Theory: It seems as if The War Within didn't originally have Xal'atath as the main villain

Lore Story Forum
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Okay, I’ve been talking with some friends about this topic, and I’ve been trying to study the expansion myself to improve my writing, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Xal’Atath wasn’t planned as the main villain of The War Within, and likely took Iridikron’s place.

The expansion is based on the uprising and corruption of the nerubians of Azj Kahet, threatening the Arathi and Earthen of Khaz Algar. But if you think about it carefully, Xal’Atath hasn’t done anything that Iridikron couldn’t do on his own except transform into Drenden to infiltrate. But outside of the introduction, we could remove Xal’Atath from the expansion and it wouldn’t affect the story itself.

The War Within is an underground-themed expansion, perfect for the Earth Incarnate. He could very well have corrupted the nerubians by demonstrating the power of the Dark Heart (which he took in Dragonflight). It’s even a little odd that Princess Ansurek, knowing her mother’s story, would allow herself to be convinced by Xal’atath’s whispers, when it would have been, at least in my opinion, more logical for a being who isn’t part of the void itself to demonstrate to her that she can control that power.

The only thing Xal’atath has really done is attempt to absorb the void’s power from the crystal in Hallowfall, but despite this, she hasn’t succeeded, showing us up until this patch that she isn’t proactive enough to be considered a competent and likable villain.

Aside from that, Iridikron could have done all of the above. She could have used her power to destroy Dalaran. The entire Earthen plot is in line with what Iridikron is seeking: answers from the Titans and their true purpose. The Arathi have recently been introduced with promises of an empire that uses light to fight the darkness, but now with the World Soul Saga, they seem like empty promises since it doesn’t seem like we’ll be seeing such an empire in the near future. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Avaloren and the Arathi Empire could have been an expansion of Xal’atath and Dimensius.

Also, there’s something that strikes me as quite striking: Xal’Atath focuses on empowering his allies using resources already available, rather than using his void herald powers. I mean, if he has the support of Dimensius and the void in general, having been able to support the champion with great power in Legion, he should be able to utilize much greater powers than those seen (or at least summon important beings like Faceless Ones). I know his power must have been reduced by the end of Legion, but it seems very strange to me that he can’t do anything other than visions). Again, something Iridikron could very well do with the Dark Heart.

The other thing that catches my eye are three cinematics in particular. The first is the one revealed in the expansion. It seems rushed due to changes in plans. Xal’atath doesn’t appear, and instead it’s just Anduin and Thrall talking in Silithus, which, by the way, feels more like they’re talking to us than to each other (Not to mention we only got ONE Harbingers-style cinematic. Lack of time?). And the other two are the Ethereals and Xal’atath getting angry at Gallywix when he tells her she gave the Dark Heart to them. It feels like Xal’atath fulfilled her role as a filler villain for the expansion and was removed from the story to focus on Metzen’s plans after the Undermine patch, since, as we’ve been shown, Xal’atath is completely dependent on the Dark Heart to be a formidable villain.

What do you think? There are probably several counterpoints, and some of the points I make are my own theories, but that’s the feeling I get. Metzen himself also mentioned that when he returned to Blizzard, TWW was practically finished; all that was needed was a few changes for future plans. I’m still waiting to see what the latest patch will be about, as I’m still unsure if we’ll see the Harronir or simply forget about them to focus on Karesh.

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Xal’ataths argument was this.

The Nerubians and their cousins, back when they were Aqir were part of the largest Empire Azeroth has ever and will ever know. They ruled the world. Now, with the Old Gods imprisoned and later killed, the great Nerubian kingdoms are shadows of their former self. Yogg-saron unleashed the faceless against Azjol’Nerub because they rejected him. Meanwhile Azj-Kahet remained strong as they prevented the Scourge from even knowing about the Kingdom. By imprisoning the messenger Anub’arak sent and then sealing the tunnel that connected the two sister kingdoms. When N’zoth broke free from his prison he tried to bring the Nerubians under his command, as he had done with the Aqir and even the Mantid. However Neferras rejected this offer. In the years since Azj’Kahet began to decline. Meanwhile what of Ahn’qiraj and the Mantid Empire? Ahn’qiraj is a ruin. The Qiraji and their God slain. The Mantid had a civil war that saw the death of their Empress and half of the Klaxxi council. The Paragons were then killed when they followed a reborn Y’shaarj to Orgrimmar. Whom also died a second death. N’zoth then lead the Mantid to lose their newly appointed Empress. The Mantid Empire is gone. No Empress, half a Klaxxi council and no Paragons.

Then comes along Xal’atath, promising power, promising to restore Azj’Kahet to his full glory once more. Even provides a means to do so. Ascension via the Black Blood. The Queen once again refuses as she had refused N’zoth but Ansurek, who wanted to see her kingdom restored to its full glory said yes. Xal’atath was not pitching her plans to Neferras, but to Ansurek the whole time.

