The Story of Sylvanas Windrunner - Full Version 2024 [Lore]

[@howardhavardramberg333]

Nobbel, you are carrying the weight of the Lore community on your mighty shoulders. I love all you do and the hard work 💟

[@miriamweller812]

Not really, after his childish breakdown during Shadowlands, when he joined the social media trolls with his behaviour.

[@freed991]

Platinum wow I think does a slightly better job of sharing lore. this channel seems to be a little more serious and that can be good but i would say he is not carrying the weight of the lore community. But I am just getting back into wow since WOTLK so this is my take so far

[@Chrysobubulle]

@@miriamweller812oh so you can’t criticize anything Blizzard writes or you’re a troll ?

[@aster4jaden]

Given how long it's been since i've watched your early parts of Sylvanas Story i'll gladly watch this, thanks Nobbel!

[@IsaiahWayne2104]

I'm happy this full analysis video came out. I didn't know when Sylvanas' story was gonna end.

[@williamlidholm7220]

😮​@@IsaiahWayne2104

[@ramst3d]

I just finished watching your Sylvanas Windrunner lore from 9 years ago, and I'm so thankful you took the time to compile her lore till now. Excellent videos.

[@joezar33]

She WoW official *Mary Sue* .. she up there with "Harley Quinn, Marvel's Captain Marvel and Rey" from Star Wars ..

[@snowyowl235]

Finally, the Nobbel Cut is released, for one of my favorite characters

[@nathanjackson120]

tysm for uploading these, im new to wow and am so confused by all the other videos from other people, but can understand yours completely And the fact that you cover everything and update your videos is amazing!!

[@donjezza10]

I'll be completely honest, several years back around the time BFA was a ways along, I got so fed up with how badly the direction for Sylvanas' story had gone and decided to remind myself of how much better it used to be by playing through Warcraft 3 again. However, after I finished it, I've come to realize something that now pains me to acknowledge. Her writing has always been pretty bad. Playing her story again, I now realize that I was honestly fonder of the basic concept and idea of the character rather than the character itself. A revenge storyline involving a past victim of Arthas who uses his own armies and weapons against him in an anti-hero style rebellion had a lot of promise and delivered on it in almost every way... except the writing. I mean, we're talking about the same character that decided it was a smart idea to recruit an obviously treacherous and untrustworthy Dreadlord into her ranks and is then surprised when he betrays her later, and then monologues to Arthas instead of shooting him when she had the chance. Can we really be surprised that a character that does these things would go on to be the character she became later?

[@VictusPrime]

None of Warcraft's characters and stories are particularly groundbreaking at the narrative level. A lot of the most beloved characters from this universe are based on archetypes in a fantasy setting, hence why you enjoy the idea of a character instead of the character itself. This is a fundamental element of archetypal story telling and for the most part, it was done well enough in Warcraft.

[@donjezza10]

@@VictusPrime The characters began as archetypes, but I reckon the way they were utilized breathed new life into them. Arthas's dark turn, Thrall's pledge for peace, Jaina's rise in leadership, and Illidan's redemption were all pretty straightforward story arcs, but the details involved were what elevated them. But Sylvanas, unlike the other characters, really didn't seem to have as much focus on her overall direction in the story outside of just hating Arthas. And I reckon because of this, they left way too much blank canvas for the fans to unknowingly fill in themselves, leading to the contrasting takes on her early character.

[@damiencrossley7497]

I heard she still stalks the maw with a tire track on her face. As the writers threw her under the bus!

[@shaed9928]

And hopefully she stays there; forever. Never to return.

[@ecksfactor]

I've been waiting for this one for years, Nobbel. Thank you

[@Fenrir2012]

My favorite character aside from Arthas. While Shadowlands really fumbled her character (especially in game) I think she is left at a very reasonable place between the epilog quests and her book. Honestly, with The Jailers entire arc it wrote her arc into a corner. I hope if/when they bring her back (expecting when we have to try to talk Alleria off the edge) it's with respect and a purpose.

