#i will probably put in half a sentence in 3.2 abt why turalyon isn't here/doesn't care/doesn't matter but frankly

[eighthdoctor]

You made that post about the D/s mechanics inherent to quel'dorei relationships, then gave us a firsthand example with Alleria just subbing so hard for Calia. You're a Windrunner, and an actual recognized faction leader. Aren't you the one who is supposed to be deferred to while oh so tenderly clutching your partner's chin?

(Context)

I am so full bore insane about what I'm doing with Calia/Alleria you have no idea.

So like. On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, Calia claims to be totally is the legitimate ruler of Lordaeron, which would put her ahead of someone with a splinter group of Void-infested elves. Which is what Alleria tells herself to get to sleep at night.

Way, way more important is that this precisely mirrors her relationship with Turalyon: Light-touched, deeply passionate, not super interested in Alleria's interests, sure that they're right, convinced that if there's a disagreement it's because Alleria is in the wrong, Alleria is the one corrupted by a powerful, unknowable entity, not them, they're the one trying to fix things. Etc.

There's a point where like, "someone in the relationship is the partner who makes the final call" becomes concerning, where it's starting to shade into weird dependency and control issues. For sure that's what Alleria had with Turalyon and is developing with Calia.

Part of this is because Alleria doesn't trust herself:

Here, alone, she can find herself again. Alleria Windrunner. Whoever that is. But she can center, remember what it feels like to be herself in her own body, remember what it smells like, and gradually add sight and sound, the camps behind her, the vultures circling above, until she is one person, whole and real. (And the Void says: Are you sure?)

So she keeps seeking out relationships where she doesn't need to be the one in charge, where someone else can take off the load. Which wouldn't be a horrific approach except that her taste in partners is appalling. She keeps ending up in these imbalanced relationships trying to redeem herself for [checks notes] taking a survival approach to getting out of prison, and it's just not working.

One thing I like about WoW characterization (which is almost entirely accidental lmao) is the realistic contradictions it presents for certain people. Alleria is both someone who is self aware enough to realize she would make an atrocious Ranger-General and who steps down to avoid that happening, and the person who creates a small army of ren'dorei regardless.

She has a very, very weird relationship to her own authority in particular, which is EXTREMELY fun. And one of the ways she handles this is by subconsciously deferring to people who are very good at looking competent. (You may note this is not an ideal way to find someone who actually knows what they're doing.)

And Calia is just, infested with Terminal Monarch Disease, she is so sure she's doing the right thing, she's convinced that the Forsaken want her as queen, and she'll justify most things in the course of that.

The combination of righteousness between the two of them is why they've talked themselves into torturing Forsaken. It's obvious to both of them that Sylvanas is irredeemable and the Forsaken (as a whole) need to be liberated, equally obvious that as a Menethil and a Windrunner they're the right people to do it. So given those points, anyone who disagrees is clearly wrong and either (if Alliance) misguided or (if Horde) actively hostile. Alleria has always thought the best defense was a good offense, so there we are.

After BfA, Alleria does canonically torture Forsaken to find out where Sylvanas is, which I read as like. If the alternative is the resumption of war or destruction of a country, and people are not answering her (to her POV) extremely simple questions, torture in order to get answers to prevent war becomes justifiable.

Which does, of course, backfire spectacularly here--one of several problems with torture is you have no way to tell which answers were lies, so if you're convinced that one was a lie and are WRONG, oops.

I have gotten slightly off topic.

tl;dr: BOY are they fucked up.