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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAsk a Lore Nerd: It's the end of the world as we know it
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 10th 2009 at 9:00AM
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.Good morning, everyone! My apologies for missing last week's Ask a Lore Nerd, I am apparently very, very bad at time management and I lost track of things while trying to finish furnishing my apartment. We're back in action this week though, so it's all good!
Before we get started, I also wanted to remind people that Tokyopop is letting us read Warcraft: Legends for free until the 17th. I know Daniel mentioned it already this morning, but seeing as this is the lore column of the day, I just wanted to mention it again. Just imagine me as the hammer trying to drive this nail into your head. You can read it for free. And now we get the show on the road!
naixdra asked...
Why do the Orcs call Draenor, Draenor? Didn't the Draenei show up out of nowhere and call it that, so why would the native Orcs adopt the name given to it by outsiders (and still refer to it after their attempted annihilation of said outsiders)?
The Orcs never gave Draenor a name. It was just where they lived. It was home. Giving their planet a name never even crossed their minds. The Draenei gave it a name, and it became the accepted norm when that information became important. When they started interacting with beings from other worlds, that's when they needed a name for where they come from. The Draenei called it Draenor, and it just stuck.
Even outside of the game, sentient species don't have a very interesting track record for naming their home planet. We named our planet Earth (or Terra if you prefer). We are basically calling it 'big floaty rock.' If by some miracle we met another sentient species and we shared the same language, they'd be all, "What the hell, that's what you named your planet? Really?"
AlexW573 asked...
On the east edge of the Sons of Hodir town, there is a big frozen giant in a throne. Who is/was he?
That's Arngrim, a former King of the Sons. He gives the quest Feeding Arngrim at Revered with the Sons of Hodir. He is very hungry.
Siona asked...
It seems like generally all, if not most, of the Argent Dawn/Crusade members are paladins, or at least worship the Light in some way. And given that a lot of non-Paladin-class races -- Orcs, Gnomes, Trolls -- etc are also part of them, could it then be conceived that we'll someday see an Orc Paladin or something like that in that group's future? Is it even feasibly possible for non Human/Dwarf/Draenei/Blood Elf races to be able to use the Light? I know Forsaken are out of the picture, due to their Scourge-i-ness, but how about the other races?
More and more Blizzard has been pushing the point that anybody can wield the Light if they're faithful. The Light doesn't know racial barriers. There can certainly be Orcish Paladins, but most Orcs simply don't put faith in the Light. There could be Troll Paladins, but again, it would be rare because that's simply not their culture. Blizzard always makes it a point to show that there are exceptions, though.
The Arakkoa, overall, are a pretty grim race. Most of them worship dark gods and all of that, but what do you see in and around Shattrath? Light-worshiping Arakkoa like Rilak the Redeemed.. The Trolls are Shamanistic and are also steeped in voodoo. Despite that, we see Zabra Hexx in the Ashbringer comic series, a Troll Priest that has converted to the Light. Those are just two examples of this. The Light does not judge you by the color of your skin or the size of your tusks. You just need to accept it and stay (mostly) faithful to its tenets.
The Argent Crusade probably has Light-worshiping Priests and Paladins of various abnormal races in its ranks already. Players probably won't be able to play Orc Paladins and such since racial classes are determined by what's most indicative of the race's culture, and Light worship is most definitely not widespread among Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, Night Elves, et cetera. It would be a very rare thing, but certainly possible from a lore point of view.
Ken asked...
The Tribunal of Ages in Halls of Stone revealed that the reason the Titans didn't destroy the Old Gods. If they did, that would destroy all of Azeroth, so they just locked them away. However, in the game we've already killed C'thun and Yogg-Saron is likely to be the final boss of Ulduar. If the trend of mortal races killing Old Gods keeps up, isn't it likely that Azeroth would be destroyed?
There's one advantage we have over the Titans: We are tiny and can fit in small spaces. Do you think a Titan could've snuck inside C'Thun's stomach and taken him down from the inside out? Probably not. Killing C'Thun would've been some long, drawn out, catastrophic uprooting with all kinds of lasers and explosions. We're small enough that our kills can be a bit more surgical... and accidental. Poor C'Thun, undone by his afternoon snack.
It's that, or the world is going to collapse when their corpses start to rot away and we're friggin' screwed. It was nice knowing you, Azeroth.
That's all of the questions we're going to cover today, but I have a special secret for those of you that read this all the way through. Very, very soon, Michael Sacco and I are bringing sexy back. Are you excited? I'm excited.
