Notes

World of Warcraft has A Villain Problem

World of Warcraft players have finally defeated The Jailer and brought peace to the Shadowlands in the most recent battle, The Sepulcher of the First Ones. As The Jailer was killed in the battle, he announced that the universe would not be ready for what is to come. His entire purpose for existence was to change the world with him as the chief so that everyone could be saved. This is a noble, yet flawed mission. However it's not the first time a World of Warcraft villain has tried to accomplish this feat.



Almost every World of Warcraft expansion begins with the introduction of a major bad guy or a global crisis. Players fight back against this new threat over a couple of years of updates and content. The game always ends with players taking on this big bad and killing them. after that, a cutscene is played where the villain has their final monologue and the next bad is teased. World of Warcraft is expanding and is filled with more big baddies. However each villain seems to have the exact same motivations as the prior, which is an issue in the storytelling.




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World of Warcraft's History of Big Villains

World of Warcraft villains tend to fall into two distinct categories of evil; they either want to gain as much power as possible or they want to control everything so that they can defend reality against an even bigger villain. While some choose to just cause chaos, the majority of the main villains fall into those two categories. As more expansions are released, it seems more of the villains land in the second category.



In The Burning Crusade and Legion The Burning Crusade and Legion, players fight against The Burning Legion, an army of demons led by the mad titan Sargeras. Sargeras was the most threatening threat and the greatest villain of the real world, which the players had to face for many expansions. His goal was to destroy all world-souls and life in the universe. He did not set out to accomplish this task because he wanted chaos, but because he wanted to prepare for the eventual arrival of the Void Lords. He wanted to stop the Old Gods, the Void Lords from fulfilling their purpose. To do this, he would have had to wipe out all life in the universe.



The Burning Legion also requires players to defeat Illidan Stormrage the demon hunter who has taken vows to stop The Burning Legion. To do this, he creates his own army and declares himself the Lord of Outland. He believes that he is the only one that can stop The Burning Legion and everyone should follow his advice, either willingly or through force.



Arthas Menethil was the big bad guy of the expansion. He reigned supreme over Azeroth as his undead scourge in Wrath of the Lich King. His aim was to unite Azeroth under his rule, but he wanted to unite them in the event of their death. He wanted to unite Azeroth so that they would be ready to face The Burning Legion when they return in Legion. He believed that the only way to achieve that was to kill everyone and then raise them as an undead army. While his objective was not the Void Lords, his motivation was very similar to motivation to Sargeras.



The final raid boss in Battle for Azeroth was the Old God N'Zoth. He wanted to build his empire and conquer Azeroth but he did not want to do it because he wanted power. He wanted to take on Azeroth to protect against the greater evil. Now in Shadowlands, The Jailer has finally revealed his purpose when he passed away in the quest to unite a broken universe against the coming. That is five World of Warcraft villains all with the same aim to protect the world from a larger bad , and then protect the world from a bigger bad.





World of Warcraft Villains Need to Change

The motivations that Blizzard gives these large overarching villains are the same thing almost every time, so Blizzard needs to create more intriguing villains. It was interesting when Blizzard did it with Arthas, and it even worked with Sargeras, as they had existed since the Warcraft RTS games. But it is only worth repeating so much. Blizzard can create iconic villains, characters, and lands; it just needs to break away from its current storytelling trope.



World of Warcraft has some villains that do not fit into this category However, they are not numerous and rare. Deathwing just wanted to sow chaos and take revenge, Garrosh Hellscream wanted to be the ruler of the Horde and gain immense power and Sylvanas Windrunner wanted to secure a future for the Forsaken and stop the cycle of death. A lot of these characters were successful due to the fact that they had different motivations than the other big bads. Sylvanas' storyline was a notable exception. Many players felt that her motives were not rational and didn't align with her character. However, Garrosh was loved by the players and even has a loyal following on social media platforms.



Blizzard must provide the next major expansion villain more compelling reason to be a part of the story. The Jailer fell flat for many players because his motives were not revealed until the very end, and when they were expanded upon, it turned out he was just seeking to do the exact same thing as the last villain. If Blizzard wants players to care about the big villain it must differentiate them from all the villains that came before.



World of Warcraft is about to launch its ninth expansion. The players aren't sure what it will include. Blizzard must come up with a fresh motivation or it could be the next big issue.

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