Characters / Warcraft The Old Gods

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"Beneath the shadow of the darkened spire, there is no light, no mercy, only void, and the chaos within."

— The Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, the Old God of Death

The term Void in Warcraft can refer to either the great cosmic force of darkness which, at the dawn of time, created the setting's universe together with the Light, or the realm which it comes from — a timeless, infinite nothingness beyond reality itself. Despite its connection to the Light, it is its polar opposite: whereas the Light represents order, peace, and justice, the Void is a force of chaos and madness, offering freedom and power but inevitably driving those affected by it insane.

While not united like, say, the demons of the Burning Legion are, creatures of the Void and those corrupted by its power collectively represent one of the greatest threats not just to Azeroth, but to the universe itself. Having been introduced as background lore in Warcraft III, the Void has been a constant antagonist in the franchise ever since, appearing in every single World of Warcraft expansion. However, Void lore in its modern form has only been codified in World of Warcraft: Chronicle, which clarified its nature and introduced the Void Lords, the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire franchise.

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General Tropes

• Bad Powers, Good People: It requires a copious amount of willpower, and extreme caution, but one may use the Void for good, which is something that playable void elves and shadow priests do. As seen with Alleria, it is preferable to maintain strong emotional connections (in her case, her family) if you seek to do so, as they can serve as anchors preventing you from going insane.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: While the main storyline of Warcraft uses Black-and-White Morality, and the faction war is for the most part White-and-Grey Morality, the cosmic conflicts involving the Void are more like Warhammer 40,000 than anything else. The Void wants to devour all reality, yes, but the forces that oppose them aren't clear-cut goodies either: the Light, while nurturing life, is inherently oppressive, and the Titans are willing to destroy entire planets to stop Old God corruption (granted, they treat this as a Godzilla Threshold).
• Black Magic: Various forms of magic come from the Void, all falling within this category but varying in terms of strength and safety. At the bottom you have simple shadow magic, like that of the arakkoa — not very powerful, and mostly used for illusions, but also relatively safe. Then you get the various forms of magic that come from the Old Gods, such as twilight magic or the blood magic of G'huun: using that for a while will get you corrupted in no time. And then there is void magic proper, which is so dangerous that even the player character cannot use it for longer than half a minute, lest they risk losing their sanity.
• Body Horror: There are two variations of this trope with the Void. The corruption of the Old Gods generally causes various organic mutations, such as bony growths, enlarged limbs, or extra eyes, as exemplified by Cho'gall◊ or Ra-den◊. Those corrupted by the Void directly will instead have their bodies overtaken by Living Shadow, which will then sprout tentacles, spikes and other unpleasant things — just take Zuraal the Ascended◊. Either way, the result is gross and horrifying.
  • Lampshaded by one of the jokes for male void elves: "Old Gods... I mean, really? Some have mouths for eyes, others have eyes for mouths. Talk about a hot mess..."
• Casting a Shadow: The less powerful forms of Void magic (such as the spells used by shadow priests) generally manifests as shadows, and the term "Shadow" is sometimes used as a synonym for the Void.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Void magic is represented by (obviously) the colour black, with splashes of purple on the edges and the occasional addition of light ethereal blue. There's some variation to it: void elves seem to incorporate a little more blue into their colour schemes, the Shadowmoon clan emphasises purple more, and each individual Old God has its own colour motifs.
• Cosmic Motifs: The Void as a whole is associated with the darkness of outer space. The Void Lords in particular are described as similar to black holes, unstoppable and devouring everything they touch, while the Old Gods, bound to Azeroth specifically, are symbolised by twilight, the setting of the sun and the coming of the dark night. Hence the Twilight's Hammer, the Hour of Twilight, or the corrupted twilight dragonflight.
• The Corruption: The Void twists both the mind with its whispers and the body with its corruption. It can affect almost anyone, from mortals, to dragons, to even the titans themselves.
• Cosmic Horror Story: The concept of the Void draws heavily on this genre, although Warcraft in general is too idealistic to fall entirely within it.
• Dark Is Evil: It's associated with darkness in all its forms. Voidwalkers represent the darkness of space, with Void Lords acting like black holes, while the Old Gods are the darkness of the night sky and the deep places of the world. Y'shaarj is even called the "Darkest Shadow". Those Void creatures that are not just living shadows often resemble subterranean or abyssal animals: the n'raqi look like deepwater squids, and the aqir like insects.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Interestingly, perhaps because of how the Void is associated with the mind and free will, it appears possible for some of its creatures to break free from Void Lord control. The nerubians, despite being descended from the aqir, do not worship the Old Gods and are overall portrayed positively, and while created by them, the naga are not completely bound to their will, as seen with Azshara's Starscream tendencies or the existence of Illidari naga.
• The Dark Side: Void magic offers great power, but at the cost of constant whispers from the Old Gods and the Void Lords. However, unlike the more straightforward corruption of the Fel, these whispers destroy sanity rather than morality, so the end result likely won't be a darker version of yourself but simply an insane, twisted monstrosity, like what Deathwing and Cho'gall became. Sometimes Void corruption can take a more subtle approach, though, such as with Garrosh or those affected by the Sha.
• Devil, but No God: While the Void Lords are the closest thing to The Anti-God in the Warcraft universe, they have no counterparts (that we know of) on the Light (save perhaps Elune).
• Enemy Civil War: It's fairly common for Void forces to fight each other, due to the chaotic, contradictory nature of this cosmic force. Ragnaros fought Nefarian in Classic, the Old Gods fought in prehistorical times, and even the Void Lords themselves are implied to have conflicting goals. It takes a strong ruler or a common enemy for the minions of the Void to stand together. That is likely because of what the Void represents: freedom, and the will to power.
• Enemy Mine: Despite the above Enemy Civil War, the Old Gods cooperated with each other in their attempts to escape from their Titan prisons.
• Evil Versus Evil: Forces of the Void are mortal enemies of the Burning Legion, as it was originally founded in order to thwart the Void Lords. Sargeras sees the extinction of all life as the only way to cleanse the innumerable Old God infections he assumes have spread throughout the universe and prevent the corruption of a Titan. His hope is that since life found a way before, it could do it again, and the new creation could be preemptively protected against Void corruption. That being said, being enemies does not necessarily mean the two cosmic forces do not use each other when needed: there are enslaved Void entities in the Legion, and corrupted demons in service of the Void.
• Eviler than Thou: Again, to the Burning Legion, and by extension to most other villainous factions in the franchise. The Legion is, at least in theory, a Well-Intentioned Extremist faction, and even the Lich King had somewhat noble aspirations. The Void just wants to consume everything and mocks the other evil forces in the universe as amateurs:

  "Here you will see why the Legion's invasion is ultimately futile. All can be corrupted, dreams and demons alike."

• Necromancer: While Death is another, separate cosmic force in the Warcraft universe (indeed, most undead, being mindless, are pretty resistant to Void whispers), the Void is apparently attuned enough to it that it can be used for necromancy. The Shadowmoon clan on alternative Draenor used the power of a darkened naaru to raise the dead, and G'huun apparently interfered with the realm of death so much that Bwonsamdi himself interfered.
• Outside-Context Problem: While Void creatures have been in the setting since War Craft III, they were originally only considered minor demons. World of Warcraft has slowly over the course of years revealed them as distinct from the Legion, and has been gradually increasing the threat they pose. In canon, there are a very small handful of entities who know of their endgame — Sargeras, the Pantheon, and the Old Gods.
• Power of the Void: The highest form of Void magic has this visual aesthetic, represented as gaping fractures in reality. It can be used for destructive purposes, or, as exemplified by void elves, for teleportation.
• Psychic Powers: While Blizzard has clarified that Void magic isn't psychic per se, it does nevertheless have the ability to affect or control minds. It actually shares this ability with the Light, but whereas the Light's mental effects are mostly inspirational, influencing those emotions that come from the "heart", the Void manipulates the more logical, rational aspects of the psyche, hence why it can be used for mind control or inducing madness.
• Purple Is the New Black: It's especially obvious with shadow priest magic. It's very purple.
• Retcon: A lot of the lore surrounding the Void has been clarified and unified in World of Warcraft: Chronicle, which included revelations/retcons such as:
  • The Void is a force completely separate from Fel and Death. Previously, cosmic Void entities were generally classified as demons in-game and treated as such in lore, but Chronicle posited them as mortal enemies. The Ethereal plotline back in The Burning Crusade hinted at this, but it was assumed that the Void was a faction of voidwalkers rather than a cosmic force.
  • The Old Gods, whose origin was unknown before that, were actually organic Void entities, and spawn of the newly introduced Void Lords. Their goal, previously unspecified, was now to corrupt Azeroth's world-soul, transforming it into a dark, Void-based titan.
  • The Burning Legion's goal was, among other things, to stop the Void.
• The Sacred Darkness: It is not a widespread view, but some, such as the Forsaken, the ethereals, or even some naaru, consider the Void to be an integral part of the universe which has to be kept in check, rather than outright destroyed. After all, it was the Void that created the universe, and while weakening them greatly, the Void-born Curse of Flesh provided titanforged races such as humans the ability to think independently.
• Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: The philosophy of the Void lies at the "Prophecies Are Optional" part of the spectrum. Whereas the Light believes in a strict, objective moral code, and its prophecies are always true (if they are not, the Light will make them true), the whispers of the Void show infinite possible futures, most of them horrifying, and its prophecies are more mutable. This property of the Void may be why the Curse of Flesh, while weakening the titanforged, also had the side effect of giving them free will (and thus allowing them to fight the Void more effectively). To quote the Locus-Walker:

  "You have known the Shadow as nothing but horrors. The Shadow sees the Light in the same way. Neither viewpoint is true. Neither is wrong. The Light seeks one path and shuns all others as lies. The Shadow seeks every possible path and sees them all as truth."

• Space Is Magic: Void magic in its purest form (such as that used by Xal'atath, as opposed to the "terrestrial" void magic of the Old Gods) is strongly associated with outer space, with spells that involve wormholes and meteors. It is even referred to as "Cosmic Void" internally. The Void itself (as in, the realm), if the final part of Aberrus is any indication, looks like a starry night sky with purple nebulae.

The Old Gods

The Old Gods are the Warcraft universe's resident Eldritch Abominations. They are the highest lieutenants of entities known as the Void Lords, launched into the Great Dark Beyond to find and corrupt an infant Titan world-soul so that they could bring about the end of the universe. Titan history discovered in Storm Peaks and Ulduar reveal that the Old Gods apparently came to Azeroth not long after its creation and began altering the Titans' creatures with something called the Curse of Flesh. Upon discovering this, the Titans waged war on the Old Gods, eventually imprisoning several of them within Azeroth itself. To prevent the Old Gods from returning, they created the Dragon Aspects and numerous Titanic Keepers and charged them with protecting the world.

There were originally four Old Gods chained below Azeroth. At least one of them was killed in the backstory (Y'Shaarj), and another has been defeated in the current storyline of World of Warcraft. It is said that the reason the Titans did not utterly destroy them was that doing so would unmake Azeroth. How this relates to the players' ability to defeat them is uncertain (Yogg-Saron confirms his death and that the shadow of his corpse will choke Northrend for all eternity, and the Sha did that to Pandaria).

However, the influence of the Old Gods has been felt throughout Azeroth's history, manifesting itself originally in the assault of the Qiraji, an insectoid race living deep beneath the sands of Silithus, discovered to be caused by C'thun. Other influences of the Old Gods include the corruption of Neltharion, Dragon Aspect of the Black Dragonflight; the gradual corruption of the Emerald Dream by an entity known only as the Nightmare; the whispers of madness afflicting the lands of Northrend from a being known as Yogg-Saron, which is confined deep within Ulduar; and possibly the infiltration of the timeways by the Infinite Dragonflight. There is also a race of creatures called n'raqi or Faceless Ones, which seem to consider themselves prophets or harbingers of the Old Gods.

The Old Gods' efforts seem directed largely at the corruption and/or destruction of the Dragonflights and the Titan Keepers, as those are their principal foes. Unlike the Burning Legion, they avoid direct confrontation, preferring the slow whispers of madness and the tempting of mortals and immortals alike into acts of self-destruction. Over the years, they've rooted their tentacles in numerous disparate villainous factions, and deliberately fuel conflicts between the Alliance, Horde, and even the likes of the Scourge and the Burning Legion. With the world's major factions in disarray, they plot to escape their prisons in an event called the Hour of Twilight and restore their Black Empire, delivering Azeroth's world soul into the hands of their masters, the Void Lords.

