#notmy …

I’m about to express what will probably be a fairly unpopular opinion, but my experience in the War of Thorns and the Battle of Lorderon Scenario have started to annoy me, and not at Alliance players but at Horde. I get the Sylvanas hate, but after years as a Horde Icon, as far as I am concerned the Alliance can keep Saurfang. Bugger the whole #notmywarcheif things, and be damned with unequipping my shoulders, as far as I’m concerned its #notmyhighoverlord all the way after the betrayal of the Horde that is Saurfangs actions.

Now, do I think that the War of the Thorns was necessary? No. Do I think that there was justification behind the war and the Horde had some reasonable basis in starting it? Yes, some. Did I agree with burning Darnashes*? No. Was it necessary? I don’t know.

I will be honest as a  person I hate what Sylvanas is up to, as a member of the Horde I can understand the reasoning, I mean people like Genn Greymane can’t be trusted to maintain the peace so trying to secure Kalimdor makes sense, even if things went a little far ( and lets be honest, to the night elf population losing Auberdine or Astranar which have been occupied for thousands of years should hurt more than Darnassus which is what .. 15? 20 years old?) , but I digress, what offends me on every level is the actions of Saurfang, and the growing hero worship he appears to be receiving.

What do I know? I know as both a person and a member of the Horde that Saurfang dropped the ball in Darkshore. He didn’t finish the job, Malfurion and Tyrande escaped. This left half of the objective of the campaign unfilled and as a result we saw the world tree burn. Lets be objective, we saw the video clip, but the clip isn’t proof that Sylvanas had already made up her mind, just that she thought it was worth torturing the night elf with the sight of it. What this means is that despite seeming to be Bat***t crazy, by burning the World Tree Sylvanas was doing about the only thing possible to complete her objective – even if we can see it as complete overkill. Then again while we know that Mia Greymane and a number of high ranked elves were still there and would have worked as hostages against aggression, there is no way Sylvanas would have known that.

Moving on though from the tree burning we are then presented with several views of Saurfang in Lorderon. First on the Old Soldier cinematic where he attempts to go out fighting one v one against the Alliance army, then fighting with the Horde against the army in the intro clip, and then the whole mess of what is the Lorderon Scenario, where he is in Orgrimmar, then in the bowels of the city evacuating refugees, then sending us out the gate to attack.  Here is where my real problem with Saurfang comes in. He find out what Sylvanas is about to do. Whilst I can agree with Sylvanas, I mean hey, if I wanted to protect my people and cripple the enemy I would turn my city into a trap, she should be applauded for this. Nevertheless Saurfang doesn’t like what Sylvanas is about to do in Lorderon, while Sylvanas is doing what needs doing at this stage to protect the Horde, Saurfang can’t agree with her actions and so abandons his post, tries to die fighting against the Alliance leadership and then surrenders to them when defeated. To top this off when we come across him when breaking into the stockades he refuses to leave with us, refusing to return to the Horde and the people who have always respected him and looked at him as a leader. So that’s it? The vaunted, honorable, so daunting Saurfang just walks away when things get to tough? His actions spit on the memories of two of the Hordes heroes that I admire the most – Cairne Bloodhoof and Vol’jin. So that is it, I’m done with Saurfang. When the Banshgee Queen topples** , if Saurfang is looked to replace her as Warchief, I will be the most disappointed with Blizzard that I have been since Cairne’s death and Garrosh’s appointment, because as of now as far as I am concerned, Saurfang no longer represents what it means to be Horde.

I’m not a fan of Garrosh. Never have been. Hated him from the moment we came across his self-pitying, whiney self during The Burning Crusade in Outlands, and his elevation to overseeing the campaign in Northrend, and then to Warchief always struck me as terribly wrong for his personality. As a player and a member of the Horde I hated him, which was great for Blizzards storytelling and the end they had in store for Garrosh.

But lets focus on Cairne Bloodhoof for a minute, here we have this ancient Tauren,  well over a century in age with who knows how long ahead of him. For him the Horde was very new, and (relatively speaking) something he had lived without for years, but Thrall had shown him a new way to live and the few decade or so he was part of the Horde created something new in him, a love of the unity and kinship the Horde brought. Then the elements started playing up Thrall left Garrosh in charge despite of many objections and soon the Horde found itself on a path to war. When it sounded like Garrosh had organised the murder of an old comrade, Cairne was done with waiting, he acted to protect the Horde, and whilst he would undoubtedly have beaten Garrosh was undone by the conniving of the Grimtotem Matriach. What I am getting at here is that Cairne didn’t just walk away or abandon the Horde when things didn’t go the way he though they should. He acted, and while his actions were not successful he did what was right for the Horde as he saw it.

