How Legacy of the Void should have ended:

Zeratul sped up the hill, pursued no longer by the possessed Protoss until at last he halted, coming before Artanis, who even now struggled to resist Amon's brainwashing. Yet he was failing. The Dark God had seized control of the Khala-

'What?' Said Zeratul.

-the Dark God had seized control of the Khala.

'Would you care to repeat that, Executor?'

-the Dark God had seized control of the Khala.

'No.' Said Zeratul flatly. And just like that, everything stopped. The Protoss stopped fighting, the Zerg stopped swarming, across the Galaxy the Terrans looked up from their battles, their fingers falling away from the trigger as that singular word brought everything, from the most gigantic mothership to the tiniest larva to a complete flat out halt.

There was utter silence.

Would you mind elaborating Zeratul?

'No.' Said Zeratul 'Just, no. I have done many things which were utterly abhorrent to me because destiny says so. But this… I refuse to accept. It isn't happening. You can't take control of the Khala. I don't care if Amon is a Xel'naga, or if this is a story point to advance the plot, or if there is some kind of connection between the Protoss and Amon beyond him being a Xel'naga. Because this right here? This is just silly.'

Then there was a pulsing as Artanis rose, yet not Artanis. His eyes flared red. 'You may deny it if you like, Zeratul. However the truth is that I alone created the Protoss, and the Khala's function was to-'

'No.' Repeated Zeratul with a laugh.

'-as I was saying-'

'No!' Laughed Zeratul, and suddenly the normal stoic Protoss burst out laughing. Laughing at the way Blizzard seemed to think animating Kerrigan's ass was more important than making a coherent narrative. Laughing at how Kerrigan hadn't done anything so far to warrant being a chosen one. Laughing at everything that existed and ever would exist, because it had all been building up to this singular moment of stupidity, and he had just denied it. Amon was no longer in control of the Khala. Not because of the problems with that idea, the multitude of blatantly obvious problems which would be completely obvious to anyone who gave even the slightest bit of thought to the story, or for that matter anyone who skimmed any part of the Starcraft Manuel. Just because Zeratul said no, and just like that Amon had lost the thing he needed to advance the plot.

'This is absurd!' Said Amon 'You haven't even given a reason for why my scene would fail.'

Okay, I'll tell you. You trying to seize control of the Khala is the equivalent of Zeus declaring himself the master of Nirvana just because he thinks he outranks Buddha on a cosmic scale. This is like a wicked King of Israel declaring himself God on earth. This is like Hammond from Jurassic Park declaring himself in complete control of the Dinosaurs he created. This is like the Confederacy of Man declaring itself in control of its Wayward Colonies. Except this is worse, because at least Hammond was only trying to keep them on display for kids. The Confederacy was by its very nature shortsighted. But you, Mr Mastermind behind the Overmind?

This is just… Zeratul, explain it to him.

Zeratul did explain it, with his original voice.

'Amon, the kind of control you are talking about is simply not possible. Sentient beings do not advance within predictable patterns just because you were there at their beginning before leaving for a couple millennia and getting killed. Even if we accept that you have some kind of all-powerful control device, one that is entirely offscreen I might, which allows you to do this thing you presume to accomplish, this fact raises a number of questions which have no answers within this story.

Namely, how could you possibly lose?

All you had to do, all you had to do! Was take control of the Protoss from the very beginning! Then when you sicced the Zerg on the other Xel'naga's there would have been nothing to stop you from the very beginning! I suppose the Terrans are something of a factor, but Duran did a fairly good job at manipulating them, assuming manipulation is even necessary against the combined might of the Golden Armada and the Zerg Swarm. The fact is that if you possessed the capacity to take control of the Khala, then you should have used it from the very beginning to create the Hybrids without even having to so much as ignite a psi blade.

That is what Sauron would have done in your position, certainly.'

Zeratul then began accessing the data from events that had not yet transpired by his mind alone.

Which brings us full circle the second item upon the agenda.' Zeratul was now dressed in a business suit, and straightening his tie. 'The Khala is not some terran computer system which you can override with an electronic command, it is the combined spirits of every single Khali Protoss who has ever lived while not cutting off their head tails. They number in the tens of billions, at the least. All of them have their own consciousness, how was it Tassadar described it? He is both a part of it, yet separate. Thus the Khala logically contains the combined power and will of every single Protoss who has ever died. Including such names as Tassadar, Fenix, Aldaris, Adun, the Conclave, and since it is the afterlife quite possibly the Dark Templar as well. I will certainly grant you that being the supposed God of the Protoss might well allow you to pit yourself in a battle of wills against all of these names simultaneously, but…

Didn't Tassadar by himself destroy the Overmind?'

