Azshara killing Tyrande

Lore Story Forum
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According to Ion this is what he has to say about Azshara in 8.2
“Azshara has plans and has a role to play in the faction conflict. There are events that the players will not expect.”

I think the most unexpected thing would be Azshara killing Tyrande. Having built Tyrande up only to have her struck down suddenly. It would throw the faction conflict into chaos and make things interesting for once and it would be an ironic ending for Tyrande. Would Blizzard ever have the guts to write something like that?

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At first, I thought there’d be no way they’d kick the Night Elves again while they’re down. Not after Teldrassil. But… after fourteen years of dragging Night Elves through the mud, out of seeming contempt, if not outright malice, then sure. I currently place it at about 75% probability.

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It’s one thing to kill a character that has been build up an expansion or two later but completely different to kill them in the same expansion that built them up. Thus with Tyrande’s recent build up with the Night Warrior ascension then it would truly be shocking if they did kill her.

With that said I don’t think that Blizzard would kill Tyrande off during Battle for Azeroth. If anything I see them killing Malfurion over Tyrande since Tyrande has received that build up. Plus Blizzard likes using tragedy as apart of a character’s story so Tyrande losing her beloved would fit the theme. At the same time it would firmly establish Azshara’s power to those not that aware of her character to kill a well known figure like Malfurion.

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Oh, my sweet summer child…

Anything but that. Killing Tyrande means the Alliance loses the one character who doesn’t drink Anduin’s Kool-aid. But boring and uninteresting is the Alliance’s middle name, so…

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Shandris
Maiev
Malfurion
Illidan
Tyrande
Jarod

Compared to other races the NE have a deep roster

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I’m learning. It only took a moment’s reflection to realize just how likely it is.

My only real question now is whether Azshara will kill her outright, or if Blizz will take a swipe at Night Elves and Elune simultaneously, and have Azshara/N’zoth pull some Void shenanigans with the Night Warrior, corrupting Tyrande, and forcing us to kill her.

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No, I really doubt it. Tyrande’s recent power up does give her some level of Plot Armor for a while; under traditional story structures (basic stuff protects her right now). Malf, due to his near-recent death, ALSO has traditionally some level of Plot-Armor for a time.

One needs to still show her potential, the other would be too much of a repeat so soon; especially with Saurfang’s arc remaining so far in the dark … and I do think Saurfang will come in contact with those two again if nothing else. He may not be quite so safe by the end of BfA though … as much as I hate saying that. Blizz really does love killing old orcs in dramatic ways (seriously, that trope sucks…)

MANY characters don’t have such luxuries atm; but I feel pretty safe saying that neither of the two heads of the Kaldorei state are at risk for now.

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I would certainly hope not, but I don’t trust Blizzard farther than I can throw them with writing.

That said though, I can’t see any real benefit to killing off Tyrande or Malfurion. if it’s done, it’s going to be pretty cheap shock value and would further alienate the playerbase. Not that the Horde isn’t constantly hit with having our leaders killed off for stupid reasons (still not happy about how Garrosh was handled, and I really hope we get Vol’jin back for good) but this isn’t how I’d like that to be addressed.

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My leaning on this whole subject is the twist is likely three fold.

  1. Azshara survives the raid.

  2. Slyvanas has been working to recruit the Naga all along, and we learn making Tyrande/Malfurion suffer either through the death of the other, or a massacre of Teldrassil were Azshara’s opening terms.

  3. Turns out Azshara surviving the raid is actually key to stopping Nzoth’s plan, and preventing the death/corruption of Azeroth. This would also tie up the lose end of why the Bronze Dragon Flight says timeways where Azshara dies during the WotA are unstable, if she is responsible for saving Azeroth even if for selfish reasons of finishing freeing herself and the Naga from Nzoth.

Along with this it potentially comes up that Azshara has likely been intentionally sabotaging Nzoth getting free all these years (while building personal power and the Naga Empire), since she realizes it would tip the balance of power against her to a point where Nzoth could start demanding to renegotiate their deal of her maintaining free will.

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Didn’t Tyrande survive an encounter with Azshara by literal divine intervention once before? I would honestly be surprised if Elune let Tyrande die ever let alone at Azshara’s hands. Despite Blizzard’s clear disdain for the Nightelves I think Tyrande is safe at least through 8.2.

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That was old Elune. NuElune is too busy making constellations and empowering the Lun’alai to care about the Night Elves.

