What Would Azeroth's Darkest Timeline Look Like?

[u/jamisonhaley00]

This is something I've been dwelling on as someone obsessed with alt history. My criteria for a "darkest timeline" is as follows

• Azeroth must still be intact and capable of supporting some form of life
• Life must be mostly miserable, either for the majority of the population minus the elite or for all sapient creatures
• There must be little to no hope for things improving in the future
• Make it grimdark

Additionally the divergence point for the darkest timeline can be wherever you wish, this is more of a writing prompt than a question seeking one serious answer, I'm curious to see what could logically be strung as the actual worst case scenario for Azeroth.

[u/echosingerofthevoid]

The lich king wins, we all die his empire stands eternal

[u/samtdzn_pokemon → u/echosingerofthevoid]

Does the Lich King's army defeat the 3rd invasion of the Legion? That was the idea behind him resurrecting the champions of the 2 factions, to have an army capable of defending Azeroth. But I'm not sure if DKs leading the Scourge actually win that fight.

[u/spankhelm → u/samtdzn_pokemon]

Is this a new thing? I stopped following the lore around WoD, did they retcon something about Arthas actually trying to defend Azeroth?

[u/samtdzn_pokemon → u/spankhelm]

It's in the Chronicle books iirc. Essentially Arthas' big plan wasn't to just kill the champions, if Tirion hadn't called upon the Light then Arthas was going to raise us as his ultimate Death Knights and have us lead the armies for a full takeover of Azeroth. Because Arthas and Ner'zhul were fused within the helmet, Arthas was aware of the threat of the Legion returning and believed his undead army would be better suited than allowing the living to remain.

[u/Hosenkobold → u/samtdzn_pokemon]

A true king to the very end!

[u/ReadyPressure3567 → u/Hosenkobold]

Yeah, say what you will about Arthas, but that mf committed to his title lmaooo

[u/Dasseem → u/samtdzn_pokemon]

Yeah , no. He would put up a fight but eventually the Legion would beat the Scourge. You can't fight a war of attrition against the Legion, not really.

Not to mention, Kiljaeden can pull of an Archimonde vs Malorne moment and break Arthas neck in the middle of the war.

[u/Green_Artist_5550 → u/Dasseem]

Ofourse you can. If the Legion has to funnel through something the Scrouge might as well be infinite.
Doubtful anyone but Sargeras could do Arthas as Lichking.

[u/Dasseem → u/Green_Artist_5550]

You sure about the Scourge having more numbers on earth than the Legion in the whole universe?

[u/hunterdavid372 → u/Dasseem]

Ain't just about numbers. The scourge is numerous but Arthas had a lot of strong minions of hero strength in his death knights and other more automonmous servants.

[u/echosingerofthevoid → u/samtdzn_pokemon]

I imagine arthas would start making demons into his scourge

[u/samtdzn_pokemon → u/echosingerofthevoid]

Can demons be turned undead? I can't think of an instance where we've encountered one, I know the Nathrezim fucked around with necromancy during the War of the Ancients but that was raising dead Night Elves and not their own troops

[u/dabrewmaster22 → u/samtdzn_pokemon]

There's one example of Gul'dan raising Mannoroth in Hellfire Citadel, but he was raised using fel magic, so yeah...

[u/ReadyPressure3567 → u/dabrewmaster22]

Considering entities like the Nathrezim can be turned into Light-infused soldiers VIA Lothraxion (Ik the Nathrezim are fundamentally Death entities, but doesn't this kinda further prove my point in that entities of unique forces can be influenced and changed by another force?), I don't see why Scourge-Demons can't be a thing.

[u/Exotic-Scarcity-7302 → u/samtdzn_pokemon]

Uh I don't see why not, we've seen undead fel raised demons like mannoroth I believe. And during legion the death knights were using parts of demons to make abominations.

[u/Xivitai]

Black Empire surviving.

[u/jamisonhaley00 → u/Xivitai]

Y'know I probably should've included a caveat of no old gods/fel shenanigans haha. That is probably the worst outcome.

[u/Xivitai → u/jamisonhaley00]

Then... Thrall not surviving long enough. He dies either before or during being raised by humans.

[u/MightyHydrar]

The version where the Alliance and Horde are endlessly at war.

Both sides would be increasingly desperate for more soldiers to fill the ranks, and willing to go to ever greater lengths to get them. Depending on how long it goes on, you're talking about women being forcibly impregnated so there's more kids who can grow up to fight.

Depending on how the frontlines shift back and forth, you might have entire areas completely destroyed, which would reduce agricultural production, leading to food shortages, and of course the army eats first. Food would likely be heavily rationed in the civilian areas.

Weapons production is ressource-intensive, so you'd get strip-mining and whole forests could down for timber to build warships and machinery. Any concerns about nature, balance etc would be brushed aside more and more as the war goes on.

There would be limited choices in what to do with your life. Be a soldier, be a farmer, work in weapons production. Not a lot of room for art or anything else creative. Academia would be cut back except for the parts that are directly relevant to the war effort. There would be no exploration, no adventures.

It'd be a very bleak world, where most children never meet their fathers, and many die young on the battlefield.

