should never be mentioned or seen again in WoW universe
alas to many simps like Erevien on the dev team for that happen
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I feel like people in this thread are more concerned about the possibility of where would she end up if she returned to life.
If that somehow does happen then the most recent book about Sylvanas absolutely disqualifies her from becoming a member of the Alliance. That is simply impossible.
Her name Sylvanas was given to her in honor of the Forests of Quelâthalas. Forests she came to love dearly. Forests she loved to travel through away from all the troubles of the civilized world.
On top of that she made a vow she would protect the people that both her parents cared so much for.
She probably would not become a Blood Elf. Or more like, adapt this cosmetic name change to herself. She would most likely not return to the Horde. But for damn sure she would go back to Quelâthalas and remain right there, helping Blood Elves rebuild it.
Meaning she would become citizen of Quelâthalas but not active in Horde related stuff.
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Nice touch for the name of Sylvanas and the forests of Quelâthalas and Terenas saying the forests of Lordaeron whispered the name of Arthas too when he was bornâŚ
Maybe they can make her use the same model of Blood Elf Sylvanas used in Heroes of the StormâŚmy hunter is quite similar to her anyway 
Most likely they will use similar model to what weâve seen in the Cinematic with Bluther the Arthasdropper. Perhaps donned with some red.
Current Sylvanas is the closest one to what we have when she was alive. During that time there were certain characteristics she displayed.
She was completely enamored with Eversong. She preferred to roam the forest more than the streets of Silvermoon. The city itself didnât appeal to her. She believed that too many people lived in there against their nature, bound by the rules and by what was expected of them.
She hated that and felt truly free in the wilderness. Although came to appreciate Silvermoon much more when she visited Dalaran. City of Wizards was far more pompous, elitist and snobby.
Silvermoon was glorious and gracious due to itâs historical and cultural value. And performed itâs most basic purpose of housing Thalassian population. Dalaran in her opinion was swaggy just of the sake of being swaggy. Made for people that liked to smell their own farts and feel good about it.
She didnât like the burden of Ranger General position being imposed onto her family as the second only hereditary rank in entire Kingdom aside from the crown. She saw how her mother acted when out of duty, how normal her family was and how much of it was hindered when her mother once gain had to go back to work.
She saw this as a flaw of Thalassian civilization, just like Alleria, but unlike her older Sister, Sylvanas wasnât so selfish and self-centered to simply turn away from all of it and chase her own innuendos.
Alleria hated pretty much everything. From Thalassian way of life, thinking High Elves became to stangnant, through her being an heir to the rank of Ranger General, to even her own name. Alleria Windrunner, given by her Mother Liressa in honor of her own Mother, the previous Ranger General.
Alleria wanted out in any possible way, relationship with her mother deteriorated very much to the point where both women couldnât be in the same room and argue about something.
Sylvanas saw it all and had conclusions of her own. Fortunately not only she did see how problematic was this hereditary tradition. She had support in Lorâthemar, although he was not as radical in his views as Sylvanas.
Liressa Windrunner was a staunt traditionalist, rooted in belief that Rank of Ranger General should be passed down from parent to the oldest child, regardless of talent, skill and attitude.
Lorâthemar Theron was more pragmatic and believed there is nothing wrong with other Windrunner scion take up the mantle if he or she should prove far superior to the older heir. And Sylvanas did prove to be better than Alleria. Better archer, better tracker, better hunter, better ranger. When he shared this opinion with Liressa it left her completely stunned.
Sylvanas believed that her family should be freed from this burden entirely, and be available for any skilled Ranger in the process of gradual promotion.
Alleria Windrunner didnât want to have anything to do with the rank at all. She was not against tradition or Thalassian way of life. She just wanted out of it. Be gone and burden someone else with it. And Sylvanas was next in line and better at everything, she had no regrets in leaving Quelâthalas behind, breaking Liressaâs heart in the process.
Something Sylvanas in later years would blame Alleria for.
Next big difference was between the relationships that Alleria and Sylvanas had with their Humans.
Back in the time when Alleria was still considered an heir to the Rank and Sylvanas was just a mere Ranger, her father Verath took upon himself the task of teaching her art of diplomacy and a way of affecting the court. Something that would also shape the middle Sister greatly.
When Alleria bailed out and later returned with Turalyonâs army when Horde laid waste to Quelâthalas, Sylvanas saw them and was not impressed. She saw how her Sister gave her heart to a Man and put him above her own people. Something Sylvanas would not do in her own relations with Nathanos Marris.
There was no open declaration of love between them, there was no plan to marry each other and for sure there was no plan have kids together. Nothing like that.
