Transcript:
Hello everyone!
The Infinite Dragonflight is done studying the Mists of Pandaria time period and has moved on to Legion to figure out what saved the world from the biggest Legion invasion ever. Remix is back, and to help out the infinites a bit, lets go over the full story of the expansion, starting with: Why does the Burning Legion invade to begin with? How come we’ve seen the demons try to claim Azeroth time and time again?
Well, this here is Sargeras, but the mad, corrupted Titan did not always look this way. Once upon a time, he was the noble champion of the so-called Pantheon. Fighting against the evil of the universe as the rest of his brothers and sisters traveled the great dark beyond—Warcraft’s space—in search of more of their kind—more world souls, more slumbering Titan spirits they could help wake up and add to their numbers.
During his many battles, Sargeras would fight against all kinds of evil, including demons that kept on respawning, as demons can only truly be slain within their own domain, otherwise they can recover and come back. So, to stop that, Sargeras decided to build them a prison instead. No death, no respawning—confinement on the prison world of Mardum, where their numbers kept growing and the fel magics kept rising.
Then Sargeras learned about an even greater evil than the demons, the plans of the voidlords and their old gods, infecting worlds and corrupting the souls inside. If they were to succeed, the creature born would mean the end of the universe. The void would be all consuming, and for the first time in his life, the champion of the Pantheon felt fear in his heart. To stop the voidlords plans of corruption, Sargeras decided to purge the universe, burn away and end all corruption, even if that meant slaying those slumbering world souls. Life had taken root in the universe before. After scouring it, there might be a chance for life to come back, but if the void succeeded, that would be it—nothing would be left but an all-consuming darkness.
He tried to share his vision and ideas with the rest of the Pantheon, but they couldn’t believe what he was saying. Surely, there had to be another way. But it was no use. Sargeras’ had made up his mind, and if the other Titans wouldn’t help him, then he’d create his own army, enrolling the demons he’d imprisoned into his so-called Burning Legion.
Shattering his prison world of Mardum bathed him in the collected fel powers, corrupting his being and turning him into the mad Titan we know and love. The Burning Crusade got on its way, while the Pantheon chose a different route.
They also discovered a slumbering world soul infected by the old gods. Instead of destroying it, the Pantheon brought order to the world, took a note out of Sargeras’ book and imprisoned the old gods, giving Azeroth the best chance at an uncorrupted life, and that’s why Azeroth has been such a major focus point for Sargeras and the Legion. The Pantheon, with their work finished, left Azeroth behind, and when they ran into Sargeras, they’d told him about what they’d done, hoping that they could still change his mind—a foolish last gamble, as Sargeras was too far gone. He struck down the Pantheon and now knew that Azeroth was out there, somewhere, in the great dark beyond—a target for the Legion to take out—and I’ve been asked many times why Sargeras didn’t just show up and instantly destroy the planet. Part of the reason is that it would make for a very short story, but another reason would be distance and knowing where the planet is located, a problem that the Burning Legion would overcome, considering the many, many times we’ve seen them go after the planet. The solution to the problem would be portals: magical gateways that would allow them to come in and wreak havoc, but the more powerful the being trying to come through, the more powerful the portal had to be, which is why Sargeras himself has come close but never actually set foot on the planet.
The closest he got was using an avatar, something that held a sliver of his power, which is how the guardian Aegwynn was able to defeat it and imprison the avatar within the now-named Tomb of Sargeras. But all this time, all these thousand and thousands of years, the Lord of the Legion knew about Azeroth and wouldn’t give up. The infinite might of the Legion would keep on coming back to try and claim the world.
One of those times would go down in history as one of the most important moments on Azeroth: the so-called War of the Ancients.
“Entranced by the power they offered, our queen betrayed us, to the ruin of the world.”
Xavius, advisor to Queen Azshara was the first to get in touch with Sargeras through their magics on the well of eternity. He informed Queen Azshara, and she imagined a wonderful future together with the mad Titan. They wanted to bring him in and have him purge the world, so they used the Well of Eternity to fuel their massive portal and get Sargeras to come over. Their plans ultimately failed—Azeroth still stands, over 10.000 years later—but it did not come without great sacrifice.
