This doesn't make sense; surely he knew that Algalon would be on his way, and he didn't seem concerned about planetary destruction even when things were going the way he wanted. Granted, you don't actually get to see what he's doing or thinking, but he's actually planning ahead, rather than brace himself for an imminent demise, or make plans to abandon ship. Instead, he's pushing forward.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I doubt that two Old gods, who were immensely powerful super-beings versed in deception, scheming, manipulation and long term plots, and who were experts in these things well before the mortal races even emerged could be so foolish as to get themselves killed by a band of heroes. It's more likely that the Titans knew what would happen when all the Old gods died, and were therefore reluctant to kill the remaining ones. Which leads the Old gods to willingly stir things up to attract enough attention to fool mortals into killing them, for whatever dark plans they have (they could gain powers as they are no longer bound to corporeal forms, or they could all merge into a being whose powers by far exceed the sum of the individual entities that make it up).

Maybe this is just circumstantial evidence, but I believe Algalon's defeat speech hints at this, when he says something along the lines of 'you proved yourself against two Old Gods, a Legion leader, an Aspect, etc, etc, and now you defeat the Herald of the Titans; maybe you guys might actually stand a chance against odds that even the Titans could not match, now that you've already made the mistake the Titans have been trying to avoid all this time'.

EDIT: We seem to be swaying a lot of the Titan's agents to our cause. The Watchers were surely aware of what would happen if Yogg-Saron was killed, or at least conditioned not to kill him, and yet they help us anyway. Algalon was in the loop of what would happen, and he's fairly confident that '(y)our world is fucked up beyond redemption' after his analysis, but he still saves our world.

I can actually imagine the Titans sitting around some kind of interplanetary communication device, anxiously waiting for news from Azeroth, like they just bet a lot of money on the outcome of the Superbowl. For all we know, our mortal races might have just gone further against the Old Gods than every other world so far. We might just be able to present the Titans with a viable solution to the Old Gods problem if we can keep it up and see what happens when all of them are dead.

I'm sure the Titans dread planetary reorigination almost as much as we do, and would be quite happy to finally find a way to get rid of those pesky parasite gods. The only question is: would Planetary reorigination be enough to restore a world once all the Old Gods are dead? As in, are the Titans allowing us to go on because they can just reboot the system when things get too much for us, or are they gambling everything on our one shot at this?

The whole "Titans can't kill Old Gods" Scenario reminds me of little story of a friend of mine whose beloved hobby is his little garden. Some time ago he planted some trees in his garden. Later, one of his trees was infected with some nasty bugs. So he came up with some brand-new Anti-Bug Spray an killed off every single parasite and was happy at first. However, a few days later the tree itself began to wither and die and he had to remove this tree.

So I believe it's quite similar in our case. The Titans HAVE a weapon against the old golds but using it would destroy Azeroth as well and that's a thing the Titans do not want. So they were satisfied with chaining the Old Gods down in some Raid-Instances. ;-)

I also find it a liitle ironic that the "Curse of Flesh" seems to backfire onto the Old Gods. The curse was intended to rende the planetary defences useless and sabotage the work of the Titans. Instead, all "flawed" beings are now able to do, what the Titans could not : Kill the Old Gods without damaging the planet.

On a different subject, the "Varian Wrynn is Right" article on WoW Insider mentions that Rise of the Lich King has the following:

Those of you with the book, is this correct?

Could someone help clarify on who/what "Sara" actually is. At first we all assumed it was simply Yogg-Saron. Then, during Phase 2, Sara turns into a Vrykul Ascendant and lingers above Yogg-Sarons body. The quote mentions 'my true form', but seeing the fight first hand implies shes either referring to herself (Vrykul form) or that Yogg-Saron is talking through her and referring to his own body. Each scenario implies that Sara is separate to Yogg and just a minion of his.

However, before 3.1, it was fairly widely regarded Sara was Yogg-Saron and there was a transformation where she became Yogg-Saron.

Does Sara being a Vrykul in true form have any further significance, given that the Lich King is surrounded by Vrykul ascendants alot of the time...? Could these agents of the Lich King actually be servants of Yogg-Saron, or vice versa.

