Midnight 12.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Steampunkette]

Wait, was Maldraxxus once a guy? I must have missed that part.

You never noticed that the ground is skin with pores and hair sticking out of it? The whole zone is at least a chunk of a massive slowly rotting corpse, which is part of why it's one of my favorite Shadowlands Zones. It's -way- more imaginative a design than most of what WoW has ever produced.

It's never been confirmed, but has been floating around as a theory that maldraxxus was once part of some being. Some flavourtext of an item mentions "the maldraxxus" and the zone itself is kind of alive with hair growing, fleshy pustules, ground that looks like skin etc.

But never anything concrete to confirm this as far as im aware.

Still nothing concrete, but look at how -cool- it is!

[Ersula]

The Heart of Eternity isn't the hole of which Azeroth was being funneled from. It's the literal Death part of the machine. And Firim straight up confirms that the machine connects the heart of the sepulcher with the other cosmic hearts, likely implying that the machine itself is a device that expands beyond the sepulcher.

It's just the hole. That phrase only shows up in the entire game in the Jailer Raid encounter to refer to the death hole in the middle of the room. And I doubt Firim explains all that because the other Zereths are only ever mentioned by Oracle Saezurah.

[Joshuaj]

It's just the hole. That phrase only shows up in the entire game in the Jailer Raid encounter to refer to the death hole in the middle of the room. And I doubt Firim explains all that because the other Zereths are only ever mentioned by Oracle Saezurah.

The "Heart of Eternity" is the entire location where we fight the Jailer. That's the name of the boss room. That just means it's part of the machine of origination.

And yes, Firim does talk about it.

"It is clear to me now that there must be a Zereth for each force of the cosmos, and within them, an inner sanctum akin to the Sepulcher.

And if that is true, then these sanctums must be connected on some fundamental level; a connection that the Jailer sought to exploit."


"What he began in the Sepulcher was meant to cascade outward from one Zereth to the next, until all were dominated by his power. The heart of the Shadowlands acting as a doorway to the heart of each cosmic force in turn, one after another bound to his will.

But if his scheme was thwarted, then why is my mind so ill at ease?"

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You never noticed that the ground is skin with pores and hair sticking out of it? The whole zone is at least a chunk of a massive slowly rotting corpse, which is part of why it's one of my favorite Shadowlands Zones. It's -way- more imaginative a design than most of what WoW has ever produced.



Still nothing concrete, but look at how -cool- it is!

Tbf here, that likely just means Maldraxxus is a literal representation of "a living weapon".

[Ersula]

"What he began in the Sepulcher was meant to cascade outward from one Zereth to the next, until all were dominated by his power. The heart of the Shadowlands acting as a doorway to the heart of each cosmic force in turn, one after another bound to his will.

But if his scheme was thwarted, then why is my mind so ill at ease?"

What Firim is talking about here is that the Zereths were made to create the universe. He doesn't know that yet. When he refers to them being "connected" he's referring to a figurative connection, not a physical connection. Their connection is the First Ones & their role in creation.

[Makorus]

It's never been confirmed, but has been floating around as a theory that maldraxxus was once part of some being. Some flavourtext of an item mentions "the maldraxxus" and the zone itself is kind of alive with hair growing, fleshy pustules, ground that looks like skin etc.

But never anything concrete to confirm this as far as im aware.

Now, while I still think Maldraxxus is a creature (There's literal fleshy warts coming out of the ground), they did change the flavour text to just say "Bones of Maldraxxus".

[Joshuaj]

What Firim is talking about here is that the Zereths were made to create the universe. He doesn't know that yet. When he refers to them being "connected" he's referring to a figurative connection, not a physical connection. Their connection is the First Ones & their role in creation.

Yes, they have a figurative connection, but they also have a physical connection (Both can be and are true). Firim literally talks about how the Jailer was connecting the heart of the sepulcher to the other cosmic hearts in order to remake reality. He's quite literally completing his mission of remaking reality in "his deathly vision".

The Machine of Origination would most likely be the overarching machine from which each cosmic heart has a part of. Death's part of the machine would just be "the heart of eternity" in this case.

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Now, while I still think Maldraxxus is a creature (There's literal fleshy warts coming out of the ground), they did change the flavour text to just say "Bones of Maldraxxus".

I don't think it's a "creature", but I do think it's a "literal living weapon".

[Golden Yak]

You never noticed that the ground is skin with pores and hair sticking out of it? The whole zone is at least a chunk of a massive slowly rotting corpse, which is part of why it's one of my favorite Shadowlands Zones. It's -way- more imaginative a design than most of what WoW has ever produced.

No, I got all that, Maldraxxus was my favorite zone. I thought it was a landscape of undifferentiated corpse flesh, I didn't know it was ever stated to be literally one guy's body.

And apparently it wasn't, but it's a cool thought.

[Joshuaj]

Okay. Imma say it. The titans fucking suck at naming things.

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"Forge of Origination"

Re-Origination maybe...cause this shit didn't originate a damn thing!!!

[Explicit Teemo Nudes]

Watching the spider cinematic, I don't understand one thing, but I'm probably just missing something here.
If they never worked with N'Zoth/the Black Empire, why do they have an image of him on their wall(s)?
Did they work with the Black Empire at some point?
Did they take this place from the Black Empire and made it their own? If they did, wouldn't they get rid of the image(s) of their enemy?
I have not been there in-game on the beta, so I don't really know what it looks like; I only know of the big mural of N'Zoth.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Watching the spider cinematic, I don't understand one thing, but I'm probably just missing something here.
If they never worked with N'Zoth/the Black Empire, why do they have an image of him on their wall(s)?
Did they work with the Black Empire at some point?
Did they take this place from the Black Empire and made it their own? If they did, wouldn't they get rid of the image(s) of their enemy?
I have not been there in-game on the beta, so I don't really know what it looks like; I only know of the big mural of N'Zoth.

