This video is brought to you in colaboration with WoWhead.com
Pam pam pam pam pam pam pam pam Hello everyone!
With shadowlands alpha available for testing as well as a whoooole lot of datamining going
on, I figured it would be a good idea to make a video about some of the things that have
stood out for me.
Some of the things you’ve asked questions about, some stuff to speculate.
Of course, this is shadowlands alpha stuff so spoilers ahead!
“That power will be your prison”
Sylvanas has been working with the jailor, a dark mysterious entity of the shadowlands.
Their connection came sometime after Wrath of the Lich King, the moment she decided she
had had enough.
Vengeance was hers, arthas was defeated, time to yeet herself from the top of icecrown.
This landed her in the maw, a realm of eternal damnation ruled over by this jailor.
This is where she got in touch with him and now it turns out that the shadowlands is out
of balance.
Where normally the souls are being judged by the arbiter and send off to one of the
many areas of the afterlife, dependant on how you lived your life.
These days though, all souls are drawn into the maw and for the longest time I wondered
when exactly did this start to happen.
We could pretty safely say that it wasn’t the burning crusade as Kael’thas Sunstrider
still arrived in Revendreth and not the maw, but then when?
Well, this might be commen knowledge but it was new for me...an interview by Warcraft
Radio during blizzcon 2019 reveals more about the timeframe.
But if you’ve commited unrepentable sins, youre going to end up in the maw which is
just eternal torment.
The process of all of this has changed and this happened kind of back in the legion timeframe.
This is part of what sylvanas recognised and had a hand in.
That mechanism of the arbiter sending souls to different covenants hasn’t happened for
a while.
Everything is going into the Maw and the maw is litteraly becoming overloaded with souls.
This is part of her plan.
The legion timeframe is apperantly when the machine of death got broken, sylvanas recognised
this, made this part of her plan.
Overloading it with souls.
The legion timeframe is quite large, from the initial attack on the broken shore where
both sides lost their leader all the way to end of the campaign with the defeat of Argus
and imprisonment of Sargeras.
Somewhere along that timeline did things in the afterlife mess up.
We can all have our own ideas on what event could be catastrophic enough to trigger that.
I do recall the cutscene in which Anduin ‘talks’ with his father at the harry potter trainstation,
but that could have easily been just inside of his own mind, meanwhile Varian is enduring
horrible torment at the hands of the jailor.
Could very well be a thing.
There’s also a datamined Ysera model, the green dragon aspects that died in Val’sharah.
In the cutscene we see the moon, Elune lift her spirit amongst the stars and then at the
end of the emerald nightmare raid, you could see her walk the lake.
Her strong connection to the emerald dream could place her spirit in Ardenweald or if
the jailer was already doing his thing, inside the maw.
But we can be certain that the casualties of the fourth war.
The burning of teldrassil, the fallen loa, Saurfang, all those that lost their lives
in battle for azeroth, they are cosy in the Maw.
Something that Tyrande Whisperwind is not down with.
She has become the Night Warrior, Elune’s wrath personafied and no matter what peace
treaty the boy king might sign, she will not rest until Sylvanas has been brought to justice.
Datamined scenarios suggests that we’re going to learn more about the history of the
night warrior.
Tyrande was not the first to succesfully undergo this ritual.
Memories are going to be investigated until we relive the last moments of the night warrior.
That could mean that Tyrande is going to die and we are reliving her final moments, but
I hope it has more to do with the history of Elune, night warriors of the past to reflect
upon what Tyrande is doing.
Imagine a previous night warrior burning themselves out caus they couldn’t let go.
She also enters Torghast tower of the damned with the final stage having her fight of an
amalgam of tortured night elf souls.
We need to help Tyrande fight them off so she’s on a mission, the events of battle
for azeroth are going to haunt her.
Why did Elune abandon her children, could it be related to the anima shortage in the
shadowlands?
Hopefully we’ll find out!
Also side note, one of these scenarios describes Baroness Vashj working together with Alexandros,
seeing the original wielder of the ashbringer ingame again with none other then Vashj...sign
me up!
“Brilliant” So with souls no longer being spread about
the shadowlands, the other areas are dealing with a shortage of anime.
