wow New 9.2 Official Sylvanas Cinematic: Shattered Legacies

[Staff 1,375]

 

Blizzard have posted a brand new cinematic featuring Sylvnas and the aftermath of the Sanctum of Domination finale/introduction to 9.2, as we see what happened and is happening with her soul - including a new cinematic style we haven't seen before. Spoilers ahead.

 

[Dejo93 984]

The art team deserves a raise for carrying the game for years now

Edited December 8, 2021 by Dejo93

[Teufel 331]

Whatever I may think of the story, this looks gorgeous.

Also, it's good to see Sylvanas' character as she was before Sunwell, since there's very little on the subject and everyone know only her Banshee story.

[Arcling 877]

At least it looks good, but I don't like this resolution. It removes all agency from her character, instead of Sylvanas simply becoming bitter and vengeful for what was done to her, she just wasn't fully herself due to missing a part of her soul! She's obviously not going to face any consequences. Would be really surprised if she dies in the end.

And why was she fighting against Dreadlords or Kel'Thuzad in Warcraft 3? They were all on the same side after all, serving the Jailer Zovaal! There are more possible plot holes, like Kel'Thuzad helping Arthas escape from Lordaeron, despite the fact that he and Dreadlords were (again) fighting for the same master. Were they all pretending to be enemies? What for?

[Teufel 331]

12 minutes ago, Arcling said:

And why was she fighting against Dreadlords or Kel'Thuzad in Warcraft 3? They were all on the same side after all, serving the Jailer Zovaal! There are more possible plot holes, like Kel'Thuzad helping Arthas escape from Lordaeron, despite the fact that he and Dreadlords were (again) fighting for the same master. Were they all pretending to be enemies? What for?

Not much of a plot hole, imho.

The Jailer is powerful, but it doesn't seem like exerting control on the world of the living is something he can do, so he created the Lich King to act in his stead, and that probably was the one being he could influence at the time. Heck, even now he has Anduin harnessing his power, like he requires a mortal conduit for domination magic, rather than just do it all himself.

And since Ner'zhul failed to do his bidding, he didn't interfere with Arthas' actions that would result in him replacing the Lich King. KTZ may have been on it the whole time, and as for the dreadlords it's unclear what were their orders past infiltrating the Legion. Maybe since NZ failed, they sought to remove him, maybe they would have tried to 'soften up' Azeroth with the subjugated Scourge - all under the guise of serving Sargeras. Unsure if they even could be in contact with Denathrius without compromising themselves.

Obviously, none of it was there at the time WC3 story was written but it doesn't look like a glaring plothole.

[Lithari 194]

Hmmm, it seems they are indeed going with a redemption story for the Ranger General and if her soul is as innocent as it seems then she does deserve redemption, but Sylvanas deserves to die forever for what she has done.

So, the best outcome would be that, by the end of the story, the Ranger General Sacrifices her life to save Azeroth and everyone in it, that will redeem her soul completely, while also killing Sylvanas forever.

[Lithari 194]

42 minutes ago, Arcling said:

At least it looks good, but I don't like this resolution. It removes all agency from her character, instead of Sylvanas simply becoming bitter and vengeful for what was done to her, she just wasn't fully herself due to missing a part of her soul! She's obviously not going to face any consequences. Would be really surprised if she dies in the end.

And why was she fighting against Dreadlords or Kel'Thuzad in Warcraft 3? They were all on the same side after all, serving the Jailer Zovaal! There are more possible plot holes, like Kel'Thuzad helping Arthas escape from Lordaeron, despite the fact that he and Dreadlords were (again) fighting for the same master. Were they all pretending to be enemies? What for?

Well, think about Starwars Episode I, II, III and think about Palpatine, he was the Senator of Naboo, then the Chancellor of the Repuiblic, while also being Darth Sidious and the soul person behind the Clone Wars.......so i am not confused about this at all....all we really need to know is what is Zovaal's Endgame Plan, for Palpatine, it was to weaken the Republic to bring in a Tyrannical Dictatorship after turning the only Guardians of the Republic that could stand against him into Traitors through deception.....sounds familiar. lol....so what is Zovaal's endgame plan?

