There is no retcon anymore.

[Pandragon]

I think it's more of a "sylvanas needed a tremendous burst of power to open the rift" and detsroying the helmet gave her that because it released all of the Lich Kings power.

[sam86]

It's called retconning, which I'm calling for now, because the entirety of the Warcraft Universe post-WoW needs to be wiped clean.

it isn't retcon
retcon is what wc3 did to wc2 story, wc2 was a very boring story, wc3 added a lot of new ideas, changed orcs from generic evil and so on
what we see is sh8tcon, rape the lore for make idea of new exp with zero excuse except just be lazy f8ckups at their jobs, for example Ion saying no mortal ever went to shadowlands, while i remember very clearly a big part of shadow priest artifact was in shadowlands, and that human priest u save from there, so i can name 2 mortals who went to shadowlands and back, and we aren't talking about some minor quest like how they sh8t on rogue artifact quest, this dagger play a massive lore in BFA storyline, and they even didn't give a single f8ck to check its own story
That's a new lvl of sh8tting on ur own story, sh8tcon for the sake of just ruining it

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I think it's more of a "sylvanas needed a tremendous burst of power to open the rift" and detsroying the helmet gave her that because it released all of the Lich Kings power.

by ripping it with her own bare hands
does blizz remember when Baine held her hands and she was afraid he can easily tear them apart? that part is cannon or got sh8t upon it again as usual?
Sylvanas is getting a new lvl of evil mary sue

[Xi Jinping]

Ok I already posted this on another threat, but maybe you could find it interresting. Just a dump theory

-> In Wotlk all the souls of the dead was being harvested into Icecrown

-> They besicly builded a soulhavester machine to fuel Arthas scourge army

-> So there was always the idea of a artifact to containing souls -> Frostmourne right?

-> Frostmourne is ONLY containing souls personally killed with it -> Alot of them show's themselves in Hall of Reflection

-> Meanwhile Icecrown Citedal serves as a giant "soul havester" complex on a industrial scale -> Look at The Forge of Souls

-> The Helm of Domination Serves as it's "Remote Controller" -> It break = All the souls contained in Icecrown is released all at once

-> Souls contained would naturally, then released, travel to The Shadowlands

-> We could imagin a devatating "Burst", because of giant quantities of souls travling between the two planes. -> This could break the barrier

Should I lay down the crack or you think this could be going somewhere?

May I also add blizzard talked about "Anigma"

-> Anigma is souls counted in currency form or big quantities of souls

-> Icecrown releases all the Anigma into The Shadowlands at the start of Expansion -> Spread's it all around The shadowlands

-> We the players have to go around and collect this new-found Anigma (released from ICC) as the new "Azerite Grind" and give it to our covenent

[Zagreus]

The way I saw it was that the two spires worked across an area between the lands of the living and dead as a conduit between the two for energy/souls to pass between.

I presumed that Sylvanas had been fed this information - either whilst a banshee under Arthas' control or from whoever she is currently working for and in order to tear a hole between the dimensions required the unleashing of a great deal of energy.

It would explain her sending Nathanos away with the Black Blade (maybe to charge it up/drain N'Zoth's power into) as I'd guess that would be the backup plan if the helm hadn't worked?

[Pandragon]

by ripping it with her own bare hands
does blizz remember when Baine held her hands and she was afraid he can easily tear them apart? that part is cannon or got sh8t upon it again as usual?
Sylvanas is getting a new lvl of evil mary sue

well A: stop using that term you dont know what it means

b: She is being empowered by the Jailer now. And even with that it took a lot of force for her to do it. Look at her eyes, she powered up greatly for it. She didnt just go "hurr durr its paper" and ripped it up.

[Mehrunes]

Wiping out all life was easy. He just need to let go of all his control and the uncontrolled Scourge would have done that (or at least, that’s what they said, I’m sure we are going to destroy those rampaging Scourge in next expansion anyway). And I don’t think controlling a few dozens Undead like he did in the cinematic is really good enough to destroy the Scourge

He had ~6 years between his ascension and now. He does not eat, he does not sleep, he does not tire. What prevented him from taking groups of 2-3 dozens of undead (roughly what he had in the cinematic) and throwing them into a volcano one group at a time?

