World of Warcraft: The Last Titan gives very dire vibes after the Midnight expansion. From the lore we have learned in The War Within, we know that the Worldsoul already existed before the Titans arrived in Azeroth, and before even the Old gods were in Azeroth.
All the 6 known Cosmic Forces have tried to claim the Azeroth Worldsoul. The Void tried to control the Worldsoul. The Titans tried to control the Worldsoul. The Light tried to control the Worldsoul at some point from what we can see in Hallowfall. Fel (Sargeras) tried to take control of the Worldsoul. Even Death in the Shadowlands, the Jailer used the Icecrown Citadel’s engines to somehow take control of the Worldsoul. Late in endgame, we saw a cinematic of the Icecrown Citadel engines pumping into the core of the planet. Well, maybe badly represented in the cinematic. We didn’t really know what was going on.
For those of us who have been playing The War Within, the Harronir and the Legend of Elun’Ahir give us a few hints.
The Legend of Elun’Ahir
As we gather to defend Amirdrassil, we cannot help but recall the tragic fates of world trees past.
Those lost to sacrifice. To corruption. To flame.
Yet there is an ancient tale–some claim it merely a legend–that tells of an earlier world tree that also met a sorrowful fate. Though it lived only a short time. its legacy endures.
Long before the first dragons drew breath, Azeroth was conquered by writhing horrors that plummeted from the skies and infested our world.
The Old Gods.
How long the reign of their Black Empire lasted, we cannot know. Surely it must have been a time of unimaginable suffering.
But at long last, there came hope.
The brave titan Aggramar discovered Azeroth, shining like a beacon in the Great Dark.
As he gazed upon the beauty and power of its slumbering soul, he realized it was imperiled. He told the other members of the Pantheon how the world they sought had been corrupted by the Old Gods.
The titans gathered to eradicate this dark influence.
Seeking to bring hope and healing, our patron titan, Eonar, carried a gift given to her by Elune–a branch of G’Hanir, the mother world tree.
The titan believed that the influence of Life would drive the darkness away.
So she reached down her hand and shaped the soil of Azeroth, planting the branch where it could be fed by river and sky.
The branch swiftly grew into a tree, its roots extending deep, deep below the surface. Eonar smiled, for everywhere the roots stretched, new life emerged.
She called the tree Elun’Ahir, in honor of her great love.
When Aman’Thul saw what Eonar had done, he chided her. “This is not Order!” he bellowed. “You have infected this world with uncontrolled chaos!”
The Highfather took hold of the world tree’s trunk and tore it from the earth.
Eonar wept bitter tears that rained down upon the resulting crater.
But as she peered down upon the sundered earth, the titan realized a truth she did not share with the Highfather. Though he had destroyed the tree, its winding roots still held firm beneath the soil, hidden from Aman’Thul’s gaze.
As the forces of the titans waged war against the Black Empire, Eonar bid her keeper, Freya, to watch over the crater and nurture the life that blossomed there.
Below ground, the roots fed upon the tears of Eonar and grew strong.
The war was long, but in the end, the titans claimed victory, And Eonar was pleased. knowing Elune’s legacy would endure.
It is said that much later, as the world entered a new age, mysterious guardians arrived who dedicated their lives to protecting the roots.
But that is a tale for another time.
Now let us stand with our allies to defend Amirdrassil, crown of harmony, Together. we will preserve this symbol of hope. This symbol of the future.
This story makes clear one thing: Eonar is not with Aman’Thul because she wants to. Somehow, she is controlled to follow his every whim. But she hides things from him. She is in open rebellion against him but in secrecy.
Aman’Thul violently tore the tree Eonar planted. But for some reason, he was not able to see that the roots were strong beneath the crater left behind. Eonar hid this information from him. This is not something a willing member of the Titan Pantheon does. Sure, Sargeras broke free from the Pantheon to do his own thing. Eonar here gives a vibe of doing what Sargeras did, but staying in the Pantheon to pursue her own agenda? Or maybe she has some free will but she is unable to be free from Aman’Thul’s control.
Either way, she has done something peculiar that goes beyond the Titan agenda.
First, Eonar conspired with Elune to plant this tree on Azeroth.
Aman’Thul did not know Eonar was going to plant the tree until it was done. He clearly established that he opposed this tree by calling it an infection of uncontrolled chaos. This “Life” is not Order magic and doesn’t follow Order protocols.
The roots grew deep into Azeroth. How deep is unknown, but if the roots reached the Worldsoul, somehow, the question is… did the roots made by Elune and nurtured/fed by Eonar’s tears granted the Worldsoul the ability to have … free will?
