Garrosh: What you have done here, Sylvanas... It goes against the law of nature. Disgusting is the only word i have to describe it. MoP Garrosh: Let me just use this Heart of Y'Shaarj.
Not especially. He was moderately sketchy in Cata, but he was established as a bloodthirsty ambitious warmonger as far back as Wrath's pre-launch event.
@@caffeinedelusions Garrosh, of all people, had to berate and reprimand the orcs who backstabbed the Alliance while they were fighting the Scourge Garrosh, of all people, scolded the orcs and told them of honor when they said they want to kill every last human alive Garrosh, of all people, reprimanded and threatened Sylvanas when she used blight and she harmed the Gilnean civilians Garrosh, of all people, reasserts the meaning of Honor and executed a High Overlord when he made a dishonorable attack on an Alliance peace settlement that mostly killed non-combatants
Garrosh, who literally PLOTTED to backstab the Alliance while they were fighting the Scourge in Borean Tundra, and appointed the captain who ordered Horde troops to charge into the exposed backs of an Alliance line WHILE IT WAS FIGHTING UNDEAD in Icecrown. Garrosh has NEVER had a clear and consistent definition of honor, and he has ALWAYS favored glory over it.
As convenient as it would be to have it all in-game, the perspectives that we see the story in the books and other media gives us insight we couldn't possibly get in-game. As a player, we probably wouldn't have been at the trial of Garrosh. If that was in-game, it would have amounted to doing nothing but standing around and watching very long cut scenes, hours on end, while missing important details going on behind the scenes. There are many more examples of this throughout the books - conversations between Sylvanas and Vareesa, Sylvanas and Nathanos, the raising of Calia Menethil (unless you're a priest), etc etc. A lot of the context of events and motivations of characters would be lost to all players, not just those who choose not to partake in the media available to them. I personally would not want to lose that behind-the-scenes look we get to have by reading the books, giving us a glimpse into the thoughts and motivations of the characters that we wouldn't otherwise have unless they went on obnoxious monologues or every character was forced to keep a publicly displayed diary (which would make it difficult to plot a coup or be sneaky). More to the point, it's actually not spread out that much. The books don't come out that often - once per expansion now? A few short stories/comics with each expansion, all located on the official site. Everything else is in-game.
@@Veraxu1227 Yeah so the forsaken can live forever. I could understand if she was looking for a way to turn them back into living mortals. But I doubt she is that type of person.
There's actually a horde quest line in vanilla WoW, Duskwood where some forsaken has you kill a human spy in Stonard, because he knows a secret about Sylvanas and the forsaken. Before he dies, he says something like "I believe the forsaken are misleading the allies of the horde..."
Fucking finally someone said that. I was literally about to say that but thankfully you have an actual brain. Your comment needs to be higher for sure.
Love this lazy cut out of Nathanos and Sylvanas relationship. They were pretty close prior to even being undead. As he was the only human ranger lord that she strongly vouched for despite all the protests.
You're making it sound like she ordered the invasion of Gilneas alone. It was Garrosh's plan and his orders, he used the forsaken as a meat wall so that as few orcs as possible would die in the invasion, and also hoped to rid the horde of forsaken at the same time. Sylvanas didn't want that, and instead used the plague against his orders as you said. But I think it's a bit misleading to say that she was the one behind the invasion of Gilneas, Garrosh simply ordered her to invade it because he wanted a port in the Eastern Kingdoms.
GregerMoek yeah this and a few other things are kind of my gripe with this overall story. He’s purposely leaving info out to better support his story. Which is fine and his story is very enjoyable and makes some interesting points. But it’s not the whole story.
Yep. Lot of the Cataclysm stuff with Gilneas was her trying to make the best of a bad situation. That situation being Garrosh's warmongering, his hatred of the Forsaken and Sylvanas' shakey position post the Wrath-Gate. She couldn't have ordered the invasion of Gilneas on her own because Garrosh was so distrustful of her she couldn't even sneeze without him getting angry.
And so with this a lots of fanboys have left out the most important part - what Sylvanas might have though about the whole ordeal. You say it was Garrosh's orders and so it wasn't her fault or her will. You don't know that more than anyone else. Sylvanas was already working with the Valkyr to boost her numbers, (you know as much as I how the Undead start works post-WOTLK as much as I do) why would she NOT go along - happily as she had similar plans herself - with the invasion solely to gain more territory to her immediate south AND loads of more forces by raising all the dead Gilneans after the fact? Oh, she used her plague - the anti-life bio-weapon she made that even Garrosh had forbidden them from using - somehow to cover their own ass? Only partially correct, the Gilneans had resisted far harder than she had assumed. It was a simple zero-sum conclusion - invade Gilneas, gain forces, Gilneans resist to hard and she's losing to many to make it a positive outcome, (hell they had even COUNTER-ATTACKED and re-taken the city from the Forsaken and 'killed' all the undead in the city) this goes against the goal, so use the plague to wipe them out faster and secure the territory with whatever gains they had at that point. Fits her M.O perfectly. AND achieves the goals she was "unwillingly ordered" to execute. But hey, let's smooth over this and just #BlameGarrosh as per usual, making it seem like the BANSHEE QUEEN OF THE DEAD had no will in the invasion and mass-murder of the Gilnean people. Nope, she's not genocidal at all, it wasn't what she wanted, totally. You are all making excuses to salve your emotional hurt that your favourite (former) Horde leader is this much of a self-serving, hypocritical, mass-murdering wretch. Sylvanas has far more blood on her hands than even Garrosh managed, and that eats at you. Well, whatever I guess, it's not like this happens every damn time someone even mentions this disgusting creature's existence.
Yeah and back in these times Sylvanas character was all about preserving and protecting her people. Because in her vision after she killed herself at Icecrown she saw Garrosh using them like you said, which then lead to them eventually dying out.
That's what I'm noticing while watching it. Haven't finished it yet but was looking around in comments to see if anyone was thinking the same. This is really annoying. I'd be more hype and interested if it was something actually going on in the game since that's mainly how we interacted with her and others.
Sadly, WoW always had that problem to me. The insistance in having between xpac stories detailed in novels is really a bad move for lore investment. Have that all be ingame, make us chase them details, you know, feel involved with what's going on.
@@cassiodalcin Unfortunately as companies advance. They started to drop novels to get MORE money. Split your lore once you have your viewership hooked. Watch them buy everything.
I think you missed out the part that, when she and Nathanos were still alive, it was hugely implied that she fancied him and why it was always a meme that the Windrunner sisters had a weak spot for humans. I remember that she said something along the line that he owes her some time in her hut with a cup of tea, with a saying smile. It was never said how far it all went tho. I think she really wanted to preserve Nathanos, but maybe also with in mind, that he will be a even greater asset.
Great video! Two things to note though: I'm fairly certain that it was Hamuul Runetotem who vouched for the Forsaken, not Cairne Bloodhoof. And Saurfang was not leading Orgrim's Hammer during the events of the Halls of Reflection. It was Sky-Captain Korm Battlescar (I believe his name is). Anyway, looking forward to part 2!
I appreciate you actually explaining these events and going into her motivation and trauma/driving forces as a character. Sylvanas is and always has been my favorite video game character, and there's so much controversy around her as of late. That of which I can TOTALLY understand, but debating with my friends constantly, it makes sense. You're absolutely right. Some of the absolute core important arcs to her story aren't in game, so to most people she's just a villian with no sort of interesting motive. Personally I've been so bombarded by all the hate surrounding her I've been forgetting to step back and reanalyze the big picture with her, so I really appreciate this. Great video and definitely one of my favorites :D!
The biggest issue is that she had a clear in-game motivation from WC3 until Wrath, then after that a WHOLE lot of character development happened off screen, then she's suddenly relevant again and seemingly a different character entirely. So the character people were familiar with just wasn't there at all and all her actions seemed like they were out of left field.
Hateful Hulk right!! I’m not against picking up a WoW book or comics to read fun side stories of other people in the world. But don’t use main story points in material that’s not in the game and have it majorly impact the games story! It’s so annoying. Tell the damn story in the game!!
At least you can read the comics again and again. The in-game quests... not so much. I wish there was a way to fully repeat zones and storylines, not tied to a new character.
"I've been writing Sylvanas since 2006...I mean, I didn't go to school for writing or even pass basic literature classes, but I've been doing it!" **OR** "I've been writing Sylvanas since 2006, but they didn't let me put most of it in the game, so you guys never got to actually see any logical character development, just random snippets and select large chunks that make 'exciting?' cut scenes and might make ActiBlizz money." ...seriously, who the fack wrote Vol'jin appointing Sylvanas as war chief?! That was...is...what the fock?!
All these people were like “she’s a good guy, just misunderstood”.... lol I never thought she was good. She’s done too many terrible things and they kept getting swept under the rug
@@Nick-vn5id if it's at least the third he's posting "the TRUTH behind Sylvanas" in title, with TRUTH all caps, but the video just throws around some speculations or doesn't even say anything about her intentions at all (like the one right after Saurfang's mak'gora), then it kinda is clickbait, no?
@@tomsakmens5571 You are a dipshit. Almost ALL his videos ARE speculation when he is talking about WOW lore, that's why we watch it. He doesn't work for Blizz, so if you are too stupid to understand that unsub and stfu. Pretty sure the rest of us come here for a different view point
If Alex Afrasiabi has been writing for her since 2006, then he would surely be able to see why some people are upset. She might have ordered the events of the Wrath Gate, but that has clearly not been told in a proper way if people are arguing over it. I, personally, didn't know she ordered the attack. I believe him when he says she did, but that has not been shown in the game.
Seriously. Until *very recently* we were led to believe that a radical faction led by Varimathras carried out that plot against her wishes. I absolutely believe that at the time that was intended to be true, but has since been retconned to better fit her being a villain all along.
@@Candlemancer I disagree, it was an event intended to be open for interpretation. It was meant to be an event which you don't know who truly was behind it and it was up for the player to believe which outcome they wanted to. Sure on surface it looked like Varimathras did it but connecting the dots it could just as easily been Sylvanas who planned it out and it just backfired. It wasn't a retcon what they did, they just finally gave us a definitive answer. I dislike it because nothing is left to mystery or speculation anymore and everything needs a clear cut answer but that doesn't change the fact that it was a retcon.
