I’m not a fan of Anduin being the Grand High Poobah King of the Alliance. I don’t think the Alliance should have a singular leader. Creating a ‘Blue Warchief’ back in Wrath diminished the Alliance and stripped most of the agency from the member races, helping to turn it into the ‘humans and friends’ show we’ve got going now. That being said, the Alliance has a blue warchief whether I like it or not, and it’s Anduin, and Anduin has been absolute garbage against Sylvanas thus far.
An argument could be made that the whole War of Thorns thing falls on Mathias Shaw, and Tyrande for being idiots and forgetting that armies are capable of turning north at the Crossroads and going straight into night elf land if it seems like a more convenient target, and strategic planning involves thinking of what your opponent can do, rather than just what you think they’ll do. Anduin however, signed off on it, and takes personal responsibility for the results of that train-wreck. Still, it’s pretty forgivable.
Lordaeron though was just shameful. It was a joke to say the least of it. Anduin takes personal command, and winds up nearly botching the entire thing right off in the CGI by dying and was only spared because Saurfang was all “I hoped you’d win.” In the scenario it was even worse, when he came in completely unprepared for the traditional Forsaken blight. He could have easily been spun to competency if Jaina and the Void Elves were part of the plan, but for dramatic purposes, they came in as surprises, and he was left looking like a total moron that was constantly bailed by his allies.
In the war itself? His masterstroke for dealing with Sylvanas was releasing Saurfang. That’s a diplomatic thing to do, and might be used as an argument towards his character being less a strategist and more a diplomat, but Saurfang’s actions are his own, and not a reflection of Anduin’s actual ability. Dazal’alor had nothing to do with him or his planning, and what’s more, he was completely wrong about the importance of getting to Darkshore and opening it up as a contested front, completely being blindsided by Sylvanas raising the dead.
Thus far, it seems like Sylvanas has Anduin and his thought patterns completely analyzed, to the point where it’s one of the Alliance’s greatest weapons that he’s so rarely actively involved, and his allies never tell him what they’re doing. If Anduin doesn’t know it, Sylvanas doesn’t know it apparently.
Right now the speculation is on Anduin diverting to Thunder Bluff, and Sylvanas blindsiding him once again and hitting Stormwind instead. That makes sense. It’s literally what Sylvanas has done to Anduin like, three times so far this expansion. There’s got to be a point where he says ‘no more’ and realizes just how predictable he’s being, and sets a trap of his own relying on Sylvanas’ analysis of his character.
The whole ‘a kid looking to prove himself and become a man’ thing is a neat character arc and all, but it’s not one the leader of an entire faction made up of races where some are in the ‘thousands of years old’ range should be going through. It’s about time that he shows some basic actual competency at his job as Blue Warchief.
