Shadowlands, what we know and what may comes next

[Deleted]

Among all the planes of existence in the WoW universe, I feel like the Shadowlands are still the most mysterious one. Recently, with Chronicles being released and Blizzard sorting their lore, the Shadowlands started to get a more defined place in the story, but there is still much to learn.

First, what we know.

The Shadowlands are the realm of of the dead, unlike the Emerald Dream which is limited to Azeroth they are present in the whole universe, and they seems to have a different appereance depending on the spirt mortal life. Apparently, "good" mortals will see the version of Shadowlands known as Spirit Realm, a calm realm where they can rest in peace, while "evil" mortals will enter a hellish place where they will be tormented forever.

The Spirit Realm


The Shadowlands

This is confirmed by both Sylvanas short story, and Thoras Trollbane words during the assault on Scarlet Monastery in the dk class campaign:
In the story of Azeroth, only a few beings have been able to interact with the Shadowlands, since living mortals can't acces it or stay in for too long.
Odyn was the first, using his powers to create the first Val'kyrs and have them roam the spirit realm in search of worthy Vrykul warriors. On MU Draenor, Ner'zhul was able to interact with the spirits but we don't know much more. Later, the Lich King and his death knights gained the ability to freely enter and roam the Shadowlands, as well use them as a mean of travel (portals).

However, to this day not much is known about this realm, other that is the realm of the dead. During the dk starting zone we can see it is actually inhabitated by beings of shadows, and after her suicide, Sylvanas states:

She saw only darkness.

And then she felt—truly felt, for the first time in a long while. She recoiled. In agony.

Here she was, her spirit once again feeling whole, only to feel it suffer. To feel once more, only to feel abject pain. Cold. Hopelessness.

Fear.

There were others in the darkness. Things she didn't recognize, because nothing so terrible could exist in the world of the living. Claws tore at her, but she had no mouth with which to scream. Eyes looked at her, but she couldn't look back.

So in the Shadowlands THERE IS something, but we don't know exactly what. It would be correct to assume that just like the Emerald Dream and Twisting Nehter gave birth to wild gods and demons respectively, the shadowlands also gave birth to something.
In this theory, Blizzard might have thrown us a bone in the form of a legendary for blood death knights:

Soulfalyer's Corruption
"The origins of the Soulflayer remain unknown. There are no mentions of him in any of the Titan records."

This is a reference to Hakkar the Soulflayer, a god once revered by the gurubashi trolls. If Hakkar is not present in any titan record, it means Freya never met him like she did with the wild gods, and Hakkar does not comes from the Emerald Dream. My theory is that Hakkar is actually a being born from the Shadowlands, a "death god" of sort. After all, he was known as the blood god by the trolls who revered him, and his avatar had a very "death-related" appearence:


So, does this opens new possibilities? A whole pantheon of gods coming form the Shadowlands? New powers to be discorvered, or new secrets to be unvelied? I woud like to mmochamp opinions, theory and knowledge about this topic.

[Lupinemancer]

Sounds interesing. Personally, I'm always interested in learnbing about the Shadowlands.
In fact, everytime there is a confirmed "afterlife" I always want to know what it's like there. Since it doesn't exist in real life and we can't learn about death in our world, it's cool to learn about it in fantasy!

[KrakHed]

Apparently, "good" mortals will see the version of Shadowlands known as Spirit Realm, a calm realm where they can rest in peace, while "evil" mortals will enter a hellish place where they will be tormented forever.

This is confirmed by both Sylvanas short story,

Nope. Remember, when Sylvanas first died, she seemed to be going towards the Light. And wherever Sylvanas went after her second death, when she initially refused the Val'kyr, was some place they couldn't retrieve her from unless they took her place. Which isn't how things normally work. We're given clear descriptions of "infinite darkness" and an "endless void".

So, I wonder. If Paradise exists in the Light, just where the fuck might the equivalent of Hell be? What realm could possibly be filled with horrible sadistic beings with claws and eyes that stare? What such realm is heavily associated as a realm of the dead, clearly referred to as such in Warlords, but isn't the Shadowlands? What such realm is an endless void?

That's not the fucking Shadowlands. That's the fucking Void, through and through.

[Aquamonkey]

Nope. Remember, when Sylvanas first died, she seemed to be going towards the Light.

