Roman collector BFA : les motivations de la Horde et les conséquences sur l'Alliance

"You are not Garrosh Hellscream, why do you want to throw the Horde into the meat grinder again?

Sylvanas’s eyes did not waver, even in the face of his rage. "If I dedicated myself to peace with the Alliance, would it last a year?"

"Yes," Saurfang said curtly.

"How about two years? Five? Ten? Fifty?"

Saurfang felt the trap closing in on him, and he did not like it. "We fought side-by-side against the Burning Legion. That creates bonds that are not easily broken.

"Time breaks every bond." Sylvanas leaned across the table. Her words flew like arrows. "What do you believe? Will peace last five years or fifty?"

He leaned forward, too, his face inches away from hers. Neither blinked. "What I believe doesn’t matter, Warchief. What do you believe?"

"I believe the exiles of Gilneas will never forgive the Horde for driving them away. I believe the living humans of Lordaeron think it is blasphemy that my people still hold their city. I believe the ancient divide between our allies in Silvermoon and their kin in Darnassus is not easily mended." There was a smile on Sylvanas’ face. It was not a pleasant one.

"I believe the Darkspear tribe hasn’t forgotten who drove them from their islands," she continued. "I believe every orc your age remembers being imprisoned for years in filthy camps, wallowing in despair and surviving on human scraps. I believe every human remembers the tales of the terrible Horde that caused so much destruction in its first invasion, and I believe they blame every orc for that, no matter what you people have done to redeem yourselves. And I remember very well that my first Forsaken were once loyal Alliance citizens. We died for that banner, and our reward was to be hunted as vermin. I believe that there will be no permanent peace with the Alliance – not unless we win it on the battlefield on our terms. And believing that, answer this, Saurfang: what use is delaying the inevitable? "

"The boy in Stormwind will not start a war tomorrow," Saurfang said.

Her eyebrows lowered. "With Genn Greymane in his ear? We will see. "

That was a concern, Saurfang had to concede. In the thick of fighting against the Burning Legion, Greymane had launched a mission to kill Sylvanas. It had gotten some of Stormwind’s few remaining airships destroyed.

There were whispers that Greymane had ordered the attack without Anduin’s permission, but as far as Saurfang knew, Greymane had not been punished. The implications of that were troubling, and every possible explanation led to the same conclusion: the old Worgen would always drive the Alliance toward war against the Horde.

Sylvanas’ eyes glittered. "And the boy is becoming a man. What if that man decides that he has no choice but to launch war on us?"

”The Horde's children, and their children's children will curse our memories as they burn.
If life had any mercy at all, you and I would exist in peace for the rest of our days. We have both seen enough of war, but neither of us has seen the last of it.
The Horde and the Alliance have been at a stalemate. Both of our armies have been exhausted against the Legion.
But therein, I see an opportunity.”

”If you want to sit in the desert for a few months, you are welcome to join me,” Saurfang said lightly.

“Is that where you’re going?” Baine’s tone did not waver, but his eyes were ice.

Saurfang did not let himself show surprise. Baine knows the real plan, the orc realized. He didn’t know how, but the tone of the Tauren’s voice made it clear he knew something. I need to stop underestimating him.

"And what of Gilneas? What will you say to me if I choose to help the Kaldorei first?"

Which he would, especially if the Horde threatened thousands of prisoners. And Genn knew it.

"I cannot act if the Alliance is divided," Anduin said. That’s what this action is intended to do, Genn. Not just take Darnassus. But to use it against us, striking at the very heart of what makes our kingdoms the Alliance. Sylvanas is going to turn us against one another. That’s the grand plan. I was a fool for not to see it earlier."

Genn was silent for a long time. "When did you learn so much about strategy?"

Anduin laughed humorlessly. "I was reading when I should have been sparring."

"Well, you are a fool." Anduin turned to regard him, surprised by the words. "A fool to think for a moment that I would withdraw my support because you are helping the Kaldorei. Do I want my kingdom back? My people to return to their homes? Of course, I do! Do I want it badly enough to allow innocent night elves to suffer, when they so generously have helped the Gilneans these last few years? When they mitigated the Worgen curse, so we could hang on to ourselves and not get lost in madness? When they fed us, sheltered us, and offered us their home when we had nothing?

Genn made a dismissive noise, somewhere between a huff and a snarl. "No, I would never betray that kindness by turning my back on them now. Sylvanas certainly doesn’t understand the Alliance. She is in for a rude awakening, and you can mark my words. "

"I mark your words, Genn Greymane, and my heart is full to hear them. They are a beacon in a time of terrible darkness. "
Both men turned to see Tyrande standing in the doorway still dressed in her priestess's robes.

The screams continued. They reminded him of Shattrath. He had loved the sound, then.

Smoke filled the air, reminding him of Stormwind, of racing through the streets as buildings burned all around him, finding cowering humans and butchering them as they begged for their lives. He had loved the slaughter, then.

And he had loved this war too, hadn’t he?

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 his 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…

There was no strategic purpose, no possible reason to destroy the tree. Far from it—with this unfathomable decision, Sylvanas had united the Alliance in a way nothing else could.