wow The Story of Varok Saurfang in Battle for Azeroth

[Stan 5,022]

Saurfang plays a pivotal role in Battle for Azeroth and he's the embodiment of the Horde's moral grayness. Blizzard has recently released a new cinematic starring him and Zappyboi to calm down the Horde audience, but what exactly is the fate of the High Overlord in Battle for Azeroth?

The following article contains spoilers!

War of Thorns // Burning of Teldrassil (Alliance PoV / Horde PoV)

Saurfang leads the march on the kaldorei that culminates in Sylvanas burning down the World Tree. He plays an important role during the Killer Queen quest, where he aids Sylvanas in the fight against Malfurion, delivering a dishonorable blow that he ultimately regrets. Then, he allows Tyrande to take wounded Malfurion to Stormwind, instead of simply killing him, as ordered by the Warchief.

Quote

High Overlord Saurfang: Make haste! The warchief awaits!

High Overlord Saurfang: The warchief faces Stormrage alone! I must...

Malfurion Stormrage: ARGH! Saur...fang?!

High Overlord Saurfang: A dishonorable blow. I... regret it.

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: Regret nothing. You did well.

High Overlord Saurfang: It was not my place to interfere.

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: My victory was inevitable. He was merely wasting my time.

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: Finish him and be done with it. Take a moment, if you like... then take his head. Meet me at the World Tree.

Malfurion Stormrage: You have led... your Horde... in service... of death. You will... regret this day...

Tyrande Whisperwind: Malfurion...NO!

Tyrande Whisperwind: You did not kill him, orc. Why?

High Overlord Saurfang: I struck without honor. I did not deserve to end him.

Tyrande Whisperwind: This entire war is without honor. How dare you spill so much innocent blood... for nothing!

High Overlord Saurfang: Not for nothing. We spill blood so that the Horde will endure.

Tyrande Whisperwind: Because you spared Malfurion, I will offer you a choice.

Tyrande Whisperwind: Attempt to stop me from taking him away, and die... or remain there, kneeling in the dirt, and live.

High Overlord Saurfang: You have a choice as well. Take him to Darnassus and both of you will fall when we conquer it... or flee somewhere far from here, so that you both survive.

High Overlord Saurfang: Come, champion. We must follow our warchief to... victory.

Old Soldier Cinematic

In the Old Soldier cinematic, Saurfang reacts to the Burning of Teldrassil. We can see a flashback of his son's death. If you haven't played WoW in Wrath, Saurfang's son died at the Wrathgate. Lich King later raised him as a Death Knight and made him a boss in Icecrown Citadel, where Saurfang was present at that time to collect his body. Anyway, Saurfang's pissed at Sylvanas at 1:22 and tells her that the attack was dishonorable and that the Alliance will seek vengeance soon.

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High Overlord Saurfang: There is no honor in this! They will come for us now! All of them!

The next portion of the cinematic is about Saurfang's PTSD and inner struggles with the Horde.

Battle for Lordaeron [More Info]

The Alliance strikes at the Undercity and seeks to claim Lordaeron for their own. Later in the scenario, Sylvanas uses blight and Saurfang is not really a fan of her choice.

Quote

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: Prepare the Blight! Let it rain down upon their armies!

High Overlord Saurfang: There must be another way, Warchief!

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: This is no time for sentiment, High Overlord!

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: War demands that we take a more direct approach.

I'm going to use the video by Athelarius for reference here.

Sylvanas tells you to show your enemies no mercy, Saurfang does the direct opposite, again, talking about honor.

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Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: Slay them all, champions! Mark my words, King Anduin and his army did not come here for their amusement. They mean to destroy us! Show them no mercy, for they would show you none in return!

High Overlord Saurfang: Maintain your honor, heroes. Lok-narash.

Saurfang goes missing at this point. The Horde forces retreat and you regroup at the courtyard. This portion is really interesting. If you've been reading the article up to now, you can clearly see that honor has been the leading motif for Saurfang. Sylvanas tells him that honor means nothing to a corpse and that he will perhaps have a chance to say hello to his son.