In all honestly, I think we will go to Avaloren in Midnight. Midnight is basically what the Arathi have been preparing themselves for. A full scale invasion of the Void. While Quel’thalas will most likely be the leveling experience and Season 1 of the endgame, I think we will have a Pyrrhic victory over the void in the Season 1 raid. We do win, but don’t at the same time. We have had that before. I mean Vault of the Incarnates was literally that. We killed Razzy Dazzy but she succeeded in unleashing her fellow Incarnates. We are currently where we are now because of Raszageth succeeding in her quest. Another example is Castle Nathria. We stopped the flow of Anima to the maw from Revendreth but it was already too late. Zovaal got his desired amount to expand the maw around Oribos. Allowing him to claim back his sigil while still being “trapped”. Even our victory over Daddy D was for naught as the Dreadlords succeeded in rescuing him.

I mean Pandaria’s cinematic does not show the Sha, Y’shaarj etc. It does focus on the Alliance and Horde conflict yes, but the true threats were not present.

The thing is, Xal’atath’s involvement in TWW was foreshadowed in Dragonflight as early as 10.0.7 with the release of the updated Forbidden Reach.

Even now, the Harbinger gathers the children of the first flesh to reclaim what was lost. They must remember their vows and serve those to whom they owe fealty.

https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/A_Song_of_the_Depths

The Harbringer being Xal’atath and the child of the first flesh being the Nerubians. Whom are descendants of the Aqir.

I mean Xal’atath was always going to be a filler villain. She is literally a Harbringer of the Void and maybe Dementius specifically.

As for Iridikron, he only wants to see the Titans destroyed. He believes he can use the void (aka Xal’atath) to draw them back to Azeroth. I don’t think he was ever going to be the main antagonist of The War Within, even before Metzen came back with his trilogy pitch.

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Denona, great job with the response.

/threadclosed

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This exactly. And she was established as a future villain back in BfA.

Iridikron would be a very strange choice for TWW’s villain. Two expansions in a row, dealing with these brand new Not-Quite-Aspect dragons? How’s Temu Deathwing really going to even measure up as a threat? And how’d he manage to make so many connections so quickly? At least Xal’atath has had time to prepare from BfA to now.

I’m sure we’ll see Ridi show up again in the Worldsoul Saga, but he’s more mid-expansion final boss than a mastermind, in my opinion.

I’m not saying Xal’atath isn’t without flaws. But she’s less flawed than the guy whose main accomplishments are losing all three siblings, getting two killed, waiting until we’re distracted to steal the McGuffin, then running away to a different castle.

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I’ll be that guy with the answer lacking lore implications:

The cinematic team needs a lot of time to work. Xal features in both a Harbingers/Warlord style and fully realized bells and whistles Blizzard cinematic.

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Interesting thoughts, and it’s led to an interesting discussion. Thanks for posting this! It’s much more fun than fighting about old lore.

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Her fixation on Alleria that lasts for all of two scenes at least feels like recycled Sylvanas lines.

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She created the skardyn of Grim Batol and also the earthern in the stonevault/awakening machine. Just as one example.

She is also the one who told irridikron of the dark heart and to go get it. Which means she is probably how he also learned of Abberuss, the location of the djaradin elders and shadowflame pits there, and told fyrak about the world tree/emerald dream. Probably the method by which fyrak got into contact with the new druids of the flame and the firelord.

Could he have done all that? maybe? but the story of dragonflight from the time of his freedom to the events of abberus is not that long in game time. We’d have to assume irridikron already knew all that stuff (which, besides zaralek caverns related stuff, I find improbable,)and a litany of other things.

He also says clearly in dawn of the infinite “with this the harbinger (words words words)” so we already know he is talking about a 3rd party. And in the portal he walks into there is a sillouete of someone standing there waiting for him.

Metzen said when he came back to the company they already had tww made up conceptually and working on it but he said “ok, I like it, but this is way too much for one expansion, we need to step back and cut it down and make it into 3 expansions.” And that is literally, according to metzen, why we got this new saga in 3 parts (and probably why the story barely progresses at all after an entire raid tier.) So no I don’t think so.

Irridikron also told us when we would see him again. He said with this the harbinger will steal the titans prize they hoped to protect and when they come back to reclaim it I will be there. He told us he will be in the last titan when they return. I don’t think he has much business messing with khazalgar tbh and I don’t think he wants to destroy the world soul (or hasn’t professed that desire) but rather wants to defeat the titans and have the world be free of their influence. I don’t think he is loyal to the void and probably has a plan to betray them as well if he is at all ideologically consistent about radical freedom as a concept.

I know it’s such a bummer. I actually don’t think xalatath is powerful at all. I think that she is weaker than the average old god without the dark heart. Think about it, xalatath preforms no feats of strength without the dark heart in her possession and her most powerful abilities are literally just using the dark heart. I think that’s why she runs away and schemes she knows she cannot take us without it. I haven’t been convinced either that the niraqi or Cthraxi or any of those forces are loyal to her. She even speaks with contempt towards them and the old gods when within the blade. I know for sure the naga might work in parallel with her but that azshara ultimately serves her own interests, so I don’t know what to make about the kobyss or leviathen/squid things if they have any connection to xal at all or just all mutually hate the light shined by beledar.

