The Howling Fjord, Grizzly Hills, and AK: Old Kingdom do a great job of setting the stage for our interaction with the Old God Yogg-Saron. The Storm Peaks is where it all unfolds though, and in Ulduar we get a glimpse of the greater implications of our actions there: we've been doing Yogg-Saron's bidding all along.

You see, it was Lok'lira the Crone that started the quest line to participate in the Hyldsmeet, to lure Thorim from his place of power, where Loken could drag him to the depths of Ulduar; but that was just a means to an end. Yogg-Saron wanted us to kill Loken. Yogg-Saron wants us to come into Ulduar looking for Thorim. At the end of the Storm Peaks questline, Loken reveals that he is Lok'lira the Crone knowing full well that the characters in game will have no other recourse but to storm the Halls of Lightning and cut Loken down.

That's what Yogg-Saron wants. The ultimate goal is for the player-characters to encounter Algalon and defeat him. Yogg-Saron has had years upon years to plot and whisper into the ears of his guardians; he just need adventures strong enough to push the first domino.

Obviously the Old God doesn't want to stay contained for the rest of eternity, but being weakened as the world is Re-originated isn't any better. Which is the reason for Sara and the Yogg-Saron encounter; we're being tested and we're being provided a situation where we can claim to Algalon that all is well. However, from the boss' sound files, when Yogg-Saron is defeated he says "Your fate is sealed. The end of days is finally upon you and ALL who inhabit this miserable little seedling," which doesn't sound like the type of thing someone who was just defeated says. Sounds more like what one would say after you've been played into their trap.

What's next, I'm not sure. Either Yogg-Saron is truly dead, and this plot was to free the rest of the Old Gods from the possibility of a Reply-Code-Omega scenario. Or we haven't seen the last of Yogg-Saron. "God" type figures in Warcraft have a tendency to "die" in a physical sense, but not to be destroyed (see x-number of Loa and Cenarius).

The player-characters have been pawns all along; at least that's the way I see it. I'm eagerly awaiting what Blizzard has in store for us as the repercussions of our actions.

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