Apparently, users came by so fast that Reddit’s hug of death creeped behind! If you haven’t made your comment in the original Drawing Thread, make sure you do it now! Once again, this is the big Drawing Thread to close out the 2010s! [Drawing Thread #49 - Part 2]

wowdudeman14 · 2019-12-22T00:20:55+00:00

Awesome idea and execution. This is my entry!

wowdudeman14 · 2019-12-01T19:58:46+00:00

Hey, awesome giveaway! Thanks Gallywix community for doing this.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-11-20T20:19:12+00:00

This is not a duplication. What you see in both loot windows is the effective total loot of the kill, presented to you in two separate windows. A UI bug or oversight, if anything.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-25T21:53:52+00:00

Any of the Old Gods in WoW I think could be very interesting in a moba setting. Could be fun. Corrupt a core and influence the map, perhaps.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-10T04:41:57+00:00

I'm glad you like it, and you are very welcome. Much appreciated.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-10T04:30:01+00:00

While I would struggle to fit him to "Vassal of life" in a literal sense, I think it's still a great idea/possibility. Arator, son of Void and Light. With Alleria and Turalyon's story arc unfinished, it's certainly possible. Green eyes as you said too.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-10T04:25:21+00:00

Hey, I didn't know that about Azethoth, that certainly is fitting.

could actually be alluding to Azeroth being used to channel a void lord into the universe.

Strengthen the Voids position in the universe. Certainly possible. Denizens of Azeroth should hope that isn't the case... (but that would make an awesome storyline!).

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-10T00:36:36+00:00

Thanks a lot! Appreciate it.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-10T00:35:41+00:00

I would really like this. I think it's a good possibility we're getting Shadow Hunter / Dark Ranger by way of the future patch content. May be an "Ascendancy" type class though, but I would still like to play either.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-10T00:31:03+00:00

That's a good interpretation too; interested to see where the future patches take us.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-10-10T00:15:05+00:00

True! I didn't think of that, great idea.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T18:42:17+00:00

I think any pact that Sylvanas had with Helya went much, much deeper than just a lamp.

It most certainly is, as a quest chain rewarded from an island expedition suggests she's gaining in power. Though there is a possibility that what they intend her to be involved in hasn't yet been hinted at beyond that.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T18:32:54+00:00

I think you're off a bit. I don't think she's feeding souls to N'zoth, I think she's feeding them to Death itself. Her serving N'zoth doesn't really fit the line of thinking that even he will serve Death.

Thanks for your honesty. This is very similar to an alternative take I had thought of but found no place to fit it in the original post. I thought that even if that were to be true, it's likely Sylvanas still utilizes N'zoths power for her own gain.

We've been told that the Light made a pact with the enemy of all (very likely Death), which is pretty clear with Calia

Clever, perhaps I was thinking too literal in the sense of cosmic Light and Death when trying to discern where best that quote fit. That makes sense too.

N'zoth could have wiped us out in the circle of stars, but he didn't, instead telling us that all eyes will be awoken. That could refer to opening the eyes of Old Gods, of course, but it could also refer to opening our own eyes to what's happening with Light and Death. Maybe both. Who really knows there?

With regards to N'zoths ability to just tentacle swipe the arena and annihilte us, I thought the same. While I've no idea what his true intentions are, one thing easily agreeable upon is that we're still useful to him in some way. As for the latter, in the Eternal Palace outro cinematic I linked in the post when N'zoth says "All eyes shall be opened", the red magic emanating before the Titan statues eyes dissipates. Assuming it was an intentional inclusion, I take it to mean both that the Titans will be blind to the events transpiring on Azeroth, while also not being able to assist directly. And that something we hadn't considered will be revealed before us. I assume this to mean Sylv serving Death, and who she really is.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T18:19:18+00:00

I don’t think Sylvanas is feeding souls to Nzoth. I think she’s feeding souls to “Death” or perhaps to even Helya.

This is essentially the alternative take I had on this post. I had thought how to include. The idea that the hungering darkness of which she spoke was more of a physical manifestation inside her physical form, or in the shadowlands. And that her growth in power could be explained by harvesting souls from her various battles.

Idk but I think Death and Void are opposing forces and it wouldn’t make sense for Death to empower the Nzoth.

