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World of Warcraft Anduin and Sylvanas – Shadowlands reaction! Subscribe for more and join my discord to chat with the community!
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Sylvanas and Anduin's scenes were the best of Shadowlands IMO!
I find it interesting that despite all that Sylvanas had done wrong, Anduin never really displayed a genuine hate for her like others had shown. On the flip side, Sylvanas clearly had some level of respect for Anduin just as she had respect for Varian. And of course there's that "Little Lion" nickname she gave him that mirrors the "Little Lord Sun" she used for her dead younger brother Lirath Windrunner, indicating that in some ways Anduin also reminds her of her brother. It's just a really great and interesting dynamic and I look forward to them reuniting later on, likely in the Midnight expansion.
one of the best cinematics my god!
It always amazed how after everything we seen and went through there were still people who believed that Sylvanas had some master plan and that she wasn't just a tool for the Jailer to use and discard, just like what Anduin said.
If you read the Sylvanas book and then see these cinematics it becomes apparent that Sylvanas sees her little brother in Anduin.
I know not everyone loved the story in Shadowlands, but I really enjoyed it, and the Anduin & Sylvanas interactions were absolutely the best part.
One of the biggest complaints about Sylvanas' storyline during Shadowlands is the disbelief that she would actually believe she's not being used by the Jailer. She really had no contingency plan or trick up her sleeve. Also, they should've done more to bring elements of the Sylvanas book into the game. The character arc would've been much more complete.
The most insidious thing about domination magic in Warcraft is your awareness. Mind control makes it so you don’t really remember what happened but domination, your awake and fully aware of what’s happening, you just can’t control your body.
It just dawned on me, Sylvanas never saw her brother in the Maw, nor Nathanos. Hmmmmmm.
I will die on the pedestal that the Anduin-Sylvanas dynamic in Shadowlands is top-tier storytelling by the writing team. Sure, the Jailer is a pretty bland villain, but the journey that these two characters take is amazing. Sylvanas is a fascinating character in part because of all the conflicting motivations she has. However numb she has become to emotions, there are still flickers of the person she once was.
Her alliance with the Jailer feels to me like one of desperation: like she's made the least-bad choice in her own mind. I never quite figured out if she truly believes him or if she sees no alternative. Maybe she holds out hope that, when Jailer's plan is complete, she'll have some say in what comes next.
Are you doing the Covenant cutscenes? I'd particularly love to see you react to the Ardenweald and Bastion story lines. The Chains of Domination one that you watched here comes after we reclaim Uther's soul from Torghast.
I like your commentary, but could you not stop every 3 seconds it keeps getting really annoying. Hardly watchable. Maybe do bigger skips and then comment.
When the jailer said "We were not meant to be chained" in his pitch to Sylvannas, he was talking about the royal We. … not her. And she didnt get it. He was always about control, domination. He thinks he has more purpose than anything else in the cosmos. Sort of like all the other cosmic forces.
Every word Blizzard uses in these cinematics is deliberate. Food for thought…
you already saw that Frostmourn was made in the Maw 🙂 in the afterlife:bastion they say that, "it's a weapon that can damage souls that have the maw runes on it"
Anduin reminds her of her little brother, whom she was closes to… out of the 4 siblings.
She used to call him… "Little sun" and Vereesa, the younger sister, "Little Moon,"
Scene also show in general, that even Banshee Sylvanas didn't enjoy to cause all this suffering, it was simply necessary.
"I've not come that far to falter now." and later when she is in conflict with the Ranger General soul fragment. "This is beyond life and death, this was the only path to true freedom! How can you not see that?!"
Those two lines show, that it was a necessary evil in her eyes to reach so much more important things. It's like bomarding a nation to stop a tyrannic regime. It that good? No. Is there any other way to stop that tyranny if it doesn't listen to words? Sadly also no. And of course many innocent will die – what, don't forget, got a completely different meaning in that fantasy setting than in RL anyway. They KNOW that death is not the end. People in RL would care (even) less about death if the knew that an afterlife was a thing – though maybe just be scared to death if they knew that it would include hell or overall be like the Shadowlands before Sylvanas' doing, since for majority of peopel (who wouldn't go to Bastion or Ardenweald) it would be an eternal nightmare.
I also don't think that Anduin got her. He found a painful point and pushed it, sure. But this wasn't about justifying anything for Sylvanas. They needed him to get the seal from Bastion at least, someone who was able to get close enough to the Archon. That's why Sylvanas wanted Anduin to help out of free will. Because he is also wrong about her having all the power. She doesn't at all. She's a general – but Zovaal is a god and it was clear for her, that this god would just force Anduin to do what needs to be done. She simply tries over and over again that Anduin understands this AND understand that by all brutal deeds, her goal isn't an evil one at all.
The way Anduin speaks later, after being dominated, even seems to make clear, that he understands this, because when he talks to Sylvanas after that, his fears are not about reaching the goal, his fears are about that there would be nothing left of him then (by the way something that Sylvanas wanted to avoid, that's why she preached to him over and over again to help willingly, until Zovaal told her that it's enough, he will now force Anduin to help).
