Anzu the Raven God

So tonight Blizzard showed us a preview of an upcoming mount. We have no idea where it will come from yet, but I do know that it looks amazing. On twitter I was a bit skeptical about it being the Warlords of Draenor Collectors Edition mount, and I was thinking it may be for Scroll of Resurrection or even another Annual Pass. However, after giving it some more thought and looking at the mount, it may indeed be for the CE. I decided I think back to Outlands, Arakkoa, and the Raven Lord Anzu.

"A mysterious avian deity worshiped by some of the more savage Arakkoa, Anzu is a being whose origins and powers are unlike any other member of Outland's fallen pantheon. The Naaru are silent regarding this malevolent creature, for Anzu's ways are hidden from even them."

Let's travel to Sethekk Halls where Anzu is located. The Arakkoa that have taken refuge there are known as the Sethekk cult and are led by the Talon King Ikiss. Their cult believes that they are the only true Arakkoa and servants to their "Master" - an old god. They took refuge in the Sethekk Halls after the destruction of Auchindoun, viewing it as their master's second coming. Here they remain and search for him in the ruins.

What about the raven... There is a lot of scattered lore on Anzu following the Epic Druid Flight Form quest line. The quest line was removed in Cataclysm and is no longer available. You can read the entire thing here.

During the quest line, you are tasked with waking Clintar Dreamwalker from the Emerald Dream to gather some relics. Upon his slight awakening and a few exchanges, he talks of being followed and it could lead to his death. He also talks of a shadowy and sinister presence that has invaded the Dream and wants to spill over into the world. His spirit helps you collect the three relics needed, but you are interrupted by the Aspect of the Raven. 

I made this screenshot based off the only one of the poor dead raven.

"Foolish druid! Dividing your essence has weakened you, opening the door for my master to dominate the Emerald Dream. Your spirit and body will die here!"

You are forced to defeat the aspect and continue on with your journey. After bringing the relics back to Morthis Whisperwing, he is disturbed at the Raven Aspect in the Barrow Dens. The next quest leads you back to Outlands in search of the Book of the Raven. You have to search for the spirit of Sai'kkal the Elder a priest who worshiped Anzu. He reveals that the book was stolen and the tablet was shattered by the Skettis cult and buried around their city. Despite being outcast by his fellow Arakkoa, he still remains faithful to the raven.

"From the dreams of his enemies shall the raven spring forth into the world."

The quest then takes you to find Raven Stones to piece back together the Book of the Raven. Arthorn Windsong is able to put the book back together. She briefly tells of the contents of the book:

"It's all here... how the raven's followers captured and subdued the spirits of rivals, trapping them forever within stone statues! The tablet even mentions the raven god's name -- Anzu. I'd thought it was lost to history! There's something else here, too. After a description of a bloody battle and the downfall of the raven, there's a prophecy. Anzu will haunt the dreams of his enemies, twisting them to affect a return to this world..."

You then travel to the shrines to capture the essence of the eagle, falcon, and hawk. The essences are combined with a Moonstone from Azshara, and you are tasked to defeat Anzu. After the defeat, the druid was given their epic flight form, and were able to keep the item to summon Anzu again. The quest states:

Your defeat of Anzu, the raven god, is truly a remarkable accomplishment. He may not abandon his quest to return to Outland, I fear. As long as he has followers here, he will attempt to rise again. Keep the essence-infused moonstone with you in case we have not heard the last of Anzu.

Reading through the entire quest line, throws me back onto the topic of Old Gods. I'm thinking, much like Sara is an avatar to Yogg-Saron, Anzu may be an avatar himself. I engaged him into battle and this is what he taunted me with:

I'm not sure a raven should be whispering to me, but I do know that Old Gods like to. Now this is all just speculation, and I always like to go off on an Old God theory when I can. For all I know this could be another mount just tossed into the Blizzard store as an updated Reins of the Raven Lord. It does seem like Anzu is extremely powerful and despite the quest line, we still don't know much more about him. I'm hoping since the Arakkoa will have a huge part in WoD, his story will be explained a little more. For now, it's always fun to speculate and see how close you can get to connecting the dots. Where do you think this mount will fit into?

