Is it like a devil sitting on their shoulder telling them things, tempting them and reacting to situations with commentary, and the VE has to have the self-discipline to not give into those whispers/temptations?
Or is it like a constant every-second-of-the-day bombardment of random spooky nonsense in their heads that they have to literally tune out?
or is that just up to my own headcanon?
It would vary depending on the void elf and their willpower/how much Void power they have personally. What we see with Alleria in the Three Sisters comic is that it’s almost a low murmur constantly, and then there are instances where the whispers flare up and try to prey on her insecurity or vulnerability. It’s up in the air as to how typical this is, as Alleria is both much more powerful than the average void elf, but also has much more experience wielding the Void than any of them.
A good rule of thumb would be to assume there’s always SOME level of whispers, like background noise, but also keep in mind that the way the Void affects living beings who are corrupted by it tends to vary hugely. It’s why void elves have no real uniform afflictions, where even what kinds of tentacles they have in their hair is varied as opposed to them all having the same kind.
So it’s headcanon with a side of inference.
I can deal with that.
Think of it like the Illidari Demon Hunters. Its voices sometimes indistinguishable from your own inner voice telling you opinions, ideas, or potential futures. Sometimes it manifests itself is nightmares or dreams. Other times its so soft you barely notice it. Other times even silent until the Void Elf does something… Meditating and focusing on tasks at hand silences the voices.
A trained Void Elf will have the voices all but silenced. Similar to a Demon Hunter or a Shadow Priest. Don’t ever respond to the voices as that will weaken your mental barrier and open yourself up to madness. The goal of all void elves is to wield the Void’s powers without succumbing to the madness it usually brings. Like the Locus Walker trained all Void Elves along with Alleria Windrunner.
Based on how void whispers are shown in some books and comics I read I picture like being in a crowded area where everyone is talking to you at the same time, but sometimes, they are talking the same thing, pushing a very specific Idea.
Like, how the voices were tempting Neltharion to make the dragon soul, or how the void voices were desperate in making Alleria somehow act against Sylvanas as soon as she appeared.
I also took it that the void takes those dark thoughts everyone has and pushes them to the forefront of a persons mind and than beats them over the head with it until they give in.
Not many people are mentally strong like Locus Walker and Alleria to resist those urges and proddings.
The Inner Demons of Demon Hunters don’t even pretend to be the Demon Hunter(infact it is more often than not the other way round where the Demon Hunter’s Inner Voice acts like it is the Demon which is most noticeable when the bound Demon is a mindless animal thus ensuring you have nothing to compare your Inner Voice to) and the Void voices don’t seem to pretend to be the Void Wielder either.
Demon Hunters have to fight off their Fel-warped Inner Voice(giving into it results in you exploding since the specific entity you are trying to release doesn’t exist) and the Demon(giving into that results in the Demon escaping) at the same time yet I don’t see that same thing happening with the Void as Void Users just have to fight off the entities whispering from within the Void.
In the Illidan novel didn’t Vendel’s inner demon’s mind expanded his absorbed more power and in the three sisters short story the Void voices screaming at her to kill her sister and warning her. As far as I understood the Void and the demonic voices try to drive you mad. One way or another. Some give in to the demon in the case of the demon hunter and in the case of the void, the void elf, would go mad similar to shadow priests. I imagine it much the same for Demon Hunters and Void Elves, but different creatures whispering and playing with your mind.
The way I imagine it. The Void constantly whispers at you gnawing at your sanity. It tries in every way to convince its trying to help, like N’zoth or Alleria’s voices. In BFA cinematic the Void tried to play on Anduin’s insecurity attacking his mind and I imagine much the same. As Wrathion told him the void goes for the mind. Making you think your friends are your enemies and your allies will betray you like how the old gods tried to whisper to our characters.
In Vandal’s case the Novel eventually revealed the Inner Demon was actually Vandal’s own Fel-warped Mind not the actual Demon which was a Felbeast and too animalistic to have any thoughts.
That vision(which he received after eating the Heart of the Felbeast Illidan summoned) where he ate the Heart of the Felbeast who killed his loved ones was taken from his memories as there is no way Illidan would have been able to locate the exact Demon who took his loved one away if it was a mere Felbeast.
