Warchief Sylvanas

Sylvanas is not the first person you'd expect to become Warchief.

For much of the Horde's history, up through Garrosh, the Warchiefs were all male orcs. Indeed, when Thrall named Garrosh his successor (maybe his worst decision ever,) he did so in order to put an "old school" Warchief in charge. To be frank, Thrall's decision was racist - his nostalgia-fueled choice was based first on a skewed view of the Horde's history that sought to undo many of the reforms Thrall himself had put in place while also ignoring that the Horde was now a far more diverse organization than it once had been. Putting a male orc in charge of the Horde was hardly revolutionary.

It's pretty obvious that Vol'jin would have been the far better choice to succeed Thrall, and while his actual tenure as Warchief was shockingly short, his brief period of rule was fulfilled the promise of Thrall's Horde. Setting Ashran aside (which I see as kind of non-canon, frankly, as it has no impact on the story of Warlords,) Vol'jin saw the Horde return to its former strength and cooperate with the Alliance to form the most effective bulwark Azeroth had ever seen (again setting Ashran aside, notice how there's practically no Alliance/Horde tension, and how the Iron Horde was defeated so handily?)

Vol'jin's death, however, made Sylvanas warchief, and that has not exactly been great for everyone.

To an extent, it makes sense. Of the original four racial leaders from vanilla, Sylvanas is the only one still leading her people (Thrall's retired, Vol'jin and Cairne are both dead.) Sylvanas has plenty of leadership experience, and a proven record on military capability.

And yet it doesn't seem like it could possibly last.

Sylvanas has essentially no scruples. In fact, as someone who has played an Undead character since vanilla, it feels a bit like she's slid backwards. There was a time when the Forsaken were defined by their free will, and yet Sylvanas rules as an autocrat. She uses Val'kyr to raise humans her forces kill, and those newly-undead humans immediately join her. That seems totally unlikely if they have any free will. Her actions in Before the Storm, slaughtering any of her people who accepted her invitation to the peace summit in Arathi Highlands, show that there's no actual belief in freedom there - she basically says "you are free to do as I say or you are free to die."

The truth is that Sylvanas is a villain. You can't really square her behavior with any kind of heroic narrative. Sure, she has her motivations, but having motivations that make sense doesn't make you a hero - it just makes you a better-written villain.

The Horde has struggled with this sense of identity in the past. Freedom is of course a big value for them, and yet they have historically had a lot of authoritarian leaders in the past. The Alliance, despite being ruled by a king, seems to be a more tolerant and liberal society.

As I see it, there are three possibilities for Sylvanas:

One is that she simply remains Warchief. This could take a few forms. One possibility is that she remains as villainous as she has been and that the Horde just gets used to it. More interesting, I think, would be for Sylvanas to have to undergo some... character development! She needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror and recognize how close she has come to becoming Arthas. I would really enjoy seeing Sylvanas being forced to come to terms with what she has done - not losing her edge, mind you, but for her to take a moment and decide on principles that she should have, that will make her a good leader. Could losing Undercity be an opportunity for growth?

The next is that she is overthrown by her own people. This one I kind of want to shoot down on principle because, well, we've been there and done that with Garrosh. The Horde doesn't need yet another civil war. Horde players are sick of ping-ponging in their loyalties and Alliance players aren't that interested in being the supporting players in a bunch of Horde drama.

The third is that Sylvanas could step down as Warchief. Maybe she'll come to realize that she's wrong for the job, or that Vol'jin had been misled in naming her. Sylvanas could also realize that if she only has to worry about the Forsaken, it allows her to focus a great deal more on what interests her - like securing immortality for her people.

I think "part B" of the first example is the one I like best - I definitely like that there's a non-orc woman running the Horde (and while I like Anduin a lot, wouldn't mind having a non-human step up to run the Alliance if he has to step aside for some reason.) While I get that the Forsaken have always been the "villain race," I'm always a big fan of subverting those assumptions and adding nuance. The Forsaken need to be something different than the Scourge, and having Sylvanas rethink her methods would go a long way to bringing that in.