Anyway, I'll be using Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau lore spoilers to explain what I think, so If you don't mind that and want to speculate along with me, please, do join me after the jump.
We know that Kil'jaedan is supposed to be half-summoned through the Sunwell, and these animations seem to hold that out. he appears only from the waist up, so we can assume he's otherwise submerged in the Sunwell, and probably trying to crank out a last bit of energy, possibly by siphoning it from Anveena, to completely cross over. Luckily, 25 intrepid heroes show up at the last minute to stop him. Now, what is most intriguing to me is that he doesn't really appear to definitely die. Instead, his "defeat" animation suggests that he is simply sucked back into the Sunwell, apparently returning from whence he came. It is certainly possible that the Sunwell simply destroys him, but the way he sort of slides back in would suggest to me that he's being pulled back through the portal. His scrabbling at the sides of the portal, then snatching at his amulet, might support that reading. He's not in the throes of death as much as he's trying to keep his hold in this world.
Now, honestly, I'm not against the killing of previous lore figures such as Illidan and Kael'thas. I believe that every character comes to their end sooner or later, and our characters have done enough in the world to deserve a chance to actually emerge victorious over enemies such as them. That said, I know quite a few people have expressed dismay over killing off characters like this, so perhaps this is Blizzard's nod to them, allowing Kil'jaedan to be defeated without actually dying. Of course, the Burning Legion is pretty much the biggest of the big bads in Warcraft lore, so it may be that Blizzard wants to save Kil'jaedan for a final showdown with Sargeras somewhere down the line, or something to that effect. Either way, I'd say we can't count Kil'jaedan out yet.
Another interesting thing to note is that his amulet apparently flies off, and while he desperately grabs at it, it seems to stay in Azeroth while the rest of him is dragged down into the portal. This, of course, leads one to wonder if the amulet itself has any importance. Is it simply a really uber necklace with lots of spelldamage, or is it something more? Kronack wonders if it might be related to the Demon Soul. That would seem unlikely to me, since last we knew of it, it had been destroyed, and it was a toy of Deathwing's rather than of the Burning Legion's. Still, it could be something that operates under a similar principle. Perhaps it will show up on Kil'jaedan's loot table and we'll learn more about it then. It would be pretty cool if the Demon Soul wasn't as destroyed as we thought, and Deathwing lent it to Kil'jaedan, but a plot twist like that would be a longshot, I think.
What do you think? Am I reading too much into a few boss animations, or do you have theories of your own?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-10-2008 @ 2:15PM
Residentevil72501 said...
I think you did a good job seems like thats exactly whats occuring in the vid!
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3-10-2008 @ 2:17PM
bmiller said...
Maybe this is part of Kael's plans. Partly summon Kil Jaeden in an attempt to destroy him.
Maybe the amulet had something to do with inter-dimensional travel (now he's stuck in the nether), or holds some power over Sargeras.
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3-10-2008 @ 2:19PM
Mela said...
The amulet is probably just the thing you loot. He goes back, but a piece of him falls off. That's what you get the loot from.
Kind of like Rag's hammer.
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3-10-2008 @ 2:26PM
Skuling said...
Im gonna go ahead and say that that amulet is probbelly what we'll be looting from.
But puh, im so relived taht he dosent die, (these animatons kinda shows it)
Maybe the amulet has something to do with Anveena?
Or maybe more likly the thing you turn in to get some uber item, like Mag's, ony's head or Kel'thuzad's remains, only its a amulet..
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3-10-2008 @ 2:26PM
aak7268 said...
Is it just me, or was that defeat animation more comical than heroic? I can just hear the Dick Van Dyke theme music playing as he falls back down the Sunwell.
That, and before I realized that was his amulet, I thought he was defeated by a giant ladybug.
Kudos Blizzard - let's see more boss pratfalls! Next? Arthas w/ a cream pie to the face!
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3-10-2008 @ 2:34PM
gbil said...
Haha, exactly my thoughts. 10 seconds I was trying to clarify if that was a bug or something else. Indeed it is comical and he doesn't even look as big and powerful as Archimonde!
