[Spoiler]So....giant red ball which broke arbiter is....

[Varx]

Can we stop acting liking because our theory came true we knew that this was the right answer all along?

Just because a theory got confirmed does not mean 'Oh but this was the most obvious answer from the start everyone knew it. There were multiple options and this clusterfuck scenario was one of them.

Yeah it was freaking obvious....

It was less fan theory and more like common sense.

Blizz said the wheel of death broke during legion. We know that ursoc was sent to ardenweald after we defeated him in nightmare.

So now we know it wasn't at the start of legion.

So now what significant cosmic events happen during the rest of legion.

We defeat Gildane and revive illidan, okay cool story.

We defeat kiljaede, again nothing worthy of breaking the arbitor.

Then we fight a freaking DEATH TITAN. Not only that, but we learn that the nathrezime we're actually loyal to death and not the legion.

This means that argus was most like twisted for eons by the highest ranking members of the legion and then aimed at the arbitor upon his death by our hands.

Also keep in mind sylvanas was also in league with the jailor and she was all in for the legions defeat.

And ultimately the energy that hit the arbitor was very similar to the red energy that argus exhibited.


So again, this was extremely obvious to anyone who payed attention.

[Edlarel]

The Darkseer Corruptor says it here, "A world soul twisted by death." Seems pretty clear they made it so the soul Could go to the Shadowlands through their corruption, which would be similar to the demon hunters going to the fel/nether and the lightforged becoming light beings. Here's how I see it playing out.

0) The Arbiter grows weary of the cycle created by the First Ones and sees it as flawed, preventing true choice. He rebels, but his people beat him back, punishing him by making him the jailer of the souls he sought to destroy and/or corrupt away from the other realms of Death.

.5) The Jailer recruits the Nathrezim, children of Denathrius, and through them convince their master that he was right all along. Denathrius acts as the eyes and ears of the Jailer who is stuck in the Maw. Most mortal souls cannot traverse into the Maw, but the eternals can, as can those touched by the greater power of beings such as the titans, known as Maw Walkers. The eternals "could" allow mortals to enter the Maw and come back, but the threat of domination magic wielded by their brother is too much so they tell everybody it's "impossible."

1) To break the Jailer free, the Nathrezim convince Sargeras to start the Legion to create perfect "order" in order to defeat the Void Lords and their Old God Minions. They become some of his most twisted allies.

1a) As part of his forming of the Legion, Sargeras destroys a world soul, but it doesn't go to the realm of Death, so the Nathrezim have to come up with a new plan.

2) The Legion takes over Argus and begins corrupting it as an engine using fel to cycle the demons back from their own deaths in the Nether/Void.

3) The corruption taints the world soul within Argus, but it's not ready to be born yet, they need a catalyst.

4) Turning the Legion's attention to another world soul, Azeroth, they begin their assaults with the first invasion, but are turned back by the dragons et al at the well of Eternity.

5) While the demons continue to send small pockets of forces to Azeroth, Sargeras burns countless worlds on his crusade. The remaining argusians, the draenei run away to Draenor but are eventually found.

6) The Legion can't get to Draenor yet, but like Azeroth can send communications/small batches of forces, so they corrupt Guldan. While they're distracted, the Nathrezim give special attention to Nerzhul.

7) The new gate to Azeroth is opened and the orcs are sent through to herald the return of Sargeras through his soul fragment bound to Medivh.

8) Medivh ultimately fights back the corruption and dies, while the orcs are driven back or captured and put in internment camps.

9) Back on Draenor, the humans track down Nerzhul, and he dies trying to open portals for the Legion to break through to Azeroth. The world is destroyed.

10) Before his soul can reach the Shadowlands, the Nathrezim, using domination plate they claim to have made in the Shadowlands, bind it to the armor to "aid Kil'jaeden" who sends it cascading back to Azeroth and creating the Frozen Throne.

11) Nerzhul's consciousness, far from Kil'jaeden but now bound directly to Death through domination listens to the whispers and decides he wants to win back his freedom by becoming the lich king. His hatred of the Legion and the Eredar is enough to get him to do what is necessary without exacting any will upon him.

12) The nathrezim introduce the plague and spread it across Lordaeron. Prince Arthas fights against it, killing Kel'thuzad in the process.

13) Now in the realm of Death, Kel'thuzad is told the truth of what's happening and agrees to join in on the promise that he'll become not just a lich, but a true lieutenant to what's going on.

