| Apari / Parri | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Zandalari troll |
| Affiliation(s) | Widow's Bite |
| Former affiliation(s) | Zandalari Empire |
| Occupation | Witch, leader of the Widow's Bite |
| Status | Deceased |
| Relative(s) | Yazma (mother) |
| Companion(s) |
Tayo (bodyguard), Daz (dreadtick pet) |
|
Apari is a Zandalari witch and the leader of the Widow's Bite, a faction of Zandalari rebels who oppose the rule of Queen Talanji. She had white hair, walked with a noticeable limp, and was always accompanied by her lieutenant and bodyguard Tayo as well as Daz, a bulbous pet blood tick that she carries on her shoulder.
History[]
In her younger years, Apari, also called Parri, was best friends with Talanji, with the two getting into all sorts of mischief together. Her loyalty to Talanji was so great that when her mother Yazma sided with Zul in his coup, Apari remained loyal to the crown.
After receiving word that the Alliance had mounted an attack through Nazmir, Talanji conferred with her father about how to deal with this new threat.[1] They determined that while Rastakhan would defend the city, Talanji herself would lead the armies of Zandalari against the Alliance.[2] Apari was among the Zandalari who remained behind with Rastakhan and defended the city when Alliance invaded. Amidst the fighting, a pillar fell on her, leaving her trapped and in her desperation, she called out for the loa to save her. However, her cries went unanswered, and she subsequently called for Talanji when she saw her. Worried for her father, Talanji made the decision to rush on ahead towards him while promising to send aid to her old friend.
While Rastakhan fell in battle, Apari would survive the conflict, though she would suffer a leg injury that caused her to limp. Following the revelation that her old friend was now a priestess of Bwonsamdi, an extremely disillusioned Apari left the Zandalari Empire and would come to hold a bitter hatred towards Talanji, Bwonsamdi, and Jaina Proudmoore. To that end, she rallied the Widow's Bite to her cause, tried to assassinate Talanji, used propaganda to turn the public against the new queen, and killed those who remained loyal to the Queen, like Seshi and Bezime.
In the wake of the Fourth War, Apari and her followers agreed to aid Nathanos Blightcaller and Sira Moonwarden on their mission to kill the loa of death, Bwonsamdi. However, in order to successfully weaken Bwonsamdi's shrines, Apari required something precious and irreplaceable from Nathanos. After a moment, he handed over his officer's badge—given to him by Sylvanas when they were among the living—and warned Apari that if she failed to destroy the loa's shrines as promised, the consequences would be severe.
When Tayo noticed how Apari's leg injury was harming her, and could possibly lead to her death, she offered the service of a vulpera friend she had that could amputate the leg and at another point in their mission, Sira offered the use of one of their healers to tend to her injuries. However the prideful Apari refused and while Tayo accepted this with a resigned grace, Sira was outraged noting that the Widow's Bite was fundamentally loyal to Apari and could easily fall apart with her. However, Apari was unmoved and began to become increasingly obsessed with vengeance against Talanji and Bwonsamdi.
This obsession grew so great that she was willing to injure and sacrifice children in order weaken to the loa of graves. Outraged by this Tayo personally stopped Apari which caused the later to strike her across the face leaving her stunned. Apari then declared that she was on the precipice of death, sought to only live in order to see both Bwonsamdi and Talanji dead, and how no one would stop her. Disgusted by this declaration Tayo left, which Apari allowed due to her belief that she would come crawling back.
While Apari, Nathanos, and their forces did battle with Bwonsamdi, Tayo turned to the Horde and aided them against her former allies, and amidst the fighting Apari lost her life to Talanji and Tayo.[3]
Trivia[]
- The character of Apari was created by Shadows Rising author Madeleine Roux early in the book's development. Blizzard's initial outline for the novel already included Zandalari rebels as an important part of the plot, but Apari first started taking shape when Roux got a crack at the outline herself. It was necessary to have a character serving as the face of the Widow's Bite (as it's difficult to make a faceless group compelling), and Roux wanted a third character alongside Nathanos and Sira to represent the faction of Sylvanas' allies in the book. Her goal with the character was to create someone that fit into the world well enough that readers would wonder if she was already in the game as an NPC in a sidequest somewhere, while also having the larger-than-life feeling of a World of Warcraft character with distinctive traits like her disfigurement and pet tick. Apari functions as a foil to Talanji (or, in Roux's words, a "broken mirror image"); to an extent, Apari is obsessed with all the same things as Talanji but in a slightly twisted way.[4][5]
References[]
- ^
[60] War Is Here
- ^ [60] Ride of the Zandalari
- ^ Shadows Rising
- ^ Rising to the Occasion : An Interview with Madeline Roux (39:20 - 44:20). Warcraft Radio (2020-07-06). Retrieved on 2020-07-12.
- ^ Merely a Setback: 97 - Madeleine Roux (01:08:15 - 01:13:00) (2020-07-09). Retrieved on 2020-07-14.