[ LORE/STORY ]
Not sure if this will end up being a forum post or not, but I had a cool revelation while thinking about the next expansion. I’m sure this tidbit of lore was kept closely in mind within the circle of development for the storyline, but it just got me really excited.
More than anything, it centers on the fact that the dwarves already have an extensive history with Xal’atath. Xal’atath, as a blade, was wielded by the Sorceress Modgud, wife of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan, during the invasion of Grim Batol during the War of the Three Hammers and was used to place a curse on the mountain that still lingers today. The curse made the mountain uninhabitable by the Wildhammer dwarves, and marked a massive divide in dwarven culture, both ideologically and geographically.
My hope for The War Within is that this is addressed, as though Xal’atath was not directly responsible, her powers and her meddling were an integral part of the War. I think it could be really interesting to see the division between the Wildhammers and the Dark Irons coming together over a mutual interest in slaying Xal’atath. Surely Moira would want to bring about the downfall of a shadow/void entity that left such a stain on the world at the hands of the Dark Iron, and the Wildhammer would have a vendetta against the curse that was placed upon Grim Batol. I really hope that we see development and depth among the three dwarven clans in regard to this, especially with Moira’s son taking a role in the spotlight. Seeing him help in the campaign against Xal’atath would be really symbolic, I think, chasing down a stain of division that sowed discord among the Clans so that he might one day be respected as the heir to all of Khaz Modan (as Moira sees it).
While I am incredibly excited for the Earthen as a dwarf lover, I am very hopeful for this opportunity to take the reins back on a political legacy that spans numerous generations of Dwarves that we’ve known since the early days of Warcraft. I hope that the three clans of Khaz Modan are not overshadowed by the new storytelling of the three clans of Khaz Algar, and that they’re used as foils for one another and can all come together in unity to defeat a common enemy that has played such an integral part in Dwarven lore for so long.
Some extra thoughts:
-
I think it’ll be really cool to see Xal’atath practicing a dark transformation on the Nerubians, especially since the curse upon Grim Batol transformed the Dark Iron that retreated into the city’s depths into Skardyn, which were never really represented in-game outside of a few item names and were replaced with trogg enemies in beta testing for Cataclysm. It still seems to be implied that they may exist, though. A part of me hopes that the Skardyn could make a return and appear with representation in-game, but that’s probably just wishful thinking (earthen version of skardyn?).
-
Could slaying Xal’atath actually lift the curse upon Grim Batol? In the past, when void entities have been slain, their curses still remained in their wake (see: the Curse of Flesh). But, I think it would be really cool to see a removal of the curse in Grim Batol either by slaying Xal’atath or by convincing her to remove it.
I’m sure I have other thoughts that I haven’t yet conveyed here and will probably add-in more ideas, but I would love to hear the thoughts of others on the topic. I’m so incredibly excited for The War Within, and I really hope that all of the dwarves get their time to shine.
6 Likes
The Dark Iron and the Reliquary rivalry has been really interesting to me, it seems like the Dark Iron has been focused on digging up old Void-related artifacts. I really hope we do get to go on an adventure with Moira to uncover some more secrets about Modgud and Xal’atath.
There is a small subsection of Dark Iron called the Cult of Ragnaros who worshiped Smolderan and hated the Brozebeards and their legacy I really hope that story is explored more. I hope they show up as a Twilight’s Hammer adjacent faction that can be dungeon fodder.
1 Like
They worshipped Ragnaros not Smolderon though they apparently drew him away from the scene so that they could revive Ragnaros without interruption.
They will have even more problems now that Fyrakk has joined the party in the Firelands bringing with him the Shadowflame.
2 Likes
Good, at this point I give up on the Firelands being at least neutral to the living. Let these would be pretenders kill each other. So much the better for us.
1 Like
I would also love to see some more tension between the Reliquary and the Dark Iron! Seeing them have some sort of conflict/battle over relics would be great. Some holdouts from the Cult of Ragnaros would be a good antagonistic element to Moira’s rule, as they have been, and could totally play well into future conflicts for the Dwarves.
