 After Blizzard confirmed Duran's return in "Heart of the Swarm", and tacitly implied that he may have appeared in "Wings of Liberty", many assumed that the character was reincarnated as Emil Narud.To support this position, fans point to the fact that Narud was revealed in "Heart of the Swarm" to be an ancient shapeshifter serving Amon (fitting his description of himself in "Brood War" as "a servant of a far greater power"), and moreover, "Narud" is "Duran" spelled backwards.Although this was observed and commented/discussed by fans in the series, Blizzard made no definitive effort to merge the two characters until the release of "Whispers of Oblivion", a three part prequel campaign to "Legacy of the Void".