Lore Questions Hub

I guess that’s the one perk of being a Darkspear/Zandalari Death Knight then.

One could hope.

The naaru aboard the Genedar were using their own energies to fuel the ship and K’ara became depleted during the final journey to Draenor, turning completely to Void and going to war with the other 2 naaru, almost killing everyone aboard until Velen yeeted it out. So yeah, K’ara’s fall didn’t happen very naturally and it wasn’t very fresh either.

I believe that Malfurion gives some of his own life force to a plant from which he had taken a few petals, which causes it to regrow tripple the amount taken (Elegy, I believe).

So while not the same as healing a wound of a humanoid, it does seem possible to give up some of your own life force.

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I’m unsure, but didn’t the priests of the Legion class hall also restore a void god to Saa’ra?

They seem to be taught at Yu’lon’s temple. At least it’s the only place in Pandaria where you can see a large collection of them training together. (There’s also the Shado-Pan, but yeah.)

There is nothing to imply they are treated any different than anyone else either.

That actually makes sense since the MoP legendary cloak for casters was; Xing-Ho, Breath of Yu’lon

That only applies to those from Pandaria though, right? Or is the assumption that the Pandaren that travelled to the Wandering Isle were trained at the temple and then went on to train those on Shen-zin Su?

I mean, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that, would it? And while on the Wandering Isles’ they probably kept on training those willing, while the Pandaria Pandaren kept going to the Temple of Yu’lon for training

Well, I only mentioned Pandaria’s situation because there is zero lore on the mages on the Wandering Isle, so I guess one (or some) of the people who joined Liu Lang originally was a mage and then proceeded to train the people there as well.

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That’s mainly why I asked. Like you said, there’s literally nothing on mages from the Wandering Isle (not even a mage trainer in the starting zone) so I guess we’ll have to assume they exist somewhere, somehow. I’m not too sure when Yu’lon’s temple was first built, so depending on how many generations ago Shen-zin Su stopped returning to Pandaria, it might not even be feasible for these supposed ancestors to have been trained there.

I guess it might be best to just keep it vague? Maybe they learned at the temple, maybe they were trained in some other way. Kind of sucks most of the pandaren lore is found on Pandaria when the playable ones aren’t from there tbh.

Wandering Isle has a decent library iirc? Could be self-taught from reading old tomes that were there.

A threat to dicuss lore which isn’t on Lore forum but has ironically far more active community and response time?

So the thing that I always found curious was the Spirit of Life. Otherwise known as Chi. We know that this is stuff which shamans use to commune with the Spirits, and the stuff which monks use to make themselves the weapons.

But what exactly is its purpose on fundamental level? The Shadowlands gave us an answer about the Soul. A bit of spoiler for those who are out of loop about implied lore revelations. But Souls gathers Anima which is result of memories, expirences and achievements of the Soul.

What bothers me is what is purpose of the Spirit then? Is the Spirit the fuel of Soul? Perhaps the Soul is generator of the Spirit?

Is Spirit something that purpose is to make connection between physical body and soul? We know that the Souls can gather as the Ghosts, Spectres and the Spirits? But are the spectral undead creatures made out of the Spirit as well? Or perhaps they are something else?

The point is. The Spirit is mysterious energy which is responsible for summoning of spectral wolves. As for the Soul connection the Spirit of the Wilds describes itself as „the essence and souls of all things living.” Which implies that it is responsible for the life itself.

The Spirit has also one curious property. It’s abundance is able of turning Stone into Flesh. The world-soul which is Azeroth also consumes the Spirit of the Planet.

But what does this imply? CAn it be that the Celestial Bodies themselves have internal spirit within themselves which differs from planet to planet?

If we compare Azeroth Spirit to Draenor as well as elemental relation to them we can see what the Spirit did if it was overabundand or deficent. In over-abundance of the Spirit the Life the planet itself would be infused so much that the Elementals would be turned into apathetic state and the Life on the planet could grow and regenerate at a massive speed.

Now a bit of loretheory crafting.

First let us present the facts.

The Spirit of the Wilds is „the essence and souls of all things living”

The Spirit in over-abundance results in fast growth, regeneration and rejuvination of the Life itself.

The Spirit can calm the Elementals

The Spirit can summon incorporeal beings

The Spirit makes connection with other elementals easier

The Spirit can turn stone into flesh

The Spirit is live-giving

First Theorycraft: Evolution

Elementals are described as the primodial life forms. If there is enough of Spirit of Life, the elementals living on the planet will be changed over time into the beings of flesh, thus the life cycle on the planet will be created.

