Well, what a week! After months of waiting the patch 9.1 is in the PTR! And within hours the lore bombs have been dropped one after another. Special thanks to Aernath who have provided most of the info inside PTR last night, as I will use his footage of game inside the article. So, let us begin shall we?
Disclaimer: This post will contain MAJOR LORE SPOILERS. So read at your own risk.
THE PRIMUS’ WHEREABOUTS
So, the first major lore event is the return of The Primus. And he was… well The Runecaver the whole time. The most likely scenario has been confirmed. I cannot share the whole broadcast here, you can check them all at Wowhead but let us speculate a bit.
Well, I do not know if I’m the only one who have established a connection between these two. On the left, you have the actual in-game model of The Primus, the one on the right is supposed to represent the “original form” of Zovaal The Jailer, right? But aren’t these two look similar? Yes, there are obvious differences such as the armor on the in-game model’s shoulder. But keep in mind the one at the right was a concept art. So it is very likely during in-game adaptation some details have been changed.
But, how about a speculation? I mean, these two images look obviously familiar. so we know Zovaal and Primus are brothers, and I mean, real brothers. How about the two images are actually belong to the same person, but has been split into two? What if Zovaal and The Primus were twins? The two have been created from the same core by The First Ones, to lead The Eternal Ones. This is why The Primus calls The Jailer as brother and even speaks his name aloud; Zovaal. Unlike the other Eternal Ones. Archon calls him monster while Denathrius and The Winter Queen refer him as The Banished One.
But of course the obvious possibility still stands. That the concept art for The Jailer has actually been scrapped away so it is no longer canon. Or there is another strong connection between The Primus and The jailer rather than being twins. Like Zeus and Hades for example.
Sigil flies out of the player’s hands and into the Runecarver.
Runecarver transforms into the Primus.
What… is this?
Heirmir reacts to the Primus’s return.
Well, we still do not know what will happen to our Legendaries if The Primus is to leave Torghast and take his seat in Maldraxxus. At the broadcast The Primus also mentions the situation; ” “There are those lost in Torghast who still need the help of the Runecarver.” So, I’m not sure what to expect, considering the broadcasts are not properly aligned most of the time, there may be misunderstandings. The Primus also mentions that the Shadowlands must know his return and the sigils must be reforged. So, the Primus/Runecarver storyline is actually vague at the moment. But I would like to see the wise, giga-beard grandpa in The Necrolord Sanctum.
Last thing before moving on, The Primus also mentions that The Arbiter has a sigil on her aswell, as I’ve speculated before.
BATTLE OF ARDENWEALD
Well, the lore of 9.1 begins pretty much with this. The Winter Queen is the next and most powerful target of The Jailer. Sylvanas herself leads the attack and we will be tasked to fight against her. But don’t be too hasty to celebrate, as she simply won’t let you to even start the fight.
I’m not sure if there will be any ” Loyalists oriented” quote here, but one can hope.
After a ” there is a cool cinematic here” moment, we see Tyrande with a really low health bar and on her knees beside Ysera. So, I think my desire to see the Tyrande vs. Sylvanas cinematic would also be satisfied, but probably not as a really cool-CGI one. Also we should mention the fact that Sylvanas took the challenge to face off with The Winter Queen herself as Zovaal cannot escape The Maw yet. This detail is important to imply her level of power.
It seems even the appearnce of Tyrande won’t be enough to stop the forces of The Maw and protect the sigil of The Winter Queen. So, literally at the first minutes of 9.1, we will lost all the sigils but of The Arbiter, The Jailer will keep the upper hand. But the real fun part is yet to come.
Well, the entire storyline of 9.1 will consists of 7 parts. We do not entirely know about the upcoming parts yet, but even the titles worth a bit of speculation, aren’t them?;
The Last Sıgıl
The Final Key, The Arbiter. At the moment, the skybox of Oribos is under the very influence of The Maw itself as Zovaal grows in power. And may be, just may be through the usage of the Waystone at The Maw that we use to get in-out, the armies of The Maw would invade Oribos. Because the thing is, the reason why the forces of The Maw paid little attention to the Waystone was because it was actually inactive.
Of course everything has changed until our arrival into The Maw. We have literally activated the Waystone, and the power of The Maw grew to an immense size. So I believe, through the Waystone the forces of The Maw will continue their advance but we will repel them, for now…
The unseen el- the unseen guests
We have also been told as we will learn more about The Nathrezim in depth throughout 9.1, And they will be tied to Korthia some way, Isn’t that interesting that we will learn more about them in The City of Secrets? Considering there will be also Attendants and Brokers over Korthia, can we relate The Nathrezim and The Attendants for a second? Hide in disguise in Oribos, may be? Not every Attendants of course, but may be some of them?
But if these storylines would be tied to a specific Covenant for each, we may also see Denathrius in action throughout 9.1, in Revendreth.
