Players started the latest World of Warcraft expansion by chasing former Warchief and current villain Sylvanas Windrunner through the veil to the Shadowlands. But despite that, we still only saw a glance at her in cuts. The latest play from Torghast’s Twisting Corridors, which also features Sylvanas, was provided by Wowhead, and fans are already respond – and worrying about Sylvanas’ ultimate fate.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Torghast and upcoming movie content.
Sylvanas has committed many war crimes over the past decade. She may have been behind the Wrathgate in Wrath of the Lich King. In Disaster speed, sy definitely the nation of Gilneas bombarded against explicit orders of the Horde leadership. In Legion, she tried to kidnap and enslave Eyir, the queen of the Val’kyr. In Struggle for Azeroth, she started the expansion with a genocide via arson and then just kept murdering, mind control and chaos until she finished her job and fled the afterlife.
It’s hard to see how anyone can come back from all the bad behavior to become a hero, but salvation in World of Warcraft has always been a strange thing. Certain characters can come back and save the day, thus proving that the goals justify their means. Kael’thas Suntrider, former prince of the blood elves, begins his own redemption in the vampire hell of Revendreth. Alternative Grom Hellscream has redeemed itself on Draenor. Maiev Shadowsong killed a lot of people, but she apologized, so everyone is nice to her.
The template for this comeback tour comes from another Blizzard game: Sarah Kerrigan, AKA, The Queen of Blades. Her story runs almost parallel to Sylvanas’: they are both taken up and turned into the agent of an invading force. They both broke free from mental control and used their newfound powers to bring about destruction. But Kerrigan eventually became a great hero, who went up to space god status and saved everyone from the biggest bad things.
Will Sylvanas do the same? The above film art seems to have a conscience after all, and Warcraft’s most beautiful son draws on her heartstrings. But on the other hand, the film puts her in exactly the same attitude as an iconic Lich King promotion. There were similar comparisons to the Shadowlands movie preview – it seems likely for Blizzard to make fans think about the similarities between the two characters.
Blizzard undermined the herd of the elect to bring about salvation Legion. The first half of the story focused on Illidan, and the Naaru Xe’ra talked about how wonderful he was, and why we should all feel ashamed because we fought him in the Black Temple. Then, in a surprising turn, Illidan refuses to cooperate with Xe’ra. Instead, he killed her, drew a ‘heh, nothing personal, child’, and continued to do things his way.
It is quite possible that Sylvanas has a similar broadcast, where she lives in the Shadowlands or the Maw. We still do not know her exact plan or whether she can betray the jailer. It’s completely within her character, and she’s been playing five-dimensional chess long enough to make it possible.
But on the other hand, Sylvanas killed many people and expressed very little remorse about it. The burning of Teldrassil, the campaign in Gilneas and the Horde Civil War it provokes are all very big problems. It does not seem to Sylvanas to be a good man in any capacity to speak after an extension about killing hope and smiling while his civilians torch.
Will Sylvanas return to Azeroth in triumph, or will it be another raid full of sweet outside drops? No matter what the outcome, Sylvanas was the most discussed part of World of Warcraft now for years, which is no small feat.