Essentially, what happens to you when you die in Warcraft?
Assuming you die in a relatively normal way and DON'T get your soul stolen/devoured and doomed to suffer a grimdarkridiculous fate a thousand times worse than death(which seem surprisingly common in Warcraft), where do you go?
Is there a hell? Does your actions matter? What is the impact of religion or other power dieties/demigods?
There's no clear indication wether or not real Afterlife exists in WoW lore, but assuming only by what the in-game evets, lore and quests npc's and sort of do tell us...
I think if there is an afterlife, it's belief reliant. Think of how only the Kul'tirans and especially the tidecallers and tidesages talk about returning to the sea once they die. Sure it may only be a belief, but as seen on the Jaina Warbrigners, there were ghostly figures travelling the sea.
Spirits and ghosts and all sorts are very real in WoW universe, whisps, banshees, afterimages...
If we take Kul'tirans as an example now that I already mentioned them, I'd like to think that the Kul'tiran soul travels to the sea which they look up to like humans do for Light.
It's possible for us to contact with the dead
(!!!SPOILERS AHEAD FOR HORDE WAR CAMPAIN!!!)
We contact the spirit of Vol'jin in 8.1 as much as I'm aware (might be 8.1.5) so to me personally that indicates that there is some sort of a realm at least where the spirits of deceased travel to.
SPOILERS END
If you remember Broken Shore cinematic where Anduin found Varian's sword and saw a vision of Varian when gazing into the sword.
Ysera was turned into a star formation by Elune herself, there's of course, Hellheim, where the hopeless souls travel in Legion which was ruled by Helya.
I think Hellheim is really the only place that would indicate any clear afterlife in WoW universe, as it resembles and possibly is based off of nordic/celtic mythology and their version of Hell. With Hellheim existing tho, it's not too outworldly to think there's other forms of afterlife that exist.
Idk if you'd count in the Twisting Nether as a part of Afterlife... but one would argue so.
I think if there is an afterlife, it's belief reliant. Think of how only the Kul'tirans and especially the tidecallers and tidesages talk about returning to the sea once they die. Sure it may only be a belief, but as seen on the Jaina Warbrigners, there were ghostly figures travelling the sea.
Spirits and ghosts and all sorts are very real in WoW universe, whisps, banshees, afterimages...
If we take Kul'tirans as an example now that I already mentioned them, I'd like to think that the Kul'tiran soul travels to the sea which they look up to like humans do for Light.
It's possible for us to contact with the dead
(!!!SPOILERS AHEAD FOR HORDE WAR CAMPAIN!!!)
We contact the spirit of Vol'jin in 8.1 as much as I'm aware (might be 8.1.5) so to me personally that indicates that there is some sort of a realm at least where the spirits of deceased travel to.
SPOILERS END
If you remember Broken Shore cinematic where Anduin found Varian's sword and saw a vision of Varian when gazing into the sword.
Ysera was turned into a star formation by Elune herself, there's of course, Hellheim, where the hopeless souls travel in Legion which was ruled by Helya.
I think Hellheim is really the only place that would indicate any clear afterlife in WoW universe, as it resembles and possibly is based off of nordic/celtic mythology and their version of Hell. With Hellheim existing tho, it's not too outworldly to think there's other forms of afterlife that exist.
Idk if you'd count in the Twisting Nether as a part of Afterlife... but one would argue so.
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You have some clear indications of various types of Hell in Warcraft. You have the Shadowlands and Hellheim, the latter being for Vrykul.
There is also an old quest in northrend about a crusader fighting against the plague. Many assists him and tries to cure him. A naaru, the dragon aspect Alextrazsa. Eventually, they manage to cure him, but the damage is done and he passes on
he's taken to the afterlife there iirc.
I am not sure how canon it is, as it is a reference to a diceased employee of the company
he's taken to the afterlife there iirc.
I am not sure how canon it is, as it is a reference to a diceased employee of the company
Those are some interesting points.
Helhiem always struck me more as a demiplane created by a specific powerful creature(Helya), who had made some sort of cosmic pact or ritual that gave her ownership over only vrykul souls whom had lived a specific type of life; even if the souls of other types of creatures could be sent there in unique circumstances.
That said, Helya appeared very defeatable; and I doubt neither Helya nor Helheim was integral to the afterlife in Warcraft in general, in the case they should vanish.
This is giving me two main ideas.
1. Rather than there being one great afterlife for all souls of all races, most souls seem to go to a certain demiplane of a powerful being or force, or are just lost. With individuals or entire races "subscribing" to a certain powerful force/demiplane through ritual/religion to determine the end destination of their souls.
2. Blizzard never really fleshed out the structure of their cosmos.
Helhiem always struck me more as a demiplane created by a specific powerful creature(Helya), who had made some sort of cosmic pact or ritual that gave her ownership over only vrykul souls whom had lived a specific type of life; even if the souls of other types of creatures could be sent there in unique circumstances.
That said, Helya appeared very defeatable; and I doubt neither Helya nor Helheim was integral to the afterlife in Warcraft in general, in the case they should vanish.
This is giving me two main ideas.
1. Rather than there being one great afterlife for all souls of all races, most souls seem to go to a certain demiplane of a powerful being or force, or are just lost. With individuals or entire races "subscribing" to a certain powerful force/demiplane through ritual/religion to determine the end destination of their souls.
2. Blizzard never really fleshed out the structure of their cosmos.
I think both yes and no. Ysera was carried to the stars by Elune, Night Elves seem to turn to whisps in some form of “a part with nature” but otherwise afaik we haven’t seen any “proof” of a good place after death, only tormented spirits and ghosts. Maybe it’s like in real life, you have your beliefs depending on religion, and maybe that’s what happens, different scenarious for different religions, or maybe if you don’t become a ghost or a wraith, and die normally you just, die.