World of Warcraft: Shadowlandstakes players from Azeroth to the realms of death itself. Blizzard has been building up to the game’s launch with a series of animated shorts calledShadowlands Afterlives.Afterlives: Bastionrevealed the fate of Uther the Lightbringer in the Shadowlands.
Now,Afterlives: Maldraxxushas given players insight into one of the other realms of death through the eyes of another important figure inWoWlore, Draka, the mother of Thrall. However, while Uther is transformed into a being resembling a relatively standard angel, Draka’s afterlife raises far more questions about theWarcraftlore that will need to be answered inWorld of Warcraft: Shadowlands.
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Maldraxxus
Maldraxxus is the heart of the Shadowlands’ military. It is established to be ruled by the Necrolord Covenant, and just asUther ascended to Bastionbecause of his righteous good deeds in life, Draka’s soul goes to Maldraxxus because of her refusal to stop fighting in life, dying to save her infant son.
However, this raises some big questions about the orcish afterlife as already established in theWarcraftlore. Orcs inWarcraftbelieve that when they die they return to their ancestors, and there have even been in-game moments where powerful Shamans like Thrall have been able to contact these long-dead orcs for guidance.
However, the orcs are also a warrior culture, so it might strike someWarcraftfans as odd to learn that an orcish warrior who died fighting would go toMaldraxxusrather than be reunited with their ancestors. It also raises other questions. If Draka had not lived her life as a warrior but as a righteous do-gooder similar to Uther in theBastionshort, would she have ascended to Bastion instead? Do humans and orcs actually share an afterlife and, by extension, do all of the races of theWarcraftuniverse, categorized based on their deeds and not their beliefs or species?
The more disturbing implication for the orcs is that even those who have performed admirable deeds like dying to protect someone or leading a moral life might not be reunited in the afterlife. It appears likely that a noble Shaman likeWarchief Thrallwould likely ascend to Bastion while a warrior like his mother would be recruited into the armies of Maldraxxus.
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Death After Life
Another big question which has yet to be answered is how exactly death will work as both an in-game mechanic and as a story device inWorld of Warcraft: Shadowlands. If a character dies in the Shadowlands, where do they go? Is it possible for a soul to be completely erased in theWarcraftuniverse, or are they always alive in some way, and merely shuffled between realms?
TheAfterlives:Bastionshort seemed to imply that players might even meet Arthas inWoW: Shadowlands. This could mean that, for an expansion so thematically tied to death, the newWoWexpansion may ironically imply that all beings in theWarcraftuniverse are in some sense immortal.
Draka’s afterlife in Maldraxxus also appears to be relatively similar to the life she led onDraenorand Azeroth. Though she says of her new associates that “their ways were not mine," it is also clear that the beings of the Shadowlands also need to fight physical wars in a very similar way to the rest of theWarcraftuniverse. Draka even runs reconnaissance with a spyglass, showing that her physical limitations in life still apply in the afterlife.
ManyWoWfans looking forward toShadowlandswill be looking forward to answers to some of these questions in the remaining two shorts to be released,Afterlives: Ardenweald, andAfterlives: Revendreth. Blizzard has a big task ahead of it to pull off exploring the afterlife while making death feel as meaningful and threatening as everbeforeWorld of Warcraft: Shadowlands.
World of Warcraftis available now for PC. At this point,World of Warcraft Shadowlandsreleases on October 26 or 27 (depending on time zone) for PC.
