Blizzard Watch

When looking at likely prospects for new playable races next expansion, it’s impossible to ignore the Vrykul. Originally making their first appearance in Wrath, these progenitors of humanity have made a comeback in Legion. With so much time invested in telling their story, it seems a logical conclusion the Vrykul could be made available for play.

Unlike the Shal’dorei, the Vrykul have been featured in more than a single expansion. And unlike the Ethereals, we have a much more comprehensive view of their history — most of our questions surrounding the Vrykul have been addressed, if not fully answered. It wouldn’t be out of the question to see them as an option for playable race.

In fact, given what we might see coming next expansion, you could almost call it “highly likely.”

Last week we talked about Keeper Odyn and the dread being he had summoned from the Shadowlands. Odyn forced his stepdaughter Helya to call up this creature for him. The entity made a pact with Odyn, teaching him how to see into both the Shadowlands and the world of the living, by swallowing his eye whole. With this knowledge, Odyn learned how to create the Val’kyr. These creatures, neither living nor dead, he then used to return the souls of deceased Vrykul from death, housing them in new immortal bodies. In the Halls of Valor, his Valarjar army waited to fulfill the purpose for which it had been created.

Helya objected to this plan so strongly that Odyn forced the transformation on her. Although he claims otherwise in Skyhold, he made her the first of the Val’kyr. After Loken intervened and freed Helya from Odyn’s control, she took her vengeance. She sealed the Halls of Valor away so that Odyn’s Valarjar couldn’t reach Azeroth any longer, trapping them both. But we still have many questions left to answer about what happened.

The Titan Keeper and Prime Designate Odyn did not trust the Dragon Aspects. As he saw it, only those originally created by the Titans for the ordering of Azeroth could be entrusted with such a responsibility. The dragons were of Azeroth, but they weren’t worthy.

He hit upon a plan. Many of the Titan-Forged Vrykul had died valiantly battling the Old Gods in the name of Azeroth and her great destiny. The world itself was a Titan yet unborn, one of Odyn’s own creators — no mere dragon could be worthy of the responsibility of shepherding it into existence. And so, Odyn did the unthinkable.

Last week, we took a look at a race that took center stage for a chunk of the latest expansion. The Shal’dorei are the kind of new entry to Warcraft lore that almost begs to be made a playable race. But there are other races out there that are worth exploring as well — and one of them has been around since WoW’s first expansion. I’m speaking, of course, of the Ethereals.

We first encountered these strange creatures all the way back in Burning Crusade. Ethereals have an extensive but hidden history. We’ve been told parts of it, but we’ve never gotten the whole picture. Given their renewed presence in Legion, is it likely we’ll see them playable in a future expansion?

There were once seven nations of Humankind in the Eastern Kingdoms. All descended from the proud Arathi people and the first Empire of Strom, but they followed many different paths. The people of Strom turned insular and became Stromgarde, a walled fortress that held the history of their first nation. Mighty Lordaeron rose to dominate the region, built in the shadow of the lost tomb of Tyr in the Tirisfal Glades.

The Mages of Dalaran forged a unique destiny for themselves, dedicated to arcane study. The people of Alterac carved out a place in the mountains where Humans once fought Trolls. Many of Strom’s original ruling bloodlines headed south and founded Stormwind on the frontier. Meanwhile, Gilneas grew proud and independent.

But one people never had a king or a queen. One people chose to take to their ships and found a place unlike any of the other nations. An island that provided them with a kind of independence. It lacked the stiff-necked arrogance of Gilneas or the rejection of Stormwind, the mysticism of Dalaran or the ambition of Lordaeron. For one nation, the sea would be the means to its survival and the road to its future.

That nation was Kul Tiras, and no one knows what’s become of her. Like the ships that once plied the sea in her name, she now sails on uncharted waters, if she is still afloat.

It’s about that time in an expansion’s lifetime that we begin looking forward to the next. New expansions typically feature one of two new things: A new class, or a new playable race. Either way, each prospect also introduces new lore. In the past, each playable race has been tied to the expansion in a tangible way. Pandaren obviously featured heavily in Mists of Pandaria. Goblins and Worgen joined the Horde and Alliance respectively as part of Cataclysm’s story. Death Knights were intricately tied to Wrath’s story.

