Le Jailer

[Varodoc]

Exactly, he is the Warden of the prison, but he can't get out either.

More then his looks I think the mystery will be about: "Who jailed the Jailer and why?", "What did he promise Sylvanas for helping him escape?", "Is he truely some evil entity we need to destroy, or is he the victim / or was he tricked by Sylvanas (ughhh)"

Cue Sylvanas redeeming herself by not setting the Jailer free at the last moment.

[Newname1234567890]

The chains are in the same spot Sylvanas placed them on Bolvar. Fun coincidence or completely intentional?

Completely Intentionally, this is the dude powering her up.

Also the whole "prisoner and jailer" thing is Satan's mainstream depiction. Which considering the Maw is WoWs closest thing to an actual Hell...

[Trumpcat]

While I find the model a bit dull, it will depend on how the character is portrayed.

What's more curious is that they have been designing the new arch villain for supposedly quite a while and didn't have a finalized appearance by the time of presenting the expansion.

[Raisei]

Cue Sylvanas redeeming herself by not setting the Jailer free at the last moment.

I really really really reallllllllly hope this will not happen, but I very much doubt that Danuser will greenlight his Sylvanas as a raid boss...

[Aucald]

Exactly, he is the Warden of the prison, but he can't get out either.

More then his looks I think the mystery will be about: "Who jailed the Jailer and why?", "What did he promise Sylvanas for helping him escape?", "Is he truely some evil entity we need to destroy, or is he the victim / or was he tricked by Sylvanas (ughhh)"

My current theory is that the Jailer is an ancient (and dead) Titan World-Soul - perhaps the Titan that would've been Telogrus had Sargeras not destroyed him at his start of darkness. The Maw is the remnant of his world, scarred and twisted by the Void, and he is more or less entombed by it in the Shadowlands. A side-effect of his corruption draws the darkest and most twisted souls to him like a form a perverse gravity, and he in turn has taken to imprisoning those souls and drawing upon their strength to free himself, basically gathering anima drop by drop over the eons, patiently hoarding it until he has enough power to tear himself free of the Maw and perhaps return to the physical universe.

In this sense, he is both victim and enemy - what he intends on if freed we can't know, but given his corrupted nature it likely isn't good.

[Mehrunes]

Aesthetics are mostly objective, as we are talking in the first place about the appearance of something that is simply there -so to say-, without us having much to do about it. The subjective part of it would be the feeling we get when we experience that thing. And I think most of us would agree in that this Jailer model is simpler than the older one. And in my case I feel -subjectively- it is okay but... missing something.

Yes, because I obviously was talking about the existence of those aesthetics itself...

[Sagenod]

My current theory is that the Jailer is an ancient (and dead) Titan World-Soul - perhaps the Titan that would've been Telogrus had Sargeras not destroyed him at his start of darkness. The Maw is the remnant of his world, scarred and twisted by the Void, and he is more or less entombed by it in the Shadowlands. A side-effect of his corruption draws the darkest and most twisted souls to him like a form a perverse gravity, and he in turn has taken to imprisoning those souls and drawing upon their strength to free himself, basically gathering anima drop by drop over the eons, patiently hoarding it until he has enough power to tear himself free of the Maw and perhaps return to the physical universe.

In this sense, he is both victim and enemy - what he intends on if freed we can't know, but given his corrupted nature it likely isn't good.

This is a strong theory, and I can actually see this as being the actual case. I personally hope the Jailer isn't a Titan/directly related to the Titans, but conversely he could be an excellent way to bring us into the overarching plot of the war between the Titans and the Void, if in fact he is a Void-tainted world-soul zombie.

[Hctaz]

Honestly this is probably the biggest indication that they're totally lying when they say that they had this story planned out from before BfA...

They clearly didn't have BfA or Shadowlands planned out before Legion was released... This is so dumb. I don't even think they had BfA planned out until after 8.0 was completed and ready to launch...

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Honestly this is probably the biggest indication that they're totally lying when they say that they had this story planned out from before BfA...

They clearly didn't have BfA or Shadowlands planned out before Legion was released... This is so dumb. I don't even think they had BfA planned out until after 8.0 was completed and ready to launch...

