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

[Gadzooks]

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

Talk about shoehorning. Varion is king, just because? Or, how about, he's king because his father was king? King Llane ring a bell? And that he was an original member of the Alliance, under Lothar? And that he was the King of the biggest human kingdom left standing after the wars?

Varion's story is well documented, and is not "because varion". He fought for his throne, and fought to keep it, and earned his leadership of the Alliance through being a masterful military leader.

It's not a title a young king should get, as a consolation prize because his daddy got ganked by some demons. It should be earned. Varion earned it, and they wrote the lore to support it. Anduin hasn't, and they're going to have to recon the living shit out of his story to make him a plausible general and leader.

[Deleted]

*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.

Except for that very same chapter in which Varian is saluted by Malfurion as the "man who has brought... the future of the alliance" while every representative of every Alliance faction chant his name in unison.

But I guess Robb Stark was never the King in the North either, right?

[Deleted]

It's a war - things are not going to "settle down", he needs to be a king and military commander NOW. Not when he learns how - and it's a job you don't want to learn while doing. The Alliance has more than capable people to run things until he gets old enough and experienced enough to lead the Alliance.

Let's be real - Kosak threw the Varian character away as a cheap crutch to force Anduin on the players as a character, so he could cram as many cliched "Do it for Varion! Win one for Varion" quotes into the dialog as possible. Why are they forcing Anduin? I have no idea, it makes no sense, except to prop up some lame cliches that Kosak and crew seem to adore.

If they made him into a Joffrey, that would be a hell of lot more interesting.

Fully agreed with this. It doesn't even need to be a Joffrey kind of deal, just make him be a fanatic of the Light and try to impose the Light on everyone and shun out non-Light powers (like warlocks, rogues, druids etc). That will also explain that last page in the comic he had, with him being in the Exodar as the draenei are kind of Light-fanatics too but it would also give some interesting character to the Alliance as the night elves become unhappy, the dwarves start to fight one another again due to this and gnomes also deny the Light.

If you finish the broken shore Alliance side, every leader but Jaina gives his total support out of good will. Jaina being a human is ordered to give her good will. All the older and wiser faction leaders you mention, seems to think Anduin is correct in his decision to not go to war over his fathers death at such a bad time. Thats part of being wise, so they are wise enough to see Anduin is wise, they are wise enough to let him lead when he replaces his father.

And then Genn goes to war with the forsaken, thus showing that they might have only declared that so he wouldn't feel bad while working behind his back because Anduin is a weak and naive leader.

[Wyrt]

Except for that very same chapter in which Varian is saluted by Malfurion as the "man who has brought... the future of the alliance" while every representative of every Alliance faction chant his name in unison.

But I guess Robb Stark was never the King in the North either, right?

lol

So cheering is now the official way for nations to be vassalized?

[Deleted]

Except for that very same chapter in which Varian is saluted by Malfurion as the "man who has brought... the future of the alliance" while every representative of every Alliance faction chant his name in unison.

But I guess Robb Stark was never the King in the North either, right?

They never said "cheers to the High King" they just said what you say in those quotes. Just like I can go cheer at my company for that guy who worked really good on his project and brought another from the same company. He brought a future yes, but I'm not saying he's my leader. Varian also brought a future as he helped rescue Ashenvale by coordinating the Alliance troops, he was not made absolute ruler of the Alliance for it. He was just cheered on. Later they decided to make him supreme commander of the armies and they named the function High King. But this is not in the book. And this is not an absolute ruler of the Alliance -type function.

[Gadzooks]

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.

Because a weak king who might lose the Legion effort could lead to their annhilation? They're not squabbling over borders or resources, they're facing extermination, equally - something Velen is especially intimately experienced with. If Anduin is weak, he needs to replaced, or all of the races of both the Horde and Alliance will be destroyed utterly, and the few remaining souls enslaved forever - if Sargeras doesn't destroy the planet to destroy the baby titan.

The leadership of both factions is crucial right now, because they have to literally save the world, and the universe.

Anduin? In real life, he'd be poisoned in his sleep and his replacement ready to go immediately. No joking around, he's too weak to fuck around. e

[Wyrt]

But this is not in the book. And this is not an absolute ruler of the Alliance -type function.

It's not in any book, or in the game or anywhere else. He just shows up in MoP as High King and everyone rolls with it because reasons. Blizzard had to explain what it meant in tweets because nothing in canon explained it.

