At some indeterminate point in time (perhaps post-WoW’s storyline) we got sent back to attune/activate the waystone which is why it responds specifically to us and none of the other characters.
It would also explain why us not being able to die has grown to be more than just a game mechanic. We can’t die before we get to the point where we’re sent back to set up the Waystone.
A part of me wondered if we’re going to end up being the ones who somehow went back and created the entire reality of WoW but I don’t know if they’d go that far.
I remain of the mind that its the Heart of Azeroth that is canonically behind the Waystone activating for us in the Maw.
The First Ones seem like they were involved in Ordering a few different cosmological planes. For example, the Winter Queen has a sister in the realm of Life. If she was created by a First One, then her sister, logically, would have been as well.
The Titans may be more creations of the First Ones. Azeroth is the most (potentially) powerful known Titan, which suggests to me that she is more directly the product of the design of the First Ones. The Heart of Azeroth is the one thing all of the PCs canonically have which the leaders don’t. Even if the Heart itself is inert in the Shadowlands, its connection to the First Ones might still be enough for the Obelisk to react to it.
I hope the First Ones is more interesting than this, but I 100% would not be surprise if this was the explanation. Every other modern (post-WoW) MMO has from the jump had some other in-game lore explanation for why your character doesn’t “die” except for WoW.
I remember arguing with people before Shadowlands was announced on this very board about how Shadowlands was an opportunity to explore this mythos. “It’s just a gameplay conceit”… just wait. This C-Dev team will absolutely go there.
Most of them to be sure. Not the case in FFXIV. In fact the current expansion (Shadowlands) involves individuals from the future who reveal you (the player character/main character) were killed in the current war. So, in that MMO at least, you never actually die when you die. Seems more like any death is just dismissed as non-canon and you try again.
It’s an interesting idea, one I haven’t thought of before, but I sincerely hope not.
I’m more a fan of us returning to being mercenaries, adventurers and missionaries, out for coin and glory rather than “Chosen Ones,” but that’s me.
Having slain dragons, Titans and old gods I suppose nothing is out of the question at this point though… perhaps in the end the raid team that slew them all takes over as the new Pantheon. /s
I think the WoW player is going to end up being a First One too, but in a different way than OP. I think it will turn out we’re the reincarnation of one and that’s why their stuff activates for us.
Hmmmmm, sort of like another popular MMO that recently revealed its player is the reincarnation of an ancient being from before history. But Blizzard would never copy someone else, would they?
We could probably have our souls be infused with the essences of the First Ones, just as the Titan Keepers were infused with the essences of the dead Titans.