General Tropes

• Always a Bigger Fish: They're a gang of Eldritch Abomination, but the Titans are a step above them that they get curbstomped when the Titans take direct action. Then we learn they're just agents of The Void, who may be more powerful than the Titans...
• Arc Welding: The Old Gods and the Void were originally independent forces, with the implication (what with warlocks being able to summon voidwalkers and all) that the creatures of the Void were just particularly odd demonic entities. However, the more the game developed, the more evident was the connection between the two. In Burning Crusade, the Void was shown to be a force independent of the Legion, with leaders of their own and acting on their own accord (with Word of God later confirming that they are not demons at all). Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm showed them manipulating unique shadow magic of their own, twilight magic — quite similar to the Void in terms of appearance. In Mists of Pandaria, we were introduced to the Sha, with a very voidwalker-like appearance yet clearly connected to the Old Gods, while Warlords of Draenor showed void magic as blatantly independent from demons (used by the Iron Horde) as well as being quite Old God-like, tentacles and all. Finally, Legion and Chronicle confirmed the connection between the two, with the Old Gods placed at the very top of the Void's hierarchy, with the exception of the Void Lords, who seem to be set to become Warcraft's new primary antagonists.
• Ascended Extra: These guys were initially just briefly mentioned in the Warcraft III manual, and have gradually been getting more and more spotlight and have more focus than the Burning Legion.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Even their avatars are massive compared to the player characters, and if N'zoth's main body is any indication, their true forms are bigger than cities, if not entire zones.
• Black Speech: The Old Gods and most of the Faceless utilize one, known as "Shath'yar", which literally means "Old God". It borrows several loanwords from the Cthulhu Mythos that inspired the Old Gods, such as "fhtagn".
• Body Motifs: C'Thun and N'Zoth (eyes), Yogg-Saron (mouths), and Y'Shaarj (faces). In addition, we see inside of each: C'Thun's stomach, Yogg-Saron's brain, Y'Shaarj's heart, and N'Zoth's body.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The Titans killed Y'Shaarj, only for the Sha to appear. Since they — so it seems — assumed that C'Thun was dead rather than unconscious, they likely first assumed Y'Shaarj was alive until they reduced him to a heart upon which they came to the conclusion that Y'Shaarj and the other Old Gods had corrupted Azeroth to the point where killing them would cause "loss of host", thus destroying Azeroth. By Legion, we learned that Titans are literally planet-size creatures and the method they killed Y'Shaarj with was physically reaching down to the planet's surface and ripping it out of the ground, but because the Old God's tendrils have reached very deep into the planet itself, when they are pulled out they left behind such a giant crater that the planet's life-blood bled out — creating the Well of Eternity.
• The Corrupter: They are meant to be this to Azeroth and all upon it.
• The Dragon: To the Void, the eternal nothingness beyond the universe that has existed since before time began. The Void Lords created the Old Gods and scattered them throughout the Great Dark Beyond with the goal of corrupting a Titan in order to bring about the end of existence, and a return to the nothingness they crave.
• Didn't Think This Through: While their Curse of Flesh succeeded at turning most titanic servants into organic beings that are physically weaker and made vulnerable to corruption, it also led these new mortal races to develop qualities that they didn't have before such as courage, virtue or resilience; qualities that would prove to be invaluable for the mortal races and help them face and overcome not only the Old Gods but also other threats such as the Scourge or the Burning Legion.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Old Gods typically take on these sorts of forms when they deign to become visible to mortals. It's implied that they are in fact physical beings, since it's possible for mortals to attack and even kill them (as was done in the case of Y'Shaarj by the Titans, and the other three by the denizens of Azeroth).
• Eldritch Location: Many places under their influence become this. In addition, the city called Ny'alotha, mentioned by the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, seems to be associated with them. It has not appeared in game, but according to the box, it is hidden by a forest, might be sunken and was a scene of unnumbered crimes. Popular theory is that this city is Nazjatar. Visions of N'Zoth reveals it lies within an alternate dimension.
• End of the World as We Know It: Their ultimate goal, which according to prophecy will be realized with an event called the Hour of Twilight, in which all life on Azeroth (including Deathwing) is destroyed, except for the Twilight Dragonflight.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Frequently, the Old God's corruption causes manic, shifting eyes to grow across the flesh of whatever they're influencing. N'Zoth and C'thun in particular.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: There's four confirmed Old Gods as of Mists of Pandaria. C'Thun is Phlegmatic, Y'Shaarj is Choleric, N'Zoth is Melancholic, and Yogg-Saron is Sanguine.
  • Note that N'Zoth's only direct appearance before the end of Battle For Azeroth was in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (borrowing lines and voice from Y'Shaarj), and while a voice named "The Old Gods" makes an appearance in Blackfathom Deeps that many fans presume must be N'Zoth through process of elimination, this may be subject to change in a future expansion. The Blackfathom Deeps voice is likely all of them speaking in unison before they are killed (though the voice is new, Blackfathom is a low-level instance, and stuck between vanilla and the modern content).
• Gameplay and Story Integration: One of the bigger reasons for the Arc Welding of the Void and the Old Gods (see above) was probably the priest class, especially its Shadow specialisation, which from its very inception possessed both Void-like (dark magic, summoning shadowfiends, turning into a shadow, et cetera) and Old God-like (mind control, diseases, mutations) spells. Come Legion, they are explicitly tied to the Old Gods and wield the sacred dagger once used by their worshippers as their artifact weapon.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Tends to happen to anyone who spends too much time listening to the whispers of madness emanating from the Old Gods in their places of power.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: As necessary as it was, it turns out the Old Gods went too far in corrupting Neltharion into Deathwing for their own good. He created the Dragon Soul(later renamed the Demon Soul) by their design, then they manipulated Illidan and the Burning Legion into setting all the necessary steps to use the Demon Soul to usurp the Legion's portal to instead free them from imprisonment. Unfortunately, in his madness, Deathwing was so obsessed with the Demon Soul that he refused to give it up. At the critical hour, he reclaimed the relic despite the Old Gods doing everything in their power to keep him away. This led to the chain of events that saved Azeroth from both Legion invasion and the Old Gods' return.
• Horde of Alien Locusts: The aqir, an ancient sentient insectoid race which arose from the organic matter that seeped from the Old Gods.
• Opportunistic Bastard: While they weren't responsible for the War of the Ancients, the invasion of the Old Horde or the Scourge or Illidan Stormrage's actions, the Old Gods always took advantage of these events to try to advance their own agenda of weakening the world defenses and freeing themselves. Deathwing was ever their tool in this regard; such as having Deathwing turn on his fellow dragons just at the moment when the dragons looked like they were capable of repelling the Burning Legion's invasion with the Dragon Soul, had him isolate Stormwind during the First War so the Horde could destroy the kingdom and later had him give the Demon Soul to the Horde so they could enslave the Red Dragonflight. When Deathwing wasn't available they would instead use the Naga, such when they sent Lady Vashjr and her minions to serve Illidan and help him against the Burning Legion and the Scourge.
• Resurrective Immortality: It's implied that even when "killed", the Old Gods can resurrect themselves if given enough time. Y'Shaarj still survived in the form of its heart despite thousands of years passing after its destruction by the Titans' hands and imprisonment, C'Thun was nearly revived by Cho'gall at one point, and Yogg-Saron threatened that its "shadow" would forever haunt the land as its body died.
• Retcon: Older parts of Warcraft information — quest text, game manuals — mentioned there being five Old Gods on Azeroth, but World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 officially established that there only four. Later it's revealed that there was a failed Titans' experiment based on the Old Gods known as G'huun, who is technically the fifth Old God considering that the Old God factions worship it just like the real Old Gods.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Old Gods are this. Three of the four are intact enough to try to break out. N'zoth succeeds at the end of Azshara's raid battle
• Shout-Out: To the entire Cthulhu Mythos.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: To the Burning Legion. The Legion still exists and is definitely a threat, but the forces of the Old Gods are already on Azeroth and therefore are getting much more attention.
• Villain Decay: The Old Gods went from the very strongly implied Greater Scope Villains, who might have been (at their full strength) much stronger than even the Titans (with it being implied that many Titans being needed to subdue one Old God), and considered Sargeras easy to defeat once they are all fully released, to after the Retcon in World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 the strongest Old God being hilariously easily killed by Aman'Thul, and the Old Gods being retconned as the Void Lords' "tools", or at best their avatars.
  • This said, Chronicles introduces a new threat that the Old Gods present, not just to Azeroth but to the entire universe. If the Old God free themselves and succeed in their goal of corrupting Azeroth's world soul, she will awaken as a Dark Titan, more powerful than even Sargeras, and nothing would be able to stop her from wiping out all of creation.
  • Also, the Old Gods are only suffering Villain Decay because they're Overshadowed by Awesome with the Void Lords and the Lords of Light, and the Titans. N'zoth, the weakest of the Old Gods, is shown at the end of Battle For Azeroth to be on a completely different scale to the players physically and magically.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Despite their common origin and goal of corrupting Azeroth's World-Soul the Old Gods were in constant war with each other for dominance over Azeroth during the days of the Black Empire with N'Zoth having wagged war against C'Thun and Yogg-Saron at the same time and been defeated by Y'Shaarj on what would later become the Broken Shore. Even after their imprisonment and despite having common subordinates such as the Twilight's Hammer none of the remaining Old Gods coordinate their efforts and plans together to facilitate their escape and return to power.
• Worf Had the Flu: Except for N'Zoth, each Old God is considerably weakened when fought by the adventurers. C'thun was still heavily injured from the war against the Titans^*At the time, the Titans had thought him outright dead. Yogg-Saron was still partially sealed away and fought with the help of four Titan Keepers. Lastly, Y'Shaarj was already dead and players only fought remnants of his power.

C'thun

"You. Will. Die."

C'Thun is the first Old God to be officially named within the Warcraft story. After the defeat of the Old Gods by the Titans, C'Thun was imprisoned beneath Azeroth and left by the Titans for dead in one of their research facilities, in what would later become the continent of Kalimdor. Although greatly weakened, he embarked on a program to strengthen and empower the Qiraji, an insectoid race living beneath the southern desert sands.

A thousand years prior to the events of the Warcraft series, the Qiraji nearly overwhelmed the forces of Kalimdor in what became known as the War of the Shifting Sands, and were barely driven back by the combined might of the Bronze Dragonflight and the Night Elves under Archdruid Fandral Staghelm. In the present time, the Qiraji renewed their attack, but the heroes of Azeroth descended deep into the ancient Temple of Ahn'Qiraj to reveal their true master, the Old God himself. Still dramatically weakened since the confrontation with the Titans, C'Thun's physical form was slain and the threat of the Qiraji was removed.

C'Thun's initial physical form is that of an enormous eyeball. Destroying the eye reveals a gaping mouth walled by smaller eyes. He does battle with tentacles that emerge from the ground around him, some of which are capable of swallowing enemies whole. His stomach is highly poisonous and contains additional tentacles that can be destroyed to render his main body vulnerable to attack.

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• Back from the Dead: In Cataclysm, his minions are trying to resurrect him.
• The Brute: Amongst his brothers, C'thun is the only one who does not utilize subversive tactics; his aqir brood overwhelms with sheer numbers and physical strength, his followers bow to his strength rather than his whispers, and he's the most prone to directly attacking his enemies, rather than relying on minions and insanity.
• Cold Ham: C'thun's speech is much more subdued and brief than his brethren, but even his three-or-four-word lines carry the same weight and power as any of Yogg-Saron's blaring outbursts.
• Creepy Monotone: Compared to his brethren, C'Thun's voice rarely goes above a droning whisper.
• Combat Tentacles: He possesses a multitude of voracious stalks that happen to have eyes at their tips.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Justified in that C'thun is at a fraction of his original power when players fight him.
• Eye Beams: C'Thun can fire two different lasers from his eye: a smaller one that bounces from player to player, and a much larger laser that will certainly kill anybody hit by it.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: C'Thun's particular motif that stands out from the other Old Gods. Aside from the large eyeball that comprises the upper half of his body (as well as several smaller eyes on the bottom half), most of the Combat Tentacles also have eyes on them.
• Final Boss: Of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj raid dungeon, and of vanilla World of Warcraft period, after the original Naxxramas was retired. He's the greatest challenge the player can face before they get into Burning Crusade content.
• Giant Eye of Doom: His most notable feature is a titanic cannon of an eyeball, and he's plenty evil on top of it.
• Green Thumb: His eye beams use Nature Energy.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Despite his assertions, he knows his power is diminished right now, and doesn't wait for the raid group to attack first or even enter his chamber. The moment he sees you turn the corner, he will most likely cast an eye beam that can easily wipe half the group due to its bounce effect if you're not careful.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Every time C'Thun speaks, he pauses between every word as the above quote demonstrates.
• Shout-Out: To Cthulhu himself, as well as Sauron, visually.
• Terse Talker: C'thun's mode of speech is brief, subdued, and to the point. "Death. Is. Close."
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Dark Glare attack.

Yogg-Saron

"Your fate is sealed. The end of days is finally upon you, and all who inhabit this miserable little seedling. U'ULUI IPISH HALAS, G'AGH G'ERONGH, HWSSH!"

