Ancient gods. Legends and truth

Anne Stickney from BlizzardWatch became interested in why the Naaru are so indifferent to the ancient gods, and what both of them actually are. Today we will be discussing the history of WoW in a tin foil hat. The material contains conjectures based on known facts. A guess is nothing more than a hypothesis that should not be perceived by you as a fact or official lore.

Naaru and the Light

First, we need to go back and look at the artifact of the priests of Light - specifically at the text that reads: “Creatures of pure Light, the benevolent Naaru rescued the draenei from their home world.” This is the first part of the first sentence, which I have not been able to forget for a long time, because its essence is that the Naaru are made of the light of heaven. This is not immediately obvious, but it makes sense, especially given the previously known material (of which there is little) about these mysterious creatures.

Lady Liadrin and the blood knights were able to pump light directly from M"uuru into Bruning Crusade - then the naaru played the role of literal batteries. And let's face it - the naaru really do not have any kind of normal, material body. In addition, they emit a calming, calming aura, as if shining from the inner light, it is difficult to look at them without covering your eyes, as if you were looking at the Sun.

And if we really touch on this topic, maybe An "she was a naaru? Then it turns out that the naaru taught the tauren how to use light before everyone else learned to do it. These abilities were lost by the tauren at some point, and later picked up by people Eastern Kingdoms, but hey, in a society where information could only be transmitted verbally, it would be very plausible to assume that the tauren looked at the Naaru and called him the sun, because they could not identify him in any other way and had no idea what kind of creature he was.

Naaru and the Abyss

From this point on, things get a little more complicated. Naaru have a natural life cycle, and they follow it, thereby regenerating each time. Left to their own devices, the Naaru will eventually go through the cycle of "death" and return to the light. The cycle of "death", or the dark cycle of the Void, is a rare phenomenon, but many claim to have witnessed it, and according to stories it is a natural part of being a naaru. Naaru are not afraid when this happens because it is simply part of their life cycle.

Naaru who entered the Void are not necessarily bad. In fact, we met enough with the dark naaru to see that they are not always bad - K'ure regretted that his Void state was consuming the souls of orcs and, together with the players, tried to fix it. D'ore was upset that his Void condition did to Auchindoun, but noted that nothing could be done to stop the cycle - it was just part of the naaru.

In fact, the dark naaru only became completely bad when others intervened in this process - M"uuru was used and forced to guard the Sunwell, and it was during this that he turned into the god of the Abyss. In Warlords, K"ure was captured by Cho"Galla and was forced to go into a state of emptiness. It seems that this state of the naaru is literally like a state of light - during it you can even draw energy from the naaru, but unlike the energy of light that you will receive in normal cases, in the state of emptiness you will get darkness and emptiness.

The Abyss and the Ancient Gods

Now everything will become even more complicated, because as we were told in the preview of the priests of Darkness, the magic of the Abyss is mainly the domain of the ancient gods. And as previously revealed, it makes Cho"Gall's actions in Azeroth and Draenor mirrored. In Azeroth, Cho"Gall eventually began to serve K"Thun. In Draenor, Cho"Gall consciously uses the magic of the void from K"ure. So that is the question: Is this magic the same?

It seems to me that this is precisely the essence of the matter. But if this is so, then What What are ancient gods really like?

Here's what we know: the ancient gods are obsessed with the ideas of chaos and darkness. When they came to Azeroth, they infected all creatures with a curse of flesh - so that they would be easier to influence. The ancient gods speak in the whispers of a madman, and they have no clear purpose. They are strongly opposed to any creations of the titans, or in other words: they are for chaos, which is completely opposite to the order of the titans.

And they are also smart. Very smart. They are not just faceless creatures, they have plans for the world, and they are willing to go to great lengths to achieve their goals: slowly corrupt the dragons from within, or do the same to the observers of Ulduar. It was once even stated that the Titans did not dare to reshape Azeroth only because the traces of the ancient gods penetrated into too many places - if you destroy the ancient gods, you destroy Azeroth itself.

Curse of the Flesh

Let's talk about the curse of the flesh, because there are things that are not fully understood right now. Here we have the naaru, who have a natural state of emptiness, and here we have the ancient gods, who are the masters of the magic of emptiness. Do the ancient gods have their Naaru hidden somewhere? And how were they able to create the genetic corruption that turned metal into flesh?

What if the curse of the flesh isn't even genetic engineering? What if they didn’t actually create it, but were simply its carriers? What if, as suggested, the Old Gods aren't actually even "gods", but simply naaru in a void state who have become infected with the curse of the flesh?

Look at this: the naaru were never bothered by the actions of the ancient gods. They are obsessed with stopping the Burning Legion, but have not said anything at all about the ancient gods, despite the fact that the goals of the Burning Legion and the “gods” are the same.

In fact, they show as much indifference to the Old Gods as they do to the Dark Naaru - perhaps because they are one and the same. If this is true, and the ancient gods are dark naaru twisted by the curse of the flesh, what would a normal naaru look like if they were also afflicted?

Yeah. We are heading towards them.

There are many signs around the world that people learned about light from the titans, or their guardians, or rather Tyr. But again, it is quite strange that the Naaru do not say anything about the titans, and in places where titan technology is developed, there is no mention of the Naaru. This is where I get lost, because if you look at it logically, it’s the same magic.

Draenei paladins use the same light as human paladins, and the same light that the tauren sun-servants have now mastered. One would think that somewhere long ago these two kinds of strange cosmic creatures met, and yet, both are silent.

I assumed that once upon a time there were paladins of the titans who perfected the skill of mastering light, so much so that they rose above the material form and became light itself, at the same time beginning to call themselves naaru.

But before, I had never considered the opposite: the titans are naaru (those very beings made of light) who were struck by the curse of the flesh. This would explain why titans and naaru never discuss each other - because they are the same species, technically speaking. And this would explain why the naaru are so opposed to the Burning Legion and at the same time indifferent to the actions of the ancient gods.

Because Sargeras is unknown. He is not a dark naaru afflicted with a curse of the flesh. He is a light naaru afflicted by a curse of the flesh who suddenly decides to turn dark. He is an anomaly, and for some reason he poses a greater threat to the universe than the ancient gods. Why?

Yes, because the ancient gods and titans worked in the same cycle as ordinary naaru. The Titans were for order, the Old Gods for chaos, which is quite similar to the life cycle of the Naaru. Where there is one, a second one will always appear and will “pull the rope” in its direction, forcing the universe to continue to live. Sargeras, in turn, wants to end this cycle forever, and... the naaru simply cannot allow it.

Whether this is true or not, we will most likely never know. But if this hypothesis is correct, we leave open another huge and troubling question: where did the curse of the flesh come from, and what is its true purpose? We're unlikely to know anytime soon, but the Legion and the elusive Pillars of Creation we must hunt down may answer some similar questions.

We compare the real versions of events from the history of Azeroth with the legends about them that have become part of the folklore of the peoples of Azeroth. We also compare material from canonical and outdated sources. Today we take a look at how the numbers of the Old Gods have changed throughout the history of Warcraft.

It is easier to divide this topic into two parts. In the first, we will look at how the number of Old Gods in Azeroth has changed, and in the second, at their numbers throughout the universe.