14) With KT on their side, the nathrezim convince the now corrupted Arthas to bring the lich back, all to "help the Lich King's plan."

15) KT comes back and is strong enough now to call to Archimonde to Azeroth, where he wrecks havoc but ultimately loses again. The lich king is promised a new body in the form of his death knight, but Arthas' will is stronger and he usurps the power of the domination plate. Because he hates the Nathrezim so much, he doesn't align with them, but remains faithful to the Legion, for now.

16) Effectively cut off from their plan by the new Lich King, the nathrezim turn their attention back to the Legion, where they have finally started the manual voyage to Azeroth under leadership of Kil'jaeden. As they draw closer to the world, the Eredar leader's ability to communicate across space grows stronger, like coming into range with a radio.

17) Taking care not to reveal too much, the Legion uses the demonic essence now bound to Illidan to convince him that there are some among them who will work for him now because he's "so powerful." Illidan just wants to destroy Kil'jaeden and Sargeras, so he'll take all the help he can get. To hedge their bets, they also offer Kael'thas the power to save his people if he keeps an eye on the Betrayer.

18) Kael'thas is killed in the Eye before he can draw enough power to send back through to his people in Azeroth, but Kil'jaeden snatches his soul before it can go to the Shadowlands and corrupts it, returning it to Magister's Terrace where he uses the Sunwell to call the Eredar through to Azeroth, but the world's heroes fight him back just as they did his brother in arms, Archimonde. Kael'thas is killed again, and this time Kil'jaeden cannot catch him to bring him back, so his soul is sent to Revendreth for its pride.

19) At around the same time, Illidan and his demon hunters successfully invade one of the Legion's bases of operation, proving that he can, but before he can use this information to reach Argus, throne of the Legion, he's captured and imprisoned.

20) With the Legion's plans thwarted for now, the Jailer uses his connection to Arthas through the domination plate to push him to attack Azeroth once again. Because he cannot directly control the lich king, he nudges him with promises that an undead Azeroth couldn't be turned to the Legion. Arthas complies because that's what he wants is to avoid the Legion winning. The nathrezim are careful to stay at the fringes, where they play again as Legion followers trying to corrupt the world and giving purpose to Arthas' decision.

21) After an extended campaign, Arthas is going to win, but Tirion's control over the light grants him momentary reprieve from the chilling death magic that freezes him and he shatters Frostmourne. Arthas is killed and collected by Uther to be cast into the Maw without the Arbiter's say so. Sylvanas throws herself from the Frozen Throne, and the sisters prevent her soul from crossing into the Shadowlands by convincing her there is another way and showing her that her fate was never her's to control. It was all just another layer of serving the greater purpose of the First Ones. This convinces the Banshee Queen that she must do what she can to end the cycle so that she can finally be free of it.

22) With the return of the Old Gods and Deathwing, whose madness prevents control of undeath and domination, the nathrezim are at a loss for what to do, sufficing for now to infiltrate the Army of the Light and continue their work with the Legion on Argus.

23) When word reaches the Legion that one of the titan's pets sent heroes back to Pre-destroyed Draenor to alter time, Archimonde was deployed again, using those threads of magic to pull his people back and once again corrupt the orcs, but this time they are denied by Garrosh and the Iron Horde. It becomes a conflict of knowledge of the past events that ends when the former warchief is slain in Nagrand. Free of opposition, Guldan finally convinces part of the horde to join him and become the fel horde. Because the heroes are still cleaning up the iron horde, who could never have been prepared to fight somebody who was already well aware of their tactics and strength, they were too late to reach Hellfire Citadel before Guldan could open his portal to allow Archimonde in.

24) But the heroes of Azeroth have also fought Archimonde before and defeat him once again. Because he foolishly led them into the nether, he dies without being returned to Argus, but not before sending Guldan back to present-day Azeroth.

25) Guldan, at the behest of Kil'jaeden once more, breaks open the pathways to the Legion and begins the invasion once again. He uses the distraction at the broken shore to delve into the Tomb of Sargeras, reignites his soul shard, and attempts to bind it to Illidan's corrupted form. This ultimately fails, and the warlock is destroyed for his efforts.

26) Unable to fight the full might of the Legion, the heroes of Azeroth collect the world's artifacts in a bid to stop Guldan and his masters. They succeed, but not before Kil'jaeden arrives in person and Illidan opens the passage to Argus.

