Warcraft/Characters/Shadowlands (Death)

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Death is a cosmic force that holds sway over every living thing in the Great Dark Beyond. Acting as a counterbalance to life, it is an unavoidable force that breeds despair in mortal hearts and pushes everything towards a state of entropic decay and eventual oblivion. It manifests in the form of necromantic magic and is represented by the Shadowlands, the realm of the dead.

The Pantheon of Death

Arbiter

The Arbiter is an ancient, mysterious being who dwells atop the city of Oribos and judges all the mortal souls that enter the Shadowlands. Her existence predates all memory—even older than the titans, according to some accounts. When a soul is brought before the Arbiter, all of its contents—deeds, misdeeds, thoughts, accomplishments, and failures—are instantly laid bare, absorbed, and understood by her. The Arbiter then sends the soul off to one of the infinite realms of the Shadowlands, determined by the soul's character.

• The Faceless
• Living MacGuffin
• No Name Given
• Omniscient Morality License: Between her abilities and that its her job - and hers alone - to judge the souls of the dead, the Arbiter possesses one of these. She decides where souls go, and if there is absolutely no chance of redemption, she has no problem sending them to the Maw. Even those horrible-but-potentially-redeemable souls who get sent to Revendreth do so will full knowledge that they will be inflicted countless torments upon.
• Physical God: An ancient supernatural being integral to the settings cosmology, and capable of judging the history of a soul's deeds through a single glance.
• Sealed Good in a Can
• Time Abyss

The Jailer

An ancient being who rules the realm known as the Maw in the Shadowlands. Very little is known about him, since nothing has ever escaped the Maw and no one has ever seen the Jailer himself — or at least, no one has seen him and lived to tell the tale.

• Bald of Evil
• Big Bad
• The Dreaded
• Omnicidal Maniac
• Outside Context Villain
• Physical God: Whatever he is, he definitely has an important role in the cosmology of Warcraft. The developers have described him as being at least as powerful as a titan.
• Revenge
• Rule of Symbolism: Chains are a recurring motif with the Jailer. In addition to being in charge of the Maw, the Jailer himself is all but stated to be its prisoner as well. He also has numerous chains coming off his armor and his servants use shadowy chains as weapons or to capture foes.
• Sealed Evil in A Can
• Suspiciously Similar Replacement: The Jailer serves as this to Sargeras. He's a titan-like being who plans to upset the order of the cosmos with a massive supernatural army under his command consisting of corrupted races. Both of them also consider the titan Azeroth integral to those plans and have a backstory involving a great betrayal. This is further lampshaded when Baine theorizes the Jailer's army could rival the Burning Legion for numbers.
• The Man Behind The Man: To Sylvanas, Kel'thuzad (following Wrath of the Lich King), Helya, Gorak Tul, Mueh'zala and Sire Denathrius.
• Your Soul Is Mine

The Primus

The founder and supreme ruler of Maldraxxus who presides over the Five Houses. The most tactical and long-thinking of the Eternal Ones, and a master strategist nearly unbeatable on the field of battle.

• Carry a Big Stick
• Dark Is Not Evil
• HAD to Be Sharp: Invoked by the Primus, via modelling Maldraxxus around The Spartan Way.
• Fling a Light Into the Future
• The Ghost: Death pun aside, despite being the ruler of Maldraxxus he's been missing for awhile.
• Long Game
• Modest Royalty: Implied. Despite ruling an entire afterlife, statues of the Primus depict him wearing a simple robe and a mask while carrying a staff. He also personally left Maldraxxus to investigate the possibility of the Jailer escaping.
• Old Master: Has shades of this.
• The Smart Guy
• The Strategist

Sire Denathrius

Sire Denathrius is the creator and leader of the realm of Revendreth and its inhabitants, the venthyr people, which he rules from Castle Nathria. Calculating and methodical, Denathrius is ancient beyond measure and one of the most powerful beings in all the Shadowlands.