Yogg-Saron, also known as the God of Death, is the second of the Old Gods to be officially named within the Warcraft story. It resides beneath the snows of Northrend and its malicious influence can be felt throughout the continent. The last of the Old Gods to be imprisoned during the final days of the Black Empire, Titan fortress of Ulduar was constructed for the sole purpose of containing it.

Yogg-Saron is particularly noted for the whispers of madness that emanate from the deep places of Northrend. Any being that listens to these whispers for too long is invariably driven insane. This influence seems to be felt most strongly around the ore known as Saronite, which is mined exclusively in Northrend and is highly prized by the Scourge in the manufacture of weapons and armor.

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• Abstract Eater: He professes to feed on death in the boss encounter.
• Back from the Dead: Legion suggests that Yogg-Saron is active once again, but whether he's regenerated his physical form has yet to be seen.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Not Yogg-Saron himself, but a large number of his followers inside Ulduar. Many of them are Titan constructs sent to keep him under control, only to fall victim to his influence.
• Combat Tentacles: Spawns a ton of these. In fact, you can go through Ulduar solo at level 100 (20 levels above the level the content was made for) and wipe the floor with every other boss, and have trouble with Yogg-Saron due to getting picked up and throttled by his tentacles.
• Compelling Voice: There's a reason why it's so easy for him to brainwash everything.
• Creepy Monotone: Like C'Thun, the first time we hear from Yogg-Saron's voice, he is quietly whispering. It's only once you meet him physically that all those mouths start Chewing the Scenery.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Justified by the assistance of the near-divine Watchers, but it is the adventurers that ultimately destroy his body. The ultimate challenge is defeating him without their help, difficult even for raids well beyond the Ulduar content level.
• Dying Curse: He proclaims that the shadow of his corpse will choke the land for all eternity.
• Evil Is Hammy: See Large Ham below.
  Yogg-Saron: COWER BEFORE MY TRUE FORM! BOW DOWN BEFORE THE GOD OF DEATH!
• Evil Laugh: A particularly epic and hammy one.
• Eyeless Face: His eyes are actually smaller, gaping mouths, complete with teeth.
• Greater-Scope Villain: It's the druids' attempt to contain the corruption of saronite deposits across the world that gave the Old Gods a link to the Emerald Dream, something that N'Zoth would exploit to birth the Emerald Nightmare. It's later revealed he was the one who brought forth the Curse of Flesh that transformed many of the Titan's creations into the present-day races and corrupted the Titan Watcher Loken, which lead to him eventually destroying the Watcher's unity. He and N'Zoth seem to vie for this position amongst the Old Gods in the current time with N'Zoth currently winning by virtue of being the one not defeated by any adventurers.
• Green Rocks: Saronite ore is not only used in making all kinds of powerful weapons and armor, but seems to be composed of about 20% pure insanity.
• Humanity Ensues: Invoked. Yogg-Saron is the source of the Curse of Flesh, the affliction that turned the various Titan-Forged races from rock and stone to flesh and blood. By making them biological, Yogg-Saron made the future races more susceptible to madness and corruption.
• I Have Many Names:
  Yogg-Saron: I am The Lucid Dream. The Monster In Your Nightmares. The Fiend of a Thousand Faces.
• Large Ham: C'Thun was content to deadpan out a "Death is close" and call it a day. Yogg's encounter one-ups him with grandiose threats, hissed Black Speech, and an absolutely fantastic Evil Laugh, which you can listen to here now!
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: What passes for his body is lined with numerous gaping mouths of sharpened fangs.
• Necromancer: He has power over Death Magic which takes the form of green energy.
• Only Sane Man: The only ingame Old God (counting minions) who acknowledges that Old Gods can die. And he himself was no exception.
• Re Vision: In the boss encounter, players are treated to visions of key elements from Warcraft's history, revealing that Yogg-Saron was behind them.
• Shout-Out: To Yog-Sothoth of Lovecraftian lore, to the point of being described as "a thousand gibbering mouths".
• Too Many Mouths: His design gimmick is mouths, so many mouths, ALL the mouths, all over his body. He fittingly provides the trope image.
• Trick Boss: Throughout the Ulduar dungeon, players hear the voice of "Sara" screaming for help against the monsters plaguing her. The first part of the boss encounter is against said monsters, but defeating them near her (which damages anyone nearby) causes her to transform into the real deal.
• Worf Had the Flu: When you fight Yogg-Saron, he is in the final stages of breaking free of the Power Limiters the Titans used on him. The timer running out and him wiping the raid represents Yogg breaking completely free of the Titan's restraints and turning his full power on the player characters.

N'Zoth

Voiced by: Jérémie Covillault (European French)

"All eyes shall be opened."

N'Zoth is the Old God that is responsible for corrupting Deathwing, for transforming Azshara and her followers into the naga and for creating the Nightmare that infests the Emerald Dream. N'Zoth rules the Nightmare from the depths of Azeroth's seas beyond the Rift of Aln, a location in the Emerald Dream linked to the Twisting Nether that is probably a reflection of a similarly-named massive chasm in the seafloor beneath the Maelstrom. The Nightmare has entrapped such eminent personalities as the Green Aspect, Ysera, as well as the Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage.

He was the first Old God imprisoned by the Titans after the death of Y'Shaarj when they realized that killing the Old Gods could destroy Azeroth as well, sealed beneath the oceans. It's implied that he's actually broken his bonds, though he still received aid from Yogg-Saron and C'Thun in corrupting Deathwing provided they use Deathwing's Dragon Soul to escape Azeroth.

As of Battle for Azeroth, he's finally taken center stage as a direct threat to Azeroth and its heroes.

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• Berserk Button: Don't call him "nothing" and don't refuse his bargains. It'll set him off something fierce assuming his outrage at Azshara's refusal wasn't a calculated ploy.
• Big Bad Ensemble: N'zoth is among the primary antagonists of Battle for Azeroth, with G'huun and arguably Sylvanas being the others. Considering that he's behind Queen Azshara and has taken an interest in the player character, he appears to be the most significant threat.
  • With Azshara's defeat and Sylvanas being deposed as Warchief, N'Zoth cements himself as the final antagonist of Battle for Azeroth.
• Character Death: N'zoth seems to meet his end in the finale of Battle for Azeroth. By channeling the planet-killing power of Uldum through the Heart of Azeroth, the Champion of Azeroth apparently succeeds in destroying the Old God from the inside out, though Word of God has intentionally made it ambiguous if the Old God is Killed Off for Real or merely defeated.
• The Chessmaster: While none of the Old Gods are particularly poor schemers, N'zoth stands out for being the one who's causing the most problems without ever even coming near to being fought directly. It's why he's still around.
• The Chooser of the One: In a dark twist, N'Zoth chooses the Champion as his "chosen", the one who would herald the return of the Black Empire in N'Zoth's name.
• Circling Monologue: As Azshara floats in the abyss, N'zoth circles around her in the form of a fish noting that she would soon drown and only he could save her.
• Deal with the Devil: He himself says he likes deals. He's made two that we know of. In exchange for Deathwing's service to the Hour of Twilight, N'Zoth would relieve him of his duties as Earthwarder and all the burdens that came with it. To Azshara, he asked for her and her people to serve him in exchange for saving their lives when they would have drowned during the Sundering. Though Azshara appears to make him sweeten the deal first, N'Zoth in turn may have known that Azshara would never settle for servitude (given that he'd watched her for a thousand years) and she knew he'd been watching, so the initial offer was possibly just part of a particularly devious gambit.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He makes his debut in the Hearthstone expansion Whispers of the Old Gods before making a proper appearance in World of Warcraft itself.
• Evil Is Petty: N'zoth allowed Azshara to nearly drown before accepting her new terms for their alliance, all as payback for disrespecting him.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Just as evil as the other Old Gods and possesses an impressively deep voice.
• Evil Versus Evil: According to the lore, it seems that some of his lieutenants fought against C'thun and Yogg Saron's minions. Apparently he's not on good terms with his brethren, but why remains to be seen.
• Exact Words: When Deathwing and Thrall meet in Charge of the Aspects, he reveals that he serves the Old Gods because he hates the task the Titans charged him with, and the Old Gods promised to free him from his burden. By the end of Cataclysm and in the Hour of Twilight, Deathwing was indeed "freed" from his burden...
• Final Boss: Of Battle for Azeroth.
• Greater-Scope Villain: N'zoth is easily one of the premier examples of Greater-Scope Villain in the series. Suffice it to say, if Sargeras isn't behind something, N'zoth's the most likely culprit. Yogg-Saron does his fair share of manipulation as well, but N'zoth, being the sole active Old God, currently has him beat. Below is a list of some of his most notable accomplishments:
  • The Emerald Nightmare, which he created by taking advantage of a link created by Yogg-Saron. Through Xavius, the Nightmare Lord, N'zoth pulled the strings behind everything with the Nightmare, including having his tentacles in its Legion subplot.
  • The corruption of Neltharion into Deathwing, and as Deathwing's master, more or less the entirety of the Cataclysm expansion and the Hour of Twilight. C'thun and Yogg-Saron also helped with the corruption and supported the Hour of Twilight plan, but N'zoth seemed to be the main mover.
  • The transformation of Azshara and her followers into naga. As he did with Deathwing, N'zoth is presumably still "signing Azshara's checks."
  • Indirectly, he is responsible for the Drust and Gorak Tul's actions in Drustvar, who in their desperation tapped into the Emerald Nightmare and created Thros, the Blighted Lands as an off-shoot of the Nightmare.
• Kraken and Leviathan: Is apparently imprisoned under the sea, and resembles his minion Ozumat, the patriarch of all krakens.
• Last of His Kind: As of Mists of Pandaria, N'zoth is the only Old God yet to be subdued by adventurers. Though where and what he's up to is in the air, and there are still hints that C'Thun and Yogg-Saron are Not Quite Dead.
• Let's You and Him Fight: N'zoth is content to let his enemies fight it out amongst themselves. He once warred directly against Y'Shaarj, and his loss likely taught him the value of sitting out conflicts. His "behind-the-scenes" approach is likely why he's still around. Very tellingly, N'zoth only gets directly involved with Azeroth after Sargeras and nearly every other existing threat has been defeated.
• The Man Behind the Man: To Deathwing, more or less. Also likely to Xavius during his time as the Nightmare Lord, considering that he's the one who created the Nightmare in the first place. The Warbringers cinematic for Azshara shows that he is behind her transformation into a Naga as well.
• Not Good with Rejection: When he first offered Azshara to serve him, she told him "no". N'Zoth was outraged that a mortal would dare deny him and would have killed her on the spot had she not made her case.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Xal'atath and Azshara both comment that N'zoth is the weakest of the Old Gods. However, it still takes the Forge of Origination, a device meant to wipe out all life on Azeroth, to kill him.
• Red Baron: Sometimes N'Zoth is referred to as "the God of the Deep".
• Sadistic Choice: Attempts to give one to Azshara, giving her the option of either serving him and rebuilding the Black Empire, or dying beneath the waves. She ends up Taking The Third Option and rebutting with a Sadistic Choice of her own; either N'Zoth helps her and makes her Queen of his empire, or she will die and he will remain a god of nothing, trapped beneath the ocean. This amuses him, and he takes her gamble, turning Azshara and the Highborne into the Naga.
• Sleep-Mode Size: When he first appears to Azshara as her city is being consumed by the ocean and then again while she's in the ocean, he takes the form of a small, black-scaled fish with red eyes. Even his voice lacks the deep reverberating tones. Once she calls him "nothing," however, he drops the guise for his true form.
• Suddenly Shouting: When Azshara calls him "nothing," his voice jarringly shifts from a calm, measured tone to a loud Voice of the Legion.
• Villainous Friendship: Double Subverted in regards to his 'relationship' with Azshara. Despite her being defiant while striking their original deal, to the point N'zoth was enraged (or pretended he was); and her taunting him during the 8.2 intro cinematic (and likely many times over the last 10,000 years), Azshara does fulfill her end of the bargain as promised and successfully frees N'zoth by the end of the Eternal Palace raid though it resulted in her defeat and possible death. The moment he is free, N'zoth immediately rushes a shadow tentacle up to the raid platform, pierces through the protective barrier and appears to charge the NPCs. Instead, he rushes past them and beelines for Azshara's body, gently picks her up and secures her in its grasp, then revives her and drags her away from the raid. Patch 8.3 revealed that she intended to stab him with Xal'atath to grant him perma-Death and got repeatedly tortured for it.
• Weak, but Skilled: In Legion, one of Xal'atath's musings hints that N'Zoth in terms of power is the weakest of the Old Gods, as she refers to all the other gods by name except him while talking about how "weakest of us may be the ultimate victor". Considering the fact N'Zoth happens to be the overarching villain of the other Old Gods, "weakest" doesn't translate to "ineffectual".
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite being introduced as the driving force of Cataclysm and the master of Deathwing himself, N'zoth never appeared in the expansion personally, and vanished from the spotlight for a long time afterwards as other enemies like Garrosh and the Burning Legion threatened Azeroth. He wouldn't actually appear until nearly a decade after his introduction.
• Why Isn't It Attacking?: At the conclusion of the Eternal Palace raid, N'zoth is freed after Azshara is defeated but successfully completes her ritual and shuts down the Titan lock binding him. As the Titan chains binding him are destroyed, N'zoth opens one of his eyes and immediately sends a shadowy tendril upwards towards the platform. He pierces the air bubble surrounding the raid and NPCs, and they ready themselves for his attack. However, N'zoth ignores everyone as his tendrils rush past them and towards Azshara's body, picking her up and reviving her, before the tendrils immediately drag her back through the hole and disappears. There's a beat as the NPCs are still at the ready for N'zoth's retaliation, but he merely gives a single cryptic warning ^note  "All eyes shall be opened." , and then leaves without manifesting further.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Double Subverted in relation to Azshara. Many expected N'zoth to either kill or leave Azshara for dead after he is freed by her ritual at the end of the Eternal Palace, especially as she appeared to be either unconscious or dead by the time his prison unlocks. Instead, N'zoth's first act is to immediately rush a shadow tentacle to the Circle of Stars platform, gently picking up Azshara's body while ignoring the player-raid and NPCs, then reviving her and drawing her away from the platform. Then Double subverted with the reveal that he only revived her to torture her attempted treachery.