One that was willing to sacrifice everything was Illidan Stormrage, who acted like a double agent, pretending to want to work for the Legion, but infiltrating the palace and trying to deceive Sargeras is no easy feat. Just to make sure that he understood what he was up against, Sargeras burned away his eyes and marked him as one of his own. Shown how foolish it would be, how infinite the might of the Legion is, how their victory was merely a matter of time, and yet...
“We are doomed...unless we find another way to fight them. And I will find that way.”
By sacrificing everything and doing whatever it took to get the job done, the Legion was defeated this time around and sent back to where they came from. Yet the magics on the Well meant the Sundering of the Land. Azeroth would never look the same again, while Illidan’s perceived crimes landed him in prison for life, warning them how foolish they all were, the Legion would come back, and they would have to be prepared.
Stormrage would be proven right, released from prison during Warcraft 3 to help against yet another Legion invasion, ending in victory once more and Illidan once again punished, banished from his homeland and hiding out on Outland. No matter. The true mission was still before him: bringing low the Legion itself. More Elves were trained in the ways of the demon hunter. Magic and power was gathered, gateways and plans locked in—plans nobody else knew about. From the outside looking in, Illidan looked to be the next big bad to take care of during the Burning Crusade, which we did, ending his life at the top of the Black Temple, with his demon hunters imprisoned. Illidan’s body was sealed away, but remember how demons can only truly be slain within their domain? The same goes for demon hunters. Illidan’s story was far from over. Nor was Sargeras done with his Burning Crusade.
“Khadgar: The Legion...has returned.”
Alternate Gul’dan unleashes powers lingering at the Tomb of Sargeras, providing a massive gateway for the legion once more. The Horde and Alliance have to put aside their differences and unite on the Broken Shore to push back the tide, but this time the might of the Legion is more than they can handle.
“Do not let the Horde die this day.”
Retreat horn sound.
“No, she wouldn’t…”
“I knew it! I knew we couldn’t trust her!”
The Horde is forced to retreat, which for the Alliance looks like the Horde abandons them. Apparently, they discussed no plans for retreat. This moment causes friction amongst the factions. Vol’jin dies and passes leadership on to Sylvanas. Varian sacrifices himself, also dies, and so now his son Anduin takes over as high king of the Alliance.
With red and blue hurting and pointing fingers at each other, it is going to be up to us to pick up the slack, lead the charge and form our mighty Order Halls: unique class stories, with followers to recruit and mounts to earn. Each spec gets their own mighty Artifact of legend to gather, to wield in the war against the Legion, with scrolls of lore detailing their history and importance within the story. To go into all of it would take a bit too much, but I do have a playlist linked down below, if you’re interested. Just know that each class pulls its weight and brings together the might we need to stand a chance.
Not just the classes we know either: The situation is so dire that Illidan’s imprisoned demon hunters are set free again to join the fight. Their lord would have been a great ally as well, besides the whole being dead thing, but that’s something we’ll fix later. Beyond numbers and power, we need to come up with a way to reseal the gateway at the tomb, to stop the infinite flow of demons pouring in.
When the titans brought order to the planet, they left relics behind. The so-called Pillars of Creation: The Aegis of Aggramar, Tear of Elune, Tidestone of Golganeth, Hammer of Khaz’garoth, and Eye of Aman’thul. Scattered around the Broken Isles, we’ll have to go around and make some new friends, defeat some enemies and claim them for our cause, given the choice to do the zones in whatever order we want.
Let’s follow the clockwise pattern and start in Azsuna, Home to the Tidestone of Golganeth, which got shattered by Queen Azshara when Prince Farondis tried to use its power during the War of the Ancients to destroy the Well of Eternity and stop Sargeras and the Legion from coming in. One amongst the Prince’s people snitched on him to the Queen, and her retaliation was swift. Not only did she shatter the Tidestone, but she also cursed those in Farondis’ court. 10,000 years of damnation for 10,000 Elves, unable to taste the sweet release of death, even when they try. The people are not happy with their Prince, all for daring to go against their Queen and try to do what’s right. As the Prince joins us on our quest for the Tidestone, Azshara shows up again.
“I’m giving you an opportunity to kneel before me, princeling. Maybe something can be done about that little curse."
“To release my people’s curse... To redeem myself and secure my legacy. The people of Azsuna were and always will be too proud to kneel before your demonic allies, witch. And we will NEVER… KNEEL… BEFORE YOU!”
Pyroblast gooooooooooo! Muhahah my wrath is gone.
