Expansion themes are following a pattern.

[Amnaught]

Every expansion since Cataclysm has hinted at the expansion AFTER the next.

Look at the final villains.


Mists of Pandaria: Garrosh Hellscream. Began his arc in Cataclysm, and kicked off Warlords.

Warlords of Draenor: Archimonde. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists of Pandaria, kicks off Legion.

Legion: Argus. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists, kicks off... Shadowlands?

Battle for Azeroth: N'zoth: Foreshadowed all the way back in Cataclysm with the Twilight's Hammer.... But also the Sha in Mists and Shadowmoon Valley in Warlords.

Shadowlands: All of this foreshadowing started two expansions ago, in Legion, with Sylvanas becoming Warchief and being a grade-A mustache twirler. And Argus' death knocking the Arbiter out cold.

10.0: Wont be a direct sequel to whatever happens to us in the beginning of Shadowlands.... But from Battle for Azeroth! The sword in Silithus, the Old Gods. Maybe with the Void being so terrified of Sylvanas, the Jailer's entire purpose could be revealed to end the war of Light and Shadow?

Void vs Light expansion confirmed!!!!!!

[Maljinwo]

Maybe with the Void being so terrified of Sylvanas

Why would they? The bitch died 3 times already

[rhorle]

Every expansion since Cataclysm has hinted at the expansion AFTER the next.

That is because Blizzard wanted to connect the story line together. Blizzard stated this themselves because Vanilla, TBC, and WotLK were not connected. It won't work to confirm what you say though because you are stretching it to the extreme instead of letting the hints in the current expansion lead to the future one.

[Atrea]

Legion: Argus. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists, kicks off... Shadowlands?

I don't get why people are obsessed with this idea, that the "red soul" that shut down/broke/knocked out/whatever the Arbiter is Argus, when a far more likely candidate for that soul's owner is the boss we had just killed, N'Zoth. Argus wasn't even killed, he was defeated. N'Zoth is dead.

[Shakugan123]

I don't get why people are obsessed with this idea, that the "red soul" that shut down/broke/knocked out/whatever the Arbiter is Argus, when a far more likely candidate for that soul's owner is the boss we had just killed, N'Zoth. Argus wasn't even killed, he was defeated. N'Zoth is dead.

That cinematic apparently occurred sometime around the events of Legion if a lot of things are to be believed (More specifically after Ysera dies and before Teldrassil was burned, maybe a better set of cases exist but idk). Who knows who it belonged to, I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to have had it been something that occurred off-screen only for them to unveil it later as some big surprise.

[AngerFork]

Every expansion since Cataclysm has hinted at the expansion AFTER the next.

Look at the final villains.


Mists of Pandaria: Garrosh Hellscream. Began his arc in Cataclysm, and kicked off Warlords.

Warlords of Draenor: Archimonde. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists of Pandaria, kicks off Legion.

Legion: Argus. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists, kicks off... Shadowlands?

Battle for Azeroth: N'zoth: Foreshadowed all the way back in Cataclysm with the Twilight's Hammer.... But also the Sha in Mists and Shadowmoon Valley in Warlords.

Shadowlands: All of this foreshadowing started two expansions ago, in Legion, with Sylvanas becoming Warchief and being a grade-A mustache twirler. And Argus' death knocking the Arbiter out cold.

10.0: Wont be a direct sequel to whatever happens to us in the beginning of Shadowlands.... But from Battle for Azeroth! The sword in Silithus, the Old Gods. Maybe with the Void being so terrified of Sylvanas, the Jailer's entire purpose could be revealed to end the war of Light and Shadow?

Void vs Light expansion confirmed!!!!!!

I'd argue you are looking at the wrong aspect here. I don't feel the pattern is in the final villains, but rather in the main consistent villain of each expansion. Here's how I see the pattern.

Mists: Garrosh Hellscream. Came into prevalence in Cata, was constantly a thorn in everyone's side through MoP, kicked off Warlords by escaping and going to AU Draenor.
Warlords: Gul'dan. Returned to the game in Warlords, was a constant pain throughout the expansion. Kicked off Legion by porting into the Vault of the Wardens.
Legion: While he was not in the forefront, much of the plot involved Sargeras and the quest to give him a new body. He was often plot-adjacent until he stabbed Azeroth and kicked off BfA.
BfA: Sylvanas was basically displayed as the constant enemy, even though there were quests to be loyal to her. Her actions with the Helm of Domination kicked off Shadowlands.
Shadowlands: At this point, the Jailer still seems to be the main villain. If this theory holds true, then something he does at the end will be what kicks off 10.0. Given his claims that "Death comes for your world," I have to wonder if he'll try to attack Azeroth head-on and cause her more damage leading into 10.0.

