For my fellow Sylvanas Windrunner fans (and the haters too)....

[Kuntantee]

She was one of the few interesting characters in WoW. Her character was butchered in BfA. We are supposed to feel bad about virtual genocide. Well, I say fuck nelves and their tree.

Sylvanas seems to be best when she has lots of characters around her to contrast with. The interactions between her and Saurfang, Garrosh, Lor'themar and Varimathras gave her texture. Anduin is not a good foil for her because they are so fundamentally dissimilar; she could say the sky's blue and Anduin'd say "no! youre wrong".

This is pretty much spot on. Her interaction with the rest of the Horde was one of the more interesting parts of the game's lore. She should have been stayed a Horde character going back and forth between furthering her interests and Horde's interests.

[Sagenod]

The character is a yawning maw of baffling contradictions in motivation. We didn't even get a concrete idea of what their purpose was until a cutscene we can't even access in-game yet for what's likely a couple of weeks and even that purpose is poorly exposited and its logic punched through by a sheltered teenager. Her presentation in-game and in prior cutscenes also directly contradict this same motivation with her actions being defined largely by split-second decisions and emotionally driven impulsivity, but then later telling us it was planned.

If you need a character to say "No more bullshit, here's a 4 minute monologue" effectively three games into their master plan, you probably have failed to make their ethos and goals coherent in the first place.

There are plenty of mean or outright despicable characters that are still beloved. Azshara was probably the best thing about BFA besides perhaps Bwonsamdi and was well-received but her actions are presented as downright sadistic and petty. The extent of her crimes are just as broad and arguably more selfish. People still like them. Hell, the most iconic and popular character in the damn franchise, Arthas, is about as far into evil alignment as anything and any retcon that back creates more controversy, not less.

If you're overly focused on the reception of the character, need to share Tumblr memes to make an argument for why they're not terrible, and can't understand why the reception is poor in the first place, maybe you're the one who is struggling to look at them beyond the lens of your fandom.

Critical hit!

Personally I think she was a well enough written character until BFA. They had to figure out what to do with her after Arthas, which was to attempt to preserve herself and her people. The dynamic of her necromantic goals vs Garrosh's inquiry into them was really cool and I'd say that they should have stuck to it with her. But between Legion and BFA something went wrong. She suddenly and inexplicably went from being the Dark Lady, a dedicated queen of the dead who wanted to help her people, to a covetous and genocidal maniac. Even this could have worked had Before the Storm perhaps gone differently, but that book didn't explain anything and made it clear that the writers expected us to take to this sudden shift of character without really setting the necessary groundwork. It was a shame, really, because I loved the Forsaken plot. They were the antiheroes, being willing to assist in saving the world but exacting their payment in the form of running experiments, plaguing the land around them and raising their enemies into undeath. They were dope.

[Aleksej89]

wow characters are basic and shallow and utterly inconsistent (badly written), if you find them intriguing then you probably have not read some actual great writing.

also as you may notice blizzard is making sylvanas more and more blatantly oversexualized in every expansion since that really appeals to the 12+ year old crowd.

if you find sylvanas interesting... well... enjoy i guess

[Zeanix]

lul... sylvanas a good character.

[Ielenia]

Saw this in my feed and this sums up how many of us Sylvanas fans feel. Yes she may not be a "good guy" but the character is intriguing and makes for an interesting story development.

She's not a good character, either, I'm afraid.

[Teriz]

She's not a good character, either, I'm afraid.

For once we agree on something. I look forward to an expansion where Sylvanas isn't the main character driving the story.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I see a lot of people rag on about her being a badly written character, and to be honest, I have to wonder; Do you all realize how comic book characters are usually written? Because that's the type of narrative WoW fits the most, comic book lore. You might find some awesome stories with some characters, some awful ones, it really depends of the creative teams behind each narrative.

It's kinda clear the people that wrote her in Legion are not the same that wrote her in BfA and SL, and neither seem to be the same than Cata or WotLK heh, to the point her motivations barely seemed set on stone before that.

But like in any comic book narrative, characters are just wildly differently interpreted by different writers. -Like would you say the same people that wrote BC and Legion saw Illidan the same?-

I do agree that in terms of set up and evolution Sylvanas is one of the most interesting characters, but she has been very inconsistently portrayed; there's a huge difference between the Sylvanas that fought to save the Horde in the Broken Shore, and the Sylvanas that now sees existence itself as a mistake that must be corrected whatever the cost, specially when we are led to believe her goal has been the same since Edge of Night.

