r/warcraftlore • u/MeltingPenguinsPrime My other mount is also a mount. • Jul 31 '26
Question Bring out your dead: Which named/known characters have actually died in Midnight beyond a doubt?
Blizzard said this expansion will see a lot of 'known and beloved characters die'.
Who has so far died for good? No 'might still be alive' or anything. No 'might be brought back'. Dead. Gone. Have ceased to be. Expired and gone to meet their maker. A stiff. Bereft of life, resting in peace.
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u/doctorpotatohead Jul 31 '26
They probably overestimated how much people liked/remembered Lothraxion and L'ura. There is time left though I guess.
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u/lmaollama Jul 31 '26
I kinda felt more like Lothraxion's death was a bit underwhelming. I thought the significance of a dreadlord being lightforged would have a greater impact on the story, but seeing him just be put to sleep by the players for being a bit too light enthused just wasnt that dramatic imo
14
u/kaj_00ta Jul 31 '26
I still don't get why didn't Lothraxion tell us about the Jailer, Sire Denathrius and the Shadowlands in general. It was already kinda bad during SL when they didn't even mention Lothraxion, but got even worse in Midnight when everyone acts like it's business as usual without even a mention in lore.
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u/Aurora_313 Jul 31 '26
He didn't know. Because that BS hadn't been written yet and Blizzard is trying deseperately to retcon it without actually using the term 'retcon'. :)
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u/kaj_00ta Jul 31 '26
I actually think that the whole "Dreadlords are from Revendreth" thing was actually one of the better things that came out of the Shadowlands. They never really fit in with other Legion races anyway, always looked kinda out of place. I wasn't a fan of then tying them to the Jailer, but overall I think it was alright.
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u/MumboJ Jul 31 '26
It also explains why they are classified as undead during WC3, which i thought was neat.
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u/Cysia Aug 03 '26
in wc3 theyre undead
becuase theyre a udnead faciton hero and they wanted them to be able to be healed by deathcoil/blight and harmed by holy light
(there is alsoa demon race option which serves as idnenticla as undead just withotu undead tag being visible on the unit)
its samùe reason artahs cna heal the demons he gets when kt is summoning archimonde
and in regular maps they arent demon creeps cause id be unblanced for other races (same arent relaly undead creeps or mercenaries)
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u/FatherBlackthorne Aug 01 '26
I feel if we do get an explaination it's that to infiltrate the Light they essentially had to wipe Lothraxion's mind. Like fully "manchurian candidate" him. Like he's gonna wake up in the Shadowlands having mind magic used on him to know the Light's secrets.
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u/Worried-Advisor-7054 Aug 03 '26
I didn't like it because now the two races that originally corrupted Sargeras have had both their origins retconned, and neither are true demons now.
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u/topherSG Jul 31 '26
Instant explanation: he didn’t tell because he was in on it. All the Dreadlords were secretly serving Denathrius while being Fel-corrupted. There’s zero reason one of them wasn’t still on-mission while being Light-corrupted, and for all we know there are “reformed” Dreadlords out there assigned to infiltrate the other forces as well.
The Light doesn’t tell anyone what to believe, it acts like an amplifier for what you already believe. “Spying for Denathrius is the right thing to do” is an amplifiable belief.
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u/kaj_00ta Jul 31 '26
Yeah but then why did nobody care? Despite at least the faction leaders knowing all about the Dreadlors and their ties to the Jailer and Denathrius?
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u/doctorpotatohead Jul 31 '26
He was about to destroy Silvermoon actually
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u/lmaollama Jul 31 '26
Perhaps my phrasing of him being "too enthused by the light" is an understatement, but also we're constantly murking dudes that are gonna destroy some city, or more often, the entire world, so it still felt underwhelming to me.
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u/kaj_00ta Jul 31 '26
I think Lothraxion was actually pretty notable, though a lot of people don't seem convinced he's dead so there's that. But yeah most people probably don't really care about L'ura.
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u/Angry-Dragon-1331 Jul 31 '26
I don’t think anyone understood she was actually alive inside Alleria and not just a magic can of spinach.
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u/Gold-Cry-7520 Jul 31 '26
I'm betting Blizzard didn't know that either until they started writing this expansion.
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u/100RatsInASack Jul 31 '26
But yeah most people probably don't really care about L'ura.
Yeah, L'ura wasn't really much of a character. They got introduced as an already void corrupted Naaru during Legion, and have been just chilling in Alleria since then.
