Warcraft: You've GOT To Understand This...

Ever wondered why Zovaal wanted Azeroth? Today I cover a part of the lore that's simply vital to understanding the Warcraft franchise.
Fresh March loot! / bellular
Twitter: / bellulargaming
Join our Discord! / discord
Our game studio's website: www.coffeeboxg...

[@BellularGaming]

Fresh March loot! www.patreon.com/bellular

[@mordredstein9553]

When is Death Knight month? I'm a big DK fan.

[@PleiadianDreams]

thank you for all the good work you have done

[@mordredstein9553]

Is it possible to support the channel and buy your merchandise without a patreon subscription?

[@BussyBoi69]

"Danuserism" is my new favorite word. It can be used to describe when someone enters an already established story, and proceeds to frankenstein the bodies of past canon to make a monster that no one asked for.

[@benjaminghazi787]

So all of the new Star Wars?

[@joshholmes1372]

It's funny because it kinda reminds me of denouement "conclusion of the main conflict/drama of a story". Quite fitting really

[@Solus5048]

Witcher Netflix team too

[@havokjb1]

Frankenuser

[@archvaldor]

@@benjaminghazi787 "So all of the new Star Wars?" While those movies are an incomprehensible mess they don't really stop you enjoying the older movies. Danuser really took a dagger to the heart of Metzen-era lore.

[@dvklaveren]

My problem with these twists and turns is that every evil force is revealed to not be as eldritch as originally thought. I liked it when the Lich King was the eldritch creation of the Burning Legion, unrecognizable from the soul was originally crafted through constant torture, made into an eldritch machine of death and decay that, unbeknownst to the Burning Legion, has a capacity to plan for the long term. I liked it when fel was on the darkest, most sinister scale of the arcane, rather than it's own force. I liked it when void and shadow were plausibly two distinct forces, one more eldritch than the other. Every time they try to make the world look bigger, they instead end up making it feel smaller. All the forces we thought we knew were less eldritch and less interesting than we originally thought, to give some new cosmic force some cannibalized eldritch qualities that are then quickly cannibalized again. I liked Warcraft for how "colorful" it is; That everything felt like it was distinct. Now, everything literally just feels like a paint by numbers. Everything being painted as one of the six forces. Oh excuse me, oNe oF tHe sEvEn. This isn't more complex, this is in fact all much too simple now while at the same time completely inscrutable.

[@H-3X35]

The beings of void and a lot of beings of chaos, and some of death if you count devourers, are eldritch lookin dudes. And you can't have everything be an eldritch monstrosity.

[@dvklaveren]

@@H-3X35 Eldritch looking sure. But nothing feels eldritch anymore. Everything looks amazing, but I know the story and it's just rote.

[@elchikoriko592]

Then stop giving them money and write your own stories, simple

[@dvklaveren]

​@@elchikoriko592 I literally already do that. The fuck does that have to do with anything, though? I'm criticizing the company. I can do whatever I want on the side, but that has 0 impact on Blizzard's writers being fucking hacks. They exploit the friendships people built on World of Warcraft, dissuading them from leaving, exploit the cinematics team saving their asses. Everything. And I'm a better writer, thank you, lol.

[@cainabel6356]

Yeah, I kind of agree. I liked it how the Void was the big bad, and only big bad. We just had the Fel, Sargeras, trying to destroy everything in order to stop the Void Lords from entering the WOW universe and erasing it all. Now, his logic was flawed, but it would have been better if the Void Lords were just the main threat.

[@DrHakennase]

We shouldnt have gone this far. I just want to slay grons and dragons again ;(

[@Archphoenix1]

One day, Hogger will actually be the biggest evil azeroth has ever seen

[@lukomstar6]

he is behind all of this 😂

[@Glorianos]

Hogger is actually a dreadlord in disguise. He started everything!

[@paulw7647]

Actually not joking, if they found a way to make Hogger a raid boss, it would be one of the most popular expansions in a while.

[@wangdangler5273]

And only Gamon has the power to save us.

[@serpentsaurus7969]

Hogger used his gnolls to attack Westbrook Garrison, creating a need for new adventurers. Many future human champions took up arms to fight Hogger, and he had a deed to a Westfall farm in his lair which sent those fledgling heroes on the next step of their journey. All part of the Jailer's plan~

[@dieantler]

Honestly Bellular should be the game's director since he is more passionate about the game and it's lore than their current's leaders are.

[@danfb1644]

He's literally just re-reading the existing lore that WoWs "current leaders" are responsible for. How does that make him better qualified to create it? Should you be the new creator/presenter of Bellular lore vids now because you've watched one?

[@DeviousWizard]

@@danfb1644 are we just pretending that the game's quality in every aspect except art and dungeon/raid design, hasn' gone to shit since after MoP? And then also pretending that Bellular hasn't been critical of their handling of the game for years, and suggesting things that objectively would improve it quite a lot?

[@danfb1644]

@@DeviousWizard no I'm not ignoring either of those things, but they are besides the point. Being passionate about something doesn't automatically qualify you to be it's leader/creator just because you have an audience. I mean I'm a passionate Warcraft fan since before WoW was a thing, and I've been critical of it's story too. Does that mean I should be the game director? Of course not.