Of course, now we already know that in the Dark Empire, which fought against the Guardians, there were four Ancient Gods. And it is possible that in the early days of this empire there were five of them. As a result, the guardians imprisoned C'Thun, N'Zoth and Yogg-Saron, and also created a vault for the heart of Y'Shaarj, who was personally killed by Aman'Thul. And in total, in the Great Darkness there is an unknown number of Ancient Gods who were thrown there by the Lords of the Abyss. But this time we will try to understand how exactly this story took its current form.

Ancient Gods of Azeroth

The Old Gods were first mentioned inWarcraft 3: Reign of Chaos guide(2002):

"The Elementals, who worshiped a race of inscrutable evil beings known only as the Old Gods, vowed to drive out the Titans and keep their world untouched by the touch of these metallic invaders."

This guide described an early version of the story of the Order of Azeroth: the war of the titans against the elementals and the Old Gods; the conclusion of the Old Gods; the ordering of Azeroth with the help of races created by the titans and the blessing of the Aspects. It also mentioned the number of imprisoned deities:

“The Pantheon destroyed the strongholds of the Old Gods and imprisoned these five evil entities deep below the surface of the world.”

Then in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne (2003) were the first to show creatures associated with the Old Gods: the Forgotten and the Faceless. In the game itself, no one called them servants of the Old Gods, but this connection was still obvious.

“I will not let you pass through this door, traitor. The recent earthquakes have awakened dark things beneath the ice... ancient, terrible things.” -Beilgun Heatbeard

“They are the horrors the dwarves spoke of. I thought they were just a legend.”- Anub'arak

In one of the books on the tabletop role-playing game, Lands of Conflict (“Lands of Conflict”; July 2004), the first hints appeared as to what kind of creatures could be the Old Gods.

As a reminder, a series of books based on the tabletop role-playing game (also known as WoW RPG or “rulebooks”) has been announced non-canonical . And I also remind you that you should not confuse WoW RPG with other Warcraft literature.

So here it is. In most of these “rulebooks” the information was presented on behalf of the famous explorer Brann Bronzebeard, and therefore it was sometimes worth perceiving it as material written by an experienced traveler, but still not an all-knowing superbeing.

So Brann called Hakkar an ancient god, but for some reason not with a capital letter:

“Long ago, the local trolls tried to summon and subjugate Hakkar, their ancient god.”

Brann also wondered if the Ancient God was a creature called Ula-Tek, the Snake Goddess:

“Zul'Aman is a temperate forest of towering trees. There are dark shadows everywhere, and with them ancient ruins and ziggurats. I thought these ruins and strange step pyramids were here from the time of Zul'Aman's empire, but they could be much older. Perhaps something left over from the Titans or the Old Gods?”

“They worship ancient deities, but I do not know whether they are mythical Old Gods or some strange creation of their voodoo medicine men.”

“ Ula-Tek Sanctuary (city, 7000):The Ula-Tek Sanctuary is a giant ziggurat. The trolls have gathered around this structure, and their capital lies right among the local ruins. Simple huts here are adjacent to collapsed stone walls. This area is very well guarded - too well for me to advance any further. I ambushed a lone forest troll several miles from the sanctuary and obtained the information I needed from him. It turned out that Ula-Tek is a snake goddess. Perhaps one of the Old Gods? Trolls revere Ula-Tek and consider the ziggurat their shrine. Among the ruins there, they conduct their dark rites and voodoo rituals. The trolls also keep their treasures, accumulated over many centuries, inside the ziggurat - this is another reason why they guard it so vigilantly.”

“The great medicine man Ral'jin is becoming an increasingly powerful figure in Zul'Aman. Ral'jin ordered the hunters to capture hundreds of prisoners, whom he plans to use for a huge sacrifice. With this ritual he intends to summon Ula-Tek, the Snake Goddess. Obviously, this information does not bode well, but the dwarves of Ironforge are especially concerned about it: they have seen the destruction that leads to the rebirth of the elemental lord, and the true Old God must be even more powerful. However, the Dark Iron dwarves are simply rejoicing. Ula-Tek, possibly an Old God, could serve as Ragnaros' companion and ally. They sent a contingent of their forces to Zul'Aman to show their goodwill and protect Ral'jin while he completed his lengthy ritual."

of. art for Lands of Conflict

Comparison with canon:This whole story about Zul'Aman fell out of canon. Ula-Tek simply does not exist in the current canon, because other than WoW RPG it was not mentioned anywhere. And most likely, it was not conceived by the Ancient God, but by another loa of winged serpents like the same Hakkar - but this is unknown for sure.

True, we still have a chance to one day see the giant ziggurat of Zul'Aman. Still, in WoW this kingdom of the forest trolls was presented with just a small raid, and on the maps of the Eastern Kingdoms from Warcraft 3 and the manual of the original WoW, the ziggurat of Zul’Aman was still marked.

map fragment from the original WoW manual

And here’s another interesting thing - the story of Ula-Tek inspired one of the storylines of the first volume of “Chronicles”. It's about a K'thraxi named Kit'ix. It was the faceless general, thanks to whom the Az’Aqir empire was founded and the war of trolls and Akirs began. In the end, the trolls emerged victorious from this war, and Kith'ix, who was seriously wounded after a battle with the loa, was tracked down by the trolls. At the same place where they killed this k'thrax, the trolls founded the temple city of Zul'Aman.

It is quite possible that the hypothetical return to the lands of the forest trolls will be connected precisely with the history of this monster - just like the history of Ula-Tek. This is supported by the fact that Zakazha (similar to K'thrax) was able to resurrect the Twilight's Hammer. And even after he, in a weakened state, was killed by a nameless warrior, the same Twilight's Hammer cult tried to resurrect him again. The Order was finally destroyed only when its power was absorbed by Xal'atat and the High Priest of the Conclave.

It is also known that the Curse Lord Malacrass bound to himself the essence of the darkest loa beast of his tribe. The developers know what kind of loa this is, but they still don't want to reveal who it was. Is it possible that it was not a loa at all, but just Kit’ix?

Returning to the “Lands of Conflict”. For some reason they indicated the Ancient God and Ragnaros. Perhaps this error was caused by the fact that it was in this book that the Fire Lord was first mentioned. Or it was a deliberate mistake that was meant to show the error of Brann's judgment or the inhabitants of Shadowforge. But it looks more like the first option.

“However, he inadvertently summoned Ragnaros, the blazing Old God whose birth tore the earth into pieces.”

“Their eyes glow with orange flames, one of the many gifts of their Old God overlord.”

In November 2004 atofficial WoW websitethe page “ History of Warcraft" . In particular, there was an updated version of the “Ordering Azeroth” text from the WC3 manual. The new version of the text differed in some details, for example: the titans created not dwarves from stone, but earthlings; the elementals did not disappear by themselves after the imprisonment of the Ancient Gods, but were imprisoned in the Plane of the Elements. They also changed the number of Ancient Gods from five to four:

“The Pantheon destroyed the strongholds of the Old Gods and imprisoned these four evil deities deep beneath the surface of the world.”

In November 2004, the release of the World of Warcraft . And then, already in the game itself, you could read the in-game book, repeating the text of the paragraph of the same name from the page with the office. site -.