He basically let a Nightmare(of how evil the Legion can be) into his Soul… That sounds like Void honestly… Of course Warlocks reach into the Void in order to breach into the Twisting Nether for Demon-related Spells so this is no surprise.
A shame Vandal never realized that he should have let the Demon in his dream remain a corpse and simply wake up(although I’m sure Illidan would have still showed him many alternate versions of the vision either way as well as countless more worlds destroyed by the Legion) as if he did the Void wouldn’t have been whispering into his head and he would be better off than Demon Hunters who like himself did eat the illusory Demon’s Heart or the Demon Hunters unlike himself with sentient Demons inside them.
Kinda both? Constant whispers that try to play on your insecurities etc, and to get you to serve them in some way by driving you mad. Whispers in the voice of loved ones, past current and maybe even ones you’ve yet to meet.
Sometimes they’re stronger and you may receive visions and such. The void elf has to tune out the constant murmur and temptations by discipline.
In short there is an eldritch horror waiting to break out any minute, which makes it absurd they are even playable to begin with, This is much worse then the fel back from TBC.
We also know the voices can be silenced as Wrathion did with Ebyssian’s voices by developing a potion and later with the legendary cape to provide resistance to players. Void Elves trained under the Locus Walker and Alleria Windrunner have learned to silence and mitigate the voices.
Remember the difference between sanity and insanity is when the person who speaks to themselves, starts speaking back, responding to the whispers in their mind. I would expect the same with a Void Elf. They have have to control that and never succumb to it.
I think its like what others said, it takes your own inner dark thoughts and amplifies them, rather than the Void its self having a voice and talking.
I see it as both. The voices amplify both your inner thoughts and doubts, but also try to advise you, warn you, convince you. Give you visions. The Void uses all the above to get a Void Elf to give in and do what they want. The fight every Void user has to do is the battle of your own mind. We see it when Ebyssian was almost corrupted. When Wrathion helped us with the Visions of N’zoth and in Alleria’s visions and short story. Not just that in BFA we see a void priest in the boat next to Umbric trying to delve into the visions to see what is possible.
I kind of imagine that the void does have its own voice, but most of the time it’s impersonating an individual’s own dark thoughts.
So that the poor victim has to struggle to tell if that nagging thought in their head is the void trying to corrupt them or simply their own intuition - and trying to doubt everything in case it’s the void still drives them closer to insanity, so it’s a win-win on the void’s part.
So something I am now actually really confused about. Looking at the Chronicles magic chart, the Void seems to be the only magic that actually has beings that reside inside it, that being the Void lords. With this, now I have to ask:
-Are the Void lords where the whispers come from?
-Why does no other magic force has this equivalent?
-How come the Void is considered to have a will when no other magic force does?
From my understanding, the 7 forces have beings made from them in the universe: Narru, Old Gods, Wild Gods, Titans, Demons, Undead. But Void/Shadow had Void lords as well.
I would say Void beings, but honestly we don’t know who is whispering. I suspect Void Lords, but we don’t know for sure.
We have the Light Lords who are represented by the Naaru. Nature Pantheon who Elune is apart of. We also have Fel Lords who even the Burning Legion didn’t want to mess with. Then we have the Pantheon of Death which we met in Shadowlands. I expect all these cosmic forces whisper if they so wish and communicate their will to their servants/followers/those who dabble in their magics. Though nothing like what the Void does comparatively.
All cosmic forces have an agenda. Denathrius has his agenda along with his Dread Lords same with the Jailer. Elune has her agenda. The titans have their agenda. Every cosmic force has their will being represented by their leaders. How it is done? That depends on the cosmic force.
First Ones created the universe. But apart from Death and Life all other cosmic forces broke out of their original purposes and defied the Makers trying to dominate the universe on their own.
That Erevien is 100% right. The cosmos is supposed be in balance, but every cosmic force has now broken out of their wheelhouse and each seek to dominate and work with the others in order to influence the universe.
I’m sorry, the who now?