I had a bit of a fridge logic moment when I was remembering that early Revendreth quest that explains how spirits without any remaining anima can no longer be redeemed.
I know this is pretty minor and far from ever being the biggest plot hole in the story, but what if you raised a soul like that as an undead? Wouldn’t they start generating anima again with their future (un)life experiences?
The idea of being able to use necromancy as a method of spiritual parole and prisoner reform is amusing to me.
This is actually bespoke, for the propagation of the Forsaken, all they have to do is resurrect all the souls the Venthyr bled dry, unable to be redeemed, which not only lets them regenerate anima, but also gives them a chance to change their lives sufficiently so as to warrant not being sent to Revendreth again.
Given the souls that are drained dry of their anima evaporate into nothingness, I was under the impression that it was less that they could no longer be redeemed and more that once all your animals is going in the Shadowlands you cease to exist - becoming just a part of the background death magic of the realm.
In Torghast there are likewise many souls tortured to the brink of oblivion for their anima that similarly dissolve, giving up their last bit of power to the Mawwalker as they are too far gone to be saved.
My statement stands. The Forsaken can just selectively revive souls in Revendreth that are drained beyond redemption, unable to move on. This would let them regain anima once undead in reality, and be able to change their ultimate fate too.
Not in Revendreth, souls drained too much stay around, just don’t have enough anima to be redeemed. That’s how it’s explained in a few quests. They’re stuck in Revendreth for all eternity as a soul. (unless someone were to take them out)
I assumed that you were catching them in your little pokeball like when you do the Maw weekly for 5/10 spirits to add to your covenant, since they both use the same dialogue output. Admittedly that’s a rather weak tie between the two. I guess I could try collecting spirits directly in Torghast this week to see for myself, though.
Undead in reality are functionally mortals, they die again, they are alive again. The Kyrians cannot intervene if a soul is called back from the dead, that much is stated repeatedly in the world quest, albeit can “help” heroes defeat a necromancer by not reaping them.
There is nothing in the game stating Undead do not gain more anima beyond that which they had when they were normally alive, and from what happened to Sylvanas we can relatively safely observe/speculate that what one does in Undeath can alter one’s “final destination” between First Death and Second Death.
Nope, we are repeatedly told in game that souls gain anima within reality, and are shown undead have the benefit of changing their final destination given sylvanas (until we are told otherwise, that she wasn’t supposed to go to the Maw on her second death). Even Liches are seen “regenerating” in reality after dying repeatedly, and we even see Undead in reality turned into Liches.
Your statement is in the affirmative, that “All Undead In Reality Do Not Gain Anima”. Quite a broad statement indeed.
I don’t recall seeing any spirits that were labeled specifically as having been drained of their anima aside from the ones that were subsequently destroyed in the halls of atonement after the Chamberlain takes over from the Accuser.
Once drained of their anima they either evaporated or were completely broken, losing their will and reverting to specters of their old selves which then have to be killed a second time. They don’t seem to ‘live on’ in any permanent capacity.
At any rate, I don’t think there would be enough of them left to animate a corpse. Even if they could, without a will of their own I don’t see how they could have any new meaningful experiences to generate more anima.
Drained Soul says: Nooooo. Not again. I can’t … Darkhaven Villager says: We must all make sacrifices. The Master demands it. Drained Soul says: Aahhhh! Nooooo. No more … Arggghhhh! Darkhaven Villager says: The soul is devoid of anima now, fully drained. There will be no redemption after countless eons of suffering. A pity.
You are assuming only souls with anima are able to be resurrected from the dead and turned into an undead, which again, has not been stated.
The above soul still has a will, evidently.
All this being said, the story team didn’t flesh out the metaphysics too well.
I’m waiting for proof anywhere at all that says “The Undead In Reality Do Not Gain Anima”, especially given that we see Forsaken models in the Shadowlands (even in Bastion) meaning their former undeath is evidently intrinsic to and fundamentally alters their soul.
Anima is possible only in Life - In LIFE_ not in Reality, but to form in LIFE. You can form anima also in the emerald green dream, not reality Or in the Nether. The important fact is “LIFE!” But you can´t use it in life, only in death.
second: Undeads were once allive, of course they have still anima, but anima have nothing to do with the possibility to rise someone from death, i don´t know what you mean with your lich example, because that have nothing to do with anima either.
Anima is the Energy- a form of life-energy- builded in your life.
There is literally nothing in the game stating the the undead do not gain anima as undead and are thus functionally “alive” for the purposes of anima generation.
There is nothing also that states they do, but we do see how people’s “final destinations” can change during Undeath.
So if your actions in Undeath can affect your passing into the Shadowlands, it stands to reason that you also generate anima since those are, in fact, new experiences and new things you are doing. New sins to extract, new memories to purge, new everything.
Hell, given Sylvanas committed new sins between Ranger General and Banshee Queen, that is literally new anima the venthyr can extract. Simple as.
Yah there’s literally nothing saying that undead can’t generate new anima, and seeing forsaken models in certain afterlife kind of shows that you can change your fate as it where depending on actions you take in unlife.
Or in the Nether. The important fact is “LIFE!” But you can´t use it in life, only in death.