So, I just finished the “Siege of Dazar’alor” raid (finally) and killed Rastakhan and completed the quest “As the Dust Settles”. And during the meeting of some of the leaders Anduin throws out this specific line,
“We must continue the fight. But, as we push closer to victory, we must never lose sight of who we are and what we stand for.”
And the question is pretty simple: What does the Alliance stand for Anduin or to be more exact Blizzard? What does the Alliance stand for outside of being a counter-faction to the Horde? Honor and justice are great values, but nearly every single faction in the game has these to some degree.
I mean okay: The Horde suffers from the same problem and it really feels like both factions have absolutely no identity outside of being red and black and blue and gold. And yet Blizzard seemingly believes that the Alliance player base at least knows what their faction stands for. But, really: I don’t have any idea outside of some very generic and basic stuff.
We stand for the peace and prosperity of Azeroth, we are the defenders of the realm, the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. We pledge our life and honor to the great Uniter, for this day and all the days to come. We are the Ni… Alliance!
I think that Jaina just mean with it that we keep our morals compared to the Horde. We don’t becoming so cruel that we try to break our enemy. Thrall said it to her as she tried to fleed Orgrimmar after the destruction of Theramore.
According to andiun.
The alliance are friends and family.
Working on a peacefull and united azaroth where nobody is beyond redemption.
According to blizzard.
It is lawfull stupid human empire that exist as enemy for there beloved horde.
According to the fans?
The alliance is civilization in a world full of evil monsters beings, lich kings, dragons and other horrible stuff that wants nothing more then to cause pain and suffering on our people.
The alliance is the only civilization on azaroth that isnt driven by a desire for war and carnage.
When jaina says: We must never lose sight of who we are and what we stand for.
She is refeering to the only difference between us and the rest of azaroth is that we seek Peace, unity, Cooperation, Community, Civilization and prosperity.
The moment we allow ourself to be lost to war we might as while reroll horde.
Today? It means to be a member of punchbag of a faction which can’t do jack ship to stop Horde antics if it involves getting us playing dirty. On top of that, everyone agrees on everything (read: with human’s opinion). And we’re led by people who despite being ancient beings follow a teenage boy for some mysterious reason.
What it used to mean? We were the valliant defenders of our home - Azeroth - form any threat, be it external or internal. Everything wrapped in heroic (if somewhat pompous) overtone. All members were equal and their voice mattered in the chorus and we had our disagreements.
America’s ain’t in heroic fantasy world but in our ugly reality. But you gave me an idea. How cool would it be if Level 80 ETC sang… “Alliance, fu*k yeah!”
The Alliance consists of powerful cultures and groups bound not by desperation or necessity, but by their deep commitments to abstract concepts like nobility and justice, and, striving to represent these high ideals, its many different peoples all contribute their technical, arcane, and spiritual wisdom “toward the goal of a just and peaceful world.”
I think this is entirely subjective, all that really matters is what the alliances means to you. As someone who plays both I do tend to have a certain model in my head of how the Alliance and Horde are distinctive from one another, though this is purely my opinion.
To me the Alliance stands for peace, order, prosperity and justice. They are an order that forms the most powerful faction on Azeroth and they kind of have to continue to be so otherwise the order they represent falls down. In my mind this is why internal strife within the Alliance is limited to trivial differences and there will never be any real inter-faction tension. I don’t believe it’s the writing that keeps them from what I have seen as the “Game of thrones” type of disputes the Horde has, it’s the same writing team probably. The sense of unity that is present within the alliance will never be duplicated in the horde because of these reasons.
Just to round out the opinion to me the Horde stands for Strength and Honour. Specifically strength to live up to your own personal character, despite how it may be looked down upon by other factions and honour of bringing pride to your faction. A good example of this to me would be when the Blood Elves were first introduced (back in WoW: TBC they were little more than mana junkies looking to get over their fix, or find a new source. Their green eyes evident of the dark path their addiction had led them down, it was easy to pity them in this wretched state. But despite this they overcame that adversity and have begun to prosper again through strength of character and maintaining their own sense of honour, not allowing themselves to becomes slaves to their addiction or darker powers that offered them a quick fix.
Just my take and I am certain there’s no shortage of folks that would disagree but, there you have it.
To be a member of team Blue, means to think yourself good and the opposite evil.
it means to be arrogant and believe that only your path is the true path.
to quete Anduin from the Allied race’s intro.
We all know the Alliance incurred heavy losses in the war against the Legion. And even now, the world bleeds in the aftermath of Sargeras’s final strike.
Meanwhile, the Horde musters its forces and arms for war. Their aggression must not go unanswered.
Our future depends on bringing other like-minded allies into the fold.
Basically it means to be of one mind, with one purpose.
There is no true freedom there but at least you’ll always be told you are in the right so long as you obey the flimsy code of conduct that that it holds.
To be Alliance is to be in Denial of reality basically.
Except the Alliance does not demand complete obedience. Also the Alliance shows there are always more then one path.
Its the Horde that always shows one path; that of War, genocide, carnage. And those that disagree are better off seeking their hail within the Alliance, get put into jail or outright executed.
Mention to me one example of the Alliance allowing another Path please?
Not really the Horde is Literally a Multicultural Gathering of Nations, where each Nation do their own thing and only has to answer the call to War of the Warchief.
It draw strength from the individuality of each Nation.
while Anduin directly states he only wants people of the same mindset.
Sylvanas Windrunner : Leaders of the Horde, I summoned you here–along with one of our greatest champions–because our enemies are gathering their strength. Sylvanas Windrunner : War is coming. We need fresh blood added to the ranks of the Horde. What say you?
Notice something here? Sylvanas and in turn the leadership does not demand their new allies has the same Mindset.
