Like most of us, I did those bizarre "vision" quests for Kairoz out on the Timeless Isle. I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed, especially after the awesome lore stuff we got from the Domination Offensive storylines. No voice acting, no dialogue, annoyingly cryptic and vague events, and...nothing really happened in those visions. Quite underwhelming and honestly, quite a letdown.

However, I did perk up when I got to the vision that takes place at the Temple of the White Tiger, where we see a vision of Anduin coming down into the temple basement to talk to someone locked up in a magical cage.



Given the context of the Siege of Orgrimmar, it would make sense if the hooded figure in the cage was supposed to be Garrosh. But...is it actually him?

As someone who used to main a male orc, I instantly recognized the posture and hand gestures of the prisoner - that's a normal orc in the cage, not Garrosh. Now, was that just because Blizzard's new fancy Garrosh model can't be separated from his armor, and they wanted to show Garrosh stripped of his equipment? So they just used a default orc model to represent him?

That would be the logical conclusion. But after thinking about it more, it still doesn't make much sense. The prisoner is wearing a hooded robe, an outfit that has zero significance or connection to Garrosh. And the prisoner isn't shackled or manacled or anything, but just sitting there, free to rise and talk to Anduin when he arrives.


Now, it SHOULD be Garrosh in there, awaiting his trial, but why not just show him? Why go through all this effort to create what seems to be a very sloppy stand-in? This is Blizzard we're talking about, they do amazing things in their cutscenes and cinematics with the basic in-game models. That they would seemingly be so lazy here seems really strange to me.

So...is that actually Garrosh? What other orc would even be important enough to be locked away by the pandaren? Nazgrim is dead, as is Ishi, and Zaela is MIA (and the prisoner is clearly a male orc silhouette). Cromush? Doubtful, since he hasn't been seen all expansion.

Could it be Malkorok? Granted, Malkorok's character model isn't exactly standard anymore, since he got all mutated and weird. But maybe that's why he's in the robe - to hide his warped appearance, especially if his body is continuing to distort. And while I doubt the defeated Garrosh would be all chatty with Anduin, I could definitely see the arrogant Malkorok wanting to sneer and gloat and be as much of an asshole as possible.

Maybe Anduin is there asking Malkorok - or whoever this apparently-important prisoner is - about Garrosh. Maybe this vision takes place after Garrosh has already escaped, and Anduin's here trying to dig up clues from Garrosh's former soldiers.

Who knows! All I know is, that's definitely not Garrosh's model in there.