Maldraxxus - Why Would the Shadowlands Need an Army?

Lore Story
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During the main story/quest line in the Shadowlands, Madraxxus forces launch an assault against the Kyrian in Bastion. When finishing off this quest line, before being sent to Maldraxxus, there is some dialog that says something along the lines of - and I’m paraphrasing here -
“Maldraxxus/Necrolords are sworn to protect the Shadowlands… Not attack it!”

This got thinking… Why would the Shadowlands, the after life, need an army? Who or what would they need protecting from? Who would have the capabilities to launch an assault on the Shadowlands, the realms of death, as an outsider?

I’m really enjoying the lore & story in the expansion. :smiley:

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It’s the same as asking this.

Why would Azeroth need an Army?

Because The Shadowlands holds ancient Secrets, just like how Azeroth has secrets.

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From the Collector’s ed. book:

The First Ones who shaped the cosmos knew they needed to protect the Shadowlands from external threats and beyond. Maldraxxus was their answer.

Such was the original goal of it. But who knows if the way Shadowlands funcion is in line with what is supposed to be originally.

Maldraxxus exists to defend the Shadowlands against cosmic threats like the Burning Legion. Sometimes that takes the form of repelling invasions; other times, it involves a more proactive approach.

All these forces [cosmological chart] push and pull against one another in the balance of the universe.

If it would be needed, we could be able get there regardless.

For mortals to cross over into these other planes requires considerable effort.

Shattering the veil just made it easier.

https://worldofwarcraft.judgehype.com/news/interview-de-steve-danuser-sur-l-histoire-de-shadowlands-164320/

So, anima seems to be a source of power. Energy seemingly needed for void lords to sustain themselves outside of the realm of pure Shadow that exists somewhere outside the boundaries of the Great Dark Beyond (aka WoW “reality”).

Souls are the source of power for fel energies, and thus - could be of use for the Legion.

Life is not clear, it’s already heavily represented in the Dream and Ardenweald, which are “branches of the same tree” (first source).

Order forces are shady and it’s not really clear how the Pantheon so successfully was searching for more titans that we’ve never heard about a single one other than the original ones.

Light is unlikely to need anything there by default, and would not even appear [in Shadowlands] without actions of Denathrius (1st link). They are more about life in the universe, and it’s a thing of “reality”, not Shadowlands.

TL;DR: souls / anima might be a valuable resources. Ra-den claims that anima is one of tools for “creation & destruction” magic, whatever are the tools the Pantheon used to wipe out or create planetary systems.

gl hf

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Because the other cosmic forces are at war with the Shadowlands.

The Legion is at war with the Shadowlands, as Draka was sent to spy on a Legion forward camp.

The Void is at war with the Shadowlands, as they invaded Bastion and Maldraxxus.

The Light is at war with the Shadowlands, as they invaded Bastion and Revendreth.

Don’t forget that Sargeras, the Void Lords and the Light Lords/Naaru want control of the entire cosmos, and the Shadowlands are a part of that cosmos.

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That’s an interesting prospect…does that mean that, from one perspective, the Light could be an antagonistic force?

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cuz they got people like sylvanas that abuses bfa scaling to 1-shot them.

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The Light is a force, anyone can use it. Some antagonists use it for their own goals, like the Scarlet Crusade. It is also used by many protagonists, like Anduin.

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I’ve probably been over-thinking things…

I was under the impression that the “First Ones” were, first, and so the Shadowlands is ancient and predates most things in the Cosmos… Or at the very least predates the Titans and the Burning Legion. This is what what got me thinking about what kind of threats there could have been for “First Ones” and the Shadowlands to require a military force for defense.

I am aware that forces of the “Light” as well as the “Void” have managed to infiltrate the Shdaowlands. But I had just assumed that this was a fairly recent-ish development… Probably within the time frame of the Anima drought, as this is the ultimate factor that has weakened the realms of the Shadowlands and the main cause for internal conflict and turmoil.

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They aren’t recent events. The Void invasion of Bastion happened a long time ago, there’s a questline where you see visions of the far past. Same for the Void invasion of Maldraxxus, you find the grave of someone who sacrificed themself against the Void and that happened long ago. The Light scorched Revendreth creating the Ember Ward, where the venthyr have been sending exiles for a long time.

Basically, all of these events predate the breaking of the Arbiter, which is very recent. We basically go to the Shadowlands right after the Arbiter broke, so if these invasions were recent we’d certainly see some remnants of the Light and Void minions. But we never do.

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Oh I see. Come to think of it, I do remember a few quests in Bastion where there was a void attack. I didn’t realize at the time that was was a vision from the past. Probably why I had assumed the Void & Light presence in the Shadowlands was more recent. :stuck_out_tongue:

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i dont think the anima ra-den mentions is the same thing

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It definitely not quite the same, because the anima of the kind that is used in Shadowlands can be “extracted” only out of the deceased, not the living.

However, somehow Ra-den knows about anima and vita, a concept not yet covered all that much in the game. So, not only the keepers know about those things, whatever they are, but actively used. Maybe the anima they used is flawed or something like that.

Where would it all go - can’t tell so far.

gl hf

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and the natrezim been lurking arround in the shadowlands for ages also, stealing stuff giving it to the legion.

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this is why I think the eternals or atleast some of them are titans or decendant of titans, winterqueen even says ysera is powered buy her sister, whom then should be eonar or elune.

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What does god need with a star… ops wrong topic.

But we already know both the light and void attacked the SL so clearly they need a army.

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Wait, source of this ? I mean “invaded Bastion” ?

According to Danuser it isn’t indeed.

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I meant Maldraxxus, I get these places confused.

Regardless, the Light would have no issue invading Bastion. Don’t presume that these kyrians are friends of the Light just because they look like angels, because they are creatures of Death.

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This is sort of the reason why Maldraxxus fell flat for me when compared to other Covenants, especially in the beginning–we were told that the Maldraxxi are the protectors of the Shadowlands, but never got to see what exactly they are protecting Shadowlands from. The only case of Shadowlands being invaded we are aware of from the start is the Ember Ward, and given the state of it I guess it’s a bit questionable just how effective Maldraxxus was at handling that one.

Only after progressing through the main storyline + covenants does the picture clear a bit. In the past there’s been Void attacks as well, now there’s Drust in Ardenweald and the Forsworn in Bastion… In Draka’s animated short she’s seen killing what looks suspiciously like felguards. So I suppose this is the kind of threats Maldraxxus would normally be up against, were they not occupied with a civil war: other cosmic threats, rebels, invaders from other corners of the Shadowlands.

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Any kind of action can be excused as having been committed in the name of whatever - Light as well. Ultimately, we often fight an interpretation of concepts and ideas, not always the concepts and ideas themselves.

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