..I'm sure they have it planned out, they knew what they were doing with Sylvanas in BFA because of what it leads to. As for the Jailer, they are probably being vague and not giving the entire truth so the surprise is more exciting. Yes Blizzard has lied about upcoming expansions(I mean one dude did lie about anything wow having Panda/pandaria and days later... MoP)

[Hctaz]

..I'm sure they have it planned out, they knew what they were doing with Sylvanas in BFA because of what it leads to. As for the Jailer, they are probably being vague and not giving the entire truth so the surprise is more exciting. Yes Blizzard has lied about upcoming expansions(I mean one dude did lie about anything wow having Panda/pandaria and days later... MoP)

I'm really not so sure...

It really sounds to me like they weren't 100% sure where to go with the story after Legion. I think they knew that they wanted to make Horde and Alliance fight, and I think they knew that they wanted to go to the Shadowlands afterwards but honestly... I kinda don't think they knew how they wanted to get there.

Even in the book that was released RIGHT before BfA, Sylvanas is cursing Vol'jin for making her warchief inside of her mind/thoughts. That's not the same story line that we followed in BfA where this was all a part of her master plan.


Obviously the Shadowlands "leak" that was made before has been debunked, but I almost wonder if that was the original plan. Something where Azshara releases N'zoth, he goes to the Shadowlands to mess with the planet, and we have to go there to win.

[TigTone]

The Jailer could be something as simple as the “Titan” for Death force.

Same way the Titans are for Arcane force.

Same for the Chaos and fel. There were demon lords that had the power to avoid and be left out of the Burning legion. They were left alone. I can’t remember the exact source but if came up during questing in legion.

So the life force would have a world size versions of evergrowths found on ancient Draenor. https://wow.gamepedia.com/Evergrowth

Eventually we will see a “Titan” like creature for each Universal Force in WoW.

[qwerty123456]

Eh I wish they woulda kept it like the concept art/trailer and gave him hair. He looked less sinister and possibly morally grey with the hair.

[Venziir]

Honestly this is probably the biggest indication that they're totally lying when they say that they had this story planned out from before BfA...

They clearly didn't have BfA or Shadowlands planned out before Legion was released... This is so dumb. I don't even think they had BfA planned out until after 8.0 was completed and ready to launch...

There's a difference between having a plan and having a fotally fleshed out story though

[Hctaz]

There's a difference between having a plan and having a fotally fleshed out story though

Well... people asked specific questions though like if N'zoth was always supposed to be the final boss of BfA and if Sylvanas' story had changed at all from Legion to BfA. Their response was that N'zoth was always meant to be the final boss and that they had intended Sylvanas to go down THIS EXACT ROUTE since Legion. I just don't buy either of those two things honestly.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Meh.

His mysterious, Valimar/Ishmelga-esque appearance looked the best.

When I saw him in the expansion announcement trailer, I immediately thought that Valimar had somehow made into WoW.





Now he looks like a Tideborn shaman from Perfect World International. Looks really generic.

Now he looks like Azog from the Hobbit.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Well... people asked specific questions though like if N'zoth was always supposed to be the final boss of BfA and if Sylvanas' story had changed at all from Legion to BfA. Their response was that N'zoth was always meant to be the final boss and that they had intended Sylvanas to go down THIS EXACT ROUTE since Legion. I just don't buy either of those two things honestly.

Thats more on you then it is on Blizzard, Sylvanas's plan was known ahead of time, yeah they knew where BFA was going storywise.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Thats more on you then it is on Blizzard, Sylvanas's plan was known ahead of time, yeah they knew where BFA was going storywise.

Given the glaring retcons in Before the Storm, with Sylvanas' motivations in the book contradicting her motivations in 8.3 and Shadowlands, I very much doubt it.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Given the glaring retcons in Before the Storm, with Sylvanas' motivations in the book contradicting her motivations in 8.3 and Shadowlands, I very much doubt it.

If you're referring to her actually caring about the Horde then no it isn't, there is no contradiction.

[EbaumsTipster]

Given the glaring retcons in Before the Storm, with Sylvanas' motivations in the book contradicting her motivations in 8.3 and Shadowlands, I very much doubt it.

Lying to the audience =/= we didn't have it planned that Sylvanas ditches the Horde and runs away.

[luigisp]

Lying to the audience =/= we didn't have it planned that Sylvanas ditches the Horde and runs away.

Lying to the audience through what should be objective narration of a character's thoughts =/= good storytelling.