Powerful moment for Sylvanas. You can tell from the look on her face that she never thought anyone could trust her that much. She's completely stunned for hours, trying to wrap her mind around what just happened. Then at the funeral she seems to decide that the Horde, not just the Forsaken, is worth fighting for. In that moment you see a bit of the ranger she was before Arthas killed her. Then Blizzard decided she was the next Garrosh, and killed her character deader than the Lich King did.
Literally the alliance should’ve attacked lordaeron first and then she could’ve attacked teldrassil as a retaliation then she could’ve gotten the recognition she Deserves
Fuck, I know this is 9 months ago, but this is so fucking true. Sylvnas' character had obviously been developed for something like this since the beginning. The whole BFA/Shadowlands bullshit was never where her story was going. Re-watching these old vids, I feel so sorry for the squandered storytelling potential with her as warchief.
Dude when she just stands there, this shit brings on tears every time. Too bad the writers took her in the direction they did, there was such incredible potential. Hail Sylvanas.
The new writers lacked the understanding of the horde faction, many plot holes poorly written characters and scenes. They could have had voljin fight with varian below in the legion pit and die together and then the game turns into civil war between Jaina who wants the horde off the map and sylvans who wants immortality… but the writers are not fair nor balanced the scenes between the 2 factions
Look on the alliance Side of the whole plot. Why does Jana get evil in the moment garrosh falls and tells Varian to dismantle the horde? Look it up she helped Thrall and she understands the horde better than anyone else. Even better is the plot twist of arthas in Shadowland...
@@Pappaelron although I agree 100% that the plot has been very inconsistent (to say the least), Jaina had a reason for being bitter with the Horde "all of a sudden" despite her benevolent history with the Horde. And the reason is the siege of dalaran. Look it up if you don't remember why it happened.
1:28 the way she just stared at him, standing in the exact same place as he says his final words, as he dies, as they’re taking him away, and at the empty throne, I feel like it’s a rare moment where her character shows raw emotion. She’s speechless, unable to move, and her thoughts are likely very scattered. I love this cinematic.
Right, with everyone pissed off at Sylvanas for burning the tree, now those words sound really prophetical. Let's trust Vol was right. For the Banshee Queen!
I agree. The direction that they took with Sylvannas was poor. I was hoping it would show that Sylvannas would make a great WarChief instead of as a traitor.
@@christianziphone A bit late here but the Alliance were the aggressors throughout this storyline. When Sylvanas sent Goblins to collect azerite, it was the Alliance that attacked first because they didn't want the Horde to have their hands on it. On paper, the Alliance pushed and prodded every step of the way (dating back to Genn Greymane's soldiers breaking a peace treaty early on in Legion). It just doesn't seem so from a cinematic perspective because the writing just simply isn't there, it's sloppy. The story would have been much better if Jaina succumbed to arcane corruption and bombed Orgrimmar in retaliation to the destruction of Theramore, which is what was supposed to happen. There were leaked audio files of her voice lines which display exactly that back then. Blizzard pussied out of a great story and instead diluted Jaina's character by turning her into a short-sighted individual. Look at when she pushes Varian to end the Horde when Vol'jin was crowned Warchief. That was honestly a pathetic, downgraded version of their original intent and it really damaged her as a character imo. Aside from some lackluster expansions content-wise, this really was the turning point for terribly story-telling by Blizzard. Jaina's corruption and influence in the Alliance would have completely set the path for Sylvanas being justified in every difficult decision she's made since. Instead, they watered down the Alliance's aggressiveness as much as possible to preserve the "good guy" mentality. Fast forward to current events, everything they've done with Sylvanas in cinematics is completely on point and in line with her character, but she's constantly misused throughout the actual gameplay. The Alliance is immune to corrupt/evil leadership while the Horde has been subjected to it for multiple expansions, so they can have another rebellion so the Horde players feel justified in the end as the Alliance players get fed super basic good-aligned heroes. This is why people laughed at Blizzard for saying Sylvanas is morally grey, even though she really is. They just don't see the bigger picture because their knowledge of lore is based off the cinematic experience and the handful of questlines they actually pay attention to, which are always biased for whichever faction you're playing.
Imagine if you will, a reluctant new war chief. Who always fought for herself, now in charge of everyone else. Thrust into the limelight: only her cunning and ruthlessness being tools for carrying the Horde through the horrors of the Burning Legion. That was a great story arc for the character. What a bloody shame all the writing that came after that, with BFA and Shadowlands effectively working together to sap all the good will, momentum, and interesting story beats out of that one moment they so perfectly cultivated. It's like if Mona Lisa retroactively had shit smeared all over it.
