They span the universe! Countless as the stars!
They also spam the universe lol
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Yeah I mean G’huun could also work but I don’t think they’re really worried about trying to match or keep the war3 manual canon, as the number of old gods is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stuff they’ve changed over the years.
Technically even if G’huun was being counted the statement still wouldn’t be true as in the wc3 manual all 5 were imprisoned and none of them were killed, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.
I guess my point, more than anything, was just that it’s not that outlandish to think there could be more than 4 old gods on azeroth.
Though really I just like bringing it up cause I always found it odd that Blizzard randomly changed it from 5 to 4 for no particular reason. Seemed like a waste of potential raid boss, but overall i dont really care one way or another
MOTHER literally says that G’huun’s containment has been broken, and it’s a big part of Underrot as well.
They definitely chained and contained G’huun. He’d be the 5th “Old God” that they sealed.
Again it’s really a moot point since there’s already so much that has changed between wc3 and now besides just the number of old gods.
However G’huun wasn’t a “true” old god as it wasn’t created by the void lord and sent flying into the cosmos. Its goal was also to consume Azeroth as opposed to corrupt her. It was an accidental creation by the Titans when experimenting with old god stuff.
I wasn’t claiming that he wasn’t imprisoned by titans. I wasn’t even saying he couldn’t be the 5th.
But technically with the current lore, there is NO 5th imprisoned Old God as Y’shaarj wasn’t imprisoned he was killed. In warcraft 3 era lore this was not the case. So even if counting G’huun there were only 4 that were imprisoned.
Personally I feel the bit about Xal’atath in the priest OH lore:
was a nod to the 5th old god who had been retconned out, without actually changing any of the retconned lore (as it was just an “outlandish” theory to the blade’s origin.)
But G’huun could very well be blizzard readding the “5th” old god. It could also be them adding a 6th. As we’ve seen blizzard really has no problem changing old lore to fit what they want the current story to be. This is especially true of much of the warcraft RTS lore as it was back in the day.
I agree with your theory. I think it’s been confirmed Xalatath is a old god cause the
8.3 spoilers
Summary
plan of Aszhara’s is to use the empty blade to trap N’zoth. So if the blade can trap N’zoth then likely Xalatath is like him in that she’s an old god.
I do like that you use a combo of blizzard art and deduction to come up with this more specific theory.
They still nonetheless originated from the Old Gods - Each one encountered appear to show high regard or acknowledge to a very specific Old God too.
Xal’Atath can still be cannon without retconning, giving her imprisonment within the Blade happened in Black Empire wars pre-dating the arrival of the other Titans - Hence they’d be unaware.
If I could insert the gif of the two lemon guys from Adventure Time trying to smack eachother - That’s how I’d imagine the Old Gods fighting - ‘On a continental level’. 
No, the Titans & their forces accidentally created G’huun when trying to discover more about the Old Gods - Then concealed it, much later after the original Old Gods had already been contained. I mean considering he was still contained, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the declared ‘5th’ however if he wasn’t I can still see that as being acceptable.
His heart was chained beneath the Vale.
My guess on all this lore.
Five old gods arrived to Azeroth, Xalathat was the strongest and smartest and thats why during the black empire, Yssarj forged the blade with one of his claws, along with Cthun and Yog they weakened and imprisioned her inside the blade
Nzoth only watched.
Then they divided the continent in four realms and they overpowered Nzoth. Thats when the titans arrive, defeat Yog, Cthun and destroyed Yssarg. Decided to imprision them, Nzoth already weakened put in jail.
Xalathat and Nzoth make a deal, she will bring the champion, the “opener” , and Nzoth will open the blade to Xalathat, with the condition to leave the dagger to him. Horde champion bring it to Sylvanas, her to Azshara (somewhere in between Nathanos had the blade)
The champion opened the prision of Nzoth, he goes to Nyalotha.
Xalathat opened back in the Crucible of Storm a portal to return to the void, maybe to heal back to her creator.
I think Azshara really wanted to kill Nxoth with the dagger, but when you do that, you actually imprisions Nzoth essence in the blade of the empire so when he was lazotbeamed his weakened essence went to the dagger. Wrathion eventually keeps the dagger without knowing ot maybe knowing Nzoth is inside.
-
One of the skins of blade of the black empire skins as artifact is called
"Claw of Nzoth"
It’s pretty obvious she’s indeed an old God who was even weaker than nzoth. Also clear that enough of her essences was imprisoned within a blade made by the other four as a sort of icing on the cake. Apparently when one beats another they delight in humiliating the loser to the fullest. Only it turns out she’s even smarter than the smart one, nzoth. Hes dead. She’s gone back to the void to plan her next move. We will see her again. I wouldn’t doubt it if she and Azahara ended up in league with one another and we return from the shadowlands to find the world’s races and kingdoms subjugated by the naga with azshara and xalatath using the planet as a staging ground to attack tie void lords. Old gods don’t want the end of all things. That’s why nzoth called the jailor the enemy of all. Xalatath wants power and azshara wants to rule. She’s made a deal with one before and would do it again.
The artwork surrounding the speculated 5th ‘Xal’atath’ is very interesting. The tendrils seem to move from not only tentacle but also to vegetation. Perhaps her method of corruption wasn’t just corrupting but creating. We do see skulls mixed into it as well, fertilizer for the corpse flower style Xal’atath used to be? I could see her being weak in the beginning of take over of Azeroth which probably led to her defeat and imprisonment. Plants aren’t strong until they put down roots typically. I’m curious what her plan is now that she’s free not only from the dagger, but from Azeroth. Also what throne was Azshara referring to after she gave us the dagger in Nyalotha?
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I like this theory. It fits nicely with her scorned and vengeful attitude
And from the way she spoke to N’Zoth, it seemed to me like they know eachother. They don’t like one another, but they’re old acquaintances or enemies. It’s also possible that N’Zoth (and the other old gods) had something to do with her imprisonment. She went straight to him and offered us in exchange for freedom.
It seems kind of suspicious that N’Zoth just happened to know how, and held the power to release her… Like maybe he had something to do with the original binding spell.
Still though, I wish we knew why she was imprisoned. The motive could give us a lot of insight into Xal’atath herself, and who was responsible.
Also, if she is an Old God, ts rather interesting that she presents as female. Most of them choose male forms/voices or personas
The iconography of the map also illustrates that this 5th OG was of death and rebirth. The skulls and the roots / leaves for example.
So maybe XT/5th is part of Shadowlands and we’ll see from that.
Why bump this after almost a year?
Well, Mortis - wherever you are now…WoWhead is talking about the Fifth Old God controversy today and I remember this thread from years ago where you theorized that there was a fifth old god. Maybe it’s all coming true!
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I like both this theory and OP’s theory, either way I hope there is an Old Goddess in the form of Xal’atath or Y’shaarj.
Could be,the trickster . Lovecraft did have one in his mythos.
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God I miss my dagger talking to me. Blizzplz Legion 2
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I vaguely remember some lore about a 5th one that was so weak the others got rid of it so probably was xal.
From her history you don’t have to worry about it,she’ll be coming for us. No one is left she did encounter.