Sylvanas, queen of the undead, tearing a open a hole in the universe of Warcraft

A bit of backstory around Sylvanas: she's a female protagonist, hero, and villain in the universe of Warcraft. Originally a noble, 'good' character who fought for her people against Arthas and the Lich King (the keeper and king of the undead.) Sylvanas is turned by Arthas - who is under the control of the Lich King - killing her and turning her into a banshee where she is conscious but lacks all control. Arthas hates Sylvanas for stopping his plans in taking over parts of the world so sees fit to torment her. Sylvanas regains her body and slowly some of her control over her functions as Arthas and the Lich King's hold over her wanes. Sylvanas eventually ambushes Arthas after regaining control. Failing killing Arthas she liberates a host of undead who swear fealty to her.

What I find interesting is that she is a female character who has to navigate violent oppression from a patriarchal model. She eventually leads the effort along with other faction leaders to kill the Lich King (who is also now Arthas via compound of being but they are now more Lich King than Arthas) and, after, committing suicide as she finds her purpose met. She awakes in a shadow world where the Valkyrie show her the doom to be brought unto the world should she not come back and play her part politically and existentially. The Valkyrie swore to serve the king of the undead but now he no longer operates at full capacity they are adrift without purpose. The Valkyrie make a deal with her allowing her consciousness to enter the existence she just left and implanting it back into her body, they eternally bond with her but it kills one of them. The Valkyrie hold the power to create new undead - valuable considering that Sylvanas and her army can't procreate. At this stage, Sylvanas' personality is singular in that her view of existence and life is perhaps warped or different than what you would expect of a leader, however, she feels a kinship with her fellow undead and does not want them to fall to ruin so chooses to return. Returning, as an undead, to the world of the living for a second time having seen and been tortured by the darkest parts of the void actually gives Sylvanas a stronger resolve than before to the point it terrifies anyone who looks into her eyes (see Garrosh Hellscream, upon her return to prevent the use of her kin as kamikaze at the Battle for Gilneas Garrosh, insane, dangerous, fearless and unshakable and the leader of the Horde at the time changes his entire war effort because she turns up and tells him to calm down and give her the reigns.) Trying to understand her at this stage feels dark.

Sylvanas eventually develops a substantial hatred for the living. She has become the leader of the entire Horde (Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, Undead, Blood Elves, Goblins.) She seeks greater and greater power, forever navigating against the patriarchal model. She uses her power to destroy an opposing faction's ancestral home (Night Elf's Teldrasil) and in doing so rips apart any amicable connection between the horde and the alliance. Her true purpose here, we discover, is to instill within her enemy (life) that hope is pathetic - standing against her is useless. She sees herself as a sort of harbinger and symbol of life's true form. Events unfold and the horde call for more honor within their organization - their champion challenges Sylvanas who she kills - displaying power we assumed she had but making it very clear that she is now in a league of her own. Upon killing Saurfang (Orc champion) Sylvanas disappears. We understand at this point her consolidation of power no longer has need of the horde, one of the two main superpowers in Warcraft.

Flash forward to the video referenced: Sylvanas has come to the throne of the Lich King who's seat has been taken up by Bolvar Fordragon (he did this so as to keep the balance between life and death, stopping one world from bleeding too much into the other.) It seems at first as if she has come to claim the throne and crown for herself - to assimilate this nexus of power and separation between the perceivable universe from the 'other' or 'shadowland.' She, in a sense, 'meets her maker.' She makes easy work of the Lich King, dispatching his army before the king himself. Before lifting the crown up to her head the Lich King tells her that the power she holds will be her prison - to which she replies 'this world is a prison.' Sylvanas precedes to use her power to tear the crown apart - something we didn't know was possible - which has a ripple on effect of ripping a hole from their universe into the 'other' universe, a parallel universe called the 'shadowlands.'

I include this because it's pretty awesome. Sylvanas has navigated her consciousness masterfully within the confines of the shells, outside control and confines that have plagued her. There are themes here that I am exploring in the project: limitations afforded by reality, outside control, altering reality, will and parallel universes. The idea of the Lich King for example: he is an entity that controls all his subjects' consciousness bending their will to his own.

*** Follow up thoughts:

When she takes the helm of the Lich King and dethrones Bolvar, holding the veil between life and death in her hands (two overarching and branching universes,) she tells him that he is unfit to wear the crown. I think she's referencing his not being of undead or subject to the implications or consequences of the entities at play. She is undead - she has breached the veil more than once and been made, viciously and movingly, to submit to the men that hold position within this framework. Maybe I'm focusing too much on gender but I do believe that there is some strong writing of the narrative that centers around politics. We have no idea what she's going to do at this stage but we do know that she, and perhaps only she, truly knows the gravity of what Icecrown and the Lich King bare. Bolvar isn't bad but he lived without rotting or being made spectral, or without immediate oppression that he could perceive. His life pre-Lich King centered around a holy order of paladins that fought and sustained a patriarchal society that featured religion and 'good.' I don't think it's that deep for her at this stage because we understand that Sylvanas, once set on a target, is single-minded - I imagine that relative to her understanding of life, death (matter) and reality alongside her very set will that Bolvar doesn't matter all that much. I do like however that there is some emotion informing her measure of the other people that play a part in the events unfolding but I don't think there is any foundation here for redemption. Sylvanas is gonna get shit done or somehow be destroyed by trying and at this stage perishing from reality only means she is sent to a place of abject torment. The shadowlands (the parallel reality that she has now blown open a hole from the current one into) contain masters just as her original universe does it's my strong belief that she will do to them what she did to the Lich King - after all, she felt their oppression after killing herself and being lost in their void. In this, she remains, for me, Warcraft's greatest and most complicated hero. I also feel that her earlier decision to kill herself was informed by other parties replacing the Lich King instead of destroying him - in this, reality, existence and, again, outside influence silently but very clearly sent her a message that hope is lost. That she clawed her way past this and surpassed almost all beings within the Warcraft multiverse in terms of power, purpose, and character is kinda awesome (also gotta love that she's basically zombie queen.)

Part 3 Research

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