[@andreia.salsinha]

Thank you Nobbel! I had really lost track of my favourite character's story after the Mak'gora, and I had heard such bad things about her story in Shadowlands that I just avoided it. This compilation really helped, especially the Shadowlands story arch, I just skipped that entire expack as I couldn't relate, didn't feel like warcraft.

[@Nishinga.]

very well said !

[@GorehowlBeardhead]

Sucks cause there was a time when I would have thought an expansion in the Shadowlands would be the collest thing, but it was just executed so badly :') I don't even mind the world, different aferlives for different types of souls is something I could totally get behind. But the entire expansion should have been absolutely riddled with fanservice, and even the bits we DID get were ham fisted and barely thought out. Like this was an opportunity for us to revisit literally any character from any point in Warcraft and get their take on how things have progressed. Feels like such a missed opportunity that we got a redemption arc for fucking UTHER and they didnt even touch Arthas. No sign of Durotan. King Terenas? Nowhere. Saurfang? Trapped in The Maw. We don't even think about saving him. Varian? Nope. Hell even when we saw Arthas' soul, Jaina barely even acknowledges it. Fucking Jaina. Sylvanas got the monologue and she's already resolved her revenge arc. Some parting words from the woman that never quite let go of him in her heart would have been nice

[@miguelherrera7391]

As a new player she’s one of my favorite characters and cannot wait till the day we see her again! Thank you for your amazing work on these videos 🫶🏼

[@wdcain1]

Well done. I never had a problem with Sylvanas' heel turn during Shadowlands. She's always been very self-centered and focuses just on her wants and needs. I'm actually surprised there was a big uproar by the community over it.

[@shawnthetaco10]

Same here honestly. Maybe I just didnt have as much attachment to her cause I never played OG warcraft but it always felt like she was eventually going to make a truly evil move a la Garrosh. Then it felt inevitable once she was named Warchief.

[@chase5436]

It just felt in Legion they were trying to build on what happened when she jumped off Icecrown and advance her character development much more than they ended up doing. Seeing that in Legion to the complete 180 in BFA was jarring. Shadowlands' story having to share space with the writers trying to explain that 180 was annoying (and not done well). Also, they had just done a "bad" warchief story. They killed off Voljin to do nothing with her, as well. Lot of reasons for people to be annoyed.

[@farmeryaeg]

​@@chase5436 did you think sylvanas was going to make a "good" warchief 🤣

[@alar4388]

@@farmeryaeg She could have been an awesome warchief, if not for that idiotic writer.

[@wilcohillebrand1458]

Yep about as self-cenetered as any normal human being... which made her relatable until they decided abuse her popularity and make her warchief which didn't make any sense and then try to retcon the situation and everyone got pissed so why not try redemption? oh wait too late everyone hates her already

[@drakecamorra1202]

At this point your channel should really be called ''Loremaster Nobbel'' The amount of lore you've covered is astounding. And thats coming from a wiki nerd xD

[@mathiasthorsenkastrup3762]

Nobbel. Thank you so much for making this video. The story of Sylvannas has always been my favourite and having left the game in BFA, I have missed so much. So thank you for bringing me up to date.

[@jamiewise7980]

Such an amazing story, thanks for putting it all together.

[@ErronKebabb]

Thank you so much for your awesome narration and this diligent compilation! 🙏 People have good criticisms for the story but.. some places.. well, I had a few weeps watching.. You got me.

[@Kyroko]

honey wake up, almost 4 hour Sylvanas lore drop

[@jetmorbid]

Sylvy loyalist for life. Just waiting til she says "take back my city."

[@Rylinu]

❤

[@mbronson2466]

Sylvanas did nothing wrong! Change my mind lmao

[@freed991]

Sylvanas was one of my fave leaders of the horde. until they started making her the "big bad guy". then i stopped paying attention and after years i am getting back into the lore and game

[@Brae_Zen]

Her horde

[@alar4388]

@@mbronson2466 She didn't, she was right, the squables of horde and aliance were irelevant compared to the eternety they would face in a bad afterlife, like it or not, the afterlife in wow changed for the better because of her, souls are now redeemed because of her and i just love that Aliance players couldn't do shit either to her or Undercity(not Lordaeron, that is not it's name :)) )

[@vampiro664]

My favorite character.Thank you so much for this video.

