The Lore is getting big! Shadowlands is set within this vast mysterious universe and the hints so often and so many and so sneaked away, there’s a very high chance we could have missed them. For example, the weekly dungeons are not just anima handed it is major lore if you dive into that. Players usually rocket through that main campaign and probably miss out on so many of the details that flash out of the story more and more importantly set up future mysteries, ancient civilizations, buried pasts and all other exciting discoveries.
DISCOVERIES: BASTION
We all learned Bastion is led by the Archon and six Paragons. In the vault of the Archon, there are mirrors dedicated to these figures and you can interact with each. There’s a seventh mirror called the Eye of Agatha and it is disabled which means there is a missing Paragon. The good news is, Agatha’s memory, a side quest you may have missed, lets us relive Paragon’s final moments. It also gives fundamental truths about the cosmos. A student who is also on a journey to understand Agatha and tells us that Eons ago, the Void attacked the Shadowlands. It was only through the sacrifice of Agatha, charging herself with anima and exploding, that the threat was ended.
We are also told that the cosmic powers are in this eternal tug of war and that if one was to succeed it would mean the end of the entire cosmos.
DISCOVERIES: DEVOS
Devos was seen in Afterlife’s Uther and in a dungeon where she’s defeated. Unless you are a Kyrian player, you probably got a bit confused for she just appeared out of nowhere. One minute she’s the Paragon of Loyalty, next minute she’s the Paragon of Doubt and the final boss of the dungeon. You probably defeated her in the dungeon before you properly met her in the story because that happened out of order.
We already know that she is the leader of the Frostmourne. Her doubt began after meeting Uther and throwing Uther’s soul into the Maw. In between, Devos developed doubts about the Path of Ascension. It is after all hugely problematic to remove somebody’s personality and memories and then store them which is of interest for the Brokers.
Of all of the Paragons to have doubts, the Paragon of loyalty would be the most damaging of all to Kyrian’s job. It is because of her job because traditionally the Kyrian who are unsure of the path were sent to Devos. She was the one who was supposed to make them loyal. Ironically, these struggling Kyrians who were being sent to the temple of loyalty to become loyal were in fact being convinced to rebel by the disloyal Paragon of Loyalty. Secretly, Devos had actually made a plan with the Jailer and this of course doomed her Frostmourne army’s high ideas and just made them servants of the Maw. Would it not have been more interesting if the Jailer had nothing to do with? Devos is a villain purely driven by her own thoughts and opinions.
DISCOVERIES: THE MAW
Ve’nari handles various different items to the deciphering death’s intention achievement. The hand in quest for some of these items have fascinating descriptions, some were so revealing they ended up being changed by Blizzard. Example is the Worn Obleron Etching. It is currently described as a crumbling manuscript hinting at the origins of the Maw. Back in Beta, it had a different item description “A crumbling manuscript written in a time before the Maw was called the Maw.”. It tells us that the Maw was not always this ultimate prison realm of the eternally damned, it is something different. The idea that the Maw, in fact changed, is reflected in the Wailing Coin item. It actually hints that it was used as a currency in the Maw and that leads us to believe that there was in fact a civilization flourishing there. And this perhaps hints at what the Worn Obleron means- could it be a name, a reference to a civilization or a name the Maw once held?
DISCOVERIES: MALDRAXXUS
The Theater of Pain is the central fixture of Maldraxxus. It is where the Necrolords train against the worst of the cosmos and they get these tough opponents through contracts with the Brokers. One opponent is a narrow tior, we know nothing about them but you can really appreciate the broker’s ability to find quality combatants and you have likely seen their camp that flanks the theater. Wondering what these brokers are up to? You can begin working for the brokers and if you do in a side quest (which most of you probably skipped) you are actually sent around the cosmos to find combatants. And one place they send you to is known as the Shattered Grove. It could be a lost world in the cosmos or another realm of the Shadowlands. It uses the shadow moon valley tile set thus a unique feeling for Shadowlands. And continuing proof of the brokers’ vast cosmic capabilities.
