Hey y’all. So I’ve studied religions and their mythologies as well as cultures and cultural theory across the Global South and one of my favorite hobbies is figuring out where the WoW lore is coming from inspiration-wise. Most of the stuff is easy, such as the Loa being WoW-Lwa from Haitian and Louisiana Voodoo, e.g. Bwonsamedi = Baron Samedi, or how Cenarius’ kids are centaurs, or how the August Celestials come from the Chinese Si Xiang, or Odyn being Odin. Some of the stuff is more difficult to pinpoint or is merely a gesture to a real world principle, e.g. the sand/air elements always have Arab overtones and vaguely point at Djinn (beings of smoke and fire) imagined aesthetics.
Also, usually the in-game lore follows on some level real-life mythology; eg Bwonsamedi having a “boss” (in real life it’s Papa Legba).
So, onward.
Kyrian Covenant - Bastion - ruled by Archon
Etymological inspiration: probably following the logic of the Valkyrie/Valkyrja, where the prefix Kyrja in this sense comes from a root word of “Choosing”. Bastion is an easy enough word.
Clearly the intent is the origin of the Valkyr prototype that we are already familiar with, their “true” origin.
Similarly to how in real life Valkyrie take half the dead to Valhalla, we already know that the Odin-Valkyr take his dead to the Hall of Valor/Valajar and the Helya-Valkyr take her dead to Helheim/Helajar; in Norse mythology the half of the dead that don’t go to Valhalla go to Folkvangr, where Freyja rules. Freyja is described usually as a shining goddess with a feathered cloak and her halls are described as a glorious field that’s nicer than Valhalla.
Perhaps this Archon figure will be inspired by Freyja. If so, it is important to note that Odin was a remember of the Aesir and Freyja was a Vanir and there was a great war between the two; perhaps this will translate to the Archon resenting Odyn for creating his “Valkyr” and taking valorous dead away from the Kyrians.
As far as Bastion aesthetics go, given the palm trees and the overuse of silver and white garments of winged Kyrians, I believe they took a page of DC’s Silver City concept (which is their Heaven).
Necrolord Covenant - Maldraxxus - leader gone and on the brink of a five-way civil war
Necrolord is easy, “Lord of Death”, and Maldraxxus is possible combined etymology of Mal (Bad) and the likely invented word of Draxxus (v D&D), but there’s some theories of Drax (name of some places in the UK) etymology coming from Drake, so perhaps place of Bad Drakes.
This one is where I’m most at a loss.
Ardenweald - Night Fae
Arden means high and weald means forest, so high forest. The Emerald Dream always had “Spring” aesthetics that extended to their conceptions of Fae Dragons and the like, aspects of which are modeled after the Seelie Fae. The Night Fae are thus clearly modeled after the Unseelie Fae.
However, in mythologies where the two places are ruled by two different sets of rulers, the Seelie is ruled by a Queen mainly with a husband and the Unseelie ruled by a King with his wife; in cases where they are one real with two different rulers, the Seelie Queen and Unseelie King are wed.
However in the WoW version, given Cenarius is often considered a “ruler” of the Emerald Dream (and whose aesthetics match the usual descriptions of the Unseelie King), WoW has a “Winter Queen” as ruler of Ardenweald.
However, we have already been introduced to the Thornspeakers, who are died to both Death and the Emerald Dream, which is exactly how this Ardenweald is described by Blizz, “Emerald Dream’s Dark Mirror” and a place of “rest and rebirth”.
Revendreth - Venthyr - ruled by Denathrius
Revendreth - Reven (Ruin, Stealing) + Dreth (lament, if following Greek root); this place is supposed to serve as a purgatory for souls, which in turn implies after they are cleansed they are allowed to go elsewhere. Venthyr I believe is an invented word probably inspired by the Balkan Dhamphir/Dhampirs (Vampires) which neatly matches their aesthetics, in particular the “man bat” seen in one of the images.
Oribos, the Eternal City
The Arbiter figure (she) standa at the core of Oribos. The name reminds me of Ouroboros, but might be inspired by the root word of Uriel (Flame of God) Or/Aur/Ur which means Fire.
The Maw
Easy enough concept. In many Abrahamic traditions and even some Dharmic ones, the bad firey eternal torment place is often described not only as a place but also as a giant mouth swallowing all the souls, and sometimes even a whole living being. The concept of the Jailer, the mysterious never seen torturer of this place, is hard to speculate on besides the post-Milton concept that the Devil hates his job and was charged with keeping Hell by God (eg DC’s Lucifer).
However here it is evident that when Sylvanas refers to the Lich King as an “usurper”, assuming that chained being with blue eyes in the shadowland version of Icecrown is the Jailer, then it is evident that the Nathrezim “stole” this Jailer’s essence onto this place of existence (they were expert Necromancers after all, and given their vampiric nature I do wonder if they’re tied to the Venthyr) and placed it upon the Lich King helmet/armor/sword.
Further speculation:
Given Bwonsamedi has a boss, and given in real life Baron Samedi’s boss is usually described as a playful lwa and not evil, and given Bwon hates Sylvanas and predates all the other Loa, my theory is that Bwon’s Other Side is going to be another realm we’ll explore later in the expansion. Or, perhaps, his Boss is the Arbiter, since he primarily serves as a ferrier of souls.