wow New WoW Comic Teaser: Three Sisters

[Valks 2,375]

The latest comic in the WoW series leading up to Battle for Azeroth features the Windrunner-trio of Sylvanas, Alleria and Vereesa, and looks to setup a meeting between the now Void-infused Alleria and the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas. To prepare for the latest release, Blizzard sent us a preview of the comic, as well as a Q&A with the writing team.

The main script for the comic was written by Christie Golden and Andrew Robinson. Golden is mostly known for her work on the WoW novels, with her latest work, Before the Storm, explaining the events running up to Battle for Azeroth and her upcoming novella, Elegy, which looks at the Alliance-viewpoint of certain events in Battle for Azeroth. Alongside Golden, we have Andrew Robinson, a senior writer for Blizzard; along with writing the comic "Reunion", which focused on Jaina's story, Robinson has worked on multiple Blizzard projects, including the Harbingers series for Legion. Backing up the writing front of Golden and Robinson is the plot-master Steve Danuser, who some of you may know as a game designer turned narrative designer at Blizzard.

Together, these three titans have worked to create what could be one of the most awaited meetings of Legion; with such heavy hints from Alleria and Vereesa that a meeting would have to take place between the sisters, it was always going to happen eventually, but this is Danuser's take on the matter:

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Yeah—the Windrunners are one of the cornerstone families of the Warcraft universe, with siblings on both sides of the Horde and Alliance conflict. Vereesa and Sylvanas have been in-game for a long time, but Alleria had been absent since the Second War. And when we went to Argus at the end of Legion, we finally got the chance to reintroduce Vereesa and Alleria to each other.

Once those two met, it became clear that a moment would arrive when all three sisters would come together to talk things out. And they each have such different histories and perspectives on the world. Alleria has been gone for a thousand years, from her point of view—and until recently she didn't know about Sylvanas’s death, her being raised as a banshee, and then leading the Forsaken and the Horde.

I'd originally written a pitch for a short story that was going to be about these three sisters, with a section on each one of them from their points of view as they come together—but then we thought, instead of doing this as a short story or trying to make it work in the context of the game, what if this was the basis for a comic? So Christie took that idea next, and really started to make it come to life.

It's clear that it was something the team definitely wanted to work on, but it's fair to say that Alleria, Sylvanas and Vereesa all have very different priorities right now. Despite this, could there still be some similarities? Golden had this to say about what the Winderunners had in common:

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I think that's reflected in the first line of the comic. Each of us wants to go home, to have a family.

The first line that she is referring to is shown below on the first page.

Danuser thought that they all still share the same desires, but the target has changed from Silvermoon to their own respective duties:

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Before Sylvanas was killed, before Alleria went off, they were all united in their love of their country, of Silvermoon, of Quel'Thalas, the Sunwell. And the Windrunners had been hugely important in the history of the high elves—so to see that chipped away and broken has certainly affected each of them in different ways. But I think they all feel strongly about what they consider family—they just have different perspectives on it now.

For Alleria, she decides that in order to save her son, in order to preserve her family, she has to fight a war, no matter how long it takes or what the cost. For Vereesa, she loses her husband Rhonin when the Horde attacks Theramore, and dedicates herself to making sure there's a better world for her twin sons. As for Sylvanas—I think she's had to redefine, more than anyone, what family means to her.

But I think they still have those same drives and those same commitments. Clearly they have some different priorities, but there's still a commonality there that plays into this comic. But the question is, are those similarities enough to connect them in the long run?

They've been through very different things and, in Alleria's case, experienced far more due to the time differences for her and Turalyon.

When asked how this warped sense of time impacted Turalyon and Alleria, Danuser had this to say:

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It's hard to conceive of those kinds of things—how many lifetimes they lived out there, versus the one lifetime they had on Azeroth so long ago. That led us to the moment in the comic preview where they’re standing at their own statues outside Stormwind. If you came back to a world you left a thousand years ago and found out people thought you were dead and built statues to honor you, you'd probably go see your statue, right? That's a very “human” thing to do, and a way to reconnect with the world.

We released an audio drama called "A Thousand Years of War" where we explored this too, and how everything Alleria and Turalyon were doing was for their son, Arator. Arator is an anchor of sorts for Alleria because, as we show in the comic, she's touched the Shadow; she's touched the Void. In-game, she tells people about how “the voices” are always there, even though when she’s talking with people, she appears totally under control. But in the comic, there are panels that are literally filled with voices saying, "Kill them! Kill them! Murder them! Free yourself!” That's something that we really couldn't have done as well in any other medium.

You can see Alleria visiting her statue, as Danuser references, in the panel below, accompanied by Turalyon:

The mention of it almost being a "human" quality is especially interesting given that, despite her centuries of experience fighting for the Army of the Light, Alleria is still willing to go behind Anduin's back in order to meet with Sylvanas.

Her response to Turalyon's concern is intriguing, since her reference to it as a "personal" matter means that we might see some fairly unconventional reactions from the Void Elf. She is separating herself from the identity of being in the Alliance and specifically stating that this is a matter between her and her family, removing the concept of her meeting with the leader of her enemy.

Turalyon's role in the comic will be somewhat difficult to decipher, especially since he was extremely loyal to the Alliance before him and Alleria left. Whether or not he stands by Alleria in her choices will most likely depend on how far she bends his allegiance and how much he loves her, in comparison to his loyalty to his faction.

The writers had some interesting input on the idea of Turalyon and his role, starting with Danuser:

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He definitely has an incredibly strong history with the Alliance. He was one of the founding paladins. He knew lots of heroes who lost their lives or made sacrifices along the way. All that background comes into play when meeting the heroes and champions of modern Azeroth.

There's definitely a connection to the Paladins and members of the Alliance, but Golden points out another solid link to the Alliance:

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And at this point in the story where the comic takes place, he's already worked with Anduin. He's already seen Anduin dealing with the Light and trying to do good in the world. Also, he's courteous—he's their host!

With the undying faith in the light that we saw in the Illidan vs. X'era cinematic, we can assume Turalyon is going to be very good friends with Anduin. With Alleria leaning towards the Void, could this be a time for Turalyon to blame her choices and abandon her to whatever she has in store for Sylvanas?

What do you think is the fate of the sisters in this newest comic? Will we see a radiant reunion or a royal rumble?

[lChronosl 182]

Well, it seems I will have to do some more Wiki delving before this comic.

Edited June 4, 2018 by lChronosl

[Lampanelli 75]

It will be an interesting comic, though I fear they might skew it to make Sylvanas look as the evil one of them, instead of showing the wrong they all did, and put them on somewhat equal ground. The cowardly Vereesa and the hypocrite Alleria are no saints after all.