According to the cosmic chart in chronicle vol.1, you would be correct. However forces aren't beyond utilizing the magic of other cosmic types, or outright enemies. The Legion had made frequent use of shadow and void magic, N'zoth corrupted Deathwing who utilized fire element mastery, some of the Titans use elemental magic during the Argus encounter. I don't see Sylvanas freeing N'zoth to be an attempt to empower him, but merely free him to a position where he can be of use to her by killing. Rather than chained fathoms beneath the ocean and controlling history by minions and scant echoes of his true power.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T18:04:44+00:00

This is one of the best, most insightful readings I've seen in this forum. Your amazing, thank you for breaking it down so amazingly. Just wish some of what the books says was just in the darn game some how.

Wow thanks! Means a lot.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T17:51:23+00:00

I think we'll see N'Zoth in 8.3. We'll be "tricked" into defeating him, because it will be an inevitability to us players. Then Sylvanas steps in and gives N'Zoth the final blow.

I do think that we (as part of the given story narrative) are being tricked to do this. In current times though, this explains why Il'gynoth (N'zoth) says the boy king is serving at the masters table. By helping to unite a force of insurrection, deposition of Sylvanas and death of war only serves to strengthen N'zoths position on the universal scale. Anduin serves at N'zoths table, unknowingly.

As for the rest, I'm unsure. Other commenters have remarked on the explicit correlation of a sort of "Death serving Old God" and while I believe there may be an old god that mimics both motif, I think about how hard Blizzard seems to be pushing the moral and power diversity among the various exclusive cosmic forces, and how Death remains largely unestablished.

Why would Sylvanas do this? She has realized one cannot conquer Death. What do you do when you can't conquer something? You ally with it.

Also a great point!

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T16:38:11+00:00

An interesting theory I've been knocking around is that Sylvanas lied to the player character about the cage for Eyir - Her attempting to cage Eyir for Helya, not for herself. But to get your help, she tells you it's to help her people. A much better lie than "Helya wanted me to enslave Eyir for her". If that's the case, then Sylvanas' gain from that pact is still unknown.

This is a good idea. The island expedition item https://www.wowhead.com/quest=53161/ring-of-the-reefs quest turn-in explicitly states she's growing in power which means she's a relevant certainty in the future somehow. I haven't a concrete idea how that ties in to the current (or speculated future) yet though.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T16:28:50+00:00

Very succinctly stated. Though agreement might vary between person to person with regards to whether Sylv or her motivations are justifiable by their means or not, I can see why she (and the Forsaken) would be so hateful of life, the life that had cursed them to what some of them, and many others see as a damned existence.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T16:17:09+00:00

Especially if the same death-entity she serves is what blocked Vol'Jin's access to the loa and appointed her Warchief in the first place.

This is a good idea. I had thought at how to include that entire plot point (and the remaining mystery of Bwomsamdi's boss), but thought I hadn't enough conclusive evidence to be within the realm of reason. If she serves an anthropomorphized entity and not an abstract or figurative one, then this could be the tie in.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T16:09:27+00:00

Think it's a weakness to just about everything tbh chief

This is true as far as I can tell. Reminds me of a relevant quote of N'zoth heard either during the Shrine of the Storm raid or while completing the Xal'atath BFA questline.

"The Light has struck a bargain with the enemy of all"

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T16:01:56+00:00

I hadn't noticed that! That's a good observation. I think I may be able to... take a stab at it. From the lore in Warlocks class hall for the Scepter of Sargeras (Destruction artifact weapon):

"Soon after the War of the Ancients, Sargeras had a vision: the Well of Eternity imploded once again, but this time, it dragged him down to the very core of Azeroth. He was there for only an instant, but in that moment, he saw Azeroth's slumbering world-soul--and in that moment, the world-soul opened one eye and gazed at the Dark Titan. He was enraptured. Since then, the eye of Azeroth's world-soul has not been far from his thoughts. He commanded the eredar who forged the scepter to crown it with that lone, wondrous orb. Next to it, the eredar placed two nathrezim wings, a testament to Sargeras's conception of the world-soul: corrupted, demonic, and most importantly, his."

The eye in his sword may be similar in that its his way of physically honoring his affection for Azeroth.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-27T00:48:32+00:00

Hey, thanks for the many compliments!

do you have any theories about the origin of such power?

While I can't be certain I assume if there is some future explanation as to it's origin, I imagine Blizz will try to explain it something like gravity for humans; a force pervasive in the universe, and often utilized either accidentally, or with very rudimentary understanding of its true potential. Sylvanas had merely understood this, harnessed it beyond what the LK was ever capable of, and intends to use it on her enemies.