• Co-Dragons
• Deal with the Devil: Denathrius made a deal with the Jailer, where he caused the anima drought. He claims its for a greater purpose, and that in return he will get to rule when the Jailer is free and accomplishes said goal.
• Et Tu, Brute?: He's unhappy that his "son", Prince Renethal, the first Venthyr he created, is leading the rebellion against him. When he defeats Renethal and has him at his mercy, the normally ruthless Denathrius lets him live.
• Faux Affably Evil
• Final Boss
• The Heavy: Him pledging his allegiance to the Jailer has resulted in every single problem the Maw Walker encounters in the realms of the Shadowlands. He masterminded the anima drought which has led to: the Jailer claiming every soul that leaves its body on an universal scale, Devos swaying countless Kyrian to become Forsworn and Mawsworn, a conflict between Bastion and Maldraxxus, the latter's own civil war, Ardenweald groves withering which indirectly enabled the Drust invasion from Thros along with Mue'Zhala usurping The Other Side from Bwonsamdi, and finally a civil war in Revendreth itself. He also created the Ember Wards when he committed an affront against the Light that provoked a retaliatory attack from many Naaru, two of which he managed to imprison in his own castle for research purposes and even corrupted one.
• Horned Humanoid: One of the few Venthyr to have this trait. An indicator of his link to the Nathrezeim.
• Monster Progenitor: To the Venthyr race as well as all vampires such as the Darkfallen. It's also implied he's this to the Nathrezeim.
• Living Weapon: Denathrius' greatsword Remornia is sentient, can move under its own power and talks to him with a female voice, usually about her desire for bloodshed.
• Motive Decay: Originally fulfilled the task of purging sinful souls of their evil and having them go to another afterlife or become a Venthyr, only sending those who refuse to be redeemed to The Maw.
• Obvious Judas: Denathrius is introduced dictating a letter about how everyone needs to tighten their belts to overcome the anima drought... while he's shown in despotic luxury as a civilian who tries to give their rations to beggars is shown being executed. He's also a horned vampire-like being who dresses mostly in red. And sure enough...
• Spanner in the Works: To the Primus' plan to save the Shadowlands. The Primus' message said it was essential for the various leaders of the Shadowlands' afterlives, including Denathrius among them, to join forces to defeat the Jailer. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Denathrius had turned traitor and was serving the Jailer.

Kyrestia the Firstborne

The first of the winged kyrians, one of the Eternal Ones, and the Archon of the Kyrian Covenant.

• Bare Your Midriff
• Blade on a Stick
• Chooser of the Chosen One: Downplayed. The Archon is the one who decides when a perspective Kyrian is ready to ascend.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Downplayed. Though her name is known to them, Kyrestia is almost exclusively referred to by Kyrians with her title as a sign of respect.
• Fire-Forged Friends
• Head-in-The-Sand Management
• My Way or the Highway
• To Be Lawful or Good: A bit more on the Lawful side, but is firmly a good character.
• Super Prototype: Of the kyrians.

Winter Queen

The Winter Queen is the creator and ruler of the realm of Ardenweald and its inhabitants, the Night Fae, who defend the spirits of nature. She is charged with the sacred task of maintaining the cycle of rebirth: restoring perished Wild Gods, Ancients, loa, and other nature spirits and returning them to the mortal plane.

• The Chains of Commanding
• Fisher King: The Winter Queen and Ardenwald are one; when the land thrives, so does she and vica versa. However, the same is also true when one suffers.
• The High Queen
• The Needs of the Many
• I Did What I Had to Do
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Sibling Rivalry: While rivalry is a strong word, she is unhappy about having to spend the effort (and personal anima) to ensure Ysera's resurrection, calling Ysera her "sister's pet". Whether she's referring to Eonar, Elune, or some other entity is as yet unknown.

Oribos

The Eternal City and a place of the First Ones, Oribos is connected to every realm of the Shadowlands via transport gates tethered to the soulstreams of In-Between.

The Attendants

Tal-Inara

Tal-Inara the Honored Voice is the Arbiter's spokesperson and usually serves as an intermediary between her and the other entities.

• Mouth of Sauron: A heroic example.
• You Are in Command Now: Due to Arbiter being incapacitated, Tal-Inara is now de facto the highest authority of Oribos that works together with the former Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon to restore the natural order of things in the Shadowlands and thwart Jailer's machinations.

Bastion

The Kyrian Covenant as a Whole

• Crystal Spires and Togas
• Fluffy Cloud Heaven
• Psychopomp

Mikanikos

• Gadgeteer Genius: The inventor of numerous automatons that are tasked with various functions around Bastion's important facilities.

Kleia

• Cool Big Sis: Considered this by Pelagos

Pelagos

• Super Gender Bender: Being able to choose your form in the Afterlife led to Pelagos choosing a male form as a Kyrian, a choice Pelagos is greatly pleased by.
• Transgender: Born a woman as a mortal but identified as a man later in life and through death and becoming a Kyrian.