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Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: So good of you to finally show up, High Overlord.

High Overlord Saurfang: I had to see it for myself. Was this your plan all along? Is this how you meant to achieve victory? This... honorless travesty?

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: Honor means nothing to a corpse, Saurfang. You have the luxury of underestimating death, but it is something with which I am intimately familiar. Maybe you don't care if your people die so long as it is honorable. But to me, this Horde is worth saving. Anyone who disagrees does not deserve to stand among us. So die your warrior's death, High Overlord Saurfang. It means little to me. Perhaps I will raise your broken body to serve me once more. Or perhaps you will have a chance to say hello to your son.

The Alliance perspective is a little different and we learn that Saurfang gets captured by Anduin.

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Anduin Wrynn: Stand aside, Saurfang. This war is not yours to bear alone, and there is no honor in killing you.

High Overlord Saurfang: Your father was a man of honor, boy. You know nothing of the sort. I will NEVER stand down! I eat, sleep, and die by the sword. What price have you paid for your people?

Anduin Wrynn: My father gave everything for the Alliance. The question is, are you willing to do the same for the Horde?

High Overlord Saurfang: MY LIFE FOR THE HORDE!

Saurfang tells Anduin that Varian was a man of honor, letting him collect the body of Deathbringer Saurfang back in Wrath.

Later, Saurfang demands an honorable death, but Anduin decides to imprison him instead.

Quote

High Overlord Saurfang: No! I demand and honorable death!

Anduin Wrynn: My father once said that Varok Saurfang embodied the honor of the horde...

Anduin Wrynn: He admired you for that, and so do I.

Anduin Wrynn: Listen to me. There is no honor in this.

High Overlord Saurfang: That is not for an Alliance king to decide!

Anduin Wrynn: At this moment, it is.

Anduin Wrynn: Take him to the Stockades. 

Anduin Wrynn: When I return, we will speak of honor... and how it may yet be reclaimed.

High Overlord Saurfang: If... you return.

The Stormwind Extraction Scenario [More Info]

The scenario is the Horde intro to Battle for Azeroth. Sylvanas sends you on a mission to free Princess Talanji and Zul from the Stockades. You encounter Saurfang in one of the cells, but he clearly tells you that he does not want to return back to Orgrimmar.

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High Overlord Saurfang: I have lost track of the time I have sat in this cell. But it matters not in the end. After all she has done, I will never return to her Horde. Make sure you know the difference between loyalty and honor. And pray you never have to choose.

Rokhan: You not be comin' wit' us.

High Overlord Saurfang: We both know you are not here for me. Those you seek are down the hall.

First Arcanist Thalyssra: I see... If you are certain, High Overlord.

High Overlord Saurfang: I am. Lok'tar.

That's all we know so far about Varok Saurfang in Battle for Azeroth. Only time will tell if he's going to redeem the Horde. ! Would you like to see him as Warchief despite his inability to act? Let us know in the comments!

[Arcling 877]

(...)new cinematic starring him and Zappyboi to calm down the Horde audience(...)

Cinematics like these take months to finish, they didn't release it to "calm down" people. It was simply on schedule.

[Daash 0]

Whether it took months or not is irrelevant. This clearly shows that more is at work for the Horde than what so many have already taken at face value with Slyvannas burning the World Tree. Loyalty vs Honor are striking themes that suggest Horde players, and even the Alliance, will be brought to think about whether they themselves follow the Horde and what their banner has been made to stand for, or if one would simply follow a ruthless ruler on an unjust crusade of hate and destruction. I feel the conflict that has been created is one that incites an emotional response, good or bad, that will enable players to think more deeply about what or who they might be fighting for.

Because I fight for the survival of the Horde, does not mean I fight for Slyvannas. Perhaps it even means I fight against Slyvannas. As one might fight to see that what they love, the Horde, is not lost at the hands of a crazed woman on a wild chase for power.