I would actually really like a book about Sylvanas as a character, like Arthas got, where we see her motivations recontextualized as to how it could all make sense from the same perspective, because a huge problem with Sylvanas is that we never knew her real motivations and it was all allusion and implication.

wow characters are basic and shallow and utterly inconsistent (badly written), if you find them intriguing then you probably have not read some actual great writing.

also as you may notice blizzard is making sylvanas more and more blatantly oversexualized in every expansion since that really appeals to the 12+ year old crowd.

if you find sylvanas interesting... well... enjoy i guess

Oh my god just change your name to tryhard and go XD

The "I'm 14 and I am deep vibes" are strong in you. Even the "she's more oversexualized every expansion" bit is just hilarious not only because WoW itself has... never sexualized her within the narrative and Legion even covered her up because her WotLK design was incongrously sexy.

Like you just have to point out when someone is just so wrong it's literally the opposite.

[Kaver]

Saw this in my feed and this sums up how many of us Sylvanas fans feel. Yes she may not be a "good guy" but the character is intriguing and makes for an interesting story development.

The problem with you and the person who made that post is that you straight away call the other person "asshole" just because they don't understand your point of view. I would understand if the poster wrote "some small-minded person" instead of "asshole". It's so typical for people like you too just call people names for no good reason. It's pathetic behavior to be honest.

[gaymer77]

also as you may notice blizzard is making sylvanas more and more blatantly oversexualized in every expansion since that really appeals to the 12+ year old crowd.

Except for the fact that Since WOTLK she has had more armor covering her body added each expansion so your point is actually the complete opposite of what you're actually saying...

The problem with you and the person who made that post is that you straight away call the other person "asshole" just because they don't understand your point of view. I would understand if the poster wrote "some small-minded person" instead of "asshole". It's so typical for people like you too just call people names for no good reason. It's pathetic behavior to be honest.

Interesting in the fact that my own personal input in that whole thing was "Saw this in my feed and this sums up how many of us Sylvanas fans feel. Yes she may not be a "good guy" but the character is intriguing and makes for an interesting story development." yet you say I'm the one that called other people an "asshole"......

[The Council]

i would say she was decently writing until BFA

[bagina]

Let me share a picture too. It perfectly sums up my feelings about her.



Haters just can't handle the bantz. They're the living proof that Sylvanas is absolutely essential. They just can't stop talking about her. Sure, she's no Raskolnikov, but she's currently the only WoW character not resembling wet bread.

Also, @MyWholeLifeIsThunder 's comicbook comparision is 100% on point. I see WoW as a comicbook universe. Some runs are good, some are bad, it's more about the core of the character.

[voidox]

lul, sylvanus and good should never be in the same sentence, not for good person or great character... she's a terribly written character now and has done heinous shit in the lore, no morally grey about it.

If sylvanus was not a purple female elf, most (if not almost all) of her "fans" would no longer be defending her

[Life-Binder]

Sylvanas is great and she is at least a proactive character

everyone else just sort of exist and thats it

[bagina]

Sylvanas is great and she is at least a proactive character

everyone else just sort of exist and thats it

Ohh this! I forgot to mention that in my post. Absolutely. Where everyone else is passive and reactive, she's the only one with a goal.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Also, @MyWholeLifeIsThunder 's comicbook comparision is 100% on point. I see WoW as a comicbook universe. Some runs are good, some are bad, it's more about the core of the character.

Bingo; it really comes down to which character have compelling themes and arcs, and even if she lacks consistency and defined motives, Sylvanas has always been one of the most interesting characters at her core -which might be the reason why so many writers have explored her in different and even contradictory ways-

There are a lot of other characters that are nice and serviceable, good people, but a lot of them come across as a bit bland, and I do think that's a sign of the most pressing issues, that most other characters just don't have much thematic depth, and that WoW keeps killing off those who do.

Like I like Anduin as "a person", but he is hardly interesting. Sylvanas as an active -instead of reactive- character, drives the story forward, so even when she is morally reprehensible it's still compelling in terms of elucidating her motivations.

Jaina was another character that was actually interesting, and while I am "happy for her" that she found peace, BfA kinda resolved her whole inner conflict very quickly, but that's more of an issue with BfA's fragmented focus as a whole.

Characters that have motivations and don't just react just are more compelling across the board, even hating them is fun, and WoW has a serious issue with not letting its characters have goals of their own -perhaps because as players, we are supposed to drive the plot forward most of the time, but stuff like Velen in Legion actually felt poignant, yet he is hardly a main character now?- so antagonists really tend to be more fun discussing about than our main characters.

Like am I supposed to have fun with Genn seeing Anduin as a replacement son? That's both trite and not appealing for me, and the point of that is that other things have done that dynamic faaaaar better than WoW can hope, but I can really enjoy a narrative about a broken or twisted person trying to reshape the universe itself in defiance of what they deem fate thrust upon them, that's the level of extra that works in the setting, and we are not over-saturated with.