Chapter Two: The Logical Course of Action

Emile Narud was left alone in his office. Sending forth his will, he communed with his dark master. The spirit of Amon came before him, and Narud's true self was revealed.

"Excellent work, Duran-" said Amon.

"Narud, milord." said Narud.

"Excellent work, Narud." said Amon. "Now the Dominion is our puppet and helping us create the hybrid. We need only arrange for my resurrection, and our plans will be complete.

"We will need the essence of the Queen of Blades."

"In that regard, I have a plan, Lord Amon." said Narud. "I am on good terms with Prince Valerian, who is thirsting to prove himself. I believe that I should be able to convince him to launch an invasion of Char. Once he makes plans, I will suggest we use the artifact to steal Kerrigan's energy. Once she is executed the last threat to our plans will be gone, and you will live in this world once more."

"Excellent. You will get out puppet Arcturus to free Tychus Findlay from prison." said Amon.

Narud blinked in surprise. "What?"

"You will then instruct him to convince Raynor to look for the artifacts in exchange for a lot of money." said Amon.

"But Raynor isn't motivated by money." said Narud. "With a zerg invasion going on he will be otherwise occupied? It would be pretty out of character for him to go around raiding Tal'darim settlements. Especially when he has innocent colonists to protect.

"Also, I'm not sure that Raynor's Raiders are equipped to take on the Tal'darim."

"Then I will use my puppet, the Queen of Blades to attack them when Raynor shows up." said Amon. "This will allow him to seize the artifacts in the confusion."

"Lord Amon, that would hurt some of our most loyal supporters." said Narud. "The Tal'darim are blindly loyal; I'm certain there is a simpler way-"

"No.," said Amon. "What we must do is this. Raynor will rampage across our subordinates the Tal'darim. In doing some, he will cause massive destruction to our resources. We will then have to give up more resources paying him money. Which he will use to buy weapons and equipment to oppose us. Eventually, he will have all the artifacts, and Prince Valerian will meet with him.

"Raynor will raid Valerian's ship and shoot up his guards. But he will be talked down at the last minute by the promise to save Sarah Kerrigan."

"But he swore to kill her over the corpse of his best friend. This seems a bit-" began Narud, taken aback.

"He will then attack Char with Valerian and successfully deinfest the Queen of Blades. Once again, at a massive cost to our resources.." said Amon. "Tychus will try to kill her, but then Raynor will shoot him. Then there will be a huge civil war that devastates our Dominion forces. But Kerrigan will reinfest herself. She will then kill Arcturus Mengsk, destroy your mortal avatar and then go into the Void."

"But-" began Nardu.

"At that point, she will get to Ulnar for no explicable reason. Everyone will trust her for no explicable reason, and they will all unite to defeat us." said Amon. "In a climactic battle, my host body will be destroyed. Then all of our minions will be dead, and we'll be right back where we started."

Narud put his head in his hands. "Lord Amon this plan is insanely overcomplicated. It relies on every person in the sector acting against their established nature. And it ends with both of us getting killed!"

Amon eyed him in irritation. "Well then what would you suggest, if you're so smart?"

"How about we order the Tal'darim to hand the artifact over to Moebius. In exchange they'll ask for a military alliance against Kerrigan." said Narud. "Then I suggest using it to Valerian. We cut Raynor out of the loop, and he drinks himself to death in a bar somewhere. Then the Tal'darim cooperate with the Dominion to kill the Queen of Blades.

"We can then backstab the Dominion once the hybrids are done. With the Golden Armada mind controlled and the Queen of Blades, no one will be able to stop us. Problem solved."

Amon seemed even more irritated. "Well… that does sound easy."

"Of course it's easy!" said Narud. "We literally control every single major factor in the sector! We won before this game began! The only threat we ever faced was the UED since they operate completely out of our control!"

"Fine!" snapped Amon. "We'll do your plan!"

Everything proceeded perfectly. Highlord Mal'lash killed Kerrigan after she was deinfested. Then the zerg on Char were completely wiped out. The hybrid awoke in much greater force and wiped away all resistance in the sector.

In fact, things ended in utter darkness ahead of schedule.

Later, Narud and Amon sat in the void, plotting to create a new universe in their own image.

"...Well that was incredibly boring." said Amon.

Narud didn't dignify the question with a response. "You know, I've been thinking."

"What is it?" asked Amon.

"So, when you got killed in the material universe you didn't die in the void, right?" asked Narud.

"Yes." said Amon.

"Well then, shouldn't none of the other Xel'naga have died. Since you and the Overmind killed them in the material universe?" said Narud.

At this moment several thousand, extremely pissed off Xel'naga appeared in a poof of logic.

"Kill him!" said Ouros.

"…Oh, bugger."

And that was the end of Narud and Amon.

Author's Note:

Further proof that Amon is the lamest villain ever to live.

And nobody even say that the Tal'darim leader who Kerrigan was attacking was insane. Insanity is a character trait, not a motivation. Even insane people have an underlying logic to their actions. It just doesn't line up with reality.

More importantly, he got insane by using too much terrazine. I.e.: A drug infused with Amon's will. If anything he should be more influenced by the will of Amon. And even if he wasn't, why would Mal'lash, a hardcore Amon supporter, let this guy run off with a huge army?

And why would Narud want Raynor getting the artifact? Raynor is the terran most likely to screw over Narud's plans. He's competent, has a lot of support, and was willing to backstab the most powerful human empire out of principal. He's also friends with the protoss and could brook a powerful alliance.

Although, I can think of one explanation.

Maybe the Tal'darim Commander who hounds Raynor got in touch with Amon's plans. But he mistook Amon for a satanic archetype or something. So he assumes that the real Amon wants him to stop the Queen of Blades from stealing the artifact or something.

But then why would Amon tell Kerrigan to look for the artifact in the first place! He wants the Moebius to get it! If Kerrigan gets the artifact, his whole plans falls to pieces!

Need I go on?

Amon isn't a character. He's an excuse to not give the villains an actual motive. Why is Kerrigan attacking now? Because Amon told her to. Why are the hybrid always evil? Because Amon. Why is Raynor justified in destroying Tal'darim temples to steal their relics? Because they worship Amon. Why is Mengsk able to rebuild his Dominion after Brood War? Because Amon! Why does Raynor abandon his oath for vengeance against Kerrigan? Amon!

In essence, Amon is nothing more than a hand wave for bad writing. Hardly any consideration was ever given to his motives, beyond 'him angry' or why he was doing things. And no effort was made to render his actions internally consistent. He has no established character traits. Or at least none beyond those that are given to every other generic dark lord. At least Morgoth had the decency to be a whiny little bitch who begged for mercy.