It was stated or at least implied, the Ebon Blade actually did wipe out the Scarlet Crusade in Legion when they came to the Scarlet Monastery to raise Whitemane as a Death Knight. This works for several reasons. Mainly for the major poetic justice of an order of reckless racist fanatics obsessed with undead getting wiped out by a pragmatic, multiracial order of undead knights.
Even better, the Ebon Blade are a neutral group outside the faction conflict. And with both Horde-associated and Alliance-associated Death Knights present during the attack, this assuages at least some of the hate from Alliance or Horde fanbases. It also gives the players agency in their end and not throwing them away with something like a lazy “the Burning Legion wiped them out offscreen” line.
It was also before the Scarlet Crusade got stale through overuse, and there was a logical story reason for both sides to be present and fighting.
they were wiped out, the ones we fight in the Forsaken heritage armor quest, and most likely will be fighting later in Gilneas, are upstarts.
random humans from silverpine and tirisfal who’ve rallied behind whoever has decided to pick up the banner this time.
it is not the same crusade even though it bears their colors
They crusade shouldn’t end, it should be folded into The Alliance. The Horde gets to have the Warsong Clan up to their hijinks in Kalimdor. The crusade should always have been their alliance eastern kingdoms analog.
This new group is the Scarlet Brotherhood. Which is a Scarlet Twilight’s hammer hybrid who worship the Old Gods, lead by Joseph the Mad. And probably still is helmed by a Dreadlord. My bet is Balnazzar.
The combination of the Scarlet Crusader asthetic with a more organized and secretive old god cult has the possibility for some strong Bloodborne vibes.
Yeah, it would have been fine enough if they got wiped out.
But if they weren’t doing that, I think they just need to make it a bit more dynamic. A lot of the strength of the Scarlet Crusade in my mind was drawing on some of the character ideas they had like Saidan, Abbendis, Whitemane. Anyone else that shows up at this point just feels like some random person. They need to take the time to give us some characters that are actually interesting, dynamic, charismatic enough to sway people to this idea. Give it a credible reason to be considered a viable option for the average person to join up as a fanatic.
I don’t actually mind if they reuse the concept as long as they aren’t just throwing bleh characters as villain of the week banking on the concept of Scarlet Crusade with nothing more.
But that’s what they’ve been doing with the Scarlet Crusade and its offshoots since Legion. To quote you, they’re
There’s no dynamic, charismatic characters. No backstories. Just cliche punching backs.
People are getting sick of seeing the Scarlet Crusade, even among those who just want to use them to live out some juvenile power fantasy against religious fanatics. I wonder if it’d help if the writers made a WoW version of ISIS or the Taliban…
The scarlets are nice neutral enemies, holding hatred for all non-humans makes them an easy enemy for them to wheel out against both horde and the alliance. you’re just cut cause you see it as some personal slight against your real world religion
I don’t want the Scarlet Crusade to go away. I feel like they’re the only antagonist group left that’s suitable for the horde to fight, and even that’s kinda shaky with how the faction’s been written over the years. It’s the only thing that really resembles what I found appealing about the horde anymore.
How are they, quote “… the only antagonist group left that’s suitable for the horde to fight?” The Primalists and Druids of the Flame aren’t suitable? The Deflias Brotherhood? The Naga (they’re racist too)? If we can retcon the Scarlets back from extinction, why not the Cult of the Damned too? Coming back from the dead is literally their MO.
That doesn’t make me wrong about the plot holes. Since you want to ignore facts for ad hominem personal attacks, I could just as easily say you’re projecting because you hate that religion and are cut because someone critiqued what you use for juvenile power fantasies against it.
Wth their leadership still in disarray, there remains a suprising number of the Onslaught there. If they want to break themselves on what remains of the Scourge, it’s probably best to simply let them. We have bigger fish to fry.-Muradin
Ignoring the Scarlet Crusade is what let a dreadlord hide in their ranks for so long. -Magni
I am loving Exploring Northrend because this keep proving my points right. Even an ingame view from Magni shows that they consider the Scarlet Crusade/Onslaught as one and the same and the distinction is marginal at best. And considering we are going back to Northrend in a few years, I suspects we will have to deal with them again.
Their continued existence also relies on plot holes. How can they still be around when they’re surrounded by enemies, have no allies, live in a harsh environment, their leadership is in disarray, and they reduced their numbers even further by purging any doubters (who were either killed or left the group)?
