EARTHEN and the CURSE OF FLESH - War Within Alpha Lore

One of the side quests on the Isle of Dorn kinda blew me away and so I sat down and started to type it out to share wit hyou all. More and more ideas and concepts came forward until I realised that the earthen and the curse of flesh makes for a really interesting topic to talk about. We've had a report in Dragonflight talking about the different paths of the earthen hit by the curse of the flesh. We've got our dwarves and now we've got the earthen ofKhaz Algar. What's that all about? What's the story? What could it mean for the future?! I hope you'll enjoy ^_^
Say you want more details on all the things we talked about today, check out this WoWhead article:
www.wowhead.com/news/339188
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Want More Lore?!
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The Story of Varok Saurfang: • The Story of Varok Sau...
The Story of Nathanos Blightcaller: • The Story of Nathanos ...
The Light (and Shadow) in World of Warcraft • The Light (and Shadow)...
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The music in this video is provided royalty free. (Creative Commons License)
Songs:The Path of the Goblin King
Music by: incompetech.com/
© 2001-2008 Kevin MacLeod
World of Warcraft® and Blizzard Entertainment®
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[@DEML91]

Ill'gynoth : "Flesh is his gift. He is your true creator."

[@mrderp93]

When i was younger i'd watch the lore videos over and over, so for me when i hear that "Until next time, guys... see ya!" I just get a blast from the past.

[@ladyrenegade1113]

Oh man. The whole Earthen "shut down" resembles late/end stage dementia on so many levels.. I know the story will make me tear up, but I can't wait to experience it myself when WW comes out.

[@Twotigermoonstudio]

That's exactly what I was thinking. As someone who has lost a grandmother to dementia it is so hard. The memory loss, the moments of clarity, the fear, and loneliness. It's so hard. I know one of the last times I visited my grandmother before she passed she looked at me and said, "I don't know who you are but I know that I love you." This quest made all of those feelings come back.

[@roguedoodle9948]

Ditto. As someone who is watching the beginning stages affect a parent, it hits close to home.

[@jaymzOG]

Yup... My grandpa passed from Alzheimer's so this is probably gonna hit hard.

[@abzu96]

My grandmother is going through advanced dementia. She only recognized my mother and uncle, everyone else completely confused her. Each time my short term memory fails me, I get scared. I fear dementia/Alzheimer’s so much and I know it runs on both sides of my family. I’m crying while writing this comment.

[@liamgoggs3665]

Came here specifically for these comments, having seen my grandfather go through it, it's heart wrenching and beautiful! 😢

[@opwblade6952]

Thank you for posting this, Nobbel. I had a flashback to my late great-grandmother. My family rode a boat in the ocean, where my grandfather scattered her ashes. On the night before my great-grandmother passed away, she told my older sister with uncanny clarity to spread her ashes in the ocean so that she can swim back to Korea from the USA. This side quest really hit a special memory for me. Thanks again for posting this vid.

[@sakurahatano8392]

What if The Curse of Flesh was a Life domain magic that Yogg-Sarronn manipulated to suit his will in fighting the Titans? (or flung by some Life domain entity). Wont this gives more depths to the story that Azeroth history was written by the Titans and their constructs?

[@konradkowalski1681]

I kind of love that aspect of wow lore that by giving the constructs the curse of flesh Old gods gave mortals their most powerful weapons in fight against them, hope, courage strength of spirit

[@laertesindeed]

Nobbel, could you remember to include the full Teron Gregory quote from the blizzcon clip used here in future.... since it wasn't him saying objectively a truth; he specifically prefaced it by saying "Xal'atath's message is clear...." which gives it an entirely different context. Very frequently, she is not truthful with people she wants to use.

[@Nobbel87]

Topic of fate of the old gods is def a subject for an upcoming video, but to the quote... Way it comes across for me is that he's not talking about Xal'atath anouncing to the world that the old gods are dead. That's a statement he's making on the current situation. Her message is that she has seen us overcome them, has prepared and a new darkness rises as shown on the slide behind him. + The blood of the old gods is being gathered, is running through the cracks of azeroth.