Y'Shaarj

"All that you have accomplished, all that you have won, yet still you lick the boots of kings."

Y'Shaarj (pronounced Yah-Sha-Raj) was an Old God located on the center of the supercontinent that would be dubbed Kalimdor. The most wicked and powerful of all the Old Gods, Y'Shaarj possessed seven heads, and has been said to consume hope, beget despair, inhale courage and breathe fear. He was the only Old God that the titan-forged armies were unable to defeat on their own, forcing the intervention of the Titans themselves to slay him. His remains were captured and quarantined in the south, the regions that would become Pandaria, and there his essence would grip the land for thousands of years in the form of the Sha.

The mantid empire (or its predecessor) of primordial Azeroth worshipped each of his heads as their benefactors, and they remain loyal to him even after his death at the hands of the Titans countless ages ago.

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• Casting a Shadow: His main power when alive and he resumes using this when his heart and mind are resurrected.
• Cold Ham: Not quite as chilly as C’thun, but like him, Y’shaarj is both quiet and attention-grabbing.
• Compelling Voice: For anyone who falls prey to one of the emotions he is tied to, he (or rather, his Sha heads) can give that person commands that will be obeyed to the letter, through the lens of that particular emotion. Poor Shek'zeer is probably the best example of this.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He, the most powerful of the Old Gods, versus Aman'thul, the leader of the Titans. To call it a fight would imply that Y'shaarj actually stood a chance.
• Dark Is Evil: As shown by his Casting a Shadow abilities.
• Deader than Dead: After his heart is used by Garrosh as a weapon and then destroyed, he's gone for good. Not even C'thun and Yogg-Saron have been destroyed on the level he has.
• Demonic Possession: The Heart of Y'Shaarj possesses one of the goblins who discover it.
• Dying Curse: His death plagues Pandaria with the Sha, a dark, living miasma that encourages and feeds on negativity the same way Y'Shaarj once did.
• Emotion Eater: As shown by his whispers which indicate that the Sha aren't actual negative emotions after all.
• Final Boss: Of Mists of Pandaria, in a real way. While you're fighting Garrosh, what you're really trying to stop is a from-way-downtown plot of Y'Shaarj's to work his way back into the world of the living. By the back end of Garrosh's boss fight, he's all but a step away from turning into an avatar of Y'Shaarj.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Subverted. Images that resembled the Sha appeared in Ulduar, Yogg-Saron's prison, but this was actually a happy coincidence.
  • Yogg-Saron's Puzzle Box has a specific whisper that asks if the wielder can see a seven-eyed goat that watches from afar. Later sources and specifically Hearthstone show that this is exactly what Y'Shaarj looks like.
• Godzilla Threshold: With their armies fighting a losing battle against Y'Shaarj and no other option left, Aman'thul was prompted to directly intervene, something the Titans had avoided doing out of fear of damaging the planet with their might. With one arm, Aman'thul reached down from the cosmos, ripped Y'Shaarj from the earth, and crushed him to gibs. (And of course, Aman'thul's fears were right on the mark, leading to the sealing of the Old Gods and many of the plights modern Azeroth finds itself in.)
• Informed Attribute: Despite legends stating that Y'Shaarj boasts seven heads, none of his appearances on murals and on Hearthstone's official artwork show him with more than one. That said, Hearthstone's art fits the rest of his described profile just fine, so it's possible that Y'Shaarj is so massive that he outright can't be portrayed with more than one head, short of going to a sub-orbital position for the camera.
• Killed Off for Real: After the Heart is destroyed in the Garrosh fight, Y'Shaarj is Deader than Dead once again. And this time, there's absolutely nothing left.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: Being dead has done nothing to slow him down.
• Predecessor Villain: To the Sha, the seven breeds of sapient, shadowy negative energy that haunt Pandaria.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: What little remains of Y'Shaarj, his heart, was buried in a Titan vault beneath the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, until Garrosh's Horde unsealed the can.
• Villainous Legacy: The Sha, obviously, but further than that, he is the reason the other Old Gods were subdued and sealed instead of removed—when he was pulled from the earth, the Titans realized his body had grown too deep, and the act left an enormous gaping wound in the planet that bled out the world's magic lifeblood. They quickly worked to stabilize the wound, and the remaining blood on the surface was dubbed the Well of Eternity.
• Willing Channeler: Garrosh takes in Y'Shaarj's power during the final phase of his fight. Contrary to the goblin example above, it is not Demonic Possession and Garrosh is using Y'Shaarj as a weapon.

Other major Void entities

Xal'atath

"Xal'atath has a mind of its own. Ignore its maddening whispers. Do not trust the lies it spins. Take from it what you need, but always remember that the dark presence in the blade is not your ally."
"The moment I touched the blade, a name was spoken in my mind: Xal'atath. I knew then that I could not destroy the dagger. Not yet. How can one defeat a power she does not understand?"

Formerly an ancient sapient dagger of Old God origins, used during the era of the Black Empire in countless ritual sacrifices to the Old Gods, Xal'atath is an enigma, manipulating others for her own ends and utilizing the conflict between the Alliance and Horde in Battle For Azeroth to give herself a body.

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• The Bus Came Back: Taken out of the spotlight along with all of the other Artifact Weapons at the end of Legion, Xal'atath makes a return in Battle for Azeroth in patch 8.1, where it had come into the posession of the Naga; it uses the player to make a deal with N'zoth, and was last seen guiding Nathanos Blightcaller to the location of Nazjatar.
• Captain Ersatz: Of Xel'lotath
• The Chessmaster: Xal'atath is heavily implied to be using the Shadow Priest PC as an Unwitting Pawn. In the Antorus the Burning Throne raid, if a shadow priest enters the heart of Argus the Unmaker, Xal'atath gleefully comments about how grateful it is for giving the Void a foothold there and comments that the player's service will not be forgotten.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Xal'atath serves those who prove themselves strong enough to wield it and will abandon those who cannot, occasionally finishing the latter itself. When it chooses to side with the player, it doesn't hesitate to absorb the last of the life essence of one of the strongest servants of the Old God Yogg-Saron, even encouraging the adventurer to do so, despite the original intent of the Twilight's Hammer to have it revive said servant.
• Dug Too Deep: One of her quotes in Aszuna imply this trope, but she doesn't elaborate on what exactly would be found in the depths.
  The Legion burrows deep here. If they burrow deeper, they may not like what they find.
• Energy Absorption: Xal'atath can drain void power from her victims. This was used to help convert a Naaru back to the Light.
• Evil Weapon: Xal'atath used to be a dagger used in countless ritualistic sacrifices to the Old Gods, and is imbued with a malevolent will because of it. Also, it loves trying to get the player to kill themselves.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Xal'atath has a single eye built into her hilt. When she evolves after clearing the priest missions, the blade becomes flesh covered with several real eyeballs around the blade and guard.
• Foreshadowing: At the end of the Emerald Nightmare raid, Xal'atath will sense that N'Zoth's prison is weakening and remarks that preparations will have to be made.
• Faux Affably Evil: Xal'atath is calm and polite even when discussing horrific things or recommending the player do something terrible (such as the Schmuck Bait below).
• Friendly Enemy: According to Xal'atath, while the Naaru see void creatures as abominations, her kind see the Naaru as "beloved siblings who have lost the true path".
• Historical Rap Sheet: The blade's whispers and dark power have resulted in countless deaths. Perhaps its greatest influence was setting in motion the war between the trolls and the aqir, thus uniting the trolls into an empire and spreading aqir offshoots across the planet.
• Humanoid Abomination: After getting a body for herself. While the body is that of a "pleasing" high elf to use Xal'atath's own words, it is ultimately possessed by an Eldritch Abomination implied to be on a level just short of or equal to the Old Gods.
• In Love with Your Carnage: It's heavily implied that Xal'atath holds some measure of respect towards the player due to their actions, especially their ability to successfully murder their way across entire continents.
• Living Weapon: Even back when she was a weapon, Xal'atath had a mind of her own, and regularly speaks to the priest who wields her. It is speculated it may even be a sixth Old God that was beaten by the main four and turned into a dagger.
• The Magnificent: Goes by the title of 'Blade of the Black Empire' — she keeps it even after getting herself a body.
• Mysterious Past: Though it dates back to the time of the Old Gods' Black Empire, it is emphasized that Xal'atath's origins are not actually known. Theories include it being a claw of Y'Shaarj, or even the remains of a hypothetical sixth Old God.
• Most Definitely Not a Villain: Played with. Xal'atath otherwise shares her power with the player, offers helpful advice against a common enemy, such as the Fallen Avatar of Sargeras. However Xal'atath is a weapon imbued with the power of the Old Gods, wistfully talks about the days when the Old Gods dominated Azeroth, talks about preparations for when N'zoth's prison is broken, thanks the player sometimes when they do something advantageous to the Void and lays out Schmuck Bait for the player more than once.
• No Biological Sex: Despite speaking with a feminine voice, Xal'atath is either a dagger that gained sentience or an Eldritch Abomination forced into the form of a dagger.
• Possessing a Dead Body: During the hunt for three artifacts, one tied to the void is being assaulted by a group of mages lead by a female blood elf who thinks she can absorb the artifact's power by breaking it open. After killing her and her cohorts, Xal'atath uses the artifact to transfer her consciousness and most of her power out of the blade and into the fresh blood elf body, mutating it into something akin to a void elf.
• Schmuck Bait:
  • Xal'atath suggests that the Priest ask Odyn if he's considered Loken's last words to him. If the player does this, Odyn will instantly kill them in a fit of rage.
  • At another point, Xal'atath suggests taking power from the Temple of Elune. Elune is clearly not amused, though in this case, Xal'atath claims it did not expect such an outcome.
• Talking Weapon: Xal'atath can communicate with you telepathically. It is advised, however, to ignore it so as not to be driven mad.
• Time Abyss: Another contender for oldest artifact weapon is Xal'atath, which dates back to the height of the Black Empire. We don't know its exact age because it pre-dates recorded history. In fact, one of its quotes reference an event known as "The Scouring", which was apparently on the same level as the implosion of the Well of Eternity (The Sundering) and Deathwing's attempt to shatter Azeroth (The Cataclysm).
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: As a dagger, Xal'atath is paired with a black book titled "Secrets of the Void" in the Priest's off-hand, which was apparently written by one of Xal'atath's wielders.
• You Have Failed Me: Xal'atath does not take kindly to the failure of those who lack the strength to wield its true power. It often makes this displeasure known by devouring their souls.
  "Weak and pitiful! The Twilight Father did not dare wield me, for he knew the price of failure."
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Xal'atath abandons its wielders on a whim when it's tired of them. She abandoned the Dark Iron Queen Modgud during the battle of Grim Batol, allowing her to be killed by the Wildhammer. In the present day, she abandons the cultist using her and berates him for being weak. Impressed with the adventurer's strength, she offers to be at their side for the moment.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Xal'atath grows in power by absorbing the life force of its enemies. It does so to the cultist that previously wielded it for failing to defeat the adventurers, and does the same to Zakajz the Corrupter, the servant of Yogg-Saron that the cultists had been attempting to revive using the dagger's power.

G'huun

"Come, and be the first to receive my gift. You will carry my pestilence, and a vast, bubbling, putrid cyst will cover the world."

