Tyrande is the new Sally Whitemane. CHANGE MY MIND.

[thottstation]

"There must always be a Scarlet Crusade"

If there's one thing Blizzard is known for, it's ticking boxes. When it comes to fantasy D&D, you need all the core tropes present: Human kingdom, Scottish dwarves, haughty elves, barbarous orcs, etc.

And of course, you must include the obligatory "splinter group of good guys who lost everything and are now dedicated to annihilating the enemy, utterly disregarding the pleas for restraint from the Lawful Good Guys who just want to give peace a chance because they're not ALL bad, etc."

The Scarlet Crusade has been wiped out. Completely. Even at it's height, it was being eaten from within by dreadlords, and their evolution to The Scarlet Onslaught and expedition to Northrend couldn't save them. All bases have been purged or literally set on fire. Sally Whitemane, one of the last true leaders, is now one of The Four Horsemen, which "cured" her madness.

But Sally & The Scarlet Crusade was a fan-favorite, with many transmoggers chosing to align themselves with the "Disregard Alliance; purge the Undead" camp. Even back in the old Battle for the Undercity days when the Alliance had a Warrior High King who wanted to wipe out The Horde (if not for Jaina holding him back), you still had many in the Alliance who said ENOUGH, and didn't care that those responsible for the massive loss of life at the Wrathgate were "not representative of the Horde, who are honorable and blah-blah...

So who will take her place?




Introducing: The Army of the Black Moon, or Children of the Ash (Felo'dorei?) or whatever they're called.

It's official Blizzard canon that it was a GENOCIDE (that word was specifically published more than once), meaning the Night Elves lost most of their population just like the Blood Elves did. Of course, the Blood Elves still have their city, while the Night Elves are sleeping on people's couches in Stormwind. But just as the remaining Blood Elves split in half with some staying on Azeroth while others followed Kael'thas to Outland, the Night Elves also split between living in Stormwind and obeying their High King, while others have chosen to follow Tyrande and went off to purge Kalimdor of the orc cancer while their kin sit around and wait for the next inevitable Horde war crime and subsequent quest for identity.


I guess what I'm saying is, The Scarlet Crusade is officially gone from the game (barring one lady at the Darkmoon Faire selling tabards to raise funds), but we now have their one-for-one replacement, because the game world demands the requisite "Disaffected renegade group pushed to extreme measures and will do what the Good Guys won't" trope.

We once had the Human kingdom who are told to live in peace with the Horde because their High King tells them to, while also having The Scarlet Crusade led by the rage-fueled Sally Whitemane who commands her loyalists to ignore the High King and seek bloody vengeance. But now that they're gone, we instead have the Night Elf kingdom who are told to "forgive but never forget" and live in peace with the Horde because their High King tells them to, while also having The Army of the Black Moon led by the rage-fueled Tyrande Whisperwind who commands her loyalists to ignore the High King and seek bloody vengeance.




And the players get to dress up and show support for the renegades, be it transmogging their Scarlet Crusade tabard or going to the Barber shop and darkening their eyes. And we start the clock until Tyrande becomes the end boss in a 5-man dungeon. Not that Blizzard would ever literally repeat history or anything. I'm sure there will be an exciting twist that will totally differentiate the Felo'dorei from the Scarlet Crusade. There's a grand plan. Anytime now.

Okay, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but you get the idea. Tyrande has gone from a savage forest elf commander to a haughty Tolkein-esque elf priestess to a "kill 'em all" leader of a band of pissed off elves who suffered one war crime too many ... but not because of any grand story arc by the writers, but because the D&D fantasy world that is WoW mandates a renagade Alliance faction who proclaim they will "do what must be done" and wage bloody war against a not-Tauren Horde race no matter the cost. And with Sally Whitemane and the Scarlet Crusade officially gone, someone had to fill that void.

And Tyrande, a character who had done nothing but be loading screen filler for a decade and gave about seven quests in 15 years got tagged to do the job. Because the writers had absolutely no idea what else to do with her, and Sally Whitemane's "My people were slaughtered, so I am become vengeance" role needed to be filled by someone.

EDIT: With the added bonus of the writers exclaiming "Finally! An excuse to cull the Night Elves!"

[Anastacy]

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

[wanax]

That second picture of Whitemane looks like the girl that plays Sabrina on Netflix.

[Aleloron]

To be fair, Tyrande and Malfurion are two of the worst characters in video game history. I’m more than okay with getting to chop her annoying little head off in this or the next expansion.

Also, taking part in the genocide of the Night Elves was one of the most awesome moments in WoW because it has really weight to it. It has a sense of permanency to it, unless they come up with some sort of nonsense in Shadowlands to bring them all back to life. Unless the Night Elves get busy and start knocking boots they will go extinct within a few generations.

[VladlTutushkin]

To be fair, Tyrande and Malfurion are two of the worst characters in video game history. I’m more than okay with getting to chop her annoying little head off in this or the next expansion.

Also, taking part in the genocide of the Night Elves was one of the most awesome moments in WoW because it has really weight to it. It has a sense of permanency to it, unless they come up with some sort of nonsense in Shadowlands to bring them all back to life. Unless the Night Elves get busy and start knocking boots they will go extinct within a few generations.

Then i guess you will equally enjoy a genocide of orcs, ubdea and/or blood elfs... i mean, such a weight! Such meaning! Or is it only good fun when Horde does it and gets away with it?