Just because you didn't know doesn't mean that there haven't been hints of her character throughout the story. It has been mentioned that the Forsaken joined the Horde out of convenience. Almost all Forsaken quests were focusing on developing a plague both in Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend. Sylvanas was never a "good" character. She has murdered humans in WC3 because she wanted Lordaeron for herself so imo I really didn't think it was out of character at all. Just because you don't know the full story from the start doesn't make it bad writing. It's bad writing when you know everything that happens all the time and no room for surprises is made.
are we even playing the same game... since classic it is stated that the forsaken and sylvanas just use the horde for their goals, they hate the world and especially the living all the old questlines in the forsaken areas were just to give sylvanas and her forces more power (like powerful litches and stuff) in WotLk we learn that the forsaken worked on a plague that destroys the living and the dead, sylvanas states that it was treason by 2 of her closest and formerly loyal underlings... okay in cata she actively works against the direct orders of the current warchief, and we learn that she uses formerly members of the scourge to prolong her life she attacks innocent villages and encampments to raise them into undeath (silverpine and gilneas questlines) in legion she saves the horde leaders... including HERSELF, she makes bargains with one of our enemies, uses the plague that was developed by these so called traitors (a LOT), and at the end of legion varimathras warned us about sylvanas' motivations and goals even with only the information given to us ingame (questlines, quest texts, and ingame dialogue), this is one coherent character - the comics and books tell us that she still has feelings for her former loved ones, the people who suffered the same torture under the scourge like she had, and that she also has a lot of mental instabilities, like the suicide thing, the existential fear, and the fear of losing her place of power and influence srsly, which sylvanas do you know that I don't?
THANK YOU!! As a long, LONG time fan of Sylvanas and who she *really* is, the woman behind the banshee...you get it and you did a fantastic job of explaining it to those who just see her as some crazed, genocidal megalomaniac trying to live forever. She lost her family, and she became a survivor, which was why when she attempted to end her life after Arthas was finally slain, I was hurt and confused...but I understood that she truly felt like she had no purpose any longer, due to the one driving force (vengeance for all she had stolen from her and the need to rid Azeroth of such an evil force) she had in her unlife finally being laid to rest. "What purpose is there to this torment?" She laments, she loves, but she is terrified to let anyone see that side of her as it is so easily viewed as a weakness, and she will never allow anyone to see that side of her. Never again, at least.
@@zachwarnick8949 Within any story what does "Deserve to live" mean? By what or whos standard?? Its a really dumb question... And people who call themselves survivors have never had to survive shit. Physical survival is interesting and real, Emotional survival is 9/10 times someone being vain and ignorant.
There's a lot of speculation and pulling threads together here, but unfortunately the more likely scenario is that the dev meeting went something like: Dev 1 - So we're all in agreement that Sylvanas is going to be the big bad of this expansion right? Dev 2 - Yes, but what is her reason and ultimate plan? Dev 1 - TBA later.
Agreed. Sadly there isn't always an in-game or canon explanation... But rather just that some writer or dev decided this was the way to go with a character.
Hey, regarding the quote from Afrasiabi and the Wrathgate, you forgot to mention that the Forsaken starting zone narrator in Cataclysm was pretty explicit that she didn't do the Wrathgate. And you sort of brushed over the fact that Afrasiabi created/confirmed a retcon that he cited as evidence of consistency when he was making the argument that his writing was consistent.
The opening narration for the Forsaken starting area post-Cata does not explicitly say this. At best, it merely implies it. But it's important to note that these narrations are generally given to you to sort of get you into the mindset of the race you're playing, so it's not far-fetched to think that that narration is merely going off Sylvanas' version of events rather than the full truth. Sylvanas isn't going to go around telling every Forsaken about the plan because if word got out, it would ruin them. So it's likely it was on a completely need-to-know basis, given that in the quests leading up to the Wrathgate on the Horde side, the Forsaken involved just have this air of being up to something with the way they seem to keep shit from you. Back to the point, all the narration says was that the Alliance and Horde were "betrayed by Grand Apothecary Putress" which doesn't necessarily mean Sylvanas didn't give the order to use the Blight at Wrathgate. Further, it states that the coup was done "unbeknownst to Sylvanas," not the use of the plague, which always seemed to me like she just kinda used the coup to shift the blame away from her, which is entirely something she would do. People were literally always suspicious of her actions, even the players if I remember correctly. Tl;dr The Forsaken starting area thing seems to just be basically giving Sylvanas' version of events, not necessarily the truth, which makes sense given Sylvanas wouldn't want newly risen Forsaken knowing she used the Blight.
Sounds about right. What intrigues me at present is Sylvanas' new location. She is poised right in the largest area of undead, corpses and a scattering of the living. She could easily raise a new army in Eastern Kingdoms and take one city after another. Silvermoon perhaps, her home, or, she could head directly south tthrough Ghostlands, Plaguelands, and then onwards south with an ever growing army. She could however just be seeking a desolate spot for her actions to be kept secret. Nathanos will follow her to whatever end and he is on a mission.
Honestly she used to be one of my favorite character in the whole franchise but her story has been going in circles for so long it got boring. I think she would had been better staying the tragic anti-hero she used to be, simply trying to find a place for her and her people rather than get turned into some cold minded mastermind. That's kind of the issue with the Forsaken as a whole though, pretty much the only positive development they can ever reach is destruction, which can't happen because of the gameplay impact it would have, otherwise all they can ever do is go in circles trying to justify their existence despite being completely out of the natural cycle of things. There really isn't much space for interesting character development there anymore.
Actually, if Sylvanas becomes the master of death, she might be able to provide them with an actual afterlife. Given what she has been about, this might actually be a cool motivation for her. And it also helps establish why she doesn't truly need to care about them while they live or die - if she can essentially guide or save them in the afterlife, their life doesn't really matter. Nor that of the horde.
Story should of ended after Arthas was killed. Her story had no reason to continue beyond that. They could of added a little bit of her saying something like "I understand some of you have found purpose in serving the Horde, you must forge your own destiny, but my time here is over." or something like that (that kind of sucked, but hope it gets the idea across) to justify Forsaken player characters still being a thing. Everything after WotLK has been nothing but unbearable cringe and just digs her "ruined character" hole deeper and deeper. Her story was tied to Arthas' story. Arthas has been retired (rightly so, it would of been horrific had he somehow continued after WotLK), she should of been retired with him.
You think so? I think he just went around in circles saying the same thing then contradicting it to later go back to the same spot. Why does helya give the valkyr to her? What does she gain? How is it that what helya gains goes in accordance to what sylvanas does? You people say that she is acting out of fear, but how does making more forsaken help that fear? How does making more enemies help her avoid death? Has everyone forgotten that sylvanas does not want her people to endure because she finds her fate tragic, therefore making more of them is nonsensical? People who keep getting owned by bliz dont realize some of us have paid attention to the story since warcraft, back when it was an rts. The current story makes no sense; everything that happens feels like plot armor. I just dont see what story they want to make. It's all over the place.
@@DrewPicklesTheDark EXACTLY. I like Sylvanas, but I like her because she was a bad guy. I never once thought she was actually gonna be a decent character.
Don't forget to mention Bwonsamdi's boss when you go deep! I think that "boss" is key for Sylvanas backstory. He may be the one who "chose" her as Warchief
I enjoy lore videos, but I said it before and I'll say it again, the argument that "It makes sense in the books" has NEVER made a single movie better, so I don't see how it should for a video game. Not to mention, it's like dropping a nuke on pacing and narrative structure. WoW's story is an absolute mess and frankly I find myself paying less and less attention as time goes on. Why read quest descriptions if you need to read a book, a comic, listen to a audio drama and solve the puzzle on the back of a cereal box to make sense of it all. Nah, bro, I'm done with this. I'll wait for the lore videos and just accept that the game is about mechanics.
six2make4 if the books didn’t have something that the game didn’t then what would be the draw? That’s how you sell other products, you give people a reason to buy them 🤦♂️
@@kevinmyers6747 Make it stories that are largely irrelevant to the main plot, like expand upon stuff that is briefly mentioned that happens a long time in the past or about some rando soldiers who fought at the wraith gate. You don't need any of this to understand the motivations of the main characters or why shit is currently going on, it's just extra fluff, not exactly rocket surgery
@@kevinmyers6747 Your reaching mah dude. Currently what we got it required reading, what I'm saying is you can easily have optional reading. You can enjoy the 40K universe without reading literally every 40K book and still make sense of it. Some of it is just these dudes went to a planet and killed some shit, it has no real bearing on overarching plot lines. Not gonna repeat myself a second time.
six2make4 you can repeat yourself all you want, it doesn’t make your point any more valid. Blizzard chooses to put relevant content in their books so that people buy them. Saying it’s “required reading” isn’t even remotely accurate. The story makes plenty of sense if you do nothing but play the game. Nobody is left wondering how a character could have possibly done something. You’re demanding that a character is fully fleshed our when they’re not the main focus. It’s not World of Sylvanas...the player is the main character. You’re not entitled to everyone’s backstory and full life in game...that’s not even reasonable to expect in a book(s) which are a much more easily expanded media. Ultimately you just sound like a little kid crying that you “have” to read. The player is supposed to draw their own conclusions about things, hell you clicked on a video about someone else’s conclusions 🤦♂️
The tone of Sylvanas's voice when departing with Nathanos at the end of the 4th war was softer and sounded like love to me. She reciprocated his feelings.
Finally. The type of arc Sylvannas took was inevitable from the moment she became warchief. Glad one of the major WoW channels has finally looked into this and found from the fluff, yes a lot of it outside of game, that her actions are in line with her motivations. At a lore / story level, my only frustration with BFA has been how so few people seemed to know about the key events you brought up in this video and downplayed how they would shape her motivations and influence her choices. She is a very strong character, a very tragic one too (I get why she is many people's favorite), but she also has a villainous side and has had it for a while.
For years, Blizzard has been throwing small hints and pieces that she isn't the monster she claims she is. I really believe, at the time of creating the opening to Legion and the BfA cinematic Blizzard was thinking of actually cashing those checks and making Sylvanas a character that people who aren't total edgelords would be willing to actually follow. Then BfA actually happened and here we are, and for me it becomes less "Sylvanas lied for years" and more Blizzard lied to us for years. I mean, even the Three Sisters comic, had the ending where Sylvanas was clearly about to murder her sisters because of course she was, only to stop when Vereesa apologized to her which again, small hint that she isn't a complete and total monster. This to me was Blizzard holding on to that lie for as long as possible until BfA actually launched and they didn't have to pretend anymore. I have a lot of feelings about Sylvanas, but the strongest is just disappointment.
Maybe. Her storyline in Legion, with trying to enslave the Valkyrs in stormheim and workout a deal with Helya, makes me think otherwise. Helya is also a tragic character, but also a villain in the end. I think her speech was meant to be inspiring in order to hide her true motivations.
I never thought Sylvanas was a hero, I always knew she was doing evil things, I just thought she was actually doing what she thought was necessary to protect her people. It's more than a little disappointing for her to turn out to be just another villain who wants to end the world and kill everyone. I thought she was "the ends justify the means" taken too far, not "Pain is not the cost, but the reward!"
Personally, I like Sylvanas as a character, even though I do see her ultimately as a villain. Largely because she seems to me an embodiment of the idea that people are not always black and white- villains or heroes. They're a complicated mix of both. Given her words in BfA, (among others,) it seems as if her pragmatism is a warped sense of heroism. Love and hope lead to suffering and loss. It seemed at the burning as if she herself was conflicted between resentment toward life and hope, and a genuine, if twisted, belief that life and hope are ultimately harmful. She is layered in her own life (and death) experience, and that makes her a much more compelling character than simply a "Garrosh 2.0".
