Old God Mural in Heart of Fear?

[Justignoreme]

That's wrong though. Mantid worshiped an Old God before and will gladly serve it again should it ever return. They actually know the Sha are remains of that God, who was defeated by Titans. They only oppose the Sha affected Empress and her forces, because her fear being replaced by the next empress disrupts the Mantid cycles and other, um... traditions.

They are not familiar with the Sha from the inception. It blindsided them, doesn't mean they aren't quick to learn. They discover the sha energies through your efforts, when you bring back fear-tainted Amber.
Yes there is a connection, but it hasn't been explained. It doesn't mean the Sha are "Y'shaaj's essence" or ghost or whatever. The Sha could just as easily be Yshaaj's version of faceless ones. To say, with certainty that the sha are "exactly this" requires proof of such a claim and there isnt any just yet. All we have is the Pandaren account, which says they came out of Shaohao and were defeated and trapped by him, and the Shado-pan saw to containing their influence around Pandaria when the empire ceased to be.

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 12:39 AM ----------

Disappointingly soloable ones, too.
Honestly, those squiddy giants should be able to one-hit any player. No one has any reason to be so far out there anyway, thats all the justification needed.

Even the whale sharks out at the fatigue zone don't one hit a player, well not a level 90 anyways

[Golden Yak]

http://www.wowpedia.org/Y%27Shaarj

Also at Blizzcon 2007 the lore panel in fact stated "the nerubians and old gods are BFF".

1 quest giver and his 3-5 followers don't like the old gods. I'm pretty sure it's for selfish purposes really if you look into it.

I did see that Blizzcon image (got super stoked on it too), but it does appear to have been changed since then. If the nerubians still worship the Old Gods, or did in recent times, it begs the question of why the faceless and the forgotten ones were unleashed on them when they went to war with the Scourge. The faceless in Northrend cry out to Yogg-Saron and walk among his twilight followers, so it's strongly implied that they serve his will.

It's a question I've asked myself, and I do want an answer.

My current theory is that Yogg-Saron had withdrawn his favor from the nerubians (they were camped out in Northrend for 10,000+ years and weren't able to do a thing to free him apparently), and had developed an interest in the Scourge (what with them spreading saronite all over the place, building structures out of saronite, Yogg's own blood... hmm...). So he made sure the nerubians wouldn't screw with his new chosen toys.

They are not familiar with the Sha from the inception. It blindsided them, doesn't mean they aren't quick to learn. They discover the sha energies through your efforts, when you bring back fear-tainted Amber.

When the mantid peak of Y'Shaarj, they mention that "His last terrible breath has haunted this land ever since, but the shadows he left behind are mere whispers of his former glory." It seems to me that the mantid know what the Sha are, but they do not see the Sha as the same entity as Y'Shaarj. They regard the Sha as lesser beings, either not worthy of worship or too dangerous to worship.

In light of the Old God/Sha relation, their connection with Shaohao is still unclear - perhaps they existed as an intangible corruption before Shaohao's rituals, and were later transformed into their current monstrous forms so they could be physical restrained. That's my theory, anyway.

[Algearond]

Emerald Dream's an expansion-worthy concept. I'm sure we'll see one eventually.

I really, really want this to happen.

[Peachy]

If you get exalted and do the final quests for the Klaxxi it has a pretty good explanation of whats going on with the old gods, i'd post the final quest text her but don't wanna give away any spoilers

[Vayshan]

I did see that Blizzcon image (got super stoked on it too), but it does appear to have been changed since then. If the nerubians still worship the Old Gods, or did in recent times, it begs the question of why the faceless and the forgotten ones were unleashed on them when they went to war with the Scourge. The faceless in Northrend cry out to Yogg-Saron and walk among his twilight followers, so it's strongly implied that they serve his will.

It's a question I've asked myself, and I do want an answer.

My current theory is that Yogg-Saron had withdrawn his favor from the nerubians (they were camped out in Northrend for 10,000+ years and weren't able to do a thing to free him apparently), and had developed an interest in the Scourge (what with them spreading saronite all over the place, building structures out of saronite, Yogg's own blood... hmm...). So he made sure the nerubians wouldn't screw with his new chosen toys.



When the mantid peak of Y'Shaarj, they mention that "His last terrible breath has haunted this land ever since, but the shadows he left behind are mere whispers of his former glory." It seems to me that the mantid know what the Sha are, but they do not see the Sha as the same entity as Y'Shaarj. They regard the Sha as lesser beings, either not worthy of worship or too dangerous to worship.

