My Crazy Elune Theory

[Jokubas]

SUMMARY: Elune is the world-soul of the planet Azeroth, but the 'soul' has been separated from the 'body'.

I tried to directly quote as many of the sources that led to my conclusion as possible, so you know what I'm talking about for each of these sections without having to look up everything yourself. I had a lot of free time to put this together.

Index
Why Elune Feels like a World-Soul: Things that point to Elune being Azeroth's world-soul.
Why Elune Can't be in Azeroth: Things that show Elune clearly being the moon.
Conclusion: Where I get to my point.
Where this Makes Sense: Old questions that this theory answers.
How Would this Work?: Where I tackle new questions this theory brings up.

Premise
Since the first Chronicle volume came out, I've felt like Elune could very well be Azeroth's world-soul. However, the theory was imperfect. While I feel the Chronicle all but admits it, there are other sources that cast serious doubt on the idea. On the other hand, those sources have their own issues considering the different context they require.

After re-reading part of the Chronicle, however, I have discovered something that can cover (most) of the holes with the theory of Elune being Azeroth's world-soul.

The key is in this quote:

"Even more extraordinary than the naaru were the colossal titans. Their spirits -- known as world-souls -- formed deep within the fiery core of a small number of worlds. For ages, these nascent titans slumbered, their energies suffusing the celestial bodies they inhabited." - Chronicle Vol. 1, pg 19

The world-souls inhabit planets, they did not begin as the planets themselves.

Why Elune Feels like a World-Soul
To give some context, here is why Elune feels like she is Azeroth's world-soul to me:

"In excising the Old God from the world, he had inadvertently ripped an eternal wound in Azeroth's surface. Volatile arcane energies -- the lifeblood of the nascent titan -- erupted from the scar and roiled out across the world." - pg 36

"Eventually, the tumultuous energies calmed and settled into balance. All that remained of the scar was an immense lake of scintillating energy that the keepers would call the "Well of Eternity."" - pg 37

"These former trolls gradually abandoned their ancient heritage and traditions. The tribe's mystics began worshipping the moon goddess, Elune, who they believed was bound to the Well of Eternity itself. They claimed that the deity slumbered within the fount's depths during daylight hours.

The former trolls also discovered the name "Kalimdor" and other titan-forged words from communing with Elune and investigating strange artifacts scattered around the Well's periphery." - pg 93

"The Pantheon bestowed wondrous artifacts on the keepers to aid them with ordering the world. These relics were known as the Pillars of Creation. Ages after the keepers had completed their grand work, the artifacts would become lost and scattered across the lands of Azeroth." - pg 40

So what we absolutely know from this, is that the titans knew of Elune (because the Tears of Elune are one of the Pillars of Creation, and the titans created those artifacts). The night elves, in turn, would learn of Elune and titan-related things from Elune herself and titan artifacts. They believed that Elune was connected to the Well of Eternity and lived within it.

Since the Well of Eternity is quite literally the blood of the world-soul, it seems odd to me that anything else would be associated with it other than the world-soul itself. Also, since we know most of the knowledge they gained to be true and straight from titanic sources, why would they be so easily misled about Elune's association with the Well of Eternity if Elune was unrelated to Azeroth?

Why Elune Can't be in Azeroth
As I already admitted myself, however, this isn't airtight.

For instance, just look at the Val'sharah ending cinematic. It's pretty clear that the moon has power, so Elune almost certainly is the moon. Also, even the dark trolls believed that Elune was in the sky at night, and not within the Well, so even if that makes the Well connection odd, it does seem to follow that Elune is a moon and not a planet.

This doesn't feel like a full answer to me, either, though.

The Chronicle gives us no being that Elune can be, if she is just the moon. A moon isn't a naaru, and we at least weren't told of any Light equivalent to the Void Lords (not that it means there can't be any, but I'm working with what we have). At best, there is the possibility that a moon could have a world-soul as well (since orbit is what determines a moon in real life, not the makeup). This seems unlikely to me, at least in this case, because otherwise you would think the titans, Old Gods, or Legion would be interested in the moon as well.

Also, the Tears of Elune are a Pillar of Creation. Every other Pillar of Creation is named after a titan. This gets dismissed a lot because it doesn't prove anything on its own, but it's undeniably a pattern. There aren't just two names or anything, there are five. It would be odd if they were all named after members of the Pantheon aside from one named after something else, especially since it's treated equally with the other Pillars on the mural in the Tomb of Sargeras (unlike Aman'thul's, which is explained by his role as the leader of the Pantheon).

Conclusion
So if I'm saying Elune is Azeroth's world-soul, but Elune isn't in Azeroth, then what am I saying? I'm saying that it got ripped out. Elune was in Azeroth, but no longer is.

