The Will of the Forsaken

Consider the position of the Forsaken:

They are, by far, the least trusted mortals in the world. They're also in a horrific state by their very natures. Sure, Blood Elves suffer withdrawal if they're cut off from magic, the Orcs have a history of demonic taint that they have to reckon with, and the Worgen transform into wolf-men any time they're under stress. But the Forsaken are dead, and yet not dead. Normal life went out the window the moment that they died, and coming back has put them in a bizarre position where their former allies or even family members revile and fear them.

Their entry into the Horde was a controversial one. In fact, they had reached out to both the Alliance and Horde and found no luck until Hamuul Runetotem had the idea that perhaps they could use Druidic magic to cure them - restoring them to life as they had once enjoyed.

Yet in the fourteen years of World of Warcraft, there seems to have been precisely zero progress in making the Forsaken human again. And if that were a success, what would that even look like? The bridges with the Alliance have been burned so thoroughly that one wonder what would happen if the Forsaken were suddenly human again. Would we have a bunch of humans in the Horde? Would the Orcs feel comfortable with that?

In fact, there are a few cases of the Forsaken restoring undead to a more familiar type of life. Nathanos Blightcaller was the beneficiary of a very disturbing necromantic ritual, and his body now appears largely as it did in life - free of rot and exposed bones - but marked by the power with red eyes and sallow skin. The price of this ritual, however, was his still-living nephew, a paladin captured by the Forsaken. There's a zero-sum quality to such a ritual that seems to make in impractical to perform. In fact, the only individual who appears capable of doing so without such a sacrifice is the Lich King (it's how he makes Death Knights, though I don't think that's the whole process.)

Presumably because of the opposition they faced in the form of the Scarlet Crusade and other such living humans, the Forsaken have forged their own cultural identity, largely embracing the monstrousness they are accused of in both ways benign (spooky Victorian architecture and skull motifs) and genuine (developing flesh-melting plagues and experimenting on prisoners.) The fact that their leader is not a former human but a former elf suggests to me that there is an ulterior motive here - while the High Elves and Humans were allies in the Second War and had worked together since the Troll Wars, there was historically a bit of subtle racial resentment between them, and Sylvanas would probably prefer not to be seen as a carpet-bagger ruling over a stolen human kingdom. If they're neither human nor elf, then there's no reason Sylvanas shouldn't rule over the Forsaken.

The Forsaken have historically been highly independent of the greater Horde - they have their own war machine of Scourge-like forces and magic at their disposal. Indeed, the Forsaken have often acted in ways that the greater Horde would probably not approve of. The Horde has often held the Forsaken in their back pocket as a kind of dirty secret trump card - something they can deploy if they're desperate.

But now that Sylvanas is Warchief, that fringe faction is now at the top of the hierarchy. It's pretty clear that while both Thrall and Vol'jin preferred peaceful co-existence with the Alliance, Sylvanas doesn't believe such a thing is possible. She has always followed the "best defense is a good offense" philosophy, which of course leads to confrontation. There's no Horde leader with more enemies in the Alliance, and now that she's center-stage, well... look at the next expansion.

But what about the Forsaken themselves?

Many Forsaken see Sylvanas as a savior - she was the one who rallied them to fight the Scourge and carve out a piece of Lordaeron where they could be safe. She gave them purpose and acceptance when the rest of the world either rejected them or wanted them exterminated.

That has led to a serious cult of personality - consider that one of the thing you always hear Forsaken NPCs saying is "Dark Lady watch over you," as if she's less of a political leader than some kind of goddess. And that has led the Forsaken to act with a single-minded purpose, putting moral questions aside in the name of serving Sylvanas.

But the Forsaken are defined by having free will. They are not undead thralls to Sylvanas the way they had been to the Lich King before they were freed. We've seen some reject her - Leonid Bartholomew is with the Argent Crusade, Alonsus Faol is with the Conclave. Her actions have been far to extreme for some of their kind.

Sylvanas has made it her mission to find some way to perpetuate her people. She's used Val'kyr to raise fallen humans, but it's pretty clear this isn't sustainable, as it requires constant war, and while we don't see it a lot in-game, the people raised aren't necessarily going to join her side. She wants a way to keep the same people she's already had alive, and raise them if they ever die. It's the only way that the Forsaken could survive in a peaceful world.

But there are some who don't really think it's worth it. We've heard through one of the preview chapters of the new novel that while Sylvanas has been in Orgrimmar running the Horde, the people at the Undercity have created their own local government in the form of the Desolate Council. Some on this council are not interested in perpetuating themselves. We don't really get their reasoning, but allow me to speculate:

I suspect that many of the Forsaken don't see their state as one that is meant to last. They only wish to live out the lives that were taken from them and then move on just as a normal human would. Furthermore, some might feel nostalgia for the ancient kingdom of Lordaeron. They don't want a world of walking corpses and spooky spiders and bats everywhere - they'd prefer to see Lordaeron become the place it was before the Scourge.

As it stands, simply joining the Alliance once again doesn't seem to be on the table. The envoys Sylvanas originally sent to the Alliance never made it to their destinations - though the wording there in Chronicle is fascinatingly vague. The assumption, I assume, is that a couple of Scourge-looking zombies walking up to a human city would be killed before they could say "Before you shoot me, let's talk! We're not Scourge!" But one wonders if perhaps someone who had an incentive to keep the Forsaken and the Alliance at odds might have offed them.

It seems unlikely the Forsaken are going to change any time soon. They have a privileged position in the Horde and their tactics have worked so far.

But we also know that they're about to suffer a devastating loss. The Forsaken will lose the Undercity, and likely be driven out of Lordaeron. The land they fought to keep for so long, performing horrific acts to do so, will slip from their grasp.

Sylvanas is not going to come out of that looking great. While she does return to defend Undercity, it's almost certain that some will decide that her responsibilities as Warchief prevented her from safeguarding her own capital. And if the attack is seen as a response to the burning of Teldrassil, the Forsaken might seriously begin to question just what they've gotten out of being part of the Horde. Whatever foul things the Forsaken do, they've always been very conservative in their path of conquest. Sylvanas only ever made a claim to the subcontinent of Lordaeron, and apart from the war on the Lich King, the Forsaken have generally stuck to that as their combat territory. Teldrassil, to Forsaken who probably wouldn't give a rat's ass whether Orgrimmar had enough lumber, is a giant over-extension of forces that could have been used to defend the Undercity.

What, then, is left for the Forsaken?

When they lose their home, will they become dominant in Kalimdor, or will they find that their beloved Dark Lady doesn't have time for them now that she leads the entire Horde? What of the Forsaken who stay behind? Are they going to be forced into guerrilla combat against the Alliance reclamation of Lordaeron? Or might they decide to try again, to aid in the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Lordaeron and renounce their ties to Sylvanas and her Horde?