Covering it up sounds like he’s intentionally doing it for the Horde’s benefit. To me, at least.
Well, apparently Arator is living in Silvermoon City, and may even be seen as attractive to some of the elves therein, according to Alleria’s short story. I don’t know if Arator’s surname is canonically Windrunner. It’s not as if Turalyon’s surname has ever been revealed. Or maybe it has and I missed it. Regardless, if Arator Windrunner is a popular figure within Quel’Thalas, I think Anasterian’s dismissive reaction to the death of the Ranger-General and her husband could prove to be bad publicity.
Granted it doesn’t get much worse than what Kael’thas ended up doing to the Sunstrider name anyways.
Perhaps, but in my mind I framed it in a different perspective. According to old novels, like Arthas, whilst Anasterian ruled, VERY few outsiders were allowed in Quel’Thalas. It wasn’t as if humans and dwarves and gnomes were just freely wandering around the High Elves’ ancient homeland.
As an isolationist, allowing ANY races to brazenly waltz through those territories feels like something he’d frown on. That the Horde had races with a history of attempted genocide against the elves would only make that worse. It’s a plot point that Blizzard DOESN’T explore for obvious reasons, but I have to figure SOME of the Forsaken once literally tore apart Quel’Thalas while under the Lich King’s control. While the Elves can absolutely handwave that, it has to be at least a LITTLE weird that they’re sitting at the same table with the faces that ripped apart their families and tore down their cities and temples.
I mean, you’d think some Orcs would recognize Forsaken from their time in the Internment Camps.
The Forsaken’s antagonistic role against the Horde in the past really has been swept under the rug.
To me, this seems like a retcon of Anasterian’s original personality. He was always flawed and morally compromised. He all but back pedaled on a blood oath. That said, his flaws were all focused on what was best for his people, which I liked. It’s what made Kael’thas originally such an interesting character: making bad choices for his people’s welfare.
In another timeline, Alleria would’ve been a Blood Elf, and used fel magic instead of void magic to hunt down the Scourge and slaughter the enemies of Quel’Thalas with the sort of ferocity that would’ve put the likes of Garrosh Hellscream to shame. She was always depicted as a very ruthless person. I mean, in the Second War she drank the blood of orcs, if I’m recalling some tidbit from a novel correctly.
That said, I don’t think any of the Windrunners are exactly paragons of virtue and morality. Maybe Lirath could’ve been, but even he seems like he’d have just wound up a socialite and a hedonist.