I know what some of you are thinking:

"Thar! Why do you have an article about the comics when the next issue isn't out yet?"

Well, I was pointed to this article on WoW.com, which further linked to this article on Blizzplanet.com, and they both sparked my inspiration. So now I inflict this—erm... now I bring to you, my dear readers, my own thoughts on how the comics will tie into Cataclysm and the events of that upcoming expansion.

But first, a little preamble.

The Problem Thus Far

The bulk of Warcraft's fans just play World of Warcraft. Certainly, there are enough people who buy the comics, the manga, the novels, and all the other little knick-knacks to support a reasonably lucrative market on such things, but that doesn't mean that every subscriber does. In fact, I'd wager a guess that there are more people playing WoW who have never read the comic or any of the manga than those who have.

Because of this discrepancy, we end up getting major characters from these secondary sources introduced into the game and made important to a group of people who have no idea why said characters should be important. I've come to dub this The Anveena Effect, to honor our wonderful little water fountain-turned-human-in-love-with-a-dragon.

You see, there were many people who entered the raid instance of Patch 2.4: Fury of the Sunwell wondering who the heck this human woman was and why she was being sacrificed. They had little to no real introduction to the idea that Anveena was the Sunwell. Or, rather, that she was what remained of its essence. So a chunk of those people just ignored the story and moved forward with the raid encounter. Another chunk balked at the "silly idea" of a human woman encompassing the remainder of the Sunwell's powers, and their respect for Warcraft lore dropped.

Risking your audience's enjoyment in the story because you did not properly introduce them to an important character is, to me, bad storytelling. And it's the core of why the Anveena Effect is dangerous. The less people pay attention to your game's story, the less chance you have to hold their attention into the future.

So how does this affect Med'an, our fresh-faced son of Medivh and Garona, wielder of multiple magics, and new Guardian?

The Med'anveena Effect?

How many people who play World of Warcraft know who Med'an is, you think? How many people even know who Medivh is, for that matter? I can only believe that the number is nowhere near the number of WoW's current active subscriber base.

As it stands, Med'an runs a pretty big risk of falling to the Anveena Effect. If he's introduced in-game as a half-human, quarter-orc, and quarter-draenei character who's the son of Medivh and Garona and somehow related to all those cool action figures... well, there will be eyebrows of inquisition raised aplenty.

So how will Blizzard handle this? Will they go forward and bring Med'an into game with no other introduction? Will they kill him off before he gets a chance to make an appearance (like, say, in the upcoming issue)? Or will we somehow be introduced to him more gradually through in-game quests and events?

Perhaps the answer lies in the prophecy to which we were introduced in the comics:

When the child of three realms becomes as Light, the ancient power will be released. The earth will tremble, the seas will rise up in answer, and all will be madness.  A new day will dawn, bringing with it chaos or peace…

Part of me (as well as those fine folks over at WoW.com and BlizzPlanet) thinks that "becomes as Light" essentially means he's going to die. Or rather, "not be around anymore to show up in-game and cause confusion." So perhaps he dies, or perhaps he somehow ascends. Either way, there's a chance we may see Med'an's story concluded more permanently come Issue #25 (especially since Issue #26 begins an entirely new pair of arcs with entirely new characters, writers, and artists).

They further go on to speculate that his departure will weaken the veil between Azeroth and the elemental plane, and that it's this weakening that allows Deathwing to break through from Deepholm during the opening events of Cataclysm.

Certainly, all of this is possible. But I'd like to point out a little incongruency with the timelines. As it stands, the current timeline we're experiencing in the WoW comic is actually happening in our relative past when Wrath of the Lich King is taken into account. Remember that the Lich King's invasion of Orgrimmar and Stormwind concluded back in Issue #20 of comic time, and almost a year of real / game time. Thus, if Med'an dies / ascends in Issue #25 and that kicks off the Cataclysm, we'd have already seen the results.

But with that said, it's entirely possible that Med'an's proposed death could still lead to the cataclysmic events of the upcoming expansion.

Co(s)mic Alignment

The events in the current monthly WoW comic are too large to ignore entirely, and it would be waste of months of storytelling to completely discard what's been going on with the current arc. So how can it all align with the events of the MMO?

Just some speculation:

Med'an faces off with Cho'gall, who's now fully empowered by C'thun. During this battle, Med'an gets beaten heartily, but pulls back at the last moment. It is then that Med'an draws his powers from the Light and gets bolstered by the naaru, putting him in a state of near ascension.

During this influx of power, Med'an defeats Cho'gall, and in turn is able to defeat what remains of C'thun, finally killing the Old God permanently. However, since C'thun and the other Old Gods are still tied to Azeroth, his death ultimately weakens the world and the veil between the elemental plane and the material realm. The extent of this weakening is not made apparent, however.

A new day will dawn, bringing with it chaos or peace…

The heroes of the world will see peace, and to them it will seem that the prophecy is fulfilled. Med'an will ascend fully to something greater and give back the Guardian power, which was part of the 'gift' that his father left him. The Council will be left to find another to take his place, but with Cho'gall and C'thun's threat gone for now, they won't seek a replacement immediately.

But the magnitude of such a shift in power will awaken another entity on the elemental plane, stirring the rage of a being vanished to the world for years. Deathwing shifts his attention once again to Azeroth and plots his return...

A Clean Merger

The above scenario would buy the storytellers at Blizzard a few large advantages. Firstly, it will remove Med'an from active continuity, which relieves them of the need to bring him in-game. Second, it opens up the position of Guardian, which coincides with some of the rumors we've heard about Thrall's supposed next position of leadership. In addition to both of these, it also sets up the catalyst for Deathwing's return.

This places the comic story arc solidly in the realm of "supplemental." The story becomes unnecesary for MMO-only players to understand, but it still fits cleanly within the lore for those of us who choose to pay attention to the expanded setting. None of the in-game plot elements feel shoehorned-in, as happened with Anveena, because all the in-game plot elements would already have been introduced ... in-game.

But, as per usual, the above is just a bit of off-sides speculation. It is by no means something that's set in stone. Instead, it's just something that I think would be kinda cool to see happen.

And when it comes to the monthly comics? WoW needs something kinda cool...