[@eliudguzman9661]

And yet hes not playing the game anymore .... a game director indeed

[@badboybullterriers4104]

@@danfb1644 so hows a lawyer qualified as a GD.

[@D3Fanatic]

The biggest failing of Warcraft's story, is that you "NEED" these types of videos to understand where the story might be going :/

[@yankokassinof6710]

false

[@JulianaBlewett]

You don't "need" these videos. They don't change essential gameplay. It makes it more comprehensive but they're not required.

[@ChinnuWoW]

I agree but I’m also okay with that since I enjoy these videos a lot lol

[@hautthyste3836]

They are so many important event that are not in the game but in book and stuff. I understand they are greddy bastard but at the end they lose more money because no one will fucking care about the lore. I paid extension and sub, can i have a descent story without having to buy novel ect ? This has to be a plus, not a condition to understand what the fuck happend and what a re characters motivations. Sylvanas suicide is a central key in understanding shadowland, and it's not in the fucking game.

[@joebumbler9430]

@@yankokassinof6710 Right, we just need a dozen books to "maybe" understand the lore.

[@SurpriseMechanics]

Something worth noting is that Zoval seems to be afflicted with the curse of flesh. All of the pantheon are. Their original form are robots..

[@IsilmeTuruphant]

That's the feeling I got as well. I mean, basically *everything* on or connected to Azeroth started out as a robot or golem or something similarly inorganic, right? I'm more surprised that more people were surprised by it.

[@Keyce0013]

@@IsilmeTuruphant Only the Titan's constructs were inorganic, including the gnomes, dwarves, and Vrykuul (and later, humans).

[@viktorlindqvist5308]

@@Keyce0013 And so were both gargoyles and the pantheon of death as well

[@Elearen]

Hot take!

[@CazaliEiben]

@@IsilmeTuruphant Tauren and Trolls (and thus elves) didn't start as inorganic as far as I know. I'm not sure sure about Pandaren, Goblins and Vulpera though. There probably also are many non-playble races that don't derive from stone.

[@Mythda]

as a reminder to everyone; with Elune being positioned as a member of the "Life Pantheon" opposite of her "sister" The Winter Queen, and the "Death Pantheon" being a bunch of robots, this also points to Elune (one of the most important figures in the WoW mythos) also just being a robot in a fleshy suit. Elune is likely a robot in the current lore.

[@DanFree7]

... and that is ridiculous and a shame at the same time.

[@violetbliss4399]

It's why every night elf player made a night elf way back when. :(

[@isabelleda.4237]

Stop making me sad. :(

[@laertesindeed]

@Mythda None of what Danuser wrote is canon. So no.... Elune is not a robot. We need to organize and get him removed from the company so that he can stop ruining our game.

[@epic-o2215]

@@laertesindeed danuser wrote way less than you think of this current lore, when this was all planned he was just a mousy quest designer. This is older than he, we will not really see a danuser lead expansion until 10.0

[@jazzandfunkequalsjunk179]

The Jailer now be like : 🗿

[@TeronTheGorefiend]

Yo angelo

[@SirePuns]

Perhaps our biggest mistake was having any expectations from Blizzard after BFA

[@ProgressiveUploads]

But BFA was a great expansion.

[@ulisesroldan2955]

@@MurdogYT bfa was good lol. People just complain cause they have to grind to be good

[@Ghashlord]

@@ulisesroldan2955 BfA was awful. Objectively, it was awful. If you enjoyed it and had fun, thats cool, but it was shit.

[@oladerrick]

Bfa wasn't great overall but patch 9.2 is one of the best patches they've ever released. The rest of the expansion was mediocre 😪

[@FAMIB]

And people keep jerking off Legion when that expansion introduced a lot of the problem systems we have in the game today. Where do you think all the AP grinding came from? Or reliance on the weekly chest to get gear instead of directly off the bosses in dungeons? It was meant to be bad luck protection but now it is the main avenue to get gear. It is ridiculous how blinded people are by that expansion because they finally fixed a lot of it in the final patch. The exact same thing they did in BFA. Legion was alt unfriendly as well, until they added the tome to unlock the artifact weapon nodes! Unfortunately, MoP was the last great expansion we had and a lot of people hated it or didn't play with because of pandas. Shit, WoD was good -- at least, what was actually in the game. If only half of that expansion hadn't been prematurely aborted, that may have been a really great one.

[@boomermcboom8609]

Understand this, Danuser is a doofus

[@aster4jaden]

None of this matters because Blizzard will retcon everything for one Character in a future expansion.

[@stumpe9662]

nazoth actually put us in a coma for thousands of years until the Xel Naga bring us back to fight the Protoss aka old draneai who says no?

