This is My Take on Afterlives: Maldraxxus, the second animated short released in the lead up to Shadowlands.
Afterlives: Maldraxxus tells us two stories – one is of Draka, and the other is of Maldraxxus .
Draka’s story: She was a warrior who, as we know, died trying to protect her son, Thrall, from assassins who were working for the Burning Legion by way of Gul’dan and that whole story arc. She faces defeat…literally…
…and then death. But she’s “not done fighting…”
Afterlives: Maldraxxus hearkens back to the fight against the Burning Legion in so many ways:
- The look and feel, the design, the art, the color palette, all remind us of Harbingers: Illidan.
- The opening line, “In life I was Draka of the Frostwolf Clan, a warrior who gave everything…” parallels the Demon Hunter catch-phrase, “… I’ve sacrificed everything…”
- As Draka learns the ways of Maldraxxus, she participates in a mission to a Legion world to steal a map. The use of a shot of the Legion stronghold from the Illidan short suggests that this may be the very same world, perhaps even at the very same time, that Illidan took his Demon Hunters to on their inaugural mission, the mission that birthed the catch-phrase: …they will stop at nothing to destroy our world… …and we will sacrifice everything to save it.
- Someone or something threatens Maldraxxus, and by proxy all of the Shadowlands. The Houses of Maldraxxus are the protectors of the Shadowlands, the armies that ensure that the lands of our afterlives are kept intact. The Legion had their greedy paws in everyone’s pie on the living side, why not the dead side too.
- The color of the Legion is green. The two undead that block Draka’s way as she leaves on her mission to deliver a letter from the House of Eyes to the House of the Chosen have green glowy eyes and the crystal in the staff of one was green. In contrast, her pale green eyes look almost blue. Of course the whole color palette is green so that could be coincidence, and of course Draka wouldn’t suspect them because everything is green. But the explosion that felled the House of Eyes was a very pretty very fel green.
This does make one wonder if Draka will finally get a chance to fight the Burning Legion. The irony may be that they took her down through subterfuge, and now that may just be her best weapon to fight them back.
And speaking of that…Class issues. Draka was a Warrior. Now she’s a Rogue. A Warrior-Rogue. Dual class? Or switching Class?
- Draka is a Warrior. She says so, “…I was Draka of the Frostwolf Clan, a Warrior…” But really, in a way we are all warriors, even those of us who aren’t Warriors. That said, in the story “A Warrior Made,” (incidentally, like this short, by Christie Golden) Draka grows from a sickly child into a Warrior. She is made a Warrior.
- She describes herself as a Warrior again, once she reaches the Shadowlands, “it was here I served the House of Eyes, a strange fit for a Warrior’s soul.” Might she have been delivered to the wrong place? Hmm. Now there’s a nod back to Afterlives: Bastion.
- “Their ways were not mine…” she learns Stealth and how to fight with double daggers. “Faster!” She switches from using strength to using Agility.
- The House of Eyes seems to be Maldraxxus: Covert Ops, so that they are Rogue oriented makes sense.
- “Eventually this life after life began to feel right…” So now Draka is made a Rogue.
- Later, in the letter to Margrave Krexus , the Lord of the House of Eyes describes her as “an unyielding Warrior with the skills of a Master Spy.” Or is it “an unyielding warrior with the skills of a Master Spy?”
However you take it, Draka was a warrior made and then a rogue made. This leads one to think that while our life may determine where we are placed in the Afterlife, it has little bearing on what we become. Or who we become.
Maldraxxus’ story: Maldraxxus is made up of five houses. We are introduced to the House of Eyes and the House of the Chosen. We learn of the fall of the House of Plagues. The five Houses “once stood side by side to protect the realm of death,” the Shadowlands, but the House of Plagues has fallen due to carelessness…or something more sinister.
