Considering More Changes in Leadership

The folks at Blizzard have been pretty up front about what is coming for Garrosh, at least in his role as Warchief. At the end of the Pandaren campaign, we will face Garrosh and remove him as Warchief. We don’t know if he will survive the encounter, but Blizzard has most definitely lived up to their promise that there will be no doubts or questions about why we are taKing Garrosh down. He has, since landing on the shores of Pandaria, taken actions and given orders that leave even the most loyal Horde member thinKing twice about his leadership.

When thinKing about Garrosh’s fate for another piece, I was considering what might or should happen on the Alliance side. The Alliance has Varian Wrynn as it’s leader, and I realize there are a lot of players who truly cannot stand him. While I have never understood where this hatred of Varian comes from, I know a lot of players on both sides do not like him.

I can imagine for some it comes from his undying hatred for the Orcs that really only subsided once he went through the cleansing ritual in Wolfheart. Some think poorly of Varian for his commissioning a statue of himself shortly before the cataclysm, when Stormwind Keep was remodeled. Others still just dislike the look or attitude of the man who now runs the capital of the Alliance. The question that must be pondered, though, is whether Varian is in need of a replacement. I am not really planning to theorize on the how, if it were to happen, but there is some merit to considering a whole cloth change of leadership in both factions, and even who would take the lead after.

Varian has not always been a good King, nor a good father. Prince Anduin has tried to be understanding, but clearly could not see the conflict that brewed inside the King. Once Varian returned, and finally took control of his Kingdom back from the scaly grasp of Onyxia, his dual and conflicting personalities rubbed many, including trusted and faithful allies, the wrong way. His treatement of Anduin was, in short, horrible. The books and short stories tell of a son struggling to understand his father, and a King trying to not lose the last piece of his life that remains. Varian has lost his father, and his wife. In addition to that, it seemed his son had a serious death wish, or so it must have seemed to Varian.

However, one must acknowledge the sea change that has happened within Varian since the ritual that all Gilnean Worgen go through to regain themselves. Anne ‘Shadesogrey’ Stickney of WoW Insider has made a good point about the two leaders, they seem to have become mirrors of each other. We first saw Garrosh as meek and depressed, a young Orc forever tainted by the memory of his father’s crimes. He has now grown to become a volatile and unpredictable leader, who will go to any lengths to secure the power he desires. He is willing to kill anyone and anything that stands in the way of the conquest he dreams of, even his allies. Garrosh is even willing to mess with the powers of an old god, in the form of the Sha, to become triumphant over his enemies, both within the Horde and without.

I wonder, though, if Garrosh might not be a mirror of his father more. Grom was an Orc leader who sought power, first through the drinking of the blood of Mannoroth, then through leading the charge against the Draenei. Finally through the drinKing of Mannoroth’s blood again in the forests of Ashenvale, which lead to the death of Cenarius, he bound the Orcs to the pit lord once again. Only through mutual death did Grom make up for the mistakes he made.

While I do not know if Varian will die, or otherwise be removed as the leader of the Alliance, I do personally think he should not. While one day Anduin will need to take up the mantle of King, I do not think it is his time yet. He is too young, too fresh, and his training as a Priest is not yet complete. I do think that if Varian falls, and Anduin is not able to take up that lead, I believe Jaina would be the best option for leader of humanity.

As for the replacement for the Warchief, there appears a couple of good solid, and honorable candidates, Vol’Jin and Baine, but I do not know if the Orcs, who make up the majority of the Horde, would follow a non Orc Warchief. Someone over at WoW Insider recently pointed out it would take a major event to convince the Orcish population of the Horde to give a Troll or Tauren a shot, but I don’t currently see any Orc in the Horde as someone who I would trust as leader of the Horde.

Who would you want to replace the current leaders of Horde and Alliance? Do you think Varian should step down or be killed off to make room for Anduin, who is only 15 or so now? Let us know in the comments!