I don't see how those things are incompatible and somehow proof that "Blizzard has been lying to us". Sylvanas is capable of monstrous and selfish acts, just as she is still capable of feeling emotional connections towards people from her past. Maybe her characterization has not been handled in the best of ways, but I see this as the writers trying to not make her one-dimensional. She has been struggling with her bitterness and resentment for years, and in the end she lost to them. It might be disappointing for those who hoped to have her be redeemed, but it is not a surprising or incoherent development.
Hey Mike, all these new videos and also the new amount of videos are freaking awesome, but just quickly with your QC, you might wanna include in your end processes that you watch the final product in full after it’s been uploaded but not released. Towards the end there’s a few audio glitches. That being said it’s not like the loud music last time :p You and your team are on a roll! Keep smashing it man! So cool and all the best!
I think people read too deep into the line "Isn't it obvious? I serve the Horde." In the context of what was being said, with the VO work done, it's obvious to me that she was saying to Garrosh, "Dude, why do you care so much? I serve you, don't I?" Which is also why Sylvanas doesn't like Garrosh, with retroactive evidence. Later on, Garrosh says in War Crimes that he's like the Lich King himself. Something that Sylvanas probably thought herself. So when she said, "the difference is I serve the Horde", she's also slyly implying "What's the difference between *you* and the Lich King, now that you control *my* Forsaken."
Also, at least one person (ogre) in the Twilight’s Hammer knew she was playing us from the beginning of the expansion. Reference page 4 of Ogmot’s Dream Journal.
I agree with most of your points, save one: I don't think Sylvanas 'snapped' until Saurfang failed to take Malfurion's head. Again it is from the online stories and not at all in the actual game play. Sylvanas' attack on Teldrassil was spurred on by the High Overlord to make an entire Horde continent and then go for Stormwind. The cost of Horde lives and resources en route to Teldrassil was great, but the advancement was successful. The goal was to take Malfurion's head and march it through the streets as the Night Elves surrendered. Horde spies brought back knowledge that Tyrande was in Silithus leaving Malfurion and Teldrassil vulnerable. All was going according to the High Overlord's plan. When Saurfang let Malfurion go, instead of taking the druid's head, she snapped. I also think that is the moment she is referring to in, "I trusted you!"
Two corrections: the Sylvanas/Nathanos relationship started before they died. She was the leader of the Farstriders and he was the only human Farstriders. Sylvanas is more like a dark anti-hero more than a villain. She still wants to keep Azeroth safe, but like Arthas, believes that undeath is the way to go.
I've was so confused when she burned Teldrassil after she had that heroic moment at the Tomb of Sargeras and that "FOR THE HORDE" moment in the BfA Opening. Only after reading "Before the Storm" and watching back to some of the Classic Forsaken Quests, I got some kind of realistic insight of her personality. She's indeed a complex character and as it mentioned in the Video it's hard to understand it if you only plays the game. I'm very glad the Video classified and explains lots of her actions, so thanks Bellular.
"The real Sylvanas", more like Blizzards retconning a ton and turning her into another villian, cause Garrosh was so much fun. Might aswell dismantle the Horde now.
@@sogghartha The new thing is that she was not behind Wrathgate. But suddenly she was. Blizzard has ruined a perfectly good character which could been a struggling char between her old HIgh Elf self and undead self. Have you read Before the Storm? IN the book they portray The Forsaken as basically still Humans in rotten bodies. They feel emotions, they miss their families. They get to meet em. Sylvanas being there leader, one of the greastest Forsaken and one very good and selfless High Elf once, is the pure opposite, plain evil, plain selfish, egoistic and jealous of the Humans and Forsaken having a meeting on neutral ground, so she kills off the Forsaken for the only reason, them being Human. The same book who proves Undead are just that, undead if allowed to be themself, makes Sylvanas actions make even less sense.
what a huge circle jerk.The thing is simple: there was an at least some sort of coherent story when blizzard was in charge. When Activision took over end of wotlk start of cataclysm suddenly everything started make less sense and everything was second to push next expansion cutting on content and keeping those revenues high. It's pointless following the story now, motivations and charachters are just tools to the infinite grind.
Garrosh wouldn‘t have let all these things happen to the horde. He did nothing wrong, the others failed in protecting him from being corrupted too much.
People complain that she isn't consistent and that she has changed. And she isn't consistent because she isn't perfect. She also did change somewhat. Everybody changes over time. Both of those things make her just deeper, complex, and interesting character that is more realistic than any archetypal villain or hero.
Marcius Nhasty yku do realize she isn’t a real person, right? Every decision “she” makes is a decision that the writers made her take? She isn’t an organic decision making entity, she’s a pawn, like any fantasy character.
@@marciusnhasty There's a lot I could say here. Like in the WoW dev Diaries they told us about how WC3 wasn't finished so they wrote WoW Forsaken as the Scourge. That's why Vanilla WoW Forsaken seems so evil. But more than that: it's not that we feel we were betrayed by our "Wifeuu" or whatever. We were told it would be relatable from the devs in news articles. That there isn't a "mustache-twirling bad guy. She's just pragmatic." So Horde players held onto that. But the thing is... They lied.
@@Brosyphus You do realize that I am literally comparing the way she is written as a character to the other, mostly older fantasy villains and heroes, right? I used the word "character". Real persons can't be realistic or unrealistic, only a fictional characters can.
It was foreshadowed in vanilla too, there was a quest in duskwood for the horde where you helped the forsaken murder a spy. The spies dying words are that the forsaken cannot be trusted lmao.
We know she wants Nathanos romantically, she is a Windrunner Woman, and they have a taste for the Human D. Veressa had Rhonin, Alleria has Turalyon, Syl has Nathanos xD
She serves death. Yoggsaron is the Old God of Madness and Death. We all know the Old Gods are, at the very least, in squabbles with one another. I think the Old Gods are actively fighting each other now that they are beginning to be released upon the world once again. Either that or she is serving Argus, the titan of Death. If we believe that the Titans and the Void Lords are two sides of the same coin, and the Old Gods are just the flip side of the Titan Keepers, it is entirely possible that Argus and Yogg would be very similar to one another and might be able to align in some manner. Look at her power she uses, under her skin is flaming red when she is cut in the end of the war campaign like Argus is when he is summoned. She pulls out dark bluish/purple power to strike down Saurfang, similar to the color that Argus takes in his fight. She is literally serving the prime aspects of death.
Great video, bell! But see this is one of the biggest problems I have with World of Warcraft; excellent story with key pieces not in the game. I’d appreciate if they just put all this in the game to where you could see it slowly come out over time, instead of hunting for puzzle pieces outside the game. Once again, appreciate you doing that, and I look forward to your next video!
Then you wouldn't be RP in the MMORPG. Cause, let's face it your character in-game isn't a god, and if it was, it doesn't know everything. For those not letter friendly that was "Role Playing" in the "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game"
So Sylvanas fell into a pit of Saronite, the black blood of Yogg-Saron, and she got a vision that scared the shit out of her, becoming a thing that guides her motivations till this day? How could anyone have whispered to Vol'jin if not Yogg-Saron himself? This explains Sylvana's void powers at the fight against Saurfang.
If Sylvanas planned the Wrathgate as a shot at Arthas, why wasn't she there herself? There's *no way* she wouldn't personally want to watch Arthas die, that was her whole motivation.
Idk if there's anything that states it outright but she probably knew it would drive him into the citadel and then you see the lead the horde during the pit dungeon at the end of Wotlk
@@superspork3975 That could make sense, like, if the Blight affected the LK such that he couldn't leave the Citadel and had to recharge. But imho clearly that wasn't the intention. The "weakness" was never mentioned or referred to outside of some coughing in the cinematic. He was back up and kicking in ToTC. It certainly would have been cool if Sylvanas' had driven him into the citadel, and that was a big part of why Ulduar and ToTC was able to happen without the Scourge taking advantage of the disunity...but I really don't think there was that much thought put into either of their stories.
@@thedude5641 Yes exactly, I have no idea about it being stated outright or anything but that's the only thing that really makes much sense to me as to why he would post up inside ICC
Before the Storm does soft-confirm Sylavanas having feelings for Nathanos. They seem to have had a relationship before their deaths, and they both still feel those emotions. Sylvanas is just suppressing it as best she can.
well, the books say that Sylvanas can feel emotions (good emotions) but that they are accompanied by a lot of pain. That's what Banshees have, they can feel but it hurts them so much. I think the only emotions that can overwelm their pain are rage and hatred.
No, it's not just feelings, It's hinted pretty heavily they had this kind of taboo romance and she would visit his home and spend the night- kind of ending on a note of Nathanos thinking 'Damn it all, I will be with her no matter what' -so yeah, they were hitting it in the bed too. No surprise, Windrunners like their human men and Slyvanas was no exception.
Ngl, sylvanas made the deal with the jailer before legion, he told her vol’jin would die and would send him whispers to make her warchief. Not only dude she let vol’jin die but varian aswell. She knew his son was weaker and only acted sympathetic so the horde would follow her. When greymane beat her in stormheim she made another deal with the jailer to make her even stronger. Which is why she could kill saurfang so easily. Getting ready for the new raid boss ngl lol
Is it important to note that when she sees the vision of Garrosh was just after she died on Yogg's blood? I mean one of the main mechanics in the Yogg fight is literally going into visions.
Honestly, I've always been a bit disappointed that being called upon to serve as warchief didn't broaden the scope of her empathy. This character has been hungry for a redemption arc since Wrath, and we don't need another Garrosh story.
I have to agree. And I love the content whether I agree with some of your statements or not. I do I want to say one thing to the gentleman regarding his presentation in the video: please slow down and take more breaths. LOL! Seriously though, please? You go so fast that by the end of the video, I'm nearly twitching and short-circuiting just listening to you. So much excitement, your energy-- it's wonderful, and I get all excited as well so I totally get where you're coming from, but... your videos can sometimes be overstimulating and hard to process without occasionally having to replay sections when you're sharing a lot of information. I have to stop and listen again and again just because you are going so fast that it's hard to register everything you're saying. I know you're excited; we're all excited. But please SLOW DOWN and let us share in the excitement WITH you-- and not in part because your mannerisms were tap dancing all over people's natural nervous responses. (for more information, look at the psychological effects of mirroring) You sincerely have such interesting videos that's slowing down is not going to negatively impact anything you wish to share with your audience. I promise. :)
Nathanos is noted that once he was fused with his new body much like how syl was. That he starts to feel emotions that forsaken were unable to feel. Syl sadly may be fighting not only against what ever her master plan is but her emotions as well something hard to cope with. Imagine destroying so much killing so many with no feeling and then suddenly you feel grief and guilt again.