Sylvanas met Nathanos for the first time when he was sent to Quelâthalas as an envoy bearing message to King Anasterian about possible alliance between Amani and the Horde.
Sylvanas was stunned on how well he was informed about her people, where they came from, what people they used to be (aka Kaldorei) and how now they differ from them (pale skin, shorter height, etc). Tingling her diplomatic senses greatly, as she could not do the same about his people.
There was one hilarious scene with Dragonhawks. She brought him before those beasts as a mean to reach Silvermoon quickly in order to deliver his message. She asked him. âHave you ever rode one of these?â He said âNoâ She asked âHave you ever seen one of these?â He said âNoâ Then she asked âDo you even know what they are?â He said âThey are dragonhawksâ She had no more questions.
Not to mention he was an archer and a hunter himself, with skills matching that of a Thalassian Elf who then were considered the best archers in the world. And he proved it first by dispatching two Amani Trolls, while sitting on the tree and hitting one in the back of itâs head with arrow that it burst out from the eyepit on the other side.
What has more impressed her was the fact he was not bound to return to his homeland after completing his task, he was not ordered to return immidiately stating that âIf they need me, they will send for meâ
Nathanos Marris represented everything that Sylvanas ever dreamed of. Skilled Archer, doing whatever the hell he wanted but when need be followed orders. She was also interested in his skills and wanted to test them against those of Thalassian Elves. She wanted to see what conclusions would he come up to, what his ideas were, what was his creativity and so on.
She simply wanted to broaden her own views and experiences. And that was the story she sold to her own people which resulted in Nathanos being able to stay in Quelâthalas.
Sylvanas Windrunner simply wanted to see a Human life take itâs course before her very eyes, from the moment she met him, to the moment he would die. She wanted to know him, learn from him and about him. As a future Ranger General it was only natural for her to know something about neighbour nation as Nathanos was citizen of Lordaeron.
Other Elves came to recognize Nathanos as Sylvanasâ pet. Not lover, drawing clear difference between what Alleria and Turalyon were doing. Not to mention that Nathanos himself was not handsome at all unlike Turalyon. Sylvanas herself often times reminded herself of the first thought when she saw him and thinking that he was the ugliest human she ever saw.
Those who knew of their intimate, physical intercourse were few if any aside from Lorâthemar who came to dislike Nathanos greatly.
He objected his acceptance into Farstriders not because he was a Human, but because he was a very particular insufferable Human. But Nathanosâ wild demeanor was very attractive to Sylvanas and she after selling her story to Silvemoon upper echelons recruited Marris.
On the side note, Sylvanas lost her innocence to a Human earlier than Alleria did.
And so Nathanos would be by Sylvanasâ side. They avoided from creating a scandal throughout their relationship. And Sylvanas decided to keep him close until she would obviously outlive him and move on.
In Thalassian Culture as we learn from the book, age difference wasnât that big of a factor. An Elf could marry another Elf that was centuries younger and treat themselves as equals. Sylvanas was much, much younger than Lorâthemar and Halduron and yet it didnât stop them from forming a team and treating themselves as if no age difference existed at all.
One Elf could wander centuries alone until their destiend match would be finally born.
Sylvanas was aware that Nathanos was but a short period of her life. But what truly drew her closer to him was gradual degradation of her own family.
Alleria left.
Her parents were later killed by Horde ambush while on the trip to Lordaeron Capital City as Verath Windrunner was supposed to become an Ambassador.
Nathanos was able to help Sylvanas find a proof of their involvement as Orcs tried to make it look like it was Amani ambush only.
Her younger brother Lirath whom she loved the most from among her family, distanced himself from Sylvanas after she denied him his request to train him as a Ranger in order to avenge their parents, to which he later approached Vereesa and she agreed later resulting in his death as his half-completed training couldnât save him when Horde invaded Quelâthalas.
This fact distanced Sylvanas and Vereesa from one another. Ranger General blamed her younger sister for their brotherâs death, rendering sister relationship business only.
Sylvanas and Vereesa wouldnât be sisters but Ranger General and her subordinate only. And older sister would always assign younger one away from herself. Later their relationship became to thaw and normalise but Third War cameâŚand put an end to this.
At some point Vereesa moved out from Quelâthalas to raise Arator. Son of Alleria and Turalyon as this could not be done within the Kingdom due to his mixed heritage causing High Elves to shun him.
Sylvanas saw him and most likely he was one of the main reasons she did not cross the red line with Nathanos.
