This isn’t the problem though in my opinion:
Warcraft does not have a “main character”, Warcraft has always been an ensemble cast with the spotlight switching between various characters. As an example, for most of SL Anduin has literally been a damsel in distress with his only two notable contribution to the story being when his body was used to get the Sigil(and honestly that was more the Jailer then Anduin) and his “talks” with Sylvanas.
I would also point out each expansion has had a different person take the “lead” role. Legion had Illidan being the most prominent character. BfA could be considered Saurfang’s. WoD was Yrel while MoP had Varian/Vol’jin taking center stage.
Except literally 95% of all important faction characters are faction aligned! And its not the inverse has not happened with us following Vol’jin/Thrall.
Well technically, Sylvanas was made Warchief by an evil deity not even associated with the Horde, so by this logic Vol’jin is still Warchief as he was the last leader who was a legitimately elected.
The problem with WoW writing since about MOP, arguably Cata, is that they want to have a melodrama between their big named characters instead of those characters being a part of the world like we are. It was always that the faction leaders were larger than life characters, but when we started interacting with them regularly, it all went down hill fast.
Bellular has mentioned on his channel before that WoW works the best when its lore operates more like an RPG sourcebook than a novel. It gives you the worldbuilding to immerse yourself and make your own stories in its space. I agree with that sentiment. The novel approach is just dumb.
It doesn’t, though. If the writers happen to be crazy enough to decide that doing this plot for a third time is a good idea, they’ll make it work with a council. The only change is that they’ll have to villain-bat multiple characters instead of just one.
Sure that could still be a possibility, but I think it greatly reduces the chances of it happening. The situation with both Garrosh and Sylvanas was that the Horde was led by an almighty warchief with twisted beliefs/purposes, and this warchief single-handedly brought the faction to division and civil war.
I don’t think writers will ever villain-bat the majority of the council, given that council members are (almost ?) all fan favorites and often pretty much the only relevant characters from each race
Anduin is narrative cancer, and I really do mean that. Everyone he interacts with is infected by his idealistic beliefs and become mini-Anduins. The only character left on the Alliance who was at odds with him was Tyrande, and it very much looks like the “renewal” path they have her on is just Anduin’s “peace and forgiveness” train.
The Alliance IS Anduin. This may sound extreme, but at this point I think I’d prefer for the Alliance to break apart. The humans will sadly be trapped in the Wrynn black hole, but at least the other races will be free to go their own ways.
Actually, we’ve already seen what they’ll do if they want a council member to do something shocking. Did Jaina ever consult the rest of the Council of Six about the Purge of Dalaran? Did we see the council vote on it? Did we ever even hear what the rest of the council thought about it? The answer is no. The game just treated her like sole monarch of Dalaran for the space of that questline and then never mentioned it again.
HE is amazing. Alliance should be proud to have him.
Sylvanas should be the main character.
A council system for the horde could be good/interesting if it was an actual legitimate assembly of government made up of representatives from the various sub-factions. The current leaders would be subject to the deliberations of the council, not part of it.
I want Anduin gone and someone more tyrannical to take over the Alliance!
I would also add Greymane to the mix. The only reason he goes along with all of this is his fatherly love for Anduin at this point.
Greymane serves one purpose : to make Anduin shine even brighter. He’s warlike, overly proud and arrogant, prone to anger and stereotypes. Their little quarrels’ only objective is to remind us that Anduin has none of those traits.
So bad.
Or he is suppose to serve the purpose that people can change. That his being warlike, isolationist and prone to angry are BAD things in general. Especially in a world constantly in the throngs of war.
Genn has changed over the years, he was the guy who hated the thought of the Alliance the most back in the day and now he is its biggest supporter.
Anduin is not the main character.
Clearly that honor belongs to High Oracle Soo-Say.
Remember the Cataclysm where it was nothing but Thrall but not Jaina until Mists ruined her. Yea I remember that. Extreme horde bias was strong in that expansion.
He’s also changed recently… because of his contact with Anduin, notably. Just think about that passage in Before the Storm in which Genn is disgusted and outraged at the sight of Alonsus Faol, but thanks to Anduin he grows to accept that undead people aren’t all evil.
Greymane has flaws, and that’s what Anduin so desperately lacks
Anduin has flaws as far as I remember. Greymane has pointed them out several times. Perhaps we will see this come to play when Turalyon takes the throne.
No, because I played Cata for more than a meme. I recall quite a bit of Malfurion.