Sylvanas Windrunner is once again a major character in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. She has a long and storied history with the franchise, and is one of the few remaining characters from Warcraft 3 that is still present in WoW. The pre-launch content for Shadowlands already revealed quite a bit about Sylvanas’s motivations, but thanks to an endgame cutscene, her real plan is finally unveiled.
During the pre-launch event for Shadowlands, players witnessed Sylvanas kidnapping leaders from both the Horde and the Alliance. The quest chain leading up to World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion even had adventurers fighting Sylvanas’s lover, Nathanos Blightcaller. All of this built up to Shadowlands, of course, and it proved that Sylvanas Windrunner is just as important to the main plot now as she was in past expansions like Wrath of the Lich King.
Sylvanas has had a weird relationship with death over the years. She was slain by Arthas Menethil in Warcraft 3, resurrected by him after he became the Lich King, and then died again (presumably by suicide) during the events of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. She came back to life (again) not long after, and then seemingly wanted to avoid going back to the afterlife. But now she’s back in the realms of death in Shadowlands, and it turns out there’s a major reason why.
Why Sylvanas Is Really Back In WoW: Shadowlands
Fans have speculated on Sylvanas’s true motives for a while now, with theories ranging from time travel to the love she has for Nathanos Blightcaller. However, it seems Sylvanas has a good reason for being in World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands, and it’s because she’s really been working with the Jailer for a long time. The Jailer was once a ruler of the afterlife in WoW, but lost that title and was banished. Together, the Jailor and Sylvanas want to overthrow the Arbiter completely and change the ways the realms of the afterlife work.
In a cutscene with Anduin early on in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands‘s endgame, Sylvanas reveals that she doesn’t like the way the Arbiter judges people and sends them to various realms of the afterlife. Families are split apart and memories are lost – all because of the way the Arbiter rules the Shadowlands. It’s still unclear why Sylvanas wants to change this – perhaps it has something to do with her complicated history with death, or maybe even her past with Arthas Menethil. Whatever it is, it means players have a lot of mysteries in store for them concerning Sylvanas and the Jailer, who serves as the main antagonist of the expansion.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has proven itself to be a great WoW expansion so far. By taking long-running characters like Sylvanas and showing them in a different light, it’s just one of the ways the game shakes up players’ expectations. It will be interesting to see where Sylvanas’s plans with the Jailer take her (and players) next.
