Was adding a loyalist quest line not a “strong, emotional reason” ? Is that not a massive chunk of the playerbase? It’s not as simple as “lol Sylvanas evil raid boss 9.1 dead”
And Sylvanas is not soley responsible for Teldrassil, never was never will be. The Horde as a whole is responsible. That is unavoidable. Any attempt to circumvent that fact and place all of the blame on Sylvanas is also lame writing.
If Sylvanas is responsible, so is everyone else in the Horde.
At the end of the loyalist ending they have Sylvanas call the Forsaken pitiable and weak and make it clear she now sees them and you as enemies regardless of your loyalty to her.
Blizzard does not want you to still like Sylvanas. They’ve done everything they can within their PG13 limitations to make you turn on her.
I’m not touching the second part of your post. I think this forum has had quite enough of that argument for all our tastes.
That’s for a Horde player to decide huh
1 Val’kyr didn’t make up for it, no.
Kneecapping? Lol you act like the current story is any good, meanwhile they are ruining the story to appease Sylvanas fans and to spite Night Elf fans.
The story is intentionally distasteful and doesn’t make sense to achieve those 2 goals, and then we also have writers who say that genocide is not evil because of this.
“I trusted you…”
Doesn’t kill Anduin and Thrall and the entire assembled armies, instead runs away.
Doesn’t kill Bolvar.
Doesn’t kill Baine twice. Doesn’t kill Anduin, Jaina or Thrall despite having every opportunity to do so.
She says she pitied the Forsaken because they clung to life (knowing how pointless it is in the face of such an inequitable afterlife), she doesn’t say she sees them as enemies. Sylvanas makes it clear in the loyalist cinematic that she is not enemies with the loyalist. Not sure how anyone could walk away thinking Sylvanas was their enemy in that cinematic.
Seriously, alot of the Sylvanas hate is built on headcanon. She’s a frustrating character, but she’s been remarkably careful for a character that is mustache-twirling genocidal evil.
She’ll burn down Teldrassil but won’t murder Baine the second she arrests him, instead sets up an elaborate trap that brings Horde and Alliance together…right…for someone whose only goal is to feed the Maw with souls…uh huh. Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.
You’re mistaking plot armor for mercy. He-Man always survives whenever Skeletor has him on the ropes. That doesn’t make Skeletor a good person.
Anyway, let’s just agree to disagree. it is getting late for me.
I’ve got to agree. For a character that’s meant to be irredeemable, Blizzard seems to constantly hedge the bet over if Sylvanas is working to outright evil ends. It’s horrific storytelling for the medium of WoW, but between the loyalist plot dialogue (not just the end cinematic) and the constant vagueness of her statements I honestly do see room for ‘this was all for a long game to free us all’, given how awful the Shadowlands are as a system.
No comment on if that would be good, mind, but Blizzard has been shockingly coy for a plot that has spanned multiple expansions and driven people mad with its uncertainty.
She made it so. Of course she would be right 
We have Sargeras and Medivh on it as well, so it’s not like she’s the only option.
Sargeras (possessing Medivh; to Khadgar):
You see, I am nothing but one more component in the great machine, one that has been running since the Well of Eternity was first shattered. The one thing that the original bits of Medivh and myself agree on is that this cycle needs to be shattered. Of course, I assure you, we are of one mind.
Well, yeah. There should be a reason why the player character was chosen by N’Zoth.
Maybe because by “redemption” different people see different meaning? That would be my guess.
gl hf
Personally I think you keep moving goal posts and fabricating reasons for Sylvanas’ actions so that you can justify her redemption arc in a more feasible manner. The problem with such is that it completely invalidates concrete and personable evidence about her actions prior.
Just because you beat a man to an inch of his life doesn’t mean you should be given freedom for not killing him.
Any writing that allows Sylvanas to be redeemed after showcasing so much damage she did throughout the storyline of Battle for Azeroth from War of Thorns to the end is going to be a punch in the face for everyone. Most fans aren’t under the umbrella of the rabid night elf fans you equate them as, most of them are people who see it justified and rational that Sylvanas never make a comeback for what she did and ends up defeated in whatever manner.
A character isn’t written to undergo multiple moral event horizons just to be resurrected. That’s like any major antagonist simply yelling they’ve did such things “For the Greater Good!” and be absolved of their crimes.
Reading the comments here, it does look like it is possible for redemption but there are several factors. Blizzard even wanting to go that route is a big one. Syvanas wanting it is another biggie. Also, there is the question of whether she has any good left in her at all. Another is having to make it believable and consistent with what is already known. Also it does seem like if it would work at all, whatever price she does pay has to be greater than the sum total of her evil deeds.
OK, so? The torture she has experienced should be taken into account when looking at her actions; but it shouldn’t outright absolve her of them. She may have been the victim of abuse, but she very clearly has become an abuser herself in turn. So, while one should absolute take into consideration the fact that she to many extents is just a link on the chain of abuse, that doesn’t mean she’s just given a free pass from those she’s hurt. Unless what you’re doing is taking the stance that her pain (which her victims where not responsible for), invalidates all the pain she’s caused all of her victims.