I seriously think they've effed up her character ever since Wrathgate. She doesn't match her WCIII self at all, it's just that she hasn't really been in the spotlight that much until BFA. Turning her into some sort of ruthless, compassion-less, not to mention extremely heavy handed with zero subtlety(minus some dumb plot twist here ofc), tyrant is just dumb and sloppy. Just all around trashy writing. It's like they needed a villain and she had to do. EDIT: And how about some actual criticism? You guys are just listing and accepting stuff that happened here without actually commenting on them.
Criticism from the 'but you have to look at it from the side of the large corporations' guy? Yeah, I think not. He's the milktoast centrist of youtube gaming pundits.
She was always devious, her banshees infested Garithos which caused the rift between the elves and the rest of the alliance. I do like how the Lich King created her, then at the wrathgate she pretty much created the next Lich King.
Great video, can’t wait for the next one. One thing that I have always thought about her and what Saurfang said is that Syl is afraid of hope. Hope will give people choices and she doesn’t want that. I think that’s one thing that she is afraid of. I believe Before the Storm intimated this. It also was why she burned the tree when she wasn’t planning on it. And why she destroyed everyone who were reunited with their human families. What do you think about that?
I feel like reading 'no longer arrows in her quiver, resources not to be squandered' as 'same old pragmatic, cold sylvanas, just using people as resources' is a hell of a read. It's explicitly saying she values them. They're important to her. They have went from being ammo to being valuable things to be preserved.
Compassion? More like cold evaluation... What is the difference between arrows in your quiver, and a resource? NONE. What is the difference between an arrow in your quiver, and a valuable resource? Some. What is the difference between Sylvanas and a psychopath? None. She clearly states she felt nothing for help people, even when she was alive. She just cried over her wounded pride as the leading ranger and military commander of her nation... Her wounded pride over her lost civilization. But for the people themselves? For the individuals? Nothing really... She only ever related to people, as it related to her pride, and their uses. That was it. All she ever was. I'll say this like Kreia: "There's no truth in the force, no great secret."
Its not hard to imagine that Sylvanas orchestrated the attack at the Wrathgate. All she cared about was killing Arthas, and if she succeeded in that she would not care for the consequences that would follow cause she got what she wanted and would just make her exit via suicide. In the event things did not turn out as planned she needed a scapegoat to take the blame so she and the Forsaken would not be cast out of the Horde and become enemies instead of allies, so she needed one of her most loyal followers that share her ideals to be a scapegoat should the need arise, and she got that with Apothecary Putress. She suddenly did not become this during Legion and onward, she been like that from the start, with signs going all the way back to Cataclysm with plaguing Gilneas despite Garrosh forbidding it, and even torturing one of her death knights for making a temporary truce to deal with the Scourge in Andorhal. What kept her in check the entire time was the fact there was always a warchief above her holding her leash, a leash she was let off of when Vol'jin made her warchief. She was then free to do things that she normally would not have gotten away with if someone else was Warchief.
I think you're making the mistake in believing that there has been a consistent, planned character arc for her rather than Blizzard's writers jerking her story hither and thither as the mood took them and the necessities of other story lines dictated.
You are aware that blizzard writes these character stores years in advance right? They usually start work on new xpansions and stories before the others are even complete. for example Wrath was being worked on already before BC was released so they knew he storyline. So yes they knew where the character was leading.
@@therabbits69 You're wrong. They might have an outline of a character arc, but it isn't set in stone until it's released via some media (game, books, comics, etc.) and even then it can be retconned. They will intentionally keep things vague so as not to paint themselves into a narrative corner if they decide to change things at some point.
@@Ravathiel Sure they do! they wrote him as a madman who is the 3rd last boss in the new raid - Incredible payoff given how many years its been in the making
Their dark plans were specifically to kill the Lich King! the Horde was just a nice group to party with while they worked to succeed in that goal. After the Lich King dies they would all seek out death since they disliked being undead. After the Lich king DID die, however, instead of committing mass suicide they continued to follow Sylvanas as they had a new greater purpose. Sylvanas saw the other side and what awaited her people if they all killed themselves(and theoretically any being who is not attuned to the Light)... an eternity of suffering and feeding their souls to the Void Lords. Sylvanas is trying to free everyone from this fate so that the Void Lords lose the overall fight against the Light and all of Existence can continue existing rather than being gobbled up by the endless Void.
Sylvanas was surprised when Vol'jin made her warchief, as in, she didn't know it was going to happen. I believe that the force that made her Warchief did so and then made contact with her afterwards, telling her to do things with the new power she has and in return it would grant her peace in death and not eternal torment. Perhaps the oblivion she faced in the shadowlands could be avoided if she did the bidding of whom ever was responsible for her being elected warchief. So she killed many people, to give it their souls as payment for her own.
True that. I love ff14 story, but I have to admit, wow's lore is superior. It's too bad the storytelling of wow sucks so badly. With its lore, the should be able to make such amazing stories, yet they always drop the ball because they try to go for a flare of a story and it ends up having no sense and sucking. Ff on the other hand has very little lore to speak about, yet its storytelling is amazing. Shb alone is better than anything wow has released since wotlk
Maybe read some of the books, short stories, audio dramas etc and then comment on the lore. Yes I dont agree with the way they decided to split the story into so many pieces outside of the game but the actual story itself is way better than FFXIV. At the end of the day it IS subjective and depends on what kind of story you like but dont say that is not properly contexualized when there are books and stories that explain all these things or when the actual story you are critiscizing hasnt revelead all its secrets. Even Bellular missed a lot of things on this video that are really important which shows how many things people are missing.
its pretty obvious that shes is serving Yog Sarron whether she knows it or not, he is the self-proclaimed God Of Death, and her goals shifted immensely after falling upon his saronite spikes.
13:47 oh please, Forsaken are capable of dropping their jaw way lower than that.
Some even put it in their pockets XD
@@rattlehead999 How did you know where my Warlock hides his jaw. Now he needs a new hiding place.
@@dragoliched1977 What if I'm the Warlock? ;)
gone
Ah yes, I remember that one scene with Sylvanus on ****hub, I thought there was no way she could take that whole thing...
"...who teleported them all away."
That's all Jaina ever does.
Fighting Jaina is like trying to catch an Abra in Pokemon.
All she ever wanted was to study 📖...
They didn't have any grapes, so they waddled away.
You missed the flying frigate?
Shadow Run And sometimes not even that much - she didn’t bother to teleport Varian away...
Garrosh: What you have done here, Sylvanas... It goes against the law of nature. Disgusting is the only word i have to describe it.
MoP Garrosh: Let me just use this Heart of Y'Shaarj.
MOP butchered his character. He was awesome in cata
Not especially. He was moderately sketchy in Cata, but he was established as a bloodthirsty ambitious warmonger as far back as Wrath's pre-launch event.
@@caffeinedelusions
Garrosh, of all people, had to berate and reprimand the orcs who backstabbed the Alliance while they were fighting the Scourge
Garrosh, of all people, scolded the orcs and told them of honor when they said they want to kill every last human alive
Garrosh, of all people, reprimanded and threatened Sylvanas when she used blight and she harmed the Gilnean civilians
Garrosh, of all people, reasserts the meaning of Honor and executed a High Overlord when he made a dishonorable attack on an Alliance peace settlement that mostly killed non-combatants
Garrosh, who literally PLOTTED to backstab the Alliance while they were fighting the Scourge in Borean Tundra, and appointed the captain who ordered Horde troops to charge into the exposed backs of an Alliance line WHILE IT WAS FIGHTING UNDEAD in Icecrown.
Garrosh has NEVER had a clear and consistent definition of honor, and he has ALWAYS favored glory over it.
@@caffeinedelusions on the contrary.
Garrosh himself berated and punished the Horde leader who backstabbed the Alliance.
Ahh if only her story wasn’t spread all over the place and was actually in game..
But a dreamer can dream
As convenient as it would be to have it all in-game, the perspectives that we see the story in the books and other media gives us insight we couldn't possibly get in-game. As a player, we probably wouldn't have been at the trial of Garrosh. If that was in-game, it would have amounted to doing nothing but standing around and watching very long cut scenes, hours on end, while missing important details going on behind the scenes. There are many more examples of this throughout the books - conversations between Sylvanas and Vareesa, Sylvanas and Nathanos, the raising of Calia Menethil (unless you're a priest), etc etc.
A lot of the context of events and motivations of characters would be lost to all players, not just those who choose not to partake in the media available to them. I personally would not want to lose that behind-the-scenes look we get to have by reading the books, giving us a glimpse into the thoughts and motivations of the characters that we wouldn't otherwise have unless they went on obnoxious monologues or every character was forced to keep a publicly displayed diary (which would make it difficult to plot a coup or be sneaky).
More to the point, it's actually not spread out that much. The books don't come out that often - once per expansion now? A few short stories/comics with each expansion, all located on the official site. Everything else is in-game.
Her character is definitely in game. She’s always been who she is.
Nathanos: "...my love"
Random onlooker: "oh damn"
Couldn't help but laugh at that part xD
@@Veraxu1227 Yeah so the forsaken can live forever. I could understand if she was looking for a way to turn them back into living mortals. But I doubt she is that type of person.
There's actually a horde quest line in vanilla WoW, Duskwood where some forsaken has you kill a human spy in Stonard, because he knows a secret about Sylvanas and the forsaken. Before he dies, he says something like "I believe the forsaken are misleading the allies of the horde..."
You didn't need to go there to figure that out just play as a Forsaken in vanilla.
Thanks for that I'll look it up
@@wraithflaire1639 just talk to any forsaken NPC "Death to the living"... its not exactly a well kept secret.
what's that may I ask
But.. Have the turtles made it safely into the water?
Well hi there.....
Fucking quest
God I hate these fucking turtle quests
Yes. I made sure.
Thank God It's just 1700+ points to revered and never touch those filthy quests again.
You miss one very important thing from “edge of Night”, what she saw when died and she didnt see Shadowlands, but probably enless void
Yup
i wonder if sylvanas figured that forsakens cant go to the shadowlands since their souls have been corrupted when they got resurrected
So. When the undead meat their end, they just live in an endless blackness?
Fucking finally someone said that.
I was literally about to say that but thankfully you have an actual brain.
Your comment needs to be higher for sure.
@@Machinens But hey, this is Blizzard we are talking about, the recton masters, anything is possible with them these days.
Love this lazy cut out of Nathanos and Sylvanas relationship. They were pretty close prior to even being undead. As he was the only human ranger lord that she strongly vouched for despite all the protests.
"Emotional makeup" I see what you did there.
You're making it sound like she ordered the invasion of Gilneas alone. It was Garrosh's plan and his orders, he used the forsaken as a meat wall so that as few orcs as possible would die in the invasion, and also hoped to rid the horde of forsaken at the same time. Sylvanas didn't want that, and instead used the plague against his orders as you said. But I think it's a bit misleading to say that she was the one behind the invasion of Gilneas, Garrosh simply ordered her to invade it because he wanted a port in the Eastern Kingdoms.