The cursed millennia have done nothing to weaken his resolve. Farondis will never serve Azshara. Her wrath will come soon, but his people, witnessing their Prince standing up to her first hand, realise how wrong they’ve been about him. That doesn’t solve our Tidestone problem, though, as we have managed to find the broken pieces, which were then stolen by the Naga and brought to their Queen beneath the waves. Azshara was kind enough to restore the stone, with her forces then using it to summon in her promised wrath, but we take it on and vanquish it, adding the first Pillar of Creation to our collection.
Next is Val’sharah, home to the Tear of Elune, and what’s interesting compared to the other Pillars of Creation is that they’re named after well-known Titans, so how come one of them is named after Elune, goddess of the Night Elves, seemingly connected to the realm of life? Uncertain, but a connection might be through the mythical realm of the Emerald Dream, the domain protected by Ysera and her Green Dragonflight. The Emerald Dream is not all peaceful and dreamlike though, not after the imprisoned old gods managed to seed their corruption within, bringing forth the so-called Emerald Nightmare. Its corruptive nature has spread throughout the dream, manifesting in the physical world—a story told mainly within the novels, as during the War of the Ancients trilogy, we saw Malfurion take on Xavius, that advisor of Azshara. Xavius lost their first battle, and his spirit ended up in the hands of Sargeras, who ripped him apart, reformed the bits that pleased him, and sent him back as the first of the Satyr to continue their mission of bringing in Sargeras and corrupting more of his kind. Xavius did not take kindly to Malfurion killing him, so he decided to kidnap Malfurion’s sweetheart, Tyrande Whisperwind, which was a bad move. Malfurion is quite the powerhouse, at least in the books, and turned the Satyr into a tree.
In that form, Xavius got into contact with the imprisoned old gods and now embraced their powers, becoming the Nightmare Lord and spreading the Nightmare’s influence further. Even the Night Elves’ home of Teldrassil was corrupted, and you might remember Malfurion missing during Classic. That’s because he was kept in a coma, trapped within the Dream, in the clutches of the Nightmare Lord. Don’t worry, he’d get out in the books, defeat Xavius, cleanse the corruption, and push the Nightmare back as far back as they could. Even back then, they knew the nightmare was not entirely defeated and would come back. That’s what we see here in Val’sharah: the corruption oozing over the area, strong enough to even take over mighty demi-gods like Cenarius. Seeing his shan-do (his teacher) fall enrages Stormrage, just like Xavius wanted, pulling him into his trap, with us in hot pursuit. Our nightmares are made manifest as Xavius infuses the Tear of Elune with the Nightmare’s corruption and shoots it straight through Ysera’s heart. The mighty green dragon Aspect becomes trapped in nightmares, forced to strike out at her beloved compatriots. We have no other choice but to end her suffering and end her life.
“Ysera death cinematic”
Which leaves behind a purified Tear of Elune, just the Artifact we need. But of course, Xavius isn’t going to get away with this. First, we rescue Malfurion out of his clutches, and then we follow the Archdruid’s lead through the Emerald Nightmare, saving Cenarius and bringing Xavius low too, once again pushing back the Nightmare’s corruption as far as we can.
“Almost completely gone, as if it never existed. But the rift is vast, and somewhere down there it stirs.”
Highmountain is home to the hammer of Khaz’garoth, a region named after Huln Highmountain, who fought here during the War of the Ancients and united the Tauren tribes. With the Hammer, he managed to banish Neltharion from their lands, the black dragon you probably know best as Deathwing. The Black Dragonflight was corrupted by the old gods, but with the hammer, Huln was able to send the mad Aspect away and then do something incredible: cleanse one of Deathwing’s black dragon eggs and bring forth the first uncorrupted black dragon in ages: Abyssian, or “Ebonhorn,” as the tribe’s leaders would get to know him as, guiding those who followed Huln in their role as chieftains of the tribes. But now, with the rise of the Legion, some amongst the unity of the Highmountain believe it’s time for a change. Dargrul, chieftain of the Drogbar, has taken the Hammer and set up base within Neltharion’s old lair, but we manage to bring unity back to the tribes, remove Dargrul from power and reclaim the Hammer.
“Highmountain remembers you.”
