9.2 Story Speculation

Lore Story Forum
1

I thought it would be fun before the PTR started that we speculate on exactly how the story would unfold for 9.2. Here are my speculations.

  • The Primus opens the portal to Zereth Mortis but is unable to enter with us because Zovaal is using something he learned in Zereth Mortis to keep the other Eternals out.
  • As the heroes process this the portal starts malfunctioning showing that Zovaal is seeking to keep anyone from following him. Thus everyone who enters is “lore wise” stuck within Zereth Mortis, which helps explain why Sylvanas comes with us over being left in Oribos and messengers being sent to rely the information they’ve learned from her.
  • Ve’nari will be stunned at seeing other Brokers within the realm and wrestle with her desire of knowledge being contrasted at seeing them and her feelings of losing or changing herself.
  • Uther’s mentors at mentoring/guiding Sylvanas will be born out of Uther wanting to help someone that would remind him of the Forsworn and the belief that helping Sylvanas is the best way to gain her intel.
  • Nathanos will be revealed to have been taken and transformed by the Jailer. He subsequently serves as one of the raid bosses. Blizzard will use his death in an attempt to invoke sympathy for Sylvanas by having her reflect on everything she’s done and lost from her alliance with the Jailer. The player base, as always when it comes to Sylvanas, will be divided.
  • After decoding the language of the First Ones, we learn how to use the Forge of the Afterlives. The forge then subsequently becomes our special weapon that we use to unmake/kill Zovaal.
  • Tyrande and Sylvanas will have clenched teeth teamwork in order to focus on the greater threat of the Jailer and the Mawsworn. However after losing Nathanos and seeing the Jailer destroyed, Sylvanas will then sacrifice herself and use her anima to restore the Night Elves. Tyrande still won’t forgive Sylvanas, some other character will comment on it being a fittening atonement, and Blizzard will pat themselves on the head thinking that they’ve made everyone happy since Sylvanas will get an epic noble send off that her fans want, the night elves are restored which the night elves want, Sylvanas will be dead and out of the story which is what other people want. Responses will vary amongst the fanbase.
  • After the conflict the other Eternals will be able to enter Zereth Mortis and they will all help create a new Arbiter for Oribos, with safeguards in place to ensure that it can’t be shut down again.
  • There will be same vague line that implies that our committed to the covenants may have bound ourselves to the the covenant. For example my main here is Night Fae, and thus would seemingly be sent to Ardenweald upon that final death. Blizzard won’t comment and let us freely speculate.
  • The Shadowlands Epilogue will feature a working Arbiter directing the souls, and we shall see each of the main zones acting as they originally did. Kyrians guiding souls, the Maldraxxi watching fighting in the arena to select new members of the Houses, Night Fae tending to the loa souls with the awakening of Shadra being featured, and Venthyr doing their atonement rituals to help guide souls.
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2

I would feel better about just speculating rather than claiming to predict.

Seeing Sylvanas in bare threads… I wonder if she has been depowered. Perhaps she no longer has access to her banshee/jailer/maw sworn powers, and she is just an undead Elf.

I often considered that if she ever stepped back onto the side of existence… the “good side”, she would have to be depowered. After so many power boosts. She lost her Valkyr, and her Sugar Daddy - I wonder what tricks the broad has under her sleeves, as she stands.

Meanwhile, we have seen Tyrande juiced up with Elune Power, and then promptly depowered in the name of renewal.

It just strikes me as a parallel.

Maybe Sylvanas will remark on how Tyrande was better than her - because Tyrande managed to survive against death, while Sylvanas fell under its blade, and its sway.

Sylvanas did consider Elune being a road block in A Good War.

3

I speculate that the Primus will use the remaining Sylvanas Jailer Juice to open a portal big enough for us to go through.

Uther and Sylvanas will be there for the Anduin fight (which I assume will showcase Arthas)

He’ll tell us there must always be an Arbiter and we will use the ZM Machine to transfer Zovaal’s Powers into Sylvanas, where she will forever be the Arbiter, the most amazing judgement of character. :slight_smile:

4

Personally I think the main problem with the Shadowlands’ system was to create a specific Eternal One to sort Souls rather than let the Forge of the Afterlives do the job itself.

The Jailer ultimately got fed up with being forced to sort Souls into every new Afterlife created by the Forge of the Afterlives that he decided to smash the machine while the Arbiter despite being impartial and fair had to work with what the Forge of Afterlives had given her at the time.

Of course a Soul not going well with any of the Afterlives would shut her down completely until the proper Afterlife is made which begs to ask: How many times has this happened before? Was Sylvanas sent to the Maw because the Arbiter decided that it was the closest fit for a Soul as unrepentant as her or did a Soul that did not fit any Afterlife show up at the time causing the Arbiter to shut down sending all Souls into the Maw until the proper Afterlife showed up?

We need a machine that sorts Souls without bias and can also provide the best Afterlife for them without making mistakes or shutting down. Only the Forge of the Afterlives itself is worthy of this role!

5

This would be something positive for Night Elves, hence not allowed to happen.

The Night Elves are also pretty much erased from existence, and that story is pretty much done with it.

6

Sylvanas is following the exact same narrative path as Kerrigan, and all that’s left is for her to ascend to a higher state of being. I’m pretty sure that’s going to be Sylvanas becoming the new Arbiter. Beyond that it’s just going to be a bare bones ending to this bare bones story: the Jailer is defeated, the Shadowlands are returned to their normal functioning (albeit with improvements to each covenant due to our actions), and all the mortal characters go home to Azeroth. There’ll be some epilogue that hints at the next expansion.

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