WoW All-Stars Racial Leaders

[Kyphael]

Choose who you think would be the ideal racial leader. This is pure fantasy so you are not bound to timelines and death. Just try to imagine the cream of the crop all in current WoW leading their respective races.

Horde Warchief and Orcs racial leader: Grom Hellscream
We got a glimpse as to how Grom might have led the Horde when his son did. People like to glorify Grom, but AU Grom, for better or worse, showed Grom was not much better than his son as far as being a warmonger. HOWEVER... I'd like to think MU Grom might have done things differently, and I would love to see Grom sitting in Grommash Hold with Thrall as his advisor to reel him in.

Trolls racial leader: Zul'jin
He's just the most badass troll ever, in my opinion. I know, he hated blood elves, but we know Blizzard ramped that up just to turn him into a raid boss. For the survival of the Amani trolls, Zul'jin would lead an united troll empire as part of Da Horde under Warchiief Grom, one-eyed, one-armed and all in all his badassery.

Tauren racial leader: Cairne Bloodhoof
Let's pretend it was Baine, and not Cairne who died in some sort of honorable duel to prove himself to his father, and we would have never gotten the Baine we had, but kept the greatest Tauren that ever lived. Enough said.

Undead racial leader: AU Ner'zhul
I am way thinking outside the box here, so bear with me. Sylvanas' fate unravels as it's supposed to. Garrosh'ed, exiled, becomes Goddess of Death, or simply its puppet, what have you. The Forsaken need a leader. Who does Grom turn to? Perhaps one of the darkest casters he has ever known, and where does he get the body? Alternate Draenor. With the Forsaken's identity no longer tied to Lordaeron, they are now represented by a council led by Ner'zhul. This is due to AU Ner'zhul's gross underuse in WoD.

Blood Elf racial leader: Kael'thas Sunstrider
We all know he went mad for no good reason. It should have never happened, and I still yearn to see what the Kael'thas of Warcraft III would be like leading his people in a post-Lich King Azeroth.

Goblin racial leader: Gallywix
He is perfect and does not need to be changed!

Pandaren are such a non-presence, I don't feel the need to appoint two racial leaders that would make much difference.

Obviously I won't include fantasy allied racial leaders as it's a relatively new concept and they're just alternate flavors of their main counterparts.

Alliance High King and Human racial leader: Varian Wrynn
Everyone knows killing Varian was the biggest mistake of Legion and it served no purpose. Anduin should have died instead, and it would have been the noblest thing he ever did. Alliance keeps its flawed but great war hero and Anduin becomes a legend instead of an annoyance.

I would keep the Council of 3 Hammers, I like it.

Night Elf racial leader: Illidan Stormrage
Enough! The night elves will no longer be a joke! After Tyrande and Malfurion die an agonizing death, the night elves seek out Illidan, the savior of the cosmos and jailor of Sargeras. The night elves begin a new chapter, weaponizing the fel from the knowledge Illidan imparts by plucking Sargeras' toe nails one at a time. Tree huggers need not apply. Druids accept this new destiny, expanding their ranks with fire druids and fel druids who can shape shift into animal demons and fel trees who run around with fel flame on their burning bushes.

Gnome racial leader: Gelbin Mekkatorque's Head
During the process of becoming a cyborg, a tragedy occurs; only Mekkatorque's head and brilliant brain is salvageable, being placed in a cybernetic spider walker. As the mind of the alliance, and now simply a head, he begins inventing twisted machinations to aid the alliance in crushing the Horde.

Worgen racial leader: Tess Greymane
When her father is killed in combat, Tess leads a joint effort with Varian to re-take her father's land, contracting the Worgen curse and reclaiming Gilneas for the alliance. She's going to be a badass worgen in tight leather pants and introduce Bards to the Alliance: rocker edge lords who use guitars to blow out their opponents' eardrums and buff their party with wicked guitar riffs.

Velen remains leader of the Draenei.

Imagine all of these ingredients boiling in the same pot of modern day Azeroth, it sure would make for a better faction war. I dare you to fantasize better.

[tyrlaan]

Horde Warchief and Troll racial leader: Vol'jin
Vol'jin stepped up in a big way and just seemed to hold all the right ideals for the Horde and what makes them the Horde. Not whiny and wimpy like Thrall became but also not bloodthirsty like Sylvanas; he just seems to strike the right balance and evoke the strength I want to see in a Warchief.