Holy shit.. Blizzard kept these cutscenes from even us closed beta players. I legit just teared up when Vol'jin died. Now I have further motivation to take the Legion down!
Sourfang wanted to go against her from the start. he was the most demoralizing horde member. Yes, Sylvanas did bad things, horrible even, but when I have seen trailer for defending the undercity and she said "For the horde" and he ran all enthusiastic and when he had his little chat with that troll kid and decided that he will fight....then the real game starts and he refuses to fight as soon as the game starts, becomes depressing and surrenders himself. Later as he explains to Anduin " What Sylvanas really is" its more like he is projecting. Sure, she was horrible but she is in no way another Guldan. No matter how bad she is, her ideals are different from Guldans, he sounded like he wanted an excuse. She didnt want to even fight him, he insisted on it. Sylvanas did many bad and inexcusable things but her reasoning was different. If you want to face an opponnent, understand them first. She craved no power, she just wanted to fill up the maw for some reason. Also I think that a servant of light should go with the Naru, not be brainwashed to serve the fake angels or anywhere a soulless construct deems they should be. Afterlife wasnt supposed to be this way, they highjacked it and started playing gods.
Yep. An undead elf now leads the horde consisting of Orcs, Tauren and Trolls, Ogre etc...yeah. Right. That's the first thing which comes into my mind: Undead elves, when I think about Horde. Fuck this story arc...hopefully we don't have to deal with this shit too much.
+Keydiam I see it as the only option. No one in the Horde left to lead it but her. She not the best but she is suitable. I know she a undead bitch but gonna accept she's the only one who can lead. Baine, Lothemar, Gallywix... They are not suited
Lothemar definitely can, but he wasn't chosen. I doubt he would have wanted to be the Warchief, unless he's forced to. I was hopping Vol'jin faked his death or something, but looks like he's truly dead. 3 brothers formed the Horde, only 1 left alive. Goel must feel like shit right now.
+MasterX25 Lother mar will reject the position immediately and Vol jin knows Lother mar will reject it due to the weight of being warchief. Thrall is already in deep shit, the doom hammer is not his but ours. hahahahaha
August The Magic King Blizzard simply fails to create new characters...and when they do, they kill them off after a few expansions (Nazgrim and Taylor). But, oh well. Now Sylvanas has one of the biggest meat shield in Azeroth and can go on with her plans of eternal unliving which she does in Stormheim, which obviously doesn't make any sense for warriors as the serve Odyn and would kill the Valk'yr which made a pact with Sylvanas.
Baine is too young for Warchief, he is unexperienced and this is not a normal fight, this is a planetary invasion of demons I wouldn't put a noob for leading the Horde in times like these. Also, Sylvanas was ranger general of Quelthalas armies when she was alive. She's the best fitting role for warchief right now. The horde needs a military strategist who can hurt the Legion's lines.
While you have good aurgement Agustin, wouldn't Lor'themar be as good leader? He have been leader, probably just as long as Sylvanas? Wouldn't he be a better and more popular choice than her? I thinking in the game, cause blood elves seems better seen than forsaken in general. : o
in wow timeline he has almost just lost one of his closest friends, cairne. thrall afterall is actually not that much of a mary sue as people say, he has done alot of mistakes. i just dont think he can handle the death of vol'jin
Loa Spirits: "Voljin, that wound will claim you soon. We must discuss your successor as Warchief." Voljin: "Sure. I reccommend Baine, Lorthemar or perhaps Saurfang. All highly respected, with lots of leader experience, and has proven their good faith, intelligence and diplomatic skills multible times over the years". Loa spirits: "Nah, take the crazy, psyco-bitch". Voljin: "kk"
And yet Sylvanis has more experience than all of them combined. She used to be Ranger General, when she was alive, and she was a long living high elf. Even more so, Sylvanis is the best strategist out of all the Horde Leaders. She wins.
Thallanar Rabidtooth Sylvanis advocated the elves into the horde and see her as an important figure, not to mention that she has lead the undead and became a Ranger General. True, Lothemar may be as old as Sylvanis, the difference is that Sylvanis actually cares for the horde while the elves are solely fixated on survival
@@logancloud2222 She doesn't care about the Horde, though... only the Forsaken. Back in Legion, she was about to subjugate Eyir and force her to create more Val'kyrs for the Forsaken, but luckily Greymane ambushed her and destroyed her plan. Not to mention what happened after killing Saurfang during the Mak'Gora in Battle for Azeroth; the phrase "the Horde is nothing" speaks for itself. I admit you're right about the best strategist stuff. She's an amazing plotter, haha.
