Illidan, Argus and the prison of Sargeras

May 5, 2026•Lore•Brendo Arruda

"The History of the Expansions" series — Patch 7.3. The story of World of Warcraft told expansion by expansion, with the patches that changed it. The episodes are listed in order at the end of the post.

Illidan returns because Legion needs someone willing to go too far

Illidan's story in Legion works because the character has always lived in that uncomfortable space between salvation and danger.

Illidan's return

Illidan doesn't "come back" as simple fan service. His return is part of Legion's logic: if the enemy is cosmic, Azeroth's response also has to break old patterns.

The Argus campaign takes this to the maximum. Blizzard's official preview of the patch 7.3 campaign makes it clear that Argus is the draenei homeworld and a planet devastated by the full presence of the Burning Legion, now turned into its main base.

Antorus and the end of the offensive

The Antorus raid represents the final attempt to strike at the Legion's breeding and command center. The campaign works because the Legion finally stops being an infinite, inevitable force.

The prison of Sargeras

At Legion's climax, the freed souls of the Pantheon titans help contain Sargeras. But before he is imprisoned, he still manages to wound Azeroth with the colossal strike of his sword in Silithus. That detail directly links the end of Legion to the beginning of Battle for Azeroth.

How the heroes reached Argus

After Kil'jaeden's death in patch 7.2, Argus appeared in Azeroth's sky. The draenei of the Exodar built a new ship, the Vindicaar, on Velen's orders and in the style of the naaru's dimensional ships, capable of crossing all the way to the Legion's world. The heroes boarded it with Illidan, Velen and Khadgar.

Read more about the previous chapter: Patch 7.2: Kil'jaeden and the Tomb of Sargeras.

The three zones of Argus

Krokuun: the first landing, a volcanic desert where the Legion has its heaviest fortresses. It's there that the heroes meet the Army of the Light.
Antoran Wastes: the Legion's military center, home to the fortress of Antorus, the Burning Throne.
Mac'Aree: the ancient capital of the eredar, a piece of Argus that was left apart from the rest of the planet. It's the place where you can see what Argus was like before Sargeras corrupted the eredar.

The Army of the Light, Turalyon and Alleria

On Krokuun, the heroes met the Army of the Light, a force of Lightforged draenei, naaru and soldiers of many races that had been fighting the Legion for thousands of years. Its commander was Turalyon, the paladin who defeated the Horde in the Second War and disappeared in Draenor.

With him was Alleria Windrunner, who had spent those thousand years learning to use the Void against the Legion, with the ethereal Locus-Walker. The tension between Turalyon's Light and Alleria's Void is the origin of the Lightforged draenei and the void elves who join the Alliance in Battle for Azeroth.

Illidan, Velen and the prophecy

The Argus campaign puts side by side two men who spent millennia fighting the Legion in opposite ways. Velen, the prophet of the draenei, fled Argus when the eredar accepted Sargeras and spent his life guided by visions of the Light. Illidan made deals with demons, became half demon and was called a traitor by everyone.

On Argus, it turns out the naaru had known about Illidan's role for a long time. The naaru Xe'ra, who created the Army of the Light, wanted to turn Illidan into a champion of the Light. Illidan refused. To him, no one should dictate his destiny, neither the Legion nor the Light. He destroyed Xe'ra, and the act made it clear that Illidan's path would always be his alone.

Velen also pays a price on Argus: he has to face what is left of the people he left behind and of the city where Kil'jaeden and Archimonde accepted Sargeras's pact.

Argus the Unmaker

The last boss of Antorus isn't a demon. It's Argus the Unmaker, the planet's own world-soul, which Sargeras had captured and corrupted. By defeating him, the heroes free the souls of the Pantheon, the titans Sargeras had killed at the very beginning.

The titans turn on Sargeras and imprison him in the Seat of the Pantheon. Illidan stays behind, as the eternal jailer of the titan who had corrupted both his life and the world.

Final summary

Illidan returns in Legion because Azeroth needs a leader willing to face the Burning Legion without backing down from the moral cost. His project was always to destroy the Legion from within, and it culminates in the offensive on Argus, the draenei homeworld turned into the enemy's great base. The Antorus campaign marks the war's definitive breaking point, leading to the titans' containment of Sargeras. Even so, before falling, the dark titan wounds Azeroth with his sword, creating the wound that will open Battle for Azeroth.

That's why this arc is so strong: it ends the franchise's biggest cosmic war up to that point, but it does so in a typically Warcraft way — defeating the enemy and, at the same time, opening the world's next wound.

Where to see it in WotLK

The Exodar, on Azuremyst Isle: the ship of Velen's draenei, who fled Argus when the eredar accepted Sargeras.
Black Temple, in Shadowmoon Valley: where Illidan falls in TBC, before returning in Legion and ending up as Sargeras's jailer.
Sunwell Plateau: Kil'jaeden, the eredar who betrayed Velen, as the final boss.
Hellfire Peninsula: Turalyon and Alleria's expedition to Draenor begins at Honor Hold, the fortress built by the Sons of Lothar.

Frequently asked questions

What happens at the end of Legion?

The heroes defeat Argus the Unmaker and free the souls of the Pantheon, and the titans imprison Sargeras. Before that, Sargeras drives a sword into Azeroth, in Silithus.

Where is Illidan after Legion?

In the Seat of the Pantheon, as Sargeras's jailer.

Who is the Army of the Light?

A force of draenei, naaru and soldiers of many races that had been fighting the Legion for thousands of years, commanded by Turalyon.

"The History of the Expansions" series

← Previous: Patch 7.2: Kil'jaeden and the Tomb of Sargeras Next → Episode 8: The Fourth War in brief: how Azerite reignited the conflict between Horde and Alliance