InWorld of Warcraft, Blizzard traditionally hypes up the next expansion with a massivepre-patchWoWeventfor several weeks. However,Warlords of Draenorintroduced the concept of animated series that take a closer look at some important characters in the story, which was followed byLegionandBattle for Azeroth. While it was previously unknown whetherShadowlandswould continue the trend, a teaser trailer released this morning confirms Afterlives is coming soon at Gamescom 2020.
SinceShadowlandswas unveiled at Blizzcon 2019, players have become familiar with four realms of death: Bastion, Ardenweald, Revendreth, and Maldraxxus as well as thepowerful Covenantsthat rule them. But besides a basic summary of where each mortal soul goes, the community hasn’t learned much about each faction’s motives or just how each individual adjusts to crossing over. Thankfully, the Afterlives series looks to fix that by giving some old and new major characters their time in the spotlight.
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In the official teaser posted toWorld of Warcraft’sYouTube channel and social media, players are reintroduced to legendary paladin Uther the Lightbringer and Thrall’s mother Draka through flashes of their stories. An individual named Ara’lon and the Kyrian Devos also briefly appear within the realms of Ardenweald and Bastion respectively. Finally, 2 Covenant leaders make a small appearance: the Night Fae’s mysterious Winter Queen and a seemingly benevolent Sire Denathrius of the Venthyr.
While this preview is only 50 seconds, the mixed clips already add more characterization to the Shadowlands while looking to further explain how Draka went from fighting the undead to helping lead the Necrolords. On the other hand, part of Uther’s inner conflict still centers around the resentment towards his former student Arthas for killing King Terenas and destroying Lordaeron duringWarcraft 3,which will factor heavily into his own story.
Although the short emphasizes Uther, Draka, and other namedShadowlandscharacters, it also creates even more questions that have yet to be answered. During one brief scene in Revendreth, two Venthyr are punishing what seems to be an orc for crimes in life. Many players are already speculating that this is Garrosh Hellscream, whose actions in theSiege of Orgrimmarup until his death were full of pride and wickedness. Furthermore, all the references to Arthas continue to hint that heroes may see the former Lich King again during their adventures.
The first Afterlives video is set to premiere on August 27th with the other ones following shortly according to the pattern from previous expansions. However, since there are only a few months left inBattlefor Azeroth, theScourge invasionmay be arriving sooner than expected once Afterlives wraps up.
World of Warcraftis available now on PC.World of Warcraft: Shadowlandsdoes not have a set 2020 release date yet.
