World of Warcraft’s Cosmic War Comes Home in the Worldsoul Saga

World of Warcraft has always experimented with the space beyond Azeroth. The Orcs came through the Dark Portal to serve as the antagonists of the original Warcraft real-time strategy games, a spaceship crashes on the islands north of Kalimdor in The Burning CrusadeAnd Warlords of Draenor introduced a completely different alternate timeline.

But The war within — the newest World of Warcraft expansion and the first phase of the three-expansion Worldsoul Saga arc (which includes Midnight And The Last Titan) — cleverly weaves these extraplanar elements into the Azeroth elements players know and love.

In The war withinHeroes hunt an ancient, unknown threat in the deep and mysterious reaches of Azeroth. The great cosmic war foretold by previous expansions—between unknowable, fundamental forces of reality—hangs over players, and the plans of these factions have infiltrated the very bones of our world.

“A big part of the excitement of starting this first Saga is that there are a lot of familiar faces, right? There are characters that we’ve had experience with in the past, like Anduin and Alleria,” said Morgan Day, associate game director of World of Warcraftin an interview with Polygon. “If there was a main character of The war withinI would say it’s Alleria. We also relive villains from the past, like Xal’atath.

“This is the Void stepping out of the shadows,” Day added. “We’ve seen them pulling strings in the past. We’ve seen Old Gods, who are a creation of the Void. This is our chance to come face to face with the Void as an entity in a more holistic way.”

Nearly ten years ago, Blizzard published a cosmic map of the six fundamental forces of the universe. Players are still baffled by these forces and how they are represented in the game. The war within creates a conflict between two of those great forces: Shadow and Light. In Shadowlandswe visited the realms of death, a very close experience with an abstract concept. Dragon Flight turning things around by taking those abstract cosmic concepts and bringing them to life on Azeroth instead of putting them in a separate realm.

This trend of bringing cosmic elements to the home front continues in The war within. For example, the new player race is the Earthen. The Earthen are dwarf predecessors and servants of the Order’s divine beings, the Titans. The Titans left behind the infrastructure, but it has slowly fallen apart, leaving their minions to figure things out.

These golem-like creatures have been running on autopilot, doing what creatures had long since abandoned them. They are only now beginning to question the purpose of these routines, and this line of inquiry gives them independence—and the urge to join the Horde or the Alliance.

“This is the Worldsoul Saga, so what Morgan shared is the entry point into it, the first part of this trilogy, where we’re diving deep into Azeroth,” said Tina Wang, art director at Blizzard. “We’re starting to delve into those mysteries of the nature of Azeroth and the Titans, until we get into the (final Worldsoul Saga) expansion. The Last Titan.”

At first glance, Xal’atath seems quite similar to his previous antagonist Sylvanas Windrunner: they’re both brutal and self-righteous, they’re both female elves, and they’re both extremely talented at manipulation and assassination.

Wang noted that Sylvanas’ roots “are within the humanity of World of Warcraft“because of her mortal upbringing and connection to other key cast members, while Day said that “Sylvanas is straightforward; she would bring the fight to you. Xal’atath is more intriguing. That’s one of the fun things we get to see as we go further into The war within and the Worldsoul Saga. What are these plans she is working on, and how are we going to thwart her plans?”

“We really wanted to create a unique villain, someone who felt extremely intimidating. If you look at her design, she’s light, right?” Wang said. “She’s floating, she’s not walking, and even then, her armor and her cloak, it’s like stars. There’s something cosmic about her.”

“One of the fun things to explore with the Void is — as a society, as a culture — one of the major themes we talk about is that they’re about who’s the strongest, who’s the alpha predator,” Day said. Some of Xal’atath’s manic glee is on display in the Threads of Destiny animation, with its wide, unblinking eyes, shark-like grin, and even strange frame-skipping effects.

The main plot of The war within will focus on Alleria and Xal’atath, but the expansion has a lot to juggle – it is an exception, after all. The main plot will continue in Midnight And The Last TitanUsually a World of Warcraft The story is contained in one expansion or is slowly spread out over several unrelated expansions.

“When we’re discussing the story, we want to make sure it’s digestible and understandable,” Day said. “One thing we talk about all the time is, Okay, how many characters are we introducing? If you’re not familiar with all of these characters, will it be overwhelming?“

Day notes that the team is working on a “mad scientist whiteboard,” where they’ve been laying out plans for the Worldsoul Saga. But the other side of the coin is local stories, campaigns that take place in a single zone or a single settlement. These characters, and their stories, are what’s made the Worldsoul Saga so successful. The war within. As we explore these new lands, delving into the hidden realms of Azeroth in search of ancient Void mysteries, we’ll need to stop and smell the roses along the way. As cosmic and mind-boggling as the main plot becomes, much of the appeal of World of Warcraft still lurks in the little people affected by the endless wars, disasters and unrest in the world.