Every other branch in the cosmology has stuff like Naaru, Void Lords, Elune, etc but all we seem to see of Fel is a bunch of races that make up the Burning Legion that just coopted it for their own uses and came to define it. Was there some kind of fel elemental order they subjugated and destroyed in the process of forming the BL?
The old Lore is that Sargeras created Fel as an inversion of Order, and overtime it became synonymous with him crafting the Fel to eradicate the Void.
Then a LOT of stuff got retconned in the second edition of chronicles, so now Fel was always there or something.
The āold loreā didnāt have any concept of āorderā to invert. Arcane wasnāt some localized expression of a grand, abstract concept, it was just magic.
Prior to the first cosmology chart, āMagicā was a flexible energy that existed in both āLey Linesā and āThe Nether.ā It was powerful and addictive. Arcane magic was understood to be dangerous, but manageable. Fel was a deeper, more destructive and more addictive version of Arcane that could never be fully controlled. Warlocks were not the opposite of mages, they were mages who āwent too far.ā
To the extent that any of this had a ānatural order,ā it would simply be the state that Demons existed in before Sargeras forged them into an army. Dangerous, but disorganized.
Post-chart lore has thrown a lot of this into chaos, unfortunately. The biggest casualty is The (twisting) Nether, which used to be a more neutral place that contained both demons and other stuff but has now been firmly recategorized as the āfel dimension.ā The Netherstorm zone in Outland no longer makes any sense at all: the entire zoneās color pallete is very clearly arcane-focused, but the realm that itās dissolving into is now supposed to be Fel. Under current lore, Netherstorm should be green.
Yeah, thatās how I remember it too. I couldnāt remember what they replaced the demonic races being the original fel entities with.
When I speak of the āold loreā, I mean YE OLDE Lore. Before it was changed to the arcane, the Titans were written as the inheritors and crafters of order within the universe.
The Titans and the Ordering
No one knows exactly how the universe began. Some theorize that a catastrophic cosmic explosion sent the infinite worlds spinning out into the vastness of the Great Dark ā worlds that would one day bear life-forms of wondrous and terrible diversity. Others believe that the universe, at it exists, was
created as a whole by a singular, all-powerful entity. Though the exact origins of the chaotic universe remain unclear, it is clear that a race of powerful beings arose to bring order to the various worlds and ensure a safe future
for the beings that would follow in their footsteps.
The Titans, colossal, metallic-skinned gods from the far reaches of the cosmos,
came forward and set to work on the worlds they encountered. They shaped
the form of their worlds by raising mighty mountains and dredging out vast
seas. They breathed skies and raging atmospheres into being ā all part of their
unfathomable, far-sighted plan to create order out of chaos. They even
empowered primitive races to tend to their works and maintain the integrity
of their respective worlds.
The Titans, ruled by an elite sect known as the Pantheon, brought order to a
hundred million worlds scattered throughout the Great Dark Beyond during
the first ages of creation. The benevolent Pantheon, seeking to safeguard their
structured worlds, was ever vigilant against the threat of attack from the vile,
extra-dimensional entities of the Twisting Nether. The Nether, an ethereal
dimension of chaotic magics that connected the myriad worlds of the universe
together, was home to an infinite number of malefic, demonic beings, who
sought only to destroy life and devour the energies of the living universe. The
pure-hearted, altruistic Titans, unable to conceive of evil or wickedness in any
form, struggled to find a way to end the demonsā constant threat.
Sargeras and the Betrayal
To combat the demonic entities that made their way into the Titansā worlds from
the Twisting Nether, the Pantheon elected their greatest warrior, Sargeras, to act
as their first line of defense. Sargeras, a noble giant of molten bronze, carried out
his duties for countless millennia, seeking out and destroying the demons wherever he could find them. Over the eons, Sargeras encountered two powerful
demonic races, both of which were bent on gaining power and dominance over
the physical universe.