Orc racial leader: Saurfang
Clarification - pre-BFA Saurfang. In his current state I'm not exactly sure he's the same character we've come to know over previous expansions. I can't see the orcs being led by someone who isn't a seasoned veteran, and you don't get more seasoned than the guy who's been the subject of Chuck Norris-like jokes. He's got a good balance thanks to all the things he's seen and endured to make decisions wisely and would complement Vol'jin really well.

Tauren racial leader: Cairne Bloodhoof
Agree with you on Cairne. Baine honestly just hasn't done anything to make him interesting to me, so far at least. Side note, we could probably use some more significant tauren characters since I really can't think of all that many.

Undead racial leader: Thrall
Crazy and complete insanity, right? Here's my reasoning: For one, I can't think of any existing Forsaken that aren't somewhere on the evil and/or irresponsible spectrum. The Forsaken are the consistent stain on the Horde's reputation and seem to ally with the Horde out of convenience more than anything else. The Forsaken need to prove their allegiance and earn trust. Until they do this, someone that will actually keep them in check needs to be in charge. Thrall is the perfect person for this for a few reasons - one, it's a mess he allowed to fester so he should be responsible for cleaning it up. two, his strength has always been getting people to work together and building trust. Eventually I'm sure there would be a good Forsaken to put in charge, but rather than puppet leadership, I'd just put Thrall there until they're ready.

Blood Elf racial leader: Lor'themar
This guy stepped up during MoP and deserves his position as leader. He makes for a good addition to the Horde leadership "council" since he appears to be one of the strongest diplomats Hordeside.

Goblin racial leader: Gazlowe?
Struggling with this one. All I know is absolutely NOT Gallywix. Leaving him in charge when Thrall invited them to the Horde was a terrible idea and should have been fixed ages ago. Gallywix is a terrible faction leader who literally enslaved his own people.

Agree on Pandaren, but it would be nice if they made them relevant.

Alliance High King and Dwarven racial leader: Muradin Bronzebeard
Humans have had their time, it's time for them to listen to someone else for a change. This is highly personal preference of course; I'm weary of human-dominant fantasy settings and I think the dwarves make for a good race to step up. Ditch the council of 3 hammers because the faction leaders are a council of sorts anyway and it's just a level of complexity that doesn't need to persist. I'm sure this will piss of Moira but, oh well.

Night Elf racial leader: Shandris Feathermoon
Tyrande seems to care more about Malfurion than her people, so she can gtfo. Shandris is clearly hardcore military, but I think it makes sense for the night elves to be lead by someone like that right now, in light of the loss of Teldrassil. Give them someone who has dark edges and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty to reinvigorate them into a force to be feared (and separated from druids).

Gnome racial leader: Gelbin Mekkatorque
Fine as is, no strong opinion tbh.

Worgen racial leader: Tess Greymane
While I'm not so sure about your bard angle (hehe), I like this idea a lot. Genn needs to go.

[The Stormbringer]

Chen Stormstout for Pandaren racial leader!

[Kyphael]

Chen Stormstout for Pandaren racial leader!

Yeah but for which side? =P

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Warchief of the Horde: Rexxar

Orc racial leader: Some original and new character who has had competent character development

Undead racial leader: Sylvanas, Nathanos, and Archbishop Faol as a council type thing (a la Council of Three Hammers) with each member checking each other. Of course this would mean Nathanos would have to stand against Sylvanas, but not outright betray her.


I play Horde so meh.

[The Stormbringer]

Yeah but for which side? =P

Both sides. The Pandaren are just having a big, fun brawl, that's all.

EDIT: I think Rexxar would be a great Warchief, IMO.

[Grazrug]

Orcs: totally Thrall. Saurfang serves no purpose but dying of old age and the Death of Dranosh and his Yolo style of MUH honor make him a burden at this point.

Goblins: since Gallywix is the worst on every standard you can pull, give the job to our buddy Gazlowe. He has honor and even makes discounts for friends.

Trolls: Vol'jin. Because duh? There was no reason to kill him off in the first place.

Undeath: Sylvanas but without the REEEEEE Mode about mass killing all. She works best scheming in the background without all of this massive world War crap.

Tauren: Cairne, stormsong grimmtotem or Tagar Ragetotem. Baine is just an embarrassment at this point.

Blood Elves: KAEL'THAS !!! Just a wasted character whose only purpose was dropping epic loot.