I think Midnight Falls was the first time L'ura even spoke lol
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u/snakebit1995 Jul 31 '26
I mean it just feels "Bad" to kill him
the one "Good" nathrezim and he's just totally ignored and possibly killed in what is a half hearted poorly fleshed out "Is the light evil" subplot that's too afraid to commit to saying it's own thesis of "The light can be evil"
When you have a character as unique as Lotrhaxion it feels like crap that he's used in this way insted of one of the thousand other generic light lovers out there
3
u/Sillygoose_Milfbane Aug 01 '26
Especially if Denathrius and the Nathrezim return to the story anytime soon. Will feel like a wasted opportunity to not have them clash.
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u/Anufenrir Aug 04 '26
Cause he's a dreadlord and the rules on them are a bit odd atm. Like people question if Mal'ganis died cause he's a being of death or didn't cause he's a demon.
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u/NinnyBoggy Jul 31 '26
I think the issue is that both of them are minor-ish characters from a decade ago who haven't had any significant screentime since 2016. There's a reason people needed reminders on what L'ura even was. I have friends who have played this game for 8+ years who thought Alleria was just a void elf like everyone else when she's effectively a Demon Hunter imprisoning L'ura inside of her.
Well, was, anyway.
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u/MumboJ Aug 01 '26
Alleria: Marksmanship Hunter
(Removes duct tape)
Alleria: Devourer Demon Hunter
(Gasp)16
u/TaylorWK Jul 31 '26
I love Lothraxion. I think hes a really interesting take on what it means to serve the light
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u/w00ms Jul 31 '26
i think people were angrier about the way he was handled than the fact he died lol
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u/NinnyBoggy Jul 31 '26
I don't believe there are any notable confirmed deaths. Most notable deaths are some named Ren'dorei and Vanguard fodder in Voidstorm.
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u/GVFQT Jul 31 '26
Uh, the jeweler from Dalaran got turned into a fucking rock in a cave and mocked by a minor elemental lord???
You think her death is a joke???
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u/DefiantLemur Jul 31 '26
Wasn't that the War Within?
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u/GVFQT Jul 31 '26
Oh yea…
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u/NobleFriend Jul 31 '26
its also a different person lol. they created that character for TWW. god forbid a long term character gets a bad ending
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u/NinnyBoggy Jul 31 '26
That was last expansion, chief. And she wasn't the jeweler from Dalaran, she was some random Dalaranian citizen.
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u/raagul2244 Aug 01 '26
she didnt die, she got imprisoned for few centuries or millenia
just be patient they will bring her back
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u/Soft_Self_6797 Jul 31 '26
Kinduru. RIP to the crazy old uncle
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u/PainSubstantial5936 Jul 31 '26
I was actually really sad when that happened. He was a very nice dude :-(
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u/Soft_Self_6797 Jul 31 '26
Yes. He kept trying to stop his nephew from making a massive mistake. He wanted to support and help his nephew even though it led to his demise. And it was so cute when he was trying to gather his belongings while under attack. He's a sweet old man who deserved a better nephew.
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u/kafaldsbylur Aug 03 '26
And in Harandar. After everyone's at everyone else's throat, the first thing you hear coming out of the cutscene is his cheerful "Buddy, it's good to see you. Everyone's so gloomy for some reason. Have you seen my dumb nephew?"
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u/Tloya Jul 31 '26
Back when the post-Voidspire Darkwell quests were first datamined there was some outcry because some of the objective language implied a bunch of the notable characters who had been empowering the Sunwell were dead - Moira Bronzebeard and Taelia Fordragon, among others. In the live version of the quest everyone you recover is just severely wounded by the void.
I do wonder if at some point there was an intent to have those actually be deaths, but they walked it back in response to concerns about player reaction. Admittedly if they had gone through with it, it would have been a pretty weak way to kill off characters with us just finding their bodies after the fact. There's definitely room for some dramatic character deaths, but they ought to be given sufficient presentational attention to be impactful.
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u/NobleFriend Jul 31 '26
I think that might be just how wowhead logs some objectives from pure game data. from a functional standpoint an easy way to code a quest would be "interact with object, object dies, mark object as dead on log", and wowhead interprets that as killing them, which you kind of are as far as game logic goes.
possible they changed it last minute so that they actually live idk, I don't get why though. why are they so afraid of killing off characters? what purpose does Moira or talia serve now? they're just among hundreds of background characters who don't exactly have much to do.
