Zereth Mortis, the Sepucher and the First Ones

Lore Story Forum
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While doing a little research for something I was writing, I checked to see what information was available on the location that Zovaal and his unwilling sidekick went to at the end of the most recent cinematic.

Apparently the Sepulcher of the First Ones is located in a realm called Zereth Mortis. ‘Zereth’ apparently means cornerstone or keystone, although if you want to really dig, there is a Hebrew translation that means “splendour” or “Perplexity”. Mortis is interesting.

Mortis in Earth history comes from the Latin for ‘Death’ (as in Rigor Mortis). Im not sure why the First Ones would name something after human languages but if it does happen to have the same meaning, then the place Zovaal and Anduin went to is basically called either “Death’s Foundation” or “Death’s Splendour”.

Either way, it rather links in to Zovaal’s plans, especially the “Death comes for the soul of your world” comment.

So my impression is that what we will be visiting is a realm outside of spacetime relevant to both the Shadowlands and our game reality that contains a place called the Sepulcher of the First Ones. And as Sylvanas muttered as she hit the ground, we need to stop him reaching it, assuming we even can.

Since its been pointed out that time works differently in these realms outside living space, we could either arrive there shortly after Zovaal does or way too late.

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blink I Feel that were becoming the Doctor in that case, which I’m perfectly okay with. Though it will be more likely we’ll end up the companion to someone playing the Doctor role, perhaps Ve’nari?

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I cant help it, as a writer I love exploring plot and character. Although WoW does it superficially (and always has, most characterization makes Star Wars: A New Hope look deep) it still has aspects that interest me.

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Im an ‘actual’ writer (in that I write fictional words) but not a professional one; all my stuff is done for a hobby. I did say WoW’s story was often simplistic (and always has been) but again that doesnt stop me from imaginging it was more, and thinking about where its story is going.

I dunno mate, I read comics and historical romances now and then. Things dont need to win a Pulitzer Prize for me to find them entertaining.

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That’s just not how writers’ minds work.

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Exactly. Readers are the one who are disgusted with how things are Retconned since they have high expectations. They even criticize the contradictions in Tolkien’s writing!

A Writer is curious to find out what is next. Constantly curious to find out what their rivals have planned out and the end result of their Rivals’ flawed writings.

I who abandoned writing a couple years ago on the grounds of my writing being deemed religiously blasphemous still seek to find where a road leads in terms of WoW and having gained a love of science in terms of accumulating knowledge from the Dr. Zed segments in the Chickadee Magazines for Kids end up looking at things in a specific manner.

I desire to Catalogue every Element/Magic I see that looks different on top of trying to find out where the story goes next. Combining two desires is madness I’m sure(I am Autistic after all) yet I am compelled to theorize on what happens in Lore.

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I think one of two possibilities are likely:

1.) The Interview with Ion(?) was a slip of tongue.

I do not think that we are coming out of the Shadowlands with a time skip, but rather the Sepulcher.

If you go back and read the Tazavesh Lore Books, “time” is hinted at numerous times throughout the pages.

In balance? Possibly. But that might be wrong. If six equal one, then what is the other? The one outside the pattern.

This is a good possibility that there is a 7th cosmic force, that of Time.

The Forbidden Knowledge that Zovaal seeks, is the ability to control time. This would allow him to go back into Time to restructure the First One’s order of the cosmos.

Slyvanas would have stuck around because the ends would have justified the means. Nothing that had happened would matter, as it would all get rewritten.

New destinies for every soul within the universe, if we were to go back to the begining.

2.) The Multiverse gets opened up. (This creates Yrel’s Light Fanatic entrance.)

What is clear is that great powers took shape. How many? There are numbers within numbers, my friends.

At first I thought only two, until I perceived an infinite array – O, the terror of it! – but as of late I have settled on six.

Possibly seven, but the last might be an artifact of the geometry. A fractal.

There are 6 cosmic forces, these six cosmic forces came together and that “balance” spawn(created) reality.

But that reality is infinite.

There are infinite realities, and Azeroth is the link between them.

“I thought only two” was in reference to AU Dreanor and our reality. Thought only two alternate universes existed, than realizing that an infinite existed.