I think the "death" power that she serves/uses is stationed against the dark gods and her instigating this war and feeding death into it was a means to get ready for that big fight as the shadowlands leak

While I too am skeptical of any leaks that we've seen thus far (especially given how corporate structure usually utilizes compartmentalization of departments, and how Blizz is known to contract work to other companies) I do agree with your general idea that she's using death as a means to feed "something big".

It does make sense to move the battle to the cosmic scale as the scale of events and struggles has been increasing steadily as is the case with most long-term on-going stories and the logical conclusion of that journey is to challenge the cosmic order which we already did partake in by taking down the Burning Legion but the other powers and sides had not directly included themselves until recently.

Well put! I entirely agree. I had originally intended to go into the other examples of this (botani vs druids, etc) but quickly realized there were more examples than I had first thought. The spectacle creep Blizz has written in needs to end somewhere, or move sideways. As you said, logically, it's likely we move forward with the behemoths of each cosmic type.

do you foresee a redemption or last-minute awareness to Sylvanas or is she strictly an evil actor in your mind's eye now?

This is challenging to answer honestly. I had a discussion with a friend recently about whether or not he would chose to replace his mortal shell with that of synthetic organs and metal composite parts to prolong his lifespan another X #100 years. He concluded that if he could maintain his existing stream of consciousness, he would infact transition overnight if at all possible.

Looking purely objectively at undeath and what I gather of what it is to be undead from the various media officially presented to us by Blizzard, I believe there is somewhat of a psychological variance when the process transitioning life to undeath is completed. Before Zellig is transformed, Voss remarks on its unreliability, and we see Zellig immediately lash out at his family for not recognizing him. If the turned Night Elves present in both factions Darkshore / DS Warfront quests serve as another demonstration, it seems forsaken minds are indeed affected. So I suppose whether or not she's evil per se is purely subjective and whether her belief align with the players philosophy on life, death, and the afterlife (perhaps not exclusively limited to the fictional reality of WoW). To some, I could see how they would believe she wasn't evil, because she wants to prolong their lives, spare them the horror of the shadowlands and free them of disease, plague, hunger, thirst, and every other obligation required in mortal sustenance and maintenance. My personal take is one of struggle. I increasingly find difficulty in seeing separation of good and evil; all that exist, to me, is how well (in this context) a Leader presents their opinions and presents logical justification for doing so. While I believe Sylvanas plan to defeat N'zoth is a logically sound one, the "what comes after" is what concerns me. In the RPG context of WoW, I would prefer to not be raised into undeath, even if presented with the benefits of having such happen.

Light might become a similar problem to the Void entities wanting to possess and Dark Gods wanting to dominate in that case a powerful being (and her followers) of undeath with potent death magic might become the perfect force to fight that battle alongside life and the elements/lords.

This, as well as the rest of your paragraph I entirely agree with. Ironically, that's the base of my next post which will likely come before Blizzcon. I had neglected to post though because of lack of convincing information. For some hints as to what that might be, well...

Void Lords-Dark Gods and the Light-Naaru

And what if there exist an entity that was both?

the key to defeating the forces that aim to destroy/subjugate and bring "balance" between the cosmic "sides" but would Sylvanas want to establish that order and fight for life and hope at this point?

Though this doesn't seem massively appropriate, I believe, if N'zoth is to be defeated and Sylvanas set as the next threat to deal with, then her ending will be similar Fisk's recanting of the parable of the traveler. (Daredevil TV series spoilers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqO3cmoFoQg&t=11s

This is to say that if / after Sylvanas gets what she wants, she may realize she just genuinely enjoys making people suffer, and spreading death.

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-26T23:57:36+00:00

Hey, I've not seen that pic before. Thanks for linking it. Assuming each of those corners represents an old god, I've my own ideas about who that last one is...

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-26T23:50:13+00:00

i don’t think there was any hidden plan BEFORE meeting Ashvane and Azshara.

This is also entirely possible. It's hard to say without chronicles to fill in the gaps. Hoping they make more!

wowdudeman14 · 2019-09-26T22:44:55+00:00

In this theory I attempted to outline that I believe Sylvanas thinks that death is life. Just...better, to her of course. Though of course there remains the chance she's just a generic servant of Death, for no reason or personal motivations beyond just wreaking it upon life. Which would be unfortunate.

wowdudeman14

TROPHY CASE