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The New Characters of The War Within - 'Shadows Beneath' Cinematic Rundown
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Blizzard recently released the
Shadows Beneath
cinematic
, and here we help explain some of the characters and settings shown off to prepare players for The War Within.
Rather than a story-centric trailer like the one revealed last Blizzcon, the most recent cinematic takes a broader approach, teasing locations and characters we'll be meeting during the leveling campaign. In lieu of a story analysis, here we will give a brief rundown of the cinematic's major focal points to better inform new and returning players of who they'll be meeting in the upcoming expansion.
Warning: Minor Spoilers for The War Within
The Earthen of Khaz Algar
While our opening shot does not feature any named character in the expansion, the distinctly stony dwarf is one of the Earthen, an artificial race forged by the Titans who ordered the planet in ages past. Players may remember the Earthen from their adventures in Titan facilities across the planet, such as our recent escapades in Uldaman during Dragonflight, or the iconic raid Ulduar in Northrend. In particular, this is an Earthen of Khaz Algar, the new continent that we will be traveling to in The War Within.
The Earthen's central capital of Dornogal sits in the surface-placed Isle of Dorn, but we instead see this Earthen in the second zone of the expansion that initially takes us below the planet's surface, the Ringing Deeps. Although they share the space with the local kobolds, the Ringing Deeps is firmly held by the Machine Speakers. This esoteric clan are the ones responsible for forging the tools and machines that the Earthen use to guard the Coreway, a massive tunnel around which their society and purpose was built by the Titans.
Players will have to discover the true purpose of this artificial tunnel for themselves in the expansion, and ally with the Machine Speakers to ensure its operations are maintained against the encroaching forces of Xal'atath.
The Arathi of Hallowfall
In contrast to the Earthen, the holy half-elves shown in the trailer have a much more notable character featured, but the backstory of her and her people delve into much lesser known lore in turn. Initially shown is Faerin, a paladin of the Hallowfall Arathi, who can be seen strapping on her armor in the underbelly of a massive airship. Though she presently lives in the brilliantly glowing cavern we see depicted in the trailer, she and her people are not native to Khaz Algar, nor to any continents we currently know of.
The Arathi hail not from the Eastern Kingdoms like their human and elven counterparts, but from a mysterious continent on the other side of Azeroth, hidden from us by the Storming Sea that was first mentioned in Dragonflight. According to their legends, they descend from the union of high elves of Quel'thalas and humans of the Arathor tribe, who found an alliance with one another during the Troll Wars some 3000 years in the past. Though the majority of their ancestors stayed in their kingdoms and remained distinct races, some few of them were granted visions from the Light, and embarked on a quest across the seas, never to be seen again.
From what the residents of Hallowfall tell us, they came to settle in what would become known as the Arathi Empire, a kingdom populated not by humans or elves, but simply by 'Arathi' - what we commonly know as half-elves. The distinct shortly pointed ears can be seen on Faerin in these shots, and likewise the presence of what the Arathi call 'the Sacred Flame', a holy fire that the Arathi Empire has built itself around and elevated its chosen Emperor to govern over.
It is this Sacred Flame that all Arathi wield, with each spark originating from the source fire back in their homeland. It is not the only source of Light to which they look to however, as evidenced by the massive shining crystal shown off in the cinematic. Known as 'Beledar', this massive crystal is the reason the Arathi have come to reside in Hallowfall. Burdened by visions, the current Emperor of the Arathi sent a fleet of airships out in search of the Light he saw, believing it to be a place of great importance in the War between Light and Void that his predecessors foresaw.
Striking out from their mysterious home, the Arathi contingent was caught in a storm and nearly lost to its embrace. Before their ships were taken by the sea, however, they were enveloped in a flash of Light and teleported below ground into the cavern that housed Beledar. Many ships and lives were lost in this act of salvation, and Faerin ultimately lost her arm and her eye during the endeavor, but she managed to survive with a remnant of their Sacred Flame.
Although they were quickly attacked by
strange creatures from the expansive underground ocean
that surrounded the crystal, the Arathi managed to build a home in what they came to call Hallowfall. Emboldened by the spark of Sacred Flame that Faerin had managed to save, the Arathi dedicated themselves to protecting the great source of Light that their Holy Emperor foresaw until such time as it would be needed for their great War.
In recent times, however, the Arathi have been forced to contend not only with their underwater adversaries, but with the shifting of Beledar into phases of darkness rather than Light, which infest their lands with shadowy creatures. At the same time they have had to fend off the encroaching Nerubians as well, and it is that enemy that we will have to contend with not only as we work to aid the Arathi of Hallowfall, but equally as we venture deeper into their underground kingdom.
Orweyna and the Harronir
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the trailer are the sections featuring the mysterious troll-like woman and her druidic rituals. Very little is known about the woman named Orweyna or her people the Harronir, even from what we have seen from testing on The War Within's beta, but what little we do know may help inform what we might see beyond our initial four zones during The War Within.
Hailing from an unknown region below the surface, the Harronir are sworn first and foremost to protect the Great Roots, massive underground roots that purportedly originate from their homeland. The ones we meet in Khaz Algar seem to be outriders of sorts, those scouting the edges of their sacred roots to protect against encroaching dangers. Orweyna showing up in our presence at all seems to be taboo among her people, who hide from the players when they can as we descend close to their lands, and shun us entirely when stealth is not an option.
Though the enemy she faces is not made explicit in the cinematic, Orweyna is one of the allies we meet as we descend to face the Nerubians head on. Our time with her during leveling is very brief, but her prominent presence in this cinematic and the mystery of her peoples' homeland almost certainly indicates that we will see more of the Harronir and their druidic magic heading into The War Within's patch story.
