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The truth about everything after Legion -> Incels took over. Sylvannas becomes a nuclear Karen and Nathanos is killed off. Cause Incels cannot stand it when the _"p°ssy"_ they worship already has a Man. Suddenly the force is female everywhere and Women become the master schemers, cause the Incel writers find that hot. Malfurion gets killed off to revive even another "P°SSY". And then we see Xal'atath in the trailer and the Incels soyface again, while they moan in degnerated joy *_" P°~ssy~ !!! "_* and 1000s of incels came in their pants.
@@РостикШешеняit’s a pun based on the (Japanese?) spinning disk toy known as Bayblade, which was very popular in the mid 2000s anime boom, that most wow players are familiar with since they were the target audience. ‘Bae’ is a shortening of ‘Baby’, pronounced the same as the first syllable of both baby and bayblade. It refers to one’s significant other, often female, and can usually be exchanged with the full word baby. Ie she’s my baby, she’s my bae.
That's how you do it right. She wasn't behind EVERY SINGLE events like the jailer but she influenced whoever she could here and there just enough to reach her own goal
@zaer-ezart I'm sure there's more of a reason behind it than the knife just phasing into the world where ever she wants, corrupting anyone who touched her and has her bidding done before phasing out again.. it's incredibly weak story telling she's literally just a plot device that was 100% not needed in any of these plot points but I guess will be used to retcon in a connection with the void lords to make them relevant again
@@primary2630 She doesn't corrupt everyone who touches the blade. She convinces and influence them with sweet sweet lies. Hell even I was convinced to help her just by listening to her voice
@@zaer-ezart The only reason that the jailer was behind every single thing in wow's lore was because they needed to create an antagonist who was more evil than Sylvanus, so they could pull out that embarrassing redemption arc for her. Reminder that the head writer of Shadowlands was the one who revived Nathanos and wrote a lore story where he turns the character into his own self-insert boyfriend for her, and that he posted cringey twitter roleplay about how much he loved his queen. I bet they're going to try and reintroduce her within a few years after the heat about her has died off.
@@IEatYourSandwiches It will turn out that she was just a puppet of daddy void lords and it was the void lords that were the TRUE puppeteers the entire time! Jailer was merely their pawn :]
Just wait till the next expansion after TWW. Then there will be some edgy voidlord shouting at us again ; "Little did Xalatath know, she was a just a piece of my puzzle .. *Evil laughter*..." . Then repeat that in the next expansion after..
In the final expansion, it will be revealed that the true villains; the writers, were pulling the strings the whole time. Until the final surprise boss, Jeff Kaplan, reveals himself as the embodiment of evil, having manipulated even these cursed puppet masters.
The entire Xal'atath story, as we've been given it so far, is a fantastic example of a well done retcon. I believe her as a "final boss" character because of all of the little touches they've given her lore and history. If someone like The Jailer had been added to the lore like Xal'atath, (slowly, logically, and subtly) he would have been a far more welcomed character. Well done video!
I also have to say, Iridikron in DF made me much more confident in Blizzard having their shit together again in terms of writing and not botching that setup. Iridikron is basically the total opposite of the Jailer in terms of set up for a villain and how to do it right. Instead of immediately shoving into our face how he is the new ultimate big bad deal, they did it smart this time around with how they set him up, letting it all start out fairly low stakes as this old conflict between dragons which we deal with while also exploring the dragon islands and having first be Raszegath as an introduction villain be front and center and only after beating her and him being one of 3 different elemental dragons to escape put him a bit into focus, by referencing his dangerous hunger. I think it worked well in creating intrigue, as Iridikron immediately reminds us, without fully riding on or devalueing, both Galakrond and his all-consuming hunger and Deathwing through the shared element of earth. And afterwards, we get to see him being both active on the ground while also being scheming and having a mystery around him, being much more show don't tell than Zovaal ever was, by us seeing that he's damn powerful with his earth element. Aberrus was great, because it did both set up the final villain for the expansion, Fyrakk, while also showing Iridikron to be clever, using his ally and Aberrus itself as distractions. And then finally in Dawn of the Infinite, he pulls of an actually great Xanathos-Gambit, by forcing us into a situation where we can either stop him or safe Nozdormu. And afterwards, he leaves the plot for the moment and leaves room for Fyrakk, to be the final big bad of DF as a more simple, chaotic villain, which he works as because Iridikron did all the scheming and mystery building part. Like, I'm honest. DFs writing is the best we've seen in WoW since the Suramar campaign and it made me confident again and kinda lean into believing that Shadowlands was actually Afrasiabis spiteful final fuck you which nobody in the current team really wanted to do, because Danuser did proof this time around that he can lead the story team with the first expansion that is fully just his baby.
I'm still mad at the Jailer. Not because he exists... but what he *could've* been. Had he been kept longer, teased bit by bit, and instead they went straight into the old gods/void lords route, and THEN he gets revealed as the ultimate final boss. I mean Shadowlands' story literally reaches the point where you witness the proof of existence of THE ACTUAL makers of these universes. You know, Titans were supposed to be "the makers" but apparently not, Titans are also another product of these all powerful beings that literally wield the laws of the universe as their playthings. It sounds like a super great build up and hypefest. It should've had the Titans treatment, where Titans were basically teased since og Vanilla back in 2004 or whatever, and we finally get to not only meet the Pantheon, but fight one of the Titans (albeit a Fledgeling, Argus is still a Titan). And what's more FINAL BOSS, than the literal Satan of Warcraft The one who imprisons unworthy souls and tortures them for eternity. The one who's making a power grab to remake all realities, not just our one. How do you go higher than that in terms of plot heights? You don't. We literally fought the afterlife, and we won. Dragonflight was like going back to training wheels after completing your first mountain bike track, lore wise.
@@stankobarabata2406 Nah, that's still a genuinely awful idea. The Jailer was a horrible idea executed poorly and anyone pretending otherwise is coping hard.
Welcome back king. Gotta say as someone who has watched wow lore videos since cata came out when I was like 12, wowcrendor and nixion, man yours are the best. Honored for the early 20's wow players to be represented in the community by a man such as yourself.
