Wowhead datamines spoiler laden Zandalar story details

If you’re wondering who attacked whom first, the new datamined spoilers for the Zandalar recruitment storyline found by the folks at Wowhead may just solve that for you. Because there will be spoilers aplenty in the following post, I’m warning y’all now not to read any further. At present, all you know is that the spoilers exist, not what they are — if you continue reading, that will change.

Okay.

Guys, I’m totally serious. Spoilers beyond this point.

The Old Guard in defeat

According to the datamining, the start of the Zandalari storyline is in Stormwind, of all places. After the Alliance attack on Lordaeron, Saurfang lost and was captured, and the Horde sends agents into Stormwind to free him. In the process, the Horde discover that the Alliance has captured Princess Talanji of the Zandalar as well.

But it should be pointed out that we find out a fair bit more than that. Apparently Jaina is present at the Battle of Lordaeron. Indeed, based on the datamined scenario headers, Jaina’s appearance seems to be crucial to the defeat of the Horde. The part of the scenario where she is mentioned is named “The Winds of Change,” and it takes place after the Alliance needs to fall back from a Blight attack.

Meanwhile, the Horde scenario seems to indicate that Nathanos is leading a successful counterattack against Anduin before the Horde ultimately loses. That’s interesting because there’s no mention of Nathanos after it. Does Jaina kill him? At present that’s not known, and I personally doubt it — but it would be interesting.

After the Horde frees Saurfang from the Stockades they discover Talanji and free her as well, and they use her ship to escape Stormwind.

The Zandalar and new hope

The aftermath of all this is that the Horde now have an in with King Rastakhan, despite the hostility of the Prophet Zul. Zul was the guy behind the Zandalari attacks on Pandaria in Mists of Pandaria and the alliance with the Mogu under Lei Shen. But he’s not too happy with the Horde even being allowed to land on Zandalar shores, much less making an alliance with them against the Blood Trolls. But Rastakhan is willing to humor his daughter although she’s pretty antagonistic to Zul and sees the Blood Trolls as an immediate threat.

At this point, Horde players get a choice between all three of the Zandalari zones, very similar to Legion with the map and your choice of zones. You can go to Nazmir and deal with the Blood Trolls and whatever they discovered in Uldir, a Titan facility that was apparently dedicated to studying the Old Gods and their corruption. Uldir is also the source of the Blood Trolls and their Blood God.

You can also go to Vol’dun to deal with the schemes of Jakra’zet, or you can stay in Zuldazar and deal with palace intrigues and try and get Rastakhan’s full support over Zul’s objections. You’ll eventually need to do all three, but you can choose what order you do them in.

Behind the scenes

There’s a lot more going on than you first understand when you arrive, and that plays out in various ways. We only know a little from the datamined dialogue, but it seems apparent that Zul is up to no good and there’s some rivalry between him and Rastakhan — a rivalry that you as the Speaker for the Horde can exploit. With the help of Talanji, you can use this to get your forces that Zandalar Navy you’ve heard so much about.

There are some datamnined lines related to the Vol’dun story and the Sethrak, specifically about the Temple of Sethraliss and why the Sethrak are now hostile to the Horde. There’s also a big return in Nazmir, as the Gob Squad who once worked for Vol’jin during Mists have returned to help Princess Talanji as she leads an expedition to Nazimir to stop the Blood Trolls in their usual idiom. Note — their idiom still involves a lot of explosions. Rokhan also makes an appearance, which is pretty awesome.

Okay, now for some more heavy spoilers, because the secret of the Blood Trolls is pretty huge, even if they don’t seem connected to Hakkar in any way. (Seriously, do people just forget the guy exists?)

The call of G’huun and the shadows of Zul

There’s an Old God named G’huun who was being confined and studied by the Titans in Uldir, and the Blood Trolls want to destroy Zuldazar to free him. A Blood Troll named Ateena leads them in their assault on Zuldazar, aided by a corrupted Titan construct from Uldir. Talanji, the players, and the Gob Squad have to stop their assault before it reaches the capital. While this particular assault is stopped, the true threat remains in Uldir — G’huun and its servants wait for their freedom with an army of Blood Trolls who still want to destroy Zuldazar and free the Old God.

However, as bad as that is, it’s hardly the only threat. The Prophet Zul has been making moves of his own, and in the dungeon Atal’Dazar — which was once the burial site for the Kings of the Zandalar — you’ll come face to face with Zul’s plots and the lengths he’ll go to achieve his ends. He’s not only sent a servant named Yazma to defile the tombs of the dead kings and twist their spirits to serve Zul’s aims, but they’ve tortured a Loa named Rezan that was formerly loyal to the Zandalar Kings and it now serves as a boss in the dungeon.

What exactly Zul is up to remains unknown, but it seems clear that by the end of the leveling experience in Zandalar that he’s no longer in favor with Rastakhan most likely due to the influence of the Horde through their chosen Speaker. That’s you, Horde players.

There’s a ton of stuff to go over — the implications are enormous, what with new Old Gods, the Sethrak, and Zul up to no good. If you’re not full up on spoilers yet, go ahead and take a look.