Remember the Shadowlands promo trailer? It had the Jailer in chains.
But ever since we first saw the Jailer in-game, he was never in chains.
Meanwhile, we find the Runecarver like this:
Maybe the real Jailer is the friends we made along the way the Runecarver.
And the fake Jailer took his memories and put a bucket on his head for some evil purpose…
That would be an interesting twist, that I’m all for. SPOILERS
As of now the general consensus seems to be that the Runecarver is most likely the Primus of Maldraxxus. But with your theory, it would be the Primus posing as the jailer for an unknown purpose. It’s definitely an opportunity to add a lot of depth to the story.
It would be pretty cool.
The thing is… Blizz isn’t that good at writing! So I find it extremely unlikely.
The fake Jailer would be Sylvanas’s accomplice aiding her in attempting to wipe out all things in existence as the Void tells Alleria…
Who would want all existence destroyed and start channeling power to Sylvanas for that exact purpose?..Mueh’zala of course but even if he is channeling power to her he is not the fake Jailer so could it possibly be? Nathanos or one of the Valkyr?
I am going with this as well, RC is Primus
I don’t think it’s the Primus because every Statue of the Primus shows him with four fingers on his hands, and the Runecarver has five.
I think it’s more likely that the jailer just reused his old prison to imprison the runecarver. Why build a new one when you have an empty one right there? Also if the runecarver is the primus then there is a certain degree of irony in putting him in the same prison he helped imprison the jailer in.
I actually never noticed that.
I didn’t notice that. My bet on why it’s not the Primus is that when you first meet him it sounds like he intentionally helped the Jailer with something and got tricked. Now, it could have been the Primus trying to play 5d chess himself but, to me, it seemed like the Runecarver didn’t expect the betrayal (which I’d imagine the Primus would have).
Sylvanas and Nathanos could have been the ones to trick and betray him! The notion of Nathanos running the Maw just to get Sylvanas’s love would be hilarious especially if he took the Jailer’s necessary memories for himself!
Edit: While I don’t think he’s some ‘real jailer’. I’m not unsure if that REALLY is the Primus, I was convinced earlier but something feels like this COULD be someone else.
I don’t get why that theory of the Runecarver being the Primus is so popular anyway. If you think about it for more than a few seconds it makes no sense. The Runecarver has been around making weapons and such for quite some time (Frostmourne). The Primus was fairly recently dealt with because he discovered The Jailer/Sylvanas’s plans, as is explained in the Maldraxxus storyline. Wouldn’t make a lot of sense for them to be the same entity.
Yeah, and the Primus during the campaign was noted to be a great weaponsmith. Your rebuttal doesn’t really make sense anyway (lol).
Why would it not be the same entity… except for the one less finger and different voice acting.
I totally thought that as well. The Primus has a history of forging weapons (e.g. the blade you empower during the Maldraxxus storyline) and the fact that the Runecarver had his memories stolen seems just a bit too perfect an explanation as to how someone as powerful and influential as the Primus could vanish without a trace.
But… come on… Blizz would never be that obvious with their reveal, would they?
I feel like they’re going to do a switcheroo too. The no one escape the maw a bit on the nose. Like they were going to do “oh wait zovaal is not the jailer anymore later”
And this might be it.
Nah just you wait…
It is I, the Primus’ cousin! The Premise…of the story!
I’m well aware, having played the game. Still don’t particularly think it makes a lot of sense, but whatever you say (lol) 
It could possibly be an inconsistency between model and statue. It’s not beyond blizzard to make mistakes like these.
I just find it incredibly convenient that the missing primus was a master at runeforging, and the Runecarver just so happens to have total amnesia, but also happens to be a master at runeforging.
You just outlined why he would be the Runecarver.
For others re: the finger thing – I wouldn’t take that statue, or even the hologam as gospel of his appearance. Maldraxxus produces master spies. Deception is one of their prime (pun intended) directives.
‘Vision of the Primus’ may well be it’s very own seperate NPC or device to act as literally that, acting as the Primus’ vision. So if the Runecarver is the Primus, they know full well what is going on in other areas of the Shadowlands from under that helmet.
EDIT: But it’s Blizzard so it’s probably not as well considered as this. Will happily be proven wrong by them however!
Maybe it’s the Primus’ soul/anima stored in a host body? Is his voice actor Canadian?