Recently, I fell in love with a fictional character named Arcturus Mengsk, and I was astonished by how much I learned from him about happiness, success, and failure through his life story, which is precisely why I decided to write about him.
You can recognize Arcturus Mengsk if you’ve played the sci-fi video game StarCraft, which takes place in Blizzard’s universe. His origin story is best described in the book StarCraft: I, Mengsk. His story begins from a position of relative success, yet remains obscure on a universal scale. However, through his strength and determination, he transforms into one of the main characters in the StarCraft universe, the Emperor of the Terran Dominion.
And, of course, it is interesting to read about anyone who achieves the goal of conquering the universe and what it really takes to do so.
In this way, Arcturus Mengsk comes from a wealthy family with many good role models who taught him how to act and be from a young age, which helped him make all the right choices in terms of education, sports, and discipline.
Here, I have to admit to being somewhat jealous, as while people like this end up with “daddy and mommy issues,” they also come out with a set of skills that allow them to succeed in a grand way later in life.
For example, from a young age, Arcturus Mengsk was always very smart, with nearly a genius-level IQ, and could master almost any skill with ease. Perhaps genetics played a role in his success, but perhaps we all have the potential for greatness inside of us, and we just never get around to finding it.
In my case, today, I know 8 languages, have written a book on happiness (and am in the process of writing a few more), am a self-help guru, and have traveled the world for over 10 years non-stop, while taking a very slow approach to achieving these goals. In retrospect, I know that I wasted a lot of time and made mistakes that could have been avoided.
Now imagine being given the right set of skills and values from the start. I’m sure some people would call me a genius at this point if that had happened, as I’m already complimented with many good adjectives based on my current knowledge.
At the same time, I know that I can still do much better, push forward, and succeed with even more grandiosity. For example, I can become the world’s leading authority on happiness and change the world as we know it.
And we all have the potential to do something similar by doing what we know we should and figuring out the rest along the process.
In a way, the biggest life lesson that I have learned, relearned, and still arguably learning to this day is to raise one’s standards, as to some extent we all are guilty of not aiming high enough and giving up on our dreams too early. This in comparison to Arcturus Mengsk is laughable, as his goal is complete dominion over the whole universe and the defeat of all his enemies.
In this way, Arcturus Mengsk is often labeled a “madman and terrorist,” but he refutes these claims by stating that they are lies spread by his opponents, highlighting the subjective nature of perception, which is a great lesson in how to deal with your own critics and maintain a high level of strength and well-being despite being one of the most loved or hated people in the universe (depending on who you will listen to).
After all, his enemies are the Confederate elite and old Terran families that are repressing and killing people indiscriminately, being the real bad guys of the story. He eventually brings them down, but at the cost of transforming from a hero to a villain.
Quotes like “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” and “never meet your heroes” come to mind as this is exactly who Arcturus Mengsk becomes after he himself becomes the Emperor of the Terran Dominion.
Certainly, there is a certain level of egoism in this goal, almost to a tyrannical extent, which is always unwelcome in our leaders because it comes at the cost of happiness for many other people. However, the real way to achieve one’s goals and still remain a good person is to keep the greatest happiness for the greatest number in mind. In a way, I don’t think Arcturus Mengsk made this transition, as he never really had a plan for post-war prosperity, at least not any visible one.
However, personally, I often prefer the parts of biographies that come before people achieve their success, and the same is true for Arcturus Mengsk, as before his victory, he is a completely different person, a wartime leader who has to make difficult decisions to win. Certainly, this comes at the expense of many people who are sacrificed as pawns on a chessboard of the universe, where the only true victory is the checkmate of the opponent, regardless of how many pieces are sacrificed in the process.
Naturally, this is the argument against Arcturus Mengsk, as to him, the end justifies the means, while arguably, without Arcturus Mengsk, the world would be an even worse place, until he wins, which arguably never happens, as there are now different enemies, such as the vestiges of the Confederate elite and old Terran families, revolutionaries who don’t like Arcturus Mengsk, and new races such as the Zerg and Protoss, with whom he now has to contend.
Another quote that comes to mind is “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This quote highlights the idea that Arcturus Mengsk initially took on the original villains of the story (the Confederate elite and old Terran families) as a means to fight against the injustices of the world at that time. However, he eventually became the villain himself, setting the stage for a new set of heroes (and villains) to rise up against him, including his son Valerian Mengsk.
However, I question whether Valerian Mengsk could defeat the elite Confederate and old Terran families. In a way, I don’t think so, as he didn’t have the strength of character to do so at the time. So perhaps “in normal times, evil would be fought by good. But in times like these, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil.” Yet, I wonder if we can’t have it all, such as Arcturus Mengsk defeating his enemies and still becoming a good guy in the end.
Personally, I want to think it is possible, as what I was missing in Arcturus Mengsk was a map for a perfect world that comes after the defeat of his enemies, which wasn’t present, at least as far as I can see it. So, yes, maybe Arcturus Mengsk had to be replaced by someone else, especially after his victory, or perhaps he could become that character, although some people don’t think that wartime leaders have to be different from peacetime leaders.
Still, we can all aspire to have a bit more of the life of Arcturus Mengsk. We can at least keep him as a role model to show that conquering the world is actually possible, and we can all do it in our own way.
To do so, I always recommend first conquering one of the biggest foes, which is ourselves, and more specifically, our fears and other negative emotions, replacing them with the image of happiness and positivity. These are actually great values for creating a life of success and fulfillment, not only for ourselves but also for creating a world full of happiness and well-being. Given the chance to shape an ideal world, more people would have the opportunity to experience happiness.
In a way, this goal is indeed attainable, and it is all I write about on this website. Furthermore, you can also buy our book or subscribe to our coaching program, which will accelerate your learning.
Stay happy!