I'm happy for Sylvanas, but it sucks that Vol'jin died without achieving anything major as Warchief. Unless he plays being dead very, very convincingly...
Why would he stick around in the world of the living when he can ascend and become a Loa spirit and unite the troll tribes under a single banner to help the Alliance & Horde from beyond the grave?
maybe he'll help you as a spirit? shaman do often talk to dead spirits....so i bet those lazy shamans hanging around the portal area cand talk to his ass he be helpin ya from da spirit plane mon
Sylvanas is a bad guy tho why are you happy for her. She didn't care about vol Jin or the alliance. My god im sick of seeing all these blind players in here.
Did people forget that Vol'jin lead the rebellion against Garrosh, noone else wanted to, they were too afraid of leading and the consequences, only Vol'jin stood up to him and almost got killed because of it, didn't stop him from continuing, how do you think he became Warchief? I don't know much about the lore but he didn't just sit on his arse for the entirety of this life. Also to those saying he did nothing, what about the other leaders, they did nothing during this entire expansion, why single him out?
Vol'Jin told Garrosh to his face "you be no Warchief of mine." And also, "Ya will spend ya reign glancin' over ya shoulder and fearin' the shadows, for when da time comes and ya blood slowly drains out, ya will know exactly who fired da arrow dat pierced ya heart." BAMF for speaking up to a jacked orc like Garrosh.
He did nothing throughout WoD, which is both fair and sadly true. What's pissed people off the most is that Vol'jin didn't do anything during his reign as Warchief because the writers never did anything with him. And now he's gone. It's a poor way to treat a really great character and he really got the short end of the stick. Some final waves from what a clusterf*ck WoD was in terms of story delivery. Varian was at least lucky in that he had more story development and character growth in various places. Would have been nice to have seen what Vol'jin would do as Warchief.
Actually in books Baine was the one who openly tried to stand up against Garrosh, and Vol'jin was afraid for his people, sadly no1 ralied behind Baine....Vol'jin only late in MoP went against Garrosh. It's sad that a lot of Lore is behind books and lots of good characters stories are not known by most. I am not bashing Vol'jin cause he is one of my favorite chars.
For those wondering why VJ wasnt healed, if you paid attention after broken shores horde side (for those doing demonhunter I recommend you do horde broken shores too) then you learn that he was struck by a fel-blade which poisoned him. Not only this, but VJ himself "refused" to be healed when Baine offered, this is because VJ never 'wanted' to lead. The role was forced on him, it was a role he was never suited to, like Garrosh. VJ was a warrior, not a leader, at best, he knew how to rally a rebellion and lead armies, but manage the Horde as a people? That was not VJ's strength. VJ understands that, and Sylvanas, Sylvanas may not be the best leader, infact thats the entire point, shes the WORST since Garrosh. But Sylvanas has a chance for redemption here, a chance to show she is not the villian like Garrosh was. She's sort of like Rick Grimes in Walking Dead, she can do what no one else can, make the hard choices, lead the people, decide who gets what and divide rations and ammo amoung the survivors. The Horde is a race of survivors, and though she is undead, her people cannot reproduce and thus, to survive, they must kill, and reincarnate others into their ranks. She knows the Horde better than the Horde knows itself. But now, she has to lead it. That, will be the making of her, and as VJ said, you have to step out of the shadow and lead. She too hates the idea of being responsible for everyone, but she has a better understanding of what everyone "wants" and was the one to diplomatically bring the Blood Elves into the Horde so she is not incapable of being tactful at Diplomacy. Shes a manipulative, cruel, ruthless, heartless woman that has done some terrible, aweful and unforgiveable things. And yet... That is exactly what the Horde "needs" to survive. Hence... why VJ chose "her" and no one else.
I agree with everything you said, but I'd like to point out that the Loa choose Sylvanas, not Vol'Jin, even tho he seemed to understand why they choose her.
Listening to the chanting of "For the Horde!" at the end, I kind of regret playing only Alliance characters. It's so goosebump-inducing and epic. It really shows their loyalty and honor to their faction. Lok'tar ogar, Vol'jin. Darkspear never die.
Story wise Vol'jin is a boring character, my guess is blizzard wanted him out to make room for a more interesting and lore friendly Sylvanas. In either case it should make the story a good follow, even if the rest of the expansion sucks. /crossing fingers
I think you're mixing up what I said, Vol'jin took us through WoD, the shittiest expansion to ever grace WoW, I don't even know how you could mix up what I said considering Vol'jin is now dead and can't lead us through Legion. The extent of his leadership was incredibly lackluster, he wasn't built up in any meaningful way, and he didn't accomplish ANYTHING. I wasn't spouting any negative opinion about Legion, as I haven't played it yet. Learn to read.
