With Shadowlands, World of Warcraft doesn’t take itself too seriously – at least during a cool quest. The lore is poked fun at.
In the upcoming expansion World of Warcraft Shadowlands , the developers apparently had a lot of fun creating the quests. In one questline, they poke fun at their own story and address recurring player critiques. During a theater performance, WoW essentially parodies itself when you choose the right covenant.
Spoiler alert: The article contains spoilers about the story of the area Ardenweald and the Night Fae covenant. If you don’t want to read that, you should click away now.
Theater Piece as a Covenant Ritual
If you are interested in a covenant with the Night Fae at level 60, you first have to undergo a ritual. In this ritual, the Night Fae access the player’s memories. These memories are brought to life in the form of a theater piece and presented as a performance for the Queen’s court.
However, this is much less serious than the events that originally took place in Azeroth. The reason for this is that the various inhabitants of Ardenweald, such as the faeries, take on the roles of the characters. When a faerie takes on the title “N’Zoth, the Corruptor” and then 4 extras come running in, each carrying a tentacle, it’s hard not to smile. This whole questline proceeds at that silly, but very funny level, as shown by our colleagues at wowhead.
All the important roles, such as Illidan, Anduin, Tyrande, or Sylvanas, are played by the faeries and other inhabitants of Ardenweald – who bear no resemblance to the originals. When a cheerful fluttering faerie plays the role of the evil Banshee Queen, who also carries the subtitle “
The same goes if Magni Bronzebeard is played by a Sylvar who rubs himself with glitter powder and keeps babbling about “Woonz” and how desperately he needs Azerite.
Audience Wonders About the Chaos
The audience actively comments on the events and wonders how much has happened in such a short time on Azeroth, while on other worlds very little happens for hundreds of years. They are particularly skeptical about Sargeras’ sword, and they say:
“Wait, so there’s a gigantic sword in the world of the newcomer? How does that work?”
“Well, it just goes in with a ‘Ka-Chunk?’”
“I was an environmentalist in my lifetime! You can’t just stab a planet without serious repercussions on, well, everything!”
“Good point. But how do you even make a sword that big? Do you transmute it from another world?”
“No idea, I definitely don’t want to meet this Sargeras guy.”
However, even aside from the audience’s comments, the theater piece is almost worth a membership with the Night Fae. Iconic lines from characters, like Illidan, are also slightly mocked. Instead of saying “You do not know what to expect!” the faerie Windy forgets her lines and instead tries, “You do not know what you… encounter!” At least she’s close.
Lady Moonberry also comments on the appearance of Gul’dan, visibly confused: “But it wasn’t her Gul’dan. This one came from the past… from another world… from an alternate timeline! I… think that’s how it was…”
The audience then reacts confused with “Wait, what?” and “How is that supposed to work?” – questions that players still ask themselves today.
Especially cool: The spirit of Ysera is present, who you rescue in the Ardenweald story. She also comments on most actions and is shocked that events like the burning of Teldrassil or the war between Horde and Alliance were real. Ysera previously thought these were just nightmares that had plagued her.
Serious Story, Despite Much Humor
Despite all the humor and the clearly funny performance, there are also more serious moments in the questline. You see some audience members particularly excited as the Legion is defeated – and you learn that the entire world of these people was destroyed by the Legion and millions of souls were sent to the Shadowlands at once.
In summary, this is definitely one of the most entertaining quests that World of Warcraft has seen so far – but only accessible to players who wish to commit to the Night Fae.
What do you think of questlines that are more to be viewed with a wink? Cool and entertaining? Or does it make the rather serious actions of the past seem ridiculous?