The roots and the tears created new life where they grew. This means the Harronir, the Dark Trolls, and the Night Elves might be this new life that grew and became protectors. The Harronir of the roots and later the Night Elves protectors of the Emerald Dream.
I have a feeling that when World of Warcraft: The Last Titan wraps up its story arc, the Pantheon members will perish … or at least no longer members. One thing we know about Illidan is that he’s not a team player. He consumed the magic and lifeforce of his fellow mages during the War of the Ancients to be able to single-handedly defeat his Legion enemies.
The downfall of the Titans will certainly be made possible with the help of Illidan, but maybe Eonar will be on it as well?
Now, in Shadowlands, the demise of Argus the Unmaker triggered the breaking of The Arbiter. The Arbiter regulated the stream of souls coming into the Shadowlands, like a switchboard that decided what realm of the Shadowlands that soul would be sent to. When the Arbiter broke, all incoming souls were diverted to The Maw.
At the end of the Shadowlands saga, the kyrian named Pelagos took upon himself the responsibility to become the new Arbiter to reestablish the flow of souls to the appropriate Shadowlands realms.
This is the key element that I speculate the Worldsoul Saga might be leading us to. If the Titan Pantheon is defeated in World of Warcraft: The Last Titan… will this lead to the creation of a New Titan Pantheon?
It is right in the title… The Last Titan. The Prime Worldsoul. Each Worldsoul in the universe was created by the First Ones at Zereth Mortis.
The Worldsoul is like a mastermold — think of it as a motherboard (with a graphics card, RAM, and components) that lacks a CPU and BIOS update. The Worldsoul has its own dreams. Its own personality. But it awaits a CPU installation and a BIOS update with instructions from any of the Cosmic Forces to turn on and awaken.
When Zorvaal the Jailer was defeated, his body completely reset back to its original form. A lifeless husk that resembles something the First Ones might have built in the Zereth Mortis workshop. This is something similar to the Worldsoul. A contraption crafted in the workshop awaiting its CPU and BIOS update.
In this case, a worldsoul needs one of the Cosmic Forces to become an awakened unit of that Cosmic Force:
- Death
- Disorder
- Life
- Light
- Order
- Shadow
Ideally, once the Azeroth Worldsoul awakes, it will awake as the Last Titan. Except, Eonar and Elune might have hijacked it with Free Will because of the roots’ meddling. As per Aman’Thul, the roots were not Order magic. It was tainted with Uncontrolled Chaos. Order + Uncontrolled Chaos kinda sounds like something that cancels out each other: cough, A Titan with Free Will that is not bound to the Order cosmic force or the Life cosmic force.
If the Pantheon is defeated, will Azeroth’s Worldsoul (now awakened as a Titan) become the leader of the new Pantheon? If so… who will sit on the Pantheon thrones beside her?
This is my dilemma. If the Azeroth Worldsoul becomes the Last Titan standing, she will need members in the Pantheon who are not Titans. She would need assistants to go throughout the universe in search of untouched Worldsouls to awaken them with free will. This process takes many millenniums. In the meantime, she needs helpers.
World of Warcraft: The Last Titan — What if… Became the New Titans
There are a lot of what ifs here. If the Titan Pantheon is defeated and the Azeroth Worldsoul becomes the Last Titan … she will need friends to travel the cosmos with to awaken other Worldsouls. Eonar saw to it the roots of Elun’ahir grew strong and deep to prevent Order from setting on the Worldsoul. Yes, Eonar sabotaged Aman’Thul’s Order agenda.
Who would be the most appropriate to take the responsibility of traveling the cosmos with the Azeroth Worldsoul Titan?
I don’t think any of you have thought about this that far beyond World of Warcraft: The Last Titan. If the Last Titan wished to replace each of the defeated Pantheon members…
- Aman’Thul
- Eonar
- Norgannon
- Golganneth
- Khaz’goroth
- Aggramar
- Sargeras
- Deceased one in Silithus
and if an equal amount of members are needed to replace the old ones… would this go the way how Pelagos replaced The Arbiter in the Shadowlands? Who will take the responsibility to be empowered and ascended to that position? Will the Worldsoul choose members that represent all of the Cosmic Forces?
- Azeroth Worldsoul Titan (New Cosmic Force)
- Illidan (Disorder)
- Jaina Proudmoore (Arcane/Order)
- Malfurion (Life)
- Alleria (Shadow)
- Turalyon (Light)
- Bolvar Fordragon (Death)
There is a problem with this list of candidates to ascend as replacements to the Titan Pantheon. It is too Alliance-biased.
