Its been bugging me for a while since I started getting back into WOW as to why Sylvanas never tried to recall or save Nathanos during the outbreak in Warcraft 3?
We know he died at his farm in Lordaeron but It bugs me that his Lover wouldnt have atleast tried to save him or recall him to Quel’thalas, Knowing how stubborn he is I imagine he would’ve stayed behind and it would’ve had to have been some kind of rescue mission?
I understand that it might be explained in the Sylvanas book which I ordered in hopes of finding out.
Any answers to this would be awesome thank you in advance everyone!
Also sort of a side question, to those who read the book. How much of the book details their relationship?
I would say part of it comes from the fact that Nathanos did not exist as a character during the events of WC3. And their romance wasn’t really a thing until Legion with the Dark Mirror short story. It was more of a fan pairing based on how you could read Sylvanas’ opinion of him in the record of Farstriders you gather for him during classic.
Also by the time the scourge invaded Quel’thalas, most of Lordaeron had fallen. The world thought the scourge was defeated when Arthas returned home from Northrend. Hence the massive festival for his return, despite ignoring direct orders from his own father to return home sooner.
Oh i totally understand this is the realistic answer, I was more wondering about a Lore reason that has come about later on.
Holy sh*t I totally forgot about that in all honesty, had some stupid mind blank forgetting the greatest cinematic in the game lol.
But still we know in Dark mirror that she visited often and that Nathanos had to “report” to her. So i find it unlikely “Lorewise” That in the months between Stratholme and Arthas’ return she wasnt notified nor did she call for him to return to Quel’thalas.
What do you think?
After Stratholme the world also thought the scourge was defeated, at least in Lordaeron. Given that their main necromancer and leader of the cult of the damned (Kel’thuzad) was dead and Mal’ganis (whom was posing as the leader of the scourge) ran away. Obviously Medivh knew otherwise and on some level Jaina knew too. After all, Jaina sensed going to Northrend was a trap. And she was proven correct.
There is also the fact that Quel’thalas for the most part didn’t want to be involved with Lordaeron affairs following the second war. There were a few High Elves that felt otherwise, and these made the bulk of those that would either follow Arthas to Northrend or Jaina to Kalimdor. I don’t think we know how Sylvanas viewed Quel’thalas’ departure from the Alliance of Lordaeron though.
There probably was a small timeframe between the scourge relaunching their offensive in Lordaeron and the invasion of Quel’thalas for Sylvanas to recall Nathanos but when you have an army that does not require food, water and rest. While growing exponentially, it would have been a small time. Hell most of Silvermoon did not know the Scourge was invading. Hence why Sylvanas needed to send runners to try and warn them about the invasion.
Well thank you so much for your replies!
I really appreciate it, tried posting this to one of the subreddits and it kept getting removed so I was quite lost lol.
I hope one day when Sylvie and Nathanos make their return its fleshed out some more, and or the Sylvanas novel has the answers im looking for.
Thanks again.
Lor’themar was still single at the time.
Every unattached female elf with a nametag in WoW has wanted a piece of the Regent Lord.
But in all seriousness, it’s easy to figure that there was a very real assumption that Nathanos was likely already dead or otherwise not in a position to be rescued. And at the time, Sylvanas (and the rest of Silvermoon) had more pressing matters to deal with.
I dont believe the two of them ever had feelings for another and if they did it was one sided, as we know Sylvanas fawned all over Nathanos after her save Lor’themar and Sylvanas from the Amani on his way to Silvermoon before the horde attacked Quel’thalas. I cant remember what book thats from but ill find the quote later if you want.
TLDR i dont think Sylvanas liked Lor’themar romantically.
In dark mirror Ranger Anya tells Nathanos that as soon as she had the chance she scoured the plague lands for him immediately. It’s likely Anya was one of the two rangers who fired at Nathanos to knock him down, so she would know.
With Sylvanas clearly loving him and needing to find him. I find the lore oversight of her not trying to save him in Lordaeron or atleast having him in Quel’thalas during the invasion so very out of character of her.
