The state of the Horde and the Alliance
by Lesley Smith 
Apr 26th 2009 at 2:00PM
Now, it's also worth remembering that there's no black and white in Azeroth either. The Horde aren't evil for just being the Horde, neither are the Alliance all pure as newly fallen snow. Each faction has done its fair share of pure and evil acts depending on the actions of individual heroes and the motivations of their leaders.
But now we're post patch 3.1, it's time to rexamine the state of relations between the two factions. Times have changed quite drastically since we first entered Azeroth and the addition of The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King have only made things much more complicated. The Wrath Gate cinematic gave us some glimpse of how the two factions are getting on in the continually evolving lore of Azeroth. While the recent trailer for the Secrets of Ulduar offered an even more promising glimpse at the deterioration of that tenuous peace.
For the most part this is mutual, but the real culprit behind everything is King Varian Wynn. Yes, the human king hates the Orcs (and by extension the Horde) and, to be honest, who can blame him? Abducted, bespelled and sold into slavery as part of a grand plot by the dragoness Onyxia he (as the gladiator Lo'Gosh) found himself without his memories in Orgrimmar.
Now returned to his throne room in Stormwind, he is a changed man. Bitter and battleworn, his attitude only gets worse once the Alliance loses its greatest living legend Bolvar Fordragon during the battle of the Wrath Gate.
So last night, I finally got around to completing the Wrath Gate questline and witnessed for myself how much Varian is letting his hatred rule his head. He blames the Horde and Thrall personally for the death of Bolvar despite the fact that it was a renegade faction of the Forsaken under the orders of Grand Apothocary Putress which caused the massacre. For now, at least, he seems so blinded by hate that he is unable or unwilling to make that distinction:
"I've waited a long time for this, Thrall. For every time I was thrown into one of your damned arenas... for every time I killed a green-skinned aberration like you... I could only think of one thing. What our world could be without you and your twisted Horde..."At the same time, the Horde are not all innocence and light either. Thrall's right-hand orc Garrosh Hellscream is just as bad. While he doesn't so much hate humans, he does lust for power seeing himself as the next Warchief and believes Thrall's weakness is his willingness to entertain humans like Jaina Proudmore (who I'm sure Thrall has a crush on).
So with 3.1, we got our first proper look at how the Alliance and Horde are coping post-Wrath Gate and it's not pretty. Varian seems to be swallowed by grief and fury while Thrall is receptive to Jaina's suggestions simply because she has always been a mediator between the factions.
You'd think such a dangerous situation as the resurgence of the Old God Yogg-Saron might unite these enemies against a common foe. Perhaps in the past this could have been true but now, neither side is willing to be co-operative. The trailer, as well as setting up 3.1, also features a promising sub-plot focusing on how the the two sides are beginning to turn completely against each other. I think it's only a matter of time before Blizzard bring this whole mess to a head and Varian and Garrosh face off.
We've already seen from the trailer that this is part of an on-going storyline, but I suspect it's not just a justification for war. There's a promise of something larger than just one king's grudge and perhaps we will discover an answer in the next patch or expansion.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Burning Crusade, Lore, NPCs, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Zelu Apr 26th 2009 2:11PM
*Blizzard introduces faction re-customization*
muffin_of_chaos Apr 26th 2009 4:13PM
That would be so much more awesome than you even know. Great idea.
Personally, I'm thinking one of the five, Garrosh, Varian, Rhonin, Jaina, or Thrall is going to be Scourge-ified come Icecrown Citadel, and it's going to be sort of surprising and dramatic, and will be the other major boss. They probably won't do Varian, they've kind of jumped the shark on Alliance leaders becoming twisted, evil and incredibly powerful. Horde not quite so much...Garrosh may be too expected though anyway.
Everyone loves Thrall, 'cuz pretty much every other major NPC in the game are either too wimpy or too stupid (don't give Bliz the idea to take down Saurfang!). And since Sylvanus already functions as an Undead Horde leader, that'd be kinda lame.
And people appreciate Jaina as the only example of a strong and "good" major NPC in the game (Tyrande really doesn't count), and don't give a crap about Rhonin, who only counts 'cuz he's in Northrend, so I don't know what they'll do.
Fordring is Superman of course.
CactusHam Apr 26th 2009 5:36PM
No Horde leaders have become twisted, evil, and incredibly powerful? Tell that to the Blood Elves. We had to fight Kael TWICE.
