wow The New Arbiter of the Shadowlands Revealed in Patch 9.2: Eternity's End

[Starym 3,780]

 

Recent datamining indicated at a particular character becoming the new Arbiter and steering the flow of souls in the Shadowlands, but it was just an ID and could have been either placeholder or a tease. However, MrGM has now dug up actual audio files that almost certainly confirm who will become the next Arbiter! Spoilers below:

Spoiler

 

⚠️ MASSIVE #SPOILERS ⚠️

Some VA from Kleia to Pelagos during Patch 9.2. Some lines are missing but you get the idea pic.twitter.com/YDMhHoEIxG

— MrGM (@MrGMYT) November 19, 2021

 

This, in combination with the previous NPC IDs seems to pretty much confirm it:

Spoiler

MASSIVE 9.2 SPOILERS pic.twitter.com/LYNqlzZeyy

— MrGM (@MrGMYT) November 19, 2021

And so Pelagos, the first (officially announced) transgender character in World of Warcraft will now also become the Arbiter of the Shadowlands! I'd say congratulations, but it seems like a pretty daunting and potentially thankless task. However, he seems ok with it and is definitely up to the task after experiencing everything related to the Kyrian/Forsworn conflict, so congratulations it is!

[Migol 430]

I'd really love to hear their reasoning for point A to point B on this one.   At a minimum I would have thought it would need to be one of the powerful main leaders to succeed the arbiter (most likely the primus).     How does Pelagos go from Aspirant who can't even fly yet to someone capable of rapid fire reading and judging the dead souls that come super fast the arbiter's way?     Hoping this turns out to be logical and well thought out...but I have a sinking feeling this is for PR reasons.   

[Frogspoison 63]

At least it's not !@#$ing Sylvannas, but instead some character that 99% of the playerbase will forget exist come 10.0

[Starym 3,780]

1 hour ago, Frogspoison said:

At least it's not !@#$ing Sylvannas, but instead some character that 99% of the playerbase will forget exist come 10.0

You mean like Bolvar in WotLK? 😄

[Teufel 331]

9 minutes ago, Starym said:

You mean like Bolvar in WotLK? 😄

At least he had a cool cinematic back in Wrathgate.

[Starym 3,780]

29 minutes ago, Teufel said:

At least he had a cool cinematic back in Wrathgate.

True, one of the coolest in fact. Maybe Pelagos gets something similar in 9.2!

[Ikusame 0]

Quote

At least it's not !@#$ing Sylvannas, but instead some character that 99% of the playerbase will forget exist come 10.0

 

 

Oh dont worry, some other datamining seems to hint that Sylvaanas is going to become a avatar of Azeroth by absorbing azerite.

Edited November 19, 2021 by Ikusame

[Kerberus 3]

Dunno why people complain about the new Arbiter Being Pelagos. I mean, in the Kyrian Path of Ascension, isn't he/her the 'best' Soulbind anyway (at least the MOST USED, in the 'progression')?
🤣

[Migol 430]

18 minutes ago, Kerberus said:

Dunno why people complain about the new Arbiter Being Pelagos. I mean, in the Kyrian Path of Ascension, isn't he/her the 'best' Soulbind anyway (at least the MOST USED, in the 'progression')?
🤣

If you mean "most hated" yes.    Spent an expansion chasing those damn balls.    So relieved I can use owlguy now for mostly equivalent dps.

[SidonisAntares 288]

It seems reasonable that whatever made the zone leaders as powerful as they are lies in Zereth Mortis (especially given how Kalisthene didn't empower Adrestes by herself and required an anima powered focus), and could in turn be used on Pelagos to raise a new one in Zovaal's stead. Or it could be something discovered in Korthia if it's required to get a new sigil created to complete the key allowing us to travel to ZM.

Instead of calling it a PR move because he's transgender, think back to all the lore conversations of the Kyrian campaign quests where he actively tries to understand the other covenants, both similarities to and differences from the Kyrian.  Addtionally, his conversation with Uther at the raising of Adrestes that while he believes that some souls can never be forgiven, they should still be shown compassion.

[Arcling 886]

8 hours ago, Starym said:

True, one of the coolest in fact. Maybe Pelagos gets something similar in 9.2!

Also Bolvar wasn't introduced in same expansion. Pelagos is still a new character, but at least he isn't Sylvanas. He tried to learn about other covenants as much as possible, so perhaps he can make a good Arbiter. Anyway, this is likely one of the characters that might not appear after this expansion.

There are other issues with introducing afterlives, now that we know about them. Once another villain dies in the future, some people will likely start speculating, for example: "is he on trial by Venthyr? is he coming back as one of them?". But all of this will be ignored by writers, because they moved on to another story.

[Starym 3,780]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

Also Bolvar wasn't introduced in same expansion. Pelagos is still a new character, but at least he isn't Sylvanas. He tried to learn about other covenants as much as possible, so perhaps he can make a good Arbiter. Anyway, this is likely one of the characters that might not appear after this expansion.

There are other issues with introducing afterlives, now that we know about them. Once another villain dies in the future, some people will likely start speculating, for example: "is he on trial by Venthyr? is he coming back as one of them?". But all of this will be ignored by writers, because they moved on to another story.

I'm kinda happy it's not someone from Azeroth though, makes the universe feel bigger. Uther would have been a "better" choice but then we have another Azerothian in another powerful cosmic position.

[SidonisAntares 288]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

There are other issues with introducing afterlives, now that we know about them. Once another villain dies in the future, some people will likely start speculating, for example: "is he on trial by Venthyr? is he coming back as one of them?". But all of this will be ignored by writers, because they moved on to another story.

While game-wise we'll always be able to go back, part of me thinks there will be a plot device that results in 'the way is shut' to prevent Azerothian shenanigans from affecting the natural order of Life and Death once this crisis has been resolved.

[Arcling 886]

1 hour ago, Starym said:

I'm kinda happy it's not someone from Azeroth though, makes the universe feel bigger. Uther would have been a "better" choice but then we have another Azerothian in another powerful cosmic position.

Yeah, these are afterlives of the whole universe, yet somehow everyone important is from Azeroth or Draenor. We should be seeing many souls of unknown species, but they are conveniently absent or already transformed into members of covenants. One may wonder, what are these covenant appearances based on? Or are they original? Somehow they are still similar to known races.

26 minutes ago, SidonisAntares said:

While game-wise we'll always be able to go back, part of me thinks there will be a plot device that results in 'the way is shut' to prevent Azerothian shenanigans from affecting the natural order of Life and Death once this crisis has been resolved.

Sort of like alternate universe and its Draenor, that connection was severed. This would make some sense at least, maybe writers are going to address this, but I'm not expecting too much. 😃 Leaving Shadowlands open would be too much of a mess, with people being able to travel there whenever they want.

Edited November 19, 2021 by Arcling