Sylvanas won't be getting redemption.

[Sarethion]

Oh, she's almost certainly getting redeemed in some way. Just look at the difference between how she was portrayed in BfA and what they're doing with her now. Blizzard is clearly trying to have people warm up to Sylvanas, which likely means that they're going to try pulling some redemption arc.

The problem with Sylvanas is that she's a very polarizing character. Lots of people hate her and want her dead. On the other hand, she also has a lot of fans. If Blizzard redeems Sylvanas, the former will be mad, if they kill her off then that latter will riot. Sucks either way. That's why I think they will go for some middle ground option, i.e. Sylvanas will die or get stuck in the Shadowlands, but she'll get to be a hero before that happens.

[Keyblader]

Honestly I think the worst case scenario for her is they make her a antihero like Illidan and she was be the new Jailer just like Illidan, off screen but able to be brought back at any time.

She has too many admirers for them to just kill her off...

I kind of agree with that, maybe by the end of the expac, the Jailer is dealt with, and she becomes the one to look over those that are sent to the Maw, and that becomes her purpose, and we just don't see her on the mortal plane of Azeroth anymore.

[bagina]

Some people really need to get this through their thick skulls. Redemption means proper atonement, not forgiveness. It's the villain regretting their actions and willing to atone for them. The wronged party does not even have to have anything to do with it. It's largely internal.

Redemption=remorse+adequate penance

Redemption is not forgiveness, it's not justification of your past actions, it's not proving you right. We can't be talking about redemption when the character merely has a change of heart. Only when they'll pay the price.


I don't want Sylvanas redemption if they're gonna do it as they're doing it now, it's embarassing, as evidenced by latest Shadowlands cinematics.

[Lelkowski]

Ofc. she's getting redeemed, she looked with pity at Anduin because he became slave to Jailer just like she was slave to Arthas. In the end she will help him and together they will destroy Jailer with power of friendship and human potential.

[Soon-TM]

Ofc. she's getting redeemed, she looked with pity at Anduin because he became slave to Jailer just like she was slave to Arthas. In the end she will help him and together they will destroy Jailer with power of friendship and human potential.

She had already embraced human potential when she grabbed Nathanos as her $&#@toy instead of another random elf.

[Raisei]

Popular opinion is that she is getting redeemed next raid or sometime shortly after it. I very much doubt it, her slicing Anduin with Shalamourne was the last final straw for her. It's the sign that she's finally truly broken with the last vestige of her mortality and morality.

It's also a sign that they are finally doing away with the last Warcraft 3 character. Yes, I know Tyrande is around, but frankly they neutered her and Night Elves in general when WoW launched and Jaina got her real closure in BfA.

Moving forward the morally grey leader/cult figure is going to be Azshara.

I am only waiting for a new cutscene that is set between the last one of Sylvanas pointing Kingsmourne at Anduin and the new one if Bastion. In it Anduin and Sylvanas will make a plan to bring the Jailer down with Anduin agreeing to temporarily give up his free will so they can trick the Jailer, with Sylvanas somehow having a kill switch for his control.

This is the reason why we did not see her actually using the sword. Anduin trusted the sliver of the Ranger General he saw and because of that she actually made the right choice, but we are not supposed to know this yet.

Redemption really is a safe bet. Danuser will not allow Sylvanas to die a villan, no matter which character has to be twisted, turned and broken for that.

[Shelly]

I am only waiting for a new cutscene that is set between the last one of Sylvanas pointing Kingsmourne at Anduin and the new one if Bastion. In it Anduin and Sylvanas will make a plan to bring the Jailer down with Anduin agreeing to temporarily give up his free will so they can trick the Jailer, with Sylvanas somehow having a kill switch for his control.

This is the reason why we did not see her actually using the sword. Anduin trusted the sliver of the Ranger General he saw and because of that she actually made the right choice, but we are not supposed to know this yet.

Redemption really is a safe bet. Danuser will not allow Sylvanas to die a villan, no matter which character has to be twisted, turned and broken for that.

It's not about what Danuser will allow, but what Golden will do.

[Soon-TM]

Oh, she's almost certainly getting redeemed in some way. Just look at the difference between how she was portrayed in BfA and what they're doing with her now. Blizzard is clearly trying to have people warm up to Sylvanas, which likely means that they're going to try pulling some redemption arc.

My theory is that this rewriting of Sylv has a lot to do with Afrasiabi quitting/getting booted from Blizz by the end of BfA. He was personally writing Sylvanas, thus we got the comical, moustache-twirling villain of BfA. But Afrasiabi sits in Irvine no longer, so Danuser will try his best to make his waifu look at least a little better.

Remember, we're talking about the same Danuser who outright censured the b**** word in the meeting between Sylvanas and Garrosh in Silverpine - even if it fits Sylv like a glove, on top of being very much in-character for Garry to use such language, especially with someone he thoroughly disliked.

[Nemah]

Those don't seem like "puppy dog" eyes to me. Stripped of context, I'd say it's the look of someone low-key pissed off - in context, it reads with an equal mixture of shame and anger.

Personally I read it more as "concern" - but not for Anduin, but the plan. I took it as Anduin being a risk she didn't want to take (yet). In the cinematic where the mourneblade was forged, she clearly tells the Jailer that Anduin is "not ready." In the cinematic where he retrieves the first key, we see him show some evidence of horror/humanity/something. So he's a flawed instrument of the plan.