Karilyn Apr 26th 2009 6:55PM
"No Horde leaders have become twisted, evil, and incredibly powerful? Tell that to the Blood Elves. We had to fight Kael TWICE."
Technically, Kael'thas WAS Alliance.
Kael'thas betrayed the Blood Elves long before they became a part of the Horde. The Blood Elves were simply ignorant that he had betrayed them, until they reached Outlands.
Elmo Apr 27th 2009 6:39AM
Kael'thas had nothing to do with the Alliance anymore.
officially he was allied with Illidan (which makes me wonder why the Belves joined the Horde in the first place, did Thrall want to allign with the Betrayer?)
secretly he was of course on the Burning Legion's side.
Jay in Oregon Apr 27th 2009 11:33AM
"Personally, I'm thinking one of the five, Garrosh, Varian, Rhonin, Jaina, or Thrall is going to be Scourge-ified come Icecrown Citadel,"
#BEGIN baseless_speculation;
I think that if there is some kind of tenuous pact between the Alliance and the Horde by 3.2 or 3.3, it's going to come about because the Lich King kills Jaina Proudmoore and it will be obvious even to Varian that Thrall and the others have nothing to do with it. Jaina has the ear of both Varian and Thrall, and has history with Arthas as well.
This would also have the interesting side-effect of having three significant Warcaft personalities as potential bosses in Icerown Citadel. We know Saurfang Jr. had his soul stolen by Frostmourne -- a surefire signal that he's going to become a Death Knight -- and the dragons in Dragonblight have hinted that something is up with Fordragon as well. Having Jaina as as a Death Knight, maybe even an epic val'kyr? Too cool for words.
#END baseless_speculation;
Zelu Apr 27th 2009 1:13PM
“The return of the King. Jana convinces the Alliance that Arthas was simply under the spell of the lich king and never did any of the terrible terrible things; he was merely a vehicle of destruction. Jana is able to finally break through to Arthas and free him from the grips of the lich, With Yogg finally destroyed, the lich’s power grew substantially weak.”. Anything is possible.
John C. Apr 26th 2009 3:26PM
Good read for those who haven't really gotten into lore at all, but there isn't really any analytical commentary on the actual state of the horde and the alliance here. The deepest you got in this article was that it's complicated.
On a side note, I would like a civil war event for both factions. The possibilities for epic pvp and awesome quests are endless.
Wallert Apr 26th 2009 2:16PM
I'm going to stick my neck out severely and stick up for Varian. While I'm sure his rascism isn't helping, I don't really think he could ally with the horde for Ulduar-past expierience has been to painful.
Yes it was a rogue group of Forsaken-but it proves the hordes ranks are not united and thus any peace Thrall agree's to may not guarantee safety, since we can never know if your forces are truly under your control. This has been further shown by the area before the first wall in icecrown (The name escapes me right now), where the alliance were pushing forward and gaining ground-but were attacked from behind by a group of Horde soldiers. Either you're thoroughly happy to drop peace agreements when it suits you, or you have yet more renegades in your ranks-in either case its far too dangerous for the king to agree to any situation where the lives of our soldiers are in your hands.
Thats my opinion, now i'm going to run to cover before all the Varian haters linch me.
Beatrix Apr 26th 2009 2:45PM
Why is Varian a racist? Among his best friends are a blood elf and night elf. He's been trained thoughout his life by dwarves and even let them make a choo-choo train to his crib.
The hate towards the Horde is completely justified. His kingdom annihilated and thousands of people killed in the First war. His diplomatic reach with Thrall was aborted due to him being kidnapped. That resulted in him becoming a slave, which blurted out the view of that peaceful Horde.
In Northrend the Alliance is attacked several times by the Horde, not only the Wrath Gate incident.
Finally, the lame excuse that the Horde is not responsible for the Wrath gate fiasco. Those revolting forsaken were members of the Horde, which in turn means the Horde as a whole is responsible for whatever they cooked up. Just like the Alliance as a whole was responsible for the abuse caused by Garithos towards the blood elves.
/nerdyness
Mike Apr 26th 2009 2:48PM
The wall you're thinking of is the Wrathgate, which the writer of this post mentioned a few times. And you have it completely wrong. The Alliance and the Scourge started an all out battle, but the Scourge were winning. When all hope seemed lost, the Horde army came riding in and started fighting the Scourge side-by-side with the Alliance. It was a truly shining moment, a beacon of peace between the factions. But then the rogue Forsaken army came in from a third angle, slaughtering most of the Horde, Alliance, and Scourge armies, destroying the chance for peace that that battle could have made.