"Y'shaarj was dead, but its tendrils had bored more deeply through Azeroth than Aman'thul had ever imagined." - pg 36

What if Y'shaarj was so deep, that he was literally wrapped around the world-soul? Remember, there was a quote early on that distinguished a planet from its world-soul. The world-souls were buried deep in planets. Another example of that can be seen with the Void world Sargeras destroyed:

"With a heave of his blade, Sargeras split the world in two. The resultant explosion consumed the Old Gods and their energies, but it killed the nascent titan as well." - pg 24

The world splitting and titan death are referred to separately, as if one event didn't necessarily guarantee the other.

I posit that Elune was the world-soul core of Azeroth, and it was torn out with Y'shaarj, left to drift in orbit as one of the planet's moons.

Where this Makes Sense
There are other situations that I feel make more sense if this situation is true. First off, the End Time dungeon. This dungeon is described as the result if we had failed to stop Deathwing. However, it's simply a barren world. It's not the writhing, very much alive, Old God infested nightmare that Sargeras had found when he discovered a world in which the Void had taken over. Even Murozond brings attention to this:

"You crawl unwitting, like a blind, writhing worm, towards endless madness and despair. I have witnessed the true End Time. This? This is a blessing you simply cannot comprehend."

I'm assuming the true End Time might even just be a void of nothingness, in which the Void Lords had used a Void Azeroth to conquer the universe. So why would it be a blessing when Deathwing won, who was trying to enact that Hour of Twilight? My guess is that in the End Time we saw, while the Old Gods had destroyed all life on Azeroth, they hadn't captured its world-soul. Perhaps they hadn't captured its world-soul, because it wasn't life that was protecting it, but because it wasn't even there anymore.

Also, remember what Wrathion said when he consumed Lei Shen's heart?

When Aman'thul died, his spirit entered Ra. Ra's power was later consumed by Lei Shen. Lei Shen's heart was consumed by Wrathion, who experienced similar visions as Ra did when Aman'thul originally entered him. This implies that Aman'thul's spirit now rests within Wrathion, and Aman'thul was the strange voice that spoke. Ultimately, he said:

"WE HAVE FALLEN. WE MUST REBUILD THE FINAL TITAN. DO NOT FORGET."

'We have fallen' is almost certainly a reference to the Pantheon being killed by Sargeras. However, 'rebuild the final titan'? Most seem to assume that the final titan refers to Azeroth, since it's the last titan we know about, and is key to the war for the fate of the universe. I think that's a fair assumption. However, why would they need to 'rebuild' Azeroth? As far as our current information goes, Azeroth is perfectly fine, she's just sleeping. Even for celestial beings that the titans are, 'rebuild' seems like an odd choice of words when they mean 'awaken.' 'Build' would be one thing, but 'rebuild'?

However, what if the Pantheon realized at some point that Aman'thul had accidentally tore the world-soul out along with Y'shaarj? In the case, they might need to find some way to put the world-soul back if they want it to awaken.

This also reminds me of an old tweet. Dave Kosak tweeted "It's too late. Azeroth will never wake up. He was the Titan's last hope." He quickly backpedaled due to backlash, but (aside from the gender confusion) what if he was just getting ahead of himself? What if Azeroth can't wake up, because Azeroth's world-soul is missing, like a body without a brain or heart?

Certainly this brings up quite a few questions, and I'll try to address as many as I can think of.

How Would this Work?
First off, you may be wondering how there is supposed to be any suspense, if both the Legion and the Old Gods are completely missing their true goal by attacking Azeroth instead of the moon.

I don't have a direct answer, but I have speculation. The fact that it's being kept hidden from us could be one way they're trying to offset that until they're ready to reveal it. It could also be that the Void does know. We've thrashed the Old Gods so far, but the Void is being built up to be the ultimate villains. It's certainly not impossible, but it would be hard to sell the final, weakest Old God as a bigger threat to Azeroth than the entire Black Empire. However, if it turns out that N'Zoth's goal isn't to conquer Azeroth, but to reach out to something that is completely undefended, it would start to feel a lot more urgent (it might also explain why the Old Gods are so desperate to escape their prisons when they can clearly corrupt whatever's deep underground from right where they are).

You may also be wondering how this ties into Xe'ra's history.

"I was going through some ancient cosmology tomes when I stumbled upon a passage indicating that the prime naaru may have been created by Elune during the great ordering of Light and Shadow." - Khadgar in the quest Goddess Watch Over You

How could Elune have created the prime naaru when they're ancient and she's still sleeping?

