It's been a little more than two years since Battle for Azeroth released and, despite the fact that that the next World of Warcraft expansion is releasing before the end of the year, many players are still healing from the savage start to the current War Campaign. When Sylvanas Windrunner burned down the city of Teldrassil many players, both Horde and Alliance, felt an incredible sense of loss. The iconic location was home to many Night Elves and the destruction of the dark lady burned the entire zone off of the map for level 110 or higher players. (Note: Battle for Azeroth spoilers are ahead!)
This event kicked off the controversial story arc for Sylvanas in Battle for Azeroth as her lust for power continued to take her down darker and darker paths until some splinter factions from within the Horde were forced to join forces with the Alliance to defeat their own War Chief. Some players feel that the eventual pact between the Alliance and the Horde to oust Sylvanas loyalists helped turn the expansion's narrative around, but there are many who still feel the damage caused by destroying their starting zone can't be undone. Although Blizzard hasn't spoken up about the destruction of Teldrassil recently, a new tweet from the official World of Warcraft twitter account drops a hint that maybe there is going to be more to the story after all...
Earlier this morning, WoW tweeted out a posted featuring images of four starting zones with the caption "Home is where your <3 is." It didn't take long for some fans to quickly start to point out that their "home" or favorite starting zone was burned to the ground less than two years ago. Rather than offer an apology or their condolences, the WoW account playfully responded to one of these comments with "Trees can regrow! ;)"
Although this is far from any kind of confirmation, obviously many fans have been quick to start analyzing the tweet and debating whether this is just a social media manage being playful or if this is actually a hint about the return of Teldrassil to its former glory. At this point, the official WoW account hasn't offered any additional context and fans are left on their own to theorize and speculate.
Although it would obviously take decade (if not centuries or longer) for a tree like Teldrassil to return to its previous state, there is another fan theory here worth considering that involves a big time jump...With the next expansion taking players into the Shadowlands, there has been a lot of debate about how time displacement may play into future WoW stories. It is unclear if time will pass at the same rate in Azeroth and the Shadowlands and some fans theorize that when the Shadowlands main story is over and players return to Azeroth that hundreds of years may have gone by. If that ends up being the case, then perhaps this is how the current heroes of Azeroth could see the return of the iconic tree in their own lifetimes.
Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as more details about Shadowlands emerge. Until then, For the Horde!
World of Warcraft is available now for PC. At this point, World of Warcraft Shadowlands does not have a confirmed release date.
Source: World of Warcraft Twitter