Leaked Bolvar Image Appears on Blizzard Store: Shadowlands Looking Very Likely?

A few days ago, there was a supposed leak that involved this image:

(Source: MMO-Champion)

Well, now there appears to be a link on the actual Blizzard store to a page where one can purchase this still as an art piece, which I think 99.9% confirms this as real.

The image was originally found as part of a broader advertisement that identified this as a product related to World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.

We also got this, a bit later:

(Also from MMO-Champion)

While the concept art there is surprising - to me it looks much more like it should be concept art for Suramar - the logo for Shadowlands is quite convincing. It fits in the format of all other WoW expansions but the border around the logo is entirely unique but still looks professional.

While this one doesn't have the corroborating evidence of an actual link on the Blizzard website, I think it's a very strong possibility that this is also real - indeed, even if it really is Suramar art, it could be a placeholder, as this might be an internal working document rather than a final promo piece.

At this point, with all this coming out less than a week before Blizzcon, this is either the most impressive fake-out for a WoW expansion I've ever seen, or, the scenario I find far more likely: this is legit.

Now, that being said, what can we actually glean from all this?

We know that the Shadowlands are a land of death, just as the Emerald Dream is a land of life. They seem to be the Feywild and Shadowfell equivalent for WoW.

What makes that interesting is that while the Shadowlands are a dark place, they are not, (if it's like the Shadowfell) inherently evil. They probably have a lot more evil going on there - but death has so many potential manifestations. In a universe where death is certainly not the end of existence, the realm of death can take on many forms. The Halls of Valor, for example, are a realm of death, despite being bright and glorious.

While the Shadowlands might be just a dark reflection of Azeroth, I think Blizzard has given themselves enough wiggle room by keeping it vague that they could break that rule. Places like Helheim might exist within the Shadowlands and thus be their own thing.

What kind of entities might call the Shadowlands home? The promo mentions the "Noble Kyrians," and some bright folks have pointed out that Kyrian shares some letters with Val'kyr.

There is so little we know here. Some sword models and allied race death knight skins have suggested that Bolvar - clearly emerging from the Frozen Throne - may be raising new champions, and there might even be some fourth variety with a fiery theme to them.

Personally, I'm really wondering what role Bolvar will play in this. I imagine he'll be a central figure in the coming expansion, but will that be as main villain? That would be a shame, both because it would undermine the end of Wrath of the Lich King and also seem to push it toward repeating itself.

Blizzard still needs to prove to us that Sylvanas' tenure as Warchief was not just Garrosh 2.0, and I don't want to see Bolvar be just another Arthas.

While every even-numbered expansion has given us a new class, I'm beginning to suspect that 9.0 will do something more in the vein of Allied Races - not something brand new (though Vulpera as variant Goblins are stretching the "subrace" notion quite a bit) but for classes.

While there's one leak that supposedly was debunked, there has been a rumor in the past of seeing new "class skins." One example (that I'd be really interested in) is letting Paladins re-skin as Arcane Knights - keeping all the same mechanics but getting new visuals that make them more into Battlemages than Holy Warriors. (I always thought of my Paladin as having originally wanted to be a Mage, so this would be really appropriate for him.) I could imagine with Bolvar as Lich King, perhaps some of the icy theme of the class could, optionally, be replaced with more of a fiery aesthetic.

This could also be a way to allow them to bring in Necromancers - simply re-skinning Warlock abilities to use more death magic. Hell, Demonology could easily be reskinned as an undead-raising spec where you're conjuring ghostly spirits instead of imps, skeletal hounds instead of dreadstalkers, and you have some big skeletal warrior to replace your felguard.

But that's speculation.

Here's my adjusted confidence in the various leaks:

Bolvar Screenshot Being Real: 99.9%

Promo identifying the expansion as Shadowlands: 85%

Fiery Death Knights Playable: 50%

We are now four days from Blizzcon and I'll confess, I'm getting pretty damned hyped.