That is the only question we need to answer, then it will likely explain why people on the same team were fighting each other.

[Arcling 877]

23 minutes ago, Teufel said:

Obviously, none of it was there at the time WC3 story was written but it doesn't look like a glaring plothole.

Then all they would need to do is to simply avoiding fighting each other. Or only pretend to be fighting with Kel'thuzad, so Arthas could still go away and replace Ner'zhul, who supposedly failed the Jailer. Don't think there was a need for Dreadlords to pretend, at that point Burning Legion on Azeroth was defeated and there were no other Legion commanders nearby, so no one else to deceive. But yeah, obviously it was never planned that far. Dreadlords were simply serving under Sargeras, and Arthas along with Kel'Thuzad were "rebels" at this point, so it was simple and made sense. This is what happens when they are trying to complicate these plots further.

Anyway, back to Sylvanas. Now she's good and that version we knew is simply gone. Basically, similar story to Kerrigan's. She was under influence of Amon and all her atrocities were explained by it.

[Lar 0]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

And why was she fighting against Dreadlords or Kel'Thuzad in Warcraft 3? They were all on the same side after all, serving the Jailer Zovaal! There are more possible plot holes, like Kel'Thuzad helping Arthas escape from Lordaeron, despite the fact that he and Dreadlords were (again) fighting for the same master. Were they all pretending to be enemies? What for?

it's not uncommon.   In Star Wars, the Senator from Naboo who was also a Sith Lord , turned Emperor essentially controlled both the Army of Clones led by the Jedi AND the Droid Army thru count Dooku.  Why? to create chaos and control everything.  Same type of thing.

[darkgreenwax 410]

They reused both the exact same over-head shot of characters fading out and exact same music from the final Vol'jin cinematic. Interesting.

[Solonar 2]

So, they only look at her crimes as what she killed?  I mean, monster wouldn't be the half of it. She not only committed genocide but she condemned the souls of those she killed to be endlessly tormented in the Maw.  I am surprised that people aren't outraged by how bad they are at attempting nuance.  Watch them try to redeem her and and act like "oh her heart was in the right place".  Turning Anduin should have been the least of their problems with her but then again I cannot understand how Jaina doesn't want to turn Thrall, the Nevel Chamberlain of WoW, into shattered ice cold meat, but hey I know if I met the man who helped kill my father and enabled the destruction of my city I would be shaking his hand... But Hey, she is standing next to the Tauren who supported the slaughter of her city but thought it cowardly to do it with a bomb.   Blizzard and its vaunted story consistency.

 Shadowlands just makes me wish they stopped at Legion but even that turned into crap storywise when Illidan returned. 

[Steveson 193]

So this was all the part of Jailer's plan? AGAIN?
Even Sosuke Aizen from Bleach would've been like "Bruh wtf is this nonsense?" at this point

[Teufel 331]

7 hours ago, Arcling said:

Anyway, back to Sylvanas. Now she's good and that version we knew is simply gone. Basically, similar story to Kerrigan's. She was under influence of Amon and all her atrocities were explained by it.

...and here comes my favorite part, the Heart of the Swarm campaign in which Kerrigan still goes on with atrocities, but this time she's 100% herself. That of course includes re-conquering Char, and her casually ordering the Broodmothers rejoining the Swarm to wipe out humans colonies that are, in some way, are a part of Mengsk's war machine.

At least she is fully aware how much blood is on her hands.

[Teufel 331]

3 hours ago, Solonar said:

I met the man who helped kill my father and enabled the destruction of my city I would be shaking his hand... But Hey, she is standing next to the Tauren who supported the slaughter of her city but thought it cowardly to do it with a bomb.   Blizzard and its vaunted story consistency.

You do realize Daelin was slain with Jaina's consent, and Baine even warning her in advance was a major act of treason, and he not only didn't support Garrosh's war effort, he also didn't know a thing about the bomb?