[Queen of Hamsters]

Nobody ever asked for morbid expanding of the lore. You don't expand by lowering the worth of what exists.

I'm well aware of the damned if they do, damned if they don't-situation that they deal with.

There's always going to be those wanting the story to stagnate and only deal with what's known, whilst others want new. Can't please them all.

[LarryWithTheWeatherReport]

My guess is Kil'jaeden really did have nothing to do with this whole Death Shadowland thing but the Helm of Domination grew too powerful with all the souls stored in it. So when Sylvanas broke the helmet, all the countless souls got freed and gave the Death God a massive power boost which allowed it to create a large portal through his realm. It was already gaining more and more power with the war killing off so many but the LK's helm is the real straw.

[Qualia]

He had ~6 years between his ascension and now. He does not eat, he does not sleep, he does not tire. What prevented him from taking groups of 2-3 dozens of undead (roughly what he had in the cinematic) and throwing them into a volcano one group at a time?

Too lazy since he would have to do that hundreds, thousands time or more? Not everyone want to do boring, repetitive stuffs. Maybe he was waiting for a day when he’d have enough power and control to do it in one go!

(I jest, but previous post was Blizzard’s explaination. We can only speculate further from that)

[Magnagarde]

I'm well aware of the damned if they do, damned if they don't-situation that they deal with.

There's always going to be those wanting the story to stagnate and only deal with what's known, whilst others want new. Can't please them all.

I understand what you mean and it is by no means an easy task to come up with something that will please the majority. However, it doesn't take a genius to realize that you simply don't beat a character like the Lich King into a pulp in the intro cinematic of a new expansion. How on Earth did they think this was a good idea? It was bound to take a lot of flak. Never has a Blizzard cinematic been such a blast and a letdown at the same time, no more than 30 seconds appart.

[Mehrunes]

I'm well aware of the damned if they do, damned if they don't-situation that they deal with.

Yes, poor Blizzard kami-sama is simply oppressed and victimized by vile fans. If not for that act of cruelty they'd have won all of the awards for writing.

Too lazy since he would have to do that hundreds, thousands time or more? Not everyone want to do boring, repetitive stuffs. Maybe he was waiting for a day when he’d have enough power and control to do it in one go!

What better thing did he have to do? Sit on his throne, freeze his ass off and make a count of the Scourge again and again to make sure they are all in check?

[Xi Jinping]

I think it's clearly the Citedal that have all the souls stored, not the helmet

[Mehrunes]

I understand what you mean and it is by no means an easy task to come up with something that will please the majority. However, it doesn't take a genius to realize that you simply don't beat a character like the Lich King into a pulp in the intro cinematic of a new expansion. How on Earth did they think this was a good idea? It was bound to take a lot of flak.

On top of that achieving it by Sylvanas using the do-everything arrows she borrowed from Oliver Queen. Instead of writing it in a way where she used her long established powers like her armor and bone breaking wail. Where it could make the jagged shards of the Lich King's armor bite into his flesh and slow him down (+ the broken bones being an obvious detriment), giving Sylvanas an opening.

Especially since that would be an amazing throwback to Rise of the Lich King. Because when Arthas witnessed Sylvanas doing so he stated that she may become a double-edged sword in the long run (as that was when she was still enslaved by the Scourge and he didn't even fathom a Scourge member could break away). And had Sylvanas used that against the Lich King, even if not against Arthas, that would have come full circle.

But nah, let's have Sylvanas pull a giant boulder from a solid rock formation with the chain she pulled out of thin air (literally) and smack the Lich King with that boulder! Right in the face! That's what they'd do on Dragon Ball and everyone knows Dragon Ball is the high bar of writing fights between super-powered characters!

