Lore Prediction: Evil is closer than we think

Lore Story Forum
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Right, this is probably going to annoy night elf players, but here we go:

Elune is corrupted by N’zoth and is being used as an agent to foster conflict.

My sources are the warbringer shorts (WS) and the first volume of WoW Chronicle. (WC) I’ll refer to page numbers with this citation.

At the beginning, it was chaos. The Old Gods were flung on to primordial Azeroth by the Void Lords for reasons unknown. WC 29. We know that Old Gods are created to manifest and shroud world souls in void energies:

“With growing horror, Sargeras realized that this was not just any world. He heard the world-soul dreaming within its core. But these were not the joyous dreams Sargeras recognized from other world-souls-they were dark and horrific nightmares. The Old Gods’ tendrils had burrowed deep, enveloping the slumbering titan’s spirit in shadow.” WC 23.

Skipping a bunch (including Aggramar’s discovery of Azeroth, which was after the Old Gods implanting Azeroth, WC 30, and Azeroth’s fundamental corruption, WC 30), Aman’thul violently ripped Yshaarj’s corupulent body from the surface of Azeroth, killing the Old God. WC 36. This is what happened:

"Y’Shaarj was dead, but its tendrils had bored more deeply through Azeroth than Aman’Thul had ever imagined. In excising the Old God from teh world, he had inadvertantly ripped an eternal wound in Azeroth’s Surface. Volatile arcane energies-the lifeblood of the nascent titan-erupted from the scar and roiled out across the world.

Horrified by this turn of vents, the Panteon realized they could not risk killing the other Old Gods in such a manner. The malignant creatures had embedded themselves so deep into the world that tearing them out would destroy Azeroth itself."

The wound itself was stabilized and became known as the “Well of Eternity.” WC 37. This may sound familliar. Take a look at N’zoth’s location in WC 44-45 and how close he is to the well of eternity. When the trolls began exploring dark magic, they took an unusual interest in the center of the Azeroth, right near N’zoth and Well of Eternity. The Well of Eternity plays very prominently in NE lore. WC 93. In fact, they state this about Elune:

The [troll] tribe’s mystics began worshipping the moon goddess, Elune, who they believed was bound to the Well of Eternity itself. They claimed that the deity slumbered within the fount’s depths during daylight hours.

There is no direct reference to Queen Ashzara and N’zoth at this stage, but note that after the Well of Eternity explodes and the N.E. Empire falls, the Aszhara Warbringer Short pretty clearly indicates that N’zoth was quite interested in her and had been watching for some time.

How had he done this while trapped beneath the earth in the center of a continent? Simple. The Well of Eternity. He appeared as a fish to her, and the resulting maelstrom ripped apart the surface above his prison, creating the modern Azeroth continents. How as? Elune.

This is further bolstered by the references to Elune’s dark face and her wrath, and Malfurion and Tyrande’s angry actions after the burning of Teldrassil. Further evidence is just how freakin’ active the Emerald Dream became with Old God forces in Legion. How did they become so intertwined with the Emerald Dream to make it into the Emerald Nightmare? It becomes a lot more explainable when you realize that N’zoth was in the Well of Eternity and shaping night elf culture.

This is just a theory. Anyone have any thoughts?

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My thoughts about this and other theories trying to explain things can be summed up in one word: sad.
It makes me sad that people like yourself and others who delve deep into all the avenues of lore we’re given, come back with interesting theories, and formulate those into interesting concepts are ultimately slammed face-first into the wall of RETCON.
We’ve seen that this game’s writers write what they want and how they want, retconning whatever doesn’t seem to fit into place at the time…then retconning that.
Or maybe this expansion has left me bitter and pessimistic.

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I would agree, but this one has a lot of links to even current content which has been retconned. It references current BFA issues and content. The writers are moving toward something.

This seems like it explains a fair bit of it.

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Your entire theory went out the window when you presumed that that titan world soul is Elune. That theory was debunked in both Legion and the Chronicles.

You need to go back and do more reading.