It really feels like Xal'atath is the greatest opportunist in Warcraft history. She just kind of pops up wherever and makes the most of what she's given... often with explosive results lol
@@ShalThuzar Black Zetsu was not an opportunist... His plan was meticulous and had centuries of thought and preparation going into it. (hell, he wasn't even the mastermind of that plan, Kaguya was lol).
Hello Platinum Wow, I really hope you have a moment to read my comment please. I’m new to WoW and on my journey I’ve used your guides in the dungeon dive series. I really wanted to say thank you as a new player and wanted to tell you how much it helped me not feel so lost or panic and at least have a general idea where to go and what I was doing. Without your inclusive guides I definitely wouldn’t have been as successful and probably would have had to go back again again from missed quests and such. I hope one day you will make more of the dungeon dive videos. When I went to do ZF I couldn’t find one and was sad. Now I’m trying to prepare for Mara and alas there isn’t one either. Your videos gave me courage and didn’t leave new players like me so blind. Sure there are other guides on RUclips but yours are the best. ❤ Please consider continuing the series. Thank you for all your help you’ve given me.
I think they added her to SoD too. You gotta talk to a shadowy figure with an old elf model to get the new void armor recipes in SoD and she looks ALOT like Xalatath. Idk who else it could be.
This kind of specific story telling REALLY makes me wish they had made a single player RPG in the vein of the Elder Scrolls games, or maybe a rpg where you can choose your followers, both having choices you can make to change the world (of warcraft)
Non-WoW guy, but this is an interesting villain. I hope they write her to be like, "Grand plan? Oh no, dear mortal, I just merely nudged you in a direction and you caused the chaos yourself. I just sat back and waited for the inevitable." More fitting for an eldritch being, imo, than, "I"M SUPER GIGA MEGA MASTERMIND" that plagues WoW.
Hello, non-wow guy. You seem to be on right track. It's early days of the expansion still, but Xal'atath's machinations so far have been to tempt desperate people with power, then let them self-destruct, with apparently little gain to herself. And she seems to have her sights on a new target to manipulate. Us. The final questline of the launch version ends with confronting her during a battle she orchestrated to produce power with old god blood (it makes sense in context). She remarks that mortals are the most wrathful beings in existence. We crave violence, and she has brought us here to exploit that somehow. It feels directed not only at the characters, but at us, the players. How many gods have been killed just because we wanted their loot? How many quests boil down to "Hello, stranger, do you need anything killed?"
Yesssss Xal'atath baby!!!!! I really enjoyed her quest line in BFA. Her new model design looks gorgeous. Now please say we dont kill her off right away. It'll be nice to have a flowing narrative/evil character for the next 3 expansions.
We all know she's already gonna be a raid boss and that only mind controlled good guys or stunningly hot elf ladies get away alive. So she has a small chance.
The thing I like most about Xala’tath is that she isn’t a cartoon villain that “perfectly orchestrated” events that were realistically super unlikely to happen in a sequence (at least not yet). Her motive seemingly has always just been to cause chaos, build power, and wait. Super believable, long established lore, and a cool character. I think she will be the best villain we’ve had in awhile.
Yeah, an element of schemers that never really gets explored is that they don't have perfect cognition. They tip over the right thing, observe how it crumbles, and tip over the next thing, always building a path towards their goal. Its not having a Master Plan but instead a goal and knowing how to exploit any lay of the land to get there.
There was more nuance and personality in just one of her player-manipulation voice lines than in literally all of The Jailer's stuff put together, yeah.
My theory with Xal'atath, she does have plans but atleast half of her plans were her making the best of a situation, she has long term goals but she is flexible with her short term goals, if its useful it's useful. Also Pretty sure the gift of N'Zoth is something she'll use to her adavantage against us.
Keep in mind, this was all part of the jailors plans! "But he is dead now, he cant make plans anymore!" YOU DONT THINK THE MOST STRATEGIC AND POWERFUL MASTERMIND IN THE UNIVERSE MADE PLANS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE AND IN CASE OF HIS DEATH?!?!?!?!!?!?! What a super awesome and totally not wedged in character the jailor is
This makes me think of a specific 24-year-old quote: Yoda: Always two there are, no more, no less. A master, and an apprentice. Mace Windu: But which was destroyed: the master, or the apprentice?
Xal'atath is "this new character was retroactively behind a ton of stuff you know" done right. No one even complained about it, but we basically got a dagger that was behind, in short, the troll empire falling, the Sundering, Ragnaros and by extension everything the black dragonflight did in Blackrock Mountain, the dwarves joining the Alliance..
@@4F6D If you don't accept Xal'atath's retcons you can't accept any of the artifact weapons' retcons, so you may as well throw Legion as an expansion out.
@@TaliesinMyrddin I accept all the retcons. I am just not here simping for her while saying the jailors retcons are bad. It's equally bad in both ways.
@@4F6D I disagree that it's simping. The jailer's retcons directly interfered with past lore by adding stuff to known events that was never intended, and retroactively affecting events we played through. Xal'atath's retcons added new information to ancient history we had never seen, had never played through, and functioned more as worldbuilding than as an attempt to make a new villain seem like they had been part of the lore all along. Back in Legion she wasn't even intended to be a character in future expansions - like Denathrius, the simping gave her more life as a character after Legion, but her retcons in Legion itself were as benign as most retcons that flesh out the world are.
So I mained an arcane mage throughout Legion and my weapon also talked to me but instead of a sultry mistress, it was a guy just insulting you for running out of mana and summoning food.
keep up the good work platinum wow!!! shout out to the other WoW lore videos that helped me keep up on current WoW (i haven't played in a while, since i moved out)
xal'atath strikes me more of a cunning opportunist than someone who planned for everything that she caused, which is what makes her much more compelling than the jailer
I like Xal'atath and always wanted her to be more of a chaotic neutral. But, I guess we will end up just killing her like everything and everyone else, kind of a shame
As one of those niche players who was shadow priest, reads lore and did the side quests...I still F'ing love your videos about it all. You do such a lovely job!