Ask a Lore Nerd is here to answer all of your questions about the lore and story of the Warcraft universe. From the religions of the universe to the 'evils' of Azeroth, everything is fair game. If you want more in-depth answers to some of your questions, you may find what you're looking for in Know Your Lore.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Ask a Lore Nerd
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
Eversor Mar 10th 2009 10:02AM
I'd like to see one who has ever disected an Old God and can really tell just how much and what organs they have. Thousand maws? Gazillions of tentacles? HUGE body mass? Possibly multiple amount of brains? It is more likely than you think. They are outside the circle of mortality.
Methuus Mar 10th 2009 10:49AM
And in the WoW-verse, as in most fantasy settings, life and death is not a simple binary state. It's more of a spectrum of modes of existence going from "eternal cosmic one-ness" on one end, to "total unbeing in time and all dimensions" on the other; with a near infinite number of options inbetween (including "alive" and "dead").
The higher a being's "power level", the more points of existence become available on this spectrum. A simple peasant can can be described as "alive" or "dead" (or "undead"). But asking if Saregas, C'thun, the Lich King, etc. are "alive" or "dead" is just too simplistic a question.
RogueJedi86 Mar 10th 2009 11:12AM
Maybe you missed the recent WoWInsider article previewing the latest chapter of the WoW Comic which confirmed the players killed C'thun. He's dead. Bad mojo happens, because he is definitly dead. We poked out his eye, and the trauma finished him off. And with C'thun dead, why wouldn't we kill another? Apparently Blizz is throwing out the whole "killing the Old Gods=Azeroth destroyed" lore, so we can kill all of them. No one's immune to raid death.
Eversor Mar 10th 2009 11:16AM
I don't like the comic and refuse to believe it. My personal preference, and I am not the only one. When Metzen really states that, I will believe it. Until then, I have my fingers in my ears and I am shouting "LALALALALA!".
tehvoid Mar 10th 2009 11:42AM
I refuse to accept comics and books lore point of view. They are more some "spin-off"/"this could have happened like this" stories. "Actual" Lore is in-game Lore. Others are theorical, even if convincing and elaborated...
Zerokku Mar 10th 2009 12:38PM
Just because we killed his mortal shell does not mean he isn't still alive in some form or another. Just look at cenarius, who is still alive and kicking in the emerald dream helping malfurion stem off the nightmare, despite the fact the warsong killed him.
Don't forget what Herald Volazj says in Old Kingdom -
"Ywaq maq oou; ywaq maq ssaggh. Ywaq ma shg'fhn."("They do not die; they do not live. They are outside the cycle.")
Fireye Mar 10th 2009 9:35AM
Judging from some of the previews to the DC comics I've seen online its safe to say that something big is happening lorewise. Who is the child that Garona is shown with? Is that the bastard offspring of her and Medivh? and why does it seem like he's going to play some sort of messianic role in the Warcraft world?
kabshiel Mar 10th 2009 11:57AM
I seem to remember Metzen recently saying that Medivh may not have been the last Guardian of Tirisfal and that there was a lot of story potential in that post going to a non-human...
Kylenne Mar 10th 2009 9:42AM
I don't know, after my masochistic tendencies made me sit through the Sunwell Trilogy I sort of consider "free" Warcraft manga itself to be a hammer and nail through the skull.
Re: the Light: I tend to think there's a huge distinction between believing in the Light, and being a vessel for/channeling it. The latter requires a way of thinking that is just plain alien to non-Light worshipping races. Maybe it's my D&D roots showing again but I look at Paladinhood as a kind of calling not unlike a call to the priesthood. Paladins aren't just wielders of the Light, they're champions of it, and while individuals of non-Light worshipping societies may hear that call, unless there's massive cultural shifts in them, most members of those races won't even recognize the call to heed it in the first place. Incidentally, that's why I think what the Blood Knights did was so egregious (I just did the mount quest for the first time and...ugh, that business in Stratholme was just wrong.).
Shyama Mar 10th 2009 10:37AM
Your suggestion of becoming a paladin makes sense to me. I would also suggest that perhaps the calling doesn't really go unheard by other races, they just act upon it in another fashion, i.e. shamanism. In many respects shamans are also a holy warrior of sorts. That and the two were built to counter balance eachother, but I think you my point. All the races have one way or another to wield the light, it's just different in different ways that this believe is represented.
Riktopher Mar 10th 2009 9:50AM
I'm excited! Wondered where that had gone...