Meaning only, truly Nathanos was left. For time being of course. By the time of Third War he was quite over his fourties so I say they kept their relationship as best as they could out of sight and mind of the High Elves.
Sylvanas swore on her parents and brotherâs graves that she would defend her people from any further harm.
Her parents died protecting Quelâthalas. And her most beloved dear brother was the finest product of Quelâthalas. Someone truly worthy of protection.
High Kingdom was his home, place where he flourished as an artist. And Sylvanas just for the sake of his memory would keep her people safe. People he loved so dearly too.
Now Sylvanas, although still undead is whole again. And she does harbor hope in her still heart. She is not looking for Nathanos to be forever with him. But to end his misery in the Maw, to put him before the Arbiter and let him go, just as she was aware of this when they were alive.
If she finds a way to restore life functions to her body, Quelâthalas is the place she will end up at. Blood Elves overall do not have as much against Sylvanas as other Horde races do.
She would probably keep in touch with her sisters but under the condition that out in the open world they can do whatever they want. But if they ever come to mess around in QuelâthalasâŚthey are dead on the spot.
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Blood Elves mourn her loss and personally, Iâd say they mourn the person she became.
I mean, letâs face facts; she sent both Lorâthemar and Thalyssra with their Rangers and Magi respectively, almost to watery graves with the deal that she made with Azshara.
Never mind Thalyssra, but Lorâthemar and his Farstriders - likely elves she once fought alongsideâŚthat was the point where the penny dropped. I knew that the Ranger Sylvanas that I loved was not the same character anymore. The two were very different.
With this version of Sylvanas - I donât get Alliance vibes from her. She continues to tell the Horde player to fight and defend the Horde; but the character is more of a her old Ranger-General self with a few added bits of undead humor thrown in. I do look forward to seeing Sylvanas again - Iâd really like to see her, Velonara and Delaryn share a moment together in a small cut-scene.
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This was a wonderful read, though there is one thing Iâd like to clarify. She dislikes Alleria because she left the family and joined Alliance, yes? So basically Sylv saw it as a betrayal or perhaps even cowardice. But Sylv also objected to and neglected her position/place in society. I suppose the difference is Alleria completely abandoned whereas Sylv just wanted to be free - while still helping her people?
Alleria did slightly âhelpâ her âpeopleâ by aiding those in the void, but Iâm not sure how much that was on her own accord versus being curious about the void itself lol.
Itâs not so much that Alleria left the family and joined the Alliance. Itâs not black and white like that.
She wanted vengeance against the Horde because they killed her brother, Lirath and the destruction they caused in QuelâThalas. She hated the Orcs so much that she would just kill on sight. (Sort of like, Maiev Shadowsong and those she simply didnât like.)
Alleria did have her reasons for leaving and it wasnât as simple as; âI prefer Alliance > QuelâThalas.â It was because of what happened in QuelâThalas, at that time, that drove her to leave.
Now, from Sylvanasâ perspective - if she doesnât know Alleriaâs reasons, then it can seem like a betrayal.
From Alleriaâs perspective - Sylvanas joining the Horde is a betrayal against Lirath Windrunner and those who died in the Second War.
Then Alleria should be angry against Vereesa too because she was the one who accepted for Lirath to be trained and become a Farstrider despite he was weak and not able for combatâŚmaybe he would have survived if he had just stayed as a royal musician and a singer after allâŚ
also the name Blood Elves is meant to honour not just the dead of the Third War, but also the ones of the Second War and before, as in the entire bloodline of the Highborne of DathâRemar, which is the reason Kaelâthas speaks about honoring their royal heritage and lineage upon changing the name of the race, so itâs not like the Blood Elves have forgotten about the dead of the previous wars despite changing allegiances and joining the Horde eventuallyâŚ
I donât think Vereesa factors into the equation as much as weâd want her to.
It is noted that Alleria and Lirath held a very special brother/sister relationship, whereas Sylvanas and Vereesa were closer, being the middle children.
Alleria leaving wasnât due to the Windrunnerâs wanting to continue their legacy of being Rangers - it was because she lost the sibling she was closest to. It was personal. Whether this is right or wrong, is up for debate - Iâm not debating that.
Alleria Windrunner was an anomaly from the very start within Thalassian Society. She always felt different than the rest. She had this inner drive and thrist to see the world with her own eyes rather than sit idle in Quelâthalas.
Something normal for us but for Thalassian Elves it was unthinkable. Her mother Liressa was no different. On top of that she had the weakest connection with her siblings with Lirath being the exception. The Baby Brother as they called him. Little Lord Sun. Nicknames that in his adult life began to bother him.