Get your lore straight.

[Devylknyght 83]

Baine is the worst character in the history of the game. Change my mind.

[Helvorn 57]

Maybe a bit of Jedi Mumbo Jumbo here, but I can live with the decision to end the cycle of revenge at this point.

I think a lot can be forgiven. If they portrait her as a "possessed banshee" in an acceptable way. Her death was a severe trauma, she was turned and caught in a downward spiral into literal hell.

A lot cannot be forgiven, especially Teldrassil. This was too much. I remember she even had to give the order twice, as even Nathanos was like WTF is going on here. This was too extreme and she will have to pay for it.

But not with her life, because what comes after that. She had many followers, you dont want to create a martyr for the Forsaken who followed her. Otherwise this cycle will go on forever.

When she has her "soul" back, the rest of her life will be pure torment, knowing what she done to her own people, with no hope of ever returning to them.

Keep her in Orgrimmar (with some guards around, ALWAYS) and let her help wherever she can be of use to repair the damage she has caused. 

No life can be brought back, but to kill her is useless too.

[darkgreenwax 410]

15 minutes ago, Devylknyght said:

Baine is the worst character in the history of the game. Change my mind.

It's so dumb too, because his father was awesome. Such a pointless character swap.

[Migol 425]

1) Uther with his soul split: Still wants to do good, still wants to serve the light.    Is a bit more vengeful than full soul Uther, maybe, though wanting to punish Arthas in that scenario is something 99.9% of people would agree with.   But still is easily able to see the error of his ways and the deception that was playing around him.    Is still a very good guy during this cinematic despite his light side soul still being split off and doing things somewhere with the alien space chimes.

2) Sylvannas with her soul split: Utter sociopath and evil, short fused temper that would burn a world tree with children because a night elf cried for her

Somehow has a moment of redemption BEFORE receiving her soul back when she turns on the jailer after (finally) realizing he's bad news.    But, her returned soul seems noble and caring, etc etc so redemption arc.     SIGH.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Migol
spelling

[Devylknyght 83]

1 hour ago, TyZone said:

It's so dumb too, because his father was awesome. Such a pointless character swap.

Totally agree. Loved Cairne. I bought the story with him going out in the mak gora. Tragic and it sucked, but I had hopes that Baine would be able to fill his Hooves and be a younger more badass version of him. Instead they have turned him into the Anduin++ Horde version, but much less inspired. And they really haven't developed any other Tauren to focus on so we are stuck with him basically. The Highmountain are a nice addition, but we need a strong badass OG Tauren Leader. I think it may be time to bring in the Grimtotem.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Devylknyght
typo

[Arcling 877]

6 hours ago, Teufel said:

...and here comes my favorite part, the Heart of the Swarm campaign in which Kerrigan still goes on with atrocities, but this time she's 100% herself. That of course includes re-conquering Char, and her casually ordering the Broodmothers rejoining the Swarm to wipe out humans colonies that are, in some way, are a part of Mengsk's war machine.

At least she is fully aware how much blood is on her hands.

Oh man, that campaign made even less sense than current plot of Warcraft. She knew Duran and Amon were coming (she only destroyed Duran's physical form during Heart of the Swarm, he was still in the Void), but she redirected all her attention to killing Warfield and Mengsk. They weren't good people, but still they could have served as potential allies (or fodder) against Amon's forces. So she weakened the potential opposition, yet of course she still had to win, because she was a chosen one in the end. I guess her atrocities were at least somewhat justified, because Mengsk served as a villain at that point, even though surely there were some civilian casualties as well.

Both stories share parallels. Generally, I dislike such plots where someone just wasn't themselves, but they were instead corrupted by some form of external power. Now Forsaken were never truly free, since their leader was just one of Jailer's assets. Of course, now everyone will have to forgive her, even for killing thousands and creating more Forsaken against their will, because she was missing part of her soul!

