World of Warcraft’s latest clash between good and evil has inspired a spicy ship

The internal warthe last one World of Warcraft The expansion is off to a good start. The initial narrative is engaging, the environments are gorgeous and densely detailed, and the characterization is a big improvement over the zenith of Battle for Azeroth And Shadow lands. There’s one element that’s a little harder to quantify: it’s a special sauce that adds a nice flavor to everything else. It’s the dynamic between Alleria Windrunner, arguably the main character of the expansion, and the villainous Xal’atath. So far, it’s tense, dramatic, and very lighthearted.

Alleria Windrunner is a recurring character in the original Warcraft real-time strategy games. She is an elf ranger, devoted to her family and the protection of the innocent. Her long history is marked by repeated sacrifices: she left her home and infant son to pursue the orcs into the Dark Portal. Thought to be lost, she found herself embroiled in a millennia-old war in an extraplanar realm alongside her Light-loving husband Turalyon. The demands of this war eventually led her to embrace the dark powers of the Void.

In World of WarcraftThe Void is presented as a corrupting force, constantly whispering and coercing. This cosmology is a big part of the current story; there are six cosmic forces, including the Void, and it is opposed to the Light. This contrast is so strong that Alleria can’t even touch her husband without them both suffering. So what’s a girl to do when she’s having marital problems and struggling to master her newfound Shadow powers?

Enter Xal’atath, the current big bad of World of Warcraft. She is the messenger of the Dark Empire, some kind of ancient and powerful force of the Void. She is a supernatural entity that haunts the corpse of a Void Elf. We don’t know much about her origins or her ultimate goal, and that’s partly because she is so focused on seducing Alleria to her side. Metaphorically, of course.

There are several cutscenes throughout The internal war where Xal’atath looms menacingly around Alleria, cooing in her ear, getting right in her face. At first, I wasn’t really sold on this conflict. Xal’atath does talk about Alleria “embracing her true nature” and “being who she’s meant to be,” but she doesn’t have much of a case for it. The player doesn’t have much reason to believe that Alleria would deliberately fall into evil, so it all rings a little hollow.

That is, unless you extrapolate on the relationship between Alleria and Xal’atath – which fans are happy to do. The ship is still in its infancy, but there’s a lot of potential. Plus, there are two more expansions in the Worldsoul saga after The internal warSo we know that this dynamic has a lot of time to develop slowly.

Will this ship ever become canon? Probably not, since Xal’atath just destroyed the beloved city of Dalaran. While Blizzard has made some big narrative decisions lately, I don’t see them deciding to resolve this particular conflict with kisses. But the fans’ interest and appreciation for the dynamic between our hero and his villain is a good sign for The internal war. I want to be able to speculate on the inner lives of these characters, their motivations, their desires and their needs. It makes for a good old-fashioned expedition, and who am I to argue with that particular kind of enthusiasm?