The Eredar, an insidious race of devilish sorcerers, used their warlock magics to enslave a number of worlds that they had invaded. The indigenous races of those worlds were mutated by the Eredarās chaotic powers
and turned into demons themselves. Though Sargerasā nearly limitless powers were more than enough to defeat the vile Eredar, he
was greatly troubled by the creaturesā corruption and all-consuming
evil. Unable to fathom such depravity and spite, the great Titan
slipped into a brooding depression. Despite his growing unease,
Sargeras sought to rid the universe of the warlocks for all time, by
trapping them within a vacuous corner of the Twisting Nether.
As his confusion and depression deepened, Sargeras was forced
to contend with another group intent on disrupting the Titansā
order. The Nathrezim, a dark race of vampiric demons (also known
as Dreadlords) set out to conquer a populated world by possessing its inhabitants and turning them to the shadow. The nefarious,
scheming Dreadlords had turned whole nations against one
another by manipulating them through unthinking hatred and
mistrust. Though Sargeras defeated the Nathrezim easily, their
corruption affected him deeply.
The noble Sargeras, unable to process the raging doubt and despair
that overwhelmed his senses, lost all faith in not only his mission,
but the Titansā vision of an ordered universe, as well. Sargeras
began to believe that the concept of order itself was folly ā and that
chaos and depravity were the only absolutes within the dark, lonely universe. Though his fellow Titans tried to persuade him of his
error and console his raging emotions, he disregarded their theories as delusional. Storming from their ranks forever, Sargeras set
out to find his own place in the universe. Though the Pantheon was
sorrowful for his departure, they would never believe just how far
their lost brother would go.
As Sargerasā madness consumed the last vestiges of his noble
spirit, he began to rationalize that the Titans were truly responsible for creationās failure. Deciding, at last, to undo their works
throughout the universe, he set out to form an unstoppable army
that would set the physical universe to the flame.
Even Sargerasā titanic form distorted from the corruption that
plagued his once noble heart. His eyes, hair and beard erupted in
flames and his bronze, metallic skin split open to reveal an endless furnace of hate and flame.
In his madness, Sargeras shattered the prisons of the Eredar and
the Nathrezim and set the vile demons free. The cunning demons,
bowing before the dark Titanās vast rage and power, offered themselves to him and swore to serve him in whatever malicious way
they could. From the ranks of the powerful Eredar, Sargeras chose
two champions to lead his demonic army of destruction. Kilājaeden the Deceiver was chosen to seek out the darkest races in the universe and lure them to Sargerasā shadow. The second champion,
Archimonde the Defiler, was chosen to lead Sargerasā vast armies into battle against any who would stand against the dark Titanās will.
Kilājaedenās first move was to enslave the vampiric Dreadlords under his terrible
power. The Dreadlords, serving as his elite guard and agents throughout the universe, took pleasure in their work by locating primitive races for their master to
corrupt and bring into the fold. First amongst the Dreadlords was Tichondrius the
Darkener. Tichondrius served Kilājaeden as the perfect soldier and agreed to promote Sargerasā burning will to all the dark corners of the universe.
The mighty Archimonde also empowered agents of his own. Calling upon
the malefic Pit Lords and their barbarous leader, Mannoroth, he hoped to
forge a fighting elite that would scour creation of all life.
Sargeras, seeing that his armies were amassed and ready to follow his every
command, launched his raging forces into the vastness of the Great Dark.
He referred to his growing army as the Burning Legion. To this date, it is still
unclear as to how many worlds they consumed and burned on their unholy
crusade across the universe.
The Ordering of Azeroth
Apparently unaware of Sargerasā mission to undo their myriad works, the
Titans continued to move from world to world, shaping and ordering them
as they saw fit. Along their journey they came across a small world thatās
inhabitants would later name Azeroth. As the Titans made their way across
the chaotic, primordial landscape, they encountered a number of hostile,
elemental beings. The elementals, worshipping a race of unfathomable evil
beings known only as the Old Gods, vowed to drive the Titans back and
keep their world inviolate from the invadersā metallic touch.