27) By now, the world soul of Argus has been fully twisted, bound to death through the many resurrections it was forced to power through the Legion. As the heroes of Azeroth fight through the rank and file, they encounter the abandoned nathrezim, Varimathras, who tries to warn them that Sylvanas is working with Death, who abandoned him. Sargeras, meanwhile, has had enough of Azeroth's champions, and almost deals a death blow to their world but is captured in the process by his resurrected brethren. The world soul of Argus is split, much like Uther and Sylvanas. The order-related piece of it stays in the seat of the Pantheon, while the corrupted portion is sent to the Shadowlands. Because titans aren't supposed to go there, it's too much for the arbiter to accept and she is overheated to the point of shutting down.

28) Sylvanas is convinced that sending souls to the Shadowlands while the Arbiter is damaged/shut down will shatter the chains on the Jailer, who knows how to break the cycle she hates so much. It works, and by the time of Saurfang's death, they are ready to enact their plan. At around the same time, Azshara and the old gods keep the heroes of Azeroth busy once again by opening the way to Nya'lotha using the keys they planted in the Tomb of Sargeras (by locking one door, they unlocked another).

29) As the heroes finish cleaning up the mess created by the Old Gods and the wound in Azeroth is healed around the sword plunged within her, Sylvanas strikes, collecting a number of powerful souls for the jailer's selection of who they can use to find and collect the sigils of the eternals. To bring them through and begin the final stretch of the plan, she shatters the helm of Domination, which breeches the passage into the Shadowlands.

30) The souls brought to the now freed Jailer are deemed unworthy and left to torment in Torghast, but Anduin shows that there's more to him through his connection to the light. This is why the Jailer gives him special attention while we free the others. Eventually, to enact her plan, Sylvanas is convinced that domination is the only way, and she corrupts Anduin. What she doesn't know is that the plate and sword he is given are bound to the shard of Arthas that remained after Uther threw him into the maw.

31) As we lock up Denathrius, and fight back against the Jailer's forces in Sanctum, he and Sylvanas have proven they can expand the maw using the souls sent to it and use that confirmation to overtake Oribos, where the Jailer can destroy the Arbiter and reclaim his sigil. Too late, he reveals his intentions to not just break the cycle, but reforge it so that he can control it. This, of course, is counter to his promises to Sylvanas, who won't stand for the betrayal. Unfortunately, her borrowed power is his, and he just takes it back. His "thanks" is to return the shard of her soul that she was missing and leaving her to the people she betrayed. Meanwhile, he and Anduin, who is fighting against Arthas (who btw has experience beating down consciousnesses) but losing.

32) Having reached Zerith Mortis, the Jailer sets up his defenses at the Sepulcher, at the head of which is Anduin, who we will need to capture and study to learn how to stop the jailer's domination magic from affecting us.

[Steelangel]

Nice, but titan souls do not go to the shadowlands upon death, as they are not mortal. Danuser is still retconning everything.

I wrote this up on Reddit, but it makes sense.

The tome of the unseen guests lays out Denathrius's plans to use the Dreadlords to infiltrate the other cosmic powers. Denathrius and Zovaal were buddy buddies most likely, and working together to make Death the most powerful of the 6 forces.

The Titans are seen as super easy to manipulate. The dreadlords meet a confused and dejected Sargeras, convincing him that he can harness the power of Fel (disorder) to re-order the universe as he sees fit. It doesn't make sense to a rational mind, but Sargeras was ripe for a cult indoctrination. Titans, as beings of order, are single minded, and once Sargeras was convinced, there was no stopping him from going all-in.

Argus is a world soul that Sargeras wanted to control. He converted most of the population (and had the rest killed except for the small number that escaped with Velen). We see in BC and WoD that the Draenei have lots of souls around (see Achindoun!) They likely had mastered a form of death magic to keep those souls around. Sargeras used that knowledge to empower Argus with death magic so that he could use that to quickly rescuscitate dead demons and keep the Legion cohesive and endless---his way of ordering the Fel. Remember, Sargeras is a being of order!

Anyway, the plan from the dreadlord end was probably to use Argus to rip open the veil when the time was right and blow up Oribos or something after convincing Sargeras that it was a good idea to invade other planes of existence. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the players upended that plan, and sped the "remove the arbiter" plot forward by millenia.

