OP, This ^^^ She did these things of her own free will. She believed the story the Jailer told her.
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So she was just an idiot, then? And we spent these past few expansions focusing on an idiot, why?
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It’s a special kind of logic.
Garrosh is corrupted by an old god. Everything he did was his fault.
Anduin is posessed by the games worst Villain. Nothing he did was his fault.
Jaina attempted to commit actual genocide in Orgrimmar with an army of Water Elementals. Nothing she did was her fault.
Sylvanas is “soul split” like Amber Heard so nothing is actually her fault and she’s a victim.
Uther is “soul split” like Amber Heard so everything he did is his fault, and he’s kept in chains for a patch… until everyone just kind of forgets about it.
Arthas was the victim of an intergalactic cosmic plot to get him to be bad, in a multi-millennium spanning ultimate act of entrapment involving demon vampire demigods and everything he did is his fault.
and never forget, you murdered VanCleef because someone decided he was the bad guy.
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Both Sylvanas and Arthas did it on purpose as much as people disagree they had their own toughs. This thing what they did with Sylvanas in shadowlands is borderline stupid retcon. As much as I hate whining Anduin, that little disgrace to wrynn family that has no idea if he wants to be a man or whatever, he was controlled , by putting Arthas inside him to get domination. So yea Anduin did not choose to play with them he was forced from day one. Big difference
Dude remember these words
“Hold, lad. There’s an inscription on the dais. It’s a warning. It says, “Whomsoever takes up this blade shall wield power eternal. Just as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit.” Oh, I should’ve known. The blade is cursed! Let’s get the hell out of here!”
And Arthas gladly accepted it
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What
The rest of that is just the usual GD “I paid attention to the memes and nothing else, here is my professional judgement of the story”
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Yeah, it was in evidence.
She was stabbed with a rune-blade while filming Aquaman so nothing was her fault.
You didn’t catch that?
It is special, it seems.
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I love that gif.
Nope… Willing participant.
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He did have the other half of her soul but the way it’s presented in-game she didn’t know about that and was simply duped.
It’s why when she betrayed him he just restored her soul, hoping the other half would be tormented over her actions and put her entirely out of commission. He really had nothing else on her to force her into doing anything as a sort of “gun to the head”.
Being manipulated doesn’t make her an idiot as the right kind of manipulation can work on just about anybody. On top of that I imagine the threat the Jailer was talking about is real, and it’s probably the void lords we already know about.
Of course I’m sure when we beat the void lords we’ll learn they only did what they did because of some even greater threat, because that’s just apparently how Warcraft villains work now.
My understanding is that the soul splitting is only a vehicle through which she is able to reconsider her actions. It would be like baby Hitler merging with dictator Hitler and then telling himself off during their internal struggle. At least, that’s the way Uther explains it. Sort of…?
But it’s not like soul splitting someone necessarily turns them evil, or otherwise makes them more susceptible to mind control.
Otherwise, Sylvanas would have a pretty legitimate “the Jailer made me do it” claim. But fortunately, that’s not the card she’s playing.
Anduin is going towards abdicating anyways. We’re going to be stuck with turalyon and light kingdom 9000.
So if it was “the right kind of manipulation” that “can work on anybody” how is she to fully to blame?
Well, if deep down Zovaal and Sylvanas were doing the right thing, even if it was just in their own minds, then I’d say justice certainly very much was not served.
Or some council, as it seems to be going toward “councils” these days, the Horde, Revendreth…
When do we, as denizens of Azeroth, actually get to vote for our leaders?
Because being manipulated doesn’t absolve you of crimes.
That seem suggested, yes.
This is why Bluether is the one to bring her around. Uther’s soul being split is what lead to Arthas’ soul being irreparably damaged when Uther took his ‘justice’. Sylvanas was retconned in the same way and that lead her to harboring resentment for life which finally manifested itself in the destruction she wrought against Teldrassil. The retcon means that throughout all the time we’ve known her in game Sylvanas would’ve been struggling with her contempt for life.
The thing which I personally thought they could’ve handled with more care is her words toward Arthas’ soul. It’s reasonable in context, but the playerbase (including me) have a genuine fondness for Arthas and kinda view him as somewhat removed from the identity of The Lich King.
Yeah, it’s been repeated to death here but don’t forget that Sylvanas has done a lot worse than Anduin and deserves every single second in the Maw. Would say the same for Arthas if he had been judged correctly.
Sylvanas was manipulated but made the choices she made of her own free will. She chose to believe the Jailer’s words, she chose to feed him anima in the Maw, she chose to force the domination magic on Anduin. Each step of her journey was a choice that she made.
Anduin, however, was dominated. He was completely operating at the will of someone else. But of course as with just about anything, power is a corruptive force on its own. And being forced to fight with that crazy amount of conflicting power (both Light and Death in his fight) he had a taste for what it was like to be powerful, and that scares him because it was while he was actively trying to kill people. Throughout his fight, he talks about feeling himself slipping away or losing control. The way I took the latest cinematic was that he doesn’t have an answer for whether the Jailer made him enjoy fighting to kill or if he actually liked it himself. We’ve also seen some Shadow influence back in the 8.3 cinematic, and that happened after he punched Wrathion.
Basically: Sylvanas was in control every step of the way, barring her split soul which may have clouded her judgment. Anduin was controlled, but he’s evidently begun to experience something opposite his pacifism that he’s grown up with, and he isn’t sure if he’s the same person anymore after that.
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That depends, both in theory and in practice.