Because Ardenweald is nothing but a lame rip off of the Emerald Dream copying half of it’s lore that isn’t even internally consistent with itself and tramples on the themes of nature lore in the setting because some idiot thought Faerie Dragons and Warcraft Satyr weren’t generic enough and made generic verisons of them with new lame names.
No. There is one continuity full of retcons. Fanon is not lore. That does not, in any way, invalidate time spent RPing and making fanon nor imply it’s quality is innately lesser. I make a ton for RP.
This setting is already confusing enough without trying to add all of this.
We actually have a probable answer; the Eternal Ones. There’s a fungal dude in the Night Fae sanctum cave that explicitly remembers Ardenweald being very different before the Winter Queen shaped the land into its current form. It stands to reason the other Eternal Ones also did the same to their realms, to match their version of the afterlife (or whatever), and it’s why their own appearance fits with the zone appearance.
I mean more on the scale of The Emerald Dream and the Elemental Planes. The Shadowlands exists in the same … uh cosmic neighborhood(?) as those. I’m basically trying to wrap my head around how the Titans are supposedly uninvolved with the Shadowlands, but Ardenweald is intrinsically linked to The Emerald Dream that they created.
Put even more simply, I’m working from a beginning position of The Shadowlands being artificial in a way that “The Realms of Death” are not. Mostly because I’m too stubborn to accept that Chronicle was an utter fabrication.
The Emerald Dream apparently always had a connection to Ardenweald, and it’s also a realm that’s said to be primordial and having always existed in some form or another, it’s even believed that it connects to the life realms.
I’m starting to think the claim that Freya created the dream might be a bit of propaganda on the titans end. The titans naturally wanting mortals to believe they created everything
So, effectively the simplest probable answer is that when Freya altered or shaped or whatever the Dream, it was specifically to use it as a testing grounds for possible iterations of Azeroth (as the canon states). But nobody’s trying to make iterations of what Dead Azeroth looks like, so the Titans didn’t bother mucking about with the Shadowlands in the same way.
The Dream was already “there” as a part of the “Life Realms” but Freya reformatted it based on their needs. The connection with Ardenweald remains, but the titans were never interested in it to begin with, so they just left it alone.
Or Freya tried to. Because it’s said that no one, not even Ysera herself, can permantely alter the dream because it’s underlying structure always reasserts itself and basically resets the dream back to it’s default state
The titans were dishonest about a lot of the things they supposedly had a hand in
The Dream mirroring Reality because of the Titans is the sole reason it is a counterpart to the Veil which is between all Realities.
The Veil technically is the proper Afterlife with the Shadowlands basically being a Cosmic Realm of Death that poaches Souls aligned with Death found there.
In addition to the fact it also described it as the inspiration by which the ebb and flow of life and evolution was done by Ysera and an “ever-changing spirit world” which implies a lot of intangibility and variety rather than the stagnation you kind of get the impression of from the area in DF. Even in recent stuff it’s called untamed and such.
It’s either intentionally paradoxical in a way that challenges stagnant “order vs chaos” static beliefs in mortals (Like nature, so thematically it’s fitting if it is intentional) or just inconsistent.
That might be reading too much into the collective product of decades of different authors and different goals.
It would be nice. Layering in concepts and letting them show themselves through the subtle interactions, especially in a visual medium like a game could be a lot of fun.
Glad all our heroes dying didn’t really mean anything.
Died for the cause in BFA? That’s fine little Timmy and his mom will be taking the portal to Oribos to visit you around noon.
Want to visit your hometown of Stormwind? Don’t worry we’ll ask Bob to take your place so you can come back for some arbitrary time period. (Thanks DF writers)
Lorewise, I just can’t get past this expansion man. There’s no solving it. It needs to be entirely retconned.
Not to be rude, but as someone who has taken a LOT of notes on Shadowlands’s story (although there are still parts I need to finish combing through), your interpretation of Shadowlands in general is… just kinda wrong tbh.
