Leaders die. While they range from absolute unquestioned authority to loosely held rallying figure, each of World of Warcraft's races has had some sort of leader. But even in the relatively short period of time that WoW covers (I believe the canon is that each expansion is about a year, meaning that we're at less than a decade at this point,) we've seen many leaders depart. Of the eight original playable races, only the Night Elves, Gnomes, and Undead have not seen a change in leadership (and one could argue that the Night Elves' leadership was at least adjusted with Malfurion's return in Cataclysm.) We've seen deaths - Vol'jin, Cairne, Varian - retirements - Thrall - people turned to diamond - Magni - and in one case, the violent overthrow (and later, death) of a Warchief - Garrosh.
With the two factions going to open war and greater upheaval likely to come, how do the various races of Azeroth plan to deal with such changes?
Humans:
Stormwind just underwent an upheaval, with the death of Varian Wrynn. Anduin was a sort of acting monarch when he was a young child, though Bolvar Fordragon was regent for him. But now that Anduin is an adult, he's also taken on leadership of Stormwind and it seems the Alliance in general. As someone so young, succession is probably not something he's given a lot of thought to, but with the violent world he lives in, Stormwind doesn't really have much of an heir at this point. Theoretically the House of Nobles might put forth a potential successor if the Wrynn line were to die out, but no one really likes them, and their influence seems minimal at this point. Indeed, there's not a real clear successor to the throne of Stormwind, and while Genn Greymane has been a close advisor to Anduin and is sort of a human king, I doubt that many Stormwindians... Stormwinders? would be happy to see the King of Gilneas take over.
Dwarves:
The Dwarves have the benefit of having three leaders, but there's a tricky issue here which is that Muradin doesn't have any children, and so his heir would, logically, be Moira, who already represents the Dark Iron clan. Moira has her own son (who really shouldn't be a baby anymore) who she considers the proper heir to both the Bronzebeard and Dark Iron clans. But even if we see a rapprochement between Bronzebeard and Dark Irons (as made possible by the Dark Irons' addition as an Allied Race,) having one person (either Moira or her son) representing two clans would make the Wildhammer Clan very uncomfortable, as they'd be guaranteed to be outvoted in any decision in which they dissented.
Gnomes:
Though he has been leading the Gnomes for a very long time, technically High Tinker Mekkatorque is a democratically elected leader - more of a President than a King. This means that if he should come to harm, there is a mechanism by which the Gnomes could choose a new leader. Tinkmaster Overspark is probably a logical successor in the case of an emergency.
Night Elves:
Tyrande and Malfurion both lead their people, and both are the heads of their own organizations - the Temple of Elune and the Cenarion Circle, respectively. Malfurion's successor in the Circle could actually be Hamuul Runetotem, but given that he is a Tauren loyal to the Horde, it's very unlikely that the Night Elves would even consider him remotely as a leader. On the other hand, Tyrande has priestesses who could take over the Temple, but what I think is more likely is that Shandris Feathermoon could take over Night Elf leadership in a time of crisis. She is the head of the Sentinels and is Tyrande's adopted daughter, meaning that she has a familial connection and plenty of credibility as a leader.
Orcs:
Currently, High Overlord Saurfang is the leader of the Orcs. But this old veteran serves primarily as a military leader. Granted, the Orcs tend to be fine with the military and politicians being intertwined. There is presumably a line of command that flows down from Saurfang, which means they've most likely got contingencies in place. On the other hand, in a real leadership crisis, it's not unthinkable that the Orcs might attempt to pull Thrall out of retirement to lead them once again, even if he'd be reluctant to do so.
Trolls:
Thankfully, in BFA it appears that they are at least acknowledging the existence of another WCIII Troll character (in fact, was Vol'jin even in WCIII?) But it's not totally obvious what role Rokan has in Darkspear society. With the recruitment of the Zandalari Trolls, it would be easy for the Darkspear to fade in relevance, though I'd hope the Horde would reward the Darkspears' long service with appropriate power and respect. But even if we can claim Rokan as the racial leader of the Darkspear Tribe, we don't have much else to go on if something happens to him.
