I just made my point…I said it a few times. And others have as well in your thread and this thread…
I am not going to be obtuse like you - I see you made your point. And it is mere extrapolation, guesses, and theory on the writers intent.
While I quoted the simple line the word appears in as Anduin’s reflection.
What more needs to be said on my part? We both linked the exact phrase enough times. If you want to pass off some half baked theory of yours as gospel - when Anduin’s perspective is clearly being described, thats your bag.
The bag that’s currently counted as canon on Wowpedia. It’s not some half-baked theory I even came up with, it was established long before I made my lore compilation guide for those novellas; I simply reiterated.
But if that’s that, I’ll let my argument for it stand.
No, it wasn’t a genocide. Going by real world comparisons, Hiroshima and Nagasaki aren’t considered genocides. People just like to use the word genocide because they know it toasts peoples almonds and makes them pissy at Sylvanas.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are both considered military targets, as they were industrial centers. Using RL examples is pretty pointless, as there’s no example or even means of setting an entire nation on fire.
It wasn’t just the capital city. It was the capital city and hundreds of square miles around it (Teldrassil is enormous and has dozens of villages and towns upon it) PLUS the population of Ashenvale and Darkshore, which are the two regions where the majority of Night elves live in.
You are warping it. By Italicising some parts and bolding other parts you are breaking up a continuous passage and arbitrarily saying there is a perspective shift when there isn’t. The whole passage is a narration of Anduin’s point of view. Not just the section you posted, but the entire section from the asterisks to the end of the passage. It’s third person, but its not third person omniscient, it’s third person limited.
Darnassus was the capital city. The official art of Teldrassil shows that it was so big the canopy could probably pass for a valley, and the entire length of the tree was inhabited.
The Holocaust is still considered a series of acts of genocide despite the fact that the Jewish People still exist. Ashenvale was virtually depopulated of elves and so was Darkshore, not to mention that there were no survivors of anyone in Teldrassil that wasn’t in the capital city.
Split hairs as much as you want, but the Night Elves took a population hit of the like not seen since the War of Ancients and the Sundering…
Unless you wish to escalate the conflict into a total war scenario with stakes being extermination, destroying significant land masses and potentially large portions of the non-combatant populace might not be the best idea.
From a narrative standpoint, it makes blizzard’s eventual walk back to absolving the horde much harder to agree with from the perspectives of characters in universe.
It also splinters the Horde’s cohesion, beginning the process of fragmentation as demonstrated by Saurfang and Okd Soldier.
Finally, it did not break the spirit of the Night elves.
I would imagine it had something to do with the fact that the Night Elves were utterly defeated, their leadership had surrendered andfled–and Teldrassil was full of non-combatants and children.
‘Legitimate’ is an evaluative term, certainly it wasn’t legitimate per the standards of real international law–nor am I particularly compelled by the reasoning she used to confuse a senile war-criminal, or to justify the titular act. Both would be considered illegal and grotesque by any international, legal authority, or person of fundamental human dignity.
Not analogous in scale. A line was opened in the Alliance forces specifically to assist evacuation, whereas Sylvanas went out of her way to maximize civilian casualties.
To not even get into the comparative details of context or motivation. Because, let’s be real–you’re comparing Camp Taurajo to Teldrassil, and for purpose of using a tu quoque to deflect–I lack the time and resolve to work through all the interwoven fictions in the absurd narrative wherein The Horde are just the pragmaticTM victims of Alliance bullying.
It’s evaluating in-universe standards for a term you described as evaluative.
I have no intention of discussing the details of the battles. My intention was clarifying the parameters of what constitutes “legitimate”. I thought that was your goal as well.
edit: If it helps, I could have just stated that the iuniverse standards for what is a legitimate target doesn’t match our modern, 1st world standards. But that would have just lead us to where we’re at now.