Old God

"In the time before time, when the world was still in its infancy, a battle between a Titan and a being of unimaginable evil and power raged on this very soil. The prophecy is unclear about whether or not the Titan was vanquished ... but it illustrates that a Titan fell."

—Geologist Larksbane

The Old Gods (a.k.a. the Old Whisperings, the Elder Gods, the Old Lords or the Dread Elders) are mysterious, godlike and greatly malefic entities which ruled in tyranny and chaos over the infant universe before they were defeated and sequestered inside the primordial world of Azeroth by the Titanic Pantheon. Very few mortals have ever been aware of the Old Gods' existence. Fewer still consider them anything else than myths from a time before time began; a rumor of a dread and ancient past that should forever remain forgotten to the mortal races.

History

The Ordering of Azeroth

None now remember how Azeroth came to be, yet legends persist that the Titans travelled to the newly formed world--shaping the land and first seeding it with life. Beings as the Earthen were then created by the Pantheon to complete the mighty works the Titans had begun, and to prepare Azeroth for the time when it would give birth to the first mortal creatures. After the Titans had departed from Azeroth however, a great calamity befell the young world. From the endless void of the universe, unspeakable horrors known only as Old Gods came. The world buckled to its foundation under dark powers unimaginable, and the elements were thrown into such disorder that Azeroth degenerated back into a state of primordial chaos, entropy and destruction; a world where no life could form or exist.

The creations of the Titans too were subjugated by the Old Gods, becoming afflicted with the Curse of Flesh. The elements which comprised the world had become as the dark pawns of the Old Gods, and the Titans' creations had either been destroyed or were suffering a far worse fate. When the Titans discovered what transpired upon their youngest seedling, they made their return. The Pantheon struck down the four Elemental Lords who were devastating the world and shattered the Old Gods' citadels, which caused the greatest battle Azeroth would ever know to erupt. One by one, the Old Gods were defeated and sequestered, but from this great siege between the gods the rumor of a Titan having fallen echoes across the ages.

The Old Gods' grasp on Azeroth had grown so malign however that destroying the entities would ensure the annihilation of the world. Evidently, the Old Gods had infected Azeroth early in its development by the Titans, and the spreading of that infection had bonded them symbiotically with the infant world. The Pantheon instead neutralized the power of the Old Gods, and bound the entities within Azeroth for the remainder of its existence. After the Old Gods were contained and their elemental servants banished, the spirits of the elements again settled into symbiotic harmony, and the world's ability to birth and sustain life returned. The Titans reseeded the world, re-created the Earthen and empowered several defensive mechanisms, such as the Titanic watchers and the Dragon Aspects. They then departed from the world anew, leaving Azeroth to once again await the awakening of the first mortal beings.

War of the Ancients

During the War of the Ancients they corrupted the great benevolent Dragon Aspect Neltharion, to create for them the extremely powerful Demon Soul which they empowered as well, to have Sargeras use to unintentionally set them free. The Demon Soul was taken from Neltharion by Malfurion, then taken from him by Illidan and put in the Sargeras-summoning matrix, then taken back by Neltharion, who shortly thereafter was struck away by the Old Gods, who wished to have the summoning completed. Malfurion picked up the Demon Soul after Neltharion dropped it, and used it (in conjunction with Illidan) to prevent Sargeras' entry. It was then given to the dragons, stolen by Nekros ten-thousand years later, taken back by the dragons, and then destroyed.

Recent history

10,000 years later the Old Gods invaded Nozdormu's realm and managed to open a rift in time, that, as they had planned, tossed some beings back through time, beings that would change the way the war of the ancients took place, and give Sargeras a new chance to enter the world, and therefore give them a new chance to set themselves free. Their plans were although again crushed by the very same Malfurion Stormrage.

According to Malfurion Stormrage, one of the three is behind the Nightmare corrupting the Emerald Dream.

Yogg-Saron remains imprisoned beneath Northrend but C'thun has been awakening for some time. C'thun recently awoke completely and was able to physically return to Azeroth. His lair lies in the ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, and packs of brave heroes have already begun to form and venture into the ruins. Perhaps they can destroy the evil god before he emerges to devastate Azeroth?

At some point during his stewardship, Loken came under the sway of Yogg-Saron and eventually betrayed both the Pantheon and his own brother, Thorim. He resides in Ulduar's Halls of Lightning, seeking to free Yogg-Saron and bring down the Pantheon.

Background

Whispers of the Old Gods

Since the dawning of life on Azeroth, the imprisoned and sleeping Old Gods have whispered to the subconsciousness of mortal and Eternal beings alike, subverting their thoughts and feelings and sometimes driving them to great malice, complete insanity, or both. The most notorious and tragic victim of the Old Whisperings is Neltharion the Earth-Warder; the once mighty black Dragon Aspect who had been empowered by the Titan Khaz'goroth with dominion over the deep places of the world. Yet, not even Neltharion's great wisdom and power proved capable of breaking the grip the Old Whisperings had on his mind, causing the Earth-Warder to eventually lose all his sanity. Neltharion renamed himself Deathwing, seeking the genocide of all non-draconic life on Azeroth as well as the enslavement of the other dragonflights.