[Azerate]

So basically...the new stuff is usually foreshadowed somewhere before.

Not a huge discovery, to be honest. It makes sense they are trying to tie in the new stuff to the old lore.

[Temp name]

I don't get why people are obsessed with this idea, that the "red soul" that shut down/broke/knocked out/whatever the Arbiter is Argus, when a far more likely candidate for that soul's owner is the boss we had just killed, N'Zoth. Argus wasn't even killed, he was defeated. N'Zoth is dead.

Or you could see that the red orb doesn't count from where souls normally do, and think for half a second and realize we have an evil guy with red anima who wants to put a shit ton of it into the maw..?

[Venziir]

... Yeah it's almost like there's a story in the game....

- - - Updated - - -

I don't get why people are obsessed with this idea, that the "red soul" that shut down/broke/knocked out/whatever the Arbiter is Argus, when a far more likely candidate for that soul's owner is the boss we had just killed, N'Zoth. Argus wasn't even killed, he was defeated. N'Zoth is dead.

The machine of death broke during Legion; that's why.

[Revamp Man]

You see that episode of fresh prince where Carlton plays the slots at a gas station and talks about a guaranteed pattern??

This post gave me those vibes

[Mysterymask]

Why would they? The bitch died 3 times already

So did half the known dreadlords

[bigbleach]

Every expansion since Cataclysm has hinted at the expansion AFTER the next.

Look at the final villains.


Mists of Pandaria: Garrosh Hellscream. Began his arc in Cataclysm, and kicked off Warlords.

Warlords of Draenor: Archimonde. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists of Pandaria, kicks off Legion.

Legion: Argus. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists, kicks off... Shadowlands?

Battle for Azeroth: N'zoth: Foreshadowed all the way back in Cataclysm with the Twilight's Hammer.... But also the Sha in Mists and Shadowmoon Valley in Warlords.

Shadowlands: All of this foreshadowing started two expansions ago, in Legion, with Sylvanas becoming Warchief and being a grade-A mustache twirler. And Argus' death knocking the Arbiter out cold.

10.0: Wont be a direct sequel to whatever happens to us in the beginning of Shadowlands.... But from Battle for Azeroth! The sword in Silithus, the Old Gods. Maybe with the Void being so terrified of Sylvanas, the Jailer's entire purpose could be revealed to end the war of Light and Shadow?

Void vs Light expansion confirmed!!!!!!

confirmed...? They did start planning out expansions ahead of time, however, I don't think there was any foreshadowing when it came to argus, really on either end that he was coming or what the ramifications were that he died. When we killed argus, there wasn't any hint, we had no clue, nothing, until a cinematic for SL that shows a red soul. When something is foreshadowed, its hinting at a coming event in some manner. Argus just being the cause of the arbiter going offline, doesn't mean it was foreshadowed. Xal'atath and the other void whispers are a good example of foreshadowing, they have been dropping hinting for years now and we still haven't figured them all out. We had 0 speculation going on that argus dying was a big deal. The Wrathion example, that was foreshadowing. Argus seems more like they pinned an idea on him afterwards, almost as left field as garrosh traveling back in time to an alternate universe...

I do think its a light expansion next. The old god whispers are seemingly setting up turalyon, then we have the incident with Yrel in the AU, along with Xe'ra being forceful with illidan. I have a feeling the next expansion will start off with the light, and then maybe end with void. Maybe. Idk. I think light is the next threat.

[Amnaught]

I thought it was commonly accepted that the soul that broke the Arbiter was Xavius' ?

Argus was thousands of times older than Xavius, and his entire existence was torture to being back demons from the dead. All of his spells were Death spells. He's a literal Titan. Xavius is just an insane goat.

[Darththeo]

Every expansion since Cataclysm has hinted at the expansion AFTER the next.

Look at the final villains.


Mists of Pandaria: Garrosh Hellscream. Began his arc in Cataclysm, and kicked off Warlords.

Warlords of Draenor: Archimonde. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists of Pandaria, kicks off Legion.

