So guys, we now know that for the past severals years(?) the Maw has been hungrily gobbling up all the souls of the dead who have passed through into the Shadowlands. In a world like Azeroth, with so many dead and so many lost to the myriad wars and calamities, the chances are high that all of our characters now have someone stuck in that particularly nasty dimension.
So my question is this: who has your character lost to it? Or which of your characters, whose story came to an end, is now trapped within it?
How do you imagine your character responding to this information, should it become widespread knowledge?
For a start, my boy Loras is now unfortunately trapped there, so Iâll be curious to see how the story transpires in that regard. Will he get to see peace afterwards, presumably with someone like the Kyrian, or will Blizzard choose to make me feel really bad about my narrative decisions?
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Lost my beloved in life to the Maw.
Probably going to look up for him later in the xpac.
And well. Hugues -saw- it when he died too. He just thinks itâs the regular shadowlands. That was enough to convince him to not end himself after his raising.
Watrus isnât actually sure if heâs dead or not. Itâs been many years.
But if he isâŚ
Enjoy that, you basta-
My worgen Moonclaw who died by the start of Legion. (Boy, am I feeling very bad for my baby, now). 
Some sentinels and a priestess died throughout the course of Legion and BfA on my night elfâs watch.
Probably seek some kind of repentance, if not actively searching for means to set these souls free. (A dead end, surely, considering that this task will most likely be left in the hands of the Champions.)
That said, I really do hope that the spirits of the dead are eventually given release by the end of the story. Never been a big fan of eternal damnation in the afterlife sort of narratives, unless itâs absolved by the end. Call me queasy, but itâs too dark for my taste.
My Night Elf Sentinel lost his mate during the Burning of Teldrassil!
Obviously he wonât know that she is damned for all eternity into literal Hell, but if he does find out; knowing Saurfang is there suffering as much as she is, makes it only a little bit easier to bear. Ofcourse he would move mountains to get her out of thay hell and into her proper afterlife to become either a Wisp or a ghost.
(How do Night Elven wisps work now? They just get send back right away by the Night Fae or what?)
One of her betrothed. Chieun does not have a good track record with those.
My old Argent Tauren Taghmata, too. Ouch. That was already a tough death.
But surely souls can escape the Maw? Otherwise, how would DKs be made now?
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I am a bit confused about the whole Maw thing. I mean, it is a neat concept donât get me wrong. But do all souls go there now? Like 100% of the dead? Because it does not make much sense with the things like Vrykul heaven, the Helheim, the various spirits we have communed with, the spirits lost in what is atm in game Shadowlands, the death knights as mentioned above etc.
I suppose we will have to wait and see if there is some more clarity given. Else I have some retcons to do in regards to several of my fallen characters or their loved ones. 
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From what I understood any and all souls from the last several years go there now!
With those being raised back into undeath(Dark Rangers, Dark Wardens and Death Knights) and then those souls/spirits bound to Azeroth(Ghosts, Bansheeâs, Spectreâs) and ofcourse the Wisps and the Wild-/Demi-Gods being exceptions! And with those exceptions we can assume Ysera didnât end up there either due to Eluneâs direct intervention and as far as we know Malygos didnât end up there either because winged creatures like Dragons, Harpies and others end up at Gâhanir, which is apparently also in another realm then the Shadowlands!
So as long as there is some other realm or power helping the spirits to some other place they can be saved? Well it sounds logical to me. Thanks for clarification.
Peers at Elune
Curious as to how the Maw affects souls that are trapped on Azeroth. Itâs been shown that souls can be trapped and remain on Azeroth as tormented spirits in the past.
We gottaâ get back KING RASTAKHAN!
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Thats what I think is the reason for it! Iâm not certain of it and it ofcourse it is most likely wrongâŚ
But I stick to it until Blizzard clarifies it!
I know it says; âfor yearsâ but do we know exactly how long for years is?
Otherwise, my poor troll warlock lost his mate at the end of wrath/beginning of cataclysm (she got crushed in a landslide caused by Deathwing)
I think I read somewhere that Sylvy had the deal going on from when she tried to top herself in âEdge of Nightâ so it seems likely anyone lost post WotLK is at risk of going there. I try to not meta with my characters (Brigante only found out that Saurfang survived the Battle of Undercity when he was told IC that he had died at Orgrimmar in a Makâgora!) but if for whatever reason he -did- find out he would be devastated. His childhood sweetheart, the âgirl next doorâ Rachayelle died at Theramore, worse still, she was with his child when exiled, so he lost his first son there, Durovante, who he never got to meet, but only heard about via neutral mail sources. He still harbours massive anger at Garrosh for killing his âSon without a Faceâ, because he never even knew what he looked like, and never will. He canât even mourn properly. How do you mourn a name written on paper?
