Vereesa Windrunner

Vereesa Windrunner is an elven ranger who fought in the Second and Third Wars. She is the youngest sister of Sylvanas Windrunner who would later become the Dark Lady of the Forsaken, and Alleria Windrunner, a hero of the Second War.

Nearly all of Vereesa's extended family were killed by orcs in the Second War and in Prince Arthas's invasion of Quel'Thalas. Both of her sisters can be considered "alive" because Sylvanas still lives, albeit not technically "among the living", and Alleria Windrunner is likely still alive, but her whereabouts are not known.

Biography
Vereesa is a member of the prominent Windrunner family of the high elves. Her elder sisters Alleria and Sylvanas were Ranger Generals of Silvermoon City. She has at least two other brothers, one of whom was named Lirath. Her family lived at Windrunner Spire in the tranquil forests of Quel'Thalas.

During the Second War, the Horde burned down the borderlands of Quel'Thalas, homeland of the high elves. The rampaging orcs killed Vereesa's parents, but she and her two older sisters, Alleria and Sylvanas, survived.

Vereesa's oldest sister, Alleria, went on to lead an elite cadre of rangers after the Second War and eventually sacrificed herself to destroy the Draenor end of the Dark Portal. Sylvanas later fought the Scourge invasion of Quel'Thalas and was slain, then raised into undeath against her will. By this time, Vereesa may or may not have heard of Sylvanas' grim fate.

Day of the Dragon
Following in Alleria's footsteps, Vereesa too became a ranger. To her disgust, her first major assignment did not involve hunting down the orcs that had been trapped on the planet Azeroth in the wake of the Dark Portal's destruction. Instead, she was asked to escort a human wizard named Rhonin to one of the eastern ports of Lordaeron. She accomplished her mission only to discover that there were no ships available to take Rhonin to his ultimate destination: Khaz Modan.

Rhonin claimed that his mission was minor and only required him to observe the orc presence in Khaz Modan. Yet he remained unusually determined to fulfill it. He even appealed to a group of Wildhammer dwarves, asking them to fly him to Khaz Modan on one of their gryphons. At first the dwarves refused, for they trusted humans little and wizards even less. Yet Vereesa had grown fond of Rhonin, and she suspected that his mission was more important than he wanted to admit. Appealing to the dwarves, she persuaded them to fly both her and Rhonin to Khaz Modan. Although Rhonin was separated from her along the flight, she tracked him all the way to Grim Batol, which was a Horde stronghold under the leadership of Nekros Skullcrusher.

Using a magical artifact known as the Demon Soul, Nekros had managed to enslave Alexstrasza and, through her, most of the red dragonflight. Thus, Korialstrasz had sent Rhonin to Grim Batol with instructions to free Alexstrasza. Disguised as a mage named Krasus, Korialstrasz did not truly hope that Rhonin would be able to liberate the Dragonqueen. Rather, Korialstrasz hoped to trick the Horde into believing that a full-scale invasion was about to occur. While the Horde evacuated Grim Batol, Korialstrasz planned to strike and free his queen. His plan backfired when the massive black dragon Deathwing unexpectedly showed up and began stealing Alexstrasza's eggs. In fact, Deathwing had helped Rhonin reach Grim Batol precisely for that reason: the insane Dragon Aspect wanted to bolster his own failing flight by kidnapping Alexstrasza's children and raising them as his own. However, the other Dragon Aspects arrived to stop Deathwing. With the help of Vereesa and a group of dwarves, Rhonin took the Demon Soul from Nekros and managed to destroy it. Their powers fully restored, Alexstrasza and the other Aspects attacked Deathwing and forced him to flee. Deathwing has not been seen since that time.

Not long after their adventure, Vereesa and Rhonin were married.

War of the Ancients Trilogy
Following the success of the mission, Vereesa was asked to act as an Alliance Ambassador by King Terenas and the Kirin Tor. She and Rhonin were tasked with touring the Alliance and reminding everyone that there were other threats in the world besides orcs that would have to face sooner or later. Along with Rhonin and Krasus, Vereesa was among the few well-known survivors of the Scourge that destroyed Lordaeron, Dalaran, and Quel'Thalas after the corruption of Prince Arthas.

The rest of her family was not so lucky. They were one of the hardest hit by the Scourge invasion into Quel'Thalas. Sylvanas was killed by Arthas and raised as a banshee in his service, later becoming Banshee Queen of the Forsaken. The sisters' grandfather had to battle his own son, their uncle, after he was turned into an undead. A younger brother was torn to pieces by their older brother who was then himself burned with the rest of the Scourge by elven resistance fighters.