[Queen of Hamsters]

Yes, poor Blizzard kami-sama is simply oppressed and victimized by vile fans. If not for that act of cruelty they'd have won all of the awards for writing.
?

Unlike you, I never saw them qualify for such an award in all my years playing, nor do I expect/demand it from a PG13 title with poop quests and gnomes with pink hair.

But stay salty, by all means!

[Magnagarde]

On top of that achieving it by Sylvanas using the do-everything arrows she borrowed from Oliver Queen. Instead of writing it in a way where she used her long established powers like her armor and bone breaking wail. Where it could make the jagged shards of the Lich King's armor bite into his flesh and slow him down (+ the broken bones being an obvious detriment), giving Sylvanas an opening.

Especially since that would be an amazing throwback to Rise of the Lich King. Because when Arthas witnessed Sylvanas doing so he stated that she may become a double-edged sword in the long run (as that was when she was still enslaved by the Scourge and he didn't even fathom a Scourge member could break away). And had Sylvanas used that against the Lich King, even if not against Arthas, that would have come full circle.

But nah, let's have Sylvanas pull a giant boulder from a solid rock formation with the chain she pulled out of thin air (literally) and smack the Lich King with that boulder! Right in the face! That's what they'd do on Dragon Ball and everyone knows Dragon Ball is the high bar of writing fights between super-powered characters!

That would've been much better. I also forgot about that as it was quite a while since I've read RotLK.

Reading the comments on the cinematic video that they uploaded, it's bound to be the most disliked and heavily criticized expansion cinematic so far.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I understand what you mean and it is by no means an easy task to come up with something that will please the majority. However, it doesn't take a genius to realize that you simply don't beat a character like the Lich King into a pulp in the intro cinematic of a new expansion. How on Earth did they think this was a good idea? It was bound to take a lot of flak. Never has a Blizzard cinematic been such a blast and a letdown at the same time, no more than 30 seconds appart.

Hey, at least it's not getting MoP-levels of hate.

That's something. I never said it was GOOD new lore (in my opinion, I wouldn't dream to pressume that it's objective) but it's still new, and they're now damned by X group throughout Shadowlands.

Am loving the meme though, "This is as if Gimli had smashed the ring with his axe...". Showcases just how out of the loop people are with the lore. The "SJW pandering"-sentiment seen here and there was expected too I have to say.

[Grimdeeds]

What I am wondering is: Without the Helm and without Frostmourne....How's Bolvar going to be raising up a bunch of new DK's for Shadowlands???

[iamthedevil]

What I am wondering is: Without the Helm and without Frostmourne....How's Bolvar going to be raising up a bunch of new DK's for Shadowlands???

Maybe something to do with the red dragonflights powers within him. He's got the light, undeath, and dragon power all within one dude at this point. He's got like every form of life within him lol. Bolvar is definitely a very unique character and I look forward to what they can make out of him.

[shadowmatrix]

Could have something to do with the way it happens. But nah, Blizzard is too perfect to ever write something that'd be questionable *cough* the very first words Ion said after the cinematic ended is that no mortal has ever been to the Shadowlands and it's repeated in the blue post summary of Shadowlands, even though the players have been in the Shadowlands in at least two different quests *cough* it's all just people being ungrateful to their god.

Players stopped being mortal long ago, mortals don't die and run back to their body several dozen times an hour with no lasting penalties.

[Grimdeeds]

Maybe something to do with the red dragonflights powers within him. He's got the light, undeath, and dragon power all within one dude at this point. He's got like every form of life within him lol. Bolvar is definitely a very unique character and I look forward to what they can make out of him.

My understanding, can't remember the source, was that Bolvar no longer has access to the Light. I think I heard maybe Bellular say that in a video. So I don't think he has that. I also question what undeath power he really has, the only thing that really gave him any undeath power was have Tirion put the Helm on him, right? I mean up to that point I think Arthas had just been torturing him...IDK maybe Arthas had given him some power over undead too in addition to the torturing but that doesn't seem quite right. Seems like Bolvar, without the Helm, would at most be just a DK with red dragon fire inside him.