The power of nıght
We have been told that we will learn who or what is Elune during 9.0, yet we haven’t. 9.1 will heavily focused on lore, in my opinion it even will be the equal of 7.3 in terms of story. So I think it is finally time to learn about Elune’s identity and her role, because we have also been told we will learn about The Fİrst Ones inside Korthia. As I strongly believe that Elune is a First One, not Winter Queen or a “Titan” , learning a great deal about Elune would lead the first steps of a journey. Our journey to learn about The First Ones for the expansions ahead.
Nothıng can stop what ıs to come
Well, the final part I like the talk about is actually the most exciting one imo. The dungeon journals for bosses of Sanctum Of Domination raid reveals a lot!;
Kel’Thuzad – The nafarious Kel’Thuzad awaits at the end of the soul stream where the lich is able to draw power from an unlimited well. All his schemes and machinations have led to this final confrontation, where he has plotted your ultimate demise.
Well, through the soul stream of Oribos we can reach to The Maw and it seems its very end is inside the Sanctum, really close to the top of the dark tower. Kel’thuzad is one of the most aweswome characters in the entire lore but I guess this will be the last we see of him, really… But there is always the possibility for him having B plans, as he alone sowed chaos inside Revendreth, Bastion and Maldraxxus alone.
Soulrender Dormazain – Soulrender Dormazain serves the Painsmith, tasked to extract potent Anima stores from hellaciously brutish captives of Torghast to serve as fuel for the Jailer’s armies. Step inside the Vessel of Torment with Dormazain as he goes to work on Garrosh Hellscream, former Warchief of the True Iron Horde.
So, it seems Denathrius has sent Garrosh to The jailer’s hands directly. As you can see during the Lauch Cinematic of Shadowlands, he can simply send souls into The Maw if he wishes. So, the reason why Garrosh is The jailer’s captive is not he is as evil as Gul’dan but he simply being thrown into The Maw, as he is a great supply of Anima. Can he be the Kael’thas of this patch? Most likely, as the boss fight itself sounds a lot like The Sun King’s Salvation from Castle Nathria. But is he the one at the “Jailer’s personal sanctum of torment“? I think another one had the honour;
Remnant of Ner’zhul – Encased in shadowsteel, this lost soul spends its eternity in torment.
Ladies and gentlemen meet Ner’zhul, or what remained of him at the least. I thought after the destruction of The Helm Of Domination, his soul has been vanished forever. But it seems he found his way into the Jailer’s hands. From one cruel master –Kil’jaeden- to another. To be tormented for eternity again. It seems after an eternity even his soul has been twisted into… this. I do not think this fight would contain any wise words from Ner’zhul about the nature or secrets of The Lich King. I think what left of Ner’zhul is nothing but sorrow.
“Players battle against Sylvanas atop Torghast while the Jailer remains elusive”
Well, I will go from the dungeon journal descriptions for this one. As they contain a plenty of insights about what is to come. At the first section of Dungeon Journal, we learn that The Jailer will be in the fight as well but as an unattackable/unreachable character, probably marked with an Orange portrait.
Well, even the names of the phases/intermissions are saying something. Each one of them represents either Sylvanas’ ideology throughout the storyline or directly taken from her quotes. Considering we will fight against her atop Torghast, where The Jailer has been imprisoned, the dungeon journal implies she simply will destroy the tower itself. From that, can we assume that The Jailer is about to get freed from The Maw at that moment?
At the second phase which named with ” The Banshee Queen, its described as The Jailer ascends into somewhere we do not know, may be to Korthia or the prize he seek over there? Whatever is his prize, he is close to his triump and all we could do (along with Jaina and Thrall) is pursuing him where he draws us into. And Sylvanas of course follows us through.
Now, the final phase is where the story of 8.0 all the way to 9.1 would have its climax. The stage named ” Freedom of Choice“, I’ve looked for anything that would imply Anduin on this page but he is not mentioned at all. May be he is to be included on Mythic Difficulty of this phase, and the freedom of choice would have another meaning.
Well, Nothing can stop what is to come”. Picking up this line and combining it with this;
“Now you have seen as I have, sights never meant for living eyes. But this knowledge will not save you. Nothing can stop what Sylvanas set into motion. Rending the veil was just the beginning. Beyond the ruined sky awaits an evil older than reality itself.
Bolvar
I believe the ending cinematic will feature The Jailer’s victory and his escape from The Maw. Because until this stage, no matter what we do The jailer always had the upper hand and always ahead of us. So, do not be surprised or be mad if we could not succeed at the end of the raid.
If you will not be able to use your dear chance to kill Sylvanas, please come back at this blog and see what I’ve been saying for months. Sylvanas is the character who moves the story forward right now, regardless you like her or not. And unlike some of the big influencers in Warcraft community, I do not think this storyline would be the ending of The Shadowlands at all. If you are curious what I think about the upcoming patches, you should check out my recent posts.
Well, here is my first impressions of 9.1 PTR. I guess most of my speculations or theories looked vague here, but the information we have is almost nothing at the moment. But even these smallest of breadcrumbs renewed my excitement for the lore. I hope you’ve liked this article!.
LOREFREAK 
Reblogged this on Aernath's Den.
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