Meaning, endless face/heel turns for our main lore characters. Garrosh started it in MoP (Arthas’ story is so ingrained into pre-WoW things that I don’t really count him). Since then, the entire Dark Iron clan went face, Sylvanas has turned heel (for now, anyway), Genn got caught sort of in the middle for awhile, then Xe’ra (or is it all of Tag Team Naaru?).
Here’s what could be next:
Character: Tyrande
Currently/Future: Face -> Heel
Motivation: The tree, the tree, the tree is on fire…
Analysis: Her entire Legion role was basically a Harlequin romance novel with Malfurion, and I half expected to see her on the cover of a paperback with Malfurion holding her from behind and opening her shirt, while her hair kicked back in the wind. It was cartoonish, almost. Oh, but then she also had to serve as the ticker-offer of the entire Nightborne race. If Legion was Seinfeld, she would have been George for that xpac. Now, she’s all black-eyed, isn’t talking much (a good thing, given what we endured in Legion) and could easily go off half-cocked seeking personal revenge at whatever cost. Heck, Genn even sets it up bluntly after the Nathanos kill.
Verdict: 3.0/5 stars, mostly because you could see this coming from ten miles off.
Character: Sylvanas
Currently/Future: Heel -> Face
Motivation: The king is dead, long live the Lich Queen; or … I saved the living, you ingrates
Analysis: This character isn’t going to die off, because sketches of her are attached to bottom sides of top bunks across the country. Instead, we’re going to get Hulk-Hogan-In-The-NWO because that’s about all that’s left to do with her.
Verdict: 3.0/5 stars, because the setup has been sitting out there so long it hasn’t just fermented, it’s gone vinegar.
Character: Nathanos
Currently/Future: Heel -> Face
Motivation: She’s with … HIM.
Analysis: This is one you wouldn’t initially see coming, but if Syl doesn’t go Face, Nathanos is already on his way to meet her and HIM and start putting arrows in places HIM can’t reach with a washcloth. If Syl stays Heel, Nathanos either cuck-a-doodle-doos in lockstep with her, or he does something far more interesting: the rare villain faceturn.
Verdict: 4.5/5 stars. Nature Boy Nathanos Blightcaller coming in off the top rope, folding chair in hand.
Character: Genn Graymane
Currently/Future: Face -> Heel
Motivation: And I would have gotten her, too, if it hadn’t been for you meddling demons/kids/heroes/zombies/arthritis
Analysis: Alliance players have been uneasily expecting this one for awhile, because Genn is still “all that I do, I do for Gilneas,” even though Gilneas is only habitable by bats and whatnot. His connection to the Stormwind throne is basically one of “I wish my friend was still here, but he’s not, and somehow I got custody of the kid,” and that’s got to end at some point. Or he runs out of anti-inflammatories.
Verdict: 3.0/5 stars. By the time he actually makes a turn, it might be through the front door of an assisted living facility.
Character: Anduin Wrynn
Currently/Future: Face -> Heel
Motivation: Because if Luke Skywalker can get body parts cut off and go semi-dark, so can he.
Analysis: They gotta do something with this kid, because otherwise he’s going to bore the pants off most players if he hasn’t already. The only tension he’s been able to gin up was with Wrathion, which ended approximately 90 seconds after it started. Best case? He gets run through the ringer by the Jailer, or Syl, or someone in Shadowlands and decides, hey, Jaina, you got anymore of them mana bombs?
Verdict: 4.0/5 stars. Obvious, yes, but has potential regardless. Sort of like watching Tua Tagovailoa play quarterback at Alabama when the opponent was Northeast Washboard Tech.
Character: Jaina Proudmore
Currently/Future: Face -> Heel
Motivation: Time for the Horde-hating split personality to take back over from Miss Lovey-Dovey. Make it snappy, Sybil.
Analysis: I don’t even know what to do with her anymore. Either kill everyone and get it over with or have her continue down her newfound path of maritime magician, trying to reconnect with her father and atone for … something? I’d hate to see her killed off, because I love her voice acting, but if you’d told me in MoP that one day Lil’ Miss Midriff would be clomping around in what looks like the draperies from Tara House and singing sea shanties I probably would have asked you who was your hookup at Pfizer.
Verdict: 2.5/5 stars. However she does it, expect all the other characters to come spilling out of the dressing room and turn the story into a battle royale with no winner. Get a summoner to bring in the spirit of Mean Gene Okerlund to narrate it.
Character: Queen Azshara
Currently/Future: Heel -> Face
Motivation: Because who doesn’t want to see a Naga do the Vince McMahon duck-walk down to the ring?
Analysis: If you’re gonna go, go big. Having Azshara turn true face would be like Velen deciding to start wearing black leather chaps and get hair implants and a chopper built by the Teutul family and go to Wyoming for a month to join a combination nudist/vampire doomsday cult, all the while chugging a fifth of Maker’s Mark. Every WoW player with an elf fetish still does the Prince Farondis storyline in Legion so they can ogle Azshara when she’s in ghost elf form, so how about a redemption story for the Medusa of the Maelstrom that includes her cleaning up her act and going all the way babyface in the name of elf-manity?
Verdict: 4.5/5 stars. Remember when they’d face someone and you knew it wasn’t going to last two weeks? Yeah, but what a fun two weeks it was. Sort of like watching Harley Quinn try to make it as a tax accountant from Poughkeepsie. It ain’t happenin’ long-term but that’s not what makes it fun. What’s fun is watching her try to bury that ego long enough to sell the bump.
