Highlights
- In World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, players can fight in Time Rifts to protect Azeroth from creatures unleashed by the Infinite dragons.
- The Legion Conquered Azeroth Time Rift reveals an alternate timeline where the Burning Legion successfully conquered Azeroth, with Illidan Stormrage fighting for the Legion.
- Players discover Malfurion Stormrage's skull, indicating that Illidan overcame his loyalties and killed his twin, possibly under mind control by Sargeras.
Time Rifts in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight are a new feature where players can fight to save Azeroth’s timeways. The Infinite dragons are causing disastrous mischief, tangling the timelines and unleashing innumerable creatures from other Azeroths into this one. It’s up to World of Warcraft's players to put things right, but there are also intriguing mysteries to solve.
Throughout the Time Rifts, players can discover various quest items lying on the floor, usually left by powerful slain enemies. These range from standard items associated with that point in time to objects that give players a profound insight into that timeline’s altered lore. One such thing is found in the Time Rift where the Burning Legion succeeded in conquering Azeroth.
The Legion Conquered Azeroth In This World of Warcraft Time Rift
In this Legion-owned version of Azeroth, players battle through hordes of demons and corrupted mortal races. The Highmountain Tauren appear to be special victims since they feature as the primary soldiers in this particular assault. This also indicates that the Legion’s most recent invasion of Azeroth proved successful here as opposed to their three previous attempts. It's eerie to think that Azeroth came so close to losing its battle in World of Warcraft: Legion, and how every one of its heroes must have either surrendered or been killed.
As players work to set things right in the Time Rifts, Soridormi, the Bronze Aspect’s Prime Consort, opens a portal into the heart of that timeline. Players step through onto the deck of Kil’Jaeden’s spaceship, the same location where players fought Sargeras’ Lieutenant in WoW: Legion. However, instead of the powerful Eredar lord, here stands none other than Illidan Stormrage in his infamous full demon form, ready to kill.
Something seems very different about this Illidan. The legendary demon hunter is fighting for the Legion, something the character would rather die before he let happen. He has shadows falling from his wings and his visage is a nearly featureless silhouette. When players defeat this incarnation of Illidan Stormrage, they will stumble across a quest item lying nearby. This innocuous-looking skull doesn’t seem important, but players are directed to bring it to Soridormi anyway.
The Bronze dragon takes these remains from players and notes that this antlered skull belonged to none other than Malfurion Stormrage, Illidan’s twin brother. Even in the canon timeline, the two siblings have never seen eye-to-eye, competing with each other for Tyrande Whisperwind’s affection. But despite their animosity, the two have never before come to mortal blows.
In the Legion-conquered timeline, however, it seems Illidan overcame his loyalties and incinerated his twin. Here, he kept Malfurion’s unique skull as a macabre trophy, something he's known for since he also kept the Skull of Gul'dan as one of his prized possessions, as it was the artifact that turned him into a demon. Whether Illidan joined the Legion willingly or not, it seems the Archdruid Malfurion paid the ultimate price for his defiance.
There is a theory that Illidan’s body was taken over by Sargeras to use as his avatar, and this would explain not only his service to the Legion but his replacing Kil'Jaeden as the final boss. The last fight of the Nighthold raid in World of Warcraft: Legion actually featured players preventing this possession from taking place. On Mythic difficulty, they even face this possessed version of Illidan himself, which looks exactly like Illidan from the Time Rift, a similarity that can't be coincidental. Sargeras, being in control of Illidan's body, could have easily deceived Malfurion, keeping his skull as an ironic and cruel twist of fate.
Whichever circumstance is the case, players can be glad that this Time Rift was repaired. The Legion's crusade against all life in the universe only came to an end because of Azeroth's heroes and Illidan Stormrage working together. Although Illidan's past is full of tragedies and mistakes, his desire for power served a single purpose: to save the universe from the Burning Legion.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now for PC.