The War Within 11.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Santandame]

So... Tinfoil hats on, folks, this is my current theory:

The Beledar is a ship from Alternate Draenor.

K'ara worked Yrel and the other Lightbound to build a draenic starship with tons of crystals. Why? Because Draenor has been "Cleansed" and it's time for the Lightbound to seek out new worlds to bring to the Light. K'ara is just Lightforging everyone she gets her hands on because she's terrified of returning to the Dark Star state and by ensuring there's no "Corruption" around her, she can "Protect" herself.

They came through time and space and a dimensional barrier and everyone inside the ship except K'ara had to be put into some form of Stasis to survive the trip. The ship itself is damaged and trapped in the ceiling of the Hallowfall cave. K'ara sent the vision to the Emperor as a cry for help and he sent the Arathi to go find out what's up. SOMEHOW the Arathi Airships get teleported into Hallowfall.

K'ara can see them flying around, trying to figure out what's going on, through the crystal view screen or whatever. But they don't -see- a Draenic Starship because it's embedded in the rock and they've never been to the Exodar. All they see is a giant glowing crystal. So they start exploring the cave when the crystal appears to just be a source of light. Or maybe they're just defending the "Light" from the darkness of the Nerubians and other groups.

For years, K'ara has been trapped and screaming for help from people who can't hear her. She falls to despair and the Void creeps in. Dismayed, horrified even, she thinks back to Velen's Sacrifice and how he saved her...

So she pulls someone out of stasis and they sacrifice themself just as Velen did all those years ago to purify her. It works, and she's lit up golden, anew. The first "Void Phase" of Hallowfall ends.

... but they keep coming. More and more void phases, more frequently, and more and more sacrifices to end them. She's running through her supply of potential sacrifices and running out of time before the Dark Star is reborn, anew.

And what's worse: Her intent is corrupting the action. It's no longer a "Sacrifice" so much as it is murder. So the "Restoration" lasts for shorter and shorter times as the gnawing blackness grows stronger and the purple light grows more frequent...

I don't think we're going to Ka'resh for the Void Raid. I think we're going to the Beledar. Inside we'll find Voidbound Grom and Yrel as bosses, alongside the Dark Star. Ethereals are gonna help 'cause it's one heck of a fall-back for Xalatath after the Nerubians fail...

Probably not accurate, in the end... but man do I love the idea.

I loved everything up until the ending. Please don’t waste Yrel and the Lightbound like that.

I’m all for your idea but instead Yrel and the Lightbound ally with the Arathi. You can then have Yrel with the Lightbound play a significant role in Midnight so we have a Light reprieve in a Void dominated expansion. To me, it feels fitting that if we get a revamped Quel’Thalas in Midnight, then we get a revamped Azuremyst/Bloodmyst to go alongside it. We could get throwbacks to the Shattered Sun Offensive. Patch content could be a return to the Draenei Isles with a Lightbound raid.

That said, I do also think we’re due a Northern Kalimdor expansion at some point after the World Soul Saga if we don’t immediately go to Avaloren to contest with the Arathi. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Draenei Isles be saved for that expansion. Northern Kalimdor could be the Lightbound Invasion expansion. But I could also see it as a return of the Legion expansion with either Sargeras playing his hand again depending on what goes down in The Last Titan or Denathrius taking over the remains of the Legion.

Either way, The War Within and/or Midnight seems a very good place to reintroduce Yrel & the Lightbound.

[Bwgmon]

I loved everything up until the ending. Please don’t waste Yrel and the Lightbound like that.

I don't think the timeline works quite right for it either, because the Hallowfall Arathi have been there with the crystal long enough for Faerin to grow up, and long enough that the "dark phase" is considered an unnatural development (it appears it started about the time Azeroth was stabbed at the end of Legion, which suggests they've been there for at least a few years prior to the Legion expansion if they saw "Beledar as light all day every day" as the norm).

AU Draenor seems to exist/have existed semi-parallel to our own timeline, both continue to move forward (albeit at different paces) and the event that would've made Yrel aware of the possibility of jumping timelines didn't happen until the Horde recruited the Mag'har while BfA was underway. If she followed, she'd most likely arrive sometime after that, if the Beledar is related to her, she would've had to arrive on Azeroth before the hijinks that spawned AU Draenor even happened.

This is all also assuming Yrel could figure out how to make the jump without the aid of the Bronze Dragonflight or any artifacts relating to them.

[Steampunkette]

I loved everything up until the ending. Please don’t waste Yrel and the Lightbound like that.

