I’m curious about the star on Xal’atath (ash) baby’s neck. Have we seen this shape anywhere? The only thing that comes to my mind is the arathi star.
2 Likes
Same. My theory, she isnt telling the whole truth and that she probably summoned the void to her world as a child.
4 Likes
The cinematic looks great in a vacuum, but as someone who went through all the Ghost of Koresh campaign, I can’t comprehend what the heck is wrong with blizzard writing team, do the people who write for midnight not know what happened in Karesh and Manaforge Omega?!
I have some questions that leave me disturbed:
- We defeated King Salhaadar, he was at Xalatath mercy, We defeated his army in Mana forge and crushed his loyalists in Eco Dome. How can he fight her now, when in Mana Forge he grovelled at her feet, beaten and submitted?
- Salhadaar has been the servant of Dimensius for EONS, it was he, his shadow guard orchestrated the theft of the Dark Heart and resurrection of Dimensius. Why would he fight against void now? It makes no sense!
Either Blizzard forgot to give us some important bit of lore before this cinematic, or their memory is hopelessly short. In either case, their writing quality doesn’t get better in terms of consistency.
11 Likes
Blizz not knowing/caring for own lore?
in other words water is wet
3 Likes
Don’t have time to watch it right now, but does it show her bare feet?
1 Like
If you mean by every introduction? Nah.
So Xal’atath was some random Guardians of the Galaxy looking alien child? 
6 Likes
-
He did not grovel at her feet, he was surprised when she appeared and literally yelled “No!” as he was absorbed. He is fighting alongside the very last dregs of his Shadowguard within the Voidstorm.
-
Why are we pretending that just because two individuals have ties to the same Cosmic Force that that means they must be allies? Also, are you actually asking WHY he would be opposed to the individual who just consumed the being you said he’d been following for eons?
I love how often “criticism” of WoW lore or storytelling is just people being ignorant and loud. Like don’t get me wrong, the story is sprawling and layered and it’s very easy to forget stuff or misremember, that’s fine. But to then come in all hot and heavy, and also completely wrong, just makes you look like a child.
P.S. It’s not “Karesh” or “Koresh” it is K’aresh 
1 Like
the voids whole deal is no one there is allied with anyone, they just eat each other, if you see someone serving someone is cause they are looking to betray them.
1 Like
Love the cinematic but now I have more questions than ever… 
Who she wanteds revenge… and how is she even capable of talking about salvation or survival, whats up with the Void then? And was she a worshiper of light?
Lol i hope we can get some answers in Midnight… and for the love of Azeroth I hope the answers are in the game and not in another book… 
Oh my gosh, she’s bald… She’s bald and she’s torturing people who have hair!
8 Likes
There is a reason the Void went into a panic when they saw Sylvanas! A reason that Ve’nari says she has seen the Maw and knows what the Void fears! A reason the Void invades the Maw!
Something in the Maw is scaring the Void! Xal’atath’s statement of “I’m sure you do” of course shows that she has doubts that the threat inside the Maw threatens everyone so whatever ravaged her world making her seek salvation in the Void is still out there!
N’Zoth says “It grows hungrier… bolder. Alas, your eyes are closed.”
Whatever it is it’s coming for Azeroth due to getting bolder…
Now what’s in the Maw may be a sibling…
“Six seats at the high table. Six mouths that hunger. One will consume all others.” - N’Zoth
2 Factions: the 6 seats at the High Table(the Zereths) and the 6 Mouths that hunger.
The Song sung by the Oracles in Zereth Mortis describes one of the 2 being the Infinite and the other being the 1.
The Infinite food supply of the Zereths and the one truth of what goes down the First Ones’ Gullets.
“Her dreams sing beneath the surface. Quiet now, but her voice will awaken the others.” - Saezurah
“She is not the last, but the first. Drown her and you will see.” - N’Zoth
The horror in the Maw upon being released by Sylvanas will be shoving her face into Zereth Mortis’s lake to gorge on Death’s newborn Afterlives(mostly because Sylvanas still wants to shut down the unfair system of Souls being forced to remain separated from their families).
At the same time the other will be showing up at Azeroth to feast on it. Midnight is coming!
2 Likes
Whether he was suprised or not doesn’t cancel the fact that he was kneeling before her, defeated, powerless and helpless. If you bothered to fight him at least on LFR difficulty, you would’ve known.
How on earth does it make sense for him to fight alongside anyone, after being knocked down and consumed by Xalatath previously?
Do not assume something people never said. Xalatah / Salhadaar relations are not about alliances, it is about a one alpha dog (Xalatath) beating and subjugating another alpha dog (Dimensius) and taking control over the later’s pack (i.e. Salhadaar). This has been the case not only in fantasy, but in real history. If one warlord beats the other, the soldiers of the beaten (especially the more skilled one) were often given an option to join the forces of the victor.
