I am actually quite curious as to how Blizzard are going to tackle dying within the Shadowlands lore-wise. As in for example, with the most recent Afterlives short film about Maldraxxus a quote kind of made my lore senses tingle when Draka said "Hurry, there could be survivors". How do you mean "survivors"? Everyone in the Shadowlands is already dead, that's the whole point of them. So what exactly does happen when a character gets I don't know, lets say their head chopped off? Does their Anima sort of get recycled allowing them to come back to life but in a different shape or form, does it get absorbed by the Shadowlands, or does it do what demons do when they are slain outside of the Twisting Nether and come back to some similar kind of sanctuary where it then regenerates after some time, letting its owner return? Or even better, does it actually get drained by the Maw, which could sort of explain the ongoing conflicts all over the place. Either way I have no idea but am really curious and excited to find out.
After all that has happened, this looks like an interesting way of bringing some darkness to the alliance characters and showing cracks in the "Always good guys". I hope we get to explore more of his backstory, however I do feel weary of Arthas arbitrarily being placed into the game.. but if implemented right could be a great nostalgia hit much like Illidan in Legion.
For me, see how Uther has not forgotten his previous life, even though he is the most prepared, fair, coherent. To see how his death left scars so deep that I try the chance for revenge, he wished nothing more than justice...
I personally think Shadowlands will be the most lore revealing expansion yet, and I am excited. Here's what I am looking forward to the most:From the Bastion short I hope to see if there is any explanation to why Bastion looks a lot like Halls of Valor. Ulduar and thus the Halls of Valor were built prior to his eye exchange and him seeing into the Shadowlands, of course he could've just been an avid decorator in his trapped time and used Bastion as inspiration. Also, anyone think the Archon and M.O.T.H.E.R. enjoy similar head attire?True origin of Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination- not looking like the Nathrezim forged it, if so, then it's exciting to get some of their story and the possible ties the Shadowlands denizens and the Legion may have.Arthas - I'm sure this one is a popular entry but there's a lot to unpack here, I want to see where he is, the affects the Maw has had on him, what happens when a soul that surely wasn't meant for The Maw ends up there, such as Arthas and was part of the Jailer's initial plan for escape kicked off by gifting Frostmourne to the Legion or at least the Nathrezim and Arthas was just a pawn in his long game?Mal'ganis - all this Nathrezim talk makes me hope with Arthas back in the picture ( hopefully) that this guy will make an appearance, he's been missing since Wrath and was noticeably missing from Legion.Dragons - I really think Shadowlands is the perfect time to introduce a separate realm, where maybe the proto drakes didn't originate from the elemental planes, but instead the Dragon Isles. I've speculated that Il'gynoth's whispers about the "Five" are talking about the Aspects and their pursuit of what they gave up to defeat Deathwing,(where'd that guy go when he died?) their power (which doesn't really seem like they lost much of)and to continue their broods, to give their flights a future.Ysera's story in Ardenweald! the DRUST! i mean obvious lost tribe of Vrykul running wild ending up in Thros, can't wait for more!The Master! - we've heard him mentioned in whispers, we've now seen that he is master (hehe) over folks in the shadowlands, I want more.Sorry that was long but I',m stoked. ThanksKhaliihttps://t.co/c9FNVCaqHt?amp=1https://twitter.com/KhaliiOn
Arthas being cast into The Maw. Hopefully we find Sylvanas torturing his soul there. Would be poetic.
Arthas' fate
So, Frostmourne has a relation to the Shadowlands. The Burning Legion didn't seem super worried when they lost it, so either they didn't know, or they have access to more. Either one has interesting implications!
I'm so intrigued with the visual they showed of Uther's soul being "broken", you know the scene where Davos pulls back his garments and see's the tear in his chest. This is such a cool visual and leads to a lot of questions about just how does Frostmourne work? like if when Uther got stabbed and his soul split, one side protected by the light, are we to assume that maybe, perhaps Arthas' had the same treatment because of his connection to the light?I'm so excited to see where the story goes in terms of lore for the overall experience in Shadowlands... Fingers Crossed!
So excited to see if we find Arthas in the maw
I personally love that arthas was brought into the maw with out meeting the judgement of the arbiter. i wonder of anyone else in the shadowlands actually knows about devos kinda just scooping up arthas. super curious as to how that will play out
im most interested to find out more about how Bolivar is going to be affected by the loss of The Helm of Domination, and how that will affect azeroth, as it was the source of control of the scourge, his Lich king-ly abilities, and was the container for Ner'zhul.in fact, now that the The Helm of Domination has been broken, what happens to Ner'zhul's spirit? has he been released to the shadowlands? will we be meeting him in shadowlands? OoooOOoooOOo
What i loved most about the Afterlives so far is that Uther is back, but not only that he found himself again even tho he wanted justice for what Arthas did. At first at the end of Bastion i thought he was gonna spare Arthas which had my heart racing. I honestly can't wait to see Uther in shadowlands and Draka as well.
(I will try to be quick :p)So what I like about Shadowlands lore is that it seems to be ground breaking by bringing back Historicly old characters such as Uther. Seeing most of the old and past characters again gives an ominous feel, like something really big has been building up, with every single action taken...We have seen a build up for this ever since MoP, when Garrosh went back for Grommash, bringing back Guldan, and Illidan in Legion.I simply love how they built this up all along, and I'm really excited to WHO and WHAT we will see in the Shadowlands... Will Arthas have a part in this?
