Bolvar Fordragon was, when WoW launched, the "boss" in Stormwind. Each major city had a figure who was in charge, and with Varian missing (he would be until Wrath of the Lich King) and Anduin at that point still just a little kid, Bolvar was the regent of Stormwind.
And all in all, Bolvar was considered a paragon. He was a Paladin, of course, which was pretty cool (in Vanilla, Paladins were exclusive to the Alliance and Shamans were exclusive to the Horde, so having Bolvar and Thrall as the major leaders in the two factions' main cities was a nicely symmetrical arrangement) and, as he was fleshed out, we learned that he was basically Varian's most trusted and best friend, a good avuncular presence in Anduin's life, and also that he was related to a character named Mara Fordragon (possibly his mother,) who was a great hero that had helped save the evacuating people of Stormwind in the hellish aftermath of the First War. Though he was deceived by Onyxia in her guise as Katrana Prestor, he aided heroes in defending the royal castle from the Black Dragonflight's attack, securing his reputation as one of the most badass Alliance figures in the lore.
With Varian's return in Wrath, Bolvar was sent to Northrend as the leader of the Alliance efforts to combat the Lich King. Heroically standing against the Scourge alongside the Kor'kron (hey, remember when they were good guys?) representing the Horde, Bolvar fell to the Wrathgate Incident, and his "death" was, to a degree, the spark that ignited the war that spanned Wrath, Cataclysm, and Mists of Pandaria. When we arrive in Icecrown Citadel, we discover that he's not actually dead, and has instead been enduring a year's worth of torture by Arthas, who seeks to corrupt him into a Death Knight.
But despite how easily the Lich King has done so with so many other people, he never succeeded with Bolvar. Perhaps it was the Red Dragonflight's flames that did this to him - rather than burning him to ash, the fires purged him of the Forsaken blight and instead preserved his life - even while his body was scorched and blackened with ever-burning flame. I actually wonder if he is incapable of dying - that Alexstrasza's fires have insulated him from death.
Ironic, then, that death is the power he would find himself ruling over - with Arthas slain, someone was needed to keep control over the Scourge, and to rein it in. Bolvar, normal life no longer within his grasp, volunteered to do the job. And if anyone seemed capable of resisting the corrupting power of the Helm of Domination, Bolvar seemed the best candidate.
Still, while sacrificing his old life seemed a big deal to begin with, in Battle for Azeroth we discovered just how big a deal this was: Bolvar is a father. His daughter, Taelia, was sent at a young age to foster in Kul Tiras, growing up under the tutelage of Cyrus Crestfall and under the protection of the Proudmoores. Given the threat of the Horde, and later the Scourge, it makes sense that he would want to send his daughter to the relatively insulated kingdom of Kul Tiras, and it's clear that sending children elsewhere for their upbringing wasn't an unusual thing - Jaina, as we know, grew up in Dalaran, losing her Kul Tiran accent as she studied under Antonidas.
Was Taelia a secret in-world, or just to us players? Obvioulsy, I suspect Blizzard invented her while developing BFA, but given how coy the game plays with her identity until later in its story, it seems as if her identity was kept a secret intentionally.
Now, granted, it's been 12 real-life years since the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. (And two since BFA, so say 10 years between Bolvar's fall and Taelia's reveal.) So if Taelia is meant to be a young woman, maybe 20, 21, that would mean that she was very much a child when her father "died."
The opening events of Shadowlands, of course, will mean that Bolvar's status as Lich King is no more. We do know that he will be helping us navigate this new realm of existence, perhaps serving as "prime quest-giver" like Khadgar or Magni have in the past couple expansions.
Bolvar was certainly no mass-murderer like Arthas, but that's not to say that everything he did atop the Frozen Throne was in keeping with his paladin code. Arguably, he was working for a greater good, but he certainly resorted to some dark methods.
What, then, is Bolvar at this point?
Is he still a Paladin? Unlike Arthas, who carved out his own heart as he embraced undeath, Bolvar spent a decade with the Helm of Domination on his head, but then it was removed. How much has that changed him on a physical and spiritual level? And how has the Red Dragonfire altered him - and to what extent does it still dictate his nature? Is he a Death Knight?
Also, with the Lich King as a thing no longer... a thing, what does that mean for his future prospects? What is his purpose now, having failed his task of guarding the gateway between this world and the next?
I imagine that we will, in some way, triumph at the end of Shadowlands. There's always a final boss for us to defeat, after all. Will that victory solve the problem of how broken the Shadowlands have become? Will Bolvar have earned a break?
Will he be able to have any sort of relationship with his daughter?
Taelia was a big part of Alliance leveling in Kul Tiras, but it feels very much like this was an introduction for her character, and not a full arc. Indeed, her presence in Kul Tiras was one of the many hints before Shadowlands was announced that we'd be having a death-themed expansion next.
But what is actually in store for her and her dad?
Also, does anyone in this freaking world have two living parents? (I guess Arator.)
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