[@tylerblue9691]

@@stumpe9662 LOL My head canon that could be true is StarCraft is the future of Warcraft Protoss = Death, Void, Order Zerg = Life, Light, Chaos

[@madDjakni]

One thing that really bugs me about the lore is we know that the Eternals were created in the Zereth Mortis and presumably so was the pantheon in Light (otherwise Elune's and Winter Queens sister connection makes little sense) we don't know if there was a pantheon of Chaos before Sargeras started the Burning Legion and we don't know if the Light or Void have pantheons or how those pantheons came to be, but we do know that Titans started as world souls... why?? why wouldn't the Titans be crafted in Zereth Ordos like Eternals with Mortis and (presumably) Life's Pantheon in Vitae

[@tylerblue9691]

Maybe the cycle is the universe dying and being reborn and one force always wins And last time Order won, explaining all he forces being so ordered, and disorder (originally) not existing

[@yankokassinof6710]

you look like those kids that keep asking why? why? why? every 10 minutes while watching a movie

[@madDjakni]

@@tylerblue9691 Disorder existed, just had no pantheon (that we know off). Also why would that lead to the Titans being born from planets while the pantheon of Death and Life are created by a forge in their Zereth instillations? And what about Light?? Haven't seen its pantheon if it has one. We could assume the Void Lords are the pantheon of Void but we know next to nothing about them.

[@madDjakni]

@@yankokassinof6710 me??

[@harambe4267]

Because frankly, they make this shit up on the spot once they squander their previous plot hook. There's a reason practically every new lore update retcons something.

[@grimnir8872]

"More than just a regular titan" this phrase fills me with alot of rage and depression.

[@lightrunner8169]

My problem with the Light being evil is that the Light isn't pre-determined. It can be USED for ill, but is by its nature a benevolent force that aids ones who are devoted to their cause not the Light itself.

[@bigkingkat4537]

Exactly. This is what made the Scarlet Crusade such a fascinating and unique faction back in the day: cultists and zealots exploiting the benevolent nature of the Light for their own evil purposes. They found a loophole in the system through their single-minded obsession with eradicating the undead. The Light not being this inherently benevolent force robs what the Scarlet Crusade is doing of its uniqueness, and that's a shame in my opinion.

[@georgeindestructible]

Light is by nature neutral, it only cares if you believe in your cause when you call upon it to aid you so it doesn't have a preference to who and why it lends its power. It's been established in the books iirc.

[@zeffmalchazeen3429]

@@bigkingkat4537 this is the same for alternate draenor, where we defeated their version of the Burning Legion. As a result, the draenies became fanatics similar to the scarlet crusade

[@SirKanti1]

I liked the lore when it was big green orc hit big dragon with stick.

[@darkwarlock7583]

"The age of mysteries is over, we understand things" Speak for yourself lol I dont understand anymore about Azeroth or the Jailer now than I did in BFA...

[@BussyBoi69]

Im still lost on the "fractals" nonsense lol

[@sirkkusalomaa4644]

@@BussyBoi69 that's just blizzard trying to sound "beyond intelligent"

[@randjan8592]

@@sirkkusalomaa4644 they are so beyond intelligent, their intelligence went up over the integer limit and now it's a negative number.

[@dmitricarabetchi4269]

@@randjan8592 hey there fellow programmer, I understood that reference

[@Zhohan-]

I hate this idea of Azeroth being so special that they started in Legion. It makes the universe feel smaller. I hate that Azeroth is the center of universe.

[@zugdigitalx]

Idk man, it's always been special for as long as I can remember

[@quantum_ogre]

They hinted at this since MoP, where Chris Metzen during a Blizzcon mentioned there is something 'special' about Azeroth. Which ended up being the big Titan World-Soul reveal just before Legion. But yeah, each reframing of the lore makes Azeroth more and more the 'Chosen One' planet, and less the one planet tenacious enough to survive endless onslaughts by its own merits. ( The WORLD of Warcraft.)

[@Mediados]

@@quantum_ogre Azeroth can be special, but that doesn't mean the whole universe has to center around us. It feels very wrong.

[@Mediados]

@@zugdigitalx Back in WC3 Azeroth was so irrelevant that the Legion sent a Pit Lord to deal with us.

[@cainabel6356]

It was special since WOW vanilla. We lived on it for one. The second one is that she was suppose to be the most powerful and last Titan.

[@Zhohan-]

Warcraft was always best when it was the races and their cultures interacting with each other. This cosmological stuff is boring as shit and takes away from the stuff the old fans of the franchise liked. Mysteries exist for a reason..

[@megyskermike]

Indeed, exploring the weakest aspects of their storytelling was such a grand idea...

[@smiledog3975]

True as the blue sky

[@williamalfonso1373]

I am still waiting for the Day Wow will run out of shit and the Moon (Elune) is invaded by dinosour space cows.

[@baconhandjob]

Bellular making sense of warcraft lore when it seems like no one cares to is just inspiring. Keep it up guys! Yall make such great videos!

[@rudytjhia8199]

he has to , wow is one of his income stream anyway lol

[@demoulius1529]

Honestly feel hes giving them way more credit then they are worth though. Hes connecting dots they themselves dont bother to. Hes making their shit tier writing abit less shit but the fact that we need a 3rd party to point out that some of the things do infact might be connected is telling...

[@bryangirod9173]

Mike & The Gang definitely spend more time figuring out the Lore than Blizzard spends creating it. That's for sure!

[@MadAtreides1]

I respect Bellular's efforts to keep this interesting, but the new lore is just plain terrible.