I’m all for your idea but instead Yrel and the Lightbound ally with the Arathi. You can then have Yrel with the Lightbound play a significant role in Midnight so we have a Light reprieve in a Void dominated expansion. To me, it feels fitting that if we get a revamped Quel’Thalas in Midnight, then we get a revamped Azuremyst/Bloodmyst to go alongside it. We could get throwbacks to the Shattered Sun Offensive. Patch content could be a return to the Draenei Isles with a Lightbound raid.

That said, I do also think we’re due a Northern Kalimdor expansion at some point after the World Soul Saga if we don’t immediately go to Avaloren to contest with the Arathi. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Draenei Isles be saved for that expansion. Northern Kalimdor could be the Lightbound Invasion expansion. But I could also see it as a return of the Legion expansion with either Sargeras playing his hand again depending on what goes down in The Last Titan or Denathrius taking over the remains of the Legion.

Either way, The War Within and/or Midnight seems a very good place to reintroduce Yrel & the Lightbound.

I don't think we're going to see Yrel as a hero, ever again.

After exterminating the Botani and the Ogres in a genocidal pogrom, she and her allies did another genocidal pogrom on the Orcs of Draenor, destroying everything about them and lightbinding them like X'era tried to do to Illidan. I think she's crossed the moral event horizon and will be an example of how the Light can be just as controlling and evil as the Void, much as Odyn, Neltharion, and the Dracthyr are giving us hints about how the Titans are the same way.

That said... I've revised my thoughts a bit.

IF we go to the Beledar raid in 11.2 it'll be with Lightbound still alive inside the colony-ship. Not something small like the Xenedar, something huge like the Exodar. With Lightbound and Voidbound sections where K'ara has been putting her victims away from the still-loyal Lightbound in order to -keep- them Loyal. Maybe even imprisoning the Voidbound somehow.

And then we'll wind up fighting Lightbound Hellscream and Voidbound Yrel or something similar.

That said... bringing up Azuremyst/Bloodmyst is a -very- good point. It would make sense if the Void energy from the Beledar that causes void-stuff to happen in Hallowfall were something we were looking into. And then during the 11.2 path "Something Happens" where the ship breaks open and starts flooding Void-Monsters into the world and we go to the Exodar for help...

And it's the Azuremyst/Bloodmyst Isle that gets updated in this expansion with tons of void-stuffs and a revamp of the Exodar to bring the zone up to modern visual standards and meld it into the map so you can Skyride to and from it as well as all over it.

The Quel'Danas and Quel'Thalas get updated next expansion as Xalatath's machinations continue into Midnight. Then Northrend in the Last Titan...

It'd be a pretty great Patch Zone upgrade if the Beledar is the final raid since you wouldn't need to add another underground cavern zone for the patch content, that way. Y'know, since the Beledar is in Hallowfall.

Could even wind up doing a "Vale of Eternal Blossoms" thing where once 11.2 hits the Beledar -stays- Voidy permanently and you can't ever go back to shiny pretty happy Hallowfall after that point!

[Enrif]

I think the premise: "Beledar is naaru home and turns to void slowly and will be final raid" is plausible. That it will involve anything from AU Draenor, this i highly doubt.

[Steampunkette]

I think the premise: "Beledar is naaru home and turns to void slowly and will be final raid" is plausible. That it will involve anything from AU Draenor, this i highly doubt.

I did say it was conspiracy theory thinking with a tin foil hat warning...

But also:



And another point for tin foil conspiracy theory: 15 years ago, when they got teleported into the cavern, it was the end of the Burning Crusade and start of the Lich King (within the canon timeline).

WoD people arriving on Azeroth just after the Burning Crusade was defeated on Outland? You've gotta admit... the timing would be pretty nice.

[Doffen]

Its very likely a naaru/draenei spaceship or similar indeed.

I vote for it to be Velens harem which he hid in the basement of Exodar and he is now busted, but your theory are more likely or just being an MU thing

[Varodoc]

Wasn't the WoD pocket dimension created by Kairoz and Garrosh AFTER MoP? How could WoD people retroactively come over at the end of TBC when they came into existence at the end of MoP from the Main timeline's perspective? This is a time paradox?

This is why I despise Garrosh, bro couldn't just die in SoO, he had to cause the most confusing expansion ever. At least now he is permanently erased from existence, which means, no more time travel expansions.

[Steampunkette]

Wasn't the WoD pocket dimension created by Kairoz and Garrosh AFTER MoP? How could WoD people retroactively come over at the end of TBC when they came into existence at the end of MoP from the Main timeline's perspective? This is a time paradox?

This is why I despise Garrosh, bro couldn't just die in SoO, he had to cause the most confusing expansion ever. At least now he is permanently erased from existence, which means, no more time travel expansions.

Timey Wimey Wibbly Wobbly... Stuff?