The next source that mentioned the number of the Old Gods was the final noveltrilogy “War of the Ancients”from Richard Knaak -“War of the Ancients: Shattering”(July 2005). In this novel (as in the second part of the trilogy), the worldview and thinking of the Ancient Gods was more fully revealed, describing how they themselves see what is happening in the world and plan to escape from their prisons. We are talking about a trinity of Ancient Gods who telepathically communicated with each other. But that’s not all, Krasus claimed that there were not four or five Ancient Gods in total, but only three in general:

“The Ancient Gods seemed just a legend even to most dragons who were born at the dawn of this world. But thanks to his insatiable curiosity, or as Ronin put it, “an irrepressible desire to poke his nose into everything,” Krasus knew that the Old Gods were something much more.

According to legend, three dark entities once ruled a bloody chaos that even the demon lords of the Burning Legion could not imagine. They ruled the original plane until the coming of the creators of the world. A war of cosmic proportions followed, and eventually the Old Gods fell.

The Trinity was cast into eternal imprisonment. The place of their imprisonment was hidden from everyone, and their powers were broken until the end of time. This should have been the end of this saga, but now Krasus began to suspect that the Old Gods had somehow found a way to reach out to the mortal plane and search for something that could free them.”

We now know that this trio included C'Thun, Yogg-Saron and N'Zoth. And it turns out that Krasus was simply mistaken in trusting the legend and believing that the representatives of the current trinity were the only Ancient Gods.

In the update 1.8: Dragons of Nightmare(October 2005) the name of the first Ancient God finally became known - C'Thun . In that update, many new quests were added to Silithus, and one of them revealed"The Prophecy of C'Thun". This was the first mention of C'Thun and the Qiraji - before that, no one knew what exactly was hiding behind the Scarab Wall in the destroyed kingdom called Ahn'Qiraj.

This prophecy was written by the prophet Skeram and represents Qiraji folklore. The prophecy states that the Qiraji were created by C'Thun from silithids born from the ether of the Well of Eternity. In reality, the Qiraji are the Akir who conquered the Ahn'Qiraj prison complex. The presence of the Old God nearby slowly changed their appearance until they became the race now known as the Qiraji. However, the question remains of how the silithids appeared. Perhaps they were part of the original Akir, or only appeared along with the Qiraji civilization.

The prophecy also omits the fact that the modern Qiraji kingdom was built on the ruins of a prison complex forged by the Titans.

And the most important thing in this story:

“In the time before the beginning of time, when this world was yet to be born, on this very earth a fierce battle took place between the Titan and an entity of unimaginable power and evil. The prophecy does not say whether the Titan was slain in this battle, but it does say that the Titan fell. The Ancient God also fell - or so they thought.”- geologist Echidnaya

We now know that the only direct intervention of the real Titans in the war against the Dark Empire was the murder of Y'Shaarj by Aman'Thul.

“Aman'Thul, leader of the Pantheon, literally tore Y'Shaarj out of the ground and crushed him in the grip of his fist. And Y'Shaarj was the strongest of the Old Gods of Azeroth, and there were no prisons then that could contain his power or imprison his mountain-sized body. Y'Shaarj was so powerful that he was on the verge of driving the entire Titan-forged army, including the Guardians (who were also terribly powerful in those days), mad with his whispers and visions. The situation was so dire that Aman'Thul personally intervened in the matter. And he dealt with it simply playfully.” - fromthe second part of Spoiler Alert for update 7.3

And if the strongest Ancient God could not do anything against the titan, then what can we say about C’Thun?

In general, until this moment, the Pantheon did not personally intervene in the war, because it was afraid of injuring the world-soul. And after that, the titans became even more careful, because the death of Y’Shaarj left a terrible wound on the body of Azeroth. Another such wound threatened to kill the world-soul, so it was decided to imprison the Ancient Gods. But in general, suffice it to say that it could not be a titan, because we know the names of all the titans of the Pantheon, and they all successfully survived the conflict with the Old Gods.

However, it is possible that an unnamed Titan-forged played a role in the defeat of C'Thun. Or it was one of the Guardians. After all, the peoples of Azeroth very often mistakenly call the Guardians titans and attribute their deeds to the Pantheon. But this is still just speculation.

“The Titan-Forged then journeyed southwest to the chaotic temple city that grew around the third Old God, C'Thun. The Guardians and their allies cleared the area of ​​the n'raqi swarms before laying siege to the Old God himself and subduing him. Just like with N'Zoth, the guardians buried this entity alive underground and built a prison around his body."- first volume of “Chronicles”

And already in the update1.9: Gates of Ahn'Qiraj(January 2006) C'Thun became the final boss of the Ahn'Qiraj raid.

Once again now non-canonical Lands of Mystery (“Lands of Secrets”; April 2006), new thoughts from Brann about the identities and locations of the Old Gods appeared:

“Sword of the Lord: This unusual monument is a large statue (or corpse?) surrounded by a small lake. Once the sacred land of the night elves, this area is now under the control of the Twilight's Hammer. After dragging one of those robed lunatics around a corner, I came to the conclusion that the statue was some sort of divine corpse, the remains of an Old God. The term “Sword of the Ruler” refers to one of the parts of the monument: if you examine everything carefully, it turns out that the strange statue or mound in the center is a shell-like skull pierced by a huge blade. I guess it’s possible that Titan killed one of the Old Gods or their servants here.”

Comparison with canon:During the Cataclysm, the Twilight's Hammer cult was able to unearth the remains of this creature, and then it became known who it really was:

“The Sword of the Overlord is an ancient battlefield. The Titans sent twenty stone giants against Soggoth. Out of twenty, only one survived.

The tablets say that Kronn, the largest of the giants, allowed Soggoth to bind him with his tentacles - so that the monster would lift him closer to his head... just within reach of his mighty sword. It’s a good thing he’s dead... we don’t have twenty stone giants nearby to stop him again right now.”- archaeologist Groff

“Valley of Bones: Many consider the Valley of Bones to be cursed, which is why most centaur clans avoid it. It is believed that the surface of this valley is strewn with the bones of the Ancient Gods. This area is occupied by necromancer centaurs from Magram and skeletons.”

Comparison with canon:It is still unknown who owns these two skeletons, now known as the Dead Goliaths. But it is quite clear that they were not Old Gods.

It is not known exactly when this happened, but byupdate 1.11: Shadow of the Necropolis(June 2006) number of Old Gods from the in-game book“The Old Gods and the Order of Azeroth”changed from four to five. Onofficial websitethis change happened later - in August 2006:

“The Pantheon destroyed the strongholds of the Old Gods and imprisoned these five evil deities deep beneath the surface of the world.”

The in-game book still talks about the five Ancient Gods. From a plot point of view, this can be attributed to the fact that this book was written by someone from Azeroth, which means it may contain errors. And this particular error could be caused by the same legends about the former existence of Xal’atat to the Ancient Gods.

Then the personalities of the Ancient Gods were remembered in the next non-canonical tabletop role-playing game book, Horde Player's Guide (Horde Player's Guide, November 2006):

“Perhaps Hakkar is the child of the Old God? It's hard to say: I'm not even sure that they can have children. And it’s not that I want to know the answer to this question.”