[@General12th]

@@rudytjhia8199 Good for... him? Would his opinion be more valid if he didn't make money from these videos? Is there some conflict of interest that prevents him from offering a good analysis?

[@Greiwulfe]

We now need an expansion to explain an expansion.

[@TheTwober]

Azeroth waking up would be the perfect timing for a WoW 2.0.

[@spotthespy]

Quick note, not to be a pedant, but Azeroth isn't a reference to Azathoth, It's a direct reference to an old book, "The fires of Azeroth," in the "Morgaine Cycle" series (another reference seen in WoW.) This series directly inspired the concept of the Dark Portal, and even its use for time travel in WoD. I doubt it has relevance now, but it was probably a favorite of Metzen.

[@AutieGeek]

To be fair those books are from when I was a kid. Anyone born after 1980 probably doesn't even know they exist.

[@Dadbot]

I’m so glad you said this. I didn’t know. And if true, takes away a lot of speculation revolves around lovecraft

[@Kronical69420]

I imagine he was influenced by those books as well, however the murlocks are right out of Innsmouth and we got the Old Gods, and Azeroth being the world soul. Unless Azeroth in the Morgaine Cycle is the center of the universe in that world, the concept of.... Ya know what, I dont care enough. Regardless, I would rather it was based on Lovecraft because if its from the Morgaine books and he couldnt even change the name, hes a fucking hack. At least Cherryh changed the name of what she was influenced by....slightly.

[@madDjakni]

it is possible they took inspiration from more than one thing for Azeroth :)

[@David_J.E.]

​@@Kronical69420 All due respect to the dude but 90's Metzen wasn't exactly subtle about lifted influences. He liked pulp fantasy, ad&d and warhammer, boy howdy does it show. Does it make him a hack? I can understand why people would think that way, but my take is he was just trying to cobble together some neat background worldbuilding information to put inside game manuals for some RTS's he was working on and couldn't imagine it building to where it is now. As time went on and the setting of the game moved beyond just some text in a manual only nerds like me would read he definitely put in effort to make the setting more unique, right up until he left I'd say. Did he succeed? Eh. Yes and no. Metzen warcraft certainly feels unique, but more like in a way where it uses the pieces of a dozen different settings put together in a way to make something its own. Is that bad? I don't know. Its so hard to say. Everything copies from everything else, especially in genre fiction. But it doesn't mean there's not good and bad ways to do that.

[@marcelopivato1441]

Bring back stories about the races we like and less about aliens we never heard about

[@zugdigitalx]

But the aliens made the races we like

[@zharyel9890]

@@zugdigitalx Nobody cares about them

[@Cifer77]

These details are so complicated and convoluted, no I don't think Dragons fit "perfectly" at all lol.

[@Fireontire]

If Azeroth wakes I do not think it will be permanently, she will surely wake to save us in the darkest hour, but she will go back to sleep to allow us, her children to continue to live. Kinda like Primus from the Transformers universe.

[@yankokassinof6710]

She is Gaia

[@jtowensbyiii6018]

If she wakes then the planets gone

[@claytonjohnson4629]

Yea do you not realize shes gonna destroy the planet when she wakes up lol

[@cainabel6356]

If she wakes up the planet is not gone. She will create her own body, outside of the world. That is how Titans do it. Did no one pay attention to Legion? How were we on Argus, when that Titan was already awake? It is because their essence forms their bodies when they awake. The planet does not break apart.

[@jtowensbyiii6018]

@@cainabel6356 did you not play legion? the planet was SHATTERED TO PIECES, we were literally on the remains of the planet, pretty obvious you didnt pay attention

[@VioletElite4]

I really appreciate you putting your best effort into trying to make the Warcraft lore seem deep and interesting, but in reality I find it very bland

[@maxwell4322]

In WoW you will have content Creators Hype up 30 different Possibilities that could be good but the writing teams won't use any of them and go and do something that doesn't make sense at all.

[@ShmoopyLongnuts]

I'd love to be just an adventurer. Not a general, or some other 'special agent' type. When you know every other player is doing the same story, it kills the immersion. Everything in WoW is just so stupidly high powered. I've always preferred the lower levels of adventuring because I'm going after some minor centaur warlord, or helping to kill bandits. I'm not out there saving existence every other day. Only to return home and basically be some unknown anyway. At least give us an estate we can decorate the way we like, and add too over multiple xpac's.

[@dvklaveren]

It's like I'm looking at an artist shift from haunting, complex compositions, to post-modern cubism and doing a bad job at it.

[@Ugouka12]

Wouldn't be surprised if Azeroth ends up being the super evil serpent Zovaal was scared of, with all of the Zerath installations being her prison that's prevented her escape. Them being filled with Azerite basically feels like blood magic. I haven't played in ages, so I really only have these lore videos to go on, but currently, all signs seem to be pointing to one bigger, scarier baddie we don't know about. And Azeroth is the one bigger entity we don't really know much about that lives at the intersection of all the various cosmic orders. It was actually the Jailer's 673D Chess move to make sure we were powerful enough to defeat her, so his plan was to be defeated all along! Going to be a bit upset if they just straight rip off Final Fantasy XIV and have our Dadgar and Friends all go to the various Zerath's when Azeroth is waking to reform the prison a la Bahamut in the intro cinematic.

