MMO Champion’s Summery mentions that Devos tells her to trust in the process… She didn’t advocate any breaks it seems…
Then again neither did the aspirant overseeing another aspirant’s trials which showed us how Kyrian become Forsworn until the Aspirant becoming Forsworn was right on the verge of becoming one… Only then did she suggest to try another time while earlier she was all “Trust in the process”.
Yes, that first vision is from when Devos was still trusting in the Kyrian process, and hadn’t become Forsworn yet. All Kyrian say to “trust in the process”, that isn’t something particularly zealous about Devos.
They are all the same and Lysonia’s words show how much the Aspirants are terrified of the procedure…
The Paragon of Loyalty ironically held the least Loyalty as she was effected by Lysonia’s question about what the trials were like for her which likely made her question her Loyalty(since she doesn’t remember anything about why she took the Rite of Ascension) before joining the Jailer.
The Paragon of Loyalty needed one piercing question to make her question her Loyalty… The Archon misjudged her Paragons if she chose Devos’s position because of perceived Loyalty since it seems she was just brainwashed like the rest and only needed the right question to counter her “Loyalty”.
The Archon would have been better using a Centurion programmed for Loyalty as the Paragon of Loyalty than choosing an Aspirant since they are all stripped of their original self and thus their loyalties are pretty much all they are even aware of.
Wasn’t it stated that aspirants that don’t have what it takes or aren’t willing to loose their memories are shifted to another afterlife better fitting them? The memory process isn’t forced upon aspirants, at least it’s not supposed to be.
Arcane is the magical manifestation of Order. Like the Titans who are literally made from arcane and go around “Ordering” planets.
Mages are just mortals who try to use the arcane for their own ends. They don’t embody what Arcane means or stands for. They just use it.
Take it up with the 2004 designers who made Spirit Healers
They all look like humans because otherwise we’d be asking why spirit healers in Durotar aren’t blue orcs
Bastion is the afterlife for people with a very strong sense of duty who also don’t feel that they’ve done all they can. By default that already requires some measure of giving up one’s self, because it means sacrificing one’s rest, which they may have duly earned, to continue to serve.
None of the four realms that we’re seeing are the afterlives assigned to any one form of power, like Arcane, or Light, or Void, etc. They’re not good, or evil, though some are harsher than others, they’re just about their greater purpose. The issues we’re handling aren’t due to something inherently wrong with them, they’re just either being sabotaged or need to change to meet a new threat that can’t be defeated with their old ways.
Beyond some vague aesthetics, Bastion doesn’t even match Paladin aspects much at all, not in a way that solely belongs to the archetype. They’re brave, and dutiful, that describes… many, many different beings.
Honestly I would prefer they create more zones to add variety and a place where people who aren’t into smurfs/fairies/necrons/castlevania could go to hang out. Besides I don’t see in any way Blizzard changing in any way this pseudo weird religion mix of eastern with christian angels
I was kinda expecting we could visit the great planes which are mentioned as the afterlife of the Taurens and probably a good place for people that strive for the balance of the spirit energy(not nature, the element of spirit mentioned in chronicles) like Pandarens, Orcs, etc
I can’t tell if you joking or being serious, regardless my idea is more akin a shamanistic kind and being very different from Ardenwald since the zone is just a nelf re-skin and they didn’t bother to hide it or add some more neutral elements in the zone.
To be exact, the function of Ardenweald is reincarnation, such as Wild Gods who die and are reborn.
It’s Life themed cause those who go there are returned to life. All souls we’ve seen there save one are such immortal souls. The execption is Vol’jin who’s in Ardenweald, but he’s becoming a Loa himself.
Which doesn’t help it make anymore sense to me. I’m not sure why the Shadowlands would have section of it dedicated to bringing beings back to life.
It sounds like they are using the similar theme where demons die and go to the Twisting Nether, but that isn’t part of the Shadowlands.
I don’t see why the the Wild Gods wouldn’t have just gone to some part of the Emerald Dream for reincarnation, which is supposed to the mirrored opposite of the Shadowlands, but now is the “Spring/Summer” cycle of Ardenweld’s “Autumn/Winter.”
