Hi everyone,
I’d like to discuss Il’gynoth’s whispers and how some of them may be speaking to a meta-narrative rather than the single, self-contained, story arcs that often come up when answers to Il’gynoth’s prophecies are discussed. Afterwards, I’d ask a question to you all, are these prophecies more likely to be about a larger story arc, or narrative, that transcends expansions, or do we think they are tied to expansion-specific events?
Il’gynoth has two distinct sets of whispers depending on where you encounter it – The Emerald Dream and Nya’lotha. While I think some of the ED prophecies are potentially illuminating, I would like to focus on Nya’lotha, especially as many others have already done a lot of good work on this, not to mention wowhead’s comprehensive review, which I will build off of.
In particular, I’d like to look at Il’gynoth’s prophecies that most readily appear to be about an ongoing conflict between the cosmic forces:
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The cunning ones kneel before six masters, but serve only one.
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The golden one claims a vacant throne. The crown of light will bring only darkness.
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The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green.
Also for this discussion, I’d like to use some whispers from N’zoth. While N’zoth has many whispers, there are two related to Il’gynoth’s whispers mentioned above:
- Six seats at the high table. Six mouths that hunger. One will consume all others.
- The Light has struck a bargain with the enemy of all.
Thesis
I believe these whispers warn that Death and its agents seek to destroy the other cosmic forces and, to that end, have been manipulating events for a very, very long time by infiltrating the other planes of existence.
Two of the aforementioned whispers provide the warning’s general precis, “The cunning ones kneel before six masters, but serve only one.” and “Six seats at the high table. Six mouths that hunger. One will consume all others.”
While arguments could be made that these are about two separate events, I think they’re two warnings of the same threat, the cunning forces of death.
These “cunning ones”, mentioned in the first whisper, are the thal’kituun–unseen guests–or Nathrezim. The most immediate piece of evidence that comes to mind, and perhaps the best at the moment for this, is probably the ‘Enemy Infiltration - Preface’ Report.
The report documents the systematic, and concurrent, infiltration of five of the six cosmic forces and their associated planes: Order, Void, Light, Life, and Disorder. The only plane not infiltrated is also the plane where the report itself is found–Death.
The Report’s Core Summary:
In many ways, the titans will be the easiest to manipulate. Their singular goal is to impose structure upon everything they see. Show them a force that opposes their drive for Order, and they will be consumed by their urge to eradicate it. Their pantheon, so seemingly united in purpose, is vulnerable to fracturing.
The void lords all but welcome us with open arms. They are so preoccupied with their thousand truths that they ignore the lies we sow in their very midst. I believe we can leverage their vast reach to position them as a foil against our other rivals. We remain wary, though. Since they are observant of multiple outcomes, it is conceivable they could anticipate our coming.
Similar to the titans, the naaru and their keepers are singular in purpose. Their adherence to a linear path is an obvious shortcoming. They savor nothing more than being proved right, so if they believe they have converted one of us to their precious Light, they will trust that agent implicitly.
The adherents to Life are the most insidious of opponents, perhaps because their nature is so antithetical to our own. Still, we learned much from observing the link between their plane and Ardenweald, and we have high confidence that a vulnerability has been identified. Our operative has already gained the trust of her target.
And as previously discussed, our position within the plane of Disorder is proceeding flawlessly. Consuming fel energy is not a pleasant process, but a necessary one. The deception you have architected will bear fruit in the ages to come.
The other whispers describe two potential attack vectors in the future, the means by which these insurgent forces may threaten Azeroth: the forces of Light and Life.
Light - The two relevant whispers are:
“The Light has struck a bargain with the enemy of all.” and “The golden one claims a vacant throne. The crown of light will bring only darkness.”
Here, I believe both whispers are ultimately warning of Lothraxion and the means by which he could harm Azeroth, with the first whisper focused on him directly and the second, indirectly. As we know from the Revendreth report, the Nathrezim have probably infiltrated the light, after all:
“. . .[T]he naaru and their keepers are singular in purpose. . .They savor nothing more than being proved right, so if they believe they have converted one of us to their precious Light, they will trust that agent implicitly.”
Lothraxion fits both the Nathrezim report’s account and the claims in N’zoth’s whisper, as the Light has made a deal with Lothraxion wherein he aids them in return for, something–perhaps redemption.
The second whisper, the one from Il’gynoth, is likely referring to Stormwind’s current king regent, Turalyon. Based on what I have read, Turalyon has immense faith in the Light and its path, which would also translate into faith in Lothraxion, his trustworthy High Commander. If Lothraxion is a Nathrezim agent, then it stands to reason that Turalyon is probably vulnerable to manipulation by the Nathrezim, who work on the behalf of Death. While we don’t know how the prophesied “darkness” will manifest, or its consequent effect on Azeroth, we know it’s probably coming because all of the pieces are still on the board.
Life - The last of Il’gynoth’s whispers mentioned above, “The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green,” is probably referring to the same threat that we gain insight into via the Nathrezim report:
“The adherents to Life are the most insidious of opponents. . .Still. . .we have high confidence that a vulnerability has been identified. Our operative has already gained the trust of her target.”
I don’t think we’ve met this particular operative yet. Many folks on these forums have claimed it is probably Kivarr, but that doesn’t quite fit. While Kivarr certainly has a connection to nature–ostensibly as a vassal of life–and green eyes, her consistency with the report of the operative begin to fall apart after that. Additionally, Kivarr’s current whereabouts and activities, as we know so far, would be inconsistent with the Nathrezim’s apparent goals and methods of action.
The Nathrezim’s report on infiltrating the plane of Life suggests that, while they’ve used Ardenweald’s connection to this plane to study its vulnerabilities, their target is within the plane of Life itself. Which would make sense, anyone of power in Ardenweald, including the Winter Queen, is still a being of death, not Life, making it unlikely any being in Ardenweald would be able to provide the opportunity for the Nathrezim to disrupt the plane of Life.
Therefore target is probably within the Gardens of Life, a realm within, or another name for, the plane of Life. It’s existence is briefly mentioned in a quest in Maldraxxus when the speaker is discussing extra-dimensional agents, “. . . Emissaries of the Light, minions of the Void , meddlers from the Gardens of Life…”
Hopefully we’ll get to meet beings from this other realm in this expansion, but as of yet, I don’t think we’ve encountered this particular threat. Likewise, I’m also not sure if the threat is from the operative itself, or the being from the plane of Life who, like Turalyon, is being possibly manipulated by a Nathrezim agent.
Assuming all of this is right, I come back to my original question. Does the fact that these prophecies speak to a larger story arc, spread across more than a single expansion, indicate that the others may as well? Is it likely that the others speak to these meta-events, rather than events caused by, and involving, only the plans and motives of lesser beings, cosmically speaking?
What do you all think?
Bhagya
P.S. I attempted to put hyperlinks to my references, but I don’t have the forum permissions yet, probably because I haven’t posted in a very long time.