Not expecting mortals to do this, Zovaal sent agents to grab powerful mortals (Thrall, Jaina, Anduin, etc) hoping he could break them and use their husks to further his plans even more. Sylvanas ripped open the veil, and then -bam- the PCs appear and are maw walkers. Zovaal did NOT expect that at all. You can see it in the cutscene at the end of the maw opening. He's taken aback, and needs to change his tactics. He doesn't get all the PCs to break and be his slaves. He now has to pick between the ones he has left, and Anduin is the one he can most easily crush because---if anything---Anduin is susceptible to manipulation (as we saw at the end of BFA in the scene with everyone's favorite black dragon).

Zovaal never had a highly convoluted plot with millions of moving parts. He is just really good at reacting to changes on the ground, taking advantage of them, and then claiming that it was all part of his plan.

- - - Updated - - -

(snip)

This is way more detailed than my theory, but it definitely fills in the gaps.

The overarching narrative makes sense. It was just never presented in game in a sensible way.

[Skandulous]

The former-Aspects still have their powers though, "Fortunately, the Aspects are still true to the gifts given to them by the titans, as life, magic, nature and time last forever.[17]" https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dra...s#cite_note-17

During an interview lead quest designer Dave Kosak explained that the Dragon Aspects stood in the spotlight because one of their own had gone bad. Now the Dragon Aspects will continue to be important and still be around, but they may not be central characters anymore. For example, Kalecgos has been elected shortly before the Hour of Twilight and, obviously, he is still a dragon and he is still a very powerful mage, even if he is not immortal anymore. And he will still play a role in the world and will advise the Kirin Tor, he is just no longer the Aspect of Magic.[19] The bronze dragons still can travel between time, but they no longer have control over timelines.[20] In the Age of Mortals, mortal organizations need to take over what was once the charge of the Aspects

[El Gucaragua]

Yeah it was freaking obvious....

It was less fan theory and more like common sense.

Blizz said the wheel of death broke during legion. We know that ursoc was sent to ardenweald after we defeated him in nightmare.

So now we know it wasn't at the start of legion.

So now what significant cosmic events happen during the rest of legion.

We defeat Gildane and revive illidan, okay cool story.

We defeat kiljaede, again nothing worthy of breaking the arbitor.

Then we fight a freaking DEATH TITAN. Not only that, but we learn that the nathrezime we're actually loyal to death and not the legion.

This means that argus was most like twisted for eons by the highest ranking members of the legion and then aimed at the arbitor upon his death by our hands.

Also keep in mind sylvanas was also in league with the jailor and she was all in for the legions defeat.

And ultimately the energy that hit the arbitor was very similar to the red energy that argus exhibited.


So again, this was extremely obvious to anyone who payed attention.

Clearly we just ignored the Xavius theory, which was another major possibility if not even more logical but sure - continue to prove my point.

[Varodoc]

It was pretty obvious that it was either Argus, Xavius, or AU Gul'dan.

All 3 villains died after Ursoc died (because we know Ursoc went to Ardenweald and not the Maw) but before the Burning of Teldrassil (because we know at that point all souls were already flowing into the Maw).

It couldn't have been Kil'jaeden because Kil'jaeden did not die, he was straight up erased from existence. When demons die in the Twisting Nether, they are straight up erased from existence, no afterlife, they just don't exist anymore = his soul would have never gone to the Arbiter.

An interesting thing about the 3 aforementioned villains is that all 3 were also associated with the colour "red", which was the colour of the blast that shattered the Arbiter (Gul'dan's "final form" of sorts turned him from a green monster into a red monster).

So really it was either Argus, Xavius, or AU Gul'dan.

I remember I even said once that I found Argus much more likely, because really, what would the point of it being Gul'dan or Xavius? It's not like they're ever going to be relevant again in the future. But Argus, being a Titan, could obviously become more relevant again, when the other Titans are inevitably reintroduced into the story (now we got the First Ones who are Titans 2.0).

Extremely, laughably predictable plot.

[Soulwind]

The overarching narrative makes sense.

Only when written by someone from outside the company, it seems.

I wonder if they'll scan through reddit and forums to fill the gaps with what you guys are writing, because it certainly doesn't look like they had planned -any- of that.

[Gorsameth]

I wrote this up on Reddit, but it makes sense.

The tome of the unseen guests lays out Denathrius's plans to use the Dreadlords to infiltrate the other cosmic powers. Denathrius and Zovaal were buddy buddies most likely, and working together to make Death the most powerful of the 6 forces.

