WoW Shadowlands Cinematic Brings Back A Classic Warcraft Villain, But Not In The Way You Expect

The final raid of World of Warcraft Shadowlands is now live alongside the game’s Eternity’s End update. While players won’t be able to confront the Jailer himself and put an end to his plans to rewrite reality until next week, players did have the chance to battle Alliance-king turned the Jailer’s pawn, Anduin.

Defeating Anduin revealed a previously unseen in-game cinematic, and it’s safe to say that the community is more than a little divided on what was revealed, especially in regards to the appearance of an important someone from Warcraft lore. Spoilers below.

The cinematic shows the heroes of Azeroth struggling against Anduin. Just as the corrupted leader of the Alliance looks set to be consumed completely by the Jailer’s Domination magic, the spirits of both his father Varian and his friend-from-across-the-aisle Varok Saurfang place their hands upon him. Telling Anduin that both the legacy of his blade Shalamyne, as well as their personal legacies, are with him, Anduin is able to break free from the Jailer’s influence.

Then the soul of Arthas appears, in the form of a blue orb. It has long been speculated that Arthas would have some role to play in Shadowlands. He appeared in an early Afterlives animated short prior to the expansion’s release, and his mentor, Uther, played a large role in the story of Shadowlands. It has been hinted throughout Shadowlands that the Jailer was ultimately behind the corruption of Arthas, but it remained to be seen if the character would actually appear in some meaningful way.

After Anduin breaks free from the Jailer’s magic, he presumably freed the fragment of Arthas’ soul that had been trapped within Shalamyne and which had turned the weapon into Kingsmourne. Arthas does factor into the battle against Anduin in a significant way, with players at one point having to confront a specter called Remnant of a Fallen King that looks just like the former Lich King and uses many of his iconic abilities.

Characters like Jaina and Sylvanas look at what remains of Arthas and reflect on his legacy, with Sylvanas commenting that she once hated and hunted Arthas, only to ultimately become as much of a monster as he was. She then dismisses the spirit, calling for the name of Arthas Menethil to be forgotten.

Even putting aside the fact that fans aren’t clear on what role Arthas had to play in relation to Anduin’s evil transformation to begin with, fans are also divided about such an important character from Warcraft’s history being shoehorned into the cinematic as a voiceless blue orb only to then be dismissed, presumably to never be seen again. Arthas had a powerful send off back in Wrath of the Lich King, and this cinematic doesn’t seem to do the character the justice many fans might argue he deserves. There’s also confusion around Anduin’s triumph over Domination magic, which has long been hailed as unstoppable. Did Anduin simply find the strength to break free after having a vision of his father and friend? Or did Varok and Varian aid him in some more tangible way? That will likely be explored in the lead-up to the final confrontation with the Jailer, but it has still left some fans scratching their heads.

When players do battle against the Jailer next week, they will be completely in the dark in regards to potential story reveals or even boss mechanics. Blizzard made the rare move of breaking the final raid of Shadowlands into two parts, along with not making the final three boss encounters available for testing on the game’s public test realm. That, combined with the fact that a new WoW expansion has yet to be announced, means the final cinematic at the end of the raid should be revealing, both for the fate of the Jailer and what will come next for the Warcraft universe. The final three bosses of the Sepulcher of the First Ones raid unlock March 8.