Norlamin I just misread your comment. My bad. Though I wouldn't call WoD shit. It did have some really amazing raids and the questing and lore was really good.
Amazing detail. Look closely to Vol'Jin's left eye. As he makes his last breath and whispers "War...Chief"...the colour literally leaves his eye, further underlying that he died in that moment. That's some amazing detail and makes this all the more tragic to me personally because the thing about death that makes it horrifying is the eyes because through them you can truly see the life leave somebody.
I cried so much when i saw this cinematic. As someone who has followed the world of warcraft lore since i was 9 years old, the stories of voljin and what he represented were always of great value to me. Taking away such a character 10 years later, hurts like hell. Rest in peace voljin, your sacrifice will not be forgotten
Yes please. Such a waste of great potential as a character. A fucking shadow hunter doing nothing. Known for being one of the most powerful at that. Just....... zzzz.
He is not that powerful at all. Took him a while to bring back a tiny island from a rebellious troll. Not to mention he had additional troubles fighting of a barely powerful naga afterwards. He is all talk and no walk, remember how he threatened Garrosh how he will "end him from the shadows with his spear" or something? Well never happened. I have difficulties seeing it happen as well, Garrosh would crack his spine in 3 seconds probably. And I remember SoO quest line, how he threatened Alliance players with his "shadow hunters". Where are these infamous shadow hunters on the broken shore? Guy is not a capable fighter, nor he is powerful for that matter. He's overrated.
That's Blizzard screwing up. Shadow Hunters are meant in lore to be very powerful beings. Which is also the reason why many are pissed about Vol'jins death, you never actually got to see his super powerful voodoo magic at work.
Listened to Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde, where he comes back from the brink of death from being poisoned and is a badass. The Loa spirits basically let him live multiple times. Sadly the ignore him in Draenor then do this.
And it was in this cutscene that I Finally realized it. Something about her that had been staring me in the face the whole time. Something I never realized. Something that explained everything. Sylvanas is totally a blondie.
As yes, back before they decided to just **throw** all of Sylvanas' character development away, back when she was treated with at least some of respect to her story
I honestly still think this is a really great moment for Sylvanas. It was super emotional and had a lot of promise for the future!! Then BfA happened....
Thrall lost his powers because the elemental spirits are mad at him for using them to kill Garrosh. He retires after he helps you claim the Doomhammer for yourself.
I am still pissed as hell about this. I mean Vol'jins reign as Warchief was filled with nothing. He showed up at the Level 3 Garrison and thats it. It was disrespectful to him and all his potential with the possible Troll Empire expansion and how he would interact with them. Instead he gets stabbed by a random demon and dies from poison, leaving Sylvanas-I-am-totally-the-new-Lich-Queen Windrunner as Warchief ? Lets even drop that see how both leaders die. Compare this death to Varian's where he went off like Highlander, getting stabbed twice by demons and getting blown up by Gul'dan... All the while the glorious Horde is sinking back like this... Vol'jin's reign is such a waste of story that it is painful to see this is how it ends. Also, who is the Troll Leader now ? We are already in limbo with Orc Leader and now Vol'jin , the most prominent and maybe the most commonly known Troll is gone too so who is leading them ? At least Cairne had Baine as his successor but now both Orcs and Trolls are leaderless. And don't expect me to accept Sylvanas as the general leader, her dealings will cause even more trouble. I mean she is making a deal with HELYA for god's sake. How is that something a Warchief would do ?
This shit is fucked, i honestly feel like Blizzard is trying to end the Warcraft universe right here and now in this expansion, by killing off all the awesome leaders and letting the Burning Legion destroy Azeroth.
I am a true Alliance member since 2009, but Vol’Jin is defenitly one of my favorite charachters in wow. People bitching about him probaly never did read any of the books of warcraft there is so much lore about him....
I'm 100% pro Alliance and don't have a single Horde character, but this still got me about as choked up as when Varian died. Right as he finished saying "You must....be...Warchieffff", bring in the piano with the "Ooooo'ing" choir in the background....I couldn't take it. That was quite sad :(.
Honestly well made cinematic. Small detail I love if Lorthemar of all people, a guy who spent hundreds of years warring with the trolls as a high elf, serves as a pallbearer. That and plenty of foresaken and elves mourning Vol'jin and joining in on the chants at the end really do show how an alignment initially out of convenience evolved into genuine comradery for many.
