Sylvanas in the Key Art for Blizzcon

Blizzard released the "key art" for Blizzcon - the splash of characters from their various franchises that they're there to talk about.

The Diablo barbarian is at the center, which either means potentially disappointing a ton of people (whether it's fair that they're disappointed or not I won't say) by simply talking Diablo Immortal, or driving people crazy in a good way by officially confirming Diablo IV.

But let's talk WoW, shall we?

The key art figure is Sylvanas.

Now, that's all the real news, to be honest. If you're here just for the facts (m'am,) we're done.

But let's look at what this could mean.

In 2017, the Blizzcon key art for World of Warcraft was Jaina - ironically in her old Dalaran Mage outfit, rather than her badass new Lord Admiral look. Still, while technically not telling us much, it did suggest rather strongly that we'd finally get to see Jaina's homeland and that she'd play a major role in the expansion's story.

To be fair, since the end of the Dazar'alor raid, in which she was the final boss, Jaina's role in BFA has somewhat lessened to more of a simple "main Alliance representative" state. I'm very eager to see how the whole Derek Proudmoore plotline goes (and hoping that Sylvanas made a miscalculation because she didn't know about Calia) but I think Jaina, with her quite compelling story in 8.0, has done most of what she was meant to do in BFA.

So what of Sylvanas?

Sylvanas is obviously a huge part of BFA. Always one of the most interesting and polarizing characters in WoW, her status as Warchief has put her destructive ways centerstage, no longer allowing her to hang out in the back as the Horde's own token evil team member. As an instigator, she's been much more prominent than her opposite number Anduin (one of the big reasons I wish we'd get more of a moral balance between the factions is that it might allow the Alliance to actually do something - and yes, I shouldn't ignore Dazar'alor, which was rather big and also rather ethically questionable - but far from obviously evil the way that, say, Teldrassil was.)

But her presence in the key art for Blizzcon 2019 suggests very strongly to me that Sylvanas' story is not going to be resolved in BFA.

I hear a lot of speculation that N'zoth is going to be saved for the next expansion at the earliest, but frankly, I don't think so. We were told that it'd be clear who the final boss of BFA was after the Eternal Palace raid, and I sure as hell didn't see Sylvanas unleashed from an ancient, millennia-old prison.

The reason I don't mind fighting N'zoth "prematurely" is that A: it's not premature. We've been waiting to fight this thing since he was first mentioned way back in Cataclysm - which came out nine years ago. And B: N'zoth is the master manipulator. While Blizzard might even sell it as if we decisively defeat him at the end of BFA, they have an infinite license for N'zoth to re-emerge in some form and simply reveal that dying at our hands wasn't even a setback - it was all part of the plan.

There's no datamining, no leaks, nothing like that to back this up except logical storytelling, but my theory (and I won't say it's my prediction exactly, as much as it's where I think the story logically needs to go) is that BFA ends with us killing N'zoth, but in so doing corrupting Azeroth (the Titan, to be specific.) And then, someone makes the hard decision - maybe it's Sylvanas, maybe not - that Azeroth needs to die. We can't risk a Void Titan emerging and destroying the universe. We did what we could to save her, but with the Old Gods finally triumphant, we need to do the unimaginable in order to prevent the worst.

But then, there's a loophole. Where do the souls of the dead go when they die? Bwonsamdi calls it the Other Side, but it's known more broadly as the Shadowlands.

And who has dedicated herself to understanding the dead and how to bring the dead back? Sylvanas Windrunner.

And what a nasty position we'd all find ourselves in. The Alliance rages against Sylvanas for her many terrible crimes against them. The Horde rages against her for her tyrannical rule. But it turns out we need her, because without her, the world soul is lost forever.

That's all totally speculative, of course. But Sylvanas' place in the key art suggests, to me, that she'll continue to be an important figure in the next expansion.

Now, to be fair, there is a pattern that could mean that Sylvanas is both this expansion's end boss and also continues to play a prominent role.

BFA doesn't have "tier sets" but it does have major raids versus minor ones, similar to how things would be broken down in other expansions. Legion had the Emerald Nightmare and Trial of Valor as "minor raids," while Nighthold, Tomb of Sargeras, and Antorus were the tier raids.

BFA could be broken down in a similar way. Uldir and Crucible of Storms are the minor raids, while Battle for Dazar'alor, the Eternal Palace, and whatever the last raid is will fill those "tier raid" roles.

And let's think about something: Dazar'alor and the Eternal Palace have two things in common regarding their final bosses. Neither died (or at least, didn't stay dead - it's unclear if Azshara was dead or unconscious before N'zoth woke her up.) And both were in the Warbringers shorts that came out prior to BFA.

There's one more character from those shorts: Syvlanas Windrunner. So might we actually see her as the final boss, and also see her survive the raid?

Now, granted, doing so would really raise some eyebrows given Blizzard's insistence that Sylvanas is not just Garrosh 2.0. Having her as the final boss of an expansion and then lead us into the next one is exactly what they did with Garrosh. But it would complete that pattern, and humans freaking love to see patterns.

Regardless of whether Sylvanas or N'zoth wind up being the final boss fight of BFA, I'm feeling quite confident that Sylvanas will be a major player in expansion eight. And to me, that suggests that the subtle death and death-magic theme of BFA will be far less subtle next expansion, much as Legion's Old God themes became far more prominent in BFA.