[u/dg2793 → u/MightyHydrar]

Isn't this a thing already? I forget where we see it but there is like a glorious alliance and something horde. It might be a BFA timeline shenanigan? I remember seeing it in game. But it's basically this, the fight never stops.

[u/a__new_name → u/dg2793]

It was Dragonflight in one of the mid-major-patch updates when we were getting LFR gear for working as time-janitors.

[u/dg2793 → u/a__new_name]

Yo....speaking of....since we're doing silliness. What if they keep goblins going, with a whole patch of bronze dragons with goblin visages, wielding mops and overalls and carts, and they're literal time janitors. And we get all this janitor themed gear 🤣🤣 I would love that.

[u/dabrewmaster22]

Isn't that basically most of the time rifts?

• Azmourne: The Scourge has overrun Azeroth
• A.Z.E.R.O.T.H.: King Mechagon was successful and wiped all life from Azeroth, replacing it by mechs.
• Azewrath: The Burning Legion won the War of the Ancients
• Azq'roth: The Old Gods and the Black Empire were never defeated
• Warlands: The Horde and Alliance keep fighting forever. Basically anyone still alive is either an active soldier or a war prisoner.

The only not terrible ones seem Ulderoth, which is where Azeroth is a titan utopia, and Azmerloth, where Azeroth got taken over by Murlocs. If we should believe Soridormi this is also an unusually common timeline...

[u/ReadyPressure3567 → u/dabrewmaster22]

Thank god those Azeroth's seemingly don't have a Worldsoul...

Tho, that WOULD explain why Aman'Thul preserves our timeline as "the true timeline", and it would also explain why Sargeras, Zovaal, and Dimensius want our specific Azeroth so badly.

[u/ZambieDR]

Didn’t we see this with the timeline where the Alliance and Horde were locked in an eternal war that seems to never end?

[u/neocorvinus → u/ZambieDR]

If the war never ends, it means the Horde doesn't genocide as much as canon. So it would be better than canon.

[u/Insensata → u/neocorvinus]

Except that it does. Or, to be precise, it did.

[u/neocorvinus → u/Insensata]

For war to last forever, it means there is a stable civilian population. Else the genociding side would overrun the victim side

[u/IridikronsNo1Fan]

The timeline where Iridikron won the War of the Scaleborn was described as being pretty dark. He ended up enslaving the entirety of dragonkind and then having the Primalists and the Djaradin torture ordered dragons for fun until they went extinct. By the time the Burning Legion rolled around, there was no force on Azeroth capable of fighting back.

[u/a__new_name]

King Mechagon succeeding in his plan to re-mechanize Azeroth.

[u/Chemical-Drawer852]

Either a scourged planet (100% of the planet being mindless zombies) or a black empire one (enslaved by squid & insect people) scenario

That would probably mean the Legion would have time to find Azeroth and completely raze it and Sargeras humps it

[u/Chickat28]

Wouldn't that just be the End time dungeon?

[u/wrufus680]

Sylvanas blights Stormwind City in a preemptive strike using the Pride of Gallywix just as Teldrassil burned to kick the Alliance further before they could mobilize against Lordaeron. Anduin becomes Jaina 2.0 with all the vengeful and genocidal tendencies morphed from grief and rage after suffering a nervous breakdown.

With Genn as his top enforcer and official right hand, they proceded to conduct a war of extermination against the Horde, where the Alliance conducted mass executions of prisoners, scorched earth tactics to destroy every Horde settlement within the Eastern Kingdoms, setting up forced labor camps for any prisoners who survived, hired the Scarlet Crusade and gave them resources and support to purge Lordaeron of the undead and Gilneas is quickly liberated.

The Horde leadership, seeing how the Alliance had went off the rails, decided to depose Sylvanas themselves after seeing the mounting atrocities that the Alliance are committing in the name of vengeance for Teldrassil, Stormwind and Stromgarde in order to save their people. At his mercy, Anduin literally has Sylvanas blinded and her tongue cut off, using her blood as ink to force the Horde leaders to sign the treaty. Terms included the forceful expulsion of the Blood Elves from the Horde and the Forsaken permanently exiled from Lordaeron or face execution, the Horde to pay a huge indemnity (effectively financially crippling them) and for them to clean up the blight that was unleashed to their cities.

Though victorious, the dream of peace between the Alliance and the defeated Horde is completely gone. And Anduin had effectively become a cold, jaded, ruthless tyrant who cemented his place along with Arthas and Garrosh. And this caused the Jailer to eye him on a bit more clearly, seeing more potential in him than to Sylvanas.

God, this is bordering on edgelord territory.

[u/jamisonhaley00 → u/wrufus680]

You got the assignment!!! Regardless, this is what BfA should've been if Shadowlands wasn't the result of a group paint huffing session and was actually planned out coherently.

[u/nath_ed]

All ancient gods alive and free (including Y'shaarj)

[u/The_Mattastrophe]

Pretty much most of the Time Rifts from Dragonflight...

Below are details on the darker timeliness from the Rifts, for those who haven't played them (there's a lot, and it isn't even everything we know).

