What if Sylvanas is simply playing the "Obito card" on Azeroth?

[Mehrunes]

If Sylvanas wanted to unite Azeroth all she had to do was go up to Anduin and say "Yo, let's make some peace." He literally tries to do it himself and almost succeeds before Sylvanas sabotages him in Before the Storm. If she were actually interested, they could have made it happen in a day.

He literally did not. He outright informed her in the letter proposing the Gathering that she should not mistake it for an offer of peace. On top of that not only did he not punish Genn - despite the fact that earlier in the book he admitted that Genn not only was in the wrong in Stormheim but also that he broke his orders to commit that wrong - but he then brought him to the Gathering to parade his unpunished ass in front of Sylvanas as if he had no other advisers to choose. Finally, he was negligent in his obligation to vet the people he brought and let a pretender to Sylvanas' throne slip into the Gathering.

[Greengrim]

that wasn't obito's goal, his goal was to enact the infinite tsukoyomi plan that madara was manipulated into forming.

it was to lock everyone in an infinite dream where there was only peace and good things.

to me, i don't see any similarities. i guess maybe you could consider raising everyone into undeath as similar to the dream? but there still would be no harmony.

His plan was to make the world a better place for everybody in one way or another. Whether he secretly hoped to be stopped by a united shinobi force or not (personally I think yes) he had to go as far as to cast tsukoyomi - once you get on that train there is no going back. You could say it was the ultimate test to establish if people could really get past their differences and unite themselves.

[MikeBogina]

Naruto... where all the bad guys turn good, when a newer bad guy is revealed and has been secretly manipulating the previous one the whole time or something like that.

akatsuki+Itachi>Pain>Obito>Madara>Zetsu+Kaguya>some alien clan.

[Niroshi]

Sylvanas is a better character if she's not a secret anime hero. The way Blizzard is writing her right now is flawed and ultimately pretty tragic, but if you martyr her somehow you really do ruin all of that and she just becomes a shit character.

It's better if she's allowed to play out the path Blizz seemingly has set for her. She should slowly grind the Horde into the ground like Ogmot's journal said she would. Then when everyone turns on her, her death or general downfall comes because of her lack of foresight and wisdom.

[Soeroah]

A Zero Requiem?

That's been the only way I can see Sylvanas coming out of BfA alive, other than rage quitting the Horde and becoming a Gul'dan/Azshara character. But it would never work.

[matrix123mko]

She never cared about her forsaken minions, and only sees them as a tool to prevent her death

That's why, in spite of her longevity, she starts a war where she can easily die.

[Wilfire]

Actually, Alleria is Obito. Here's how the rest of BfA will play out:

Part 1
1. Silvermoon warfront happens, Alleria sees Arathor die (or even better, accidentally kills him herself), loses her shit and lets her Void powers run rampant. The Sunwell is destroyed.
2. N'Zoth promises Alleria a world where she can have Arathor back (that's why Uu'nat says "His gaze falls upon every path... every dream given form!").
3. Alleria raises Ny'alotha, where the final battle takes place.

Part 2
1. Anduin and Sylvanas defeat N'Zoth. Magni tells them to make peace but Sylvanas declines. Sylvanas then uses Xal'atath to become the Jinchuuriki of all 5 Old Gods. Anduin gets a Light-based power up as well.
2. Sylvanas reveals her plan to unite the world by focusing all of its hatred upon herself.
3. Anduin and Sylvanas fight in a battle so cataclysmic that it destroys Gorribal (because why not, why have to resolve that plot point anyway).
4. Anduin and Sylvanas both collapse from exhaustion. Anduin tells her that she is his best friend. Sylvanas realizes that all she ever wanted was Anduin's friendship gets her redemption.

Part 3
Anduin rules as the peacechief. Sylvanas is the warchief. She stays and fights in the shadows with underhanded tactics to protect Azeroth.

[Varodoc]

Alleria sees Arathor die (or even better, accidentally kills him), loses her shit and lets her Void powers run rampant.

Despite your tedious trolling attempts, that could make for quite a tragic cinematic. I never even thought about the possibility of Alleria herself being the one who accidentally kills her own anchor.

Needless to say, in the war against the Old Gods and their masters, Alleria Windrunner, first mortal to successfully defy the shadows' whispers, will play a pivotal role. But will it be as an ally or an enemy?

[Hitei]

He literally did not. He outright informed her in the letter proposing the Gathering that she should not mistake it for an offer of peace. On top of that not only did he not punish Genn - despite the fact that earlier in the book he admitted that Genn not only was in the wrong in Stormheim but also that he broke his orders to commit that wrong - but he then brought him to the Gathering to parade his unpunished ass in front of Sylvanas as if he had no other advisers to choose. Finally, he was negligent in his obligation to vet the people he brought and let a pretender to Sylvanas' throne slip into the Gathering.

