World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is the upcoming eighth WoW expansion, set to take place in the realm of death itself. This could see some of Blizzard's best known characters return across the expansions major new locations, but it may be important to understand who those characters could be.
The Shadowlands are a new feature of Warcraft lore created for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. However, in order to understand the events of the upcoming expansion in full, players will first need to know the story events preceding the opening of the Shadowlands, and the nature of the new location.
The Events of Battle for Azeroth
The events of the most recent Warcraft expansion, 2018’s Battle for Azeroth are the most relevant to the upcoming events in Shadowlands, and saw some major changes come to the faces of both the Alliance and the Horde.
Horde Warchief Sylvanas Windrunner, a character who has been in the series since she was killed and revived into undeath by Arthas in Warcraft 3, began the last expansion with a bang. Teldrassil, an island-sied tree off the coast of Kalimdor that had housed the Night Elves since the events of World of Warcraft began, was burned down by Horde forces. Many Night Elves died, some were raised into undeath, and the survivors sought revenge.
This kicked off a major conflict which became known as the Fourth War, with the Third War having been the conflict against the Burning Legion seen in Warcraft 3, while the First and Second Wars refer to the canonical events of the first two Warcraft strategy games. After the events of Legion, a valuable and powerful mineral known as Azerite was also discovered across the world.
Azerite is the crystalized blood of Azeroth, caused when Sargeras’ blade pierced the world at the end of Legion. While it’s unclear exactly what its full properties are, just holding Azerite caused King Anduin Wrynn of the Alliance to overcome his grief at his father’s death, while it caused Sylvanas to consider her own potential to conquer life and death. Mining Azerite became a major focus of both WoW factions in Battle for Azeroth.
The burning of Teldrassil was met with immediate retaliation by the Alliance. Lordaeron, once the human capital in the north of the Eastern Kingdoms and long home to the Forsaken Undercity in its winding crypts, was put under siege by the Alliance. Sensing defeat, Sylvanas released the Blight upon her own city, a chemical weapon rendering it uninhabitable even as the Horde forces were forced to retreat.
The Fourth War came to a close at the gates of Orgrimmar, the orcish capital. Orc war hero Varok Saurfang challenged Sylvanas to a one-on-one fight, and his resultant death caused such a rift in the Horde than Sylvanas abdicated her position and fled. Agreeing that there was no place for a Warchief in time of peace, the Horde leaders decided to run the faction as a collective Horde Council after her departure. Sylvanas abandoned her own people, the Forsaken, who remain a part of the Horde without the Banshee Queen at their helm for the first time in their brief history.
The Premise of Shadowlands
The events of Shadowlands, like the events of Battle for Azeroth, are triggered by the actions of Sylvanas Windrunner. Sylvanas travels to Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel was the huge fortress which housed the Lich King during the Scourge invasion of Azeroth. After the Lich King’s defeat at the end of Wrath of the Lich King, the leader of the Argent Crusade, Tirion Fordring, placed the Lich King’s Helm of Domination on his old friend and former regent of Stormwind Bolvar Fordragon, who had been presumed dead at the Battle of the Wrathgate.
Bolvar was to be the new “jailer of the damned,” out of a fear that without a leader the Scourge would run rampant across Azeroth and caused untold destruction. Though visible in a cut-scene in Dalaran, Bolvar’s new role was a secret to all but him and Tirion in the lore, and with Tirion’s death in Legion, it’s unclear how Sylvanas found out the truth. Either way, she traveled to Icecrown, defeated Bolvar in combat, and shattered the Helm of Domination. This caused a rift to form above Icecrown which led to the Shadowlands, the realm of death.
What to Expect in the Shadowlands
Since the announcement of Shadowlands, Blizzard has released some key details about the nature of the setting and what fans can expect from it. First and foremost, there will be 4 major covenants which rule over different aspects of the afterlife: The Kyrian, the Venthyr, the Necrolords, and the Night Fae.
The Kyrian are the angelic beings seen in Uther the Lightbringer’s Shadowlands Afterlives short. They control Bastion, where noble and truthful souls travel after death to join their ranks. The Necrolords rule Maldraxxus, where warrior spirits assist in their defense of the Shadowlands after death. Ardenweald is the realm of the Night Fae, and sustains the souls of nature spirits and loa until they are ready for rebirth. Revendreth is the kingdom of the Venthyr, vampiric beings who feed on prideful souls like Garrosh Hellscream and Kael’thas Sunstrider.
Oribos is a city at the heart of the Shadowlands, and the Maw is a pit of eternal torment where evil souls or those souls which fail rehabilitation in parts of the Shadowlands like Revendreth are sent to suffer at the hands of the Jailer for all eternity. The Jailer is an ancient being that Sylvanas has formed an alliance with, somehow gaining more power each time she feeds the Maw souls.
The Shadowlands are sustained by a fundamental life-force called anima. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands takes place during an anima drought. Likely due to Sylvanas' actions, souls that enter the Shadowlands now go directly into the Maw, and areas like Ardenweald and Revendreth have been hit particularly harsh by the drought, causing their leaders the Winter Queen and Sire Denathrius to take drastic measures.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will see players ally with one of the covenants of the Shadowlands, and likely take on Sylvanas and the Jailer to free the souls in the Maw. It remains unclear exactly what the new expansion will reveal about the nature of life and death in the Warcraft universe, and what the final fates of some major characters long thought gone for good may be. WoW fans will have to wait until November 23 to see whether the new expansion’s gameplay can match its ambitious premise.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands launches globally on November 23 for PC.