Sylvanas wasn't going towards the Light. It was a dark place, just like the 2nd time, but pleasant.

And then it went away. It all went away. The coldness, the stench, the searing pain. It was soft and warm and dark and calm and comforting, and Sylvanas permitted herself to sink into the welcoming darkness. At last she could rest, could lay down the arms she had borne for so long in service to her people.
--Rise of the Lich King

Her experience after dying again starts off the same.

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner tumbled in a free fall. Not in the physical sense; her body had been obliterated at the foot of Icecrown Citadel. It was her spirit that tumbled, lost, like a rudderless ship in a storm.
How had she gotten here? She couldn't remember. Had she been killed by Arthas? Had she committed suicide? Had she been sent to judgment by the Val'kyr? Time was meaningless here. Her whole life seemed not a series of events but a single instant, a pinpoint flash of consciousness in an infinite void.
She saw only darkness.
--Edge of Night

And wherever Sylvanas went after her second death, when she initially refused the Val'kyr, was some place they couldn't retrieve her from unless they took her place. Which isn't how things normally work. We're given clear descriptions of "infinite darkness" and an "endless void".

It was more that the val'kyr are weaker at necromancy. They were depowered since Arthas died and Bolvar was dormant. It took 1 val'kyr (their leader) to bring Sylvanas back from that place at ICC. It took 3 to bring her back in Silverpine.

[KrakHed]

It was more that the val'kyr are weaker at necromancy. They were depowered since Arthas died and Bolvar was dormant. It took 1 val'kyr (their leader) to bring Sylvanas back from that place at ICC. It took 3 to bring her back in Silverpine.

Maybe I misremembered a few details, but the description of the second time still sounds distinctly Voidy. Remember, the Val'kyr originally tried to bring her back before she went fully to that realm of torment. Only then did they have to sacrifice themselves to get her out of there.

[FreaknRhinos]

I know it's cannon but the fact people have to go to books for lore is, frankly, asinine.

This is why there is a huge disconnect from players and their objectives.

[Wildmoon]

ED did not give birth to the wild gods. WoE did. The form ED existed before it was shaped by Freya(it's heavily hinted that Freya did not create it out of nothing.) is still a mystery.

[Aquamonkey]

ED did not give birth to the wild gods. WoE did.

Indirectly. It was Freya tapping into the WoE's dispersed energies.

[Ethenil]

Also worth to note that when Odyn first created the Val'kyr, he gave his eye to a being from the Shadowlands so he could glimpse both the mortal and dead planes.

[Deleted]

Maybe I misremembered a few details, but the description of the second time still sounds distinctly Voidy. Remember, the Val'kyr originally tried to bring her back before she went fully to that realm of torment. Only then did they have to sacrifice themselves to get her out of there.

It's not the void. The Shadowlands might be closer to the void than the physical realm, but they're not directly related despite some similarities (a dark realm of shadows and fear, with horrific creatures). Blizzard clarified this with Chronicles:


The Shadowlands are associated with death, not with void, and are a plane of the physical realm (reality).

Also worth to note that when Odyn first created the Val'kyr, he gave his eye to a being from the Shadowlands so he could glimpse both the mortal and dead planes.

I missed this part honestly. Is it from Chronicles, or maybe some class campign/quest text?

[Wyrt]

We go into the Shadowlands very briefly in Talador. One of the Auchenai priests sends you in there. It looks pretty much the same as Talador, except with ghosts and stuff. It seems to be similar to the Emerald Dream, another version of the world, except with dead stuff instead of green stuff.

[Piamonte]

good thread op, i wanted to add that in Hakkar´s fight, he does send you to the shadowlands. Now about Silvanas´s fate, i do think there is the possibility of her going to the void instead of the shadowlands for whatever reason, i say this because from the way it is described it´s like the autor tried really hard to hint that this place was the void:

In the grand landscape of all the world's suffering and all the evils of the infinite, the Lich King was… insignificant.
Now the others had her. Surrounded her. Gleeful, tormenting, tearing at her consciousness, delighting in her suffering.
Horror.
This was to be her eternity: the endless void, the dark, unknown realm of anguish.

[Deleted]

Suspiciously enough she meets a version of Arthas there. And there we are left wondering if bringing peop back from the shadowlands is a possibility then ... sylvanas or some missing lich can pull something there. Anyways the druids and the spirits of the old gods are responsible for keepin the dream safe. who would be responsible for the safety of shadowlands now ?

