Laying the Burning Legion to rest
by Mike Schramm 
May 26th 2008 at 6:30PM
So Kil'jaden is dead, and the game has been beaten yet again. Does that mean that the Burning Legion is finally, once and for all, ended?Unfortunately for some players, very likely not. While Kil'jaeden was definitely one of the driving forces of the Legion (and I'm sure we'll see more in the lore cutscene that apparently takes places at the end of his fight, whenever SK posts the video of it), he's nothing compared to Sargeras himself, and we'll definitely need more than a raid to topple the World of Warcraft's biggest big bad. Throw in the fact that there are still demons running rampant all over Outland (not to mention portals from all kinds of various places bringing them in), and even though we've just spent a whole expansion trying to kill the Burning Legion, odds are that we'll see them again soon.
But not too soon -- hopefully, as Morbosa says, the next expansion will offer a return to the old swords, sorcery and politics that high fantasy lovers love so much. It's not that we don't enjoy fighting demons -- they're fun. But nothing feels as good sometimes as a mace cracking some skeleton heads towards the goal of beating a king of the undead, and hopefully that's what we'll find in Northrend.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Raiding, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Simon May 26th 2008 6:36PM
Kil'Jaeden isn't dead, just defeated... well that's what blizzard stated before they released the sunwell patch
Banana Kid May 26th 2008 6:45PM
Yeah, my impression was that Kil'jaeden doesn't actually die in the Sunwell. You just beat him and kick him back through the portal.
jrb May 27th 2008 3:15AM
cue "i'll get you next time, gadget" quote.
Kadathwack May 26th 2008 6:46PM
He's not dead yet. But I think it'll be awhile before the Legion comes calling again.
Ametrine May 26th 2008 6:49PM
Dead? It ain't dead until I loot the corpse. KillyJ just got kicked back out the door, he didn't die.
Razhlok May 26th 2008 6:53PM
Its pretty obvious from his death animation (which has been floating around for a while now) that he just gets pushed back to where he came from. He's not dead, just defeated. Now its time to focus on Arthas while the Legion plans their next attack.
Reinard May 26th 2008 7:01PM
Ummm...yeah, I'm really not one to bash on you like most trolls here, Mike (hell, I've defended you on a few occasions), but I'm 99% sure Kil'jaeden isn't dead, and the Burning Legion is definitely not calling it quits.
And, let's not forget Sargears. Even if Kil'jaeden did die, there's still him.
shinken May 26th 2008 7:10PM
As, long as they limit the amount of demons and elementals in WOTLK. Im tired of warlocks getting spots on runs just cus they can cc. Hopefully it will be a lot of undead, and dragons for druids, and priests to get spots for cc.
SKuling May 26th 2008 7:19PM
lol, this thread is kind of a fail, check yer info beforwe ye post stuff like this :P
I mean he dosent die he just looses his footgrip, then his amulet goes all floaty for some reason
ErsatzPotato May 26th 2008 7:51PM
Could we please stop using the terms high and low fantasy when discussing WoW? Depending on who's speaking, BC is high/low and Lich will be the other for good or ill.
ALL of WoW is high fantasy. Full stop. All fantasy MMORPGs are high fantasy. Go with sword & sorcery (a subset of high fantasy) for Lich King. It's what you mean.
Deleted a very long rant/explanation for the sanity of all online. [does a pedantic fantasy nerd pant]
SKuling May 26th 2008 7:56PM
High or low fantasy, dosent matter to me, as long as I get to hug Artahs before he smite me and enslave the rest of Azeroth im happy, dunno why ppl allways get so wrapped in all the
"Oh no! Space goats! But this is a Fantasy game! *whine* *whine*"
It's warcraft, it dosent follow the rules, Warcraft IS the rules!
Bromnir May 30th 2008 5:55PM
You know, I've got to say - I'd heard the term "high fantasy" hundreds of times before, but until you used it just now, I had never thought to take that to the further conclusion that everything else must be "low fantasy." Thus intrigued, I went to look up Wikipedia's definitions of all the terms you used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fantasy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_fantasy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_and_sorcery
...I learned something today! :D
Shak May 27th 2008 2:01AM
I'm pretty certain now that Mikey purposely creates his posts with the intent to include details which every player (including himself) 'knows' are wrong, simply to boost up the number of comments he gets. Maybe that's how their articles get rated, or something - number of views, number of confirmed statements of OMFGDUNUEVERL2PLAY.
That lore chap on here, maybe he should be chief editor - boost up players opinions a tad by not getting basic info wrong. :)
Scribblette May 26th 2008 7:56PM
The true test of above statement, mind you, is as it is in previous posts. If Mike goes "Whoops, that's a genuine mistake" you'd expect him to edit his post to correction, as other bloggers do.
If the post goes unedited despite pages upon pages of the same single correction, you realize it was done on purpose, and is being kept for precisely that reason.
Naughty. *waggles finger*
glorft May 26th 2008 8:09PM
Kil'Jaeden is far from dead. When we finally do square off against him, I hope the fight will be far tougher than what we've seen thus far and the requirements will be extreme. The Burning Legion is nowhere near defeated, only held off. The Legion won't really be defeated until KJ bites the real big one and Sargeras is fully destroyed (no more of this 'just his body' nonsense).
Ruva May 26th 2008 8:20PM
How do you kill, that which has no life? :P
Soeroah May 26th 2008 9:29PM
With the Dakara super weapon?
Space-goats, to the Exodar!
I don't believe in 'Lorelol' personally. A story MUST evolve. If the Warcraft universe just ended with Arthas becoming the Lich King back in WC:TFT, I would have been...not pissed, but disappointed.
World of Warcraft is Warcraft 4, for all intents and purposes. Semi-hidden in the joke quests and gathering quests is a story line, and in the Warcraft Universe I think they've shown that main characters and such die. Uther was a good example.
Grumppy May 27th 2008 12:41AM
I'd say this looks like a job for the viscious Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog to me.
Stoneblade May 26th 2008 9:32PM
Wait... Don't you think they'd have anyone waiting in the wings, as it were, to fill any other vacancies, were Big K actually to snuff it?
I would think that, despite there being no one being mentioned, so far, to have taken over Kil'Jaeden's vacated slot when he took over for Archimonde's dead ass, there have to be others that could just as easily command in their absence. Certainly the Legion would still be many, despite the loss of a couple of their biggest and longest-standing leaders.
Just a thought.
Suzaku May 27th 2008 12:36AM
Joining the cacophony of commentors in the "Kil'jaeden's not dead" chant. He is forced back through the portal and his big skull-shaped pendant is what's left behind to loot.
Also, it's Kil'jaeden, not Kil'jaden.