That’s what you bring with you when you pass on, anima, it is the lifeblood of this
world.
But the jailor is not working alone.
Obviously, sylvanas is part of the team and with her comes nathanos.
We’ve seen some datamined information suggesting that the loa mue’zala is on his side, sending
over other loa’s to the maw.
There’s also a big chunk of Revendreth questing uncovered which suggests that Sire Denathrius,
leader of the venthyr covenant, is behind the drought plaguing the Shadowlands.
After a pitched battle with the forces of Sire Denathrius, the Master wielded his power
to sunder Revendreth itself and begin to pour his vast reserves of anima into the Maw, flooding
power to the Jailer and threatening all of the Shadowlands and reality itself.
A rebellion will rise up to put things in order.
The sire will be the first boss for Castle nathria, the first raid in the journal.
Castlevania time everybody.
At first I was like yeah the Venthyr covenant of Revendreth is going to be the place to
hang out, but after seeing more of the armor sets and hints of the stories...not to mention
upcoming covenant abilities... it’s going to be really difficult to pick a home.
I’d suggest getting some alts ready to experience it all.
Then some outside information.
A recent interview done by Taliesin and Evitel with lead narrative designer Steve Danuser
brought some really interesting juicy bits to the surface.
A titan homeworld was mentioned, but they also talked about the nature of the shadowlands
and what death means in the world of Warcraft.
You will as you play shadowlands, youll start understanding that there are certain rules
in place for the cosmos.
The shadowlands is BUILD specificly for mortal souls to go or souls that are of death magic
in a way.
The same way that demons when you kill them on azeroth, they went back to disorder, to
the twisting nether, to all that.
These are kind of some of the rules of the universe we go by.
And if you look at those rules that we’ve established before and that we are laying
the groundwork for here, you can start piecing some things together.
And maybe you might speculate about certain other ways these interact with.
And how these beings of other cosmic forces, what might happen to them when they’re killed.
Wonder if the shadowlands being build was just a phrase used or if there’s actually
a creator of it, similar to how the keepers have designed the elemental plane.
Regardless, there are different rules for different kind of beings.
The part about demons going back to the twisting nether, that’s been known for quite a bit
now...Old gods can apperantly also not truly die on azeroth, presumably going back to the
realm of the voidlords, but to hear that other magical creatures might have their own spawn
point is pretty cool.
I do wonder why, if this rule is in place, why the wild gods and the loa do go to the
shadowlands.
They have their Ardenweald resurrection phase before going to the emerald dream and a possible
return to azeroth, but looking at the cosmic chart, you’d think they would fall under
magical creatures.
What makes Ardenweald so special, and say that you do kill one of these magical creatures
in their own domain.
For example, we’ve slain a whole bunch of demons in the twisting nether, on argus infused
with fel, what’s the rule then?
Would that true death send them flying towards the shadowlands or would they follow the same
rules as the native creatures of the shadowlands as in their anima would become one with the
realm, used for another purpose.
It’s also kinda interesting to know that a soul classified as mortal can elevate itself
as something more.
Demon hunters for example, they piggy back ride on the demon within to obtain an immortal
soul, can only truly die in the twisting nether.
Or a necromancer like Kel’thuzad that has left his mortal shell behind and elevated
himself to a lich.
Now more at home in the shadowlands and only anchored to the physical realm with its phylactery.
And then you have to wonder...why do these mortal souls even go to the Shadowlands.
If we compare it with other creatures that apperantly go back to where they came from,
could that mean that the Shadowlands is actually the starting point for these mortal souls?
So far we’ve seen the shadowlands as an end destination, the place where you where
you die.
You deal with the life you’ve had and then you pass on into another rol to fullfill in
this domain.
The kyrian could potentially become a valkyr, but what if your spirit would or could actually
begin the cycle anew.
Balance is important, we’ve heard many being connected to the shadowlands repeat this.
A cycle of birth and death, continuesly feeding the machine that is the shadowlands.
Keeping this domain going, bringing with you Anima as you die only to be send back and
start anew.
If that would be the case, then that opens up a whole realm of connections.
Take the titan for example.