Legion: Argus. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists, kicks off... Shadowlands?

Battle for Azeroth: N'zoth: Foreshadowed all the way back in Cataclysm with the Twilight's Hammer.... But also the Sha in Mists and Shadowmoon Valley in Warlords.

Shadowlands: All of this foreshadowing started two expansions ago, in Legion, with Sylvanas becoming Warchief and being a grade-A mustache twirler. And Argus' death knocking the Arbiter out cold.

10.0: Wont be a direct sequel to whatever happens to us in the beginning of Shadowlands.... But from Battle for Azeroth! The sword in Silithus, the Old Gods. Maybe with the Void being so terrified of Sylvanas, the Jailer's entire purpose could be revealed to end the war of Light and Shadow?

Void vs Light expansion confirmed!!!!!!

Garrosh was introduce and his arc began in TBC, not Cata. Garrosh was a major character in Wrath.

So, your theory is built off a flawed start.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I thought it was commonly accepted that the soul that broke the Arbiter was Xavius' ?

This was never accepted and most didn't even theorize this, as the scale is entirely different. Xavius would fit the timeline, even if just barely. But he lacks any connection at all to the rest of the plot to make this a relevant guess.

Fact is we still don't know who or what send the red blast. It could be Denathrius as well, even though it seems unlikely as there was this angle that suggest it didn't come from one of the shadowlands planes, but it wouldn't be first time where Blizzard is not thinking things through. Given that he immediately went to drain the shadowlands dry he clearly had some kind of knowledge, even if it was just dreadlord spy intel.

Argus is a logical guess due to the powers involved, but it's also badly represented, as the red powers of argus only exist in mythic, and even the ardenweald theater uses the black/blue/green color scheme to represent him and his abilties. So the visual connection is exclusive to a hand full of players which even for Blizzard would be a phenomenally bad leap in logic when it comes to visual storytelling.

[Teriz]

Every expansion since Cataclysm has hinted at the expansion AFTER the next.

Look at the final villains.


Mists of Pandaria: Garrosh Hellscream. Began his arc in Cataclysm, and kicked off Warlords.

Warlords of Draenor: Archimonde. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists of Pandaria, kicks off Legion.

Legion: Argus. Foreshadowed by Wrathion in Mists, kicks off... Shadowlands?

Battle for Azeroth: N'zoth: Foreshadowed all the way back in Cataclysm with the Twilight's Hammer.... But also the Sha in Mists and Shadowmoon Valley in Warlords.

Shadowlands: All of this foreshadowing started two expansions ago, in Legion, with Sylvanas becoming Warchief and being a grade-A mustache twirler. And Argus' death knocking the Arbiter out cold.

10.0: Wont be a direct sequel to whatever happens to us in the beginning of Shadowlands.... But from Battle for Azeroth! The sword in Silithus, the Old Gods. Maybe with the Void being so terrified of Sylvanas, the Jailer's entire purpose could be revealed to end the war of Light and Shadow?

Void vs Light expansion confirmed!!!!!!

I don't see another "cosmic" expansion coming next. I think the userbase wants a more grounded expansion actually set on Azeroth, with mortal, flesh and blood enemies. Additionally, I believe that most players want us to visit a location heavily tied to old school Warcraft lore, like the Dragon Isles or something similar.

BTW, it really needs to be stated that Blizzard made a HUGE mistake wasting N'Zoth in 8.3. I suppose there's still Azshara, but still....

[braydencook0712]

You see that episode of fresh prince where Carlton plays the slots at a gas station and talks about a guaranteed pattern??

This post gave me those vibes

hahaha, i feel ya bro

[Ashleyxoxo]

2 comes after 1 and is less than 3. I FOUND THE CONNECTION

[Destinas]

I don't get why people are obsessed with this idea, that the "red soul" that shut down/broke/knocked out/whatever the Arbiter is Argus, when a far more likely candidate for that soul's owner is the boss we had just killed, N'Zoth. Argus wasn't even killed, he was defeated. N'Zoth is dead.

Considering we haven't seen any Void-related souls in the Shadowlands, it's likely that the Old Gods return to the Void when they "die" in reality.

More likely is that the red "soul" was Remornia. It has the same color and it has the same sounds as the object that hit the Arbiter, and we know Denathrius has been working with the Jailer for some time now.

[Varodoc]

Oh it will be a Light and Void expansion OP, but everything you said is nonsensical LOL.