Stormheim is home to the Aegis of Aggramar, but claiming this Pillar of Creation is no easy feat, as it’s in the possession of keeper Odyn, and keeper Odyn loves to challenge and test those that want to claim it. Time and again we prove our worth, competing with God King Skovald, who believes he’s the only one really worthy of the relic, a declaration proven false within the Halls of Valor. Not even the Legion’s backing can give him the power needed to rise to our levels, proving our worth and claiming the Aegis, leaving only one Pillar of Creation to be claimed: the Eye of Aman’thul resting within Suramar, home of the Nightborne. Stormheim is where we also see the tail end of the faction war breaking out on the broken shore, but in reality been brewing for far longer. Ending with Sylvanas Windrunner trying to go for the power to create more Val'kyr and Genn Greymane stopping here.
Genn vs sylvanas cinematic
These Nightborne were once Highborne Night Elves working for their queen, Azshara, with a high focus on gathering powerful artifacts, but their leader Elisande could see that the demons were not the way forward. The destruction of Azeroth was not something they desired as much as their queen did. When the Legion started to try and make a second portal at their temple of Elune, the place we now call the Tomb of Sargeras, Elisande and her people took action, gathered the Pillars of Creation, and sealed off the gateway. That’s why the power reserve was waiting for Gul’dan, and that’s why we need the Pillars once more. Except Elisande did not have Suramar join the rebellion outright. Instead, they’d used the Eye of Aman’thul to make their own fount of power, called the Nightwell, bubbling their city and keeping their people safe, while war raged on on the outside.
“It worked... Centuries passed. Without moonlight. Without sunlight. To survive, we turned to the Nightwell, a font of great power in the city’s head. Slowly... it changed us.”
Under the well’s influence, the Night Elves transformed into the Nightborne but, similarly to the Blood Elves, also developed a huge dependency on the magics provided by their well. Being disconnected from it, like those punished and cast out of their city, means that the Nightborne will first become a Nightfallen and, if no nourishment is found, devolve even further and wither away.
“Can you hear me, my friend? I... I can not see you anymore. I think, perhaps, it is time to say good bye, then. Thank you, my friend, for letting my last few hours mean something.”
Once withered, there is no coming back, and death soon follows after—a fate you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
Now, 10,000 years later, the Legion has returned with a simple offer: lower your shield or be destroyed. This time, the fates show Elisande that joining the Legion is the only way forward, something not all of her people agree with. But what to do when you’re dependent on the nightwell, under control of your leaders? Well, what about combining arcane magics with the power of nature itself?
Introducing the fruit of the Arcan’dor: special trees feeding upon the magic of the world, which creates fruit that not only can bring the Nightborne back from being Nightfallen, but can also entirely cure their dependency on the well, saving them from that horrible fate and allowing them to rise up against their queen and the Legion. Uniting the Elven tribes of Azeroth, who don’t exactly play nice with each other but are willing to put aside their differences for the sake of the world, together we raid Suramar, defy the fates and fortunes, and bring Elisande low—even take out alternate Gul’dan and stop him from putting a piece of Sargeras’ soul into Illidan’s body. Instead, we used the opportunity to place Illidan’s soul back in.
“Nooooooo! This cannot be.”
Bit of a side track there, as we are so focused on the Pillars and sealing off the gateway, but in the background, we learn about the Army of the Light fighting against Sargeras and the Legion. This info comes from a message crystal, a piece of the Prime Naaru Xe’ra, who shows us that we were very wrong about Illidan Stormrage. We need the child of Light and Shadow in the battle to come, and so we work on bringing Illidan back, make contact with his spirit, pick it up in Hellheim, and store it within Light’s Heart. Now, the moment has come to bring him back and place ourselves on the path of destiny.
“You have seen what I have seen. You know what we face. Now mortals follow me into the abyss.”
Time to return to the Broken Shore, where we lost so much on that fateful day, but we’ve learned, we’ve grown, and together we assault the Tomb to use the gathered Pillars of Creation to seal off the Legion’s gateway. Nothing can stop us, not even the avatar of Sargeras, and after a wacky ride through the twisting nether, Kil’jaeden himself blows up, after dropping us off at his home planet of Argus. This might have been the end for us, were it not for Illidan always being prepared. In his possession is the Sargerite Keystone, which not only allows him to get us a way home, it also opens up a massive rift between Azeroth and Argus. As I explained earlier, one of the major things that has kept us safe from being one-shot by Sargeras was distance and location. Now, we’re right next to the homebase of the Legion, with the really cool detail that all across Azeroth, we can now see Argus in the sky.
