Ask a Lore Nerd: Life and Death
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 16th 2009 at 4:30PM
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.
Today we're fielding a lot of questions on the Light and the Shadow, and Life and Death. I don't know why, really, that's just how things happened! Trends like that are always fun, like the week or two where we had nothing but dragon questions. It makes picking out themes really easy!
Emorich asked...
I was under the impression that C'Thun 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 thought we basically just pushed him back through the portal and now he's really pissed.
According to the WoW comic (which most certainly is canon lore), C'Thun is dead. If you've done the encounter, you'll see that we didn't just fight his eyeball. That was only one aspect of the fight. We also go inside of C'Thun, and mangle his organs. We destroy his stomach from the inside out. I'm not a doctor or an Old God physician or anything, but I'm pretty sure that most things die when their stomach ruptures. Or is riddled with holes from swords and such.
A lot of people will use Herald Volazj's quote to combat this, where he says, "They do not die; they do not live. They are outside the cycle." It's often used as evidence as to why C'Thun can't possibly be dead. Me? I don't think that's referring to the Old Gods. I think it refers to the Scourge, but I've discussed that before.
C'Thun is dead, and it has been stated as such both in-game (quest text) and in the WoW comic (narrator) so he's pretty much dead. We gutted him from the inside out. Kil'jaeden? Most certainly not dead. Where Blizzard has clearly stated C'Thun is dead, they've done the exact opposite for Kil'jaeden: They have said that he is not dead, and his death animation is a clear indication that he's not dead. He leaves behind no corpse. He just falls back into the Sunwell, which he was using to enter the world.
skreeran asked...
Why do Goblin Sappers blow themselves up on purpose when they have nothing to gain from it? They aren't exactly a race of religious zealots.
Some Goblins are frighteningly intelligent. These Goblins are their tinkers. Some Goblins are frighteningly stupid. These Goblins are easily manipulated by smarter Goblins and become Sappers.
Sorano asked a few questions...
Are the Naaru the source of the Holy Light or simply very powerful avatars channeling it?
A little of this, a little of that. We don't know the exact nature of the Naaru, but we do know that they are not the ultimate source of the Light. They can serve as sources of the Light, but they aren't the ultimate pinnacle of the Light, they didn't create it. To try and draw a real world comparison that is likely horribly flawed but I'll use anyway, picture the Naaru as batteries. You can get electricity out of batteries. If you put a battery in an electronic device, it'll make that device run, but batteries aren't the source of all electricity.
The Naaru are closest to powerful avatars of Light channeling it, yes, but we've also seen that you're able to draw LIght out of them. So while I say 'a little of this and a little of that' it is much closer to that than this. Does that make sense? No? Well, I tried.
Let's just stick with 'powerful avatars' for now.
On the Collector's Edition DVD, a woman talking about Warcraft lore (her name escapes me) mentioned the source of power behind Arthas. That struck me as odd because I had never considered it 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?
Necromancy is a very dark, grim form of Arcane magic. Rather than shooting Fireballs or channeling Arcane Missiles or conjuring flasks of water, you're raising horrible fleshy constructs from corpses and tying someone's soul to the mortal realm. The Schools of Arcane Magic - Necromancy more or less states that Necromancy has total power over flesh, living and dead.
The big issue here is that there is no part of the Lich King that naturally knows how to wield that power. Ner'zhul was a Shaman, not a Necromancer. The woman that was talking, Evelyn Fredricksen, was mainly pointing out that the Lich King's power over Undeath is not a natural ability, it's not something that Ner'zhul could do on his own. It's a power that was given to him, and precisely how that was done is something that we might learn on our journey through Northrend. As of right now, we still don't really know the full details of what was done beyond a theory that he's tied to Yogg-Saron in some way.
Has 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.
The concept of Heaven and Hell were very much there in the very early iterations of Warcraft, but just like you said, they're not really there anymore. Overall, it seems that they've moved away from that and intentionally leave it vague. That being said, it does seem like there's still a concept of Heaven (or Heaven-like place) for those faithful to the Light. We see followers of the Light ascend to the afterlife in a few different places in WoW, two examples being the Benediction quest and the much more recent quest chain in Icecrown with Crusader Bridenbrad. Is there an afterlife in WoW? Yes. What does that afterlife entail? We don't know. They don't tell us, and I think that's intentional. What lies beyond is supposed to be vague and mysterious.
I'd also like to note that the Spirit Healers we see in-game probably do not play into this at all. They might have a role in Warcraft's afterlife, but it's much more likely that they're just a game mechanic in case you can't get to your corpse safely and easily. It's an MMO thing.
Thanks for your time!
My pleasure!
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 1 of 6)
Moose Mar 16th 2009 4:36PM
I know what you're thinking, but Magister's Terrace was merely a set back.
Lycanthro Mar 16th 2009 4:58PM
Did you honestly believe I would trust the future to some frozen suit of armor?
Eisengel Mar 16th 2009 6:34PM
... which makes be wonder... if the Legion wanted LK to sit in his little ice block and tear up Azeroth like a good boy, why did they bind him to a suit of armor and a sword? They're just begging for someone to come along, break open the Frozen Throne, and put the stuff on, allowing Ner'zhul to control them and walk around free. Sure the Legion didn't expect LK to become so powerful, but come on... if they wanted him to stay in place they should have bound him to a huge pile of Ravasaur poo or something... something that someone is not going to walk up to and say 'oh gee, this looks pretty cool, I think I'm going to wear it'.