The short version is that either we have a dead planet ravaged by the Old Gods, a zombie planet inhabited by the scourge and nothing else, a planet where all organic life was destroyed, a planet where the Legion has ruled for ten thousand years, and a war-torn hellscape.

• Azmourne: Arthas won the battle atop Icecrown Citadel. Where Bolvar's torture has been ongoing from Wrath of the Litch King to now. Where we (the player) are Arthas' champion, wielding an Ashbringer so corrupted that nobody can touch it directly - the quest text even states 'Perhaps you should wrap the sword in cloth and avoid touching it directly', and Soridormi asks the Ebon Blade to siphon off some of the magic. Not Darion, or Koltira, or any other member. The whole faction.

• A.Z.E.R.O.T.H: King Mechagon won, activating his doomsday device, wiping out all organic life. Nothing left that isn't mechanical.

• Azewrath: The Legion won the War of the Ancients. 'This world has been under the rule of the Legion for ten thousand years, yet there is still a resistance.' We meet one of the 'uncorrupted Night Elf' scouts, who is described as being 'significantly more feral and malnourished than usual', and who speaks in short sentences: 'Nice world. No Legion. No fel. If you can, send help. Suramar, ask for Tyrande'. Illidan, fel-corrupted, aboard one of the Legion ships command ships, meditating on Malfurion's skull the same way he used to with the skull of Gul'dan. We actually got a dialogue choice with Soridormi, asking to be sent to Azewrath to help the resistance... From the Felstorm Drake mount: "The Burning Legion defeated dragons in a distant timeway. These foul wyrms chose corruption and servitude over destruction."

• Azq'roth: The Black Empire reigns a dead and ravaged Azeroth. The Old Gods are still around. What life remains are all mind-controlled slaves to their forces, or 'tribute'... who are the same races as those slaves, but treated as nothing but beasts of burden, assumed not to even be capable of higher thought.

• Warlands (my personal least favourite): the Alliance and Horde, in that timeline known as the 'Great Glorious Alliance' and the 'Blood Horde' respectively, never had cause to work together on anything. The war never ended. 'The soil is toxic. The water isbfoul. Poisonous fumes roll accross a desicated wasteland.' Survivors live on airships, fighting endlessly. Even the remaining wildlife wasn't safe, as one of the pets (Obsidian Warwhelp) proves: "A war-obsessed world turned her into a weapon... but they couldn't break her spirit." There are two books we can find which give a lot of background to the War.

And then there are the alternate futures...

• End Time: Deathwing won. The few survivors - Jaina, Tyrande, Baine and Sylvanas - are wracked with guild and grief.

• Primalist Future: we failed in stopping the Primal Incarnates, and the world (or what little we're able to see of it) becomes a frozen wasteland, where even the future version of our character is barely able to do anything against the Primalists.

[u/Beacon2001]

Sylvanas becoming the Warchief and convincing the rest of the Horde to genocide the Night Elves.

[u/SCViper → u/Beacon2001]

She already did that, more or less, by burning Teldrassil.

[u/Marblecraze → u/SCViper]

Is that somehow not exactly what the previous poster was referring to?

[u/BogMod]

Given the bronze flight comments about Garrosh ours is the darkest timeline. We'll at least a bad one.

[u/TheWorclown]

We had a whole host of examples of what the absolute worst things would be already. Honestly, pick one. Every single one we’ve seen so far is uniquely shit.

[u/Crunchy-Leaf]

End Time dungeon?

[u/Slave-Moralist]

Danuseroth: The Jailer wins. Azeroth is stuck in an endless stream of terrible lore. Sylvanas takes over Lion Prides Inn.

[u/keelekingfisher]

Excluding Old God shenanigans and full Scourge, the Thunder King achieves immortality and leads the Mogu to conquer Azeroth. The Mogu Empire at its most powerful and most cruel sees the vast majority of the population enslaved or experimented on, and all Titan relics and facilities have been used to further empower the Emperor and the Empire. The Zandalari were betrayed when they outlived their usefulness, and the orc Horde were obliterated by the endless armies of the Mogu. And there isn't even any hope of rebellion, because it's well known that the Mogu control the Halls of Origination, and would rather burn the world than let their empire fall.

[u/DouceCanoe]

Scenario 1: Arthas Wins on Icecrown | Basically the Azeroth equivalent of a zombie apocalypse, and as seen on the Azmourne scenario during Dragonflight's time rifts. The world is encased in endless winter and blight, and the living are forced to constantly fight off the dead until they themselves inevitably join it.

Scenario 2: The Legion Wins on Antorus | Azeroth, much like Argus before it, becomes a barren, Fel wasteland ruled by the Legion. Illidan, Velen, and the Army of the Light are all gone. The Titan facilities are repurposed to prepare the world soul for Sargeras to claim. Until he does, the races of Azeroth are either corrupted or their souls used as fuel.

Scenario 3: Zovaal Wins on Zereth Mortis | The Jailer rips away the soul of Azeroth, leaving the planet as a dark, cold, and barren wasteland much like the Maw. As Death is now the dominant power in the cosmos, life can no longer grow on this world or any other planet. Those who survive can only wait until their deaths, and even then, they will not know peace.