It is so easy to look at this expansion title and assume “Well, the void is dark, and it is usually dark at midnight”.
That is the connection i feel the vast majority make, when seeing that expansion title.
HOWEVER…
This expansion connects to the next expansion, which is of course named ‘The Last Titan’; and what are titans associated with?
Time.
Midnight is a time.
That isn’t the only weird thing about this expansion.. But also… The cinematic is actually quite different to the majority of other cinematics.
As many of the community have noted: Most of WoW’s cinematics end with a kind of.. Power climax of the big villain. Look to the Wrath cinematic for the most obvious example (there are exceptions to this rule, like BFA, but they’re showing us that the opposing faction is the big villain in this instance).
This leaves the viewer with the question: How will we deal with this impossible threat?
This excites us to play the game and find out.
In the Midnight cinematic however… They actually answer this question. They show us that the light is how we’re going to hold back the tide of the dark; and although the situation initially paints a picture of hopelessness, it actually sends quite a hopeful vibe at the end. The void doesn’t look so unstoppable all of a sudden; unlike say.. In the Legion cinematic, where although there is hope, it paints much bleaker odds. At the end of the Midnight cinematic, the camera zooms up and out, showing us a very clear vision of light versus void; and an ominous little tone as the Midnight expansion logo pops up.
I think this cinematic is trying to give us a hint to something; about a real threat at play that is not the void at all. Many have speculated that the light may be the big villain.. But.. With the naming of the next expansion; and Midnight being a time, i can’t help feeling that this is something to do with the Titans, and some grand plan is playing out..
Midnight is also a term used for something called the “doomsday clock”; which attempts to measure how close we are to a human made global catastrophe. I have a feeling that Midnight may actually be the expansion we finally see the true threat at play; the mastermind, if you will, behind all of it; meaning this may be one of the most exciting and interesting expansions of all (if they can deliver on these questions and hints they’ve raised). We might see the unveiling of the biggest overarching WoW plot in all of WoW’s history in Midnight; and finally understand precisely what is going on in the World of Warcraft on the deepest of levels.
If the term ‘Midnight’ is a nod to a doomsday clock, then that means that what we’re seeing in Midnight IS the final step in the catastrophe; this IS the catastrophe happening infront of our eyes. This catastrophe will then lead us, somehow, to ‘The Last Titan’.
I’m sure other people have already made these associations, but, i’m throwing them out there just incase these ideas interest people, or if they have a critique of them, or want to build on them and perhaps open more lines of investigation. Not sure if that is what this forum is for, as it is kind of a theory; maybe this is more of a reddit thing.. But oh well.