I have no doubt Turalyon will do wild things, but I’ll be sorely dissappointed if the Undercity is used again as a huge plot point, for the third time. Between Orgrimmar and Undercity, the setting for lore-changing events really needs to get more diverse.
No plans as such, but I suspect Lordaeron (along with Quel’Thal given Alleria’s relevance) will be flashpoints for future conflict. Between the Light’s crusade across the cosmos and the (likely) eventual need for Yrel and the Lightbound to flee AU-Draenor, Turalyon’s desire to see the old Alliance restored will probably gain religious backing.
Nope. However we do know Turalyon wants to claim old Alliance territory, Voss wants to find a way to recover the Undercity, and that’s bound to cause conflict. Which might tie into the Scarlet Brotherhood and the fake Menethil heir that they claim to have.
So while I don’t immediately see another Alliance invasion, I can see the Alliance supporting the Brotherhood against the Forsaken, either because they believe said claims or know said claims are false but seek to secure the old kingdom.
Turalyon was born in Lordaeron, wasn’t he? He’s probably held in pretty high regard among the Scarlet Crusade. It’s entirely possible he could bring them back into the Alliance and in turn try to retake Lordaeron. Lillian Voss could oppose him on behalf of the Forsaken and the Horde. Of course, poor Calia stuck in the middle.
Alaria’s doubtlessly whispering in his ear to also take Quel’thalas. I can see a battle where they manage to breifly retake the Sunwell but enough so that her presence and the other void elves’ presence could cause Void Chernobyl.
For all Alleria wants Quel’thalas back in the Alliance, she comes off as more wanting them to return to the Alliance of their own choice over invading and claiming the territory. Plus I don’t see the void and elves as being comfortable with attacking their ancient homeland nor being seen as invaders by it’s citizens.
Though could be a source of Alliance internal conflict. You have Alleria wanting to open communication or political pressure to have the blood elves defect from the Horde, and then you have another commander like Genn pushing for an outright invasion to push the Horde out of the Eastern Kingdoms before the Forsaken could returned to fix up the Undercity.
I don’t know, man. I’m sympathetic to various different Horde and Alliance causes, but one that consistently stumps me are Void Elf players that say, in total seriousness, “The Void Elves (all 10 of us that canonically exist) have the right to Silvermoon over the thousands (millions?) of Blood Elves that live there and we should invade it and take it for the Alliance!”
It’s easy to argue a lot of things different ways, but anyone who thinks the Blood Elves aren’t the rightful owners of Silvermoon are legitimately unhinged human beings. Blizzard would be making the Alliance support a fully evil conflict if they went for that.
It also makes me chuckle if Alleria would try this: why would Lor’themar leave the Horde, when he finally has control of it? Let’s be real, he’s positioning himself as the de facto leader. That would be a lot of wasted effort to leave now.
Not only is Turalyon from Lordaeron originally, but he was conveniently off-planet for the entirety of the Third War and the fallout of the Silver Hand splintering that resulted afterward. Turalyon doesn’t have first-hand knowledge of how awful the Scarlets were at the height of their power. Given Alleria’s attitude of “I’ll just talk to Lor’themar, and that will bring Silvermoon back to the Alliance!” during the Nightborne recruitment questline, and Turalyon’s attitude of “A Horde paladin?!” towards Liadrin in the Arathi warfront, I don’t really trust Turalyon to fully understand why the Scarlets are so reviled, because I don’t trust that he and Alleria have a good grasp on the nuances of events that happened while they were gone. I think he’s vulnerable to being manipulated by them. Tirion’s not around anymore to speak against them, and the Knights of the Ebon Blade (regardless of whether anyone would listen to them) are rather busy with current events, with their leadership spending a lot of time in the Shadowlands. The Argent Dawn/Crusade are historically enemies of the Scarlets, but they were rather busy in Icecrown last we saw them, and Tyrosus’ insistence on the organization being neutral in regards to the Horde and Alliance and his acceptance of members from Horde races from the start might be held against him by those who want Lordaeron back in the Alliance.
Basically, if the Scarlet Crusade did want to make a move to establish more political clout and power, the current political situation would provide a good opportunity for them to do so. The Horde, and the Forsaken especially, are particularly reviled right now thanks to the events of BfA. The Forsaken have been pushed out of Tirisfal. Anduin and Jaina aren’t around to stand in the way. Calia Menethil is spending a lot of her time in Oribos, so she’s not around to contradict the Scarlets if they start widely spreading their propaganda about her. Turalyon is probably the best chance the Scarlets have of getting a sympathetic ear within the leadership of the Alliance anyways, and now he’s conveniently in charge of Stormwind. If the Scarlets made a move to gain power and support right now, they’d have a good chance of success.
I hope not. Lordaeron is dead. Even the living Lordaeronians don’t want it back. There’s a short dialogue exchange between two guards in Stormwind, one of whom was originally from Lordaeron. He basically says that while at first he hoped the kingdom would be rebuilt one day, he now realizes there’s nothing left to rebuild. The Kingdom of Lordaeron is gone forever. If even the living citizens of the place don’t want it back, I think it’s time to let go.
Not to mention, there are plenty of other Alliance territories that are in desperate need of help in rebuilding/securing themselves. And none of them are blighted ruins that have been filled with zombies for a decade.
None. It seems that the community is set on the idea of Light inherently being evil / zealous / whatever, so that is perceived as something almost guaranteed. At the same time he supported the Gathering, and I doubt he would go against Calia’s idea of the attempt at reunion of the living and the undead, which such aggression would inevitably lead to.