[@Methylcloroisothiaz1]

The common recurring theme between the expansions is always "how is everything connected" and eventually i think all these characters will come full circle and everyone will be connected to one another through each other in a giant web spanning the different worlds. Maybe when WoW is on it's 25th expansion it will have a universe that parallels ours in that everything and everyone is connected and over the course of every expansion a little bit of the map is illuminated and another puzzle piece is put together as we see and experience different parts of the cosmological WoW universe.

[@Keijikrall]

Jesus. I love how blizzard has managed to take the infinite cosmos of space and time + planar dimensions and boil ALL of that, all of the nigh infinite space between worlds, and boil it all down to "the planet we live on is the most important one guys". And no, I do not think that we can go back to regular stories. The back setting modern blizzard has implemented is not conducive to regular stories.

[@beeman4266]

That's the strangest thing about all of it. Like I'm pretty sure sargeras and the burning legion destroyed thousands (maybe it was countless?) Worlds throughout the millenia. But azeroth is obviously the most important. I mean it makes sense from a narrative perspective but that doesn't mean it's good writing. Then again blizzard hasn't ever been known for their writing, depth and nuance is not something they understand well.

[@kaleiohulee6693]

Can't help but think part of Bell's speculation about Blizz attempting a story of hope is because they have a tendency to read off the other kid's test papers. When has Blizzard ever had a message attached to their expansions beyond "bing bing wahoo."

[@Romaath]

I love your Lore Videos, Bellular. But by now even I lost hope that it might get better someday...

[@omarcomming722]

It's fucking hilarious that we only know Velen is preparing for the void vs light fight because of the updated DESCRIPTION at the community site, 300 IQ in-game story telling right there

[@MadAtreides1]

I respect Bellular's efforts to keep this interesting, but the new lore is just terrible...

[@cainabel6356]

We all know that the new lore is terrible. He is just trying to make it better, which is probably challenging for him. Then again, he would do a way better writing the story then the stupid people on the writing team.

[@dalaraz1]

its like the marvel movies,i liked it when they chased criminals,the whole multiverse thing is kinda tyring.i have the same feeling with wow,too much cosmic things going on to care

[@sabrewulfy1]

15:40 funny how those runes, on the floor and in the machine, look just like domination runes...

[@xevira]

Blizzard is probably taking notes just so they can screw it up later.

[@CHRSS111]

Please give me an epic opening cinematic with lots of dragons!

[@moe8739]

I hear you’re saying that Azerite is inside Zereth Mortis.. which it is.. but with the new cutscene we have for when we go into the room to fight the jailer, we learn the beam of azerite wasn’t flowing until the forge under ice crown was turned on. Unless you you are talking about the strange geometric rocks/mountains there that have the same blue-gold azerite-looking particles that also cover the stone walls of oribos. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@BigSqueeGG]

Understand this, I'm done with warcraft and it's lore. It was a good run.

[@jsmrt6875]

Then why keep watching the videos and why bother commenting. Keep your negativity to ur self tyvm

[@lancehetfield6396]

It wasn't a good run. At least not after Legion.

[@Hungmyself16]

No one cares bye felicia

[@Bithoeji]

I understand why dude I’m honestly feeling the same. But I really just enjoy mount collecting so I still play

[@nolabets3130]

@@jsmrt6875 lol go to Twitter with that unwavering positivity shit, blizz fucked up and it's time to hang it up, the team they have writing this shit is stealing money and in a job they can't do

[@NerdishGeekish]

"The age of mysteries is (sort of) coming to an end. We're beginning to understand things." And THIS, I believe, is a big part of the reason why the current state of WoW plot and worldbuilding is what it is. On one hand, the current writing team can't make satisfactory pay-offs to the decade of set-up that was built in previous expansions, and on the other hand the plot has almost always consisted mainly of dire warnings and cliffhangers. "Oooooooooh, there's a bigger threat on the horizon, oooooooooh! How are you going to deal with it, players?!" Is seemingly the only trick left in the writers' bag at this point, and it's gotten really stale. And all of these issues come BEFORE dickheads like Danuser and co have torched (figuratively and literally) two decades of lore and emotional investment from the players just to give handsome Squidward some borrowed credentials in an attempt to make him "the biggest threat we faced so far".

[@-Maeola-]

Nicely said 🤘

[@brindenbost]

Seventh force: Entropy. That’s what is hinted at with the reality-ending devourers.

[@minuette1752]

It is Tzeentch, it has always been Tzeentch.

[@ArcadeStunfisk]

I thought entropy too, or rather I thought chaos. It can't really be anything else.

[@fudalefu1]

Before shadowlands even came out I knew it was going to ruin the lore. How can you open a portal to the afterlife, where you can see anyone who has ever “died”. But then you can die in the Shadowlands? I don’t understand any of it. Like it or not, Shadowlands did in fact break ‘death’.