Comparison with canon:The identity of Hakkar is a mystery that deserves its own discussion. In WoW itself there were also hints about his possible connection with the Old Gods, but things never went further than these hints. At this point, it is known that Hakkar is a loa. True, very specific.

An add-on was released in November 2008World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It revealed the name of the second Ancient God - Yogg-Saron . The influence of this monster was felt in various places in Northrend, and as a result, he became the penultimate boss of the Ulduar raid, introduced inupdate 3.1: Secrets of Ulduar(April 2009).

In April 2009 atofficial websiteonce again they conjured the number of the Ancient Gods - this time they decided to remove it altogether:

“The Pantheon destroyed the strongholds of the Old Gods and imprisoned these evil deities deep beneath the surface of the world.”

At Blizzcon 2010 (October 2010) Chris Metzen revealed the name of the third Ancient God - N'Zoth . But in the game itself, N’Zoth was first mentioned only in the update4.3: Time of Twilight(November 2011). And although it hasn’t been shown in WoW yet, it was still done in the add-on“Whisper of the Ancient Gods”for Hearthstone (April 2016).

In February 2012 Nyorloth , who then held the position of community manager of the official history forum, gave a rather lengthy answer to the question about the confusion with the number of Old Gods in Azeroth:

““They don't live; they don't die. They are out of cycle.”

Perhaps, in order to truly kill something that lives outside of space and time, life and death, it must be completely erased from existence? Perhaps this would explain why the records of the Old Gods seem so... contradictory?

Only those on the other side can know for sure...

Just empty thoughts, don’t pay attention.”

By the way, about the death of the Ancient Gods. In March 2017, game master Kelethross answered a question about their death the following:

“We discussed this with a team of historians today, and according to them, both options are not really suitable here. Yes, they are clearly defeated, but technically they are not dead in the sense that we usually mean by this word.

Y'Shaarj was ripped from the planet by Aman'Thul, and his remains eventually became sha after they rained down on Pandaria. C'Thun and Yogg-Saron were not defeated in this manner, but even if they were, the sha are specific to Y'Shaarj. Each of the Old Gods is quite unique in the way they achieve their goals, the form they take, and what they are capable of.

The Sha would not have appeared if C'Thun or Yogg-Saron had also been torn from the planet. But you can safely bet that there would be a lot more madness and saronite in the world!”

An add-on was released on September 9, 2012World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. In it, the fourth Ancient God of Azeroth was introduced into the plot, who also turned out to be already dead - Y'Shaarj . This deity was mentioned in mogu legends and tales of the Klaxxi. In “Whispers of the Ancient Gods” from Hearthstone, Y’Shaarj, like N’Zoth, also received the first official image of his person.

Released in March 2016first volume of “Chronicles”, in which revealed many previously unknown facts about the Ancient Gods. It became known that the Ancient Gods were created by the Lords of the Abyss with the aim of desecrating one of the soul worlds and thus creating a dark titan. And if we talk about what primordial power their abilities go back to, then the Ancient Gods are physical manifestations of the Abyss.

The first volume does not mention the specific number of Old Gods that fell upon Azeroth:

“The Elemental Lords reveled in primordial bedlam until a group of Old Gods fell upon the world from the Great Darkness. They crashed into the surface of Azeroth, attaching themselves to various locations around the world. These Ancient Gods towered above the earth, mountains of flesh adorned with hundreds of gnashing jaws and black, emotionless eyes. A miasma of despair soon enveloped everything that lay beneath their writhing shadows.”

Dark Empire

However, it is known that at the time of the Dark Empire's victory over the Elemental Lords, there were four Ancient Gods.

Map of Azeroth under the Dark Empire

from the first volume of “Chronicles”

An expansion was released in August 2016 World of Warcraft: Legion , in which a new character appeared -Xal'atat, Blade of the Dark Empire. In the history of this artifact, described in the in-game book“About Light and Abyss”, it is mentioned that in time immemorial he may have been an Ancient God:

“There are many theories about the origin of the blade. The most outlandish of them claim that the dagger is all that remains of a forgotten Old God who was devoured by his own kind in the early days of the Dark Empire. Other theories say that Xal'atat is Y'Shaarj's claw, torn from his monstrous body and given to his servants for use in ritual sacrifices.

As incredible as these theories are, there may be some truth to them. Xal'atath pulses with the foul essence of the Old Gods. Moreover, it is said that the blade is capable of granting its owner visions of the Dark Empire, but all who looked at these horrors became victims of madness.”

“Xal'atath has a mind of its own. Ignore his maddening whispers. Don't trust the lies he tells you. Take from it what you need, but always remember that the dark presence in the blade is not your ally.”

At the same time, the essence of the dagger often whispered various pieces of advice to the high priest, which, for the most part, turned out to be relatively practical. And that is not all. Some her quotes add significant weight to the theory that she was once an Old God:

“We may encounter some of my kind in this conflict. This perspective - I like it. Their strength will be mine. They will pay for what was done to me a long time ago.”

“How ironic that the weakest among us could be the ultimate winner. C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, Y'Shaarj and... well... only one could remain to consume the world. It was meant to be.”

By the weakest deity, the dagger means N’Zoth - she generally often notices his successes and the gradual weakening of his prison. But in our case, something else is important - that Xal’atat puts himself on the same level as the Ancient Gods and essentially counts himself among them.

“I look forward to the day when our hosts can truly enter this dimension. You saw only fragments, shadows, the faintest echoes. Ask the ethereals what one of his manifestations can do.”

And this quote is notable for the fact that the dagger calls the Lords of the Abyss its masters. Coupled with the fact that she considers the Ancient Gods to be her equals, this is another coin in the treasury of the theory that she herself was once an Ancient God.

Indeed, the Chronicles do not mention a specific number of Old Gods at the time of their arrival in Azeroth. So Xal’atat could well have been absorbed just in the early days of the Dark Empire, as some of the theories of Azeroth historians describe. However, for now they still remain only theories.

Old Gods Beyond Azeroth

IN World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade(January 2007) the first evidence appeared that the Old Gods of Azeroth are not the only ones of their kind. The first evidence is historyharbinger of Skyriss, Qiraji prophet captured in Arcatraz. He was somehow imprisoned in a Naaru space prison, from which he freed himself thanks to telepathy: he simply drove the chief jailer of the blood elves who occupied the satellites of the Tempest Fortress crazy. Fortunately, the heroes managed to kill him immediately. And judging by the fact that enough inhabitants of Azeroth, such as the draconian from Nefarian's retinue, were captured in Arcatraz, Skyriss was probably also from Azeroth. If he were just an Akir, then this would be a different question.

However, Skyriss made it clear that the forces he serves extend far beyond the borders of Azeroth: “<В голосе А’дала слышится негармоничная нота.>

Prince Kael'thas made a mistake in choosing his jailer, and now the entities we locked away in the Arcatraz are beginning to break free. Among them is a servant of the Old Gods known as the Harbinger of Skyriss, who wishes to fulfill his masters' vision of conquering all worlds in the universe. You must stop him from escaping. Return to Tempest Keep, infiltrate Arcatraz, and kill Harbinger Skyriss before it's too late!”

