Could Azeroth actually be a First One?

The Forum Discord got into a lore discussion last night about Azeroth and why the Jailer is after her, etc. And someone brought up the idea that Azeroth isn’t a Titan at all, but she’s a baby First One. Things that support this:

  1. The Jailer is after the power of the First Ones. Yet he made it clear he’s after Azeroth’s soul.
  2. The Pantheon said they believe Azeroth will be stronger than all of them put together. That sounds more on a power level of a First One, not a fellow titan.
  3. The Heart of Azeroth reacted to the First Ones Obelisks and allowed us to active them.
  4. The Arbiter stirred when the Heart entered Oribos.

Could the Titans just not have known the difference between a slumbering Titan soul and a slumbering First One soul?

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I think the idea of Azeroth being a First One is a combination of fan theories and retcons. Having said that, the first two points are are good ones. It is possible the Titans made a mistake and Azeroth really is a First One.

The parts I’m not sure about the third and fourth points. Canonically, did we have the Heart of Azeroth necklaces on us when we entered the Maw and met the Arbiter? Also, while the Arbiter stirred when we first entered Oribos, she didn’t stir when we saw her face-to-face, which I’m not sure what to make of.

Overall, this a good theory and it could end up being the case.

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I don’t believe the heart specifically has been mentioned, but our connection to Azeroth being the reason we’re the Maw Walker has:

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She may even be the first First One. The one who dreamed up reality itself.

Between how she’s depicted in the story The Eyes of the Earthmother as well as various lore hints. I’ve started to see her as possibility of being WoW’s version of Purusha/Prakriti. the dualistic eternal, authentic spirit.

I think she’s what the Everliving Statuette referred to as ‘the fulcrum on which reality hinges’ these are just abstract concepts at this time, it’s really down to us to interpret what it all means.

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Yes. But hopefully they aren’t.

The Well of Eternity was very much associated with the Titanic powers of Arcane and Order. This was essentially made from wounding Azeroth.

Magni communicates in a very similar manner with Azeroth as he did with Argus, a Titan.

I dunno, seems like a Titan to me.

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I think Azeroth is the combined power of what remained of the First Ones.

In the Runecarver’s Memory cinematic, Zovaal says he needs the Helm of Domination and the “finest Mourneblade” to claim the final prizethe secret the First Ones tried to hide.

Those items were created purposefully for the Lich King of Azeroth, so that Zovaal could eventually gain access to Azeroth.

I think it is pretty apparent that either Azeroth is a First One, or she was the First Titan to be created, which gave her her link to all cosmetic forces and made her the most powerful.



N’Zoth whispers: She is not the last, but the first. Drown her and you will see.

Wraithion had a questline in MoP called the Final Titan, which Azeroth was referred to as, at the time. The void could know that she’s either a First One, or at least the First Titan creation.

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So, the new Grimoire of the Shadowlands says that the Titans only stumbled on the knowledge of the cosmos and in ignorant fashion twisted the information to have very Titan centric biases. When they refer to Azeroth as a “World Soul” they are refering to Azeroth being a Titan because they believe themselves to be the highest force in the cosmos.

What Azeroth could be is an Anima Mundi aka a Platonic definition of a World Soul. The notion of an organic and living world ruled by spiritual forces rather than by mechanical laws. “The soul is the principle of order and life that rules over the material world, which it excels in origin and nobility; it presides over the movement of heaven and the stars, and from it the Demiurge derives individual human souls” - Timaeus

So yes, she could very well be a First One, and not a Titan as originally portrayed.

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I hope not.

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Or worse: Considering the mention of Zereth Mortis(which sounds suspiciously like Azeroth Mortis) she could possibly be the Cosmic Force of Death itself contained by the First Ones in an attempt to bring balance to the Cosmos!

Death deals either Shadow Damage, Nature Damage or Arcane Damage.

Incidentally the Heart of Azeroth has an Anima of Life and Death with the Icon combined with the name implying that Azerite is composed of the Anima of Life and Death with the Life Anima being Golden and Death Anima being Blue.