Now while I loathe the Earthern Ring for dealing with Magatha Grimtotem I will bide my time and savor the moment that we can deal properly with her treachery.

Then we have Vol’jin, whilst he wasn’t overly concerned with a war against the Alliance he didn’t like seeing Cairne die and that put his awareness of Garrosh on a higher footing, and as Garrosh started to pressure the Horde and alienate certain Horde Species Vol’jin made his place known, directly threatening Garrosh – which wasn’t the brightest idea as the Warchief then tried to have him assassinated. At which point Vol’jin is left dying from horrendous wounds which only healed due to intervention by the Monks of Pandaria. Does Vol’jin disappear? Does Vol’jin walk away? No. Vol’jin comes back, plants himself in the Echo Isles and calls on those who believe in the Horde to join him in deposing the Warchief.  Admittedly it was a coup, but in essence Vol’jin never abandoned the Horde, just forced a change on its leadership.

Vol’jins return saw a return of ideals similar to that of Thrall but with a more clearly defined focus of the Horde and Alliance as separate entities (or at least that is how I saw it), and while they had contentions they could as needed work together. Vol’jins loss though was a huge blow to the Horde, and always (to me) smacked of Alliance favoritism.***. In any event Vol’jin dies and based on the guiding factors he used all his life appoints Sylvanas as the Warchief. From the Moment Thrall rescued his people til the day he died Vol’jin lived and breathed for the Horde.

Which brings me back full circle to Saurfang. Now the players, like characters like Eitrigg, Baine and many others don’t have all the facts. Saurfang though knows possibly more about what Sylvanas is up to than anyone outside of the Dark Lady and her Champion.  Yet when he fouls up in Darkshore he squarely blames the Warchief (admittedly there is some reason) , and then when he doesn’t agree with her tactic in the Undercity finally gives in, then refuses to return to the Horde and renounces all that he was. Considering we have always seen him as a strong leader and a character who would do what is right, his sudden passivity and abandonment do more than just sting, they insult the memory of those who have fought for the Horde as Thrall and Vol’jin, and he abandons those that most look to him for leadership. So as far as I am concerned the Alliance may as well have him killed, he won’t have my trust or loyalty again. #notmyhighoverlord #shouldersremainwheretheyare

For now we find ourselves hoping that Baine, Lorthremar, Eitrigg and Rokhan can successfully weather Sylvanas and bring things around (because lets be honest we don’t need to lose another Horde leader)., and lets hope they do, because from day go she has been an incredible character who has always had a dark side, even if she wasn’t always visibly evil. After being rejected by those that had once been loved ones, finding a home in the midst of former enemies, defeating her nemesis (Arthas) and seeing her people forced to conquer Gilneas by Garrosh, and then losing her first hope at redemption/savior for her people at the hands of the Gilnean Leader it is more than time I think that we see something positive come out of all the actions that Sylvanas has taken since becoming the Banshee Queen.

As I said when I started, I am not talking about whether I agree or disagree with the actions of Sylvanas. What I am doing is venting steam over Saurfangs actions and the reaction that most of the Horde base seem to have had towards it – agree with me or not, it is up to you! For those of you that are Horde know this, I may not be adverse to toppling our leaders when the situation calls for it, but I will never abandon the Horde!

Lok’tar Ogar! For The Horde!

Sorry for the wall of text, I needed to vent, I’ll see you all in Zandalar or Kul Tiras if you are lucky 🙂

*Yes, I know I said Darnashes, I couldn’t help myself. It has become a habit from when one of those of our Alliance sister guild comes online and complains.

**I am sure she will because lets face it the Blizzard team isn’t too overly creative with their writing or else we would have seen Malygos  redeemed and not killed, and a better development of Garrosh so that people were torn about his actions rather than hating him from the get go.

*** We are being honest right? By this time the Horde Have lost (i.e. have had killed)  Cairne, Garrosh and Vol’jin. At this stage the Alliance have lost a single leader – Varian. If we look at lore figures then the horde have lost even more with figures like Kargath, Kael’thas, Zul’jin and more all being thrown to the raid machine. Up until this time the only figures of note that the Alliance “lost” were Bolvar Fordragon (not really dead yet) and the Achbishop Bennedictus .. in game no other hugely major Alliance lore character has died.