- Carelessness….or betrayal. Betrayal is a major theme for the Burning Legion. Betrayal is the tool by which they get the jump on peoples they conquer. That the House of Plagues may have fallen due to betrayal is another indication of the possible presence of the Legion.
- The House of Eyes (which blows up in a gout of green fire) is a floaty place which reminds us immediately of Naxxramas and its fellow floaty places.
- The House of Plagues hearkens to the Scourge. If the Legion has Plagues, might we be in for another scourge?
- “I believe the House of the Chosen still stands with us…” says the Lord of the House of Eyes. Is he implying that there is a possibility that the other two don’t?
- “Maldraxxus must stay true to its duty, for if we fail, the Shadowlands will fall…” sounds like the perfect spot for a little fel influence, no?
Colors:
- We’ve already talked about green. The whole piece is green, except when it isn’t. The five houses are distinguished by color somewhat: greens and blues for the three Houses we don’t meet, the House of Plagues and two others; purple for the House of Eyes, and Red for the House of the Chosen.
- Purple is a royal color. Purple is power. Perhaps in this case, purple is the moral high ground. The just, the righteous.
- Red is very much in contrast to blue, green and purple. Red is danger.
- Check out this shot: Draka and her Lord stand in the House of Eyes, looking at the war table that represents Maldraxxus (green), her shoulders are purple (the House of Eyes rests on her shoulders), both of them are dressed in purpley grey brown. But what is that behind them? The light that falls behind their backs is the orange/red light of the House of the Chosen. This foreshadows the path she must take.
So she makes it to the the House of the Chosen where she passes the missive from the Lord of the House of Eyes to Margrave Krexus (who has green glowy eyes and demony horns, just saying).
- The move from the cool green, black, purple, blue palette is quite a jolt. That doesn’t seem at all ominous….
- Are there heads in that bag? Who’s facing defeat now…?
- Check out these two shots: she leaves the green sun (or maybe it isn’t a sun….) behind her and looks to the red sun, her future.
- Remember this shot? This is the Legion world in Harbingers: Illidan. A similar shift from cool palette to warm. A similar warm sun. Is she looking towards the Legion?
- “Come, our enemies will strike openly soon. We must prepare.” We must be prepared? And exactly who is it for whom we must be prepared? Yup, that Burning Legion.
- So do the Necrolords know Illidan? Might they have been working together?
Final shots:
- So the end mirrors the beginning, I am Draka… who she was is past but not forgotten. Who she is is what is important, what this four and a half minute film has made her.
- The shift from the warm palette to the cool one as she names herself of the House of the Chosen is striking. She has brought Honor and Righteousness to the House of the Chosen.
- There is also a familiarity: the orc Clan is paralleled to the Maldraxxan House, this speaks of Honor, of Family, of Victory.
- But never forget: the warm glow of the future caresses her cheek…
The Map:
- So, the map. Draka was taken to a Legion world to steal a map. If we read right, it’s the same world that Illidan went to. Could they have been after the same thing?
- Illidan’s army went through a portal to get to this world. We don’t know how the House of Eyes moves. But they end up in the same place, in what we have until now assumed was the dimension of the living. Is it? Is it part of the Afterlife? Is it another dimension altogether?
- We know that there are other dimensions: the Emerald Dream, and Thros for example. Is the Shadowlands for real the land of the dead, or is it just another dimension that happens to be able to harvest our dead spirits….?
The Key:
- Draka is the key, she delivered herself. Obviously.
- “The key to saving Maldraxxus.” When he says this, the Margrave sounds surprised, like maybe he thought Maldraxxus was already lost.
- “A key to many things.” What things? Hope? Infiltration? Kicking enemy butt? Dual classing? All of these, and more.
This piece is masterfully written and presented. There is so much story packed into a few short minutes, so much depth, so much food for thought. Before this, I had no interest in the Netherlords, but now, this may well become my Covenant.
TL;DR: With apologies to Mr. Martin, I am the sword in the darkness, the shield that guards the realms of the dead.