who told the angels that humans were able/allowed to be ferried off? humans didn't have souls until the old gods curse/gift of flesh enabled titan creations to die. an intended or unforeseen side affect of making the constructs mortal was; free will (good or bad, which are the requirements for judgement and designation in the shadowlands) and the trials, deeds, experiences that living life brings (including the illusion of choice - since the ability to make decisions is forced upon you). so at what point did the angels get alerted that there is a new race (any race who becomes fleshy and able to die and have souls) with souls to be worthy of an afterlife.Did a dormant anima/soul in titan constructs awaken upon the curse's presence? if not, why didn't titans use anima/souls as ingredients in their creations?I suppose something lets them know when a living being of any sort dies (maybe a 'portal' opens above the body which connects the plane of the living with the plane of the afterlife which they 'feel' and then descend through to ferry the soul through / the soul automatically becomes absorbed into the shadowlands where the angels await to ferry.regardless of how it happens scientifically, the curse of flesh allowed countless titan made creatures/construction to live and die and move on, in other words, host souls. perhaps the old gods 'gifted' the titan creations with life, enabling them have souls which would then travel to the afterlife - for a reason, possibly to oppose the void but that's a discussion for another time.are the angels at all interested in the fact that humans and similar races resemble them? and curious how humans only look like kyrians after the curse of flesh has transformed their appearance.
Counterpoint:Arthas chose his path and dove head first into his role as the Lich King. He deserves worse than the Maw.Sylvanas, same. She has always been a coward since her trip to the Maw, and is willing to end all of life as we know it to save herself from her fate. Both should burn forever int he fires of the Maw. Uther was right. Justice was served.
My take on it is that it was both. Uther wanted Arthas to suffer for what he did. It's revenge because of what he did to Uther, it's justice because of what he did to Azeroth.I think the big, big paladin-flavored part many people are forgetting is that retribution is a defining aspect of what a paladin is. They exist to protect, and to punish. It's revenge when you punish someone for personal harm inflicted upon you, it's retribution when you punish someone for crimes against the world.While it's interesting that Uther himself refers to what he did as revenge sometime after the event, I think Blizzard has done the character something of a disservice by making him believe it was either one or the other, instead of both. It's too binary, like most of their characters. I hope this isn't all they've done with the character, and that there's some nuance regarding whether or not this was vengeance or justice, or indeed, both.
For me the most interesting points the short made were that; Devos is shocked that the Arbiter sent Bastion a soul that was actually damaged, the wound from Frostmourne was still present on his soul, the implication to me, is that the Arbiter either didn’t realize Uther’s soul was damaged or did and sent him as a warning.Frostmourne, we now know the Primus of Maldraxxus also had a Rune weapon hidden and it to reacts to mortals. Frostmourne and the Blade of the Primus use the same magic and look to maybe be created by the same person, for the same reason, to be wielded by mortals infusing them with the power of the Shadowlands, but for opposite reasons. However, Devos sees Frostmourne and says it’s a weapon of the Maw. Is she actually able to read the Runes and realizes that the runes were made by the Jailor? It’s clear that at one point in time the Jailor was a part of the Shadowlands rulers and was banished. This begs the question, are all rune weapons using magic of the Maw or are they all using magic of the Shadowlands in general?On a similar note it got me thinking about the tombstones in Maldraxxus, we read one that says “for the creator of the plague that was used against....(The rest is scratched out)” this implies the Plague of Undeath that creates the Scourge was actually made by someone within the House of Plagues in Maldraxxus. We also have a tombstone in honor of someone that fell to fighting off the Void from the Shadowlands and in Revendreth we have an entire area used for banishment where they fought back the Light.Shadowlands was created by the Pantheon of Death to circumvent souls going directly to the Light or the Void. It’s the same magic/manner in which the Loa have their own pocket dimensions of death and Odin/Helya created theirs, also how Val’kyr work like Kyrian. I think Sylvanas upon killing herself got a glimpse and realized the cycle is broken and sided with Helya and the Jailor in their whole let’s just burn it all down approach.I agree with those who feel that Uther and Devos circumventing the Arbiter and exacting judgement on Arthas by throwing him into the Maw was a mistake. Perhaps by giving the Jailor a redeemable soul it was enough anima for him to start influencing things beyond the Maw. However, if this is the case I think Arthas is more likely to be our savior, and take over the Maw with the now datamined repaired Helm of Domination after we defeat the Jailor.
So I am confused as to what the Maw is for. We might not know if he was supposed to go to the Maw or Revendreth...but considering all of the terrible stuff he did, it would make sense for him to go into the Maw...if not then what kind of actions warrant someone's soul to go into the Maw? Because as it seems to me right now, everyone that did terrible things just goes to Revendreth to repent.
I get the sense that the Shadowlands is very utilitarian about souls, instead of good or evil alone they also see how a soul can be useful.From what I can tell the Maw was something completely different before it took it's current form it was then used to send the most dangerous evil souls to, you don't have to just be evil you have to be a seriously dangerous threat to be sent directly there. Revendreath feels more like a junkyard in that the unrepentant have all their anima drained before they are sent to the like throwing away trash while those who do cleanse themselves are "recycled" either into Revendreth itself or a place where they can be useful. I bet that there are other afterlives for bad souls that aren't repentant but at the same time aren't dangerous enough for the Maw (in a different regard you can think of the Maw as supermax, prison is bad and all but this is for those that are so dangerous punishment is secondary to making sure they can never go free).Now with the Jailer doing what he is right now I think he is looking at the damned souls at his disposal (justly or not) as rescoures to use rather than punishing them out of cruelty. Those powerful dangerous souls are more likely to be weaponized than anything else, Sire Denarthrius was trying to turn Keal'thas into a weapon and "defusing" him is why the Venthyr have a much an interest in Keal as they do. So Arthas, who is powerful and had been in the Jailer's grip for sometime, has probably been turned into a weapon himself and they could not have done good things to his mind. Being in a state like that would leave Arthas unfit for either redemption or damnation, his soul would have to be destroyed as part of the mounting cost of an increasingly cosmic war.