[Spoilers] Bolvar - Keeper of Balance?

[ro9ue]

I want to make a thread about the potential role of Bolvar in the upcoming expansion. There's a lot of visual information in just the bottom 2 images:






Cinematic shot - a theme of blue and orange. Blue eyes, orange fire in the body and hammer. Daylight on the mountain to the left, shadow and ice to the right.
Logo - cold blue steel frame with what looks like orange/gold melting around the edges.
Concept art - blue and orange

I think Bolvar isn't the Lich King 2.0 everyone is expecting, but instead a gatekeeper between the worlds of life and death. One of the weirdest things in the history of WoW was "There must always be a Lich King", and I guarantee the writers are trying to rectify this by not exactly retconning it, but reexplaining it in a a different way.

Terenas said "the scourge would run rampant without the master at the helm". Maybe when it was originally written, it just meant the existing undead and ghouls would just spread across Azeroth wildly and uncontrolled. But that really made no sense that the Lich King would've been preventing that willingly. Based on the stuff we've seen I think they're going to retrofit it to mean "Someone needs to be at the helm of the damned to keep the death realm at bay" or something along those lines.

We can probably expect Muehzala to be mentioned and one of the purposes of the gatekeeper (Bolvar) is to stop him from gaining access to the life realm.

[Varodoc]

These aren't spoilers. We've known for a long time that both him and Bwonsamdi seek to uphold the balance, hence why they disapprove of Sylvanas' actions. Sylvanas threatens the balance because she wants everyone to serve Death, like Arthas did, while Bolvar and Bwonsamdi are not so radical, they understand that Death must not reign supreme, that there is a balance to uphold. Indeed, that's the very reason why Bolvar became Lich King in the first place. While Ner'zhul and Arthas wanted the Scourge to wash over the world, Bolvar is the opposite, he keeps the Scourge confined to Icecrown because the balance must not be broken in Death's favour.

[ro9ue]

These aren't spoilers. We've known for a long time that both him and Bwonsamdi seek to uphold the balance, hence why they disapprove of Sylvanas' actions. Sylvanas threatens the balance because she wants everyone to serve Death, like Arthas did, while Bolvar and Bwonsamdi are not so radical, they understand that Death must not reign supreme, that there is a balance to uphold. Indeed, that's the very reason why Bolvar became Lich King in the first place. While Ner'zhul and Arthas wanted the Scourge to wash over the world, Bolvar is the opposite, he keeps the Scourge confined to Icecrown because the balance must not be broken in Death's favour.

Spoilers was just for those who didn't want to see leaked images (if they've been able to even avoid them at this point).

[thilicen]

Didn't he literally make a point of wanting to maintain balance in the Vol'jin questline?

[Varodoc]

Spoilers was just for those who didn't want to see leaked images (if they've been able to even avoid them at this point).

Oh yeah, I hadn't noticed the image in your OP.

[LarryWithTheWeatherReport]

He could be both a gatekeeper and the Lich King. He doesn't want to effect the balance but I think Arthas in a way was also trying to keep some sort of balance since the Scourge could had just overwhelm Azeroth if he really did go all out. I know he planned to lure the Heroes there but I honestly think that's just one of the reason the Scourge were held back. I also think the balance thing is also Blizzard's way of preventing the Scourge from becoming enemies since they are by far the greatest threat we'll ever face if we really did fight them at full power, something we most likely can't even win against.

Even thought it's obvious that Arthas was one of the mightiest beings in the lore as the Lich King even by himself. I'm confident that Bolvar has now far surpassed him as the Lich King and only Sargeras and possibly Muehzala would be stronger in 1v1 combat. Because of this, Bolvar might be the one we team up with, one because he's too strong for us to fight and two because we are gonna need his help. I'm also curious about the new death force that seeks to overrun the real world, something so powerful that even the Scourge would need to unleash their full might on. The Legion and Old God forces may had be tough but they weren't big or strong enough for Bolvar to consider releasing the full power of the Scourge on.

[Heldamon]

What if Sylvanas is following Bolvar's orders

[Deventh]

What if Sylvanas is following Bolvar's orders

Sylvanas would only, in my eyes, follow Death. I don't see her ever following Bolvar.