Sylvanas is getting emotional for reasons that are explored in the "Sylvanas" novel. She lost her little brother (who she sees in Anduin, hence "little Lion") years ago. After the defeat of the Lich King, she felt devoid of purpose and threw herself off ICC and died. (Skipping a few scenes here). She was shown how the afterlife works by a Valkyr, and because nobody can choose what afterlife they have and loved ones are often separated from each other for eternity, she felt a great injustice at the prospect she may never see her lost family again, especially her little brother. That's why she kind of trails off and chokes at the line "we can't even choose who we…". She agreed to join the Jailer's cause, and was brought back to life by a Valkyr swapping places with her. Then Cataclysm happened.
I wish what was in the book was in game. She saw her little brother in Anduin. She did not want to see Anduin dominated, wanting him to switch sides willingly. Her motivation was because her family and her and Nathanos may not get to be together because of how the Shadowlands functions. It almost humanizes her.
Zovaal, the jailer, was in charge of The Maw and that's where Anduin was when Sylvanas was talking to him. This always made me wonder why Sylvanas never located Nathanos while she was spending all that time in The Maw.
The Jailer is to blame for all of her bad decisions, when she cast herself off Icecrown after Wrath, wanting to be free of her undeath, she was given a vision of Hell, WoW's Hell; The Maw. and if that wasnt terrifying enough, when she refused to help The Jailer at first when he made her an offer, he gave her a list of Prophecies that he made manifest, to convince her that her fate was always meant to be, as well as everyone else in creation. this is where her belief stems from that no-one has free will, and that's what brought about her change.
I still dont believe Sylvanas forced Anduin. I think they made that cut, to not show us what really happend between them.
Sylvanas and a couple other main characters just got a model update at this point in the Shadowlands. It wasn't for the story specifically. It was an art update.
I think Little Lion is ideal. Sylvanas knew Anduin when his father was still alive and everyone knew Varian was a Lion. If Varian was a lion then Anduin being a little lion makes sense as well. I don't think she was being derogatory.
Just so you are aware, this is why in the new cinematic for Wow, Anduin feels so much regret of what "he has done… what he has seen". And that he has no more light.
#Trend #Sassduin
After killing, Anduin resurfaced for a second, you can see it. He was always in there, fighting, but control magic is horrifying like that. You are always there, watching yourself do this bad shit,
But yeah, Blizz needs to stop putting major story beats only in the books, sadly. She genuinely sees her younger brother, pre banshee queen, in Anduin
When questing in early Forsaken zones, it becomes apparent that they have severly embraced their loss of humanity to the point that they have lost empathy or even a mote of sympathy. It feels forced… like if they chose to find any positive emotion again they could be harmed should the inevitable hand of fate bring its toll. It's a very obvious trauma response. Not just with Sylvanas flinching here, but you can see it in a few quests with other Forsaken.
I hope with Calia Menethil and Lilian Voss leading The Forsaken now, there could bring about some healing going forward.
Whoever said to you that Syl was “a terrible person” before she died / was transformed into undeath by Arthas, is absolutely trolling. 😂
To see Shalamayne twisted into a mourneblade like this after everything it had come to stand for previously low key broke me the first time I saw this cinematic. Both Varian and Saurfang wielded that weapon with mighty hearts and tremendous self sacrifice while laying down their own lives in service to their people. It's rediscovery was a catalyst for Anduin to connect with his hero father's spirit and find his own inner resolution to do "what a king must do." That, as I understand this theme, is to serve one's people with a courageous, open heart. Here he and Shalamayne are both forced to "serve" in a way contrary to all they have stood for.
Shalamayne as a mourneblade also echoes the scene in the famous Wrath cinematic where Frostmourne appears beneath King Terenas Menethil's chillingly ironic voice lines about Arthas becoming "a weapon of righteousness." And just to twist the knife a little harder, Anduin's pose as he leaps at the Archon echoes his father's heroic leap from the gunship in the Legion Broken Shore cinematic. In that pose, both wield Shalamayne in "service" and the irony cuts the player viewer on some level.
Later in the War Within cinematic Shalamayne is highlighted at the start of the scene, tarnished but gradually glowing again with hope, and then the cinematic ends with another blade: Sargeras' sword, crafted of hatred and a desire to purge the universe of corruption at the expense of many innocents who also inhabit it. It echoes the purging of Stratholme – the critical moment of choice on Arthas' tragic journey – on a much bigger scale.
So the whole Shalamayne theme seems to me one of service. Who and what do we serve and why? Which acts do we consider justified in that service and which ones do we not? How do we fight for our values without compromising our honour and integrity? Other characters in these cinematics have faced a similar dilemma and made their own journeys through it. (Sylvanas, Uther, Thrall.)
I've thought about Shalamayne a lot over the years. It's nice to have a chance to express some of my musings somewhere. Thank you.