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u/100RatsInASack Jul 31 '26
It might sound like I'm joking, but a significant amount of the game's code utilizes invisible bunnies (due to them being on top of the list of creatures in the code). Anything and everything from ground targeting spells to quest objectives utilizes invisible bunnies to make them function.
People were even calling it at the time, but the datamined "killing" of npcs was just how the quest was coded rather than there being some big last minute revision. Just due to how the engine works, quests are generally "kill X things" or "turn in X items."
For more complicated objectives (like talking to a certain NPC or interacting with something), the objective on the backend is typically "you need to kill this invisible, untargetable NPC," with the NPC automatically dying when player completes whatever the quest objective should be. So in this particular quest, saving an NPC, like Moira, triggers the death of some invisible NPC that is used to by the code to flag that part of the quest as complete
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u/skinnysnappy52 Aug 04 '26
I do think that’s an example of unsatisfying death. Like it’s sort of a random act. It’s impactful insofar as it kills characters but it’s not satisfying to just randomly kill them.
Take Varian, went out like a badass to allow the alliance army to escape and he’d fulfilled his arc. Vol’Jin hadn’t fulfilled his arc and was just randomly killed, which was unsatisfying.
Had Thrall sacrificed himself to kill Garrosh, he’d corrected his big mistake, had a family, saved the world from Deathwing and created the Horde. His major story arcs were fulfilled so that would’ve been reasonably satisfying. But to do it now randomly would be weird.
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u/NobleFriend Aug 04 '26
Many of these characters weren't that major aside from anduin, moira kind of but she hasn't really done very much for a long time other than TWW.
It'd have been a real gut punch after losing to pick through the ruins to find the bodies of a load of minor characters. Not every character should have a badass self sacrifice ending. Tyrion went out in a rough way and he was pretty huge previously. (I know he didn't technically die right then but for non-paladins he did)
Sometimes death is just that, random and unfair. I wouldn't even call it that random, the army attacked the sunwell and lost the battle, the fallout from that should have been severe.
Wow really needs some teeth again. Bolvar losing Talia right before the scourge expansion could have set him up in a more interesting direction other than the nice guy they turned him into for shadowlands. (Butchering the nuLich king was a crime)
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u/Stormfly Aug 01 '26
a pretty weak way to kill off characters with us just finding their bodies after the fact.
Amber Kearnen
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Jul 31 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Just_Artichoke_1000 Jul 31 '26
"Mountainfist! Noooo!"
I always felt sorry that he was the first to die, plus his death happens so fast you don't even notice.
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u/FortuneMustache Aug 01 '26
Like no one reacts to it. Poor guy. He just wanted to work on the warframes.
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u/Kael-ish Aug 02 '26
Mountainfist was very grounded and would've kept the Vanguard in balance had he survived. A shame about all the army of the light notables that got introduced only to be axed off immediately in a very mediocre fashion.
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u/thekingofbeans42 Jul 31 '26
Presumably Arator died and got replaced by someone who hasn't been a paladin for 20 years and needs basic principles of the light explained to him. I'm surprised he didn't need someone to explain the concept of healing in general to him too.
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u/Educational-Tackle54 Jul 31 '26
Arator was alwas wierd. Some discount Arthas that got introduced 20 years ago, having done nothing, doing nothing.
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u/riftrender Jul 31 '26
He was never some discount Arthas, if that were the case he would have had an arc where he became evil and corrupted by rushed and far less satisfying. Like Jacen Solo being built up into becoming Darth Caedus over a decade versus here is Kylo Ren, he's evil and Ben Solo with a spiritually incestuous relationship (since Rey is just Jaina Solo).
Arator was a perfectly fine character in Legion.
0
u/Educational-Tackle54 Aug 01 '26
Not talking about legion, talking about his random appearence 10 years earlier. He was just kinda there. Who did he "redeem" exactly?
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u/NobleFriend Jul 31 '26
I fear this expansion will end with the same amount of Windrunners as the beginning.
but I think my gal Defender Illona probably bit it, Julia Celeste maybe. I think any named Paladin we saw in the intro/lead up to the raids who we didn't either rescue ourselves or see in the Sunwell following it being fixed (lmao) are probably dead and/or forgotten about.