I'm so glad you're here, I've been trying my hardest to extract wows main story by myself through playing the game but it's impossible, espechially since that main story is locked behind raids and nobody is doing those anymore and they just give you all big patch quests the moment you reach max level so I get spoiled, I mean I still don't know how we got from shadowlands to dragonflight 😂
The fact Xalatath is also rumoured to be the shadowy figure you need to get the void touched gear in season of discovery shows Blizzard are going all in on this character.
Currently in SoD there is a "secret" quest line that you destroy a box to get a void shard for crafting. When you do you are met by a mysterious void elf like figure who talks to you. Now granted the form Xaleteth has happens way way later but she mentions she hasnt had a form in awhile when she gets her new one so maybe this is an old form. Am I overreaching? Probably but I can see them using SoD to build character intrigue with her and introduce more people since we'll get a few more phases before the expansion drops.
I don't know much of retail wow but I do follow the lore videos and I remember this sassy dagger lady being mentioned in some N'Zoth lore and that's immediately who I thought the shadowy figure from the void crafting in SoD was. I think platinum is right as many others who actively play retail didn't know who I was trying to reference. Edited: Plus the dialogue from the dead cultist mentions that they were feeding the box and this video shows that she needs souls and encourages that sort of thing. :D
She was where my brain went to as well. There's even a little off-handed comment about how time seems to distort around her, so I think this may be her traveling into the past or an alternate history to try to fiddle with things. And hey, all that happens is she convinces us to use some void powers to "save the world, or whatever" and I mean, nobody's ever been convinced by her to use void powers for the greater good right? And it's never backfired spectacularly? Right?
Also we could see Iridikron entering the void portal and we saw a female elf figure standing there...and people already kinda predicted it would be Xal'atath. Ngl I only knew her story since Legion, I didnt even know she had some influence in the past but it is pretty cool that whenever she appeared somewhere, something major happened. Even if she wanted just to stir some chaos, it still had quite big concenqunces. I am excited to see our Knifu back, her talking to us (as shadow priest) was one of the real highlights when it comes to the legendary weapons we had. I think she has potential to be very interesting villain given she has been around for sooo long and she was in the hands of mortals as well as our own hands too.
@@HiddenEvilStudios ooo, still tho...it sure is more interesting piece of legendary weapon compared to other things...making it sentient really gave it more depth
I think the "weakpoint" of being very specific is actually the major appeal for me. As someone who doesn't play WoW anymore and only observes it from the sidelines, this is exactly the kind of storyhook an epic story needs. Mysterious artifact that is kind of known but only a small amount of people actually know what's the deal with it an the rest have to do their own research to understand the full picture? Count me in.
I actually agree. There are some narratives that need to be seen by everyone, but there are others that feel way better when they're sort of fragmented and mysterious. I played shadow in Legion and played the whole BFA campaign, enough to know who and what Xal'atath is, and I still learned a lot from this video. I think that's really cool.
Came back to wow after 11ish years and I have to say the talking artifact weapons are a blast (I especially love whenever Aluneth decides to eat a nearby mana source).
17:00 That is a very weak complaint. The xal'atath story that manages to get into the game is "MORE" information than we ever had in game for Nefarian or Gruul or Prince Malchezar or Kel'Thuzad or Cho'Gall or mogu emperors before those people were Raid bosses for the start of various expansions.
I think person don't actually pay attention to how much of the lore of Warcraft is presented in VERY missable ways... and I don't even know why they want it shoved deeply in everyone face... When they're writing a whole world, it kinda make sense that those who are less astute would miss things... I didn't miss anything mentioned in this video tho because I was static'ing with a shadow priest for legion and bfa so it I got to watch a lot of it.
I've encountered a suspicious "void" elf with a dagger and some secrets quite similar to one's Xal'atath at the end of the Void Touched epic gear event. Really exciting to see that Blizz is adding not only new gameplay but even new lore into SoD.
WoW storytelling is pretty bad yeah, but I actually _really_ like Xal'atath (no, not in that way) and in my opinion she along Varian, Garrosh and Wrathion might be one of the few good things WoW has done for the Warcraft franchise. She reminds me of XIV storytelling, with little events happening away from the spotlight slowly growing into something you could see coming but just didn't know how it would happen or what it really meant. She makes me think of Ultima the High Seraph, a character that at first just seemed to be put in for some side story, but then you realize the centuries-spanning repercussions of her involvement, how it still affects the world today, and how it's not over yet. She is one of the main reasons I'm actually looking forward to a WoW expansion and might even play retail again after five years.
Turned out she's not so much a master manipulator as the writer's favourite pet so got the read the script. Again, like every other villain since Warlords of Draenor.
I absolutely agree that so much of WoW's story delivery anticipates a degree of long term engagement that is becoming more and more hubristic to assume. That said, thank you very much for the concise and entertaining catch-up! I consider myself a "lore guy," and hadn't put all of her schemes together in some time if ever, and you did so quite well, thank you!
I love how everyone is ok with Xal'atath being introduced as a source of many of WoWs lore events but everyone lost their minds when Blizz introduced the Jailor and the First Ones , even thought they have the same level of retcon which btw none of them are truly retcons since none of them change what happen but instead add more information to it.
I just dont trust wow to do these types of stories. They haven't stuck a *major* villain since Arthas or Onyxia. Maybe Lei Shen if you count him as major. I guess im just happy the horde isnt forced to be accessories to the antagonist for another expansion.
I feel like they are re-evaluating their writing style. With DF we already see a major villain not being fought and transitioning into the next one with Iridikron.
Okay, next expansion will be about the void and the villain, Xalatath But what about Iridikron? Will he just be forgotten like that after Dragonflight?
Awesome video! Though I agree her story is hard to find in-game, I really like how it “moves in the shadows” and plays into how her movements were overlooked and now look at where she is.
It's just like Deathwing when cata cames out. Only those who read the books did know who Deathwing was and why he was so dangerous. All other WoW players where like: " What Dragon?"
Xal'Atath is a Void Lord We've never seen or as far as I know even heard about what her original form looked like. She's always inhabited a vessel of some kind. She said she saw the rise and fall of the Black Empire, ultimately being trapped in the blade. But, for all we know this was another former vessel of hers. Giving more weight to her calling the Old Gods failed has beens. But having use. And she has been leading us towards the World Soul since we threw her into the wound Sargeras created.
