Is the Alliance a monarchy? Why does Anduin automatically become "High King"?

[Deleted]

DISCLAIMER: I am primarily an Alliance player and this bugs me.

I don't know if this has been posted before but it kind of bugs me that Anduin automatically becomes "High King" of the Alliance. He is the prince of the humans of Stormwind, but not the prince of everyone else. I feel like Varian's appointment as leader of the Alliance was warranted by his experience and prowess as a strategist and skilled warrior. Anduin barely has any experience leading, and that is paltry when compared to the likes of Velen and Tryande who have had thousands of years of experience, and wisdom, and, well a lot of things that Anduin doesn't have. He shouldn't be the leader of the Alliance. I see people complaining about Slyvanas' appointment by Vol'Jin as the new leader of the Horde and to me that makes more sense than Anduin becoming the leader of the Alliance just because he was the son of Varian. The Alliance is, well, an alliance, not a monarchy. There shouldn't have been some dynastic transfer of power.

/endrant

I'm pretty sure the title king speaks for itself

[minteK917]

It's pure lunacy to let an inexperienced brat lead the military in a time of war. There's absolutely nothing wise about it.

And no, they didn't give Anduin high king.

High King in the alliance dont mean what you think it means. Varian was not doing everything and not everything was his to decide. Think of him more like a prime minister, still has people like Velen and Tyrande that knows the legion well at his side. You have to give these character a real reason as to why they would want to remove Anduin from leading most of the Alliance.

They didnt give him High King, they just literally said they would follow his leadership. Its just high king, without the title.

[Wyrt]

High King in the alliance dont mean what you think it means. Varian was not doing everything and not everything was his to decide. Think of him more like a prime minister, still has people like Velen and Tyrande that knows the legion well at his side. You have to give these character a real reason as to why they would want to remove Anduin from leading most of the Alliance.

High King is not prime minister. High King is Supreme Allied Commander.

Anduin does not have the qualifications for the job and it makes no sense for anyone to support him.

[Stormwolf64]

He's the only white male.

Velen: Alien
Tyrande: A chick
Jaina: A chick
Muradin: Circus folk
Mekkatorgue: Circus folk
Genn: Dog
Anduin: Privileged white boy

Shut the fuck up you worthless sack of shit


[Infracted]

[minteK917]

High King is not prime minister. High King is Supreme Allied Commander.

Anduin does not have the qualifications for the job and it makes no sense for anyone to support him.

But they still did, give me a reasonable reason why Velen and Tyrande would want to not work with him? A legitimate one, that is in character for both of them. Give them a reason, a good reason that paint Anduin as unreasonable. Jaina is unreasonable and should never have the position. Anduin is exactly where he should be. Anduin is exactly where thrall was in WC3 when he became Warchief, Young, inexperienced, yet understand more about the world then most and wise enough to practice cooperation. You are literally saying Thrall should have never been Warchief, yet he was.

[izayoi80]

The fact that anyone other than Velen is at the top is just ludicrous...

[Wyrt]

But they still did, give me a reasonable reason why Velen and Tyrande would want to not work with him? A legitimate one, that is in character for both of them. Give them a reason, a good reason that paint Anduin as unreasonable. Jaina is unreasonable and should never have the position. Anduin is exactly where he should be. Anduin is exactly where thrall was in WC3 when he became Warchief, Young, inexperienced, yet understand more about the world then most and wise enough to practice cooperation. You are literally saying Thrall should have never been Warchief, yet he was.

I already did. Anduin has no military leadership experience. How is that not a valid reason for disqualifying someone as a military leader?

[minteK917]

I already did. Anduin has no military leadership experience. How is that not a valid reason for disqualifying someone as a military leader?

Two of his advisors being thousands of year, both fighting the legions before. Do you guys even know the velen character like at all, why the hell do you think Velen would want leadership of anything over anyone? Thrall had no military leadership experience, he was an orc raised as a human.

[Wyrt]

Two of his advisors being thousands of year, both fighting the legions before. Do you guys even know the velen character like at all, why the hell do you think Velen would want leadership of anything over anyone? Thrall had no military leadership experience, he was an orc raised as a human.

Why the fuck would you give someone a military position if they needed advisors to actually run the show?

[Stormdash]

He's the only white male.

Velen: Alien
Tyrande: A chick
Jaina: A chick
Muradin: Circus folk
Mekkatorgue: Circus folk
Genn: Dog
Anduin: Privileged white boy

Mindless shoehorning of RL politics into a fantasy setting achievement unlocked.

Stormwind is a hereditary monarchy, that's why Anduin is its king. It is a legitimate question why he is the de facto leader of the Alliance just because his father was, but it's nothing to do with this vapid BS. It's a plot convenience since they obviously had this "thrust into leadership" story ready for Anduin for quite some time, and the burdens of just leading the human kingdom are not high enough stakes from a storytelling standpoint. Worth noting that it doesn't make any less sense than Varian having been in charge of whole Alliance before him when there are much older, wiser, and more powerful people available.

The Horde is actually more realistic in this regard, since the mantle of Warchief seems to move in the direction of power or at least influence. Thrall became Warchief by default since he was the one that rallied the Orcs and joined the Darkspear and Tauren to their number and eventually the other three pre-MOP races. He made Garrosh Warchief because Garrosh had achieved celebrity war hero status among the most populous Horde race, the orcs. Vol'jin became Warchief for the same reasons Thrall had before, by having rallied and unified the whole of the Horde. And he turned to Sylvanas because of her having led the Horde out of the disaster at the Broken Shore and (presumably) because he has some insight that she's capable of being a great leader, and/or just being ruthless enough to lead the Horde through this calamity.