After that the fleshly life-forms will evolve over time with all ranger of emotions which they inherited from their elemental ancestors.

Second Theorycraft: The Soul and the Spirit

The world-soul gives us the idea of what is relation between the Soul and the Spirit. The Azeroth is known to consume the natural reserves of the Spirit of the planet much like a food is eaten by living beings.

It is most likely that whatever regenerates the Spirit within the basic life, the world-soul actions imply that the Spirit is the food for spiritual realm. This would mean that the Soul is machine which gathers Anima where said machine is fueled by Spirit of Life.

Third Theorycraft: Well of Eternity Capacity

Azeroth’s World-Soul consumed the Spirit of the planet and made elementals aggressive there. However, after creation of the Arcane Well of Eternity it was noted that the cycle of birth and rebirth was amplified around said area. The Azeroth arcane blood would spawn life both around the Well and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

It is most likely that Azeroth life-giving abilities is result of world-soul consumption of planetary Spirit of Life which much like food digested in stomach and send through blood vessels is used to make the planet fertile and abundant in life.

Fourth Theorycraft: The origin of the Spirit.

It is said in the Chronicles: „

The first life form to emerge in the Great Dark Beyond were the elementals. One of the most basic and primordial life forms, they were created when shards of fractured Light thrown in the physical universe hit planets and infused them with the spark of life. As such, they can be found on nearly every planet that houses life.”

The Curse of Flesh and the Old Gods are also beings of biomass and flesh.

This implies that the Light sustainign energy and Void mutation and shaping properties are directly responsible for the Spirit of Life properties of organic mass and life growth. As such it might be that the Spirit is constantly provided from the fusion of two primal cosmological forces properties.

Sub-theorycraft: If the WoW Stars are made from mix of the Fire Elementals and the Light, Arcane and Light or if they are made as expressions of the pure Light, it is most likely that the Sunlight provides the Light directly which might be used by the Spirit to multiply it.

Fifth Theorycraft: The Plants, the Elements and the Spirit multiplication

As a follow up of the origin theory. It is most likely that the plantlife is the source by which the Spirit energy can multiply.

From biology we know that plantlife requires few things to exist. Water, minerals from earth and sunlight. I beleive that the Spirit works to multiply itself and spread life further. In turn it pays the four elements with its own Spirit. That is because of plants and life nature itself.

If the plant needs water. It can get it from the Water element. If it needs minerals and space. It can get it by asking the Earth to give it to them. If it needs sunlight. The Stars can provide it by either Fire element, the Light, the Arcane or mix of each. The Air on the other hand can be responsible for propagation and movement of the plants.

If the plants can multiply the Spirit of Life manifestation and energy, then they need the Elements help. The Elements help the Spirit, in return the Spirit gives them payment.

Sixth Theory: Troll Regeneration and the Spirit

Whatever the Azeroth Arcane waters did to the trolls. It is undeniable that they are creatures which can regenerate limbs with ease. There were attributions of it being the Loa blessing or their own unique physiology, but I wish to present other theory at hand.

I believe that trolls have inherently larger pool of the Spirit energy within themselves than any other race. It would also explain why they are so connected to the Life itself as well as the Spirits.

I chose this theory because the Spirit has a huge ability to heal individuals and propagate life itself. And so, if the trolls have an abundance of it within themselves, it would be natural that they can regenrate eachother.

Of course if this theory would turn out to be close to the truth, it would also explain the Lifespan of trolls. If the Spirit is responsible for length of life, then it is logical it will make trolls live longer.

If the Spirit is responsible for fertility, it is natural that they can ‘regenerate’ their population easily.

It would also make sense given the traits which the Spirit grants to mortal beings. The traits which Spirit has is Bravery and Naivete.

On average the trolls are very bold and they aren’t the brigthest in terms of intelligence.

Seventh Theory: Trolls and Loa

Loa are the Wild Gods, the Spirit or the Ascended Trolls. In the quest House of the King it is stated:

„Our loa give us many boons, and we repay dem in worship. Offerings, sacrifices, and idols are our tools to earn favor, but dey are much more to our loa.

Dey are sources of strength.

Zul’s dogs have begun to corrupt de great golden statues dedicated to Rezan. Even now, I can feel his power dwindling.”

It always made me wonder how exactly an item which wasn’t blessed can be the source of power. How offerings of gold, meat and other items to the Loa can grant loa tremendous power. Aside from eating the meat of course, they don’t have much options.