I’m so tired of the, “ It was my plan all along” narrative. It has made speculating or looking forward to how the story evolves so stale that I just don’t care anymore. I just expect anything happening to actually just be apart of someone’s plan. Nothing just happens in WoW anymore.
That toy N'Zoth gave you actually have a special function. Before Shadowland expansion, only this toy can translate old god's voice into a whisper line in the chat box when you wearing it. I was testing it through many dungeons and raids such as Dragon Soul, The Emerald Nightmare, Temple of Ahn'Qiraj etc. After SL they changed this function, now any player with or without this toy can see(and understand) old god's language, such a shame Blizzard.
I'm confused why you frame it like the war with the aqir is what lead to the existence of night elves. Night elves formed from dark trolls who lived in seclusion around the spot Ysharrj was ripped from. There's no correlation between the war with the aqir and the societal position of dark trolls. Seems like a bit of a misleading way to represent the birth of Nelves?
I have a feeling there will be a Xal'atath will have her own animated short prior to the release of The War Within. Could give us background on her story for those who haven't played a shadow priest in Legion and/or did the questline in BFA.
i know every expansion needs a "big bad" but hear me out, she was ancient when the world was young. she doesnt do things for no reason but it also doesnt mean those reasons and intentions are bad. lets hear her out. let her do a thing and see where this goes, Azeroth is CLEAN from old god STDs and about to hatch from her egg so whats the worst that can happen?
So xala'teth will be the new mastermind who is always 10 steps ahead of the players, who has her legion of simps, can always have plot armor, and will be exploited for several expansions, probably receiving large amounts of "how did she get that power?" Sounds like they sufficiently replaced sylvanas.
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😂
No sh1tter get a job if you need more money
Bro as if I had time to play anything besides WoW
The truth about everything after Legion -> Incels took over.
Sylvannas becomes a nuclear Karen and Nathanos is killed off. Cause Incels cannot stand it when the _"p°ssy"_ they worship already has a Man.
Suddenly the force is female everywhere and Women become the master schemers, cause the Incel writers find that hot. Malfurion gets killed off to revive even another "P°SSY".
And then we see Xal'atath in the trailer and the Incels soyface again, while they moan in degnerated joy *_" P°~ssy~ !!! "_* and 1000s of incels came in their pants.
Pog
"She earned the name Knifu ... also bae-blade"
God damn it. The community truely comes up with the best ... and worst nicknames.
Dadghar (or any of Khadgars infinite nicknames), Gul'Daniel, Manduin, the list goes on
ok, english not my native language what bae-blade means?
@@РостикШешеня bae , before anthing else. Usually what u call someone u are in love with
@@РостикШешеняit’s a pun based on the (Japanese?) spinning disk toy known as Bayblade, which was very popular in the mid 2000s anime boom, that most wow players are familiar with since they were the target audience.
‘Bae’ is a shortening of ‘Baby’, pronounced the same as the first syllable of both baby and bayblade. It refers to one’s significant other, often female, and can usually be exchanged with the full word baby. Ie she’s my baby, she’s my bae.
The original backstaber
The bit after Xalatath gets a new body and talks all sultry like while the player character stand in simps like crazy is just hilarious.
Shadow priest main here, that is probably just the average shadow priest player in that moment, and i feel personally called out by it
@@kaironst2969 Sorry. Didn't mean to call out anyone. Just finding that bit of the video I referenced funny.
@@philippeblais8594 i didn't mean your comment, i meant that part of the video
@@kaironst2969 oh.
@@philippeblais8594 i didn't mean your comment, i meant that part of the video
interesting how this random knife has more connections with the 20 years of lore than the whole jailer fiasco
That's how you do it right. She wasn't behind EVERY SINGLE events like the jailer but she influenced whoever she could here and there just enough to reach her own goal
@zaer-ezart I'm sure there's more of a reason behind it than the knife just phasing into the world where ever she wants, corrupting anyone who touched her and has her bidding done before phasing out again.. it's incredibly weak story telling she's literally just a plot device that was 100% not needed in any of these plot points but I guess will be used to retcon in a connection with the void lords to make them relevant again
@@primary2630 She doesn't corrupt everyone who touches the blade. She convinces and influence them with sweet sweet lies. Hell even I was convinced to help her just by listening to her voice
that makes sense 'xal-atath' means random knife in the sacred and ancient language of blihblahbluh (the 2027 expansion)
@@zaer-ezart The only reason that the jailer was behind every single thing in wow's lore was because they needed to create an antagonist who was more evil than Sylvanus, so they could pull out that embarrassing redemption arc for her. Reminder that the head writer of Shadowlands was the one who revived Nathanos and wrote a lore story where he turns the character into his own self-insert boyfriend for her, and that he posted cringey twitter roleplay about how much he loved his queen. I bet they're going to try and reintroduce her within a few years after the heat about her has died off.
"Legion came out 8 years ago"
Sweet Jesus.
still best WoW expansion.
only 7.... late 2016.. THis dude fucked up majorly on that point
why does it feel like yesterday
@@ZakhadWOW>fucked up majorly
its a one year difference. leave your nerd rage at the door.
@@ZakhadWOW Nobody cares bro.
Knowing the writing team, I wouldn't be surprised if she was retroactively behind everything that wasn't already attributed to Jailor's plans.
What if the blade influenced the Jailor from the beginning?
@@Bartoc1988
And the Conga line continues...
can't wait to find out who was secretly controlling her all along!
@@IEatYourSandwiches It will turn out that she was just a puppet of daddy void lords and it was the void lords that were the TRUE puppeteers the entire time! Jailer was merely their pawn :]
@@VValkyr Makes sense. Didnt he have a line about "I am not the evil guy, I was just trying to safe you from the true evil" or something?
"Xal'atath"
"....Who the f*ck is that?"
"....the knaifu"
*RAUCOUS APPLAUSE AND CHEERING*
World of Girlboss.
Women good, men bad !
@@Shinyolo She`s a... villian tho?
