SPOILERS: Shadowlands Lore Thread

[Omians]

IIRC some NPC refers to a time when the Maw wasn't called "the Maw" or something along these lines. For the life of me can't remember who says it or when. I'll try to find the exact quote.

Edit. So I did find something. Not sure if that's what I had meant, but in the Maw there's an item called "Worn Obleron Etching" that says


In beta the description used to say:



There might be more. I'll be on the lookout.

interesting. like it does look like some form of explosion went off and just shoved everything in one direction. and the giant Crystlizaed Stigya formations makes me think more stuff happened based off the flavor text " The byproduct of the violent destruction of a Soul within the Maw" a whole lot of souls getting destroyed in a single location

[Darknessvamp]

Well as far as we know the only original fixture of the Maw is Torghast, the land that we're running around on in game was cobbled together by the Jailer after he threw out his chains and stole whatever they caught a hold of and dragged them into the Maw which the atmosphere somehow ruined and destroyed in such a way that they look all bleak and twisted now.

At least that was the case according to the Art Director.

[LemonDemonGirl]

Is there a lore implication for why the Horde Oribos portal has Maldraxxus bones and Maldraxxus anima when you port there?

It feels almost like a spoiler.

Hmm... Does the Alliance version have the same things too? I could've sworn that the was also a green spell effect when I used it on an Alliance alt

[Ophenia]

Don't want to make a new thread about it but I thought of something. I was thinking about cosmic forces and the balance and it occured to me. Could Order (the cosmic force), that's present in the Shadowlands, have been disturbing the balance this whole time? Could we have missed this? The Honored Voice said "the perfect order" and it made me think. We know from Chronicle that Death in WoW is entropic in nature yet the SL has been working according to a set of strict rules and guidelines, everything's labeled, everything's accounted for, everything's in, well, perfect order. Seems antithetical to what WoW Death is supposed to be. Could it be that Order was never meant to be present in the Shadowlands? The First Ones have been speculated to have relation to the Titans, so there's that?

Would make sense that the Shadowlands was a chaotic place, Titans didn't like that, so they've assigned some of them to take care and re-arrange the afterlives.

In fact, while re-arranging the afterlives to be better ordered, they by the same fact had to create a version of Hell. Maybe the Maw was a "nice" place (as nice as a place for the dead could be...), but Titans decided that this area was destined to be hell so they destroyed everything there.
Would give some nice motivations to Jailer, but I think that's overthinking. By the end of SL we'll have repaired the Arbiter with some Gnome-Goblin technology and everything will be perfectly fine and everyone will be happy forever, some shit like that.

[TheFirstOnes]

I think I have a takeaway from all of this...

I know someone like Bellular talks about the "planes of life"...

Pretty sure the Dream and Ardenweald are part of the Planes of Life. Ardenweald and the Dream serve as the personifications of life in its Waxing and Waning states (Ardenweald being waning, and the Dream being waxing). And you know how the Dreadlords talk about the "eyes of green" invading the Plane of Life? Well, in Ardenweald, you can see Eyes of Green cloaked in the shadows somewhere inside a bush. It's likely patch content tbh, but it's there.

So, in a sense, the Shadowlands is about the planes of both Life and Death. :/

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Would make sense that the Shadowlands was a chaotic place, Titans didn't like that, so they've assigned some of them to take care and re-arrange the afterlives.

In fact, while re-arranging the afterlives to be better ordered, they by the same fact had to create a version of Hell. Maybe the Maw was a "nice" place (as nice as a place for the dead could be...), but Titans decided that this area was destined to be hell so they destroyed everything there.
Would give some nice motivations to Jailer, but I think that's overthinking. By the end of SL we'll have repaired the Arbiter with some Gnome-Goblin technology and everything will be perfectly fine and everyone will be happy forever, some shit like that.

Nothing here indicates any of this. The First Ones shaped the Cosmos and ordered the Shadowlands. And it's been well established that the First Ones are different from the Titans.

[rainhard]

So i went to the Desmotaeron and i think this might be where the jailer was, it is so cold there you tick 5k frost dmg each sec, the mobs have 1200k health and are all elite, the places is actually like a fort/base in the maw and there are some platforms that are very similar to the one jailer was trapped in even though that might be in torghast, oh and there is also a tower that is like the dark tower/barad dur from lotr, i imagine it is cold because it is inspired from dantes hell. Maybe thats where we will go in 9.1? Imgur Album here.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

Interesting I noticed Artificer Xy'mox doesn't die at the end of his fight, he just teleports away. Might see him in a future Broker zone/raid?

