Sign inTitans
The titans are the godlike beings who, in Warcraft lore, shaped Azeroth from a chaotic world into an ordered one. They built the stone servants, mountain vaults and machinery that players stumble across all over Classic, from the halls of Uldaman to the sealed gates of Uldum in Tanaris. In Classic the titans are mostly felt through what they left behind: ancient records, stone guardians and the races they created.
Who the titans are
The titans are colossal, metal-skinned beings who travel the cosmos ordering worlds. The group that shaped Azeroth is called the Pantheon. Its best-known members are Aman'Thul (the leader), Khaz'goroth (the forger of the land), Norgannon (keeper of lore), Eonar (patron of life), Aggramar (the avenger) and Golganneth (lord of skies and seas).
When the titans came to Azeroth, they found it ruled by elemental lords and by the Old Gods, parasitic entities fused to the world. They defeated the Old Gods and imprisoned them deep beneath the surface, chained the elemental lords in their own planes, and set servants to watch over the world. They then reshaped the land, raised mountains, carved seas, and created races to tend it, including the earthen (beings of living stone) and the mechagnomes.
The titans also chose five great dragons and gave each of them a share of their power. These became the Aspects who lead the Dragonflights.
The titan most important to the rest of Warcraft history is one who fell. Sargeras was once the Pantheon's champion against demons. Over time he decided that creation itself was flawed, turned against his kin and founded the Burning Legion to burn the universe clean.
The titans in Classic
Classic never shows a living titan. Instead, players meet their works and their lore in a handful of places.
Uldaman and the Discs of Norgannon
Uldaman, in the Badlands, is the clearest titan site in the game. The dwarves of the Explorers' League dug into it looking for their own origins, and the dungeon is full of earthen, such as the Earthen Custodian and Earthen Hallshaper, along with titan-made guardians like Ironaya and the Obsidian Sentinel.
The dungeon's centerpiece is the chamber of the Discs of Norgannon. In The Platinum Discs, a stone watcher springs out of four huge platinum discs and explains that the discs chronicle how "the Creators" made the earthen. Reading them reveals that the earthen were made by the titans to shape the world, and that the dwarves of Ironforge descend from them. Players walk away with the [Miniature Platinum Discs], which the Explorers' League in Ironforge studies further.
The final boss, Archaedas, the Ancient Stone Watcher, is a titan construct who wakes up when the player uses his altar, calling stone and earthen warriors back to life to defend the vault.
Other Uldaman quests touch on titan magic. The Lost Tablets of Will sends players after a stone tablet the titans used to give their creations a will of their own, and the [Tablet of Will] is the reward.
Uldum and the Valley of the Watchers
The Discs point the Explorers' League toward Tanaris. In Portents of Uldum, Historian Karnik has found clues about the Valley of the Watchers, a canyon in southern Tanaris lined with enormous stone statues. In The Stone Watcher, a Stone Watcher of Norgannon blocks the way into the compound of Uldum and asks for the Plates of Uldum.
In Classic, this chain ends at a sealed door. Uldum itself was not opened to players until Cataclysm in 2010, which made the Valley of the Watchers one of Classic's best-known teases.
Un'Goro Crater
Un'Goro Crater is home to three crystal pylons that J.D. Collie at Marshal's Refuge wants to study, starting with The Northern Pylon. In Classic the pylons are a mystery. Later lore ties the crater to the titans as a garden built by Eonar's servants, and the pylons to titan machinery.
Scarlet Monastery
The Forsaken scholar in Mythology of the Titans sends players into the Scarlet Monastery library for a book called [Mythology of the Titans]. The book is one of the few places in Classic where players can read about the titans directly rather than hearing about them secondhand.
How the titans connect to the rest of the lore
Most of Warcraft's great conflicts trace back to the titans in some way:
- Their defeat of the Old Gods left those beings imprisoned but alive. C'Thun, fought in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, is one of them.
- Sargeras's fall created the Burning Legion, whose invasions drive the War of the Ancients and the Third War.
- The Well of Eternity, the magical lake that drew the Legion to Azeroth, sat on land the titans had ordered.
- The dragon Aspects got their power from the titans, and Neltharion's betrayal of that charge turned him into Deathwing.
Later history and retcons
The titans' story has been expanded and revised more than most lore in Warcraft:
- Wrath of the Lich King (2008) opened Ulduar, a titan city in Northrend, and introduced the "curse of flesh," an Old God affliction that explains how stone earthen became flesh-and-blood dwarves. In Classic, the Discs only say that the dwarves descend from the earthen.
- Cataclysm (2010) opened Uldum and the Halls of Origination, behind the doors players reach in Classic.
- Legion (2016) showed the titans as world-souls and introduced Argus, the would-be titan of the Legion's homeworld. The World of Warcraft: Chronicle books (2016 onward) reorganized the early timeline.
For Classic players, none of that changes what is in the game. The titans remain distant creators known from stone guardians, buried records and doors that do not open.
Sources
Categories: Lore
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