In light of the Old God/Sha relation, their connection with Shaohao is still unclear - perhaps they existed as an intangible corruption before Shaohao's rituals, and were later transformed into their current monstrous forms so they could be physical restrained. That's my theory, anyway.

Aren't the Nerubians in Ahn'Kahet slaves of the LK? Undead Scourge.

[Flaks]

That's wrong though. Mantid worshiped an Old God before and will gladly serve it again should it ever return. They actually know the Sha are remains of that God, who was defeated by Titans. They only oppose the Sha affected Empress and her forces, because her fear being replaced by the next empress disrupts the Mantid cycles and other, um... traditions.

Devs have confirmed that there's a connection between the Sha and Y'Shaarj. There's NOTHING to say what the nature of that connection is though. They could as well be enemies which would make a lot more sense with the Klaxxi hating on the Sha.

On that note it'd be great to have Shaohao actually be a servant of Y'Shaarj.

[Golden Yak]

Aren't the Nerubians in Ahn'Kahet slaves of the LK? Undead Scourge.

The hostile ones are yes, but there are a few non-hostile, living nerubians that give you quests to fight against the Scourge and the Old Gods forces there.

The dungeon now ends with these living nerubians securing a clutch of nerubian eggs and promising that Azjol-Nerub will rise again (squee!).

[Vayshan]

The hostile ones are yes, but there are a few non-hostile, living nerubians that give you quests to fight against the Scourge and the Old Gods forces there.

The dungeon now ends with these living nerubians securing a clutch of nerubian eggs and promising that Azjol-Nerub will rise again (squee!).

Rebels perhaps?

[Golden Yak]

Against the Scourge? Certainly.

Against the Old Gods? Likely. But they probably would have become so as a result of the faceless ones, the servants of the Old Gods, attacking them while they were at war with the Scourge (and apparently losing).

Maybe if they hadn't been overrun by the Scourge they would still worship. And if they manage to fully restore their empire to its former glory, then perhaps like the mantid they will seek to stand with the Old Gods again.

[Deleted]

Y'Shaarj (pronounced Yah-Sha-Raj) is an Old God, one of several malefic beings that were sequestered by the Titans during Azeroth's primordial ages. Located in what is now Pandaria, the mantid race worshiped his seven heads. The Titans slew Y'Shaarj, but with his dying breath he cursed Pandaria by infesting it with "shadows of his former self," implied to be the Sha. Y'Shaarj was said to have "breathed love and exhaled hate, inhaled peace and breathed violence." He was confirmed to be quite extremely dead.


Upon reaching exalted with the Klaxxi, a faction of mantid that have turned against their queen, Kil'ruk the Wind-Reaver will tell them the story of the mantid's origins and Y'Shaarj.

Wakener, your deeds have earned you the trust of the Klaxxi.
You are to be rewarded. Walk with me.
We mantid are an elder race. The pandaren you associate with - they are but children. They have their role to play.
Each cycle, our young swarm their walls. The pandaren slay the weak. The strong return.
With each generation, we grow ever stronger.
Before your history began, our empire was vast. We shared this world with our sister kingdoms, Ahn'Qiraj and Azjol-Nerub.
Our Gods were many, and powerful. We mantid worshipped the seven heads of Y'Shaarj.
Great was the Old One, and terrible was His wrath. He consumed hope and begat despair; He inhaled courage and breathed fear.
When the usurpers came - the ones you call "Titans" - Y'Shaarj was destroyed.
His last terrible breath has haunted this land ever since, but the shadows he left behind are mere whispers of his former glory.
I tell you now, because you have earned this warning.
Your gods are not your gods, outsider.
If the Old Ones ever return, we mantid will once again stand by their side.
The wisest among you will do the same.
That is all that needs to be said. Come, take your reward, and remember what you have learned today.

[Szemere]

I kinda hope it ISN'T Old God related. I'm so tired of EVERYTHING being the result of Old God corruption. We're almost done with an entire expansion of it and I'd like a break. Same with dragons and elemental aspects.

I haven't seen much old gods in cata... sure they were the cause of it, but wasn't that the same in WotLK?

[Hitei]

I haven't seen much old gods in cata... sure they were the cause of it, but wasn't that the same in WotLK?

Pretty much everything bad in wow is either the direct fault of Old Gods or Demons.
In the case of WotLK, Ulduar was Old Gods, scourge was demons.

