Old God

"They do not die; they do not live. They are outside the cycle." - Herald Volazj

Ancient horrors of unspeakable evil, the Old Gods have corrupted Azeroth and its inhabitants for millennia. Imprisoned by the Titans, the Old Gods now lay chained beneath the earth, beaten... but not defeated. Sending their sinister tendrils and maddening whispers out into the minds of any who stray too near to their prisons, these nightmarish creatures still hold a great, dark power over Azeroth and its inhabitants, twisting and corrupting even the bravest and noblest of souls, and commanding armies of cultists to do their bidding.

The known Old Gods do not originate on Azeroth, but travelled there countless ages ago, plummeting out of the Great Dark to engorge themselves upon the fertile flesh of the young world. C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, N'Zoth and Y'Shaarj once ruled over all Azeroth, dominating even the Elemental Lords, with their countless minions locked in endless battle. The Old Gods' corruption touched the world so deeply that even the Titans could not remove them without destroying Azeroth in the process, and they were instead incarcerated beneath the earth in vast prisons, and left to dream their dark dreams. Buried but not forgotten, the Old Gods are behind many of the greatest threats Azeroth has ever known, and still others yet to come.

The Old Gods bring their dark influence to bear on Hearthstone in its third expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods, and its 16th Expansion, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire.

Lore[edit | edit source]

The Old Gods (also known as the Old-Gods, old lords of the earth, Gods Below, or Shath'Yar in their own language) are a group of eldritch horrors who are physical manifestations of the Void. Created by the void lords in order to find and corrupt slumbering titan world-souls, the Old Gods are mountains of flesh who grow like cancers within the worlds of the Great Dark.

Four Old Gods — Y'Shaarj, C'Thun, Yogg-Saron and N'Zoth — ruled the planet of Azeroth as lords of the Black Empire in the days before the titans arrived to shape and order it. The armies of the titan Pantheon shattered the Old Gods' citadels and killed Y'Shaarj, but in doing so, the titans realized that the Old Gods had embedded themselves too deep in the world's surface to remove without destroying Azeroth itself. Thus, they instead decided to imprison the Old Gods below the surface of the world and contain their evil forever. C'Thun was sealed in the fortress city of Ahn'Qiraj, N'Zoth was sealed in an underground prison in an unknown location, and Yogg-Saron was imprisoned in the city of Ulduar.

Though chained or dead, the Old Gods' influence still corrupts mortals, and even immortals, to this day. Along with the Burning Legion, they are one of the most powerful and reoccurring threats found in the Warcraft series of games and books, especially in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. While players are constantly fighting off the dealings and machinations of Azeroth's Old Gods, there are in fact more elsewhere in the cosmos, such as one that almost manifested on Outland.

In Hearthstone[edit | edit source]

The Old Gods are the focus of Hearthstone's third expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods. For background on their involvement in the expansion, see Whispers of the Old Gods.

Legend has it, the Old Gods’ voices are dread whispers that no mere mortal can hope to resist. It is said that for millennia uncounted the massive Old Gods lay dreaming in ageless sleep deep beneath the surface of Azeroth. Maybe noisy taverns full of laughter, shouts of triumph, and clanking tankards are like a snooze alarm you can’t turn off, and this whole Old-Gods-waking-up thing is entirely our fault!

Whatever the cause, those nameless tentacled terrors are finally rousing from their naps, and with their waking insidious corruption is seeping up from the stygian depths! Still, there’s no need to fear (mostly!). Civilization is safe (for now!). They haven’t come for the utter domination of all life on Azeroth (probably!).

Now that they’re awake (and they’ve had a chance to stretch their various appendages, rub the sleep out of their many, many eyes, and have a healthy breakfast), the Old Gods have decided to put their malignant might into mortal hands. . . in the form of disgustingly potent Hearthstone cards!^[1]

Announcement

"The Old Gods are these massive creatures, who are chained beneath the earth... These are the creatures who enslaved Ragnaros, and the other Elemental Lords. They created the Nerubians and the Faceless Manipulators... These are the things that turned Deathwing into Deathwing... In the world of Super Villains, these are the Super Villains of Super Villains.

"Their only weakness... is that they are chained beneath the earth, and they can only really work via influence, by whispering to the creatures around them and slowly corrupting them over time."^[2]

Old Gods[edit | edit source]

These sections list cards which depict Old Gods, as well as those which depict the creations or visible influence of the Old Gods.

Old God art[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]