Or maybe we could get his sister as Warchief which would also work. She’s been getting a conspicuous increase in screentime.
Smallioz.
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The heroic death of dying impotent and powerless against garrosh
The heroic death dying to a nameless mob and then being dragged away to die on a throne and finally the most hilarious death on the list
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Geya’rah really hasnt done that much though and no one has particularly received any real amount of screen time or attention to make them top contender.
Lor’themar is probably the top contestant given he’s at least been around since BC, given some good screen time, and was teased about becoming Warchief. I can see the chud comments now though about an elf leading their “angry metal, blood and honor Horde.”
Rokhan is probably next. WC3 character, but really hasnt been around until very recently and even then hasnt done too much in the grand scheme of things but is at least liked.
Everyone else is kinda like who? Thrall doesnt want it, Baine is largely disliked, the Forsaken characters don’t have any staying power or widespread support, Gazlow is cool but has only recently shown in leadership, Ji has done nothing, Geya’rah, again, is new and only just really showed up, Mayla is new and hasnt really done anything, Talanji could be interesting but could imply the Horde is now subservient to the Zandalari empire, I like Thalyssra but also new and hasnt done a lot (also elf), do I even need to say Kiro or Cindrethresh?
So just brings us back to making the Warchief an appointed/elected position by the council for campaigns and war, as the name implies, for when single decisive leadership is needed.
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I dunno, to me she is giving off the vibes of “next most likely to be villain batted.”
I really don’t follow how a dictatorship could ever work better than a councilship in any setting other than a hivemind.
Sure you have cults, raiders, nations, groups and movements that are shown as authoritarian all over WoW but none of them have ever been highly successful realistically in the story’s setting.
Too many cooks.
Virtually every faction that has ever existed in this setting does so with a singular authority positioned at the top. They serve at their peoples’ pleasure in most cases. When they serve the interests of their people (like with Thrall, for example) the powers they are invested with are respected. When they work against their people for selfish reasons (Garrosh, Sylvanas) we overthrow them. Councils as fully invested ruling bodies are either recent or rare in most cases.
Stormwind Humans: King.
Ironforge Dwarves: King (Queen-Regent atm, technically).
Gnomes: High Tinker/King of the Gnomes.
Night Elves: High Priestess in practice (the Druids slept mostly), now Shandris going forward.
Orcs: Warchief.
Tauren: High Chieftain.
Trolls: Chieftain.
Forsaken: Queen until recently, now Desolate Council.
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I would make the case that kingdoms and chieftains are a bit different then what WoW describes as the title “Warchief”. While true, most if not all factions have a leader, they also have other ruling bodies that seem to act as checks and balances of power, for example, nobles, elders, advisers, secondary leaders, etc.
While the Warchif had all these as well, its been show to be much easier to override any and all decisions made by them.
The High King for example had no authority to stop the Night Elves from acting out an operation not sanctioned during the 4th war to resecure Darkshore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMzv7vAgNkU&ab_channel=Athelarius
Most factions seem to work like this where it is a coalition rather than all power centralized into one person. While Thrall , Vol’jin and Orgrim were responsible with the title, the Horde suffered imensly from ,Blackhand, Ner’zhul Sylvanas and Garrosh.
I would also make the argument even if every other faction operated as the Warchief did, that makes the Hordes council more unique for the story. I think its premature to call the council boring or weak before its really been given enough time to be tested.
Three expansions, five+ actual years, seven+ in-game years. Nothing. By what possible metric could you possibly call that premature and in want of more time to explore?
This topic seems to always arrive at “The Horde can’t retain things iconic to The Horde because of bad writing and butchered characters” and that’s a load of crap. Pull off the band-aid, get The Horde back on its feet. Stop honoring the fecal smears Afrasiabi and Danuser left on the rug.
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What has the council done that was more detrimental to the Horde than the previous two Warchiefs?
Caused a loss in player interest.
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Cratered the Horde player count. As it turns out, players were invested in things other than contrite peacenik therapy sessions occasionally punctuated by stories about who is banging who on the Council.
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Is there any data to suggest this? You would have to not only show player count numbers (which I am not sure anyone has a record of anymore) but also a direct causation to it dropping from the change towards a council.
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Yes: Warmode.
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Warmode is…a game mechanic, not lore.
?
(Actually, do we even have data to show Warmode participation?)
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Warmode incentivizes players to activate (which is a whole separate gripe I have that I won’t get into) who otherwise wouldn’t care to, but the bonuses are tied to player participation.
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There are more people playing night elves in pvp (shadowmeld is op) than there are horde players in pvp.
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But again, this is a game mechanic, we are talking about story.
I can’t prove to what degree a population shift is directly tied to storyline developments, but I should think it is not unreasonable to suggest that a depleted roster with no sufficient replacements, a faction whose identity has been fundamentally changed and not followed up on (at all), and limited/bare-bones participation in ongoing major storylines, all pave a road to apathy (at best) for people who were fans of what The Horde was.
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I could see where evidence might lead to that but we would be getting into the realm of subjectivity. The story seems less focused on factions in general but I cant make any claims on if thats a bad thing because I would be speaking on behalf of many others. The same can be said for the Horde, many people could like the council while many do not.
(My original point was purely from a story perspective as we have shifted more out of the story)