However, if the forsaken would get a knowledge about how to fix the territories defiled by the scourge and not be shackled to Undercity, then they might play is as a diplomacy card.
“Donating” the ruins of capital city among other things would also stress the economy of the alliance to fix the place (if we assume that such thing like resources is relevant in the Warcraft universe), give a leverage to the horde in possible negotiation after such generous gift, and maybe allow to “use” one part of the alliance to pressure others for possible benefit of the horde and raising tention within the alliance, etc.
I mean, there could be an interesting story IMO, but who knows what are the plans of the current dev team.
This is such a great thing to bring up, Alleria and Turalyon’s total cluelessness. As a Horde player, I don’t mind that Turalyon has historically (WCII era) been one of the most foaming-at-the-mouth zealots ever, because he’s understandable; a very realistic character, and I totally get why people liked him and his anti-Horde attitude. That aspect of him is fine. What really irritates me, though? What you’ve pointed out: Turalyon (and Alleria) have been gone so long, and missed so much, they don’t even have even a sliver of the understanding of geopolitics necessary to be making decisions for nations.
Turalyon doesn’t know what the New Horde is, he’s totally unaware of the existence of objectively monstrous Light users like the Scarlets (and therefore unable to properly judge them with the right context), he doesn’t know about the existence of Kalimdor and the Alliance’s allies there, he doesn’t know about Mannoroth and the Orcish blood curse that led to the first and second wars, he doesn’t know about Pandaria or Draenor or the Cataclysm or anything. He may be a stand up guy these days, who is worthy to lead by his character, but he is as unqualified for the job of leading as a person can possibly be. He can read about stuff in a textbook, but he’ll never have the right context for any politics on Azeroth.
If Blizzard makes Turalyon start a war, he’ll become, what I think, is the most despicable kind of person imaginable: someone who is righteous and confident in their beliefs and decisions, yet willfully ignorant of the fact that they understand less than nothing. Turalyon is a disaster waiting to happen. He’s a threat to both the Horde and the Alliance. He’ll muck up everyone’s hard work, while thinking he’s doing a good job.
… wait a minute, Turalyon is just slightly edited copy of Garrosh. Crap… crap!
Turalyon doesn’t even have to start a war, all he has to do is not keep more aggressive voices in check. I don’t think he’d necessarily be game for a full effort to retake Lordaeron while Anduin is away, but I don’t trust that he’d speak against the Scarlet Crusade or Stormwind nobility arguing for it and building support for the idea. All he has to do for the Scarlet Crusade to push their goals is not get in their way.
Not to mention that I don’t think Turalyon or Alleria would have even met Garithos—the man only ever became de facto Commander after Lordaeron’s destruction. So the entire reason for the Blood Elves leaving the Alliance would have gone over Alleria’s head—how dare her people ally with the orcs and undead? How dare they?
I’ve long suspected, at the very least, a partial return to the old Alliance of Lordaeron days—with all that that implies—ever since Genn Greymane joined up, to be honest. And that suspicion’s only gotten stronger with Alleria and Turalyon.
Because another big thing they were never around to witness—something Jaina could easily call them out—was the system of orc internment camps run by Adelas Blackmoore as seen in Lord of the Clans. There’s also the fact that Tirion Fordring was literally exiled in Of Blood and Honor simply for saving an orc’s life (Eitrigg).
If Blizzard were ever to grow a pair and paint the Alliance as less than morally-superior, the remnants of its predecessor are the absolute best place to start.
Especially considering the one person who does have first-hand experience of just how morally-corrupt a lot of the leadership was, and how noble the Horde is capable of being (Jaina) isn’t currently there to serve as a voice of reason.
I feel like the likely approach is just going to end up with them being explained as having learned of everything off-screen and it won’t matter because Teldrassil.
Is Lordaeron in the hands of the Alliance already? Or not? It seems like the Forsaken presence in Tirisfal was completely destroyed. If they hold any part of Silverpine it’d be the sepulcher, but then they’d have Tirisfal to the North, Gilneas to the South, and I believe the Alliance holds Fenris Keep and Isles so they’re to the East.
I’d argue the only secure part of Lordaeron the Forsaken really hold would be Andorhal at this point.
Granted when Turalyon mentions securing other holdings of the old Alliance, my thoughts more went towards places like Nethergarde Keep, Menethil Harbor, Southshore, etc… Locations within territory that is more firmly in the Alliance’s possession, but which are in varying states of ruin.
The Argents have a pretty sizeable number of Undead and Sin’Dorei personal in their ranks so I doubt they’d take sides on a Horde / Alliance fight. They’ve never done it before.
The Scarlets are pretty much defunct in Lordaeron. The Ebon Blade walked over what remnants were still clinging to the Monastery and the ones in the Plaguelands are mostly undead themselves. So as they’re both completely evil and completely failing it’d be a bit like siding with Hitler as he’s putting the gun in his mouth.
It’s within the realm of possibilities I guess. We know the LForged went all Lux Vult in Alt Draenor and Shadow’s Rising showed Turalyon is totally game for torturing people in front of their now pretty thoroughly traumatized children if he feels the ends justify the means.
But the Argents wouldn’t get involved unless their whole organization did a 180 on their mission statement and baring some reveal that the Northrend Scarlets have somehow had a huge boom in recruits I wouldn’t factor them in. Unless Turalyon is intending to go full Garrosh and I kinda doubt they’re going to villain bat bonk the Blues.