[Jinpachi]

Ah Yes, the Runecarver forged the Helm and Sword of the popsicle king. Of course. There's one thing that intrigues me though, what does this mean:

Jailer: "Your grandest design... to claim the final prize. The secret that the First Ones sought to hide."

I have two theories, and I can't tell which is the right one:

1) The "final prize" is the World Soul of Azeroth, as we already know that the Jailer wants to claim it for himself. So this means that the First Ones literally created the Titan Souls and put them inside planets to hide them from any threat?

2) The "final prize" is actually the Sepulcher, this mysterious place that the Primus mentioned, which is supposedly the end goal of the Jailer. And in this Sepulcher, there is something very powerful and terrible, something that even the First Ones wanted to hide. The Primus also mentions that the Arbiter is the key to the Sepulcher.

It's one of the two really.

Probably not.

[Varodoc]

Probably not.

Thank you for the thorough explanation, you have convinced me that I was wrong.

[Stelio Kontos]

Do you honestly not realize that "xoxo" is internet lingo?

It's like having a character put "rofl" or "lol" in their in game letters.

Wrong, xoxo predates the internet by decades.

[tommyhil622]

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I guess you were right @Acuald he's alive, but trapped in the sword.

[Aucald]

I guess you were right Acuald he's alive, but trapped in the sword.

Spending eons as a sword might be worse than death, really.

[tommyhil622]

Spending eons as a sword might be worse than death, really.

lol true. Reminds me of what happened to Jafar for some reason. But He may show up in a later raid or final raid. Maybe even the Jailer may use him as a literal weapon.

[Nagawithlegs]

Hate to be "that" guy, but... if the Venthyr are sensitive to Light, how can Renathal hang out with a Naaru?

[tommyhil622]

Hate to be "that" guy, but... if the Venthyr are sensitive to Light, how can Renathal hang out with a Naaru?

It's a fair question imo. I just think the Naaru wasn't projecting its power (light) towards the Venthyr.

[Nagawithlegs]

It's a fair question imo. I just think the Naaru wasn't projecting its power (light) towards the Venthyr.

I honestly think it would've been better (and cooler) if he was using an umbrella in the cutscene, I notice that a lot of Venthyr that aren't crazy use umbrellas in the Ember Ward to keep shaded.

Then again, nobody is using them in the Ember Court, so I think at some point Blizz stopped giving a fuck. I think it's mostly MAGNIFIED light that hurts them?

[lionofwar87]

Telling Taelia that Bolvar is dead 1 of the 2 lies.

They're absolutely 100% going with a void theme expansion with a protagonist turning heel, they even hinted at it themselves with the exact words being "When we return to Azeroth, we'll find out what's happened while we've been away" which means another Cata-style worldwide revamp is planned.

Initially I thought it was Turlayon who was going to be the heel-turn from another Il'ygnoth quote "The golden one claims a vacant throne. The crown of light will bring only darkness" - But that's now probably referring to Lothraxion, who we all probably know from the Nathrezim book found in the Shadowlands, is actually a double agent.

Maybe a double agent. The book wasn't dated so it could have been before Lothraxion became light infused. Also, the people of Revendreth may not be the greatest of sources. I personally don't take anything they say as fact or truth.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

Hate to be "that" guy, but... if the Venthyr are sensitive to Light, how can Renathal hang out with a Naaru?

I think it's because that Naaru is severely weaken in the Light now and Renathal, being the first Venthyr, can handle the Light better than most.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

They are nobodies, we are killing one in the first raid. Without the HoA, without a Dragon Soul, without an entire pantheon backing us up. We just kick his face in, oldschool style.

And another one of these "Gods of the Shadowlands" had her ass handed to her in the Spires of Ascension. They are a bunch of nobodies, nowhere even close to Titans.

Denathrius doesn't get killed and power isn't everything. Its not a automatic win. Sargeras by all rights was the powerful being but he's imprisoned right now.

I think it's because that Naaru is severely weaken in the Light now and Renathal, being the first Venthyr, can handle the Light better than most.

I took it as she's basically an outcast now. Its kinda sad and strange. Have we figured out what exactly made the Light grumpy to attack Revandrath(Whatever annoyed them to attack, we know they demanded retribution but for what)

[Nagawithlegs]

Have we figured out what exactly made the Light grumpy to attack Revandrath(Whatever annoyed them to attack, we know they demanded retribution but for what)

Would not be surprised if it was the creation of Lothraxion.