MMORPGs come in wonderous varieties, but they all have one common feature, an almighty body of lore that governs the basic rules of the world. Even if you don’t roll on an RP server, your character will interact with non-player characters (NPCs) and travel to locations that are all part of local legend. Older MMORPGs like World of Warcraft have had decades to amass various stories and legends about the world of Azeroth and it’s heroes.
As any Star Wars fan will tell you, sometimes a story can get bogged down in its own canon. One of the issues players have with the new expansion, Shadowlands, is that the stories and characters of the afterlife contradict a huge portion of the existing lore from previous expansions, even the vintage RTS games. These include, but aren’t limited to, alternate timelines, time travel, the spiritual beliefs of certain races and classes, the ultimate fate of past characters, or new NPCs that can be either friends or enemies. It’s only a few days into the expansion, so a few of these plot holes might yet close as you progress through the vast and limitless worlds of Shadowlands.
10 OP Sylvanas
Something about a deal she made with the Jailer, but we’ll get to that in a second. Sylvanus was always a powerful character in the lore, but the writers couldn’t think of anything to do with her after Arthas was dead, so she committed suicide. That’s bad enough to start with, but then she dies for a second time and apparently made a deal with another OP character called the Jailor, who allows her to return to Azeroth. Except that she’s still dead.
It’s straightforward in the sense that Sylvanas is killing as many as possible to feed the Maw and power up herself and the Jailer, but she seems to be an entirely different character than the one that helped Horde players pursue and defeat Arthas in Wrath of the Lich King. Maybe this mystery will get explained later, like when we kill the Jailer as a raid boss.
9 The Jailer
Introducing the Big Bad Guy of the latest expansion, who’s pretty much the same as the Big Bad Buy of the last one, and the one before that. This isn’t only a tired old trope that should have died four expansions ago, this character represents a major plot hole. Why are they so powerful compared to the other Eternal Ones? Are they some kind of Old God? What can Sylvanas give to the Jailer that other souls couldn’t? Is this related to why she was returned to Azeroth in undead form instead of her previous, living, High Elf form? That plot hole leads to several others.
8 Bolvar and the Helm of Domination
This is confusing anyway, but if you’re a player who’s familiar with the RTS games, this makes even less sense. Part of what made Arthas the Lich King was putting the Helm of Domination on and fusing his soul with Ner’Zul’s, at least that was the original story.
Did that also happen with Bolvar? It doesn’t seem to have any effect on him at all, other than being a cool accessory, and it certainly didn’t keep Sylvanas from ripping through it like soggy tissue. Was Ner’zul’s soul released when Sylvanas broke the helm? If not, why not? He might turn up in the Shadowlands and explain it.
7 Gul’dan
A few expansions ago, the writers of Azerothian lore decided they wanted to ret-con some history, so they released a couple of expansions that introduced the concept of alternative timelines. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but now that the same writers have introduced the concept of an afterlife, they have to come up with an explanation of how characters who died in one timeline and survived in another can even be in the shadowlands. Gul’dan, the famous Orc warlock of distant lore, is one example. He dies in both timelines, but actually escapes from one into another and then dies at a different time, or something odd like that. How does that fit in with his death? Will there be two of him in the Shadowlands?
6 Uther
Speaking of characters that would have to be in two places at once in order not to break the lore, enter Uther Lightbringer. You might remember him from such games as Warcraft 3 when he was murdered by his best student and close friend, Arthas Menethil. Up until this point, players were under the impression that his soul was trapped in Frostmourne. Apparently, part of it was in Bastion the whole time and fighting the urge to go all Lawful Evil and seek revenge. So much for Bastion being some kind of equivalent to Heaven, but the lore of the Light is a whole other issue.
5 Arthas
Going back to legacy characters, here’s one that’s mysteriously dropped off the map as opposed to getting more screen time than they deserve. In The Wrath of the Lich King expansion, at the end of the raid in which the player defeats Arthas, we only see his father’s ghost confront him and we’re not sure what happens after that.
In a more recent version of events, specifically an “Afterlives: Bastion” cinematic that’s really more about Uther than Arthas, his father doesn’t appear at all. Instead, it’s Uther and Devos that come for him and drop his soul into the Maw. However, was this justice, or was it revenge?
4 Everything Related to the “Light”
The Light isn’t the only Azerotian spiritual belief that has to get retconned once the Shadowlands is open, but this is connected to so many other things it seems worthy to include. Previously, those who followed the Light in life became one with it when passing on, but apparently not, since all of the Paladins or Priests we knew in life are still here, with Uther the Lightbringer being one example. Was it because of the Light that Uther was able to fracture his soul, and why did it take Devos so long to figure that out? Perhaps this will get wrapped up later on when we get more information on what exactly happened to Arthas.
3 Role-Playing the Level Squish
Sometimes game mechanics are tough to integrate into role-playing, which goes totally unnoticed by some layers while it’s a central concern for others. It’ll take some creativity but it’s not impossible. Maybe your character took a blow to the head, they were bedridden with a long and brutal illness, or they lost all their gear and money gambling with the wrong goblins. Whole guilds can get together and create RP events that can collectively explain how they lost their levels, so to speak. Too bad the writers for Blizzard don’t have the same standards.
2 The Souls in Frostmourne
We’ve already gone over the issues that this raises in respect to Uther and the ret-con that fractured his soul so he could be in Bastion and Frostmourne at the same time. It’s thin, and we can go with it, but the inevitable question that follows is, how exactly did that happen? Uther called on the Light as he died, which might be the answer, but what about the literally thousands of other souls that were captured by the sword?
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Sylvanas is one example. Her mortal life ended with Frostmourne, so was part of her soul still trapped there even though Arthas rose her again as an Undead minion? The same could apply to his father. Or does what happened to Uther only apply to disciples of the Light?
1 The Concept of Anima
The whole plot of this expansion is based on Anima or the power of souls. This doesn’t break the lore itself, but the way Anima is explained ignores the whole nature of an RPG game. This is a trend that’s started in previous expansions and continues to an even higher degree in Shadowlands. The more important or famous a lore character is, the more power their anima has, so the player follows their adventures instead of having their own. This is further contradicted by the fact that every character they meet insists they’re some sort of hero anyway, which makes any accomplishments feel manufactured and not a real part of any plotline.
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