[darkgreenwax 410]

17 minutes ago, Devylknyght said:

Totally agree. Loved Cairne. I bought the story with him going out in the mak gora. Tragic and it sucked, but I had hopes that Baine would be able to fill his Hooves and be a younger more badass version of him. Instead they have turned him into the Anduin++ Horde version, but much less inspired. And they really haven't developed any other Tauren to focus on so we are stuck with him basically. The Highmountain are a nice addition, but we need a strong badass OG Tauren Leader. I think it may be time to bring in the Grimtotem.

What's worse is that while Anduin is a pacifist, he does actually enact change and lead. Baine is a pacifist, but just stands against the wall like an unconfident 11-year-old at a school dance.

Grimtotem would definitely be a great move, mirroring more of the loyalty but aggression of a Greymane.

[darkgreenwax 410]

3 minutes ago, Arcling said:

Now Forsaken were never truly free, since their leader was just one of Jailer's assets. Of course, now everyone will have to forgive her, even for killing thousands and creating more Forsaken against their will, because she was missing part of her soul!

It's never been less cool to play as a Forsaken. What a terrible time.

[Arcling 877]

33 minutes ago, TyZone said:

What's worse is that while Anduin is a pacifist, he does actually enact change and lead. Baine is a pacifist, but just stands against the wall like an unconfident 11-year-old at a school dance.

Grimtotem would definitely be a great move, mirroring more of the loyalty but aggression of a Greymane.

I think writers wanted to make Baine look honorable, but they done a poor job at presenting him in game. Tauren are peaceful, violence is the last solution, but since we don't see Baine doing much, he comes as weak and passive (typically humans, orcs and various flavors of elves get the spotlight). Cairne was poorly presented as well, or rather, he didn't do anything in game since Warcraft 3. His death was in a book, so for players only familiar with games, he simply disappeared.

Grimtotem are traitors, not sure either side would want them. Baine allowed some to rejoin, those Grimtotem have abandoned Magatha.

2 hours ago, Helvorn said:

But not with her life, because what comes after that. She had many followers, you dont want to create a martyr for the Forsaken who followed her. Otherwise this cycle will go on forever.

She abandoned them and called them nothing, so I don't think anyone would want to follow her. Plus her agenda was never truly her own. Her only remaining followers were part of the Mawsworm, but they are either dead now or went with Zovaal.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Arcling

[Solonar 2]

8 hours ago, Teufel said:

You do realize Daelin was slain with Jaina's consent, and Baine even warning her in advance was a major act of treason, and he not only didn't support Garrosh's war effort, he also didn't know a thing about the bomb?

Get your lore straight.

 Daelin wasn't slain at Jaina's consent. She refused to join his war and did not support him on the battlefield. So don't conflate her being a pacifist, and completely OCC for a race that genocides much of the human race, for "consent to kill her father". 

 

 Second, Bane's objection to the Manabombing was due to lack of honor. Not because it was wrong to kill them. His disagreement with Garrosh was that bombing theramore was a cowardly act and it would have been more honorable to let the soldiers do the deed.

 

 So get your lore straight. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Solonar

[Lithari 194]

4 hours ago, Migol said:

1) Uther with his soul split: Still wants to do good, still wants to serve the light.    Is a bit more vengeful than full soul Uther, maybe, though wanting to punish Arthas in that scenario is something 99.9% of people would agree with.   But still is easily able to see the error of his ways and the deception that was playing around him.    Is still a very good guy during this cinematic despite his light side soul still being split off and doing things somewhere with the alien space chimes.

2) Sylvannas with her soul split: Utter sociopath and evil, short fused temper that would burn a world tree with children because a night elf cried for her

Somehow has a moment of redemption BEFORE receiving her soul back when she turns on the jailer after (finally) realizing he's bad news.    But, her returned soul seems noble and caring, etc etc so redemption arc.     SIGH.

I predicted it long ago....Blizzard is nothing, if not predictable in their story telling.....but i got to admit, Sylvana's Soul model looks sweet. *drools*

But something is likely going to happen where the evil one takes back over and does more evil crap or she gets a new body and its basically the same as ever, except in a new shell.