Xalatath: Little did the Jailer know he was just a pawn in my master plan! I am very smart and cunning.
Just wait till the next expansion after TWW. Then there will be some edgy voidlord shouting at us again ; "Little did Xalatath know, she was a just a piece of my puzzle .. *Evil laughter*..." . Then repeat that in the next expansion after..
@@rjwiuff and in the end, when the final mastermind is exposed, we see Fargoth skulking around in the little town of Seyda Neen, smirking to himself
"Warcrafts new master manipulator", as a memelord, the perfect meme for this is "Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?"
You did not just refer to yourself as a memelord. 🥲
In the final expansion, it will be revealed that the true villains; the writers, were pulling the strings the whole time. Until the final surprise boss, Jeff Kaplan, reveals himself as the embodiment of evil, having manipulated even these cursed puppet masters.
this guy alone is carrying all the WoW LORE community
Wowcrendor doing his part, but yea platinum is Atlas out here
Put some respect on Nobbel87's name
True bro
@@TheSuperRATCRAPalso true
I woude say captain grim is also doring a good job
The entire Xal'atath story, as we've been given it so far, is a fantastic example of a well done retcon. I believe her as a "final boss" character because of all of the little touches they've given her lore and history. If someone like The Jailer had been added to the lore like Xal'atath, (slowly, logically, and subtly) he would have been a far more welcomed character. Well done video!
I also have to say, Iridikron in DF made me much more confident in Blizzard having their shit together again in terms of writing and not botching that setup. Iridikron is basically the total opposite of the Jailer in terms of set up for a villain and how to do it right. Instead of immediately shoving into our face how he is the new ultimate big bad deal, they did it smart this time around with how they set him up, letting it all start out fairly low stakes as this old conflict between dragons which we deal with while also exploring the dragon islands and having first be Raszegath as an introduction villain be front and center and only after beating her and him being one of 3 different elemental dragons to escape put him a bit into focus, by referencing his dangerous hunger. I think it worked well in creating intrigue, as Iridikron immediately reminds us, without fully riding on or devalueing, both Galakrond and his all-consuming hunger and Deathwing through the shared element of earth. And afterwards, we get to see him being both active on the ground while also being scheming and having a mystery around him, being much more show don't tell than Zovaal ever was, by us seeing that he's damn powerful with his earth element. Aberrus was great, because it did both set up the final villain for the expansion, Fyrakk, while also showing Iridikron to be clever, using his ally and Aberrus itself as distractions. And then finally in Dawn of the Infinite, he pulls of an actually great Xanathos-Gambit, by forcing us into a situation where we can either stop him or safe Nozdormu. And afterwards, he leaves the plot for the moment and leaves room for Fyrakk, to be the final big bad of DF as a more simple, chaotic villain, which he works as because Iridikron did all the scheming and mystery building part.
Like, I'm honest. DFs writing is the best we've seen in WoW since the Suramar campaign and it made me confident again and kinda lean into believing that Shadowlands was actually Afrasiabis spiteful final fuck you which nobody in the current team really wanted to do, because Danuser did proof this time around that he can lead the story team with the first expansion that is fully just his baby.
Eh, I still don't think the world was ready for her. But then again, it gives Platinum something to do to keep us up to speed, so there's that.
I'm still mad at the Jailer. Not because he exists... but what he *could've* been. Had he been kept longer, teased bit by bit, and instead they went straight into the old gods/void lords route, and THEN he gets revealed as the ultimate final boss. I mean Shadowlands' story literally reaches the point where you witness the proof of existence of THE ACTUAL makers of these universes. You know, Titans were supposed to be "the makers" but apparently not, Titans are also another product of these all powerful beings that literally wield the laws of the universe as their playthings. It sounds like a super great build up and hypefest. It should've had the Titans treatment, where Titans were basically teased since og Vanilla back in 2004 or whatever, and we finally get to not only meet the Pantheon, but fight one of the Titans (albeit a Fledgeling, Argus is still a Titan).
And what's more FINAL BOSS, than the literal Satan of Warcraft The one who imprisons unworthy souls and tortures them for eternity. The one who's making a power grab to remake all realities, not just our one. How do you go higher than that in terms of plot heights? You don't. We literally fought the afterlife, and we won. Dragonflight was like going back to training wheels after completing your first mountain bike track, lore wise.
@@stankobarabata2406 Nah, that's still a genuinely awful idea. The Jailer was a horrible idea executed poorly and anyone pretending otherwise is coping hard.
@@ExValeFor It's kind of hard to take you seriously when you don't really say anything except "nope you're coping". That's not an argument.
The coomer priest at 12min in is so perfect. lol.
Welcome back king. Gotta say as someone who has watched wow lore videos since cata came out when I was like 12, wowcrendor and nixion, man yours are the best. Honored for the early 20's wow players to be represented in the community by a man such as yourself.
Classic WoW in 23 minutes is still the best
20s gang 🙏
Kiss him already Lmaoo
@@dragondeeznuttsI wish I could
@@dragondeeznutts imma kiss u if you dont knock it off
Natalie: "You fools gain power by grinding while I studied the blade..."
It really feels like Xal'atath is the greatest opportunist in Warcraft history. She just kind of pops up wherever and makes the most of what she's given... often with explosive results lol
Black Zetsu all along
@@ShalThuzar Black Zetsu was not an opportunist... His plan was meticulous and had centuries of thought and preparation going into it. (hell, he wasn't even the mastermind of that plan, Kaguya was lol).
you totally called it with the skardyn showing up for the new expansion
Hello Platinum Wow,
I really hope you have a moment to read my comment please.
I’m new to WoW and on my journey I’ve used your guides in the dungeon dive series.
I really wanted to say thank you as a new player and wanted to tell you how much it helped me not feel so lost or panic and at least have a general idea where to go and what I was doing.
Without your inclusive guides I definitely wouldn’t have been as successful and probably would have had to go back again again from missed quests and such.
I hope one day you will make more of the dungeon dive videos. When I went to do ZF I couldn’t find one and was sad.
Now I’m trying to prepare for Mara and alas there isn’t one either.
Your videos gave me courage and didn’t leave new players like me so blind.
