Checking Back in With Il'gynoth, Pre-9.1 Edition

 Il'gynoth appeared twice as a raid boss in the last two expansions. In Legion, it was a blobby, misshapen mass of corruption in the heart of a world tree within the Emerald Dream/Nightmare's version of Un'goro Crater (notably, in a place where there is no such tree in the waking world.) Upon slaying it there, Il'gynoth claimed it was journeying to Ny'alotha.

And lo and behold, when we came to Ny'alotha, the Waking City, we fought him as one of the bosses in that nightmarish fleshscape. In this case, Il'gynoth looked quite different - more of a demon-like form coming out of a pool (I think using the skeleton from the Sunwell Plateau Kil'jaeden fight.)

Anyway, the evil monster is most famous for its cryptic, prophetic whispers. For those of us who are big lore-hounds, these whispers are like catnip.

The reveal of the Shadowlands has opened up a lot of new possibilities for interpretation. While we've had the rest of Legion and all of BFA for some of its first appearance's prophecies to come true, the latter iteration of him has had only the events of the first patch of Shadowlands to be reflected.

So, I'm going to, using WoWPedia's list of quotes as my guide, go through each whisper and speculate on whether this is something that has already occurred or if it's something that might occur, and wonder what and who it might refer to.

Big caveat: just because it sounds prophetic doesn't mean it's actually true. Beings of the Void like Il'gynoth basically see infinite different branching universes as equally real, so there's no guarantee that any of these are our timeline, not to mention that Il'gynoth could be aiming to deceive us. But let's get into it!

Starting with the Emerald Nightmare version, some of these will likely already have happened:

"Flesh is his gift. He is your true creator."

This ought to refer to Yogg-Saron, who wove the Curse of Flesh into the Titanforges of Ulduar, which then acted like an infectious disease that mutated the Titanforged into existing races.

"To find him, drown yourself in a circle of stars."

This is N'zoth - we fight Azshara in a room literally called the Circle of Stars, and by defeating her and draining the power of the Titan locks, we released N'zoth from his prison.

"The king of diamonds has been made a pawn."

Nice chess pun, eldritch abomination! This refers to Magni, and likely N'zoth's attempt to use the Heart Chamber he opened to infect the World Soul.

"The lord of ravens will turn the key."

This remains ambiguous. My best guess for the Lord of Ravens is Khadgar, as he's essentially the Guardian now, and wields Atiesh, inheriting Medivh's raven aesthetic. But I don't know of any keys he really turned, and we haven't heard much from him since Legion.

Actually, come to think of it, the 9.1 trailer does have Anduin retrieve a "key" from the body of the Archon (who I think one of the Blizzard folks said is actually still alive?)

"The boy-king sits at the master's table. Three lies will he offer you."

Oh boy. While he's probably in his 20s at this point, Anduin is the most likely candidate for boy-king. Given the very recent reveals of his current status - having been placed under some kind of mind-domination to serve the Jailer as a new Arthas-like Death Knight - I think the master could be the Jailer. Now, if we consider his surprise attack on the Archon to be a lie, maybe that's one of three (though he doesn't seem to actually lie to her in that scene.)

"Her heart is a crater, and we have filled it."

Ignoring the present tense, while this originally looked like it could refer to Jaina, it sounds a lot more like Tyrande. Given the dark aspect of the Night Warrior, perhaps there is something void-y to it. I'm not really confident about my reading here.

"Five keys to open our way. Five torches to light our path."

I thought this could refer to the Pillars of Creation, which we used to open a path into the depths of the Tomb of Sargeras. But five torches? Not sure. Teldrassil's burning certainly seemed torch-like. Now, keep this one in mind, as there's a whisper from Il'gynoth's later appearance that seems to refer back to this one.

Again, with 9.1's trailer, we know the Jailer is seeking to collect "keys" for some nefarious purpose. While it seems more likely there will only be four (one per covenant,) perhaps there's a special fifth one he'll need?

"At the hour of her third death, she will usher in our coming."