[cathululock 1]

Pick literally any orc in Orgrimmar. He or she would be a better warchief than Sylvanas.  That said, while Saurfang is a flawed and relatable character, It would bring a new level of pride to the horde to have him warchief. There is no pride under the banshee queen.

[Rooach 34]

Killing her own troops. Who cares what comes now. This warchief has to die.

[Nxc 21]

voljin was clearly under the influence of some old god shit when he made sylvanas the warchief

they want to watch the world burn and having a total nuts warchief was a perfect way to archive this ( and it worked pretty well didnt it)

also, you could argue that the burning legion was a thread to the old gods and therefore making sylvanas the warchief was also pretty handy to have a warmongering warchief to ensure the win against the legion

cmon its too obv. that she got corrupted by some void shit ...

[Erialis 22]

So many ppl prefer emo orc grandpa with suicidal thoughts and PTSD for warchief lol. Just gonna bring here this simple part of one quest dialogue:

• Mankrik says: There is nothing left for me. I seek a warrior's death. Is that wrong?
• Mahka says: You seek escape, not glory. It's suicide.

[krapmyself 60]

Fuck him. The greatest warrior in the Horde and the only thing he cares about is his personal honor. He was even about to abandon the Horde on the eve of battle but brought back thanks to good ol' zappyboi.

Now mark my words: this twat is going to defect to the alliance and become the leader of the lightbound orcs or some shit like that. A coward and traitor. this scum deserves no less than an honorless death.

[Kralyd 0]

1 hour ago, krapmyself said:

Fuck him. The greatest warrior in the Horde and the only thing he cares about is his personal honor.

No, it's not the only thing he cares about. He cares about the Horde's as well. 

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He was even about to abandon the Horde on the eve of battle but brought back thanks to good ol' zappyboi.

He was about to abandon the Horde because it is no longer the same Horde under Sylvanas. Honor is lost on Sylvanas and she only cares about gaining immortality and winning at any cost. The burning of Teldrassil simply One of her plans was to destroy Stormwind, innocents and military alike, and raise them as Forsaken. After watching Garrosh go down this path he's rather unwilling to see the same thing happen under a different warchief. 

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Now mark my words: this twat is going to defect to the alliance and become the leader of the lightbound orcs or some shit like that.

Possible, but not likely. 

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A coward and traitor. this scum deserves no less than an honorless death.

The only traitor so far is Sylvanas for betraying all that the Horde used to embody. 

[IIIDefalt 4]

16 hours ago, Nxc said:

voljin was clearly under the influence of some old god shit when he made sylvanas the warchief

they want to watch the world burn and having a total nuts warchief was a perfect way to archive this ( and it worked pretty well didnt it)

also, you could argue that the burning legion was a thread to the old gods and therefore making sylvanas the warchief was also pretty handy to have a warmongering warchief to ensure the win against the legion

cmon its too obv. that she got corrupted by some void shit ...

Remember Vol'Jin also told her that "many would not understand...."....that she must become warchief to save the Horde. I think this is still playing out somehow and that he knew something major was going to happen to her, not during legion but after and it would effect the Horde in a huge way. Maybe her crazed revenge is the beginning of her redemption. The Void created its first Void Elf with Alleria Windrunner....maybe something in this war will take the Banshee out of Sylvanas? Maybe get a new unlocked race of High Elves? Maybe Saurfang will make her see the error in her ways or maybe we kill her. I'd really hate to see her die as she is my favorite character in the wow universe but if sacrifices must be made to save the Horde then we have no choice. Only time will tell!! I'm really excited to see how this all plays out!

[Slaith 19]

Don't really see Saurfang becoming Warchief, he's old, he clearly feels he outlived all his beloved ones and only seeks an honorable death. Also his incapacity to act due to always being handicaped by honor doesn't allow him to lead people. A bit sad as his values reflects well Thrall's Horde. 

[Arcling 877]

3 hours ago, Slaith said:

Don't really see Saurfang becoming Warchief, he's old, he clearly feels he outlived all his beloved ones and only seeks an honorable death. Also his incapacity to act due to always being handicaped by honor doesn't allow him to lead people. A bit sad as his values reflects well Thrall's Horde. 