Tauren:
Baine took over after Cairne's death in standard primogeniture succession. But Baine does not appear to be married or have kids, so it's not clear who would take over. Unlike Malfurion, Hamuul is less central to Tauren leadership (though he has played a big part in Horde politics - he was the one who brought in the Forsaken. So you can blame/thank him for Warchief Sylvanas.) The most important thing is that the Tauren should be very careful to never let Magatha Grimtotem back into Thunder Bluff, though I'm sure that she'll try if anything happens to Baine.
Undead:
The identity of the Forsaken is tied so closely to Sylvanas that it'd be hard for anyone to replace her. That being said, Nathanos Blightcaller is her right-hand man (and if they were both still alive, would probably be her consort. Windrunners all seem to be really into humans.) Another possibility could be Lillian Voss, who seems to have a more... positive... outlook. She doesn't wish to spread the curse except to those who consent, and she considers the curse a common ground that makes the Forsaken one big family - not necessarily the rigid cult of personality that Sylvanas has created. With Undercity falling and Sylvanas at the top of the Horde heap, the Undead should definitely be thinking about contingency plans.
Draenei:
Similarly, it's hard to imagine the Draenei without Velen. On the other hand, we've actually seen that on Draenor B, but while Draenor's Draenei had the Council of Exarchs, it's not clear that our own have that other level of governance. I'd imagine that without Velen, we'd probably see the Draenei reinstitute it, with Vinidcator Boros perhaps as High Vindicator, Romuul as Chief Artificer, etc.
Blood Elves:
Lor'themar does have Rommath and others who serve with him on the council, and Lady Liadrin has taken a prominent role in Blood Elf affairs. The Blood Elves already dealt with their big power vacuum problem so I don't think they have much to worry about now.
Worgen:
Tess Greymane is Genn's daughter and is presumably the heir to the throne (given that Liam is dead.) Ironic, of course, that a member of the Uncrowned would be, well, crowned, and Tess is not a Worgen. That being said, the Worgen generally identify primarily as members of the kingdom of Gilneas - they're still human on a certain level, and so I doubt anyone would have a problem with Tess taking over.
Goblins:
Oh boy. Wouldn't the Bligewater Cartel love to get rid of Gallywix? While technically a member of the Steamwheedle Cartel, Gazlowe would be a reasonable person to take over for Gallywix, and there's also Boss Midna. I'm not too worried about the Goblins.
Pandaren:
So here we have an odd situation. Ji and Aysa lead their respective factions of the Pandaren, but they're also clearly close to one another. The role of the Pandaren, particularly in the Horde/Alliance conflict, is not very clear. Arguably, Taran Zhu is the closest thing to a racial leader for the Pandaren, but do the Wandering Isle Pandaren treat him that way?
Lightforged Draenei:
Technically speaking, I think Turalyon is the leader of the Army of the Light, now that X'era is dead. Given that the Lightforged really care far more about devotion to the Light than race, I don't think anyone would have a problem with that. And as a strictly regimented military organization, it seems clear that Captain Fareeya or Lothraxion could take over.
Void Elves:
Alleria seems to be taking the role of racial leader for the Void Elves, but should anything happen to her, we'd probably see Magister Umbric, who independently led his people down this path, take over.
Highmountain Tauren:
Mayla Highmountain is the High Chieftain of the Highmountain, but there are other tribal leaders who could step in if there's a problem.
Nightborne:
Thalyssra is clearly the main leader of her people - having led the whole Dusk Lily rebellion. Valtrois, Oculeth, Silgryn, Lunastre - any of these could take over should there be a problem.
I'm going to wait to find out more about the yet-to-be-implemented Allied Races, as it's likely we'll see new NPCs added to flesh them out.
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