[MikeBogina]

I'm not sure if this is 100% but when someone dies, it seems they go to where their power originates from. Arthas and Sylvanas go to darkness, sometimes described as the Void.
Beings strong in druidism and natural, on Azeroth go to the Emerald Dream. Although this is just on Azeroth, so is it an afterlife or a safety net preventing from the darkness?
Shamans seem to pop back up as ancestors and spirits, and they never mention any darkness or void.
Paladins supposedly go to Paradise.
Warriors on Azeroth go to Valhalla, which again is another safety net on Azeroth preventing real afterlife.
Void creatures and maybe shadow users go to Nyalotha(?) which could be universal or once again, another safety net only on Azeroth.
Fel souls go back to the nether, which seems to be a universal safety net, which also seems to share the same traits as elementals outside the elemental plain(though again, that's another Azeroth only safety net) so do elementals like murmur just die or go to a universal elemental plains.

Blizzard really threw too much into the game and has never once took a moment to figure it all out. And I don't think they know for sure if what Sylvanas and Arthas went to was the Shadowlands or the void.

[Deleted]

Suspiciously enough she meets a version of Arthas there. And there we are left wondering if bringing peop back from the shadowlands is a possibility then ... sylvanas or some missing lich can pull something there.

Well, during the dk class campaign the Deathlord pulls from the shadowlands Nazgrim, Thoras and Whitemane (the last two also referincing being in the shadowlands directly). However at the start of Legion the deathlord was empowered by Bolvar, so we can suppose resurrecting someone long dead requires the immense energies of the Lich King. Sylvanas mentioned something similar to Nathanos in his short story, when she said that the val'kyr could raise death knights effortesly due to the lich king powers, but couldn't do it now because it would require a portion of their life essence.

good thread op, i wanted to add that in Hakkar´s fight, he does send you to the shadowlands. Now about Silvanas´s fate, i do think there is the possibility of her going to the void instead of the shadowlands for whatever reason, i say this because from the way it is described it´s like the autor tried really hard to hint that this place was the void:

In the grand landscape of all the world's suffering and all the evils of the infinite, the Lich King was… insignificant.
Now the others had her. Surrounded her. Gleeful, tormenting, tearing at her consciousness, delighting in her suffering.
Horror.
This was to be her eternity: the endless void, the dark, unknown realm of anguish.

Blizzard really threw too much into the game and has never once took a moment to figure it all out. And I don't think they know for sure if what Sylvanas and Arthas went to was the Shadowlands or the void.

Well, I think at the time of Wrath Blizzard still hadn't thought about giving sense to their lore, so it's possible that their intention at the time was to make it sounds like it was the void. But since Chronicles came out, we know the shadowlands are a different things.

[ahgsfds]

Looking at the Chronicles page it seems like Shadowlands are kinda like a counterpart of Emerald Dream. While Emerald Dream is the best that could come out of Azeroth, the Titan blueprint - best outcome possible, Shadowlands might be the worst one.

Shadowlands also aren't kinda looking like an afterlife, same way as the Emerald Dream, they're more of another plane of existence.

[dirk123]

Shadowlands would be a chance for Blizzard to recycle bosses.
Seeing how in the DK Campaign you sent your followers to the Shadow Realm to get stuff. Your followers kill the Mantid Queen, Daelas Proudmoore, Putrice and Soulbinder Tuulani(?) (WoD Auchidoun boss).

[gioderpington]

If Nzoth created the nightmare, what is say that he didn't later on create the shadow planes by corrupting the already existing spirit realm? Nzoth is supposed to be the most patient and intelligent. Wouldn't be surprised if he created it to capture the creatures effected by the curse of flesh. Perhaps to later use them as an army or to further torment them.

[skulmar]

Gonna have to disagree with the OP, I am pretty sure The Twilight is the most mysterious realm in WoW lore.

[Aquamonkey]

Beings strong in druidism and natural, on Azeroth go to the Emerald Dream. Although this is just on Azeroth, so is it an afterlife or a safety net preventing from the darkness?

They're tied to the ED, kinda like the Wild Gods.

Shamans seem to pop back up as ancestors and spirits, and they never mention any darkness or void.

This is applicable for anyone. In the case of the orcs, non-shaman still stuck around as spirits.