How can they keep Sylvanas relevant post-Shadowlands?

[Deathknightish]

Surely she cannot just die or become a blip in history. If they kill her, it would be the same as if they killed any other major classic character like Jaina or Thrall, or at least never hade them mentioned or shown again. Fans would go apeshit.

I really think Blizzard put themselves in a corner by making her a villain (at least we have further info on what's going on).

[Varodoc]

Fans would not "go apeshit" (and I mean Blizzard wouldn't care anyway), just as fans did not go apeshit when Arthas died but instead saw WotLK as the best expansion ever precisely because Arthas was the final boss of that expansion. And besides, most fans want her dead LOLOL.

Even if Sylvanas "redeems" herself, she'll still be gone by the time 10.0 comes out. Here, let me tell you what will happen to her after Shadowlands by citing the fate of that annoying bug Kerrigan:

Kerrigan's fate remained a mystery within the Dominion. Only a few people knew of her battle against Amon, and they remained silent.

Let me reword it for you: "Sylvanas' fate remained a mystery within the Alliance and Horde. Only a few people knew of her battle against Jailer, and they remained silent". And then she disappeared and was never heard from or seen again. The end.

In fact that's the reason why I don't care at all about the way Sylvanas dies, because it should be obvious to anyone with eyes and brain that this is her last expansion. Finally. Give some spotlight to new characters like the allied races' leaders, why even introduce them if you're going to focus always on the same 10 fucking WC3 characters. No shit they're super popular if you always focus only on them.

[Zalatoby]

Most big bosses in the game, are now a blip in history.

Would not be a big loss if she ended up the same.

[Sunderella]

why does she need to stay relevant after SL? Did ragnaros stay relevant after CATA? or Arthas after WoTLK? or Deathwing or Garrosh or ... when a big bad dies, it dies. Unless blizz sees fit to bring them back.

People screaming for new characters but when introduced they want more of thrall, jaina or sylvanas.

[Vilendor]

Hopefully with a tombstone somewhere

[Deathknightish]

why does she need to stay relevant after SL? Did ragnaros stay relevant after CATA? or Arthas after WoTLK? or Deathwing or Garrosh or ... when a big bad dies, it dies. Unless blizz sees fit to bring them back.

People screaming for new characters but when introduced they want more of thrall, jaina or sylvanas.

Ragnaros was never part of the RTS games, at least from what I remember.

Arthas and Deathwing both get "wink wink nudge nudge"-cameos in some way in almost every expansion, especially Deathwing (just look in the Ardenwealed questline where you see Ysera dream of him and you get to fight him). So even though they are alive they still get acknowledged.

[haiyken]

Lock her up somewhere, Hannibal Lecter style ?

I honestly don't see here having much of a story after that. It's okay for her to die or leave the story in some way. With most characters against her, and Tyrande hunting her, I don't see how they can keep Sylvanas going much longer.

[Malira]

She won't. I think this her last expansion as a major character. She may appear in flashbacks etc in future expansions but she's done. Either she'll die for good or she'll end up the new Jailer or something which would put her on the bench until Blizz needs more subs again. Much like Illidan is now.

[darkoms]

Why are Sylvanas' fanboys so sure that WoW will die without her?

[Arikara]

Sylvanas is significantly less relevant than Thrall and Jaina, despite Blizzard's repeated efforts to ruin those characters

She will be relevant in the sense that everyone will breathe a collective sigh of relief with her dead and gone for good

[Ninix]

By doing the same shitty twist as with Illdian : "oh actually you didn't know it but I ruled a rogue faction that was working for Good and not Evil as you all thought !

[bagina]

Surely she cannot just die or become a blip in history. If they kill her, it would be the same as if they killed any other major classic character like Jaina or Thrall, or at least never hade them mentioned or shown again. Fans would go apeshit.

I really think Blizzard put themselves in a corner by making her a villain (at least we have further info on what's going on).

