Afterlives: Ardenweald - Timeline Thoughts
TLDR: Afterlives: Ardenweald shows us that souls didn’t start going to the Maw until after the events of the Emerald Nightmare raid in Legion.
Update: @dardillien-ward raised a good point in the comments. While Blizzard hasn’t specified, it seems very possible the timing might have been around the Trial of Valor raid, when we faced Helya, since we know Sylvanas and Helya made some sort of yet-to-be-revealed bargain…
We knew the “machine of death” was broken sometime during Legion; instead of souls going to the Arbiter to be judged and sent to the appropriate Covenant, they started going straight to the Maw and the Covenants were starved of anima.
We had some earlier hints and assumptions this might have changed at the time of Sylvanas’ suicide and pact with the Valkyr at the end of Wrath, but Hight and Cash said it changed “sometime during Legion” in a Nov. 2019 interview (see below)
Afterlives: Ardenweald gives us more detail. Ursoc’s soul goes to a healthy and verdant Ardenweald, so we know the “machine of death” was not yet broken during the events of the Emerald Nightmare raid. This means the souls of those that died before then- during Cata, MoP, WOD, and even the Broken Shore event and early Legion quest lines - also likely went to the Arbiter of the Shadowlands to be judged, and on to their appropriate Covenant.
Of course, other meddling could have occurred. Bwonsamdi is keeping troll souls from entering the Maw (per Shadows Rising). Some have made a case that Gul'dan destroyed Varian’s soul when he killed him at the Broken Shore, but that’s only theory (no word from Blizz).
Afterlives: Ardenweald clarifies when things were broken, when souls started going to the Maw and anima was diverted from the Convenants: sometime after the Emerald Nightmare raid (poor Ursoc), but before the War of Thorns. Useful information for RPers and others that write in the WoW space.
For example, Kyuusei’s childhood friend and first love, Delyra, died in the Firelands. Her spirit’s spoken to Kyuu a couple times. I was worried I’d have to bend lore for Delyra’s spirit not to be in the Maw, but I know now I’m “safe” in having her soul be in Ardenweald.
Hope this is helpful for some people. Always remember - it’s your story, you can bend lore however you like. But for those that want a common baseline of lore-adherence (like me) this is helpful.
Thanks for reading my TED talk. References follow:
Sylvanas Windrunner: Edge of Night by Dave Kosak (short story)
BlizzCon Nov. 2019 Interview with Hight and Cash
(thanks @foxglovethings for the link and timestamp)
Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux
(need to buy it, or you can read my posts about the some of the lore)
And of course, Afterlives: Ardenweald
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