I know the real reason why it’s there, which is when designing expansion to make the different zones are diverse as possible from each other.
Not all Wild Gods are tied to the Dream though. Only the Ancient Guardians (e.g. Malorne, Aviana, Ursoc/Ursol, Goldrinn, etc) are.
Wild Gods are actually a natural thing, but the Emerald Dream isn’t natural, it’s an artificial creation.
There are Azerothian Wild Gods that have zero ties to the Emerald Dream, plus there are Wild Gods from other planets as well, we see some Wild Gods other worlds in Ardenweald. Also, the Gods of Arak from WoD are, from what I understand, Wild Gods, too.
Emerald Dream is more akin to Odyn’s Halls of Valor. It’s not a natural afterlife, it intercepts souls rather than them actually being destined for it. Shadowlands establishes Ardenweald as the true Wild God afterlife that they go to stay in until moving on elsewhere, such as back to Azeroth or to the Emerald Dream.
The thing to remember is that Emerald Dream isn’t a natural afterlife, it’s artifical and outside of the natural order of things. Ironic, considering it’s a place of nature magic, though nature magic =/= natural.
This is the part I’m not understanding. Why do the Wild Gods go to the Shadowlands? They are presented as ‘primal manifestations’ of life and nature. So beings such as that go to the Shadowlands as well? Okay, but then why do demons goto the Twisting Nether instead?
The Emerald Dream presented an explanation to why some of the Wild Gods returned after being killed, but now it seems that Ardenweald is implying they are just supposed to come back? Why even go to the Shadowlands and not just some Life/Nature plane, like demons and the Twisting Nether.
It just doesn’t sit well with me that the realm of decay and death has a reincarnation department.
I’m not sure why it’s confusing. When you are waiting to be reincarnated, you’re dead. The Shadowlands is where the dead go. You die, go to the Shadowlands, then reincarnate back to life in the living realm.
The Shadowlands is super mechanical in how it functions, it makes complete sense for it to have a reincarnation department. It still has to deal with the dead souls waiting to be reincarnated.
The fact that resurrections are canon means souls leaving the Shadowlands is a normal thing. The Shadowlands isn’t permanent for everyone, always. People can return to life after dying.
Apples and oranges, imo.
For starters demons don’t have afterlives. Demons are a natural occurrence in the Twisiting Nether, it’s their natural home plane. Artifical demons, like Kil’jaedan, become like those demons, and are bound to the Nether.
Wild Gods’ home plane is our own. Azeroth, or Draenor, or where else in the Great Dark. They are not from some “Life/Nature Plane” like demons are from elsewhere, they are from the same reality as humans, orcs, elves and trolls.
Thus, the two aren’t equatable. Demons are from another reality, Wild Gods are from ours, thus share our afterlife.
The Emerald Dream is an artificial realm created by the Titan Keeper Freya, likely from the dreams of the sleeping World Soul of Azeroth, to serve primarily as a backup copy of Azeroth in the event that the planet needed a total reorigination. Its role as a spiritual plane which nature spirits dwell is a secondary emergent quality. It is like the elemental planes, which are also artificial, and unique to Azeroth.
For most of the cosmos the Wild Gods do not have such a realm to call home, but instead call the material plane home. For them the Cycle is a lot less messy: They die, go to reincarnate, then get sent back to their home planet. In the event their planet is fried they seem to get other options, one of which is to remain in Ardenweald and serve as a leader there.
(Speculative): While it hasn’t been outright stated, it surely is heavily implied by both culture, aesthetics, and in some cases, mechanics. Ardenweald is very clearly an afterlife where those with a strong connection to Life and Nature go, and Ardenweald itself strongly reflects those themes. Bastion exudes a similar feeling, except for the Arcane. The architecture of the buildings, the general look of the Kyrians, etc… all strongly comes off as thematically similar to the Titans, whom are beings of the Arcane. Maldraxxus needs no introduction; you couldn’t get more blatantly, “Death,” themed than that. As for Revendreth, much of the culture strongly reflects what we’ve seen with demons in the past, and honestly, there’s the whole theory about Sire Denathrius being a Nathrezim, or at least of the race that Nathrezim evolved from.