Ok, hopefully that gave people who didn’t want to read when scrolling the chance to not read this.
So, I was on MMOChampion and saw this new update to the Crucible of Storms. Titled “Crucible of Storms - Blade of Xal’atath Follow Up Quest”. I loved Xal’atath from my days as a shadow priest in Legion and went to read.
If you are Horde, the empty blade of Xal’atath will appear on the ground in Uu’nat’s room after killing him. You are then given the quest **[The Black Blade] which has you bring the blade to Sylvanas. She says that the blade will be the compass that guides the Horde to victory and that the Alliance has no idea what it’s up against. She claims that with the blade, they will shift the war in the Horde’s favor once again.
This is my problem. Right here. When I first got Xal’atah back in Legion I went and I looked up the lore. I read about this blade and that is why I’m not liking this.
Xal’atah was said to be an old god claw or whatever. Anyways, but where the world first encounters this blade is during the Troll Empire. A fellow named Zan’do, he wants to use it to defeat his enemies. The blade twists his mind. Then the blade betrays him and his allies. They die.
Next we have Modgud. Modgud is the Queen of the Dark Iron Dwarves during the War of the Three hammers. She uses the blade. Again… the blade tells her what she wants to know. But in her final hours. She is betrayed by the blade and she dies.
Now we have Sylvanas using the blade as a “compass” to ensure victory for the Horde. Just like the other two tales…
I really, really do not want Sylvanas to met her end following what appears to be a pattern of death due to this blade. It seems unfitting. Two rather unimportant lore characters died being manipulated by this weapon. Is that really how Sylvanas Windrunner a staple character of the franchise itself should go out?
Hopefully the pattern changes with her. So far it’s just “use this blade long enough and you die.”
This, coupled with the fact that the Blood Elves and Nightbourne have both now sided against Sylvanas means that we’re getting Garrosh 2.0.
What I think was likely miscommunicated was that Blizzard said “You won’t get Garrosh 2.0!” Which the playerbase took to mean “We won’t make your Warchief evil and kill/banish them!”, but the Dev team ACTUALLY meant “We won’t specifically kill Sylvanas in the same way as Garrosh, but she’s still going to be functionally dead and out of the story.”
Well, knowing Blizzard’s recent writing it might turn out that the Sylvanas that’s been causing trouble lately is alternate-Azeroth Sylvanas and the real one is locked away somewhere.
It just seems weird that she’d want the blade them. I’m assuming she knows what it is. That’s why she figured she could use it as a “compass to victory.”
I just don’t want her to die by being tricked by Xal’atah.
What will happen is: Sylvanas will fight us and lose so she will run away to another timeline where she will stop the scourge from destroying Silvermoon and form the Silver Horde with the High Elves.
Then she will use the Silver Horde to attack our timeline. We will know we are about to be invaded by High Elves when the Sunwell turns blue.
That’s the next expansion: Ranger Lords of Quel’thalas.
After reading the broadcast text, I’ve lost faith Blizzard has any sort of intention of telling a story with twists and surprises. It’s all super straightforward. After the treatment so many beloved lore characters got; just like how Azshara is about to get treated, you expect any better for Sylvanas? Kil’jaedan the master of cunning got jumped and beat down on a command ship in space. Archimonde the Defiler of the cosmos, got beat down by a group of adventurers even with the Legion’s infinite army.
I expect they see Sylvanas using the blade in a sense as poetic justice. She is manipulative and cruel to her enemies. So in Blizzard’s mind, what better way to go out than to be manipulated herself?
This. The fact is that Xal’atath is not in the blade. If anyone is betraying Sylvannas it would be N’zoth as he was the one that told Xal that she could leave but the Blade had to stay.
Also (IMO) for some reason I think Sylvannas knows what she is doing… Since WC3 she has always been extremely calculating and cunning… I believe she is being underestimated and I would even think she is counting on it… I would not be surprise at all that the whole Horde Rebellion is part of her plan from the start and we the PC play our part perfectly no matter if we sided with her or not.
The blade serves N’Zoth. When Hordies pick up the quest they are COMPELLED by it to deliver it to Sylvanas. She’ll be duped by N’Zoth into doing something to free him and that will be her breaking point; she’ll either Praise N’Zoth to save her hide (and fail) or she’ll be reduced to an emotional wreck as the depths of her constant failures and short comings become too much to bear.
I freed Xal but I thought she stayed attached to the blade and could still talk through it. I guess I missed the part where she was actually removed completely from it.
This sounds awesome. Perhaps the Alliance can recruit as an allied race those High Elves that resisted joining Sylvanas’ Silver Horde. They could have a different appearance, on the basis that they’re from another timeline.
![:thinking:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/thinking.png?v=6" ":thinking:")