Sure there are other guides on RUclips but yours are the best.
❤
Please consider continuing the series.
Thank you for all your help you’ve given me.
Jailer: "I'm 12 steps ahead of you all!"
Xal'atath: "Cute...your still in the double digits."
indeed, she has been the better chess player, but then of course she would be, she wasnt playing long distance chess.
lol! too true!
I think they added her to SoD too. You gotta talk to a shadowy figure with an old elf model to get the new void armor recipes in SoD and she looks ALOT like Xalatath. Idk who else it could be.
Good catch
Your knowledge of lore and dedication to telling a good story with well edited scenes is amazing. Seriously you're a legend
This kind of specific story telling REALLY makes me wish they had made a single player RPG in the vein of the Elder Scrolls games, or maybe a rpg where you can choose your followers, both having choices you can make to change the world (of warcraft)
Non-WoW guy, but this is an interesting villain. I hope they write her to be like, "Grand plan? Oh no, dear mortal, I just merely nudged you in a direction and you caused the chaos yourself. I just sat back and waited for the inevitable."
More fitting for an eldritch being, imo, than, "I"M SUPER GIGA MEGA MASTERMIND" that plagues WoW.
Hello, non-wow guy. You seem to be on right track.
It's early days of the expansion still, but Xal'atath's machinations so far have been to tempt desperate people with power, then let them self-destruct, with apparently little gain to herself. And she seems to have her sights on a new target to manipulate.
Us.
The final questline of the launch version ends with confronting her during a battle she orchestrated to produce power with old god blood (it makes sense in context).
She remarks that mortals are the most wrathful beings in existence. We crave violence, and she has brought us here to exploit that somehow.
It feels directed not only at the characters, but at us, the players. How many gods have been killed just because we wanted their loot? How many quests boil down to "Hello, stranger, do you need anything killed?"
I really hope we don't have to kill her. Her snarkyness is way too sympathetic.
Of course not. Back in the blade she goes.
New queen
Statisticaly speaking theres a 99.99% chance of us killing her in the next expansion. with a 0.01 margin of error.
Fr, sassy queen needs to be kept alive.
Blizzard doesn't know how to do anything else sadly
Except with Sylvanas
Yesssss Xal'atath baby!!!!! I really enjoyed her quest line in BFA. Her new model design looks gorgeous. Now please say we dont kill her off right away. It'll be nice to have a flowing narrative/evil character for the next 3 expansions.
We all know she's already gonna be a raid boss and that only mind controlled good guys or stunningly hot elf ladies get away alive. So she has a small chance.
@@Unf0rget >stunning hot elf lady
check check check check check check
The thing I like most about Xala’tath is that she isn’t a cartoon villain that “perfectly orchestrated” events that were realistically super unlikely to happen in a sequence (at least not yet). Her motive seemingly has always just been to cause chaos, build power, and wait. Super believable, long established lore, and a cool character. I think she will be the best villain we’ve had in awhile.
Yeah, an element of schemers that never really gets explored is that they don't have perfect cognition. They tip over the right thing, observe how it crumbles, and tip over the next thing, always building a path towards their goal. Its not having a Master Plan but instead a goal and knowing how to exploit any lay of the land to get there.
There was more nuance and personality in just one of her player-manipulation voice lines than in literally all of The Jailer's stuff put together, yeah.
Let's be real, some of us weren't tricked by Xal'atath, we helped entirely completely and fully of our own volition
Thanks!
My theory with Xal'atath, she does have plans but atleast half of her plans were her making the best of a situation, she has long term goals but she is flexible with her short term goals, if its useful it's useful. Also Pretty sure the gift of N'Zoth is something she'll use to her adavantage against us.
Xal'atath has been a great slow-burn character that started out as just a fun flavor to an item.
Keep in mind, this was all part of the jailors plans!
"But he is dead now, he cant make plans anymore!"
YOU DONT THINK THE MOST STRATEGIC AND POWERFUL MASTERMIND IN THE UNIVERSE MADE PLANS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE AND IN CASE OF HIS DEATH?!?!?!?!!?!?! What a super awesome and totally not wedged in character the jailor is
We should stop doing Morbius over a Jailer or they will return him:)
This makes me think of a specific 24-year-old quote:
Yoda: Always two there are, no more, no less. A master, and an apprentice.
Mace Windu: But which was destroyed: the master, or the apprentice?
Foolish mortals. He is in control of all. Your "victory" was only a vision. Yield and serve our TRUE Master N'Zoth!
Absolute legend, the lust for the knife wife is widespread and all encompassing.
Xal'atath is "this new character was retroactively behind a ton of stuff you know" done right. No one even complained about it, but we basically got a dagger that was behind, in short, the troll empire falling, the Sundering, Ragnaros and by extension everything the black dragonflight did in Blackrock Mountain, the dwarves joining the Alliance..
Xal'ataths retcons are as shit as the jailors, accepting her retcons is just high level simping.
@@4F6D If you don't accept Xal'atath's retcons you can't accept any of the artifact weapons' retcons, so you may as well throw Legion as an expansion out.
@@TaliesinMyrddin I accept all the retcons. I am just not here simping for her while saying the jailors retcons are bad. It's equally bad in both ways.
@@4F6D I disagree that it's simping. The jailer's retcons directly interfered with past lore by adding stuff to known events that was never intended, and retroactively affecting events we played through. Xal'atath's retcons added new information to ancient history we had never seen, had never played through, and functioned more as worldbuilding than as an attempt to make a new villain seem like they had been part of the lore all along. Back in Legion she wasn't even intended to be a character in future expansions - like Denathrius, the simping gave her more life as a character after Legion, but her retcons in Legion itself were as benign as most retcons that flesh out the world are.
So I mained an arcane mage throughout Legion and my weapon also talked to me but instead of a sultry mistress, it was a guy just insulting you for running out of mana and summoning food.
I cant believe it been 8 years since legion came out. I feel old.
That's half my age
keep up the good work platinum wow!!! shout out to the other WoW lore videos that helped me keep up on current WoW (i haven't played in a while, since i moved out)
Thanks bro!