GregerMoek yeah this and a few other things are kind of my gripe with this overall story. He’s purposely leaving info out to better support his story. Which is fine and his story is very enjoyable and makes some interesting points. But it’s not the whole story.
Yep. Lot of the Cataclysm stuff with Gilneas was her trying to make the best of a bad situation. That situation being Garrosh's warmongering, his hatred of the Forsaken and Sylvanas' shakey position post the Wrath-Gate. She couldn't have ordered the invasion of Gilneas on her own because Garrosh was so distrustful of her she couldn't even sneeze without him getting angry.
Yeah. It's easy sometimes to leave out important details....blizzard does it in nearly every expansion. Unfortunately
And so with this a lots of fanboys have left out the most important part - what Sylvanas might have though about the whole ordeal. You say it was Garrosh's orders and so it wasn't her fault or her will. You don't know that more than anyone else. Sylvanas was already working with the Valkyr to boost her numbers, (you know as much as I how the Undead start works post-WOTLK as much as I do) why would she NOT go along - happily as she had similar plans herself - with the invasion solely to gain more territory to her immediate south AND loads of more forces by raising all the dead Gilneans after the fact?
Oh, she used her plague - the anti-life bio-weapon she made that even Garrosh had forbidden them from using - somehow to cover their own ass? Only partially correct, the Gilneans had resisted far harder than she had assumed. It was a simple zero-sum conclusion - invade Gilneas, gain forces, Gilneans resist to hard and she's losing to many to make it a positive outcome, (hell they had even COUNTER-ATTACKED and re-taken the city from the Forsaken and 'killed' all the undead in the city) this goes against the goal, so use the plague to wipe them out faster and secure the territory with whatever gains they had at that point.
Fits her M.O perfectly. AND achieves the goals she was "unwillingly ordered" to execute.
But hey, let's smooth over this and just #BlameGarrosh as per usual, making it seem like the BANSHEE QUEEN OF THE DEAD had no will in the invasion and mass-murder of the Gilnean people. Nope, she's not genocidal at all, it wasn't what she wanted, totally.
You are all making excuses to salve your emotional hurt that your favourite (former) Horde leader is this much of a self-serving, hypocritical, mass-murdering wretch. Sylvanas has far more blood on her hands than even Garrosh managed, and that eats at you. Well, whatever I guess, it's not like this happens every damn time someone even mentions this disgusting creature's existence.
Yeah and back in these times Sylvanas character was all about preserving and protecting her people. Because in her vision after she killed herself at Icecrown she saw Garrosh using them like you said, which then lead to them eventually dying out.
20:48 And that's where Blizzard continually fails. If it's not in-game, most players aren't going to know about it.
That's what I'm noticing while watching it. Haven't finished it yet but was looking around in comments to see if anyone was thinking the same. This is really annoying. I'd be more hype and interested if it was something actually going on in the game since that's mainly how we interacted with her and others.
Sadly, WoW always had that problem to me. The insistance in having between xpac stories detailed in novels is really a bad move for lore investment. Have that all be ingame, make us chase them details, you know, feel involved with what's going on.
@@cassiodalcin Unfortunately as companies advance. They started to drop novels to get MORE money. Split your lore once you have your viewership hooked. Watch them buy everything.
Yup, you know you are good at telling stories when you fill in gaps with side products.
That's like during BC I was like "Who the fuck is Anveena?" when Sunwell came out.
I think you missed out the part that, when she and Nathanos were still alive, it was hugely implied that she fancied him and why it was always a meme that the Windrunner sisters had a weak spot for humans. I remember that she said something along the line that he owes her some time in her hut with a cup of tea, with a saying smile. It was never said how far it all went tho.
I think she really wanted to preserve Nathanos, but maybe also with in mind, that he will be a even greater asset.
Great video! Two things to note though: I'm fairly certain that it was Hamuul Runetotem who vouched for the Forsaken, not Cairne Bloodhoof. And Saurfang was not leading Orgrim's Hammer during the events of the Halls of Reflection. It was Sky-Captain Korm Battlescar (I believe his name is). Anyway, looking forward to part 2!
I appreciate you actually explaining these events and going into her motivation and trauma/driving forces as a character. Sylvanas is and always has been my favorite video game character, and there's so much controversy around her as of late. That of which I can TOTALLY understand, but debating with my friends constantly, it makes sense. You're absolutely right. Some of the absolute core important arcs to her story aren't in game, so to most people she's just a villian with no sort of interesting motive. Personally I've been so bombarded by all the hate surrounding her I've been forgetting to step back and reanalyze the big picture with her, so I really appreciate this.
Great video and definitely one of my favorites :D!
The biggest issue is that she had a clear in-game motivation from WC3 until Wrath, then after that a WHOLE lot of character development happened off screen, then she's suddenly relevant again and seemingly a different character entirely. So the character people were familiar with just wasn't there at all and all her actions seemed like they were out of left field.
@@Elemental-Phoenix Agreed 110%
Loved the video. I wish Blizzard didn’t try and tell a story across so many different sources. Put it all in game!!!
Hateful Hulk right!! I’m not against picking up a WoW book or comics to read fun side stories of other people in the world. But don’t use main story points in material that’s not in the game and have it majorly impact the games story! It’s so annoying. Tell the damn story in the game!!
Yes. I read Arthas and part of Illidan. Illidan. Wasn't bad, just got caught up and forgot to carry it with me haha
At least you can read the comics again and again. The in-game quests... not so much. I wish there was a way to fully repeat zones and storylines, not tied to a new character.
That’s what happens when you get a shit script writing department.
Blizzard: "We wont have Garrosh 2.0"
-Me: "Ok"
Blizzard:
Here we are again at the gates of Orgrimmar facing off against a Warchief who's gone too far.
Here we are walking with our feet again. Must be the same exact storyline!.... shallow minded twats.
Pepega :mega: Sylvanas is Garrosh 2.0
Literally an entire video about how she's not Garrosh.
Retards on RUclips: LITERALLY GARROSH 2.0.
RevDev garrosh didn’t see his people as a means to an end. She’s far more evil ( or pragmatic depending on where they take the character )
I do not play Wow, anymore, but I like to keep updated with the lore every now and then, and dude your videos are fantastic. Good job!
Thanks for letting us know pumpkin
You could be learning about pianos
same. the lore is worth hearing. the game is..meh.
your going deep into Sylvanas lol
👀
Kreygasm
Giggity
*You’re
I lost
"I've been writing Sylvanas since 2006...I mean, I didn't go to school for writing or even pass basic literature classes, but I've been doing it!"
**OR**
"I've been writing Sylvanas since 2006, but they didn't let me put most of it in the game, so you guys never got to actually see any logical character development, just random snippets and select large chunks that make 'exciting?' cut scenes and might make ActiBlizz money."
...seriously, who the fack wrote Vol'jin appointing Sylvanas as war chief?! That was...is...what the fock?!
Because sylvanas fanboys legit begged them I make her warchief
Well the logic behind it is that the jailer was whispering into his ear to make her warcheif @Adam @Moved
All these people were like “she’s a good guy, just misunderstood”.... lol I never thought she was good. She’s done too many terrible things and they kept getting swept under the rug
"done too many terrible things and they kept getting swept under the rug"
same could be said for the alliance.
@@kreiyu have any examples of that for the post wc3 alliance? that do not happen in response evil actions of the horde.
inb4 he starts posting about the alliance internment camps and camp forgettable in the Barrens, which weren't even atrocities given the context.
Then you will be surprised cause in the end I bet she will sacrifice herself and save Azeroth. It will be a redemption story imo for sure.
Exactly like the alliance!
If you put “the truth of Sylvanas Windrunner revealed” in ur title one more goddamn time I swear to god 😂
I only loaded this video to check the comments, lol...
Frankly that's why I'm not subbing to this. Just tired of the endless clickbait. I want more content like the history of WoW
@@tomsakmens5571 click bait? lol I swear ppl just throw this shit around so much its insane
@@Nick-vn5id if it's at least the third he's posting "the TRUTH behind Sylvanas" in title, with TRUTH all caps, but the video just throws around some speculations or doesn't even say anything about her intentions at all (like the one right after Saurfang's mak'gora), then it kinda is clickbait, no?
@@tomsakmens5571 You are a dipshit. Almost ALL his videos ARE speculation when he is talking about WOW lore, that's why we watch it. He doesn't work for Blizz, so if you are too stupid to understand that unsub and stfu. Pretty sure the rest of us come here for a different view point
If Alex Afrasiabi has been writing for her since 2006, then he would surely be able to see why some people are upset. She might have ordered the events of the Wrath Gate, but that has clearly not been told in a proper way if people are arguing over it. I, personally, didn't know she ordered the attack. I believe him when he says she did, but that has not been shown in the game.
Seriously. Until *very recently* we were led to believe that a radical faction led by Varimathras carried out that plot against her wishes. I absolutely believe that at the time that was intended to be true, but has since been retconned to better fit her being a villain all along.
@@Candlemancer I disagree, it was an event intended to be open for interpretation. It was meant to be an event which you don't know who truly was behind it and it was up for the player to believe which outcome they wanted to. Sure on surface it looked like Varimathras did it but connecting the dots it could just as easily been Sylvanas who planned it out and it just backfired.
It wasn't a retcon what they did, they just finally gave us a definitive answer. I dislike it because nothing is left to mystery or speculation anymore and everything needs a clear cut answer but that doesn't change the fact that it was a retcon.
Just because you didn't know doesn't mean that there haven't been hints of her character throughout the story. It has been mentioned that the Forsaken joined the Horde out of convenience. Almost all Forsaken quests were focusing on developing a plague both in Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend. Sylvanas was never a "good" character. She has murdered humans in WC3 because she wanted Lordaeron for herself so imo I really didn't think it was out of character at all.
Just because you don't know the full story from the start doesn't make it bad writing. It's bad writing when you know everything that happens all the time and no room for surprises is made.
are we even playing the same game...
since classic it is stated that the forsaken and sylvanas just use the horde for their goals, they hate the world and especially the living
all the old questlines in the forsaken areas were just to give sylvanas and her forces more power (like powerful litches and stuff)
in WotLk we learn that the forsaken worked on a plague that destroys the living and the dead, sylvanas states that it was treason by 2 of her closest and formerly loyal underlings... okay
in cata she actively works against the direct orders of the current warchief, and we learn that she uses formerly members of the scourge to prolong her life
she attacks innocent villages and encampments to raise them into undeath (silverpine and gilneas questlines)
in legion she saves the horde leaders... including HERSELF, she makes bargains with one of our enemies, uses the plague that was developed by these so called traitors (a LOT), and at the end of legion varimathras warned us about sylvanas' motivations and goals
even with only the information given to us ingame (questlines, quest texts, and ingame dialogue), this is one coherent character - the comics and books tell us that she still has feelings for her former loved ones, the people who suffered the same torture under the scourge like she had, and that she also has a lot of mental instabilities, like the suicide thing, the existential fear, and the fear of losing her place of power and influence
srsly, which sylvanas do you know that I don't?
