Though the Sepulcher of the First Ones raid in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands released a couple of weeks ago with Eternity’s End, the final bosses of the raid have only just become available for players to fight. With the battle against Zovaal the Jailer now live, World of Warcraft fans now have access to the ending cinematic–and players are not impressed. Warning: Spoilers for World of Warcraft: Eternity’s End to follow.
Players chase the Jailer to the First Ones realm of Zereth Mortis in the events of Eternity's End, where they face him in an ancient facility called the Sepulcher of the First Ones. Though being defeated in a raid does not always spell a character’s demise in World of Warcraft, it seems the Jailer is not so lucky.
The cinematic itself begins with Zovaal defeated, his armor disintegrating around him. He witnesses flashbacks of his sentencing at the hands of his kin in the Pantheon of Death, who implore him to explain why he betrayed them. “You preserve that which is doomed,” he says, his body burning away to reveal the proto-skeleton previously datamined by WoW players, “A cosmos divided will not survive what is to come.” This statement echoed from his past becomes his dying words, as the Jailer falls dormant, well and truly destroyed.
This is the first time players have heard anything of the Jailer’s seeking to protect the cosmos from some greater threat in Shadowlands. Previously, he expressed the desire to remake reality and break the “machine of death,” and all signs had pointed towards selfish reasons. This new detail from his death makes his motivations sound strikingly similar to Sargeras, the iconic Lord of the Burning Legion who sought to destroy existence to preserve it from being corrupted by the Void.
And therein lies the problem. Players cannot help but notice the Jailer added nothing new to the story–his story, modus operandi, and motivations all seem to be recycled from those of the Dark Titan defeated in Legion, leading many to refer to him as “Bargain Bin Sargeras.” In spite of this, World of Warcraft tied many cosmic events and conflicts to the unpopular Shadowlands antagonist, including those involving Sargeras himself. The Jailer failed to garner popularity through Shadowlands, and most players are simply glad to see him go.
That said, the actual boss fights–Anduin, the Jailer, and the other encounters in the raid–have been lauded as fun, unique, and challenging. While the story itself may be lackluster, the journey to get there can at least be enjoyed. Regardless of one’s opinion of the current narrative, the Jailer’s fall heralds an end to the Shadowlands story, meaning fans can put it behind them and focus on the next expansion once World of Warcraft announces it on April 19th.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available on PC.
Source: Reddit/wow