I think she must actually be pretty weak. There is a probably explanation for why too, because we used her to drain sargeras’s sword. This reduced almost every artifact weapon into a near useless state only viable for transmog. Not far fetched to me to imagine it did similar to her. When we find her in stormsong valley she is powerless compared to when we find her in legion and she effortlessly disarms her weilder and gleams with power.

She doesn’t have the juice to take us on without the dark heart. Never did post-legion.

Or maybe she was absorbing the light? What causes naaru to shift into the dark phase is when they’re drained of the light, depleted. If it was for the void then what did she need the black blood for? What does she continue to need it for? How does us fighting over it fuel the bloods power, her power?

It’s a she idk why you’re referring to xalatath as a he. Even within the blade it had a feminine voice and people in universe refer to her as a she. idk why you’re making this distinciton. I assume, maybe, you might refer to nzoths “you will follow him to the deep places and the dark waters will flow in his wake,” but that whisper most likely refers to zaralek caverns and the lake of shadowflame.

Blizzard released a number of cinematics for the expansion before and up to and after launch and some of them contain exclusively xalatath or xalatath talking the entire time.

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Based on the cinematic she was draining Beledar while it was in its void state and you can see void energies going into the Dark Heart. As for the black blood, I think it was needed to ensure that Beledar was in the void state at the time. We have seen that you can force it in and out of the void state throughout the story. Most notably when the Order of Night is first introduced, when the Order of Night attacks the Veneration grounds and later during the Dawnbreaker dungeon. Beledar begins in the light state when we first arrive to the celebration but quickly turns to the void state once the Order of Night and the nerubians attack. As for reverting it back to the light state, when we destroy the void rift inside the cave underneath one of the dawntowers, Alleria notes that it returned the moment we destroyed the void rift. Also when we kill Aelric and free the Eternal flame from the void at the Veneration grounds, Beledar returns to normal. As shown in the Candle in the Dark cinematic.

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This is a great response and well-thought-out.

My only head scratcher is a meta one: They have an interesting, sexy (!), female (!!) antagonist who has a distinct visual look… so why didn’t they use Xalatath in the main cinematic? TWW probably has one of the worst WoW Cinematics, along with the one they released of the 4 races doing their weird little dances (so random).

You would think the suits would bank on such a character that ticks off all the nerd/fandom bait boxes. But they didn’t. Seems like marketing failure of the highest order.

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I mean you also don’t want to overexpose xel’atath since she is going to be around for 3 expacs

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There is that, but I’d argue that she’s shown up a fair bit so far, and while at first she was fun, but now her last few outings have been very flabby and without dynamism.

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Would be nice to know what the distinction or commonality is between Xal’atath and Xal’atoh. If there even is one. Even if it is as simple as Xal (sentient weapon) + Thing.

I’m hoping we get a lot more info on who, what, where, why, how instead of another “Wait and See” bait that goes nowhere satisfying.

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Personally I think players getting Xal’atoh from Garrosh is non-canon. iirc the weapon itself turns into the ‘fading echo’ thing that gives you the epilogue quest for SoO and thus MoP as a whole. It is probably more of a flavour thing.

My rule of thumb personally is named weapon drops / legendaries are non-canon unless it is brought up in the lore that they did obtain it. E.g. Thunderfury as you do take the sword from a dwarf corpse when doing the Shaman order hall campaign. Meaning the questline to get the two bindings, forge the blade, then kill Thunderaan is canon. In contrast the acquisition of Atiesh from vanilla is non-canon.

Then you have actual NPC’s weilding named weapons such as Quel’Delar (Liadrin from WoD to BFA) and Thori’dal (Hauldron)

Artifact weapons are of course canon but it would not surprise me if certain artifact weapons end up being the “main” one for each class. kinda like how Xal’atath (the dagger) is for priests.

Honestly now that I think about that, I wonder which weapons would be the “main” one for each class. Some are obvious, like Doomhammer for shamans and Ashbringer for Paladins.

I could see the fury one being that for warriors. As it introduces warriors to Helya before Stormheims plotline. More reason why Helya should’ve been the main antagonist of the warrior order hall campaign and not random eredar #547942. Although the arms one is equality as important. Mainly because the blade is not in Zakajz’s skull when Shadow Priests get Xal’atath.

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We got the best mogs though, so it’s okay

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While this is some good theorycrafting, there’s a few issues. For one, the Void is a major player in the story, and while Iridikron is happy to work with/exploit the Void, he won’t join it or take it up himself. Plus, Hallowfall, Beledar and the Light seems to be outside Iridikron’s interests or plans.

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tldr for me in here but

metzen literally said he wanted to do something special after 20 years of wow but there wasn’t enough time.

So yeah the general ideas eg nerubians or undermine is all other content tied together with the dark heart mcguffin.

This isn’t a first since I’m pretty sure BfA was repurposing content like Zandalar and tying it together with a war. Darkshore split in half since Summermoons corpse is still around somehow a patch later.