Let's talk about Il'gynoth and his whispers (various spoilers)

[Maletalana]

"The boy-king servers at the master's table. Three lies he will offer you."

Interesting...

Boy-king, I think, most likely refers to Anduin.

Three lies? hm.

I think you are right about Jaina and I also think the "to find him, drown yourself in a circle of stars" refers to N'zoth's prison. I also think you are right about Magni talking to a manipulator, not Azeroth itself. Or perhaps all these things are the "Nightmare version" Il'Gynoth whispers you, that is, what would happen if everything was consumed by the Nightmare?

Very interesting

I think the boy-king is Wrathion, as he is the new king of the black dragon flight, more or less. Also for dragon ages he is still very young.

[steelballfc]

C'thun did. My heart didn't explode and my friends didn't abandon me.

not yet
you will die alone

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Our characters are not dead.
Their hearts did not explode.
They did not succumb to madness.
They have not been betrayed by their friends.
Neither did they betray their friends.
It wasn't my fault

Everything they have said to us is one of 3 things. A threat (Yogg being bitchy when he died.), a gloat, or a lie.

I honestly don't get why people are taking the quotes from Il'gynoth as anything other than one of the three choices. When old gods and their followers only speak one of the three.

as above not yet

you will rest in Ny'alotha

[Maletalana]

Why are people are missing that Yogg-saron is active in Legion? When we go to Ulduar to find Magni he whispers to us "You are a pawn of forces unseen", then spawns a bunch of faceless out of saronite colored portals. All the while Brann states he's getting a familiar feeling. He created the curse of flesh (Flesh is his gift. He is your true creator.) and he orchestrated the Old God's entry into the Emerald Nightmare. The nightmare itself has N'Zoth tentacles (Same model from Dragon Soul), C'Thun eyes and tentacles and a tentacle which appears to have Yogg mouth-teeth on it. Pretty sure there's Sha looking nightmare corruptions in the dungeon or in Val'Sharah too. So from that, all seem to be active.

Also, bit of a longshot but boy king could refer to Bolvar. He's not a boy by any means, but in terms of his position he's young in his kingship. And he was put there by Yogg-saron. So serving the "master's".

Oh shit that Bolvar idea. It may be a long shot but I like it!

[Grenzstein]

I don't think the old gods are lying. But they are not telling us everything. They tell us that Magni is a pawn but didn't say who was his master. He could be a pawn of the world soul for all we know.

[steelballfc]

if we consider turning into a tree as "death" then Xavius died 3 times

[Raetary]

if we consider turning into a tree as "death" then Xavius died 3 times

since when is xavius a woman?

[Maletalana]

Holy goodness gracious... enough with Jaina already! She is no more important than Taran'Zhu or Baine Bloodhoof. She is still around to be used in future story, but I'm calling it now - Jaina has no part whatsoever in the story for the xpac right now. "Her heart is a crater" is referring to Azeroth *herself*. Mentioned several times already, but for clarity, Magni (The former king whose flesh has been replaced with diamond [read: King of Diamonds]) has obviously been made a pawn. How did he commune with Azeroth and be corrupted if Azeroth is a good entity? Ta Da! Azeroth's been corrupted. The crater is either caused by the cataclysm / sundering, or is metaphorically referring to N'zoth seeping down and forcing its way to the heart of the planet. Why oh why would some mage who's pissed off at Garrosh have a big importance. These quotes are all tied together, and Jaina is a random offshoot with no place amoung the rest.

We are reading too deeply into tinfoil hat theories, the meanings are not that cryptic.

5 torches to light the path etc - 5 pillars of creation
their use will open N'zoth's prison, or some other opening of a bad place / thing.

Lord of Ravens - This is interesting, and well played by Blizz writers, as there are a handful of believable red herrings to slow our discovery of its meaning.
contenders:
Kur'talos Ravencrest
Khadgar
Medivh
Anzu (really guys?...)
Odyn

The obvious throw away's are Medivh and Anzu. Yes, they COULD be called the lord of ravens. Sure. But Are they the ones to turn the key? I don't think so, these are just tinfoil hat theories.
Khadgar and Kur'talos are the well disguised red herrings in my opinion. Kur'talos I am calling out because, although he is a lord, and his name has raven in it, is not important enough to be "the one" to turn the key. He is obviously looked out for title and name association, but nothing more. Besides, he is now dead after completing the dungeon. They aren't giving a dead 5 man boss's spirit the story role of turning the key.
Khadgar is also a fantastic red herring, he is believable to be important enough to have such a role. He sometimes becomes a raven too! Great! But is he a lord? Is he a lord OF RAVENS?
BUT MAL, you exclaim, ATIESH LOOKS LIKE A RAVEN, AND KHADGAR IS A NEW GUARDIAN, AND THE OLD GUARDIAN WAS MEDIVH, AND MEDIVH WAS CORRUPTED, AND, AND, AND...
calm yourself, my child. This is why Khadgar is such a great red herring. There are a ton of reasons for him to be considered, that's why it CANT be him. It would lead to poor and boring story development if Khadgar was the bad guy, it would be too much of a facepalm if he was responsible. He has lead us for 2 expansions now, and for him to be the ultimate duffus and turn the key, it would be boring.