G'huun, also known as the Blood God, is the fifth, artificial Old God of Azeroth, accidentally created by the titans during their experiments in Uldir. Described as a living avatar of the Old Gods' need to corrupt, he is associated with rot, pestilence, parasitism and decay, and is a master of blood magic. Although not as powerful as his natural-born brethren, he still presented a major threat to Azeroth, and just like them, G'huun was imprisoned, using three titan seals located throughout Zandalar. Nevertheless, the Blood God continued menacing the Zandalari throughout the centuries, bringing the blood trolls to his side, trying to control the souls of the troll dead (thus coming into conflict with the loa of death Bwonsamdi), and allying with the minions of true Old Gods, such as the faceless general Mythrax the Unraveler.

He is eventually freed by Prophet Zul and Mythrax during the events of Battle for Azeroth, breaking free from his prison to spread his corruption throughout Azeroth and then consume it. He serves as the primary antagonist of this expansion's first season, and the final boss of the Uldir raid.

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• Arc Villain: Of the Zandalari story line in BFA
• Beware My Stinger Tail: The tail of G'huun's slug-like body has a cluster of spikes on the end of it.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: A justified example - he would be unbeatable if not for the Reorigination Drive in the boss room, but since said room is his containment chamber, G'Huun has no choice but to face the Adventurers there.
• Composite Character: To the three villains faced in previous expansions - his fellow Old Gods C'thun and Yogg-Saron, and Hakkar the Soulflayer. He has a name similar to that of C'thun, while him trying to co-opt control of the dead and secretly undermining his prison and his titanic jailers from the inside to escape is similar to Yogg-Saron's actions in Ulduar. Meanwhile, his blood magic and association with disease are similar to Hakkar, who also shares his title of Blood God. This is even reflected in-universe - the blood trolls, who originally worshipped Hakkar, turned to the worship of G'huun in his absence because their domains were similar, even if they were otherwise unrelated.
• Cool vs. Awesome: G'huun has clashed with the loa of death for control of souls and the afterlife, just as Yogg-Saron clashed with the Lich King for control of the Scourge; essentially it's Cthulhu vs the Grim Reaper.
• Evil Is Bigger: The second-biggest Old God by model size^note Though not actually largest in the lore - the models of the Old Gods we face are merely their above-ground parts, with most of their colossal bodies burrowed underground - G'huun, by contrast, is mobile.. Going by the concept art, just one of his teeth, with G'huun's whole mouth being the size of a house and only a fifth of his full height, is almost the size of a grown man. His body also looks very bloated.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: When G'huun's whispers translate in your mind, his voice is weak and rasping, as if he were suffering his own infection.
• Genetic Abomination: The Magitek variety. He was not born of the Void Lords like the true Old Gods, but was a product of titan experimentation. His Adventure Journal entry describes him as a result of the titans studying the Old Gods' "unending, ravenous need to corrupt", which accidentally created "a perfect avatar of that desire".
• Gone Horribly Wrong: The Titans and Titan Keepers created a facility to experiment with the void energies that made the Old Gods so they might find a way to neutralize it and safely destroy the Old Gods. Their experimenting instead created a fifth (though, thankfully, weaker) Old God.
• Lamprey Mouth: G'huun's mouth is like a combination of a shark's and a lamprey's.
• Make Them Rot: G'huun is considered the embodiment of entropy. Areas heavy with its corruption are decayed and covered in fungi.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: G'huun looks like a gigantic cross between a slug, a lamprey a tick and a leech.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: G'huun has rows of teeth surrounding his main teeth along the gums.
• Plaguemaster: G'huun created the Blood Plague that trolls on Zandalar suffered from, and has used this to corrupt the Loa Hir'eek to his cause.
• Remember the New Guy?: He was not part of the lore until Battle for Azeroth. Justified as he was locked away by the Titans who wanted to contain their terrible mistake.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Sealed in the facility of Uldir by the Titans, but he has been slowly breaking himself free with the help of Ateena and Zul.
• Weak, but Skilled: G'huun is weaker even than N'Zoth, but has still been able to start spread his influence across Zandalar, and seeks to consume Azeroth.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: G'huun and its forces make heavy use of this colour scheme; G'huun itself is a sickly maggot-white with a blood-red underbelly and growths on its back. The overall look seems to be inspired by the bleeding tooth fungus.

Naga

The Naga were once the elite of night elf society. Many of them stood by their queen when she made a deal with Sargeras to open a gateway to Azeroth and beginning the war of the ancients. After the plan failed and the sundering happened they were swallowed by the sea. They would have drowned if it not for their queen, Azshara making a deal with N’zoth transforming them into the Naga. They have been one of the most constant and dangerous threats to plague Azeroth.

General Tropes

• Always Chaotic Evil: Descended from the Highborne who agreed to N'zoth's deal of being turned into naga along with their Queen Azshara, while the rest remained as restless spirits in the ruins of Zin-Azshari. Much like other Old God originated races, they are chaotic evil by nature, however naga are notably more vicious than say, the Mantid, probably due to the ever-present influence of Azshara's rule over 10,000 years. It's also notable that N'zoth has had a direct influence on their biological development for millenia, with the arrangement of having zoatroid harvesters bring eggs from external hatcheries into the Eternal Palace, where Orgozoa is the only creature allowed to affect the development of the incubating eggs.
• Fantastic Racism: They hold every being that’s not them with pure contempt, a holdover from their elitist attitude as Highborne prior to being reborn as Naga, and reflecting the attitude of their Queen Azshara who originally desired Sargeras to wipe Azeroth of all non-Highborne races. Some exceptions are the Naga who once allied with Illidan and Kael'thas, who expressed an admiration for the Blood Elves' martial prowess and their mutual Highborne origins.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Naga are a mix of fish, elf, and reptile traits, though the reptilian traits are most prominent on the male naga and naga brutes. Their race name is also based on the half-serpent naga of Indian mythology.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Naga enslave local populations of gilgoblins and makrura by attaching zoatroids to their heads to mind control them, and control seagiants through force.
• Undying Loyalty: They all worship and love their Queen, to the point they will sacrifice their lives for her.
• Women Are Wiser: Naga society is matriarchal with female Naga regarded as being intellectually superior to males, and usually taking leadership and spellcasting roles while the males form the main infantry. However there are several male Naga and even Naga brutes who attain various ranks.

Azshara

Queen Azshara

^{Click here to see her Naga form}

"There has only ever been, only ever will be... one Azshara."

Class: Mage

Voiced by: Laura Post (English), Céline Melloul (French), Elena Ivasishina (Russian)

Queen Azshara was the beloved ruler of the kaldorei ten thousand years ago, and is the current ruler of the monstrous naga. Entrancingly beautiful and beloved by her people, Azshara began a descent into madness when she was corrupted by the Dark Titan Sargeras, master of the Burning Legion. After her defeat at the hands of Malfurion Stormrage, and the Great Sundering that sent her and much of her Highborne into the depths of the sea, Azshara was transformed into the Empress of Nazjatar — progenitor of the serpentine naga. Azshara is often thought to be the greatest mortal mage ever to live — although she may no longer be mortal.

