Maybe King Leoric got lost in Khanduras and wound up in the middle of the Maw?
The resemblances are uncanny:
He’s a dude
Watches over the undead (skeleton king and all)
Is associated with an ever changing labyrinthine dungeon
So you’re saying we just have to knock off his crown to beat him? Easy enough.
Greek mythology has Chronus as the Titan of Time, one of whose sons (Son of Time, a title of Muehzala) is Hades, one of whose primary symbols of his Helmet (that renders him invisible), who became the ruler of all the realms of the Underworld in his sprawling city-mansion-tower.
I don’t think the Jailer is a Keeper or Titan, but I do think the odd resemblance to Amanthul is something intentional, and the lore is pointing to a conflict between the Titans and their Keepers and the forces of Death.
Tin foil hat time: The Jailer is the one that put the idea of killing all life to stop the Void from spreading into Sargeras’ head, and with Sargeras locked up the Jailer switched over to Sylvanas to act.
he started plans with sylvanas far earlier
Glad I wasn’t the only one who saw that connection.
Both the Jailer and Aman’thul have big beautiful beards that would make CinemaWins give infinite amount of wins.
Hm
See the Nathrezim were who put the idea into Sageras’s head.
The Nathrezim who stole the Helm from Toghast and the Jailer.
The Helm which eventually became central to the entity known as the Lich King, which Sylvanas (aligned with the Jailer) calls an usurper and breaks.
A plot which her old Nathrezim ally Varimanthas implied way back in Legion when we beat him while he’s being tortured by Sargeras & Friends.
So I don’t think the Jailer and Sargeras are aligned, but I do think maybe the Nathrezim are native in some capacity to the Shadowlands, or were the first to develop necromantic magic and the first to commune with the Shadowlands, and I think maybe their suggesting to Sargeras to kill all life was some sort of ornate long term multi millenia 10 dimensional chess.
He arguably looks like a flesh-and-blood Constellar might as well.
And one might recall that Harbaron was hinted at being a Constellar who, for reasons as yet unexplained, was associated with Helya’s dominion over death in Helheim.
Perhaps of note, warlocks learned from the Observer pet during the green fire questline that the nathrezim were once an enlightened and advanced race unsurpassed in their mastery of summoning and gateway magics.
Yet by the time Sargeras encountered them, they were already reduced to a bunch of conniving despoilers corrupting worlds, reveling in shadow magic and destroying nations from within.
Maybe they were twisted into what they are now by summoning something they shouldn’t have, or by opening a portal or gateway to the wrong place. Like, say, perhaps something of or somewhere in the Shadowlands.
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Also this is definitely NOT Bwon’s boss.
In real life mythology Baron Samedi is ultimately subject to Papa Legba within the dynamics of the Ghede Nanchon. Legba is always a fun, trickster kind of lwa in most iterations and stories.
And Bwon hates Sylvanas, which means his boss hates Sylvanas, which means his boss is against the Jailer.
Likewise, in real life mythology Hel reports to Loki, and is one of three realms where the dead may go (Freya’s, Odin’s, or Hel’s).
Now bear with me here:
Jailer probably is the one that took Odyn’s eye and thus can see into this world. Helya hates Odyn. The Archon (ruler of Bastion, first of the Kyrians) had to have been made by someone into a Kyrian as it is a ritual, but also probably serves as our Freya (who is always given half the dead) as Odyn is taking more souls than is fair for his Valajar. So the Archon probably hates Odyn too.
But it is implied due to the Sylvanas Helya connection, as well as a Blizzcon tease saying the lantern Helya gave Sylvanas will play a role in the story, that Helya is allied to the Jailer.
So, in terms of Death aligned people:
Helya = with Jailer, against Odyn
Archon = against Jailer, against Odyn probably
Bwon = against Jailer
Sylvanas = with Jailer, resents Odyn
Lich King Bolívar = against Jailer
Bwon’s boss = against Jailer
Gorok Tul = with Jailer, against the Dream/Ardenweald
Tyrande = against Jailer, with the Dream/Ardenweald
Nathrezim = hated by the Jailer probably, might be trying to get back into his good graces?