Time Travel and specifically time-travel across alternate realities is a major pain in the butt philosophically. But yeah, that's my thought. After the Mag'har storyline, they build the Beledar, they fly out into the cosmos, but since they're in a time-travel created pocket dimension rather than a real whole universe they get lost to time in our reality and wind up lodged in the ceiling of a cavern 15 years ago.

Again, I don't think this is ACTUALLY what's going to happen...

I just think it'd be a cool thing to happen. Only the Devs know the truth.

[Varodoc]

At this point, I have doubts about whether Blizzard even remembers about the Mag'har scenario at all.

If they want to do an "Evil Light" storyline, they introduced the Light Emperor and the Empire of Avaloren for a reason.

Yrel and the Lightbound can be shelved in the "things that went nowhere" basement along with Med'an. I'm not interested in hearing about how Grommash was a noble hero who sacrificed himself for freedom, and Yrel and the Draenei were the evil villains all along.

That storyline is... yikes... on so many levels.

[Raetary]

Beledar started going dark after the sword was plunged into Azeroth, and it returns to the Light explicitly because of the help of Lamplighters and the Sacred Flame.

Unless K'ara somehow manages to time her going dark and ritual sacrifices just right to perfectly align with whatever the Arathi were doing at the time, it would make no sense.

WoD people arriving on Azeroth just after the Burning Crusade was defeated on Outland? You've gotta admit... the timing would be pretty nice.

The timing would make no sense, unless you want to argue that the ship travelled 15 years back in time.

When we travelled to Draenor in BfA to recruit the Mag'har, we did so dimensionally.
Meaning the Bronze brought us to our concurrent point in time on Draenor.

And at that point the Lightbound were just about to fully conquer the planet and every important character was still on there.

[Steampunkette]

Beledar started going dark after the sword was plunged into Azeroth, and it returns to the Light explicitly because of the help of Lamplighters and the Sacred Flame.

Unless K'ara somehow manages to time her going dark and ritual sacrifices just right to perfectly align with whatever the Arathi were doing at the time, it would make no sense.

I didn't know about the Lamplighters and the Sacred Flame. I haven't been keeping up with all the TWW spoilers, yet.

That said, the only way I could see it working now that you've mentioned the Lamplighters is that she's falling and infecting the Voidbound but the Lamplighters' actions are restoring her rather than sacrifices. Which would be an interesting, if less threatening, direction to take it.

The timing would make no sense, unless you want to argue that the ship travelled 15 years back in time.

When we travelled to Draenor in BfA to recruit the Mag'har, we did so dimensionally.
Meaning the Bronze brought us to our concurrent point in time on Draenor.

And at that point the Lightbound were just about to fully conquer the planet and every important character was still on there.

Well... Yes. I literally argued that in the #76837 post. That they were yoinked through time while trying to break the temporal dimensional barrier. It would also go plenty far to explain why it's trapped in rock and can't escape since it'd take a bunch of damage trying. Just like the Exodar did before it got trapped.

The reason I say it would make sense for them to have arrived 15 years ago at the end of TBC is because it's a headnod from the Devs to Draenor/Outland/Etc that we might not have immediately seen when we read about the Arathi arriving "15 years ago" canonically.

[Santandame]

I don't think we're going to see Yrel as a hero, ever again.

After exterminating the Botani and the Ogres in a genocidal pogrom, she and her allies did another genocidal pogrom on the Orcs of Draenor, destroying everything about them and lightbinding them like X'era tried to do to Illidan. I think she's crossed the moral event horizon and will be an example of how the Light can be just as controlling and evil as the Void, much as Odyn, Neltharion, and the Dracthyr are giving us hints about how the Titans are the same way.

That said... I've revised my thoughts a bit.

IF we go to the Beledar raid in 11.2 it'll be with Lightbound still alive inside the colony-ship. Not something small like the Xenedar, something huge like the Exodar. With Lightbound and Voidbound sections where K'ara has been putting her victims away from the still-loyal Lightbound in order to -keep- them Loyal. Maybe even imprisoning the Voidbound somehow.

And then we'll wind up fighting Lightbound Hellscream and Voidbound Yrel or something similar.

That said... bringing up Azuremyst/Bloodmyst is a -very- good point. It would make sense if the Void energy from the Beledar that causes void-stuff to happen in Hallowfall were something we were looking into. And then during the 11.2 path "Something Happens" where the ship breaks open and starts flooding Void-Monsters into the world and we go to the Exodar for help...

And it's the Azuremyst/Bloodmyst Isle that gets updated in this expansion with tons of void-stuffs and a revamp of the Exodar to bring the zone up to modern visual standards and meld it into the map so you can Skyride to and from it as well as all over it.

