According to Jaina and Lorthemar after the Siege they have no idea what Magic Sylvanas just used and are confused by it. Sylvanas’s words make it clear it’s Death Magic.
It seems this is the first time the Alliance and Horde as a whole has been exposed to Death Magic without mistaking it for Void Magic or Fel Magic according to Blizzard.
The only reason the Death Magic was noticed as something distinct was because their were Mages who noticed the uniqueness of it all compared to Void Magic and Fel Magic.
Jaina wasn’t present when Gul’dan’s Death Knights used Death Magic nor it seems was Lorthemar. Khadgar probably could have identified it to them if he were there but he is busy in Karazhan.
The Scourge it seems ultimately used Void(Ner’zhul’s Echo uses Void), Ghost(Ghost Magic blatantly infecting the Sunwell when Kael’thas destroyed it) and Fel Magic(Fel Runes everywhere) in order to emulate Necromancy.
Soul Magic despite being called Death Magic by Blizzard at Blizzcon it seems isn’t actual Death Energies since Jaina couldn’t recognize any similarities between Sylvanas’s Death Magic and Drustvar Soul Magic.
Jaina also never encountered Yogg-Saron unlike the Scourge and merely heard tales of him.
The only to date Player encounters with Death Magic were Yogg-Saron, the Liches of Nazmir, the Twisted Child of Rezan, the Dark Chronicler and now Sylvanas.
Of all the new developments today, the scene with the Alliance leaders sitting around discussing Sylvanas’s new powers intrigues me the most. It implies that we are heading into uncharted waters. I like that. I like that a lot.
Also since you bring up Yogg-Saron…am I insane or is it incredibly telegraphed at this point that Sylvanas is involved with Yogg-Saron “You Cannot Kill Hope”…Yogg-Saron is “Hope’s End”…You cannot Kill Hope…Hope’s End…Old Gods…God of Death…WoTLK references…
I think one of the most eyebrow raising moments of the ENTIRE thing was when Sylvanas says “how I see you”. I don’t think that was simply referencing some sort of superiority complex.
That along with the evil purple doom ball makes me wonder if it has something to do with the deal between Sylvanas & Helya.
If you haven’t done the loyalist quest line (which I encourage you whole-heartedly to do), it’s clear that Sylvanas intends to either use N’zoth or to allow N’zoth to do what would otherwise already be in her interests. No inclination that she has been gifted new powers from N’zoth or is otherwise serving N’zoth at all. I agree her new powers resemble N’zoths powers at least superficially (black smoke) to which I would argue means the death entity Sylvanas serves is Yogg-Saron, not N’zoth.
This all would also explain why N’zoth seems so desperate to have us on his side.
Either way of all the 6 existing “powers,” Death is definitely the one most in need of expounding upon. Perhaps the Old Gods were originally servants of Death that became servants of Void much like the Titans.
Well…that has definitely been thrown into question by the events of earlier today. But nevertheless I think she tells the truth in so much as the truth as she sees it, or at least in so much as she has been made to see it since she attempted to kill herself on Saronite.
The Chronicle specifically calls the Old Gods the creations of the Void Lords.
The forms of Void Magic are: Dark Purple Stars with Dark Purple Streams coming out of them, Blue Fear Magic, Red Nightmare Magic, Orange Delirium Magic and White-Black Sha Magic.
Death Magic takes the form of: Green Energy, Black Smoke and Bright Purple Energy.
N’Zoth used the Dark Purple streams that come out of Purple Night Sky Void Magic to rescue Azshara.
Of course now knowing that Soul Magic is not Death Energies one must ask what is it? The answer is obvious considering Fel fuels itself on Life and uses Souls as fuel: Soul Magic is Life Magic.
Quite a lot of beings don’t know that there are actual Death Energies distinct from the Fel Magic and Soul Magic… Soon that will change.
As for why Yogg-Saron is a God of Death: The Old Gods are all Gods of something just as the Titans are Titans of something so Yogg-Saron just lucked out with the Death-alignment even if it ended up being to the chagrin of his Void Lord creators.
it’s something newish, at least. otherwise, jaina would know it. thalyssra, ok, maybe her relative inexperience with the world outside of suramar could account for it. but nothing can account for jaina not knowing it.
the old gods are void entities. yogg-saron however, he became fascinated with death over his years of reigning. his fascination is driven by himself, not any natural alignment he has.
i’d like to make a thread on the idea of yogg. because i’ve considered that this hidden death entity, the one sylvanas serves, is actually yogg.
Jaina would know things based on what she encountered.
She encountered the Scourge, Legion, Drust and Void but she has never encountered 2nd War Death Knights and their Magic was never researched in Dalaran since Antonidas forbade it.
Furthermore she wouldn’t discover other accounts of Death Magic in the Eastern Kingdoms since the people of the Eastern Kingdoms following the 2nd War simply assumed the Death Knights’ Magic was the same as the Magi’s Arcane Magic.
The Horde didn’t know because Orgrim Doomhammer at the request of the Death Knights revealed nothing about them to the Horde so the Horde knew nothing on how they worked simply assuming it was the same Magic as the Warlocks and their teachings never even reached Thrall’s Horde.
Death Magic has been an unknown since the Death Knights and Gul’dan never revealed it’s existence to the public!
Death Magic’s only appearance in WoW before BfA was in WotLK and it dealt Nature Damage. All appearances of Necromancy were just an imitation of Death Magic since no one was allowed to study 1st War Death Knights and their Necromancy.
Even Life can become Faux Death Magic as shown by Ghost Magic and Soul Magic. Ghost Magic is even toxic to everything just like Decay/Void is.
Faux Death Magics include: Shadow Magic(Shadow-based), Unholy Magic(Fel-based), Fungus/Plague Magic(Life-based), Ghost Magic(Life-based), Blood Magic(Life-based) and Soul Magic(Life-based).
The most volatile of the Faux Death Magics is Ghost Magic which is the purest Life variant(not tainted by Void like Soul Magic and Blood Magic are) and the source of the Forsaken Blight’s destructiveness as well as the toxic danger the Sunwell posed before Kael’thas blew it up.
My necromancer class tingly senses went off when they said they didn’t know her magic but then the realist in me is like meh…there are npc necromancers in the game soooo not something so rare others haven’t come across.
Because she outright mentions having a deal with Azshara, but she’s going to use N’zoth to serve Death. It also ties in to the void whispers in Alleria’s head saying Sylvanas serves the true enemy.
Also, it’s boring as hell just assuming she’s lying as there’s nothing to speculate about if that’s the case.
