I know he watches over Troll souls in the afterlife, but is he also literally a grim reaper figure? When Rezan threatened him to give back Rastakhan’s life/soul, this implied Rezan, despite being a top tier loa, did not have the power to revive/prevent death for Rastakhan. Only Bwonsamdi could do this.
Does this mean Bwonsamdi decides when all trolls die? This is supported by the quest in the Necropolis where The Matron Shaazula had sacrificed her child to Bwonsamdi in exchange for him making her live forever. (Though Bwonsamdi later changed his mind and told us to kill her so her child could have her mother in the afterlife with her.)
Minor nitpick but didn’t Bwonsamdi simply subtly point us in the child’s direction so we’d off the mother with no direction from him? He only promised her immortality after all, not invincibility.
It was a way for him to reap her soul without breaking the terms of their agreement, yeah. Just because he’s the Loa of death that doesn’t mean he can go around outright breaking his contracts… But that doesn’t mean he can’t get creative about the limitations of those contracts.
As for the topic at hand, yes I do think Bwonsamdi is directly involved, in one way or another, in every Troll’s death. It’s less that he picks when they die so much as his role as caretaker of Trolls souls grants him a certain level of omnipresence. Where ever a Troll dies, there is Bwonsamdi.
It’s honestly a wonder we haven’t bumped into him more often considering how every expansion has the wholesale slaughter of one tribe or the other.
Bwonsamdi is based on Baron Samedi/Baron Saturday of Haitian Vodou, a loa/spirit/saint who serves the creator by guiding the souls of the dead into the afterlife as well as watching over the souls of the dead. Especially the forgotten dead that have no families to remember/honor them. That does makes him a psychopomp like Hermes, the Grim Reaper, Shinigami, Anubis, etc, but he has about as such in common with all them as they do with each other.
While he does take his job as the guide/guardian of the dead seriously, he’s also a lecherous, hard drinking, party animal who loves big meals and a good joke, as he and the other dead are basically making up for lost time. Also, it’s not like such excesses can kill them or anything. When other Lwa are being invoked, it’s not unheard of for Baron Samedi and his associates to literally crash the party and show up instead.
The Vodou Loa tradition aren’t Gods/gods in the most common use of the term. They are spirits (often of ancestors) that are empowered to act on the world in the creator’s stead. Mortals can entreat with them by calling them to possess them, performing certain observances, giving offerings, etc. They’re associated with many Christian Saints and imagery (among other things), but Baron Samedi is not associated with the Grim Reaper- even if most popular media depicts him as such.
I say all the because BfA version of the Troll loa and Bwonsamdi’s character in particular seem to take a lot more influence from the real world versions- more than most other fictional versions I’ve seen. They seem to be mixing his seriousness about the job with a sense of irreverence and humor and his role in the cosmology is similar to. Also, playing up the more practical/transactional nature of his relationship with the living- at least compared to how many would expect it to work.
As a native of the Shadowlands he has the power of resurrect the death of any species as long he has the soul of the individual (In shadows of the horde he resurrects Tyrathan, the friend of Vol’jin). However he doesn’t interfere with the natural order of the cycle of life and death and prefer to sit and wait for the souls to come to him.
I think different races are tied to different realms of the Shadowlands whether by normativity (eg all Trolls go to The Other Side ruled by Bwon and his boss presumably Muehzala, though maybe it’s because they all render devotion to him), by some sort of contract magic (eg Night Elves are tied to the Emerald Dream and we are probably gonna get a Wisp - Ardenweald connection), or by the choice of the Arbiter (eg souls going to Rivendreth, Bastion, or Maldraxxus).
The latter of which only occurs if there’s none of the former or if the soul doesn’t want to go to either of the former. Though at the moment we don’t know what happens if a soul promised to Bwonsamdi doesn’t want to go to The Other Side but instead wants to go wherever the Arbiter wants them to go.
I don’t know about that but At the end of Chapter 29 in Vol’jin: Shadows of the Horde Bwonsamdi tells Vol’jin the following: I be welcoming all trolls.
Thus all trolls when they die are meant to be sent to Bwonsamdi, though the Sandfury tribe appear to an exception due to Witch Doctor Zum’rah stealing their souls to empower himself. I’ve also seen the theory that the Sandfury have been claimed by Mueh’zala due to their worship of him.
Bwonsamdi outright confirmed that he didn’t do it in the Vol’jin quest chain. He admitted for that he likes death and destruction Sylvanas has a tendency to keep what she kills and goes against the balance.
The current theory is that it was The Jailer who whispered to Vol’jin to name Sylvanas Warchief and the Arbiter was the one to send him back.
Vol’jin himself says that he called out to the Loa that day and none of them answered. Bwonsamdi is accused of ignoring Vol’jin but he straight up says he never heard from him. That’s why he sends us to Eyir and the Lich King to try and figure out who it was that took his soul and who it was who sent him back, cause the Loa of Death was no part of it and he is mighty pissed off about it.