With the recent discovery that the death magic used by the Drust derives from the Nightmare, and that Thros itself is actually a part of the Nightmare brings…interesting revelations.
We’ve known for a while that the Emerald Dream is a source of life magic, so it makes sense for the Nightmare to embody death, but we’ve never really seen is behave like necromantic magic before.
I can’t tell what the Old Gods are playing at, but they’ve definitely have had something planned with undeath for a very, very long time. It’s also interesting to note that Yogg-Saron’s inspiration, Yog-Sothoth, is a gatekeeper with the keys to the multiverse and all its realms. Could Yogg-Saron’s gambit be to return to Azeroth through the Shadowlands?
Where was it said the Death Magic was derived from the Nightmare? I’m aware the Drust have relations to both the Nightmare (that’s what Thros is) and Death Magic (they use it). Just not that it is necessarily related.
Anyway, I feel like the answer is no. They seem firmly different given the Chronicle. It might just be Void corruption of the Emerald Dream has given rise to some necromantic energy to draw from, if there is such a connection.
From the Chronicle’s cosmology chart we know that the Emerald Dream and the Shadowlands are completely separate planes of existence, just like the material plane. The Emerald Nightmare is an offshoot of the Emerald Dream and has nothing to do with the Shadowlands.
It wasn’t stated that all death magic derives from the Nightmare, just that the Drust called out to the darkest aspects of druidism and the Nightmare responded and provided them access to Thros and necromancy. It was an interview with Alex after blizzcon last year. Can’t remember the name, but it’s a lore channel on YouTube.
This was the old lore, but the most recent dialogue is that the Emerald Dream taps into something much more primordial than Azeroth itself, with Wild Gods being representations of larger cosmic forces. IE, you can kill a Wild God but not the forces they represent - even if they’re destroyed they’ll always be reborn in one form or another.
Yes they’re distinct realms, but the Emerald Dream and the Shadowlands have a lot in common. This theory would make the Nightmare something akin to fel; chaos born from two opposing magics colliding.
Chronicle has already been amended several times. I’m not saying it’s all incorrect, but their goal to make it the end-all be-all when it comes to lore was unsuccessful.
The new lore basically alludes that the Emerald Dream ties Azeroth into the greater cosmic force of Life itself, which seems like a sensible thing for the Titans to do since Azeroth absorbed Spirit.
The Emerald Dream (also known as the Emerald Dreaming,[1] the Dream of Creation,[2] or simply the Dream[3] or Dreaming[4]) is a vast, ever-changing spirit world, that exists outside the boundaries of the physical world,[2] and is the verdant realm of the Dragon Aspect Ysera. The Emerald Dream represents how the world would have been, if intelligent beings had not altered its surface.[5]
I assume it is this one. He does refer to it as a ‘land of death’. So yeah, I think the Void might have just tainted the Life magics to be more necromantic. That or the Void energies were being used for ‘death magics’ here. Since we know necromancy as a practice (separate from necromatic energy) can be powered by Void energy.
Technically the Chronicle says it was created when Mortal Life first arose in the physical Universe I.E. the Great Dark Beyond.
Immortal Life(Titans, Old Gods, Elementals, Magnaron, Colossi, Primals, Wild Gods, Primal Gods, Titan Keepers and Demons) and Semi-Immortal Life(Elves, Dragons, anything sustained by the original Well of Eternity) existed before Mortal Life did.
As for when Mortal Life first surfaced: before the Sundering apparently since the Pandaren were most likely Mortal which of course means that the Nightmare and Shadowlands couldn’t be one and the same even if both could spin off the Emerald Dream theoretically.
Y’Shaarj of course does mention his realm when we die while wielding Xal’atoh, Desecrated Image of Gorehowl which could tie the Shadowlands to the Sha since the Prime Sha create Realms…
Eh, I’m not sure there’s really a time distinction there. Mortal life, elemental life, Naaru, and the Titans all seemed to arise at the same time. Whereas some mortal species came later in general, as did the Old Gods.
I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make. The Emerald Dream is much younger than the Shadowlands and is unique to Azeroth. The new lore doesn’t change that.
The only thing it introduces is the idea that the forces the Emerald Dream draws from are not unique to Azeroth - that the Wild Gods/Loa are born from immutable aspects of life that span the cosmos. You can kill a Wild God but not the force they embody, which is why they’ll always be either reborn or reincarnated.
My personal inference from that information is this means the Dream serves as Azeroth’s link to the cosmic force of Life, since obviously the Dream is both too young and too small to give rise to those kinds of forces on its own.
I’m not denying that wild gods are immortal, but I think you’ve got the reasoning wrong. Wild Gods aren’t present on every planet. Cenarius is JUST on Azeroth.
What species that existed from the start count as Mortal Life? The Mortal Animals didn’t seem to surface until after the Old Gods/Sporemounds started dying to the Titans. We have no idea on the Lifespan of Argus’s Wildlife so we have no idea if they are Mortal or Semi-Immortal like the Eredar/Draenei.
If we could get confirmation concerning Argus’s wildlife and a date on when they first arose we might be able to find out when the Shadowlands first surfaced.
Yes! Precisely. A Wild God is just a representation of a greater force; these entities are unique and can be killed. Azeroth doesn’t have a Rukhmar or Anzu, but we do have an Aviana and an Ursoc. We don’t have Sporemounds, but we do have Aessina and Malorne. They’re all just some of the countless faces Life can wear.
Specifically? I’m not sure. The Chronicle just denotes mortal life on other planets at the same section of the general Mythos. And that the Titans were working to protect these people as well when they found them. And are the groups that demons were attacking. That they were ‘terrorizing mortal civilizations’.
