Pray tell which AR female character can female players look up to. From what I’ve seen, none of them were given any development whatsoever.
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Jaina has an entire questline dedicated to her/her story is the culmination of the Kul Tiran experience. Talanji as well. Alleria(depending on how you consider her, would be the void elf leader) has had tons of new lore/exposure.
I’d also point out Mayla and Thalyssra were not slacking in Legion. Nor would Moira, a person I wanted to toss into the lava of Ironforge has actually redeemed herself.
Thalyssra and Mayla are Lor’themar’s and Baine’s arm candies now though. 
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Thalyssra and Lorthemar have an equal relationship. She still does her own thing independent of Lother’mar.
I am not 100% sure Mayla and Baine will end up together.
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Now, I want to start by saying that there is, as I hope I’ve made clear above, absolutely no crisis in WoW. They’re clearly trying to achieve roughly equal numbers between male and female leaders, and I don’t have a problem with that. Frankly, most of the new faction leaders are super-bland and would not in any way be better if they were male, so it’s not like they’re somehow robbing male players of great characters they could look up to.
But. “Rings of Power” Galadriel is a disgrace.
Listen, I’m female IRL. I like kick-butt female characters who use swords. But Galadriel isn’t one of those characters. She just isn’t.
And yes, I know all about “Nerwen” and the hint that she may have defended her kin at Alqualondë. That’s still not a license to make her “commander of the northern armies” and “scourge of the orcs.” Especially not when we have canon information about what she was doing at the time the story takes place, and it wasn’t this.
I do think some people go too far and make it sound like they’d never want to see a show where a hotheaded female elf soldier was the main character. I’m not in that group. If they’d created a new character to be the elf-swordswoman, I wouldn’t complain. Heck, as many have pointed out, they could have made Galadriel’s daughter Celebrian into this character, and since we know basically zero about Celebrian’s personality, it wouldn’t actually go against anything.
But “evolving the portrayal of women in LOTR” is not license to just replace canon characters with something completely different. It’s not more important than actually adapting the source material. Heck, it’s not even incompatible with actually adapting the source material. You could have had canon-Galadriel and this hotheaded elf swordswoman character both in the same show, and that would be an actual example of “diverse femininity.”
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Of course Baine and Mayla will end up together. They’re exactly the same, and they clearly like each other a lot.
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Maybe, maybe not. I honestly think they don’t have any chemistry.
You haven’t been paying attention then. They’re all over each other.
Baine and Mayla are going to have a conversation in Dragonflight, and it doesn’t even have anything to do with their relationship. It’s all about Anduin!
Mayla: You seem distracted, Baine. Are you troubled by the news that the dragons bring?
Baine: No. But seeing both the Horde and Alliance answer their call has reminded me of…absent friends.
Mayla: I am sorry. I know what Anduin Wrynn means to you. Has there been no word at all from him?
Baine: King Greymane has been kind enough to answer my letters.
Baine: He said there have been reports that Anduin has been seen, but none that they could verify.
Baine: Anduin endured much in the Shadowlands. It seems he is not ready to go home. Not yet.
Mayla: The Earthmother guides each of us along a path. It is not always the one we wish to walk, but sometimes it is the path we need to.
Mayla: Be patient. Your friend will return when his feet guide him back to those who love him.
Baine: Thank you for reminding me of that, Mayla. And for your kindness.
Mayla: Always, Baine.
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That’s because neither of them have any personality.
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Seems more like they are friends rather then anything else at the moment. Regardless even if they end up together I doubt Mayla will be arm candy to Baine.
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Horde:
Orcs: Male
Forsaken: Female
Tauren: Male
Darkspear: Male
Blood Elf: Male
Pandaren: Male
Nightborne: Female
Highmountian: Female
Maghar: Female
Vulperia: Male
Zandalari: Female
That’s 6 male leaders and 5 female leaders. Men are still the majority though the Horde is more egalitarian than the Alliance.
Alliance:
Humans: male
Dwarf: 2 male 1 female
Night elf: Female
Gnomes: Male
Draenei: Male
Worgen: Male
Pandaren: Female
Void Elf : Female
Lightforged: Male
Dark Iron: Female
Kul Tiran: Female
Mecagnomes: Male
8 males 5 females for the Alliance.
The numbers still favor men. But the allied races are filling in some of the gender inequality we’ve had in the past. the past ratio was 1/4. It went from being skewed heavily towards men to being very close to equal and that’s apparently “too female” do you see why that’s a problem?
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Except the current Forsaken are a council composed of BOTH male and female characters. If you count both male dwarven leaders then the same should be done for the Forsaken.
Gelbin is one and the same person.
There isn’t an “official” leader for the lightforged. Captain Fareeya seems like a more likely candidate then Turalyon though at the moment considering Turaylon is busy with Stormwind.
Zerde, we are on the same side. Now’s not the time to split hairs.
Fareeya is indeed the LF leader, as stated by Blizzard themselves.
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I was happier when my Banshee Queen became my Warchief. Life has sucked since then.
To be fair, Umbric leads the void elves.
And to be fairer, isn’t that what everyone is always saying they want? Develop new characters of x persuasion instead of changing old ones? You’d think the “oh, I’m not a bigot but use new characters for your representation” crowd would be tickled pink.
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Probably not.
Magister Umbric says: My arrogance was nearly our undoing. I dabbled with powers far beyond my control. If you will train us, Alleria. We will follow where you lead.
Alleria Windrunner says: I sense the powers at your command. They are… considerable. You would make valuable allies of the Alliance.
The problem with several of the AR races is we don’t exactly know who the “official” leader is.
As a side note, the orcs apperently do not have a leader according to the race website(it says leader to be determined)
The houjin pandaren is led by by a male and the tushi pandaren is led by a female
Funny how those two get overlooked in these discussions
Eh, not really:
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