A theory had been brewing inside my head for a few days now and I’d love to invite you guys to my little whirlpool of thought for a few minutes and inflict the madness upon you, so that you may poke some holes in it and help me clear my head a little.
So it all started with Tyr’s death alongside the C’Thrax Zakajz the Corruptor in what later came to be known as Tirisfal Glades beneath which they were both entombed. Now for the sake of this post, I am going to assume that Tyr is truly dead. As in no coming back to life. However, his tomb anchored some of his essence in the living world still, same with Zakajz, as it is stated in Chronicles Volume 1 that later dwellers in Tirisfal would tap into their energies to empower their magic.
Now when he died, did Tyr’s spirit enter the Shadowlands? I can’t definitely say as prior to Loken, he’s the only major keeper to have died and I haven’t read anything definite yet as to what a keeper’s fate would be after death. But let’s assume for now that he is there. And he continues to stick to his noble goal of being Azeroth’s protector, otherwise people - especially paladins - who tap into his noble power and are inspired by his legend, wouldn’t have been able to do so. But over the long years of dwelling there, let’s just say his perception of how to attain his goal… changed.
Now fast forward to several centuries and the exiled highborne arrived from Kalimdor. And as to be expected of elves, one of their first order of business was to find a nexus of ley lines where they can establish their new home. But digging too deep, did they end up finding Tyr and Zakajz’ tomb? In any case, we all know that they started to go mad and were forced to settle elsewhere. But I don’t believe it was just the whispers of the void that drove them mad. But rather the spiritual conflict between void and death proved too much even for the magically-attuned elves.
And so centuries again later, the human kingdom of Lordaeron would arise and perhaps it was a bit of foreshadowing that the kingdom that would later became undead was built on top of a grave. And luckily for the humans, building their magical nexus further south in what later became Dalaran perhaps helped them to avoid the full blast of the land’s maddening whispers.
The story continues. The land was cursed with undeath and both Lordaeron and Dalaran fell to the Legion and their then undead minions. Some would say that such major upheavals would have awakened the dead. But I think it was a later event that would truly be able to do so.
After the Battle of Mount Hyjal, Illidan Stormrage arrived from Kalimdor with his naga army to find artifacts in the ruins of Dalaran to help him remotely destroy the Frozen Throne in Northrend. Chasing him were Maiev Shadowsong, Tyrande Whisperwind, Malfurion Stormrage and their night elf army. And as Maiev and Tyrande went on to survey the land, later coming to the aid of the blood elves, Malfurion went on alone deep into the forest to commune with the land to find his brother and to find out his purpose.
And here’s the thing. That curious faerie dragon ring up in western Tirisfal. Is it really just a fun easter egg to find? Or was it perhaps the very place where Malfurion conducted his communion? In any case, druids can portal there (via a toy) so at least there is some connection to the Dream. But its proximity to Tyr’s tomb is what’s worth noting. By performing his ritual, did the life energies emanating from Malfurion finally managed to awaken the consciousness of the dead? And by waking Tyr, who is now a being of Death, did Malfurion - the very embodiment of the planet’s Life - made for himself a yet unseen adversary?
Later as we’ve seen, the night elves returned to Kalimdor. And with the Lich King (only Ner’zhul at this time) weakened by Illidan’s ritual, Sylvanas broke free of the Lich King’s will and, with her ragtag band of rebels, managed to depose Arthas and then the dreadlords. Drove off the last remaining Alliance survivors and established themselves as the Forsaken with Sylvanas as their Banshee Queen.
And as with Sylvanas, we know she hadn’t just been idle in the Undercity. What if like her highborne forebears, she also dug deep searching for answers to her fate and in doing so, managed to communicate with the essence of the newly awakaned Tyr? Did she strike a bargain with him? Is it similar to Azshara’s I’m-not-a-slave-but-a-queen deal to N’Zoth?
Assuming this did happen and Sylvanas is now working for (or with) Tyr, it does create a Helya connection. Because with Tyr now awakened and assuming that his first quest is to build an army - a true army of the dead, not just an army of the undead - then where best to start than with an ally with ties to his former life. After all, Helya used to be Odyn’s mightiest, now his nemesis.
