musicilike69: From a Horde player. Varian was an epic leader of the Alliance.

Fradth: Healthy masculinity.

Something totally missing is the current wow.

deadxscim1: As someone who always played horde, I felt Varian’s death and the shift that came with it

ijdragonfly: "My son... I now believe as you do that peace is the noblest aspiration. But to protect it, you must be willing to fight."

It's such a perfect deconstruction - and RE-construction - of what Warcraft heroes at their best are all about. Not blood for the sake of blood, or carnage for the sake of carnage, but courage and determination used to protect what really matters.

And it actually reminds me a lot of Faramir's quote from The Two Towers: "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

Slaani87: We had Genn Greymane,,,, then came dragon isles and made him into an crybaby.

Justjustinp: They also killed Tirion Fordring like he wasn’t one of the coolest and most badass characters in Wow. His death pissed me off.

GutsOfRivia: I feel bad for young guys. They are having less and less noble masculine figures in media to look to. Our generation had figures like Aragorn and Varian it was a great time to be growing up.

sospokemika1197: Best I can do is flying old man in a wheelchair-Take it or leave it.

Aurora-313: I think what also influenced Varian's, Vol'Jin and Tirion's deaths is Game of Thrones was HUUUUUUGE at the time Legion's story was being developed. Even if you didn't watch it, you knew what it was about. It was the 'fantasy show where the main characters die', and the Bliz devs wanted to capitalize on that cultural trend.

Varian and Arthas are characters and death WoW cannot escape from.

kreis849: For me Varian was the reason i stayed alliance for many year , he was a true hero and king , he make people play warrior feel like "yeah i want to be like him" , i think warcraft never be the same without him around

bindair_dundat: Haha! At least you felt what it's like being a Horde player. Thrall abandoned the Horde, Cairne died for it, Garrosh defiled it, Vol'jin did nothing for it, and Sylvanas disgraced it.

Myndeex: Blizzard balls died that day

radovanbabjak7903: I miss him so much. He was such an inspiration. Felt need for gym whenever I saw him

TheFarGaurd: The speech he gives when you join the Alliance as a Pandaren shows what Varian did best, Humility and Strength

Swiftbeorn: His death literally got me back into WoW. I felt like a personally, burning need to go fight the Legion after seeing that cinematic. It felt so epic to be avenging our king. I wasn't into the Horde at the time, but Vol'jin's death was a huge waste of an amazing character who is also a great male role-model. He was a visionary warrior of the mind. He rejected the troll's regressive ways and helped raise his once puny tribe to the strongest troll faction in the game, with the Horde as his tribe. He had so much left to do, and I won't forgive Blizzard for taking us to Zandalar right after killing him off. He was meant to unite the trolls. What a waste, and for what?

yaboym9631: I think the best part on varian is HE KNEW how he was flawed and leaned into his strengths the best he could, while his son was good at being the pieces to counter his weakness

arkantos4dead: Aye, it's a bit depressing. Alliance is basically devoid of men at this point. Anduin's just a boy. Malfurion and Genn are on permanent vacation far as we can tell. Velen seems to have stopped existing. Turalyon appeared in like 1 quest over the last 3 expansions and Khadgar's in a wheelchair and probably also on perma vacation now, so in the end all we have is angry, overpowered women leading the charge while a bunch of wimpy, spineless men cry in the backseat...

And people still say WoW is alliance biased these days. lmao.

BoycottNCSoft: Truth. The alliance has never recovered from the loss of Varian. How could we?

Zukalu: Great video and I mostly agree with everything you said. For a multitude of reasons, Blizzard has become allergic to letting us have inspirational (or even entertaining) leaders to rally behind, in either faction. Replacing Varian with Anduin was definitely one of the most pronounced missteps in that regard.

gregsmith3615: Victim of woke. Now we get the bundle of feelings that is Anduin. Weak men create hard times.

Complication84: Blizzard killing all of the good male characters isn't just for shock value. It was what they needed to do so they could fill the game with girl bosses.

TeasLouise: A masculine man with compassion and a conscience. The true warrior. That's not just missing in the game these days. I also recall a developers interview who admitted they gave horde small 'perks' in the game because they were partial to horde, plus they needed more players to choose horde so the game was faction balanced- more players naturally chose Alliance. I think Anduin and Teldrassil was purposeful to 'soften' and demoralize the alliance, on purpose.

user-qy2wf2lt6v: Man ... Screw Blizzard. I'm so done.

Akando_TV: The only true King. I Miss him.

009fan1: Man got out before Bfa and Shadowlands. Seems like he won to me. Even went out in a cool way....Vol'jin on the other hand...

radolfkalis4041: A good comparison is Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime. Hot Rod was not ready, and no matter how long he lives, will never be the Prime Optimus was.

Oct 31 2025

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