“What have you done?”
“Sometimes, the hand of fate must be forced.”
Nothing to it but to do it. The hand of destiny has been forced. Time to join the Draenei on their prepared vessel and blast towards Argus, return to their home planet (or what’s left of it), unite with the Army of the Light and our lost heroes Alleria and Turalyon, who’ve been missing ever since they stepped through the Dark Portal, way back when. We journeyed through the re-opened portal ourselves with the Burning Crusade and reconnected with a lot of missing heroes, like Khadgar or Danath, but Alleria and Turalyon were nowhere to be found. For years, we wondered where they’d gone, and now we finally know: They joined the Army of the Light in their thousand years of war.
Time does not work the same in the twisting nether as it does back on Azeroth, so they’ve been gone much longer than it was for us in real time. Alleria’s nature allowed her to survive all that time, while Turalyon has been blessed by the Light through Xe’ra, a path Windrunner couldn’t follow. She has now embraced the darkness of the Void, something that the prime Naaru is not okay with—but that discussion will have to wait, as it’s time for destiny to unfold. Bring forth the child of light and shadow.
‘Illidan refuses destiny cutscene”
And so we battle on, fight our way through the broken world of Argus, and set our sights on Antorus. As we do, great secrets are exposed. Demons always had the ability to regenerate—that’s why Sargeras imprisoned them to begin with, and that’s why Illidan or even demon hunters themselves have the ability to come back the way they did. But this regenerating took too long for Sargeras, so he enslaved the world soul of Argus and forced it to speed up the process—not the only Titan soul in the lord of the Legion’s possession. The Pantheon, his former brothers who tried to convince him not to start his Burning Crusade, have ended up here as well, in the careful care of the Shivara, who not only torture Varimathras for failing to summon Sargeras back during Wrath of the Lich King, they’ve also been hard at work at trying to corrupt and convert his fellow Titans to make the so-called Dark Pantheon. The only one who managed to elude capture is Eonar, but it’s only a matter of time before the Legion gets to her location as well.
We joined lllidan, Velen, Magni, Alleria, Turalyon, and the Army of the Light to battle our way through the Legions ranks, striking down the demons, saving the Titans souls, all the while, up in the sky, we can see Sargeras creeping closer and closer to Azeroth. Time is running out.
“That which you have stolen will be your undoing. Rise, Argus. Rise my broken world.”
While Sargeras focuses on Azeroth, we have no other choice but to contend with Argus, a battle against an actual Titan, even one that’s been abused and tormented for ages. How can we possibly win? Well, we don’t. Just like when we fought the Lich King, Argus wins, our bodies dead on the floor. Only due to the empowerments of the other Titans, thanks to Eonar using her gifts to bring us back, are we able to stand up to Argus’ epic might, slay him, and finally complete Illidan’s long mission.
“Legion end cutscene”
And so ends Legion, so ends the Burning Crusade, so ends the biggest Legion invasion Azeroth had ever seen—but not without one final gift, left behind by Sargeras. I am certain no one would forget about that sword and it will play a vital, conclusive role going forward, but for now, you’re up to speed on the main story of Legion, so thank you very much for watching, everyone. As I mentioned at the start, I’ve got a playlist full of Artifact, Order Hall, mount and follower videos, if you want all the details Legion has to offer. Say that you want to read up on all the things we talked about today, then make sure to check out the Wowhead article linked in the description down below. I hope by the time this video comes out, we’re all having a blast with Remix, and until next time, see ya!
While editing i noticed 3 topics we didn't really dive into.:
Odyn and Helya have a long history with the Keeper not being the good guy. Forcing helya and others to become val'kyr until she was able to break free and rise up against her.
We'd also return to Karazhan, a magical location the Legion tried to use as another entry point to get into Azeroth. Within the tower we'd meet an image of the guardian Medivh, yet even now it's unknown wether or not this was the actual Medivh or merely a projection from the tower.
And finally Alleria on her journey into the void ended up devouring a darkened Naaru. This didn't play a part in Legion perse, she didn't go Void Super Saiyan against Argus, but it is good to know.
You can check out more of Nobbel87's lore expertise on his You Tube Channel and on Twitch, and you can follow him on X/Twitter @Nobbel87!