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• Admiring the Abomination: On seeing a vision of the Black Empire, most mortals are driven insane. Azshara's response was a stunned "Magnificent".
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Taken to infinity with Sargeras. He's a fallen titan that leads the largest army of demons in the universe and wants to burn her planet to ash. She discovered that and decided to help him anyway.
• The Archmage: Azshara was easily the strongest mage on Azeroth when she was still an elf. And though she's been inactive, it's implied that the Legion's — and later Old Gods' — power boosts have made her into a being of such raw magical potential she could destroy the planet if given the order from her master. This is very telling with the Wrath of Aszhara, it's a raw being of Aszhara's fury channeled into a water elemental and one of her handmaidens, and at only a fraction of its true power is a dungeon boss on part with the rest. Farondis and the dungeon journal estimate that if the Wrath manifested entirely before players kill it, it would be able to bring the broken isles to the bottom of the ocean, and again, this is for an shard of her power being channeled.
• Bad Boss: Willingly offers her subjects to be N'Zoth's slaves if she gets to still rule them.
• Broken Ace: Beautiful, powerful and the former ruler of Kalimdor, yet also a decadent narcissist that ended up destroying her own empire as a result.
• Batman Gambit: Azshara bringing the adventurers to Nazjatar, and therefore very close to her, might look like she grabbed the Villain Ball. However, her intention was to bring them to her palace, and use the power of their Hearts of Azeroth to free N'zoth, which she ultimately succeeds at.
  • This is played with in the aftermath. Azshara later reveals she had actually planned to kill N'Zoth herself after he was freed, but this was foiled by the adventurers. However, the very act of freeing N'Zoth put him in the crosshairs of the adventurers as well, who end up killing N'Zoth for her, and free her from his imprisonment along the way. So her original gambit accidentally led to its main purpose being sabotaged, but in a way that ended up ultimately fulfilling the goal anyway.
• Beauty Is Bad: Azshara is beautiful, yes, but is probably one of the most evil characters in the setting.
• Benevolent Boss: Egotistical she may be, she still went above and beyond to save her people, first by holding back a flood by herself, then by making a deal with N'zoth. Subverted however, in that she agreed to the deal only if he made her his queen and not just a lowly servant and this only extended to the Highborne and not the rest of the elven race or Azeroth's non-elven races — who she never spared a thought for and was happy to let the Burning Legion wipe them out.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She was supposed to be an excellent queen that had done "so much good" to her people, according to Malfurion.
• Break the Haughty:
  • In Warbringers, after she enrages N'zoth during their negotiation of her deal with him, he leaves her floating alone in the abyss long enough for her to start thinking her aggressive negotiation and boasting might have ruined her chance at salvation, and quickly breaks out into a panic as she runs out of air and begins drowning, whereupon N'zoth finally saves her by forcing her to undergo a Painful Transformation into queen of the Naga.
  • Happens again at the end of the Eternal Palace raid. She was so sure she was far more powerful than the players, and did not seem to expect to actually lose. However, she does ultimately fall dead or unconscious, only to be revived by N'zoth once he is free.
• Charm Person: Though naturally beautiful as a Highborne, it was suggested that she used her powerful magics to put a glamour on the entirety of Night Elf society to be in love with her. Even the forces actively working against her mention her beauty with reverence when they see her, and her party-wiping ability in her "boss fight" in the Well of Eternity dungeon is dominating the entire party to be madly obsessed with her.
• Decadent Court: She and most of her Highborne. It's important to note that while they fit this trope they were very competent at what they did, but they were still self-aggrandizing and looked down on practically all non-Highborne.
• Deal with the Devil:
  • First, she made a deal with Sargeras's minions to support the Burning Crusade as it came to Azeroth. While nominally a bad idea all around, Sargeras values smart, powerful minions, ensuring that she and her Highborne had a high chance of surviving the destruction of Azeroth if the Legion won, albeit as demons.
  • She made a deal with N'zoth; save her and her people from drowning, and she would rebirth his empire and destroy his enemies, however, she would still be the queen. What's impressive is that the entire time she's making her deal she's the one in control, rightly assuming N'zoth is helpless without a servant and making the terms more favorable to herself than what N'zoth initially proposed, despite bringing nothing to the table except her aid.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
  • Her "boss fight" could be considered this. In Nozdormu's words: "Consider it a victory if you are simply able to occupy her attention, however temporarily."
  • Subverted. While she flat out refuses N'Zoth's deal in her Warbringers trailer, refusing to be his pawn; and that he'll agree to her terms or be stuck below the waves, as "god of nothing", it's implied he was tricking her into thinking it was her idea. She was still bold and smart enough to mouth off at and try to bargain with him, when merely glimpsing him could drive a mortal to madness.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: Notably attempted this with Sargeras with catastrophic results, and she ended up being betrayed instead. Azshara may or may not be attempting to do the same with N'zoth, as the nature and extent of their 'relationship' is left ambiguous. On one hand, Azshara is defiant of N'zoth even when striking her original deal with him, and openly taunts and shows disdain of him in the patch 8.2 Nazjatar cinematic. On the other hand, she is not horrified but genuinely impressed when N'zoth shows a glimpse of his true form and empire, in the 8.2 intro cinematic she shifts her tone to be teasing and yearning when discussing how long they've both waited for N'zoth's release. She also insisted on being made the Queen of the Black Empire as part of her deal with N'zoth, and considering she originally regarded Sargeras a 'mate worthy of her', this implies she may regard N'zoth as a candidate in the same way. There's also the mu regarding how N'zoth and Azshara cooperate with raising the eggs in her personal hatchery — as thousands of naga eggs are collected within the Eternal Palace under Azshara's ownership are then solely tended to by a N'zoth-derived aberration called Orogozoa, that sprays incubation and amniotic fluid on the growing eggs.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Emoting rude emotes at her (e.g. /rude, /angry, /spit) results in the player being punished with a variety of nasty status effects, detailed in this Wowhead article.
• The Dragon: To N'zoth in Battle for Azeroth.
• Dragon Ascendant: Ultimately, she outlives her "master" after leaving the key to killing him in the hands of the players, and portals away to parts unknown while players deal with N'zoth, meaning she escapes the expansion none the worse for wear, and now without having to worry about N'zoth pulling the rug out from under her and her naga.
• Egopolis: Emphasis on "ego". Multiple locations in Night Elf society were named after her, such as the capital city of Zin-Azshari and a pair of trees called the Boughs of Azshara. Shortly after the Legion's invasion, she was thinking of just changing the name of Zin-Azshari to "Azshara".
  • Even when she became a Naga, this arguably didn't stop. The Naga capital of Nazjatar could be considered a weird portmanteau of the race living there and the two higher-ups who directed its creation: Naga, Azshara and Vashj. It helps stroke the Queen's ego that the syllables Azsha- and -Azja happen to sound pretty similar.
• The Empress: Under her rule, Night Elf society expanded into an empire so large that only the Old Gods's own empire before the coming of the Titans could rival it.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Many of her female subjects were said to have lusted after her. This is the reason Vashj tried to kill Tyrande, and the fact that even Tyrande herself found it hard to resist implies it may have been partially from her magic. In fact even demons such as Felguards fell for her.
• Expy: From Warhammer, Azshara resembles Morathi. Both were queens of the still unified elves, both are incredibly beautiful, both are incredibly powerful sorceresses and both caused with their actions ultimately the sundering of the elves. When Azshara is presented as serpentine after her transformation, she looks quite like Dechala, and both were royal elves, transformed by Chaotic Gods. Although the status of Dechala expies, extends to other Naga, as written under Lady Vashj.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: In-Universe. According to the flavor text of her dressing gown, an Archaeology item, there was a rumour that the Highborne had a bad fashion sense. Upon obtaining it, the player concludes that the rumors were true.
• Faux Affably Evil: In Battle for Azeroth, Azshara talks to the stranded Alliance and Horde members with fake politeness. She allows them to enjoy their stay in Nazjatar (AKA lets them live for as long as she wants), and in several world quests she invites the adventurers to meet (AKA have them die to) several of her high-rank commanders and champions.
• Fluffy Tamer: She made the felhounds of the Burning Legion (which are basically hellhounds that feed on magic and are bred for the specific purpose of killing mages, like her) behave like puppies in her presence.
• Flunky Boss: In the Well Of Eternity instance, you fight against six of her mages, while only interrupting her. She's otherwise immune to all attacks.
• Friend to All Living Things: Subverted. She uses magic to get everyone to love her to further inflate her already continent sized ego.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Textbook example. Her actions led the Night Elves to ruin for her own benefit, especially to feed her own ego and desires. As Queen of the Naga, her scheming may yet wreck havoc on the surface world.
• The Heavy: In Battle for Azeroth, while N'zoth is the greatest (but not the only) threat to the world, it is Azshara who is responsible for carrying out his plans. Indeed, many of the Old Gods' schemes in the expansion (such as the fall of Lord Stormsong, the Siege of Boralus, and, in the beta at least, Zul's coup d'etat in Zuldazar) appear to have been masterminded by her directly.
• The High Queen: Was this to the night elves. Now she is N'zoth's queen.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Despite her own absolute defeat at the end of the Eternal Palace raid, she succeeded in both draining enough energy from the raid's Hearts of Azeroth to power her ritual to power down the Titan wards, and distract the raids and NPCs long enough for the lock to finally fail and the chains to shatter. This frees N'zoth, who immediately reaches up towards the platform, picking up Azshara and reviving her, before taking her away.
• Hopeless Suitor: She completely fell for Sargeras and believed herself to be the only one worthy of being his bride. Sargeras never once reciprocated and only saw her as a useful pawn.
• Humanoid Abomination: Her naga form. Her body is said to be still vaguely elvish, but has tentacles coming out of the lower part.
• Its Allabout Me: She is agonizingly egotistical. Everything that exists feeds her massive ego. Even as she struggled to hold back the floodwaters, she was focused on saving her empire, not her people.
• Irony: The queen who charmed everyone around her to love and worship her fell prey to Sargeras' own hypnotic presence. She becomes as obsessed with him as her most devout retainers were with her.
• Know When to Fold Them: For all of her arrogance and despite her incredible powers and skills as a mage she never tried to conquer Mount Hyjal due to the presence of all the spirits and demigods here, which she feared and despised, as she felt that it was something that even she couldn't control.
• Lady of Black Magic: Word of God says she may have been/is the most powerful mortal mage to have ever existed.
• Large and in Charge: The Queen of the Kaldorei also happens to be one of the tallest of the Kaldorei. As a Naga (according to the now outdated lore books) she's the size of a small mountain.
• Making a Splash: Her magic infused scepter allowed her to control water, even to the point of temporarily holding back the ocean. Given how common water magic is among naga, she could have developed some form of it following her transformation and the loss of Sharas'dal.
• Mass Hypnosis: Her ability "Total Obedience". It's also implied that Azshara did this subtly to the night elf population as a whole.
• Monster Lord: The eternal Queen of the naga for 10,000 years as of Battle for Azeroth.
• Mother of a Thousand Young: At least symbolically to the thousands of naga eggs housed in her personal hatchery in the Eternal Palace. While the Dungeon Journal clearly states that Azshara claims all the hatchery eggs as her property, it's not clear if all or any are literally laid by her. Notably, the hatchery is solely tended to by a servant of N'zoth — Orgozoa — and guarded by other aberrations linked to N'zoth.
• Narcissist: She genuinely believes that she's the most beautiful and most perfect person to ever exist.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Has a personal magic shield that protects her from damage, as found out by Mannoroth.
• Not What I Signed Up For: She partnered with Sargeras and the Burning Legion thinking that it would bring her even more power than she already had. Unfortunately for her, the Legion's invasion ended in failure and Azshara's kingdom was destroyed in the Sundering. Her response in her "Warbringers" short sums up her feelings on everything backfiring on her so spectacularly as Zin-Azshari sinks beneath the ocean.
  Azshara: This was not the deal I made!
• Obfuscating Stupidity: During the War of the Ancients. She liked to project the image of being an incredibly beautiful socialite. She largely hid her intelligence and power from those around her.
• Orcus on His Throne: Azshara is an immensely powerful mage, but has no interest in personally getting involved in present events, instead preferring to just send images of herself to taunt people and let her lieutenants do the dirty work. It does seem to change in Battle for Azeroth though.
• Painful Transformation: After accepting N'Zoth's offer, Azshara is first left beneath the ocean long enough to lose all her air. As soon as she starts to drown, she begins her transformation screaming, sinking and shifting into her new form.
• People Puppets: Her ability "Servant of the Queen".
• Pet the Dog: Downplayed. She bears the entire weight of the ocean on her back to save her people, but she could have just as easily mass-teleported them to anywhere else if not for her pride in her strength. She's also appeared to be least somewhat tormented with the guilt that she was going to go down in history as the failed Queen responsible for the mass-extinction of her race before N'zoth appears. After they talk, she unhesitatingly offers her people up as slaves to the Old God in return for her and their survival, and how much of that was her genuine care for her drowning civilization, and how much was her arrogant pride to remain queen, is left ambiguous (note how she doesn't spare a thought for the non-Highborne elves or any of Azeroth's other races.
  • She also told her subjects to leave the ruins of Zin-Azshari alone when the Naga were planning on retaking it, along with persuading/coercing the ghosts of the victims there to join their cause, although whether this was out of respect for the dead or something else is unknown.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The reason she and the Highborne were messing with the Well of Eternity in the first place was so they could gain the power to wipe out all of the other races on Kalimdor, leaving the Night Elves supreme.
• Puppet Queen: Though Azshara got power and the ability to survive under the waves, along with a nation to rule, N'Zoth is ultimately calling the shots when she becomes a naga.
• Smug Super: Is extremely arrogant and condescending to others, though given her incredible powers and skills as mage with her being considered to be the most powerful mage in all of Azeroth's history, it isn't totally undeserved.
• Smug Snake: While she was indeed a very successful and beloved queen, as well as being the most powerful mage in Azeroth, she still overestimate herself and her power and was played like a fiddle by Sargeras who had no interest in her, and later by N'Zoth.
• Snakes Are Sexy/Cute Monster Girl: If you can get past her blue skin and tentacles she is quite attractive.
• The Starscream: During the Ny'alotha raid, Azshara reveals that, despite being one of his most powerful minions and the one to finally grant him his freedom, she had planned to betray and kill N'Zoth all along.
• Statuesque Stunner: She was noted to be taller than most night elven males.
• Stripperiffic: She wears very little — a super slinky dress and some jewelry and nothing else. Somewhat self-justified as she sees herself as the apex of perfection; the dress and jewelry are simply there to accent her beauty.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: She has golden eyes, said to be a portent of great destiny in Night Elf society.
• Sycophantic Servant: Azshara likes to surround herself with these, who constantly shower her with over-the-top epithets like "Light of Lights", "Light of a Thousand Moons", "Flower of Life" and so on.
• Unscaled Merfolk: In the now non-canonical tabletop RPG splatbook "Magic & Mystery", she was described as having assumed the form of a giant mermaid-like being with the lower-body of a five-tentacled octopus. Battle for Azeroth gives her a few scales here and there, but overall follows this image.
• Unwitting Pawn: Azshara is this for N'Zoth. While Azshara appeared to make N'Zoth sweeten his deal in the Warbringers cinematic, there are hints that she was manipulated. Though N'Zoth offered her servitude first, he'd been watching her for a thousand years so he likely knew of her pride and desire to rule. Then he could pretended to be indignant and played off her desire to rule her people.
• Vain Sorceress: The quest you receive for doing her boss fight is even called "The Vainglorious".
• Vapor Wear: Implied with her clothing, though given its appearance could double as lingerie. Her current form◊ wears something like a bodice that is held together by some straps, but is overall still something like this.
• Villain with Good Publicity: During the War of the Ancients. She was so beloved by her subjects that it wouldn't be until later into the war that they would realize that she was aiding in summoning the the Burning Legion. Many assumed that the demon summoning was part of a coup by Xavius and the other Highborne and that Azshara was made their prisoner.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: As a Night Elf, she was greatly renowned for her beauty. The way she used magic to charm everyone she met may be one of the reasons she was considered the most beautiful night elf.

Aqir

A group of arthropod-like creatures serving the Old Gods as well as their offshoot races. The Aqir waged lengthy wars with the ancient inhabitants of Azeroth such as trolls and later elves, who managed to split their mighty empire into several enclaves in the far reaches of the world.

General tropes

• Ancient Egypt: Cities like Azjol Nerub, Anh'Qiraj and even N'yalotha contain a lot of obelisks, pyramids and other architecture inspired by the ancient Egyptians. This architecture might have been co-opted by Titans when Aqir conquered their facilities. The nerubians also have Egyptian-sounding names, while those of the Qiraji sometimes sound like "Arabian Nights" Days.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: All of them are either arthropods, or part humanoid, part arthropod.
• Bug War: Any conflict with them is this. In ancient times, they dominated the entire continent of Kalimdor. The Nerubians are on the receiving end of it in the War of the Spider when the Lich King started raising their own dead against them.
• Defector from Decadence: Despite their ascendency and proximity to Yogg-Saron's prison, the Nerubians eventually turned their back on the Old Gods and created their own independent civilization centered around order. In fact it was in part because of a backstabbing assault by the N'raqi during the Spider War that they were defeated by the Lich King and turned into undeads.
• Fantastic Racism: Rare instances of non-hostile Nerubians and Mantid exist, usually seeking an alliance against a bigger threat. Most still despise humanoids and see them as less civilised or less worthy.
• Horde of Alien Locusts: They were created by the alien Old Gods to exterminate native life on Azeroth.
• Mix-and-Match Critter: The original Aqir are retroactively a case of this — they exhibit traits of all insectoids encountered before — chitin-like carapace and partly humanoid form — but also some traits of other servants of the Old Gods such as tentacles.
• Scarab Power: The Qiraji in Southern Kalimdor as well as Nerubian Crypt Lords are based on Egyptian scarabs.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The city of Anh'Qiraj, enclosed by the Night Elves to contain the Qiraji following a devastating war centuries ago.
• Slaying Mantis: The Mantid.
• Social Darwinist: The Mantid send their youngest to invade Pandaria every few years in order to select the toughest warriors.
• Spider People: The Nerubians in Northrend are various crosses between spiders, bugs and humanoids.
• Wicked Wasps: Qiraji have a subrace (silithids) that includes wasps.
• Zerg Rush: Their most frequent tactic due to their insectoid nature, nearly-endless numbers, and very fast reproduction rate which allow them to overwhelm or outlast most of their enemies in straight battle. This is why the dragons and Night Elves chose to imprison the Qiraji behind the Scarab Wall as it wouldn't have been possible for them to fully defeat them in war, and why the Mogu and later the Pandarens couldn't fully defeat the Mantids despite pushing back their attacks. However their usual lack of tactics have allowed smarter enemies such as the Titan-Forged or the Trolls to get the edge on them several times and they suffer against foes that can outnumber and outrush them such as the Scourge did to the Neurbians during the Spider War, as even the Nerubians' numbers and reproduction rate couldn't match the Scourge's raising of deads, including Nerubians', to reinforce itself.

