World of Warcraft has a huge amount of lore, so it's inevitable that some of the mysteries and storylines are going to fall in between the cracks. I thought I would address some of the remaining questions from the various expansions that I wouldn't mind seeing answered. While Vanilla obviously came first, one could argue that the huge scope of it is exactly what we're exploring in every expansion. Instead, I'm going to try to focus on those things that I think may not, in time, be answered.
Murmur: Elemental Lord of Sound:
A few centuries before the current era in Azeroth, the Redridge Mountains exploded in a fiery cataclysm, leaving only a small part of the original chain untouched. The resultant Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes are, to this day, a lava-filled, smoldering ruin. The thing that caused all of this was, of course, the summoning of Ragnaros into the Molten Core.
It would seem that something similar occurred in the enormous draenei burial temple of Auchindoun in the south of the Terrokar Forest. Surrounding the ruins is a vast wasteland where nothing seems to grow. The cause of this devastation appears to be similar: Shadow Council members, deep within the temple (which of course had been devastated by the Horde along with most Draenei sites) summoned Murmur, who appears to be the elemental lord of sound.
This raises an interesting question: the elemental lords, Ragnaros (RIP), Al'Akir (RIP), Neptulon (MIA), and Therazane (fine and dandy,) are all, we assume, tied specifically to Azeroth. While the official word is pretty hazy, it's always been my understanding that they were there before both the Titans and the Old Gods. They sided with the Old Gods because they did not like the restrictions placed on them by the Titans, though given Neptulon and Therazane's positions during Cataclysm, they certainly did not seem to be particularly loyal to them.
Anyway, the point is: there seems to be an entirely different type of element, with its own elemental lord (or important elemental, at least,) and it's associated, or at least connected, to Outland.
Old Gods and Outland: We Span the Universe!
The more you learn about the Arrakoa bird people in Outland, the more you come to realize that they've got some Old God stuff going on. There's a Raven-god (not sure if the one in Sethekk Halls is the real deal or just an avatar, but you can get him as a mount!) that has similar somewhat creepy prophecies as the kinds of things we hear from the Puzzlebox of Yogg-Saron.
And if that wasn't convincing enough for you, there is a quest chain in Shadowmoon Valley in which you prevent the Arrakoa from summoning something that looks exactly like phase 2 C'thun.
Things get even weirder when you discover that the most highly-guarded cell in the Arcatraz - Tempest Keep's prison ship - holds what appears to be a Qiraji prophet named Harbinger Skyriss. Now, admittedly, the Arcatraz also contains a gnome mage by the name of Milhouse Manastorm (who seems to be a member of Twilight's Hammer, despite the fact that he helps you kill Skyriss. Frankly, I have my own little theory that he was a mole - listen to him in that cutscene in Deepholme - he sounds like he's trying to get information out of his boss.) So it's certainly possible that the Skyriss was captured on Azeroth, and that the Naaru have been there before the Exodar crash-landed.
But, given what Skyriss says, it would seem that the Old Gods, and indeed, his race, exist throughout the universe. Might it be that the Qiraji, Nerubians, and Mantid are only the local branches of what could be a far, far larger race?
So much attention is focused on Azeroth (and admittedly, it appears to be a cosmically important location, given Sargeras' obsession with it,) that it is easy to forget that it is not by any means the only world to be visited by the Titans or the Old Gods. We've encountered people from Argus, Draenor (what did the Orcs call the place before the Draenei arrived?) and K'aresh (homeworld of the Ethereals) in addition to Azeroth. Did the Titans have a hand in those places? We certainly don't come across any obvious Titan facilities in Outland, but given the state of the planet, there's no reason to be sure there weren't any.
Turalyon and Alleria:
Yes, ever since BC came out and we found that Khadgar, Kurdran Wildhammer, and Danath Trollbane were still very much alive, the lingering question has been where the other two people immortalized by statues in Stormwind's Valley of Heroes have gone. Turalyon and Alleria left their son behind in Honor Hold, but Arator doesn't know any better than the rest of us where his parents have gone.
I don't have a clue.
The Infinites:
The Caverns of Time dungeons, along with the Infinite Dragonflight, were introduced in Burning Crusade. While much of the mystery surrounding them has been solved, there are some questions yet to be answered. We know that the Infinites are former Bronze dragons, corrupted after Nozdormu became Murozond. The official story is that the Old Gods drove him crazy as part of their attempt to get Deathwing's Hour of Twilight to succeed, but obviously there are some issues:
Nozdormu knew it was going to happen. Ok, that's fine. He doesn't believe in free will, he knows what's coming, and is using his remaining years of sanity to prepare the world. He even knows it will work, because he orchestrated is own death by helping us through End Time.
But that future no longer exists. We stopped the Hour of Twilight, and Deathwing's too busy being exploded all over the Maelstrom to slump over Wyrmrest Temple. If that future has been prevented, has Murozond's death been prevented? Did our killing of him prevent... us killing him?
Also, we're talking about Time Travelers here. Just because we've defeated them does not mean that they're gone for good. For all we know, the Murozond we killed was tens of thousands of years older than Nozdormu is now, and he might have-is-going-to already wreaked havoc. In fact, there's no reason why we shouldn't see both Nozdormu and Murozond battling it out any number of times in the future.
While the official story has him corrupted by the Old Gods, the Infinites' actions seem to align much more with the Burning Legion in both BC and Wrath. First, they attempt to prevent Thrall from going free and reforming the Horde - a faction that played an important role in the defeat of the Burning Legion at Hyjal. Next, they try to prevent the Horde from ever getting to Azeroth in the first place (which would of course also put a kibosh on their involvement in the Third War - though admittedly, at least at the time this would be in defiance of Sargeras' wishes. Then again, the Infinites know that the First War does not lead to the destruction of Azeroth as Sargeras hopes.) Finally, the Mount Hyjal raid does not explicitly feature the Infinites, though the Bronze Dragonflight seems to think they're involved, and it does appear that we are needed to hold the demons off. In Wrath, the Infinites attempt to kill Arthas while he's purging Stratholme. While Arthas' fall to evil is tragic, it ultimately weakened the position of the Burning Legion, as the Lich King was able to use his champion to subvert their goals under their noses.
So there's a few questions to be raised regarding events in Burning Crusade. In the future, we'll talk about Wrath.
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