"It was during his long and lonely journeys that Aggramar sensed something extraordinary: the tranquil dreams of a slumbering world-soul, billowing across the cosmos. The song of life led him to a world that the Pantheon had not yet discovered, a world they would later name "Azeroth."" - pg30

What this tells us, is that Azeroth has a presence even while sleeping. This doesn't prove anything on its own obviously, but it leaves open the possibility. Also consider this, about the Emerald Dream.

"Some believe that Freya wove the Emerald Dream into being from nothing. Others claim that this strange place had always existed in some form, a dream born from Azeroth's slumbering world-soul. It is said that Freya tapped into this realm and molded what would become known as the Emerald Dream as a way to commune with the nascent titan." - pg 39

Considering that Aggramar detected Azeroth due to a 'dream', I don't think it's a stretch to assume that this speculation is correct, and the Emerald Dream is Azeroth's. In that case, then Azeroth can clearly influence things and even be communicated with while still asleep. It's a stretch, but I think that certainly leaves open the possibility that Elune, even as Azeroth's world-soul, could create the prime naaru, in her own way, when she first emerged into the universe, especially since Azeroth's world-soul is supposed to have an unprecedented level of power.

Finally, there's one final reason I think that, despite Elune's potential connection to Xe'ra and ancient history, she is not something like a Light Lord, and is definitely a titan.

Titans are the embodiment of arcane energy, as shown in the Cosmology chart, not Light. This is hammered in multiple times, even in the second volume, where their titanic origins is used to explain the ogre's learning arcane magic easily. A Light Lord would obviously be Light. However, Elune is shown on multiple occasions to be arcane.

Look at the Druid talents. "Warrior of Elune" makes Lunar Strike instant, which does arcane damage. "Incarnation: Chosen of Elune" improves Moonkin form, which specializes in doing nature and arcane damage. "Fury of Elune" deals Astral damage, which picks the strongest of nature or arcane. And that's ignoring her strong association with the Well of Eternity and early night elf society, which revolved heavily around the arcane. On top of that, all over the place Elune's moon symbolism is associated with other celestial imagery. And where is celestial imagery most apparent? Look at the artwork on pages 16-17, or this quote:

"When the titans finally awoke, they did so as living worlds. Cosmic winds howled across their gigantic forms, bodies shrouded in a cloak of stardust, skin crisscrossed with silvery mountain peaks and oceans shimmering with latent magic." - pg 19 (Emphasis mine)

Elune's common perception lines up with an arcane, titanic history, not one of pure Light.

Now what about Magni? He claims to be speaking for Azeroth's world-soul. Many people have assumed that this isn't what it seems, however, due to quotes from Il'gynoth in the Emerald Nightmare.
"The king of diamonds has been made a pawn." - Almost certainly referring to Magni.
"Five keys to open our way. Five torches to light our path." - Almost certainly referring to the five Pillars of Creation.
So this Void minion is claiming that Magni is a pawn and implying the Pillars of Creation will free them. Those two ideas are very closely related.

Ye must find the Pillars! Combined, their power kin seal the Legion's gateway to Azeroth. 'Tis the only way to save her! - Magni Bronzebeard in the quest The Diamond King

Magni is the one who told us to collect the Pillars this expansion to begin with. Could it be, then, that this was never a good idea? Could it be he's not talking to Azeroth? I would expect Azeroth to try to clear up that misconception since, by all accounts, he probably should have contact with her. My theory solves that pretty neatly though. If the actual world-soul isn't connected to the earth anymore, it wouldn't be able to communicate so easily with its earth-born allies such as Neltharion or Magni.

Of course, Magni is still giving us new information we know to be true, like the idea of Azeroth being a titan to begin with. However, this is not beyond the Void. The Void has a history of telling us the truth. Usually it works in their favor, and it would here, too. If Khadgar, for instance, looks into the history of Azeroth, it will all check out, so we'll trust everything Magni says. That just means we'll still believe them once they start lying and manipulating us.

That's It!
It's pretty crazy, and I might have missed something really important, but maybe someone else will see something interesting in these quotes or observations and form an interesting conclusion.

[Zyky]

There's one major flaw with your theory. And that's the fact that Elune gave birth and mated with Malorne.

[Aquamonkey]

I posit that Elune was the world-soul core of Azeroth, and it was torn out with Y'shaarj, left to drift in orbit as one of the planet's moons.

That is something the Pantheon would have easily spotted. Yet they continued to work on Azeroth itself to stabilize it enough to awaken.

[Treeskee]

I don't know shit about shit, but I enjoyed reading your theory. Would be very awesome.

[DesoPL]

Without crazy people, the world would be boredom place. So in fact, i like your theory.

