Its no secret that the horde has been in dire straits on a narrative level ever since BFA. So I wanted to put this post together as a way to start a discussion on how the Horde and its story can be rebuilt and its roster revitalized in a positive way. I know we aren’t likely to see any movement on this until we come back to Kalimdor or the rest of the N.EK is updated. But it still can be helpful to be clear as a community on what would help put this story beat on the right track.
- Defining the Horde
In my view the council has been a massive failure in terms of generating interesting or engaging story beats or providing a sense of identity in the absence of a Warchief. It has felt more like a narrative band-aide to address the fallout of BFA without having to spend resources building something new or interesting. This has led to not only stagnation but a feeling that the Horde is now just red Alliance.
In my view the factions are at their best when each is heroic and provides a different experience and lens to view the world. If we really are moving past Warchiefs, than we need to really expand on the family and brotherhood aspect of the Horde and transition to something more centralized. In my view creating a Executive Position on the council to act as the face, leader and diplomat. Not unlike say the EU president could be something interesting. A Horde that is more than a military alliance and acts as a economic bloc and integrates its member nations could be a way to offer differentiation and provide clear value in story of why the Horde should still exist and why nations would still sign up. It would go a long way in terms of narrative value to have throwaway lines of characters talking about how being in the horde have brought them economic prosperity or how it changed the security calculus. Like if we could get in midnight an npc commenting that the Horde helped finance the rebuilding of Silvermoon would be big in terms of understanding the common citizens dedication to the Horde. - Character Roster
It’s no secret that the Horde roster has been gutted. We used to have the Avengers to the alliance’s justice league but now we are left with the Avengers in phase 5. It’s the 3rd stringers with some aging stars. It also doesn’t help that warcraft is a setting where you smash your action figures together and the Horde really feels lacking in terms of power. Geyarah. Thaylissra, and Telanji are good first steps as they are interesting characters but we need some heavy metal in the rest of the roster. A repowered Thrall with his doomhammer back, a reborn Teron Gorefiend at a fel orc host, Vol’jin as the reborn loa of kings. Take Thalyssra on a journey learning Elisande’s magic and have her as the magic counterpart to Jaina or touch on that AU Ellisande from the Tyr questline, just something that gives some magical firepower to the roster. The Forsaken are in desperate need of an overhaul. Lillian Voss and Calia would really benefit from short stories or a book, I think we need to see more of Lilians leadership and a deeper dive into her powers and Calia really needs to come into her own as Forsaken and her place in the Horde. As well as her representation as the herald of Lordaeron reborn, a conflict involving her child and the tensions that can arise if they live would be glorious. Also, some Nazgrim style supporting characters would go along way in building out the bench. The Horde needs to be heroes, but ones that are draped in heavy metal and complex moral questions. They aren’t the cleanest but they will be the most interesting. That’s where I always saw the Horde at its best in the narrative.
TLDR: The Council sucks, morph it into something with more depth and integration. rebuild the roster by investing in a Thrall, Voljin and Thalyssra and bring back some favorites like Teron Gorefiend. Along with a needed narrative overhaul of the forsaken leaders.