They’ve helped create beings like the vrykul or the mechagnomes who in turn were hit by
the curse of flesh from the old gods, which weakened them, made them more volnerable to
their corruption and litteraly gave them flesh.
But we also know that these original magical creatures now return to the shadowlands.
They have soul, they have spirit, where did that come from?
Could it be that the titans reached into the shadowlands and took something, similar to
how their keeper odyn took the ideas on how to create his val’kyr.
Or could it be that the old gods, yogg-saron self proclaimed god of death, reached in and
stole some souls.
That this curse of flesh instilled a sentience, a soul that they could dig their tentacles
in.
It’s not impossible, especially considering the very first zone shows us that in the past,
the void has attacked the shadowlands.
Some deep speculation there though and definatly interesting to think about.
They also mentioned in the interview that certain seeds are being planted for future
storytelling and that the events of the shadowlands are going to set things in motion.
This kinda had me wonder about what the shadowlands could actually mean for the world of Azeroth
and beyond.
Imagine a world in which you know exactly what the afterlife is going to bring.
Are you someone that dies heroicly, you get to play with the angel looking kyrians.
Are you a naughty soul, well, best be prepared for some torment and paying for your crimes.
if this information comes out, and seeing how the sky above icecrown is pretty shattered,
i would assume people are going to notice something is up...imagine knowing what is
waiting for you and how it would effect your daily lives.
People would no longer live their lives in the here and now, rather they would live it
for what comes after.
The rise of cults, preachers in the streets, the search for immortality...Sure there were
already ideas and beliefs towards what comes next but to have confirmation is something
else entirely.
Life would come to a stop unless the shadowlands is now what it’s supposed to be.
Don’t get me wrong, death is part of a cycle.
Everything that begins must have an end, but hearing them mention that the shadowlands
was build got me thinking about what we see there.
Covenants and ruling powers.
The arbiter judges all.
Where did they all come from anyways?
Who decided that the arbiter was the one to judge all.
Who decided that the jailor was meant to cast out eternal torment.
The kyrians expect you to let go of your past, of who you used to be in order to pass on
in to your next rol.
Why?
Why is that necesary....and it seems to actually be a question asked in the bastion questing
zone itself.
We’ll run into a known figure, Uther the lightbringer in life, who they saw fit to
keep his face so that we actually recognise him.
But to the shock of many, Uther is not down with the Kyrian lifestyle.
He rather be a purple smurf rather then a blue one and hold on to who he was.
Questing in the zones is going to give you a taste for what the covenant story is going
to be about.
To get the full thing, you’ll have you pledge yourselves to them, something that’s not
available for testing qutie yet so we don’t know the details as to what’s going on here.
Is it the jailors influence that’s preventing them from letting go.
Is it the shortage of anima or are these moral questions being asked about the general afterlife
style of bastion.
I’m curious, I mean, there was a reason why the jailor started to drain the other
domains of their anima, why sylvanas signed up with him.
Obvious reasons could be they’re the bad guys, hellbend on doing bad things...but what
if there’s more at play.
What if the expansion of the shadowlands is going to blow everything we know of life and
the afterlife and reveal that what we believe to be the end is actually a cycle that needs
to be broken.
“This world is a prison...”
Glares at helmet, whispers try to convince her to put it on but nope sylvanas has a clear
goal in mind.
This helmet will be shattered and she will set us free.
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR.
Ow snap that’s a really pretty sky.
Is that where we’re going next expansion, daaaayum can’t wait!
“And I will set us all free.”
Pure speculation of course.
It could also easily be that the jailor is just a very evil prime force that was able
to break itself free and is now trying to consume the universe.
We need to work together with our covenants to bring back balance, go back to how things
were.
But these are the fun times... the moments in which anything and everything is possible.
So by all means, let me know what you think so far in the comments down below.
If you had to design the ending for the shadowlands, what would it be?
That’s it from me for today.
If you want to know more about all the things that we talked about today and of course keep
up to date with the hottest, latest, datamined information, then be sure to keep an eye on
wowhead, link to our article in the description down below.
You could also subscribe if you like my videos, leave a like if you enjoyed this one aaaand
until next time...see ya!