10 Lore Pieces You Need to Know to Enjoy 11.0’s Story
image credit: blizzard
With a few hours to go until global launch for 11.0, here’s our final pre-launch post: what lore do I need to know to enjoy the 11.0 story and not feel lost? No spoilers will be found in this post. Enjoy, and see you in Khaz Algar!
-Ily
1. Who’s the scary elf lady on the cover?
I previously wrote a blog explaining who Xal’atath is. You can read that here. If you don’t have time to read the entire post, the short version is: Xal’atath is an entity who was trapped in the Shadow Priest artifact weapon during Legion. She is an ancient Void-aligned being who we don’t know much about, other than she’s got a new title as “The Harbinger,” got a fancy magic-eating artifact from Iridikron buffed with Galakrond’s essence, and she’s pissed as always.
2. What happened to Anduin?
Did you skip Shadowlands? I hope so! Anduin faced quite an ordeal during that expansion. Sylvanas kidnapped many Azerothian leaders looking for a lawful champion to infiltrate one of the afterlives. Anduin was the chosen one and, with the use of Domination magic, was mind controlled by the Jailer. He was forced to kill a bunch of people, attack ancient beings, attack his friends, and worst of all, he thinks he enjoyed it a bit. It generated a massive crisis of faith for him that leaves him worried he may not be able to call on the Light as he once did. He’s down bad rn.
image credit: blizzard
3. Alleria?
Did you skip BFA as well? I hope so! I also wrote a quick Alleria blog you can find here. If you left Alleria at the end of Legion, she was returning to Azeroth victorious. Her investigations into the Void led her to found the Void Elves, or Ren’dorei, as part of the Alliance. She fought her sister’s armies in BFA and then kinda hung out. She is now back after being called by Khadgar to investigate The Harbinger. No major changes, still really cool, still a legend.
4. Why is the campaign sending me to Dalaran? How many wars has it won us?
Did you skip Dragonflight too? I hope you didn’t-it slayed! Khadgar came to the Dragon Isles with us in Dragonflight. He read a ton of books at the Blue Dragonflight’s old libraries and was conducting research into the artifact Xal’atath has. Obviously, due to his affiliation with the Kirin Tor, the continuing research would take place in Dalaran.
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Dalaran has been instrumental in winning us two wars during WoW lore. It played a role in other wars prior to Vanilla as well, though we’ll focus on WoW content for now. In Wrath of the Lich King, the floating city took us to Northrend. Due to its altitude, it served as a perfect place to send a reply code nullifying the re-origination protocol that Ulduar almost sent to the Pantheon. Close! It also served as a staging ground for us during our Northrend expedition, keeping heroes safely above the tide of undeath below them.
We once again returned to Dalaran in Legion. The city provided a home base for heroes to scatter across the Broken Isles and find their artifacts and the Pillars of Creation. Dalaran’s halls and arcane knowledge proved essential to the war against the Legion this time, giving us access to many artifacts, materials, and mages.
If I were an anti-Azeroth entity and I was about to launch a war on the planet, what would I think of the floating magical city that won the day for the heroes before? If I were a competent, smart villain who knew what I was up against, I’d surely try to deprive the heroes of this resource by striking there first…
image credit: blizzard
5. Are the Horde and Alliance fighting each other right now?
No! Christmas miracle! A very uneasy truce was forged at the end of BFA after Sylvanas fled Azeroth. A Horde Council replaced the mantle of Warchief, the Alliance remained under the High King. Forces continued to break into small skirmishes from time to time (read: PvP game mode), but overall, the faction war is currently quiet. So yes, Thrall and Jaina are allowed to hang out again without it being a problem. Besties!