Malfurion Stormrage and Varo'then momentarily heard the Whisperings when they held the Demon Soul within their grasp. Malfurion has since stated that "Ysera's noble brood has fallen victim to the Old Whisperings" as well. The Highborne Queen Azshara is said to have heard the Whisperings moments before what would have been her death, offering to save her life and the lives of the other Highborne from the Sundering by transforming them into the serpentine Naga-- an offer she evidently accepted or had coerced on her. The remaining exiled Highborne who made landfall in the Tirisfal Glades are rumored to have succumbed to insanity after hearing these same Whisperings.

The most striking historic account of the Old Whisperings however is found in the ancient scrolls of lore of the Tauren, located in their capital city of Thunder Bluff at Elder Rise. The legend of creation of the formerly nomadic Tauren directly references the Whisperings, stating that the first incidents of their brethren committing acts of deceit, murder or warfare were because these early Tauren had "harkened to the dark whispers from deep beneath the world."

Corruption

The Master's Glaive contains the remains of a forgotten one.

The Old Gods are characterized as the sleeping evil beneath the earth, whose telepathic whispers eventually become indistinguishable from one's own maddened thoughts.

They corrupted some of the highborne, and used them to lure the Burning Legion to Azeroth. Many of the highborne were transformed into the naga. The Old Gods' intentions for the naga have not been revealed.

The Blackfathom Deeps in Ashenvale was once, long ago, a temple to Elune. The Great Sundering ruined the temple and left it submerged in water and buried under rock. Corruption from the Old Gods seeped up and tainted the sacred moonwell. One may be in the Blackfathom Deeps. Hints that old gods lie in or under the Blackfathom Deeps. Not to be confused Aku'mai who was only influenced by the powers of the Old Gods.

Worship of Old Gods

Little was known about the Old Gods and their mad worshippers; practically no one on Azeroth even knew the Old Gods existed until C'Thun made its presence felt in Ahn'Qiraj. The Old Gods do possess worshippers though, even from their prison below the earth. Most followers of the Old Gods have lost all sanity and are wholly evil. The Old Gods are imprisoned or sleeping, but so great is their power that their unconscious but destructive maddening auras seep out and influence some denizens of Azeroth. In some cases, evil but sane individuals turn deliberately to worship of the Old Gods out of spite when the individual feels other more mainstream powers have mistreated them. Anarchists also sometimes turn to worship of the Old Gods out of a desire to destroy the world; some believe a new, better world will rise up in the wake of the destruction. In either case, these worshippers are deluded or misinformed and any who do manage to make even the barest real contact with the Old Gods go hopelessly and irrevocably insane.

The fallen Old God, C'Thun, created avatars from the silithid in its own image. These avatars are now known as the Qiraji serving their master.

Queen Azshara's has managed to make a pact with the Old Gods on behalf of her people. They took on new shapes, new powers and became the hateful, serpentine Naga. More recently naga have begun to reappear around the coasts of the world, creating settlements on land, most noticeably in the ruins of their old cities in Azshara. It seems as though they are now followers of the Old Gods.

Somehow, one of the Old Gods has managed to make the modern Twilight's Hammer Clan clan its pawn; and since that time, the clan's numbers and power have dramatically increased. Even humans and other former members of the Alliance flock to join the service of the elemental lords and help bring about the complete destruction of Azeroth. The largest groups of the Twilight's hammer now camp near the locations where they believe the Old Gods and their minions are sealed away; many wait for C'Thun's awakening in Silithus, and others serve Ragnaros in the Blackrock Depths along side the Dark Iron dwarves.

The Number of Old Gods

Depending on the source, three, four, or five Old Gods lie imprisoned. Some of these sources seem to imply that these numbers were the limit to the number of Old Gods. The roleplaying game seems to imply that there were more than five Old Gods, including those imprisoned or killed.

• The Warcraft III manual states that five Old Gods were chained beneath the world.
• The Pantheon shattered the Old Gods' citadels and chained the five evil gods far beneath the surface of the world. Source:
• According to the War of the Ancients Trilogy, there are three Old Gods still living, imprisoned and chained by the Titans deep beneath the surface of Azeroth. There may be more however, these three are indicated to have formed some sort of alliance in order to escape their imprisonment.
• According to "The Old Gods and the Ordering of Azeroth", four Old Gods were imprisoned beneath the world. This could perhaps be reconciled with the War of the Ancients trilogy if it were taken to include the fallen C'Thun in the count of the imprisoned Gods. This is however unlikely as C'thun was believed dead and not imprisoned. Note that the version of this chapter presented in the story section of the official site does not reference the number of Old Gods.