Easy. We make her the leader of the third faction, death faction for all the cool kids. No better time to introduce another party. We're in an expansion where Horde/Alliance thing is completely, 100% irrelevant. Covenants are the first step to more organic, less restrictive faction experience. You'll be free to pick your faction AFTER you've created a charavter. Some race/faction combinations will be inherently easier to obtain like human/Alliance, orc/horde, undead/third faction, while others will be more difficult to get, like orc in the Alliance, locked behind extra reputation requirements, time gating and what have you. But nothing will be completely off-limits. We'll pick our faction like we picked our covenants with the exception that it will be way more difficult to switch factions.

For reals tho, if they don't kill her outright she'll stay in character limbo like Illidan, at least that's my prediction.

[VladlTutushkin]

Why are Sylvanas' fanboys so sure that WoW will die without her?

They just confused. They think Sylvanas is the “body” of WoW but she actually is cancerous growth in the body. Just in this case cancer grew so much that it became bigger then healthy body and gets mistaken for it.

- - - Updated - - -

If you think they will ditch factions or make a third faction after all the “No, never! Nay! Dont even think of it!” Angry huffing and digging their heels each time it comes to even “easing” factional barriers or creating more factions from Blizz developers then you are sorely mistaken.

[Soon-TM]

She can be a legacy raid boss who drops phat mogs. That's how relevant she should stay after SL

[Tyrathius]

Ragnaros was never part of the RTS games, at least from what I remember.

Arthas and Deathwing both get "wink wink nudge nudge"-cameos in some way in almost every expansion, especially Deathwing (just look in the Ardenwealed questline where you see Ysera dream of him and you get to fight him). So even though they are alive they still get acknowledged.

So then why not just do that with Sylvanas? She dies, but every now and then there's a quest where somebody mentions her or you fight an illusion of her or whatever. Sounds like you solved your own problem.

[Aresk]

I don't see the big difference between Sylvanas vs Illidan. He died once and then got imprisoned with Sargeras once. I'd say he's probably more popular than Sylvanas (he got his collector's statue before she got hers, so someone that he was more marketable), and people aren't up-in-arms about it. If Sylvanas' story ends, why bother to try to shoehorn into more narrative?

why does she need to stay relevant after SL? Did ragnaros stay relevant after CATA? or Arthas after WoTLK? or Deathwing or Garrosh or ... when a big bad dies, it dies. Unless blizz sees fit to bring them back.

People screaming for new characters but when introduced they want more of thrall, jaina or sylvanas.

Ragnaros was being resurrected in BfA. It's a plot point in the Dark Iron recruitment scenario.

[FelPlague]

Surely she cannot just die or become a blip in history. If they kill her, it would be the same as if they killed any other major classic character like Jaina or Thrall, or at least never hade them mentioned or shown again. Fans would go apeshit.

I really think Blizzard put themselves in a corner by making her a villain (at least we have further info on what's going on).

So if they killed classic charecters....
like illidan
saurfang
garrosh
varian
guldan
deathwing
the lich king



exact same way.

[Flatspriest]

So if they killed classic charecters....
like illidan
saurfang
garrosh
varian
guldan
deathwing
the lich king



exact same way.

You forgot Vol'jin and Mankrik's wife.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Surely she cannot just die or become a blip in history. If they kill her, it would be the same as if they killed any other major classic character like Jaina or Thrall, or at least never hade them mentioned or shown again. Fans would go apeshit.

Could you imagine? Like what if they killed Cairne, or Arthas, or Vol'jin, or Archimonde, or Kil'jaeden, or Vashj, or Illidan, or Kael'thas.

They'd never do anything like that.

[DarkTZeratul]

Surely she cannot just die or become a blip in history. If they kill her, it would be the same as if they killed any other major classic character like Jaina or Thrall, or at least never hade them mentioned or shown again. Fans would go apeshit.

I know, right? That'd be like killing the Lich King, or Kil'jaeden.