"Betrayer... In truth, it was I who was betrayed. Still, I am hunted. Still, I am hated. Now, my blind eyes can see what others cannot. That sometimes the hand of fate must be forced! Now go forth... unleash the tides of Doom... Upon all those... Who would oppose us."
-Illidan Stormrage

Hello, first time poster long time lurker. Forgive me for missing details, please feel free to bring them up, it's a discussion forum after all .

Today I would like to do some Lorecrafting regarding Illidan in the Burning Crusade. I read a lot of things about this, usually ending in everyone agreeing that it was stupid that he was killed in Burning Crusade. I would like to try to justify his death with a different approach than the usual "He was mad, so we had to kill him."

Now, following his defeat in TFT, he retreated to Outland and proceeded to bolster his forces and really solidify the Illidari as a faction. He was concerned with the Burning Legion returning to kill him for his failure, which they did, so began the events of the Burning Crusade. The Legion opened the Dark Portal and sent demons through into Azeroth, but we fought them back. Afterwards, what else would we Azerothians do but enter and explore the realm of Outland?

So in we trounce to find another powerful faction fighting and beating the Burning Legion back. The Illidari, composed of Fel Orcs, Naga, rogue Blood Elves, Akama's Broken, and a large variety of Demons. We felt threatened! Here was a brand new power fighting off one of our most feared enemies!

No one has ever thought to highly of Illidan, we all see him as a villain and a power mad fiend. Though we (Us who played WC3) know he has fought for the well being of Azeroth before, but how many characters and NPCs would really have found that out? Even if they did, he was sided with the Burning Legion then. People just don't trust Illidan, so we certainly weren't going to trust him with a huge army.

The above quote is from TFT, and to me it illustrates the kind of personality that Illidan has. He doesn't see himself in the wrong. He'd likely defend his mission to save Azeroth from The Lich King despite the fact he was doing it for power from the Legion.

I don't think he went crazy after his defeat by Arthas. In Shadowmoon Valley, he yells this at players:

Lord Illidan Stormrage yells: So you have defeated the Crimson Sigil. You now seek to challenge my rule? Not even Arthas could defeat me, yet you dare to even harbor such thoughts? Then I say to you, come! Come <name>! The Black Temple awaits...

He didn't die at Arthas' hands, so he likely believes himself when he says Arthas couldn't defeat him. I don't think he's any crazier now (during BC) than he was after he was released from his prison. We kill Illidan because we saw him as a threat, not because he provoked us (Arthas) or blew up the world (Deathwing). Would he have turned on Azeroth with the Illidari after the legion was driven out of Outland? Maybe, maybe not. He did attack Shattrath unprovoked after all, but that was likely a side effect of his self given title "Lord of Outland".

We took the offensive to Illidan completely of our own volition. We came through the portal and found our old forces fighting off both Legion and Illidari, we knew of what Illidan had done in the past, and we saw him with a formidable force and found opportunities to take him down; so we acted on them.