Sylvanas in particular wasnât very close to Alleria. It was perfectly shown during eldest sisterâs inauguration into Farstriders when then pregnant with Lirath, Liressa sent Alleria into the Eversong to hunt a bothersome Lynx called the âMaulerâ armed with only one arrow and skinning knife.
Knife was to only be used to take off the garb and nothing else. Alleria was supposed to kill it with a single shot of an arrow within the span of one day. When she set out to do the task, Sylvanas waited with all other Farstriders in the Windrunner Spire. Sylv herself was too young to be a Ranger but even by then she outshined Alleria.
Eventually the middle sister got too bothered and set out by herself. Tracking down both the beast and Alleria. She saw how the eldest sister botched entire ritual. Instead of killing Mauler with the arrow she only enraged it with the wound inflicted by it, and already had it slashed multiple times with the knife.
While Sylv just sneaked by, and saw how Alleria tried to escape by climbing on the tree almost having her rear munched, drew and fired one arrow right into Lynxâ eye killing it instantly much to Alleriaâs dismay.
I donât know who was more furious at Sylvanas for this when the garb was presented. Liressa or Alleria herself for embarassing the future Ranger General in front of everyone.
This event haunted Alleria for years and became one of the reasons she believed Sylvanas to be better heir. Not to mention that Lorâthemar, then commander of Farstriders was very impressed with Sylvanas, not hiding his preference of her over Alleria.
Another case was when all three sisters were already adults and on their way to Silvermoon for annual victory festivities celebrating the end of the war against Amani.
By that time Alleria and Liressa couldnât stand each other. But the mother started to complement her daughters that all three are big girls now.
To which Vereesa began cuddling to her mother saying that she will always have them by her side. Sylvanas immediately shifted her gaze to Alleria seeing that it would not be so.
Even if the final straw for Alleriaâs refusal to return back home was the death of her parents and her brother, Sylvanas wasnât deluding herself even before that happened that she wouldnât be back. She saw how her older sister longed for world beyond and didnât understand it one bit as she herself was in love with Eversong.
But she truly began to blame Alleria for her absence during her undead life, thinking how things could be different if she sat her rear at home and go on voyage that ended up in her being lost and never found even after Outland was reached again.
Thank you very much. As I believe that I have already gave answer in this post I will simply give my own opinion now.
And in my opinion the answer is âtantrumâ. First Alleria threw it at her mother about leaving Quelâthalas.
Then Sylvanas who as a child was the greatest prankster but as a woman matured quite nicely eventually threw it as a Banshee Queen seeking justification for all sheâs done and all she is because her sister failed to be what she fundamentally was supposed to be.
Not a Thalassian Elf, not a Ranger-General, not a patriot. She was supposed to be the Older Sister, and she was supposed to be there for her younger sibling and not sacrifice them for some shining Human.
And that is very similar to Magistrix Esara Verrinde.
Other than that - I agree with the rest of your post. Somebody who wanted out of the norms would feel distant. We are not sure what it was about Lirath and why Alleria felt close to him, but weâve got to remember Alleriaâs necklace that she indirectly gave to Sylvanas and Vereesa.
She did love her sisters, but her brother was the one she loved more. It can happen with siblings, especially if thereâs more than 2.
EDIT: Whether she still loves Sylvanas is debatable. Unlike Vereesa, she wanted Sylvanas to go into the Maw and see Tyrandeâs judgement through.
I think Blizzard wanted to try and establish some sort of connection between Sylvanas and Lirath as it has been confirmed that Sylvanas saw a lot of Lirath in Anduin; but I donât think they succeeded in that. We know nothing of Lirathâs character and what he was like as a sole individual - to try and say that he was like Anduin, seems very disingenuous to the Quelâdorei.
I guess this is the reverse tantrum toward Sylvanas. Alleria believed that her esteemed and skilled younger sister would keep Quelâthalas safe and sound. But only did she faileto protect it, but also as an undead who were responsible for the destruction of the High Kingdom in the Third War, allied herself with the Orcs that were responsible for the destruction in the Second War, and Trolls who were responsible for the destruction 2000 years ago.
You canât make that crap up. You just cannot.
On top of that she brought what was left of Quelâthalas into the fold among those creautes. To someone as out of touch with everything that happened during her absence it can be quite overwhelming and slap in the face with the greatest irony of the universe.
Sylvanas commited, every crime, every sin, every failure ever possible in Alleriaâs mind. No wonder that she decided to take matters into her own hands and fix things up. Finally becoming the Eldest Sister. Too little too late.