While we do not know all the details, we do know that Salhadaar served dimensius not out of principles or vision (All Dimensius wants is to devour the universe), he served him, because he was corrupted by Dimensius and turned into his slave basically, a curse he later imposed upon his own people.
The reason why Salhadaar would not oppose Xalatath, apart from the most obvious - being weak, defeated, absorbed into the dark heart - can also be similiar to why Garithos didn’t immediately oppose Sylvanas but joined her, after she killed his master Detherok.
Also Xalatath arguebly saved Salhaadar from being finished off by the players.
In other words, there are lot of good reason why he would not oppose her.
Your condescending tone as if you had proven to everyone how everything is perfectly fine with the cinematic lorewise, while you provide any empirical reasoning, doesn’t diminish my points, it just shows your personal character.
Pointing out to someone’s minor spelling mistakes, while not being able to seeing your own logic mistakes, doesn’t make you look, my fellow.
2 Likes
It does matter, because at no point did he submit to her. He was not absorbed into the Dark Heart, and it’s clear from Xal’s dialogue that she wants him as an ally. We learn from this cinematic that she transported him, and probably the rest of the remaining Shadowguard, to the Voidstorm. They tried to fight their way back out, but then right before they succeeded, Xal’atath arrives to offer her bargain. Join her, and secure a life for those who follow the Void.
Not only is this not how people work, this isn’t even how wolves work. Leave all that alpha/beta/omega nonsense to the fanfic writers where it belongs. Xal’atath had no hand in Salhadaar’s defeat, and he had no reason to join forces with her until she offered something that he actually wanted.
I’ll stop being condescending when people stop acting like children. “The lore is so inconsistent, these writers are TERRIBLE” followed by something factually incorrect deserves derision. How about we try “Huh, doesn’t this conflict with what happened earlier in the story? I’m I missing something?” like grown-ups. Because let’s be real here 10 times out of 11, you are missing something.
I’m gonna assume she is spinning a yarn here, because there’s no way all the rampant speculation about what she actually is gets dropped in a Harbingers style video between expansions and not unveiled in active play.
I’m a bit skeptical on her current backstory as we know Blizzard has changed it in the past, or at the very least potential concepts based on her dialogue back in Legion. Where she alluded that she was an Old God that was defeated by grouping herself with the other Old Gods via “us” and how she was looking forward to seeing the Void Lords invade our reality at their full strength.
I long for the day our masters can truly pass into this realm. You have only seen fragments, shadows; the faintest of echoes. Ask the Ethereals what one of these manifestations are capable of.
It is ironic that the weakest of us may be the ultimate victor. C’Thun, Yogg-Saron, Y’Shaarj, and… well. Only one would remain to consume the world, that was always meant to be.
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Xal%27atath,_Blade_of_the_Black_Empire#Quotes
Now based on the video and her dialogue during the Dimensius encounter, she was a mortal that was willingly or otherwise “uplifted” by the Devourer into his herald. Instead of longing for the Void Lords like Dimensius to fully cross over, she actively sought to stop it. As demostrated when she, along with Locus Walker and Ve’nari blew up K’aresh in a desperate attempt to destroy Dimensius. Her desire to prevent her former masters resurrection was also a key plot point in TWW. Even being angered at Gallywix for allowing the Shadowguard to take the Dark Heart so they could revive the Void Lord. Although sealing Dimensius away and using his power for her own benefit was a fortunate consequence for her.
Not going to lie but I prefer the original plans for her backstory. An Old God that was defeated early enough in their life, what was left was imprisoned and from there manipulated events to find a way to break free. But I guess that would’ve been too close to N’zoths own backstory. Being considered the weakest of his kind yet being the one who came the closest to victory. I mean he had direct access to the Chamber of the Heart, where he could directly corrupt the World Soul (assuming the Chamber of the Heart is where the World Soul is located, or at least close enough to it) during the final parts of his encounter.
6 Likes
I’ll continue operating under the notion that she’s telling a partial truth/lie by omission. I’m mostly just expressing dismay if this ends up being the full truth and how they chose to reveal it.
7 Likes
Maybe, but Blizzard has done something like this in the past. Harbingers: Gul’dan in relation to AU Gul’dan for example. Iirc Blizzard even copied that backstory for MU Gul’dan as well when they wrote Chronicles vol 2. Slightly retconning his previously established backstory from WC2.
4 Likes
I’ve known about this backstory for a month or two. Don’t remember where I learned it, but I’d wager a guess it’s from beta.
1 Like