WoW Shadowlands Final Raid Cinematic Teases An Even Bigger Threat And Not Much Else

A new in-game cinematic that plays at the end of the final raid for World of Warcraft's Shadowlands expansion reveals the true intentions behind the Jailer's eons-long goal of rewriting all of reality, and it's safe to say it has fans more than a little underwhelmed.

The last three bosses for the Sepulcher of the First Ones raid unlocked earlier today. Unlike most raids, the final encounters of the game's latest raid were locked for an additional week and were not subject to testing on the game's public test realm. That meant players went into the encounter largely unaware of what would transpire, leading to rampant speculation regarding the Jailer's plans, what the raid's finale might mean for future expansions, and more. The answer, however, seems to have most players ready to put Shadowlands behind them. Spoilers below.

In the cinematic that plays at the end of the raid, the Jailer, aka Zovaal, sits defeated. On his knees, he remembers the events that led to his banishment, including a memory of when the Primus asked what led Zovaal to betray the Shadowlands and attempt to upend the cycle of the afterlife. His answer?

"A cosmos divided will not survive what is to come," Zovaal says defiantly. He then fades away in the present, replaced by a mechanical husk of his former self. The portal to the Shadowlands above Icecrown Citadel closes. End cinematic.

If players were hoping for an idea of where the game's next expansion (set to be revealed on April 19) would take them, this cinematic disappoints. But it also brings an anti-climactic end to what has been a widely disliked villain and expansion in general.

Zovaal has long been set up as the ultimate bad guy, with Blizzard having made the character be the true mastermind behind huge swathes of Warcraft lore, ranging from Arthas becoming the Lich King to the creation of the planet-destroying Burning Legion. Players have long wondered what the character's true motivations were as a result. To ultimately have Zovaal's big-bad 4D-chess plan all be for the purpose of setting up a previously unheard of villain waiting behind-the-scenes (a role the Jailer himself played for multiple expansions) feels like a disservice to what could have theoretically been an interesting villain.

Instead, the Jailer is seemingly nothing more than a stepping stone to a bigger, badder foe, which makes the fact that he is now intrinsically linked to major Warcraft-universe defining moments all the more frustrating for fans.

The cinematic revealing the fate of Zovaal is just one of two cinematics that play during the Sepulcher of the First Ones raid, with the other involving Alliance king turned Zovaal's henchmen Anduin Wrynn. That cinematic left fans wanting more as well, especially in regards to how it treats classic Warcraft villain Arthas.