[TigTone]

People need to stop grouping death and Undeath.

Two different forces with different goals.

[Rune B]

I think it's clear Bolvar will raise soldiers fallen in the fourth war to bolster the Alliance and Horde forces assaulting the forces of death and Sylvanas attacking Bastion and threatening to take over the Shadowlands completely. Death knights today are basically veterans of the third war.

[formerShandalay]

Been thinking a lot about Lich King, The Bolvar and all this stuff the last few days (while reading the hype thread of course ;D ) and I was kind of wondering... if Ice Crown Citadel is a gateway to the Shadowlands, as Vol'jin says, it must have been one way before Kil'jaeden threw the frozen throne there. What was it like before? Was there simply a natural gateway? Does this gateway still exist or was it crushed when Kil'jaeden did his thing? Did Kil'jaeden make a deal with someone for the Throne to be there? If so, with whom? Does it have anything to do with Yogg Saron being in the same place? Like... Kil'jaeden comes to Death and says 'hey, you have a problem on your doorstep, want any help with that?' Death says 'sure, what can you offer?' and Kil'jaeden tells him, he needs the Scourge and a mechanism to keep it in check and in exchange he'll fortify Death's Gate (I mean Icecrown, the gateway) with a Frozen Throne from outer space, so Yogg can't get in and can't control his undead minions. A small part of Death goes into the Lich King entity, acting as overmind, if you so will, and merges with everyone that puts on the helmet and sits on the throne.

There then may have been a slight problem with Ner'zhul being so taken by the Nerubians and using so much Yogg Saron blood that at least some small corruption seeped in. (I can't shake the feeling that something is going on there, because of all the Saronite and the Yoggi-theme playing when Bolvar takes the helm)
There may also have been a problem with the dreadlords doing stuff that the Legion didn't actually know (or want).

But if there is a 'higher' entity in there, like a death entity or something, it may explain why the Lich King (At least Arthas and Bolvar) are so much about balance. Only the Loa-like beings care about that, Light doesn't and neither does Void (or Old Gods)

[Schmilblick]

Legacy Of Kainvar.

[Garymorilix]

The reason for "there must always be a Lich King" was "we really wanna keep this character spot open cuz ppl loved the Lich King we can't just kill it we'll figure something out later". Back in WotLK blizzard didn't care about cross-expansion narrative at all. 'You killed the Lich King? Alrite, here's Deathwing, have fun'.

You really can't retro-actively fit the current narrative on it, because even the original Lich King was made by Kil'jaeden. It's not a natural azerothian force like Bwonsamdi. Whatever the Lich King sees, does or upholds has no ties to some primal urge to keep balance, because the Lich King is not a natural part of the cycle on Azeroth.
So if they go this route, it's just dumb af.

Also, the Lich King never had anything to do with death. He is a force of undeath, but not death.
This is already muddled with the Vol'jin bullshit going on where they call him a force of death, when in reality, the Lich King has jack shit to do with it.

Also also, if you remember the legion DK order hall, Bolvar is quite the scheming motherfucker himself.
He ordered another assault on Light's Hope for shit's and giggles during a Legion invasion.
He had us raise characters that would be pretty controversial, and who obeyed without a single care.

Sidenote, I'd have loved to see Nazgrim's reaction to the Sylvanas&Horde stuff in BfA.

So yes, what you say has a basis (given the obvious visuals if we consider this real not fake). But at the same time, it doesn't make sense.

But in the end I'm 145% positive Blizzard has been working hard to bring back their golden goose Lich King in some major role ever since they did that ass-pull at the end of WotLK. They just needed enough time to pass.

[Hobbidaggy]

I’m expecting Bolvar to take an Illidan type role in the next expansion. Our past enemies are becoming our allies to prevent catastrophe

[Rune B]

I’m expecting Bolvar to take an Illidan type role in the next expansion. Our past enemies are becoming our allies to prevent catastrophe

Yep. Probably raising fallen soldiers from the fourth war to fight the forces of Sylvanas (and whomever her master is - possibly just death itself?) to bolster Alliance and Horde forces in fighting them back from Bastion and preventing them taking over all of the Shadowlands.

[shise]

Sylvanas would only, in my eyes, follow Death. I don't see her ever following Bolvar.