What excites me most about Afterlives: Bastion is that it has given us a lot of insight on the previous stories in wow. There are 2 stories that have given us a lot of in-depth lore.First of all is about Uther. We know that Uther appears in shadowlands. However, we also learn that a kyrian takes a long time to get ascended. Then, this causes a lore conflict. We last saw Uther's spirit in legion, during the paladin questline. Before Afterlives: Bastion came out, there have been a lot of questions about this. Why did Uther not go to shadowlands immediately after his death? If he goes to the shadowlands (after his appearance in legion), why can he still go to bastion, but not the maw (since the whole shadowlands' system starts to be broken during legion)? Even if he had successfully reached bastion, how could he get ascended so quickly (shadowlands and azeroth now have he same time flow in previous dev interviews)? Afterlives: Bastion has given us answer to these questions. Uther's spirit is split into 2 when he dies. One remains on azeroth, taken by frostmorne, while the other goes into shadowlands. This explains why Uther's spirit can go to bastion, since half of him goes to the shadowlands immediately after his death, and the other half remains on azeroth and cause his appearance in previous expansions. This allows enough time for him to get ascended (at least enough time for the training, before becoming a forsworn). Now the only thing to concern is what is the fate of Uther's other half spirit on azeroth.The second one is of Arthas' death. We all think that Arthas' story comes to an end after his fall in icecrown citadel. However, Afterlives: Bastion has showed us that his story is...... not quite finished. When he says that he saw only darkness, we think that he simply is heading to shadowlands and is waiting for his judgement. However, after the animation, we have given a different perspective on Arthas' speech. His darkness was, in fact, due to Devos covering his sight with her hands. And later, he was tossed into the maw. This leads to an interesting part of story. Since we will spend a lot of time in the maw during shadowlands, we have an extremely great chance to meet Arthas again and, perhaps, see something like Arthas' redemption for his past crimes. I am really excited about the future stories about shadowlands.
The aspect that most excites me is the repercussions that Uther throwing Arthas into the Maw might have. Whether this is the event that actually caused the machinations of death to break, or if this is just the downfall of the Shadowlands, seeing what actually happened to Arthas after death is extraordinary. Since we know he is in the Maw, that also excites me for what the future may hold throughout the expansion as we explore more and more of the Maw, perhaps seeing what Arthas is doing or if he has been locked up and tortured by Sylvanas ever since her bargain with the Jailer began.
I want to change my answer. something I've realised now that i've seen in the after the maldraxxus video. The people that sylvanas takes seemed to be somehow linked to the characters in the afterlife videos which i find very interesting. I don't have beta so there is a bit of guess work here. So as far as i'm aware the characters taken in to the Maw are Baine, Thrall, Anduin and Jaina. So Jaina has a lot of ties with Uther and Arthas, I feel like she is going to be involved in Uthers redemption. Thrall is Draka's son, as far as she knew he could have died and so he will probably play a big part in her story. So at this point i'm unsure about the other two without seeing the afterlife but If that was garrosh in the trailer then I can see Anduin or Baine playing a part in the venthyr story. My guess would be Anduin, I feel like a tortured garrosh would want forgivness from Anduin considering he literally broke him and being redeemed is the whole point of the venthy. Thie leaves the night fae which i know very little about but Baine being a tauren has his connections to druids so he may have a part to play. Now i remember though Tyrande was a target as well though so she will likely also play a big part in the nigh fae story we will have to wait and see next week
I play HotS so Uther isn't new and exciting to me (sorry! don't disqualify me!) but Arthas is a great character and I really look forward to seeing more of him. Does he get out of the Maw? Is he sorry for what he did? Does he miss being the LK? Does he remember all that he did?Oh man, such questions! So, for me, Arthas is the most exciting part about Bastion's Lore. So far. ;)
Since the begining of Warcraft, death has been something only made for mere mortals, since many creatures out there have an eternal life-death loop around them, which allways includes the shadowlands.With this expansion we will be able to finally understand what tides brings them back to Azeroth and discover if immortality is something that can be made on porpouse... Like even players maybe...
I'm most excited about finding out what happens to Arthas after he was cast into the Maw, as well as seeing if Uther eventually regrets his decision to cast him in there in the first place. I also found it interesting what Arthas meant when he Said "I see only darkness" when he was defeated atop Icecrown Citadel . seeing what he saw during his final moments made me wonder what would happen next. really looking forward to knowing of his fate!
I think there may be a double depth in this video.First when I watched it, I was very much disappointed - it was so "young adult". Black and white definitions, mysterious hero (Uther) and the sidekick (Devos) that should show us (and Uther) the purity and glory of Ascendance but would throw away all her principles because the mysterious hero always worth more than millions years of history and service, in a "young adult" story.And then we have the school principal Archon who like every adult wouldn't listen to any reasoning but instead will shout, shut you up and send you to your room continue with your duties. Like every angry teenager, Devos would make a beeline to Uther and proclaims that now "he's ready!". Is he now? And why, what changed in Uther? I guess nothing but Devos being angry with the Archon and wanting to prove that she knows better.Well, yeah, anger is always a good adviser...And here it comes to the conclusion of the story where everything flips around and now Uther will teach the Kyrian: "Not vengeance, justice!". Please, fellas, teach me the difference, because from what I see, Uther and Devos are doing the exact thing together, just calling it by a different name.What would you say, disappointment?But what if this was the goal - to show the duality of life (and death) and the idea that what define us are not only our deeds but the perception of them.Do you remember what Uther said eons ago to young Arthas? - "No one is ever worthy of the Light - by the Light's grace that they are able to become Paladins".So are paladins worthy of light or graced by it?Are Kyrian spirits of vengeance or justice?Guess, we'll find out in Shadowlands.