Maybe the most intriguing of them all, this has fueled speculation about female characters who have died twice and are alive again. Sylvanas seems disqualified given that she's actually already died three times (first by Arthas, second by herself, and third by Lord Godfrey). But we also have figures in the Shadowlands who, if we kill them there, would at least have a second death. Helya seems like a prime candidate here, not only because she has died twice (first by Odyn, second by us) and is once again active and likely to fall to us again, but also because she's a master of planar magic, and could be a hell of an "usher" for powerful forces.

But the other question, then, is who's coming is "ours?" Until we're told otherwise, Azeroth's Old Gods are all dead. I mean, could this be the Void Lords?

"From the earth, he draws strength. Our earth. Our strength."

If I had to guess I'd think that this refers to some sort of shaman - Thrall obviously being the most prominent one. But it also seems to imply that this shaman (if it is one) would be prone to corruption. Not sure.

"Its surface blazes bright, masking shadows below."

I'm at a loss. Elune, maybe? Perhaps a hint at her darker, Night Warrior side?

Anyway, those are the Emerald Nightmare ones. Let's move on to Ny'alotha. In this case, other than the subsequent bosses in that raid, the only content to follow these prophecies has been Shadowlands, so these are less likely to have already been paid off.

"Before the last shadow falls, the father of sleep shall savor his feast."

I don't know about what last shadows falling means, but we've definitely encountered the Father of Sleep - aka Mueh'zalla, the Loa of Death, who is an ally of the Jailer and whom we help Bwonsamdi overthrow. Does this suggest he'll escape Bwonsamdi's custody, or is that it?

"The golden one claims a vacant throne. The crown of light will bring only darkness."

If you've got an alliance character, go talk to Turalyon, who is currently sitting on the throne in Stormwind. He talks about acting as regent-lord, but also suggests that, given the victories in winning Stromgarde back (P.S.: the Alliance canonically won both warfronts,) that they should consider taking back more lost territory. Turalyon's zealotry looks like it could cause a lot of problems, so keep an eye on him.

"When their mistress beckons, nine ravens take flight. Each seeks a prize to earn her favor."

Oh man, yeah, no idea. We do have another reference to ravens, but who could be a mistress of nine of them?

"The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green."

Given the way that The Winter Queen seems skeptical or dismissive of us when we ask her to save Ysera's life, only relenting after Aralon (whom she knows understands the grim necessity to allow some spirits to pass away so that the rest can live) joins the pleas, I could certainly see Ysera as a vassal of life. But her eyes, notably, are not green, but instead now glow with the blue anima of Ardenweald. Not sure we've seen what we need to for this one.

"Five lanterns now darkened. The flames they seek will light the Master's way."

Again, five light sources - though this refers to lanterns instead of torches. And these lanterns are darkened - perhaps disempowered? But the flames these lanterns seek will light the Master's way. If my understanding of the boy-king prophecy is correct, Master has been used to refer to the Jailer. But I really don't know. Again, I refer you to the possibility that it involves those keys in the Shadowlands, but it would also seem very odd if the Jailer was Il'gynoth's master.

"The cunning ones kneel before six masters, but serve only one."

Well, a Blizzard developer mentioned we'd learn more about the Nathrezim in 9.1, and the book that you can find at Sinfall seems to imply that the Nathrezim are connected to Sire Denathrius and have been infiltrating and manipulating other cosmic forces for a very, very long time. They seem to have studied the void specifically to pit Sargeras, the demons, and the Old Gods against one another, and it also implies that Lothraxion might be a spy as well. This sure seems like it would be that.

Finally, when slain, Il'gynoth says:

"Those who pass beyond... will drown... within the dark..." which I think could just refer to the fact that anyone who died during Battle for Azeroth went to the Maw (except some trolls that Bwonsamdi diverted.)

Blizzard claims that 9.1 will see some massive lore reveals and developments, and the way they talk about the finale of the Sanctum of Domination raid, it sounds as if we're going to get a shocking ending at least on the order of Tomb of Sargeras' Argus in the Sky (with Diamonds?)

This prophetic stuff, of course, doesn't need to pay off soon, and in fact, some of it might never pay off. That being said, it's very fun and satisfying when it does.