[@Drekulviin]

3h42 ? Just finish to watch and I will press play again. There's no better company than Nobbel while questing in the game. Thanks to you for making videos with passion.

[@knipher6066]

I love these videos I put them on at work like a audio book and learn soo much about WoW lore! Since BFA I’ve hated Sylvanas this video helped me understand why she is the way she is, honestly this video makes the expansion make more sence why she made such drastic decisions!! Anyways this video rocks thanks for the awesome content can’t wait for the full story of Illidan!!!

[@retrohanska4441]

It's such a shame that things ended up like they did because this story didn't have to be bad. Listening it now it most certainly isn't. This could have worked if they actually bothered to represent this in game and with few changes like making situation of Nathanos much greater focus during 9.1. There is a version of Shadowlands where we had genuinely interesting villains that genuinely made us question which side we should be fighting for and supporting factions that equally are worth preserving after we've helped them to make some changes.

[@vonborgah]

Finally an update about our cornerstone character of whole Warcraft

[@Ylliaster-TheRisenPhoenix]

Glad you're keeping to updating these :D Also love the new thumbnail :D

[@anitasjavik]

I have been listening to the book on audible over and over again, and just been waiting for this video to finally come 🤩 And I do recommend listening to the audio book, since it's narrated by the amazing Patty Mattson whom voices Sylvanas 🥰

[@ryancromer2110]

As someone who loved Sylv since the beginning, you guys gotta stop ignoring things you dont like when they make clear sense to the person shes always been. Her actions in shadowlands make perfect sense if you dont just ignore what shes been doing all along. She had a sole focus on killing arthas, when he was gone she killed herself, she then came back with the sole focus of fighting off the infinite void and just like before, did anything and everything to accomplish that goal no matter who it hurt.

[@Rpground]

Amazing how such a great character could get ruined so quickly.

[@GorehowlBeardhead]

My favourite bit of this whole thing is the inspirational, hopeful music playing while Arthas basically goes 'sup bros, I'm here to commit genocide' 20:05

[@SuperCosmicSpaceMagnet]

If anyone wants a shorter summary of Sylvanas' lore, here it is: "Cool character but then BFA and Reforged happened and I lost all interest/hope in Warcraft ever being worth paying attention to again."

[@Kasaaz]

The Closed Captions during the Legion Cinematic are great.

[@Thromash]

I wonder if after the World Soul Saga, which will be around 10 years since Shadowlands. If that's long enough for the old Nostalgia effect to kick in for SL. If we will go back, only to find out The Primus was behind it all along & we helped give him the Crown of Wills made from those who defied Domination magic. A work around to retcon a lot of the bad from Shadowlands, trying to rewrite it into a better story, deliver what was promised in the first place & go with the theories/story that the community came up with from the story we got. That theorized "dropped story".

[@wodmarach]

SL isn't bad but Covid REALLY hurt it. You can literally see where content was cut, especially in the final raid which is obviously 2 raids smashed together to let them move the team over to DF. I honestly feel WoD and SL "classic" versions should do "all the changes" as in have the team go back in and add the missing quests and raids.

[@Senovitj]

In some wars you use spies to find out the defence abilities of the enemy. In the invasion of Quel'Thalas Sylvanas just tell her enemy, how to get through.

[@keremkeskiner7727]

Thanks for your time and effort for this...

[@philliphalcomb7573]

Watched your videos for years always nail the lore, keep it up !

[@stevethebot]

This is the movie they should have made. The story they should have told in the Warcraft movie.

[@LoganDupee-rb8md]

The book Sylvanas was amazing! I finished it in a couple days and want her to come back so badly!

[@Iraerus]

As I told you on twitch for many years, Sylvanas is bae

[@Rpground]

You're right about that, especially by the end turning into complete "bae".

[@petercarioscia9189]

"you cannot kill the Lich King, not here, not until the Shadowlands trailer!"