[@laertesindeed]

@@Nobbel87 Some of my friends assumed that also, but I definitely had to have them listen to it again. In the blizzcon what's next panel video starting from around time stamp 2:47 if people want the full context. And oops, above I typed Teron but his actual name is Terran, my mistake. At any rate, his full quote is........ "Xal'atath has returned. Freed long ago from the black blade which once bound her, she is now the harbinger of a new era of the void's dark machinations. And her message is clear. The Black Empire has fallen. The Old Gods are dead. And their ancient blood runs deep within the cracks of the world. We the heroes of Azeroth destroyed them. The forces of the Horde and the Alliance have proven time and again they are among the most powerful armies that have ever stood. She has watched this. She is patient. And while the Black Empire failed, Xal'atath now seeks to set in motion the rise of a new dark legacy." So we definitely have the phrase "and her message is clear" immediately before "the black empire has fallen" and "the old gods are dead" . Terran is definitely trying to delineate statements being claimed by her as separate from statements made by him. I am not saying that I can assume the opposite.....that message of hers may be completely accurate. But rather, that it is necessary to include the context of those being messages by her......and we have many examples of other appearances and other situations where whispers or statements of hers were not reliable and straightforward. Some statements of hers we even know were deliberately deceptive. The Skardryn events recently come to mind. For me personally, I'm not one of those people who insist that the old gods must be alive.....I just happen to think there is probably a third subtle option that doesn't quite fit the absolute Yes or No question of old gods. Maybe if the old gods were never really "living" and their flesh bodies were always temporary and unnecessary.....then she could get away with saying they are dead, but have their true magical essences pop up from somewhere else.

[@Nobbel87]

@@laertesindeed gonna incorp this into upcoming video but i would counter argue with the entire message of the presentation. How are we entering a new era of the void's dark machinations when the old is not gone + she is gathering the blood of the old gods. If she lied about them being gone, where did that blood come from?

[@laertesindeed]

​@@Nobbel87 Sure, firstly the various void beings exist regardless of whether the 4 (or 5) old gods are physically around. By that I mean void revenants and void naaru and such. Xal'atath's name is very similar to Xal'atoh and Xhul'horac.... so while there is no proof, she could have originally been a void revenant like the one Alleria consumed before she went into the dungeon with us in legion. So in that sense..... Xal'atath could be making a new dark era without old gods if she wants. With regard to the blood, that's what I tried to allude to in the previous reply.... those fleshy bodies could be temporary avatars for the magical essences of those old gods and even if those fleshy avatars got defeated, their leftover blood could have some voidy magic happening. During Mists of Pandaria I was prepared to accept that Y'Shaarjj was fully gone and the leftover slime was causing the Sha to manifest...but I suppose that would be equally consistent with Y'Shaarj not being fully dead and just needing to be reconstituted somehow somewhere. Either way, I think it very likely that Xal'atath is not telling the nerubians the whole truth.

[@laertesindeed]

@@Nobbel87 Argh, why does youtube so frequently remove my comments. So.....sure, firstly the various void beings exist regardless of whether the 4 (or 5) old gods are physically around. By that I mean void revenants and void naaru and such. Xal'atath's name is very similar to Xal'atoh and Xhul'horac.... so while there is no proof, she could have originally been a void revenant like the one Alleria consumed before she went into the dungeon with us in legion. So in that sense, Xal'atath could be making a new dark era without old gods if she wants. With regard to the blood, that's what I tried to allude to in the previous reply.... those fleshy bodies could be temporary avatars for the magical essences of those old gods and even if those fleshy avatars got defeated, their leftover blood could have some voidy magic happening. During Mists of Pandaria I was prepared to accept that Y'Shaarj was fully gone and the leftover slime was causing the Sha to manifest...but I suppose that would be equally consistent with Y'Shaarj not being fully dead and just needing to be reconstituted somehow somewhere. Either way, I think it very likely that Xal'atath is not telling the nerubians the whole truth.

[@ahmedabusauod2121]

the way I see it is that yes, yogg gave them the curse of flesh but it was Azeroth who gave them their free will, if u remember the broken on Argus the void scarred they were almost consumed by madness and ethereals got their flesh stripped when corrupted by the void, so what is going on here ? well I believe the difference is that the titan forged were made by using Azeroth's essence and this made them display different qualities when touched by the void.

