Steve Danuser: We know that no detail, no matter how small or seemingly incidental, escapes the watchful eye of our players. From concept, to script, to storyboards, to animatics, all the way to final sound and images, every word and every frame is lovingly crafted in painstaking detail. Nothing is there by accident.
Players have already picked up on a number of elements that hint at larger storylines or concepts. When we depicted Uther’s soul being shattered by Frostmourne, we wondered if the detail might be too subtle. But in fact, the community spotted that immediately and began speculating what that might mean for Uther and other characters. When we showed Draka infiltrating a Burning Legion stronghold, viewers quickly picked up on a reference to an earlier cinematic and realized the implication that the Necrolords not only defend against invasions, but travel beyond the Shadowlands to neutralize potential threats.
Steve Danuser: While we intend this expansion to tell a focused story with a satisfying conclusion, it also opens up countless possibilities for the Warcraft universe. One of the most exciting aspects of bringing Shadowlands to life (pardon the pun) is the opportunity to not only explore established lore, but to build upon it and take it into tantalizing new directions.
The Chronicles books provided a window in the Warcraft cosmology from the point of view of the titans and their progeny. In Shadowlands, we get to delve into those mysteries from a different perspective, and we find out that there’s far more to the nature of reality and the planes of existence than anyone had realized. Many of the concepts introduced in the Afterlives series and in the stories revealed in this expansion will tee up some very intriguing possibilities that will be explored in future content.
For example, from the dark reaches of the Maw to the ancient halls of Oribos, you’ll hear mention of powerful beings referred to as the First Ones. As the story of Shadowlands unfolds, we’ll meet allies helping to explore the mysteries of their existence, as well as adversaries determined to plunder their secrets. Yet what we learn will merely scratch the surface of what lies ahead of us.
tldr:
Uther’s soul confirmed shattered by Frostmourne
Draka was triple confirmed on a Burning Legion world
They are fully aware we are brutally analyzing every detail, but still doubt whether we’ll catch on to things (e.g. Uther’s soul, Draka in the Legion world, etc)
They are intending both both explore lore and take the story in new directions
Chronicles was from the point of view of the Titans and their “progeny” (presumably Keepers, etc)
First Ones will be explored this xpac but will be multi-xpac long
I hope they think long and hard about these First Ones because there’s a limit to this.
If I’m being honest the Titans were never well done. Like the Old Gods they got dramatically less interesting the more we learned about them but at least the elder things had interesting designs. So I’m fine with them basically being more giant computer programmers than literal deities.
But once you give me the First Ones, I will slap someone if they try to tell me well actually there’s something even older.
Well, the Titans were the Warcraft version of the Xel’naga. That’s what Metzen had in mind because he just shifted from Sci-fi to fantasy. The new story team wanted more so these universe creators were turned into just mid tier cosmic beings… which really messes up the lore. Why do the planets have Titan souls? Why are Titans born from planets that all the forces inhabit now? Why do the Old Gods have to infect a common ground planet so the Void Lords can invade? Why are the Void Lord envious of the Titans when they should be envious of the Order Lords?
And so what are the First Ones? Beings that supersede the cosmology? What’s the point of mapping out of the forces of the universe if they don’t even matter?
My issue with them is that they’re not exploring established lore so much as rewriting it wholesale and claiming that these changes are just a “new perspective”.
Well, that and the fact that the more they delve into these cosmic powers, the less the game resonates with me and the less connection to the lore I feel. I cared about Azeroth; I don’t care about their cosmology. Personally, I would rather the Titans had just remained mythical beings that we knew about from the scraps they left behind, and now the Titans have been reduced to middle management while we go fight bigger, better gods. The entire lore has lost its grounding, IMO.
I mean for me, I have the opposite reaction. The more developed the larger cosmos becomes, the more fun it is for me. Having the power ladder end at “Titans” and “Old Gods” and “Burning Legion” was always extremely boring and uninspired to me.
I’ve posted about this before but as per Chronicles (as per the Titans, as per WoW-under-Metzen), WoW was an “atheist” universe. There was no universal architect, it was just a “big bang” of Shadow/Light from which everything else came up. Everything was “natural” in the sense there was no intelligent design before the Titans woke up and found eachother.
However that is no longer the case. Chronicles/Titans/Metzen are past.
To me it’s evident they’re going a Tokien-esque route, with a Valar group with Eru power levels.
If they do it right and don’t make these beings Alliance-centric (unlike the Titans, who were Alliance-centric until the Warlords of Draenor and Chronicles retcons/revelations with the Orcs also being Titan origin), it would slap.
Titans were all Norse/Greek mythology with a handful of Egyptian mythology references.
But now the Eternals in the Shadowlands are Angels and Vampires and Fairies and Zombies.
I’m just ranting right now, and I don’t know if I stated this already; But a majoy detriment to the Warcraft right now is trying to create this new expansive universe, without retconning the preexisting lore that really just doesn’t fit. The team just doesn’t have the cojones to say “Well yeah, I know that’s what happened, but that’s not what we going with anymore” enough to keep the story concrete.
They just keep bending over backwards to justify lore. Varimathras “killing” Balnazzar. Well, he deceived Sylvanas! Well… it wasn’t even a feint, he just respawned anyway. It’s no different than taking someone else’s parking space.
Or really Voidwalkers not being demons… they are enslaved void spawn, because that’s the enemy of Sargeras… even though there are 3 other powers… well 4 because Order doesn’t listen.
In any case… The Cosmology lore needs to be rewritten at this point. They really need to chart it out, and commit to it. The “Perspective” angle is crap and lazy, and they know it.
I would have love this interview would it have been true. But unfortunately, every action/word isn’t lovingly crafted in painstaking detail like they pretend.
One of the major problem is exactly that they put to many thing in game without having a real meaning and any intention to be developed.
The visual and audio cue of Uther’s soul splitting into two and both moving in different directions was the only thing to happen at that point in the video. That seemed anything but subtle.
We could argue about it even more now. Danuser said that Frostmourne did the shattering, while most people here concluded that it was the Light’s pull that did it.
what a useless interview. It added nothing but just triple confirming stuff that was very basic knowledge.
What is next are they gonna have an interview with Ion about the story where he says “YOU ARE THE MAW WALKER” and “NOTHING EVER ESCAPES THE MAW” and “WHEN YOU GO TO THE SHADOWLANDS YOU ARE SENT TO THE MAW AS INTRO” etc etc
It could be both. The Light tried to pull Uther’s soul at the last moment but Frostmourne broke the Light’s pull, resulting in Uther’s soul being split into two.