The Pantheon, troubled by the Old Godsā penchant for evil, sent their forces
to make war upon the elementals and their dark masters. Though the elementals fought and raged, their powers could not stop the mighty Titans. The
Pantheon shattered the Old Godsā citadels and chained the five evil beings far
beneath the surface of the world. Without the Old Godsā power to keep their
raging spirits bound to the physical world, the elementals dissipated and bled
back into the earth itself. With the elementalsā departure, nature calmed, and
the world settled into a peaceful harmony. The Titans, seeing that the threat
was contained, set to work.
The Titans empowered a number of races to help them fashion the world. To
help them dredge out the fathomless caverns beneath the earth, they created the dwarves from magical, living stone. To help them dredge
out the seas and lift the land from the sea floor, they created the
immense, but gentle sea giants. For many ages the Titans moved
and shaped the earth, until at last, there remained only one perfect continent. At the continentās center, the Titans crafted a lake
of scintillating energies. The lake, that they named the Well of
Eternity, was to be the fount of life for the world. Its potent energies would nurture the bones of the world and empower life to
take root in the landās rich soil. Over time, plants, trees, monsters
and creatures of every kind began to thrive on the primordial continent. As twilight fell on the final day of their labors, the Titans
named the continent Kalimdor ā āland of a eternal starlight.ā
Satisfied that the small world had been ordered and that their
work was done, the Titans prepared to leave Azeroth behind. Yet,
before they departed, they decided to empower the greatest
newborn species of the world to watch over Kalimdor should any
force ever threaten its perfect tranquility. Each remaining member
of the Pantheon imbued a portion of its power to the five great
dragons awoken in that mythic age. Alexstrasza the Life-Binder,
Malygos the Spell-Weaver, Ysera the Dreamer, Nozdormu the
Timeless, and Neltharion the Earth-Warder were all empowered
by the Titansā vast powers and charged with the worldās defense.
With the dragons prepared to safeguard their creation, the Titans
left Azeroth behind forever. Unfortunately for them, and the small,
newborn world they had shaped, it was only a matter of time
before Sargeras learned of its existenceā¦
I really miss the old Warhammer 3 manual, it was basically a gospel of all the good lore.
I really miss old lore cosmology before all the changes. I just felt like they fit better.
I remember in old lore nature and undeath were adjacent
Shamans and druids healing magics worked, while paladins hurt the Forsaken. And taurens wanted to use alchemy to heal them.
In the new lore these powers were opposites which kinda messed that aspect
Probably, tbh - but we donāt have anything concrete yet, to my knowledge.
We know that there are beings who act as either the figureheads or main enforcers of Order, Death, and even Life at this point (though we know very little about the Life pantheon, aside from Elune being a member of it).
It even seems likely that Light and Void are more complicated on a cosmic level than they would at first appear, as it was mentioned in a Danuser interview in Shadowlands that there is an actual Light realm, akin to the Shadowlands being the Death realm.
Additionally, we know that demon races (which to my understanding, would just be any race sufficiently infused with fel magics) existed prior to the formation of the Burning Legion, as Sargeras fought against them for a while.
Now, whether or not these āChaos Godsā (for lack of better term) would still be active or not is another question entirely, as I can easily see that being something that Sargeras would want to contain or remove - both before and after becoming the Fallen Titan.
You can toss Void in there too via the Void Lords. Weāre really only missing any hints about a Light pantheon and what the real deal with Disorder/Fel is.
I do not really expect a Disorder/Fel pantheon to be introduced tho. Itāll just be Sargeras, and weāll call it a day is my expectation.
Fel is literally about disorder. Only reason there was ever a burning legion is because a titan of order took over planets and placed Manāari in place to control said demons by force
Beyond what others have mention I personally am not entirely sure anymore.
I remember reading somewhere that there were ancient beings or demons in the Twisting Nether that were so powerful, chaotic and I think it said that their very existence would mess up reality or something like that, (really donāt remember anymore) that not even Sargeras dare to disturb them. However I think that was retcon tooā¦
Now Iām not sure if a Corrupted being turn demon (cough, cough: Manāari Eredar)⦠is still even on the same level of power as a full native demon, or if even the Fel realms are have Chaos Gods like being, similar to Warhammer and/or interact with Sargeras⦠or if Sargeras being a Corrupted Titan himself like most of his BL are just outcast even on the realms of Chaos, far beneath the notice of whatever Comic Demonic Horrors qualifies as the ruling lords similar like the Pantheon, Void Lords, Eternal Ones etc.