The Alliance had Varian in charge... because Varian, basically, and "Humans" in "Orc vs.". And his son because it's a story convenience.

[draynay]

The fact that anyone other than Velen is at the top is just ludicrous...

I'm sure he could get elected on the platform of abandoning Azeroth and fleeing from The Legion for all eternity.

[minteK917]

Why the fuck would you give someone a military position if they needed advisors to actually run the show?

Mabye the fact that the humans makes up most of the Alliance forces and that they will follow the Human king? Just give me a reason why you think Velen and Tyrande would not just cooperate, like they decided to do in the game lol.

[Wyrt]

Mabye the fact that the humans makes up most of the Alliance forces and that they will follow the Human king? Just give me a reason why you think Velen and Tyrande would not just cooperate, like they decided to do in the game lol.

I'm not saying they wouldn't cooperate with Anduin, but it makes no fucking sense for them to give him military leadership of the Alliance.

[Phookah]

The Alliance is not a monarchy. Stormwind is.

Like a like of human-centric fiction (Star Wars, Star Trek, WoW), humans are the bulk of everything and tend to be in charge.

^ This. Varian was technically only the human High King, but is basically Head of the Alliance so everyone kinda paid fealty to him.

[JoshuaNLG]

Think of the Alliance like the EU, there you go.

[Deleted]

During the landsmeet that took place in Darnassus in the Cataclysm era, detailed in the Wolfheart novel, it was agreed upon by the Alliance leaders that Varian, and by default Stormwind, would serve as the capital of the united Alliance. Stormwind follows the standard rules of bloodline succession, so when Anduin heads Stormwind, and Stormwind heads The Alliance, Anduin now de facto heads the Alliance.

Some of the Alliance may dispute this somewhere down the timeline, but one of largest differences between the Alliance and the Horde is that the Alliance races seem to understand that even if the current leader isn't the most optimal choice, things function better when everybody follows them nonetheless.

[Wyrt]

During the landsmeet that took place in Darnassus in the Cataclysm era, detailed in the Wolfheart novel, it was agreed upon by the Alliance leaders that Varian, and by default Stormwind, would serve as the capital of the united Alliance. Stormwind follows the standard rules of bloodline succession, so when Anduin heads Stormwind, and Stormwind heads The Alliance, Anduin now de facto heads the Alliance.

Some of the Alliance may dispute this somewhere down the timeline, but one of largest differences between the Alliance and the Horde is that the Alliance races seem to understand that even if the current leader isn't the most optimal choice, things function better when everybody follows them nonetheless.

No.

Varian was given High King which was meant to be the same position of Supreme Allied Commander that Anduin Lothar once held. It was not a decision for the other Alliance nations to become vassals of Stormwind.

[Gadzooks]

Tyrande also ticks all those boxes. She fought the legion's invasion during the sundering, again during hyjal, has centuries of battlefield&command experience, etc.

Absolutely - not mentioning her was not intented as a slight, it's just that diplomatically, Jaina has been in the middle of everything all along.

[Deleted]

During the landsmeet that took place in Darnassus in the Cataclysm era, detailed in the Wolfheart novel, it was agreed upon by the Alliance leaders that Varian, and by default Stormwind, would serve as the capital of the united Alliance. Stormwind follows the standard rules of bloodline succession, so when Anduin heads Stormwind, and Stormwind heads The Alliance, Anduin now de facto heads the Alliance.

Some of the Alliance may dispute this somewhere down the timeline, but one of largest differences between the Alliance and the Horde is that the Alliance races seem to understand that even if the current leader isn't the most optimal choice, things function better when everybody follows them nonetheless.

*quotation required*

Really now, what you're saying is so wrong it's not even funny. Nothing of what you say is true except that there was a meeting in Darnassus. And during the meeting it was decided that... Gilneas can rejoin the Alliance.

- - - Updated - - -

The Alliance is not a monarchy. Stormwind is.

Like a like of human-centric fiction (Star Wars, Star Trek, WoW), humans are the bulk of everything and tend to be in charge.

https://twitter.com/chrismetzen/stat...59705844957184

Tell me, if one was the son of a general, would he become general when the current general died? No, because military titles are not inherited. And since, as Chris Metzen says, "High King" is a title relating to the army, not control of other nations, it is a military title. So, under current logic, it doesn't matter that Stormwind is a monarchy because military titles are not inherited.

And just because humans are the focus it doesn't mean it is as it should be. Some of us dislike that. Your reasoning to the way things are is that "things are as such because that's how things are" - this is a faulty logic. If you came with actual lore reasons why humans would lead the Alliance, I'd say "ok, maybe you have a point", but as such your point makes no sense.

- - - Updated - - -

Mabye the fact that the humans makes up most of the Alliance forces and that they will follow the Human king? Just give me a reason why you think Velen and Tyrande would not just cooperate, like they decided to do in the game lol.

You're right, just like in the Horde the majority (being orcs and forsaken) would never follow... say... a troll... oh, wait, they did!

Why would Tyrande and, in my opinion, Genn, not be happy? Well because Anduin will push for peace while the Horde has not fully retreated from Ashenvale or Gilneas without forcing them to continue their retreat. I'd be preety pissed if I was a gilnean or a night elf in these conditions. And how do I know Anduin would push to let the Horde have some of those lands? Because that's what he does, he gives in to anything.

[Aeula]

Well the rest of the alliance leadership seem okay with it. Probably due to how badly written they are, but still!