The Quel'Danas and Quel'Thalas get updated next expansion as Xalatath's machinations continue into Midnight. Then Northrend in the Last Titan...

It'd be a pretty great Patch Zone upgrade if the Beledar is the final raid since you wouldn't need to add another underground cavern zone for the patch content, that way. Y'know, since the Beledar is in Hallowfall.

Could even wind up doing a "Vale of Eternal Blossoms" thing where once 11.2 hits the Beledar -stays- Voidy permanently and you can't ever go back to shiny pretty happy Hallowfall after that point!

Oh I agree that she will be a villain. I was proposing that she ally with the Arathi who will more than likely be antagonistic to us in the future, going off Faerin’s words.

My proposed idea for the Lightbound raid in Midnight would have been Yrel attacking the Draenei Isles with her Lightbound. It would also give us some much needed Lightforged Draenei content as they decide whether their loyalty lies with us or Yrel’s Lightbound which they will undoubtedly share similarities too.

[Merryck]

We don't have room for a Yrel plot.

[Steampunkette]

Xenedar, Exodar, Beledar... it mostly works...

Except for Mereldar. Though maybe they named it after Beledar? Which appears to be a name the Emperor received with his visions.

Also... the Emperor is giving me MAJOR Velen Vibes, since he's apparently a priest with visions of the future who can specifically predict tribulations 15 years or so in advance.

(Not that he -is- Velen, but that he's a human Velen Equivalent, a specifically chosen servant of the Light)

[Enrif]

Xenedar, Exodar, Beledar... it mostly works...

Except for Mereldar. Though maybe they named it after Beledar? Which appears to be a name the Emperor received with his visions.

Also... the Emperor is giving me MAJOR Velen Vibes, since he's apparently a priest with visions of the future who can specifically predict tribulations 15 years or so in advance.

(Not that he -is- Velen, but that he's a human Velen Equivalent, a specifically chosen servant of the Light)

Mereldar is named after a human priest of the same name
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Mereldar_(priestess)

she was the first human priest and unknowingly communicated with naaru. Perhaps, her birthname was never Mereldar, but she took the name after the contact with the naaru.

[Raetary]

Except for Mereldar. Though maybe they named it after Beledar? Which appears to be a name the Emperor received with his visions.

Mereldar is named after Mereldar, the first human priestess.

[FelPlague]

She's saying "you were never the best father" as if she didn't do anything bad or something.

Both can be true.

- - - Updated - - -

Wasn't that after he kidnapped her? Not to mention the guy was just evil? She even clearly says Magni didn't even know she was in love with Dagran, all he thought was that she was kidnapped.

She was kidnapped yes.
He wasn't even really that evil, he and his people were slaves of ragnaros, who his father summoned.
They wanted to survive, they wanted to live, and they did what they had to under ragnaros. Whole point is they were more so morally grey dwarves.

[Steampunkette]

Mereldar is named after Mereldar, the first human priestess.

Mereldar is named after a human priest of the same name
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Mereldar_(priestess)

she was the first human priest and unknowingly communicated with naaru. Perhaps, her birthname was never Mereldar, but she took the name after the contact with the naaru.

Ahh... I didn't know that.

I do like the idea that she took the name or was given the name after contact with a Naaru to play up the "Dar" suffix as specifically used by the Light/Naaru. It'd be very narratively satisfying, I think.

[Santandame]

We don't have room for a Yrel plot.

We don’t know that. We have no idea what the final patch will be. We know there’s a big chance that we get the Rootlands as well as a Goblin raid with the common consensus that they will be merged but we don’t know that either. Predictions for the final patch are numerous. We have beyond the Hallow Sea, the core of Azeroth, K’aresh, Silithus Below, Rootlands, and we also have the Beledar.

Again, we don’t know truly what the Beledar is but it very well could be a Naaru ship. The timelines don’t add up for it to be Yrel but everything surrounding her is time nonsense so it really doesn’t matter in that sense. If the Beledar is indeed a Naaru ship, a possible plot point is that it could involve Yrel, amongst many other plot points. We simply don’t know, but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Yrel to be related.

For what it’s worth, at least from my perspective, I think the most fitting time for Yrel to show up again (if she is indeed to show up) would be in conjunction with the Light worshipping empire suddenly showing up on the scene, as well as an expansion coming that’s going to be predominantly Void themed with a likely Light vs. Void subplot.

I wouldn’t say it’s now or never for Yrel. Not at all. But it’s certainly a fitting time for her to show up, all things considered.

[Khaza-R]

I think peope really overestimate a Yrel plotline appearing again. At best she might be the boss of a megadungeon. Beyond that I don't see her taking up any significant time in the story. Even if the Light is a major focus.