They shaped Azeroth. They created the Well of Eternity, the Elemental Planes, the Emerald Dream. They anointed the Dragon Aspects and are responsible for the creation of many, if not most of the mortal races of the world. They are beings of immense power and unfathomable intelligence. Mere constructs of theirs have been worshipped as gods.
The Titans.
All of this, and yet they are absent. The Titans have not been seen on Azeroth since long before the War of the Ancients. Just one of their number, who fell to evil, created the Burning Legion.
Despite the multitude of truly ancient people of Azeroth, knowledge of the Titans is a mere whisper. It seems as if none of them (except, perhaps, their primordial foes, the Old Gods) know their true nature.
We tend to think of the Titans as benevolent, especially when weighed against the chaotic evil of the Old Gods, but can we feel secure in that interpretation? The closest the people of Azeroth have come to interacting with Titans have both been periods of calamity and danger. The Dark Titan Sargeras possessed Medivh, the Last Guardian, and unleashed a corrupted, blood-frenzied Horde on the unsuspecting Kingdom of Stormwind. More recently, Algalon, a messenger of the Titans, threatened to destroy the entire world when he discovered that things had not gone exactly according to plan.
What plan? Well, there's another mystery.
Well, Wrathion's super-cryptic remarks after eating the heart of the Thunder King (or are they truly his remarks?) suggest that somewhere, somehow, someone is attempting to "build the final titan."
Remember, we have never interacted with an actual Titan. We don't know what they are like. We have only met their constructs, the Watchers, who are sentient beings made of stone and metal. But ultimately, are the Watchers really any different from the mortal races? Is Mimiron not simply the first Mechagnome? The most powerful of these creations we have faced was Algalon, an artificial being, yes, but one that seemed to be made of starlight.
What could have created these things? If the "Final Titan" emerges, we will know.
Three problematic scenarios present themselves. After defeating Algalon, we convinced him to send back a beneficial response to his makers, giving Azeroth the all-clear, and thus not qualifying the implementation of the Re-Origination Device in Uldum. But would the Titans concur? Algalon is powerful, but must pale in the shadow of these... well, Titans. Perhaps they would not be so charitable in their assessment of the mortals of Azeroth, and would decide that the planet must be destroyed and rebuilt from scratch.
Or, perhaps the Titans would find that Azeroth could be salvaged, but not unless great changes were implemented. They might reverse the Curse of Flesh, returning millions (or billions... not sure what the population of Azeroth is) to a fleshless state. Additionally, they might purge those populations that had been too greatly altered, like the Worgen or the Undead, or even both varieties of Elf. And that's not to speak of the Orcs or the Draenei, both fully alien species that have no direct ties to Azeroth older than roughly forty years.
And let's even say the Titans do nothing to the mortals of Azeroth, and allow them to continue as they are. What happens when the Final Titan is finished? Will the magical energies of the planet seep away to feed this new being? Will the Final Titan rise from beneath the earth and bring about greater destruction than the Sundering and the Cataclysm combined?
The Titans may have created many of the people of Azeroth, but that does not necessarily imply they have a parental sense of responsibility to them. To the Titans, we may merely be like a computer program or a yeast culture, there to serve a purpose and then to be cast aside. We've seen this happen before: the Mogu were created to fight against Y'shaarj, but upon succeeding in that endeavor, and doing the impossible by actually killing and Old God, they were merely left to their own devices, to fall to tyranny and aggression, a warrior race without a proper enemy to fight.
Then again, this raises a new question. The various mortal races that were afflicted with the Curse of Flesh each had a purpose. The Earthen (Dwarves) were created to shape the underground places of the world as miners and builders. The Mechagnomes (Gnomes) were technicians, to keep the Titans' machinery working. The Mogu (...Mogu) were soldiers and Old God slayers. The Tol'vir were guardians for the Re-Origination Device. Who does that leave?
The Vrykul. And, by extension, Humanity.
What is the purpose of humanity? The Vrykul civilization spanned what would become Northrend. Their descendants would settle the Eastern Kingdoms. Humans are adaptable, and let us not forget that The Watchers themselves look like humans.
Thorim, Hodir, Freya, Auriaya, Loken, Isiset, Archadas, Ironaya, the Maiden of Virtue, the Maiden of Grief, the great stone guardians of Uldum, Algalon: all human or vrykul in shape. The Titans themselves, wherever they have been portrayed, appear in the form of humans. Dark Trolls were exposed to the waters of the Well of Eternity, a Titan creation, and what happened? They became far more human-like than they had before.
It's easy to think of the humans of Azeroth as just another race that happens to be in a position of power at this point in history. They are short-lived, compared not only to the ageless Night Elves, but also to the Dwarves.
Yet the Titans seem to know that humanity is important. Why did the vrykul not only suffer from the Curse of Flesh, but also have these strange pygmy children, sent off into exile to escape infanticide?
Is it possible that humanity is the ultimate goal? Is humanity what the Titans are trying to create? Let's ask our buddy Sargeras.
When Sargeras decided to try once more to take Azeroth, ten thousand years after his defeat in the War of the Ancients, where did he go? Not to the Night Elves. No, instead he possessed the Last Guardian - the human mage who was more powerful than any other mortal on the planet. He used Medivh to open a portal so that the Orcs could attack Humanity first. Was this a coincidence? Would the Orcs have made the Tauren their primary enemies if the Dark Portal had been opened in the Barrens? No. Sargeras knew that humanity was the key to Azeroth, and thus the Horde was unleashed on the world of men.
So when the Titans do return, perhaps we are in for a big shock. Perhaps, in the end, when the shapers of Azeroth arrive, we will find them more familiar than we realized. Perhaps we have been living amongst them all along.
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