[rogoth]

dunno if thise really classes as spoilers, but after hitting exhalted with klaxxi, u get taken to a secret chamber of the klaxxi council, and are told along the way, that before the pantheon arrived on azeroth, the mantid served and worshipped the old god (singular), the one with these many heads, when teh titans came to azeroth they killed this old god, but didn't realise that eradicating it completely would destroy the planet, and you are also told, that should the old gods emerge, that the mantid would have no problems with rejoining their former masters, and that the only reason they are not all pro old god in game atm, is because the survival of their race is more important than worshipping immortal beings of pure evil.

[huth]

Perhaps at one point they worshipped the Old Gods, but that would have been before they split off from the other Aqir to form their own Spider Kingdom in what became Northrend.
The Qiraji worship a living Old God, the Mantid worship a dead one and the Nerubian race has been mostly destroyed by the fact that they were trapped between the hostile scourge on the surface and the hostile minions of an Old God below.

There seems to be a rather strong difference in attitude between the three remnants of the Aquir. From the downright fanatical Qiraji to the "Great service, would worship again" Mantid to the Nerubians, which seem more like "to hell with them, go hit those scourge in the face".

That was what we on the internet like to call "a joke".

Seeing the kind of people on this forum it seems safer to assume they're being serious.

[rogoth]

Pretty much everything bad in wow is either the direct fault of Old Gods or Demons.
In the case of WotLK, Ulduar was Old Gods, scourge was demons.

yogg saron was never meant to be the final boss of ulduar, it was supposed to be loken and his iron dwarves, the reason yogg saron became the "horror the titans imprisoned" there, was because blizz had to scrap the azol nerub raid, and leaving such a lore centric character out of the game was a bad idea, so they incorporated it into ulduar.

[Amuletry]

Sunken, Drown. All of the old gods look like sea creatures. This is no exception.

If you saw my post in the news section i mentioned how the Sha were foreshadowed in Ulduar, here's what i mean. Also, the art team on Pandaria has a similar style to the Ulduar art team. Coincidence?

I don't have the source, but I remember a developer or someone saying it wasn't planned that way at all - just a coincidence.

[Imnick]

http://www.wowpedia.org/Y%27Shaarj

Also at Blizzcon 2007 the lore panel in fact stated "the nerubians and old gods are BFF".

1 quest giver and his 3-5 followers don't like the old gods. I'm pretty sure it's for selfish purposes really if you look into it.

Also, the quest giver was shifted in 4.3 not MoP or 5.0 Nothing was changed for MoP to include location.

Furthermore there is an indication of an "unseen emperor" which was never expanded on. Just because the faceless ones attacked them means nothing of their allegiances as if Yogg Saron was still imprisoned at the time you complete the Old Kingdom which is fairly true since the only indication of his escape actually comes with the Ulduar patch, the faceless ones could easily be rogue and mindless. It's pretty easy to fight faceless ones and still be in league with an old god especially since there's plenty of infighting amongst the old gods themselves. So really that proves absolutely nothing.

They did indeed say that. They then contradicted it with what they actually put into the game.
They showed pictures of tiger and crane men at Blizzcon but those aren't in the game and do not exist as part of the lore.
Everything that is said and shown before the game is released is fluid and can be changed at any time. That particular detail was dropped.

Before your history began, our empire was vast. We shared this world with our sister kingdoms, Ahn'Qiraj and Azjol-Nerub.
Our Gods were many, and powerful. We mantid worshipped the seven heads of Y'Shaarj.

I believe this is the quote from the linked article you are referring to... and it says nothing about the Nerubians worshipping an Old God.
The word "our" is extremely vague. It could mean that he is talking about all three of the kingdoms but as the rest of his speech is purely about Mantid and because the Nerubians have literally never been shown in any kind of friendship with the Old Gods it seems more likely to me that "Our" simply refers to Mantid, not all three kingdoms.

And even if it doesn't... he says they have many gods. Not that all of them are Old Gods.
The Gods that the trolls worship are not Old Gods, nor is The Light. Some of them might not even have been real.

[Stormspellz]

Why are people trying to relate the Sha to the Old Gods? I haven't seen any connection between the Sha and the Mantid, the later ones could be ruled by an Old God just like the Qiraji and some of the Nerubian.

when you get exalted with klaxxi, you will learn the connection first hand.

[huth]

Actually, you only learn the connection between the Mantid and the Old Gods. While it's inferred that there is some connection between Y'Shaarj and the Sha, there is no clear information either way on the topic.

[Buu]

So we have an Old God who feeds on negative emotions or what :3?

No, we have the shadows of the 7 heads of an old god feeding from the negative emotions.

Mantids were servants of one of the Old Gods the Titans could slain, before they devised the plan that would ensure their survival, which forced the titans to simply lock them or risk to destroy Azeroth.

The old god associated with Pandaria is LONG dead.