Right now, most of our lore speculation is focused on Draenor and the upcoming expansion. It's an exciting time to tease out tidbits, discovering what might be happening in this alternate Draenor. After all, with an alternate timeline, no one is safe, and of course, the people who come with us to this alternate universe are not immune to the axes of the Iron Horde, the fists of the Ogre Empire, or the concentrated sunlight of the Arrakoa. (Also, it looks like there are some awesome tree-folk who might be a thing, but that's just from a model I saw on WoWHead.)
But Blizzard has stated time and again that they plan a few expansions ahead. Warlords was always going to follow Mists of Pandaria, given how Garrosh has been the through line. They set up the Twilight Dragonflight as early as Burning Crusade (or at least Sinestra's initial interest in the Netherwing) and in retrospect, the Obsidian Sanctum was a huge hint that we were going to be dealing with the big daddy of the Black Dragons.
I loved Wrath of the Lich King. While I try not to look too much through rose-tinted glasses (the Prot Paladin rotation was stiff and unchanging, and there were still many specs that were just not viable options,) my overall impression of Wrath was that it was the best expansion. Surely, there have been new features and rethinks that have come since then that have made the game better (the Mists talent overhaul has, I think, proven very successful, for example,) but I loved fighting the Scourge. Neither subsequent expansion has had the same climactic build-up that we got with Wrath. We were able to begin assaulting Icecrown from the get-go, but even after completing all the quests in the zone, it still felt like the war against the Lich King was going to be a long and difficult struggle.
Finally, about a year after we first got to Northrend, we broke down the gates to Icecrown Citadel and were able to make our final assault. We went into the Frozen Halls effectively as an intelligence-gathering mission, seeking some weakness we might use against the Lich King, only to discover that in some way, Arthas was holding the Scourge back, and that in his absence, it would become even more dangerous, perhaps even unstoppable. Why was he holding them back?
After learning this rather disappointing bit of news, we began the assault proper, fighting our way up the spire of Icecrown Citadel and eventually reaching the Frozen Throne, where we were able to do battle with the Lich King.
And then he killed us.
Yes, Arthas had effectively been testing his newest subjects throughout our entire war, and filtering out the weak so that only the strongest could get to him, all so he could make sure he had Azeroth's greatest fighters to then turn on the living. Thankfully, he had underestimated Tirion Fordring, or rather, the will of the Light, which allowed Tirion to escape his icy prison and destroy Frostmourne, freeing not only the souls of all the people Arthas had killed with it, but also Arthas' own soul. And in that moment of rushing terror, and possibly guilt, we were able to kill the Lich King.
Only to install the next one. Bolvar Fordragon, long thought dead after the Wrathgate Incident, had actually spent the year being tortured personally by Arthas, but, stone cold badass that he was, he never broke. Having proved himself to have basically the most willpower of any person who ever lived, Bolvar was the ideal candidate to take on the responsibility of commanding the Scourge.
Taking on the Helm of Domination, which held within it the impersonal, disembodied essence of the Lich King, Bolvar became what he termed the "Jailor of the Damned." And we left him there.
And we haven't heard anything since. Sylvanas got a look at him and killed herself (though she was brought back to life by the Val'kyr.)
The big question that this raises is:
What is going on with Bolvar and the Scourge?
We know the Scourge isn't gone completely. Even after the Cataclysm, we saw that the Cult of the Damned still has a presence in the Plaguelands. While I think we can probably squish together the revamps of Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance into the Cataclysm time-frame (though there is a Scarlet Monk who learned from Pandaren masters, so maybe not,) it's clear that the Scourge is bowed, but unbroken.
There are Cult of the Damned and Scourge Proper forces in northern Lordaeron who remain a threat, and indeed, it looks like we're seeing some continuing activities with them in the Razorfen. They certainly don't seem like the threat they were under Arthas, but the Scourge is at its most dangerous when people don't suspect it. They were able to sweep across Lordaeron the first time because no one knew what was happening until half the country was infected.
In all of this, how is Bolvar doing? It's possible that we're not hearing much about the Scourge because Bolvar's doing his job. Sure, a few cultists and banshees slip through, but no news could be good news. Alternatively, he might be slipping. Bolvar has an iron will, which is great, but that might mean that he cannot settle in to command the Scourge as well as an other might. Essentially, Bolvar has to be the responsible parent who doesn't let the kids eat ice cream for dinner, but in this case, the kids are zombies and the ice cream is brains. Bolvar's a good guy, and thus might not be accustomed to exerting total control over others, robbing them of their will. But when the "best case" of someone having broken away from the Scourge is Sylvanas, it doesn't really suggest that Bolvar can just let his people go off and do what they want.
And then there's the far more worrying scenario. Bolvar survived a year's worth of torture, which is impressive, and he volunteered to take the crown. But surviving a year does not necessarily mean you'll be uncorrupted forever. And he's not getting tortured now - he's the freaking Lich King! Power can go to peoples' heads, even idealistic and good people. And the Lich King is one of the most powerful entities ever to set foot on Azeroth.
Clearly, we can't just go to Northrend again and fight the Scourge again. But that doesn't mean that the Scourge is a total non-issue now. Depending on what has been going on in Northrend since Arthas' fall (other than the Siege of Wyrmrest Temple and the Purge of Dalaran, which are both pretty significant events, though neither really directly relates to the Scourge,) there could be a secret war machine getting built up again, or perhaps the Scourge is moving away from Northrend, moving away from a Lich King who will not let them act as they wish to.
Do I think we're due for another Scourge expansion? Not yet, probably, and it's possible that we'll never really see one like Wrath again. But I am somewhat curious to know whether the Scourge was kept around simply as a potential story hook they could one day pick up again, or if Blizzard is planning to bring back that massive army of the dead to threaten us once more.
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