People keep mentioning Bolvar, but remember the end cinematic of the Lich King fight. Bolvar voice is slowly being swallowed by something (Ner'zhul at it again?) I think Bolvar has all this time keeping a fight to stay dominant over Ner´zhul and we simply don´t know so far who won that "fight".

Blue eyes on that image, assuming that it is true and all that, could indicate that Bolvar is not fully in control, maybe, we know nothing.

So, is it even Bolvar there at all? It could yet again be like in 2010 when none really knew if Arthas was there at all, over time we all assumed that he was not, specially when the books came out.. but, at the end, he was there all along, corrupted and not being himself.

[Z3ROR]

I want to make a thread about the potential role of Bolvar in the upcoming expansion. There's a lot of visual information in just the bottom 2 images:

If i look at this picture I see a zone that looks a lot like Crystalsong Forest. Imagine how that zone looks like today, Dalaran has moved away from there. So the magic is no longer in control of archmages of the Kirin Tor there. The history of that zone tells us that this a basicly a graveyard for the blue dragonflight (nearly wiped out by the black dragonflight). The fallen dragons turned into crystal. So what can Bolvar do with it? Bolvar's body was altered by the red dragonflights fire. The red dragonflight stands for life creation. So what if Bolvar gained some that ability of life creation in some way making it possible to create life in the afterlife aka Shadowlands or create magical structures like seen in the leaked image above.
I dig the idea that Bolvar could some sort of a gatekeeper for the Shadowlands and is possible to send living creatures into the world of the death. And as the world of the death is basicly all around us. All of Azeroth, all of Northrend, all of any other continent can be a new zone for this expansion. Cause the Shadowlands is basicly Warcraft's upside down (if you watched Stranger Things you'll understand). And technically, with the phasing tech this is all possible.

[Combatbutler]

The lich king is nothing but a false death entity, created by the legion, nowadays being a "jailor" is just a nicer word for slaver, which is all bolvar is if you boil it down. He keeps hundreds of thousands if not millions enslaved doing his bidding.

Seeing him at the forefront makes sense, but setting him up as a benevolent entity would be even worse than warchief sylvanas

[Rune B]

If i look at this picture I see a zone that looks a lot like Crystalsong Forest. Imagine how that zone looks like today, Dalaran has moved away

Errrr, well Crystalsong Forest was a forest. Of crystals. Waht we see in the pic is clearly a desert. And that's not Dalaran. It's Suramar meets the not so angry dead. Maybe even Elune.

- - - Updated - - -

I want to make a thread about the potential role of Bolvar in the upcoming expansion. There's a lot of visual information in just the bottom 2 images:

Great minds think alike. I did pretty much that too, but in the general discussion. And yeah - The Frozen Throne is the gateway to the Shadowlands. I have a feeling both it, and Bastion, will come under attack from Sylvanas.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...re-speculation

[Explorer]

I want to make a thread about the potential role of Bolvar in the upcoming expansion. There's a lot of visual information in just the bottom 2 images:






Cinematic shot - a theme of blue and orange. Blue eyes, orange fire in the body and hammer. Daylight on the mountain to the left, shadow and ice to the right.
Logo - cold blue steel frame with what looks like orange/gold melting around the edges.
Concept art - blue and orange

I think Bolvar isn't the Lich King 2.0 everyone is expecting, but instead a gatekeeper between the worlds of life and death. One of the weirdest things in the history of WoW was "There must always be a Lich King", and I guarantee the writers are trying to rectify this by not exactly retconning it, but reexplaining it in a a different way.

Terenas said "the scourge would run rampant without the master at the helm". Maybe when it was originally written, it just meant the existing undead and ghouls would just spread across Azeroth wildly and uncontrolled. But that really made no sense that the Lich King would've been preventing that willingly. Based on the stuff we've seen I think they're going to retrofit it to mean "Someone needs to be at the helm of the damned to keep the death realm at bay" or something along those lines.

We can probably expect Muehzala to be mentioned and one of the purposes of the gatekeeper (Bolvar) is to stop him from gaining access to the life realm.

/
Okay so.... LK exists on Azeroth for something like what? 10 years? And there was no need to keep any balance or control over Death realm for millenia. But now it's somehow necessary...