You are right. I am wrong. They are even named ‘the cult of Ragnaros’ i don’t know why I wrote Smolderan other than he’s fresh in my mind thanks to the new raid.
I’m looking at old concept maps for reasons, and honestly I wonder if we can look back at RPG and early lore on Dwarves to look for hints on where the story is going to go with Earthen.
The reason I say that is Khaz Algar is more or less on early concept maps, just called Al’agarym.
nj9TWiR.png (938×1038) (discordapp.com)
I must be blind or something but I can legitimately not find anything by that name on that map.
I see a place called Al’abim, which is likely an early name for Tel Abim, but I don’t see the name you’re referring to.
Sidenote: I do find it interesting that Rogue was originally referred to as Assassin and Runemaster was a planned class.
Along with how many of these proposed factions either ended up completely differently or never ended up existing at all.
I believe they’ve talked about Runemaster before and its rune mechanic essentially was given to DKs.
I knew the concept of utilizing runes for combat was rolled into DK, along with whatever was planned for a Necro class but I didn’t know there was any pen-to-paper plans for a runemaster class as seen in the RPG in WoW.
Slaying Xal’atath might lift the curse. I think it’s likely Xal’atath will be the final boss of The War Within (this new Nerubian Queen will be the boss of the first raid).
Playing wotlk classic I noticed how the nerubians, specifically crypt lords look like mummies / egyptian pharaohs. (Maybe it was evident to some instantly in wc3? and I’m just noticing it very late).
My suspicion in war within is there’s some connection to some old king of sorts who learns how to tame spiders and they mummify (web wrap) him and using dark magic he turnt himself into the first crypt lord. It always seemed odd how the nerubians had these stone block buildings with intricate architecture.
Most likely candidate being the oldest trolls and the spider loa being ostracized for her involvement with the nerubians becoming an aligned faction of creatures.
Using dark / titan technology the original nerubians could have created / enslaved another race to build their structures, this being the earthen / titan constructs. Whether or not the earthen were conscious beings prior could be debatable or even unlikely, but it would be interesting if it went from Trolls performing rituals with spiders, to creating life from the earth, to enslaving that life to that life rebelling and finding their own way, even if it never fully surfaced.
Xal’atath / the old gods being the ones who got between the nerubians and the earthen and enabled them to branch away from their slavers. So now we would be going in to clear out any remnants of the void that Xal’atath is trying to fester into something greater.
I dunno, I’m putting my money on her getting out of TWW and being the primary reason whatever happens at the Sunwell in Midnight happens.
Which is largely irrelevant towards her possibly being a raid boss in TWW; we’ve had enough raid bosses survive their encounters to pop up later that adding her to the list wouldn’t exactly be game-breaking.
1 Like
This would be my current guess as to who the main bad guy is in each expac, but I am less sure how well each will fair at the end of their leg of the saga.
4 Likes
I don’t think Iridikron is going to be the final boss of the saga. It’s probably going to be a character we haven’t even met yet. He’ll 100% play a large role though.
I reckon magni as speaker is the final boss of ww, he is a puppet of the titans now
fits in with dwarf race and underground and world soul, it connects
I think Nerubian architecture was retroactively established as being from the Black Empire. And I think the original lore from before that was enslaving the Tol’vir native to Northrend and coopting their stuff. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the Warcraft 3 lore, so I might be misremembering. The Trolls were never involved beyond fighting the ancient Aqir that the Nerubians are descended from. Also yes, the Nerubians always looked a little mummy-like, but that’s just because of the cultures Blizzard used as a base for them.
This is my hope as well. I think that was my main disappointment with the announcement of the Earthen, because I feel like Blizzard has a way of throwing away development on pre-existing lore to jump to the newest shiny thing in an attempt to rake in subs. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, because I would LOVE to see more on our pre-existing Dwarven clans, particularly with the Dark Iron and Xal’atath.
I know a lot of folks are speculating more presence from the Ren’dorei but I think they’d be remiss to not touch on the relationship the Dark Iron have with the blade particularly with TWW looking like a Dwarf-focused expansion. I expect the Ren’dorei will have more to do in Midnight instead.
1 Like
