While it’s not 100% certain what Zovaal did to Sylvanas in the end cinematic, my personal interpretation at least is that he fully restored her soul and that the Sylvanas we’ve seen prior to this point was just a twisted and anguished fragment thereof.
If true and if Sylvanas’ soul has been fully restored, then NE’s have once again been given the finger by Blizzard because the implicit justification will be that ‘real’ Sylvanas didn’t commit atrocities like the burning of Teldrassil, the ‘dark’ version of her did and she cannot be held responsible for something she had no control over.
I really hope I’m wrong because this would allow the writers to once again weasel her character out of any serious repercussions and be a further slap to the face of NE fans by having teased them with the idea of eventual vengeance all this time while always intending to leave them hanging.
Please tell me NE players didn’t wait all this time just for ‘good’ Sylvanas to appear and sweep away ‘bad’ crimes like they never happened, I couldn’t think of a worse insult.
I’m pretty sure that we’re still going to be saving souls from the Maw. Tyrande isn’t in any danger of being consumed by the Night Warrior’s power. Zovaal definitely isn’t going to succeed, and Ardenweald will be saved. Between the Winter Queen and a reborn Ysera, we’re likely to see some kind of World Tree shennanigans. And the territory lost in the War of Thorns is back in Night Elf hands.
And this newly reborn Ranger General Sylvanas is likely to facilitate that, actively undoing some of the damage her former incarnation has done.
I don’t think the situation future for Night Elves is so dire unless one’s heart was just absolutely dead set on seeing Banshee Queen Sylvanas meet a grisly/humiliating fate at the hands of a wrathful Tyrande.
Like the Horde, Iron Horde, the justice you get is just them trucking on with some excuse. Maybe Sylvanas will give some super teary eyed apology and those who don’t accept it will be seen as consumed by vengeance or whatever.
At this point, I’m still just genuinely surprised there are people who thought Sylvanas wasn’t going to tig ol’ biddies her way out of the consequences of her actions. Just like another hot blonde-turned monster girl, in another certain Blizzard franchise.
I think Telldrasil and Undercity were sacked in BfA to lead to a redesign of Azeroth’s territories for gameplay reasons in 10.0. (Tying old zones to Chormie Timewalking)
Slyvanas’ fate seems to be pretty evident of a self sacrifice coming up, hopefully without a “rebirth” but with these storytellers you may never know.
Slyvanas does “bad thing #12982734”
Get full soul back
Feels bad for what she did, while not being “incontrol”
Sacrifices self for “greater good”
NE’s get a dead Sylvanas, while Undead get to feel love from their Queen one last time.
Well if we’re looking at Teldrassil, Darkshore, and Ashenvale, the latter two are confirmed to have been reclaimed to at least their pre-War of Thorn levels.
And we’ve already gotten dev tweets that trees can be regrown, the rebirth of the one dragon aspect that birthed the original world tree, and the good will of Elune’s “sister” who lives in the biggest world tree in the cosmos- in a realm that’s all about reincarnation.
Ashenvale’s a contested zone at the moment, which is where it was pre-War of Thorns.
There’s also the the rebirth of the one dragon aspect that helped birth the original world tree, and the good will of Elune’s “sister” who lives in the biggest world tree in the cosmos- in a realm that’s all about reincarnation.
Is Sylvanas’s lost fragment even supposed to be its own identity? I know it’s an easy assumption to make, probably because of Uther’s paradox of being both in Frostmourne and at Bastion, but even he had an extra fragment tucked away. I wonder if it’s meant to be more like reattaching a lost limb instead of combining personalities into one.
Everyone who died when Teldrassil burned will still be dead - and dead is a best-case scenario… many of those souls were already destroyed in the Maw. And all their family heirlooms and belongings can’t be turned back from ash into the items they were.
While Darkshore has been reclaimed, there’s no official confirmation on Ashenvale and what’s left of Teldrassil.
Ysera can’t be resurrected, she’s forever tied to Ardenweald.
The Winter Queen doesn’t seem to have much goodwill towards Elune, but that could change, so file this under “maybe”.
I’m getting conflicting accounts on the pre-BfA status of Ashenvale. Ethriel says it was Night Elven territory. Mara and Shernish say it’s status was unsure.
What do we have to show that it’s firmly in Horde territory now?
Ardenweald is literally where the dead go to be reborn. The Winter Queen already revived Elune’s other pet and the whole Night Elf storyline has been intrinsically linked to the realm.
Most of the souls haven’t been destroyed in the Maw. Neverminding the ones we’ve rescued, the Jailer is going to be defeated, and the mechanics of the afterlife are undiably changed since we’re going to either be getting new people acting as Arbiter and Jailer or implementing a new system.
Ashenvale being in an unresolved state is pretty much where it was pre-WoT.
And what’s most important is that killing Banshee Queen Sylvanas would never do anything to address the above, especially now that she’s been effectively rebooted into a different character that’s going to actively help fight the Jailer and possibly deal with this stuff now.
So no, Sylvanas becoming “good” again does not close the door on the possibility of anything getting better for them regarding the damage that’s been done.
We continue saving souls from the Maw, which the Jailer no longer seems to be running and is about to undergo new management the moment we finish kicking his butt. Those souls that haven’t been rescued from the Maw are in the place where souls go to be reborn, where we’re working along with the “sister” of their Goddess. They’ve gotten back their patron dragon aspect who previously helped them grow a world tree weeks after their last one burned down. The person who has been their tormentor is now their ally and possibly on her track to trying to do things to make up for her wrongdoing.
If that doesn’t excite you more than prospect of seeing a gray elf’‘s head on a pike -which would actually do nothing to address any of the things you’re actually complaining about like the aforementioned stuff would- I don’ know what else to tell you.