Can Thrall, Baine, Sylvanas, or other Horde members step up to take a place in the Pantheon? I could see Sylvanas taking the “Death” cosmic force place in the Pantheon seat. The Jailer lied to Sylvanas, but she would still want to reach the promised goal side by side with the Azeroth Worldsoul Titan.
Other potential replacements could be the Keepers of Ulduar, including Tyr. Even Wrathion or his brother Sabellian. Cenarius. Now there is a controversial option. The last expansion of the Worldsoul saga is set in Northrend. Could Arthas come back to life and find redemption? We saw one sliver of his soul dissipate into nothingness in Zereth Mortis, but we also saw The Jailer return to Sylvanas one sliver of her soul back to her. Just because one sliver of Arthas’ soul was destroyed, it doesn’t mean all of them were. Arthas ascending as a representative of one of the Cosmic Forces in the new Pantheon would be interesting.
I don’t know if the creative writers in Blizzard Entertainment are heading in any of those directions, but certainly, the title of the last expansion in the Worldsoul Saga seems to lead to the defeat of the Titan Pantheon and an end to their Order cosmic force agenda.
The story of Elun’ahir also rises some eyebrows. Elune is depicted subtly as Eonar’s lover. The Azeroth Worldsoul hijacked by the roots of Elun’ahir and Eonar’s tears gives me a vibe that this is not a Last Titan of Order magic, but the love-child of Elune and Eonar. Not Order. Not Life. But something new.
Archaedas: The great titan Khaz'goroth, who granted me the gift of the forge, has relayed information from the Pantheon about our purpose. To create order from the chaos of the cosmos, the titans searched the Great Dark Beyond for the Prime Worldsoul.
This Worldsoul -- the most powerful in existence -- they would guide to become the greatest titan of all.
In time, they came to sense a mighty presence within the world called Azeroth. The Pantheon made their way to the nascent Worldsoul, hoping that their search was at an end.
High Speaker Brinthe: Amazing... It's as though Keeper Archaedas was delivering the word of the great Khaz'goroth himself. These logs must be the Architect's personal records of... everything. I wonder how many more we can recover.
Dagran Thaurissan II: Do you think that's what Gran'da Magni was hearing all those years when he was the Speaker?
High Speaker Brinthe: I am not sure what significance this might have for my people -- or my purpose -- but I have faith in the titan's plan for us.
Archaedas: On Azeroth, the Pantheon sensed a powerful source of corruption. To protect the Worldsoul, they sent us, the keepers, to lead the titanforged forces into battle. In time, we rooted out and defeated the threat, imprisoning its last vestiges in the deep places of the world. Then, led by Aman'Thul himself, the titans set toward studying the soul of Azeroth to determine whether it truly was the one they sought.
To aid the titans, we keepers were tasked with engineering the Manifold -- a vast, world-spanning complex of machines, forges and installations. Working in tandem, they would bring order to Azeroth, and create a means by which the Pantheon could examine the Worldsoul in depth.
Dagran Thaurissan II: That corruption the keeper's talking about... that's the Old gods. That must be why they were here as well -- for the power of the Worldsoul... Though I've also read that while the titans defeated the Old gods, they tore a wound in the world. Always thought that was just a metaphor.
High Speaker Brinthe: It seems clear now that Azeroth must be the Prime Worldsoul. That would explain why the Void, the titans... the Legion... every cosmological force... have sought to control it -- or destroy it -- over the eons.
Dagran Thaurissan II: What do you suppose the titans needed to study about it?
High Speaker Brinthe: We cannot possibly understand the intricacies of the titans' reasons. But that complex Archaedas mentioned -- I believe I know what that is about...
Archaedas: At the titans' command, we keepers began the Acclimation. Each installation, all linked to the Manifold, produced vast numbers of titanforged workers. We fired the Great Forges, to fuel the acclimation and empower the Manifold to heal the ravaged world. Then began constructions of the Coreway, a direct channel to the heart of Azeroth, that would allow the titans to study the Worldsoul without harming it.
However, as we delved deeper, we encountered certain obstacles -- colossal crystals which we came to realize were calcified chunks of the Worldsoul's essence. They are of great power, and I wonder how many yet remain undiscovered beneath the earth, all over the world. By word of the great Khaz'goroth, the titans' research has revealed that Azeroth's Worldsoul is indeed the Prime. Our purpose may yet be fulfilled.
Dagran Thaurissan II: Enormous powerful chunks of Worldsoul essence... do you think Beledar, in Hallowfall could be one of them?
High Speaker Brinthe: Potentially. But it was never within the scope of our Edicts to study the crystal.
Dagran Thaurissan II: He mentions the titanforged making the Coreway... did you know it was built to study the Worldsoul?
