With the end to the Eternal Palace raid now known - even on Mythic - we have the stage set for what, if history's precedent holds, should be the final patch of Battle for Azeroth.
What happens?
Well, in defeating Azshara, we see the power of the Heart of Azeroth used to break the chains in the Circle of Stars, which is a Titan facility that has apparently served as the seal on the prison of N'zoth. Jaina and Lor'themar, representing the Alliance and Horde respectively, may have teamed up to beat Azshara, but this seems a pyrrhic victory at best, given that not only is N'zoth unleashed, but even Azshara does not seem to be dead (or at least isn't dead anymore.)
There's a big question to be asked about where, exactly, the expansion is heading for its final patch.
Two threads need to be addressed in some way:
One is N'zoth, whose release from imprisonment could naturally have disastrous consequences for the world. The Old Gods have not been free since the Ordering of Azeroth, and we don't have any Titans around to build a new prison. N'zoth must be stopped, or the terrible fate that Sargeras wanted to burn the universe to avoid might come to pass.
The other is Sylvanas. We've watched her reign as Warchief snowball into war atrocities and totalitarian tactics that threaten to make the Horde even worse than it was under Garrosh. Sylvanas appears comfortable with genocide, and the fate she seeks to inflict upon the Alliance is one of undead compliance. We are now seeing dissenting members of the Horde rise up against her, but Sylvanas is also playing a subtle game with stratagems and even goals that we have yet to comprehend.
Either of these characters would be logical final bosses for the expansion. The real question, though, is who has the upper hand. Who is the better plotter?
I'm inclined to think N'zoth is, given that his entire identity is that of the ancient master manipulator who always seemed to come out ahead even when he was theoretically losing.
That beings said: who could you trust more than N'zoth to have our killing him turn out to be part of his plot in the first place?
Thus, I'm leaning more toward the belief that N'zoth will be BFA's final boss, but it's not clear that he'll actually "lose" even if we beat him in a fight.
After all, the goal of the Old Gods, even if they had this vast Black Empire and millions of soldiers at their command, is not for themselves. It is to corrupt Azeroth and make a Void Titan. It's not even clear that the Old Gods are expected to survive this process - indeed, given how mad and horrific they are, it might be their goal to go out in one last nihilistic blaze of glory once Azeroth emerges from the planet as the creature of darkness they want her to be.
Now, I don't know to what extent the Old Gods may have evolved past their original purpose, but perhaps they have never strayed from what the Void Lords made them to be, and so N'zoth might have no problem whatsoever with dying.
I've written before about how, one possibility for the expansion's end is that N'zoth dies completing the corruption of Azeroth, and we are forced to mercy kill her (maybe using the Heart of Azeroth itself) and that the next expansion could then focus on the repercussions of living on a literally dead planet - hopefully finding some way to resurrect her free of the corruption, but forcing us to brave the Shadowlands to recover the World Soul.
But a lot of this could happen without Sylvanas, and it would seem narratively wasteful not to do something with her.
One variation on the aforementioned story is that Sylvanas is the one who unilaterally decides to kill Azeroth, and that for this (necessary) crime and her many other (unnecessary) crimes, we pursue her into the Shadowlands.
One theory floating around is that N'zoth will travel to the Shadowlands, where Ny'alotha is (in this theory - its actual location is unknown,) and try to harvest the souls of the dead to resurrect C'thun and Yogg-Saron (and maybe Y'shaarj?) Part of this theory is that Sylvanas has been working with Helya (who might have died, but that's not really a big deal for someone like her, and it's already confirmed in game that she's still active) to combat the Old Gods' efforts - essentially setting up an Undead vs. Old Gods expansion in which we're with the undead.
In this case, Sylvanas' actions might be revealed as part of a greater good effort, though one wonder why she couldn't be more up front about that.
Baine's return to Thunder Bluff has set up the possibility for a major conflict at the Tauren capital. I am, however, skeptical that we'd see another raid based around a Horde capital, given that we've already ended an expansion with the Siege of Orgrimmar, and Dazar'alor is technically also a Horde capital now.
One element that has been particularly conspicuous in its absence is Wrathion, the Black Prince. Given that his warnings in Mists were about the invasion of the Burning Legion, one really has to wonder why he didn't show up at all during Legion. And now, we're seeing the occasional Blacktalon Agent scoping out Nazjatar, which means that Blizzard has certainly not forgotten about him.
Indeed, the dragons' stories seem far from exhausted. We had the Blue Dragons play a role in Azsuna, and Ysera's death was a massive climax to the story of Val'sharah. Also, the Deathlord massacred Red Dragons in the pursuit of their 7.2 class mount, so dragons in general are still an important part of WoW lore. And that's not even taking into account the fact that the first essence you can unlock with the Heart Forge is dragon-themed.
Indeed, since vanilla, one of the areas of the game that has been rumored is the Dragon Isles. There are even explicit references to it in-game as of BFA. Given the five dragonflights, the Dragon Isles would be a no-brainer continent to set an expansion on, with a zone dedicated to each flight. Set it south of Northrend along the Path of the Titans.
Given their primal connection to Azeroth and the Keepers, the dragonflights might be integral in healing or reviving the World Soul if all the previously mentioned stuff happens.
So, to my mind, there are two likely expansion settings to follow BFA.
The Shadowlands could give us a spooky, horror themed expansion in a creepy land - though I'd imagine Blizzard would find ways to break up the monotony of a bunch of different Halloween zones (perhaps leaning into the notion of a shamanistic spirit world in some areas.) Personally, because I'm multiclassed in goth (I've got like two or three levels) I'd love to see this.
The Dragon Isles is, I think, an easier thing to work with conceptually in that it would be part of Azeroth's primary physical plane and you wouldn't have to do much to justify, like, how the sky works or whatever. But I also think the connection to current events is not as obvious.
The big caveat to all of this is, of course, that I'm basically never right. I think BFA is the closest I've come, and that was with a bunch of legit leaks already out. (Humorously, I remember people who found out about BFA and concluded that we were never going to get that South Seas expansion people have been talking about since Vanilla. But when I look at Kul Tiras, Zandalar, Nazjatar, and the Island Expeditions, I have to ask: "in what way is this not that expansion?")
Anyway, I'll look forward to the various "leaks" that come out in the coming months. I'll point out that when I saw some poorly-translated leak from China claiming that we would get Demon Hunters for only Night Elves and Blood Elves, and that we'd see yet another turnover in Warchief, with Sylvanas leading the Horde this time, I called BS. Whoops! Guess I was wrong.
So Blizzard clearly knows how to zig when you expect them to zag. For example, after the Legion-heavy stuff at the end of Warlords, I expected them to go a different direction and focus on Azshara. So for the same reason, I think it's not unreasonable that they might have BFA be the "subtly Old God-themed" expansion while the follow-up will be the real Black Empire one.
Blizzcon is in November, I think, but that means it's only about three months away. Get the red yarn and cork boards ready!
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