That's why my prediction is, that Odyn is the Lord of Ravens. Odyn has 2 pet ravens that fly all over the world and gather information for him. Feel free to browse the wowhead on Odyn for this. He is surely deserving of the title "Lord", even though specifically "Lord of Ravens" is actually a bit of a stretch. That is exactly why its going to be him. Its cryptic and not our first thought. Odyn thinks pretty highly of himself. Roll a warrior and do some class quests and you'll see it. I'm not going to predict exactly how or why he does it, maybe he thinks he can "put and end to all this old god business" and decides to "turn the key" not realizing he is actually outmatched. I won't go that far down the rabbit hole, but I will say I believe Odyn is the Lord of Ravens, as mentioned in the quote from Il'ygoth.

Moving on...

Flesh is his gift, he is your creator
Clearly this is just referencing that Yogg'Saron (if I remember correctly) made the curse of flesh, and Il'y is just telling us to bow down because yogg is the true master etc, standard old god banter.

boy-king serves at the masters table
So, here we again have an issue where there are multiple contenders.
I am only going to look at the two obvious ones. Similar to above, we have a well placed red herring, and the other that I believe may be the true reference to the quote.
Anduin
Wrathion

Anduin - 100% is a boy and a king. No speculation. This could be the red herring, because if it WASN'T the fake, how obvious and boring would that be? Also, I really don't see Anduin do anything corrupt-y or evil, like, at all. You could make a better argument for Varian having been corrupt over Anduin.
MAL HES JUST *GOING TO* BECOME CORRUPT.
Nah, doubt it, that's poor quality story writing. Hate on Blizz all you want, they know how to craft a good story. Granted the golden years are far behind us, I really doubt they've completely lost theyre touch.
That leads me to look towards Wrathion as being the true contender. He is young in dragon years, so he could be considered "boy" referencing age. And he was a prince, meaning boy of a king, and now his father is dead, so through .. grammar?... he is a king now, really. Yes Ebonhorn is a black dragon and much older than Wrathion, but being old doesn't make you king, being the son of a king who is now dead makes a prince into a king. That's what those words mean. So, Wrathion could very well be the specific boy-king here. What I especially like is that he isn't super obvious as the answer, making it more believable Blizz would write him into the position of this quote. If its super obvious, it probably is a red herring.
To focus on the other half of this quote, sits at the masters table, it seems more realistic for Wrathion to have sided with Old God powers, as he is opposed to the Legion.

Remember, this is a three way battle.

Old gods -> want to consume -> Azeroth / Us.
Sargeras (using Legion) -> prevent Old Gods THROUGH snuffing out the life of Azeroth, preventing Old Gods food source, if you will.
We -> against Legion, cuz we don't wanna die.

It's a triangle where each point is attacking both of the other two, for various reasons.

Comic Relief - during The Office, think about that one episode where Michael, Andy, and Dwight all have finger guns raised at each other, like a Mexican stand off. 3 sides, each pointing a finger gun at the other two people.

Focusing on this concept, it can be reasonably believed that Wrathion, who is extremely biased against the Legion's goal [kill Azeroth and life], would side with the Old Gods, as they are fundamentally against the Legion's idea. This is wrong and bad of course, but to Wrathion, he may be keen to accept dominance of the Old Gods if it means preserving life on Azeroth, technically. He doesn't see Old Gods as evil, they are just a means to an end to prevent the Legion's goals.
Now pretend that Anduin is indeed the one that sits at the masters table. Why would he? Think from a story telling perspective about how this could possible make sense.
BUT MAL, A DREAD LORD POSSESSED HIM ITS THAT EASY.
sure, but that's fucking boring sloppy writing. I have faith in Blizz to at least take time to craft a story.

To find him, drown yourself in a circle of stars.
Oh boy, this one will be fun.
FIND - whoever it is must be lost if they are to be found. Are we finding a good guy who is lost, or a bad guy who is lost? Do they want to be found, or do they want to remain hidden?
HIM - again, although we can assume (triggered) that the gender is male, that's all weve got here. Just to get the creative juices flowing, Malfurion, N'zoth, Kil'Jaden, Sageras, Cenarious, Gul'dan, Medivh, ALL of these could be more or less, *lost* to us. Don't ever pick the most obvious and assume. Hell, Magni could be considered *lost* to us. Maybe we have to cure him of his affliction to find the real Magni?
DROWN - are we submerging in a liquid / water? Are we simply completely surrounding ourselves? Could entering the Dream be considered drowning?
CIRCLE OF STARS - this in my opinion is the most crypic part of this quote. Literal circle? Literal stars? either of those two words could be literal or metaphorical.
tinfoil hat - circle of stars could be the circle in Tirisfal with the fae dragons and the singing, where Tir's hand fell, where that old god laid. Do the Arms warrior artifact quest to see this. Could this quote simply reference what Arms warriors see there? We find that Lieutenant of N'zoth I believe.
less tinfoil hat - circle of stars could reference Suramar, Tomb of Sargeras, any number of cryptic meanings here.