Lirath was presented as a plot device for Sylvanas and nothing else. I think Christie Golden didnât flesh out too much of his character on purpose. He wasnât meant to be a character of his own. He was meant to be seen to us through Sylvanasâ lenses. And presented in an idealised form, or the purest being of all. Good, kind, cute and beloved above all. Completely surreal.
But his presentation does give us a very key info about Thalassian society. As it appears they were not very experienced with âLate Bloomerâ term at all. It seems that once Queâdorei was born, they were supposed to display some form of talent from the early childhood. And if they didnât excell at something from get go it was believed they were not meant to do it.
As was with Lirath who in general did not display any talent for Ranger stuff at his childhood and thus the idea of not becoming one was a choice made for him.
If any positive thing ever came from Alleria it would that she pointed it out. With her view as an outsider seeing the flaw, talked to Sylvanas about giving him a chance as he seemed far more able as an adult than when he was a child.
Sylvanas saw Lirath in Anduin because her brother became synonymous for everything that was good, innocent, pure and idealistic. Anduin himself pointed that out told Sylv to snap out of her delusion, as he is not her brother but he can still help her. But only as his own self.
The point of the book wasnât to show Anduind as Lirath. It was to show that Sylvanas saw her brother in Anduin in a form of some delirrium caused by the cuteness overload that Anduin was radiating with.
She saw him from time to time and noticed how he grew, read reports about his demeanor and few senteces that he spoke when she was present was enough for her to build up some kind of delusion. A defence mechanism upon which she leaned on to.
Believing that if she can convince Anduin to her point of view then by default it would mean her own brother would agree as well. And BOI if the Boy King himself did not slap Sylv with reality check.
Goes to show how Thalassian Society does operate. Even as they are now, Sinâdorei still do not give a toss or two about outside world much to Esaraâs dismay. Thatâs how ex-High Elves and now Blood Elves always were, always are and always will be.
At least Esara knows where her heart lies and instead of turning her back on Quelâthalas decided to use her drive for greater world to her peopleâs advantage.
Speak for yourself Iâm waiting to pledge my loyalty to Yrel when she returns.
Both Thalassian and Shalassian societies operate to be honest.
Both descend from Highborne Elite, who rarely left the confounds of Zin-Azshari or Suramar. Itâs only natural that Blood Elves and Nightborne, especially their Magi, rarely want to leave their respective cities - nevermind their nation landmasses.
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Typical alliance supremacy post. Delete yourself.
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I meant amoung the reocurring characters. And sheâll probably see either an instant noodle redemption or die like a chump.
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Nobody respects the blood elves or Nightborne. They suck Horde council toes.
True, but for the Blood Elves at least, when it comes for them the time to leave because they have a great need, they do it in mass without a lot of regrets, like them trying to leave Quelâthalas and move to Outland in TBC, or quite a lot of them moving to Dalaran and joining the Sunreavers, or their ancestors moving to another continent althogether under DathâRemar, or the Void Elves leaving Quelâthalas too (they were still Blood Elves after all)
so when thereâs a need the Blood Elves move and explore without hesitation, even the Magisters. So they are way more adaptable than the Nightborne (or Night Elves) if they need to leave, and fast to learn stuff from their new territory too, especially how to use the new magical resources and artifacts they find thereâŚ
When Yrel returns, she could try to invade Quelâthalas and conquer the Sunwell in order to use it as a holy portal for teleporting more of her troops and Light entities from AU Draenor to Azeroth âŚhopefully Lady Liadrin wonât side with her 
I think it comes down to the fact that the Blood Elves are far more worldly wise because their position demanded them to be worldly wise.
Unlike the Nightborne, the Night Elves and the Highborne of EldreâThalas - they had constant threats from the Amani Tribe. The alone, with the devastation they caused, meant that the Thalassian Elves had to be wise beyond their borders. Yes, yes - a night elf fan could come here and say âuh Shatterspearâ or âuh Satyrâ but only the latter had a serious impact - thousands of years before the Highborne exile.
Itâs ironic - Thalassian Elves, Satyr and Naga are the only Elves who are very adapt to the world around them. Thalassians and Satyr for the landmass and Naga for the underwater-mass.
EDIT: MMO champion seem to believe that the Shenâdralar are the most wordly wise Elves because they were scrying on the world, from their city. Not sure if itâs canon butâŚ
Nobody has ever respected the playable races, barring us players. 
Iâd give up with the Horde and Alliance, if I could. Blood Elves and Nightborne go solo. The dream faction of the best âHighborneâ races with their capital cities and landmasses.
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