So.....what's after the shadowlands?

Community General Discussion
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So. In the hierarchy of existence, It seems to go:
Realm of the Living --> Shadowlands --> ???

I know that we’re told that once you die in the shadowlands, that’s it. Your soul is no more, your anima just joins the conglomerate and loses individuality and memory, or dissipates completely.

I would argue that this mindset is drawn more from an acceptance of what is shown and told to the denizens of the shadowlands in both realms.

In the realm of the living, you’re told that there is an afterlife. You’ll join your ancestors, ascend to the light, join Odyn’s army, so on and so on. There’s this theme that that is the end - that’s your eternity.

Why, once you enter the shadowlands, would you believe anything else? You’re walking among souls that have all grown up with the same belief - and I suppose it’s easy enough to accept that of course this is the end.

But why does that have to be the case?
What, is it like anyone’s come back to say there’s nothing? Did those of Azeroth know for sure that an afterlife was a reality until the orcish necromancers defiled graves for their spells?

The shadowlands are a proven destination, and have been - but haven’t always been. Life after death wasn’t always a proven thing (in Azeroth at least), so…what’s to say that existence just doesn’t end?
What’s to say that there is a realm beyond the shadowlands, one that just…hasn’t been breached yet? What if that’s what the jailer is after - breaking apart the whole idea of meaning behind action, I suppose. Yes, it’d remove meaning from death - and especially if he continues breaking through the realms like he’s done, there wouldn’t be an “end” of your existence necessarily.

If you “died”, you’d just end up somewhere else - and through the jailer’s handy-dandy chain highway, you could just walk back!

I mean I’d argue that WE have been doing that for ages. We’ve got some secret that we haven’t shared with the world despite our existence being canon enough to kill an expansion endboss.

So, what’s after the shadowlands? No idea. But I bet there’s still more stuff to kill!

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Hopefully, a better expansion.

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They seem to be writing themselves into weird corners to the point you just wait and see what magic trick they pull out of their bags to try and make it all come together.

At one point I was a die hard WoW lore guy. I read all the books and enjoyed learning about the game and the events behind it all but now? All of this is getting a bit…weird.

I feel like they are attempting to peel the onion and show the layers but so far its been a lot of rotten mess.

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I think the jailer will succeed with changing something irrevocable about azeroth - “Death comes for the soul of your world”. I think the dragon aspects will become involved at some point if not next expansion.

I also think the little story things about the scarlet crusade coming back in game will have meaning. I think they will force the alliance into a proxy war against the Horde. This will accelerate the storyline they have built with Jaina and Arthas sister - no doubt leading to some sort of fist-pump moment for the Horde while the writers write the alliance as bumbling fools. - scene

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Something light or void themed? :thinking:

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It’s gotten bad… I think they want more cosmic adventures… and will sacrifice existing lore to justify it. As they are doing now with the lich king story edits… it’s a terrible retcon.

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Slyvanas lands

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So tired of her. I really liked her story and lore but she has been played out, over and over. It is like they have such a weird obsession with this character.

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That mght be interesting actually, come to think of it.

Light and void sound like they’re kinda the primal forces of reality. Not exactly good or evil on either side, but just opposing. Everything else springs up from their interactions - including death, it seems.
That’d be interesting to see, honestly. The jailer perhaps campaigning to destroy those forces entirely - moreso out of curiosity than sheer malice.
Like…what happens then? Are you free? Or nothing?

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Sounded like stoicism and Plato, then almost went to Spinoza. Interesting to read your thought process on death and afterlife.

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Even cooler to meet someone who studied philosophy! Like…I don’t know - these are just my off the cuff remarks about all that. It’s cool to think that somebody else has run down those same roads. Probably with a little more grace than me, but it’s neat!

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Given the current and the previous one I have lost hope the next one will be good.
I want it to be, but I just expect more of the same with borrowed powers, systems on top of systems, forced inconvenience to inflate metrics and Blizzard still trying to push esports into the game no matter what. Oh and poor writing ofc, zero expectations for the writing too.

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Love it! Almost majored in it, but stuck to a minor. Only thing I was put in honor classes for. I’ve forgotten so much, but there was a book a read a decade or more ago you might like: Sophie’s World that I still will read to get all caught up.

I’ve been burning for a discussion on this whole afterlife and the versions of WoW. Started a thread awhile ago, but I’m so horrible at titling it didn’t pull anyone in. I really hope this one takes off.

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I asked this question during Legion and it has been disappointing both times. Legion felt like the end of the WoW’s story line and everything else after is a legends story telling or myth as if some bard in a inn making stuff up.

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Well hey,here’s your opportunity! I’m hardly a philosophy major or minor, - I’m an urban planner so all my stuff is more about human behavior - but I’d absolutely love to hear what you think!

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On my phone, but grabbing laptop!

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Take your time! Hey if it takes a bit no worries!

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I would like to know, and I know the writers are going to ignore this fact, that the afterlife is not what is preached on azeroth. I wonder what the religions of the world are going to think when the true comes out that the afterlife is nothing but servitude to beings that don’t care.

Or for deeper thought, the shadowlands were created by the first ones(?) to stop death? That’s what the jailor goes yammering about. Is true death truly bad?

As for upcoming expansions, usually blizzard’s pattern is when we are sent off-world, the next one is back on azeroth. But who knows…

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I just hope there are no tentacles anywhere in the story. I’m tired of fighting tentacles.

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Oh now THAT is an idea!

OOOOOOOOOOO

I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED HERE ALRIGHT ALRIGHT so the titans loooove sticking their fingers in things right? Messin with stuff like the emerald dream and the void for funsies - okay what if the shadowlands were created after they figured out like…things died? It’s
like Odyn’s halls of valor, but…on a grander scale. Catching you before you TRULY go to death. But, like with the emerald dream, and anything the titans create frankly, it’s a little…small. A shell of what it truly is, an imitation at best. Odyn was just doing what he saw - and I feel like on some level this explains why he was even able to look in there in the first place.

It’s a failsafe of sorts - a way for the titans to return to life should they die - powered by the soul power of their “children”. Sargeras did kill them all after all - they were just able to come back.

But Argus - how in the heck is the Arbiter supposed to fix that up? I imagine her whole role is just to charge the titans back up with anima if they die - but again, Argus. It’s a titan essence torn to shreds, one that’s damaged beyond all repair - and her programming breaks.

…

Maybe I wanna join the jailer too. And Sargeras. I reaaaally wanna kill some gods now. <3