@@PlatinumWoW you're welcome
@1:42 that Zandalar music hit so good! Excited to see Xal'atath next xpac :)
xal'atath strikes me more of a cunning opportunist than someone who planned for everything that she caused, which is what makes her much more compelling than the jailer
Xal’atath’s story is fascinating. She’s clearly got it in for someone and means to get even.
Wonder if she’s WoW’s Nyarlathoptep?
I like Xal'atath and always wanted her to be more of a chaotic neutral. But, I guess we will end up just killing her like everything and everyone else, kind of a shame
Was always hoping we wouldn't... Now she's just another "big bad" to beat instead of possibly being a cool mainstay neutral but also possibly ally.
We thought we'd end Dragonflight by killing Iridikron and it wasn't the case, so we may not end up just killing Xal'atath in TWW.
Yeah she's a baddie alright, gaw dayum.
Xalatath gives me serious mephiles the dark vibes
" Yeah maybe I don't know " is the best wow lore 😂
As one of those niche players who was shadow priest, reads lore and did the side quests...I still F'ing love your videos about it all. You do such a lovely job!
I'm so glad you're here, I've been trying my hardest to extract wows main story by myself through playing the game but it's impossible, espechially since that main story is locked behind raids and nobody is doing those anymore and they just give you all big patch quests the moment you reach max level so I get spoiled, I mean I still don't know how we got from shadowlands to dragonflight 😂
Xal’Atath was my favorite part of legion, like I wish I could join her lol
The fact Xalatath is also rumoured to be the shadowy figure you need to get the void touched gear in season of discovery shows Blizzard are going all in on this character.
I read a fanfic where Xal'atath was the main love interest lol.
Im pretty sure the Shadowy Figure from SoD(The one that gives you epic gear ) is Xal'atath
Props to the voice actress for hamming it up at every opportunity. Blizzard knew exactly what they were doing with these lines lmao.
Currently in SoD there is a "secret" quest line that you destroy a box to get a void shard for crafting. When you do you are met by a mysterious void elf like figure who talks to you. Now granted the form Xaleteth has happens way way later but she mentions she hasnt had a form in awhile when she gets her new one so maybe this is an old form. Am I overreaching? Probably but I can see them using SoD to build character intrigue with her and introduce more people since we'll get a few more phases before the expansion drops.
I don't know much of retail wow but I do follow the lore videos and I remember this sassy dagger lady being mentioned in some N'Zoth lore and that's immediately who I thought the shadowy figure from the void crafting in SoD was. I think platinum is right as many others who actively play retail didn't know who I was trying to reference.
Edited: Plus the dialogue from the dead cultist mentions that they were feeding the box and this video shows that she needs souls and encourages that sort of thing. :D
it’s definitely her. she’s the only person that it could be.
She was where my brain went to as well. There's even a little off-handed comment about how time seems to distort around her, so I think this may be her traveling into the past or an alternate history to try to fiddle with things.
And hey, all that happens is she convinces us to use some void powers to "save the world, or whatever" and I mean, nobody's ever been convinced by her to use void powers for the greater good right? And it's never backfired spectacularly? Right?
I LOVED being a spriest and having my weapon whisper to me sometimes. Awesome video!
*Reads title*
„Oh god, not again.“
xalatath was foreshadow a lot i thing if game after bfa pickedup in the war within it would be really great but we sadly had 2 filler exp
Also we could see Iridikron entering the void portal and we saw a female elf figure standing there...and people already kinda predicted it would be Xal'atath. Ngl I only knew her story since Legion, I didnt even know she had some influence in the past but it is pretty cool that whenever she appeared somewhere, something major happened. Even if she wanted just to stir some chaos, it still had quite big concenqunces.
I am excited to see our Knifu back, her talking to us (as shadow priest) was one of the real highlights when it comes to the legendary weapons we had. I think she has potential to be very interesting villain given she has been around for sooo long and she was in the hands of mortals as well as our own hands too.
She only appeared in Legion. The other events from the past are described in the artifact's lore in your Order Hall if you're a Priest.
@@HiddenEvilStudios ooo, still tho...it sure is more interesting piece of legendary weapon compared to other things...making it sentient really gave it more depth
You need a woman in your life bro.
My main is and always has been a Night Elf Shadow Priest (since 2005), so I am well acquainted with Xal'atath.
Xalatath is basically the one ring
So far my second favorite caracter ... first being Sylvanas ... I think I have issues...
The more I hear about Xalatath, the more I realize she's what the blizz writing team WISHES the jailer was
0:16 wow i thought the same in my head hahahahaha
Who the fuck is that?
My sediments in current wow EXACTLY!
Def my go to for lore now.
The convo with the cooming priest was s tier comedy while still getting the story drilled in.
I think the "weakpoint" of being very specific is actually the major appeal for me. As someone who doesn't play WoW anymore and only observes it from the sidelines, this is exactly the kind of storyhook an epic story needs. Mysterious artifact that is kind of known but only a small amount of people actually know what's the deal with it an the rest have to do their own research to understand the full picture? Count me in.
I actually agree. There are some narratives that need to be seen by everyone, but there are others that feel way better when they're sort of fragmented and mysterious. I played shadow in Legion and played the whole BFA campaign, enough to know who and what Xal'atath is, and I still learned a lot from this video. I think that's really cool.
Came back to wow after 11ish years and I have to say the talking artifact weapons are a blast (I especially love whenever Aluneth decides to eat a nearby mana source).
17:00 That is a very weak complaint. The xal'atath story that manages to get into the game is "MORE" information than we ever had in game for Nefarian or Gruul or Prince Malchezar or Kel'Thuzad or Cho'Gall or mogu emperors before those people were Raid bosses for the start of various expansions.
I think person don't actually pay attention to how much of the lore of Warcraft is presented in VERY missable ways... and I don't even know why they want it shoved deeply in everyone face... When they're writing a whole world, it kinda make sense that those who are less astute would miss things...
I didn't miss anything mentioned in this video tho because I was static'ing with a shadow priest for legion and bfa so it I got to watch a lot of it.
Can't wait for the plot twist when it turns out she was only pretending to be the big bad to prepare us for an even bigger bad out there.