The Nerubians of Azj-Kahet
As one might surmise from the previous sections as well as the Arathi contingent seen flying into massive webs in the cinematic, the main antagonists of The War Within's initial story are the Nerubians, who sport a history just as significant as our Earthen allies.
Born originally as the Aqir, the Nerubians are a splinter of the insectoid race who originated as servants of the Old Gods. After the defeat and imprisonment of their masters, the Aqir hid across the planet before eventually being rallied to fight against the first troll empire.
When the trolls emerged victorious, the Aqir were shattered, with their people scattering to the winds and splintering into three groups - the Qiraji, the Mantid, and the Nerubians. The Qiraji and Mantid stayed loyal to their Old God creators, but the Nerubians eventually broke away from their former masters and forged a society of their own, free of the void's influence.
Though we have met the Nerubians before, the ones we meet in Khaz Algar are not the undead servants of the Lich King we encountered in Northrend. Rather than hailing from the now-dead kingdom of Azjol-Nerub, our new adversary hail from its sister kingdom of Azj-Kahet, positioned in the southern reaches of Azeroth.
In ages past, the queen Neferess of the southern kingdom was called upon by King Anub'arak to aid him against the encroaching Scourge in his kingdom to the north. Rather than aid him, however, she chose to cut off all paths between the twin kingdoms beneath the earth, ensuring the destruction of Anub'arak's people -- and the salvation of her own.
In the modern day, the Nerubians are ruled not by Neferess, but by her daughter Ansurek. Though her motives are as-of-yet unclear, Ansurek has recently entered a partnership with Xal'atath, and has begun infusing her people with the powers of the void. It is this partnership that has spurred on the inciting events of The War Within, and the hostilities she has perpetuated against our allies are why we venture into her kingdom -- a kingdom we may end up finding not quite as unified as the Queen might hope, an internal splintering we will certainly use to our advantage.
Xal'atath
At the heart of this conflict is the mysterious entity known as Xal'atath. Her true origins are wholly unknown, but she is decisively an ancient creature of the Void, and her plans on Azeroth have stretched millennia.
Not M.O.T.H.E.R. approved.
Originally housed in an ancient dagger known as the Blade of the Black Empire, it was Xal'atath who instigated the conflict between the Aqir and Trolls that resulted in the insectoid kingdoms we know today. It was Xal'atath who manipulated the fracturing of the dwarven clans into three and corrupted the leaders of the Dark Iron. It was Xal'atath who introduced the worship of Shadow to mankind during the First War, and gain acolytes who would go on to form a Cult of Forgotten Shadows that would later come to find a place within the Forsaken.
The Blade of the Black Empire wielded by Natalie Seline, founder of the Cult of Forgotten Shadows.
Most notably, Xal'atath was first encountered by players during the Legion expansion, when she fell into the hands of the Priest player in her bladed form. While the player likely considers themselves quite special, we slipped into her hands the same way that all her previous wielders had been drawn to; in a scenario ordained precisely by Xal'atath to transfer from one wielder to another. Te Priest wielded her soundly to aid in defeating the Legion once and for all, but her whispers infected their head throughout the expansion and goaded them into many foolhardy acts even as she granted them insight into Azeroth's past.
The Priest may have ultimately drained her of the power she had accumulated during the war to depower the corrupted Sword of Sargeras, but like with her previous wielders, the dagger managed to slip away from their grasp and find its way to Kul Tiras.
Xal'atath's form as the Blade of the Black Empire, from Hearthstone.
It was in Kul Tiras that Xal'atath wrested control of the form we know her in today. Coming into contact with the player once more, she manipulates us not only into finding her a suitable high elven body to inhabit, but guides us to the Crucible of Storms in Stormsong Valley. Deep in the void-infested halls is where Xal'atath strikes a bargain with the Old God N'zoth, who frees her from her bladed prison in exchange for the player, upon whom he bestows his Gift.
After (most) players quickly dispose of his mark upon their head, the Horde player brought the now-empty dagger to Sylvanas, whose dealings with the naga queen Azshara ultimately ended with its use in defeating N'zoth once and for all. The dagger vanished in the process however, leaving its status in the modern day unclear.
The entity herself, meanwhile, escaped to parts unknown after her role in Battle for Azeroth, and she wasn't seen again until a brief cameo during Dragonflight, where she is revealed as the partner to the expansion's main antagonist Iridikron. Although our escapades throughout time during the Dawn of the Infinite dungeon earned us a victory for the stewards of the True Timeline, it came at the cost of allowing Iridikron to absorb the dark power housed in the great proto-dragon Galakrond - a power that he gifted to Xal'atath.
Sealed within a relic known as the Dark Heart, this gift from the Incarnate was originally created by the black dragon Aspect Deathwing, then known as Neltharion. It has the notable capability to convert nearby magic into Shadow, a capability she is enacting upon her Nerubian allies to transform them from their insectoid forms into servants of the Void.
Xal'atath's new elven form, wielding the Dark Heart.
Known now as the Harbinger, Xal'atath is our definitive villain for the War Within, and it's likely that her role as harrier for the void's upcoming invasion will see her role continue into Midnight. Her machinations are what bring us to Khaz Algar, and the Nerubian allies she has mustered under her control are responsible for most all of the conflicts we see across the underground region - but some of her manipulations may come from sources closer to home than our insectoid enemies.
Though her precise origins and motivation are shrouded in mystery, the entity housed in a suitably smirking elven form will be central to all the stories shown in this cinematic, and in the expansion as a whole as we pursue her deeper and deeper into Azeroth's depths.
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