World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has concluded its primary storyline with the defeat of the Jailer in "Eternity's End" and the restoration of order in the Realm of Death. Allegedly a chapter in the Warcraft saga that began with Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, the Jailer's death was meant to close a lot of loose threads that Shadowlands unraveled. Unfortunately, the Shadowlands expansion finale only confusingly opened further questions and left the Jailer as a lifeless, flat husk of a villain – both figuratively and literally.
One of the writing team's fascinations with the World of Warcraft universe in recent years has been the cosmic powers, their respective realms, and the forces that wield them. The Titans, once considered the primary power, as well as the foremost pantheon in Warcraft, have been relegated to representatives of Order and the Arcane – a contrast to the Burning Legion standing on the side of Chaos and the Fel.
Shadowlands was all about showcasing the cosmic powers of Death, culminating in the reveal of Zereth Mortis, the forbidden workshop of the First Ones reshaped for the purpose of building the Shadowlands and its countless afterlives. While the First Ones are assumed to be the ultimate pantheon in Warcraft lore, a recent reveal in Firim's journal all but confirms the hand they played in the creation of the universe. To put it bluntly: there may be a Zereth for every cosmic power.
Firim's hypothesis originates from the Jailer's assault on the Sepulcher of the First Ones, dubbed as the innermost sanctum of Zereth Mortis. The Jailer's plan to remake reality hinged on manipulating the link between all these different workshops of the First Ones, connected through some intricate, yet currently imperceptible way, and flooding that link with his domination magic to cause a cascading effect and thus allegedly unite the cosmic forces to face some as-of-yet unknown threat to all existence.
The concern for the Shadowlands broker does not end after the Jailer's defeat, as Firim made note that the connection between Zereth Mortis and its siblings abides in a fragile yet perfect balance. Thanks to the Jailer's meddling, Firim fears the possibility that this perfect balance has been forever warped, and will lead to another force like the Jailer applying further pressure on the reality constructed by the First Ones through a different type of cosmic force.
The community reaction to this plot development has been lukewarm thus far, as players worry that it's little more than a lazy setup for differently flavored versions of Warcraft's most boring villain. Given that most rumors about the next World of Warcraft expansion speak of a more grounded plot concerning the dragonflights, as well as a return to Azeroth, players might at the very least have a few years of reprieve from another cosmic-scale threat. The seeds for that conflict, however, have clearly been planted.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.