The Titans are seen as super easy to manipulate. The dreadlords meet a confused and dejected Sargeras, convincing him that he can harness the power of Fel (disorder) to re-order the universe as he sees fit. It doesn't make sense to a rational mind, but Sargeras was ripe for a cult indoctrination. Titans, as beings of order, are single minded, and once Sargeras was convinced, there was no stopping him from going all-in.

Argus is a world soul that Sargeras wanted to control. He converted most of the population (and had the rest killed except for the small number that escaped with Velen). We see in BC and WoD that the Draenei have lots of souls around (see Achindoun!) They likely had mastered a form of death magic to keep those souls around. Sargeras used that knowledge to empower Argus with death magic so that he could use that to quickly rescuscitate dead demons and keep the Legion cohesive and endless---his way of ordering the Fel. Remember, Sargeras is a being of order!

Anyway, the plan from the dreadlord end was probably to use Argus to rip open the veil when the time was right and blow up Oribos or something after convincing Sargeras that it was a good idea to invade other planes of existence. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the players upended that plan, and sped the "remove the arbiter" plot forward by millenia.

Not expecting mortals to do this, Zovaal sent agents to grab powerful mortals (Thrall, Jaina, Anduin, etc) hoping he could break them and use their husks to further his plans even more. Sylvanas ripped open the veil, and then -bam- the PCs appear and are maw walkers. Zovaal did NOT expect that at all. You can see it in the cutscene at the end of the maw opening. He's taken aback, and needs to change his tactics. He doesn't get all the PCs to break and be his slaves. He now has to pick between the ones he has left, and Anduin is the one he can most easily crush because---if anything---Anduin is susceptible to manipulation (as we saw at the end of BFA in the scene with everyone's favorite black dragon).

Zovaal never had a highly convoluted plot with millions of moving parts. He is just really good at reacting to changes on the ground, taking advantage of them, and then claiming that it was all part of his plan.

- - - Updated - - -



This is way more detailed than my theory, but it definitely fills in the gaps.

The overarching narrative makes sense. It was just never presented in game in a sensible way.

The Dreadlords working for Zovaal and corrupting Sargeras for him and then aiding him in his mission makes no sense when Sargeras's mission was the destroy all the nascent world souls to stop them from being corrupted by the void.
If Sargeras ever won and destroyed Azeroth Zovaal can't use the Machine of Origination anymore.

[Venziir]

Clearly we just ignored the Xavius theory, which was another major possibility if not even more logical but sure - continue to prove my point.

The Xavius theory never made any sense whatsoever though, and was far from logical.

[Hitei]

They mention "a world soul twisted by Death", don't know what it means, but it can be the reason it ended up here. Because you're right, titan souls don't normally go to the Shadowlands which might be why the Arbiter couldn't handle it and just shut down.

Yeah, not sure why everyone is just skipping right past the part that clearly indicates the soul was tampered with.

Also, I'm especially not sure why everyone keeps using this screenshot:


While somehow not bothering to remember that the next thing that happens in that cinematic is the pantheon destroying that remnant to make a turbo-beam to grab and lock up Sargeras.


This was even explicitly spelled out in a cut dialogue between Illidan, Velen and Aman'thul that was going to go before the final cinematic:

Illidan Stormrage: It matters not. We have lost. Look to the skies!
Prophet Velen: Sargeras will soon undo all we have fought for.
Aman'Thul: No.
Aman'Thul: We will use the last glimmer of Argus's power to bind him here. The Seat of the Pantheon shall become Sargeras's prison... and ours as well.
Prophet Velen: You would condemn yourselves to stop him?
Aman'Thul: A sacrifice must be made.
Illidan Stormrage: Our world must survive... no matter the cost!
Aman'Thul: Return home, children of Azeroth. Protect the final titan.

[FuxieDK]

Argus dis too late, to break the Arbiter.. WAY TOO LATE..

Fact 1: Arbiter worked when we killed Ursoc -> He went to Ardenweald.
Fact 2: Arbiter didn't work, when we killed a Helya -> She went straight to the Maw. She was no way near the vileness to skip Revendreth.

In that short time between Ursoc and Helya, Xavius is the most likely candidate for breaking the Arbiter.

[Inukashi]

so, it was argus. Does this mean we get a sargeras retcon were he fights the jailer?