[Soeroah]

Fun read, but I dunno. I feel like Elune being responsible for the naaru shows that she would have had to have had a universal mindset and power at the dawn of the universe, predating possibly the Titans.

Remember, the first Chronicle indicates that Titans were born from worlds that were pelted with a large amount of Light, similar to how the naaru are shards of Light, and elementals were created from smaller amounts of it.

If Elune created the naaru, she would have had to exist before the naaru, which puts her too early on in the timeline for my liking. Plus, if she can create a species like the naaru while sleeping, why is it so important she wake up? She can do massive things while sleeping, she might never need to wake.

Plus how could the Old Gods be trying to corrupt her when she has shown herself to be one of, if not the only, source of power capable of purifying Old God taint (Ysera, Tear of Elune) and one of the few that can "cure" a demon? There are decent theories that the naaru themselves may have been created by purifying Old Gods or other void entities, so the idea that she herself could fall to corruption doesn't really flow with that proposal. Which I know isn't evidence, per se, but the point is Azeroth seems a lot more corruptible than Elune.

Plus, whether it's still canon or not, Elune's been described by Blizzard as "the only true deity".

[olddog]

Maybe Elune is manifestation of the Light. like Old Gods, Manifestations of the Void. or Is she a fragment of Light Lords? Like Dimensius, Shadow Echo of Void Lords.

[Raetary]

There are several major flaws in your theory.
Will list them once i get home

[Benomatic]

Which moon? Azeroth has two?

[Raetary]

Which moon? Azeroth has two?

Elune obviously...
The white lady.

[TheFirstOnes]

1....Major...Flaw...Spotted....


Wouldn't the Titans see that?

- - - Updated - - -

Elune obviously...
The white lady.

Forgot about The Blue Child....

[Raetary]

Forgot about The Blue Child....

the blue child isnt elune, only one of the 2 is associated with the goddess and that is the white lady.

even shown in the val'sharah cinematic.

[Aquamonkey]

What if the Blue Child is Azeroth 's disembodied world-soul and the White Lady is Elune. And Azeroth was created by Elune, which is why it's so powerful. She looks after the Blue Child and embraces it during The Embrace.

[TheFirstOnes]

the blue child isnt elune, only one of the 2 is associated with the goddess and that is the white lady.

even shown in the val'sharah cinematic.

.....

Are you kidding me? I said The Blue Child because when he asked about the 2 MOONS, you said one of them....

So I said the other.....


Wanna keep spewing words into my mouth?

- - - Updated - - -

What if the Blue Child is Azeroth 's disembodied world-soul and the White Lady is Elune. And Azeroth was created by Elune, which is why it's so powerful. She looks after the Blue Child and embraces it during The Embrace.

.....How bout no?


Would rather we fuck up Sargeras, and have her fuck up The Void....

[Gamer8585]

Interesting theory, but IIRC Elune created the Naaru Primes at the dawn of creation. My money is on her being a manifestation from the light, much as the Void Lords are manifestations from the Void. As the Light seems to be a unitary force (or at least is predisposed to coalescence) she may be the only one to manifest from it. As the cosmology chart from chronicle shows the universe is in a constant state of balance between 6 primal forces and their combinations the only thing not balanced on that chart is the Void Lords, and a Light Lord would complete it.

Not ready to QED. Just a cogent inference from what we know.

[WolfRider]

Elune could be a Constellar based on the 2nd moon, which isn't a natural satellite but a Titanic one.
We know that Titans allied with Constellars to watch over planets (Aggramar left Draenor because he felt one of the constellar in charge of a planet dying because of the Burning Legion attacks).

[Elves4ever]

If Elune was some sort of Light God/Manifestation, then wouldnt Nelf Pallys be common place?

[Raetary]

If Elune was some sort of Light God/Manifestation, then wouldnt Nelf Pallys be common place?

priestesses of the moon are literally cloth wearing paladins...

[Stormspark]

There's one major flaw with your theory. And that's the fact that Elune gave birth and mated with Malorne.

Do we actually know that for fact though? It's a night elf legend. It may not be literally true. And Elune apparently created the Naaru.

[Aquamonkey]

priestesses of the moon are literally cloth wearing paladins...

They actually wear metal armor.

The fearless leaders of the Sentinel army, the Priestesses of the Moon epitomize the power and grace of their race's ancient Moon Goddess, Elune. The Priestesses, equipped with silvery, glowing armor, ride the fearless Frostsaber tigers of Winterspring into battle. Charged with the safekeeping of the night elf lands and armed with magical energy bows - the Priestesses will stop at nothing to rid their ancient land of evil. (Source)