So in the book Before the Storm Elsie Benton is standing on the Arathi Highlands field between Thoradin's Wall and Stromgarde Keep. Calia's hood has been thrown back and her face is revealed before Sylvanas orders the horn that signals the end of the event to be blown three times.
Parqual Fintallas, Jake Felstone, Jem Felstone, and Jack Felstone are all ambling along toward Stromgarde Keep with the intent to defect to the Alliance, and specifically Stormwind, the enemy of the Horde and the Forsaken.
But when Calia is speaking to Elsie Benton, before those three sharp notes sound the end of the event because Sylvanas thinks that some of the Desolates are defecting and wants to see who is loyal or not, Calia says to Elsie:
All of them. All the others.Originally Posted by Calia Menethil
Did she mean to be general about all the others who were defecting, or did she mean the entire rest of the Desolate Council was defecting -except- for Elsie Benton?
If it's the former, then there is no change to the morality or pragmatism of the situation... But if it is the latter, if Elsie is the only member of the Desolate Council who was not defecting, do the moral implications of the situation change?
Defection among the Forsaken has always been punished with death. It's a fairly common punishment for defection even unto the modern world, much less the more barbaric times in our earlier history that would share more commonality of technology and trapping to the World of Warcraft. And, surely, the members of the Desolate Council knew that they were committing a crime if even Calia Menethil could see that they were defecting. A Crime punishable by death.
Thus it is an execution of traitors, one that Sylvanas has every right to do as the Sovereign Ruler of the Forsaken (Though one could certainly argue the moral implications of capital punishment). But we have held to the idea that Elsie was just one of the many Desolate Council Members who didn't defect. What if we were wrong? What if Elsie was the -only- one of the twelve Forsaken on the field who did not intend to defect?
Her death would still be a miscarriage of justice, certainly. But would it not be a far smaller one if 11 out of the 12 were defecting? Yes, some started running back to Thoradin's Wall. Some started to run back toward the Banners of the Dark Lady. But if Calia is to be believed and the other 11 -were- defecting, then Sylvanas was right to think that they were returning out of fear, rather than loyalty, and had still attempted to defect before being caught in the act and feigning loyalty to avoid the penalty of the crime they were committing...
But which is it? Was Calia speaking of the four that we know were traitors and some unspecified greater number? Or did she actually mean -everyone- but Elsie Benton?
What do ya'll think?