Summary
- A mysterious Shadowy Figure resembling Xal’atath appears in WoW Classic Season of Discovery, spurring fan theories of a connection to the next retail expansion.
- Xal’atath, previously seen in Legion and BfA, may be manipulating Classic WoW through Season of Discovery, sparking intrigue among players.
- Fans are speculating wild theories about Xal’atath's role in Season of Discovery, wondering how the Shadowy Figure will impact future phases.
Xal’atath, the main villain of World of Warcraft: The War Within, may have just made her second appearance in Classic Season of Discovery. Though the Shadowy Figure’s agenda is currently shrouded in mystery, some World of Warcraft fans think she is planning something big in Season of Discovery that could link it to the next retail expansion.
World of Warcraft has added some unique twists to the Classic formula in Season of Discovery. In Phase 1, one of these surprises was an endgame crafting questline where, near the end, players encounter a Shadowy Figure. This mysterious entity looks and acts similarly to Xal’atath, the antagonist from The War Within, leading fans to suspect a connection between SoD and retail World of Warcraft.
Now, Xal’atath may have made her second appearance in WoW Classic Season of Discovery. Like its predecessor, Phase 2 has a lengthy crafting questline featuring the Shadowy Figure. During the quest, players find a Spent Voidcore. After killing some enemies, the Shadowy Figure appears, offering to charge the Voidcore for them for free, though she hopes the character will find themselves “feeling similarly altruistic” at a time when they are in a position to help her. Wowhead captured the Shadowy Figure’s dialogue from her second WoW Classic appearance verbatim for interested fans.
Xal’atath Might Be Tampering With Classic WoW
- A Shadowy Figure appears during a crafting quest at the level cap for WoW Classic Season of Discovery Phase 2, helping the player in hopes of them returning the favor later.
- The same figure appeared in Season of Discovery Phase 1 for its capstone crafting quest.
- Fans think this figure is Xal’atath, the antagonist of World of Warcraft: The War Within.
Xal’atath first appeared as the eponymous Legendary Shadow Priest dagger in Legion. She returned in Battle for Azeroth, during which she got a body with player assistance. She was glimpsed in a cutscene during Dragonflight Patch 10.1.5’s megadungeon, Dawn of the Infinite, but is featured prominently in The War Within teasers wielding the Darkheart – the artifact Iridikron wielded in the same cinematic Xal’atath was seen in.
Fans have already begun crafting wild theories as to what Xal’atath is up to in Season of Discovery. Some even think World of Warcraft might set SoD up to be an alternate timeline Xal’atath is tampering with using the Darkheart – or that WoW's Harbinger of the Void is the reason Season of Discovery exists in the first place.
Either way, it seems inevitable that the Shadowy Figure will appear again in future phases of WoW Classic Season of Discovery. Fans will have to wait and see how her schemes go, and if World of Warcraft interconnects Classic Season of Discovery and retail together in some way.
World of Warcraft
- Released
- November 23, 2004
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World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It's one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
