I wanted to pull this conversation from where it was buried in another thread. In this thread we were discussing concepts for the Forsaken to govern themselves, and their future. There was the typical push back against Calia. I am going to step forward as a long-time Forsaken player (since van) and touch on why I and many others support Calia for the future of the Forsaken.
I and many others support Calia as a leader of the Forsaken, and do so for many reasons based on our understanding of the long arch of lore around the Forsaken story. That is not to say Calia is perfect, and that is not to say Sylvanas is trash. I deeply appreciate both characters for who and what they are.
However, the big picture on Calia is a poor handling of her story on Blizzard’s part, which stems from them over-fixating on writing Forsaken lore centered around when Sylvanas wanted something. The Forsaken as a whole deserve to be layered, and more complex beyond being used for when when a Horde baddie is needed to throw blight. The Forsaken are a faction of undead, who were once living humans, and their founding and start was in the fall of Lordaeron. Many of these original Forsaken are victims, who became undead through simply being exposed to the wrong grain shipment or loaf of bread.
“For Lordaeron” is still a chant that rings true in the game…and it doesn’t belong just to living human Paladins who play on the Alliance.
Ample Forsaken recall who they were and a time before the Scourging.
Calia has been asked for, for many years by the fan base. Alas, the hyper fixation on Sylvanas as the primary point of Forsaken storytelling means they overlooked many other aspects of the Forsaken. We have a handful of Forsaken who are Lordaeron nobles and more in the game.
Sylvanas was little more than a cruel authoritarian dictator who openly regarded her people as disposable weapons. Need we recall the quote that she regarded them as arrows in her quiver. Speaking as someone who enjoys archery; arrows are disposable weapons. You never fire an arrow you intend to get back.
Calia’s death and rebirth into what she is now is…a failure on Blizzards part. That said, in the Before The Storms book Calia’s compassion for the Forsaken as her people were laid bare, and it was her compassion for the Forsaken that got her murdered by Sylvanas.
Calia presents something interesting for the Forsaken that the Dark Lady could never offer. Calia’s claim to the crown allows for her to be politically weaponized against the Alliance of Stormwind claiming Lordaeron, and wiping the Forsaken off of it. Calia also brings with her political connections. Even in the real world, the dead still have rights, and can own estates/wealth…but this is not the real world.
As for Calia losing her claim to the throne of Lordaeron when she died? This is a world of magic, with the undead having existed in it for thousands of years. After all, Sylvanas was called the Banshee Queen, yet had no rightful claim to any such title.
Tragically, writing for Calia in the game however has shown her to be soft, and devoid of additional depth to make her a more compelling character. I highly suspect stuff was planned and written for her in Shadowlands, and it was dropped…much like many other things when Shadowlands was cut short due to how unpopular it is.
The Forsaken story needs to grow beyond being a fan service for Sylvanas. I and many others welcome Calia as a new chapter. By no means do I think Calia will make the Forsaken weak and soft, I think it marks a new more dangerous era of Forsaken political games that will lean into their better sense of canny, making them effective political tools against the Alliance for the Horde.
That said, I like both Calia and Sylvanas. I am equally big fans of both, and yet see them for being very different characters and leader styles.
If you have not, read the book Before The Storm. This book does a wonderful job showing Calia’s compassion toward the Forsaken as her people. It also humanizes and gives depths to the Forsaken as a faction and people beyond throwing blight on command. Calia’s claim to the throne is a powerful political weapon for the Forsaken to use to become even more dangerous.
Addition: Calia was added to the MMO in 2016 with Legion, she has existed in the MMO game for roughly 6 years. She has been in the canon lore since W3 as a canon figure.
Calia canon lore quotes below:
-Quote: Calia: “He helped save me. I remembered him, you see. And in the midst of all that horror, when I was constantly fleeing so many I loved whose minds and wills had been stolen from them… to see the face of someone who was still who he had been— It was as if hope itself was a sword that stabbed clean through me. Except instead of wounding, it offered me the chance to move through my shock and pain to a place of healing. So you see, for me, the Forsaken weren’t monsters. They were friends. It was the Scourge, the shambling, stumbling things that wore my friends’ faces—they had become monsters.”
-Quote: “You are my people, and I want to help you. I only came to observe, to begin to get to know the Forsaken of Lordaeron.”