If Yogg-Saron is the god of death, and Vrykul can only ascend in death, then who or what is actually responsible for giving them the ability/power to do so?

I'd like to see if this is correct, but unless we see Sylvannas actually order the attack, authorizing the weapon testing does not mean all that much.

After all, it's a lot simpler to have one super weapon on hand that works against all the enemies, rather than to have one for the living and one for the dead. If you're going to engineer a weapon of mass destruction for a specific target, you may as well make it all purpose even if you never intend to use it beyond its intended purpose. It wouldn't make much sense to have one atom bomb that only kills the males and one that kills the females, would it? Having something that can decimate the Alliance would solidify the Forsaken position in the Horde, maintain a stalemate between the Alliance and Horde, and provide a solid defense should any other non-Alliance living factions threaten the Horde.

Then there's also the difference between wanting to get rid of the living and actually doing it. And doing it at that particular moment in time.

And the difference between authorizing the tests on a few subjects and the all out use of the weapon. Murder versus genocide.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to destroy all your enemies from any military or political stand point. There's a lot wrong with the way things played out at the Wrathgate. It doesn't seem like Sylvannas' usual style, cunning and sense of self preservation to authorize the way the Plague was used. Maybe the time and place, but not the friendly fire. She sees everyone as expendable, granted, but I think she would have appreciated the irony of Alliance and Horde troops dying in the front lines while she slips one last stab in Arthas' back.

What really surprises me is how people seem to think that all the military plans ever made actually have to take shape. Every country and every army in the world has some secret weapons, and some contingency plans for being attacked by or attacking their nearby enemies or neighbors.

And how they seem to think that just because a leader is aware of part of the truth, they must automatically be the ones directly in charge. I'm not convinced that there has ever been a single leader throughout history whose closest advisers have kept things hidden from, either for plausible deniability or for their own schemes.

I think there is a big difference between developing a plauge that affects both the dead and the living, and the actual events that happen on Wrathgate.

I never thought there was any implication that Sylvanas did not know about the development of the Plague, what was not known is Putress using it at Wrathgate and working with Varimathras to overthrow her.

And that, I suspect, is the main part of Putress' treason. Not that he used the plague against Alliance and Horde. But that he used it without authorisation and outside of Sylvanas' timetable. It's a capital crime in any form of government, from the absolute despotism of the Forsaken to our own democracies (Doctor Strangelove scenarios welcome).

Yes, Sylvanas is on-board the plague train, which is why the Horde is so dangerous and why, yes, Varian is right.

Just because Putress/Varimarthas used it in that manner before she got the opportunity to, doesn't absolve her or the Horde and Thrall.

At last, Arthas, you will pay for what you have done. The Humans who spawned such as you shall be slaughtered. Your Scourge shall be stopped in their tracks. You will no longer be able to hide behind your armies of mindless undead puppets. And we will grace you with the same mercy and compassion you showed us.

I fail to see how it condemns her as well.

[Edit] Condemns her for the attack at the Wrath Gate.

It doesn't condemn her for the Wrath Gate, but it shows that she didn't support the RAS's plague merely as a weapon of deterrence. She intended to use it against Arthas and, apparently, humans. It can be debated whether she planned to restrict its use to factions like the Scarlet Crusade or wipe out all humanity, but this is another strike against the "Horde is innocent and getting unfairly bullied by the Alliance" point of view.

This isn't a game of debits and credit to determine whether the Horde is innocent of crimes at the end of the day based upon the balance in the corresponding account. It's also impossible to say that they are innocent, because of their history. The real question is how long you will hold them accountable and for what.

The Horde is dangerous, there is no doubt about that, but Thrall has changed the Horde. The danger they pose is not one of proactively seeking battles and strifes, rather that of a very strong opponent. If they were proactively seeking battles then we would have seen more faction fighting prior to Dragonblight. It wasn't until the events at the Wrath Gate that we see the Horde unleaseshed in subsequent zones that we started seeing tensions rise in both factions.

Regardless of the debate we have, it seems that most people have already developed a pre-disposed opinion about whether the Horde as a whole, and Slyvannas individually, was guilty for the atrocities at the Wrath Gate.