Description

Beyond the things attributed to the Old Gods as a whole, individual Old Gods share some common factors between them. Both C'Thun and Yogg-Saron are fought with a section of their bodies sticking out of the ground in the center of a room, with an unknown amount of their forms remaining below. They both appear to have numerous tentacles below ground, which can come to the surface to aid in combat. The battles with both Old Gods call for damage to be done to something within each Old God's submerged form to weaken or remove a shield: Killing a Flesh Tentacle in the Stomach of C'Thun and weakening the Brain of Yogg-Saron in the Mind's Eye (which may or may not be a physical place in the God).

The avatars of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron, the qiraji and faceless ones respectively, are similar in a few ways. Faceless ones have similar posture and shape to qiraji gladiators (Which may be due to recycling of wireframes, to some extent). Also, both groups have a general with vaguely similar names, General Rajaxx and General Vezax, and a religious leader, The Prophet Skeram and Herald Volazj (Harbinger Skyriss too, but his affiliation is unknown).

Named Old Gods

C'Thun

Main article: C'Thun

C'Thun

C'Thun is one of the two Old Gods to be named so far, having received that name from his servants the Qiraji. He was defeated in Silithus in a battle which also may have resulted in the defeat of a Titan. C'Thun was believed to have been permanently defeated, but surfaced once again as the driving force behind the Qiraji. He is trapped deep beneath the ruined temples of Ahn'Qiraj where he has exerted his will for thousands of years over the Qiraji, who in turn command the Silithid.

C'Thun is the final boss in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.

Yogg-Saron

Main article: Yogg-Saron

Yogg-Saron

Described by the resurrected Ursoc as "the beast with a thousand maws", Yogg-Saron is only the second of the Old Gods to be explicitly named as such. Yogg-Saron was imprisoned by the Titans within the city of Ulduar in the Storm Peaks of Northrend, but his lair appears to stretch at least as far as the Grizzly Hills. There, the roots of the World Tree Vordrassil penetrated into his lair. Through these roots, Yogg-Saron corrupted the tree as well as the Grizzlemaw furbolgs that moved into its shattered stump.

Slinkin the Demo-gnome, killed while investigating the Wintergarde Mine, discovered before his death that the Scourge were apparently at odds with Yogg-Saron. His last note indicates that the word "Yogg-Saron" is said with great contempt and is usually followed by loud outbursts. The Scourge are mining Saronite in the Wintergarde Mine to fuel their war machines implying that it is a material derived from Yogg-Saron. Saronite has also been known as the "black blood of Yogg-Saron", further implying this connection.

Yogg-Saron's underground lair appears to extend through much of east-central Northrend; his influence has been felt directly in the Grizzly Hills (Vordrassil, the Grizzlemaw furbolgs and Ursoc), Dragonblight (Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom, with faceless ones and a sect of the Twilight's Hammer dedicated to Yogg-Saron) and the Storm Peaks (Ulduar, and the corrupted Titan guardian Loken).

Yogg-Saron is located within his prison deep inside Ulduar, and is the final boss, much as C'Thun was the final boss in Ahn'Qiraj.

Soggoth the Slitherer

Main article: Soggoth the Slitherer

In Cataclysm the Soggoth the Slitherer is (re)introduced.

Other Old Gods

"There are more Old Gods than just the ones trapped on Azeroth. It takes a lot for them to become manifested on a physical plane, however."

In the Burning Crusade expansion, a group of Arakkoa known as the Dark Conclave attempted to summon an entity described as an "ancient and powerful evil" into Outland. It is nearly identical in appearance to the first named Old God, C'Thun.

Inspiration

The names and overall nature of the Old Gods are an homage to the various group of deities from the Cthulhu Mythos in the works of H.P. Lovecraft (first stage), Brian Lumley (third stage), and the Call of Cthulhu RPG. C'Thun appears to be based on Cthulhu and Yogg-Saron appears to be based on the Outer God Yog-Sothoth. Furthermore, the story which concerns the Titans' imprisoning of the Old Gods is an inspiration from the story August Derleth proposed as the ancient outcome of the war between the Elder Gods (represented in the Titans) and the Outer Gods (represented in the Old Gods). Interestingly, the origin of the Titans is alien to Azeroth, while the Old Gods are native to it, swapping the names and some facts. An alternative name of the Old Gods is the Elder Gods.

Fan art

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  Fan art - Full body of C'thun.

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  Fan art - Full body of C'thun.

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  Fan art of Yogg-Saron.

See also

• C'thun
• Yogg-Saron
• Old Gods speculation
• Tribunal of Ages
• The Old Gods and the Ordering of Azeroth
• Prophecy of C'Thun
•  [Lorgalis Manuscript]
• Elemental Lieutenants
  • Ragnaros the Firelord
  • Therazane the Stonemother
  • Al'Akir the Windlord
  • Neptulon the Tidehunter
• Twilight's Hammer clan
• Aqir
• Naga