryads, Naga and Flamewalkers are all humanoid creatures, despite only having humanoid torsos. Having another Infested Terran unit, like Stewart would not mean that he too needs to be a Queen or anything. It's Kerrigan that I suspect will return as a Queen, not any other Infested Terran hero.

A lot of that art has been for the story so far, and if they were planning to have a twist or surprise in which she is revealed, they'd be idiots to show us concept art of Kerrigan as a Queen, so until we see an actual in-game model or Kerrigan, unless it too is be used in flashbacks, is there purely for the campaign editor like all the StarCraft1 models or even just a tool to heighten the impact when they actually reveal her true form, we'll never know.

I've never said she'd be the only one. I may have said that they don't necessarily need another one, but I've never said that they won't have any others. However many there are, Blizzard will make it work and it doesn't impact upon her model.

If you want me to watch something that's an hour long, at least tell me what the relevant parts and and when they occur.

 

I note that Blizzard has said that she'll still be humanoid, but she will be able to use her back-spines for locomotion.

 

Finally a possible proof of my cause.. Long live Humanoid Kerrigan!
perhaps this will be somewhat contradictory for a hive matriarch to be since theyre totally not humanoid.... last time i check humanoids only has 2 legs... queen is more of an alienoid with few legs and arms (i gotta say itza almost had me there)

 

A humanoid is something that resembles the human figure, so the Queen is humanoid as its entire upper half resembles that of a human. Blizzard would obviously classify the Queen, and therefore Kerrigan, regardless of whether she's still an Infested Terran or Queen would be classified as being humanoid, as in World of WarCraft they classify Centaurs and Dryads as being humanoids, despite having horses bodies and four legs, as well as Naga and Flamewalkers as being humanoid, despite having a serpent's body and no legs. Kerrigan is still alienesque, just as Naga and Flamewalkers are serpentine and Centaurs and Dryad are horse-oids, but that doesn't mean they're not humanoid. They're an amalgam of two different entities, so have characteristics of both. The existence of one entity doesn't cancel out the existence of the other, so every last one of them is still humanoid and therefore Kerrigan is still humanoid.

 

Well, what I can say is this. After a small bit of research I think I have an idea of what has happened and what Kerrigan will be. As has been said she will most likely remain humanoid. I believe however when they speak of her spines being able to move her that they may make here able to , this is just speculation, move up cliffs. Now, I can explain the relationship and humanoid factor for the Queens now.

First, I will insert two pieces artwork from the SC2 site. At first we went and screamed hybrid at one of them. However, with the new units of the Zerg I create a new theory that explains the humanoid appearence of the Queens. The Second image is to help the first make sense.First the images. The images are actually a bit too large for the new forums. Make this a bit hard. Anyways here are links to them.
http://eu.starcraft2.com/images/artwork/ss84.jpg This is image I believe is of the Creation of a Queen on Infested Aiur.
http://eu.starcraft2.com/images/artwork/ss83.jpg This image is of Infested Aiur I believe. This is so I can help prove my theory.

Now, my theory? The Queen Strand of Zerg DNA are created by the energies of the Khaydarin Crystals of Aiur, Zerg Queen DNA, and Protoss DNA mixed. Why I believe this is because if you look at the picture you will see what appears to be a Zerg Queen in a Protoss Stasis Chamber. However, this can also prove my theory wrong. So, in the case of any arguments sake I will be continuing this theory off the idea that Kerrigan put the Queen in there and not the Protoss. However, I admit I may be wrong.

With Aiur infested this theory makes even more sense as the Zerg would now have acess to Protoss technology and energies. Thus, a unit like the Queen could easily be produced on Aiur. (Note, I mean Queen as the base DNA strand to allow their creation in the swarm.) Now, this relates to Kerrigan as a Queen because I don't think she would be able to just absorb energy from Khaydarin Crystals. However, I could be wrong with that assumption. All in all I believe that as a already powerful psychic she would not need to become a Queen.

Besides, which would you rather have? Kerrigan: Queen form or Kerrigan: human torso? Anyway there is my insight on this.

 

You're gonna be a hell of an investigator one day or rather an art voyeur? lol, Since tha artworks were updated some of the pictures that really bothered me was the queen being on protoss grounds.. the questions are...

* Whats a queen doing in there?
* Was the queen captured by the protoss for their experiments?
* Who is that humanoid guarding the specimen (zerg?protoss?terran?)

In light to those questions you definitely given me a believable theory, but what about that small humanoid on the background, i havent seen any humanoid form unit like that in the zerg.. and who has the knowledge to combine the genes of different species now that the overminds are gone, is Kerrigan that of a genius? Something tells me that there are other species giving aid to Kerrigan in regards with these new genetic engineering technology, that person i suppose will play a big role in Zergs campaign... I also want for Kerrigan to stay unbizzare like the new Queen,. so you really helped a lot with the artworks investigations..

 

Well I believe that it is just one way to see a Dark Templar. The Spear/Scythe like weapon seems to be close to what they use. However, it also could be a unique character model in which Blizzard has spoken so much of. But that is just pure speculation. The overall idea is that it looks Protoss.