Elegy and A Good War Fully Released

[Aucald]

Feel free to read them:

Elegy

- and -

A Good War

The Warcraft Literature Chronology is also updated with PDF links for both NA and UK.

[Sinistrem]

So basically it boils to

But she was right.

A wound that can never heal. That had always been the plan. And Saurfang had failed to inflict it.

The story of Malfurion’s miraculous survival would have spread among the armies of the Alliance as proof that they were blessed in their cause.

War would still have come. That had been certain the moment Saurfang had led the Horde into Ashenvale. And it would have been what he had feared most: the meat grinder, spending so many lives

to achieve so little, ending with a whimper, and thus dooming future generations to a war nobody could win. Once again, Sylvanas had seen it before he had.

And so . . .

She had sent a message. This was not a war that would end in a stalemate. Not now. The Alliance and the Horde would both understand that the only choices were victory or death. Lok‐tar ogar.

Tauren and some Orcs would probably still condemn her, as well as entirety of Horde druids, but i don't see other races losing their shit over it, given this reasoning.

Apart from OG Thrall Horde, the other races joined horde to break Status Quo, to change the disposition of powers and rise up even at the cost of other nations. Sylvanas makes Status Quo impossible to maintain by creating an event so resonating, that " This was not a war that would end in a stalemate. Not now. The Alliance and the Horde would both understand that the only choices were victory or death."

[Aydinx2]

So basically it boils to



Tauren and some Orcs would probably still condemn her, as well as entirety of Horde druids, but i don't see other races losing their shit over it, given this reasoning.

Apart from OG Thrall Horde, the other races joined horde to break Status Quo, to change the disposition of powers and rise up even at the cost of other nations. Sylvanas makes Status Quo impossible to maintain by creating an event so resonating, that " This was not a war that would end in a stalemate. Not now. The Alliance and the Horde would both understand that the only choices were victory or death."

Which is still a terrible idea considering what she said about the Alliance wanting war with the Horde was wrong.

[Sinistrem]

Which is still a terrible idea considering what she said about the Alliance wanting war with the Horde was wrong.

Yes, but we know about it. We are omnipotent beholders who know motivations and thoughts about both sides, the actual characters do not know. And it's the unknown that breeds fear. The same fear and insecurity Sylvanas capitalises to start and justify a war.

[Aydinx2]

Sylvanas just straight up threw the chessboard off the table because her opening move didn't work out.
These 2 stories boil down to "why Sylvanas is a terrible leader".

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, but we know about it. We are omnipotent beholders who know motivations and thoughts about both sides, the actual characters do not know. And it's the unknown that breeds fear. The same fear and insecurity Sylvanas capitalises to start and justify a war.

I'd say her motivation is as far from fear as possible.
Both sides have spies who gather intel on the other sides' movement and actions. This is explained in BOTH stories.
Sylvanas claims Genn will want war with the Forsaken, but if that is true why hasn't it happened yet? As she herself says, they couldn't defend against the Alliance marching on Undercity (which is extra stupid considering she causes that to happen).

As Saurfang himself says it: it's madness.

[Jastall]

My first question is, how in the blazes do Alliance spies in Orgrimmar work? The only race that could possibly pass for a Hordie is a Void Elf, and not only are there very few of them, but they are recognizable unless they use full body concealment. I know that in game rogues can just vanish in plain sight, but I'd expect stealth to be less effective in lore.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Tyrande now has a surrogate child. Will she abandon her for Malfurion just as she abandoned her people?
Also Plotwists for Azeroth should be the title of the expansion

[Sinistrem]

My first question is, how in the blazes do Alliance spies in Orgrimmar work? The only race that could possibly pass for a Hordie is a Void Elf, and not only are there very few of them, but they are recognizable unless they use full body concealment. I know that in game rogues can just vanish in plain sight, but I'd expect stealth to be less effective in lore.

I'm pretty sure they rather hire turncoats. I don't expect them to use actual Alliance races for that.

[Aucald]

Sylvanas, and even Saurfang, conducted their war based on a flawed principle due to their inability to really understand the bond between Humanity, the Worgen, and the Night Elves. They thought the wound inflicted to the Kaldorei would foment infighting and chaos among the Alliance as Greymane and Tyrande fought over whose wounds deserved redress first - they couldn't conceive of a state where Greymane would put the Kaldorei ahead of his own people, conducting himself honorably and charitably in recognition of what his people owed the Kaldorei. Oddly enough, Saurfang didn't factor in to his equation that humans (or Worgen) could also be honorable - and that meant that the plan was always doomed to failure even if it had gone to plan in Darkshore.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Sylvanas, and even Saurfang, conducted their war based on a flawed principle due to their inability to really understand the bond between Humanity, the Worgen, and the Night Elves. They thought the wound inflicted to the Kaldorei would foment infighting and chaos among the Alliance as Greymane and Tyrande fought over whose wounds deserved redress first - they couldn't conceive of a state where Greymane would put the Kaldorei ahead of his own people, conducting himself honorably and charitably in recognition of what his people owed the Kaldorei. Oddly enough, Saurfang didn't factor in to his equation that humans (or Worgen) could also be honorable - and that meant that the plan was always doomed to failure even if it had gone to plan in Darkshore.

