Monday, November 11, 2013

Who Will the Final Boss of Warlords of Draenor Be?

There was a lot of conflicting information flying around Blizzcon about what the endgame is going to be for Warlords of Draenor.

While it does appear that Blackhand will be the final boss of Blackrock Foundry, and therefore the capstone boss of tier 17, the other raiding tiers of the expansion remain to be announced.

While some rumors (fueled by what may have been a joke on the part of Blizzard, though sarcasm is tough to discern in print) say that Grommash Hellscream would be the final boss (he does seem to narrate the announcement trailer,) there are other reports that the final boss will not, in fact, be an Orc.

Given that Garrosh was the final boss of Mists of Pandaria, I agree that it would be pretty silly to have his dad as the final boss of the expansion that immediately follows.

In the absence of Grom, other Orc candidates for final boss would probably include Gul'dan or, if they wanted to twist the knife a bit for Thrall, they could have Durotan turn out to be not really any better than the other Warlords (that said, it actually looks more like the Frostwolves will be the main Horde-friendly faction in Draenor, analogous to the Draenei for Alliance.)

But if we believe the notion that the final boss will not be an Orc at all, who then might be it?

Here's the thing: Garrosh's actions have certainly made for a drastically different Draenor. The Orcs have still be whipped into a frenzy and have become an aggressive Horde, but they are not driven to a mindless bloodlust with demon blood. They are basically becoming what they were, but as their own force - free of any debt or ties to the Burning Legion.

But that doesn't mean the Burning Legion isn't there.

In fact, Garrosh's arrival may have actually come after Ner'zhul first started getting the misleading visions of his deceased wife - the visions that proved to be Kil'jaeden's machinations.

Despite the lack of demonic corruption in the Iron Horde, Gul'dan is still definitely among the eponymous Warlords of Draenor, and unlike his colleagues, who have the natural brown skin of a healthy Orc (well, Kargath and Blackhand have grey skin, but I think that's kind of a regional thing, or something,) Gul'dan is indeed green, and has clearly already attained his Warlock powers.

So even if we don't see them as prominently, Kil'jaeden and Mannoroth are out there, in the alternate timeline. Might we then see the Deceiver or the Pit Lord that doomed the Orcs again?

Garrosh's motivations may have been to make his people strong. He wants a rematch against an Alliance that defeated him, and he wants revenge against a Horde that turned on him. But by altering history, he has created a new opportunity for the Burning Legion to enslave the Orcs.

As the Iron Horde inevitably falls to our wrath (it's a video game. Bad guys get got,) Hellscream the elder may, in fact, fall again toward his destiny. Wouldn't it be a tragic irony if Garrosh's attempt to prevent his father from drinking the blood of Mannoroth only leads him to the same place on a different path?

I don't know how much Garrosh we'll be seeing in WoD, but I want to see him realize he's made a mistake. I want to see his vision of the Horde shattered and his will broken. Garrosh deserves to get a serious comeuppance, especially after we spared his life in Orgrimmar and he threw his chance at redemption or at least penance back in our faces.

And I think that the best way to do that - as much as it would suck for the rest of us - is to have his actions ultimately lead to a demonic invasion of Draenor.

Let's kill us a big'ol Demon! Mannoroth, perhaps?

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