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I’m still hoping Helya is Bwonsamdi’s boss the way Freya guided some of the Wild Gods.
The Jailer resembles Zeus more than Aman’Thul and probably is the WoW version of Zeus, Poseidon and Nyx at the same time.
Blizzard said it was an associate of the Jailer who took Odyn’s eye not the Jailer himself!
Said associate was mentioned as formless just as Mueh’zala was described.
Mueh’zala is likely the associate of the Jailer which is not surprising since the Jailer looks like the Kyrian who use Night Magic(their totem is called Vesper Totem) and Mueh’zala is called Night’s Friend.
There is no real evidence that this is true. He asks Talanji to betray Sylvanas and Talanji refuses and Bwonsamdi rewards her for it. If anything that is a test of character that Talanji passes.
Secondly, even if Bwonsamdi did hate Sylvanas, to which I would argue still that there isn’t really evidence of, that doesn’t mean Bwonsamdi’s boss does. If Bwonsamdi feels a sense of rivarly with Sylvanas it is just as likely that Sylvanas is working with Bwonsamdi’s boss which is why Bwonsamdi feels jealous or hard done by it. That said, there is no evidence that this is true. Bwonsamdi doesn’t like undead for the same reason the Maw needs souls, undead have a habit of keeping their souls after death.
If anything I think this is all evidence that Bwonsamdi does serve the Jailor and actually serves him and is jealous of Sylvanas’s power and independence.
We’ll see in Shadowlands I suppose.
2 Likes
But we’re told there are different afterlives. Wasn’t it confirmed that the jailer was the one who tricked Vol’jin into making Sylvanas the warchief?
Not yet, as far as I can tell. We’re just inferring it for now from Danuser saying it was the Jailer and Sylvanas’ plan for her to become warchief.
There is still the possibility that the Arbiter herself made Sylvanas Warchief and brought back Vol’jin.
Sylvanas may have intended to become Warchief yet was caught quite off guard when it was handed to her so abruptly by the Loa. The Jailer wanted her to be a trusted Warchief so that the plan could go on smoothly.
Everything that happened(Sylvanas becoming Warchief and Saurfang sparing Malfurion) rushed Sylvanas and the Jailer’s plans which makes them easier to unravel.
The Arbiter would probably want nothing more than to see the Jailer dead so it is easy to see her decide to rush the Jailer’s plan along so that he’d be unprepared for us.
Definite Helya connection.
it is me or he is a mix between hades and poseidon?
I hear you but the whole “servant of bigger badder force betraying their master” stick as a main plot device was already used by Azshara this xpac and while Blizzard isn’t exactly the most subtle (in terms of heavily borrowing from real life myth) or creative (in terms of recycling plot devices or themes), I don’t think they use the same stick twice in a row.
I don’t get where folks are getting Poseidon but really Large Euro Lookin Dude With Giant Majestic Beard is par for the course nearly every dudebro deity from Western Europe to the Near East (eg Iran) to even some North African Imazighen myths (eg among the Guanche); hell, even my tribes’ in Colombia primordial creator God before we became Catholic was described as a particularly pale white dude with a giant beard and dominion over death.
As far as White Dude With Beard And Helmet And/Or Death Relations there’s really only a few: Hades (Greek, one of two with helmet), Pluto/Dis Pater (Roman, the other one with helmet), Angra Mainyu (destructive evil god) and Azura Mahda (creative, good god) (Persia today Iran), Loki (Norse, connection via his daughter Hel), and from an Early Christian perspective after Judaic beliefs were translated into Greek themes Satan/The Devil (via use of Satyrs in place of Shedim).
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Word yeah forgot about this, but also imho I think the Jailer has the Eye Of Odyn, so not sure how important this is.
But also I wonder how much associate and ally bleed here. Assuming Muehzala is Bwon’s Boss and NOT the Jailer, does that mean Mueh and the Jailer are like allies or enemies depending on the century or?