And his quote after killing the Qiraji:

“<Кристаллический тембр голоса А’дала начинает звучать в твоем разуме более гармоничной мелодией, нежели в последний раз, когда вы говорили> The Harbinger of Skyriss is said to be a servant of the Old Gods. They also say that he has a large scroll with him containing instructions on how he should command life in the universe on their behalf.

My current buyer wants to get his hands on this scroll, although he is not even able to read the language in which it is written. Go to the Arcatraz of Tempest Keep and get it for me, okay?”

And his quote when handing over the scroll:

“I don’t dare touch the scroll, otherwise I, too, will risk attracting the attention of the Ancient Gods. I will entrust the delivery of this parcel to one of my assistants. You have more than earned your reward, and I wish you luck in all the known worlds.”

And here is the second evidence - in fact, an unknown Ancient God from some other world. He is known to us only as“Summoned Ancient God”and “an ancient and powerful evil.” Arakkoa ghosts from the Dark Conclave tried to summon him.

“The spirits of the dark conclave are trying to summon an ancient and powerful evil through a ritual they are currently performing at the lava pits south of Sketh'lon's Camp. Gul'dan's magic merged with their own, and it gave them the strength to help this creature come to our world! We must stop them. It is impossible to imagine how much death and destruction this creature will bring with it!”- Parshakh

A former member of the Dark Conclave named Parshah and an unnamed hero were able to stop the ritual of summoning this monster.

And in the first volume of “Chronicles” it already became known that the Lords of the Abyss threw an unknown number of these unholy creatures into reality in order to desecrate the sleeping souls of the titans. During his travels, Sargeras discovered a soul world corrupted by the Old Gods and split it in two. The ensuing explosion consumed the Old Gods and their energies, but also killed the newborn titan.

When the Titans came to Azeroth, they encountered a force hostile to them - the elementals and their lords - the Ancient Gods. The war for Azeroth has begun: between the Titans and the Ancient Gods. The armies were led by their main servants:

Ragnaros the Lord of Fire.

This powerful fire elemental was banished to the Elemental Plane after the fall of the old gods. But many years later, during the War of the Three Hammers, Thaurissan summoned him in the hope that the powerful Lord Elemental would help him. But Thaurissan died, and Ragnaros disappeared into the Fiery Core of the Black Mountain. Later he joined Deathwing.

Therazana Mother of Stone

Lord of the earth, mud, rocks and mountain ranges. She is revered by the earth elementals and all underground creatures. It is believed that she is Mother Earth, who is so revered by the tauren.
After the war with the Titans, in which she fought on the side of the Old Gods, she was imprisoned along with the rest of the elementals in the Elemental Plane. Unlike the other two elemental lords, she did not side with the Earth Aspect.

Neptulon Tide Hunter

He is worshiped by all water elementals. He is the ruler of all waters, be it a stream or an ocean. Sailors who enter his domain without special permission will suffer the fate of certain death.

Al "Akir Lord of the Wind

The weakest among the four elemental lords. His world, the Heavenly Heights, is the sky above the Abode of the Elements, which is in contact with all other elements. His mood changes as quickly as the weather.
Al "Aqir is revered by air elementals and all winged creatures. He himself says that he knows about any air spell, no matter where in the universe it is cast - and although this seems to be true, he himself rarely takes part in magic, only if the witchcraft is not affects him personally. He is one of the two lords who joined the Earth Aspect.

The Pantheon destroyed most of the enemy's strongholds and separated the three Gods. Without the support of their masters, the elementals were defeated and banished to the Elemental Plane. There are no chronicles of that war, and if there were, they were lost forever. After the victory, the Titans established that the Ancient Gods are part of and possibly the foundation of Azeroth itself and the destruction of the DB will entail the destruction of Azeroth. Therefore, the Ancient Gods were imprisoned. The exact number of Ancient Gods is unknown. Some say that there are five of them, and some claim that there are 4 of them. It is assumed that one was killed - his remains are in Darkshore, at the Sword of the Ruler.. Also, one Ancient God was killed in the Valley of Tirisfal. Of the remaining ones, Azeroth knows the names of only two.

K"Tun

When the war was lost, defeated but not destroyed, he disappeared into the depths of the desert of Silithus. For many years he slept and watched. He saw the Legion invade. And he was still making plans. He discovered the primitive race of Silithids and saw in these arachnids suitable servants who could restore his power and destroy other unruly creatures. Therefore, he endowed them with the ability to think and endowed them with part of his power. Thus arose the terrifying race of the Qiraji. Their ancient city - Ahn'Qiraj, was located in Silithus, in the extreme south of Kalimdor and was the capital of a huge empire ruled by the twin emperors Vek'Nilash and Vek'Lor

Afterwards, K"Tun waited for thousands of years until his children finally created an army capable of taking revenge on all of Kalimdor. The Titans left and only the Kaldorei could defend themselves. Soon all of Silithus was filled with Silithids and the army of night elves was thrown back through the Un"Goro crater, to the desert Tanaris. But with the help of dragons, the Silithid armies were driven back. There the insurmountable Scarab Wall arose from rocks, roots and stones.

Yogg-Saron

After the war, Yogg-Saron was imprisoned in Ulduar and the Guardians were placed on his guard: Loken, Thorim, Hodir, Mimiron and Freya. Gradually their will was broken and they were enslaved. The first to fall was Loken, the prison keeper. he was seduced by the whispers of Yogg-Saron. The last to fall was Thorim, deceived by his brother and prison curator Loken. Yogg-Saron's whispers also played a role in Garona's betrayal of King Llane, which marked the fall of Stormwind and the end of the First War.

This octopus-like Ancient God is responsible for the corruption that covered the Grizzly Hills and the destruction of Nordrassil. When the roots of a mighty tree pierced the walls of his prison, Yogg-Saron infected him. The Druids destroyed the tree as soon as they learned of its disease, but the corruption continued to spread and infected the Greymaw furbolgs, who later inhabited the remains of Fordrassil and attempted to regrow it. The furbolgs used the corrupted magic of the tree to resurrect Ursoc, the bear god, who had also been corrupted.

Traces of the Old God can be found throughout Northrend. This is his blood - saronite. His minions, the Faceless Ones, live in An'Kakhet and other Nerubian buildings. They serve him faithfully, an example of this is General Vezax.

Worship of the Ancient Gods.

The will of the DB prisoners makes its way through Azeroth and enslaves some of its inhabitants. Thus, the most famous cult of DB's service, the Twilight's Hammer, was created. At first, the orc clan, not related to the DB, became not only orcs. It consists of gnomes and people and orcs and trolls. Representatives of many races of Azeroth serve as DBs.

RESULT

Although the DBs were defeated, they did not accept their fate. The evil will seeps into Azeroth and leaves noticeable and fatal traces in the history of the world. It is they who are to blame for the fact that the mind of Neltharion, the Aspect of Earth, has become clouded. Judging by the War of the Ancients trilogy, it was they who created a temporary vortex and imprisoned Nozdormu in it. They are responsible for the emergence of the Emerald Nightmare. The curse of the flesh, the emergence of the Qiraji, the murder of King Llane, the desecration of Nordrassil - all these are traces of the activities of the Ancient Gods.