This is especially true with the stance you’re taking on this. Where Sylvanas not only has to survive; not only has to be let rejoin the Horde; but also needs to be proven right … AND is somehow humbled by that realization. Which, you don’t “humble” an abuser by proving to them that their reason for abusing and hurting others was correct and justified. They already believe that. Or, at least, they tell themselves that they’re correct to make sense of their own largely reflexive or defensive actions (in the case of characters like Sylvanas who is both and abuser and victim of abuse/torture). Proving to them that their worldview and all the horrors they committed in response to it is correct, is not an impetus for change. It in fact is an impetus for reinforcement.
So… I was correcting your false statement. You said:
That is just flat out incorrect. Arthas specifically tortures her above and beyond the other Undead he rose. Her experience was not like 90% of the rest.
You make a false statement… then when corrected, say:
Well, I would like to use the lore of Warcraft for this discussion. Not some insanely incorrect head canon invented from God knows where.
Like most of this thread, that is purely opinion. Which is fine, except you try to pass it off as some immutable objective fact.
I just do not believe Blizzard is constrained by the wishlists of fans. While you and others like you may stomp your feet and say: “Nuh uh! I don’t like it!”, Blizzard is not constrained by such petulance.
I could see a whole bunch of ways Sylvanas makes it out of the Shadowlands with what many may call a redemption - whether as part of the Horde, or someone who just gets involved now and then. I don’t see all these rules everyone is trying to apply. Especially in context to the lore and story.
No, clearly they aren’t. Blizzard can do whatever they want, and clearly with BfA they aren’t constrained by something as inhibiting as “good story telling”. If they want to “redeem” Sylvanas and let her off scott free and inherently justify genocide and apparently attempted omnicide with some “ends justify the means” storyline … they can. They absolutely can. But, considering how incapable of nuance Blizzard seems to be, they will be doing it entirely at the expense of anyone who is not a diehard Sylvanas fan.
That being said, if they do it, its very likely going to be Kerrigan 2.0. Its not going to be subtle, and its going to be absurdly forced. Though … considering Sylvie’s greatest power and talent has always been “plot convenience” … its definitely on the table for her.
So, we all agree that she’s going to at least be justified in her in actions in some way shape or form. We just don’t know how blizzard is going to pull it off. Or am I missing something here?
Not that I like the idea any more than you do 
i feel like the only good part about SL initial story is that sylvie just has a small cameo in it.
The biggest criticism from me about the story is that Shadowlands doesnt feel very “warcraft” and the developers just shove in uther, draka, kael, etc etc just to fix that issue.
Or rather the Zones etc everything about “The Shadowlands” feels too much out there.
I mean bastion suffers from this the most.
I say it is possible, but not certain. I have my doubts.
She may die like Guldan or Varian or Xera, in a pretty violent way that brings satisfaction to her enemies. Maybe Tyrande and Genn take turns hacking off her limbs, then the Winter Queen consumes her soul and depletes it of all anima.
Blizzard has gone out of their way to unleash a retcon storm upon their lore. If Sylvanas wasn’t bad enough, they will rewrite the past to make her worse. Even one of her few sympathetic moments has been retconned - where we see her suffer under the fist of Garrosh, and she is called the “b” word in front of the Player and the Horde forces gathered there. One of the cruel indignities that could color her disdain for the Horde is being erased. This could all be a build up to making her the scape goat for every thing Players gripe about.
If I’m being honest? I honestly don’t know how to feel about her, part of me loves the character and what she used to represent, but I just can’t fathom any scenario blizzard can use that is going to satisfy anyone regarding her.
They redeem her, and the rabid NE fanbase will cry and moan that she was Justified and Glorifieid. They kill her and her fans will cry that she didn’t need to die to be written out of the story.
The biggest travesty out of all this, is how Blizzard completly mauled her character just to setup Shadowlands, instead of you know, making Zovaal a convincing villian that can stand on his own.
Can’t wait for Blizzard to write off Sylvanas for a while in the less and most taunting way to the playerbase just for the giggles.
Still what a shame they gave to a side character so much importance when other deserves it more
So, it comes down to they could and there is some reason to expect it. However, Blizzard seems more intent on rewriting and rewriting until she really can’t be brought back. Is that right?
I just wanted her dead because I am sick of seeing her and the “It was planned all along” nonsense writing. Let me be clear I would be perfectly okay with leaving the Night Elf revenge at just getting the kill on Sylvanas.
After that new capitals for both the Forsaken and Night Elves. I would say this is an acceptable way to end this awful storyline.
This is where I am. Objectively, without putting a dog in the fight, or my personal feelings notwithstanding, she deserves nothing less than oblivion.
Having said that, I like her. I think she is a cool villain. She wasn’t the reason I started playing WoW, she won’t be the reason I leave. Over the years I have seen Blizzard wipe out some of my favorite characters/npcs while elevating others I am completely indifferent to. To be a character in the Azerothian universe seems to be a tragic life, where we just aren’t meant to be happy very long. Whether pc or npc. So whether I like it or not, I see this going in the way of her being put out to pasture once and for all.
As a NE druid player, it has taken me 14+ years, but I learned to ignore Blizzard when it comes to them putting anything in the game that says I am a Night Elf druid, see how cool I am. I would like a replacement tree for starters, but given how long it took them to fix the bridge areas in Redridge and SW — all that can be done is sit back and see what does happen. It’s their game, they do what they want (as it should be). Some of their choices make me shake my head, probably not going to change in this or any other xpac. For once, I’d like to see an expansion focused on building/repairing some of the stuff that has been destroyed. Then again it is World of Warcraft not World of Buildcraft.