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“Continuity exists to enhance a story, not to tie the hands of creators“

A team that believes this has no business writing stories or lore.

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And you need a bit more citation. I didn’t presume any such thing. My theory presumes the opposite. The Well of Eternity was an open wound on Azeroth’s surface. My theory is that the Well was taken and exploited by an Old God that was nearby, not that the Well (or the world soul) was Elune itself. The night elves specifically say that Elune “dwells within the depths” of the Well of Eternity, not that she is the Well.

You say I need to do more reading. I say you need some citations. Your comment is far, far too broad for me to even look at whatever support you might have. Please provide some.

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I don’t understand your evidences that Elune is corrupted. Basically your whole argument is : Elune is close to the well, the well is close to N’zoth, therefore she is corrupted.

The idea that she lies in the well is probably due to the reflection of the moon in the water at night and then its disappearance during the day.

Elune always had a dark face, the Night Warrior is a very old ritual so either she is corrupted since the begining or she can have a dark part without being corrupted just like every sentient being.

If she was corrupted why did she cleansed Ysera from the Nightmare corruption.

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Word. In my opinion, it takes far more writing skill, imagination, and creativity to work within established guidelines to create something new rather than burn it all down. Or ‘lulz expectations subverted’

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Xal’atath, who is pretty plugged in to the Old God scene, calls Elune “the upstart Goddess”. She’s not the World Soul of Azeroth, or she’d have been called as such by the killer talking Void dagger. Xal’atath comments on many powerful beings, Elune is the only one she refers to as a goddess/god, aside from the Old Gods themselves.

I do believe that there’s a story link between Elune (whatever she is) and the Void, but I don’t think it’s corruption. I think that the reason she doesn’t flex her power more often is because she’s been protecting Azeroth from more Old God incursions and Void Lord stuff.

The entire plan of the Void Lords is to try and create a Void Titan, and they know Azeroth exists. They’ve probably been tossing things at Azeroth for thousands of years trying to speed things up.

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Some people here wants to kick even more the poor nelves, just kill more important humans like shaw

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Thank you. I was wondering if anyone actually read it instead of have a kneejerk response.

Yes, most of my argument is that Elune is close to the well, the well is close to N’zoth, and therefore she is corrupted. There’s a bit more, including N’zoth’s observation of Ashzara that does not make sense unless he had direct and immediate access to her. Also, there is N’yalotha, which that boss from the Emerald Nightmare raid references when he does.

The dungeon journal describes Ill’gynoth as this:
Lodged in the hollows of a now-decrepit world tree, Il’gynoth is a manifestation of the horrors that lie at the heart of the Nightmare. It is a mass of corruption - a thing that should not be. Its tendrils seep through the ground, emerging in countless horrifying eyestalks and limbs.

How did this come to be within a realm that exists along side Azeroth only as a spiritual blueprint to guide evolution? The source of corruption has to be ancient. There are very few things that fit this bill, and old gods are specifically referenced as the source. But we “killed them.” All except for one. That would make sense for an active corruption, which is what the Emerald Nightmare was. Also, where exactly is N’yalotha, and why is it not on any map? Yes, it could be retconned, but it is referenced primarily by artifacts related to N’zoth, and by old god beings within the Emerald Dream.

The more I look at it, the more it makes sense. The corruption is systemic and infects night elf culture (“I hear the whispers of Elune”), druidism (Emerald Dream corruption), and nothing but bad things occur around the Well of Eternity.

This is all highly suggestive of Old God influence. Further, N’zoth is subtle. Yes, Y’sera was ‘cleansed of corruption’ by being placed within the stars. That is in line with N’zoth playing long games. For example, Xala’tath. She’s quite the source, and has a few interesting things to say about the Emerald Dream.

“Xal’atath whispers: Xavius’ tricks are cunning. Why reveal yourself when you can control from afar?”

Xalatath doesn’t seem to like Xavius though:

Xal’atath whispers: Xavius, running from one master to the next, scrambling for power, yet defeated again and again. The God of the Deep picks a poor champion? Or, is there something else at play?

