The Whispers of Barrowknoll Cemetery

Drustvar is Kul Tiras' creepy zone (Nazmir is Zandalar's, and I don't want to claim one is the creepier of the two, though my tastes tend toward Drustvar.) It's filled with witches who are channeling the death magic used by the Drust that seems to tie into basically every undead thing we've encountered on Azeroth.

Now, WoW is known for its enigmatic clues and hints to future story developments. My favorite item I've ever gotten out of Archaeology is the Puzzle-box of Yogg-Saron, which simply whispers to you enigmatic hints when you use it on a one-minute cooldown. It's from this item that we first heard of Ny'alotha, which is now being spoken of directly by enemies in Stormsong Valley and its Shrine of the Storm dungeon.

Il'gynoth was another great source of eldritch whispers, which we're still trying to puzzle out nearly two years later.

And now we can add Barrowknoll Cemetery to the list of enigmatic clues in WoW. What's really interesting about it is that it's so out of the way. Alliance players only go there for a short side-quest, and Horde players visit it once (only once as far as I can tell) during their War Campaign quests. Yet it seems to be the latest place for the kind of writers on WoW's creative team that I would want to be if I worked there get to drop all sorts of clues.

While taking my Warlock (the latest toon to enter the new content, and the first ranged one!) through the early quests of Drustvar (he just hit 111,) I did these quests and was reminded of these quotes, which seem to be worth talking about (it's possible I like speculating about WoW lore more than playing the game.)

Now, the tricky thing here is that the only compiled list of quotes from the cemetery I've found is from WoWhead's alpha database, and so some of these are subject to change or might not even be there. The one I got on the Warlock was "The Burning Ones kept balance. Now, all lost. All lost."

That one doesn't require a PhD to figure out - we've beaten the Burning Legion, and as horrible as they were, they were also probably the most dedicated and coordinated force marshaled to fight the Void in the universe, meaning that the Void is definitely going to take advantage of these circumstances.

So, using WoWhead's list, let's go down and speculate on meaning.

Notably, by the way, Barrowknoll is, unlike the other enigmatic quote sources, not obviously tied to the Old Gods or the Void. Like many, I believe they're building up Death as a primal force to be the next thing lurking behind the Void just as the Void had lurked behind the Legion, which suggests that we might actually be getting a different perspective this time, and while the Void is all about believing all possibilities as equally true, Death as a force (which would seem the most logical connection to this cemetery) might actually be more trustworthy.

So, going from the list (found here,) let's get to the quotes!

"Her blood is making him stronger. Yours will, too."

Easiest guess here would be Azeroth's blood (Azerite) and "him" being N'zoth. We don't exactly know what it would mean for the Old Gods to corrupt a Titan. One possibility I've thought about is if the Old Gods actually sort of consumed the Titan (after consuming each other until there's only one left) and thus sort of embodied the Dark Titan. Is N'zoth intending to simply fill Azeroth with void energy, or does he intend to be the Dark Titan (perhaps even in defiance of the Void Lords' intentions?) This could actually explain the endless fighting between the Old Gods - perhaps the idea was that they were meant to fight each other until the strongest had consumed the others and was thus strong enough to consume the World Soul?

"Night falls. Her song will end."

Could be more Azeroth reference, though I also wonder if this could have something to do with a character affiliated with a song. Jaina's got the Daughter of the Sea, Sylvanas has Lament of the Highborne.

"Her whispers echo loudest of all."

Again, could be Azeroth, who "whispers" to Magni. What would it mean for them to echo? Alternatively, could this be Tyrande Whisperwind? After the burning of Teldrassil, might she go off the deep end in some way?

"The cracks widen."

This, I think, simply refers to the prisons of the Old Gods weakening.

"She seeks that which must be earned by sacrifice."

Ooh, that's pretty interesting. If any character has been searching desperately for a quick fix, it's Sylvanas. She has done a lot of terrible things in the name of keeping her people preserved in their undead state, but it has always been kind of selfishly motivated.

"The burning ones kept balance. Lost now... lost."

As I said above, this is presumably a reference to the demons of the Burning Legion, who aren't trying to kill us (hooray) but also aren't fighting the Void anymore (boo!)

"Their victory is closer than you know."

Old Gods? Given Azeroth's state and the weakening of the Old Gods' prison, it seems very likely that their goal of corrupting (or whatevering) Azeroth is probably closer than it has been since the days of the Black Empire.

"Embrace your fate. All will drown."

Now, this could very easily have to do with Azshara and/or N'zoth. But it might not actually be as bad as it sounds: if we take Il'gynoth's quote "To find him, drown yourself in a circle of stars," perhaps what this means is that we have to go through some kind of ritual, symbolic "drowning" in order to get to Ny'alotha and fight him in the first place.

There are then a few others which seem like pretty standard creepiness: "We are the lucky ones. Not you. Not yet." seems to be the dead perhaps boasting of the fact that they're beyond the reach of what horrors might afflict the world. "I only wanted to help." Just standard creepiness, I think. "Your pride is what led to all of this." Well, we can trace things all the way back to pride kind of on both sides - Garrosh was too proud and turned into a genocidal monster who wanted revenge on the Alliance that defeated him and the Horde that turned on him, which led to the Legion's invasion and ultimately Sargeras' big stab. You could argue that it was prideful of the Horde to not stop him before he got that far, and prideful of the Alliance to deny Thrall the killing blow after Garrosh's defeat. I don't know.

On top of this, apparently there's a ghostly follower who will sometimes follow you around there. I haven't seen this myself, but there are a few notable quotes:

"Beyond this small sea of stars there is only endless darkness." That more or less describes the Void, and reinforces the lovecraftian awe toward it. Also, the "sea of stars" seems to relate to drowning oneself in a circle thereof.

"He is awake now. And he has noticed you." We definitely woke N'zoth up when we defeated the Emerald Nightmare. And again, in Lovecraftian terms, it's always a very, very, very, very bad thing when any sort of eldritch abomination notices you.

Finally, "Has she betrayed you yet? She will..." For the Horde, it seems only a matter of time before Sylvanas screws over her people in some way. But Sylvanas doing harm to the Alliance wouldn't be betrayal - people you already know to be your enemies can't really betray you. So it does make me wonder if there's someone on the Alliance side who is also capable of betrayal. Jaina's a popular choice for that (though I hope it's not her, as I feel like she's demonized unjustly.) But on the other hand, I think Tyrande could pull something extreme out of desperation for revenge. I also wonder what would happen if we met Yrel again, who apparently has become a fundamentalist zealot (at least from the perspective of the Mag'har orcs.) Would she tolerate the Alliance's diversity after decades of Xe'ra B indoctrinating her?