So, the lead up to an expansion is always exciting and, like many of you, I've been sitting around speculating away at what might be coming in Warlords of Draenor. A completely unlikely, baseless piece of speculation I made about the scourge being brought to Draenor and having to bring Bolvar/LK in to fight them has led to what I believe is a farm more likely baseless speculation - the return of Illidan.
I'll try to keep this brief, as it's not too much of a stretch logically.
Draenor is an Alternate Universe Expansion
This seems to be widely accepted as fact at this point. It's kinda obvious - whether Garrosh went back in his own timestream, or whether Kairoz took himi back to an alternate timestream is almost irrelevant, as his going back in time created an alternate timeline anyway. We're working in a timeline whether most of the Orcs have not drunk the blood of Mannoroth and are not corrupted by the Burning Legion.
Time being what it is, this also means that while we are on a version of Draenor 35 years in the past, that there is an timey wimey version of Azeroth out there. One where Deathwing still exists, Arthas has not yet turned (has he even been born?) and, most importantly to my point in this post, Illidan still lives.
Illidan is coming back.
A fan favorite character that was killed almost needlessly and unceremoniously, during Blizzcon 2010 and Blizzcon 2011 Chris Metzen has all but confirmed that Illidan will return at some point, due to the character's popularity. The single issue in bringing Illidan back is having it make sense within the story. Previously Metzen intimated that if Illidan was raised from the dead, his body would be significant, but what if they were able to bring him back without raising him from the dead? What better way to do so than when they are inside an alternate timeline already?
The legion is a big player in WoD
The base experience in the expansion is largely focused on Draenor and its denizens, the Orcs and Draenei. However, Blizzard has confirmed that as the expansion continues onward, the legion will become a larger focus in the expansion. From a story perspective, it makes sense that Kil'Jaeden would not simply let the Orcs off the hook after they kill Mannoroth. The reckoning of the Legion is coming.
I'm gonna throw this out there, and it's not gonna be accepted by everybody - Illidan is one of, if not not the most effective foils to the Burning Legion. The Illidari were demons, yes, but they served Illidan, not the Legion, and they by-and-large kept the Legion at bay on Outland. If I were a character in WoW, and I needed to fight the Legion, I'd want to fight fire with fire and bring Illidan in on my side.
In summation
This is completely baseless, but I think there's a good chance that Illidan will be brought back during the course of WoD, as a force to help fight the Burning Legion. He's not going to be a goody goody, and it's not gonna be all sunshine and roses, but I can see Illidan coming back and leading a group of very grey Demon Hunters and by doing so, set the story up for continued Demon Hunter lore and perhaps even a playable class for Demon Hunters (something that I think is almost assured, given the popularity of Illidan and Demon Hunters. It would sell too many subscriptions for Blizzard to never put it in, if only purely for business purposes)
Thoughts?