Sunday, August 12, 2018

Where is Warbringers: Azshara?

We got Jaina's awesome sea-shanty (I think technically a sea-dirge, but oh well) the first week of the War of Thorns, and then we of course got Sylvanas' at the moment of the Burning of Teldrassil, given that it was directly part of that plot. So when do we get Azshara?

One thing I'm curious about is its subject. The brief snippets we saw in the trailer seem to indicate that it will show her transformation into a Naga, but something I realized is that the previous two primarily took place at about the same time.

Jaina raises her father's ship roughly around the same time Teldrassil is burned. How do I know that? It's admittedly circumstantial, but when Anduin and company goes to confront Sylvanas in the Lordaeron throne room, he lays the crime of destroying Teldrassil out as the main reason they've come for her. If you watch Jaina in the background, her reaction seems to be one of shock and surprise - it seems very clear that she did not know this had happened.

This makes her entrance a bit more of a surprise. It's possible she found out the Alliance was sailing north to attack Lordaeron, but if she were able to find out that, why not Teldrassil? Was it pure coincidence that she decided to attack Undercity right as the Alliance was besieging it?

Anyway, the timing makes it plausible that both Warbringers shorts we've seen are set at the same time. They each, of course, also talk about defining moments in their subjects' past - Sylvanas losing all sense of hope when she sees how fruitless her efforts to defend Quel'thalas have been, and Jaina reckoning with the sacrifice of her father for a peace that turned out to be hollow - which could suggest that we'll be seeing Azshara's transformation, but also check in with her in the modern day to see what she's up to.

We know that Azshara will be a major villain in BFA - though not its final boss. So we need to learn about her activities and motivations soon.

I look forward to it. Jaina's Warbringer short was one of the best things they've ever done, and Sylvanas', while certainly making controversial character choices, was very effectively dramatic. So I'm looking forward to what's coming.

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