High Speaker Brinthe: We were created for the great purpose of serving the titans, and thus we built it. Its purpose was irrelevant to us. We fulfilled our Edicts dependably, and we have strived to do so throughout the millennia, despite Khaz Algar facing many... setbacks.
Dagran Thaurissan II: Setbacks? What do you mean?
High Speaker Brinthe: Long ago, the continents of the world split apart, and the machinery that powered our facility was damaged -- cut off from the Manifold. We were unable to repair the connection. We operated on auxiliary power for a time... but eventually it ran out, and we fell into... disarray.
Dagran Thaurissan II: That must have been the Sundering... it's miraculous that any of this survived intact.
Archaedas: The great Khaz'goroth revealed to me that the corrupting influence of the imprisoned Old gods was affecting the Worldsoul. To protect it, we had the earthen construct the Worldcore -- a vast chamber at the heart of the world. There, the Worldsoul will slumber, with only the titans to influece it.
I must note a disturbing development. As they worked to greater depths, some earthen began to behave erratically. This could not be countenanced. Most units were repaired, and continued their work. But some began to physically change, and crystallize. They named themselves "thraegar." These faulty units were so greatly affected that they rebelled against us, attacking and damaging the Worldcore. In the course of studying them, it was determined that long exposure to the Worldsoul's energies led to the changes exhibited in their core directives.
If we cannot prevent this from happening, it will prove catastrophic to not only the Worldcore, but to the Manifold itself. Measures must be taken.
High Speaker Brinthe: I... do not recall this happening. That should not be. This "Worldcore" seems as if it was a monumental undertaking. And the earthen malfunctioning? How would the Worldsoul's "energy" cause that? This is very confusing.
Dagran Thaurissan II: By the way, what does he mean by "repaired?"
High Speaker Brinthe: Unclear... But what he said about the thraegar rebelling is most disturbing.
Dagran Thaurissan II: The thraegar? That's what they called gran'da when he first got to Khaz Algar!
High Speaker Brinthe: We regard them as legendary champions, almost demigods... to learn that their directives were just... corrupted? That they were anomalies? Was everything we believed mistaken... or even... a lie?
Dagran Thaurissan II: TWait -- you don't supposed... if the earthen were affected by the Worldsoul's "radiation," the closer they got to it... Could it be that it was actually trying to reach your people? Asking for help, like it did with my grand'da? And undoing their directives... was it actually giving them free will?
High Speaker Brinthe: I... do not know.
Archaedas: With the danger posed by the rogue thraegar, the great Aman'Thul ordered the rebellion to be quelled and the thraegar hunted down until the threat was neutralized. However, the issue of earthen malfunction under the influence of the Worldsoul's energies remained, and so a new solution was devised. The earthen of Khaz Algar will relinquish their memories into an Archive to preserve recorded data, and purge the influence of the Worldsoul's energies.
By initiating this protocol on a regular cadence, we will ensure the thraegar malfunction does not take hold again. To secure compliance, the titans have programmed Edicts into the operational earthen to regulate and enforce their discreet functions and efficiency. Thus, the earthen will maintain the integrity of the Coreway and the machines of Khaz Algar. Should the Edicts be broken, more permanent failsafes have been set into place.
With these difficulties behind them, the titans have declared that the Worldsoul remains, dreaming, safely contained within the Worldcore, where no harm will come to it. I do not know why I commit this information to the Archive -- why I risk its discovery in the future. Perhaps the Worldsoul's influence does not extend solely to the earthen.
Dagran Thaurissan II: What we've learned here... it calls the entire history of Azeroth into question. What if... what if our history isn't what they said it was?
High Speaker Brinthe: So the keepers stole our memories, and let us believe that it was for our own good? That it was so we could continue to fulfill our purpose-- no, not even our purpose! We built the greatest structures the world has ever seen, and they set us to become... maintenance drones, just... cogs in a machine.
Dagran Thaurissan II: And it does seem that they did it to keep you complacent... obedient. Following their Edicts -- and eliminating those of you they couldn't control.
High Speaker Brinthe: Those Edicts... they were bonds of servitude. And we never even knew. And then when the Sundering happened, we were cut off from all of it -- and Archaedas never returned to help us. Why didn't he return? Our entire history-- our culture-- held in that Archive... I want my memories back. I want ALL our memories back. Damn the titans.
Dagran Thaurissan II: I'm starting to think there's more to the Worldsoul than the titans wanted us to know. That they had other plans for it-- and Azeroth-- than we were led to believe. What if all of us-- even Archaedas himself-- have been deceived?
