**SPOILERS** The true enemy of the Shadowlands

[Enty]

I'm of the same opinion that this is a jailer (perhaps elite guard or something), not the jailer. Just too many differences between concept, trailer and this actual model:
Clothing is different
Color palette is different
Missing features
The model itself too different - if you look in trailer, jailer there looks a lot leaner than this human male.
Model size is not a proof, it was probably just exported like that.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but the trailer (this one /watch?v=QInBVzBJuU4) seem to be using a sort of in-game models, right? So between it and this model, the difference is too large imo.

So while the model might not be VIP, i think we are yet to see the true model of The Jailer.

[FelPlague]

I guess I shouldn't have used the word identical but the design is quite obviously very close. Like, you'd have to be blind and stupid to not see it.

No, it really is not even close.

[Mehrunes]

The face is a bit dopey but it's a pretty cool model. Needs more chains though.

I mean, I like it visually, but it's quite different from the silhouette we've seen in the feature overview trailer. In the trailer Jailer had much skinnier (and somewhat longer) arms and different body proportions. Perhaps after Sylvanas freed him he hit the gym.

Updated the post with the Arbiter. As you can see she has a black power orb in her chest, while the Jailer has an empty hole.

Or it all loops into my gym theory. Like someone said, the bearded Jailer is from the past and he hit the gym so hard he lost his hair just like Saitama.

[Varodoc]

The body size is definitely inconsistent. This model is very bulky, whereas in the trailer the Jailer was very thin, almost like a skeleton (just look at his arms in the trailer).

[Super Dickmann]

I see what you two mean. The one in the trailer is a lot more notably inhuman. It's possible that this guy is a separate character. He doesn't have the "BOSS" tag some other model files do either.

[Quaade]

She looks like something from Bastion and he looks nothing like the shadow shown in the intro.

[Mehrunes]

I see what you two mean. The one in the trailer is a lot more notably inhuman. It's possible that this guy is a separate character. He doesn't have the "BOSS" tag some other model files do either.

Well, the BOSS tag is to differentiate normal creatures from the specific NPCs of their species that end up being bosses (with the boss variety having some extra doodads to make them stand out). Big named characters don't really have a "boss" in their name even if they are indeed a boss, like Arthas didn't have that in his model name despite being the final boss of the expansion.

[Zuben]

A wee bit too reminiscent of Eredar lords, but otherwise tons better than the Ice King concept art.

Arbiter looks like a impersonal entity, which is expected from her role. Unfortunately entities like that also tend to be boring af. Unless she changes over the course of the expansion I expect she won't be in the thick of things that much.

[Sondrelk]

I will still hold by my crackpot theory that the jailer is the personification of death, and the Arbiter is the personification of Life. And that the Arbiter defeated the Jailer and took his place after he planned to kill everything in the universe.
Mostly i think this fits because it lines up with the themes of balance, what with the personification of Life having to amange death, and because it fits with Sylvanas' character arc of killing everything, which would lead her to the Jailer, who once planned the same.

[Good ol Stroggylos]

There should be a reason for each model to be there in the release of alpha , 9.0, 9.1 etc. If the model is not backed by some dialogue or some spell that can be traced to show that the jailer actually appears in someway for the first few stages of the game i cannot see how we can speculate this is the jailer's body however they name it in the files.

[Mirishka]

Damn, how could they already have The Jailer model done already? Is he not going to be final boss of the expansion? If so, how can his model be done so early?

That's a strange thing to be surprised by - Arthas was the final boss of WOTLK and we saw him like 10 minutes into questing in Howling Fjord. We also saw Deathwing, Garrosh, and others early on.

[literallysame]

That's a strange thing to be surprised by - Arthas was the final boss of WOTLK and we saw him like 10 minutes into questing in Howling Fjord. We also saw Deathwing, Garrosh, and others early on.

People also seem to forget that we will start the expansion trapped in the Maw. So it seems obvious that we would see The Jailer.

[Kiyran Ravensong]

I could see the maw end up being the Flying Dutchman and the Jailer Davy Jones. Would be lame tho. Just keep the Jailer evil otherwise it makes everyone's sacrifices against Sylvanas meaningless shitting on Saurfang even more than when he didn't get the Garrosh kill.

They already blew through that option with the whole "There must always be a Lich King" back when Worlds End and Icecrown was out around the same time. Don't get me wrong I do love the emotional turmoil that said plot could do but I don't have the faith in Blizzard to do that plot and I'd rather them do something new than take another idea from Pirates. But that's just me.

[Sondrelk]

I am still not convinced the Jailer will be the final boss of Shadowlands, if he was then he would be the first final boss to be introduced entirely in the same expansion.

[Aucald]

I am still not convinced the Jailer will be the final boss of Shadowlands, if he was then he would be the first final boss to be introduced entirely in the same expansion.

Wouldn't be the first time we've been subject to a fake Shemp end-boss using the old 11th hour switch-up.

[Varodoc]

Jailer won't be the final boss, that formula died in Cataclysm. Since then the final boss of every expansion was always someone unexpected or anyway someone who was not blatantly obvious at the start. But he will probably be the final encounter of 9.2.

[1know]

That dude is Quan Chi, from MK

[Tiwack]

It's a bit early to call any of this imo. These could just as well be linked to whatever the Jailer has going on in the Shadowlands.

[Sondrelk]

Wouldn't be the first time we've been subject to a fake Shemp end-boss using the old 11th hour switch-up.

I still find it extremely flimsy why he would be the final boss instead of Sylvanas.
Sure, i want Sylvanas to die as soon as possible, but saving her defeat for the final raid would be quite the ending to the last few expansion, especially compared to the weak ending that would come from defeating the Jailer and just going back to Azeroth. Even beyond that, how would you keep the momentum going for the expansion after Sylvanas is dead? We already had a situation like that and it was called TBC, where most everyone seems to agree the expansion ended with the Black Temple and Illidan.

- - - Updated - - -

Jailer won't be the final boss, that formula died in Cataclysm. Since then the final boss of every expansion was always someone unexpected or anyway someone who was not blatantly obvious at the start. But he will probably be the final encounter of 9.2.

I think he will be the final boss of 9.1. 9.2 will be the usual sideshow that the X.2 patches tend to be. Sylvanas being the final boss fits well with the way Blizzard makes expansions with several intertwining plot threads, and would lead to a saitsfying ending. As i mentioned above, defeating her earlier just means the expansion will be limping afterwards, simply because the Jailer can never manage to muster as much player engagement as Sylvanas can as a villain.

[Varodoc]

I still find it extremely flimsy why he would be the final boss instead of Sylvanas.
Sure, i want Sylvanas to die as soon as possible, but saving her defeat for the final raid would be quite the ending to the last few expansion, especially compared to the weak ending that would come from defeating the Jailer and just going back to Azeroth. Even beyond that, how would you keep the momentum going for the expansion after Sylvanas is dead? We already had a situation like that and it was called TBC, where most everyone seems to agree the expansion ended with the Black Temple and Illidan.

- - - Updated - - -



I think he will be the final boss of 9.1. 9.2 will be the usual sideshow that the X.2 patches tend to be. Sylvanas being the final boss fits well with the way Blizzard makes expansions with several intertwining plot threads, and would lead to a saitsfying ending. As i mentioned above, defeating her earlier just means the expansion will be limping afterwards, simply because the Jailer can never manage to muster as much player engagement as Sylvanas can as a villain.

He was already described as the main villain and central driving force of Shadowlands. He will outlast Sylvanas. Sylvanas will probably die early on in the expansion, just like Garrosh in WoD. Her job was to start the expansion, she already had the spotlight as main villain in BfA.