SEPULCHRE OF KNOWLEDGE
Every broker quest chain is a transaction, we get something but they always tend to come out better. And during the quest chain archival protection, we help one of these brokers break into the Sepulcher of Knowledge. This is a huge structure in Maldraxxus that contains all of the collected military knowledge of that realm. Remember that the Primus is essentially considered to be the greatest master of war that exists.
A fun tidbit, the Necrolords have a public health policy. Near the entrance of Plaguefall is Pandemics/Pandemis who asks us wash our hands and wear a mask.
DISCOVERIES: ARDENWEALD
You may or may not have heard about the Drust invasion. The Drust are from a part of the Emerald nightmare named Thros. Beginning with the quest fate of hour long, we learn that the anima drought has led to the gorms (bug boys) eating the earth of Ardenweald. This has been causing sections of the zone to break off and disappear. Whenever Blackthorne growth becomes threatened by gorm predation, its leader turns to a mysterious stone that holds great power. Sadly this stone was transported to Ardenweald via the Emerald nightmare. Using this stone, it opens a portal for the Drust led by Gorak Zhar to invade so that is how they got here. They came in from Thros because of this stone.
HEART OF THE FOREST
The Jailer was put in the Maw and the Maw was made inescapable. And this was possible because of the Heart of the Forest in Ardenweald. We learn in the quest the Court of Winter that the anima drought is causing the Heart of the Forest to fail. If it does fail, the Jailer will be able to break free. So we really should be thanking the Night Fae covenant because all of those souls they retrieve from the Maw have been keeping the Heart alive and the Jailer jailed.
With BlizzConline around the corner, we must keep an eye at Ardenweald for that power failing and the escape of the Jailer. It’s notable how Ardenweald’s plotline felt less connected to the rest of the Shadowlands. It is not only the anima drought that is going to kill the tree. They knew, whoever orchestrated it, that the anima drought would lead to the gorm doing what the gorm was doing and then that makes you wonder who put the Drust stone there. The Drust would have wiped out Ardenweald and the Jailer would have been able to break free. In the same way that if during the Battle for Azeroth expansion, the Drust succeeded, then many of the Jailer’s plans may have turned out differently.
DISCOVERIES: REVENDRETH
The Refugee quest in Revendreth tells us that long ago, Denathrius used sinfall for dark magic experiments and Zarali later tells us that these experiments were a direct affront to the light such as they demanded justice. So the Light launched an invasion into the Shadowlands with an uncountable army. So this march of the Light scorched a path through Revendreth creating the Ember Ward but of course their invasion ended up failing. Z’rali’s broken body was found by unseen ones which is probably the Nathrezim and she was imprisoned in the depths.
Z’rali’s story continues with the Venthyr campaign but for her service overthrowing Denathrius, she was free. Z’rali wanted to return to the Light but she knew that her kin would see her as being corrupted by death’s taint. This is an important thing- the Light is completely about purity. She occupied a wing of sinful overlooking Ember Ward named Donkey. And it said to ensure the Light is felt here, that justice is rendered and the death is made to know its place.
THE BROKERS: TURN-INS
The Brokers are certainly mysterious and spooky. They have a driving motive, they have something they want and they want to discover and we’ve been unwittingly helping them through the weekly dungeon quests. You might be just doing it because you want to fill up your anima weekly and that is what the Brokers are counting on. They want us to retrieve powerful items and cosmos shattering information from around the Shadowlands and we hand over the data and items in return for some anima. However, each quest has a deep meaning. Head on over to the video to find out more.
Video chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:20 Bastion
4:39 Devos
6:53 The Maw
9:20 Maldraxxus
12:20 Ardenweald
14:21 The Heart of the Forest
16:21 Revendreth
19:16 The Brokers