Today, Antorus, The Burning Throne was released! This is supposedly the last raid of Legion and as a giant Lore and story nerd for the World of Warcraft franchise, I thought it only appropriate to comment on the ending cinematic, because boy, is it a doozy. After you defeat Argus, The Unmaker, you will be treated to a 2:58 long cutscene that is supposed to help tie up the story to the raid. I can’t help, but feel as though this cutscene had a larger job to do. This being the last raid, I expected more answers than questions, but I still has questions, especially to the giant sword sized cliff hanger at the end of the cutscene. Spoiler alert for the rest of the article!
The cutscene couldn’t have possibly lived up to the hype that I was expecting it to. It’s a hard job to finish the story in a 3 minute cutscene, let alone one that should have finished the largest story of WoW: Legion. We’re greeted with our champions being told we’ve done well and that we can go home. Literally, Aman’thul tells us, “Go home.” I thought it was a bit on the nose, but that may just be me. One of the best parts of the cutscene was seeing the effect that Illidan had on Velen and vice versa. But then we’re reminded that Illidan has the need to be the edgiest guy in the room and stays behind with the rest of the titans to help keep Sargeras at bay.”The hunter is nothing without the hunt. Did you not see this fate, prophet?” Points to Blizzard for being edgy and punny in a single line of dialogue.
The titans then unite their strength and force Sargeras to reveal himself from his cover, effectively magically dragging him out. This was my favorite part of the entire cutscene. I always wanted to see Sargeras in game. He’s the biggest evil we’ve faced so far, his standing in lore is unparalleled and he managed to conquer countless worlds. As the Dark titan is being dragged away he summons a giant flaming sword and effectively ruined any chance of this cutscene finishing the story of Legion, because he literally stabs the fucking planet of Azeroth with a giant sword. It’s a deep stab too, that sword just became a part of the Silithus geography. I can’t help but feel that this was supposed to be a epic moment, but it fell flat because there are so many implications that could be made, it’s mind boggling. But as the heroes fly away, the Dark Titan Sargeras is imprisoned by his fellow titans and Illidan Stormrage so I guess it was ok. The story to the raid, as well as the story of Argus, has come to a close.
I always enjoy a bit of theorycrafting when a giant, space sword sized cliffhanger makes an appearance. So, here’s how I believe this sword in Azeroth will tie in to the next expansion:
The sword hit Azeroth in the zone of Silithus, where we defeated the Old God, C’thun, all the way back in Vanilla WoW in 2005. Now, we didn’t kill C’thun, we simply pushed him back. I believe that the Battle for Azeroth will be a result of C’thun waking up, freeing his brother, N’zoth, and then they manipulate the events that lead to the largest Alliance vs. Horde conflict we’ve seen. I believe that Sargeras chose Silithus deliberately, dooming the world that stood in defiance to his crusade, dooming those who stopped him.
The Nerds Templar 