Star Craft II: Heart of The Swarm - Plot

Plot

See also: Plot of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

Heart of the Swarm starts at a research facility run by Crown Prince Valerian Mengsk, who is performing tests on Sarah Kerrigan to determine how much of her skill at controlling Zerg remains from her time as the Queen of Blades. Jim Raynor is desperate to get Kerrigan away, and shortly after the last round of tests, the facility is attacked by Dominion forces. Valerian and Kerrigan escape to Raynor's flagship, the Hyperion, but Raynor himself is left behind. Dominion reinforcements press the attack, despite Valerian's presence onboard the Hyperion; Valerian recognizes that his father, Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, will sacrifice anything - even his own son - to ensure Kerrigan's death. While Hyperion captain Matt Horner gives the order to retreat, Kerrigan remains behind in an attempt to locate Raynor, only to hear a Dominion newscast announcing that he has been captured and executed by the Dominion.

Enraged, Kerrigan vows revenge against Mengsk and his Dominion, and she returns to Zerg space where she meets up with Izsha and Abathur, two of her former lieutenants, and plots to reunite the Swarm. At Char, she intends to reclaim the homeworld, reclaiming and "reeducating" brood mother Zagara and driving off the Dominion forces led by General Horace Warfield in the process. In the destruction of Warfield's fortress, he is fatally injured. Dying, he confronts Kerrigan, attempting to convince her to allow the wounded to evacuate and asking what Raynor would say if he saw her now. After a rage she finishes him off, but commands the swarm to back off, allowing the wounded to evacuate.

On the frozen world of Kaldir, she annihilates the Protoss forces stationed there, reclaiming the brood of the fallen brood mother Na'fash in the process and evolving her swarm to survive in the harsh climate. After using the Protoss researcher Lassara to implant a brood mother and destroy the final protoss ship, Kerrigan is confronted by Zeratul, who tells her to travel to Zerus, the original homeworld of the Zerg, where the primal Zerg are in a constantly evolving state. Kerrigan, initially reluctant, is convinced after Zeratul tells her that it will give her the power she wants to kill Mengsk.

On Zerus, Kerrigan awakens the oldest living Zerg, Zurvan the Ancient One, and learns from him that a fallen xel'naga named Amon stole a large portion of the Zerg from Zerus and bound them to a single overriding will, making them Amon's slaves as part of his plot to destroy both the Zerg and Protoss and remake life in his own image. Kerrigan enters a chrysalis in the first Zerg spawning pool and emerges, transforming again into the primal Queen of Blades. Before leaving Zerus, her swarm kills and absorbs the essence of the three primal pack leaders and Zurvan himself. One of the primal packleader, Dehaka, and his followers join her, provided that she gives him "essence" to collect. Afterward, Kerrigan receives a transmission from Mengsk, who informs her that Raynor is still alive as a bargaining chip against Kerrigan attacking the Dominion capital world of Korhal.

Kerrigan is contacted by a Zerg-infested Alexei Stukov. With Stukov's aid, Kerrigan assaults a Dominion research station that houses several Protoss-Zerg hybrids, which could imperil her chances at revenge against Mengsk unless they are destroyed. The two decide to try to kill Emil Narud before he can revive Amon. Kerrigan, Stukov, and the Swarm destroy the hybrids and fend off a last-ditch effort by Narud to use Xel'Naga powers to kill them. Kerrigan then confronts Narud in a final battle. Morphing first into Raynor and then into Kerrigan's pre-infestation form, Narud gains the upper hand and impales her with a psi-blade. Kerrigan manages to use her wing-spikes to fatally wound Narud. As he dies, Narud reveals to her that Amon is alive and that she will encounter him soon.

After recovering from the battle Kerrigan then contacts Valerian and Horner to inform them that Raynor could be still alive. They then plan to hack the Dominion network to locate Raynor, but the only one with the expertise to do so is Colonel Orlan, a mercenary leader who is held captive by rival merc Mira Han. Mira refuses to surrender Orlan without Raynor's permission, even in spite of his imprisonment. The Hyperion thus assaults Mira's mining operations before she finally surrenders Colonel Orlan. With his aid they are able to locate Raynor onboard a prison ship that constantly changes location. Kerrigan tells them to wait as she personally assaults the ship, and rescues Raynor while the ship is refueling. Raynor is shocked and revolted by Kerrigan's reversion to her infested form. Kerrigan is willing to let Raynor kill her but he cannot bring himself to do so, but he tells her that they are done.

Valerian understands that his father is beyond redemption, and along with Raynor's Raiders, accepts Kerrigan's decision for a full invasion of Korhal. Valerian urges Kerrigan to slow down her invasion to minimize civilian losses, and she reluctantly accepts the delay, understanding that Valerian is not like his father. After the Swarm disables the air defenses in the capital city, Kerrigan moves to weaken the Dominion defenses surrounding Mengsk's palace. With the aid of Dehaka and his pack, she destroys Mengsk's Psi Destroyer device protecting the city. She then sends all her forces to assault Mengsk's palace. Midway through the final battle, Raynor and the Hyperion arrive to assist Kerrigan, much to her surprise. The joint Raider-Zerg assault succeeds in breaching the palace, where Kerrigan confronts Mengsk in his office. The emperor reveals that he has the Xel'Naga device, which had previously been used to de-infest her. Mengsk uses it to weaken Kerrigan, taunting her in the process. Before Mengsk can deliver the final blow, Raynor intervenes, destroys the artifact's remote control, and throws Mengsk across the room - leaving him to the mercy of Kerrigan. With a burst of her psychic powers, she vaporizes Mengsk and destroys his office. As the dust settles, Kerrigan thanks Raynor for everything before joining her swarms again. Raynor's reply reveals that his feelings for Kerrigan remain strong in spite of her transformation.

In the final scene, the camera pans around space and galaxy while Kerrigan states that with her vengeance completed, she now departs to face her true enemy, after renouncing everything she once was or had and embraces her role as the heart of the Swarm. The camera focuses on a dark cloud in space, as the stage is set for the final battle.

Read more about this topic:  Star Craft II: Heart Of The Swarm

Famous quotes containing the word plot:

    There saw I how the secret felon wrought,
    And treason labouring in the traitor’s thought,
    And midwife Time the ripened plot to murder brought.
    Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)

    James’s great gift, of course, was his ability to tell a plot in shimmering detail with such delicacy of treatment and such fine aloofness—that is, reluctance to engage in any direct grappling with what, in the play or story, had actually “taken place”Mthat his listeners often did not, in the end, know what had, to put it in another way, “gone on.”
    James Thurber (1894–1961)

    Trade and the streets ensnare us,
    Our bodies are weak and worn;
    We plot and corrupt each other,
    And we despoil the unborn.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)