[@laertesindeed]

Yeah, free will never came from void. It is more likely that since the Titans used existing material from the rocks and metals and soils of Azeroth to create the Earthen and Vrykul and Giants...... that any magical essence which Azeroth the titan world soul put into them would also end up in the titanforged. And that would explain why all of them had free will... including Loken and Tyr and Odyn and Freya and Ra-Den and Helya which were also made from existing stone/metal of Azeroth. The flesh doesn't create free will..... nor does it seem to come from void. We've never seen Void 'create' flesh anywhere.....they just have the power to corrupt and manipulate flesh if it came from another source. The most logical source of flesh is Cosmic Team Life, wherever they are hiding in warcraft fiction.

[@aspiringnormie9499]

Reminds me of homie from legion in the earlier suramar questing. I forgot his name but not his impact. First quest to make me cry.

[@Flaimbot]

> I forgot his name kinda ironic, isnt it?

[@apacalypsagon3758]

Sounds like a classic case of forbidden fruit. But in this case the fruit is shoved down every mortals collective throat. All that awareness you gain pretty much leads to pain and suffering. And the thing about a curse is that it doesn't go away you just learn to deal with it. They're just denied a higher state of being. Like hesiod's ages of man.

[@dravencastle284]

I've been hoping you were going to do a subject on the earthen. Nobble the noble thank you.

[@afrodan7350]

It reminds me of that one side quest in suramar where we meet a nightfallen elf called Runas who ends up losing his mind and becoming a withered. One of my favourite quests in wow, it was written so well and left me feeling so sad afterwards that I had to log off for the day.

[@aj.gutierrez]

I love this, I cannot wait to meet Korgran and the rest of the Earthen. The story is sounding more and more interesting with each new reveal.

[@DemonMaluMintus]

That hits really hard...I hope to see more indebth quest like thes

[@HawkknightXC88]

I can't wait to play the Earthen and just Dwarves in General during War Within.

[@BigJambu]

The more I learn about the Earthen, the more I like them

[@TheFlyWahine]

I really enjoyed this story. And the I really enjoy this new stone dwarfs and there history and lore. It's really interesting and so cool. And it and they are completely difrent from everything else we have.

[@stormstrider1990]

What's also interesting about these Khaz- Algar earthen is they have organic hair, where as their cousins in Uldaman, Ulduar, and Deepholm don't. Maybe the hair is the first thing that changes, when a titanforged gets "cursed", and the curse was halted by the time they reached the Coreway? At least it matches some of the new lore in this video. Either that, or it's just a visual choice by Blizzard.

[@notyourdaughter666]

they actually don’t have organic hair, it’s fine strands of metal. if you look closely at them, you can see the metal sheen.

[@Deathchalk]

Always love your way of explaining the world I have loved for so long. You the lore king nobbel. ❤

[@arturjanus5651]

This is cool lore video !🔥💪

[@bradveach4832]

Incredible content thank you.

[@Impuracle]

It bothers me that the Earthen's facial hair doesn't look more rock/crystal-like. Yes, I understand it's strands of metal. But it's too similar to hair... on a rock being. Big missed opportunity for some glorious, crystalized, colorful, chiseled beards!!

[@abeard1]

That one hits hard...

[@nrm224]

All the feels!

[@makcraft]

First that lonely dragon quest, not this… wow quests are becoming more real.

[@Beargrin89]

The more I learn about the earthen, the less interested i become in them as a playable race

[@54032Zepol]

Makes me wanna download WoW again!

[@jacksondilly6254]

My king is back; feels like Metzen is going over a checklist of fuck-ups from the last few years of Danseur and the failed writing teams butchered developments.

[@Alexandterrara]

I see side quests will be carrying ww as well :)

[@geoffreytasker2097]

My grandmother has dementia, this hurt, I think I'll have to skip this one

[@coldshoulder58]

So how are Earthen able to be Death Knights?

[@Nobbel87]

That...is a really good question lol

[@HawkknightXC88]

Lich King Era maybe.