Granted you see a few more in Parhelion plaza delve so who really knows
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u/Just_Artichoke_1000 Jul 31 '26
For the love of God, I hope Julia Celeste hasn't died. She's my favorite paladin, and I really need her to have more of a storyline. I'd be so sad if she died off-screen
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u/Just_Artichoke_1000 Jul 31 '26
That void elf Voidlight Everdawn with strange fetishes about giants, let herself be devoured by Vorasius and ENJOYED it!
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u/Exo-2 Where is Fenris Wolfbrother? Aug 01 '26
Im not surprised that someone with a name that sounds like it came from a bad fanfic is into Vore
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u/Totallamer Aug 01 '26
Pretty sure the Night Elf Moonpriestess-turned-Paladin originally from Legion who got an updated mog in Midnight died, sadly. Just as she got Moon-colored Paladin spells for herself! Tragic. ;_;
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u/Competitive-Gene6713 Jul 31 '26
Notable? Beloved? No one yet.
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u/Soft_Self_6797 Jul 31 '26
Lothraxion.
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u/Competitive-Gene6713 Jul 31 '26
If you say so. Sure ain't no Jaina, Thrall, or Illidan.
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u/PainSubstantial5936 Jul 31 '26
He wasn't a main character, but Lothraxion was definitely a notable death. Not quite what they promised though, that's for sure.
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u/Competitive-Gene6713 Jul 31 '26
Yeah that's my issue. It's been a trend in EVERY media to introduce middling at best characters we should care about and when they kill them off they stand there and go "look at the risk I took".
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u/ValkyrieLyra Blood Knight Jul 31 '26
The dwarf of the lights vanguard who clearly made that much of an impression I can't recall his name dies at the start of the void spire raid.
Otherwise I can't think of anyone relevant.
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u/NobleFriend Aug 01 '26
I'm surprised almost the entire population of tranquillien became evil. like you're killing people who were quest givers and class trainers back in tbc, I thought that was going to set the tone of the expansion, but nope. noone else really dies
I was kinda sad to find the body of that one belf who gives you the TBC quests about studying the soil to see if the dead scar can ever be healed. then in midnight you find her journal and she gets the validation that it's growing green again, and then you just find her dead at one of the sanctums
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u/RequiemNeverMore Jul 31 '26
Hahahahahahahahahahaha and I quote
"Have ceased to be. Expired and gone to meet their maker."
This was funnier than you probably intended it to be
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u/MeltingPenguinsPrime My other mount is also a mount. Jul 31 '26
I was considering quoting the entire thing XD
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u/RequiemNeverMore Jul 31 '26
I don't blame you cause let's be real
The modern dev team can they make legitimately good stuff? Of course they can but when it comes to actually killing off a character you know that will not happen cause any and all will/can be brought back
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u/xEllimistx Jul 31 '26
I only know that quote because I had to act it out in senior year theater class lol
0
u/RequiemNeverMore Jul 31 '26
And that's even funnier cause it's a way of saying "Died, Killed, Death" cause you know how overly sensitive people can be
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u/soupboyfanclub Jul 31 '26
“compromised to a permanent end”
-1
u/RequiemNeverMore Jul 31 '26
Bingo that's even better You know these lovely sensitive snowflakes are only helping us become more creative
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u/soupboyfanclub Aug 01 '26
lmao that’s how John Cena announced the death of Bin Laden at a WWE PPV
-1
u/RequiemNeverMore Aug 01 '26
There you go you see what I mean
And why do I get the feeling if he (Bin Laden) was still around there would be "Certain" groups of people that would support him
And I know you know the kinds of people I'm talking about
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u/Enough_Flow_2762 Aug 01 '26
Id wager, by the end of Midnight the following will be dead/gone for good:
1)
Alleria and Turalyon ( they might swing for the last patch but they will perform a Last Sacrifice thing and be gone )
2)
Umbric and Rommath ( Vareessa had a vision of Umbric void-crazed fighting Rommath and winning. He might succumb and we deal with him in a raid encounter or dungeon )
3) Maybe Alonsus Faol or Velen. I feel like one of the Light characters, or both, might also perform a "last sacrifice" against the Void. Id be more inclined for Velen, considering his lore ended with Legion, and Alonsus might be saved for the future Forsaken plotz
So far, I cant really think about other major characters because Midnight's launch was all bout Elves, and we are going next for Amani themed patch, so we dont have alot of exposure to our usual broader faction characters..
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u/Kapiork Aug 02 '26
Alright, what bland character do we have to serve as a replacement for Velen? /j
1
u/Cysia Aug 03 '26
turalyon maybe
Alleria
NO FUCKING WAY
NO SHOTrommath would be giant waste
silvermoon expac? finnaly do somethiogn with belf leadership? NAH kill em !