There aren't many cinematics that actually make me feel sad or hyped. I remember Lich King Patch 3.2 ("Let them come, frostmourne hungers") or the alliance shadowmoon valley cinematic (yeah, the horde one wasn't as awesome) But with this one, they reached a new high in terms of quality, motion capturing, synchronisation, music ... everything MATCHED ... glorious goosebumps. To bad the alliance side didn't see it. Actually the alliance side is quite left out in this case. Or they get their stuff later. Not to mention ... I waited since the time I started playing for sylvanas to be warchief. First time I meet her in undercity with my bloodelf hunter. :D
@@Zerradable I'm a horde player and Sylvanas becoming warchief was huge. The writers took her in a really weird direction, but at the time there was such incredible potential for the story. Hail Sylvanas.
Sylvanas is the one we all have been waiting for. Rest in peace Vol'jin and hail our Lady Sylvanas. I'll follow her every command and will avenge Vol'jin under her banner.
This has nothing to do with Blizzard being PC. Sylvanas is the last of the four leaders of the original Horde yet to be Warchief (although Cairne never was but he's dead). To start off; Baine isn't fit for it, Lor'Themar is a nobody still, the Goblins doesn't have a fucking leader, Thrall isn't interested in it and I actually don't know who is going to lead the Trolls now. Fans have grown to love Sylvanas and Blizzard making her the leader is nothing but fan service and what honestly makes most sense, she's been fighting for the Horde ever since she was reanimated, although she's been misguided a few times, I think she's going to fit as the leader of the Horde. That's what I think at least.
lore wise think metzen has plans for her. 1 majopr thing was in wotlk where after arthas died for good her purpose of vengeance for what he has done is over. with nothing left and to live for she literally committed suicide when she jumped off of icecrown citadel. but her story didnt end since the val'kyr they brought her back from the dead and made a pact with her knowing she will do something big in the future. if ppl wonder no way metzen could have FULLY thought out the storyline which okay thats kinda true (cough cough WoD) but doesnt mean he hasnt thought of major points he plans to do so hoping this is one of those major points he planned long ago for sylvanas. maybe something huge happens to her in end of legion if he did plan this for her for a while.
You do also have to be aware he almost left the horde. Even thought sylvanas can be untrustworthy at times at least she stuck with the horde through all the troubles.
Sylvannas is the leader so there can be tension between her and Greymane, that's it. Baine and Lor'Themar both have proven themselves more than capable, even more than Vol'Jin, but they wouldn't create Alliance vs Horde tension.
"Lor'Themar is a nobody". Do you even fucking lore bro? He did a lot and had a very great backstory. In fact he should have been warchief instead of Vol'Jin in MoP
“Many will not understand.”. *8.0* “For the Horde!!” *8.2.3* “The Horde is nothing. YOU ARE ALL NOTHING!!” “If you could see yourselves as I see you. Toy soldiers in tin plate. Beasts who howl for honor. Standing as one. Savor it. Nothing lasts.” Yeah Vol’jin you didn’t understand either.
And how we got from this emotive cutscene to how she is in bfa (and how jaina is suddenly a heroine everyone must love or else) is a testament to blizzard's poor writing
anyone else start to tear up abit when he passed away i dont care what anyone says Vol'jin was the best warchief besides thrall im sad that he had such a short reign
Man, and sylvanas warchief seemed like such a great idea too, i mean, the forsaken are always doing their own thing so having the forsaken leader be the warchief wouldve increased the bond between them and the rest of the horde, and you know how the saying goes "monke together strong"
Baine is that type of employee that does his job better than anyone else and he's the best person to count on. He's been with the company for over a decade now. Baine doesn't get a raise.
I completely agree. Sylvanas as warchief? I am a die hard horde player byt sylvanas did some fucked up shit to the alliance, so why does voljin give warchief title to sylvanas when the alliance and horde are not happy with one another. Baine has always been good at peace relations just like his father, but sylvanas? No
"Who among you...will help me avenge him?" Orc: me me! *kills random felguard* I got him! Undead: No i got him! "brings random felguards head to her* Tauren: Guys, I got him, Vol'jin Avenged *Shows Felguards head...looks at others* Huh..he did go out like a punk huh.. Troll: Didn't he kill da Felguard who killed him mon? *everyone looks at each other* "um what are we doing again?"
For the Banshee Queen! FOR THE HORDE! haha I've been waiting for this ever since WoW vanilla, for Sylvanas to take up a higher part in the Horde. Was my favorite character in Warcraft along Arthas and Medivh
Did you ever get to play Warcraft 2 & its expansion? That will make you realize how hardcore she really can be, and how much more gripping her murder was.