Funny how you include the "do not mistake this arathi event for an offer of peace" line but not the entire paragraph:

We are not currently at war. But I am not so naive as to believe that means hostilities do not still linger. We have experienced recent tumultuous change to our very world in the form of Azerite--a manifestation of the pain Azeroth herself is feeling. With unity we could direct our exploration of this substance in ways that can save her. Let us therefore focus on a smaller but no less important gesture of unity as a first step toward a potential future that benefits both the Horde and Alliance.

That's why, in spite of her longevity, she starts a war where she can easily die.

She is taking a short term risk to attempt to wipe out a long term potential threat and vastly increase the size of her forces (and so her protection against dying). That doesn't make her motivation not "use anything and everything to avoid death and stay in power".

[Kaver]

Sylvanas is just simply evil. Her actions show that.

[Rozz]

So she's being manipulated by WoW's equivalent of Madara, who in turn is manipulated by WoW's equivalent of Black Zetsu, who in turn is working for WoW's Kaguya (who, stepping into Boruto, ran away to "Azeroth" from WoW's equivalent of the rest of Ootsuki clan)?

Obito -> Madara -> Zetsu -> Kaguya -> Ootsuki -> Kishimoto

Sylvanas -> Xalatath/Ashvane -> Azshara -> N'Zoth -> Void Lords -> Writing Team

The nonsense checks out.

[Kokolums]

Sylvanas main character traits through the years have been self interest and disinterest in other people (except for sometimes the forsaken), so

actually no. her main character as undead was inner conflict. She cared very deeply but could feel the pull of undeath trying to turn her into an uncaring ghoul. That was her primary character arc. She was trying to cure undeath to avoid becoming totally uncaring.

The last time they touched upon this character arc was back in BC, when you turn the locket into Sylvanas and it the Lament of the Highborne plays. Sylvanas goes thru her inner conflict again. She clearly is genuinely moved by the song and feels great anguish about everything, at the same time the pull of uncaring undeath gnaws at her soul.

In no way can she be construed and pure self interest and disinterest in other people. Not after seeing how that locket and song affected her.

However, maybe that isn't even canon anymore. It seems forgotten. She WAS a complex character and now she seems to be a boring two-dimensional baddie.

[Soon-TM]

Tbh this is the kind of cheesy stuff that I've come to expect from Blizz writers. Maybe OP is right, after all.

[matrix123mko]

She is taking a short term risk to attempt to wipe out a long term potential threat and vastly increase the size of her forces (and so her protection against dying). That doesn't make her motivation not "use anything and everything to avoid death and stay in power".

No, if she really wanted to live forever, she would step down from warchief position and live with Nathanos in a little house in some jungle for whole eternity. She started this war to protect the Horde from an existential threat.

- - - Updated - - -

Sylvanas is just simply evil. Her actions show that.

Intentions are more important than actions.

[Hitei]

No, if she really wanted to live forever, she would step down from warchief position and live with Nathanos in a little house in some jungle for whole eternity. She started this war to protect the Horde from an existential threat.

...and potentially get killed by assassins at any point in time for the shit she had already pulled up to that point?

[matrix123mko]

...and potentially get killed by assassins at any point in time for the shit she had already pulled up to that point?

What assasins? She just has to pretend that she died. She did it pretty well in Stormheim, so I don't see the problem to repeat that trick.

[Hitei]

What assasins? She just has to pretend that she died. She did it pretty well in Stormheim, so I don't see the problem to repeat that trick.

Did she? Because the Horde quest involves trying to find her, and the Alliance side's entire thing is about hunting her down and trying to figure out what she is doing.

[matrix123mko]

Did she? Because the Horde quest involves trying to find her, and the Alliance side's entire thing is about hunting her down and trying to figure out what she is doing.

That happens because, suprisingly, Alliance player meets her in Helheim.

[Kaver]

No, if she really wanted to live forever, she would step down from warchief position and live with Nathanos in a little house in some jungle for whole eternity. She started this war to protect the Horde from an existential threat.

- - - Updated - - -

Intentions are more important than actions.

Okay, her intentions and actions are evil. Sylvanas doesn't care about the Horde, it's so clear. How does Sylvanas actions help the Horde?

[Hitei]

That happens because, suprisingly, Alliance player meets her in Helheim.

No it doesn't. You have no contact with the Alliance in Helheim. Greymane has already sent to orders to you and the soldier with them meets you as soon as you get out of Helheim.