N'raqi

Otherwise known as the Faceless One. Creatures that were created by the Old God during the Black Empire days. They come in many shapes and forms most notably The C'Thraxx who were created during the war against the Titans-Forged by Yogg-Saron. These beings are some of the fiercest and loyalist minions of the Old Gods.

General Tropes

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• Always Chaotic Evil: All are devoted to the Old Gods and unlike the other races created by them they show no other initiative besides pleasing their Masters.
• Cthulhumanoid: There's a definite inspiration from Cthulhu in there designs, with tentacles on their hands and faces.
• The Dragon: Often serving as general to the Old Gods and commanding the other races like the aqir.
• Elite Mooks: The C'Thraxx are the most powerful form of N'raqi and were created by Yogg-Saron as a last-ditch effort to stop the Titans-Forged
• Giant Enemy Crab: The C’Thraxx have an appearance similar to crabs or lobsters with 2 giant claws and an armored exoskeleton.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: A lot them act as powerful magicians and priests, drawing power from their masters.
• Significant Anagram: Their name is that of the Aqir, the first race mentioned as a creation of the Old Gods, with a N added.

Kith'ix

Kith'ix was one of the most feared generals of the Black Empire who was sealed away when the Old Gods were defeated. Lokan eventually found him and used him along with Zakajz the Corruptor to hunt down and kill Tyr. Kith'ix and Zakajz eventually caught up with Tyr and they battle for 6 days and nights until Tyr gave his life to kill Zakajz with Kith’ix barely escaping with his life. Kith’ix eventually collapsed at the at the base of the Zandalar Mountains were the Loa buried his body.

Many centuries later Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire tricked a troll named Zan’do into reviving Kith'ix promising that he could give him great power, this doesn’t end well for him. When revived Kith'ix planned to destroy the Trolls to please its masters. The Zandalari eventually gathers all the trolls to fight back against Kith'ix and his Aqir forces. He is eventually put down by the Amani Trolls.

While he’s long dead he's had a major impact on the world of Azeroth particular with the trolls with their golden age coming after his defeat.

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• The Bad Guy Wins: Succeeds in his mission to kill Tyr. This is a Pyrrhic Victory though because he fails to kill the people accompanying Tyr, and is knocked out for thousands of years
• Dragon Their Feet: With his masters still sealed away. Kith'ix takes the Big Bad spot during the Aqir and Troll War.
• Evil Weapon: Kith'ix took Xal'atath from Zan'do after slaughtering him and used it in battle against the trolls.
• Final Solution: Plans to do this to the trolls. Many smaller tribes we're completely annihilated by his aqir.
• For the Evulz: The reason he tries to exterminate the trolls is because he thinks his masters will love it.
• God Guise: Zan'do believed that Kith'ix's body was the remains of an unknown loa, sealed away by the others out of fear, and that tapping into it would bring him great power. Upon resuscitating the creature, he was proven wrong... lethally.
• Karmic Death: Killed by the very same creatures he tried to exterminate.
• Posthumous Character: Dead for thousands of years but had a major impact on the history of Azeroth. Helping to kill Tyr. Reawakening the aqir, with his death causing a golden age for the trolls, and one of his generals Mythrax being a major threat in Battle for Azeroth.

Blood Trolls

Long ago when the Council of Tribes rule a troll summoned Hakkar the Soulflayer to the island of Zandalar. This resulted in the deaths of thousands of trolls but also introduce them to blood magic. Some of the trolls found potential in the blood magic and started practicing it becoming the blood trolls. Now worshiping G'huun they wish to free him from his prison.

General Tropes

• Asshole Victims: The alliance killed a bunch of them to accomplish their goals in the Battle of Dazar'alor. Considering what they've done to the Zandalari for hundreds of years, neither side is going to mourn them.
• Blood Magic: Their main source of power. They kidnapped people to harness their blood for their rituals.
• The Corrupter: With the help of their master G'huun they have been able to corrupt many to their side, Even corrupting Loa like Hir'eek to their side.
• The Dreaded: Feared in Zandalari Society, with kids being taught to fear them at an early age.
• Fan Disservice: Most of them are nearly naked however most of them are not appealing to the eyes. This especially goes for blood dire trolls.
• Kill the God: They are responsible for killing Torga and planned to do the same to the other Loa that don't bow to G'huun.
• Religion of Evil: They once worshipped the blood god Hakkar the Soulflayer but some time later switch their allegiance to G'huun.

The Nightmare

Xavius

Xavius

The Nightmare Lord

Lord of the Satyrs

"The Nightmare has corrupted dragons, gods, and legends. Your downfall will be simple and swift!"

Once the high councilor of Queen Azshara, Xavius was the night elf who first worked to bring the Legion into Azeroth. After he was killed by Malfurion Stormrage, Sargeras returned him to life as the first of the satyrs. To avoid him returning again, Malfurion bound him within a tree that was eventually sunken below the seas in the Sundering. In the depths of the ocean, Xavius was approached by the Old Gods, and given power over the Emerald Dream to twist it into the insidious Nightmare.

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• And I Must Scream: He spent some time as a disembodied spirit being tortured by Sargeras and even more time trapped within a tree at the bottom of the ocean. He actually quotes the trope after coming back from the former instance.
• Arch-Enemy: Of Malfurion Stormrage. Whatever Xavius' form, whatever sinister force is backing him, he will be gunning for Malfurion and making it his personal goal to force the Archdruid to suffer in some form or another.
• Arc Villain: He's the main enemy of the Val'Sharah region and the Emerald Nightmare raid.
• Back from the Dead: After Malfurion killed him, and after Sargeras tortured his soul for a time, the fallen titan decided to give Xavius new life and another chance to better serve him.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Even as a Night Elf. Xavius had replaced his organic eyes with magic crystals made of onyx with streaks of ruby to better perceive magic. Even before reaching Sargeras, Xavius had ambitions to overthrow Azshara.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Xavius was always devious, but the moment he and the Highborne accidentally made contact with Sargeras, the fallen titan brainwashed all of them into worshiping him as their new god.
• Came Back Wrong: Sargeras brought Xavius back from the dead as a demon satyr. This warped his mind to be like those of the other demons, more actively malevolent and destructive.
• The Corrupter: After coming back as a satyr, Xavius set about plans of corruption. He went to individual Highborne to tempt them and then convert them into satyrs like himself. He then began to fill Illidan Stormrage's mind with dark thoughts against his brother Malfurion, setting him down the path to become the Betrayer. Then when he was made master of the Emerald Nightmare, he spread its corruption to those connected to the dream from druids to dragons to wild gods, Including the likes of Cenarius and Ysera.
• Death Is Cheap: He's suffered three distinct defeats, each of which Malfurion believed he would never return from. Not only has Xavius continued to survive, he's if anything gotten stronger between each appearance.
• Dimension Lord: As the Nightmare Lord, N'Zoth placed Xavius in charge of spreading the Emerald Nightmare's influence. Within the Nightmare, Xavius could manipulate everything and create nightmares for anyone who entered.
• Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: He could be considered a Wild Card except he is firmly on the side of evil: he just happens to jump from one evil faction to another. First, he works for Azshara and by proxy the Burning Legion, becoming a demonic being. Then he defects to the Old Gods after getting tossed into the ocean (which is their domain) by Malfurion, and becomes master of the Nightmare. Come Legion, he once again is aligned with the demons and uses the Nightmare in their favor, even having satyrs and felhounds as minions. However, once you are in the Emerald Nightmare raid it becomes clear that he retains his Old Gods loyalties as well. That the Old Gods and the Burning Legion's end goals are mutually incompatible makes Xavius' actions even more interesting. Ultimately, it could be said that Xavius' loyalty is ultimately to Xavius, and that I Fight for the Strongest Side! is in effect.
  Xal'atath: Xavius, running from one master to the next, scrambling for power, yet defeated again and again. The God of the Deep picks a poor champion? Or, is there something else at play?
• The Dragon: First to Azshara, now to N'Zoth.
• Dream Weaver: He uses the power of the Nightmare to, well, give people nightmares.
• Druid: A very evil variant as the Nightmare Lord, allowing him to use dark and twisted versions of druid spells.
• Dying as Yourself: After killing him in Emerald Nightmare raid. You are teleported to the Emerald Dream along with his body which has transformed back into his original night elf form, indicating that he's finally dead.
• Enemy Mine: As of Legion he's back to working for the Burning Legion, even though it is a sworn enemy of his current masters. It seems that his plan was to use the demons against the heroes of Azeroth so that its weakened armies could not stand against the Old Gods later on.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Xavius was turned from a Night Elf after his death into a more fearsome satyr. The "Shade of Xavius" in Darkheart Thicket isn't too bad as far as aesthetics go, but when you see his true form in the Emerald Nightmare... well, one might wonder if he's a long-lost relative of Ganon of The Legend of Zelda fame.
• Evil Is Bigger: Even when he was originally a Night Elf, Xavius towered over the average seven-foot tall Night Elf. He was also arrogant and ambitious to begin with.
• Fauns and Satyrs: The first satyr ever created, though he himself was twisted into this form by Sargeras, and then he started turning other night elves into them.
• Fighting a Shadow: The boss battle against him in Darkheart Thicket is a case of this. The boss is even called the Shade of Xavius. Justified, as it is said he cannot use his full power outside the Emerald Nightmare.
• I Shall Taunt You: He does this frequently appearing in a shadow form during the Val'sharah quest chain to ridicule your efforts or mockingly inform you of what lies ahead. He usually concludes each encounter with an Evil Laugh while he disappears.
• Jerkass: Even beyond being the reason behind the corruption of the Emerald Dream and an agent of both the Old Gods and Burning Legion, Xavius is a petty, rude ass who takes time out purely to mock you.
• Master of Illusion: How he ensnares Cenarius, tricking him into believing that Malfurion and you succumbed to the Nightmare.
• Monstrosity Equals Weakness: Averted. While outside the Emerald Nightmare, he simply looks like a red and black satyr with more Spikes of Villainy, his true form is a gigantic monstrous thing that only vaguely resembles a satyr but is far more powerful.
• Nightmare Weaver: They don’t call this guy the Nightmare Lord for nothing.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: His artificial eyes were black onyx with streaks of ruby red. His satyr form is now gray with black hair and red accents thanks to his connection to the Emerald Nightmare.
• Red Baron: The Nightmare Lord, once he became part of the corrupted Emerald Dream.
• Revenge by Proxy: After his death at Malfurion's hands and agonizing torture from Sargeras for his failure, Xavius sought to take revenge on the druid by targeting the two closest to him. He worked to corrupt Illidan's thoughts to drive him to betray Malfurion and intended to deliver Tyranda to Sargeras himself. He succeeded in the former, but failed in the later thanks to Malfurion and Shandras Feathermoon.
• Sadistic Choice: Xavius forces Tyrande to make one by choosing between trying to rescue Malfurion and protecting a temple of Elune from a corrupted Ysera; her husband or her goddess. Tyrande chooses to protect the temple then sends the player character to Darkheart Thicket to rescue Malfurion.
• The Starscream: Even before discovering the Burning Legion but especially after, Xavius had desires to take over as ruler of the Night Elves and to take the deposed Azshara as his consort.
• Transflormation: Was turned into a tree by Malfurion during their second fight. This backfired as it connected him to the Emerald Nightmare and the Old Gods, making him a very evil Wise Tree.
• You Are Too Late: A recurring part of trying to stop him in Val'Sharah. Before the player even arrives he's already inflicted Nightmare corruption on Cenarius. When the player tries to gather the archdruids to free Cenarius, they find Xavius has already corrupted one of them too. As a plan B they are sent to retrieve the Tears of Elune, only Xavius has already stolen them.

Twilight's Hammer Clan

When some of the Void-corrupted Naaru crash-landed on Draenor, some of the orcs attempted to harness its Void energies and were driven mad. The Chieftains eventually forbid the orcs from tapping into their powers. Many ignored this order and were promptly banished. Growing in number they waited for the end of the world, The Hour of Twilight.

When the war between the draenei and orcs was getting underway, Gul'dan ordered Cho'gall to recruit them. Cho'gall told them the Horde would help them bring about the Hour of Twilight, and they agreed to join, forming the Twilight's Hammer Clan.

When the Twilight's Hammer Clan came to Azeroth they felt the presence of the Old Gods. Cho'gall up until this point didn't care about their prophecies, but when he felt the Old Gods presence he became a firm believer in void.

