On the subject of Blood-Princess Thal’ena, we don’t really know a lot about her, do we?
Seems like she was just created as a boss for us to beat up in the Violet Hold dungeon in Legion and unfortunately has about as much depth as a kiddie pool in the Fall. So I figured I would talk some about her, seeing as there is a chance to write her escaping Dalaran’s prison and becoming the leader of a playable faction of Horde San’layn.
There is some backstory to her to work with, given she is the daughter of Blood-Queen Lana’thel. Seeing as the queen is deader than Disney Star Wars’ fanbase, this would effectively make Thal’ena a Blood-Queen now. I forgot about Lana’thel’s soul thingie in the Shadowlands…then again, I try to forget about Shadowlands as much as possible.
The thing to note is of the vampyr curse the San’layn have. Years in isolation in the cell would’ve driven Lana’thel mad without a way to satisfy the need to feed could’ve given her a way to eventually work control over the curse, along with the Lich King’s death and the whole helm of domination being crafted into something else also having a hand on weakening the curse and letting the San’layn more in control of themselves.
We could also say that Dalaran studied her to learn about the San’layn, possibly to work on a cure for the curse. Research material would then exist. Lana’thel could have gathered them in her escape or eventually, we’d have to get them ourselves after learning of its existence.
And of course escaping Dalaran would lead a question of what she would do after that. I’d like to think that she was able to travel somewhere and meet up with remaining San’layn, who hear the call of the new Blood-Queen to assess the situation and gather their bearings. Possibly making a makeshift blood orb to quell the need to feed as they look over any research material on their curse from Dalaran.
We could say that they end up in the Ghostlands. If they’re in mostly control of themselves, I could see them wanting to be closer to their homeland, going with the idea we’ve talked about of residing in Deatholme. It’s a bit of a mirror of the Void Elves having done a similar thing back in the day.
As for how Thal’ena became a San’layn, you could have it where she and her mother had a tight relationship, often calling her “princess” as a nickname (fitting, no?) and through the whole Scourge attack, Lana’thel became a San’layn and finding her daughter in critical condition afterwards, opted to turn her into a San’layn. This could play into Thal’ena having conflict of her mother’s choice, which was done in desperation and it was either have her under her control as a San’layn or have her possibly lost as a mindless Scourge. This would be before Darkfallen with free will was a thing of course.
Seeing as Lana’thel was one of Kael’thas’ folowers and the San’layn did kinda become a thing because of him, that could also play in Thal’ena’s storyline. I don’t know if the Venthyr would want to walk Kael’thas in the fresh air of the living on a leash, but I’m sure she would have some harsh words for him. Moreso after learning about his betrayal from the San’layn eventually being accepted back into Silvermoon.
It’s an interesting scenario to think about, and seeing as we have a neat storyline opportunity, we might want to have some discussions on it. Kinda funny how she was initially created just as a dungeon boss jobber, only to potentially see her fleshed out quite a bit.
I’ll be thinking more on this scenario with Thal’ena becoming the Blood-Queen leader of the Horde San’layn faction and sharing thoughts here. If anyone else has any thoughts, I’d like to hear them also. It’s pretty important to keep playable Horde San’layn support going, and it seems like a great discussion point! 
–Still dreaming of playable Horde San’layn as a full race! 
