One of the most well-known enemies in World of Warcraft is making a return – at least everything points to that, because Blizzard is undoing a story error.
The entire story of World of Warcraft is quite complicated and in some places simply overloaded. Some decisions by the developers seemed to be born more out of affect and presented even the biggest WoW story fans with difficult problems.
What was the big story error? The raid “Hellfire Citadel” from Warlords of Draenor was somewhat peculiar. Not only did the raid take a completely different storyline than originally promised, but you also suddenly fought against Archimonde, the general of the Burning Legion. Like almost everything in WoD, this had the strange aftertaste that you were not fighting the “real” Archimonde, but only Archimonde from another timeline.
Blizzard probably wanted to increase the significance of the fight in retrospect and stated in an interview at the time: The Legion is the same entity in all timelines. The swirling Nether permeates and connects all timelines, hence there is always only one Archimonde and he is exactly the same character in all timelines.
The YouTuber Bellular also has an interesting video on this, in which he explains why this idea was simply a mistake:
Why is this a problem? Even if it sounds like a cool concept at first glance to let an adversary like the Burning Legion be identical in all timelines, it has its problems. The longer you think about this circumstance, the more gaps and paradoxes arise.
Because if the Legion is the same Legion in all timelines, then it would surely have succeeded in some timelines.
Also, ideas like the whole planet Argus then fall apart. Because after the Eredar joined Sargeras, they became part of the Burning Legion. So there has always only been one Kil’Jaeden, who simultaneously chased the fleeing Draenei in all timelines.
At the same time, it is an unsolvable problem to say that the Burning Legion is the same organization in all timelines. Because what happens to cultists who join the Burning Legion in different timelines? Is there an infinite number of the demon “Rakeesh” in the Nether, that is, Velan’s son, who has joined the Legion? Or do the “Rakeesh” of all timelines merge into a single being once they belong to the Legion?
The longer you rethink the concept, the more susceptible it is to errors and the less sense it makes.
How is WoW changing this right now? Fortunately, the claim that the Legion is the same across all timelines is only in the form of developer statements from back in the days of Warlords of Draenor. Especially in Patch 10.1.5 Rifts in Time, there are clear indications that this thought has been abandoned.
Particularly the existence of “Azerwrath,” one of the possible time rifts, is mentioned here. Because in Azerwrath, the Legion won the War of the Ancients and has been ruling over Azeroth for over 10,000 years.
However, if the Legion were the same in all timelines, it would simply not make sense. Because the Legion would have already achieved its great goal, to destroy Azeroth.
What does this mean for the future? If Blizzard uses the hints they have now spread correctly, they can “revive” the Burning Legion as an adversary. Probably not as a cosmic threat, as was the case before Sargeras’ imprisonment.
However, there are still countless demons who are probably just building up smaller power structures.
Most importantly, however, is that with this change, the death of Archimonde was not final. Because Archimonde, the boss in the Hellfire Citadel, would then only have been the “alternate timeline” Archimonde and the Archimonde of “our” timeline still exists, even though his soul and body are currently regenerating in the Nether (after his annihilation at Hyjal in Warcraft III).
This means Blizzard has a powerful demon in reserve, who can not only bring back some classic Warcraft vibes but also serves as another player in the cosmic battle of powers, which is slowly emerging on the addon horizon.