Duck Knight Apr 26th 2009 2:56PM
@Mike:
No, I believe Wallert was talking about the one area inside Icecrown where there are Scourge everywhere with Alliance and Horde corpses all strewn about the field, just south of the bombing area, which is separated by a wall.
Wallert Apr 26th 2009 3:02PM
No Mike I have it right.
When i talk about the rogue Forsaken I'm talking about the Wrathgate-which is in Dragonblight.
When i talk about Icecrown I'm talking about the (just came back to me) Broken front.
Gnomeface Apr 26th 2009 3:08PM
It's Corprethar or Mordrethar actually, Death or Horror gates... or something. Not Angrathar, Wrath Gate.
Krianna Apr 26th 2009 3:16PM
If the Horde is to be held responsible for actions of their rogue elements, so should the Alliance.
So they've got an attempt on the Horde capitol with an entire fleet of ships--Jaina's father's fleet--all the trouble the Defias have made, have a share in the wonder that is the Cult of The Damned, and the Scarlet Crusade on top of it all.
If I were going to be really low, I'd also point out that their royalty became the Lich King.
The Horde's Chief Apothecary counts, but a human King doesn't?
Beatrix Apr 26th 2009 3:31PM
@ Krianna
Ultimately, yes. It isn't low. If part of your organization does something bad, the entire organization is responsible. Simple as that. Alliance is responsible for the Kul Tiras attack on Orgrimmar. Yep.
As is the Horde for the failures mentioned in Northrend. Yet no one wants to admit that. Instead they try to downgrade the Varian character.
The only difference is that Kul Tiras isn't ingame (yet), so it is difficult to weave them into the game. Your point was completely valid though.
slimj091 Apr 26th 2009 3:52PM
"While I'm sure his rascism isn't helping"
i know your sticking up for Varian.... but i swear if i hear the word Racism used one more time i'm going to lose my marbles.
orc's aren't a race. they are a species. they are a species that willingly gave themselves to the burning legion in return for a pitiful amount of power. they are a species that invaded, and almost destroyed the world of azeroth with that power.
now that they are without that power ONE of them their warchief wants peace. while the rest of them are more than content with going back to being blood drunk savages. as far as the rest of the horde. lets see the trolls are about two shakes of a voodoo stick of relapsing into eating each other and summoning old gods (or atleast their servants). the forsaken have pretty much always stated their goal is to wipe out life everywhere on azeroth.. thats horde included. which is why i'm not really convinced sylvannas had no idea, and no part in putress's plan. i mean we're just supposed to take her word on it? the last time someone trusted her she almost stopped this expansion from happening all together. that leaves blood elves. everyone knows you can't trust a crackhead.
i've said it once, and i'll say it again. the only one member of the horde that has any redeeming qualities are the tauren. in fact i believe that if the alliance meet the tauren first in WC3 they would be in the alliance instead of the horde........ okay they would probably be a side of ribs on a footman's plate. but tasting good is a redeeming quality also :P.
Karilyn Apr 26th 2009 4:12PM
@Krianna
Honestly. If there is any parallel on Alliance side to the Royal Apothecary Society, it's the Scarlet Crusade.
- Highly racist.
- Want to commit mass genocide of all non humans/forsaken
- Want to kill all humans/forsaken who are not on their immediate allies
I don't feel like you can blame the Horde for what the Royal Apothecary Society did, unless you blame the Alliance for everything the Scarlet Crusade has done.
Taladan Apr 26th 2009 6:34PM
@Beatrix: In this case, Thrall should hate the humans as much as Variann hates Orcs. His family was killed, the village burned and he was trained to be a gladiator just to fight for the pleasure of his captors.
And, instead, he decided to go with a "live and let live" philosophy.
"Justified", maybe. "Honored", far away from it.
Alc Apr 26th 2009 7:02PM
You guys are ridonculous. slimj091 has got it right. As for the defias and kul tiras, they're not technically part of the alliance. The alliance actually fights the Defias who attempted to destroy Stormwind and saying Kul Tiras is part of the alliance is like saying Gilneas is part of the alliance. Also any comparisons to the Scarlet crusade is ridiculous too. The main flaw in your logic is while you are defining race (actually species and death status). The grand apothacary was apart of the forsaken and worked closely with Sylvanis (who knew about the plague). In fact both her and Thrall knowingly tolerate traitors in their midst. How can another leader trust them when they do so? I mean, in a way, Wrynn knows the horde better than Thrall does.