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The Books also mention the notion that the Cosmic Powers are seeking to claim Reality or rather the Infinite Realities out of fear

What if it is the very nexus of existence, where Death is but one of many great powers that holds sway?
If truth, what would this say of mortal souls and their potential?

And if the six (or seven, or… excuse my imprecision) each vie with one another to claim it, could they be driven by the unconscious knowledge that there exists some other force outside our understanding that seeks it as well?

The 7 Cosmic Forces are driven by unconscious knowledge of a Force outside the Broker’s Understanding that seeks the Infinite Realities as well.

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I don’t think that’s right. Time magic has been shown to be the purview of Order, of Arcane magic. It’s not some new secret force that no one has ever harnessed before - it’s something that comes naturally to the Bronze Flight and their Infinite counterparts, and the play thing of just about every mage. If it was simple as using Time magic then Zovaal would have sent his Mawsworn to collect Nozdormu and been done with it.

It’s stated specifically that Zovaal is after the power to shape reality. Just traveling back in time wouldn’t grant Zovaal that power - if he traveled back to when the First Ones were shaping reality they would probably destroy him as an imperfect anomaly in their design. It’s implied that the power Zovaal seeks would put him on or with the First Ones, so it seems like it would go beyond simple time travel.

More likely the Two in question would either be Life and Death or specifically the Material Realm and the Shadow Lands given it’s a Broker’s perspective. It’s unlikely that they were aware of AU Draenor or that he’s talking about a multiverse of some kind here. What he’s discussing is the Cosmic Planes.

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An interesting aside: Bellular just came out with a video which said almost exactly what I’ve said in this post. Now, its probably just him researching the same stuff I did - I even tracked down the Star Wars information he did but I didnt include it in this post because I thought it was too farfetched to consider.

Not saying he used my post but man, its very close…

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Welcome 2 the club, a lot of the Lore Speculation Spaces get poached by people who bring ideas to the content creators as an offering :stuck_out_tongue:

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That could be the case - or he or his researchers could just go through forums like this, see ideas they like, and investigate it themselves. There is nothing wrong with doing that, other than if its a direct take, some recognition would be nice.

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I had been pondering this also, and thought similarly . although I didnt believe that death would make a lot of sense.

In actual fact the ‘cornerstone of death’ is actually life because death can’t exist without life.

Hypothetically, it could refer to the building blocks of life or foundation of life. In old building terms a cornerstone is the most structurally integral part of a building. It is where all the foundation gains its strength also.

Either way, fascinating.

Also if you take into account the Jailers’ power, him reaching this area could spell disaster as he may be able to simply unmake whatever was created here, including us.

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The thing that puzzles me is why. Why does he want to undo reality? What does he personally achieve from it? He obviously fed Sylvanas a line about going there, rearranging the whole cosmos to be a more fair existence, etc. But assuming all that was just for her ears, what exactly does he get out of it? If it isn’t power (which the devs seemed to indicate it wasn’t) what possible reason could there be for bringing about ‘reality’s end’?

Although I understand they like to drip feed us the story I’d rather we actually knew what he was doing and why. Knowing that would not make the expansion any less impactful, it would just allow us to appreciate what it is we are fighting to prevent.

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From what I understand he wants everyone to serve him, and remaking reality seems to be his main plan for that to happen. Though I don’t know what his plan after making everyone his servant is.

Per Chronicle we know that Arthas wanted to be the Master of Azeroth and use the Scourge to protect it from invades like the Old Gods and the Legion.

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I dunno about the ‘make everyone serve him’ thing. The Domination magic seems more to be a tool to him, a means to an end. He tricked Sylvanas into serving him without using it, so it doesnt seem to be necessary to his plans. And the same thing for the Mawsworn and the other ones from Bastion and elsewhere. He could trick or if that didnt work, he’d control. He even let Sylvanas try and convince Anduin and when that didnt work, then it was time to bring out the power.

It could be as simple as vengeance, getting back at the ultimate powers that demeaned and chained him. That seems a petty reason for a very ancient being but I suppose its possible. If there is a more grand reason behind it, Id like to see it.

Im very fond of the sympathetic villain in fiction. This is the antagonist who, despite having ultimately bad designs, is someone you somehow feel for, and almost understand why they are doing what they are. If they could have designed Zovaal to be like that, it would have made for a much for interesting story.