I have a story concept for you.
So, our protagonist has just been through a lot over the past few years, when some jerks break into our protagonist’s home for pretty flimsy reasons, beat them up, kill something dear to them, and take something of theirs. This protagonist gets up, dramatically obtains a great power from the past, and then uses it to get revenge.
By now the vague trick that I pulled is probably obvious. I’m alluding to the plot of John Wick, but I could be alluding to what Blizzard could be doing with Tyrande. The title sort of gives me away there and I’m not going to pretend that it doesn’t. But before this gets too terribly obvious, let me explain.
Many Night Elf fans, including myself, have worried that Tyrande is on a bullet train to raid boss status. The Night Warrior is framed as a dark power. Shandris begs Tyrande to let go of its rage. We have characters in Ardenweald suggesting that it will eventually kill Tyrande, or else somehow she will have to split or give up that power. Anduin declares that she’s consumed by vengeance just as we are going into an expansion that, if the Afterlives: Uther short is any indication, will heavily press on themes having to do with when justice becomes vengeance. With the reminder that Blizzard usually adopts… odd stances and calls them “moral”, we have on top of this: cinematics that are delving further into Sylvanas’s motivations, having her talking semi-cordially with Anduin, looking more likeable, and looking less like a villain. Finally, it’s Tyrande - the character who exists to be wrong, and who had a mild impulsive streak in Warcraft 3 transmogrified into her signature trait come MOP and Legion.
I mixed in a few elements having to do with Blizzard’s history, but a few of them have a theme - Tyrande is being framed as one might frame a villain, and this is causing members of my community to be a bit… concerned. I’m making this post to highlight one possible direction that Blizzard MAY be going with this - not to give them the benefit of the doubt or to assert that I know what Blizzard WILL do, but to give some credence to an argument as to where they MIGHT be going in hopes of making this conversation feel a little more balanced.
For this, I want to reference the Savage Books video (which can be accessed on Youtube - content warning for language) entitled *John Wick: Writing a Terrifying Protagonist", which examines how the movie uses a common framing device, typically used to hype up villains instead to hype up the protagonist. We already have some shades of this very thing in Warcraft, such as when Maiev explains the power of the Night Warrior as she and Shandris search for an ominously missing Tyrande. The sledgehammer scene was the ritual itself. The quest materials themselves further take on a somewhat darker tone that’s intended to give off a feeling of grisly determination.
Does it perfectly do this? No, Nathanos in particular screws with it, but the attempt was there, and that attempt is further reflected in the Terror of Darkshore cinematic, which, while it emphasizes Malfurion, does present the Night Warrior in the center of the frame.
The framing of Tyrande as a dark and potentially villainous presence continues in the BFA epilogue of course with her appearance in the Alliance embassy and
her statement that she won’t sign a peace treaty unless it’s in the Banshee’s blood. For the next bit I’m going to note that while most of her focus is on Sylvanas - that’s not where ALL of her focus is on. She does mention that it doesn’t matter who rides the “beast” if it will still bite.
The other point I will mention is that Lor’themar in Shadowlands has already expressed worry about the possibility of Tyrande turning her focus onto the Horde. Is this the scene from John Wick that Savage Books analyzed? No, but the concert of these elements trends in a similar direction.
I mention the latter two points because yes, it is possible for Sylvanas to be redeemed, and for Tyrande to still carry out this arc in some fashion. Blizzard has already said that the faction conflict is not “over”. Ion said this specifically during an interview, citing in particular what he did, yes, refer to as a genocide of the Night Elven people, which, while I’m on the subject - is a matter that they left a lot of wiggle room for in terms of the number of survivors. Elegy paints a picture of a very successful evacuation, and a mostly-intact military.
Is this a prediction? Or a reason to trust that Blizzard will take this route? No, it’s a possibility. But I do want to raise it to give us something other than cynicism and gloom to contemplate.