Book Review: The Diary of Weavil

The holidays are all about family, which for me means flying back to my hometown for three weeks. Incidentally, this also means I only have dial-up internet access at the moment, which in turn means no WoW! Though I'm saddened that I'll be missing out several weeks' worth of raids and dozens of Frost Emblems, I can't really begrudge Christmas.

All of this is just a way of excusing the next few weeks' posts, which will probably all be book reviews. I love the multimedia WoW experience, but in its absence I have to resort to the good old reliable standby of books (albeit virtual ones).

By far the most epic experience I've had so far in WoW was the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest chain (though the fact that the Scepter isn't wieldable is the single greatest disappointment of my WoW life), and I can guarantee there will be future posts relating to it. Today's book consists of the memoirs of Dr Weavil, one of the targets of the involved Blue Scepter Shard chain. Being level 80 when I undertook the questline, Dr Weavil was one of only two or so encounters where I actually needed help (mostly because he would mind control me with his Mental Domination and then resume his nap while I stood at attention).

The Story

The diary begins with Weavil complaining about the treachery of Narain Soothfancy, who has tried to trick Dr Weavil by sending you (the player) in a Narain-disguise. Weavil is irate that his plan to execute Narain has been thwarted; so angry, in fact, that he has to leave off writing for the moment. "Redesign[ing] his minions' uniforms to better reflect [his] angst" somewhat lightens Weavil's mood; subsequently beating one of them until it "wept like a little girl" doesn't have the cheering effect he intended and Weavil begins to admit feelings of regret. He leaves off writing again to go give the beaten minion a hug and some encouraging words.

Reminded of his anger toward Narain, Weavil confides that the two of them had been classmates at the Gnomeregan Institute of Tinkering, that Narain had been an ace student, and that Weavil had failed out. At this point, Weavil signs off for the night.

The next day, he resumes telling his diary about Narain's deception involving you as a decoy. The last you and Weavil saw of each other at this point in the diary was when he saw through your disguise and flew off in a huff, leaving his gorilla Number Two to deal with you. (Presumably, if you are reading the diary, you have bested Number Two.) After a spontaneous nap, Weavil explains how his anger prompted him to rip up the Draconic For Dummies volume that you're after (and will have to reassemble). Conveniently, Weavil thoroughly describes the devious ways in which he disposed of the eight chapters, so you will be able to follow his footsteps to collect them again. Wrapping up the itinerary of his book destruction, Weavil says he's going to go to sleep. It is in that state that you find him when you come to collect the chapter that he retains.

* * * *

The overriding element in Weavil's Diary is his intense hatred of Narain, which comes across as having jealousy at its root. Narain "destroyed the curve on every exam" during their stint at the Tinkering Institute, and given that Weavil failed out of the program he must have been more than a little resentful. Pure spite motivates Weavil's destruction of the Draconic book; he recalls that Narain spoke well of Molten Core, which is why he chooses it as the dumping ground for one of the chapters. We'll see how much Narain likes MC after he has to pry the book out of Ragnaros's dead hands!

Just as spite motivates Weavil's actions, anger in general seems to motivate his outlook on life. He uses one chapter of the book to destroy an innocent demon, creating a tornado out of the pages to "shred its body into a million pieces." Weavil's malevolence is a source of joy for him: destroying the demon "made [Weavil] pretty happy." Despite his anger, Weavil does reveal a soft spot in the regret he voices over beating his minion (not to mention the hug he later bestows upon it).

One might also consider the very fact that Weavil is keeping a diary. It's not even a mere recording of events, but a conversation between Weavil and the diary as a thing. He starts every entry with "Dear Diary" and even addresses it, almost seeking a response with questions like "Can you believe it?" and "you know what?" and beseeching it to keep his confessions "between you and me, diary."

The other obvious characteristic of Weavil that arises in his diary is his abnormal sleepiness. He seems to require a nap several times throughout the day. It could just be that he writes a little before he goes to bed each night, but he only explicitly mentions that the day is over once. His contributions for that day are split up into several entries; sometimes he leaves to let loose his anger (or apologies) on his minions. He manages to fall asleep mid-entry while his emotions are at their angriest:

What a show-0ff? Who reads Draconic? I hate [Narain] so much!

Dear diary,

Sorry, I fell asleep.

Not only that, but he's still fast asleep after this last entry by the time you catch up to him. This means he's been napping since the day after you best Number Two; I know it took me several weeks to round up all the other chapters, and I came to retrieve Dr Weavil's chapter last, so that makes for a pretty lengthy hibernation.

I love Weavil's diary. It's humorous and looks right into the heart of his true feelings. It gives a nice backstory to his animosity toward Narain, and unlike some other in-game diaries, Weavil's is well-written in terms of grammar and style. It's a nice little memento capturing a specific moment during your epic Scepter adventure. Even though it's not a quest item or in any way useful, I still have it sitting in my bank in a special row between The War of the Shifting Sands and The Schools of Arcane Magic - Mastery.