Either they worked with them in the past and later on said "no more", or it's just a historical mural depicting important events that have happened.

[Lady Atia]

The "Heart of Eternity" is the entire location where we fight the Jailer. That's the name of the boss room. That just means it's part of the machine of origination.

And yes, Firim does talk about it.

"It is clear to me now that there must be a Zereth for each force of the cosmos, and within them, an inner sanctum akin to the Sepulcher.

And if that is true, then these sanctums must be connected on some fundamental level; a connection that the Jailer sought to exploit."


"What he began in the Sepulcher was meant to cascade outward from one Zereth to the next, until all were dominated by his power. The heart of the Shadowlands acting as a doorway to the heart of each cosmic force in turn, one after another bound to his will.

But if his scheme was thwarted, then why is my mind so ill at ease?"

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Tbf here, that likely just means Maldraxxus is a literal representation of "a living weapon".

This, from what I got from the raid the Heart of Eternity isn't in the Sepulcher per se but it's what connects all the Zereths - we only used the Sepulcher to access it (and the Jailer left Anduin there to guard the portal).

[Raetary]

Watching the spider cinematic, I don't understand one thing, but I'm probably just missing something here.
If they never worked with N'Zoth/the Black Empire, why do they have an image of him on their wall(s)?
Did they work with the Black Empire at some point?
Did they take this place from the Black Empire and made it their own? If they did, wouldn't they get rid of the image(s) of their enemy?
I have not been there in-game on the beta, so I don't really know what it looks like; I only know of the big mural of N'Zoth.

The Nerubians are descendants from the Aqir.

They are historically (and by creation) tied to the Black Empire, it's just an old mural depicting some event from back then.
Azj'kahet is not a fresh empire either, it's millenia old.

It's also not an image of N'zoth, we don't know who that is but its likely Old God #5.
Maybe even Xal herself.

[Joszef Kiprich]

Can not wait for more Shadowlands lore speculation /s

[Steampunkette]

The Nerubians are descendants from the Aqir.

They are historically (and by creation) tied to the Black Empire, it's just an old mural depicting some event from back then.
Azj'kahet is not a fresh empire either, it's millenia old.

It's also not an image of N'zoth, we don't know who that is but its likely Old God #5.
Maybe even Xal herself.

I think that might be Yogg Saron -creating- the Nerubians. Using the crystal to affect their evolution. And I still think that crystal in the mural -is- Xalatath in an earlier form...

[Hitei]

I think that might be Yogg Saron -creating- the Nerubians. Using the crystal to affect their evolution. And I still think that crystal in the mural -is- Xalatath in an earlier form...

Yogg-saron, the old god famous for being very smooth, having a small mouth with no teeth, and possessing a bunch of orange eyes.

[Joshuaj]

This, from what I got from the raid the Heart of Eternity isn't in the Sepulcher per se but it's what connects all the Zereths - we only used the Sepulcher to access it (and the Jailer left Anduin there to guard the portal).

Ehhh, not quite? The heart of the sepulcher, which is where the Heart of Eternity is located, is basically at the very core of the Universes ether (You can see the cosmic influences in their most basic state from there VIA the skybox). However, based off the implications of the lore, there are seemingly other cosmic hearts akin to the Heart of Eternity, which serve as core engines within their respective cosmic inner sanctum (and are likely located elsewhere within the universal ether core).

Zereth Mortis, and other cosmic Zereths aren't really located in the cosmic domains themselves. They have their own specific location that starts off as "being linked to the domain itself" (Which is why Zovaal was able to claim a piece of it during patch 9.1), and as you go further in there, the realm gets further separated from the domain, all the way until you reach the core of the universal ether, where the cosmic engines are completely separated from the domains.

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Can not wait for more Shadowlands lore speculation /s

Unless it gets retconned, SL lore will most likely extend itself into the Worldsoul Saga.

[Ersula]

Unless it gets retconned, SL lore will most likely extend itself into the Worldsoul Saga.

I don't think it'll be retconned, but Shadowlands was conspicuously completely omitted from the "Story so far" cinematic. Seems pretty irrelevant.

[Joshuaj]

I don't think it'll be retconned, but Shadowlands was conspicuously completely omitted from the "Story so far" cinematic. Seems pretty irrelevant.

For The War Within, it makes sense that it wouldn't be touched on much, as Anduin is the big focus there.

[Raetary]

I think that might be Yogg Saron -creating- the Nerubians. Using the crystal to affect their evolution. And I still think that crystal in the mural -is- Xalatath in an earlier form...

If it were Yogg, it would look like Yogg.
The mural is a detailed depiction, not some abstract piece of art.

and the Nerubians, again, are descendent from the Aqir.
Evolved past BE days.
Yogg and co. were sitting in their titan prison puddles while the Nerubians, Mantid and Qiraji started popping up.

As for the crystal being Xal, or a vessel for Xal, i dunno.
I think its more likely she is the depicted Old God and the crystal is another weapon/tool sent by Dimensius.

[Steampunkette]

If it were Yogg, it would look like Yogg.
The mural is a detailed depiction, not some abstract piece of art.

and the Nerubians, again, are descendent from the Aqir.
Evolved past BE days.
Yogg and co. were sitting in their titan prison puddles while the Nerubians, Mantid and Qiraji started popping up.

As for the crystal being Xal, or a vessel for Xal, i dunno.
I think its more likely she is the depicted Old God and the crystal is another weapon/tool sent by Dimensius.

I thought the Aqir who served him turned Nerubian by his influence?

That said, if it is the new Old God... is he Eating the Aqir or Creating them?