[@Alo199o]

Nobbel87 - Do know that for me You are the true Speaker of Azeroth and WoW Universe carry that title with proud and Honor Sylvanas Windrunner is my favourite character since I saw her for the first time playing Warcraft 3 Campaign as Undead Arthas. Thanks to her it was the first time I had so much trouble in a Game to win a scenario where You have to collect these 3 key fragments to open the next door reaching deeper to Silvermoon. From the first time I saw her I wished to play her Hero character Elf Ranger General. Unfortunately got the chance only in Undead version in Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne. For every High Elf fan here you know what I'm talking about. Still I just love her story her writing her character all of it and can't wait for the future upcoming, but mark my words She will save us all once again. With her knowledge, wisdom, experience and power she should become a First One representing the Death itself. It would be the best ending I can imagine for her like Voljin became a Loa. Just wanted to say in the end that in my speculation it looks like that the highest Authority of a SOUL looks BLUE no matter the direction if Light or Void, Life or Death, Chaos or Order. Anyone noticed that? I don't mean it has blue colour its just LOOKS blue hard to explain. Nevermind. Once again Nobbel87 thank You so much for Your work You are amazing keep it up.

[@koryk5740]

Fantastic work friend

[@wastedwhatthegaming9383]

the extra subtitles make this video that much better "PEW PEW PEW"

[@TofuofLight]

Bolvar really need to learn from Godfrey that the best way to kill a zombie is literally a boomstick shot to the head

[@zeroaerodynamics4338]

sylvanas's story is insanely sad

[@daxtron2]

Was just gonna put together a playlist to sleep to, thanks nobbel

[@FyuriasLeo]

Coming back to this I really like to think Sylvanas truly cares about Anduin, and I live for that.

[@AndyJP]

Who did Jailer have whisper into Hammuul Runetotem's ear to tell him to convince Thrall to trust Sylvanas? 😆

[@Alexandterrara]

Sylvanas being better than Alleria at hunting and saving from lynx is my most hated "retcon" about Alleria's character.

[@jessicaavery1080]

They did my boy Vul'jin dirty, just to ruin my second favorite faction leader immediately after...

[@jotarokujo3603]

It's crazy how accurate premonitions are when they're written after the events they're predicting.

[@Finnboy-ml5jv]

A guide on how to ruin one of the most iconic characters in your franchise.

[@baileygregg6567]

We all saw is going down hill when Thrall went soft in cataclysm

[@bmo14lax]

​@@baileygregg6567yes i would argue thrall literally was butchered, at least they took slyvanas to her end, even if we weren't the happiest with the story, im not mad at it. Im not the story writers, blizz is.

[@baileygregg6567]

@@bmo14lax too bad sales and story are a bit far apart. Either way fond memories for me were my Dark Lady, Garrosh (when we needed that kind of orc), and Vol’jin💀 all thee make me glad to side Horde for what I think was close to 10 years.

[@Jinxyoutoheaven]

Dam hearing those epic lines was awesome.

[@GioEarthling]

the storyline about the legendary cloak of pandaria maybe ? :P

[@ClaireSiconolfi]

Fantastic.

[@patrikzotaj4528]

will sylvanas' story finally come to an end.

[@swo_social]

Actually explained it better than Blizzard. They need to hire you

[@witchivy5905]

I love love love Sylvanas ❤❤❤❤

[@M.L.official]

Arthas basically ruined the lore by turning her into a banshee instead of just killing her ass

[@danielmachulka7428]

Something I've come to understand about WoW as I got older is how the morality of the Horde and Alliance are more shades of grey than black and white. Sylvanas may have left the Alliance to die on the broken shore but in reality she just saw that the odds were stacked against them and decided enough was enough, that the best course of action was to retreat before everyone died. But the Alliance is so focused on being heroic that they refuse to pull out until the last second, almost getting everyone killed if it wasn't for Wryns sacrifice. Then during the battle for Azeroth they frame the Horde as the bad guys with this new powerful fleet when In reality the Alliance sent a fleet after one ship, planning to sink it rather than recapture two escaped prisoners and when they get defeated (in self defence mind you) they're all like "Those evil savages... how dare they!?" The Alliance kinda sucks ngl

[@Dularr]

Sadly we will never see a good Sylvanas story again.

[@Setta-p2d]

must watch with captions/subtitles on. the stuff they say is crazy.