Please let me know if I have an inaccuracy here, I feel pretty good about the facts I used but everyone makes discrepancies occasionally.

Thanks for reading

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since when is xavius a woman?

Did you just assume that NPCs gender?
TRIGGERED

[Deleted]

On my travels as a rogue I came across one more person who might be this Lord of the Ravens. Plus he is a shadowy type. Lord Jorach Ravenholdt. I don't think it's going to be him, but... I don't know, the way he keeps saying that they come from the shadows just made me think. The rogue class hall is even called the Hall of Shadows. It might have nothing to do with Old Gods, it can refer to all kinds of shadows, but according to him, his league of Assassins has had a hand in almost every murder of important people ever (might also be a bloast, but you never know). Garona is there and we know what Yogg had to say about her most important murder.
I just hope very much that he is not willingly serving the Old Gods, _if_ indeed he does. I could imagine him being a very fine servant of Shadow, holding a kind of balance and not directly working for Old Gods.

[Aucald]

Did you just assume that NPCs gender?
TRIGGERED

Xavius is both canonically and historically male - from his origin story in "War of the Ancients" to his presentation now as the Nightmare Lord. Unless you were joking (I can never tell from text).

[steelballfc]

since when is xavius a woman?

since Sargeras turned him into Satyr

[Deleted]

Last one is probably relating to Queen Azshara, doubt it's sylvanas.

[lightofdawn]

But the pillars are 6, aren't they?
But it makes sense with Khadgar being ""The lord of ravens will turn the key." ", as he wants to use them (turn the key) to stop the Legion.

"To find him, drown yourself in a circle of stars.
Could this be the Nightwell?

im pretty sure there are 5 pillars, the last being the eye of aman'thul. makes it weird that there are six pedestals in the tower of the guardian. maybe that last spot is for something else

[Raetary]

Xavius is both canonically and historically male - from his origin story in "War of the Ancients" to his presentation now as the Nightmare Lord. Unless you were joking (I can never tell from text).

aucald... really... you are very behind on memes.

[Aucald]

aucald... really... you are very behind on memes.

I usually am, that's the peril of getting on in the years.

[MikeBogina]

Our characters are not dead.
Their hearts did not explode.
They did not succumb to madness.
They have not been betrayed by their friends.
Neither did they betray their friends.
It wasn't my fault

Everything they have said to us is one of 3 things. A threat (Yogg being bitchy when he died.), a gloat, or a lie.

I honestly don't get why people are taking the quotes from Il'gynoth as anything other than one of the three choices. When old gods and their followers only speak one of the three.

The threats of "I will eat your flesh" and other stuff like that, is spewed from almost every single boss in the game. Every single Orc on Draenor foamed at the mouth and talked about threats.

But what Old Gods also say, is things to come or things that have passed. These aren't threats, they're hints to the future. And they're usually always true.

[Maletalana]

Xavius is both canonically and historically male - from his origin story in "War of the Ancients" to his presentation now as the Nightmare Lord. Unless you were joking (I can never tell from text).

was 1000% a joke lol!

[LordAmbrosia]

If Azeroth is already fully corrupted it is pretty much game over.

Might explain why everyone living on this planet constantly slaughters each other at least.

[steelballfc]

I usually am, that's the peril of getting on in the years.

you are still young little " insert race"
you are adorable

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Might explain why everyone living on this planet constantly slaughters each other at least.

but I live peacefully, in the barrens, alone in the desert.

[Knyx]

*snip*

Interesting read. The one real exception I take is that you seem to think every story element has to be an M. Night Shamalamadingdong curveball. Sometimes the most obvious path is, in fact, the best path.

Specifically, in regards to Anduin/Wrathion, If either of these if the boy-king in question, it would make more sense that it's Anduin. Regardless of whose agenda we may think Wrathion is more against, I can't imagine that he would be like "Yo, let me just cuddle up to all these mofos who corrupted and nearly completely obliterated my entire race." Especially when both sides are essential after the same thing; Azeroth's destruction. That's a twist that doesn't make sense.

Now maybe Wrathion is corrupted too. Well, that's boring as hell also, having to worry about Deathwing Jr.

And Dragons don't refer to their leaders as kings, typically.

I just don't see an interesting and feasible way that Wrathion is that boy-king in question.

[DesoPL]

There is only one question i need to ask about this whole mess, i mean... Topic.

What if both Legion and Old Gods, try do mind games on us?