The afterlife options are all bad.

[Cyanu]

Well if the after life was 'good' death would be welcome right?

Its an end and a pretty acceptable one for warcraft imo... And i believe that theres at least one non terrible choice for everyone as they are depicted

[KainneAbsolute]

- Bastion - you forget your identity.
- Revendreth - you repent and start somewhere else or you take a new identity in Revendreth.
- Ardenweald - you are reborn, and you keep your identity? or you become compost and lose your identity
- Maldraxxus - speculation: you keep your identity but you will devour or be devoured (or reformed into a weapon), so your identity will be transformed.
- The Maw: if you keep your identity, you go to the Maw and suffer for being yourself.

For me, it sounds interesting. Maybe Sylvanas was scared of losing who she is. In some way, WoW;s afterlife means there is not a true prize for anyone. You will become someone else, live again or suffer eternally. If you die in any afterlife, you will become material for something else. Nothing is eternal.

If you want to live forever without losing your identity you need to be undead or immortal.

Maybe the shadowlands impedes you to reach the true afterlife.

[Chonar]

After seeing how each plain of the afterlife in shadowlands operates, honestly for all of them, the maw seems like the only one I'd consider fair.

Bastion - everything you are is erased and your turned into soldier for that realm.

Maldraxxus - pretty much like the Scourge 2.0

Ardenweald - your made into compost for the beings living there.

Revendreth - made to suffer until you either agree to become an anima vampire or shoved off to one of the other horrible realms.

These are all horrible, and more then that, it all is a piss take against the races we've been playing as all this time and their own beliefs in the afterlife.

There really is an overall feeling of apathy is all this, plus it feels like blizzard are just giving the middle finger to all the belief systems races held like tauren, night elves, humans and orcs all this time.

At least with the maw the spirits of characters we've known might still get to just remain who they are instead of being erased or processed into something else.

Well there is the fact that dying is something living beings usually dont want to do, and try to avoid.
The knowledge of what comes after should not take away from that. Death is generally to be avoided, to live is to belong to the world of the living.

To "pass over" is to lose something. Something you as a living individual hold dear as a being that exists and belongs to the realm of the living.

And yes, this INCLUDES races seeking out a "glorious death in combat". The fact that they can imagine their ideal ending or way to go out (with a bang) and bring honor to their clan/family doesn't mean they actively seek out this death (unless they're truly done with being alive due to survivor guilt or something).

None of the options in the afterlife should be appealing when looked at it through the lens of a living being.
Death *should* be an ending of something. And a new beginning.

But when you die, you are no longer part of the living. You've crossed that threshold. It is not unlikely your point of view shifts as you leave the life you had behind. Without all the things that "ground" you to what you consider important in life, you are brought back to some core essence of your soul. In which case, yes, if honor, virtue and servitude to a greater cause was your driving force for your life, then Bastion might seem appealing to you from your new point of view.

Similar to being part of the 'great cycle' in Ardenweald. If your entire life was in service of perpetuating the growth and decline of nature's cycle, then using your Anima to become *actual part* of nature in the universe would be the crowning achievement of a life lived this way.

My point is, you cannot look at these options and judge them with your current point of view. You are still alive.

[Minikin]

I guess thats true. This is probably why Odyn, Helya and Bwonsamdi made their own afterlifes, at least they seemed to have some sense of order for their fallen.

i cant recall where, but when the expac was released this question was raised about how there are separate realms or such with differing visions for afterlife. I think (Again, going by a year old memory here, so could be WILDLY wrong), the response blizz gave was that the shadowlands are infinite, so basically the areas we will see are not the only spaces.

Mind you they just mentioned in an interview that just like there are azerothian titans there might be shadowlands titans so...who knows where this rabbit hole ends but in a way its good, brand new territory for lore.

[huth]

Still not as bad as death IRL so I don't see who's complaining.

Shoving the orcs and tribal races into Maldraxxus does feel like a misstep though. either Maldraxxus should have been one part of a bigger "eternal battle" afterlife or there should've been a tribal ancestors afterlife.

It's a misunderstanding of the system. Your designated afterlife isn't based on your place of origin or racial affiliation, but your personal values and behaviour. "Tribal races" don't get sent to Maldraxxus, people who are soldiers at heart do.

[erifwodahs]

It's likely we will get glimpses of other realms before this is over. The expansion is still a ways off, there will be tie-in media, and I wouldn't be surprised if they add additional endgame zones and perhaps at some point even do mini zones like Legion's invasion portals or BFA's islands.

I would guess we will get into some other afterlife zones as we got into argus or nazja.

[Enter Name Here]

[...] their own beliefs in the afterlife.[...]

beliefs come with some possibility that they may not represent reality

[schwarzkopf]

Yeah, none of these four options appeal to me.

Two appeal to me already .... not fussed on the nature one that much.

