WoW: We now know what the final boss wants – and the fans are mad

The objectives of the final boss in World of Warcraft have been revealed. But the motivation of the jailer disappoints many players.

For over a year, World of Warcraft has been all about the Shadowlands and the jailer, the “Jailer” or “Zovaal”. He’s the big villain with the master plan and the secret ambitions that no player has really understood yet. Now, the End of Eternity Patch 9.2 PTR is available and gives a first glimpse into the real motivations of the top villain.

But if you expected a complex, profound character here – you will be disappointed. Because the dungeon journal shows what the jailer actually wants.

What does the jailer want? This has been puzzled over for many months. Again and again it was said that he wanted to “rewrite reality”. That was formulated quite openly, but at least gives hope that the jailer actually wants to bring about positive changes. This hope has now been eliminated by a first summary in the “Dungeon Journal”, because there it says about the battles:

• Dausegne, the Fallen Oracle: “Under the control of Zovaal, Dausegne leads the Mawbound into battle to conquer the Forge of Afterlife. With their power, the jailer will be able to create an eternity of torment. “
• The jailer: “For thousands of years Zovaal has manipulated forces throughout the universe in order to ultimately lead him to this position of power. In his final step, the heroes of Azeroth unite to fight a cosmic being that has never suffered defeat. “

This is how the community reacts: Im World of Warcraft subreddit these boss descriptions are discussed wildly and the predominant tenor seems to be negative. For many it is incomprehensible why the jailer is such a dull character without meaningful motivation. He appears to be an evil character who just does evil for the sake of malice.

The jailer is the dumbest attempt by the traditional “I want to rule the world” villain. He has no personality, no history, there is nothing about him at all. Once its storyline (if you can even call it that) is over, it will be completely forgotten and never come back.

MagnaZore im WoW-Reddit

But why? What is his motivation besides being thrown into the throat? WHY was he thrown into the throat? Is he literally just an ass? Deathwing had a better reason to blow up the planet, and that didn’t make sense back then.

Asthaloth im WoW-Reddit

It feels like the story writers just gave up. All they have to do is get from point A to point B in the dumbest possible way, ignoring all the relationships that characters have with one another, and then write the bluntest, biggest stereotype they can think of.

drflanigan im WoW-Reddit

At the same time, many players are bothered by the fact that the jailer is supposed to be the being who has “always” directed the fortunes of the Warcraft universe. He is the supposed mastermind behind the countless events of the last expansions, going back to the attacks of the Legion and events from the Warcraft strategy games.

This is how xiadz_ writes:

To be honest, I hate more than anything that Zovaal should have been the great evil that has now ruined the cart for 20 years – for what? I’d rather watch Game of Thrones 10 times in a row, knowing how it ends, rather than allow them to keep changing all the meanings of some of the most important Warcraft characters.

Worst of all, they MIGHT work it out and make it at least halfway interesting, but they failed to make a compelling character or at least one fucking Saturday morning WWE cartoon villain. But instead he stands [der Kerkermeister] on the shoulders of existing characters and the story, poops them right on the head and says: “YOU SEE, IT WAS ME ALL THE TIME.”

Warcraft, the story, ended with Legion and everything that came after that is just fanfiction by people who don’t like Warcraft at all. I would prefer that you reset the game completely with a trip 30,000 years into the future so that you can’t touch current characters.

The description of the boss fight against the jailer is also criticized. Above all, the fact that he “has never suffered a defeat” is a source of ridicule. So ask a Reddit post with almost 2,000 upvotes:

Isn’t Zoval’s whole identity based on the fact that he was defeated and banished to the Maw? Come on guys, are you even trying?

Is there maybe more to come? Despite all the negative mood, it would be quite possible for the jailer to explain his motivations a little more precisely – for example in the final fight. The cinematic that certainly follows should also offer one or the other insight.

Last but not least, some players still hope that Blizzard will keep parts of the story “hidden” on the PTR and will only change the corresponding passages when the patch is released. This has happened sporadically in the past with some details and caused some major revelations.

Nevertheless, with the whole jailer topic, it can be said that Blizzard did not succeed in building a convincing adversary with the jailer than with other villains.

how do you see it? Do you “like” the jailer as an opponent? Or is it too monotonous and boring?