If souls can be destroyed, then why do they need the Maw?

[Lynkeus]

Because it is cool. Blizzard destroyed the consistency in WoW lore years ago so I don't know why you guys care anymore..

[Inukashi]

I still think every cosmic power has it's own 'other side' and the Maw was for Souls that are infused with Death Magic.

If it wasn't for the arbiter, placing Oribos at the start of the Soulstream souls infused with death magic would be sorted into the Maw.

[Yayeet]

Can AU Guldan meet MU Guldan?
If they were "fel" infested at such a high level shouldnt 1 Guldan exist since he was more a demon rather than an Orc?

Oh sorry I forgot it's bad world-building

I would assume that shadowlands transcends all timelines and different worlds.

Souls in that sense are like a master key, they can open different doors but essentially it's the same key.

--

For those not getting the concept.

The good souls that favor the light, end up in bastion, those that favor nature, ardenwaeld.

The bad souls that can be redeemed go to either maldraxxus or Revendreth.

The bad souls that can't be redeemed go to the Maw.

The reason why it's broken is because all souls are going to the Maw.

You can already sense the plot, Uther's action to toss Arthas in the maw, is probably what broke the entire machine.

[Logwyn]

When you start moving your story into the realms of gods, heaven and hell, titans, world destroying being, and the ultra super powerful lore and stories start going side-wise. Why sometimes its better to have you RPG campaign to stay grounded on earth/azeroth and the largest thing your characters can do is to help Farmer Cotton keep the Gnolls out of his carrots and corn. Maybe have then stop a dragon from eating his sheep as well.

[ClassicPeon]

And we need to be able to ask questions about the lore on a forum dedicated to discussion about the game without people acting like dickheads.

Are you aiming that at me? And if so, why?

[DatToffer]

You assume the mages of Dalaran were not able to kill their prisoners, and that assumption is wrong.

Why keep them, then ?

[Feanoro]

Why is the Maw needed? Because the writers haven't remotely thought through half of the new stuff.

[FelPlague]

The Maw is supposed to be a prison for those who are irredeemable. In the real world we have prisons in order to lock dangerous people away, to punish them, and to find out if they can be rehabilitated and let back into society. This is one of the reasons why many people are against the death penalty. Because it robs people of the chance to redeem themselves.

But the souls in the Maw are deemed irredeemable. So why do they need the Maw, if the souls could just be destroyed?

The maw is where they go to be held and well... tortured. thats it. why does hell exist if they could just end the afterlife of people who dont deserve heaven?
plus the process of soul destruction is pretty barbaric, people much rather send them away then destroy them themselves.

[Lindon]

I would assume that shadowlands transcends all timelines and different worlds.

Souls in that sense are like a master key, they can open different doors but essentially it's the same key.

I highly doubt this to be the case. The implications of this would mean that there are an infinite amount of Gul'dans, for example, in the Shadowlands. This does not seem to be a direction that Blizzard would take nor want to take.

It would be much easier and simpler to have the Shadowlands connected to only 1 dimension. I.e. AU shadowlands is connected AU dimension.
This would however mean that there would technically be two Gul'dans in the MU Shadowlands unless Illidan destroyed AU Gul'dans soul with fel magic (making it only one Gul'dan in the SL).

[oplawlz]

Why is the Maw needed? Because the writers haven't remotely thought through half of the new stuff.

Like about 60% of all lore in wow, it falls apart completely if you actually think about it. I keep hoping as they get new writers we'll see the enormous plot holes shored up, but after 16 years it's better just not to think too hard about it.

[Feanoro]

Like about 60% of all lore in wow, it falls apart completely if you actually think about it. I keep hoping as they get new writers we'll see the enormous plot holes shored up, but after 16 years it's better just not to think too hard about it.

Heh, never visit the Lore forum then, a statement like that will get the regulars very riled up.

I don't think it can be fixed at this point. Let's be honest, Metzen was never going to be considered one of literature's great writers, but what he cobbled together was enjoyable. He screwed up a lot, but also was pissed at his mistakes and tried to fix them or at least admit them, because he was passionate about his creations. He at least TRIED for consistency. The current crew has stated they view the existing lore as constraining, one lead writer is a cringeworthy Sylvie otaku, and another is pushing feminist politics via Anduin. The writing team overall clearly views it as just a job.

