World of Warcraft's The War Within has a new 2D film that reminds us of Xal’atath, an ancient knife who pilots a corpse puppet just for fun.

The story of World of Warcraft: The War Within is actually quite good. Dragonflight was not without its flaws, but it marked a shift away from the "big guy in armor saying pitiful mortal to you before teleporting off" storytelling of Shadowlands. Instead, characters began to actually communicate with each other.

Blizzard has the chance to do some cool stuff despite its messy past. My curiosity has turned into optimism.

Threads of Destiny is the 2D cinematic shown above. It further spins up my 'hey, this might be decent after all' engine. It's beautiful, thanks to Blizzard’s impossible budget for this type of thing. But it also gives us an insight into the Nerubian Empire, the main antagonists of the first leg of the expansion.

Quick history lesson: the Nerubians are a kingdom of bug-people who broke away from Kith'ix after the Empire Zul gave them their business. Notably, the Nerubians are not too keen on continuing to worship the old gods that their ancestors did during the Black Empire.

We saw half of these in Wrath of the Lich King. (Well, the aftermath of half of those--Azjol Nerub tried to fight the Scourge and it didn't work out well). Azj-Kahet is the society with which we'll be fighting. It was isolated from its sister kingdom, and the rest of humanity, until recently.

You might wonder why the Nerubians support Xal'atath's machinations, considering that she is a being from the void. The answer is'spider-politics'. It's a fairly simple plot: Queen Neferess refuses the call of the ancient gods only to betray her daughter when Xal'atath contacts her, all for the power to return her people to their former glory. And noses, it seems.

This cinematic does a great job of putting Xal'atath into proper context. This cinematic reminds us that, while she may be coveted by the fanbase of the game, she is an old god puppeteering corpse.

It's unsettling to see her crawl out of the void-goop and flash cheshire smiles while whispering sweet nothings to the matricidal Princess Ansurek. Ansurek's comment that "her name is Xal'atath", here, is particularly impressive. It's a tiny touch, but it shows that Xal'atath keeps the meat puppet façade going because, well, it's easier for her to be liked by people when she talks like them. Ansurek believes Xal'atath to be her best friend. She is so, so not.

Xal'atath is a villain who has a much-needed theatrical charm that WoW's villains have been lacking for a while. This game is at its best when Arthases and Illidans are allowed to eat the scenery as much as they want. Xal'atath is a return to this form. I hope that the in-game content can keep this vibe when The War Within launches later this month.