Sargeras

Sargeras is a fallen titan and the creator of the Burning Legion, the demonic army that has invaded Azeroth again and again. Once the champion of the titan Pantheon, he came to believe that the universe was doomed to corruption and set out to burn it clean. He never appears in person in the original World of Warcraft, yet nearly every demon players fight in Classic serves him, and the legendary staff Atiesh still carries a piece of his will.

Biography

Champion of the Pantheon

The Titans are godlike beings who shape worlds. Sargeras was their greatest warrior, sent to fight the demons that spilled out of the Twisting Nether. For ages he defeated them, but he learned that slain demons simply reformed in the Nether, and on one world he discovered something worse: the Void Lords had sent the Old Gods to corrupt sleeping titan worldsouls and turn them into dark titans.

Sargeras concluded that the only way to stop the Void was to destroy all of creation first. He shattered the demon prison world of Mardum, freed its inhabitants, bound them to his will and began the Burning Crusade, a campaign to burn every world in the universe. His titan form was warped by fel fire. When the rest of the Pantheon tried to stop him, he killed them.

The eredar

Sargeras needed generals as well as soldiers. On the world Argus he approached the leaders of the eredar: Kil'jaeden, Archimonde and Velen. Kil'jaeden and Archimonde accepted his offer of power; Velen saw a vision of what they would become and fled with his followers, who became the draenei. Kil'jaeden became the Legion's recruiter and schemer, Archimonde its field commander.

Attempts on Azeroth

Ten thousand years ago, Queen Azshara and the Highborne used the Well of Eternity to open a gate for him. Sargeras waited in the Nether while his armies invaded. During the War of the Ancients, he took Illidan Stormrage's eyes and gave him demonic sight. The night elves and the dragons destroyed the portal before Sargeras could cross, and the Well's implosion caused The Sundering.

Thousands of years later, an avatar of Sargeras fought the Guardian Aegwynn in Northrend. She destroyed it, and its body was entombed beneath the sea in what became known as the Tomb of Sargeras. That defeat was a trick. Sargeras's spirit slipped into Aegwynn and later into her unborn son, Medivh. Through Medivh, Sargeras arranged for the orc warlock Gul'dan to bring the Horde to Azeroth through the Dark Portal, setting off the First War. When Medivh was killed, Sargeras's spirit was cast back into the Nether. Gul'dan later died in the Tomb of Sargeras, searching for power that was not there.

In World of Warcraft

Sargeras has no presence as an NPC in Classic, but his army is everywhere:

• Demons of the Burning Legion hold corners of Felwood, Azshara, Desolace and the Blasted Lands, where the Dark Portal stands closed.
• Lord Kazzak, a doom lord left behind after the Third War, walks the Blasted Lands as a world boss.
• The Shadow Council and the Burning Blade, cults that serve the Legion, run through quests from Durotar and Ragefire Chasm to Felwood.
• Warlocks bargain with his servants for their power and can summon a doomguard with Ritual of Doom.

The Hand of Sargeras

The clearest link is Atiesh, Medivh's staff. When Sargeras possessed the Guardian, he placed a demon named Atiesh inside the staff, and the demon stayed even after the staff was broken. In the quest line added in patch 1.11, the [[forever:item:22727]] warns that the staff is still "a conduit for Sargeras's evil" ([[forever:quest:9250]]). The final quest, [[forever:quest:9257]], sends players to Stratholme to set the befouled staff on consecrated ground. The demon that tears itself free is [[forever:npc:16387]], titled "Hand of Sargeras", and only after it dies does the staff become the legendary [[forever:item:22589]].

Later history

Sargeras finally became the central villain of Legion (2016). Gul'dan returned the Legion to Azeroth and brought it to the Tomb of Sargeras on the Broken Shore, now raised from the sea. At the end of the expansion, after the Legion's defeat on Argus, the titans imprisoned Sargeras in the Seat of the Pantheon, but not before he drove his sword into Silithus, creating a wound in the world that bled the substance azerite. That wound set up the next expansion, Battle for Azeroth.

Trivia

• Chris Metzen has described Sargeras as "the big, mega bad guy" of the Warcraft setting.
• According to Metzen, Sargeras and the Legion were inspired by the fire demon Surtur and his armies in Walter Simonson's run on Marvel's The Mighty Thor.
• Sargeras gave his name to many things players meet in the series, including the Tomb of Sargeras, the Eye of Sargeras and the Jeweled Scepter of Sargeras.

Sources

• Sargeras - Warcraft Wiki
• Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian - Warcraft Wiki