'Oh bugger.' Said Amon, before dying in a flash of psi energy.

Thus ended the threat of Amon. The Zealots who had before been fighting each other were now free, and fighting the Zerg instead, and winning at that. All across the planet Zerg Hive Clusters were laid to waste, as the Golden Armada began its full descent to retake their home world. Artanis and Zeratul watched the success with pride.

'Well that was incredibly easy.' Said Artanis 'Who would have thought that Amon would be foolish enough to pit himself against every single fallen Protoss hero who has ever existed?'

'Yes, I confess it was quite convenient that he lacked even an ounce of common sense.' Admitted Zeratul 'Once we're done here, let us kill Sarah Kerrigan. Her continued existence tires me.'

'Haha, that sounds like an amusing diversion.'

The Battle for Auir was won after a few hours more of vicious fighting, and the Golden Armada spread out across the stars, decimating the Zerg and the Moebius core wherever they found them.

The End.

…

Authors note:

Well I've just about almost finished Legacy of the Void, and I must admit I was initially interested. Certainly its better than Heart of the Swarm, but Artanis grates on my nerves and the absurdity of Amon taking over the Khala was more or less my last straw with Starcraft II. I now officially declare Starcraft II, and all the novels to be an alternate continuity from Starcraft 1. Why?

Because I've been replaying Starcraft 1, and it kicks ass.

The characters are deeper, the plot is more interesting. The missions are more challenging. In Starcraft II the missions are supposed to feature all kinds of new units, but I never used anything other than a Medic Marine Maurader team up, except in the final mission and I easily won. For the Zerg I just kind of mass produced Hydralisks and used Kerrigan with them and won the whole fucking game in two sittings. As for the Protoss, I just used Purifier Zealots and Dragoons, and basically just kept warping in units until I decimated everything on the map.

Later on for varieties sake I used massive amounts of Carriers instead, who could repair themselves and so were basically invulnerable if you played them right.

In contrast I found myself really thinking about my strategies in Starcraft. Whether it was about where I launched my Mutalisks assault on Alpha Squadron, or how to go about rushing the Protoss bases with my Zerg army, I really had to think and react to win. Several times I had to reload my game or restart.

More importantly, it is increasingly apparent that for all his vaunted power and supposed magnificent bastardry that Amon is little more than an Overmind ripoff. The second to Final Mission is basically a version of Eye of the Storm with all the difficulty and Terrans taken out of it. In place of Terrans, you get three AI bases, who can more or less win the mission for you. So basically what the game is telling me is that I don't need to be here.

Given that they removed all the player characters, and forced you to play as freaking Artanis, that really should have been obvious from the get go.

Don't get me wrong, it was awesome jumping around the Galaxy as Jim Raynor, protecting Colonists and revealing the Governments dirty little secrets. It worked for the Terrans, because the Terrans have a very slap dash feel to them. You can find any kind of person among the Terrans, and it made sense that Jim would appeal to a different crowd of Soldier. But Blizzard totally screwed up the other races.

Here's an idea, instead of having Samir Duran be evil, make him subject to blue and orange morality. Make the Hybrids a new race that is evolving on its own. Have the game revolve around the controversy regarding this highly powerful new species that has only just opened its eyes into the universe. Have Raynor kill Kerrigan, have Stukov control the Zerg, make the Protoss Campaign revolve around them kicking tons of ass without taking any serious losses. Give the Magistrate a cannon character, and make her a female character, so that we have a lead female who isn't totally about fan service.

I just feel that there were so many other directions the Hybrids could have been brought other than glorified elite mooks.

That said, the Korhal mission line was kickass, and it was really cool fighting alongside Jim Raynor and Valerian to stop a Colony Drop {which is ironic, given the contents of Arcturus Mengsk vs the Earth.} and Moebius Core. Actually Moebius Core seemed like the highest quality part of the story. That and Alerak's sub plot. Alerak was the best part of the game by far, with a close second being Not-Fenix.