I think we need to have a more serious discussion about Sylvanas and how some people seem to be comparing her to Garrosh. For this post, I would like to make my case on why Sylvanas is not just another Garrosh, now one thing I do ask is people refrain from making parallels to real life political and personal stuff, can’t stop you, but to me that’s got nothing to do with wow.
So now without further ado, I will get straight into the arguments.
The first point is that Garrosh was your typical example of full blown toxic masculinity, first he called Sylvanas the b word early on, and anyone that compares a female that’s not a worgen to a dog, is extremely sexist and should have been the first warning sign that he wasn’t a good man. Now I am not saying that killing people and raising them undead in the Silverpine Forest was the nicest thing for Forsaken to do, but Sylvanas made a valid point that the Horde’s foothold in the Eastern Kingdom would crumble if she didn’t make that choice, and she was right…there weren’t enough Forsaken to protect the Undercity when the Alliance finally did attack.
The second point also, that everyone seems to be missing, is that typical to many orcs, conquest of new territory and expanding empires was what Garrosh was all about. Sylvanas only ever cared for protecting territory so far as it served her goals, and the goals of the Forsaken loyal to her, at the heart of it, mortal empires like the Horde are nothing to her, and she’s right…the Horde is essentially a group of races allied by convenience and necessity to survive, there were some like Vol’jin that were more idealistic and saw it as ‘family’ and other rubbish but let’s be honest, the Horde is about banding together with people you normally wouldn’t for the sake of mutual survival. That’s why it’s nothing, and we need to be honest with ourselves that any mortal empire is about survival, yet what good is surviving or living at all if you know hell and damnation is all that awaits you in the end because you’ve done something that can’t be forgiven, and there’s no way out? This is perhaps what Sylvanas is trying to free us from.
The third point is that Sylvanas, unlike Garrosh, was not a racist, Garrosh had his perfect vision of this united orc Horde, Sylvanas though doesn’t discriminate between races, never has. She values loyalty to her and that’s it doesn’t matter if you are a Tauren, a blood elf, orc, whatever.
The final point is that for all Garrosh’s disdain and hatred of the Burning Legion because of what happened with his dad, in reality, Garrosh was flirting with powers beyond reckoning, and like his dad before him fell into the trap, the Old God Y’shaarj, much like the Legion, promises people untold power, but anyone with a logical brain knows that the promises of both the Legion and Old God lead to nothing but madness, delusion and an early Final Death. Sylvanas however is much smarter than that, she knows that one has to tread carefully when engaging with higher powers in the universe, she won’t ever be a slave to an Old God, the Legion, the Jailer or anyone else.
The problem with Garrosh is that he was short sighted…he might have had the power for an orcish master race to rule Azeroth, for a time, but in the long-term, his empire would have crumbled to the dust unable to defend itself against death. That’s the point, Sylvanas is wise, and knows that nothing truly lasts, so there is but one choice…
To set us free from this endless cycle of death, to bring us to victory and conquer death for ever. There’s literally nothing worse than living in a universe where you do something bad, and that’s it, you’re damned for eternity. I believe that Sylvanas redemption story is that she will become like the Jesus of wow, and that would be a very empowering message.
Think about it. Seriously…do think about it and consider what I’m saying carefully.
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