[saintminya]

Orcs: Thrall. He's just a genuinely great guy.

Trolls: tempting to say Vol'jin, but I have to agree with Zul'jin. He is the great one after all.

Undead: Fullheartedly agree with Ner'zhul. He was a pioneer of undeath, and sorely wasted in WoD. At least he got to be a boss, unlike poor Orgrim.

Goblins: Jastor Gallywix. There never was a truer Goblin. Should something happen to him, I'd gladly put my lot in with Gazlowe.

Tauren: Ordos. That badass Yaungol worshipped like a god.

Sin'dorei: Kael'thas Sunstrider. As cool as Lorthemar is, he pales in comparison to the glory that was Kael.

Pandaren: Chen Stormstout.

[Fullmetal89]

Horde
Orcs: Bring Garry back and kill off Thrall already.
Trolls: Don't care, revive Zul'jin or something. Trolls all sound retarded and I never cared about their lore.
Tauren: Chief Thunder-skins.
Undead: Sylvanas, lets face it she's Blizz's waifu she's not going anywhere and she makes ally and furries mad and that's a good thing.
Blood Elves: Like OP said there was literally no reason to make Kael'thas turbo evil. He should have remained the Belf faction leader.
Goblins: Don't really care, Gallywinx is fine.

Neutral
Pandaren: Chen? Taran Zhu? Some THIC fempanda?

Alliance
Humans: Bolvar Fordragon because Anduin looks like Justin Bieber and isn't cool enough to be faction leader.
Dwarf: Ragnaros possessing the body of Magni Bronzebeard (Diamond).
Nelf: Literally anybody but Tyrande/Malfurion those two are long past their expiration date and the quest chain in Val'shara was actually worse than rescue Thrall arc in Cataclysm.
Gnomes: Super-computer with Mekkatorque's brain inside, something like the boss of Fallout 1.
Draenei: Yrel because Velen has outlived his purpose in the story and alliance need somebody on their faction the horde can cry blood murder about.
Worgen: Don't care they can all yiff in hell.

[Broken Fox]

Orcs - Orgrim
Tauren - Cairne
Undead - Sylvanas
Trolls - Vol'jin
Blood Elves - Lor'themar

Humans - Bolvar Fordragon
Night Elves - Maiev
Gnomes - Mekkatorque
Draenei - Yrel
Worgen - Darius Crowley
Dwarves - Gotrek Gurnisson

[ashblond]

Warchief of the Horde: Rexxar

Orc racial leader: Some original and new character who has had competent character development

Undead racial leader: Sylvanas, Nathanos, and Archbishop Faol as a council type thing (a la Council of Three Hammers) with each member checking each other. Of course this would mean Nathanos would have to stand against Sylvanas, but not outright betray her.


I play Horde so meh.

Current Nathanos is the worst character in wow history.

[Grazrug]

Current Nathanos is the worst character in wow history.

Nah, Gallywix is worse.

[Kyphael]

Horde
Tauren: Chief Thunder-skins.

lol who?

Alliance
Humans: Bolvar Fordragon because Anduin looks like Justin Bieber and isn't cool enough to be faction leader.
Dwarf: Ragnaros possessing the body of Magni Bronzebeard (Diamond).

Haha, Justin Bieber. Also, the Ragnaros possession angle would be sweet, though I suppose it would be a bit similar to Ragnaros/Thaurissan, so why not Therazane? They haven't done anything with her and she's like, the Earth elemental.

Draenei: Yrel because Velen has outlived his purpose in the story and alliance need somebody on their faction the horde can cry blood murder about.

Been seeing Yrel a lot as Draenei leader. I thought of her but as Lightforged leader.

[seleri]

Orc: Thrall
Tauren: Cairne
Troll: Vol'jin
Undead: Nathanos
Goblin: Gallywix
Blood Elf: Anasterian

Stormwind: Anduin
Night Elf: Tyrande
Draenei: Velen
Dwarf: Magni
Gnome: Gelbin
Gilneans: Lorna

Pandaren: Shaohao

[Kwento]

Current Nathanos is the worst character in wow history.

That would be Varian.