I was expecting something better from Bliz.
3-10-2008 @ 2:41PM
JPN said...
-5 for a very old reference that probably very few of us around here even know what that sounds like
but +3 for trying
3-10-2008 @ 9:24PM
Corv said...
Benny Hill imo.
3-10-2008 @ 2:36PM
hpavc said...
I think most RP server people see most encounters like this, they don't kill the mobs they defeat them.
We defeated the evil Baron Rivendare today, but soon he will be back.
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3-10-2008 @ 2:37PM
Skuling said...
I hope Blizz wil do the same with Arthas, serously, JUst Imagen this:
Defeat: Arthas gets a giant(and blue) Rift in his chest, but just as he is about to explode or something, his body becomes inmovable, and his armor and "spirit" thingy float up from him, leaving his body falling helplessly to the ground and the Lich King spirit says something, whatever really before leaving dramaticly.. Also sylvanas should be shouting stuff like: Il never stop hunting you! Or @*&# you you @*&# son of a @*&#! Il @*&#ing @*&# you if I see you again!...
Would be totally awesome
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3-10-2008 @ 2:45PM
Anenome said...
It looks like the amulet has something to do with keeping him in this plane. And to defeat him you're actually breaking the amulet causing him to sucked back into the Nether. I've always thought of having bosses with multiple attack points. Why not have a boss where you can target say his head, or an arm, or in this case - an amulet the boss is wearing? That would add a new dimension to boss encounters, perhaps making them a bit more hardcore.
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3-10-2008 @ 2:45PM
peaglemancer said...
That video is kinda hilarious. He looks like he's stuck in a toilet and suddenly loses his footing as it's flushed.
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3-10-2008 @ 2:56PM
Phaelien said...
Did anyone really expect to kill off the current overlord of the burning Legion in the first expansion? I always assumed he'd just be pulled back to where he came from and the portal would close with him saying something along the lines of "I would've got away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids" shaking his fist all the way...
Seriously though. Fifth Expansion, planet Argus, The Burning Citadel. Level 100 or so. Looks like we'll be waiting a few years, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.
Either way, it's not a bad ending to the storyline. Sounds like it'll be an interesting fight with some lore added to the end to wrap things up for now. Shame the recently released sounds were not included though, they really add to the scene in my opinion.
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3-10-2008 @ 3:06PM
Stormtamer said...
Just as a random guess from myself.
I recon the amulet has some sort of link to Azeroth itself and allows someone wearing it (or similar demeoic gems in certian peoples chests) to exist in Azeroth without using something like the power of the Sunwell, or Well of Eternity to outright do a summon of they're full self.
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3-10-2008 @ 3:46PM
Doug DeJulio said...
Interesting. That amulet at the end is very scarab-y. Reminds me of the old gods.
Remember, the old gods and the burning legion aren't on the same side.
I'm not sure that this means anything, though. It's just that the amulet at the end reminds me (visually) of the old gods.
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3-10-2008 @ 4:03PM
Magnetic said...
Simple: the amulet is a piece of gear that you could also get with 10 EOTS marks, and a couple nights worth of AV honor.
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3-11-2008 @ 12:24AM
onetrueping said...
Ooh, sounds like someone is a bitter raider, upset that other kids can play with his toys now.
3-10-2008 @ 4:07PM
Ashwin said...
If they kill Sargeras in a WoW expansion, actually "kill" him, that would the end of the warcraft universe IMO, no amount of new villains or retconning would save it from the brutal blow to the Canon.
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3-10-2008 @ 4:07PM
Ashwin said...
I kind of was almost sure blizz would not actually "kill" Kiljaden in this instance, too much of a blow to the canon.
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3-11-2008 @ 5:33PM
gnoop said...
I don't think that killing Sargeras will matter all that much to the majority of WoW players. Many of us know little to nothing about the lore and never played the RTS games in the first place. Players would simply be killing off the baddest boss currently known to WoW. That doesn't mean that there aren't bigger, badder bosses out there.