The introduction to The War Within promises the destruction of a major Azeroth location — and a concerning disappearance

World of Warcraft‘s next expansion The War Within has entered its alpha testing phase, and in doing so has revealed that a major — some might say “beloved” — Azeroth location has been destroyed at the start. In addition, a significant lore figure may have met his or her fate, although as the introduction itself is not tested (we only see the aftermath) and will only become available at release it cannot be stated for certain they’re gone for good.

The following contains spoilers for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion The War Within. If you wish to remain unspoiled you will want to leave this article right now.

Who lives, and who ends up in the Shadowlands?

The Isle of Dorn is the first new location we encounter in The War Within and apparently we’ve made an unorthodox method of arrival as the start is amidst the ruins of the once-flying city of Dalaran. While the damage looks extensive and irreversible, it appears that every lore character that was present survived the landing — with a notable exception I’ll discuss in a moment. The reasoning as revealed in the WoWCast Developer Chat was to provide a sense of real danger to the events of The War Within, something that may have been missing from Dragonflight. Whether that facet counteracts the disappointment and/or anger of the playerbase still reeling from the destruction of Teldrassil remains to be seen, but at least older versions of Dalaran can still be visited without speaking to Zidormi.

How everyone but one survived the crash is unknown, but I would speculate it’s likely due to the efforts of the aforementioned missing major lore figure Khadgar. Text in an uncompleted cutscene suggests that he has died due to whatever method he employed to save everyone else (but couldn’t save the city). Whether he actually died is not confirmed, however, and as many know that when it comes to fiction a lack of body is a lack of proof. Unless he returns during the course of leveling in The War Within we won’t know for sure his fate until the expansion is released, and even then some ambiguity could remain.

Of course if he is dead that doesn’t mean he’s gone. Even ignoring the fact that we have access to the realm of the dead due to Shadowlands, Khadgar is the successor of Medivh, someone who made a habit of returning to assist the denizens of Azeroth long after his death. I suspect that those who have taken a liking to the venerable mage will not have to suffer his absence for the rest of the game’s lifetime.