How Life and Death Anima are the Blood of Azeroth despite the Well of Eternity being Arcane Energy is quite confusing though… of course it was Norgannon and the rest of the Titans who calmed the Well of Eternity’s Blood down so they could easily have turned the wound into pure Arcane using Arcane Magic to Order it.

As for why Death would have Life Anima… The World Soul is eating Spirit and Spirit is Life! Of course Death would have traces of Life flowing into her Blood.

Of course if Azeroth is Death and Zovaal wishes to unchain Death so that he may share in her victory then it makes sense that N’Zoth is blatantly trying to kill Azeroth(through the Hour of Twilight during Cataclysm or through slowly killing her during BfA): Death wants the End of All Things so why would the Void Lords(who unlike the all-consuming Void itself wants Infinite Realities) want the thing to live!?!

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Yes! and I’m glad you brought this up because I’ve been formulating a theory that Azeroth and Draenor are mirror worlds. Draenor is the planet associated with Life and Azeroth is
it’s mirror planet associated with Death.

Look at how both started out by consuming the 5th spirit and having different effects. Dreanor consumed too much of the 5th element of spirit causing it’s elemental spirits to be in balance. It caused too much Life to grow on the planet resulting in the Everbloom. Aggrammar leaves behind a stone Titan Keeper to kill the Everbloom which becomes sentient and organic in a being known as Grond.

Same thing happens on Azeroth, consumes too much of the 5th spirit, elementals in chaos, Old Gods form either smashing into the planet (or develop naturally as the anti-thesis of Life), beings of necrotic darkness, Another threat rises to face the Titans on Azeroth, A necrotic proto-dragon high on consuming anima called Galakrond.

Those are just small examples.

Draenor generated too much Spirit while Azeroth consumed too much Spirit.

The Void Revenant on Draenor calls it the corpse of a dying God. Right after Grond and it’s Colossi Descendants kill the Sporemounds the Spirit weakens enough for Elementals to appear.

The Evergrowth is Life itself I suspect which means if Azeroth Mortis dies then the Balance will go to Life empowering the Evergrowth allowing it to resurrect on Azeroth which has access to the Emerald Dream(formed from the Dreams of Mortals just as much as from the Dream of the World Soul which will allow it to survive Azeroth Mortis’s demise) which could easily become it’s World Soul.

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Magni calls her a Titan though in Legion when we stop the Legions first attempt to seize control of Ulduar. And Magni has direct contact with her. So it would seem that Azeroth herself knows that she is a Titan. Also during 7.3, Magni notes that the voice of Argus, Eonar and the other Titans sound much like Azeroths but different. Are you saying that Magni (and by extension Azeroth herself) are wrong in thinking that Azeroth is a Titan?

Draenor had too much spirit. Not that it consumed too much. No idea where you got that from. Draenor is not even a world soul planet. It was just a regular planet that Aggramar just happened to find. The reason why Aggramar didn’t do a whole lot (like creating Grond was all he did) was because Draenor was not a fellow titan world.

Please get the lore facts correct when you are trying to make an argument.

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I’m not making an argument, I’m just hypothesizing,

And creating false statements that can be easily proven wrong is part of this “hypothesis”?

This isn’t the first time I’ve called you out on this either.

Magni also states he doesn’t hear words.

“Not so much in words. 'Tis more… feelin’s… but not like feelin’s ye or I would have.”

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Dreanor had an abundance of the fifth element - The Spirit of Life- it had saturated that world. […} the fifth element had a remarkable effect on the planet, it accelerated growth of flora and fauna on the planet . it made the world into a cradle of untamed Life. - Chronicle vol 2 page 12

The 5th Spirit called simply “Spirit” in the first Chronicle is called “The Spirit of Life” in Chronicle volume 2. Although Draenor wasn’t a Titan World Soul it was described as being special in it’s own right.

