Lovecraft, whose cosmic horror really defined many of the tropes of the genre (even if his works were heavily influenced by earlier writers like Robert M. Chambers - though don't we all stand on the shoulders of giants, in a city of cyclopean architecture over which dead winds blow and cruel stars stare from above?) had a pantheon of gross monsters that were ultra-powerful gods within a callous and indifferent universe. Beings like Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth were probably the most important, and were both defined as being essentially ignorant of humanity because of how small and irrelevant we are. Yog-Sothoth is omnipresent, but always sort of just outside of reality, whereas Azathoth creates the universe from its mad gibbering, not really intelligent or aware of what it is doing despite its massive power level.
Nyarlathotep is exceptional, though, because he/it/whatever does actually seem to pay attention to humanity. That's not a good thing. While it's not remotely human, and has thousands of forms (I don't know that any is a "true" form,) one that he likes to take is that of a human, and uses this form to interact with humanity.
In a sense, Nyarlathotep is a devil-like figure, offering forbidden knowledge and power, fully aware that these "gifts" will destroy those who receive them. Lovecraft's cosmos is decidedly non-Abrahamic in its conception, with no benevolent god, and certainly none of Christianity and Islam's good/evil dichotomy, and so demons and such simply fall into the broader category of alien (he was a fan of the word "eldritch") influences.
Naturally, Warcraft, like a lot of fantasy properties that came after Lovecraft, holds within it both a more traditional "legions of hell" demonic force as well as the disturbingly reality-undermining forces of the eldritch abomination. (Granted, especially for the former, they give them a different spin. The Burning Legion is demonic but also like an intergalactic empire with a lot of sci-fi elements as well.)
In Warcraft, we have the Old Gods as the most clearly Lovecraftian-influenced entities - C'thun is clearly named after C'thulhu, Yogg-Saron is based on Yog-Sothoth, and even Azeroth (despite the general feeling being that she is a benevolent Titan-to-be) sounds a whole lot like Azathoth.
As we learned more about the Prophet Zul, and his violent reunification of the ancient Zandalari Empire, I started to suspect he might not actually be a Troll, but instead a wandering Old God in Troll form. Zul, after all, is not really a name so much as a title. Zul'jin basically meant "great leader," and we've seen capital cities/centers of kingdoms called Zul'Aman, Zul'Gurub, Zul'Farrak, Zul'Drak, and even Zul'dazar (though it's not the Dazari Empire because the sacred mountain was more important for their name than their first true king.) These names seem to imply a kind of Great "Name of Kingdom" nomenclature for capitals. This echoes real-world places like Great Zimbabwe, once the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe from the middle ages. So Zul is basically a guy walking around with the name "Great."
Turns out that he's not an Old God, though as we've seen (and I think we're getting to a point where 8.0 plot is outside of spoiler protections) he is a cultist of an Old God (or Old God Like Entity) in G'huun (I really need to do that last LFR wing, probably on my shaman so I can do the Vol'jin quest.)
I'll confess I was a little disappointed to see my theory that there's a Nyarlathotep-equivalent on Azeroth refuted.
But... maybe it wasn't. Maybe I was just looking at the wrong person... or thing.
SPOILERS AHOY!
Our artifact weapons were a really cool and flavorful addition to the game's lore. Sure, some were more exciting than others, but I think one of the saddening aspects of the end of Legion was that these cool items would no longer play a role in the story. No more Ashbringer, no more Doomhammer, and no more of the other cool new weapons, like every Shadow priest's favorite knife, Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire.
Except no, Xal'atath is absolutely coming back.
As part of the quests leading up to the Crucible of Storms, we discover Xal'atah, which apparently pulled a One Ring on Shadow Priests and abandoned them. Priests will get a sort of "it hurt when you overloaded me with the energy of Sargeras' sword, but I still love you, babe" message while other classes will get a "that priest was short sighted, but you seem like a smart guy/gal."
Ultimately, we do some tasks for Xal'atath only to discover that she has brought you as a potential sacrifice to N'zoth to free her from her bonds. See, Xal'atath isn't just some intelligent knife.
She's an Old God.
Yes, it would seem that while there were the four most prominent Old Gods that we've known about - Y'shaarj, Yogg-Saron, C'thun, and N'zoth - there have been others. Perhaps G'huun does truly qualify. But so does Xal'atath.
But does she become some huge, tentacled monstrosity when she is freed from her dagger-form? No. She takes the form of a Void Elf.
We don't know if she possesses someone or, what I'd suspect, that she takes the form of the most void-affiliated race. But the point is that there is going to be an Old God walking around in a mortal guise for the foreseeable future.
No comments:
Post a Comment