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Saldy remember it’s Blizzard we’re talking about. They just can’t seem to let any oportunity to kick night elves even in their “fist pump moments”.
The latest Leatherworking quest lets us know that our biggest Goddess is depowered because of the Night Warrior Boost given to Tyrande. So basically Elune has very clear limits.
I really wish Elune to remain a mystery. Not everything needs to be explained and some things are better just left untouched.

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Really? That’s a bummer. I’m starting to think just killing off what’s left of the Night Elves would be better than this slow death Blizzard are putting us through.

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Night Warrior Tyrande is the first time the Alliance has been interesting in over a decade. It would be a tremendous waste to sacrifice her character here. If anything she should have her role in the Alliance elevated to provide a foil to Anduin’s cabal and possibly even usurp or inherit leadership of the entire Alliance faction over time.

As a pro-Horde person I am ready for the Alliance to lose some big-name characters after losing Horde leaders back to back. But as someone interested in well-told, well-written stories I think Tyrande has too much potential now to kill-off.

Take Malfurion instead.

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Hi. I like the way you think.

Have my babies?

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I think it’s more likely that she would kill malfurion instead. Tyrande finally got interesting.

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Honestly it all depends on how they treat Azshara in the narrative, as an old night elf villain tied to their story, or as an adversary of Kul Tiras, or both. In all the years we’ve had building Azshara up, we’ve only ever had her encounter Malfurion, Illidan, or Tyrande once, that being when Malfurion confronts her in Darkshore, in a quest that’s nearly nine years old now.

I’m mentally preparing myself for her to be usurped as a human/Kul Tiran antagonist instead, with the night elves relegated to playing hot potato with Darkshore against the Forsaken. Because as it stands now, Farondis, and the Kul Tirans in general have had a more antagonistic build up with her in all of WoW’s history.

If they do include night elves, that brings up the other issue of which history Malf and Tyrande have with Azshara is the canon. In the Knaak canon, which was presumed the actual canon for many years, Malfurion and Tyrande barely interact with Azshara at all. In fact, I don’t think Malfurion ever actually meets her, and Tyrande’s interaction is all of five minutes. If that version of the War of the Ancients is canon, then Azshara would only know them as some wet behind the ears kids who foiled her grand plans in the space of a few months.

But, Blizzard has played fast and loose with that version, and they could very well be leaning towards the original canon of the War of the Ancients, which makes much more sense timeline wise. In the pre-Knaak canon, the war lasted for years, maybe even decades, and Malfurion, Tyrande, and Illidan were well known to Azshara and more than likely interacted many times, Illidan especially. That version ended with Azshara and Malfurion dueling each other at Zin Azshari, the battle so insane that it destabilized the Well all by itself, making Mafurion much more directly responsible for her defeat. However, the Warbringers short refutes that as well, as it shows the exact time Zin Azshari was flooded, so… no clue.

If she’s going to kill anyone, it should be Malfurion. And I’ll gladly sacrifice him if it means we get night elf involvement and we also get confirmation that the Knaak version of WoTA is retconned forever because it’s… it’s really bad.

So bad.

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They’ve said in an interview that they intend Azshara to be a continuation of the Night Elf story. Though, given how that tends to go, I’d almost rather the Kul Tirans take it. Almost.

That said, I believe they said Jaina will also have a role in 8.2. Which will probably be showing up on the S.S. Deus, and out-mageing Azshara.

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If that happens that will be the day I finally admit Jaina is actually too overpowered. I’m happy that Azshara will be tied to the night elves, as it should be, really. I do share your wariness as to what that means, though.

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I foresee 3 possibilities which wouldn’t surprise me with the way Blizzard’s writing has been recently.

  1. Tyrande has been corrupted this whole time. Elune really did abandon her, and her “night warrior” transformation was simply N’Zoth finally corrupting her soul. It will be revealed in that raid that she has been an unwitting pawn, and N’Zoth will finally take over her mind to bring the NEs into his army and free him from his prison.
    :squid::elf:
  2. Azeroth has been dead this entire time. N’Zoth or Azshara have been impersonating the world-soul. Magni has unknowingly been sending us to collect Azerite to gather enough power to free N’Zoth. N’Zoth has abandoned his goal of corrupting the world-soul now that it is dead, and instead wants to rebuild the black empire to rule over it as its eternal king with Azshara as his queen.
    :squid::crown::snake:
  3. Azshara wants to “replace” or “merge” with Azeroth’s world-soul. In the well of eternity dungeon, Azshara says she wants a “perfect world.” She also considers herself to be perfect. If she becomes the world, then the world will become a “perfect world” since it can’t possibly be imperfect if it’s her.
    :snake::earth_americas:
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