This is presented as an actual point of contention in the story, with us seeing the good and bad on both sides of the argument. Granted, to my immediate recollection, it’s handled in the same way as the Primalist’s argument is - where a sympathetic argument gets bogged down by unsympathetic actions - but I’d need to double check how that plotline ended.
First - if you got sent to Revendreth, that’s because you did some pretty bad stuff. Second - it’s not meant to be endless, after you’ve atoned you can either become a Venthyr and help with the rehabilitation of souls that arrive or be sent back to the Arbiter to go to a different afterlife.
Under normal circumstances, Ardenweald is actually one of the better afterlives, as the only reason that the region was in such disrepair was because of the anima drought which caused issues all across the Shadowlands.
Half the zone’s population are skeletons and some characters, such as Draka, retain their appearance from when they were alive. Additionally, under the Primus’s watch, Maldraxxus was significantly less awful than it was when we arrived - what we saw was a mix of the effects of the anima drought on the region and a civil war that was being influenced by external forces.
this is just 100% incorrect. They literally made the fact that there are infinite afterlives clear with the first time we quest through Oribos. We didn’t see tons of other afterlives because we had no reason to.
The Trolls already have an afterlife - De Other Side (which we see as a dungeon). It being even somewhat close to Ardenweald makes sense, given the existing lore given the connection and similarity between Troll Loa and the Wild Gods.
Also regular souls that go to Ardenweald do not go into Wild Seeds. Those are reserved for Wild Gods. Although exceptions can happen. E.g. Ysera and Vol’jin (after he had been infused with Rezans essence). Mortal souls gain the soulshape ability and help tend to the Wild Seeds. No idea why Atana stated that you ‘turn into a seed’.
The game even directly states that. The Winter Queen was confused when the Arbiter (most likely Zovaal at that point) was sending mortal souls to Ardenweald. But not one to turn away souls that have such respect for nature and the natural cycle, she allowed them to help in tending to the wild seeds. Giving them the power to soulshape into any animal they want.
Lady Moonberry says: Long ago, after the trees and the Night Fae arose, the first mortal soul appeared in Ardenweald.
Lady Moonberry says: Our Queen met it at the gateway. "You are neither spirit nor fae. Why have you come to my forest?"
Lady Moonberry says: "I have been sent to you! For in life, I devoted myself to serving Nature."
Lady Moonberry says: "Then be welcome in my realm," replied the Queen.
Lady Moonberry says: The soul knelt. "How may I be of service, O Queen?"
Lady Moonberry says: "Tend to these spirits forever more. The cycle must continue, or all is lost."
Lady Moonberry says: "How shall I do this, O Queen?" the soul asked. "For my body is no more."
Lady Moonberry says: "I grant you this boon. Become as the wild creatures. Whatever shape you require, it shall be yours."
Lady Moonberry says: And so, <name>, I extend the Queen's boon to you. Arise.
Regular Souls also generate Anima over time. The problem is that Denathrius snuck in extractors to drain Anima from the Afterlives so that he could fill his stores for the Maw.
The lack of Souls flowing in thanks to Argus made this drain noticeable.
I didn’t really like Shadowlands all that much, but I have to say, it’s pretty absurd that all these years later people STILL think there are only four afterlives.
The first cinematic you see outright says that there are an infinite amount of afterlives. Multiple characters talk about how there are more afterlives than what we visit.
WoW players get so angry about lore that they don’t even read or understand.
Not that it’s complicated lore, mind you, they just don’t read.
Because the main four have the four covenants that keep the shadowlands running.
Maldraxxus is the defense mechanism that prevents other cosmic forces from invading.
Bastion takes spirits to the shadowlands to begin with
Revendreth attempts to rehabilitate evil/flawed souls so they can integrate into other afterlives while harvesting a large portion of the anima needed for the other afterlives to run.
Ardenweald regenerates life dieties and rebirths them into the Emerald Dream/Life Realm
Ardenweald is the flimsiest in terms of being important for the shadowlands, and that tracks considering it was the last one they came up with and started as a subzone of Bastion. That being said you could say its function is important for reality as a whole rather than the shadowlands specifically.
