User:Joshmaul/Jonathan Surrette

"'Night elves roasting, on an open fire... dark souls laughing at their plight...'"
 * - Executor Jonathan Surrette, rumored to have been sung at the Burning of Teldrassil

Jonathan Surrette was an executor in the Forsaken Deathguard during the Fourth War, reviled by the Alliance as a war criminal and by the Horde as a traitor, despite the pardon received from the Horde Council at the conflict's end.

Biography
Jonathan Surrette had the good fortune of being in Southshore when Lordaeron fell to the Scourge, and served for years in the village militia. His distant cousin, Adesse, had fled across the sea with Jaina Proudmoore, and settled first in Theramore, then in the rebuilt Dalaran. After the fall of the Lich King, Adesse convinced Jonathan to enlist in the Alliance militia intended to resettle Andorhal. This proved to be a fateful decision, as Jonathan and all of his comrades were killed by the Forsaken, and their bodies were raised by Sylvanas' val'kyr. After he was resurrected, Jonathan was inducted into the Deathguard, the Forsaken military. He soon became a fanatical follower, believing that the Alliance had used them simply as political props, to be "honored" as "martyrs" back in Stormwind - knowing they could not prevail against Sylvanas and her forces.

Jonathan also honed a particular talent for killing, particularly any survivors of the Alliance militia who remained near Andorhal. He remained in the Andorhal region throughout the campaigns against the Iron Horde and the Legion, as not all of the soldiers of the Dark Lady were required on the front lines (although he envied those who went). The worst he had to deal with, more oft than not, were the remnants of the Scarlet Crusade in their monastery, or the Cult of the Damned from the Scholomance in Caer Darrow.

Jonathan got his taste of frontline combat at the start of the Fourth War, deployed along with his battalion to Kalimdor to fight the night elves. His commander fell in battle during that campaign, and so he was promoted to the rank of Executor and put in command of his battalion. Watching the burning of Teldrassil, he led his men in mockingly singing a song about "night elves roasting on an open fire". During the campaign in Zandalar and Kul Tiras, he returned a number of times to Darkshore to fight the "Army of the Black Moon".

When Saurfang initiated his rebellion against Sylvanas, Jonathan remained loyal, and prepared for the inevitable battle in Orgrimmar. That battle never came, as Sylvanas slew Saurfang and then abandoned the field - and the Horde - in pursuit of far darker goals. Jonathan was stunned by the Dark Lady's sudden exit and abandonment of her own people, yet did not once acknowledge, before that point, that she had been wrong. Nonetheless, he accepted the pardon granted by the Horde Council, established as a replacement for the office of Warchief, and elected to remain with the Horde - not out of loyalty, but out of necessity.