[Zandalariprelate]

Orcs: Eitrigg or Garrosh after getting a battle rez

Trolls: Rokhan or Loa'Jin

Tauren: Anyone pls, baine is such a shame for the Taurens that I bought a race change and also because of the lack of lore, heck some bastard of Magatha Grimtotem could work

Undead: Arthas, seriously the horde needs powerhouses and someone that could actually looks like a fucking undead forsaken, also I want him to give the beat of his life to Anduin Bieber and being a snark ass with Jaina every chance he gets

Belves: Kael being the warlock leader with some grudges with Arthas, Theron is fine but he will shine more if he were the field commander while Kael'thas does the paperwork and fights every while when the situation is dire

Goblins: Gazlowe is more useful than Gallywix but the latter is more fun to interact and fulfil his role as gag character

Stormwind: Varian or Wyrmbane, those dudes were morally back in wotlk and recently in zandalar with killing exiles

Dwarfs: The council works fine but I would love for Moira to take a more active role with her dark irons into doing the dirty work of the alliance, this dudes already has their reputation, better get an use of that

Gnomes: Gelbin is fine but I want him to take a more aggressive stance with the horde and even assimilating some philosophy from the mechagnomes about how to deal with "vermins"

Nelves: Maiev or Illidan at charge, seriously these elves are becoming into a joke, they need some badass that will put in their place any idiot that dares to harm them and Illidan will pretty much be the counter of Arthas

Draenei: Yrel, I want the brown orcs and green skins to cry about genocide and how they got their feelings hurt because of these draenei chick, seriously send Velen to some spiritual journey or retirement, he needs to rest since his storyline is over

Worgen: The Genn of the second war or replace him with his ruthless daughter, this guys were the promised forsakens of the alliance and they have yet to display that

The allied races leader are fine but I will suggest to give a bit more of edgy to the alliance side and the horde can get the most honorable part with the new ones

[Rathbourne]

Alliance:
Human - Anduin Lothar
Dwarf - Modimus Anvilmar
Gnome - Gelbin Mekkatorque
Nightelves - Tyrande Whisperwind
Worgen - Genn Greymane
Draenei - Prophet Velen


Horde:
Orc - Thrall
Troll - Zul'jin
Tauren - Cairne Bloodhoof
Bloodelf - Kael'thas Sunstrider
Golbin - Gazlowe
Forsaken - Sylvanas Windrunner

Pandaren: Shaohao

[tyrlaan]

Don't really get the Thrall love tbh. Yeah he's a nice guy, but he's made several terrible and costly decisions as Horde leader. I'm not even sure I'm happy that I gave him a spot on my list

Nah, Gallywix is worse.

At least Gallywix acts like you'd expect a goblin to act, remotely tries to be a team player, and generally treats others with respect.

Nathanos treats ONE person with respect and serves it with heaps of bootlicking and fawning nonsense. Meanwhile he acts like everyone else are no better than peons that are really bad at their jobs. His characterization is over the top and absurd and honestly there's no clear explanation why he's even in the position he's in. The dude was basically a hermit with some pet undead dogs and now he's the right hand man of Sylvanas? Yeah, he's crap.

[Palapop]

A:

Human - Bolvar or even Jaina tbh.
Dwarf - Magni
Gnomes - Gelbin
Night Elves - Tyrande (before 8.1 questline (Dark Warrior) I'd say someone else... but dayum )
Draenei - Yrel/Maarad
Worgens - Sylvanas (get it? )


H

Orcs - WC3 Thrall
Trolls - Pfft dunno... never cared for them that much. Let it be Vol'Jin.
Taurens - CAIRNE!
Undeads - Sylvanas!
Bloof Elves - Lor'themar
Goblins - Gallywix

[cihancim]

If you want to make a sensible all star list, you have to write Varian, Cairne, Velen, Sylvanas, Genn, Magni, Gelbin as a must. But if we are looking for alternative strong leaders, here we go:

A:

Human - Anduin Lothar
Dwarf - Kurdran Wildhammer
Gnomes - Millhouse Manastorm (just a useless alternative)
Night Elves - Illidan Stormrage
Draenei - Akama
Worgens - Darius Crowley


H

Orcs - Grom HELLSCREAM (too many alternatives Orgrim, Gul'dan, Thrall, Garrosh)
Trolls - Zul'Jin (the only troll that really has a point)
Taurens - Huln Highmountain
Undeads - Darion Mograine (with his corrupted ashbringer)
Bloof Elves - Kael'thas Sunstrider (rightful king!)
Goblins - Gazlowe (just a useless alternative)