Azeroth is World of Warcraft’s main setting, and like any planet teeming with life, it has been around for a long time. Its history, documented in World of Warcraft’s vast lore, is full of cataclysmic events that have shaped the Azeroth. Only once in the course of millions of years have the Titans intervened, and Azeroth has never been the same since.
The Titans are World of Warcraft’s god-like beings who embody the forces of Order. They watch over the cosmos and are antithetical to the Void Lords that embody Chaos. Thus far, the Titans have kept the Void Lords confined in their domain, but that hasn’t stopped the Void from reaching out to try and corrupt the Titan’s worlds. Azeroth is the home of a nascent, developing Titan within its core, and the arrival of the Old Gods was a means by which the Void could take control of this World Soul.
When World of Warcraft's Titans Battled The Old Gods
Several of these Old Gods buried their way deep into Azeroth, including names players will recognize such as C’Thun, N’Zoth, and Yogg-Saron. They ruled the planet unabated for millennia, forging the Black Empire - a realm filled with all manner of eldritch horrors. The most powerful Old God was Y’Shaarj, the beast with seven heads. He dominated the other members of his kind, consuming and twisting all life in his wake.
The world of Azeroth seemed doomed to languish in corruption forever, until the Titans finally felt they had to intervene. Aman’thul grasped hold of Y’Shaarj and ripped the Old God right out of the planet, killing it instantly. However, Y’Shaarj’s tentacles had wormed so deep into Azeroth that tearing it out had left a massive wound behind, from which pure arcane energy, the life-blood of the infant Titan within, poured forth.
This gaping wound became known as the Well of Eternity, an important factor in the Sundering which later split Azeroth’s continents apart. The Titans realized that if they tried to kill any more Old Gods, Azeroth might die as a result. Instead, they opted to imprison the remaining Old Gods within specially constructed Titan prisons, chaining them deep beneath the earth to prevent their influence from spreading. As a result, the Black Empire crumbled, and its loyal inhabitants scattered.
While eons progressed, the mortal races thrived, some even evolving directly from the Titan forces that were left behind to guard the Old Gods’ prisons. Although the remaining Old Gods themselves were chained, they still managed to spread their influence through whispers to corrupt the minds of Azeroth’s creatures, most notably Deathwing, the former Aspect of the Black Dragonflight. Over the years, players have managed to destroy the Old Gods one at a time by venturing into their lairs to vanquish them, something which has invigorated the World Soul within Azeroth.
The Titans have not returned to Azeroth since their efforts to imprison the Old Gods, even when these gods broke free. Part of that was because of their ongoing battle with Sargeras and his Burning Legion, but the Titans have since shown little interest in Azeroth and its developing World Soul overall. Regardless, it is possible that constantly intervening can cause more harm than good, as is evident in Azeroth nearly being destroyed the first time around. Thus, the Titans seem confident to leave Azeroth under the care of her mortal inhabitants, which includes World of Warcraft’s players.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now on PC.