[Super Dickmann]

That's honestly one of the things I really like, though I feel you're worrying for nothing OP - given that we're ditching Denathrius, resolving the Forsworn/Kyrian conflict likely with some kind of compromise given that Uther is on their side and he's not a baddie and Maldraxxus was only forced to be bad by Kel'thuzad they'll all earn a requisite set of blandness by the end. Their initial versions on the other hand capture the more otherworldly, askew morality of an afterlife well enough.

Except Ardenweald. You'll still turn into a sexually ambiguous faun and then into compost by reskinned G'huuns.

[Daronokk]

There really is an overall feeling of apathy is all this, plus it feels like blizzard are just giving the middle finger to all the belief systems races held like tauren, night elves, humans and orcs all this time.

Agreed. This bothers me the most. Why is Draka in Maldraxxus and where is the Orcish afterlife?

Orcs are supposed to go to eternal hunting grounds where they hunt prey to all eternity. This comes from the book Rise of the Horde I believe. (the hunting grounds of Odyn seem to come close to this afterlife)

Where is the Tauren afterlife?

What realm did Vol'jin, Cairne and Orc spirits go to? It doesn't sound like any of the realms we see in this expansion.

Besides, the realms in Shadowlands are quite bland and seem to only represent a few races/factions.

Kyrians represent Paladins, Ardenweald represent Druids, Maldraxxus represent the Scourge/ Death Knights and Revendreth represent San'layn. But if you're playing none of these it feels very alien and disconnected. As if this expansion only caters to a few races/classes.

If for example you're playing a Warrior would you go to Bastion? That seems more Paladin like. Would you go to Maldraxxus? Seems more Death Knight like. Would you go to Ardenweald? Seems more like Druid. Revendreth? Also doesn't fit.

Warlock. Bastion? No way. Maldraxxus? Sort of but too Scourgy. Ardenweald? Nah. Revendreth? Again sort of but not quite Warlock.

It just doesn't fit. The expansion is too bland and limited. It caters only to a portion of players. If you love playing a Druid, Death Knight or Paladin it's all fun. But the rest is neglected. It's like Legion but with Order Halls only for a few.

Last but not least, a bit off topic but anyone else think an expansion this depressing doesn't feel right considering the state of the world right now? I know Blizzard already had this planned and can't do anything about it but the impact on your psyche remains the same. You're trying to escape a depressing reality and play a depressing game. Yeah... no.

[guisadop]

I really wish they hadn't touched this theme. it's the kind of stuff you can't write right.

[Aucald]

Agreed. This bothers me the most. Why is Draka in Maldraxxus and where is the Orcish afterlife?

Orcs are supposed to go to eternal hunting grounds where they hunt prey to all eternity. This comes from the book Rise of the Horde I believe. (the hunting grounds of Odyn seem to come close to this afterlife)

Where is the Tauren afterlife?

What realm did Vol'jin, Cairne and Orc spirits go to? It doesn't sound like any of the realms we see in this expansion.

Besides, the realms in Shadowlands are quite bland and seem to only represent a few races/factions.

Kyrians represent Paladins, Ardenweald represent Druids, Maldraxxus represent the Scourge/ Death Knights and Revendreth represent San'layn. But if you're playing none of these it feels very alien and disconnected. As if this expansion only caters to a few races/classes.

If for example you're playing a Warrior would you go to Bastion? That seems more Paladin like. Would you go to Maldraxxus? Seems more Death Knight like. Would you go to Ardenweald? Seems more like Druid. Revendreth? Also doesn't fit.

Warlock. Bastion? No way. Maldraxxus? Sort of but too Scourgy. Ardenweald? Nah. Revendreth? Again sort of but not quite Warlock.

It just doesn't fit. The expansion is too bland and limited. It caters only to a portion of players. If you love playing a Druid, Death Knight or Paladin it's all fun. But the rest is neglected. It's like Legion but with Order Halls only for a few.

Last but not least, a bit off topic but anyone else think an expansion this depressing doesn't feel right considering the state of the world right now? I know Blizzard already had this planned and can't do anything about it but the impact on your psyche remains the same. You're trying to escape a depressing reality and play a depressing game. Yeah... no.

The Shadowlands are infinite in scope, so any and all of those afterlives may exist within them. We seem to be visiting the realms on which the Jailer has his eye, those who are most effected by the anima drought and the machinations of the Jailer and Sylvanas. None of the strange lands we visit are about us, so to speak, and they're not by any means guaranteed to be our own afterlife scenario.

As for why Draka is in Maldruxxus, we can't really say - it is probably a story best told in-game. I hypothesize that she and Durotan were likely separated in the afterlife somehow, and Draka was likely searching for her mate and somehow wound up and/or was trapped in Maldraxxus for the time being. Also possible is that Maldraxxus has been poaching powerful souls to build up its own forces to go to war with the other realms over anima - which would explain why it has such notables as Vashj and Alexandros Mograine also in its stable. Draka could've been taken from her own native afterlife realm by a Maldraxxus raiding party and gang-pressed into service by the Necrolords.