Greymane is also very old, yet he is still kicking ass (though I think he should die at some point). Overall, orcs don't have much of a replacement for a Warchief, or at least Chieftain for orcish clans under Horde. They are still, like trolls, without official leader, as Saurfang is only a military commander, not a ruler of his people. They've killed too many named orc characters and didn't bother to develop others, like Nazgrel. There is Eitrigg, but he is also too old, Drek'thar is dying etc.

I wonder why Thrall is still missing. He was previewd to be carrying an urn of Vol'jin's ashes, but from what I've seem from beta cinematics, he is nowhere to be seen and urn is delivered regardless. Might have been some cut content.

[Drachar 45]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

I wonder why Thrall is still missing.

I think some very loud parts of the player base will not be happy to see a return of "green Jesus" (if people playing during Cataclysm recall).

Personally I hope we get some better nuance on our Warchief's rather then just having them implode and become a raid boss.

Edited August 5, 2018 by Drachar
spelling

[Mortimmer 3]

I keep seeing these bits about Honor and Loyalty but all I really see out of Sylvanas is survival. Of the Horde and of the Forsaken which might or might not be connected depending on if she's going to end up killing off members of the Horde just to bring them back as members of the Forsaken. Yes they will still be part of the Horde but will they be willing to serve someone who just had them murdered even though they didn't stay dead. Luckily I have a Death Knight character that I've been using lately and well "Death to the Living" works just fine for me.

 

Also has anything been mentioned about how the Tauren feel about the burning of the Night Elves home? And I don't just mean the druids but the Tauren faction as a whole from their history with the Night Elves.

[Vorguz 33]

It is funny how the playerbase is arguing if Sylvanas is a good or bad warchief.
In my opinion she is both. The first Warchief with flaws and a completely new position. The previous always put honor above all, even the lives of their own subjects. Sylvanas is the first with a "the end justifies the means" position which is more war like. She seeks to save as many as possible by all means.
The first time in her whole unlife she needs to think not for herself but the whole horde. Which in return leads to more aggressive and doubtful decisions for the better of the horde (?).
But lets not forget, that the alliance started the war with their invasion of Silithus.

Edited August 6, 2018 by Vorguz

[PatrickHenry 293]

On 8/4/2018 at 7:09 AM, Stan said:

But to me, this Horde is worth saving.

? ? ?

hilarious.  Starts a war that always invariably get your own and others killed, then makes a tactical decision to galvanize her entire opposing force against her and potentially turn others on her own side away, then says its to 'save her people.'

Its your story Sylvanas, you tell it girl.  LOL

[Arcling 877]

2 hours ago, Vorguz said:

In my opinion she is both. The first Warchief with flaws and a completely new position. The previous always put honor above all, even the lives of their own subjects. Sylvanas is the first with a "the end justifies the means" position which is more war like. She seeks to save as many as possible by all means.

Garrosh was similar with "the end justifies the means", he only cared about his orcish loyalists. Sylvanas treating her troops like a fodder, that she can raise after death (which she does) is hardly "save as many as possible". However, what is especially worrying is that if she doesn't end up as boss that we have to kill, they might turn her into some savior against Void. At least comic implied that these Void Lords might have been afraid of her. Basically, she leaves Horde to fulfill some higher calling (neutral hero), and all sides end up supporting her, just like Kerrigan from SC.

[PatrickHenry 293]

2 hours ago, Vorguz said:

But lets not forget, that the alliance started the war with their invasion of Silithus.

what?  I dont recall an invasion force being in silithus... 

[Vorguz 33]

9 minutes ago, Arcling said:

Sylvanas treating her troops like a fodder, that she can raise after death (which she does) is hardly "save as many as possible".

She does treat her troops like fodder and raises them. But only the soldiers not the civilians. Which outnumber the military by far. I think she seeks to save them and the soldiers are her tool for that. The soldiers knew that they could die at any moment when they joined the military. (Not saying it is good to sacrifice them for nothing.)

