Saurfang is grieving the fact that Teldrassil burned and shouts “There is no honor in this”. And most of the fandom shouts with him and blames her for burning it - while in truth it is actually Saurfang’s fault. But unfortunately many people didn’t read the novella “A Good War” where it was explained.
Let me break it down for you:
Before Legion, Alliance and Horde were in a stalemate, but the war against the Legion greatly decimated both the Alliance’s and the Horde’s forces, basically making both incapable of great warfare in the next few years. They still have strong positions on all continents, but the battle on the Broken Shore basically crushed both their naval forces - and their powers in itself are so weak right now, that they are both not able to reclaim the waterfront, making the high seas wild territory. And whoever gets their hands on this territory first will have an advantage over the other - and when both manage to maneuver themselves into a stalemate, which by Saurfang’s prediction, is going to take years, they lack the means and opportunities for decisive strikes.
And additionally Sargeras’s sword arrived and azerite appeares all over the planet changed that and the one to get that ressource first would tip the scales in his favor and crush what is left of the other faction.
So, of course, plans are being made to prevent that, or, in Sylvanas’s case, prepare a harsh strike against the alliance before they do it. Her words were to deal them “a wound that can never heal”.
I’d love to quote that, but for that I’d need to quote three entire pages. So please read “A Good War” page 11 to 13. There it is explained completely why exactly a plan like hers is needed. I think I’ve broken it down in a way it can be understood, but I always like to give sources, so here you go!
But what IS her plan, now? In short, assault Darnassus, kill Malfurion and hold the city hostage. Which would basically lead to the alliance tearing itself apart from within. Some would want to retaliate. Some would definitely want Darnassus back. (That is, at least, her idea. By taking Darnassus and killing Malfurion or Tyrande, the one surviving will go enrage and definitely want to retake Darnassus, of course. Other members of the Alliance will want to retaliate beforehand, encouraging a direct strike against Undercity. In Sylvanas’s case here she thinks of Genn Greymane, who, in her opinion, will not take it in good spirits that the alliance wants to move to help Darnassus and forsake Gilneas again, which would hopefully be freed with a strike against Undercity. She can’t know, however, that in the alliance-story, Elegy, Genn openly states that he is so grateful to the nightelves for giving his people shelter after the fall of Gilneas that he would give his all to help them. So this is a part where her strategy would have failed, but that’s something she can’t know. I just wanted to mention it.)
Let me quote this:
>> “The boy in Stormwind will have a political crisis on his hands. He is smart, but he is not experienced. What happens when Genn Greymane, Malfurion Stormrage, and Tyrande Whisperwind all demand differing actions? He is not a high king like his father. The respect the others give him is a courtesy, not an obligation. Anduin Wrynn will rapidly become a leader who cannot act. If the Alliance will not march as one, each nation will act in its own interest. Each army will return home to protect their lands from us.”
“And that is how you defeat Stormwind.” Saurfang was in awe. It was brilliant. Destroying the Alliance wouldn’t take a thousand victories. It would take one. <<
Saurfang was the main strategist behind this, Sylvanas entrusted him with making up the plan. Saying: It is his plan that is used during the battle of darkshore. Keep that in mind for a moment, okay?
The battle begins, everything kind of works and at some point Sylvanas goes to confront Malfurion Stormrage, because one of the main goals was to kill him. As already mentioned, Sylvanas wanted to wound the alliance. Direly. And, well, Malfurion’s death would be a pretty big impact.
At some point during that fight Saurfang arrived and saw that Sylvanas had problems - and heck it’s not a surprise, Malfurion is the greatest druid ever - and out of reflex threw his axe into Malfurion’s back when he saw the opportunity and wounded him, ending the battle.
Sylvanas then left the killing of Malfurion to Saurfang, because, well, he did deliver the decisive blow. So now everything that’s left to do is killing Malfurion and the wound has been properly dealt.
But what does Saurfang do? He hesitates. He doesn’t want to. And when Tyrande arrives and is justifiably goddamn fucking mad the chance is gone.
And then Saurfang returns to base and is actually happy. He is actually HAPPY he blew his own plan! His. OWN. plan! Sylvanas, of course, is angry as hell but decides to go with it, because what other choice does she have? If she now just leaves the alliance will be mad as hell and retaliate as soon as possible, without being dealt more damage than a destroyed village and a lot of dead soldiers. So she decides to inflict the wound she wanted to inflict (As planned by Saurfang, just to mention this yet again) by burning the tree.
Saurfang is horrified and doesn’t understand why - and then Sylvanas explains it by…you know what? Here you go.
>>“There is no honor in this!” he roared at Sylvanas.
She finally turned away from the World Tree. Her eyes were steady, the anger within them gone. What was left in its place? Emptiness? Satisfaction? Saurfang couldn’t read her now. Maybe he never could.
“They will come for us now. All of them!” he said.
“I know.” She was calm, as though nothing were wrong. “They will attack the Undercity in retaliation. You will need to plan our defenses. Begin evacuating my people.”
He struggled to form words. Finally, pure hatred made him spit out a condemnation.
“You have damned the Horde for a thousand generations. All of us. And for what? For what?”
Her expression didn’t waver. “This was your battle. Your strategy. And your failure. Darnassus was never the prize. It was a wedge that would split the Alliance apart. It was the weapon that would destroy hope. And you, my master strategist, gave that up to spare an enemy you defeated. I have taken it back. When they come for us, they will do so in pain, not in glory. That may be our only chance at victory now.”
