Queen Ansurek
- This article is about Ansurek's biography. For the boss encounter in Nerub-ar Palace, see Queen Ansurek (tactics).
 Queen Ansurek | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Nerubian queen (Humanoid) |
| Reaction | Alliance Horde |
| Affiliation(s) | Kingdom of Azj-Kahet |
| Occupation | Queen of Azj-Kahet |
| Status |
Deceased (lore) Killable  |
| Relative(s) | Neferess (mother) |
Queen Ansurek (/ɑnsuːrɛk/ AHN-soo-rek) is the ruler of the nerubian kingdom of Azj-Kahet. Seeking renewed glory for her people, she has entered a bargain with Xal'atath, the Harbinger of the Void, who has provided a way to transform the nerubians into Ascended using Black Blood.[1][2]
History
As a child, Ansurek witnessed her mother, Queen Neferess, refuse the Black Empire's demands of having the nerubians serve the Old Gods again. But years later, when Azj-Kahet faced hardship and starvation, Ansurek questioned her mother's decision, which had brought them freedom but not greatness. Xal'atath separately reached out to both Neferess and Ansurek, offering them the opportunity to make their people powerful again by using the Black Blood of the now-dead Old Gods. Neferess refused Xal'atath's offer, but Ansurek accepted it and betrayed and stabbed her mother to seize the throne for herself.[3] Officially, Neferess was declared dead, and Ansurek blamed her death on the Hallowfall Arathi in order to justify Azj-Kahet's war against the latter.[4] In reality, Ansurek secretly had her imprisoned and experimented upon, transforming her into a hulking ascended known as the First Ascended.[5]
After coming to power, she deposed General Anub'azal as head of the kingdom's army in favor of Zev'kall, an ascended loyal to Xal'atath.[6]
The War Within
After Xal'atath disguised herself as Drenden and infiltrated the Council of Six, she convinced them to teleport Dalaran to Khaz Algar. With their defenses weakened, Ansurek and her army invaded the city, capturing many of its citizens.[7]
Unbeknownst to her, Neferess' former weaver, Widow Arak'nai, had begun to conspire against her. She believed that Xal'atath was manipulating her and wished to free Ansurek from her influence.[8] She had overcrawlers recruit the spurned general Anub'azal and the duplicitous Executor Nizrek.[9] Ansurek tried to increase the rate of ascension by creating a new holiday called Ascension Day and lined the streets with shadecasters to promote the ascension process.[10] Nizrek had Alleria Windrunner and Anduin Wrynn sabotage Ansurek's shadecasters and watched her Ascendance Speech. However, when Xal'atath went to stand with the queen during her speech, Alleria fired at the harbinger, who easily dodged her arrow, and landed in front of the queen. Ansurek was furious and ordered her guards to seize the interlopers. They managed to escape from the City of Threads and report back to the Widow.[11] The three treacherous nerubians proceeded to form the Severed Threads, which aimed to depose the queen and reinstate Neferess' ideals.
After the attempt on her life, Ansurek grew more paranoid and tightened her grip over Azj-Kahet. She tasked Skeinspinner Takazj and Anub'arash with locking down the Umbral Bazaar and Abductor Arzda with abducting citizens from Burrows and bringing them to the Transformatory to be ascended.[12][13] The Severed Threads learned about the queen's plans, and after stopping them, decided it was time to end her life.[14]
The Severed Threads and their allies launched an attack on Nerub-ar Palace, forcing Ansurek to unleash her ascended forces to stop them. They fought their way into her court, where Executor Nizrek told them that if they were able to cause enough havoc, Ansurek's ego would force her to confront them herself. As they cut down her allies, the queen grew more desperate, until she was left with no choice and had to face them herself. The adventurers defeated the queen, causing her to plummet to fall from her palace. In her final moments, Xal'atath appeared before her. She complimented the queen on her ambition, yet it was for naught. Ansurek reminded her that she promised that she could make her kingdom great again, but Xal'atath replied she promised nothing, yet still gave them everything. The queen told her not to pity her, but Xal'atath didn't and only saw Ansurek as a means to an end. As the queen began to fade, she left her with the parting words, the true lesson of the void was that only the strongest survive. The leaders of the Severed Threads gathered by her corpse and thanked the adventurers for ending Ansurek's madness, but wondered if something worse loomed in the shadows.
Undermined
Despite their queen's death, Ansurek's loyalists continued to assault Hallowfall, but were repelled by the Flame's Radiance.
Gallery
- Concept art
Early body type explorations.
Early head explorations.
Final concept and clothing explorations.
Final head concept and explorations.
Queen Neferess and princess Ansurek concept art.
- Threads of Destiny
Ansurek as a child.
Ansurek and her mother Neferess.
Ansurek after betraying her mother.
Ansurek and Xal'atath.
Queen Ansurek and her army of Ascended.
Videos
Trivia
- Queen Ansurek is voiced by Elsie Lovelock.[15]
Patch changes
- Patch 11.0.2 (2024-08-13): Added.
References
- ^ World of Warcraft 2023-11-03. BlizzCon | The War Within: What's Next Panel | World of Warcraft. YouTube. Retrieved on 2024-08-06.
- ^ Blizzard Entertainment 2023-11-03. World of Warcraft®: What’s Next Panel Recap. Archived from the original on 2023-11-04.
- ^ Threads of Destiny
- ^ Queen Neferess (statue)
- ^
[80] Making of a Monster
- ^ [78-80] The Tangled Web
- ^ [68-70] Departure
- ^ [78-80] The Tangled Web
- ^ [78-80] Uniting Severed Threads
- ^ [78-80] Rewriting the Rewritten
- ^ [78-80] Kaheti Hospitality
- ^ [80] The Beginning of the End
- ^ [80] Defense of the People
- ^ [80R] To Kill a Queen
- ^ Elsie Lovelock on X - "Unbelievably honoured to announce that I voice Queen Ansurek in the newest Warcraft expansion, The War Within!"
External links
| Preceded by: Neferess |
Position: Queen of Azj-Kahet |
Succeeded by: Unknown |