14 minutes ago, Arcling said:

However, what is especially worrying is that if she doesn't end up as boss that we have to kill, they might turn her into some savior against Void.

Could be or not, only time will tell. I personally dont have a problem turning her into a savior. They just have to do it right. Look at Illidan they did just that and it turned out fine. But it is not blizzards style to do the same things within a few expansions.

[Vorguz 33]

7 minutes ago, PatrickHenry said:

what?  I dont recall an invasion force being in silithus... 

Play the alliance side of the war of thorns. They clearly say the Alliance dispatched an army to Sillithus. Which is why the horde could easily overun the defences. Not to forget the SI:7 spys who are attacking horde people there.
(I think it is also mentioned during the horde side?)

Edited August 6, 2018 by Vorguz

[PatrickHenry 293]

31 minutes ago, Vorguz said:

Play the alliance side of the war of thorns. They clearly say the Alliance dispatched an army to Sillithus. 

ETA: I cant find the dialogue I thought I ha remembered from her about basically doing it as a ruse to get the ships moving towards silithus.  I swore I saw it somewhere but i cannot find it. I must be misremembering.

but this is seemingly the same thing:

[Unbeknownst to Anduin (who thinks that Horde forces gather in Silithus to get ahold of Azerite), you're supposed to report to Mathias Shaw for further instruction when all of a sudden he appears and tells you his reports were wrong:]

 

 

Clearly the horde was directed 'towards silithus', with the final command to change course (to their intended target, Teldrassil,) coming from you at the behest of the Warchief.

Edited August 6, 2018 by PatrickHenry

[Vorguz 33]

19 minutes ago, PatrickHenry said:

...after the horde had started marching on Silithus, yes.  

Which is why when Horde change direction, they can take the city so easily.  

Sylvanas references that in her dialogue with the 'thats what we want them to believe' type comment.

ETA: the boats hadnt even made it to silithus yet, much less started 'invading it,' and that was-at worst to stop a already coming horde invasion force - at best to help the earthen ring start healing the planet.  

Yes they did troll the alliance but Silithus is horde influence area. Additionally the horde claimed the mining rights before the alliance did. They dispatched the army to take control of the area and mine the azerithe. Not to "help the earthen ring start healing the planet" and not to stop an invasion army. As i said before the alliance started to attack the horde with their SI:7 spys there. The horde also enforced their grip on the area and after that the alliance dispatched the troops.

Edited August 6, 2018 by Vorguz

[PatrickHenry 293]

44 minutes ago, Vorguz said:

Yes they did troll the alliance but Silithus is horde influence area. Additionally the horde claimed the mining rights before the alliance did. They dispatched the army to take control of the area and mine the azerithe. Not to "help the earthen ring start healing the planet" and not to stop an invasion army. As i said before the alliance started to attack the horde with their SI:7 spys there. The horde also enforced their grip on the area and after that the alliance dispatched the troops.

Claimed mining rights - to make weapons of war, which to date I think they are the only ones who have used said weapons...  Perhaps i am misremembering that also.  

Silithus is as influenced by the horde as it is the alliance.  If anything the Cenarion circle is more present and theyre even neutral.  

The alliance attacked people mining to build weapons.  Magni asked both sides to please stop.  One side seemingly agreed and the other well, lets say didnt.  

The same side who, to put it nicely didnt stop mining the planets lifeblood, also invaded an entire two zones and wiped a third off the map completely.  

ETA: https://www.wowhead.com/news=284863/new-before-the-storm-excerpts-magni-anduin-sylvanas 

Edited August 6, 2018 by PatrickHenry

[Valhalen 1,484]

On 8/4/2018 at 9:09 AM, Stan said:

Perhaps I will raise your broken body to serve me once more. Or perhaps you will have a chance to say hello to your son.

Damn, Sylvanas. That's a lot of burning for someone who no longer has blood in the veins.

On 8/4/2018 at 9:09 AM, Stan said:

When I return, we will speak of honor... and how it may yet be reclaimed.