[Shedaar]

I would assume that shadowlands transcends all timelines and different worlds.

Souls in that sense are like a master key, they can open different doors but essentially it's the same key.

--

For those not getting the concept.

The good souls that favor the light, end up in bastion, those that favor nature, ardenwaeld.

The bad souls that can be redeemed go to either maldraxxus or Revendreth.

The bad souls that can't be redeemed go to the Maw.

The reason why it's broken is because all souls are going to the Maw.

You can already sense the plot, Uther's action to toss Arthas in the maw, is probably what broke the entire machine.

I actually have a question and I haven't played Beta
Is Bastion the afterlife for Light followers?
Or does Light (naaru etc.) have some pocket dimension?
I have never seen Naaru or someone else working with bastion guys
Is AU Velen in Bastion?
Is the Draenei guy from WoD that died for Yrel?

[cparle87]

More like new writers looked at Emerald Dream and said "we can do that too, and bigger and betterer!"

Like a bunch of fucking infants. And they get paid for that.

Wow, you must be the life of the party with that negative attitude.

[TickTickTick]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a very small chance of working your way out of the Maw and into Revendreth.

Eh, everyone who doesn't believe us about the Maw threat at the begining (so basically everyone) says the Maw is inescapeable and they are very very surprised we managed to escape it, thus we're called the Maw Walker. Even Thaenos' tone shows how the mere idea of some of Maw power escaping, let alone into the living world, is absurd (Bastion cinematic when Devos has an audience with the Archon).

[LordVargK]

I think of it this way:
Souls give each realm they are transferred to (the home of the covenants) power. Each lost soul means lost power, so it would be very unwise to simply destroy souls, since there could be one realm that could use the soul (since the covenants don't know each other they also don't know which kind of souls the other realms need). Each realm needs a specific kind of soul and the Arbiter distributes the souls accordingly and fairly. Now, there are some souls, that are just unusable by any covenant, but since each soul has inherent power those souls are just send to the dumpster realm (aka the Maw) to not be wasted.
What is the purpose of the Maw? Well, I think we will see that over the course of SL.

[Nnyco]

Why kill them when you can torture them for all eternity.

[Frostyman]

I highly doubt this to be the case. The implications of this would mean that there are an infinite amount of Gul'dans, for example, in the Shadowlands. This does not seem to be a direction that Blizzard would take nor want to take.

It would be much easier and simpler to have the Shadowlands connected to only 1 dimension. I.e. AU shadowlands is connected AU dimension.
This would however mean that there would technically be two Gul'dans in the MU Shadowlands unless Illidan destroyed AU Gul'dans soul with fel magic (making it only one Gul'dan in the SL).

According to the novel Chronicle, alternate timelines and universes are all created by the imagination of some MU character. And all dissolve into nothingness when we in the MU stop interfering, thinking of, or bothering with them. It's exceedingly rare that an AU stabilizes into permanence the way AU Draenor has, but even that is dissolving. Even stabilized, those souls from AUs dissolve into nothingness, they do not go to shadowlands, as they are essentially "figments of the imagination" that created the AU in the first place.

[Lindon]

According to the novel Chronicle, alternate timelines and universes are all created by the imagination of some MU character. And all dissolve into nothingness when we in the MU stop interfering, thinking of, or bothering with them. It's exceedingly rare that an AU stabilizes into permanence the way AU Draenor has, but even that is dissolving. Even stabilized, those souls from AUs dissolve into nothingness, they do not go to shadowlands, as they are essentially "figments of the imagination" that created the AU in the first place.

Do you have any source of that?

Every other novel that has dabbled in alternate timelines has never said that the timelines dissolve after someone from the MU stops interfering with them. Christie Golden even clarified that this was the case.

edit: I can't say I've ever read that they're simply figments of the imagination made manifest either.

[Ursoc18]

The maw is where they go to be held and well... tortured. thats it. why does hell exist if they could just end the afterlife of people who dont deserve heaven?
plus the process of soul destruction is pretty barbaric, people much rather send them away then destroy them themselves.

Hell doesn't exist.

- - - Updated - - -

Why keep them, then ?

Shitty writing.

[Zarc]

Are you aiming that at me? And if so, why?

Whatever you implied towards my post when saying that we shouldn't act as dickheads, the same is implied towards your post about how we shouldn't act as dickheads. The answer to your question is thus within you.