[@CueCN]

2:17:57 What about the short story Edge of Night???

[@Kasaaz]

42:30 - The biggest loss was Bolvar's magnificent head of hair... RIP

[@metalmilitia89]

I have the Sylvanas book. Will this spoil a lot?

[@Nobbel87]

From sylvanas book? Bit bout early days/fam and allegiance with jailer. Id say if you worried for spoilers, finish book first 😁

[@metalmilitia89]

@@Nobbel87 that’s what I plan on doing then.

[@rhizonhaze5597]

I find it so sacrilegious that she gets to continue while Arthas Menethil gets no redemption, no continuation, nothing. He is just gone. So annoying. If she can return from the maw, then so should the true lich king. Smh so frustrating

[@patrikzotaj4528]

no she will never return for now.

[@patrikzotaj4528]

it was uther's fault that broke laws of the afterlife and throw arthas's soul into maw while devos did nothing wrong.

[@queenmera5222]

No he doesn’t deserve a redemption in any way.

[@Brae_Zen]

Ner’zhul is the true lich king

[@ronibopshop]

Arthas would have gone to the Maw even if judged by the Arbiter who would have not had knowledge of the jailer's scheme. I thought we would have seen him again but just the fading of his soul was not a worthy ending.

[@BicycleGremlin]

The video around the 3 hour 14 minute mark, where does that come from? It's not from WoW I know that. It's it a web series or something?

[@bmo14lax]

Here we go.... Lol. Time for a wild ride!

[@ahjington89]

Love you

[@quortyboxxy393]

I'm just waiting for Sylvanas to say "I'm out of rum and why is all the Rum gone" and then immediately turn to johnny depp and slap him

[@keremkeskiner7727]

Teşekkürler.

[@Galexiie]

The only thing I wish is there were captions. It’s a bit hard for me to understand sometimes bc hard of hearing

[@Nobbel87]

Had to dig up some old harddrives to put the old scripts together BUT once youtube is done autotiming it, should have subtitles. Won't be perfect, but hopefully will help!

[@souzaananiasadvocacia1663]

WoW dyed when they messed up with Sylvannas Windrunner.

[@Artist_shabo]

shes such an amazing character, i just really wish they put more time into her story ! like most wow story writing is so shit, for example garrosh and thrall adn voljin and those others. i cant help it but think theyre lazy writers because shes a woman. blizzard is known for the sexism since ages ago and i really hope the new story of her shows her respect and makes her a good arc

[@wilcohillebrand1458]

Tyrande continuing the cycle of hate

[@maxwilliams6199]

sylvanas will always have a place as one of my fav characters but from time to time i visit her storyline and question where it all went wrong, honestly talking about her feels like talking about dany in GOT s8 it feels so off idk if im the only one here... i honestly see her in other characters of other games like elden ring ranni the witch idk why but she reminds me of her alot

[@АлександърКитипов]

In 3:17:46 how can I have this shoulder transmog?Great Video BTW ❤

[@Nobbel87]

You mean the shoulders on my night elf? That's from their heritage armor questline: www.wowhead.com/quest=75890/the-clarion-call

[@hotshot461]

i just realized they fucked up BIG TIME with a way to help anduin out with his plight. High Lord Tirion Fordring also had the same plight in his life, and this would have been the perfect opportunity to see Tirion not as a paladin of the light, but as a person whose faith was restored

[@teezy786]

Going off what Uther said I wonder what Arthas intended to do with Sylvanas.

[@BritGirlJay]

Anyone NOT using subtitles is missing a lot of funny snark.

[@Magician12345]

I just can't get how people hated on shadow lands. If u look at the comments on the old videos of it people are trashing on it.

[@Mordantine]

Sylvanas’ lore has always been wobbly but something changed beyond cataclysm and she stopped caring about her people. She became consumed by the desire for vengeance and lost herself. They could have given her a cool exit when Tyrande had her by the throat but the story was written that Elune pulled the plug on the night warrior’s power. Sylvanas said she would never serve but she has, ever since she came into the game as the leader of the forsaken. She occasionally has flashes of realisation to when she is serving but the writing perpetuates that she conveniently forgets that and goes back to serving the next flavour of the month.

