Early in World of Warcraft vanilla, players could read books found throughout Azeroth. One of them, the Charge of the Dragonflights, which says:

“Aman’Thul, the Highfather of the Pantheon, bestowed a portion of his cosmic power upon the massive Bronze dragon, Nozdormu. The Highfather empowered Nozdormu to guard time itself and police the ever-spinning pathways of fate and destiny.”

In the World of Warcraft: War of the Ancients trilogy (by New York Times Best Selling Author, Richard A. Knaak), we learned that Aman’Thul showed Nozdormu the exact moment of his own demise.

“As the essence of Time, he had been granted by his creators with the knowledge of his own demise. That had been given as a lesson, so that he would never think his power so great and terrible that he had to answer to no other. Nozdormu knew exactly how he would perish and when.”

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, players fought Murozond… the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight that had plagued us since the opening of Caverns of Time.

“At last it has come to pass. The moment of my demise. The loop is closed. My future self will cause no more harm. Still, in the future, I will… fall to madness. And you, heroes… will vanquish me. The cycle will repeat. So it goes. What matters is that Azeroth did not fall; that humanity survived to live another day. All that matters… is this moment.”

Well, we know a lot of detail on the backstory of Nozdormu, and how he dies. We also know he founded the Infinite Dragonflight. However, we don’t know how Nozdormu transformed into Murozond. All we know is that Nozdormu is going to become Murozond soon. SOON!

Nozdormu said it himself: “Still, in the future, I W-I-L-L … fall to madness.”

I have to kind of explain some of the things that transpired in Cataclysm, in order to move forward with this speculation.

In the pages of New York Times Best Selling Author Christie Golden’s World of Warcraft: The Shattering… and through playing in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm we learned that the cause of the Hour of Twilight was Deathwing winning at the Wyrmrest Temple by unleashing Ultraxium.

“Deathwing yells: The sun has set on this mortal world, fools. Make peace with your end, for the Hour of Twilight falls!”

Ultraxion even casts a spell named “Hour of Twilight.” So that moment in time where the heroes and the dragon aspects die atop the Wyrmrest Temple was meant to lead to what we experienced in the Caverns of Time: End Time dungeon where Deathwing is impaled atop the Wyrmrest Temple.

However, in that timeline — I assume that Nozdormu was not present and Thrall certainly had not taken the role of Aspect of Earth.

What changed the Hour of Twilight?

The answer is: Time Travel.

We don’t know exactly which version in time Medivh originated from in the pages of World of Warcraft: The Shattering, but it was because of Medivh that Thrall was able to find and rescue Nozdormu. As domino effect, because Medivh told Thrall how to find him, Nozdormu was freed and able to participate in the Dragon Soul raid. Thrall as well, was able to participate as the Aspect of Earth to infuse the Dragon Soul.

So the reason the Hour of Twilight future was averted was… MEDIVH.

Medivh had seen the Hour of Twilight future, and knew how to avert it. He simply pushed Thrall in the right direction.

However, because the Hour of Twilight was averted and Nozdormu was freed from his calamity… that opened the path for Nozdormu to become Murozond.

You see, the Caverns of Time: End Time, was not really the End Time. Murozond himself explained it:

“The “End Time,” I once called this place. I had not seen, by then; I did not know. You hope to… what? Stop me, here? Change the fate I worked so tirelessly to weave?”

This quote in particular means that our current Nozdormu will come to learn the true End Time after Battle for Azeroth; and when he does, he will be driven insane by the sight and become Murozond.

So wait a minute… End Time is after Battle for Azeroth? Well, the leaks, in-game mystery quotes by N’Zoth and his minions, and the mysterious plan laid by Sylvanas seem to indicate we are heading to the Shadowlands. But what if we are not just heading there, but dying as we did when we were cast into Hellheim?

This could happen at the end of Battle for Azeroth, or in the next expansion Blizzard Entertainment plans to announce at BlizzCon 2019. Whatever happens is going to drive Nozdormu insane.

We know that Bwonsamdi serves a master. We don’t know yet who he is, but a strong speculation out there in the internet says that his master might be Mueh’zala. We have a plethora of death heralds post-BFA: Bwonsamdi, Gorak Tul, Sylvanas, Helya, Bolvar the Lich King, and others. All of which are accounted for and not gone for good.

So what could be worse than the Hour of Twilight? Nozdormu said:

You crawl unwitting, like a blind, writhing worm, towards endless madness and despair. I have witnessed the true End Time. This? This is a blessing you simply cannot comprehend.

The Hour of Twilight had no living things on Azeroth. So to call what is going to happen post Battle of Azeroth endless madness and despair is really revealing. Torment of souls. Chaos. Unending pain.

We know that N’Zoth was freed, and in patch 8.3 the Visions of N’Zoth and the invasion of The Black Empire is what is next for players. We will also defeat N’Zoth in the Nya’lotha raid. We know who the bosses are in the raid.

So the elephant in the room, my friends, is… when is Nozdormu going to become Murozond? You haven’t probably thought of this since PTR 8.3 started. Have you?

Well, the answer is probably in the next expansion, once Nozdormu witnesses the true End Time. At that moment, he will escape the next expansion and we might likely not see him for some time as he would be founding the Infinite Dragonflight and sending his minions to stop the Horde from ever coming to Azeroth, or stopping Thrall’s escape from Durnholde, or the Mount Hyjal outcome that leads to Horde and Alliance uniting.

Eventually, Murozond will travel to the post-Hour of Twilight era to contemplate the pacifying sight he sees as a gift… the moment when Nozdormu helps us defeat Murozond. Certainly, Murozond came from a moment in time post-8.3 as Nozdormu has not yet fallen to madness. If N’Zoth is dying in 8.3 — then by elimination, that means that the true End Time was not caused by the Old gods, but by a more terrifying enemy.

So in order to avert the true End Time — post-Battle of Azeroth — something needs to happen differently that didn’t happen the last time around Nozdormu set its sights upon the maddening outcome of the true End Time.

My personal guess is that for us to defeat whatever is coming to happen, Medivh has to step forward once more to lead the way. He has seen a myriad of possible futures from Karazhan; and he is definitely hopping through time.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Medivh is the founder of the Timewalkers, leading the remaining dragonflights and mortal races fix the timelines and procure that the true End Time doesn’t come to pass.

That is a story I already told some time ago in 2012 through a theorycrafting article about the Timewalkers, titled: “Warcraft Lore: Is There a Future for Rhonin and Krasus?“