I think that may have been done on purpose if they want people to buy the books so they can invest more in the story and Blizz gets more money.
THANK YOU!! As a long, LONG time fan of Sylvanas and who she *really* is, the woman behind the banshee...you get it and you did a fantastic job of explaining it to those who just see her as some crazed, genocidal megalomaniac trying to live forever. She lost her family, and she became a survivor, which was why when she attempted to end her life after Arthas was finally slain, I was hurt and confused...but I understood that she truly felt like she had no purpose any longer, due to the one driving force (vengeance for all she had stolen from her and the need to rid Azeroth of such an evil force) she had in her unlife finally being laid to rest. "What purpose is there to this torment?" She laments, she loves, but she is terrified to let anyone see that side of her as it is so easily viewed as a weakness, and she will never allow anyone to see that side of her. Never again, at least.
Well said. Survivors are a very pragmatic people. My question to you is this:. Does she deserve to exist after all of this?
@@Tsuneo625 Thats one of the stupidest things I have ever read.
Nothing "Deserves" to exists. It survives or it does not.
@@MiraSubieGirl Imagine it being a fantasy story and not real life.
@@zachwarnick8949 Within any story what does "Deserve to live" mean?
By what or whos standard??
Its a really dumb question... And people who call themselves survivors have never had to survive shit.
Physical survival is interesting and real, Emotional survival is 9/10 times someone being vain and ignorant.
There's a lot of speculation and pulling threads together here, but unfortunately the more likely scenario is that the dev meeting went something like:
Dev 1 - So we're all in agreement that Sylvanas is going to be the big bad of this expansion right?
Dev 2 - Yes, but what is her reason and ultimate plan?
Dev 1 - TBA later.
I don’t see how this was speculation when he was basically summarizing what was stated in books, comics, and in game
David Bates I agree it feels like that. Bellular did support his theory with a lot of back story tho, so some of what he’s said has merit.
Her reason? She doesn't want to die and master the forces of death or serve an entity of death. They said as much in game.
Agreed. Sadly there isn't always an in-game or canon explanation... But rather just that some writer or dev decided this was the way to go with a character.
Hey, regarding the quote from Afrasiabi and the Wrathgate, you forgot to mention that the Forsaken starting zone narrator in Cataclysm was pretty explicit that she didn't do the Wrathgate.
And you sort of brushed over the fact that Afrasiabi created/confirmed a retcon that he cited as evidence of consistency when he was making the argument that his writing was consistent.
The opening narration for the Forsaken starting area post-Cata does not explicitly say this. At best, it merely implies it. But it's important to note that these narrations are generally given to you to sort of get you into the mindset of the race you're playing, so it's not far-fetched to think that that narration is merely going off Sylvanas' version of events rather than the full truth. Sylvanas isn't going to go around telling every Forsaken about the plan because if word got out, it would ruin them. So it's likely it was on a completely need-to-know basis, given that in the quests leading up to the Wrathgate on the Horde side, the Forsaken involved just have this air of being up to something with the way they seem to keep shit from you.
Back to the point, all the narration says was that the Alliance and Horde were "betrayed by Grand Apothecary Putress" which doesn't necessarily mean Sylvanas didn't give the order to use the Blight at Wrathgate. Further, it states that the coup was done "unbeknownst to Sylvanas," not the use of the plague, which always seemed to me like she just kinda used the coup to shift the blame away from her, which is entirely something she would do. People were literally always suspicious of her actions, even the players if I remember correctly.
Tl;dr The Forsaken starting area thing seems to just be basically giving Sylvanas' version of events, not necessarily the truth, which makes sense given Sylvanas wouldn't want newly risen Forsaken knowing she used the Blight.
Sounds about right. What intrigues me at present is Sylvanas' new location. She is poised right in the largest area of undead, corpses and a scattering of the living. She could easily raise a new army in Eastern Kingdoms and take one city after another. Silvermoon perhaps, her home, or, she could head directly south tthrough Ghostlands, Plaguelands, and then onwards south with an ever growing army. She could however just be seeking a desolate spot for her actions to be kept secret. Nathanos will follow her to whatever end and he is on a mission.
Honestly she used to be one of my favorite character in the whole franchise but her story has been going in circles for so long it got boring. I think she would had been better staying the tragic anti-hero she used to be, simply trying to find a place for her and her people rather than get turned into some cold minded mastermind. That's kind of the issue with the Forsaken as a whole though, pretty much the only positive development they can ever reach is destruction, which can't happen because of the gameplay impact it would have, otherwise all they can ever do is go in circles trying to justify their existence despite being completely out of the natural cycle of things. There really isn't much space for interesting character development there anymore.
cartoon villain, blizzard ruin this character
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you
Actually, if Sylvanas becomes the master of death, she might be able to provide them with an actual afterlife. Given what she has been about, this might actually be a cool motivation for her. And it also helps establish why she doesn't truly need to care about them while they live or die - if she can essentially guide or save them in the afterlife, their life doesn't really matter. Nor that of the horde.
Story should of ended after Arthas was killed. Her story had no reason to continue beyond that. They could of added a little bit of her saying something like "I understand some of you have found purpose in serving the Horde, you must forge your own destiny, but my time here is over." or something like that (that kind of sucked, but hope it gets the idea across) to justify Forsaken player characters still being a thing.
Everything after WotLK has been nothing but unbearable cringe and just digs her "ruined character" hole deeper and deeper. Her story was tied to Arthas' story. Arthas has been retired (rightly so, it would of been horrific had he somehow continued after WotLK), she should of been retired with him.
She should join the X-Men I mean she can turn into smoke that's pretty cool
That isn't smoke. That's undead fart.
It's a shame that so much of her story is in outside material. Her story is facsinating.
I just finished your last video and had nothing to watch, refreshed youtube and BOOM, here we go.
You did more thinking for wow’s story line than everyone at blizzard. Seriously they should pay you
It was a valiant attempt of making sense of a lost cause, IMO. Which is Blizzard's inconsistent character writing.
You think so? I think he just went around in circles saying the same thing then contradicting it to later go back to the same spot. Why does helya give the valkyr to her? What does she gain? How is it that what helya gains goes in accordance to what sylvanas does? You people say that she is acting out of fear, but how does making more forsaken help that fear? How does making more enemies help her avoid death? Has everyone forgotten that sylvanas does not want her people to endure because she finds her fate tragic, therefore making more of them is nonsensical? People who keep getting owned by bliz dont realize some of us have paid attention to the story since warcraft, back when it was an rts. The current story makes no sense; everything that happens feels like plot armor. I just dont see what story they want to make. It's all over the place.
Sylvanas Windrunner: Becomes evil
Everyone: Surprised Pikachu face
She has been evil since Warcraft 3, it still amazes me there are people who still don't think she is.
Only the cucks who like sylvanas
@@DrewPicklesTheDark EXACTLY. I like Sylvanas, but I like her because she was a bad guy. I never once thought she was actually gonna be a decent character.
@@DrewPicklesTheDark She was evil, not evil AND stupid...
Don't forget to mention Bwonsamdi's boss when you go deep! I think that "boss" is key for Sylvanas backstory. He may be the one who "chose" her as Warchief
I can't wait for Sylvanas to never get what she deserves and continue to be the untouchable poster girl until the end of this abomination of a story.
Far more interesting than that wet rag limp wristed anduin
@@TheUnseenPath Yea, it would seem like poetic justice to me after what she tried to do with Koltira and Derek.
I enjoy lore videos, but I said it before and I'll say it again, the argument that "It makes sense in the books" has NEVER made a single movie better, so I don't see how it should for a video game. Not to mention, it's like dropping a nuke on pacing and narrative structure. WoW's story is an absolute mess and frankly I find myself paying less and less attention as time goes on. Why read quest descriptions if you need to read a book, a comic, listen to a audio drama and solve the puzzle on the back of a cereal box to make sense of it all. Nah, bro, I'm done with this. I'll wait for the lore videos and just accept that the game is about mechanics.
six2make4 if the books didn’t have something that the game didn’t then what would be the draw?
That’s how you sell other products, you give people a reason to buy them 🤦♂️
@@kevinmyers6747 Make it stories that are largely irrelevant to the main plot, like expand upon stuff that is briefly mentioned that happens a long time in the past or about some rando soldiers who fought at the wraith gate. You don't need any of this to understand the motivations of the main characters or why shit is currently going on, it's just extra fluff, not exactly rocket surgery
six2make4 your reply doesn’t make any sense in context to your OP. You’re contradicting your point 🤦♂️
@@kevinmyers6747 Your reaching mah dude. Currently what we got it required reading, what I'm saying is you can easily have optional reading. You can enjoy the 40K universe without reading literally every 40K book and still make sense of it. Some of it is just these dudes went to a planet and killed some shit, it has no real bearing on overarching plot lines. Not gonna repeat myself a second time.
six2make4 you can repeat yourself all you want, it doesn’t make your point any more valid. Blizzard chooses to put relevant content in their books so that people buy them.
Saying it’s “required reading” isn’t even remotely accurate. The story makes plenty of sense if you do nothing but play the game. Nobody is left wondering how a character could have possibly done something.
You’re demanding that a character is fully fleshed our when they’re not the main focus. It’s not World of Sylvanas...the player is the main character. You’re not entitled to everyone’s backstory and full life in game...that’s not even reasonable to expect in a book(s) which are a much more easily expanded media.
Ultimately you just sound like a little kid crying that you “have” to read. The player is supposed to draw their own conclusions about things, hell you clicked on a video about someone else’s conclusions 🤦♂️
New drinking game - Take a shot every time Bellular says pragmatic.
or emotions/emotional
The tone of Sylvanas's voice when departing with Nathanos at the end of the 4th war was softer and sounded like love to me. She reciprocated his feelings.
Or manipulated them.
@@andrebetita nah, there's a love and reciprocal trust there.
Finally.
The type of arc Sylvannas took was inevitable from the moment she became warchief.
Glad one of the major WoW channels has finally looked into this and found from the fluff, yes a lot of it outside of game, that her actions are in line with her motivations.
At a lore / story level, my only frustration with BFA has been how so few people seemed to know about the key events you brought up in this video and downplayed how they would shape her motivations and influence her choices.
She is a very strong character, a very tragic one too (I get why she is many people's favorite), but she also has a villainous side and has had it for a while.
If you support Sylvanas you support slavery.
For years, Blizzard has been throwing small hints and pieces that she isn't the monster she claims she is. I really believe, at the time of creating the opening to Legion and the BfA cinematic Blizzard was thinking of actually cashing those checks and making Sylvanas a character that people who aren't total edgelords would be willing to actually follow.
