There are about three phases to the primordial world of Azeroth. In the beginning, there was just Azeroth the Titan beginning to incubate within her planet-sized shell (we really need an answer on what happens when a Titan emerges. Hopefully the planet doesn't get destroyed...) Because she was so powerful a World Soul, she drained much of the "spirit" energy from it that would normally allow the elements to act in harmony. As a result, the surface of Azeroth in its most natural state is one of chaos, where the Elemental Lords clashed constantly with one another.
This lasted until the coming of the Old Gods. Sent as enormous, tumorous meteorites by the extremely mysterious Void Lords, the Old Gods impacted on the surface and began to burrow in - their ultimate goal being to pump void energy into the World Soul and transform her into a Void Titan.
We know of four unambiguously canonical Old Gods - Y'Shaarj, Yogg-Saron, C'thun, and N'zoth. Notably, G'huun is sometimes referred to as an Old God in-game, though outside of the game, it has been referred to as a "Blood God" that was created through Titan experiments that aimed to reverse engineer these eldritch monstrosities in the hopes of finding a way to safely excise them.
There was a clear hierarchy amongst the Old Gods. Y'Shaarj was the most powerful, with the largest territories. Yogg-Saron and C'thun were both on a comparable level with one another, while N'zoth languished in last place.
And yet.
Perhaps because of its lack of physical strength or territory, N'zoth seems to be the most cleverly manipulative of the Old Gods. And that's saying something, because their whole deal is manipulation. The Old Gods have a profound ability to influence the minds of mortals, though thankfully there seem to be some limits or else everyone on Azeroth would be serving them.
C'thun and Yogg-Saron would often team up against N'zoth, keeping him (I'm just going to use the masculine pronoun based on the voice actor) in check. But we've seen N'zoth accomplish some rather dramatic things.
When Aman'thul plucked Y'shaarj out of Azeroth, creating the Well of Eternity, the God of Seven Heads could only curse the land to the south with the Sha and rip out a big chunk of Azeroth with him - creating the Well of Eternity (so, was the Well a pool of pure Azerite?)
However, there was no opportunity for the Old Gods to jostle for position in the power vacuum, as the Titanforged armies soon thereafter triumphed and locked the Old Gods away in their prisons.
Yogg-Saron was locked away in Ulduar, which then served as the command center for the entire planet, where the leadership of the Titanforged watched over the world. Yogg-Saron eventually manipulated things so that Loken would serve him, and infected the Titanforged with what was essentially a computer virus - the Curse of Flesh. New Titanforged would devolve into flesh-and-blood creatures, and even previously created ones would gradually succumb to the infection. Yogg-Saron also had tendrils reaching as far south as Grizzly Hills, and would (much later) infect the Emerald Dream through the corrupted World Tree, Vordrassil.
C'thun was locked away in Ahn-Qiraj. And while this has been stated to be part of a Titan facility (likely a satellite structure of Uldum,) now that we have seen some shots of the Black Empire, it actually looks a lot like they basically just walled him into his own city. Ahn-Qiraj might, in fact, be our best example of what the Black Empire looked like, and the various floating monoliths in Silithus (er... that were in Silithus. There's kind of a big sword there now) could be remnants from those dark days. C'thun's actions post-imprisonment don't seem to be as subtle - he produced a massive Qiraji army that he managed to send out in an attempt to conquer Kalimdor. The Night Elves and the Bronze Dragons managed to fend this off, and we of course later went in ourselves to fight C'thun. He did seem to eventually possess Cho'gall, and despite being "dead" acted through Cho'gall during the Catalcysm.
N'zoth, despite being the least powerful in theory, has had a hand in more plots than the other Old Gods. First off, during the War of the Ancients, it's likely that he was the one that corrupted Deathwing. At its conclusion, as we saw in the really cool Azshara Warbringers short, N'zoth also created the Naga. Later, despite the fact that it was Yogg-Saron who created the Emerald Nightmare, N'zoth seems to have been the one to take it over.
The thing is, N'zoth is willing to play low status to get what he wants. And I wonder if he maybe allowed his territory to be squeezed by the forces of C'thun and Yogg-Saron. He wants to appear the weak one - the one that doesn't need to be dealt with just yet.
There's a moment in Azshara Warbringers where N'zoth seems shockingly quick to anger. He comes in totally on-brand, a calm and quiet and curious voice offering a deal. But when Azshara says no to her, he seems enraged.
Now, that could just be a flaw in the writing, but I suspect that this is part of his play.
Yes, initially he speaks through a dead fish - a tiny little creature that would never be threatening to Azshara. But when he reveals his true form to her, he realizes he has to play a different part. Azshara has been dealing with the likes of Sargeras, Archimonde, and Mannoroth. While she has a healthy respect for Sargeras (who I think is really the most powerful individual entity in the Warcraft cosmos, at least until Azeroth reaches maturity,) people like Mannoroth in particular are the kind to try to boast and intimidate, to demonstrate their power in order to cow this mere mortal. But Azshara knows she has the goods to stand up to that sort of creature, and so she feels comfortable letting powerful beings underestimate her.
By throwing his tentacle tantrum, N'zoth is playing into the model - letting Azshara feel like she's won.
Here's the thing: she is called a queen, yes, but is her position really any different than what N'zoth offered her in the first place?
Azshara clearly wants this power for herself - she'll make a strategic alliance, as long as she's the one on top. And N'zoth is fine with that. It's what he has always done.
But when we see Azshara transformed, her legions of Naga forming in front of her, who do we see at her back? Who is the real power behind the throne?
It's the massive, red eye of N'zoth.
So how is our "least powerful Old God" doing? Y'shaarj is dead. C'thun and Yogg-Saron are both defeated. N'zoth, though? We don't even know where he is.
No comments:
Post a Comment