[arcaneshot]

Because a weak king who might lose the Legion effort could lead to their annhilation? They're not squabbling over borders or resources, they're facing extermination, equally - something Velen is especially intimately experienced with. If Anduin is weak, he needs to replaced, or all of the races of both the Horde and Alliance will be destroyed utterly, and the few remaining souls enslaved forever - if Sargeras doesn't destroy the planet to destroy the baby titan.

The leadership of both factions is crucial right now, because they have to literally save the world, and the universe.

Anduin? In real life, he'd be poisoned in his sleep and his replacement ready to go immediately. No joking around, he's too weak to fuck around. e

Velen is experienced in running from this crap. Putting him in charge is a terrible idea.

He was never at the forefront at fighting against the Legion; his goal was always to make sure the Draenei survived, and that almost always involved running/hiding from the Legion, and never taking the fight to them. That they found a way to fight them with their allies on Azeroth is still a new concept to them.

[Gadzooks]

Velen is experienced in running from this crap. Putting him in charge is a terrible idea.

Yet, i didn't say elect Velen, did I? I've been pointing to Jaina or Tyrande. I was commenting on why Velen might not support Anduin.

Would you like to comment on something I actually said, now?

[Deleted]

They never said "cheers to the High King" they just said what you say in those quotes. Just like I can go cheer at my company for that guy who worked really good on his project and brought another from the same company. He brought a future yes, but I'm not saying he's my leader. Varian also brought a future as he helped rescue Ashenvale by coordinating the Alliance troops, he was not made absolute ruler of the Alliance for it. He was just cheered on. Later they decided to make him supreme commander of the armies and they named the function High King. But this is not in the book. And this is not an absolute ruler of the Alliance -type function.

"With such a leader, the Alliance may even take eastern Ashenvale back" - Garrosh, during his and Varian's third duel.
"A leader now in harmony with those he commands", "Varian Wrynn! Varian Wrynn!" - The chant of "The sentinels and other Alliance fighters"
"He [Varian] could very well guide the Alliance to new heights" - Malfurion to Tyrande
"And whoever they were, wherever they came from, Varian Wrynn, scion of the wolf Ancient, would be there to guide them" - Malfurion monologue.

It's very heavily implied (and never contested) that Varian is the head of the Alliance. You could argue (Like I'm sure that other guy quoting me will do) that since no official decree has been signed, it's not official. But even if he doesn't get his big-boy badge, when everybody with any representative power is supporting Varian as the leader, I think it's safe to call him their leader.

[Deleted]

I have yet to read a single segment thusfar that confirms Anduin Wrynn as the new High King. All I saw was him making a decision as it pertained to Stormwind, and the other memberstates (that deigned it proper to actually speak up) of the alliance agreeing.. except for Dalaran.

Currently it seems that Genn Greymane is taking the Gilnean forces on a whirl by himself, but it's not mentioned thusfar if his authority actually stretches beyond the Gilnean Liberation Front either. I am however sure he has a ton of support in the alliance now, being the sole remaining vocal voice of opposition towards the Horde proper after Jaina ragequit rather than staid on.

[khazmodan]

A more obvious choice for leadership of the Alliance would be Jaina Proudmoore, especially now that she's not shackled to the interests of the Kirin Tor. She's actually led troops into battle, knows all the players diplomatically, and needs a job right about now. She's 100% anti-horde right now, so that would be usefull to prop up the horde/alliance conflict fiction.

She's fought the Legion before. She defeated Archimonde. She's a badass.

But no, someone (coughKosakcough) decided for feels to put an untested, uninteresting, uninspiring character on the throne and in charge of the Alliance, at a time when they most need strength and leadership. Makes no sense, and it makes Varion's death pointless, if it's only to showcase Anduin more as a character, because they're either going to have to dismantle his character and make him Varion 2.0 to get any traction with players, or kill him off, too.

And, with Varion gone, his intent to kick Sylvanas out of Gilneas is gone, never to be mentioned again. Conveniently. That's probably how they're dealing with the story corner they wrote themselves into there - just act like it never happened, now.

The only way this all could be interesting is if they have some big plot point based on Anduin fucking up. But I'm less than convinced they have the talent to pull something like that off now, and that doesn't fit Kosak's ham fisted "for the feels!" style of cliche creation. (He doesn't write story, as much as leap from cliche to crutch to cliche).

