Thoughts on the Old Gods' forces

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight]

What are your opinions on the various factions and subfactions working for the Old Gods, wherever they are the Twilight Hammer, the Nagas, the N'raqi, the Black Dragonflight and its offspring flights, the Aqir, Loken and his forces and others ?

Which one of these races/organisations is your favorite and which one is your least favorite ?

What are your ideas and headcanons for them (lore, scenarios, characters) and how would you write them ?

[Hobbidaggy]

I love the N’Raqi. To me those are the true old god forces. They come in various shapes and sizes and completely fit the Mindflayer element perfectly.

I don’t mind the others but the N’Raqi top the pile for me

[Varodoc]

They are, without a doubt, the most varied and interesting villainous faction in the franchise.

The Legion and the Scourge all follow the same general theme and aesthetic: the Legion are green and themed around Fel, the Scourge are blue and themed around Death and Ice.

Meanwhile, the Old Gods' forces have so many different aesthetics and themes melded together:

- Ragnaros and Fire
- Al'akir and Wind
- Azshara and the Sea
- Loken and his corrupted Titan constructs
- All their insect minions (qiraji, mantid, etc.)
- The Emerald Nightmare and their red aesethetic
- The Twilight's Hammer and their purple aesthetic
- Dark Iron dwarves, Dark Horde orcs, and Blood Trolls were all slaves of the Old Gods at one point
- Even the Sethekk arakkoa are part of these forces, as they served the Outlands Old God
- And, of course, all the freaky Faceless ones and other Lovecraft inspired horrors, who are the most ancient minions of the Old Gods
- If we count alternate non-canon realities that, obviously, will never happen: there's also the Ren'dorei led by Alleria in that twisted vision of Stormwind

It is also worth noting that many dragon broods were corrupted and enslaved by the Old Gods. The Infinite Dragonflight (with their unique cosmic space aesthetic), the Black Dragonflight, the Chromatic Dragonflight (which is super freaky, because they are failed lab rats of Nefarian), the Twilight/Void Dragonflight, and so on. So, as you can see, the Old Gods themselves might be """"""""""""dead""""""""""""""", but there's still plenty of material to use for Dragonflight.

The Legion are just green demons and the Scourge are just zombies dressed in blue, they can't compare with the sheer size and variety of all the forces of the Old Gods. It's ironic; you'd think that the Legion, a literal intergalactic army, would have the most variety, but they really don't. They are all just various shades of green, so much so that people were complaining about "Fel fatigue" back in WoD and Legion.

Of all of them, my favourite are probably the Twilight's Hammer. I admire how persistent they are, they are without a doubt the most persistent villains in Warcraft. They have been beaten back and defeated so many times, but they are still a thorn in Azeroth's side; in BfA, many years after their leadership structure was wiped out, they were still active, as they resurrected Soggoth the Slitherer in Kalimdor. I just love how these cultists have lost everything (all their bases, all their leaders, etc.), but they still find ways to torment the peoples of Azeroth.

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

I also love how every seperate Old God seems to have its own collection of followers, but all share similairs

[Golden Yak]

They're great.

I love eldritch stuff.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I also love how the collective of all Old God minions, mostly the n'raqi, are consistently present within every individual Old God's forces... and share their respective color scheme or physical traits.

[Kaleredar]

The reasoning for why a bunch of random Tom, Dick and Harrys sodded off to join an insane cult circa cataclysm wasn't particularly well fleshed out to me.

It was cool when they were more like huddled, whispered cultists occupying far-flung corners of the earth in secret, propping up the forces of the old gods who were far more interesting.

But when suddenly they've raised some sort of gigantic army of dudes in cloaks? Less so. They weren't raised into undeath like the scourge or promised fairly straightforwards magical powers like the cult of the damned or mortals who served the burning legion. So how they suddenly raised an invasion force of people to occupy nearly every corner of Azeroth is... a little weird, and also not interesting.

The Old God's forces work best when they're a small band of insidious cultists propping up the far more interesting monstrosities and elementals. But Cataclysm was an awful lot of guys in purple hoods.

[Unseen Guest]

The Old Gods are my fave part of the lore. Eerie, interesting, mysterious.

[Maljinwo]

I like the Naga

But as Old god forces... I'll keep to the Aqir

[Itisamuh]

I have always found the Old Gods, now Void, and anything associated with them to be the most interesting enemies in the lore. I honestly have no idea what my favorite sub faction would be among them, since they pretty much all tie back to corruption, but the least favorite is probably the bug servants. Nothing wrong with them, just not very interesting.

I have to say though that recent lore has kind of sucked with regards to them. All this cosmic balance crap, where the Void is, rather than evil, just a certain perspective and part of the necessary balance. It was a lot more interesting when the Old Gods were these mysterious ancient beings that were so dark and evil that even Demons and Titans dreaded them. The ultimate enemy, basically impossible to kill, only possible to desperately delay by keeping them asleep and imprisoned. Originally it implied that a single Old God was mightier than a single Titan, that if one was released even the greatest Titan would wet himself. But they changed it to be only a Titan creation that died, a Keeper I believe. Plus they decided that the Old Gods we put back to sleep, by more or less tickling a tiny body part, are now apparently dead for some reason. Still, despite all of that, no other enemies are as cool, with only the Legion rivaling them in my eyes.

[Oneirophobia]

Naga and N'raqi are my favs, followed closely by the bugs. I am hoping they do something interesting with the Nerubians seeing as they decided to establish that the spiders got their aesthetic from Maldraxxus. Maybe the Nerubians decided to betray the old gods and worship the Shadowlands (specifically Maldraxxus)? That would explain why the N'raqi """""helped"""" the Scourge destroy them - revenge for leaving the fold.