It was a joke. Spawned from, as I mentioned, the three main unattached named female elves in WoW at one point in time flirting with or actively romantically pursuing Lor’themar.
You have Liandrin actively rusting her armor over him.
The hilarious SoO banter from Sylvanas after the Galakras fight being disappointed Lor’themar didn’t die because he “would make a very attractive corpse.” (especially combined with the extensive background the two have together prior to Nathanos’ introduction into the franchise).
And we know how the whole Thalyssra situation ended
I think we can both agree the only thing wrong with Lor’themar and Thalyssra is that we didnt get to attend their wedding and we dont see enough of them.
I need more wow couples actually being lovey dovey.
FFS GIVE ME BACK ROHNIN! I WILL SEE VEREESA SMILE AGAIN IF ITS LAST THING I DO!
We have an entire quest chain about helping hook up centaur Romeo and Juliet we met 5 minutes ago. But when two literal leaders of our faction and major heads of state on the planet (with whom we’ve been fighting along side of and helping liberate their people for years) tie the knot, we don’t get to see it?
WTF Blizz?
On a side note, shouts out to Grand Magister Rommath for being the best wingman in the game
First Arcanist: It was an honor, Lor’themar. I am relieved the war is finally over. Now you have no excuse to refuse my invitation to visit Suramar. Lor’themar: Well, uh… I have been away from Silvermoon for some time. No doubt my people require– First Arcanist: Halduron has assured me that Quel’Thalas is quite secure. And Rommath said that if you put up a fuss, he will teleport you to the Nighthold himself.
Not all heroes wear capes, but Rommath deserves one.
I must’ve completely ignored this quest lol dont even remember it.
Rommath deserves a model update. He has the best angry lines in the game and even had the balls to tell Alleria Windrunner to not touch the Sunwell.
Dude has one purpose and that is to grumpily rebuild Quel’thalas. I love him.
all of vanilla wow she was trying to assist in getting to EPL to save him, but there were Scarlet Crusade and Argent Dawn in her way and she had to get through them first. She also didn’t know if he survived or not
The Sylvanas novel not only confirms that she spent years trying to find him but she also spent a while trying to rehabilitate him. She never gave up on him.
It also came across like the fall of Lordaeron happened very quickly, such that the outside world didn’t find out what was going on until it was too late, so Arthas’ taking of the capital and surrounding region probably coincided with Scourge and Cultist enclaves hiding throughout the back country and the forests striking at the same time to prevent information spreading quickly enough for the rest of Lordaeron to consolidate a proper unified response or their allies to come to their aid.
Arguably even Garithos’ and Alexandros’ forces may have only managed to resist as long as they did because the joint Alliance task forces and the Silver Hand were already mobilized from chasing the orcs and could operate semi-independently from Lordaeron’s own standing armies, which had likely been told to stand down and go home with the recent news of Arthas’ (supposed) victory against the Scourge.
My question was more about Warcraft timeline before they were both dead. As I said in my other replies I always found it strange looking back now that she never tried to save him.
Also thank you so much for this, I’m really glad I ordered the novel if this is the case. If you’ve read it, is much of their love story covered in the novel?
A lot. It confirms them as true love and establishes their relationship before she becomes Ranger General. It’s a very good book if you’re a Sylvanas x Nathanos shipper.
THANK GOD.
The whole reason I bought the book was for that and there is no more material I can really find.
I started playing wow back in 2013 and I really liked Sylvanas although I was only a kid then and didn’t get it. But I always wondered why she didn’t have a lover to look after her.
And when I returned to the game this year seeing that the fan theories about Nathanos were true, I was quite happy I hope we get to see more of her playful side that was in Dark mirror.
I can definitely see Sylvie as the teasing type.
Yeah, Before the Storm and Shadows Rising. Shadows Rising is really good because it’s in Nathanos’ PoV so you reallly understand the love he has for Sylvanas.
I wanted to read it, but when I finally caught up on the lore and saw how their last interaction went I was really really sad.
Poor Nathan when the only thing he cared about in the world told him to get lost he went back to his broken and destroyed home.