I've encountered a suspicious "void" elf with a dagger and some secrets quite similar to one's Xal'atath at the end of the Void Touched epic gear event.
Really exciting to see that Blizz is adding not only new gameplay but even new lore into SoD.
Do you mean on Season of Discovery in Classic?
@@HiddenEvilStudiosYes, the Void Touched epics from professions tied to the BFD Raid
I just wish we had a powerful shapeshifter that DIDN'T turn into an elf.
WoW storytelling is pretty bad yeah, but I actually _really_ like Xal'atath (no, not in that way) and in my opinion she along Varian, Garrosh and Wrathion might be one of the few good things WoW has done for the Warcraft franchise. She reminds me of XIV storytelling, with little events happening away from the spotlight slowly growing into something you could see coming but just didn't know how it would happen or what it really meant. She makes me think of Ultima the High Seraph, a character that at first just seemed to be put in for some side story, but then you realize the centuries-spanning repercussions of her involvement, how it still affects the world today, and how it's not over yet. She is one of the main reasons I'm actually looking forward to a WoW expansion and might even play retail again after five years.
Suddenly I feel robbed by never having played as a shadow priest
13:18 a normal reaction to a waifu 🤣
Turned out she's not so much a master manipulator as the writer's favourite pet so got the read the script. Again, like every other villain since Warlords of Draenor.
Xalatath was truly the best artifact weapon
nah frostmourne will always be the best but Xal'Atath is a close second
Kid named Ashbringer:
I absolutely agree that so much of WoW's story delivery anticipates a degree of long term engagement that is becoming more and more hubristic to assume. That said, thank you very much for the concise and entertaining catch-up! I consider myself a "lore guy," and hadn't put all of her schemes together in some time if ever, and you did so quite well, thank you!
I love how everyone is ok with Xal'atath being introduced as a source of many of WoWs lore events but everyone lost their minds when Blizz introduced the Jailor and the First Ones , even thought they have the same level of retcon which btw none of them are truly retcons since none of them change what happen but instead add more information to it.
Platinum is the highest tier of wow lore
The thing is, we've seen this idea lately pop up in so many Marvel and Blizzard films. It's just getting a bit boring now.
Your channel grew big man! GRATZ on almost 300k. I love your lore videos
I just dont trust wow to do these types of stories. They haven't stuck a *major* villain since Arthas or Onyxia. Maybe Lei Shen if you count him as major. I guess im just happy the horde isnt forced to be accessories to the antagonist for another expansion.
I feel like they are re-evaluating their writing style. With DF we already see a major villain not being fought and transitioning into the next one with Iridikron.
She is also in SoD btw
I just want an antagonist that makes me feel like they aren't all wrong, ya know ? Like all the good ones ever made
Okay, next expansion will be about the void and the villain, Xalatath
But what about Iridikron? Will he just be forgotten like that after Dragonflight?
Awesome video! Though I agree her story is hard to find in-game, I really like how it “moves in the shadows” and plays into how her movements were overlooked and now look at where she is.
I miss knaifu. Can't wait to see her again.
한국에서도 잘 보고있습니다. I love you platinum wow
The best WoW content on RUclips.
Love seeing this detailed WoW lore before the retcons hit next expansion
Oh wow! I loved this blade and the questline, my favorite part of Legion by far when I played it
It's just like Deathwing when cata cames out. Only those who read the books did know who Deathwing was and why he was so dangerous. All other WoW players where like: " What Dragon?"
Warcraft 2
@@TheRealVordox Who played Warcraft 2?
@@Resi1ienceold School RTS players
@@Resi1ience literally millions of people
Xal'Atath is a Void Lord
We've never seen or as far as I know even heard about what her original form looked like. She's always inhabited a vessel of some kind. She said she saw the rise and fall of the Black Empire, ultimately being trapped in the blade. But, for all we know this was another former vessel of hers.
Giving more weight to her calling the Old Gods failed has beens. But having use.
And she has been leading us towards the World Soul since we threw her into the wound Sargeras created.
I’m so tired of the, “ It was my plan all along” narrative. It has made speculating or looking forward to how the story evolves so stale that I just don’t care anymore. I just expect anything happening to actually just be apart of someone’s plan. Nothing just happens in WoW anymore.
That toy N'Zoth gave you actually have a special function. Before Shadowland expansion, only this toy can translate old god's voice into a whisper line in the chat box when you wearing it. I was testing it through many dungeons and raids such as Dragon Soul, The Emerald Nightmare, Temple of Ahn'Qiraj etc. After SL they changed this function, now any player with or without this toy can see(and understand) old god's language, such a shame Blizzard.
I'm confused why you frame it like the war with the aqir is what lead to the existence of night elves. Night elves formed from dark trolls who lived in seclusion around the spot Ysharrj was ripped from. There's no correlation between the war with the aqir and the societal position of dark trolls. Seems like a bit of a misleading way to represent the birth of Nelves?
You are right about that actually. I messed up. Oops.
An unfortunate side effect of compressing years worth history into 20 minute story.
Detailed, cohesive run down, appreciate it!
I have a feeling there will be a Xal'atath will have her own animated short prior to the release of The War Within. Could give us background on her story for those who haven't played a shadow priest in Legion and/or did the questline in BFA.
would be cool ngl
She's also in Season of Discovery. You meet her during the quest to obtain the void-touched crafting patterns.
awesome video.
i know every expansion needs a "big bad" but hear me out, she was ancient when the world was young. she doesnt do things for no reason but it also doesnt mean those reasons and intentions are bad. lets hear her out. let her do a thing and see where this goes, Azeroth is CLEAN from old god STDs and about to hatch from her egg so whats the worst that can happen?
You sure have a lot of faith in blizzard writers.
I never want to hear anyone say the Jailer was a terrible villain again.
Saying first is cringe ngl
wait its been 8 years since legion WTF
So xala'teth will be the new mastermind who is always 10 steps ahead of the players, who has her legion of simps, can always have plot armor, and will be exploited for several expansions, probably receiving large amounts of "how did she get that power?"
Sounds like they sufficiently replaced sylvanas.