The theory in question is the following. If the Spirit of Life is the energy which allows to control the elements, spread life and amplify it, turn stone into flesh and is essence and souls of all living things then it is present and spend all the Time. The Soul might consume it, but so does might stamina. Then if the Soul and Flesh are bound to it, why not the Mind itself?

Imagine you are goldsmith follower of Rezan. You decide to make an offering to your god by crafting a beautiful idol of him. You gather resources, you spend time working on it, smithing it, forming it. You exhaust yourself, but you finish it and offer it in ritual which spends time.

Two keywords here, Time and Effort. If the Spirit is energy responsible for fueling of life, then time and effort will spend this energy.

In essence, the offerings grant Loa power, because trolls as Loa followers send their own Spirit of life in form of said offering made from time and effort. So its destruction would mean superficial loss of power for Loa.

Let us have another example. If the Temple was built in the name of Loa. Then many troll followers spend time and effort on bulding it. And so the tremendous amount of Spirit would be poured in said temple and directed towards the Loa. That isn’t all, if the trolls go to the temple, spend their time and thoughts on thinking about the Loa, they might also spend their natural reserves of the Spirit on said Loa. Thus Loa reciving the Spirit grows in strength.

So it is only logical that desacration of the Temple and destruction of it would make Loa weaker. As the Spirit binds all living things, and the connection is no longer there.

That is all from my lengthy post. I hope you can contribute, deny, prove, add, etc. Because the Spirit just bothers me this much. The questions to you.

What is the connection between the Life and the Spirit?

Where do you think the Spirit of Life comes from?

What do you think is the purpose of the Spirit of Life?

What is relation between the Mana, the Spirit and the Soul?

Which cosmological forces the Voodoo contains?(I refer to Chronicles Six Forces chart)

How excatly Arcanitals(MAges) of Zandalari operate?

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I recently reread Elegy and it never outright states that Malfurion did that, just that he … uuh sort of motivated (??) the plant to regrow the lost things faster!

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Oh, that’s possible! I remembered it wrongly, in that case.

Hence why the whole Spirit stuff in my post. Did Blizz ever confirm that the whole Spirit of Life and Life Force are one and the same?
Actually, what do druids use as the power source? Do we go by mechanics and say they use mana? Or is there something specific?

Yes. In Lord of the Clans, Thrall is noted to sense the life force of every living being around him after he completed his shaman trials and became one with the Spirit of Life.

There’s also that tweet from Loreology stating that Spirit of Life is the energy that binds all living beings, but his twitter’s been de-activated since then.

They too use the Spirit of Life; all life magics do. Druids and shaman overlap a lot with members of both classes performing feats of each other in the novels due to their shared source of magic.

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Yup. The Lorecrafting in longer post checks out then. The Balance Solar Druid part also starts to make a lot of sense when you look at Rukhamar lore in which it is stated:
“Rukhmar’s spirit was touched by the primordial force of Light. Her connection to this energy allowed her to summon enchanted flames that could either destroy life or nourish it.”
It is interesting piece. As the Iron Horde Mag’har said that “THe Light” destroyed the planet. This seems to contradict with the nature of the Light to preserve and nourish life.
Though its cool to see that Shamans are Elemental Druids while Druids are Shamans focused on the Spirit of Life.
The cosmology chart also implies that the Spirit is rooted in the Light and the Life.

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As someone who doesn’t play Alliance very often, if ever, sort of curious about Velens standing now. I.e. is he still considered “The Prophet”. If so why? The legions gone or at least heavily neutered and the space goats have a home now.

Also how do the Lightforged see him? Do they even -care- about him, is he even their leader or do they have a separate one?

I was about to say there’s no reason for Velen not to be ‘the Prophet’ anymore, as his prophesier powers were never linked to the existence of the Burning Legion, but then I remembered he gave up the Eye of Prophecy to reforge the Crown of the Triumvirate. The question, then, is whether he gained his prophesier powers from that Eye, or if they are innate or otherwise gained.

Back in Legion, at least, some of them looked to him for guidance.
'We must return to the Vindicaar at once. The Prophet will know what to do.' https://wow.gamepedia.com/The_Sigil_of_Awakening

Turalyon leads the Army of the Light, of which the Lightforged are a part, so I suppose he is to the Lightforged what Anduin is to the Alliance. Then you have Fareeya, I suppose, as the sub-racial leader, though whether she’d defer to Velen or not, I don’t know.

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