I was considering the raid earlier today where a party of 20 of us mortal types go in and apparently kill N’Zoth (in something that may or may not be Nyalotha because, yknow, sort of small…). And it made me wonder just how realistic that idea was. Is it that simple to kill a god? And given gods tend to be considered immortal, if N’Zoth did, indeed die, is that the end for the old monster?
I found this interview that occurred back in 2019 with Steve Danuser where he said some interesting stuff:
I found the part where he said this to be particularly relevant:
“If you think about our cosmology and the way that creatures of magic work as opposed to mortals, mortals die they go to the Shadowlands. If you fought the Legion, you fought demons. If you kill them on Azeroth, where do they go? Back to the Twisting Nether, which is the place where they come from.”
“So if you think about other magical creatures and think what happens when you kill them on Azeroth, where do they go? There’s the potential for things like that to kind of happen. We try to have this cosmology of the way things work, and that’s something that you can apply to other things. And I think the old gods are an interesting case where, you know, we’ve defeated one version of them and who knows if another manifestation will eventually take place.”
The words “one version” sort of popped for me. Could it be that N’Zoth showed us simply a version of himself? This is a very cunning old creature who has been patiently working on his plot for a very long time. Would it not occur to him that such a scenario might arise? And wouldn’t he have Plan B put aside for just such an event?
It makes me think that we haven’t seen the last of N’Zoth (or even some of the other Old Gods) and that it would take something fairly monumental for them to be utterly cast out of our reality.
I don’t take that as necessarily being something they could control. I see it as being more like how it works with angels and demons in the Diablo series. We can kill them but it doesn’t really stick(at least for the powerful ones). They might not be exactly the same when they come back but, sooner or later, they will come back.
Blizzard clearly hasn’t known what to do with the whole Old Gods storyline for years now, and doesn’t have anywhere to take it from here without rehashing the same things for the hundredth time, so they’ve just decided to definitively end it all here and now with the DBZ laser, and move on to something entirely different.
N’Zoth hasn’t actually had a role of any substance in the game since he was first introduced (claiming he was “behind things” after the fact really doesn’t count), and just like Azshara, barely even had an active presence at all in this expansion before quickly being eliminated again.
His vaunted role as subtle corrupter and manipulator was also completely undermined by just being yet another absolutely boring, unoriginal shouty tentacle monster when he finally made an appearance.
Of course, none of that guarantees the notoriously lazy modern Blizzard won’t still pop out a “Return of the Old Gods” holding pattern filler expansion further down the track if they want to buy themselves another two years of breathing room, but for now you should expect that whole aspect of the game to be totally done with, and never mentioned again.
I would call the creation of the Emerald Nightmare, the Naga, and driving the Earth Warden insane quite some accomplishments while being locked away and not at full strength, plus we had to cheat once again to beat him just like almost all the other end of the expac bosses.
Yeah I think it would be stupid of him - That he finally escapes (Full fledged, unlike the others) and he goes to a ‘place where he’s most vulnerable’ ? lol, like he could had attacked Stormwind from the Ocean, or heaved himself upon the land and caused more damage than what he did.
He only corrupted what? Two zones? Uldum & Vale of the Eternal Blossoms … And neither could be done at the same time … Seems to me, like he wanted people to believe he’d been truly defeated.
I mean think about it - Multiple spies amongst the Alliance & the Horde having known he’d escaped were searching for him as well as his ideas. Wrathion too was hell-bent on averting whatever plans he had made. So what better way to shoo them off than make them all believe he has been defeated?
Other notions to factor in:
is Queen Azshara told the heroes to drive the Blade of the Black Empire into N’Zoth’s heart … Wrathion clearly isn’t good at listening because he decided to stab a body of flesh @ a random spot instead.
That being stated, the Blade of the Black Empire is not to be found … it seems to have mysteriously been lost after the confrontation; allowing either one of the Black Empires or Queen Azshara (Or perhaps our cunning knaifu-waifu to reclaim) and seize it once more for their plans.
I’m hoping time will tell. Personally I’m hoping the stated above is the case, as it would be the only way-how that I’d forgive this patch, as well as N’Zoth’s end ‘cinematic’ (If you can call it that). Especially given the build up they originally had for N’Zoth and the Old Gods …
Didn’t he corrupt the Earth-Warder, which brought about an entire expansion and nearly destroyed the world? I know the lore says “old gods” plural but since N’Zoth is known as the Corruptor and during this expansion his corruption and insanity are an integral part of the expansion, I would assume he had a big part to play in driving Neltharion crazy.
