In WoW's earlier expansions, the focus tended to revolve around a particular figure as its main antagonist. Burning Crusade focused largely on Illidan, having us face off against his allies before plunging into the Black Temple. Legion did give us a different perspective on all of this, of course, and Illidan's ultimate role is heroic, albeit very far on the anti-hero side of the scale. Wrath was all about Arthas, and Cataclysm built toward the confrontation with Deathwing.
Every expansion has a final boss, of course, but the more recent expansions have tended to be less about individuals than movements - Garrosh was the ultimate warmongering conqueror in an expansion about how imperialism could disturb the balance in existing societies. Archimonde was indicative of the ultimate fate of the Horde should it continue its aggressive ways (I'll grant this one was less obvious - I think Gul'dan would have made a better final boss for Warlords,) and Argus the Unmaker was an expression of Sargeras' plans for the universe - all the power of the Titans, but dedicated to destruction and death (though in this one as well I'd argue he was kind of a stand-in so that Blizzard can still keep a full-fledged Sargeras fight in their back pocket.)
Around the time of Wrath, prior to the announcement of Cataclysm, a few names were bandied around as possible villains for future expansions. Deathwing was, actually, one of the top characters on that list, so when the expansion was announced people weren't terribly surprised. But another figure in that tier was always Azshara.
In BFA, we know that we will fight, and presumably kill, Azshara, as she has been announced as a raid boss in the expansion. The question, however, is at what point we'll be doing so.
Take Xavius for example: Blizzard always warned players that they didn't think an Emerald Nightmare expansion would work, given how it's just a reflection of the physical world. But I think many figured they would eventually change their minds. Xavius was an established character and with the fleshing-out that characters always get when they're focused on, he might have carried an expansion. Instead, he got a rather memorable turn as the first final raid boss in Legion.
The question that I have is whether Azshara is going to go the way of Xavius or Cho'gall - established characters killed off early in an expansion - or if she will remain a major threat throughout.
Some spoilers from the Alpha to follow:
We know that two major figures - one for Zandalar and one in Kul Tiras - are going to betray their people to ally with Azshara. In Zandalar, it's the Prophet Zul, who has of course had an outsize influence on the Zandalari since Cataclysm. In Kul Tiras, it's a rival noble named Lady Ashvane, who wishes, presumably, to usurp the Proudmoores' position as leaders of the country.
The Siege of Borallus dungeon will have us fending off an attack by Ashvane's forces, though it doesn't look like she's going to be a boss in it herself. If she survives the dungeon, she may live to plague us in subsequent content (at the moment we don't really know of any raids in Kul Tiras, but there will presumably be at least one.)
These two villains specifically call out Azshara as a superior. On top of that, we've had Azshara built up throughout WoW's history, with personal appearances starting in Cataclysm (quests in Darkshore and a dungeon fight in Well of Eternity) and recently in quests in Azsuna. Given her ties to both the Legion and the Old Gods, not to mention her ten thousand year history of commanding massive populations, Azshara probably deserves something big.
So the question is: is she the final boss of Battle for Azeroth?
I absolutely think that a figure of such import could easily play that role. The real question is whether there's someone bigger who's going to make an appearance: N'zoth.
Ironically, we've never actually had one of the Old Gods as a final boss of an expansion. C'thun has sort of retroactively become the final boss of vanilla thanks to the Wrath-era revamp of Naxxramas. That's kind of odd when you think about the immense influence that the Old Gods have had on the history of Azeroth, dating back far longer than Azshara.
The downside of N'zoth as a villain, however, is that it doesn't have as much personality. We know Azshara to be vain, callous, entitled, and capable of instilling a degree of loyalty that suggests some kind of mind control ability. N'zoth we have a sense is good at acting with subtlety - pulling off "Xanatos Gambits" that allow it to succeed when it appears to fail (something I strong suspect will be the ultimate result of our defeating the Nightmare.)
It would not be hard to imagine that, having spent ten thousand years as a Naga, Azshara's will has been bent to N'zoth's. But that's kind of a story we've already seen before (Deathwing.) It could be more interesting to see Azshara exhibiting a level of willpower unmatched by anyone but maybe Bolvar Fordragon (though there are many posts to be written speculating on that guy's motivations.)
If Azshara is really the one running the show, I could even imagine her manipulating us into killing N'zoth before we confront her. That would keep the tradition of seeing Old Gods go down before the final boss.
But on the other hand, in recent expansions we've tended to have more of a focus on the more powerful minions of Big Bad than the Big Bad themselves until later on. Cataclysm saw us fighting Twilight's Hammer primarily, with Cho'Gall as the top-level zone's main villain. Mists saw us focusing more on the Sha at first, then the Mogu, before we dealt with Garrosh himself. Warlords saw us taking down the Iron Horde as Grommash had imagined it before Gul'dan took over. And Legion had us spending the early expansion dealing with Xavius and Elisande, the latter a minion of Gul'dan, who was himself the minion of Kil'jaeden, who we dealt with before heading to Argus and confronting (kind of) Sargeras.
Thus, I could imagine the questing experience putting a lot of focus on Azshara and then having us deal with her in an early patch, before we delve into the real Big Bad. (If we actually have an Alliance versus Horde raid, which the expansion kind of promises, I really wonder how that will work.)
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