World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is nearing the end of its narrative journey as dataminers, testers, and enthused players hop onto the Public Test Realms to have their burning questions answered as the final chapter of the Shadowlands becomes all the clearer, a story that – according to the developers – began with Warcraft 3 and now finally comes to a close with "Eternity's End." Thanks to the meticulous and tireless work of the World of Warcraft community, one of these burning questions – that of the Arbiter's fate – has finally been answered.

At the start of the expansion, when players first graced the tranquil halls of Oribos, they were presented with a mystery. What caused the Arbiter, the judge of all the souls who make their way to the Shadowlands, to shut down in eternal slumber? It was a mystery that was treated with importance and severity at first – before the focus shifted elsewhere to other, more pressing plot threads. Now, with the final Shadowlands patch of "Eternity's End", the story reveals that it was the death of Argus, the mangled world-soul of the Draenei homeworld and the final boss of Legion, which broke the Arbiter.

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Namely, it is implied that even though world-souls do not travel to the Shadowlands after dying, Argus was so twisted by death magic that it ventured there regardless, thus breaking the Arbiter's system and setting the stage for the Jailer to enact his master plan. Apparently, the all-knowing Jailer gambled on the heroes being able to defeat Argus over the course of World of Wacraft's Legion expansion, expecting that its death would pave the way for him to create the Anima crisis with Sire Denathrius, with the end goal being to open a path to Zereth Mortis where he could enact his desire of remaking reality into one of eternal torment.

The theory that Argus' death caused the Arbiter to break is not new, and has been the prevalent opinion of lore enthusiasts throughout the expansion. The reason may not have been explictly known until now, but timeline-wise, it made the most sense for the Anima crisis to start at the end of Legion, yet before the beginning of Battle for Azeroth, given that one of the prevalent plot points that carried over into Shadowlands was Sylvanas Windrunner's decision to burn down the tree of Teldrassil, thus funneling vast amounts of souls into the Maw.

In addition to answering the fate of the Arbiter, "Eternity's End" boasts a story of reforging the Helm of Domination, creating a new Arbiter for the Shadowlands, saving Anduin's soul from the clutches of the Jailer, and ultimately thwarting his master plan. Whether or not it's a story well-told is ultimately for the players to decide.

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