WoW: Dragonflight Datamined Dialogue Points To A Major Character's Sacrifice (And Another's Return)

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's alpha is currently in full swing, and while major story points for the upcoming expansion have largely been kept under wraps, a newly datamined conversation points towards a fan-favorite character making a major sacrifice.

It's important to note that the datamined conversation is lacking additional in-game context that could make exactly what's happening more clear. Since it's pulled from the alpha build of the game, it could also be incomplete or subject to change in some way. Still, many players aren't exactly thrilled about what the conversation implies for the fate of a certain Alliance leader. Potential spoilers for Dragonflight are below.

The datamined dialogue (via Wowhead) is a conversation between Night Elf leaders Tyrande and Malfurion, arguably the Warcraft universe's ultimate power couple. In it, Tyrande pleads for the return of the leader of the Green Dragonflight, Ysera, who was killed during the events of the Legion expansion and whose soul is currently trapped in the Shadowlands. The dialogue seems to imply that Malfurion will sacrifice his soul in exchange for Ysera's, though exactly how this would work remains unclear. Below is a snippet of the dialogue in question:

• Tyrande: Ysera, your flight needs you.
• Tyrande: We need you.
• Tyrande: Whatever the price may be for your return to Azeroth, name it.
• Malfurion: Tyrande…
• Tyrande: Tell us!
• Malfurion: It's me.
• Malfurion: I must be the one to stay.
• Tyrande: What?
• Malfurion: Ysera knows this--though she would never ask it of me.
• Tyrande: No.
• Tyrande: We will find another way.
• Malfurion: When she gave her life for mine in Val'sharah, it was not her time.
• Malfurion: And now…the balance may be restored.

Tyrande pleads with Malfurion to stay and attempts to go with him, but he makes clear that the Night Elf people need Tyrande's leadership. The conversation ends with Tyrande telling her husband "I will dream of the night we may truly rest…together."

Malfurion, of course, is no stranger to taking a backseat for long periods of time. In Warcraft III, the leader of the druids had been asleep for thousands of years before being awoken by Tyrande to help battle against the Burning Legion. While he is among the most powerful mortals in all of Azeroth, he's largely been on the sidelines of events in recent years, with Tyrande more often than not serving as the face of the Night Elf people.

It's for that reason many fans, especially Night Elf players, are upset about Malfurion's potential sacrifice, even if it's not exactly clear whether the character is dying in some way or is simply being sent to the Shadowlands, from which he could theoretically return at some point. The Night Elves in general have had it rough for the past couple of expansions. Their home was burned down during Battle for Azeroth in a genocidal act of war that left them as refugees living in the Alliance capital of Stormwind. Though the Night Elves are looking to build a new world tree to call home, the creation of the seed for the tree required the (willing) sacrifice of many Night Elf souls. Now, Malfurion himself is being called on to offer himself up. Night Elves just can't seem to catch a break.

If he is going to the Shadowlands, Malfurion isn't the first major character to be trapped in the realms of death. Alliance leader Anduin remains in exile, presumably in the Shadowlands, and Sylvanas was sentenced to spend an undisclosed amount of time gathering up lost souls there as a way to atone for her various war crimes.

It's just the latest tidbit from the Dragonflight alpha that has fans theorizing on where the story for Blizzard's MMORPG is going next. Other conversations discovered in the alpha point towards the game's story jumping forward a number of years.

Dragonflight is still on track to release before the end of the year, though Blizzard has not yet settled on a specific date. For more on Dragonflight, including the new Dracthyr race and Invoker class, check out our hands-on Dragonflight preview. In other news, a WoW mobile MMO in the works for more than three years has reportedly been canceled.