I wholeheartedly agree. I'm firmly in the "Sylvanas is evil" camp, and I think there's very little evidence that she's softened up at all. Certainly no hard evidence, just theories which contradict her previous actions.

She allied with a Dreadlord... bad idea. She played with fire, then she got burned. Simple as that. Then she tricked Thrall, again, into thinking she's the innocent one who lost her city to the bad guys.

I think you are bang-on there J.pirate. I've seen very little evidence of any emotional development from her - just cold calculation.

If anything the "Lament of the Highborn," is further proof of her "hardness". She laughs at the idea that she had any connection to her previous life and feels nothing for her, "lost," sister. Instead she flashes back to what she is all about now - what Arthas did to her.

I accept that Anne has done a heck of a lot more research in all this though so I'm willing to keep and open mind that there is this, "softening," happening. I've not seen it but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. ;-D In the meantime - don't accept a drink from the gal. ;-p

I agree. "Death to the Scourge and to the living" pretty much sums it up for me. I've never seen the Horde faction as the "bad guys" but the Forsaken and Sylvanas are as close to evil as we get to play in the game.

I think a lot of players tend to brush over that b/c they think Sylvanas is hot. /rolls eyes

In my opinion, Sylvanas is almost a mirror of Arthas. She is so single-minded in her hatred and rage and lust for domination over her enemies that she casts aside the well-being of her people. She basically became the very thing she hated. She is a leader who put her own thirst for revenge first to the exclusion of everything else, which in my mind, makes her a terrible leader and a terrible representative for her people.

Until BLizz officially comes out and says "Putress acted alone in developing and releasing the plague at the Wrathgate" I'll continue to point to the evidence that says Sylvanas was the one in charge and simply got duped in regards to the timing. Putress jumped the gun and release it too early. But there's no doubt in my mind that Sylvanas knew what was going on and took an active hand in creating the plague to wipe out the Scourge and all living creatures -- as evidenced by quests as well as the novel "Arthas" which is considered canon.

The fact that as far as we know, Thrall did little else but replace some of her guards in Undercity made me lose a lot of respect for him as a character. But I do believe this is part of the way Blizz is setting up his fall as someone else will use that weakness to oust him as Warchief.

Yep. Death to Sylvanas. I relish every chance I get to kill that death-breathed doxie.

Quote: "Thrall did little else but replace some of her guards in Undercity made me lose a lot of respect for him as a character."

Some guards? Taking into account that WOW's locations are, due to game mechanics, not up to scale, I think it is more fitting to describe them as freaking elite occupation army, stationed in the capital and all the all government offices. (stationing US Marines in Downing Street - becouse some renegaed British Army office in Iraq, how about that?)

For me it reads like: "this is the last chance we are giving you, because we are nice and think there is a slight chance not all of you tried to mess with us. Screw this on up and we simply push the button!"

In my personal opinion, the Ebon Blade, lore-wise, is pretty much everything the Forsaken should have been.

Imagine if the Forsaken had been written as dark, brutal, but ultimately regretful of what they had done. Their primary goal is vengeance, but in a way that their vengeance is the key to their salvation. They fight smart, use incredibly underhanded tactics, but at the same time do not hesitate to ride to the rescue of their allies.

Suppose that instead of mustache-twirling "let's wipe out all life" villainy from level 1, the Forsaken plague quests are written as failed attempts to find a cure for undeath. Then comes Putress's reveal, that the "cure" you were helping him test was actually a plague to wipe out all life. Then his actions would feel more like a true double-cross instead of making the Horde leadership either look like clueless patsies or complicit in his betrayal.

Instead we have a faction that is a wolf that isn't even bothering with the sheep's clothing. It walks up to the sheep and says "I'm a wolf", yet the sheep are somehow surprised when it starts trying to eat them.

@Jill: Up-voted for the phrase "death-breathed doxie", which I am going to cheerfully steal for future RP sessions :D