Good read. Maybe he’s in the Shadowlands and, since we learnt in DF 10.2 it’s possible to come back to life by trading in another soul (let’s say. a peon), that’s how he’ll come back. I wonder if they’ll ever address that massive problem they introduced with the whole Yssra story. Remember - these are the same writers.
I have been saying -exactly this- since the moment I saw him stabbed.You can see the blue light come out of N'zoth and go into the blade in the cinematic.People have pooh-poohed my theory for YEARS and now here it is on WoWhead! I know that doesn't make it true or prove me to be right but man. Its nice to see it FINALLY acknowledged as a possibility.
Also, the reason why N'zoth was seemingly the only Old God to have noticed the memories of the true timeline when we travelled back in time - canonically the Champion (us) received the Gift of N'zoth after we brought Xal'atath to him in the Crucible of Storms. We have had a part of N'zoth in our minds since that moment, up till you cleansed it (or not, like I kept my original Gift). And even the cleansing might not be entirely foolproof.Basically, a future piece of N'zoth either communicated with past N'zoth or left behind information and memories in our mind that past N'zoth could glean from, us being the unknowing carrier pigeon. Even more so if that player had kept the Gift while defeating N'zoth in Nyalotha. For all we know, he truly did view his own death at the hands of the Champion through 'his' own eyes via the Gift.I 100% believe that N'zoth is still alive, and I believe he's in the Undersea that's below Hallowfall.We had the Peculiar Fish questline, where we save a talking and obviously eldritch fish. Even more interesting tho, is how it actually hates the Korbyss that he feels corrupted the teachings from deep below and even helps us kill and beat them. At the end of the questline, we find out it's a Zoatroid - a particular kind of aberration that only belong to N'zoth, as they were both mind-control squids and hatchery guardians for the Naga eggs in Azshara's Hatchery in the Eternal Palace. And it's even escorted home by a giant Leviathan. The same kind that flies around Beledar constantly in Hallowfall, but isn't aggressive.That 'fish' actually warns us to not go deeper into the Undersea and invite conflict between us and them and actually phrases it that it would get upset if it saw our dead body due to having to kill us or because we drowned in the deep Undersea. That's pretty much the closest to a nice declaration of friendship and appreciation we can get from an Aberration I guess.But all in all, it's an interesting non-aggressive portrayal of a Void related entity, similar to how the Mantid Paragons originally treated the Champion before they joined Garrosh's forces. They also actually had a similar sentiment - they liked the player well enough, they didn't want to fight or kill us out of respect for helping them, but ultimately, they knew it would be their duty to kill us if their masters willed it. They could only warn us to join them or just stay out of their way, so they didn't have to clash with us.But back to the 'fish'. Obviously anything related to aquatic void and the deep sea is under N'zoth's realm. None of the other Old Gods dealt with the ocean it seems, and it's been leading me to wonder if we actually have seen the true extent of N'zoth's physical body on Azeroth. It almost feels like he actually crashed into the ocean compared to the other Old Gods who seemingly crashed into the single super continent. That may explain why N'zoth's moniker is God of the Deep, and his servants in particular are all aquatic-based. And I wonder if he only ever appeared to be the weakest on the surface because the bulk of his physical body and strength was in the deep sea.Especially with this quote from past self says: "You will follow him to the deep places. The dark waters will flow in his wake." and I think he's referring to his future-self in Knife'zoth, whenever he reappears cos it seems to be likely during Midnight if he does reappear.Heck we even learn N'zoth was building 'something' that all the other Old Gods felt worth their power to help N'zoth protect from Xal'athath. Since this is 'new lore' from the Lorewalking scenario, this is definitely going to come back as something in the future. Again, I think it's in the Undersea, whenever we actually go down there.
Yeah, this is a pretty good summary of what the loremasters like myself as well, have been theorizing.And I hope it's true! I really enjoy N'Zoth. Yogg-Saron and Y'shaarj are malevolent entities. C'thun is a conquerer. But N'Zoth is a corruptor, who in his mind seems to be the Hero of the story. Multiple are the times he seeks to sway us to his side. As are his warnings about the danger Azeroth faces, that he promises to rescue her from.I think N'Zoth might love Azeroth, as we do. The main thing that limits him is his nature. The Void is such a different alien force that its triumph and dominance over Azeroth would be hell for most beings currently on Azeroth. We are creatures of Life and Order more than Void, so much that Void throws our lives into chaos and insanity. And worse, he is a God, with the ego of one. To ally with him means he rules and we serve.This does mean he could become an even more interesting character, freed from his God form, but as lingering essence in a dagger, humbled in defeat. Unlike C'thun and Y'shaarj, whose corpses still remain, little flesh of N'Zoth remains, that get purged with Ny'alotha. So a full resurrection seems unlikely. Without rulership as a God as goal and purpose, I will be interested in seeing how he might pursue his other goals.It feels like Blizzard learned from the problem with the Old Gods though. While Yogg-Saron showed they do have the ability (with his avatar Sara), N'Zoth did not have an avatar. An expressive form to interact with us with. Xal'atath picked one. They also gave expressive avatars to the Incarnates. If they are bringing back N'Zoth, they need his voice to have a more charismatic presentation. I knew the Battle of Azeroth would be the N'Zoth expansion. But I also knew Blizzard would never put him on any box art to sell an expansion on.All that aside, N'Zoth is for certain, the most interesting of the Old Gods. And given his nature to, as a schemer that often salvages defeats into ultimate triumph, it would kind of betray who he is, if he did not find a way to retain a foothold on Azeroth.
I see this theory since the end of BFA, and i must say that i really hate it.To me this would undo all we have done in bfa and also deminish the great Azshara arc that we got for the sake of saying that "Oh But N'zoth was smarter! he played us all!"N'zoth is not even that interesting, compared to old gods like Y'shaarj or Yogg'saron.
Im saying to all my wow guildies and friends for 3 years now that N'zoth is alive and they think im crazy!
Really great theory; thank you for sharing! The line from N'Zoth in response to Xal "Go... but the blade must remain... to serve my will." seems especially damming. He clearly was focused on the blade... but then let's it fall through the hands of 4 other characters and ultimately stab him? Something's up.Also the Z in N'Zoth is capitalized jsyk, but I won't be too insistent about it since the theory itself is so cool and the article so well written. <3
We still haven't seen N'zoth's real physical appearance as the whole Ny'alotha was only a vision. His real Physical body is under the ocean and there was supposed to be raid entrance near the Throne of the Tides.I really hope, that blizzard will use this at some point of the story, to bring and underwater raid with N'zoth's actual presence.
what happened to "the old gods cant die, they are linked to the plant and will reincarnate if destroyed"
I hope he is dead. Blizzard needs to stop bringing dead characters back, and if he is alive then that ruins all the effort we put into killing the weakest old god. They made the choice to kill him, now they need to stick to that
Its so funny to me that all these people claiming that they always knew N'zoth wasn't dead, or that it was super obvious if you played BFA are the very same people who said "Nope, he is dead, get over it theorycrafters" back in the days. Such hypocrisy xD Stay classy as always WoW Community.