[@Pravaification]

From what I understand, Earthen are unlocked as a playable race AFTER we finish the main campaign. This means that Death Knights could have resurrected some dead Earthen during the campaign, much like how they resurrected Allied Races and Pandaren during BfA.

[@Nobbel87]

@@Pravaification maybe! They can give some spins to it for sure, but atm unknown

[@kinglardicus8596]

I'm wondering that too. Equally curious how anyone but a Shaman could heal an Earthen, since they're not really organic. How would the Light or Druidism affect a rock person? Seems like it wouldn't do anything but a fancy lightshow.

[@kaleoandros25]

I wished we got the Vrykal titan forged instead of the Dwarves, would be better and not faction bias to either Alliance or Horde.

[@pederengelpedersen8366]

What if the titan, is like the earthen, but are also curse of flest. And the keepers and Titan are the same?

[@kimithr]

Is nobbel changing his accent? I'm finding hard to understand what he is saying and I used to watch all his lore videos without problem, I'm not native english speaker but I listen to videos and podcasts in english everyday without problem.

[@LordVeedo48]

👀👀👀

[@beverlydingus]

does this unit have a soul

[@rvds2040]

Yes legion, you do

[@burazcova946]

who tf is Irwin ?

[@chasegetson1125]

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood

[@Nobbel87]

[@Delfree77]

YEA GOOD JOB, u just completed a whisper bro, u let feelings get in the way an fell for the voids plan. dont feel bad for rocks lol

[@wowgek7]

I noticed an typing error in the discription wit hyou all should be with you all

[@gasolinefires]

Man youtubers really are ruining wow. It's alpha and it's already almost fully spoiled and delved into.

[@MrOrcshaman]

So basically everything's shit. The light is shit, titans are shit, nature is shit, the elements are shit, death is shit, undeath is shit, void is shit, fel is shit. It's all shit.

[@stylishskater92]

Always has been.

[@jaratt85]

Finite amount of memory, too much thinking and they start to lose themselves and eventually shut down.. Oh great, now Blizz is stealing ideas from Halo.. that's straight up Cortana's story in Halo 4.

[@Nemchick]

This is worse than white noise

[@ChrisBear1989]

I really hate the whole concept of the curse of flesh anyways. Wish they just disconnect it from the races of Warcraft.

[@laertesindeed]

My suspicion is that all the "flesh" on Azeroth came from Cosmic Team Life (left deliberately vague...not sure how many in that team or if they have divisions like titans and eternals did) ....including the big fleshy mounds that resulted in old gods and Aqir and N'raqi and bug people. I don't think Void has any evidence for ever creating flesh or life; they always just corrupt or modify flesh that somebody else made. Same with the dwarves and gnomes and humans.....I think their flesh came from cosmic team life. Could very well have been deliberate treachery by Eonar and Elune working together. Which would coincide with the void whisper of "The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green." Many times in those void whispers, the second half of a whisper is not true....or is only true in a context different from what people may assume when reading or listening for the first time. So eyes of green may not actually mean the color of anybody's real eyes....since the phrase "eyes of green" can also be an idiom which refers to jealousy or envy or distrustfulness. Since we know that Elune waited for the Titans to leave and then interfered with many different races.... including proto-drakes and shu'halo and trolls...... manipulating them into the dragons and tauren and elves...... then Elune could have also manipulated earthen and vrykul to start on the path of dwarves and humans.

[@mbn9672]

It’s so integral to the creation story of Humans, Dwarves and Gnomes and has been a thing since Wotlk, yeah…. That’s not happening

[@ChrisBear1989]

I'm aware, still wish they'd do away with it. Its just a dumb connection.

[@laertesindeed]

@@ChrisBear1989 Still not sure why youtube constantly removes and shadowbans comments. You don't need to necessarily worry about the phrase curse of flesh...... it can definitely just be Cosmic Team Life being the ones who made flesh on Azeroth and Eonar made a secret plan with Elune that she did not accurately describe to the other titans. That would then fit with the ilgynoth whisper which said "The vassal of life disguises treachery. Beware the eyes of green" ....which also doesn't need to literally apply to the color of any characters' eyes. That idiom of eyes of green also is a reference to jealousy or envy.

[@flyingpiglet]

The game looks so washed out.