[dope_danny]

The Xavius theory never made any sense whatsoever though, and was far from logical.

as opposed to tha-not knowing and planning everything based on garrosh being corrupted by a piece of y'sharrj, going to jail, escaping through time to an alternate world in a trial leading to an alternate burning legion sending alternate guldan through a portal to open the tomb of sargeras and lead to the death of argus?

Perfectly logical. Steve was playing 6d quantum chess 2.

[plz delete account]

Unless there's some massive consistency/continuity error I'm overlooking I'm still putting my money on the red comet being Xavius from Emerald Nihgtmare.

The red colour is similar to that of the nightmare and Aegus AFAIK was never associated with red.

Mythic secret phase is red, plus we were warned in Legion to keep an eye on the Red Star (Argus), for if it went out, that meant trouble.

[Venziir]

Argus dis too late, to break the Arbiter.. WAY TOO LATE..

Fact 1: Arbiter worked when we killed Ursoc -> He went to Ardenweald.
Fact 2: Arbiter didn't work, when we killed a Helya -> She went straight to the Maw. She was no way near the vileness to skip Revendreth.

In that short time between Ursoc and Helya, Xavius is the most likely candidate for breaking the Arbiter.

Helya went to the Maw because of her working for the Jailor, not because of her death. She always had a special connection to both him and the Shadowlands. Besides, who knows exactly what she and Sylvanas did before we stumbled upon their meeting in Helheim?

- - - Updated - - -

as opposed to tha-not knowing and planning everything based on garrosh being corrupted by a piece of y'sharrj, going to jail, escaping through time to an alternate world in a trial leading to an alternate burning legion sending alternate guldan through a portal to open the tomb of sargeras and lead to the death of argus?

Perfectly logical. Steve was playing 6d quantum chess 2.

Not really relevant in regards to this.

[Aucald]

Argus dis too late, to break the Arbiter.. WAY TOO LATE..

Fact 1: Arbiter worked when we killed Ursoc -> He went to Ardenweald.
Fact 2: Arbiter didn't work, when we killed a Helya -> She went straight to the Maw. She was no way near the vileness to skip Revendreth.

In that short time between Ursoc and Helya, Xavius is the most likely candidate for breaking the Arbiter.

Helya, however, was revealed to have been an ally of the Jailer much like Mueh'zala - she likely went to the Maw by choice, or was brought there by Zovaal directly, as opposed to passing through the Shadowlands more or less naturally. The same way Kel'thuzad found his way there, really. The death of Argus seems to be a good match for when exactly the machinery of Death was broken and the transit of souls redirected to the Maw.

[Hitei]

Argus dis too late, to break the Arbiter.. WAY TOO LATE..

Fact 1: Arbiter worked when we killed Ursoc -> He went to Ardenweald.
Fact 2: Arbiter didn't work, when we killed a Helya -> She went straight to the Maw. She was no way near the vileness to skip Revendreth.

In that short time between Ursoc and Helya, Xavius is the most likely candidate for breaking the Arbiter.

I mean... No?

Another ring? Hmph. Yes, we have been seeing them more frequently.

<Valdemar grimaces.>

Helya is growing in power.

What, small one, are you surprised? Did you think she was defeated?

<Valdemar laughs heartily.>

You cannot kill death!

[Venziir]

Helya, however, was revealed to have been an ally of the Jailer much like Mueh'zala - she likely went to the Maw by choice, or was brought there by Zovaal directly, as opposed to passing through the Shadowlands more or less naturally. The same way Kel'thuzad found his way there, really. The death of Argus seems to be a good match for when exactly the machinery of Death was broken and the transit of souls redirected to the Maw.

Oddly enough though, Kel'thuzad was not brought to the Maw, but to Maldraxxus.

[Myradin]

There must be some lag time between dieing and the kyrian picking you up, because Ardenweald was already suffering issues when Ursoc arrived.

I kinda liked the theory it was just denathrius all along and it just wasnt' explicit enough, Argus is kind of a weird choice.

[Aucald]

Oddly enough though, Kel'thuzad was not brought to the Maw, but to Maldraxxus.

Well, he was ultimately stationed in Maldraxxus, but with a mission from the Jailer to bring down Necrolord hierarchy from within by suborning the House of Rituals and turning the Houses against one another while the Primus was imprisoned in Torghast. It seems likely he came to the Jailer first, or was in communion with him, well before he arrived in Maldraxxus.