Emorich Mar 10th 2009 9:59AM
i was under the impression that Cthun wasn't dead. i thought we simply stopped him. after all, we were attacking one of his eyeballs, hardly a vital organ. Is Kil'Jaeden dead too? i though we basically just pushed him back through the portal and now he's really pissed.
Eversor Mar 10th 2009 10:10AM
The message about C'Thun being dead is added in just a narrative box. You do not know just WHO says it, therefore you do not know their viewpoint. Furthermore, you don't even know if you CAN kill an Old God that is outside the circle of mortality.
I am also stubborn and refuse to believe that 40 mortals hacking at one giant eye can truly kill a space horror monster. To me, C'Thun's avatar above the ground has been killed and nothing else, and only when Metzen really says that C'Thun is dead-dead, then I will believe and accept it. Until then, however, that is but a one line in a comic which had inconsistencies with lore in previous issues.
Sorano Mar 10th 2009 10:02AM
A few questions:
1) Are the Naaru the source of the Holy Light or simply very powerful avatars channeling it?
2) On the collector's edition DVD, a woman talking about Warcraft lore (her name escapes me) mentioned about the source of power behind Arthas. That struck me as odd because I add never considered before. Is undeath a school of magic in the WoW universe or simply a deeper form of arcane or shadow magic? Or could death or shadow magic simply be part of a greater force that empowers being like the Holy Light, for example?
3) As the concept of afterlife on Azeroth or the greater WoW universe ever been explored? There are many varying religions and faiths. I know that there was mention of it in Warcraft 1, but that aspect of the lore seems to have been diminished with the introduction of WoW. Is there a heaven or hell or even multiple planes of spiritual afterlife?
I even remember reading somewhere about demons, from what is referred to as Hell in WoW Lore, that were even at odds with the demons from the Burning Legion.
Thanks for your time!
Catiya of Feathermoon Mar 10th 2009 10:16AM
Overall, I feel that lore has done a poor, incomplete job of explaining the Holy Light explicitly. Did the Naaru create the Light? How do people come to weild the Light? Is it by excessive training, praying, taking to the source, natural talet? I'd love to see somethng come out that explains the Light as much as possible. As for 1), I don't think this has ever been answered or known, but I'm inclined to go with the latter.
rosencratz Mar 10th 2009 10:26AM
@ Catiya of Feathermoon
You miss the point of worshipping the light. The concept behind it is faith. To have "how" and "why" it works explained is to question the faith itself and thus the whole manner in which those that "wield" it do so would be derailed.
It's not explained because it's not meant to be and because those that muster the most control of it do not seek to truelly understand it... they don't need to... they already have faith in it after all.
Catiya of Feathermoon Mar 10th 2009 10:42AM
@Rosencratz
I see your point totally! I think you're saying that faith is overall abstract and to give an origin would be defeating the point.
I suppose my saying that was more in the direction of the Naaru. The Draenei already worship /physical/ entities, the Naaru. Since they're already present in the world, I'd like to know more about their history before they answered Velen's prayer's. Are they the source of the Holy Light? Or do they just channel it. This is in contrast to a god like Elune, who is not physically with the Night Elves and far more an abstract faith.
Tomah Mar 10th 2009 11:17AM
This is pretty inaccurate, but it gets sort of the point I want across:
Think of the Naaru as Light elementals. They're not the source, but they are close to the Light, channel it through every bit of their being. It's even an essential part of their life cycle.
I don't think the draenei worship them. They revere them to a degree, certainly, but not quite worship. They're ancient (by draenei standards!) beings who saved the race from darkness and very large, physical proof of what the draenei believe in.
They respect the Naaru, love them, even, but not to that point. As my (human) paladin explained to another human, "Think of the Archbishop Benedictus. He's old, he's learned much, and he wields the Light masterfully. The same respect, awe, and reverence you give to him, the draenei give to the Naaru, they simply are much more ceremonial about it."
Suzaku Mar 10th 2009 1:22PM
1) They seem to emit the Holy Light in the same manner that stars emit photons. Eventually the Naaru will run out of Light and will become a Void God, and the cycle will eventually repeat back to Light.
2) Necromancy was originally created by orcs, who combined their abilities as shamans and warlocks to create death magic (Warcraft II).
Arthas' immense power over death magic is rooted in Ner'zhul's tremendous powers as a shaman and warlock. So says the chick in the DVD.
Carrie Mar 10th 2009 10:08AM
"Earth" is just a fancy name for "dirt".
Yes. We named our planet Dirt.