They've made a real mess of all of the lore characters. Will be watching to see how they try to undo it. Now would be the time to introduce new big characters, but after what they did to Yrel...

I agree, Anduin comes across as just another spoiled soft weak man-child that has not earned his leadership role in any way. I for one have more respect for Arthas than either Varian or Anduin after seeing his conviction in stratholme about doing the right thing. All we saw from Varian is uncontrolled anger and questionable decisions, and all we have seen from Anduin is spoiled rich kid philosophy while living a sheltered life.

[TheWindWalker]

All we saw from Varian is uncontrolled anger and questionable decisions, and all we have seen from Anduin is spoiled rich kid philosophy while living a sheltered life.

Then you haven't paid attention in at least four to six years.

[shaunika123]

oh god all the people suggesting jaina

do you want another garrosh really?


if you read the anduin comic that came out a couple weeks ago you'd know that anduin is a fine choice to lead the alliance, he grew up a lot, and learned a lot from varian, knowing velen he'd never take charge especially away from anduin, and i dont feel tyrande would equally represent all of the alliance, anduin is clearly the best choice, he can still take advice from all the other more experienced leaders.

but then again, im not even sure he's confirmed as the new high king, hes just the king of stormwind afaik

[Omians]

I would hardly call him spoiled and weak.
inexperienced and soft yes.
when he was younger he saved his father and helped against the Undead invasion

He did have the lifestyle of a prince available to him. His father wanted to keep him shelterd and train him as a warrior. But instead Anduin went to different kingdoms and experienced the world outside of stormwind.

Hes progressed alot in the way if being a priest and saved his fathers life at least twice in a single fight against some twilight hammer assassination attempt
He did a very good job traversing Pandaria by himself for the longest time. Sure he was captured a couple times but got away anyway

Hes stood up against garrosh face to face knowing him could get killed doing so.

Anduin is very ineperienced but he is good at giving " the second opinion" advice

Vellen trusts him alot seeing his potential

And anduin respects the other leaders to follow their advise and give his opinion

He also has some horde brownie points from making friends with Baine

His Merit will be tested really really hard against the burning Legion but I'll keep my judgment until more of the story is told.

[corebit]

Velen is experienced in running from this crap. Putting him in charge is a terrible idea.

He was never at the forefront at fighting against the Legion; his goal was always to make sure the Draenei survived, and that almost always involved running/hiding from the Legion, and never taking the fight to them. That they found a way to fight them with their allies on Azeroth is still a new concept to them.

Lorewise the surviving Draenei who follow Velen is a very small number, probably in the tens of thousands at most. Most Draenei were slaughtered by the Orcs in Draenor and even then they weren't a lot to begin with probably hundreds of thousands compared to the millions and millions of Orcs and Humans.

So it's unfair to say Velen only knows how to run, because like Sylvanas at the Broken Shore he knows an impossible situation when he sees one.

[Hctaz]

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

Pretty sure he isn't. Genn is the leader of the Alliance like Sylvanas is the leader of the horde from what I understand. He's just the king of the humans and Stormwind.

[TheFirstOnes]

But Anduin has never put the interests of the Alliance first. When Tyrande, Jaina wanted Garrosh dead, he visited him and even saved his life. When humans were trying to save him from Pandaria, he was trying to escape them to make new panda-friends while they gave their lives to find him. He helped Baine retake his town only for Baine to come against him and the Alliance and together with the rest of the Horde, wipe out Theramore.
Anduin is a retard, and the only way the other leaders would support him in a believable setting is if they also believed that and wanted to take advantage of it to rule from the shadows. But I doubt the storytelling is this good for the Alliance.

No, he just knows that logic beats politics.

[Prokne]

If you are going for people who are going to be good leaders against the legion and have experience against them, then either Velen, Tyrande of Malfurion should be the leader of the Alliance for this upcoming battle. Each of them has fought the Legion and survived multiple times. If the leader has to be human, than Jaina is the only person I know who has the experience, but hers is much less than the others.

However, I'm Horde and loving Sylvanas as leader. Best choice on our side.

[apepi]

Going by what Vol'jin said, the Loa told him that she should be Warchief and that the others wouldn't understand it. Hell, I'm sure even Sylvanas herself is no doubt clueless as to why she was appointed the position beyond Vol'jin saying so.

It at least makes more sense than Thrall appointing it to Garrosh.