[@zarombiste9158]

45:50 today it looks just so silly and caricature like 😂 how could I be so hyped and found it the greatest game thing ever made back there 😂

[@aretnap3653]

1:27:51... *"BURNING-MANNN!"* - Jeff Fischer -

[@Kain_Mercer]

Wow, I am early! Consider adding 'your videos' to a filter too king, you got some butt bots!

[@Nobbel87]

Got m, thanks!

[@Kain_Mercer]

@@Nobbel87 Anytime cobba, thanks for the lore!

[@Name.is2]

It feels a lot like Aleria’s new story is just a new version of Tyrande night warrior but better done since they ruined Tyrande.

[@patrikzotaj4528]

looks like danuser is gone for now.

[@patrikzotaj4528]

yes because danuser is a bad writer hack and hacker for now.

[@KungPowMeow]

❤❤❤

[@MorgorDre]

I always thought Vareesa is the eldest and Alleria the youngest. Might be the white hair or how unpredictable Alleria is.

[@darkoplax7688]

Sad how they pushed my fav charachter ever since w3 out of the story

[@thithihao5473]

Thats trashtalk

[@kyleh7056]

"Questions left behind in the shadowlands"

[@gears204]

Is sylvanas a hunter or what spec is she?

[@Nobbel87]

Ranger, but for playable classes closer to a hunter aye

[@pasteveryfate]

I still don't understand what the jailers plans were and why sylvanas changed her mind. It seems he did actually just want to remake the unfair rules??? That or he was trying to fight a bigger threat?? I'm not seeing the issue

[@Sekowon]

Man, it is setup SO WELL to have 3 factions, Undead being separate from all... perhaps they do it in WoW 2 💀

[@tahroo4262]

RIP to Garrosh's memorable line.. all because some terrible parenting letting a child play a T game and got upset when they encountered naughty words. *surprised pikachu meme*

[@patrikzotaj4528]

and arthas.

[@MrGoesBoom]

Surprised I haven't watched this before. Only at the halfway point right now, but it's pretty ironic how Sylvanas is always complaining that people view the Forsaken as monsters and abominations....even as they do monstrous stuff and forcably bring people back as undead and becoming Arthas 2.0 ( and then later Garrosh 2.0...man the writers are really lazy how they write characters aren't they? That and constantly handing our characters the idiot ball ). I realize in Shadowlands they retcon a lot of that to be her working with the Jailer and all the garbage plot that expansion has, but really did she never see the hypocrisy?

[@kapitan19969838]

My queen ❤

[@Kaminkaese]

Me being back to wow also means me being back to nobbel the noble❤

[@mmakotal4388]

I MISS HER AS WARCHIEF

[@mmakotal4388]

MY QUEEN

[@patrikzotaj4528]

but arthas is also a brainwashed mind controlled pawn.

[@Shinekage]

Nono. You see Arthas is a white male. Thus evil since birth.

[@szamidevyt]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees

[@Jandiss]

Sylvanas was and has always been delusional, alas when you die and your Brain stops working, even then it cannot be excused. Why was Sylvanas judged to go to the Maw while others where not? hmm dunno maybe her CHOICE to burn down Teldrasil? that is something noone else forced her to do. Garrosh was aparently in Revendrath before he got send to the Maw, so i guess he counts as "manipulated" by Y'Shaarj, or he just didn't kill enough People by himself, and did still uphold a tiny bit of honor within all his Pride and Rage. Vash? i can't say i know of her committing to many crimes, but if, it was mostly in the service of others, or to help others. which also applies to Kael. Arthas is an interesting Case, he got to Bastion, which i'm not sure how, but maybe because he died the moment he picked up Frostmorne, and what came out was someone else. He was manipulated more then anyone, by the Dreadlords, by the Lichking, even when he overtook Ner'zuls Soul, he was still bound by the Runeblade and Crown of Domination.

[@maxwilliams6199]

delusional?????? genuinley no.... i dont understand how people cant see its literally the writers who fucked up her story this statement feels like the same energy of people saying why they could see dany in games of thrones was evil and defend why she was meant to be a tyrant and why she deserved what she got