Joker Mar 17th 2009 5:30AM
Well, Ner'zhul was running off with relics, maybe he got bound into those, or he was placed into totems/similar items that he shaped through force of will while in his icy prison into weapons and armor. Or perhaps the items were meant to serve as focus pieces. Some of the issue was also that Ner'zhul grew faster than anticipated...that might imply that the frozen throne drew power from the old god and thus let him sort of artificially inflate his own powers.
Oxtoby Mar 24th 2009 8:59AM
Or maybe because a set of armor with lots and lots of skulls looks way cooler than a pile of poo...?
bundee Mar 16th 2009 4:40PM
So what's up with the Naaru? Are they done because the Burning Legion was stopped or what? Can't A'dal give a Hand?
Igantinos Mar 16th 2009 4:44PM
Actually there is a quest in Icecrown with the Naru again
Eisengel Mar 16th 2009 6:38PM
Well, keep in mind they're on Draenor... a different planet. That's a heck of a commute just to join in our own little war after some of the mortals on Azeroth kinda kidnapped a Naaru and drained its energy (sry!). While they may have been willing to help get the Legion off of their doorstep in Draenor, they may not be so keen to helping us battle LK, who apparently even the Legion can't control, over on a different planet.
Shionia Mar 16th 2009 8:05PM
@ eisengel
Which reminds me of something that occurred to me as I was doing the Azuremyst/Bloodmyst quests again recently - one of the quests implied (I thought) that a naaru was the "source" of the Exodar's interplanetary/interstaller drive - does that mean that M'uru was "recovered" from the crash site?
Given KJ's hatred of (and I assume knowledge of) Velen, and KT's connection to KJ, is this more likely than the blood elves traveling to Netherstorm-Draenor? (Although ... then how do the Mana forges of Netherstorm tie in? They're naaru / Drae technology, yes?)
kaoslace Mar 17th 2009 12:02AM
@shionia
M'uru was actually stolen from Tempest Keep. The Exodar Naaru is still inside the Exodar at the bottom of the spiral ramp.
vyx Mar 16th 2009 4:51PM
Ok, so speaking of life and death, this has bugged me for a while -- how do we explain the fact that some characters (Horde and Alliance legends for example) have died, but yet every Priest, Pally, Shammy and Druid can rez people anytime they want?
I realize it's a game and it wouldn't be so much fun if you died and then had to reroll a level 1, but there needs to be some type of Lore explanation as to why people can be rezzed, but also can "really die." Are we supposed to just not worry about this or is there an explanation?
AlexW573 Mar 16th 2009 4:56PM
I've always assumed for any world that resurrection is possible that there is some sort of ritual or spell that can be done to prevent resurrection.
InsaneAssault Mar 16th 2009 5:04PM
If you've ever had the chance to talk to the spirit angel thingie, it tells you its not your time yet or something or the sort. So I would assume the same powers that be allow you to be rezzed by a rezzer class.
Nathanyel Mar 16th 2009 5:13PM
The way I imagine a "rez" lore-wise:
A healer can call upon either holy or nature powers to bring back a recently deceased person, but that process both weakens the healer and can't be done too often. This especially holds true for a druid's "combaz rez": While the normal process is a lengthy one, probably lasting several minutes to maybe over an hour, in which the healer cannot be disturbed, the much shortened version of that would draw a lot of the druid's powers, the lore "cooldown" could very well be several days, weeks, in which the druid has to rest, or maybe limited to only a few times in the long lifespan of the druid.
Coik Mar 16th 2009 5:43PM
To give the "Less lore-sy, more smartass-y" answer...
Obviously they died in cutscenes. :)
Cyrus Mar 16th 2009 5:53PM
I figure that all the resurrection spells that bring someone back from the dead as if nothing ever happened have to be cast relatively soon after death, and resurrection is either impossible after too much time has passed, or it's possible but they'll only come back as an undead with all the accompanying rot, necrosis and disfigurement. Therefore, resurrection to normal life was impossible in the case of Uther, who died surrounded by enemies who would have done the same to any nearby priest or paladin, or Sylvanas, who was immediately resurrected as a banshee. But resurrection was possible for that guy in the Scarlet Cathedral who had a priest waiting in the next room who stepped in as soon as he was killed, and for any player who uses a soulstone as soon as the mob that killed him goes away.
I think corpse runs, spirit healers, and any resurrection after a long period of time are just a game mechanic thing, but as far as I can remember it seems pretty consistent that non-necromantic resurrection of an NPC is possible if and only if it's pretty soon after death.
Pride Mar 16th 2009 6:12PM
There are a few ways you could go.
A. They died in battle, with honor, and this is what they wanted to be remembered by.
B. We, as players never 'die' but rather become 'near-dead' or 'unconcious'
C. There were no Priests, Paladins, Shamans, or Droods nearby at the time of death.
D. Elune / The Light only recently gave us spirit healers?
Truth is there is no canonical lore behind this, it's a game mechanic. There are a lot of theories out there in the larger lore communities, but in the end it's whatever you want it to be.
Abigar Mar 16th 2009 6:50PM
I think it's because when we as players die, it isn't a complete death. There is still brain activity, it's like a deep coma. When great lore figures die, it's a complete, whole death. Brain death. Maybe resurrection is still possible but it would take much more than one priest.
Death in Azeroth is obviously not black and white like in our world. They aren't working with the same restrictions as we are.
zymurgy Mar 16th 2009 7:50PM
Miracle Max: [Lifts and drops the arm of the dead Westley] I've seen worse.
Miracle Max: He probably owes you money huh? I'll ask him.
Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.
Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.
Nintai Mar 16th 2009 11:29PM
My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!