I still think that you might be ‘underthinking’ it. The fact that the Old Gods have been part of the game since Burning Crusade doesn’t indicate shallow planning to me. Rather than simply create new threats every expansion they are continuing a 15 year story as the expansions progress which I think is great, personally. Yes, there are new creations and new events but many of the core features come from way back in the story. Hell, Arthas and Frostmourne first appeared in Warcraft 3.
Is it possible? Yes. Would it be cool? Absolutely. Would it cement N’zoth as one of the greatest villains in WoW lore? 100%
But is it likely? No. And I think clinging to a theory like this would be giving the writers way too much credit. Besides; at the very least it does nothing to quell the criticisms of N’zoth being “wasted.” Even if he isn’t truly dead, we know the next expansion will be all about Sylvanas and the Jailor. That means that, at minimum, N’zoth has still been removed from play for at least the next 2 years.
I don’t hate it. It’s an interesting item within the expansion storyline.
Azeroth is certainly strong, if currently injured (getting that sword out of her would be nice I reckon). And I’m not saying that N’Zoth isn’t dead, just that it seems a rather abrupt and predictable method. It’s not the first time the Heart has been used in offensive action during the expansion and I find it odd that a very old and powerful being wouldn’t have taken that into account.
well the Old gods are/were deemed immortal in a “deathless” sense so its unlikely any of the Old gods we’ve “killed” are actually dead and not in a regenerative coma of some sort, even that one the titans pulled out of Azeroth Y’shaarj started slowly rooting back into the planet and regrowing it’s bodily mass shortly after being ripped out; having said that WoW’s “immortality” like Marvel’s is just not aging and being immune to illness and doesn’t cover magical or murderous means of death (which isn’t the definition of immortal which means undying and non-decaying.). unless the very essence of an Old god (the corruption or vice they represent like y’shaarj’s heart of rage as the shas) is destroyed they regrow or reform over and over again seemingly.
Well my annoyance with the heart of Azeroth kamehame was, wasn’t the necklace supposed to be used to Idk heal that giant sword and the plethora of other wooooonds killing the planet?
Plus wasting N’zoth who has one of the best voices.
Actually Yogg just opened the way, N’zoth took over the Emerald Nightmare. Even if Azshara back stabbed him he created an entirely new race of powerful beings.
Sounds more like an artful way of keeping possibilities open.
By saying it’s not truly dead, and consequently extending that logic to all other beings they open up a multitude of possibilities for the future. Much like comics reviving supposed “dead” villains or heroes.
It was always implied that killing an old god just banishes it to a different realm where it kinda just exists.
It’s why you see Yogg pop out during that Legion quest, and their avatars when fighting the bug in Uldir. The titans actually killed Y’shaarj, and almost destroyed the planet in doing so.
With N’zoth, though - it’s quite possible we perma-killed him. We kill him with plot powers on his home turf, N’yalotha.
Two things here:
Nyalotha was the realm they regenerate in, supposedly. It’s possible they retconned that.
Typical RPG lore is if you kill something on its home plane, it’s dead for real.
Said Avatars were the Data on the Titan Disks. The ingame dialogue itself tells you this!
As Blizzard stated though: Killing Void Entities banishes them back to the Void. Yogg-Saron, C’Thun, G’huun and Y’Shaarj are all back in the Void sitting within their own realm(with Garrosh’s Ax having him tell you that every blemish is one step closer to Y’Shaarj’s Realm).
N’Zoth and the Old Gods’ realm Ny’alotha are utterly destroyed permanently(Blizzard made it clear in interviews that killing N’Zoth there would kill him permanently)!
N’Zoth had Murozond serving him so he knew his fate yet he made certain that his Rivals would have to flee Ny’alotha as soon as he started being Re-Originating.
N’Zoth makes certain defeat no matter how devastating works in his favor! He even set up the Void-corrupted Azeroth would be controlled by Cultists loyal to him so that if Y’Shaarj, Yogg-Saron, C’Thun and G’huun attempted to Re-Originate Azeroth they’d find a Black Empire that’s not on their side!
Yeah, it’s just a damn shame that his slave Deathwing got an entire expansion to himself with him in the spotlight, while N’zoth showed up for a whole 12 minutes during BfA.
