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World of Warcraft’s burning of Teldrassil cinematic is a meme machine

Sometimes, laughter is the only way to stop yourself from crying

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World of Warcraft; Battle for Azeroth - the Burning of Teldrassil Blizzard Entertainment

The latest Warbringer cinematic and in-game event in World of Warcraft has players frustrated. It all stems from Sylvanas — Warchief of the Horde — and her decision to burn down the world tree Teldrassil instead of occupying it like she originally planned.

Teldrassil is a sacred tree for the Alliance, and home to many innocent civilians. Blizzard had previously promised that Sylvanas would be a “morally gray” character, but many players believe her recent actions take her pretty solidly into “pure evil” territory.

Sylvanas is supposed to feel like a villain to the Alliance, but Horde players are having trouble justifying following their own Warchief’s orders. This entire event has caused quite a stir in the player base, but far more importantly, it’s created a beautiful opportunity for players to shitpost all over the WoW subreddit.

We’ve collected a few of the best goofs here for your convenience.

“The Alliance’s newest recruit after Teldrassil”
Blizzard Entertainment via Reddit user Utigarde
Reddit user seljin
Context: The Nightborne are one of the newest races to join the Horde, and had a tough choice to make between them and the Alliance.
Reddit user princewinter
Reddit user Olivinyl
Context: Thrall is the original Warchief of the Horde, and things have gone down hill for the Horde since he stepped down.
Reddit user AugmentedPlow
Reddit user Bronadui.
Reddit user Mat_the_Duck_Lord.
Reddit user Soulless2k4.
Reddit user TheMentelgen

More than simply joking about what’s come to pass, players have also begun to imagine how much nicer things could have been if the two faction leaders took a different path.

While other players are off cracking jokes and making memes, Reddit user jbniii reminds us all to keep our eyes on what’s really important here: the Horde’s absolute mastery of fantasy siegecraft. According to jbniii’s post, we can pretty safely assume that the catapults themselves are around 859 meters away from Teldrassil, and they hit with spot on accuracy. Most recently, back in 2013, a new world record was set for catapulting distance and that record was about 1108 meters.

That means that the Horde, with their fairly meager resources — even though they now have sole control of Kalimdor — managed to make a catapult with a range almost equal to modern catapults and almost twice as effective as their real-world medieval cousins.