[@BussyBoi69]

Imagine if people from our world went to and from the afterlife- all world religions would be in panic mode, and the whole world as we know it would be flipped upside down. Maybe it would scare some people into being good people, but the cultures of the world would be shaken so hard, i doubt many religions would be able to keep their following.

[@WoWhistorian]

Yes, in a world with literal armies of the undead, val'kyr who can bring people back to life, dragons (and an entire flight devoted to Life) empowered by the gods themselves, loas like Bwonsamdi and Mueh'zala, Odin and the Halls of Valor, Helya and Helheim, ghosts wandering the world, and meeting literal gods face to face, knowing that the afterlife exists "breaks death." Although I'll admit the whole dying in Shadowlands thing really makes no sense. Like what, do they go to Shadowyerlands?

[@fudalefu1]

@@WoWhistorian I’m ok with resurrections, where you died and ceased to exist, and then were brought back to life by magic. I’m not ok with an a doorway to the afterlife where those who was “alive” in Azeroth can go visit, or anyone who “died” in Azeroth can walk through the portal back to Azeroth. everyone who “died” on Azeroth is just hanging out, and they can still fight and die in the afterlife. Yes, this break death, and gives it no meaning. Not resurrections, the dead coming back as undead. If your word has no meaningful system of death, then why do anything? Why fear anything? Why fight anything? Nothing matters anymore. What happens when a pivots lore character does in future expansions? Do we wait for them to petal back from Oribos? Do we mourne them? We know they are just hanging out in Shadowlands and we can go talk to them whenever. Re-spawning has its place for players. It’s a video game. Respawn is for players is a game design, not a world design.

[@spongebobonmolly]

@@WoWhistorian dying on azeroth means your body is destroyed and your soul is sent to the shadowlands but dying in the shadowlands means your soul is destroyed and ceases to exist. the devs mentioned it before in interviews but course any in game explanation is vague at best.

[@ikilly9713]

i want to point out, 8:20, that the scarlet crusade was more of human malice intersection with the light, as of the naaru having malice inside them, IS something new

[@Xaldarus]

This made me think, which is slightly off topic, but if we went back to Argus in more of an exploratory sense, would we find Titan Facilities? Or was Azeroth the only place they decided to "order"? Would that perhaps be why they had plans to sterilize the planet if shit went crazy? I can't say I care that much cause I'm so done with the story, but just some stray thoughts I figured I'd write here as I watched.

[@laertesindeed]

Argus already had a titan... and he ordered his own world. As to whether Azeroth is the only world ordered by titans... no; they ordered thousands. They even re-originated thousands... thus killing all inhabitants there and starting over with new ones.

[@HiddenEvilStudios]

According to the Chronicles, I believe Aggramar intervened when it came to Draenor.

[@randjan8592]

maybe there will be an incoming "slight retcon" of Antorus, the burning throne. What if that was partly a titan facility?

[@laertesindeed]

@@randjan8592 Are you pretending to be daft? There is no speculation about it. Antorus was a titan facility.....that's what the original lore for it was.

[@cainabel6356]

The Titans missed Argus. It was still asleep. Then Sargeras came along and found his battery source for his Legion. He then tortured Argus into the very thing that we faced. Then we defeated Argus with the Titans' help.

[@barefootwanderer]

This high cosmological storytelling is reminiscent of the way the marvel comic book universe expanded, I'm fascinated by it all. It's interesting how this high level lore can be used as a lens to focus the in game story and make some sense of purpose out of it.

[@johnnyguillotine1673]

A crusty sock will be inside.

[@Kurnhelios]

Bellular single handely carrying the warcraft lore team on their backs, great work team

[@korgoth5987]

"write that down, WRITE THAT DOWN" ~Danuser, probably

[@1jhonny1]

"maybe we meet the creator of everything (..)" And at in the end, he reappears.... GHOSTCRAWLER !

[@laertesindeed]

Azathoth is "NOT" the namesake of Azeroth. Absolutely undeniably "NOT" any such thing. We already know where Chris Metzen got the name Azeroth....it is from the C.J. Cherryh novel published around 1979 called "Fires of Azeroth" where in that novel name the word "fires" is referring to some big magical stone gateways that serve as portals to worlds very far away in space. Seriously. Stop telling lies about this.....it is not azathoth. At all.

[@KuroiRyuuGaming]

My main problem with the story is that it's pretty much just all set-up, with no payoff to be seen for lord knows how long. Even if they're trying to weave a bigger story...why should I care when they can't even bother to tell it to me in-game? Legion felt like a good set-up for something, but BFA and Shadowlands basically just took those questions, added more, and refused to give any answers. I just don't think I have it in me to care at all anymore.

[@darkeuphoria8733]

This could mean that the Void Lords are actually the Pantheon of the Void. Also dont forget that red star thingo in the sky. Apparently of that goes out all life is gone.

[@G1dr4]

I think Bellular, Nobel and Doron together would make more sense of this whole story than entire blizz team ;D

[@ashendant1317]

So I noticed that final room where the Jailer is fougth has a lot of hexagon slots that are empty except the central one that has Azeroth. Is it possible that each Hex represents a titan's resting place? They are all empty, except Azeroth's because she is the Final Titan that hasn't fully awakened yet? If true this reveals the exact number of Titans that exist out there in the Cosmos.