Also Sargeras was manipulated by the Dreadlords too⦠so was that the Plan of the Jailer last time I read on it (unless it was retcon again)ā¦to fight the Void?
So basically there is quite a few lore bombs drop in previous expansions and books that have yet to be fully address with these big cosmic realm spaces that have yet to be flesh out completely before we can even assign a natural order⦠if Chaos/Fel even has a natural order, that I imagine would be whoever is the strongest. (IMO)
Heads up, probably we will learn that āEluneā is one of of those Chaos Lords too, since she was even known in this Chaos/Fel Cosmic Realm too as the āupstart goddessā or something like that, if they have not retcon that! haha Joking (the part of Chaos Lord) I just could not resist.
I had the theory some time ago that before Sargeras showed up, you would have a kind of Fel Pantheon, abit like the 4 chaos gods of warhammer, that unlike the other pantheons we saw, dont work together but actually against each others which made the demons never united and orodered.
Then when Sargeras came, he either killed or dealt with this Pantheon and united all the demons under him, making them ordered which made him creat a ābugā in the system, by ordering something that was not meant to be orodered, he created the most terrible force in the cosmos.
Oh I can really get behind this exponation!
I think it would make sense⦠an Titan using the power of Chaos and creating a structure of sorts, sound like a real challenge to being of pure Chaos, no matter how powerful they might be!
IM SOLD!
I could see Blizzard taking the lazy route and make it so that really powerful demons like Mannaroth were members of the āFel Pantheonā.
See, Iām seeing either that or āDisorder, by its very nature, never had a pantheon because itās too disorderly for such things, and thatās why Sargeras was able to just take over.ā
That could arguably also explain why out of all the descriptions from the Nathrezim book in Revendreth, the Twisting Nether is the one realm that didnāt make mention of the dreadlords needing to deceive or manipulate any local hierarchy to infiltrate.
They just gorged on fel to become demons, then set up shop on a planet there using their true appearance and the same name theyād had in the Shadowlands. As if to suggest that Disorder has no organized leadership that needed to be fooled or that they had to fear would recognize what they really were, while infiltrating the other planes called for more careful subterfuge and disguises to avoid the various pantheons and their servants noticing Nathrezim infiltrating the ranks.
You actually witness it in revendreth. A Nathrezim pulled an oopsy woopsy and the realm collided and impacted with revendreth in retaliation.
IIRC the Nathrezim were only infiltrating those forces that had penetrated into reality.
This subject gets into weird places to me, because The Shadowlands and The Emerald Dream are, cosmologically speaking, not āOuter Planesā the way Light, Life, Order, etc. are supposed to be. The Pantheon, Naaru, Wild Gods, Old Gods, and so on are native to Reality. By that token, we have never directly encountered any of these true Outsider, godlike entities, apart from Dimensius and Aluneth I think?
Then thereās always going to be a part of me that hates trying to have every Force being a facet of a copy-pasted whole. Each Cosmic Force operating under the same conditions, each with a mirrored Pantheon, perfectly opposed by a natural opposite, each with some kind of robot installation (Zereths)? That implies top-to-bottom Order, which makes the entire Cosmic Force notion a farce.
Hakkar, even though he is significantly downplayed now, absolutely met those qualifications.
The absolute buildup to fighting Hakkar spread across multiple zones and dungeons, and he was absolutely the comparable god threat.
Hell, One of his titles is literally āThe outsiderā.
Edit: On the topic heās still one of the larger mysteries of the canon. Nobody knows where he came from, only that he infiltrated the sphere of primal magic from Outside, and that he parasitically latched himself to the Loa pantheon and gains power from troll worship.
I find whatever he is infinitely more fascinating than the void.
I have yet to see any information that would point to Hakkar being from one of the Outer Planes. Exact details of how he came to be a loa might be murky, but I donāt think he would stack up against even The Burning Legion, let alone something like a Void Lord.