Originally Posted by
Golden Yak
I've put together some thoughts I've had regarding Light and Void after listening to the audio drama:
Light
Light is the essence of creation, it's even called the Light of Creation by some. It creates existence, reality itself. It makes sense that the Light would therefore trend towards being a force of order, stability, and balance - once you've got reality, you need it to have rules that maintain it, or it'll collapse and be lost. It also makes sense that Light would be a unifying force, since everything comprises one single reality, one whole. Light seems to complement forces like the arcane, which is a magical power of order that seems to act like the 'laws of physics' in a magical sense.
Locus-Walker states that the Light 'seeks one path' and shuns all others. This could be interpreted as the Light seeking one optimum, perfect path to stability and harmony for the sake of preserving reality, and thereby disregarding other methods that are less than optimum or that lead towards greater disunity. This singular directive could be why the Light is such a unifying force - all things in the Light are drawn towards a singular path, creating harmony and unity among them. The naaru, as beings of the Light, project this unifying energy around them to all who exist within the Light, generating a state of belonging, peace, and harmony.
Taken to extremes though, the Light might be seen or actually serve as an oppressive force, unifying those within it towards a singlular state possibly even against their will. Seen with beings like Xe'ra, having a singular vision about what the perfect path should be could lead some to oppress others. I think it might even be possible that sufficiently powerful beings with the Light may draw others into their vision, whether conciously or unconciously - not direct subversion or mind-control, but a kind've overpowering inspiration, an incredibly strong will pulling weaker wills along with it in pursuit of its vision. The Scarlet Crusade might be another example of this, with powerful righteous crusaders drawing many impressionable minds into their fold.
Its natural that most mortal races would be more inclined to the principles of the Light, since mortal societies cannot exist without some degree of order and stability - societies that trend towards chaos and disharmony turn upon and destroy themselves. The enduring principles of the Light are more inclined to create stability, and stability is more likely to aid survival. Hence, it makes sense that mortal races would see the Light as a force for 'good', since its attributes are what allow mortals to survive and prosper. From the point of view of mortals that wish to thrive, the Light is a force for good.
Void
Void is the essence of possibility. While the Light is a force of creation and existence, the Void represents what does not exist - yet. Rather than being a force of emptiness or nothingness, the Void is instead potential - when you take away what does exist, you're left with an absence (hence the term 'Void') but you also create the potential for that absence to be filled with anything.
While the Light trends towards existence and the enduring stability that preserves existence, the Void is a vast ocean of infinite possibility - a singular form of existence is anathema to the Void, a stifling prison that limits possibility. Locus-Walker says that the Void 'seeks every possible path, and sees them all as true' - when an infinite number of roads exist to travel, being confined to a single path would seem like stagnation.
Because the Void contains infinite potienal however, there is naturally a limitless possibility for destruction and wickedness... at least, from most mortal points of view. The Void may be largely without morality as mortals would understand it - from the Void's perspective, its own essence of infinite possibility is 'good', and the stifling order of the Light granting a singular path is 'evil' - the fact that the path of the Light is largely beneficial to mortals while the paths of the Void lead to anarchy and destruction is irrelevant. To the Void, chaos is good and order is bad - its not 'wrong' for mortals to suffer and die in the chaos the Void unleashes, nor is it 'good' for them to prosper in the order of the Light. These things simply aren't a factor. As per Locus-Walker's words, the Void seeks multiple paths - anything that blocks those paths is the only 'immorality' it can perceive.
The Void and its perspectives probably seem crazy to mortals - from the mortal point of view, it is. Again, the Void doesn't regard insanity as 'bad' - it can't be 'bad' as long as its something that exists as a possiblity within the Void's infinite sea of possibility.
Mortals can view the Void's infinite possibilities when exposed to it - this is likely what drives many to madness, mortals being unable to process and rationalize an infinite variety of potential futures they might experience. Alleria experiences several visions that nearly overwhelm her, until Locus-Walker reinforces the view that they are lies. The Void offers 'visions' - potential realities. But some are so unstable and untenable that they literally fall apart - some possibilities are so impossible that they have no substance. This could be seen as representing the Voids' nature as infinite possibility - there exists an ever churning sea of probability that includes some probabilities too 'unrealistic' in a sense to survive as more than dreams or visions, nothing more than hallucinations generated in the mind of an observer. The Void, or possibly the entities within it, also appear to have their own will and desires which influence what mortals see - Alleria refers to the visions as a mix of the Void's memories, plans, and desires.
Void, as a force of chaos and disharmony, would be poison to any lasting society - there would be no unity, no pulling together. Its natural that mortal societies would grow to shun it. However, Void would represent infinite potential to any individual willing to study and exploit it. The disenfranchised among societies might also come to see it as a path to power they do not possess, a means to change their lot in life, which could explain why organizations like the Twilight Cult or other Shadow/Void-worshiping cults are able to amass membership.
Light and Void creating what is neither Light nor Void
In a sense, the Void could be regarded as a sea of dreams - while the Light is what does exist, the Void is what could exist, with varying degrees of possibility. The Light's singular reality is strong and stable, while the Void's multiple potential realities are more diffuse, more insubstantial, hence the two forces maintain equal footing in the balance of power.
According to Chronicle, the Light once existed alone - raw creation force that created nothing, but simply existed. It wasn't until some of the Light faded and flickered and died - creating an absence of existence, a 'Void' in reality where potentiality could now exist - that something besides the Light came into existence. The collision of Light and Void - creative energy with potentiallity - that the universe came into existence. In a sense, the raw creative force of the Light needed exposure to the infinite dreams and possibilities of the Void in order to bring something besides raw existence into being. The Void contained the possibilities, while the Light brought them into being and solidified them as real - no longer in potential, but in actual existence.
The desire to truly exist may be the source of Void entities great hunger - they exist as potential beings, outside reality. They desire to become 'complete', to exist in the realm of reality. The Void Lords cannot manifest long outside their realm and must consume huge swathes of reality to maintain themselves - perhaps they are draining the creative 'Light' from what exists to try and maintain an existence of their own. The Final Titan would be a means for them to finally exist permanently in the realms of order, allowing them to experience the universe forever - as forces of the Void, the fact that this would spread havoc and insanity throughout the cosmos is not something they see as bad. With infinite possibility there are infinite ways to suffer. As long as there's infinite ways to do infinite things, that's ultimate freedom as far as the Void is concerned.
edit - further comment
The notion of Void as infinite potential, is one I'm super happy to see taking shape, because I actually saw this concept used earlier in another awesome game that came out this year called Hollow Knight. It's super awesome and if anyone likes side-scrollers of the Castlevania/Metroid mold, Hollow Knight is the best one of those I've ever played.
Within Hollow Knight there is also a power called Void (or sometimes VOID) portrayed as a chaotic, living darkness that wells up from deep beneath the earth. Very little is revealed about it, but it is described in a couple of interesting ways in various places:
Upon playing through Hollow Knight and seeing its descriptions of a dark power called Void as a source of chaotic, infinite potential, it made me want to see the Void in Warcraft presented that way, and it seems like Blizz is taking steps to shape its concept of Void towards that form. Very glad!