[Nnyco]

Then i guess you will equally enjoy a genocide of orcs, ubdea and/or blood elfs... i mean, such a weight! Such meaning! Or is it only good fun when Horde does it and gets away with it?

That would be boring and lazy tbh since it only would be the "horde did it, so alliance gets it too", similar how voljin died only because varian did.

[Dellis0991]

Even though she was a raving bitch from MoP to Present day, her people did not deserve that massacre. Her action from now on out is justified. I hope she only directs her fury at Sylvanas and her followers.

[VladlTutushkin]

That would be boring and lazy tbh since it only would be the "horde did it, so alliance gets it too", similar how voljin died only because varian did.

I mean, logically speaking you should expect your enemies going apeshit if you threaten to exterminate them as a species. Like the over the top war in the Eastern Front in WW2.

[Aleloron]

Then i guess you will equally enjoy a genocide of orcs, ubdea and/or blood elfs... i mean, such a weight! Such meaning! Or is it only good fun when Horde does it and gets away with it?

Sure, if it’s a good story I have no problems with it. The Blood Elves are possibly even less numerous than the Night Elves after Arthas sacked Silvermoon, though we would need to hear someone official to give an accurate number.

They’re not real. None of them are real. There is not and has never been a creature known as a Night Elf that has ever drawn breath, so killing them in a video game does not bother me in the slightest. Genocide of real, living human beings (that occurs far, far too often in our world and is still occurring today) bothers me. But a bunch of Night Elves in a video game? Nope. I don’t think that it went far enough - I would have enjoyed seeing Night Elves decimated to the point where they were removed as an option in character creation and that people were only allowed to play NE’s that were created previously to the burning of their home. I think that would have been pretty cool, could have been an awesome story, and would have made NE PCs important and special.

I’ve always believed that the final story Warcraft would tell, if it went on that long, is that all non-human races died out and became extinct, and that the world of Azeroth would become like our own - no magic, no dragons or monsters, and only filled with humans.

And yes, even though I am Horde-centric I would be perfectly fine with any of the Horde races being removed as an option in character creation for a story like I’ve briefly touched on here.

[Feanoro]

Then i guess you will equally enjoy a genocide of orcs, ubdea and/or blood elfs... i mean, such a weight! Such meaning! Or is it only good fun when Horde does it and gets away with it?

In this forum, what do you think?

[ChairmanKaga]

That second picture of Whitemane looks like the girl that plays Sabrina on Netflix.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzlJqfnh...d=j7om9lycjym3

[VladlTutushkin]

In this forum, what do you think?

Yeah. Its almost like most Alliance players left the fandom because you can only suffer that much punishment until you quit.

[Seylene]

Aside from that last part but yes if you only go by In game stuff Tyrande hasn't done much. But the whole War of Thorns is one of the worst stories and events ever to grace the bad writing that plagues WoW from time to time. I am actually okay with the Whitemane allegory, sans the ending. NE players and fans are really due for immunity to the loss aspect for the foreseeable future, it is time for the Humans and Dwarves to bear the brunt of the next wave of Horde atrocities when the pendulum inevitably swings once more.

So all in all I am hoping more that it does signal a split in the society and let us actually have a more Sentinel esq appeal to go against the Druid overload they have been pushing. So against my better judgement the Tyrande angle gives me a sliver of hope to a fun Horde slaying future!

[PaladinBash]

Yeah yeah if something is done to the perfect precious Horde, it's bad and they're evil and corrupted like always. Every single fucking time. The Scarlet Crusade were right. She is right. Yrel is right too but is irrelevant until they need another punching bag again.

[eurojust]

Plz don't compare whitemane to that awful character.
Also the Night Warrior ritual didn't change her at all (except the voice). She is still terrible at fighting (got defeated by a human undead with a bow), still terrible at leading her people, and still has a giant ego.

[MrSaggins]

Sally Whitemane has one of my favorite stories in Warcraft, and seems to be one of the most realistic and relatable, far and above any notions of good and evil that don’t really exist so neatly in tangible reality. More of that would always be great; though honestly I’d expected the whole of the Alliance to fill that role in an understandable reaction to the Horde’s use of weapons of mass destruction — just as the Crusade reacted to the Plague/Scourge. The cause of precrime in the name of preventing any more mass tragedies with the Alliance as world police would give Anduin some teeth.

- - - Updated - - -

More likely Tyrande will be the Alliance Sylvanas. Doing gnarly stuff in the service of higher powers, and ending up upsetting some balance on Elune’s side or in the Dream the same way Sylvanas is in the Shadowlands. And ending up removed from Azeroth (like Illidan) in a greater cosmic role tied to Elune, as Sylvanas will likely end up as the new Arbiter or Jailor rather than destroyed.

[MrSaggins]

Elune Nazis seems great too, but I’d always imagined Maiev would lead them. And it’s just a weird time because even Tyrande thinks she’s abandoned them.

[Rustedsaint]

She can’t be whitemane she doesn’t wear fancy hats

[Amaterasu65]

Sally is crazy, Tyrande is not and she'll probably get her answers in the new expansion. She might also save the Darnassians' souls from the Maw and lead them to that forest zone so they have a second chance at life, or bring them back completely. It seems Blizzard doesn't want to expand the Tyrande hates Sylvanas/Horde long-term so I feel it's gonna be dealt with fast in Shadowlands.

[Lochton]

Yes, and no.

Sally was all for the light. Tyrande is all for vengeance.