They took part in the First and Second Wars, until they joined the Stormreavers in the search for the Tomb of Sargeras. Most members of the clan were slaughtered by the Blackrock and Black Tooth Grin clan members dispatched by Doomhammer to eliminate the traitors.

The remaining members of the clan started to recruit others races of Azeroth and planned to bring about The Hour of Twilight..

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General Tropes

• Apocalypse Cult: The Twilight's Hammer worship the Old Gods, and assisted Deathwing to bring about the Hour of Twilight, the end of the world.
• Ax-Crazy: One of if not the craziest clan of the Old Horde, due to its members having all been made insane by listening to the Void whispers. The original clan and the cult that it later became are all fanatics obsessed with the end of the world.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Following the Second and Third Wars, the Twilight's Hammer has become a cult that includes members of all races.
• The Dragon: To the Stormreaver Clan. Now they serve as this to the Old Gods
• Klingon Promotion: One questline in Mount Hyjal, where the Adventurer joins the cult to rescue someone who is due to to be sacrificed in one of the cult's rites, suggests this is an accepted method to rise through their ranks.
• One-Winged Angel: Many cultists that have ascended to become humanoid elementals in Cataclysm.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With the rest of the Old Horde due to the clan members' insanity and erraticness, making them disobey to Blackhand's orders, and of their goal to bring the Hour of Twilight. Blackhand even intended to wipe the clan out until Cho'gall convinced him to put him in charge of the clan, and seemingly managed to bring them back in the fold,though in truth he just convinced them to play the long game by telling them that helping the Horde could bring the Hour of Twilight.
• Token Evil Teammate: While the original Horde was already a very evil and violent organisation, most of its members didn’t want to destroy their world or Azeroth while the Twilight's Hammer has always sought the destruction of the world and return to nothingness wanted by the Void.

Cho'gall

Cho'gall

Class: Ogre-Mage

Voiced by: Patrick Seitz (Cho)/Grant George (Gall) (English), Oleg Kutsenko (Cho)/Dmitry Filimonov (Gall) (Russian)

He seems quite beside himself.

First and most powerful of all the Ogre-Magi, and head of the Twilight's Hammer, Cho'gall is one of the oldest villains in the Warcraft universe. He accompanied the Old Horde in their attack on Lordaeron, but ultimately sided with Gul'dan when he betrayed the Horde in search of the Tomb of Sargeras. Cho'gall ultimately survived the Horde's retribution, and made his way to Southern Kalimdor, where he lay in hiding.

Inside Ahn'Qiraj, he infused his body with part of the remains of C'thun, in an ritual to resurrect the Old God. Although eventually defeated, he survived again and later pledged himself and the Twilight's Hammer to the service of Deathwing.

In Warlords of Draenor, the alternate Cho'gall serves Gul'dan as a member of the Shadow Council. He has been sent to the crashed ship Oshu'gun to subjugate the naaru K'ure within.

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• Ax-Crazy: Very smart and cunning and totally devoted to the Old Gods and to bring the Hour of Twilight, his exposition to the Void and increasing transformation not helping his sanity.
• Backported Development: He got an x-shaped scar towards the end of the Second War, and horrific mutations during the war against the Lich King. Despite being decades before and a planet away from those events, Cho'gall appears in Warlords of Draenor's alternate timeline with the scar and most of said mutations.
• Beard of Evil: Both heads have one.
• Becoming the Mask: Cho'gall originally only pretended to care about the Pale and the minions of the Void because he realized it was more powerful than fel magic, viewing them all as insane. After some time, however, he discovered that what they were saying actually had truth to it, and became one of the most powerful and faithful proponents of the Void (in both timelines).
• Body Horror: Oh boy, the mutations he went through thanks to the remains of C'thun. He also causes this to players, transforming them into faceless ones if the corrupted blood manages to corrupt the players completely.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: The head with the fu manchu mustache (Cho) has long black eyebrows. This is somewhat unique as ogres typically don't have eyebrows.
• The Dragon: Was this to Gul'dan in Warcraft 2. Currently fills this role for Deathwing.
• Dragon with an Agenda: In the alternate timeline, however, he's intent on the destruction of the world every bit as much as he was in the main one. As soon as he has a means to that end, he promptly betrays Gul'dan.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: His upper chest and arms are covered with eyeballs, due to the ritual with C'thun which resulted in him going all One-Winged Angel.
• Fat Bastard: Has a physique in line with the ogre standard. He loses this after he is mutated, gaining a combination of Top-Heavy Guy and Heroic Build.
• Genius Bruiser: As an ogre-mage he has tremendous strength and toughness paired with a cunning mind (or two) and dangerous magic.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has an x-shaped scar on his belly from the axes of Rend and Maim.
• Killed Off for Real: Finally put down for real in his Bastion of Twilight raid encounter in Cataclysm.
• Kneel Before Zod: Can force his enemies to kneel before him and empower him with their worship in the Bastion Of Twilight encounter.
• Large and in Charge: While always under the leadership of others, Cho'gall has led the Twilight's Hammer ever since the old Horde and is pretty damn big. He then got even bigger later on when he was mutated.
• Large Ham: Most WoW characters are, but his Gall head takes it much farther.
  Gall: Gone is the dawn, come, shades of Twilight. Come madness, come havoc, COME INFINITE NIIIIIIIIGHT! THE CLAAAAWS OF FATE, GRAAAASP THE UNBELIEVEEEERRRSS!!!
• Magic Knight: Though pugilist is probably a better description.
• Multiple Head Case: It's a given, being an ogre mage. Both heads in his case have individual names, Cho and Gall.
• Not Quite Dead: Twice so far. First, he was thought to have been killed by Rend and Maim, but he survived with an x-shaped scar. He was buried in the collapse of Ahn'Qiraj during his battle with Med'an, and it still wasn't enough to kill him apparently.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The Twilight's Hammer Cult under his leadership is entirely devoted to bringing about the apocalypse.
• One-Winged Angel: Turned into a giant in the comic, among other things.
• Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Subverted as Cho'gall does not showcase any typical ogre traits other than the bickering between his two heads after his transformation. Well that and always being half-naked.
• Palette Swap: For some reason his apprentices all use his pre One-Winged Angel model.
• Pronoun Trouble: Cho and Gall are conjoined twins with separate minds and personalities. However, they are almost always referred to with singular pronouns as if they were one person.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He himself serves as both. Cho, the Blue Oni, is eloquent and intelligent. Gall, the Red Oni, has been reduced to a gibbering lunatic who speaks in riddles, doublespeak, and cryptic prophecies. An orc seer explains that Gall was fully taken over by the Old Gods, hence the result. It also means that you want to be as far away as possible when the two heads speak in unison. In the final battle, when they channel the full corruptive might of the Old Gods, Cho suddenly becomes very afraid while Gall is ecstatic, implying that even as corrupted as he was, there was still something beyond it that absolutely terrified Cho. Warlords of Draenor downplays this a bit. While the two heads still fit the trope and Gall is still a bit more demented than Cho, they seem to be much more on the same page than they were in the main timeline. Justified, as Gall had not yet been fully corrupted by the Old Gods in this timeline.
• Religion of Evil: He made the Twilight's Hammer into a mad religious cult after the fall of the Old Horde, their objects of worship being the Old Gods.
• Sanity Slippage: Cho'gall was never particularly sane, but his worship of and exposure to the Old Gods made it all far, far worse.
• Spikes of Villainy: When he is mutated by the power of C'Thun, giant rocky spikes emerge from his upper body.
• The Starscream: Breaks off from Gul'dan and takes control of the Pale after corrupting K'ure into Decimatus.
• Stout Strength: As with all ogres, he used to have a notable muscular belly prior to his mutation.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: As most ogres are.
• We Have Reserves: After you finish the stairway gauntlet in Bastion Of Twilight, he will say that you have only separated the wheat from the chaff.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Between his training with Gul'dan and the remains of C'thun's body, he's pretty much lost any semblance of sanity.
• You're Insane!: Gul'dan says these exact words to Cho'gall as he corrupts K'ure to the point of transforming the Naaru into a Void God. Considering the sort of person Gul'dan is, that's really saying something.

Benedictus

Archbishop Benedictus

Class: Priest

"Dear friends of the Light, you are all welcome here, in this beautiful cathedral that turns none away who come with open hearts and humble spirits."

Benedictus is the leader of the Church of the Holy Light in Stormwind, and one of the foremost religious leaders of the Alliance. He was previously a student of the late Archbishop Alonsus Faol himself and later on succeeded him in his position when the latter died. As the Archbishop of the Church of the Holy Light, he appears to be a man of action, as he personally takes action against evil across the world, whether by himself or by sending eager adventurers.

He is eventually revealed to be part of the Twilight's Hammer cult as the Twilight Prophet spoken of by Fandral when he attacked Thrall. He took over leadership of the cult after Cho'Gall's death.

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• All There in the Manual: His Face–Heel Turn was given little to no explanation until World of Warcraft: Chronicle. After the third war, and specifically the horrors of Lordaeron, Benedictus faith started to wane. The Twilight's Hammer cult eventually picked up on this, and sent spies to see if they could subtly convince him to join. The Old Gods plagued his mind with visions of The Hour of Twilight which he found beautiful, he eventually forsook the Light and joined the cult.
• Badass Preacher: You wouldn't think that the Warcraft equivalent to the Pope would be much of a frontline fighter, but he proves himself when he not only fights the elemental invasion of Stormwind, but also journeys to Wyrmrest in Northrend for the Final Battle in Cataclysm. And then you end up fighting him as a boss, and he's a reasonable challenge.
• Bald Mystic: Bald and wields the Light, which is effectively holy magic.
• Bald of Evil: His bald head is exposed after he begins using shadow magic during his fight against the players.
• Bastardly Speech: In Varian's short story, gives one that sounds like a sermon preaching hope on the surface, but actually sounds more like subtle Twilight's Hammer propaganda when you think about it.
• Beard of Evil: His long beard turns into this after his Face–Heel Turn.
• Casting a Shadow: He initially utilizes holy spells, but switches purely to shadow after his Twilight Epiphany.
• Churchgoing Villain: Maintains his cover as the much-revered Archbishop after his Face–Heel Turn, but is still capable of wielding the Light without issue.
• Cool Old Guy: Prior to his Face–Heel Turn, Benedictus seemed to be an old and decent spiritual leader.
• Despair Event Horizon: The death and destruction caused in the third war drove him to join the cult.
• Evil Old Folks: After his Face–Heel Turn.
• Face–Heel Turn: In Cataclysm he joins the Twilight's Hammer and becomes The Dragon for Deathwing. until Chronicles vol. 3 there was no explanation for this turn.
• Fallen Hero: Head of the Church of the Holy Light and revered by its worshippers, but turned his back on them by joining the Twilight's Hammer.
• False Prophet: He was the leader of the Church of the Holy Light and one of the greatest religious leaders of Azeroth. In the Cataclysm expansion, it's revealed that he was secretly the Twilight Prophet, one of the leaders of the Twilight's Hammer Cult, and had been using his position in the church to recruit and brainwash new members into the Cult.
• Good Shepherd: Prior to his turn to evil, Benedictus was a genuinely kind-hearted spiritual leader.
• Hat of Authority: Puts on a tall priestly hat in Cataclysm.
• High Priest: Archbishop of the Church of the Holy Light.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Utilizes the Light to smite his foes.
• Interface Spoiler: His being a boss is spoiled by the Dungeon Journal and the achievements page.
• In the Hood: Initially wore a hood that covered his bald head. In Cataclysm he puts on a hat more fitting of his title.
• Killed Off for Real: Slain by players after revealing his true colors and trying to take the Dragon Soul from Thrall.
• Light 'em Up: As the leader of the Church of the Holy Light, it stands to reason he's a powerful wielder of the Light.
• Light Is Not Good: Still wields the Light despite his turn to evil.
• The Mole: Uses his high position to further the Twilight's Hammer's goals.
• One-Winged Angel: One can arguably call his phase after his Twilight Epiphany spell as this.
• Retcon: In Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, his first appearance as a villain, he was actually the Twilight Father, and the prophecy of Thrall's victory against Deathwing which was known by the Twilight Prophet in 4.2 was shown in Twilight of the Aspects to have been clearly prophesied by a separate yet unmentioned entity from Benedictus. In 4.3, Benedictus is referred to as the Twilight Prophet instead, and no mention is made of any Twilight Father.
  • It was heavily implied that Deathwing's return is what drove him to madness. Chronicles reveals he was driven mad long before by the horrors of the third war.
• Sinister Minister: Despite leading a Saintly Church, following his Face–Heel Turn he has no benevolent intentions and even uses his position for the sake of the Twilight's Hammer.
• Staff of Authority: His staff serves as a symbol of the priesthood.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He appears to be absolutely worshipped by the people of Stormwind, and could easily deceive the entire populace and have them join the cause of the Old Gods if not for Varian's survival in his short story.

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