Something that keeps confusing me is characters referring to Void stuff as being in the Twisting Nether or stuff named “nether-” smth being relevant to the void and stuff. I cant think of any specific examples but I know it has happened a lot before.
In older stories I attributed it to the lore not being set yet, like how Void and Death magic were very linked in the past even tho we now know they’re separate cosmological forces.
So anyways im rambling, can someone explain me why the Twisting Nether, a ‘realm’ of Fel and Disorder, gets shipped so much with the Void and Shadow stuff?
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My guess is that since the naming convention exists, Blizzard is just going to keep using it instead of making up a new one to be more accurate with the lore.
Or there could be multiple realms within the twisting nether. Much like how the shadowlands operates
Just a guess though
The Twisting Nether is basically WoW’s Astral Plane (a space between reality), with the added twist of chaos/demons thrown into the mix. I don’t know if there’s a solid explanation for why it leans into Void and not Light, but I’m guessing that largely boils down to Fel = Chaos and Void = Chaos, while Light seems to jive with Order most often.
Fel = Chaos/Destruction and Void = Entropy/Madness
Both are forms of chaos, but Fel is more about destroying life and Void is more about consuming/infusing the universe both lead to chaos, but one leaves a barren universe and the other? Kinda.
Fel is much closer to light than Void, Void isnt abt chaos its abt nothingness its the bad energies consuming the universe not its destruction for the sake of destruction, which Fel and Disorder lean into
According to Xal, the Void is about survival of the fittest.
I honestly think it just boils down to Fel and Void always being antagonistic (unlike the Light), so they get thrown into the same pot when they maybe shouldn’t.
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Due to its ethereal nature and the way space/time operate there, the Twisting Nether is often treated as a sort of “intermediary” domain where the more flexibility rules facilitate other planes of existence intruding upon ours by allowing one to stretch and shift the more rigid limitations of physical reality.
While it’s not always stated outright, often when a bunch of Void stuff spills into part of our reality, it’s framed as a result of something happening locally to bridge the distance to theirs by ripping a hole through the Twisting Nether. Which makes a certain sense; pure expressions of Void struggle to remain physically manifest unaided, so it stands to reason that their presence is often enabled by something else - like fel or arcane magic - opening the way for them to cross over.
Moreover the “nether-” appellation is commonly seen among Ethereals, and even with their void powers, Void-aligned Ethereals still utilize their people’s arcane technology in tandem with it and seem to still primarily inhabit and traverse the Twisting Nether, so many of them retaining the terminology (Netherstalker/Netherguard/etc.) as either culturally significant references or functional ranks makes sense.
The Twisting Nether is just whatever Blizzard wants it to be at the moment. Fel, arcane, and shadow all get lots of references to the nether.