Legion’s story hasn’t quite come to its conclusion – we’ll need the Antorus raid for that, at least. Yet the release of Argus isn’t just about the Eredar homeworld, just like Legion hasn’t been the Burning Legion’s tale. And in between all fighting all the demonic forces the Legion has to offer, there are hints to be found at what might be coming next. The most logical of these? A new player race we’re now intimately familiar with – the Shal’dorei.

Last week Blizzard released the three part Alleria and Turalyon audio drama, A Thousand Years of War. One line in it grabbed my attention. When Alleria made mental contact with Argus’ world-soul, it revealed to her its origin. In that revelation we learned that before it slumbered within Argus, the light that made up the world-soul drifted in the void. It came close to a star for warmth, and the planet formed around it for protection. Up until now we knew that some worlds had world-souls and some didn’t. Now we’ve learned that world-souls predate the worlds they form within.

The audio drama makes a point of equating Argus and Azeroth. It points out that the two worlds are similar. Therefore, we can assume that Azeroth’s world-soul also existed before Azeroth the planet did. And this implies that every Titan came about in this way. A formless entity of light so powerful that it formed a world around itself for protection as it grew. 

This led me to several questions...

Seven years ago this fall Cataclysm struck WoW. With a patch called simply “The Shattering,” the Azeroth that we had leveled and reveled in since 2004 disappeared forever. WoW will soon be 13 years old, so Cataclysm‘s launch was essentially the midpoint for the game to date. It was the expansion that changed WoW more than any other, and it remains the most controversial.

It was also a turning point for the game that allowed WoW to succeed against modern competitors. Cataclysm was pivotal for more than just its reshaping of Azeroth. Let’s look back at what Cataclysm delivered and how it transitioned the game from the first era of WoW to its current version.

Nothing forms a bond quite like family. And no other family has been quite as high-profile as the Windrunners. Each of the Windrunner sisters has experienced what could be considered a uniquely tragic history. Yet all three share similarities that continue to haunt them to this day.

It’s not often that we see true blood-related families in Warcraft lore. Of course we have royal situations, like Varian and Anduin, or Genn and the rest of the Greymane clan. But typically these family situations tend to focus on one person over the other. Genn has a much larger story focus than his wife or daughter. Varian and Anduin tended to trade the spotlight, coming together briefly to share a clash or two before heading off to their own separate questlines.

Outwardly, the Windrunner sisters appear to have done the same. But their stories echo one another, and as a whole, they paint a family picture the likes of which we don’t often seen in Warcraft.

Recently a bit of a contradiction has occurred to me. Namely that the actual source of the Legion’s fabled invincibility has seemed somewhat contradictory. Chronicle Vol. 1 told us that demons always return to the Twisting Nether to be reborn when destroyed. That’s why Sargeras had to create Mardum to imprison demons. Slaying them merely sent them to the Nether to regenerate.

However, it was eventually discovered that a death in the Nether was a true death. Illidan himself says so several times, it’s also said in Chronicle that a death in the Nether or in any place sufficiently suffused with fel energy would be a permanent death for a demon. Both Archimonde at the end of Warlords of Draenor and Kil’jaeden at the end of the Tomb of Sargeras raid are said to be slain in places of heavy fel power and thus presumed to be permanently dead.

This article is full of spoilers for Patch 7.3, Antorus the Burning Throne, and the end of the Legion expansion. If you read it, you will be exposed to those spoilers.

In the beginning of everything, there was only the Light. It was a sea of living energy, filled with the potential of life. But as that sea expanded, pockets of nothingness began to form. This was the Void — and as it grew, it began to move against the Light. Eventually, the two forces clashed together so violently that the universe was created. And over the course of those explosions, shards of Light gathered in the Great Dark Beyond, forming clouds from which creatures emerged.

One of these creatures was the Naaru.