The Forsworn

Devos

• Fallen Angel
• He Who Fights Monsters
• Ironic Name: Four times over. Devos was the Paragon of Loyalty... but was the only one of the Paragons to fall into doubt of Kyrestia and turn against her. When she became the Paragon of Doubt, she becomes one of the Jailers most loyal minions, believing he will bring her people salvation. Both also apply to her name Devos, which sounds like "devotion".
• The Paragon Always Rebels: A literal example, as her former title was the Paragon of Loyalty.
• Start of Darkness: Learning that souls can be wounded after seeing Uther's and the Archon's dismissal of the situation set Devos on a defiant path that would put her in league with the Jailer.
• Ubermensch: Deconstructed. Devos considers herself someone rebelling against an unjust system that she wants to free herself and others from, but she offers no good alternatives and her solution is worse. This is all before the Join or Die element of her plan is factored in.
• Villain Has A Point: While her methods and alternative are indefensible, Devos is not exactly wrong about the flaws of the Path.

Maldraxxus

Necrolord Covenant as a Whole

• Civil War: After the disappearance of the Primus, the five houses of Maldraxxus began to vie for influence over the realm. By the time the Maw Walker arrives searching for answers regarding an unprecedented aggression of the Maldraxxian forces upon Bastion, the House of Plagues and the House of Eyes have been destroyed through a conspiracy. Two belligerent Margraves - the leaders of the House of Rituals and Constructs respectively - unwittingly reveal that they intend to claim the ancient seat of the Primus and wage war upon the other realms. Once they unwittingly reveal their plans to the Margrave of the last opposing house - the House of the Chosen, and refuse his demand to step down and honor the Primus' charge, it quickly devolves into a civil war.
• Dark Is Not Evil
• Large and In Charge: Most of the Margraves are far taller than most of their subordinates. Only Margrave Akarek of the House of Eyes was anywhere near human-sized.
• Necromancer
• Our Liches Are Different
• The Spartan Way: The Primus made Maldraxxus this by turning the realm into a system of great houses, barons, and eternal war games to weed out weakness and allow the army of the Necrolords to continually improve. The reason for this was to make the armies of Maldraxxus as effective as possible at defending the Shadowlands. A better system than most, as troop losses are less important when everyone has access to necromancy.
• Succession Crisis
• Super Prototype
• Well Intentioned Extremist

House of the Chosen

Margrave Krexus

• Advertised Extra
• An Ax to Grind
• Genius Bruiser
• Token Good Teammate

House of Eyes

Margrave Akarek

• Benevolent Boss
• Posthumous Character

House of Rituals

Margrave Sin'dane

• Brains and Brawn: The brains to Gharmal's brawn.
• Dem Bones
• Fat and Skinny: The skinny to Gharmal's fat.
• Lean and Mean
• Unwitting Pawn: To Kel'thuzad, who had become an agent of the Jailer. This allowed him to manipulate the politics of Maldraxxus into working against the wishes of the Primus to turn the realm towards the conquest, rather than defense of, the Shadowlands.

House of Plagues

Margrave Stradama

• Benevolent Boss
• Came Back Wrong
• Mercy Kill
• Plaguemaster

House of Constructs

Margrave Gharmal

• Bad Boss
• Brains and Brawn: The brawn to Sin'dane's brains.
• Fat and Skinny: The fat to Sin'dane's skinny.
• Fat Bastard
• More Teeth Than the Osmond Family

Ardenwald

Night Fae Covenant as a Whole

• Fauns and Satyrs
• Land of Faerie
• Our Fairies Are Different
• Reincarnation

Revendreth

Venthyr Covenant as a Whole

• Aristocrats Are Evil
• Civil War
• Dark Is Not Evil
• Weakened by the Light: The denizens of Revendreth are weak against sunlight and most of the sky is covered by dark clouds to keep it out. There are a few places where the light does shine through, which the Venthyr have weaponized with mirrors and used to torture the souls under their charge. It's later revealed that this isn't mere sunlight, but the Light - the holy power embodied by the Naaru, which was unleashed upon Revendreth after an unspecified offense against the Light led a group of Naaru to retaliate.
• I Know Your True Name
• Our Vampires Are Different
• Purgatory
• Uberwald

The Maw

• Eldritch Location: The Jailer's tower of Torghast is this, as many rooms change depending on the location and its able to hold all the irredeemable souls - and many besides - in the universe.
• Floating Continent: The Maw consists of numerous landmasses suspended in the air.
• Hell: An inescapable (in theory) prison for irredeemable evil souls where they get sent after they die.
  • Fire and Brimstone Hell: The weapon forging chambers in Torghast evoke this image, though souls are burned and rendered into materials for weapons which nearly happened to Jaina.
• Mordor: The floating landmasses around Torghast resemble this, to the point of having similar architecture. It even has a Barad-Dur equivalent in Torghast where the Jailer's gaze can influence anyone it falls on.
• Negative Space Wedgie: The entrance to The Maw resembles this, and the hole between the Shadowlands and Azeroth definitely counts.

Ven'ari

• Friend in the Black Market
• Lovable Rogue

The Runecarver

• Laser-Guided Amnesia