As far as redemption, it would be supremely lame for them to set (any) character on the path they've set Sylv on then pull some deus ex machina crap. The choices are made/sides picked....and I say this as an overall Sylvanas fan.

[Shadowferal]

...or maybe the writers will do an "Illidan" and tell everyone "Fuck redemption. I don't want your pity..." And dives into oblivion...

[OokOok]

I hope they kill her, she's a terrible written character and I skip every cutscene with her in it, her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. Or just make her the new jailer of the maw, I don't care but I want her out of the story.

[Omedon]

We’re really going to find out with the story beat at the end of the 9.1 raid how much WoW actually cares about the messaging of their own story.

The emotional gut punch of the burning of teldrassil is the greatest outstanding debt owed to every player, alliance or horde, that is invested in this heroic story Blizzard has cast our characters in as its heroes.

At the same time, they took effort to acknowledge, quantify, placate and then de-canonize the Sylvanas loyalist strain of ultimately toxic players trying to play villains against the flow of most of the story of the game. The messaging was seemingly clear that at “you are all nothing” the loyalist angle dissolved into “she betrayed your loyalty,” a sin reasonably seen as egregious to a sub faction based on, well, loyalty.

And yet...

What happens to the entire “dark lady watch over you/victory for Sylvanas” creed baked into the forsaken if they don’t leave some room for it in how she “goes out?” Make no mistake: the game that just bent over backwards to underscore inclusion in their character customization and NPC casting is not leaving room for “maybe the genocidal villain was right all along,” but at the same time... are they really going to write out “dark lady watch over you?”

There are going to be scores of furious players regardless of what happens to Sylvanas.

Toxicity is a bottom line issue in gaming right now, and if I’m blizzard, picking which subsection of the invested playerbase to enrage and induce rage quitting among... I know which side of the “darkshore warfront axis” I’m choosing for the health of the game.

We’ll see where their priorities lie... but we’re still owed for Teldrasil.

[AcidicSyn]

People seem to think that Sylvanas getting redemption means she will continue to live/exist. It's entirely possible that she is still killed, hell it's still possible that Tyrande eviscerates her. Hell, she can also turn against the jailor without getting any kind of redemption. She could just be a tragic character (she always was) that meets a tragic end (arguably already has). All she needs to do to "gain redemption" in a technical sense is feel genuine remorse for what she's done. She doesn't need to be an Illidan or even a Kerrigan. Nor do the Alliance and Horde need to acknowledge or accept that remorse. (This last part is key I think)

All that said though I do still think Blizzard plans to give her redemption in some way. Right now I am torn in what I think will happen between two scenarios:

Scenario A - She joins the shadowlands staff as it were, possibly replacing the jailor.

Scenario B - She feels remorse for what shes been manipulated into doing and fights against the jailor, but dies in the process. This final act somehow makes the arbiter decide to send her soul to the Venthyr where she becomes a battery, Garosh laughs at her when they bring her in, and she spends the next few thousand years repenting.

What I'd actually like to see? Once upon a time I would have liked to see her actually grow attached to her people and really be their queen. But Blizzard took her in another direction. So now, I'd like to see the tragic character meet her tragic end. She is killed, dragged into the maw, right into the fate she was so afraid of, possibly by nathanos. (prefer Tyrande not kill steal though)

[deviantcultist]

If the story wants to feature Sylvanas redemption and at the same time denies Tyrande her vengeance, I'd say it's a bunch of condescending nonsense. It will take an insane amount of plot twist to justify something like that. Something like Elune being a deceiver and Tyrande being a pawn to her schemes etc.

However, if they want to play on the hypocritical platitude of "vengeance is bad and leads nowhere" while trying to show how someone like Sylvanas deserves a second chance, I know that I'll be vehemently against that idea of pushing the story forward.

- - - Updated - - -

Redemption means proper atonement, not forgiveness.

I fully agree with this. The worst is when redemption arcs play out like forced forgiveness where the naive characters do it and everyone else who is against it is painted as "mean".

[Stormwolf64]

Sylvanas will get her redemption. I mean, she's one of the last standing iconic characters.

[TickTickTick]

her slicing Anduin with Shalamourne was the last final straw for her

What makes you think she sliced him? When Arthas picked up the Frostmourne, noone sliced him yet he was still under its influence.

[The Butt Witch]

She will get Darth Vader-ed. It's astonishing how many people aren't seeing it coming.

Anduin is Luke Skywalker, and Sylvanas is Darth Vader. The story will end with her sacrificing herself to take down the Jailor.

[Melusine]

While I want to see Sylvanas broken, humiliated and then murdered, redemption for her is very likely because if you see the in-game cinematic in which Anduin delivers the first key to the Jailer, Sylvanas looks at Anduin with could be seen as worry, concern or even pity.

I get that the term "murdered" is edgier than "killed", when we go to kill Sylvanas, it will not be murder. It will be a justified act. And while all of that is true, what I think has really just sunk in is, she did to Anduin exactly what Arthas did to her. She hated Arthas for that, and now, she is working FOR Arthas' boss.

[MrMatticus]

Nah she'll be fine. Remember, elf lives don't matter.

[Wewlad]

>commits genocide on an entire race leaving them almost wiped out
>aw feeling a bit sad because her master is an asshole and she has to coerce Anduin

People actually falling for this shit writing ITT lmfao