In World of Warcraft a foe has hardly been seen in recent years. Now he is returning – as the story is being revisited.
That in World of Warcraft a foe is never truly defeated, but often comes back two or three times, is now an old hat. However, especially in recent years, Blizzard has eliminated many “classic” Warcraft enemies. The Old Gods are defeated, the Burning Legion has been vanquished, and the Lich King has been in retirement for many years.
Now an old enemy is likely to return and gain new strength again – at least there are clear indications of this.
Spoiler Warning: It should be obvious by now, but this is about the future of WoW.
Who is returning? The Burning Legion doesn’t seem to be completely gone yet. This is evident from the announcement of a new Warcraft book by Christie Golden. The book “Blood Ties,” which could be translated into German as “Blutbande,” is about Alleria Windrunner, Exarch Turalyon, and their son Arator. Blizzard announced the book on the WoW website.
Someone has taken up residence in an old base of the Legion – a demon who intends to use Azeroth once again for nefarious plans.
What about the Burning Legion? The Burning Legion was defeated at the end of the “Legion” expansion. Many of the leaders are defeated and permanently eradicated. The fallen titan, Sargeras, is currently being held by the other titans and Illidan. At the same time, the World Soul of Argus was destroyed, drastically slowing the regeneration of demons in the Nether. Demons are still reborn in the Nether (as long as they don’t die in the Nether), but the process takes longer.
Since then, the Burning Legion has been leaderless. Exact details are not known, but Blizzard has repeatedly hinted that there is now an internal conflict among the demons, with several powerful figures attempting to secure their piece of the Legion. However, this is no longer a huge cosmic threat as it was under Sargeras’s leadership.
Since then, demons have only played a minor role. They appear only sporadically in the new expansions and, apart from some specific class quests, have nearly been forgotten.
What does the book say? So far, there is only the blurb of the book. It states (translated):
(…) Arator embarks on a new journey to investigate rumors of a strange glow emanating from the ruins of an abandoned Legion base. Turalyon and Alleria offer their help, eager to destroy this old foe before he can threaten the world again. As the family delves deeper into the mystery, Arator tries to reconcile his parents’ heroic legacy with the flawed people he has met. He sees both parents in himself: his father’s high moral standards, his mother’s intelligence, and both’s unwavering will to defend Azeroth. But Arator finds himself at the center of their greatest strengths and weaknesses – weaknesses that are revealed when the demonic threat turns out to be a former lieutenant of the Burning Legion who aims to use Azeroth for a new campaign of destruction.
We will probably only find out how the return of a commander of the Burning Legion looks and whether it will have implications for the “real” World of Warcraft when the book is released – or if Blizzard reveals new details about the next expansion “Midnight” by then.
