Why Did Anduin Look Like He Was On The Verge Of Crying Throughout The Cinematic omg
Because Anduin is a pacifist who has taken on the mantle of King of the Alliance, and the expectation to lead his faction to victory means he cannot simply call off the war. Even if he knew the full truth of the circumstances of his father’s death and could forgive the Horde for pulling back on the Broken Shore, too many Alliance members have been locked in this vicious cycle of violence for too long; if Anduin called for peace now, there would be a revolt. Every person who has lost someone to the Faction War, or who has been raised with the stories of parents killed in the First War, would question his leadership. It would be absolute political chaos.
Which would then risk the Alliance being decimated by the Horde, because a call for peace may well not actually LEAD to peace, and of course the Horde would strike when the entire faction is destabilized by inner conflict.
(Also, it’s important to note that Greymane has likely been mentoring him through his ascent to the throne, helping him assume the position of King and learn how to navigate the world as one. And we all know how Graymane feels about the Horde—especially a Horde led by Sylvanas. He could easily convince a young, mourning and vulnerable Anduin that this was the only way forward.)
Anduin’s comic, which shows him coming to terms with his father’s death, also very clearly shows that he still longs for peace between the factions, but that he knows and accepts what he must do as King. Leading a charge like this, when it means so many people will die and will only push everyone FURTHER from peace, has to be heartbreaking for him.
We can see it in his fighting that he is not suited for this. That it panics him. He was obviously not accustomed to fighting with a blade; his swings were wild and frantic. We are lead through that little skirmish by his point of view, so that moment when he stops and realizes that everyone around him has fallen, we can feel how shocking and bleak that was for him. Then he has that moment where he can choose to charge ahead and lead the battle himself, (as his father would have) and we SEE the hesitation.
And instead, he chooses to throw down his sword and channel massive amounts of Light to revive and heal his fallen comrades. Not because he wants the Alliance to win this fight, or because he knows how poorly losing his first real faction-on-faction battle will look for him as a leader.
Anduin chooses to heal his people because any loss of life breaks his heart. And I don’t think he could bear the burden of them dying while he knows he could have saved them; it would feel too much like he’d personally killed them.
He is young, and fighting this war goes against everything he has hoped the world could become, but he does not currently have a choice. And that kind of burden, that moral dilemma in the middle of such heartbreaking violence, is enough to make anyone look like they’re about to cry the entire time.
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