What the heck is happening with Vol’jin in Battle for Azeroth?

Vol’jin’s death at the beginning of Legion was devastating on a number of levels. Not only did the Horde lose its then-Warchief, but he was also killed by a lowly minion — not exactly the epic death Varian received. Many players were upset over this, mostly because it seemed like Vol’jin’s story wasn’t over.

And apparently, it wasn’t. But what’s and store for the endearing Troll leader, and what does Muffinus mean by the tweet below, which has tantalized us all since BlizzCon 2017? Is Vol’jin undead now? What’s going on?

Vol'jin status: still dead, not letting that stop him

— Muffinus (@Muffinus) November 3, 2017

Well, I have no idea. Battle for Azeroth isn’t out yet. There have been some sightings of Vol’jin’s urn, but not of the Troll himself. So how is his story going to continue if he’s dead? There are various ways.

The first is that Vol’jin was often contacted by Bwonsamdi, whom we know is an important Loa who will be playing a significant role in Battle for Azeroth. As the Loa of Death, Bwonsamdi even once spared a human from death when Vol’jin requested it, and he assisted the Darkspear Tribe in their retaking of the Echo Isles after Vol’jin proved worthy. Now, if Bwonsamdi is an important and powerful Loa with power over death and he’s active on Zandalar Isle, it seems likely to me that he might want Vol’jin to pay him back for all the help he granted during the retaking of the Echo Isles and the events of Vol’jin: Shadows of the Horde.

We could also see Vol’jin return as a Dark Hunter if Sylvanas is feeling puckish enough to resurrect him as a Forsaken. Sure, he’s just ashes now, but she knows a ritual that will allow a corpse to be reconstituted, and it might strike her as fitting. Would Bwonsamdi allow this? Well, Vol’jin did say the Loa told him to appoint her as Warchief — perhaps they did this because they wanted her to return Vol’jin from beyond death’s veil. After all, Bwonsamdi, as the Loa of death, might be revolted by the Forsaken and Sylvanas, but might also view them as his subjects. They’re dead, after all.

We also saw in Shadows of the Horde that Sen’jin, Vol’jin’s father, is awfully active for a dead guy. He shows up, tells Bwonsamdi things, even gives Vol’jin advice. Being dead doesn’t seem to slow Trolls down all that much — they’re like Unsent from Final Fantasy X. So who knows? It definitely seems possible that Vol’jin could show up again, despite his current status as being dead and hanging out in an urn.