According to history, the Naaru are a benevolent force for the Light. They see the limitless possibilities that exist in the universe and seek to cultivate them. They want to nurture life and hope throughout the cosmos.

Unfortunately, history is sometimes a little…inaccurate.

Today’s Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition. The following contains speculation based on known material. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn’t be taken as fact or official lore.

Right about now, we can be forgiven for focusing on the Burning Legion and the threat they pose to Azeroth and the universe. Even if Sargeras was defeated utterly, the vast army of demons at his disposal will likely remain a threat. Although Archimonde and Kil’jaeden are seemingly disposed of, this vast worlds-destroying force is a monumental adversary.

And of course, even if the Legion were neutralized, there are still threats such as the Void Lords and the Old Gods. Even if they were somehow dealt with there are plenty of other menaces to be faced. Other rogue demons, the Scourge and the Lich King, and many worlds we know nothing about.

But for my money, one of the biggest threats to Azeroth is Queen Azshara. She’s dealt with both the Legion and the Old Gods and retains her own will, her own purposes. Even now with Azeroth on the verge of destruction she has her eyes fixed on the main chance. Azshara cares for one being, and one being only. Herself.

The concept of destiny is a powerful thing in World of Warcraft. It’s a big, weighty word — one that has written the fates of both heroes and villains in lore. It was destiny that Arthas would eventually fall to corruption and become the Lich King. It was prophesized that Jaina Proudmoore would eventually lead the Kirin Tor in her own destiny. And it was destiny that the Orcs would drink the Blood of Mannoroth and invade Azeroth.

In fact, destiny has had a heavy hand in most of the major lore moments in WoW. But what shapes that destiny? Is it simply fate? Are we just pieces of some great story moving inexorably onward? Or are we chess pieces, our destinies written and orchestrated by a higher hand?

And if so…is that higher hand a benevolent force, or a malevolent one?

This is a bit of a swerve for this column, but I get asked a lot of questions on Twitter and via email about patch 7.3 and things that we’ve seen and experienced since it dropped. So in this particular edition of Know Your Lore, I’m going to take some time and look at them.

Note — there are going to be big spoilers for Antorus the Burning Throne and the end of the patch 7.3 storyline here. It’s the last section of the column, so you don’t have to panic — they’ve been marked as spoilers so you can avoid them. Let’s do this.

Some argue he is the weakest of the Old Gods. Still others that he is the last of the Old Gods free to work on Azeroth. These contradictions sum up the nightmare that is N'Zoth -- the manipulator and exploiter, the dark voice in the endless crushing depths, the master of the sunken city. Yogg-Saron opened the way into the Emerald Dream for the Old Gods. But it was N'Zoth who was the Nightmare's master. The infection that empowered Xavius, and threatened the world. N'Zoth has never been seen or faced, not even an echo or remnant of him. While Y'Shaarj, C'Thun and Yogg-Saron have in one way or another made themselves known in the age of mortals, N'Zoth still lurks out in the fathoms.

N'Zoth's day comes closer and closer. But what do we actually know about him?

World of Warcraft has a wide variety of playable races to choose from. Each race comes with its own quirks — and in some cases, its own particular dialect. This means that voice files for these races have accents that help add to the overall flavor of the race. It also means that roleplayers sometimes feel obligated to use that accent while roleplaying.

But roleplay is a written medium. There aren’t any words actually spoken aloud — so is that accent really necessary? Are any of these racial quirks really necessary? And how do you go about successfully incorporating them into your roleplay?

Patch 7.3 has arrived, and with it a new faction — the Grand Army of the Light. While we’ve seen evidence of the Army on Azeroth, only now have we encountered the majority of its forces. Over the course of 7.3, we ally with the Army, becoming members in our own right. Velen once had a vision of a grand united army of all of Azeroth’s races. It looks like that vision is coming to fruition.

As far as roleplay goes, you can choose to incorporate Argus if you like. You can also choose to ignore it, and focus on your character’s life on Azeroth. But there’s a third option here as well. What if you wanted to roleplay a member of that Grand Army? Not a recent addition, but someone who has been with the Army all along? What would that character look like?