Hello everyone!
One of the most asked questions about the shadowlands has so far been ‘what happens
if you die in the shadowlands’? and the answer isn’t entirely clear.
For us the player, we’re super duper special and everyone lets us know by calling us maw
walkers.
Get used to that title as they’ll remind you plenty of times.
This is how we earn that status, this is what they said at blizzcon;
“And he and his death knights can help us with crossing over into that world.
To understand what is going on there and to have a chance at saving our own.
And so we will make for icecrown and try to attack the source of this evil where it began.
A key leader in this is actually going ot be bolvar himself.
He did not die.
He was defeated.
Applause.
But he actually offers us some unique insight into this situation.
Because he actually more then any other being has one foot in each realm and understands
them both.
When he was seared by the dragon fire of alexstraza, he was infused with the power and energy of
life.
That’s what was able to allow him to keep the power of udnead at bay while wearing this
helm.
But having worn the helm, he has seen into the other world and understands what await
us.
And he and his dk’s can also help us cross into that world to understand what is going
on there and to have a chance at saving our own. and so we will make for icecrown.
We will cross over and we will end up in the maw caus that’s where everything that’s
going into the shadowlands ends up going.
And our journey ends there.
Its a really short ewxpansion.
BWHAAHHAHA.
Obviously not.
We, heroes of azeroth, with a unique bond to the world soul of azeroth herself find
ourselves uniquely able to escape the maw.
Not all who come with us will be able to escape.
Some of our friends and great champions of Azeroth will be trapped behind but we escape
and move on to Oribos.
Our unique bond to the world soul of azeroth which makes ya wonder if it’s the necklace
that will play its part in setting us free or something else.
Regardless, our death in the shadowlands looks a little bit different then it does on azeroth.
The grey toned realm of death with the ambience sounds replaced now with a more colorful look.
You take a knee for a bit until you find your body again.
Interesting to note is that in Bastion the spirit healer is actually one of the kyrian,
which makes total sense as they’re connected to the origin of the val’kyr.
Guiding the spirits of the departed.
While in Revendreth the spirit healer is just the same as we see on azeroth.
I do hope that’s going to change.
Would be kinda cool to see a unique spirit healer for each domain.
I loved having Bwonsamdi be the one making fun of me while dieing in Zandalar.
Would be great to see him make a return in Aerdenwald...hopefully that’s still under
development.
So we’re a special case, while the creatures native to the shadowlands seem to deposit
their anima back into the realm.
What was born from anima returns to it.
The source that sustains this world, its lifeblood and while there’s a shortage, sometimes
drastic measures need to be taken to do what we gotta do.
Makes sense for beings from the shadowlands to return to that, but what about souls that
have crossed over.
You bring anima with you, your life experience, but are you anima?
What happens when we kill a soul of someone and we’re not exactly sure.
Could be that it’s just poof, your anima goes into the shadowlands and that’s the
end of you.
No further job or progression to be made within this domain, but at the same time...who knows
right?
It makes the most sense for that to happen but we’re uncertain.
I’ve also had a lot of question about the souls from alternate realities and other domains
then Azeroth.
It is very clear that the shadowlands does not just work for azeroth.
There are beings from all over the cosmos here.
That’s shown in one of the firsts quests we get to test in Bastion where they ask from
which planet, system, entity, realm or form of existence we hail from.
Quite a banquit of choices from where you spirit can originate from.
That does leave the question, what about alternate realities?
Are there a million different varian’s running around somewhere?
Part of the answer lies in how they explain alternate realities or alternate timelines.
There is one that has a permanent effect on the cosmos which is the main timeline, the
one that the bronze dragons guard.
Other timelines can pop up, but when left alone, they will eventually dissipate into
nothing.
However, if efforts are made to preserve them or alter them, they can indeed remain in existence
indefintely.
Prime example would be alternate draenor from the expansion warlords of draenor.
That is atleast one which we know has carried on.
Altered by Garrosh and Kairozdormu, not to mention that we saw time pass on there.
We recruited the mag’har orcs and events moved beyond our time playing there.
Quite a lot of characters we know from our timeline, like Orgrim Doomhammer, died again
in warlords.
Some of the characters that crossed over, like Maraad, died on alternate draenor.
Some of the alternates, like Gul’dan, crossed over into our reality and died here, meaning
that 2 seperate version of gul’dan have died in the what i assume to be the main timeline.
Thye’ve opened up quite the can of worms when they introduced timetravel in combination
with alternate realities in combination with certain dimensions transcending all realities
like the twisting nether.
Now with the shadowlands added to that, the domain where mortal spirits go to upon death...
it’s becomming quite a mess.
I would love for them to make a little section in the shadowlands.
Just a small easter egg where we can see Gul’dan hanging out with himself, contemplating power
and the fate they found themselves in.
The answer to the question is difficult to find and I doubt blizzard really wants to
delve too far into it.
One thing that can be said is a quest that takes us back during Legion, within the death
knight order hall campaign.
Besides making some new death knights, ghouls and other creatures connected to undeath,
they also needed to make some noble steeds for the new horseman.
Part of that ritual required our followers to journey into the shadowlands and retrieve
5 unholy essences known as the aggregates of anguish.
The essence of shadow came from Soulbinder nyami.
You could argue that this is our timelines nyami, the one we never encountered and you
might be right.
There was a little lore nugged that came with the quest.
A letter from exarch Maladaar: The letter begins, Dear Nyami.
It is with regret that I must tell you that your son is among those kidnapped by the orcs.
We fear the worst.
This would explain her reasoning for joining the orcs on alternate draenor to begin with.
Either she was blackmailed or the worst happened
to her child, lost with grief she turned to the dark side and teamed up with the legion.
That’s why I would put my money on this being alternate Nyami, also makes for a far
stronger connection to the story that we know rather then an unknown, unseen nyami, but
it’s not certain at this point.
Would be pretty cool if they actually invested some time and make a small cameo out of this
to get confirmation but for now, those are two of the major questions i saw floating
by and wanted to dedicate a short video to.
Thank you very much for watching everyone!
Subscribe if you like my videos, leave a like if you enjoyed this one aaand until next time...see
ya!