[@sephrinx4958]

No it doesn't. It will all be retconned if they want to. nothing means anything anymore

[@viktorlindqvist5308]

@@sephrinx4958 yet wr still have to assume that the absolutely newest lore wont get ret conned for at least 2-4 expansions. I get feeling cynical with the wow story atm, but theres something to be said for being too invested in the cynicism in such a way that ur unable too look at it with eyes wide open

[@spongebobonmolly]

its a beehive :)

[@HiIThinkImReal]

You know what's sad? I actually love the lore and the way you describe it, I just wish I loved the game, too.

[@Locodeus]

Bellular, you're awesome. Your passion and interest to find these connections and speculate is always so fascinating. But I just can't get invested in this anymore. None of this matters to Blizzard, all of this can be undone and reshaped into shit at the snap of a finger.

[@joshuamoore92]

Not remotely your fault but damn the current wow lore is SUCH an eye roll I just…it makes me sad.

[@ironwolf2277]

The problem Warcraft has is that, after every story, the devs have to make an even bigger story to wow the audience and keep the hype going. So it turns into this narrative of an even bigger more mysterious baddie lurking in the shadows that has no previous lore except from the retcons in the next expansion.

[@ThePetrovics]

the only way they can mitigate that damage is to say, okay we revealed that even the biggest bad guy fears something, now you go home do small things again, and we give hints if that big bad comes closer. and after x amount of stories and expansions we get to the level to face them. any other way ends up in a disaster for the story and the game.

[@FleetingReverie]

I just think they suck at fleshing out what's already there. It's always a tale of good and evil, but.... who knows maybe Blizzard will finally pick up a decent writer who can flesh out the complexities of things like the idea of stasis.

[@russpc9739]

Azeroth was actually a dreadlord in disguise too we just didnt know it, confirmed by Denuser "Master Writer"

[@CarterArts]

There's only Azerite in the Sepulcher because the Jailer sucks it up into there via Torghast though, so doesn't that kinda fault a major part of this theory?

[@Grishyy]

I can see Bellular having a Pyromancer meltdown soon. "It was all for nothing."

[@NeOlkl]

a unity from all forces "Turalyon - light, Alleria - Void, Sylvannas - Death, Kadgar - order, Illidan - fel, Tyrande - life?"

[@willythemailboy2]

I've figured it out. Six powers combining into a single power greater than the sum of the six. That single power being the very soul of Azeroth. The constant recurring themes of madness, corruption - in essence, pollution. Next expansion... . . ...we're summoning Captain Planet.

[@d-pod_L]

Now, I think we already have all the cosmic forces at our disposal They are kinda united under our azerothian banner Death: death knigts, Life: druids Light: Paladins/priests, Void: shadow priests/warlocks Order: Mages, Disorder: warlocks and demon hunters

[@matthewolson2386]

I think many of us have known Azeroth is in the center for some time now. Why else do forces always try to take control, because they want control of the universe. It could be that we actually find out why the cosmic forces are at odds with each other on the Dragon Isles because that lore is older then time itself. As far as Azeroth waking up, we have seen what major forces can do to the planet, for instance how much the Cataclysm changed the planet. So, if she does wake, it will be a little at time because of the connection to the denizens of Azeroth and I dont think Azeroth will endanger us any more then she has to.

[@sechernbiw]

As you said before, the planes are a representation of the mystic self. The balancing of void and light will be akin to the Zen path, the middle way of mysticism, or integration in psychology. "Truth lies in not one direction or the other, but in their intersection." Exactly how Zen or Buddhism views balance and existence. The perception of good or evil is perspective. Striving for good and clinging to an ideal generates the evil. "Light in dark, dark in light." The endless rebalancing, until you step outside of that perception and just be. To accept what is. So what is at the center? The self that is not of identity, but connected to everything. Being so, at the center of Warcraft is Azeroth, or the "self", buried underneath, awaiting to be awakened (akin to Jung's unconscious-self). Since all of this cosmology and myth relates to psychology (as all does), I have a feeling the awakening will be represented as us, the player. She has always been awake, yet we could not see her (consciousness) because we clung to individual identities (Horde, Alliance; human, orc, undead, etc..). The game will end with the dissolving of identities. We are Azeroth-the representation of everything. Just a thought. You nailed this one Michael. Blizzard has dropped in-game synchronicity all along the way. Now they need to not drop the final acts.

[@Hadesillo]

Uuuh...yeah...I don't care. Just do Lordaeron in 10.0 and make the knights cool Blizzard.

[@timar6868]

After the Titans pulled out the old god and the maelstrom was created I believe that is what week in the prisons to the point where all these other forces could just bleed through , before that the void Lords had to use the old gods; but after they were able to send their people through all the rifts that they tore open because of what happened to her. I honestly don’t think she can fully wake up Because too much of her power has been taken and continues to be taken all she can do is talk to us all being in a daydream like slumber.