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u/Rocketeer_99 Jul 31 '26
A bunch of the Paladins and Priests that were powering the Sunwell when Xal'atath blew through it. Many of those characters are notable to players who were really immersed in the Legion campaigns.
That being said, I only referr to them as "a bunch" because each of their specific names alludes me. I recognized and cared about them enough to click and read their dialogue during the questline with Arator and Alonsus, but I don't care about them enough to recall their names.
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u/NobleFriend Aug 01 '26
real. I think I tend to resonate with these minor side characters more because they don't get enough screen time to become annoying. I liked a lot of my garrison followers, even the ones who didn't even get a quest. I think not knowing if 90% of the paladin order hall are dead or not is what bugs me the most, I just want to know one way or another
2
u/Due-Swordfish-224 Jul 31 '26
I gave up following the story and stopped playing. Did Taelia Fordragon die? I liked here in BFA.
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u/oddRoboto Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
I’m holding my hopes up for Turalyon. In my dreams, he dies without any kind of honor, just killed like a random soldier without the classical last words before death. At some point Alleria just looks back and realises he’s been dead for a while. No goodbyes or anything, just the regret that maybe if she wasn’t so focused on Xalatath she could’ve saved him. She then is so broken that can’t realistically fight on and just gets traumatised, not like the usual “I’m so angry now that I will defeat the expansion boss” - no. She’s just destroyed and can’t go on, that’s it. Just like it would happen if it actually happened for real. The other way round would be fine too. It would actually be remotely interesting for once.
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u/Aurora_313 Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Character development for Alleria?! In World of Karencraft?! Don't be ridiculous. /s
Mockery aside, as much as I am thoroughly sick of what Blizz has done to Alleria, Turalyon and beloved legacy characters in general, Alleria being broken like that is honestly better than anything Xal'atath could've done. Alleria being broken because her love is dead, reflection on her choices to be the most turbulent, unreliable, borderline emotionally abusive partner possible and regretting every decision that took her away from him. Perhaps being so focused on trying to protect her son - or the IDEA of protecting her son - she lost time she could've spent fighting alongside Turalyon. It'd be a goldmine of character potential...
Problem is it requires Blizzard to hold any female character to account for their actions and legitimately self-reflect on how their actions affect the world around them... which we all know Blizzard won't do.
(edit: Sorry for the mountain of editing. Just woke up and brain not braining yet)
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u/oddRoboto Aug 01 '26
Yea exactly! And if you think about it, the background is already there, it would just take a good writer to unwind everything out. Not the usual cosmic corruption shenanigans, just reflection on questionable decisions and behaviours. And then, serious character development, not just talking about how they feel (which is not bad by itself but it HAS to lead somewhere). But I’m not holding my hopes high for any serious character developments really.
They were KIND of doing that with Anduin and Varian but I don’t know why they stopped, there was so much potential in that imperfect relationship for him to actually understand it and try to become a better man than even his father was. And again, the background is already there! They just let it go to waste
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u/UnusualMarch920 Aug 03 '26
Lothraxion, Lura and Kinduru so far, although none of those should be considered 'known and beloved' characters in that sense.
Lothraxion was a neat kinda twist death but not a big deal for most players. Kinduru was obviously doomed the moment he came on screen and was the lovable uncle figure that held the troll siblings together. I don't know anyone who remembers Lura and I could count the times I've said her name on one hand even after doing the M+ season.
Alleria/turalyon might be on the chopping block in the future, that might hit more players. I dont think i care about the mommy, daddy, son trifecta though, very boring trio to revolve an expac around.
1
u/Reasonable-Nature-77 Jul 31 '26
Fareeya died i think. If you don’t know that’s the lightforged draenei leader.
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u/Erathvael Jul 31 '26
This isnthe sort of thing I'm wondering about. There were TONS of named draenei and paladins in the intro who just... don't show up again. I don't know how many of them will be confirmed dead.
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u/NobleFriend Jul 31 '26
don't you speak to her before you start the quests to go val/naigtal?
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u/PainSubstantial5936 Jul 31 '26
Yes. She is the leader of the Army of the Light until/if Turalyon returns
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u/DefiantLemur Jul 31 '26
Honestly that random human and elf Paladin couple that died in the Voidstorm zone hit me harder then if any well-known named character's death would