If only this stuff was said in game.

[Necromind]

So it clarifies the details, but still the main motif of Sylvanas going full genocidal on Night Elves triggering the Alliance for barely any tactical advantage stays the same.
And that's the problem they can't fix. I just can't believe in this war.

I hate to say it, but freaking Hitler and Nazi high command had more reasoning and justification behind WW2 than this genius war plan of Sylvanas and presumably Horde generals.

It's like doing preemptive strike on the enemy and follow it immediately by launching a nuclear bomb on mainly civilian area.
This "Destroying Hope" business is destroying my brain cells.

[Deleted]

tfw you're a thousands of years old undead elf and you're going to lose to an 18 year old alpha king

+100000000000

[Stormdash]

This makes the burning even more annoying -- her plan explicitly requires Teldrassil still exist as a wedge issue. I'm not sure it would have worked regardless, but she blew off the central thesis of her own strategy before she was finished carrying it out.

[Jastall]

I'm pretty sure they rather hire turncoats. I don't expect them to use actual Alliance races for that.

The novella does say their chief spy is a Goblin, but that doesn't explain how the rest can do any work when simply being spotted in a super busy city where almost everyone knows how to fight means certain death. Magical means can only explain so much.

My second thought is that the Alliance really just can't help but be sickeningly sweethearts toward each other, can they? Look, I get that both factions can't be the constant hotbed of drama the Horde is, but some dissent would bring character to the whole affair. Nope, this is a time of dire crisis and uncertain futures and everyone is perfectly on the same page in all the things, dwarves love elves, elves love dwarves, and obviously everyone, the Goblin included, loves humans.

[s3ge]

Sylvanas, and even Saurfang, conducted their war based on a flawed principle due to their inability to really understand the bond between Humanity, the Worgen, and the Night Elves. They thought the wound inflicted to the Kaldorei would foment infighting and chaos among the Alliance as Greymane and Tyrande fought over whose wounds deserved redress first - they couldn't conceive of a state where Greymane would put the Kaldorei ahead of his own people, conducting himself honorably and charitably in recognition of what his people owed the Kaldorei. Oddly enough, Saurfang didn't factor in to his equation that humans (or Worgen) could also be honorable - and that meant that the plan was always doomed to failure even if it had gone to plan in Darkshore.

To be fair, neither Saurfang nor Sylvanas could have foreseen the whitewashing of the Alliance to this extend.

[metzger84]

Ooh, thanks for the links.

[Aucald]

To be fair, neither Saurfang nor Sylvanas could have foreseen the whitewashing of the Alliance to this extend.

I don't know about "whitewashing," but they certainly failed to foresee that the Alliance was more allied than the Horde itself was or is, that is for certain.

[Super Dickmann]

Sylvanas and Saurfang's plans failing because they assumed the Alliance had more depth as characters than the bland hangers on to a teenager that they truly are is hilariously appropriate.

[Aucald]

Which is incredible seeing as the Alliance has never formally divided or turned on itself, why would Sylvanas think Genn would just be like "fuck this I'm out" if Anduin chose to help the Night Elves?

I think Genn outfoxed them, inadvertently. They had no real way of knowing the depth of his commitment to the Kaldorei and his people's commitment to the greater Alliance - viewed from the outside, Genn still bears all the markings of the maverick-like individual he's typically been. His actions in Stormheim paint him as fully willing (and able) to put his own vendetta over what was best for the Alliance, or even the entire world, in the face of the Legion threat. I can see how Sylvanas would easily see him as base, and his actions in Stormheim could even deceive more honorable men such as Saurfang into seeing him as a grasping and emotional figure. It's unfortunate Saurfang and Greymane have never met one-another - I think they'd have quite a lot in common at the end of the day, perhaps even more than their differences at the elemental level.

[SirCowdog]

Fuck me, Genn gets more awesome every expansion. What a fucking champ

The one guy most likely to actually serve a "morally grey" opportunity is also becoming a super-duper awesome goodguy.

Why do people think this is good? Did the alliance need more perfect characters?