[@michaelg1778]

It would be awesome if we got the Dragon Isles expansion next, and Blizzard started to properly introduce a Light vs. Void conflict throughout the Dragon Isles expansion so that it makes sense when it actually happens. And maybe the Light/Void xpac isn't immediately after Dragon Isles (assuming that is what's next), but Blizzard really needs to create a more continuous timeline from one expansion to the next instead of this stop and go thing where none of it feels like it develops organically.

[@viktorlindqvist5308]

I feel like the idea that a titan wakening destroying the planet may be a misunderstanding. Sure, Argus was a bit special in how he was summoned and the size of his form. Sure wasnt what shattered Argus (the plane) though.

[@michaeldiekmann6494]

Zovaar: "It was me Austin, it was me all along!"

[@silentpoet75]

So Vin Diesel is involved in the cosmic forces because nothing is stronger than FAMILY.

[@Kal8Eth]

I honestly think it may be a bit late to in going back to regular stories. I've stopped playing the game a few years ago but i like to keep up with the lore. What i see here is the sort of escalation of challenge similar to a D&D campaign, you start local, help a few villagers, start getting notoriety around, next you deal with nation wide problems, then global problems, and finally you start travelling the planes, dealing with cosmic threats, not just to your homeworld but to the whole universe. This a one-way train and it aint stopping until you ascend or die in a cosmic scale battle

[@scavller1865]

I think Zovaal was talking about entities that come from beyond our cosmos, so he wanted to unite the six forces and manage them to counter this threat.

[@bonkyouded]

what i hope what would happend in a light expansion is that we find Z'noth, we are losing hard and Yrel is just stomping us. But we make a deal with Z'noth to resurrect Cthun and use his armies and power to help us defend against Yrel. But of course not at full power and Cthun is chained to at point of not being able to escape Silithus.

[@JeanPaulB]

I would love to see Nobbel react to one of these videos

[@Mozaiq83]

I guarantee you that Elune is also known as the Summer Queen within the Life Pantheon

[@Pvdtheking2k]

All these twists and turns sounfld absolutely fuckin awesome when u narrate it out.....then they go and murder expansion after expansion

[@nystria_]

The main plane of existence is at the intersection of every other plane. It's why we can still experience the more shallow ends of each plane but technically be on the physical planet (e.g. the part of the Shadowlands we see when we die) Azeroth meanwhile has found herself at the very centre of all that. Likely by accident, but all the different magical elements know it now. She *must* be more than just a Titan.

[@mrxxbrian]

Azeroth is just blizz saying "follow with what we improvise"

[@Markhausen87]

My opinion is, Six Forces: Light and Shadow, Life and Death, Order and Disorder. Seventh Force: Time? Maybe return of Keepers of Time, Infinite Dragons and Hour of Twilight? And that's why new expansion will have connection with Dragons etc.

[@Woobaka]

Man things really got out of hand for what was just a neat little idea for the setting of an RTS back in 1994.

[@theredneckunicorn9752]

Hey Steve, Forgotten Realms called... they want their cosmology back

[@badgamemaster]

The great foe that the Jailer saw coming was Bobby.

[@RafaelROUNDUP]

I will tell you one thing right now, Elementals are created in the Zereth. Did you see the Geomentals in ZM? They are proto earth elementals.

[@BathrobeKeck]

It just dawned on me, the room where we fight Zovaal look a lot like a reactor core....

[@marcelopivato1441]

The beam of azeroth blood zovaal shot to zereth mortis wasnt tainted with yogg saron blood since its directly below icecrown? I mean, saronite was all over the place..

[@electricmayhem8147]

thay seems like it should be a big deal. makes me angry that blizz is so pathetic and lazy with their own universe

[@shingshongshamalama]

As soon as you mentioned Halo I just couldn't stop thinking of this as anything but a bunch of ideas lazily lifted from other stories and mashed together until they don't fit.

[@Merlchar]

"It probably makes sense, eventually, probably..." Remember when Warcraft used to be about things like Orcs & Humans fighting each other? I sure miss those days.

[@quinaariin655]

Here we go with the lifelands again

[@rebeccaschade3987]

No, I don't think Blizzard can go back to telling "regular stories" in WoW without there being a certain "What the hell actually happened?" feeling to it. I mean, there is the option of conclude the cosmic storyline in a rebirth of Azeroth, and effectively "rebooting" the universe. That would allow for a traditional "reality/the world runs in cycles and repeats itself over and over" narrative, which could be satisfying enough, given how much the Warcraft universe leans into fantasy tropes. It would also allow for Blizzard to reboot the franchise with an entirely new "World of Warcraft: Reforged", which I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

[@randjan8592]

if there are all these Zereths, then we could hope that they rename Antorus into Zereth chaos(sry if i am wrong) or Zereth ordos, depending on their idea of the whole situation with Sargeras and him originally being from Order and moving to Chaos.

[@regreegg]

It's so bitter sweet watching these videos. I can't help but feel your team care (and know) more about the WoW lore than the WoW story team. It's a crappy time to be a WoW fan.

[@NetherCrafterSMC]

I think the Cosmic Pantheons want to keep her asleep but the Old Gods wanted her to wake

[@mastring1966]

we haven't been to the other side of azeroth. they could wake her up, and blow that side of the planet out so it's like outlands. and then we get an outland type expansion.