Does the Horde mutate into a comic book villain in WoW: Battle for Azeroth? The alleged reasons for the attack on Teldrassil have been revealed.
With Battle for Azeroth, the conflict between Horde and Alliance is back in focus in the storyline of World of Warcraft, after both parties had been on a peaceful course in the last expansions.
The latest data mining has uncovered a lot of “broadcast text”. These are the texts of important characters that appear on the screen during a scenario or cutscene. Now includes first statements about how the Horde’s attack on Teldrassil came about. Evidently, it is indeed Sylvanas who calls for the direct attack on the Night Elves’ tree, justifying it with an utterly ridiculous excuse.
You can find the roughly translated German text of Sylvanas’ speech here – just click to expand:
Sylvanas' words about the attack on Teldrassil
“Time is running out, but I understand you want to know more.
Sylvanas points to Silithus on the map.
Whatever we do, THAT will upset the balance of power.
Reports of Azerite sightings are spread all over the world, hero. We don’t yet know the full potential, but we know it will create a new generation of warfare. What will war look like in twenty years? Or in one hundred?”
“The children of the Horde and their children’s children will curse the memory of us as they burn. If there were any grace in life, you and I would live in peace for the rest of our days, hero. We both have seen enough of war, and yet there is no end in sight. The Horde and Alliance are at a stalemate. Both armies have been weakened in the fight against the Legion. But I see this as a favorable opportunity.”
“We take the Azerite and use it to conquer Kalimdor.
We will create the greatest empire that has ever existed; one that is untouchable by the Alliance. With the sea separating our lands, much better than simple borders, we can live and thrive without conflict.
This is how you will secure the survival of the Horde for the next hundred years, hero.”
If these words indeed come from Sylvanas and the attack is based on this reasoning, then Sylvanas is initiating nothing less than a blunt war of aggression. The justification is the cliché-anime excuse of a generic villain: “If I conquer everything, then peace will reign, because no one will be able to attack us anymore.”
Really, Sylvanas? That the Banshee Queen is no longer in her right mind was already apparent in Legion when she only focused on her Valkyr story and left the demons to others. That she is now mutating into a comic book villain is especially unfortunate for players of the Horde who are being downgraded to mere henchmen of evil.
If it were at least about destroying the enemy army and eliminating them through an ambush – that would be justifiable. It would still be grim, but at least sensible. Instead, attacking a capital full of civilians and literally burning it down: that is just evil. This is no longer even a matter of interpretation; it is simply and utterly evil.
Or as a comment on wowhead nicely puts it regarding the topic:
“The Horde are the bad guys. I mean, sure, from an Alliance player’s perspective, I get that… but I have sympathy for the Tauren players and the other Horde players who took on the role of a morally justifiable hero or the underdog for a while.
Not anymore, you are “Team Evil”. They will not go the ‘Garrosh’ way with Sylvanas – you are all bad. That is your characterization.”
And I have no arguments against that.
WoW author Christie Golden warns against hasty conclusions
However, there is a glimmer of hope. The author Christie Golden, who has been employed by Blizzard for a few months and is writing the story, spoke out on Twitter. She announced that not everything that has come to light through the dataminers is actually a fact and that it will play out exactly like this.
This essentially leaves two possibilities: Either the texts will change, and these are just “filler” texts (which sounds unlikely) or the entire representation of the attack on Teldrassil will be recounted by someone who twists and misrepresents the facts to intentionally stoke the conflict.
If that is not the case, then Sylvanas will likely go down the Garrosh path – and that would be a sad end for a character who was so damn cool in the opening cinematic of Battle for Azeroth.
