Leader of the Horde (speculation/spoilers)

[Makoes]

So Vol'jin was made leader of the Horde, and then is killed, but passes the torch to Sylvanas before he dies. Considering that he does not trust her, this is a rather strange choice. He says that the Loa granted him Clairvoyance and that's why he chose her.

But DID they?

Vol'jin has a green glowy wound in his belly that's poisoning his body. What if his "vision" was a trick of the Fel Magic? What would the Legion gain from getting the Banshee Queen put in charge of the Horde?

For Someone who will seem to do anything (even mass slaughter) to shore up the Forsaken numbers, I am not sure she should be in charge of the horde. Seems like an awfully big weakness for the Legion to exploit...Join them and all who die will be reborn as Fel empowered Forsaken...

Thoughts/speculations?

[Karathyriel]

If that happened, Blizz would have to make Sylvanas the end boss of the final raid for LEGION.
That would mean to lose the 4th and kill off the 3rd Horde leader.
I'm pretty sure this will piss off the Horde players a lot and I don't know if Blizz would risk this.
Maybe it's just that Sylvanas isn't among the living anymore and you need to be already dead to kill the archdemons, so they can't kill you or eat your soul?
Maybe that's what makes her the obvious choice for Vol'Jin.

The Forsaken have split from the Scourge and the Scourge has always been a creation of the Burning Legion.
So, in a way, they always were fel empowered in a way.
Corpses running around isn't really natural, is it?

I don't think that Blizz will make the Horde the "bad guys" in the end.
But I'm sure as hell not happy with the banshee queen taking over.
Although I'm a big fan of the Trolls, I really want to see a green skinned butt back on the warchiefs chair in Orgrimmar.
Warchief not being an Orcs doesn't feel right to me.

[Valnaaros]

Agreed. Making Sylvanas the bad guy and an eventual raid boss for us to kill would just anger Horde fans. Besides, the way she has been written in Stormheim, they seem to be pushing for a redemption arc of sorts. Originally, that wasn't rhe case. But they removed a lot of the things that made it seem like she was evil or that her becoming Warchief was puppeteered by the Legion.

[Bangeall]

I think it's a shame we didn't really get to see much of Vol'jin's Horde and what direction he could have taken them in. I also don't see why she would be the obvious choice as Horde leader, or why the entire Horde would willingly follow her considering what she's done in the past, and that the first and only time Sylvanas has stepped up in a significant way for the Horde -and not for the primary benefit of the Forsaken or herself- was on the Broken Isles. Up until the Broken Isles, we've never seen her act for the greater good of the Horde. Doesn't that make her the worst candidate for the position? Why not Lor'themar, or Saurfang? Or let Baine finally get some development? I think the Loa speaking to Vol'jin was simply a plot device to enable a redemption story for a fan favourite. As that seems to be the direction they're taking her, I don't think there's any fel involvement, but that would actually be a great twist.

I really liked Vol'jin, I would have loved to have seen him be the warchief who led the Horde in their struggle against the Legion, rather than be killed off to give the limelight to Sylvanas. I haven't played through all of the Horde quests in WoD, but it seems the attention shifts back to Thrall. He was basically a placeholder warchief.

[cowmuflage]

I don't see Sylvannas joining the group that made the group that made her. I mean the Lich King is a product of the Burning Legion after all.

[Aleu]

I was really bummed out to see Vol'jin killed off so freaking fast. Like I almost felt nothing for him when I saw the cinematic. Vol'jin never really got much going for him so I didn't really get attached to him. Despite me maining Horde I am actually sad about king chin... I MEAN VARIAN. Seeing him go out like that actually made me tear up a bit. That and his son got strangely hot in this expansion. << >>

As far as Sylvanas goes, I don't think she has much of reason to suddenly turn against everyone. I can easily see not trusting her. She is undead after all and as mentioned before as a by product of the Legion. As shown in Cataclysm, she has some pretty screwed up methods and many are shown to not agree with it. Still goes back to the whole Undead thing. I think they could've gone with a better choice in the matter, but I'll give Sylvanas a chance. I don't think she'll pull a Garrosh... and least I reaaally hope not.

And plus, after reading up on Dalaran's new lore, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jaina possibly showing up as a raid boss one of these days. -COUGHCOUGH-