Surprising no one I have a good idea: have Zovaal be the mechanical prototype like we see in the new raid of the other Eternal Ones, reveal in a 9.2.5 patch that there is a Jailer 9.2: have it be as simple as a small cutscene with wicked laughter echoing out of Zereth Mortis when we leave.
Proto-Zovaal/Denathrius were the front men, the entire 9.0/9.1 was a purposeful ruse by the true Jailer. This would explain: the design disparity between promotion art Zovaal and game Zovaal, why Zovaal has been lying this entire time and been completely lame, possibly why Sylvanas believed Zovaal (both were lying about what they wanted, the entire thing was a ploy).
Not only is this in character for the villains, but would act as a way to soft retcon Zovaal.
I am aware of the Dreadlords and what they said to Sargeras, but hereâs the thing. Thatâs where the influence ended. Because what happened right after Sargeras smote the Dreadlords and destroyed the corrupted planet?
He went to his brethren within the Pantheon and tried to warn them of the threat, he went to extremes, claiming that they needed to purge the universe, wipe it clean and start over to deny the Void Lords what they wanted. Had the Pantheon backed him up, there would be no Burning Legion, just the Pantheon, cleansing the universe and making sure the Void Lords and the Old Gods didnât get what they wanted.
But the Pantheon didnât back him up. An outcome, mind you, that neither the Jailer nor Denathrius could have anticipated. And it was that refusal to back him up that prompted Sargeras to create the Burning Legion. Not Denathrius or the Jailer, but the Pantheon themselves.
So neither Denathrius or Zovaal can take credit for the corruption of Sargeras or the creation of the Burning Legion. All the dreadlords did was kick a pebble off a mountain, it was the Pantheon that ignored that pebble and allowed it to turn into a rockslide.
BUT Zovaal did use that to disable The Arbiter (by having the Dreadlords help Sargeras corrupt Argus into a Death Titan) thus sending him to The Arbiter knowing she wasnât designed to handle a Titanâs soulâŚ
Nope, thatâs also not something heâs responsible for.
Sure, heâs responsible for getting that World Soul pumped full of death magic. But that was a risky plan, because there was absolutely no guarantee that Argus would ever be killed. Maybe, eventually, the world soul would have died from the pain it had endured, but that was a long shot, at best.
He just got really damn lucky that a number of completely unrelated events, that he had no way of influencing, resulted in mortal champions arriving on Argus, freeing the souls of the other Titans and then summoning and slaying Argus the Unmaker.
He used the Dreadlords (Nathrezim), who indirectly work for him by Denathrius being his minion⌠heâs responsible for all of it.
The journal we find in Revendreth proves that the Nathrezim infiltrated every known cosmic force on Denathriusâ command for the Jailerâs purpose. âDenathrius has served his purpose.â-Zovaal.
We also know that the Spriggans and Gorak Tul were in league with Muehâzala who was also Zovaalâs lackey.
Itâs all indirect responsibility, but even indirect responsibility is still responsibility.
Think back to the events that led up to Argus getting defeated.
Step 0.5 - Have Illidan find and hold onto a Sargerite keystone (this will be useful later)
Step 1 - Make Garrosh Warchief of the Horde
Step 2 - Have Garrosh turn into a despot that eventually gets beaten and imprisoned.
Step 3 - Have a Black Dragon and a Bronze Dragon team up to send Garrosh to an alternate universe.
Step 4 - Have Garrosh create the Iron Horde and not kill Gulâdan immediately.
Step 5 - Have Gulâdan take over the Iron Horde and summon the Burning Legion to Draenor.
Step 6 - Have mortal heroes beat the snot out of Archimonde, who in his final moments doesnât kill Gulâdan but instead sends him to the Azeroth the mortal heroes came from.
Step 7 - Have Gulâdan open a portal for the Legion to enter Azeroth.
Step 8 - Have the mortal heroes beat the snot out of Gulâdan, then invade the Tomb of Sargeras and attempt to close the portal, resulting in a deathmatch with Kilâjaeden on his ship above Argus.
Step 9 - Have Illidan use that Sargerite keystone (told you it would come in handy) and Khadgarâs magic to open a massive rift to Argus.
Step 10 - Have the Draenei finish the Vindicaar and send mortal heroes to Argus so they can beat the snot out of the Legion on their home turf and invade Antorus.
Step 11 - Have the mortal champions free the other titan souls, then have those titans summon Argus and kill him so the Arbiter can finally get taken out by the soul of a titan pumped full of death magic.
Now, care to explain how the Jailer influenced all those steps?
Yeah but the Dreadlords werenât everywhere, and thereâs no indication that they influenced 90% of the decisions being made.
They were opportunists that took advantage of situations that were presented to them. And while some of their gambits paid off, others failed miserably, such is the life of someone who plays high risk, high reward plans.
I think weâre going to be in a comic situation where we never talk about him again but heâs not explicitly retconned until we need something involving him and itâll be minor.
The Dreadlords were the catalyst for Sargeras down fall. If they had not been on that world Sargeras would not have learned about the Void Lords and discovered their plans. He would not have destroyed that world-soul, most likely returning to the rest of the Pantheon to tell of his discovery. Which then would have them finding a way to purge the world-soul of its corruption without killing it. Sargeras would have gone on killing demons and bring peace to the universe. The development of the Burning Legion was not intentional but they did learn how to use it for there plans.
The journal in Revendreth doesnât actually cover what you think it covers.
What you clearly think it covers is that they were playing 5D chess and they master strategized all of the events that have been happening.
In reality, they werenât doing that. They were giving Denathrius an âideaâ of what could be done as they infiltrated the various cosmic forces, while explaining the flaws of the various cosmic entities.
Kinda? All they did was tell him about something and he went nuts. Kind of like how Arthas went nuts now that I think about it. Really I think all the Dreadlords do is find someone whoâs basically just one good push away from going insane rather than master manipulators.
Especially because Arthas went into business for himself. Seriously, the whole Lich King thing didnât work once for the Jailer.
In my opinion world of Warcraft should strictly be about undead , old gods/the void and the burning legion.
The rotation and intermingling of the three is what makes Warcraft so amazing. Bfa threw politics into it which weâve always had but it felt pointless because the direction didnât feel right, then sure enough it threw us into the shadowlands which is just garbage.
Weâve essentially defeated the burning legion, at least temporarily which is awesome but instead of focusing on the void which has been our background enemy since forever we are fighting death itself for no real reason. Itâs all just so illogical and poorly set up.
Legion did an amazing job with the story and giving us a glimpse of Azara who we have all wanted to see since forever only for her to be a tool literally in bfa. I donât even remember where she is
Yes, but that isnât a master strategy, and itâs certainly not an indication that they âplanned everything outâ and were responsible for all the things.
You ever hear the saying âno strategy survives contact with the enemyâ?
Yeah it applies here just like it applies in real life.
Maybe on this round specifically, but itâs just bluster to me. If you think about the Lich King in particular, it just shows how he hasnât always been successful. He wouldâve had to intend for Arthas to take the mantle, get defeated by us, have Bolvar take the Helm of Domination, get Sylvanas to join him, have Sylvanas beat Bolvar, then have Sylvanas destroy the Helm. Instead of planning that chain of events to a tee, be probably wanted whoever the Lich King would be (Arthas in this case) to help his plans, but that got ruined by us, and so he had to find a new way to get his way (Sylvanas in this case).