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Ancient Gods
Four Ancient Gods of Azeroth (clockwise from top left: K "Tun, N" Zot, Yogg-Saron and I "Sharaj)
Side/ Attitude towards others	Lords of the Abyss, Powers of the Old Gods (Dark Empire)
Homeworld	Abyss
Place- position	Titan Prisons in Azeroth, various worlds in the Great Darkness
Basic language	Shat "Yar"

"They do not die; they do not live. They are outside the cycle."- Herald Volazh

Ancient Gods- creepy and disgusting entities created by the Lords of the Abyss. In the distant past, they crashed onto the surface of Azeroth from the Great Beyond Darkness and began to expand their influence, giving birth to two races - the Faceless Ones and the Akiri. The civilization they created was called the Dark Empire and occupied a significant part of the unified Kalimdor. The elementals, who first declared war on the Ancient Gods, eventually began to serve them and joined the Dark Empire.

The reign of the Old Gods continued until the Pantheon arrived on the planet. The Titans destroyed the citadels of the Dark Empire and imprisoned the Old Gods deep beneath the surface of the world. If the Pantheon destroyed them, Azeroth would be destroyed. K"Thun feigned death and was sealed in a Titan research station near Uldum. Yogg-Saron was captured in the depths of Ulduar. However, I"Shaaraj, the most powerful of the Old Gods, was killed by the Titans, and only his heart was preserved to be awakened thousands of years later. The Pantheon was unable to defeat N'Zoth, whose exact location remains unknown.

Although the Old Gods have been captured or destroyed, their influence still corrupts mortal peoples (and immortal beings too). The Old Gods are considered one of the most dangerous and persistent threats facing heroes. Although those who came to Azeroth remain the most famous, there are other Old Gods in the universe.

Description

Although early sources indicated the existence of three, four, and five Ancient Gods, according to the latest information, exactly four arrived on Azeroth - K'Thun, Yogg-Saron, N'zot and I'Shaarj.

K"Tun

Main article: K"Tun

K'Thun was the ruler of the Qiraji, a race of intelligent insects that emerged from the Akiri and also served the Ancient Gods. It was because of K'Tun that the War of the Shifting Sands began, in which the Qiraji were defeated by the combined forces of the night elves and Aspects. A thousand years later, after the Third War, K'tun awakened in An'Qiraj, intending to capture all the dragons who were trying to get into his lair. A group of mortal heroes were able to get inside and destroy it.

Yogg-Saron

Main article: Yogg-Saron

Yogg-Saron, the Old God of Death, was imprisoned by the Titans beneath Ulduar, their own city in Northrend. When Alliance and Horde forces arrived on the northern mainland to battle Arthas's Scourge, Yogg-Saron was summoned to the surface of the earth and was able to corrupt the minds of the guardians of Ulduar abandoned by the titans. The heroes of Azeroth made their way to the ancient city and were able to free the guardians, who later helped them destroy the body of Yogg-Saron.

N"Zot

Main article: N'Zot

N'Zoth was hidden by the titans in the depths of the Great Sea. It is known that in the distant past, the servants of N'Zoth fought against the combined forces of K'Tun and Yogg-Saron, and the General Zon'ozz led his troops. N'Zoth is directly connected with the Emerald Nightmare, which captured the Emerald Dream. Due to N'Zoth's connection with the ocean, it is assumed that it was he who created the naga from the night elves who drowned after the Sundering. After the Cataclysm, researchers of Vash'ir stated that N'Zoth may be influencing this place. N'Zoth is responsible for Deathwing's actions after the Cataclysm.

And "Sharaj"

Main article: I "Sharaj"

The strongest of the Old Gods and the only one of them who was killed by the Titans. He was a monster with seven heads, and his last breath cursed Pandaria into Sha. Shortly before the siege of Orgrimmar, it became known that the heart of I "Shaaraj survived and was hidden under the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Garrosh Hellscream gave the order to excavate the lands of the Vale and find the heart, which he managed to restore using local magical lakes. I" Sharaj himself was not resurrected, but the heart gained strength and became capable of corrupting living creatures and communicating with Garrosh. The Mantises, who worshiped I'Shaarj in the distant past, sided with Garrosh after the restoration of his heart. The Paragons, the strongest warriors of the race, tried to protect him during the siege of Orgrimmar.

Other Old Gods

An unknown number of Old Gods were hurled into the Great Dark by the void lords, and numerous other Old Gods are active in the worlds beyond Azeroth.

• Some of the more outlandish theories regarding the creation of the sentient dagger known as Xal"atath claim that the blade is all that remains of a forgotten Old God who was consumed by its kin in the early days of the Black Empire.
• One unnamed world had become irredeemably infested by the monstrous beings during the early ages of the universe. A conclave of demonic nathrezim came to dwell among the Old Gods upon the black world, basking in their dark power. When Sargeras, defender of the Pantheon, arrived, he ruthlessly interrogated the nathrezim about the nature of the Old Gods. Once he had learned the truth about their purpose, an enraged and horrified Sargeras killed the demons and cleaved the corrupted world in two, instantly killing its world-soul and the Old Gods infecting it. This event is what led Sargeras to abandon the Pantheon and eventually form the Burning Legion to scour the universe of all life in an attempt to prevent the void lords" plans from ever coming to fruition.
• In the Burning Crusade expansion, a group of arakkoa known as the Dark Conclave attempted to summon an ancient and powerful evil entity labeled as a "Summoned Old God" into Outland ; this seemingly implies that it is one of many extra-terrestrial Old Gods.
  • A scroll in Veil Terokk mentions that Anzu would converse with "the gods of the abyss", and that he would find them "dull, witless creatures".

Story

Creation

The Ancient Gods were created by the Lords of the Abyss, who are the purest creatures of the Abyss dimension and for this reason are not able to appear in reality. The Overlords created the Old Gods in the form of flesh, consisting of the energy of the Abyss, and made them their beacon on numerous worlds in the Great Dark Beyond. The purpose of the creation of the Ancient Gods is the desecration of any life, not excluding the essences of the titans that may be located inside the planet.

The Titans of the Pantheon were distracted by the activity of demons and did not pay attention to the appearance of the Ancient Gods. They spread across the planets and discovered inside one of them the essence of a titan, which was to be born in the future. There were also several nathrezim on this planet, for whom Sargeras, then still serving as the champion of the Pantheon, came. Sargeras saw that the Old Gods were implementing a plan to desecrate the essence of the titan. If they managed to do this, then a true dark titan would be born from the planet, becoming a reflection of the Lord of the Abyss in reality.

Realizing what was happening, Sargeras decided that the destruction of the entire universe was the best alternative to what awaited it under the influence of the Lords of the Abyss. He wished to convene a Legion that would exterminate all living things in order to prevent the Ancient Gods from fulfilling their dark destiny. Sargeras began his crusade with the destruction of that very desecrated world, in the depths of which the titan's soul was hidden.

Dark Empire

The Four Ancient Gods arrived on another planet that contained the soul of a titan and was located in a remote corner of the Great Beyond Darkness. This titan was to be named Azeroth in the future. The Ancient Gods, who bore the names K'Tun, Yogg-Saron, N'Zoth and I'Sharaj, fell to the surface of the world in various places, embedding their vast bodies into the earth's crust.

