I was having a conversation with an avid fan of World of Warcraft when I realized we have never seen the forces of Light like we have seen the forces of Void before. The Light, just like the Void, claim to have limitless numbers. But we have never seen Light entities on the battlefield before. We have seen Naaru, but we rarely seen them in action. They mostly float around and project barriers and such. I think there were like two occasions where a Naaru went dark and we had to fight that. We have seen Light empowered champions, but not Light creatures, not like the Void has with Voidwalkers, Faceless and Old Gods.
What if the Light is just that? Pure sentient light. Light that has no interesting in manifesting a physical form like the Void beyond that of an avatar like the Naaru to interact with morals. What if the Light has an alternative motive to purge everything from existence that was created by Void? Like the physical universe and everything else? Maybe that is why they donât take physical form and why we donât seem much of them, they might view physical things as immoral and might just be using us as a means to an end to defeat the Void and after that they will erase us next?
I think the reason we rarely see these Light forces is because this is recent lore by Blizzard, and they have yet to depict them in the game.
That description doesnât fit the Light. The WoW universe was made by the clash of the Light and the Void, so the naaru and the Light itself donât see the mortal plane as a product of the Void. Ergo despite Blizzardâs recent attempts at villain-batting the Light, that would be out of character. Plus if the Light itself had a problem with physical things, why work with the naaru? Thereâs plenty of ways to interact with peopel without taking corporeal form. Why have a healing effect on living things?
When it comes down to it, the Light has been on the back foot in our reality for a long time. A Thousand Years of War basically indicated that the Legionâs march across the cosmos had been so thorough that the Lightâs standing forces in the Great Dark were all but demolished, with Sargeras treating Xeâraâs Army of the Light (and presumably Aâdalâs followers as well) as merely scattered, isolated vestiges just waiting to finally be extinguished.
There was also an ongoing and essentially one-sided struggle between the Legion and the Void going on, with the Void basically stabbing at the periphery of the Legionâs holdings when it could in sort of guerrilla raids akin to those of Xeâraâs followers, but ultimately being handily managed and contained, suggesting that the demons were also effectively and systematically crushing the Voidâs forces and adherents wherever they were found in the Great Dark.
Which though not confirmed, could suggest that at some point earlier in the Burning Crusade, any preexisting large forces of Light and Void in the Great Dark might have each mounted their own overt attacks against the Dark Titanâs endless host of demons and gotten their heads handed to them, leading to both being shattered and only retaining enough strength to commit surgical raids on Legion outposts along the edges of their conquered, broken worlds.
There seemed to be a sense that with the Burning Legion stomping around, the other cosmic forces were having a hard time getting and keeping comparable worlds-spanning footholds in the Great Dark, and with the Legion defeated they might be able to start more effectively intruding upon our reality going forward.
There are light constructs that use the voidwalker model, and Priest gets one named Sol who can be used as a bodyguard in Legion. Lothraxion might also count, as he seems to be a Dreadlord, but infused with Light, as Xâera tried to do to Illidan.
It depends on what you mean by ârecentâ. The Naaru was been depicted in game since at least the Burning Crusade. They have been around for over a decade but never developed. They are villain-baiting the Light, like what happens when you disagree with their purpose?
But that is just in the Dark Beyond, right? Like the physical universe, the Light and Void live in their own separate universe outside the Great Dark. At least with the Void, it was shown they are significantly weakened in the physical universe, it could also be true with the Light. The Burning Legion could just be beating them in the Great Beyond, and only there, because of their weakened state. We donât know if they actually fight in their realms.
We donât know how Light and Void behave in their natural realm. We donât know how they are created, what happens when they die or even if they return home and revive like elementals and demons. Their realm could just be pure Light and there is no defeating them in their realm because they are everywhere and it could be like trying to leave an impact in the ocean by punching it. They could every well just be infinite and unstoppable in that sense.
Since Nathrezim are revealed to be agents of Denathrius, Lothraxionâs loyalties are in question. Did Lothraxion take up the Light as part of Denathriusâ endgame? Is Lothraxion genuinely loyal to the Light? Xeâra didnât control Lothraxion, since he disagreed with her when she was alive.
I think itâd be a colossal waste to only flesh out the Light while itâs being villain-batted and hope Blizzard doesnât go that way.
Apparently Dreadlordâs arenât even naturally Fel creatures and consumed that energy specifically to pass themselves off as loyal demons to Sargeras. Likewise Lothraxion probably consumed Light energy to pass himself off as a converted being of Light.
