That’s kind of MOP as a whole.
I feel Garrosh turning into a complete villain who revels in his awfulness kinda overshadowed how much the rest of the content really beat both factions over the head over their sins. We drove a zen master temporarily insane with our squabbling and fighting.
Way better faction war story than BFA.
No, it’s not. They were taken into custody for questioning. That’s not a “punishment”. We see many Sunreavers in Dalaran after MoP so presumably they were freed after the questioning was finished.
Taking into custody and questioning someone is not a punishment.
Those who resisted her, she used force. That’s obvious. Anyone would do that.
Her whole life was scarred only 2 months earlier. There is only a 2months gap between Fall of Theramore and Landfall. Then, only 2 months after her entire city was nuked, she got news that a faction within her new city went behind her back to help the very same warmonger who nuked her old city just 2 months earlier.
Not really that difficult to understand where Jaina was coming from.
I still feel like it’s watered down by the fact that people knew going into MoP that Garrosh was going to be the final boss. And if peace treaties weren’t being pulled out of thin air like rabbits from a magician’s hat.
On the whole, I still remember how miserable it felt for me to see Theramore get blown up. The story effectively took the game’s living symbol for “horde races aren’t the monsters they appear to be” and turned her into a perpetual stain in that regard.
It’s also kinda weird how Aethas’s unlaunched content was still held as canonical. I don’t know if any other character gets that treatment - maybe Varian, but I figured he was already high king and the cut trials were just to prove his worthiness in the role.
You know it’s funny, if Aethas knew nothing of the plot, that’s even more damning. It means that he was completely oblivious and clueless about the ins and outs of his own damn organization.
No wonder Aethas wants Jaina’s forgiveness and bought her gift from the trading post. What an incompetent leader. 
There is no winning move.
If she acts cautiously, she is regarded as spineless.
If she acts decisively, she is regarded as a tyrant.
So long as she acts against her enemies-- and the Sunreavers were made into her enemies-- she will be painted in the least favorable light.
Aethas knew. It just wasn’t featured in-game, only in written form. Garrosh’s lackeys basically said “wouldn’t it be a shame if something bad happened to all those blood elves in Silvermoon. Now you keep quiet about this”.
It’s why, in the Isle of Thunder scenarios, when Lor’themar defends him against Jaina’s accusations before the Throne of Thunder entrance, this occurs:
Lady Jaina Proudmoore yells: Your people are legitimate prisoners of war. They orchestrated an attack on Darnasus from MY city–
Lor’themar Theron yells: The Sunreavers knew NOTHING of Garrosh’s raid on Darnassus!
Aethas Sunreaver shifts uncomfortably.
Taran Zhu yells: ENOUGH! There will be no more bloodshed today.
Either that, or he’s feeling bad about knowing about the Focusing Iris theft under very similar circumstances.
Then why do you never see anyone say “Please come to the Violet Hold to help us with our inquiries”?
Two whole months, really? I thought it was more like two days. I’m cutting Jaina a lot less slack now.
Not in advance. He stumbled across the transport while it was in progress.
To be more exact, it was confirmed on twitter, there’s no actual warcraft media showing this happening outside of some datamined scraps from ptr. The actual event was never playable/seen by players though even on the ptr. Which is why it was debated so long.
I love the people saying “how can you do an investigation with sunreavers still in” as if innkeepers, shopkeepers, civillians are all somehow a threat. like genuinly no matter what happened she still had no right to lock up an entire minority. This is just desperation to claim a mentally ill women was somehow in the right for acting irrational.
Aethas, Uther, and Jaina did nothing.
Yet only Aethas is guilty.
Aethas didn’t willfully cause the act.
Did I say that?
He was essentially the get-away driver for the heist.
Arthas is guilty because he carried out the massacre since Uther and Jaina realised it is not right to kill this many people over a simple assumption.
It is less about ‘working with the Alliance’ and more about fulfilling their (Dalaran’s) charter. Part of what the Kirin Tor see as their role in the world is gathering and safeguarding dangerous artifacts so they are not used. The Kirin Tor was not their to ‘help’ the Alliance, they were there to ensure the bell never got used. It just so happened that the Alliance also wanted to ensure it was never used. So, interests aligned.
This is a common misconception. The Sunreavers are not a racial or even just a political group. They are a Military group. Jaina did not purge the city of all Blood Elves, or even all Horde affiliated groups. She kicked out a Military group whose leader and resources were involved in an attack that 1) Violated Dalaran’s neutrality and 2) Went against Dalaran’s stated purpose of preventing dangerous artifacts from being used whey they gave it to Garrosh.
IMO, this is really the only fair complaint against Jaina. Using the Silver Covenant was questionable.
Likely it was because they were the only military group in Dalaran with the forces and power to go toe to toe with the Sunreavers. But it was still problematic. And they should have been kept on a much tighter leash.
If taken fully in isolation I would agree with that. However, IMO, Cata and the pre-patch ruined that.
The problem with MoP story line is it spends the time saying that both the Alliance and Horde were wrong to be fighting because they were doing it for the wrong reason. The theme is you fight to protect only, not because of hate.
The problem is what Cata established. Cata established the Garrosh was the aggressor and that he wanted to destroy the Alliance. Additionally, Theramore showed just how far he was willing to go. Not only that, based on what is shown in game, the Horde was winning. Every single fight between the Horde and Alliance in Cata was either a straight Horde victory or a stalemate. The Horde was gaining ground. Which means it was already established going into MoP that the Alliance was quite literally fighting for its very survival. Which is exactly what MoP was saying was the good reason to fight.
There is a bit of a difference here.
Uther and Jaina did not have command or control over the troops Arthas used. He outranked both of them. They couldn’t stop him. And they did try what they could. They went to the king and convinced him to withdraw the troops. That was a whole plot of a later mission where Arthas burned the ships so the troops could not follow the king’s order to return.
Aethas on the other hand, did have authority over the Sunreaver resources that were used in the attack on Darnassus. He had the power to stop it and choose not to. Yes, he was in a tough position, fearing retribution from Garrosh. But, the fact remains he did have the authority to stop it.
So, you can argue how much blame Aethas has. But, you can’t really compare his situation to Uther/Jaina vs Arthas because the power dynamic is different.
They also broke this neutrality in Theramore before they knew the Focusing Iris was going to be used. Jaina/Rhonin wiped their asses with Dalaran neutrality long before the Divine Bell incident
Execpt it wasen’t was it, It was also shopkeepers bankers, general citisenry. Arresting or purging a political group based on the actions of the few is just the disgusting act of a severely mentally ill women, Jaina needed therapy not the power to circumvent the justice system.
The get-away drivers would be the magi who actually opened the portal to transport the bell. Aethas was just a witness to the get-away who was threatened into keeping quiet.
Aethas was the guy who owned the cars, discovered they were being used as get-away cars by his drivers, and didn’t stop it.
Granted, that’s not the most damning thing against him. Personally, I do feel there is a point to be made for the, “he was intimidated into allowing it to happen,” angle.
No, Aethas’ greatest crime was lying about it, and attempting to cover it up.
No, they’re not. They were required to maintain neutrality.
Who are you thinking of that were allowed to remain?
What’s the car in this analogy? Dalaran? He didn’t own Dalaran. He was, maybe, one of the managers of the garage where the cars were being held.
I appreciate that.
All he had time to say was “This is our city too,” which isn’t a lie or a cover-up. Who knows how the conversation might have gone if Jaina hadn’t ended it right there?
She also outright murdered one of his bodyguards for a point of emphasis.
She was clearly not looking for a discussion or the facts