Originally Posted by
AbalDarkwind
Hello everyone! This is going to be a long post, so if you want to TL;DR, it's at the bottom.
So, as I've come back to WoW in 8.3, I've spent some time pondering Sylvanas' motives, both long-term (As far back as Wrath) and short-term (Her actions as Warchief in BfA and her actions to open the Shadowlands to Azeroth). Sylvanas is too popular of a character, both with the greater fanbase and with the dev team (I know many of you will disagree with the former, but I think it's hard to ignore how much the greater WoW community likes her) for her to come out as the ultimate villain in this expansion. In fact, there's been some general speculation that she's doing what she's been doing for a greater purpose. The fact that those players who chose to side with her continue her storyline after abandoning the Horde bolsters this idea, and I think we will see this storyline play out in Shadowlands, ultimately showing that these players chose correctly in the long term.
Now, just to point out, I am nota Sylvanas fan, and I ultimately chose Saurfang in game, but I think this would make sense, given her actions and where Blizzard seems to be taking her story.
Ultimately, I believe this started, as many of you may as well, with her Edge of Night story post-Wrath. Although we didn't know it at the time, I think it is clear now that the dark, scary "hell" Sylvanas went to after killing herself was the Maw. Considering the Maw is meant to those who are completely irredeemable, I think it's hard to argue that Sylvanas deserved this fate at this point in her career. She openly fought the Lich King, although her hand in the Battle of the Wrathgate likely meant she warranted something like Kael'thas received: a "Purgatory"-like Realm, either Revendreath or Maldraxxus. I'd argue this is evidence that the mechanism of Death broke in Wrath as we know Kael'thas, who died late-TBC, went to Revendreath while Illidan went to Helheim. There are only two events that could have caused this in Wrath: the death of Yogg-Saron or the death of Arthas.
However, there are two points that, I think, refute that it was Arthas' death, and several points that bolster that it was Yogg-Saron's death that caused this. The first is that Sylvanas saw Arthas in Edge of Night as a scared little boy. Why would he be there, scared and a child, if it were his death that broke the mechanism of the Shadowlands? The other is the eerie quote by King Terenas to Arthas in his final moment "No King Rules Forever". Yogg-Saron says this almost exact same thing during his encounter in the Brain Room with Arthas and Bolvar: "He will learn... no king rules forever; only death is eternal!". This seems to point to the idea that King Terenas' spirit was corrupted by Yogg-Saron at this point in time. Blizzard mentioning that there was meant to be an explicit connection between the Lich King and Yogg-Saron, although it may have been too subtle for players would support this idea.
As for what hints that Yogg-Saron's death caused this, there are quite a few. First, his titles: The Beast of a Thousand Maws and the God of Death. The first has an obvious connection with the Maw while the latter has an obvious allusion to his power over Death, even though he shows no mastery of necromancy in Wrath. This is further bolstered by his "Only death is eternal!" quote, an obvious allusion to death and the afterlife. There are also other quotes that point to Yogg-Saron having an influence in the afterlife. These include a whisper in Whisper Gulch in Howling Fjord "There is no escape. Not in this life, not in the next.", which is ominous and self-evident. The Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron has two quotes that are relevant, including "Even death may die" and "All places, all things have souls. All souls can be devoured.", both of which point to the possibility of Yogg corrupting the afterlife. Finally, another two quotes that may be relevant is one quote Yogg says during the Garona/King Llane encounter in his Brain room "A thousand deaths... or one murder." and "Your petty quarrels only make me stronger.". Both could imply that all deaths empower him.
Finally, there's a couple moves that Yogg has made over the eons that also could imply that he has power in the Shadowlands. The first is that he has corrupted an alternate reality before: he created the Emerald Nightmare in the Emerald Dream before N'Zoth took control of the corruption post-Yogg's death. The other is the fact that Icecrown Citadel was made of living Saronite, and we now know it is a mirror to Torghast, Tower of the Damned. That seems deliberate in hindsight.
So, if all of these things tie into Yogg-Saron, essentially, being released through his death to corrupt the Shadowlands, what does this have to do with Sylvanas? Sylvanas' primary motive, from her inception to Arthas' death, was to get revenge against Arthas. Once completed, she committed suicide, which, eerily, was on to a spike of Saronite. Her death and her experience in "The Maw" gave her a new purpose. First was to prolong her unlife through the Val'kyr. The next was her eagerness to join Garrosh's war in Cataclysm, to kill as many as possible using the Blight. After that are her actions as Warchief, and more specifically, her actions to save the Forsaken in Stormheim in order to spare them death. Finally, there are her actions in BfA, beginning with the Burning of Teldrassil, to cause as much death as possible, even welcoming the death caused by N'Zoth and the Black Empire. Furthermore, we know she has grown significantly more powerful using an unknown form of Death magic. Why would she try to kill as many as possible, condemning them to the Maw, and try to save the Forsaken? Both the feed the power and grow the army of her patron, the Jailer, and to save the Forsaken from having to fight the the war in the afterlife. She, of course, eventually gives up on that goal, focusing on continuing to kill as many as possible.
What's the Jailer's motive in all of this? This is mostly speculation, but I think it fits with the above. I think his title is literal, and as we know he is an extremely old entity, has likely been in this role for eons. His purpose is to be the Jailer of the Damned in the Maw. His goal isn't to escape, but rather, to contain the evils of the Maw. However, when Yogg-Saron died and came to the Maw, he was overwhelmed and sought help. That help came in the form of Sylvanas, and he told her to kill as many as possible to bolster his army in the Maw to fight Yogg-Saron (Who was also growing more powerful by devouring souls in the Maw), and in exchange, he would give her enough power to destroy the Helm of Domination, and opening the afterlife to the champions and armies of the living. That will lead to the plot of Shadowlands, where I think we will oppose Sylvanas and the Jailer (They may even be raid bosses) until we discover that Yogg-Saron was the ultimate Secret Evil Overlord and has been corrupting the Shadowlands since his death in Wrath. Sylvanas will have been right, without going "Kerrigan", as her methods will remain controversial.
TL;DR: Yogg-Saron's death caused his spirit to be released to corrupt the Shadowlands, Sylvanas found out about it in the Edge of Night short story, and she has been working against him, with the Jailer's help, ever since.
What do you all think? Am I reading too much into it? Or do you think all of these hints and connections are too hard ignore, like I do?