Whoa. I wonder what he has in mind. Maybe they will attempt to overthrow Sylvanas together? I don't think Anduin will actually convince Saurfang to join the Alliance, but I feel he will suggest to help him reclaim his honor by taking down Sylvanas. Specially considering what Saurfang says in the Stockades below.

On 8/4/2018 at 9:09 AM, Stan said:

After all she has done, I will never return to her Horde.

 

[Hariwald 14]

On 8/6/2018 at 12:51 PM, Vorguz said:

But lets not forget, that the alliance started the war with their invasion of Silithus.

"When i don't like the lore, i make up my own lore and project it onto the game"

Sylvanas didn't march on the alliance because of a couple of dead goblins in Silithus, stop spouting this absolute nonsense. And no, Silithus is not a horde area, it's a neutral area. They didn't "claim any mining rights". It was a mad dash for Azerite that Sylvanas wanted to make weapons with and use them on the alliance but this is the thing with a lot of horde players. The horde is entitled to the entire world and if the alliance even dares to defend their borders or interests from horde aggression they are the bad guys. The horde started this war, that's a fact, no matter how you feel about it. The horde started this war when Sylvanas sent the goblins to mine azerite in order to genocide the alliance and the alliance happened to have spies in Orgrimmar/Silithus and they knew what the end goal was. What, are you seriously suggesting that the alliance was supposed to sit on their hands until Sylvanas nuked them before doing anything? Come on mate.

Here's the situation: 

Silithus is neutral and not "horde dominated".

Sylvanas wanted to make weapons of war with the intent of destroying the alliance during peacetime. There was no horde or alliance war after Legion, but Sylvanas decided that because there might be in the future, she might as well kickstart it on her own terms.

And no, Sylvanas didn't march on Teldrassil to avenge the horrible murders of some goblins in Silithus, and no, these goblins were not neutral. These goblins are aligned with the horde and was acting on the Warchief's commands. Stop peddling this crap that "Oh they were just some peaceful innocent goblins mining with no alterior motives and along comes the big bad alliance to kill them all for fun!". Sylvanas started this war when she burned down Teldrassil. That's what happened. 

We already know that Sylvanas is the villain and there are no two ways about it. You can do all the mental gymnastics you want but in the end Sylvanas is a genocidal maniac with the end goal of becoming a "god of destruction" for fuck sake. The burning of Teldrassil is even literally described as genocide in the collector's edition short stories and anyone who ever tries to justify genocide has some serious issues and an extreme lack of self-awareness.

Not only was Sylvanas' bonfire an absolutely despicable act, it was also an incredibly stupid thing to do from a tactical perspective, and Sylvanas may be a spiteful, warmongering piece of garbage but she isn't stupid and burning Teldrassil was incredibly stupid. She wanted to "crush hope" and inflict a wound on the alliance that would not heal and shatter the unity within the alliance. Even Saurfang predicted that this would not work, and i'm not saying that Saurfang is stupid but if Saurfang could figure it out then Sylvanas sure as hell could. Of course, it blew up in her face as literally anybody with half a brain could figure out and what she managed to accomplish was the opposite. She didn't "crush hope" or "shatter the unity" at all. It did the opposite! Now the alliance is more united than ever in single purpose, that being the death of Sylvanas and vengeance for Teldrassil. And as if that wasn't enough, it strained the bonds holding the horde together! Saurfang isn't just some dude. Saurfang is one of the most influential characters in the horde. He is the leader of the orcs, the main bulk of the horde and commands an immense amount of respect and if Sylvanas loses Saurfang(which she did until the troll reminded him that there is still hope for the horde) she loses the orcs and if she loses the orcs, Baine and the Darkspear would surely follow.

Sylvanas made a severe tactical stumble that almost shattered the horde and strengthened the resolve of the alliance while starting a war that will not end until she's dead and buried once and for all. This war did not start in Silithus when the alliance tried to stop Sylvanas getting her hands on weapons of mass destruction to use on the alliance, it started with the massacre of civilians in Ashenvale and Darkshore and the night elf genocide.

 

Edited August 7, 2018 by Hariwald