I asked for one gift for Christmas. I got it, thanks to my immediate family. Here is the trailer for it.
The point the Son made upon seeing it was “Oh, great. Now Ner’zhul is free on Azeroth. Here is a decent twenty minute video on the subject of Ner’Zhul. If you just want the short version of the lore, Ner’zhul’s soul was trapped in the helm of the Lich King. Was trapped, is trapped no longer.
So we have that question to ponder on, as well as what role Bolvar will play in the next expansion, if he plays any role at all. In any case, I’m looking forward to the day when the expansion goes live. It should be interesting, now that Sylvanas has shown what she thinks of the paltry power of the Lich King.
Postscript
As I note in this longer article I wrote after starting playing the expansion (it was ninish months getting to the release date. WTF?)
I always thought that Sylvanas was trying to become the next Lich King. I’d say most players who thought about Sylvanas’ motivations probably thought that was her goal, to become the lord of all the undead. Why not? Seemed logical.
Then you play through the Shadowlands expansion for World of Warcraft and you realize that this convoluted story arc exists simply to prove that the game developers didn’t have to make Sylvanas put on the frozen helm. That is the only reason it exists in the first place.
That, and to put to rest the last facet of the original fate-driven sub-plots that had emerged during the development of the original Warcraft lore. The Burning Legion has been defeated, the Titans have been reseated on their thrones, the evil at the heart of the very fabric of reality has been removed and that fabric repaired. Now what?
Dragons, apparently. More on that after I start playing that expansion. In the meantime, here are the Slyvanas punishment scenes:
I left the final cutscene between Anduin and Sylvanas out of this article I just published. Here is the final scene:
Don’t get me wrong. As an atheist who became an atheist because I couldn’t stomach condoning a belief in Hell, I do appreciate that the new arbiter of the Shadowlands doesn’t think that there should be a Hell (a Maw) and that all souls are redeemable. Great. It’s a game though. It’s not a religion. Not a religion yet anyway.