Now I leave you with the Prophecy of the Raven God:

"From the darkest night shall rise again the raven, shall take flight in the shadows, shall reveal the nature of its kind. Prepare yourself for its coming, for the faithful shall be elevated to take flight with the raven, the rest be forgotten to walk upon the ground, clipped wings and shame.

Steel your minds and guard your thoughts. The dark wings will cloud and consume the minds of the weak, a flock of thralls whose feet may never leave the ground.

The old blood will flow once again with the coming of the raven, the return of the darkness in the skies. Scarlet night, and the rise of the old.

The raven was struck down once for flying too high, unready. The eons have prepared the Dark Watcher for its ascent, to draw the dark cloak across the horizon."

The Dark Below

"At the bottom of the ocean even light must die"

N'Zoth - from WoWwiki

So we're still not sure if Blizzard has truly trademarked the name The Dark Below. There was much debate on whether or not this was going to tie into the Diablo or Warcraft universe. A few nights ago a Diablo 3 teaser popped up with the title Reaper of Souls! While we now know this is not related to D3, there is still a possibility this could be a hoax. I would like to think that it isn't though!

What do I think The Dark Below means for WoW if it is indeed true... Old Gods, Naga's, and possibly the Emerald Dream! Here is my post, all speculation, on what is hopefully the new WoW expansion - The Dark Below!

Note: I am by no means perfect on my lore (so much of it!), but I try to link and site as best as I can.

Let us travel back to Cataclysm for a second. Namely to a dungeon called the Throne of Tides. The whole place is filled with Naga and even a Faceless One (who seem to have direct connections to Old Gods). Anyway, we're really interested in the last boss - Ozumat <Fiend of the Dark Below>. What little lore he has says that Lady Naz'jar used him as a weapon to help imprison the Elemental Lord Neptulon. Ultimately with Neptulon's help, you slay the beast and order is restored... at least for the time being. So many interesting characters in this dungeon. Ozumat's name leads us to believe that below the Abyssal Maw lies a deeper and darker place. With Lady Naz'jar's presence in the dungeon, this links Queen Azshara back to everything. Lady Naz'jar is one of Queen Azshara's high ranking commanders, similar to what Lady Vashj was to her. Not only do I believe that the city of Nazjatar is located deep into those waters, I also believe it contains a "darker" entity.

 Ozumat from the Warcraft TCG

Also during Cataclysm, Blizzard was going to release a raid called the Abyssal Maw, but the project was scrapped; We got updated ZA and ZG instead. You can see the video of the unfinished Abyssal Maw here!

Perhaps the Throne of Tides used bosses that were supposed to be in there, just tweaked to be suited for a dungeon. The entire place looks very overdone for a simple dungeon... including the cinematic. The potential was there, and I'm hoping Blizzard saved it for a rainy day. Sadly though, it will probably remain one of those unfinished projects. 

Back to the ocean! The Rift of Aln, from the Stormrage novel, is speculated to be connected to the rift in the Maelstrom. Malfurion states that he senses an ancient evil somewhere deep in Azeroth's Seas. He and Tyrande cleansed what they could in the Emerald Dream except for the rift which they did their best to seal away the "nightmares" coming from it for the time being.

Well, what does the Dark Below have to do with the Emerald Dream/Nightmare? Well I'm going to once again consult the Puzzle Box of Yogg Saron for some quotes:

In the land of Ny'alotha there is only sleep.

In the sleeping city of Ny'alotha walk only mad things.

Ny'alotha is a city of old, terrible, unnumbered crimes.

Twilight Grove portal

The box refers to the city of Ny'alotha which some people speculate to be part of the Emerald Nightmare, hence all this talk about sleeping (which could also just be a term for eternal sleep *ahem* death). Regardless, I'm certain N'zoth is the Old God who is responsible for the rift that Malfurion and Tyrande wasn't able to seal in the Emerald Dream. I also believe he's hidden deep under the waters of Azeroth and using the Naga's to his advantage through Queen Azshara. 