6. Are these the same Earthen I saw during Wrath and Cataclysm?
Sort of! These Earthen were sent to Sector AR-938 (Khaz Algar) long ago. It’s assumed they came from the general umbrella of all Earthen who were made after the war with the Black Empire. They have since adopted their own customs and cultures, some of which may not sit well with their creators…
Their models will look different from Wrath Earthen for a number of reasons. First, the game has changed since 2008. Second, they have some interesting story pieces that you’ll discover that may hint at why they look similar to a certain other race.
image credit: blizzard
7. Are these the same Nerubians from Wrath? Where’s Anub’arak?
Not directly the same, but they’re basically cousins! Nerubians are descendants of the ancient Aqir race and settled predominantly in Northrend and Khaz Algar. The Nerubians from Wrath were Scourge-aligned after being conquered by the Lich King during the War of the Spider. Initially, all Nerubians rejected the Old Gods, their former masters, unlike their other Aqir descendants, the Qiraji and Mantid. The Lich King would come into conflict with Azjol-Nerub in Northrend and conquered them, with Azj-Kahet staying safe due to its distance from Northrend.
Anub’arak is obviously long dead and not here. Any Wrath Nerubians were undead-these Nerubians are untouched by the plague of undeath and depict Nerubians as they were. Of the elder races, they are one of the most insidious, intelligent, and capable.
8. How did Magni end up encased in diamonds again?
Magni was the sole ruler of Ironforge until the time of the Cataclysm. He sought to discover why the elements were in such upheaval by performing a Titan ritual to connect with the earth, but the ritual ended up returning him to statue form like the Earthen of old. Later on, we’d learn that this ritual greatly deepened his connection with Azeroth’s world soul, with him taking the mantle of Speaker during Legion. He worked as Speaker during BFA and sought to save Azeroth from the Void’s approach. What has he been up to since 8.3?
9. Who are the Arathi again? Wait, which Arathi?
This can get confusing so read closely. The original Arathi civilization on Azeroth was known as the Empire of Arathor, led by King Thoradin and founded approx. 2,800 BDP. This is a super old empire. It began to fall by 1,200 BDP and wouldn’t really resurface until Anduin Lothar, Thoradin’s last living descendant, reminded various allies of their old allegiance and formed the Alliance. This faction included the High Elves in Quel’Thalas.
The current Arathi civilization is called the Arathi Empire (different from the Empire of Arathor, the old one). They live somewhere, we don’t know exactly where. They’re descendants of both Arathor humans and High Elves. Saying more would be spoilery, but they exist.
10. Are the Titans maybe a little sketchy?
Uh, big time. I always giggle when folks don’t think the Titans could have a cruel streak: remember in Wrath when we learned that they literally installed a reorigination protocol to WIPE THE FUCKING PLANET? And then in Cataclysm when we found another one?
That’s not to say the Titans haven’t helped us. We’ve learned a lot from their keepers, their knowledge, and they’ve clearly cared at least a bit about fostering life on Azeroth. They fought with us against Sargeras in Antorus, giving up their forms to imprison Sargeras at their Seat. They’ve fought for the good of the Great Dark many times.
As long as everyone follows protocol in an orderly fashion.
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This isn’t new: as far back as Vanilla, Titan constructs famously followed their directives without mercy. We’ve had many notable examples of Titanic creations coming into conflict with us because they’re just following orders: Algalon fought us since we were interfering with the reorigination directive, every watcher at the Halls of Origination fought us since we were on the premises, half the zone of Uldum tried to kill us, and even small scale dungeon bosses have fought back at us just for thinking of doing things a different way.
The will of the Titans is to follow instructions. That’s it. Don’t think outside the box, don’t adjust your instructions, just serve your function. We recently learned even more about the will of the Titans on Azeroth during Dragonflight. Dragon eggs being forcibly infused with Order magic, keepers enslaving sentient races for no good reason, and a renewed Keeper Tyr being shocked at the world he has entered.
What happens when Titanic creations, or beneficiaries, decide they will no longer follow instructions? What happens if the Pantheon’s goals for Azeroth are not our goals for Azeroth?
What happens when Azeroth, the world soul, the “last titan,” finally wakes up?
image credit: blizzard
