So What is Going on With Jaina?

With yesterday's reveal of the "key art" for World of Warcraft being a picture of Jaina Proudmoore, the speculation engine (I suppose that's a similar device to the rumor mill?) has been kicked up into a new gear. I think there are a ton of implications for what this means and enough logical links that we could very well be looking at a N'zoth-based expansion even though Jaina has never been strongly linked to Old Gods or anything like that.

The question for now is what is going on with Jaina Proudmoore.

I'll say off the bat that I think the theories that Jaina is somehow "evil" now because of her distrust of the Horde are way off-base. Compared with other major figures in the Alliance/Horde conflict, Jaina's antipathy toward the Horde is probably better justified than anyone's. Jaina put herself out there, extending the hand of friendship to the Horde and even sacrificed her own father (who was much more of a Genn Greymane type when it came to the Horde) in order to secure a lasting peace. The destruction of Theramore may have looked to some like a logical military operation for the Horde to pursue, but given Jaina's efforts toward peace, Theramore certainly deserved better than that.

Given her experiences, there's no reason for her to trust the Horde again. She had already had the ideal situation, with a close friendship with Thrall and real assurances that there would be no serious conflict. Yet Thrall put Garrosh in charge, and all that went out the window. Vol'jin as Warchief could have been a chance for a real lasting peace, as he was more of the Thrall school of Warchiefdom, but with Sylvanas in charge now, those hopes are dashed.

So even though we players obviously know that Horde players are just other people at their computers, and we can see many heroic and sympathetic people among the Horde, Jaina would be a fool to ever turn her back on team red again.

But we have never gotten any indication that Jaina is truly malicious. She has never threatened to attack the Alliance over their willingness to work with the Horde. She has just said "I'm never doing this again, so have fun being betrayed by them. I'm going to go do my own thing." Garrosh, by contrast, began to treat his own people as enemies if they weren't blindly, suicidally loyal to his whims.

As Khadgar's agenda came to dominate in Dalaran (through a narrow vote, if you recall,) Jaina left the city and went to Stormwind. But when Anduin decided that fighting the Legion was more important than taking revenge on the Horde (who had abandoned, not attacked the Alliance - there's an important distinction there) she left.

With the Alliance and Dalaran as her two main hubs of activity, the only other logical place for her to go was Kul Tiras.

So let's talk Kul Tiras.

Kul Tiras was one of the original seven human kingdoms, based on an island that at least used to be near Tol Barad and Gilneas. It had the most powerful navy of the human kingdoms, and provided the main naval force in the fight against the Horde in the Second War.

The Proudmoore family is royalty in Kul Tiras, with the monarch taking the title of Grand Admiral. Jaina's father Daelin was Grand Admiral during the Second War, and her pursued Thrall's Horde to Kalimdor, but was slain by Rexxar at Theramore in the early days of Durotar's founding. Jaina had an older brother, Derek, but he was slain in the Second War. There is an apocryphal other brother named Tandred, who was in the RPG sourcebooks, but is not strictly canon.

If Jaina is the only surviving Proudmoore (no word on her mother. Hey Blizzard, how about letting some characters have moms?) that would mean she would have a claim to the kingdom. However, there's nothing to indicate that she's even been back there since the Third War, so that leaves a big question as to who has actually been running the place in her absence.

With the addition of Tol Barad in Cataclysm, a lot of people asked about where Kul Tiras was, and Blizzard kind of avoided the question by suggesting that the island had been moved by "something about tectonic shifts." If the island were canonically moved a significant distance, one would assume that it had also suffered an environmental catastrophe. Thus, the place could still be in crisis mode recovering from a shattering earthquake like nothing ever seen since the Sundering.

It's also possible that, like the rest of the world is implied to be doing, they've been fending off demons of the Burning Legion. I suspect that this would be downplayed in a future expansion, as they probably want to give us a break from demons after this expansion. Jaina might have gone back there for the rather understandable reason that she wants to save her homeland from demonic destruction.

Given all the hints at Old Gods being a major threat in the next expansion, there's a worry I have that Jaina might find herself manipulated or corrupted by someone like N'zoth. I personally hope she doesn't become a villain, but it would not be unprecedented in WoW. That said, I suspect that she is more likely to play the Tirion/Thrall/Khadgar role in the upcoming expansion, as the hero we kind of rally around as we deal with whatever threat is coming (my money is on Azshara, N'Zoth, or a combination thereof.)

But that scenario would require her to warm up a little at least to Horde players, and that means we're going to have to see some character development.

Blizzcon is still a few months away, starting on November 3rd. Gamescom, where they announced Legion in 2015, however, will be this month, going from August 22nd to the 26th. We'll be sure to get more details at least at Blizzcon, but possibly earlier at Gamescom.