Anduin & Kingsmourne - Sylvanas is Thinking of More Than Just Doubt
We have talked a lot about the look of doubt and possible regret from Sylvanas as she sees what has become of Anduin. However, I think there is also something to be said of the way the Jailer refers to Anduin.
The Jailer simply refers labels him as “The vessel” He does not refer to him by name, or “the boy king”, or even “the human”…but merely as an object, as a tool, as a means to achieving his goals. This is not the first time Sylvanas has heard the Jailer refer to somebody helping him as expendable, as merely serving a purpose. She saw the Jailer say that “Denathrius’s soul has served his purpose” and that was literally all he had to say on the matter. Denathrius is an Eternal One and, like The Primus and the Archon, was an actual brother to Zovaal - that is a long, long personal and familial history. Moreover, Denathirus has been conspiring for the last five years to help him by directly inflicting and overseeing the drought of the enire Shadowlands, while masterfully keeping this hidden from the rest of his ‘family’. But despite all this history and what Denathrius has done for him, he is merely swept aside as “He served his purpose” and not given a second thought. No remorse, not even an inkling of regret or even frustration that his supposed brother has been stopped and all but killed.
Now Sylvanas is seeing The Jailer talking of Anduin in the same fashion, and I feel this is something extremely significant that figures into her doubts - because she sees Anduin as a lot more than a tool. She knows Anduin and, as we saw throughout BFA and especially now in Shadowlands, she has an unspoken but nontheless clear respect for him and his strength. She sees him as a living being, a personality, a man with his own strengths and weakness, a man with a history of tragedy that - despite being on opposite sides historically speaking - she understands and relates to. The way she specifcally connects with him in ‘No More Lies’ when she reminds him of the tragedy in his very own family who have all been part of an “endless war, like every Wrynn before you, will not survive” speaks this in volumes. In essence then, she knows Anduin in a way that the Jailer does not know him at all, nor does he care to know. The Jailer does not have the history with Anduin that Sylvanas does, he does not see him the same way as Sylvanas does. Ultimately, I really think this willful ignorance from the Jailer in Sylvanas’s eyes is wrong - she sees the Jailer as wrong, and that look in her eyes could just be saying exactly this without explicitly saying it to his face, nay she risk falling out of his favour. The speaking of Anduin so whimsically and so dehumanisingly could well be reminding her of how she was viewed and treated by Arthas herself, and later by her family and her own people, as merely “The Banshee” in spite of her being so much more and literally giving her life to keep it. This reminder of a life of undeath from the day she died, and the relentless reminders over the past 15 years of how the world views her nothing more than a monster and the unyeilding internal pain and struggle to rise above it has caused her, resonates with her deeply by now seeing Anduin suffer exactly the same fate. This realisation could be one of her greatest motivations for when, as a lot of us are suspecting, she will betray the Jailer.
With this established, the other major thought going through Sylvanas’s mind that is causing her to have doubts is the most fundamental of all that has defined her ever since she died - survival. If the Jailer sees the others as expendable after what they have done for him, she may start thinking the same about herself. Why would the Jailer think of her any differently? If the Jailer is willing to write off the fall of a so-called brother in Denathrius, family he has known for literal aeons, as merely an expendable loss barely worthy of a passing comment, then why would he view Sylvanas as any different? Look at what Sylvanas has effectively done for the Jailer on the mortal plane on Azeroth ever since she became part of his grand plan, in funnelling as many souls as possible into the Maw over the past 2-3 years and taking out Bolvar to shatter the veil and open the way for him to reach Azeroth - two massive events without which the Jailer’s plan can simply not work. But if he is willing to dismiss a brother so coldly as nothing more an expendable pawn, despite their history and all that Denthrius did for him - also without whom the Jailer’s plan simply fails - then why would the Jailer view Sylvanas as any different and treat her any differently once she has also served her “purpose”? After all, in the grand scheme of time that the Jailer has been around, Sylvanas is barely a drop in the ocean, and look how he views Anduin as somebody who is essentially of the same insignificance. All of these thoughts and questions are what could be racing through her mind at this moment.
Therefore, I do seriously wonder if it’s at this point in Shadowlands when Sylvanas begins planning her end game, whereby she not only ensures her own survival but also still somehow ensures that her ultimate goal - whatever that still may be - is followed through. When Steve Danuser says that the outcome of the raid encounter will have major implications, maybe this is what he is referring to - Sylvanas being just about to execute her plan to turn against the Jailer (and maybe save Anduin) but the ‘adventurers’ inadvertantly fuck it all up by stopping her. Time as they say, will indeed tell.
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