Here is my guess. Everything in Wow can trace its origin to the sources of the Light and or Void. Given what we know, is it a stretch to assume that Life, Arcane, and Holy magic appear to be from the Light. While Fel, Shadow, and Death are from the void? The interplay between schools of magic, especially their cosmic opposites could be due to the universe being a composite of light and void.
Other minor questions-
- Spirit and Anima must be one in the same right?
- Is Mana spiritual energy ( for arcane beings only )? Anima was compared to mana at blizzcon, but it might not have been too literal.
- Why are death and the void now apparent enemies? Much death magic appears to be tied to shadow magic (Death Knight’s resurrection being called “Void Touched’, Undead in Shadowmoon, Shadowlands literally being called the Shadowlands)
- Does Every Titan World soul create an emerald dream and link their world to the Shadowlands via their own spiritual essence?
- How do undead exist in the Shadowlands, if Undead are neither dead nor living?
- Is the Anima used by the Titans and the Mogu, a life equivalent of the “Death” anima in the Shadowlands? What is there relation?
Otherwise, there is a lot of retconning, confusion, and explanation required (See below)
So Far we "know"
Creation
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Before existence there was the light. A literal sea of hope, joy, and life energy.
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Soon the Void came in places where the Light was absent. And the clash of the light and void created the material (Great Dark Beyond) and immaterial universes (Twisting Nether).
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Shards of light gave rise to sparks of life. Naaru, beings of pure light, sought to nurture life.
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One of the earliest and most common forms of life were the elements, including the fifth element, spirit.
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Spirit affects the disposition of the other four elements. The more spirit, the less chaotic the elementals. Spirit is also how Shamans commune with the elements.
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Titans were born from the primordial matter of the universe; presumably the matter created from the clashing of light and void.
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Titan World souls also consume spirit.
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A world like Azeroth has much of its spirit drained by its world soul. That is why the elements are chaotic.
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Emerald Dream’s origin is unknown. Either created by Freya or born from Azeroth’s world soul and shaped by Freya.
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Wild Gods (presumably Loa too) are spiritually tied to Emerald Dream. Wild Gods embody life and nature.
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One can assume then that Loa and Wild Gods embody spirit as well. Considering spirit is the spark of life, the Dream’s connection to the World Soul, and titan’s manipulation of life energies (e.g. Forge of Wills)
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Furthermore, Monks use spirit (chi) like Shamans. Instead of invoking the elements, they harness their own energy and commune with nature spirits akin to Wild Gods and Loa.
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The shadowlands is the opposite of the Emerald Dream. Connected to Azeroth, but instead, a representation of death and decay. The shadowlands origins are also shrouded in mystery, but appears to have been around since the beginning of time.
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The Shadowlands is tied to the Emerald Dream via Ardenweald, a place of rebirth for the Wild Gods and Loa. Anima, a spiritual essence of living things, aids in the rebirth of Wild Gods and Loa.
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Yet on Azeroth (another form?) Anima existed as a form of creation magic. Titans and their creations like the Mogu used anima to shape life.
Other examples of entities dabbling into other cosmic spheres
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Titans, beings of order and arcane, have seeded and shaped life among the Cosmos
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Void’s relation to negative emotions and negative emotions being related to death (Sha, Yogg Saron, Forsworn, Undead’s hatred for the living and not being able to feel positive emotions like Hope- a quality tied to the light)
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Legion’s use of necromancy via Dreadlords who also engaged in shadow magic
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Elune’s ties to life entities Ysera and Dream and Light entities like Naaru
The quite literal answer to your title question is “no.” At least not anyone outside of Blizzard’s employment.
2 Likes
True. I just wish there weren’t so many contradictions.
Can I pretend that I know the answer?
Kinda. They seem to sort of “hoard” it to promote their own growth. The process doesn’t seem to actually expend the Spirit itself though; a bunch of it was returned to Azeroth’s surface when the World Soul was wounded by Y’shaarj’s extraction, not unlike how the Sporemounds on Draenor had accumulated much of the planet’s spirit, then released it back to the environment when they were slain by Grond and then his Colossal offshoots.
Spirit doesn’t actually seem to be an outright standalone, independently tangible energy the same way the other magics are; it seems more like the “impetus” of growth itself, with Decay being its inverse. Kind of like if one were to consider Life and Death opposites on a scale, Spirit and Decay would be the “force” of inertia in one direction or the other between them.
Almost like something can be either dead or alive, but Spirit or Decay reflect the state of “how dead” or “how alive” it is. So theoretically Azeroth bleeding out a bunch of Spirit-charged arcane energy from that original wound may have delayed the World Soul’s eventual maturation while accelerating the recovery of Nature on the planet. Just as the release of Spirit-charged Nature on Draenor allowed non-plant life to blossom more dynamically in the wake of the Sporemounds’ destruction, when before the Sporemounds were taking ever more Spirit away from the rest of Draenor without returning it to the general ecosystem as every bit they consumed was tied up in their own perpetual growth.
I feel like we are saying the same thing though. Maybe it doesn’t consume spirit as in the Titan processes and erases it, but the Titans do seem to store spirit. I guess we don’t know what happens with the spirit when the maturation process is over and a full grown titan is “born”.
Your comment on Spirit and Decay has me thinking. What if spirit is a “force”, while decay is the lack of said force- like entropy. Without spirit to foster growth, living things waste away.
That does align Fel, Decay, and Death, with the Void nicely.
