Garithos is a character that began as a two-dimensional, sneering, buffoonish jerk.
Over time, WoW developed, as lore developed in depth, and as people started caring about it, he was rounded and imbued by writers and circumstance to be more relevant than he is.
This isn’t a bad thing, as an antagonist, improving him improves that which opposed him. He certainly wasn’t a good person, and while he had some sense as a commander, it was completely undermined by his failure to recognize the value of resources at his disposal due to his own bigotry, both to the blood elves and, to a lesser extent, the dwarven detachment sent to him. That said, here is a truly ancient post that I saved. Keep in mind, it was written tongue in cheek even by the original author:
Original post by Caliginous(Moon Guard) on the subject of Garithos:
Garithos was a patriot.
He was a Grand Marshal. Some people have tried to call him a self-proclaimed Grand Marshal, but there is no evidence of this. Ironforge dwarves, allies of Lordaeron, went north to serve under his command. Kael’thas sought him out. All of this suggests that Garithos was the legitimate military authority in Lordaeron after the fall of King Terenas, likely the highest ranking knight that remained. He acted for Lordaeron.
His quotes include:
“Humanity will rise again.”
“Let justice fall!”
and most telling…
“In memory of Terenas!”
He fought for his country. A true loyalist to Lordaeron and the Menethil dynasty.
Garithos didn’t like elves, but he didn’t treat them that badly.
After Quel’thalas fell, and Anasterian died defending the Sunwell, Prince Kael came down to belatedly join the fight against the Scourge.
But first, a bit of a history lesson. The high elves abandoned the Alliance shortly after the Horde was defeated the Second War… and their reasoning was that the Alliance didn’t do enough to defend Quel’thalas from the orcs and trolls in the Second War. Garithos wasn’t a young man. Could that be part of the reason why he was bitter toward elves? I once read a fascinating and sympathetic fanfic where Lord Garithos lost a son defending Quel’thalas, and turned bitter afterward. Far from canon, but the point is, we don’t know, and there are quite plausible reasons for his disdain. And in any case, he didn’t treat them badly.
In the first mission we meet him, Garithos has retaken the ruins of Dalaran from the Scourge. That’s right, he took Dalaran back. It’s because of his efforts that the wizard were able to rebuild and assist in the Northrend Campaign. He assigns his new elven allies to repair the city’s magical observatories to keep an eye on the Scourge. Kael is prideful and chafes. However, isn’t this quite reasonable? The high elves (blood elves by this point) are noted arcanists, and Kael himself was on the Kirin Tor Council and is likely familiar with this kind of magic. It’s possible–I would say almost certain–that the elves from Quel’thalas were the best suited troops he had for this important task.
Along the way, Kael is in a hurry to cross a lake, and instead of building a boat, he accepts help from Lady Vashj, an evil naga and a handmaiden to Queen Azshara. Garithos discovers this, and warns Kael not to do it again. Reasonable. The naga are enemies, and probably up to something.
Of course, the naga are up to something. In the next mission, Garithos has to deal with a Scourge attack and recalls his knights to the front lines, leaving Kael and his elves to deal with a simultaneous Scourge attack on their location. He gives the elves an important, difficult assignment… ostensibly what Kael’thas wanted. Rather than dig in his heels and wait for support, Kael elects to join with the naga again. Together, they beat the Scourge. Now, here’s the important part… Garithos arrives just as they’re winning, with a full battalion at his back. He won his battle, and was coming to relieve Kael’thas! However, instead, he found his subordinate doing exactly what he was ordered not to do. Working with naga. He arrests them, they escape with more naga help and play directly into Vashj’s hands, etc etc. History.
Garithos acted in good faith, and Sylvanas betrayed him.
When next we see the Grand Marshal, he is in the thrall of the dreadlord Detheroc, brother of Varimathras and Balnazzar. The demon’s mind control powers have claimed him and his troops.
Sylvanas attacks the camp and frees Lord Garithos. Detheroc is defeated, and after the battle, Sylvanas presents an offer to the Alliance. She claims she only cares for revenge, and is willing to give the humans Lordaeron back, then leave. Perhaps out of gratitude for saving him from Detheroc, Garithos agrees, though he’s obviously reluctant.
During their work together, Garithos is quite respectful to Sylvanas, calling her ‘milady.’ He does have harsh words for the demon Varimathras, who later turned out to be a traitor (shock) even to Sylvanas, and tried to summon Sargeras during the battle of the Undercity.
After they defeat Balnazzar together, Garithos tells Sylvanas to leave Capital City, as agreed. She refuses–she admitted earlier she never had any intention of keeping her word–and has him murdered. This is important, because this is the first interaction between the Forsaken and the Alliance. Everything after is predicated on this first betrayal, showing that the Forsaken cannot be trusted. This interaction shows stories about oppressed undead citizens turned away by former allies to be hollow fanfiction. They weren’t turned away. They actively betrayed their ally, a man guilty of nothing but keeping his word.