They rose like mountains of flesh, adorned with hundreds of fanged mouths and black eyes. A miasma of despair spread around the bodies of the Old Gods, and their polluting influence, like cancerous tumors, spread across the planet, turning the lands into a black and lifeless wasteland. At the same time, the tentacles of the Gods broke deeper and deeper into the core of Azeroth, trying to get to its defenseless heart - the future titan.

Living matter leaked from the bodies of the Ancient Gods, from which two races of creatures arose: the cunning and intelligent n'raqi, who would later become known as the Faceless Ones, and the Akiri - strong insect-like creatures with durable bodies. The two peoples were the physical embodiment of the Ancient Gods and served fanatically to its creators.

Thanks to new minions, the influence of the Ancient Gods expanded. The Faceless Ones became ruthless overlords, forcing the Akiri to build high citadels and cities around the huge bodies of the Gods. The largest city was built around I'Shaarj - the most powerful Ancient God, who was located in the central part of the largest continent on Azeroth. The growing civilization, which included the N'raqi and Akiri, continued to grow and was called the Dark Empire.

The development of the Dark Empire was noticed by the elementals who ruled Azeroth before the arrival of the Old Gods. Although the four elemental lords, known as Ragnaros, Al'akir, Neptulon and Therazane, had been at war with each other for millennia, they joined forces against the Old Gods to regain control of the planet. The power of the elementals was enough to destroy many of the strongholds of the Dark Empire , but in the end they still lost the war and became servants of the Ancient Gods.

Finally, Azeroth was discovered by the titans of the Pantheon, who recognized their future brother in the planet and gave him this name. They realized that one day Azeroth would become such a powerful titan that it could defeat the Void Lords. To fight the Ancient Gods and their Dark Empire, the Titans created a huge army of forged creatures, led by guardians endowed with the powers of the Pantheon. The army included Anubisaths, Tol"virs, Earthmen, mogu, mechagnomes and various giants. The heart of I"Sharaj is all that remains of him

The Guardians, using the powers bestowed upon them, were able to destroy the most powerful Ancient God - I'Shaarj. The murder left a gaping wound on the body of Azeroth, from which blood rose, and this wound became the Source of Eternity. The Guardians realized that the titan in the depths of Azeroth would die from loss of blood , if they tried to kill the rest of the Old Gods. It was then decided that K'Thun, Yogg-Saron and N'Zoth would be defeated and imprisoned in the depths of the earth. Above Yogg-Saron, the last god defeated, a massive complex was built, called Ulduar. The prison of K "Tun" became a place in the future known as An "Qiraj and located near Uldum. The Heart of I" Sharaj - the only thing left of him - was placed in a crypt on the territory of the future Pandaria. N'Zoth was sealed somewhere in the depths of the Great Sea. For the four elemental lords and their servants, who were also defeated by the army of the titans, a separate closed dimension was created - the Abode of the Elements. All the elementals ended up there and continued their endless war with each other.

Ordered Azeroth and the locations of the Old Gods" prisons.

To provide the world with protection from the influence of the Ancient Gods, who, despite their captivity, could influence those around them, the Titans, through their guardians, decided to empower five dragons, who became Aspects and were obliged to protect Azeroth. Nozdormu became the Bronze Aspect and gained power over time to maintain the correct course of history and oversee the destinies of mortals. Alexstrasza, the red dragon, became the guardian of all life and played a key role in protecting the world from corruption. The task of the green Ysera was to protect the Emerald Dream - a special dimension of Azeroth through which life spread. Blue Malygos became the guardian of arcane magic, which was an incredibly dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. The Guardians made a fatal mistake, which would still play a role in the future: they gave black Neltharion, the fifth Aspect, power over the lands, although it was there that the Ancient Gods were imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Sargeras, having finally left the Pantheon, completed the creation of the Burning Legion. The Pantheon attempted to meet with Sargeras, aware of the threat of the Void Lords, and spoke of Azeroth being able to deal with them in the future. Sargeras destroyed the remaining titans with the help of fel magic and began a search for Azeroth in order to prevent absolute evil from being embodied in this world due to the actions of the Old Gods. The souls of the Titans of the Pantheon, protected by the spell, were preserved and tried to migrate to the guardians of Azeroth, but died during the migration. The Guardians received only flashes of emotions and memories of their creators and, not understanding anything, turned to the Pantheon, from which they never received an answer. Only Ra realized what exactly happened and was able to save a piece of Aman’Tul’s soul, after which he hid it in the Valley of Eternal Blossoms.

Curse of the Flesh

Main article: Curse of the Flesh

Yogg-Saron, captured deep beneath Ulduar, created the Curse of Flesh, which made the titan creatures weak and easily destroyed, turning their stone or iron bodies into living flesh. The Ancient God began to influence the guardian Loken and over time was able to drive him crazy. Under the influence of Yogg-Saron, Loken interfered with the work of the Forge of Will, with the help of which the creation of the titans appeared.

Main article: Aspects of Dragons

All new creatures created using the Forge of Will received this curse, which over time turned their bodies into flesh. Later, the Curse of Flesh was made into a disease that was transmitted from one creature to another. Loken reprogrammed Ulduar, becoming the chief curator, and went with his armies to find the guardian Ra, whom he could never find. However, his armies transferred the Curse of Flesh to the not yet infected Tol"virs, Anubisats and Mogu.

Although the curse was created by the Old Gods to serve their dark purposes, it was responsible for the creation of many of the peoples of modern Azeroth, including dwarves, gnomes, and humans.

War of the Ancients

Main article: War of the Ancients

Ten thousand years before the outbreak of the First War, Queen Azshara, who ruled the night elves, and her Highborne, wanted to open a portal for Sargeras, who finally managed to discover Azeroth. Alexstrasza turned to the other Aspects, and Neltharion, the most respected of them, proposed a plan to protect the planet - to invest the powers of each of the Aspects into a simple golden disk that would become an artifact so powerful that it could protect Azeroth from any threats outside. Neltharion managed to convince the other Aspects of the need for this plan, and thus the Dragon Soul was created.

Unknown to the Aspects, Neltharion heard the whispers of the Old Gods imprisoned in the very land he was supposed to watch over. The gods knew who Sargeras was and what his appearance meant for Azeroth. They decided to use the energy of the portal being created for him to free themselves from captivity. However, Illidan Stormrage took possession of the Dragon Soul and used it to close the portal, thereby preventing the release of the Old Gods and causing a massive catastrophe that changed the world forever.

Ten thousand years later, the Old Gods invaded Nozdormu's domain and created a rift in time to send several beings back to the War of the Ancients. This could change the course of history and give them another chance to free themselves. But this plan was not realized due to the intervention of Nozdormu, who sent Krasus, Ronin and Broxigar back in time.

War of the Quicksand

Main article: War of the Quicksand

Over time, K'Tun began to gain strength and, using the Qiraji army that emerged from the Akiri, conquered the ancient titan research complex built above his dungeon in Silithus. K'Tun waited until his army of insects became powerful enough and began to conquer nearby territories night elves, intending to rule all of Kalimdor. Thus began the War of the Shifting Sands, in which cursed titan creatures like the Tolvirs also fought on the side of the Qiraji.