He wanted to kill her. He wanted to declare mak’gora and spill her blood in front of Horde and Alliance alike. But she was right.
A wound that can never heal. That had always been the plan. And Saurfang had failed to inflict it. <<
(Taken from “A Good War” by Robert Brooks)
I took the liberty of highlighting the parts I deem most important, because you know what? In my eyes, Sylvanas is absolutely right.
This was his plan and his battle. It was his part to kill Malfurion, because he delivered the decisive blow - Sylvanas actually went with the orc tradition there and let him have the kill, because claiming the kill of an opponent you didn’t defeat isn’t honorable. She is in line with orc tradition!
Okay, he threw the axe into Malfurion’s back, which, of course, is not exactly an honorable blow. No orc would say it is, least of all Saurfang. But it happened, because of his reflexes as a warrior.
He failed because of his sense of honor. And thanks to that completely crashed the plan, like, completely crashed it. He put his honor over the plan - and damn, Saurfang is a master strategist, he knew what would happen if they messed up the plan! - and thanks to him it took a nose dive directly into an active volcano. So Sylvanas, frankly, had to improvise, because Saurfang absolutely. fucked. up.
If he had killed Malfurion Teldrassil would have never burned. If he had actually followed his own plan, Darnassus would’ve been held hostage but it wouldn’t be completely destroyed.
So, in my opinion all the people who hate Sylvanas and swear vengeance and want her head for the burning of Teldrassil are wrong. The one who’s actually responsible is Saurfang who, on the spur of a moment, crashed his own plan completely and basically forced her hand in doing so. All the blood of those who burned in Teldrassil is on his hands, not hers. He put his honor over the plan and thus unified the entire Alliance against the Horde, which was exactly the opposite of what they wanted to achieve.
So please, swear vengeance to Saurfang and demand his head instead of hers, because all she did was cut the Horde’s losses.
To conclude this part, let me quote the very end of “A Good War”.
>>Saurfang did not move for hours, not until the screams faded and the flames had burned themselves down to embers. Before him stood a smoking husk that had once been a great civilization. Inside him was a feeling of despair, a feeling of shame. There was no haze of corruption now to soften the horror.
Saurfang would remember this moment in his dreams forever. He would relive this shame, and all the new ones to come, over and over again.
You have led your Horde in the service of death, Malfurion had said.
How could Saurfang face the soldiers he had led into this war? How could he explain what they had done?
He couldn’t. He would never know how.
But the burden would be his, always, until his dying day.
As Saurfang turned away, he hoped that day would come soon.<<
He doesn’t blame Sylvanas, because he can’t. This was his fault. And he knows.
And instead of clearing this up through inserting the contents of the Novella into the game where every idiot has access to them, we get the “Old Soldier” cinematic where Saurfang is shown grieving. For the unknowing it looks like he’s all “Oh no, I can’t believe what she did. She’s so evil! I want to finally die!” while in actuality it is “Oh no, I can’t believe what I did. I want to finally die.”
(The Novella actually underlines this, too, because the last lines are literally: >>But the burden would be his, always, until his dying day.As Saurfang turned away, he hoped that day would come soon.<< ).
But is this ever made clear during it? No! All we see is poor poor Saurfang who suffers under the decision the evil bad Sylvanas made.
Although he was the one to force her hand. Which is a fact that players who only play the game without paying attention to the novellas, don’t know and then proceed to hate Sylvanas for her “irrational” act.
Saurfang and Zappy Boi:
Then the spoilers for the questline concerning him and Zappy Boi in 8.1 were released and it became blindingly obvious, that Blizzard doesn’t want to clear this up. They don’t want to rub it into the player’s faces that this all happened thanks to Saurfang and not because Sylvanas “suddenly turned evil” (In my opinion she is not evil and never has been, but that’s a different topic entirely.). No, Saurfang, the poor poor soul is treated like the tragic hero, the man who grieves for his enemies and his lost honor and defies his evil evil boss - although he was the spark that lit Teldrassil, so to speak.
So in that questline, Blizzard doesn’t even give you a choice. No, you just HAVE TO help poor poor Saurfang and heroically betray evil bad Sylvanas, because she is so evil. The option to sell them both out to Sylvanas was only added later on, because people started to complain.
AND THANK GOD THEY DID, because, newsflash, a lot of people love Sylvanas. Hell, I certainly do. And I don’t want to betray my warchief, because I like her, despite her being fucked over by pretty much the entire game and it’s creators lately. It’s pretty obvious through the game just forcing you to go behind her back. Let me decide something like this on my own, please?
And additionally, for me it seems pretty obvious that Blizzard only added this with a bit of frustration. How I come to that conclusion, you ask? Take a look at the reward for the single paths you can take. When you help Sylvanas and sell them out, you basically get money and a pat on the shoulder. While helping Saurfang you get several quests which all reward you money and gear and additionally you get a toy! And you won’t get to know the rest of the questline with Saurfang and Zappy Boi which is actually fairly long, while by selling them out you literally only go to Sylvanas and that’s it. Are you serious? And this is supposed to be a fair choice?
Not to mention that toy-collectors are going to have to take the Saurfang route just to complete their collection. Great, Blizzard.
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