We see the beginnings of cooperation between Saurfang and Anduin, and we find that Saurfang's "escape" from the Stormwind Stockades is more accurately his release. Anduin, and by extension the Alliance, are ok with Saurfang being let go because it means a thorn in the side for Sylvanas.
There are loftier reasons for this, of course: Anduin has always been an advocate for peace between the Alliance and Horde, and that attitude has not changed even as he has been forced into open war against the Horde. The problem, as Anduin and Genn came to realize at the end of Before the Storm, is that Sylvanas is not a Warchief that can ever be trusted to make peace in good faith with the Alliance. Time and again she has been given the opportunity to leave well enough alone, but her actions keep drawing the factions into conflict.
So Anduin's motivations are clear - serving both his more practical goals of weakening the Horde's campaign against him while also promoting the type of Horde with which the Alliance can establish peace.
It's Saurfang who is now in a complicated position.
Saurfang has, in the past, set aside the faction conflict for the good of the world, such as when he led the Might of Kalimdor against the Qiraji way back in vanilla. His loyalties are to the Horde, and as he proved with Garrosh, they are to the Horde and not to the Warchief, unless the Warchief serves the Horde.
He wants to get Sylvanas out of power and save the Horde from what he sees as her corrupting influence.
So Anduin visits him in his cell, and after their conversation, he leaves the door open for him.
Saurfang is free to go, and his release is with Anduin's consent.
Now, on one hand, Saurfang is free to do as he wishes - no matter how he got free, he is free now, and he'll use that freedom to do what he feels is right.
But does this make him tainted? If he is operating in a way that the Alliance expects and approves of, does that mean that he is thus a traitor to the Horde? Is he doomed, thanks to Anduin's actions?
Vol'jin survived Garrosh's assassins and led his Darkspear Rebellion independently of the Alliance. Yes, the Alliance came and helped him, but Vol'jin made it clear that he was only permitting them to participate in the efforts against Garrosh, not that they were in any real cooperation. Saurfang now owes his freedom to Anduin.
What does this mean for the Horde, and those who would follow Saurfang?
On one hand, I think that loyalty to the Horde's honor ought to be a higher priority than hatred of the Alliance. If you hate your enemies more than you love your people, that's a pretty bad thing. But to what extent can we trust Anduin's motivations?
Anduin has always been an exemplar of honorable conduct and a lover of peace, so it stands to reason that his motives are entirely altruistic. But he's also smart, and faced with someone as cunning and particularly as ruthless as Sylvanas, underhanded moves might be in order.
This is the second time that a seemingly... friendly might be a bit much, but "people we can work with" Horde has changed Warchiefs and suddenly become a deadly enemy to the Alliance. Even if the Horde gains an honorable new Warchief like Saurfang, there's no promise that his successor (who could take over in no time - the Horde is going through Warchiefs at an alarming rate) would honor the peace that he might negotiate.
Anduin might want to ensure that its people survive and are able to live in relative comfort, but the institution of the Horde, even in his eyes, might need to go.
Anduin worries that he is running out of soldiers to throw against the Horde's forces. He needs a way to end the war in a swift and definitive manner. What better strategy is there than divide and conquer?
We're told the motivation for the attack on Dazar'alor is to discourage the Zandalari from joining the Horde. This of course backfires. But releasing Saurfang into the wild would almost certainly create a schism in the Horde - one that we'll even be able to participate in as Horde players (though my Undead Rogue and Tauren Shaman would both be far more on Saurfang's side - the Rogue is a "freedom is the highest ideal" kind of guy and has found Sylvanas' Lich King-like tendencies Cataclysm-onward highly disturbing.) Is Anduin using his morals to justify a canny realpolitik move that could seriously undercut the Horde's entire war effort?
And then, for the Horde, would finding out that he's going to take advantage of that change anything? Will Saurfang be branded a traitor and an outcast, and Sylvanas actually wind up gaining more loyalty as the Horde's most respected dissenter becomes shunned as a traitor? Will the Horde be put in a position where they either have to back up a tyrannical Warchief or be punished for following their conscience by playing into the Alliance's strategy?
Anduin stands to win in most scenarios following Saurfang's release. The question is whether Anduin's gain is necessarily the Horde's loss.
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