While Dreanor is described as having an abundance of the 5th Spirit. Azeroth is described as “consuming” too much 5th Spirit. The only thing in the universe that’s described as “consuming” is the Void.

I don’t understand why you are pressed. Is it claiming that the Titans are wrong? or that they may have not even understood themselves what Azeroth was? or is it because I don’t trust Magni ? (especially not after the whole “The King of Diamonds has been made a pawn.” whisper)

The new Grimoire literally pokes fun at the titans for getting the knowledge of the Universe and how it operates wrong, at this point they threw the whole Titan PoV out, it’s anyone’s best guess how they are going to change the established lore further.

“The Vassel of Life disguises treachery.” Azeroth was terraformed by the Titans using the Emerald Dream, But Azeroth originally was a being/planet connected to Death and the Void, the Emerald Nightmare is possibly the natural state of the Emerald Dream. It’s very possible that there are cycles of Life and Death at play as well. The Nightmare taking back the Dream is the beginning of a new cycle.

The Emerald Dream was one result of the titans’ Reordering, not the means by which they did the Reordering. The Reordering of Azeroth was accomplished by the Keepers and their servitors, through direct magical manipulation, physical reshaping and the use of gigantic machinery embedded into the planet’s crust.

Azeroth originated as a world inhabited by rampaging elementals; the Void only came to it when the Old Gods landed and subjugated those original inhabitants. And the Spirit was only “consumed” insofar as the world-soul was hogging most of it; when Azeroth was wounded, it caused a wellspring of new life to explode from exposure to her blood. Meaning that blood was likely not only Arcane, but also charged with a great deal of the Spirit that had been previously absorbed by the world-soul to aid in its gestation.

There’s already an origin point to the Emerald Nightmare; Yogg-Saron created it when his influence was able to seep into the Dream through the night elves’ attempt to use World Trees to slow the growth of more saronite. The Dream’s complete origin remains unclear, though given the way the titans seemed able to detect the dreams of slumbering world-souls on approach, it wouldn’t surprise me if the presence of so massive a life form as a nascent titan causes some form of weakening between their world and the realm of Life, just as large concentrations of uncontrolled magic cause weakening in the natural barriers separating the Great Dark from the Twisting Nether. Like perhaps world-souls literally produce their own localized pocket dimension that amounts to a reflection of their home planet projecting partway into that realm, manifesting as a “dream.”

The point of the Grimoire is that it’s expressly being presented by a biased observer, whose own arrogant and irrational prejudices color the framing and lace it with all sorts of blatant editorializing. Chronicle is presented as clinical and unbiased because even if it is from the PoV of a titan or other Order-aligned being (though so far it really only seems to be sort of “meta-contextually” titan-oriented), the nature of Order is that a strict attempt at adherence to objective fact would be necessary. In Order and structure, what is, is. Whether you’d “like” it to be or not. That’s how Order works; skewing toward how one wants things to have happened rather than acknowledging how they did is to avoid differentiating between what is and what isn’t. Irrational biases and unfounded assumptions would amount to providing a disorderly and non-viable accounting, so as the “story of the titans and their creations” Chronicle lays it out with the unblemished facts (insofar as they’re known; hence omissions or a minimalist accounting of certain things like the workings of Death, of which the titans were minimally informed) while omitting roundabout speculation or biased presumption, even though doing so in effect boils it down to a practical accounting of widespread failure and defeat on the part of the agents of Order.

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Some believe that Freya wove the Emerald Dream into being from nothing. Others claim that this strange place had always existed in some form, a dream born from Azeroth’s slumbering. It is said that Freya tapped into this realm and molded what would become known as the Emerald Dream as a way to commune with the nascent titan. - Chronicle volume 1

It’s unknown even to the Titans if this was something Freya created or something she just tapped into and reordered. I choose to believe the latter.

There is no use discussing it.

It’ll all be retconned in the next Chronicles books.
Because that is what lore is to blizzard.

It is another way to milk the playerbase, so they keep retconning and changing in order to sell future books.

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