While she and her husband, Rhonin, were preparing for the birth of their twin offspring, Giramar and Galdarin, Rhonin was once again summoned by Krasus for help. As a reward for Rhonin's courage, Nozdormu allowed Rhonin to return to Vereesa at the moment she went into labor to ensure he would not miss a moment of the twins' lives. Nozdormu also offered the children the friendship of the bronze dragonflight. A human named Jalia assisted in the birth.

Night of the Dragon
Her cousin Zendarin, a blood elf who hated humans, tried to kidnap her children as he believed the offspring of a high elf and a human mage would have a lot of magic power. He failed in this attempt.

She appears again in the novel Night of the Dragon, where she braved the depths of Grim Batol, seeking revenge on Zendarin. Zendarin sought to steal the Demon Soul (possibly as an alternate magic source having failed to take Dargonax, or as a secondary objective), the foul creation of Deathwing that had been destroyed by Rhonin years earlier. He would have pulled it off if not for Vereesa's intervention, which resulted in the destruction of the Demon Soul — and of Zendarin himself — when the stolen staff of the Naaru touched the artifact. Vereesa also assists Iridi, a draenei priestess, in destroying Dargonax, as redemption for Zendarin's murder of Iridi's comrade.

In World of Warcraft
Vereesa is located in the Violet Citadel of Dalaran along with Rhonin, Archmage Aethas Sunreaver, and Archmage Modera. She is the leader of the Silver Covenant, a militant group of high elves who oppose the inclusion of blood elves in the Kirin Tor. She is involved in the Quel'delar quest chain: The champions of the Silver Covenant will fight the forces of the scourge in the Frozen Halls and its Sunreaver counterpart in Dalaran to restore the magical blade Quel'Delar from its defiled state by the Blood-Queen Lana'thel.

Stormrage
Vereesa attended the wedding of Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind, two old friends and comrades of her husband, along with their twin boys.

Cataclysm
Vereesa is called upon by the ranger-general of Silvermoon, Halduron Brightwing, to help address the threat of a revitalized troll empire brewing in Zul'Aman. She travels to Quel'Thalas, and meets with Brightwing alongside the Darkspear Chieftain, Vol'jin.

Her presence is not well received in the upper echelons of Silvermoon City, and Lor'themar Theron sends a messenger to demand to know why she holds presence in Quel'Thalas. A frustrated Vereesa mentions that Quel'Thalas is as much her home as it is his, and that she will not see it fall to their ancient enemy. Halduron states that he had personally invited her to supplement his own Farstriders, as it would take time to recall enough of them. The two ranger-generals along with Vol'jin discuss their plans for battle.

Personality
At first, Vereesa was unaware of Sylvanas' fate. However, when she learned of her fate, Vereesa mourned her sister and was enraged when her cousin Zendarin recklessly called Sylvanas a Banshee.

Richard Knaak has stated in an interview that he considers Vereesa as having animosity towards the blood elves, courtesy of her partnership with Rhonin and having pride in high elf traditions. This can be seen in Night of the Dragon and in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Speculation

 * Vereesa's attitude towards the blood elves seems to have changed quite drastically since her Wrath of the Lich King debut. While she was opposed to their mere inclusion within the Kirin Tor, she was more than willing to accept an invitation into Quel'Thalas from Halduron Brightwing to work with both he and another leader of the Horde, Vol'jin.
 * She appears to hold a mutual animosity with the regent lord of Quel'Thalas, Lor'themar Theron, referring to him as a 'coward' before being chided for it by Halduron. Exactly where this stems from is unclear, considering Lor'themar himself has been generally tolerant of his high elven cousins since the Sunwell was restored, perhaps implying a personal grudge between the two.

Quotes

 * "Quel'Thalas is as much my home as it is yours and I would not see it fall to our ancient enemy."


 * "With my bow, I have shot orcs dead at a hundred yards. I have battled trolls, demons, and more. I have nearly traveled the length and breadth of Azeroth...yes my love, I think I can handle the situation until Jalia arrives."


 * "One should not speak of taint who has taken to draining the foul magic of demons."


 * "Use your eyes and call me not by so accursed a name as that, draenei!"


 * Meeting with Halduron and Vol'jin:
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Trivia

 * She appears as part of the Silver Covenant faction within Dalaran, and is hostile to Horde players as a result. She will not attack, cannot be attacked, and cannot be interacted with.