Is Sylvanas only liked because she's a female?

[Sigmar]

really silly way to observe a supposed problem..I mean, are popular male characters popular because they're male? It really doesn't matter, good stories usually need both.

Shitty, whiny, inconsistent characters are going to be shitty, whiny, and inconsistent regardless of gender. However a poorly done female character like Sylvanas will still find a substantial fandom because she is female. Male characters who are poorly written like her are generally left to rot by the fanbase.

[Simulacrum]

Personally, I hate most female characters in fiction. Most of them, at least in the types of fiction I read, tend to either be the "whiny, useless and probably constantly crying or in danger"-archetype, or they're one of those super sexy ones, whose entire character revolve around sex and manipulating people with it, or they're the overcompensating "I'm just as good as any man"-type, who usually either dies or gets saved by a man as she fails to preform as well as one.

I don't know a lot about Sylvanas' character, but from what I've learned about her, through osmosis alone, she doesn't seem to fit into any of those, which makes her a-okay in my book. Personally, I just like her 'cuz she's and anti-hero, and the leader of the forsaken - the greatest faction. As much as I 'like' any WoW character, anyway.

Though I'm not sure I understand why her being female would make people like her more than if she were male. People do like some archetypes better if they're female than if they're male, but I don't see why this would be the case for Sylvanas.

I prefer Garrosh to her, though. That guy just wants to crush faces and kill people and do generally bad things - my kinda guy. It's the world of warcraft, after all, not the world of rainbows, puppies, and butterflies... although you wouldn't know it at a glance half the time.

[McNeil]

I wonder if people liked Arthas more if he was the hot female, and Sylvanas as the male.

Imagine all the things Arthas could get away with...

''She burned down Stratholme, so what? She's hot!''

''*looking at Arthas' boobs* No I don't mind him slaughtering every innocent citizen in Lordaeron''

''She's now in sexy Lich King armor!!! BEST FRIGGING VILLAIN EVAH!''

Also incoming lots of Arthas X Anub'Arak fanart (and in Rule 34...)

Lets face it, in almost every Sylvanas fanart she's depicted pantsless. While in game or lore, she always wore pants...

[Skytotem]

The fact that people ignore her failings is a large result of the fact that she looks like a superstar despite being undead.

It's not so much that she's 'female' so much as she's 'every guy gamer's fantasy'.

[checking facts]

she'd be more popular.

people love arthas and illidan as the paragons of warcraft coolness. they are both males. if sylvanas was a male, she'd belong in that group.

she'd probably end up as a raid boss though, so I'm glad she's a girl.

[Kiqjaq]

Nah. Only reason I like Sylvanas is that she's probably the only evil character in this game that has a real reason for doing what she's doing.

"Going insane" and/or "blah blah Old Gods blah" being everyone else's reason gets really old really quickly.

[lakisa]

Same as Ilidan People like Sylvanas for her story before WoW not boobs.

[Pull My Finger]

She's totally popular because of her push up bra and panties.

[GennGreymane]

pretty much

[Deleted]

If the forsaken leader was an actual Forsaken, man or woman, Forsaken wouldn't be half as popular. I could never bring myself to play one. They're so ugly. They're not even appealing undead.

[BHD]

Lets face it, in almost every Sylvanas fanart she's depicted pantsless. While in game or lore, she always wore pants...

A quick google search for "Sylvanas fanart" says otherwise.

The fact that people ignore her failings is a large result of the fact that she looks like a superstar despite being undead.

What about people who liked her since the RTS games? She didn't really look like a "superstar" back then.

It's not so much that she's 'female' so much as she's 'every guy gamer's fantasy'.

Got some kind of data on that or are you just making things up? p:

Seems like most people (basing this on mmoc posters from this/previous threads) who dislike her close to always pulls the "people only likes her because of her looks"-card, while most people who admits to liking the character does so because of the personality and what she adds to the story, and rarely mention her looks at all. In fact, it's mostly the "haters" who says she looks hot.

[Xerra]

I thought some of her popularity came from looking like a drow... but I guess I could be wrong. I liked her dark rise to being the forsaken leader, very gritty and I think for the most part if she were a male then much of her story would feel more cliche. Not to mention female leaders of any sorts are somewhat rare, she was the female counter to the Night elf leader, if she were male some of her exotic and different traits would be lost. I think a better question would be, if every leader was female and Sylvannas the only male in the horde would she/he be as popular?

[DeLos]

Only? No
In part? Yes

The fact is the female part, especially coupled with the way the artwork was done plays a large part in her popularity. The fact is that a lot (not all) of her fan base think she is 'hot'. That certainly adds to her popularity numbers.

Add to that in popular culture people tend to think aggressive = strong (something I wholeheartedly disagree with). She is a very aggressive character, so people equate he with being strong. The idea of a "strong female character" makes people get all excited. Personally I think she has a weak character running on anger and fear, but I digress.

The other factor that I think comes into play in her popularity is her darkness. The idea of ignoring morality and social norms to get what you want appeals to a lot of people's fantasies. She crosses moral lines, and that plays into that.

[worsthitmanNa]

If the forsaken leader was an actual Forsaken, man or woman, Forsaken wouldn't be half as popular. I could never bring myself to play one. They're so ugly. They're not even appealing undead.

Undead would still be ridiculously popular. They are zombies dude they aren't suppose to be attractive are u serious.

[anisadora]

It isnt because she's female. Its because she's just tits and an ass with a head attached.

---------- Post added 2013-03-11 at 10:38 AM ----------

And then there's the good portion of the playerbase that likes story/plot, and likes her for just that. (Not that all players who like story/plot likes her)
"she killed dozens of people and raised them into undead"
"yeah, but it isn't the goddamn same thing as what the LK did, she isn't the Lich Queen.

Looking into certain elements Blizz is putting out there, Blizz is stating it's exactly like the LK. Theyre starting ot use Scourge music for parts where the Forsaken perform those acts, and having Sylvanas use the same words Arthas used ("I saw only darkness...") when she's rezzed. Epic foreshadowing FTW.

[Deleted]

If you are an hater you will be : *She is liked only because of that*.

If you are a fanboy you will be : *She is absolutelylylyl not liked because of that , it's only because of the story*.

If you are somewhere inbetween like me you will be : *She is partly liked because of her story and vastly because of her sex/looks/tits.. reason? WoW is played by MANY virgin younglings..*

/facts
/endthread
/win

[Eazy]

I don't really like her.
She's acting like she's boss of the horde and tried to kill Arthas, so no.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

She's got boobs, a bitchy attitude, and a bare midriff. She's the target demographic's wet dream.

[Xerra]

Reading all these people posting hate for the character is kind of sad to me. Granted everyone has a right to their opinion but really it seems like so many of you are going with the two dimensional point of view of 'she has boobs that is why people like her'. The only thing that I would firmly support is that her art work online and elsewhere because of the high sex appeal would be more popular. But thats it for the most part just the art. If people in game really had that much affection for her figure I think it would be more noticeable or out spoken.

But as a side note besides the crappy polygon count what female in WoW is made unattractive? Well I suppose besides dwarven female characters. Heck with how the space goat females looked compared to the males I thought they were almost different species.

[Raiju]

Easy way to solve this thread, is there anyone who likes sylvanas who DOES feel it's mostly because she's "hawt"?

Otherwise it's just people bashing other people to make themselves feel superior about their choice in character. Sylvanas isn't mary sue, didn't even have a skimpy model till wrath (almost halfway through this games existence, and she was a character long before), and doesn't do things that would be classed as sexualized.

It's just haters hatin' on others for liking another character, Varian is a complete manwhore too.