And who is Odyn to Tyr anyway? A traitor and usurper. A traitor for abandoning their cause against Loken, leaving the other keepers to their fate, simply because he disagreed with their plan to endow the first five dragon aspects with titanic powers, dragons whom Tyr himself championed. A usurper for his (Odyn’s) use of val’kyr to ferry the souls of the mighiest warriors away to the Halls of Valor instead of letting them go naturally to the Shadowlands where they can serve as Tyr’s army.
Now as for Malfurion, I did find it strange that in the pretext of attacking the night elves as being part of the Alliance, Sylvanas would choose to taget Malfurion who had mostly been working at a neutral capacity instead of Tyrande whose Sentinels are more tied to the Alliance army. I don’t believe that Malfurion was attacked because he’s a night elf leader but because he’s the most powerful archdruid in existence.
And here is where it becomes a bit philosophical because one can argue that death is after all just part of the cycle of life. Why would life and death be opposed to each other even as opposites? But perhaps to the living, especially to the druids, death is but a rebirth, and when one dies, his essence continues on to serve the continued sustenance of the universe and the circle of life continues.
But despite all its joy and wonderment, the circle of life is also a cycle of hatred, of war, of suffering. And that peace is nothing but a futile hope for the living. But what if someone or something - even Azeroth - is to be truly dead? Total freedom and broken away from the endless cycle. Will true peace finally be achieved? But how can it be achieved when beings like Malfurion still live to champion Life?
And then there’s the Void. N’Zoth - the last undefeated old god - comes into play. The Shadowlands, as per Sylvanas’s vision in her death in Icecrown, is a hellish place of torment and chaos which lends me to believe that the realm of death is being encroached upon by the chaotic void. If Tyr (and Sylvanas’) vision of a truly peaceful realm is to be achieved then they need to get rid of the chaos and what better way to do it than to use the Blade of the Black Empire to trap N’Zoth. The blade after all has trapped a void being before. Imagine if Sylvanas manages to do it. She would become Azeroth’s greatest savior - but also its greatest threat.
But let’s return for now to the Tirisfal Glades, its whispers, and the relevance of the emergence of new characters tied to the Lich King such as Taelia and Calia. As we’ve seen, it was a whisper of what Vol’jin assumed to be a loa that elevated Sylvanas to her position as warchief: a whisper that is also a kingmaker - or in this case, a queenmaker. Where else has another whisper been tied to a king and his fate? That’s right: in Tirisfal, where Terenas said that at the moment of his birth, the very forest whispered his name… Arthas. Wouldn’t it be a great irony if Tyr, a legend to the champions of the Holy Light, turned out to have become a Keeper of the Dead?
I’m now going to wrap up my ramblings and madness with Vol’jin and Bwonsamdi. I do believe that Tyr is capable of elevating Vol’jin into a loa and could probably be the one behind it. After all, if the wild gods emerged through the titanic powers of Freya, and since wild gods are often considered or associated with the loa by the trolls, then Vol’jin becoming a loa through Tyr is very much possible.
And then there’s Bwonsamdi. Is Tyr Bwonsamdi’s mysterious “boss”? I see two possibilities. A) Yes. Imagine managing to lose the ashes of a mighty champion and warchief. And as for wanting Sylvanas dead? It could either be Tyr knowing that Sylvanas would later want to depose him to be the sole ruler of the Shadowlands, or maybe it’s just Bwonsamdi having his own selfish ambitions. B) No. Bwonsamdi serves someone else who wants Tyr’s two mighty champions out of the picture.
So that finally ends my long drivel. If you managed to read this far, I fervidly apologize and thank you for reading.
TL;DR Keeper Tyr may be dead, but his ties to Tirisfal Glades and its fate may yet have more relevance.
Edit: I’ve clean forgotten about Vol’jin’s latter quest to find out the truth behind the mystery of the whisper that got Sylvanas appointed as warchief. (I took a break from the game at the time.) And so after reading about it, I speculate that:
A) Tyr is working in secret in the Shadowlands.
B) Tyr isn’t Bwonsamdi’s boss. And it’s stilly a mystery who it is.
C) Eyir mentioned that Vol’jin has been touched by the “hand of valor”. And while valor is associated with Odyn, Tyr is also a mighty warrior in his own right and “hand” is something more associated with him.
D) Eyir also said that whoever appointed Sylvanas as warchief isn’t the same person helping Vol’jin. Which could mean that either: Eyir just doesn’t recognize the “new” Tyr yet; or perhaps another mystery death being is at play.