The reason I lean toward more of a Council type structure is because the consolidation of leadership was pretty much part of the Orcish culture's shift due to corruption, and the direct meddling of Gul'dan. Until Doomhammer's usurpation of it, the Horde *was* led by a Council - the Shadow Council in fact, with the Warchief being nothing but a figurehead through which Gul'dan could steer the Horde to his whim. Before the corruption and Gul'dan, the Horde didn't have a centralized leadership... just the Elder Shamans occasionally meeting during a festival period, who seemed to provide a rough course for the Orcish clans to follow based on the wisdom of the ancestors and elemental spirits.
One of the merits of a strong, centralized leadership is decisiveness and speed to act... but in a world rife with both political intrigue and the very real possibility of magical or spiritual corruption from any of a variety of sources, the flaws tend to outweigh the merits. WoW has played this trope over and over again - from Arthas to Kael'thas, strong leaders or leaders-to-be brought down by circumstances and forces not entirely in their control.
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
well... they're trying to cram the Alliance under Varian as the ultimate ruler
I guess you didn't read Rise of the Horde, because it pretty much points to Ner'zhul, as highest ranking shaman, to be the leader of the Horde before the corruption. Sure other elder shaman met and discussed things that regarded the clans, but Ner'zhul had the final say.
And wouldn't it be lame for the Alliance with their 'High King' to become like the Horde while a council would essentially make the Horde a copy of the Alliance? I don't fancy that switch. I don't like to be alienated from my faction.
I guess I just don't see the primary difference between the Horde and Alliance as their leadership structure, I think the culture and values of the Horde and Alliance are the main points on which they're different. The Horde primarily embraces the virtues of individual spirituality, honor, a relationship to the land as a greater whole, and personal valor - with only the Blood Elves and Forsaken serving as outliers to a generally more naturalistic morality and ethical structure. The Alliance tends to embrace mysticism, collective spirituality, technology, and more of an external political basis for its morality and ethics (with the Night Elves as the strongest outlier).
I don't think the removal of the singular post of Warchief will change the Horde's essential nature, just as Varian ascending to be the sole ruler of the Alliance would really change its essential nature all that much. What really differentiates the Horde is its races and how they interact with one-another with the values and cultural elements they bring to the table.
---------- Post added 2013-04-24 at 03:33 PM ----------
I've read "Rise of the Horde" multiple times - and I disagree with your assessment. While Ner'zhul was highly respected as perhaps the most powerful of the Elder Shaman, he wasn't a ruler in any way. In fact, when he was attempting to bring cohesion to the clans into a proto-Horde against the Draenei he met with a good deal of resistance from clan chieftains who didn't like the notion of him summoning them like stewards. The clan chieftains considered themselves the rulers of their specific clans, and they couldn't be gainsaid until the structure itself actually changed with the ascension of Blackhand as Warchief.
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
They should resurrect Gul'Dan and have him take over the horde
I think it would be awesome if all the big players had a role in taking him out..but then at the end anduin runs up to try and purify him sensing the darkness and then SMASHES fear breaker into his stomach expelling the sha that was corrupting him and leaving him gravely wounded but purified!
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Kinda like how the Allied Powers needed to have "central authority" during WW1
If you have every nation in an alliance doing their own seperate, half assed things, you wont accomplish as much
---------- Post added 2013-04-24 at 05:24 PM ----------
Anduin kinda strikes me as someone who wldnt even harm a fly, much less a person
We have faced trials and danger, threats to our world and our way of life. And yet, we persevere. We are the Horde. We will not let anything break our spirits!"
I personally don't think we've seen the last of Gul'dan, despite his physical death in the Tomb of Sargeras and people carrying around his Fel-infused skull like a paperweight. When we finally get down to fighting the Burning Legion across the scattered worlds in the Twisting Nether, I think we'll encounter him in some form or another - possibly not even as an enemy, or at least not directly as one.
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Youtube Chan : http://www.youtube.com/user/eqbobyboucher
Armory : http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Odina/advanced
Though I can't speak on what his motives necessarily are. I don't quite get where you get the idea that his son's death absolutely ruined him, turning him into a shell of the orc he once was. Sure a good deal of grieving was in order, but I'd imagine that he's a little more resolute than that. The Lich King, the guy who actually did the killing and raising of his son, is quite long dead. There is barely anything left to take his apparent "anger" out on. Especially after all this time.
Being sad and grieving the memory of his son is one thing, but being an absolutely broken man is a whole other.
You are getting soft i see. Anduin for all the crimes he commited against good writing deserves to be dismembered, skinned alive and then drowned in salted lemon-juice. Oh and add the fact that his unyelding faith in "holy" light prevents him from dying. Sucks for him i guess.
Time...line? Time isn't made out of lines. It is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round. ~ Caboose
I think Anduin basically enjoys a sinecure provided by Velen's prophecy in terms of the story, he can't actually die for the foreseeable future. But I do agree with your position as I think Anduin is one of those characters that outwardly seems too perfect (a lot like Thrall, really). He's in need of some real development.
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Immortality does not equal pain immunity. That can be exploited in many delightful ways. In fact someone like yours truly could make anduin wish he could die.
I mean lets be honest, anduin is aiming for me'danesque levels of mary sueness. He is such a bad character he basically kicks your immersion in a nutsack and leave it lying on the ground. Quest where you babysit him in kaarsang is biggest spit in face horde players had to suffer.
Last edited by Arrashi; 2013-04-24 at 08:56 PM.
It is possible to kill him permanently, it just requires certain amount of overkill.
Make sure he is dead, delay any mind controled bystanders that suddenly feel compelled to help him, cut him to pieces, capture his soul, teleport to various places far away from each other, completely obliterate body parts, clean the bloodstains, burn his soul, THE FUCKING END!
Why torture him, its useless and only gives other puppets chance to save him. If you need to kill something, kill it. If it is unkillable, break its mind, kill his close ones, make his subjects live in poverty while they blame him. THAT is how you should do it.
Last edited by Verdugo; 2013-04-24 at 09:04 PM.