As many of you now know, Blizzard is well underway in redeeming Sylvanas, as indicated most in one of the latest Patch 9.2 cinematics (found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtnpaOoecZ8&t=274s). Some players think it’s sloppy writing while others think redemption is unacceptable given her past misdeeds. I’m not here to critique the writing, but the idea that Sylvanas is unforgivable is utter nonsense.
The rationale for Sylvanas’ redemption is that she was not quite herself all this time; when Arthas killed her years ago, Frostmourne shattered her soul, consuming (trapping?) all of her good qualities and leaving only her bad ones to carry on. Uther the Lightbringer described this process when he said, “When Arthas struck me down, Frostmourne shattered my soul. But it was not divided into one part that was noble and another that was cruel. Rather, it was as if a portion of my consciousness remained frozen in time while the rest of my soul carried on. To feel that missing fragment restored… well, it has caused me to reflect upon many of the choices I have made.”
We know being raised into undeath warps a person, as evidenced by the kind Tidesage Thomas Zelling in Stormsong Valley who wished to be raised into undeath to protect his family rather than die in peace. When he’s raised, he struggles with rage and resentment to the point of scaring his family away. If regular undeath can warp a person this way, how much greater must that change be when raised into undeath by Frostmourne?
Suffice it to say that from Sylvanas’ introduction in Warcraft 3, players have had ample reason to understand her as twisted from her true self; that her decisions originated from a corrupted will. If this is so, she ceased to be a moral agent the moment she was killed by Arthas. Her capacity to do good was greatly diminished if not robbed of her altogether. If so, how can we blame a person for acting the only way they could act? It would be like scolding a storm for damaging your house. You may not like it, but calling the storm to account for its actions is nonsensical because it lacks agency; it could have done nothing else.
Like a storm, Sylvanas may be causally responsible for atrocities, but not morally responsible. She laments the suffering she has caused even though she was not fully herself when she caused it. It would be like a man who, after being forcibly injected with hallucinogenic drugs, killed a child in a fit of madness, then feeling remorse once the drugs wore off and he came to his senses. There’s a terrible feeling of responsibility having caused suffering to someone even if you did not mean to or had no choice in the matter, but that does not mean the person is morally responsible in the sense of having to give account for their actions.
Further still, I get the impression that many players don’t really understand how forgiveness works; that they would forgive Sylvanas if her misdeeds were inconsequential or on a smaller scale, but because genocide is on the table, she has become unforgivable. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.” If we forgive only the trivial wrongs, what value is our sense of forgiveness?
I like where they’ve taken Sylvanas’ story because it forces any player paying attention to grapple with the concepts of moral agency, accountability, forgiveness, and redemption. There’s something that feels unfinished if we leave a fallen hero in a perpetual state of corruption and bitterness. Having died protecting others against the Scourge and endured the external and internal conflicts undeath brings, it’s satisfying to see her pull through it all.