Then BfA actually happened and here we are, and for me it becomes less "Sylvanas lied for years" and more Blizzard lied to us for years. I mean, even the Three Sisters comic, had the ending where Sylvanas was clearly about to murder her sisters because of course she was, only to stop when Vereesa apologized to her which again, small hint that she isn't a complete and total monster. This to me was Blizzard holding on to that lie for as long as possible until BfA actually launched and they didn't have to pretend anymore.
I have a lot of feelings about Sylvanas, but the strongest is just disappointment.
Maybe.
Her storyline in Legion, with trying to enslave the Valkyrs in stormheim and workout a deal with Helya, makes me think otherwise. Helya is also a tragic character, but also a villain in the end.
I think her speech was meant to be inspiring in order to hide her true motivations.
I never thought Sylvanas was a hero, I always knew she was doing evil things, I just thought she was actually doing what she thought was necessary to protect her people. It's more than a little disappointing for her to turn out to be just another villain who wants to end the world and kill everyone. I thought she was "the ends justify the means" taken too far, not "Pain is not the cost, but the reward!"
Personally, I like Sylvanas as a character, even though I do see her ultimately as a villain. Largely because she seems to me an embodiment of the idea that people are not always black and white- villains or heroes. They're a complicated mix of both. Given her words in BfA, (among others,) it seems as if her pragmatism is a warped sense of heroism. Love and hope lead to suffering and loss. It seemed at the burning as if she herself was conflicted between resentment toward life and hope, and a genuine, if twisted, belief that life and hope are ultimately harmful. She is layered in her own life (and death) experience, and that makes her a much more compelling character than simply a "Garrosh 2.0".
I don't see how those things are incompatible and somehow proof that "Blizzard has been lying to us". Sylvanas is capable of monstrous and selfish acts, just as she is still capable of feeling emotional connections towards people from her past. Maybe her characterization has not been handled in the best of ways, but I see this as the writers trying to not make her one-dimensional. She has been struggling with her bitterness and resentment for years, and in the end she lost to them. It might be disappointing for those who hoped to have her be redeemed, but it is not a surprising or incoherent development.
@@KingAtlon agreed
For them haters please take a minute of silence and appreciate his effort and time into making every single video🙏
Hey Mike, all these new videos and also the new amount of videos are freaking awesome, but just quickly with your QC, you might wanna include in your end processes that you watch the final product in full after it’s been uploaded but not released. Towards the end there’s a few audio glitches.
That being said it’s not like the loud music last time :p
You and your team are on a roll! Keep smashing it man! So cool and all the best!
I think people read too deep into the line "Isn't it obvious? I serve the Horde." In the context of what was being said, with the VO work done, it's obvious to me that she was saying to Garrosh, "Dude, why do you care so much? I serve you, don't I?" Which is also why Sylvanas doesn't like Garrosh, with retroactive evidence. Later on, Garrosh says in War Crimes that he's like the Lich King himself. Something that Sylvanas probably thought herself. So when she said, "the difference is I serve the Horde", she's also slyly implying "What's the difference between *you* and the Lich King, now that you control *my* Forsaken."
Totally agree with your point here, people REALLY love to take that quote of hers wayyyyy out of any context.
Also, at least one person (ogre) in the Twilight’s Hammer knew she was playing us from the beginning of the expansion. Reference page 4 of Ogmot’s Dream Journal.
Brilliant video as always Bell. The content as of late has been outstanding, really enjoying it.
I agree with most of your points, save one: I don't think Sylvanas 'snapped' until Saurfang failed to take Malfurion's head. Again it is from the online stories and not at all in the actual game play. Sylvanas' attack on Teldrassil was spurred on by the High Overlord to make an entire Horde continent and then go for Stormwind. The cost of Horde lives and resources en route to Teldrassil was great, but the advancement was successful. The goal was to take Malfurion's head and march it through the streets as the Night Elves surrendered. Horde spies brought back knowledge that Tyrande was in Silithus leaving Malfurion and Teldrassil vulnerable. All was going according to the High Overlord's plan. When Saurfang let Malfurion go, instead of taking the druid's head, she snapped.
I also think that is the moment she is referring to in, "I trusted you!"
Two corrections: the Sylvanas/Nathanos relationship started before they died. She was the leader of the Farstriders and he was the only human Farstriders.
Sylvanas is more like a dark anti-hero more than a villain. She still wants to keep Azeroth safe, but like Arthas, believes that undeath is the way to go.
well that doesn't what :You are all nothing means....
This was a fantastic character deep dive. I can't wait for the next one and hopefully many more.
20:50 There's enough lore to figure it out, though I think. I don't even play wow, but I guessed that her thought process was something like this.
I've was so confused when she burned Teldrassil after she had that heroic moment at the Tomb of Sargeras and that "FOR THE HORDE" moment in the BfA Opening. Only after reading "Before the Storm" and watching back to some of the Classic Forsaken Quests, I got some kind of realistic insight of her personality. She's indeed a complex character and as it mentioned in the Video it's hard to understand it if you only plays the game. I'm very glad the Video classified and explains lots of her actions, so thanks Bellular.
nah theres still more hidden to Silvas story. Its much more complex :)
"The real Sylvanas", more like Blizzards retconning a ton and turning her into another villian, cause Garrosh was so much fun. Might aswell dismantle the Horde now.
She's ordered the crafting of the blight ever since Warcraft vanilla. This isn't anything new, she was always a baddie.
@@sogghartha The new thing is that she was not behind Wrathgate. But suddenly she was. Blizzard has ruined a perfectly good character which could been a struggling char between her old HIgh Elf self and undead self.
Have you read Before the Storm? IN the book they portray The Forsaken as basically still Humans in rotten bodies. They feel emotions, they miss their families. They get to meet em. Sylvanas being there leader, one of the greastest Forsaken and one very good and selfless High Elf once, is the pure opposite, plain evil, plain selfish, egoistic and jealous of the Humans and Forsaken having a meeting on neutral ground, so she kills off the Forsaken for the only reason, them being Human.
The same book who proves Undead are just that, undead if allowed to be themself, makes Sylvanas actions make even less sense.
You are helping Blizzard to make actual scenes of her.
what a huge circle jerk.The thing is simple: there was an at least some sort of coherent story when blizzard was in charge. When Activision took over end of wotlk start of cataclysm suddenly everything started make less sense and everything was second to push next expansion cutting on content and keeping those revenues high. It's pointless following the story now, motivations and charachters are just tools to the infinite grind.
Me: I want Garrosh
Mom: We have Garrosh at home
Garrosh at Home:
Garrosh wouldn‘t have let all these things happen to the horde. He did nothing wrong, the others failed in protecting him from being corrupted too much.
I'm so grateful for not playing this game since vanilla WoW, but still being able to follow and enjoy the lore.
i love when other see the story too, i getting tired about all the ppl claiming Sylvanas is out of character.
People complain that she isn't consistent and that she has changed. And she isn't consistent because she isn't perfect. She also did change somewhat. Everybody changes over time. Both of those things make her just deeper, complex, and interesting character that is more realistic than any archetypal villain or hero.
@@marciusnhasty well over the year every main character on wow change from Thrall to Anduin.
Marcius Nhasty yku do realize she isn’t a real person, right? Every decision “she” makes is a decision that the writers made her take? She isn’t an organic decision making entity, she’s a pawn, like any fantasy character.
@@marciusnhasty There's a lot I could say here. Like in the WoW dev Diaries they told us about how WC3 wasn't finished so they wrote WoW Forsaken as the Scourge. That's why Vanilla WoW Forsaken seems so evil.
But more than that: it's not that we feel we were betrayed by our "Wifeuu" or whatever. We were told it would be relatable from the devs in news articles. That there isn't a "mustache-twirling bad guy. She's just pragmatic."
So Horde players held onto that.
But the thing is...
They lied.
@@Brosyphus You do realize that I am literally comparing the way she is written as a character to the other, mostly older fantasy villains and heroes, right? I used the word "character". Real persons can't be realistic or unrealistic, only a fictional characters can.
It was foreshadowed in vanilla too, there was a quest in duskwood for the horde where you helped the forsaken murder a spy. The spies dying words are that the forsaken cannot be trusted lmao.
"N'zoth damit"
We know she wants Nathanos romantically, she is a Windrunner Woman, and they have a taste for the Human D. Veressa had Rhonin, Alleria has Turalyon, Syl has Nathanos xD
My favourite Bellular videos - lore and lore speculation.
I don't know that there was anything new or unknown presented here but at least it's a consolidated version of events, looking forward to part 2.
1 second in and you sound so excited, now I'm excited!
She serves death. Yoggsaron is the Old God of Madness and Death. We all know the Old Gods are, at the very least, in squabbles with one another. I think the Old Gods are actively fighting each other now that they are beginning to be released upon the world once again. Either that or she is serving Argus, the titan of Death. If we believe that the Titans and the Void Lords are two sides of the same coin, and the Old Gods are just the flip side of the Titan Keepers, it is entirely possible that Argus and Yogg would be very similar to one another and might be able to align in some manner.
Look at her power she uses, under her skin is flaming red when she is cut in the end of the war campaign like Argus is when he is summoned. She pulls out dark bluish/purple power to strike down Saurfang, similar to the color that Argus takes in his fight. She is literally serving the prime aspects of death.
Great video, bell! But see this is one of the biggest problems I have with World of Warcraft; excellent story with key pieces not in the game. I’d appreciate if they just put all this in the game to where you could see it slowly come out over time, instead of hunting for puzzle pieces outside the game. Once again, appreciate you doing that, and I look forward to your next video!
They could but they want you to buy thier novels too
Then you wouldn't be RP in the MMORPG. Cause, let's face it your character in-game isn't a god, and if it was, it doesn't know everything. For those not letter friendly that was "Role Playing" in the "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game"
So Sylvanas fell into a pit of Saronite, the black blood of Yogg-Saron, and she got a vision that scared the shit out of her, becoming a thing that guides her motivations till this day? How could anyone have whispered to Vol'jin if not Yogg-Saron himself? This explains Sylvana's void powers at the fight against Saurfang.
If Sylvanas planned the Wrathgate as a shot at Arthas, why wasn't she there herself? There's *no way* she wouldn't personally want to watch Arthas die, that was her whole motivation.
Idk if there's anything that states it outright but she probably knew it would drive him into the citadel and then you see the lead the horde during the pit dungeon at the end of Wotlk
@@superspork3975 That could make sense, like, if the Blight affected the LK such that he couldn't leave the Citadel and had to recharge.
But imho clearly that wasn't the intention. The "weakness" was never mentioned or referred to outside of some coughing in the cinematic. He was back up and kicking in ToTC.
It certainly would have been cool if Sylvanas' had driven him into the citadel, and that was a big part of why Ulduar and ToTC was able to happen without the Scourge taking advantage of the disunity...but I really don't think there was that much thought put into either of their stories.
