Who is the Final Boss of Legion?

The following article contains spoilers for the Kil’jaeden defeat cinematic in the Tomb of Sargeras raid.

From the moment of Legion‘s announcement, we’ve been wondering who the final boss of the expansion would be. The Avatar of Sargeras and Kil’jaeden were some of the most popular suggestions (I personally leaned towards the Avatar), however both of them have been dealt with in the Tomb of Sargeras raid. Another theory was that we’d be facing Sargeras himself, though that raises the question of how we’d be able to fight a raid boss the size of a planet, both from suspension of disbelief and technical limitation viewpoints. I’ve come up with a different theory, one that’s outlandish enough I can’t say I expect Blizzard to actually go through with it, but one I’d really like to see and think the evidence supports.

Read on if you are not bothered by spoilers.

Cinematic courtesy of MMO-Champion.

So Kil’jaeden is dead, killed in the Twisting Nether and thus permanently. He’s not coming back for Argus, which also happens to now be connected to Azeroth via a giant portal thanks to Illidan. It looks like the final boss of Legion cannot be anything but Sargeras himself. But those issues I mentioned earlier, of how to fight something the size of a planet still remain. I think we will defeat Sargeras in the final raid, but I have a different idea on who the final boss will actually be:

Illidan.

After the cinematic, players can talk to Khadgar, Velen, and Illidan, who each have their on on-click text describing what will happen now. Oddly enough, according to WoWhead, there is also text in the files for Maiev Shadowsong here even though she does not appear in this part of the raid on live servers. Her removed quote is as follows:

One of the Legion’s masters has fallen at last, yet this war is far from over.Was this the true plan of Sargeras all along? His ultimate endgame? Or perhaps this is another’s doing. Someone who has betrayed this world before. <Maiev narrows her eyes as she looks toward the sky.> I will be watching… and ready.

At first glance, that just sounds like Maiev being Maiev, but it makes one think. Illidan has proven he hates the Legion and isn’t working for Sargeras, but who is to say he’s not being manipulated? Illidan’s fatal flaw is his pride and arrogance, his full belief that he knows better than everyone else. That same arrogance was what allowed the Legion to orchestrate his death at our hands in The Burning Crusade, and now I fear he’s fallen into a similar trap. Then there is sacrifice. It’s been an overarching theme throughout the expansion, showing how Illidan is willing to do anything to further his goals, from callously sacrificing the lives of dozens of mages to fuel his own spells, to harvesting the draenei souls in Auchindoun to essentially power a battery, to creating the giant portal to Argus that technically would allow the Legion and entryway to Azeroth far surpassing the felstorm. Sure, he did it so we can invade Argus, but in a sense he has also managed to create something even worse than the portal in the Tomb of Sargeras.

This is what I propose the final boss fight in the Argus raid will be like. We defeat the penultimate boss, whoever that will be, and the raid gets ready to confront Sargeras. Illidan turns to the raid and talks about the importance of sacrifice. We’re the most powerful individuals in all of Azeroth, and our artifact weapons are among the most powerful objects in existence. To defeat Sargeras would require all that power and more. Illidan’s sacrificed everything, what have we given? In other words, he decides to absorb our power and our artifacts’ power, killing us in the process, so he can become a godlike being capable of killing Sargeras.

Naturally we don’t agree and so the fight against Illidan begins. To make matters worse, Xe’ra appears to assist Illidan. She’s apparently the one who told him this was necessary, and participates in the boss fight as well. The raid doesn’t engage her directly, she just hovers above and casts various spells and buffs Illidan. Despite this, the heroes of Azeroth prevail and kill Illidan. As we’re on Argus, a planet saturated by fel magic and connected to the Twisting Nether, its permanent this time. Illidan’s soul is destroyed, leaving his body an empty husk.

Just as Xe’ra planned.

Xe’ra reveals “her” true form, she was Sargeras all along, signing Illidan’s praises and telling “the Child of Light and Shadow” exactly what he wanted to hear. Stroking Illidan’s ego just enough to cancel out any suspicion. Now the plan that drove the entirety of the expansion up until the Nighthold comes to fruition: Sargeras possess Illidan’s body. The act of possession transforms Illidan’s body into a sort of “Sargeridan,” kind of like Medivh’s demonic transformation in the WarCraft movie. Now the raid gets their Sargeras fight while not having to worry about the issues present in fighting Sargeras in his “true form.” It’s a difficult battle, and by the time the raid gets “Sageridan” down to 90% health its clear Sargeras is winning.

Then, Khadgar has an idea. Maybe Illidan was on to something, maybe Sargeras slipped up and said a little too much. “If Sargeras wants the power of your artifacts so badly, then let him have it!” An special ability appears for all the players to raise their artifacts up. Khadgar channels a spell through all of them, using their combined power to vaporize Sargeras/Illidan’s body. This leaves the artifacts drained for their former power, but the Burning Legion’s master is finally dead.

(Insert a quick hint that maybe Sargeras did survive somehow/maybe not in case Blizzard ever wants to bring the Legion back).

Well, that’s what I would want to happen based on everything we’ve been shown in Legion so far. I’m not sure if Blizzard would actually take that direction, but from the evidence gathered, I’d say that something like it is a possibility. What do you all think?

Ian Bates

World of Warcraft Writer and columnist for Blizzplanet. I am also known as The Red Shirt Guy (BlizzCon).