The Jailer is the final villain of WoW Shadowlands. But what is he up to and why does he need Sylvanas for that?
Normally, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands would be released in about two weeks – unfortunately, a last-minute postponement meant that MMO players would not be able to leave for the Shadowlands until a few weeks later.
Anyone who buys the Collector’s Edition of Shadowlands will not only receive some in-game cosmetic items, but also a brand new artbook. The colleagues from Wowhead have already been able to get hold of a copy and show that, in addition to pretty pictures and drawings, exciting background information on the story of Shadowlands is also presented here.
Who is the Jailer and what is he planning?
In the artbook the different regions and most important characters of Shadowlands are explained again. Especially exciting is the new information about the Jailer (German: Jailermeister).
Who is the Jailer? The Jailer is an ancient being and ruler of the region “The Gorge” in the Shadow Lands. Normally only the most evil and incorrigible souls of all deceased are imprisoned here, but the death machinery of the Shadowlands no longer works. The other areas of the Shadowlands have suffered from a lack of anima since then, while the dungeon master holds the souls of powerful heroes captive and feeds on them.
What is his plan? Since all souls are led directly into the Pit, the Jailer’s power has grown massively. But this is not yet enough for him – he wants to become even more powerful. Ultimately, he is said to be targeting the soul of the game world of Azeroth itself, for the planet is actually an up-and-coming titan. After Sargeras wanted to destroy Azeroth in the current add-on, now the next enemy of our beloved game world wants to take over.
In the first trailer we saw Sylvanas defeat the Lich King Bolvar Fordragon and destroy his Helmet of Dominance:
Through the new artbook we now know why: The Banshee Queen has allied herself with the jailer, as we have known since the short story Dawn of Night. Through this pact, Sylvanas also gains power when the jailer becomes stronger. That is why she has been a massive warmonger in the past expansions – until she was strong enough to defeat Bolvar and smash his crown. The artbook says:
“The veil between the realms fades. The helmet of domination was created to be our way forward. Instead, the one who is burned by the flames of life uses it to keep us in check.
The destruction of the crown is the key: Since Bolvar resisted the temptations of the helmet of dominance, the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead could be maintained. Since all previous Lich Kings were also either able to resist the jailer or were defeated despite their power on Azeroth, Sylvanas now had to defeat the reigning Lich King, destroy the crown and thus release their power.