@@thedude5641 Yes exactly, I have no idea about it being stated outright or anything but that's the only thing that really makes much sense to me as to why he would post up inside ICC
Before the Storm does soft-confirm Sylavanas having feelings for Nathanos. They seem to have had a relationship before their deaths, and they both still feel those emotions. Sylvanas is just suppressing it as best she can.
well, the books say that Sylvanas can feel emotions (good emotions) but that they are accompanied by a lot of pain. That's what Banshees have, they can feel but it hurts them so much. I think the only emotions that can overwelm their pain are rage and hatred.
No, it's not just feelings, It's hinted pretty heavily they had this kind of taboo romance and she would visit his home and spend the night- kind of ending on a note of Nathanos thinking 'Damn it all, I will be with her no matter what' -so yeah, they were hitting it in the bed too.
No surprise, Windrunners like their human men and Slyvanas was no exception.
"Sylvanas is a pathological liar. More at 3."
That's was an awesome intake on why she is the way she is. Slyvanas is my favorite NPC and I hope this arc of hers dosen't end in her death.
Lady sylvana's was always my dark queen, for the horde.
Nerd
Ngl, sylvanas made the deal with the jailer before legion, he told her vol’jin would die and would send him whispers to make her warchief. Not only dude she let vol’jin die but varian aswell. She knew his son was weaker and only acted sympathetic so the horde would follow her. When greymane beat her in stormheim she made another deal with the jailer to make her even stronger. Which is why she could kill saurfang so easily.
Getting ready for the new raid boss ngl lol
Bellular: "P R A G M A T I C"
Is it important to note that when she sees the vision of Garrosh was just after she died on Yogg's blood? I mean one of the main mechanics in the Yogg fight is literally going into visions.
More like the rationalizing of Blizzard's ret-con of Sylvanas.
Honestly, I've always been a bit disappointed that being called upon to serve as warchief didn't broaden the scope of her empathy. This character has been hungry for a redemption arc since Wrath, and we don't need another Garrosh story.
I'm so happy with the amount of content that this channel is releasing
I have to agree. And I love the content whether I agree with some of your statements or not. I do I want to say one thing to the gentleman regarding his presentation in the video: please slow down and take more breaths. LOL! Seriously though, please? You go so fast that by the end of the video, I'm nearly twitching and short-circuiting just listening to you. So much excitement, your energy-- it's wonderful, and I get all excited as well so I totally get where you're coming from, but... your videos can sometimes be overstimulating and hard to process without occasionally having to replay sections when you're sharing a lot of information. I have to stop and listen again and again just because you are going so fast that it's hard to register everything you're saying. I know you're excited; we're all excited. But please SLOW DOWN and let us share in the excitement WITH you-- and not in part because your mannerisms were tap dancing all over people's natural nervous responses. (for more information, look at the psychological effects of mirroring) You sincerely have such interesting videos that's slowing down is not going to negatively impact anything you wish to share with your audience. I promise. :)
Nathanos is noted that once he was fused with his new body much like how syl was. That he starts to feel emotions that forsaken were unable to feel. Syl sadly may be fighting not only against what ever her master plan is but her emotions as well something hard to cope with. Imagine destroying so much killing so many with no feeling and then suddenly you feel grief and guilt again.
TLDR : bad writing and character assasination, I jest.
Thanks bellular, some amazing content to watch at 1am, love from Australia.
I guess you might have put more thought into this than the story devs.
Nightstalker314 right!!!
Really cool video. Would love to see this about other characters as well. Keep up the amazing work the team is doing!
I seriously think they've effed up her character ever since Wrathgate. She doesn't match her WCIII self at all, it's just that she hasn't really been in the spotlight that much until BFA.
Turning her into some sort of ruthless, compassion-less, not to mention extremely heavy handed with zero subtlety(minus some dumb plot twist here ofc), tyrant is just dumb and sloppy. Just all around trashy writing. It's like they needed a villain and she had to do.
EDIT: And how about some actual criticism? You guys are just listing and accepting stuff that happened here without actually commenting on them.
Criticism from the 'but you have to look at it from the side of the large corporations' guy? Yeah, I think not. He's the milktoast centrist of youtube gaming pundits.
She was always devious, her banshees infested Garithos which caused the rift between the elves and the rest of the alliance.
I do like how the Lich King created her, then at the wrathgate she pretty much created the next Lich King.
Great video, can’t wait for the next one.
One thing that I have always thought about her and what Saurfang said is that Syl is afraid of hope. Hope will give people choices and she doesn’t want that. I think that’s one thing that she is afraid of. I believe Before the Storm intimated this. It also was why she burned the tree when she wasn’t planning on it. And why she destroyed everyone who were reunited with their human families. What do you think about that?
Take a shot everytime he says the word "pragmatic" lol
I thought the same thing.
I feel like reading 'no longer arrows in her quiver, resources not to be squandered' as 'same old pragmatic, cold sylvanas, just using people as resources' is a hell of a read. It's explicitly saying she values them. They're important to her. They have went from being ammo to being valuable things to be preserved.
Can I just say I still haven’t seen a Tauren up close in those amazing cinematics. Blizzard is cowist
Fur is difficult to make in those sort of cinematics.
Perfect timing during my work break!. Thank you for the video! Love the lore and learning more about it
i just hate that they now say she was behind the wrath gate, didnt feel right to me. it seems like bad writting.
seriously? NO Sylvanas never ordered the forsaken to use the plague at the Wrath Gate and that was CANON for years!
Compassion? More like cold evaluation... What is the difference between arrows in your quiver, and a resource? NONE. What is the difference between an arrow in your quiver, and a valuable resource? Some. What is the difference between Sylvanas and a psychopath? None. She clearly states she felt nothing for help people, even when she was alive. She just cried over her wounded pride as the leading ranger and military commander of her nation... Her wounded pride over her lost civilization. But for the people themselves? For the individuals? Nothing really... She only ever related to people, as it related to her pride, and their uses. That was it. All she ever was.
I'll say this like Kreia: "There's no truth in the force, no great secret."
He thinks he's got a woman figured out ? HAHAHAHA
Love this comment.
Its not hard to imagine that Sylvanas orchestrated the attack at the Wrathgate. All she cared about was killing Arthas, and if she succeeded in that she would not care for the consequences that would follow cause she got what she wanted and would just make her exit via suicide. In the event things did not turn out as planned she needed a scapegoat to take the blame so she and the Forsaken would not be cast out of the Horde and become enemies instead of allies, so she needed one of her most loyal followers that share her ideals to be a scapegoat should the need arise, and she got that with Apothecary Putress.
She suddenly did not become this during Legion and onward, she been like that from the start, with signs going all the way back to Cataclysm with plaguing Gilneas despite Garrosh forbidding it, and even torturing one of her death knights for making a temporary truce to deal with the Scourge in Andorhal. What kept her in check the entire time was the fact there was always a warchief above her holding her leash, a leash she was let off of when Vol'jin made her warchief. She was then free to do things that she normally would not have gotten away with if someone else was Warchief.
I think you're making the mistake in believing that there has been a consistent, planned character arc for her rather than Blizzard's writers jerking her story hither and thither as the mood took them and the necessities of other story lines dictated.
You are aware that blizzard writes these character stores years in advance right? They usually start work on new xpansions and stories before the others are even complete. for example Wrath was being worked on already before BC was released so they knew he storyline. So yes they knew where the character was leading.
Scott Archibald it’s not like THAT story hadn’t already been written... everything after WOTLK is garbage story not thought out properly.
@@therabbits69 tell that to Wrathion. he's been backed so far to a corner Blizz doesn't even know what to do with him to make him relevant once more
@@therabbits69 You're wrong. They might have an outline of a character arc, but it isn't set in stone until it's released via some media (game, books, comics, etc.) and even then it can be retconned. They will intentionally keep things vague so as not to paint themselves into a narrative corner if they decide to change things at some point.
@@Ravathiel Sure they do! they wrote him as a madman who is the 3rd last boss in the new raid - Incredible payoff given how many years its been in the making
I mean listen to the intro cinematic in classic, even there they say the forsaken have no loyalty to the horde, they have their own "Dark Plans"
Their dark plans were specifically to kill the Lich King! the Horde was just a nice group to party with while they worked to succeed in that goal. After the Lich King dies they would all seek out death since they disliked being undead. After the Lich king DID die, however, instead of committing mass suicide they continued to follow Sylvanas as they had a new greater purpose. Sylvanas saw the other side and what awaited her people if they all killed themselves(and theoretically any being who is not attuned to the Light)... an eternity of suffering and feeding their souls to the Void Lords. Sylvanas is trying to free everyone from this fate so that the Void Lords lose the overall fight against the Light and all of Existence can continue existing rather than being gobbled up by the endless Void.
Her make-up is better than her emotional make-up.
Sylvanas was surprised when Vol'jin made her warchief, as in, she didn't know it was going to happen. I believe that the force that made her Warchief did so and then made contact with her afterwards, telling her to do things with the new power she has and in return it would grant her peace in death and not eternal torment. Perhaps the oblivion she faced in the shadowlands could be avoided if she did the bidding of whom ever was responsible for her being elected warchief. So she killed many people, to give it their souls as payment for her own.
Ffxiv's story is a 1000x better. So much of this lore is not even properly contextualized.
Too bad the actual game sucks. So does retail wow but that's besides the point
True that. I love ff14 story, but I have to admit, wow's lore is superior. It's too bad the storytelling of wow sucks so badly. With its lore, the should be able to make such amazing stories, yet they always drop the ball because they try to go for a flare of a story and it ends up having no sense and sucking. Ff on the other hand has very little lore to speak about, yet its storytelling is amazing. Shb alone is better than anything wow has released since wotlk
Maybe read some of the books, short stories, audio dramas etc and then comment on the lore. Yes I dont agree with the way they decided to split the story into so many pieces outside of the game but the actual story itself is way better than FFXIV. At the end of the day it IS subjective and depends on what kind of story you like but dont say that is not properly contexualized when there are books and stories that explain all these things or when the actual story you are critiscizing hasnt revelead all its secrets. Even Bellular missed a lot of things on this video that are really important which shows how many things people are missing.
@@tzoanast1061 I've read the majority of the books. Christie Golden, imo, is a terrible writer. Closer to fan fiction.
@@MegaPewPew Maybe elaborate is to why you think that? Why closer to fan fiction, what doesnt make sense in your opinion?
its pretty obvious that shes is serving Yog Sarron whether she knows it or not, he is the self-proclaimed God Of Death, and her goals shifted immensely after falling upon his saronite spikes.
Usually good videos, but if you want good and accurate lore, watch Nobbel
If I ever hear the words “she sees her people as a resource not to be wasted” or “in the short story edge of night” again. I’m going to lose my mind.
What about pragmatic.... lol