The Dreadlordâs goal seems to be to foment conflict between the other cosmic powers, creating billions of deaths all to the benefit of Death itself. The Light and their hatred of abomination is just another force to be exploited.
As it pertains to the original topic, I think the forces of light are mostly made up of the Army of Light (mortals), the Naaru (semi-immortals), and Light Elementals (true immortals so long as they are not destroyed in the realm of Light).
We do see some void corrupted worlds at the end of ABT when you look outside the windows of the Vindicaar. Implying that the Legion hasnât purged those worlds yet. Could mean that Sargeras was just so lazer focused on Azeroth following the War of the Ancients that he stopped purging other worlds (regardless if they had a world soul or not) that were taken over by the Void.
I still like to believe that Lothraxion has actually fully defected over to the Army of the Light instead of being a spy. History has shown us that some spies can end up defecting to the very group that they were sent to spy on for various reasons.
Argus winning would have purged those worlds as well as the entire Great Dark Beyond anyways(he was about to Unmake All Creation when he One-Shot use and would have if we hadnât interrupted him upon resurrection) and he was on the verge of awakening during Legion! Thatâs how close Sargeras was to winning!
Real talk, I donât think Blizzard has fully fleshed out what their plan for what the forces of Light look like beyond the Naaru. They probably want to have a fully realized plan for whatever the âLightlandsâ are and look like, as well as what kind of entities rule over it, before they say anything else definitive. Maybe there will be beings above the Naaru, maybe not.
Blizzardâs plan for the Lightâs motive (lack of change, stagnancy at all costs as the opposite of Void), but all else seems to be still at the drawing board.
The Naaru and Lightspawn are pretty much the only light beings I can think of, and I can only remember 2 lightspawn- one from the new starting area, and Sol, but the priest order hall made Sol, IIRC.
If the Naaru are akin to Void Gods, and Lightspawn are akin to Voidwalkers⌠I wonder if there is some light equivalent to faceless ones, and other void creatures.
I know that specifically in regard to the Army of the Light - we know they were depleted and failing (their resistance was a miracle in the first place), but I donât think that weâve ever seen the full force of the Light.
The Naaru are missionaries. They represent the Lightâs overall will but act as leaders of their own sects (with their own motives) mostly in hostile space occupied by Legion or Void forces. The Light has countless emissaries, champions, and holdoutsâŚbut weâve never seen the Lightâs base of operations in the Great Dark. We know from Legion that the Light holds at least a handful of worlds, including planets dedicated to specific tasks (preservation, imprisonment, âreeducationâ etc.) The existence of these worlds suggests that, at the very least, the Light exists in these places in great enough force to protect themselves. Another possible explanation is that the number of worlds under the Lightâs influence is simply as infinite as the Great Dark itself (this would also mean the same is true for the Void.) If thatâs the case, Sargeras was simply a big fish in a small pond.
It is a small matter to control the mind of the weak⌠for I bear allegiance to powers untouched by time, unmoved by fate. No force on this world or beyond harbors the strength to bend our knee⌠not even the mighty Legion! - Harbinger Skyriss
We span the universe, as countless as the stars! - Harbinger Skyriss
Thereâs also the cosmic-background war between the Light and the Void. This undoubtedly consumes most of the attention/resources of both of these forces. Perhaps this war is what Azshara means to become part of? A war that dwarfs all wars. I doubt weâll ever see it portrayed, but itâd be very cool to see an infinite hellscape where the Light and Voidâs forces clash in perpetuity.
Naaru are one of the few actual light beings we have seen before. Draenei and Lightforged Draenei are simply mortal races empowered/infused with Light. The Light was in a fight with the Void long before any of these mortal race existed. What did their army look like before that? The Naaru donât seem all that powerful to begin with, they are easily captured or corrupted by lesser races. They seem far less powerful then Old Gods and demons. Whatever power mortals can harness from Light seems easily overpowered by their counterparts. If the Light is evenly matched with the other cosmic forces, we clearly havenât seen what the forces of Light truly has yet.
Do the naaru speak of the eternal conflict? That the entire history of your world is but a fraction of the time that has passed? Of those that came before the draenei? No? (in Netherlight Temple)
Xalâatath would say that, sheâs likely on the side of the war that killed âthose who came before the draeneiâ.
What Xalâatah tells you; âThe naaru have led many races into battle before the Draenei, where are they now?â (hoping people will assume the naaru are callous)
What Xalâatath doesnât tell you; âIt was me and my side that kept killing those races in our war against the Light because the naaru just wonât let us win.â