It’s been a big week for World of Warcraft already, with the prepatch for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands having dropped yesterday. It’s definitely not been the smoothest of launches, but the majority of the content is there and waiting for players!
To add onto the hype, Blizzard released a new cinematic as well, taking place just after the original release trailer that sees Sylvanas fighting against the Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon, to kickstart the events of the expansion.
As a note, everything from here on out is going to be massive spoilers. If you haven’t watched the new cinematic, or if you want to remain unspoiled until the release of the expansion, turn away now!
The cinematic takes place just after, with Nazgrim and Whitemane of the Ebon Blade carrying the defeated Bolvar Fordragon to his seat in Acherus. There, he narrates the events, explaining to his Horsemen what’s transpired.
It seems that Sylvanas wasn’t content to have broken creation itself and escaped persecution for her war crimes. Now, using the power of the Maw itself, Sylvanas Windrunner has begun her aggression against the forces of Life.
If you missed it, we datamined a new #Shadowlands pre-patch cinematic, featuring Bolvar, Sylvanas and various faction leaders!https://t.co/K1NGZbyocj pic.twitter.com/8KoJoiEsC0
— Wowhead💙 (@Wowhead) October 14, 2020
The rest of the cinematic recaps the events of the release trailer and shows the rest of Azeroth being threatened. Bolvar discusses knowing that Sylvanas would eventually come for the power of the Helm of Domination, but never expected her to do what she’s done.
From there, ominous black clouds begin to sweep across Azeroth, showing the lore figures that we’ve come to know and highlighting the threat to them. Tyrande Whisperwind and Jaina Proudmoore watch as the clouds begin to sweep over their territory.
But it isn’t just the Alliance that have served as her opposition that Sylvanas is moving against. Baine and Thrall both watch the clouds move in, knowing the source and seeing the threat for what it is.
Most importantly, as the cinematic ends, Anduin Wrynn is spirited away by two flying Mawsworn, restricting him with chains and carrying him off. There, Genn Greymane screams Sylvanas’s name to the sky, as if to make sure we all know who’s responsible.
It’s a heavy highlight for the upcoming expansion and helps to show what we can expect to see as we enter the Shadowlands. With Anduin Wrynn kidnapped and the entirety of Azeroth under threat from Sylvanas, we can expect a pretty intense adventure to come once the expansion finally drops.