His First wife, Ensoria would have ended up there, she died during Legion, as did his second son, Asharion (Worlds worst parenting award goes to Brigante!) Heâs lost numerous comrades, and one of his best friends, Thanoril Sunhawk (Not a Sun Hawk, just happened to be his last name, he was head of the Dawnguard). Heâs lost a dear friend and confidante in Zittra Emberfury, one of his Flight Lieutenants, and that isnât even going into his friends from other Horde species (and Alliance ones).
The idea that all of those people were simply tormented and chewed up by some faceless entity and that it was Sylvanasâ fault (Someone he massively respected when she was alive) would horrify him. As is his way, he would likely seek solace at the bottom of several bottles of Port (The boy can put it away) and cling even tighter to his second wife and their two children. It would seriously make him rethink his vow that he would let their children be whatever they wanted to be in life, for fear that if they became soldiers, like their old man, they would be more likely to end up in that fate sooner rather than later. He would take some solace that his mother, and younger sister had not gone there, and some begrudging acceptance of the fact that neither had his father. As for the previous Commandant of the Aerie, his mentor and Flight instructor when he was a Rookie, his view would be a curt âGoodâ The Elf was a Traitor.
Heâs not religious, but if the idea of the Maw was explained to him, he would be utterly horrified, and it would seriously effect how he sees Death.
Iâm assuming its from Cata onwards tbf
His mother is his youger sister? Damn Bronze dragons at it again!?
Also man, I missed you; nonetheless, as always, your comments are TL:DR <3
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Probably. Well, I am just going to leave it vague since thatâs a whole can of worms my warlock is not ready to deal with again and Iâm actually enjoying playing him.
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Hah, no, an inadvertent comma. His mother and younger sister, two different people. Quelâthalas is not quite -that- decadent. 
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Loras was taken from me and all the Eastern Kingdoms could not fill the hole he left behind 
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Theory time!
âItâs the spirit healers who decide when itâs time for a soul to cross into the Shadowlands. Souls who arrive here are brought before the Arbiter, a mysterious and ancient being whose existence predates all memoryâeven older than the Titans, according to some accounts. Those brought before her have all of their deeds, memories, and experiencesâthe very contents of their soulsâlaid bare, and are judged in a mere instant. Once measured, the Arbiter sends them off to one of countless realms of the Shadowlands. Weâll be visiting four of these, but not every soul is filtered into these specific places.â~ https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23187291
The way I understand the process based on the all current lore we have is following. You die for whatever reason and you end up in either the Shadowlands reflection of Azeroth or veil between Physical world and Shadowlands. The place very well known to us when we get wiped. Now it was most likely that once your number was called in queue of the dead by spirit healer, you were either picked up by another Valâkyr or Kyrian.
My guess is that this big hole we see above us when weâre dead? Itâs probably passage to higher layers of Shadowlands, such as Oribos. This can also explain how improper burial, emotional and violent death disrupts ability of their soul to move on.
Now how does it aling with the Maw sucking up all souls? Again, my guess is:
1.Spirit healers only function as ticket control and regardless of who is higher-up they will send souls to the higher layers, being as neutral as Arbiter in her judgement.
2a. There are spirit healers loyal to Oribos and Arbiter and the ones loyal to the Jailer which keep sending souls on purpose. This could be especially backed up by Helya who probably is still strong enough to make Valâkyr of her own or convince spirit healers to aid her.
2b. There are other beings aside from Spirit Healers who snatch the souls for the Jailer to Shadowlands. Perhaps likes of Soul-Eaters, Face-Stalers and Essence Fiends.
If either one is more closer to truth than the other, then it would mean that the planetary layers of Shadowlands or in-between realms are in constant war for souls.
I canât help but feel for those poor farmers and townspeople in Brennadam. The Horde sent them all; men women and children screaming down (or up?) into Hell.
Oh, and everyone in Teldrassil who didnât escape the burning, too. Poor sods.
In some ways this is worse than what the Old Horde did - at least most of the souls of those they killed passed on to something better.
Edit: âBetterâ is probably subjective in this case, but Iâm sure whatever realm the Old Hordeâs victims went to is better than the Maw.
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