Actually, this implicates all forms of elves, which evolved from the original night elves, who evolved from trolls. It affects horde and alliance. They have been involved in so many major events that it’s hard to talk about Azeroth’s history without discussing night elves.

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Don’t get me wrong, I am not 100% against the idea of an corrupted Elune but doing that now when the nelves in lore are pretty much in a ugly situation and the nelves fans are very angry, this is just escalating things even more

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Killing this game.

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It is always nice to see people having interesting and argumented theories like yours (even though I disagree with it) so I try to answer seriously aswell.

Though I think your theory is wrong for several reasons which are meta or in lore :

  • meta : Blizzard wont just destroyed all the lore of the good chunk of the playerbase and its even more true for the nelves since they already lost so much.

  • in lore : Elune was shown doing good things a lot of times, things that old gods can’t do in the same way such as healing. She is also the mother of Cenarius who is just a benevolent creature like his mother and father. If she was corrupted by N’zoth why didn’t she led the nelves to follow the naga or the satyr or corrupted them into submission of N’zoth right away?

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I doubt it for 2 simple reasons: she’s much stronger than N’zoth and, perhaps more importantly, already appears to be a creature of light and void(perhaps she can wield other magic too, arcane at least). There’s nothing to corrupt. I suspect if they tried she’d laugh of the attempt before smiting them into a pile of voidlight ashes.

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Elune is a Titan ghost.

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She did smite the shadow priest PC when they tried to steal some of her power through Xal’atath in ToS.

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This may be the truth, actually. It’s possible that N’zoth has been corrupting her, not sure. Not enough information on Elune out there, honestly. Just hearsay about night elves using the light, which, as the lore kinda shows, is fairly impersonal. It’s not like Tyr is around to channel selfless sacrifice…hrm. Anyway.

Galenar, how do you know that she is much stronger than N’zoth? She had nothing to do with his imprisonment.

Moonweaver, thank you for responding. I agree with the meta reason, it would probably show the night elves as a poor afflicted race. It’s possible that the corruption would be more recent, and may be shaken off. But…on that point…Freya is actually the mother of the Wild Gods. She was the architect that created them. WC 39. And Cenarius is a Wild God. WC 89:

“Unlike many of the other Wild Gods, Cenarius was more humanoid in appearance. The majestic half-stag, draped in a cloak of flowers and vines, often walked among the nomadic yaungol.”

Either Elune is confused for Freya, or the night elves were incorrect about Cenarius’ origin. I’m guessing the latter. Their culture does distort the nature of historical objects related to the pantheon and gods, such as the Well of Eternity. Also, the Trolls do the same with the Loa:

Yet no matter their individual customs, what all trolls shared was a common religion that revolved around Kalimdor’s elusive Wild Gods. The trolls called these powerful beings “loa,” and they worshipped them as deities. WC 70.

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I know it is still a possibility but since they can talk directly to him he could have said if it was wrong.

Moreover, world of god : lizzplanet: War of the Ancients Trilogy reveals that Ysera is mother of Cenarius and lover of Malorne. Are Ysera and Elune one and the same?

Knaak: Elune and Ysera are not the same. Here is the explanation, per Blizzard, who did not wish any further elaboration in the novel at the time:

According to the Sundering, it is said that Ysera is Cenarius’s mother. However, Dungard the Earthen says that he thought Elune ‘birthed’ Cenarius.

Elune birthed Cenarius, but gave him up to Malorne because Cenarius was more a creature of the mortal world and could not be with her. Malorne, who had relations with both Elune and Ysera, knew that he could not properly care for his son, but Ysera’s love was so great for Malorne that she took Cenarius as her own. Hence being his mother (or adoptive mother).

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Comparison mostly. The Old Gods were easily defeated by the Titans and they’re on the world shaping tier of power. She actively creates new worlds to form constellations so she’s at least as powerful as the people who defeated them, likely more so.

Xal, such a jokester. Those were the best part of playing a shadow priest. You knew she was going to screw you over but it’s fun to do anyway.

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