How they could tie the story back together

Lore Story
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This is a Sylvanas centric post, because the story wierdly revolves around Sylvanas,w ithout her really doing anything or at least there is no real context. I know that in the recent threads i’ve been pretty outspoken about the things i find lacking, in the story so far. So here is a shot, at something constructive to spark a discussion. There are going to be some assumptions and i will purposefully neglect some of the interview only(to my knowledge) material. Not allowed to change any in-game events directly.

To set the scene Sylvanas sits restrained, within a cell, in Revendreth motionless unblinking, but dignified and proud, as Bolvar, Jaina and Thrall go to interrogate her. Jaina would bring it right away to Anduin to which Sylvanas could tell her little so she would storm off. After that Sylvanas would say that, in Legion she was running out of Val’kyr, who were the key to both her survival and the survival of the Forsaken, as a people, for she knew they would all go into the Maw, because the so called plan of the First Ones deemed it so. That they should suffer for eternity through no fault of their own just following the predetermined illusion of choice. Bolvar would challenge that by saying that she condemned countless Kaldorei to the Maw, which she brushes aside by saying that given the Arbiter being busted all souls went there regardless. Thrall would question why she didn’t bring it up to the other leaders and she says that nobody would really listen or understand the urgency. Not when it was just her Forsaken, at stake. She would continue that, while even to her Zovaal’s methods were distasteful he is basically the only one powerful enough to pull the dismantling of the faulty system off. Both would question if she really thought that whatever Zovaal would bring forth would be better to which she answers maybe can’t get much worse than it already was, for people like her, but atop Oribos, when he finally got the final sigil it occurred to her that he is the bug in the system. If anything with him on top it’s failings would become the feature. Painting Zovaal, as this sort of insecure failed rockstar type, who feels entitled to everything.

(after that they can set up the way to defeat zovaal whatever it is and her possible role in it)

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Even if we defeat Zovaal, who will guide the souls to their destination? Who will judge them upon arrival what kind of fate they’ll have?

As I understand the mess, the Arbiter was a computer with Zovaal’s judgement and actually did his job without thinking. Like an automatic system

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They could make a new Arbiter, if they gett heir hands on Zovaa’s sigil again, but there is also the option of basically letting the natural order take it’s course and see where it leads once the Maw is no more, at least in the way we know it.

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I guess that’s about as good as the explanations could get. So yeah, I’m fine with it. That everyone comes out of this looking like idiots, Sylvanas first and foremost, sadly can’t be avoided at this point, but the reasoning here would pass for most superficial observers.

There are still some relevant weak points to me though:

The first weak point in this for me is still the “dismantling of the system”-thing. I would at least expect an explanation of what she thought it would be. What did she think it would be replaced with? I get the wish to abolish hell, but that’s not really helpful if you don’t replace it with anything, is it?

Then we have the thing with Sylvanas’ soul. She just got a relevant part of it back from the Jailer. Why? And what does that mean?

I’m also not that sure about that “all Forsaken go to hell” thing that’s the main driver here, but if we leave open the possibility that she might have questionable information sources, like the guy who is manipulating her, that’s fine enough, I guess.

Last but not least, I’m a bit confused about the role that Azeroth is taking in all of this. The Jailer’s servants scream about coming for the soul of our world, and well, I’d expect Sylvanas to have some inkling about what that means. Also, by making the Shadowlands this grand transdimensional thing, it’s kinda hard to see why Sylvanas’ soul contribution would be very relevant at all, but she does seem to have an exalted position among Zovaal’s servants… Why though?

I don’t really expect an answer to all of these questions in the timeframe you are giving, but I do think these are all important questions that should be high on the list. Most of them are actually higher on my personal list than Sylvanas’ motives herself. And that’s just the questions Sylvanas should be able to have some input on.

Your idea gives a realistic next step. But it’s not the neat tying together I would wish for in the best case.

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I thought about these, as well, but didn’t want to make it too long.

-From what i understood the premise of the new system was that mortals could genuinely choose their own fate, in life and death. But the Maw isn’t really hell, in the conventional christian understanding. The Maw is more like the Tartarus, where the greek Titans lay, after getting beat by the Olympian gods and not the kind of place a mortal should ever get no matter how vile they get.

-We know that at the very least her Dark Rangers do, thanks tot he Aliance quest where you kill a dark ranger somewhere during BfA. Normal Forsaken aren’t a big leap in logic, if we account for the 1st gen beign scourge and 2nd gen being raised by Val’kyr that secretly served the Jailer or smth to manipulate Sylvanas. (I would never expect the explanation to eb this in depth)

-Sylvanas’s soul i would assume is going to be more about attitudes going forward. I think it was referred to as her “courage” so maybe more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt going forward. It’s wierd and smells of last minute out the rear end copout, but what can you do?

-There are speculations that the Sepulcher is actually on Azeroth, which would be a bit dumb… can you imagine that one town in Silverpine getting besieged by a cosmic supersatan? xD

The Sylvanas motive is important for Thrall and future stories involving her. Even witht his stinker of a story her and Thrall are the last Horde A-listers left standing. (I know that’s not a problem Aliance marketers have to face, but nobody is gonna buy thigns with Lor’themar or Baine on them.)

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Sure, but I’m not sure what your point is here. I used hell as shorthand for “place of eternal torture”, and will continue to do so. And the Maw certainly is that.

I think they are, though. Sylvanas and her elites weren’t just undead, they were doing pretty bad stuff that would of course have some influence on how their souls were judged. And considering guys like Morgraine, one of Arthas’ Death Knights, ended up in Maldraxxus, it’s obvious that not all undead go to the Maw. So why woul all Forsaken, when there is a resonable alternate explanation? Two actually, if we add the possibility that the Jailer is just selling cow dung to Sylvanas, and/or interfereing in the process.

But I actually wasn’t referring to the truth of the matter here. We don’t need the truth. We need the info on what the protagonists of the story (including Sylvanas) thought about it.

Sure, but I would like to know if she knew that it was stolen, or if the Jailer held that one back as well. It’s not that hard to tie into her story, but I feel like it hould be tied into it.

Well… dumb it is, but do we have a better option that would tie Azeroth into it? And I really feel they have to, because alienating players from it is one of the criticisms that even most people that don’t much care about the story at all can agree with.

Yeah, I guess that’s why we won’t be getting rid of that npc-driven narrative anytime soon…

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Hell carries certain connotations like the association that bad people should go there. In that regard the Maw is different. Yes, it is a place of torture, however under ideal conditions(no Jailer interference) nobody would ever go there no matter how vile they were, at any point.

True, ideally all information we get would be filtered through a perspective of some sort.

Azeroth is the final and by far most powerful titan. So could want to use her that way or it could be he wants to find out how come that we could activate teh First Ones tech.

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I understand the Sepulcher to be that very important archive found in northern Maldraxxus. Not the hamlet in Silverpine Forest O.o

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That’s the Sepulcher of Knowledge, not the Sepulcher of the First Ones. About the second one we know absolutely nothing, so it could be anywhere and anything.

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To be honest a concious sorting hat to decide where you’ll toil the rest of eternity away only sounds slightly less dystopian then an automated one.

The afterlife lore that got absolutely flattened in Shadowlands in itself is just highly unstatisfying (to me atleast), why would anyone want to die once they know what the shadowlands really is, or find joy in life while waiting what is to come? Even if we helped restore the covenants to full power, it’d still be just life 2, eternal boogaloo.

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