[Aliven]

After seeing how each plain of the afterlife in shadowlands operates, honestly for all of them, the maw seems like the only one I'd consider fair.

Bastion - everything you are is erased and your turned into soldier for that realm.

Maldraxxus - pretty much like the Scourge 2.0

Ardenweald - your made into compost for the beings living there.

Revendreth - made to suffer until you either agree to become an anima vampire or shoved off to one of the other horrible realms.

These are all horrible, and more then that, it all is a piss take against the races we've been playing as all this time and their own beliefs in the afterlife.

There really is an overall feeling of apathy is all this, plus it feels like blizzard are just giving the middle finger to all the belief systems races held like tauren, night elves, humans and orcs all this time.

At least with the maw the spirits of characters we've known might still get to just remain who they are instead of being erased or processed into something else.

Plot twist: This is a bad place and blizzard is torturing our souls, we were never ressed after Arthas killed us.

- - - Updated - - -

I really wish they hadn't touched this theme. it's the kind of stuff you can't write right.

You can but not with Blizzard "talent".

[Tharivor]

I definitely agree with regards to Draka and the traditional Orcish afterlife. I mean what was the point of Draka's much vaunted honour and devotion to traditional shamanistic values if her "reward" is to spend the rest of eternity as an undead abomination severed from the ancestors and consumed by a desire for eternal battle? In death she basically becomes the very thing she despised in life.

The same goes for Uther- what's the point of devoting your whole life to the Light if in death your "reward" is to never be one with the Light you so fervently worshipped like Crusader Bridebrad and others get to be, and instead lose all of that religion-specific devotion in favor of mindlessly following some abstract universal non-religion specific "order".

It very much seems like the usual Blizzard "rule of cool" kind of writing rather than thinking of its actual in-universe implications.

[Gurahk]

I definitely agree with regards to Draka and the traditional Orcish afterlife. I mean what was the point of Draka's much vaunted honour and devotion to traditional shamanistic values if her "reward" is to spend the rest of eternity as an undead abomination severed from the ancestors and consumed by a desire for eternal battle? In death she basically becomes the very thing she despised in life.
It very much seems like the usual Blizzard "rule of cool" kind of writing rather than thinking of its actual in-universe implications.

True, they should've gotten an entirely different orc for this, or none at all.

[Tarba]

After seeing how each plain of the afterlife in shadowlands operates, honestly for all of them, the maw seems like the only one I'd consider fair.

Bastion - everything you are is erased and your turned into soldier for that realm.

Maldraxxus - pretty much like the Scourge 2.0

Ardenweald - your made into compost for the beings living there.

Revendreth - made to suffer until you either agree to become an anima vampire or shoved off to one of the other horrible realms.

These are all horrible, and more then that, it all is a piss take against the races we've been playing as all this time and their own beliefs in the afterlife.

There really is an overall feeling of apathy is all this, plus it feels like blizzard are just giving the middle finger to all the belief systems races held like tauren, night elves, humans and orcs all this time.

At least with the maw the spirits of characters we've known might still get to just remain who they are instead of being erased or processed into something else.

And we will help them for some reason.
Probably because some are a bit shiny. It was enought to help Odyn.

[Eazy]

Imagine, being some kind of demigod in the mortal realm, having a happy life, then you die with an idea of going to the better place... and you end as a compost.

I really wish they hadn't touched this theme. it's the kind of stuff you can't write right.

Same as alternate timeline.

[shade3891]

The afterlives are infinite, we only have access to 4/5 connected ones.

I do wonder, does Odin/Helya steal heroic souls for their own personal afterlife?

[froschhure]

thats why you should chose god. He is best in slot for this issue.

[omeomorfismo]

bah, i find fine that afterlifes are "bad", otherwise we would havent reasons to suicide in mass other than some shitty reward by some random entity, at least not in a setting where the "taoist" clash between 2 opposite entities is the fundation

I definitely agree with regards to Draka and the traditional Orcish afterlife. I mean what was the point of Draka's much vaunted honour and devotion to traditional shamanistic values if her "reward" is to spend the rest of eternity as an undead abomination severed from the ancestors and consumed by a desire for eternal battle? In death she basically becomes the very thing she despised in life.

The same goes for Uther- what's the point of devoting your whole life to the Light if in death your "reward" is to never be one with the Light you so fervently worshipped like Crusader Bridebrad and others get to be, and instead lose all of that religion-specific devotion in favor of mindlessly following some abstract universal non-religion specific "order".

It very much seems like the usual Blizzard "rule of cool" kind of writing rather than thinking of its actual in-universe implications.

i dont know how are labelled the npcs in shadowlands, but i doubt that anyone that reside here could be considered an undead abomination. they are dead, the form they have in death as nothing in common (other that aesthetic) with the undeads, that are deads that remain in the living plane.