Queen Azshara - from WoWwiki

The drowned god's heart is black ice.

In the sunken city, he lays dreaming.

The fish know all the secrets. They know the cold. They know the dark.

So, if The Dark Below is indeed the new WoW expansion and not a hoax, I believe we will be going back into the Ocean and exploring a ton of islands around the Maelstrom. Hell, I don't even PvP, but I'm hoping to see some kind of naval styled PvP mode this time around... or a little boat mount able to be used in any water. 

Ny'alotha - from Scrolls of Lore

There's a great thread at Scrolls of Lore speculating on a new expansion based on what I've touched upon here. I'm going to remain hopeful on this. I'm always ready for an Old God to be thrown into the mix again!

The Verdantis Effect

I am a lore nut! Some of this is the truth and the rest is just speculation about upcoming things. I have no idea how this all brewed up in my brain from one little npc then onto reading hours of lore. I link to a lot of stuff, so please bare with me. I hope your brain gets to thinking just as much as mine does. I'm calling this...

The Verdantis Effect

As any mini pet collector would do, I started off killing Nalash Verdantis every time I would see him up. I never thought twice about him or his name. One day, I was flying through Feralas when I came across a river named the Verdantis River. This stuck out in my mind because I had been killing a guy with a similar name for quite some time now. My brain started thinking and it basically led to a whole world of speculation.

So we know the Jinyu are basically some mutated murlocs. Legend claims that before the Sundering, all rivers flowed to Pandaria. Even though murlocs usually live by the coasts, could some have used this river, traveling back and forth and over time becoming some of the Jinyu we see in Pandaria today? If that's the case, did those murlocs use the name "Verdantis" (assuming there is more than one Jinyu using that name, we just don't see them) from the river in which they came? Perhaps they traveled to Kalimdor more than we'd like to think, but stopped when they saw a future for Feralas that was of death and destruction?

Feralas also contains Dire Maul which used to be the Night Elf City is Eldre'Thalas. You almost forget that inside there is a secretive Shen'dralar faction which is made up of Highborne. Everywhere outside of DM you can see a less glowing and shimmering water than the one you see in Pandaria.

The speculation is that the water in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms is water from the Well of Eternity, but could the water outside of DM be the same? If so, then I can see more of a connection to the Jinyu and the Verdantis River... and perhaps even with the Highborne.

If you did most of the quests in the Karasang Wilds, you will remember the line with Sunwalker Dezco and his wife Leza Dawnchaser. Their entire clan traveled to Pandaria to follow her "visions" seeking "the light". I think "the light" her visions were referring to is the water from the Vale. This water has now also appeared on the Isle of Thunder where the Sunreavers have taken camp at the Dawnseeker Promontory. It was a murky and swampy looking well, but it has cleaned up and now contains the glowy water.

With all the destruction that Garrosh will be doing in the Vale in 5.3, I believe it will corrupt the water and land therefore making it very susceptible to someone who was thought to be dead - Y'Shaarj. We know that the Sha are basically pieces of him scattered throughout Pandaria. There are 6 of the 7. I believe the 7th is located under Throne of Thunder where the Titan boss Ra-Den is located. Going by Blizzard's policy with death and lore, Ra-Den will be presumed "dead" in 5.3... which would mean the last piece of Y'Shaarj he was guarding would be guarded no more. Only a Titan could have held his power back, we know this from previous Old Gods and raids, now it's too late. Upon Ra-Den's death he says:

"Wait! I am... I am not your enemy. You are powerful, more powerful than he was, even... perhaps you are right... Perhaps there is still hope. But there is a yawning chasm of darkness beneath you mortals, vast, endless, and all consuming... I do not believe that you can correct this doomed course... But you have earned the right to try. Farewell."

I believe Y'Shaarj will use Garrosh as a vessel, basically putting himself together again. With the Vale being weakened, he will try to take over Pandaria and attempt force the rest of Azeroth to bow to him. So my thoughts on the last boss of the expansion will not be the death of Garrosh, but the death of an Old God. :)

From WoWwiki