In the early battles, the night elves acted quickly and effectively, winning victories thanks to the brilliant leadership of Fandral Staghelm. However, after the death of his son, the Qiraji were able to drive the night elves from Silithus. It seemed that the war was almost won by K'Thun and his army, but the combined forces of the night elves and dragons were able to push the insects back to An'Qiraj. They did not even hope to defeat the Old God and decided to seal the Qiraji troops inside their own fortress. Fandral Staghelm, entrusted with the Scepter of the Shifting Sands, closed An'Qiraj behind the Scarab Wall and destroyed the scepter into pieces, mourning the death of his son.

New era

K'Thun awakened in the ruins of An'Qiraj, and in order to defeat him, the Scarab Wall was opened. A squad of heroes of Azeroth descended into the dark depths and dealt with the Ancient God. The remains of K'Tun, which still had power, were later used by Cho'Gall and the Twilight's Hammer cult until An'Qiraj was finally brought down. During the war against the Scourge in Northrend, it was revealed that Loken, seated in the Halls of Lightning, was planning to finally liberate Yogg-Saron. Soon the League of Explorers reached Ulduar and, having discovered the activity of the Ancient God, informed the Alliance, the Horde and the Kirin Tor about this. A squad of heroes again descended into the depths of the titan complex and destroyed the Ancient God N'Zoth, who created the Emerald Nightmare. desecrated the Emerald Dream, and turned the satyr Xavius ​​into the Lord of Nightmare. He was also behind Deathwing's plans to return to Azeroth and cause the Cataclysm. The heart of I'Shaarj was found in Pandaria, and Garrosh Hellscream awakened it by feeding it with the waters of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Garrosh took the heart to Orgrimmar and used its power to strengthen himself and his comrades. However, during the siege of Orgrimmar, he was defeated, and the heart lost the last remnants of energy.

Power and strength

"For I bear allegiance to power untouched by time, unmoved by fate. No force on this world or beyond harbors the strength to bend our knee. Not even the mighty Legion." - Harbinger Skyriss

Despite the awesome might of the Old Gods, those who believed them to have powers greater than the titans have grossly overestimated power of the parasitic beings. Sargeras and Aman"Thul both demonstrated the ability to kill Old Gods with ease. Sageras demonstrated the ability to kill numerous Old Gods simultaneously when he, with a single stroke of his sword, destroyed a nameless world-soul that had been corrupted by Old Gods . Aman"Thul killed the most powerful of the Old Gods on Azeroth, Y"Shaarj, by simply plucking him from the surface of the planet. In doing so, he inadvertently wounded the sleeping world-soul due to how deeply Y"Shaarj had infected the planet. Though the titans could have easily destroyed the rest of the Old Gods in a similar fashion, it was believed that doing so would have destroyed Azeroth itself. The titans decided to imprisoned the remaining Old Gods where they lay and contain their evil rather than risk further harming Azeroth.

Abyss

Main article: Void#Old Gods

Whispers

The most notorious and tragic victim of the old whisperings is Neltharion the Earth-Warder; the once mighty Dragon Aspect who had been empowered by the titan Khaz"goroth with dominion over the deep places of the world. Yet, not even Neltharion"s great wisdom and power proved capable of breaking the grip the old whisperings had on his mind, causing the Earth-Warder to eventually lose all his sanity. Neltharion renamed himself Deathwing, seeking the genocide of all non-draconic life as well as the enslavement of the other dragonflights.

The most striking historic account of the old whisperings, however, is found in the ancient scrolls of lore of the tauren tribes, kept at Elder Rise within their capital city of Thunder Bluff . The legend of creation of the formerly nomadic Tturen makes a direct reference to the whisperings, stating that the first incidents of tauren having committed acts of deceit, murder or warfare were because some of their early brethren " heardken to the dark whispers from deep beneath the world."Ysera acknowledged that these whisperings originated from the Old Gods, and that they penetrate even into the Emerald Dream.

The Old Gods are the main focus of the third expansion for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Whispers of the Old Gods. In addition to adding legendary card versions of the four Azerothian Old Gods, the expansion adds a myriad of different cards related to the eldritch beings in some way - mainly in the form of faceless ones , mortal cultists and new, "corrupted" versions of pre -existing characters such as the "Polluted Hoarder" (Loot Hoarder) or "Hogger, Doom of Elwynn" (Hogger). C"Thun is the primary focus of the expansion, and is accompanied by a total of 16 different minion cards who either buff C"Thun in various ways, or activate unique effects if C"Thun has been buffed a sufficient amount of times.

Inspiration

The names and overall nature of the Old Gods are an homage to the various group of deities from the Cthulhu Mythos in the works of H.P. Lovecraft (first stage), Brian Lumley (third stage), and the Call of Cthulhu RPG. C"Thun and Yogg-Saron are named after

8. Names of Gods

All the names of the Old Gods were inspired by characters from Lovecraft's books. Cthun is named after Cthulhu, Yogg-Saron after Yog-Sothoth, Ishaaraj is Shub-Niggurath, and Nzoth was probably named after the character Nyogth.

7. Dark Empire

Returning to the times when the Ancient Gods ruled over Azeroth, you need to know that they created the Dark Empire at that time, it was the first such civilization in the world. They were controlled by the Gods, however, order was maintained by lieutenants.

6. Defeat the Old Gods

The Old Gods thrive solely on chaos and anarchy. They are incredibly strong and powerful, so they can only be defeated with the help of the titans. I had to use 21 stone giants in order to defeat the servant of the Ancient Gods - Soggoth.

5. Blade of the Empire

In the current expansion, Legion, Shadow Priests have the opportunity to obtain a legendary item called Xalatath, Blade of the Dark Empire. The blade is said to be forged from the claw of the Old God. He has his own will, and his strength allows him to exude powerful energy by summoning tentacles.

4. Curse of the Flesh

Yogg-Saron became close to the players at the moment when he became the target of the raid, although our task was to kill him, he constantly whispered something to us, reminders of the most important events of World of Warcraft. It was he who was responsible for the Curse of Flesh, due to which many of the titans' creations completely changed their appearance, turning into only a pitiful image of themselves.

3. I'sharaj

Killing an Old God can destroy and consume the land, but killing most of them can destroy everything we know and love. When I'Shaarj was killed, the lands were devastated. The Klaxxi tell stories of their lives in the shadow and majesty of the great Old God.

2. Akiri

Akir was a race of insects that united into one empire. Their empire consisted of the Qiraj, Nerubians and other insects who served the Old Gods. Their Empire was divided due to the war between the Akira and the Trolls, who wanted to exterminate all life in Kalimdor. As a result of many wars, the Nerubians fled to the north and the Qiraji to the south.

1. War of the Ancients

The War of the Ancients, the events of which are described in the game, are in fact rewritten and differ from the original battles.

Initially, the Ancient Gods tried to distort time and space in order to escape from their prisons, because of this anomalies were created. Horde shamans were sent to investigate these anomalies. This explains many things, for example, Broxigar falling into the past.