I’m not sure what you mean by this. You can pretend you do, sure, but it’s never going to be anything but a headcanon without explicit confirmation from Blizzard.
I was just joking about that part, nothing serious
Danuser in a recent interview described Death as the Cosmic Power that drives everything in the Shadowlands.
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/9084-Shadowlands-Dev-Interview-Steve-Danuser
Because of this it can be surmised that Anima is Death Energy.
Of course the Maw’s resource Stygia is the result of destroying Souls which makes it the counterpart of Fel in the Shadowlands. Fel is the result of destroying Souls in the Great Dark Beyond and the Twisting Nether.
Destroying Souls in the Nether and the Great Dark creates Chaos/Fel while destroying them in the Shadowlands creates Stygia which is still Death though deader than usual(yet still capable of producing Elementals).
Interesting, but also strange. What would that make spirit if anima is death energy?
Is spirit the life energy part of the soul and anima the death energy part? I always assumed spirit was the soul regardless.
Spirit is also known as Spirit of Life according to the Lord of the Clans Novel so yes it is the Life Energy in Souls.
Destroying Life Energy makes Chaos Energy in the form of Fel while destroying Death Energy makes even deader Death Energy in the form of Stygia.
Hmm all of this is more confusing. I can get this distinction, but I don’t think Blizzard is consistent in their definition of souls.
With regards to Warlocks, souls are sometimes referred to as life essences. That definition makes it seem like souls and life essence are one in the same. Anima is described as soul essence. I am assuming this implies soul essence is what makes the soul, the soul. And at this point, there really isn’t a distinction between either. If soul essence makes the soul and a soul is life essence, then anima should be life essence as well.
I am still a bit baffled by death energies because aren’t life energies already spiritual? Like death and life are really based on a physical point of reference.
Also, what do you make of Mogu’s anima?
The second a person dies their Soul becomes Death Energy ceasing to be Life.
The Legion of course uses Living Souls filled with Life to make Fel and Dead Souls filled with Death to balance out the Fel(created from Living Souls) for their machines which can’t control Fel without a balancing agent(Dead Souls or Arcane) like Demons themselves can.
Considering it appears feeding the processes of Death in the Shadowlands and as part of mogu and titan vivifying magics (and since MoP, blood elf golems as well), I’m inclined to think Anima is sort of a catalytic “neutral” agent that empowers Life and Death alike. Sort of the common “fuel” that passes from the living world into the realm of death when living things die, and then presumably passes back to the living realm in some manner as it’s expended to keep the Shadowlands operating. Like the metaphysical grease that keeps the gears of the cycle of Life and Death spinning properly.
Ordinarily, that is. Presumably Anima being hoarded by the Jailer in the Maw prevents it from serving either purpose in either realm any more, which probably means that the danger his activities pose to the Shadowlands ultimately threatens to wreck the living side of things as well.
So death and life are merely the state of a soul. I’m guessing the magic equivalent would be Spirit (life) or decay (death).
I’m just having trouble wrapping my head around the idea of a “dead” soul, you know?
For Raselle (I’m clicking reply, but it doesn’t seem like it is working)
From that perspective, it does tie together neatly.
Anima feeds both life and death.
How would you define spirit?
Decay apparently is Void/Shadow/Nothingness according to WoD Nagrand Questing so it is not Death.
Decay is the force of Nothingness that enslaves and tortures the Elements while Life is the Energies that bind the Elements together and Death is the energies of the Dead.
Elements tortured by Decay/Void turn into twisted versions of themselves: Water becomes Foul Water, Air becomes Poison, Fire becomes Ash, Earth becomes Metal and Life becomes Blood/Mogu Anima(the pools of which have bones flying around them hinting that it’s on the verge of becoming Death).
I can understand how spirit/decay is an element only thing.
But then chronicles describes the elements as life. And monks use chi to connect to the Celestials. So that makes it seem like spirit is related to nature.
Real talk, I think the writers forgot about the life-shaping anima introduced to us in MoP and they needed a word that sounded cool to use for their new AP grind in Shadowlands.
That’s most assuredly it and since the Anima used by the Mogu in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms has bones orbiting them the Life Energies are clearly on the verge of becoming Death making the distinction redundant.
There is a reason G’huun the Old God of Blood has Liches who use Purple Death Magic… He is torturing the Life with Decay/Void to the point where it becomes Blood and later Death.
Decay is Void/Shadow applied to the Elements while Spirit is the Life/Nature inside the other Elements.
Ivalesse
I think you are right, the probably forgot that part of MOP
I know decay has shadow/void themes, but has there been an official confirmation that it is shadow related? Edit- I did see you say that it is mentioned it in Nagrand questing. I will have to check that out.
But decay used on a non-elemental would it just be void?
Spirit extends beyond elements too though right? I always think of Monks. They harness their own chi and it seems to have some connection to the Celestials.
From the Completion:
Dark shamanism is a dangerous practice, .
It is true that the void can be a source of terrible power, but it is the kind of power that comes at a price.
These woods are safer now that you have put an end to the ritual
As for Chi and the Celestials: Celestials are Wild Gods just like the Troll Gods and the Ancients. They are tied to Nature.
Spirit is tied to all that has Life Energies and is considered the 5th Element with Decay being the 6th Element.
In the Shadowlands Decay only appears in Void-corrupted parts like Revendreth(which is decaying), the portion where Terokk hid away in, the realm of the Lich King, the Edge of Reality and the Nightmare infected part of Ardenweald.