Crown of Wills
- Not to be confused with
[Crown of Will], an Azerothian artifact with similar powers.
“Imbued with the strength of those who defied Domination. That which sought to bind us will be made anew. Behold, the Crown of Wills.”
- — The Primus[1]
The Crown of Wills is an immensely powerful crown created by the Primus from—and as a replacement for—the Helm of Domination. In contrast to its precursor, it embodies the power of free will and can make the wielder resistant to Domination magic. After being used to allow for the defeat of the Jailer, it is now worn by Pelagos, the Arbiter.
History
In order to defeat the Jailer, Zovaal, before he used the Sepulcher of the First Ones to remake reality, the Maw Walkers and their allies needed to find a way of resisting his Domination magic.[2] To that end, they freed the Dominated Anduin Wrynn from the Jailer's control, but Anduin did not know how to counteract the magic.[3] The Primus, the original creator of Domination, noted that the automa seemed to be resistant (though not immune) to the magic and that experimenting with the shattered Helm of Domination could allow the heroes to discover the source of their resistance.[4] The Enlightened Elder Eru explained to a Maw Walker that the automa's resistance stemmed from the fact that they speak the complex and ever-changing language of the First Ones,[5] especially complex phrases of which were stored in vaults in the Endless Sands. However, the Primus knew this would not be enough on its own.[6]
Darion Mograine, Bolvar Fordragon, his daughter Taelia, and the Maw Walker headed to the Endless Sands, fought their way through the Mawsworn in the area, and infused the three Inscrutable Phrases into the intact half of the helm.[7] Next, the heroes' allies went to the Chamber of First Reflection in Bastion for the other piece of the puzzle: assembling those who had suffered from Domination in the past and survived thanks to their indomitable will, and infusing their memories of that resistance into the broken shards of the helm's other half. One by one, they went through the memory ritual: Bolvar, the former Lich King; Darion, a Knight of the Ebon Blade;[8][9] Sylvanas Windrunner, who'd been Dominated by Arthas Menethil;[10] and finally Anduin, who'd been the Jailer's own vessel.[11]
With the broken half augmented with the language of the First Ones and the shards carrying the heroes' memories and will, the Maw Walker and their allies met up with the Primus in the Runecarver's Oubliette so he could reforge the helm and allow the heroes to draw upon the combined power for themselves.[12] Thrall asked what was to stop this new helm from being used to enslave others like its predecessor, to which the Primus replied that it was to become "something greater": an instrument of free will. Combining the First One phrases and memories, the Primus transformed the Helm of Domination into a new object, the Crown of Wills, which the Maw Walker then used to make themselves and their allies resistant to Domination. Bolvar reflected that the Crown's power was something new, unlike anything he'd sensed before, and that it would be the key to Zovaal's defeat. The Primus stored the Crown away in an orb for safekeeping until it would be needed.[1]
As planned, the resistance they'd been given by the Crown allowed the Maw Walkers to defeat Zovaal within the Sepulcher of the First Ones. The Crown subsequently ended up with Bolvar, who delivered it to Oribos to give it to the newly risen Arbiter, Pelagos, in time for Pelagos' judgment of Sylvanas Windrunner.[13]
Objective of
[60] The Crown of Wills
Notes
- The Crown is thematically similar to
[Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve] from Battle for Azeroth, in that both are items crafted in an expansion's final patch to make the player characters resistant to the mind-control powers of the main antagonist (N'Zoth and Zovaal). However, while Ashjra'kamas is a wearable item that impacts gameplay, the Crown of Wills only serves a narrative role. - When asked why the Crown was not made available to players as a legendary item, Blizzard responded that they'd decided to make patch 9.2.0's legendary item a belt (the Cord/Cinch/Clasp/Girdle of Unity) instead of a helmet because this would disrupt fewer players (based on the most popular slots for crafted Runecarving legendaries) and avoid conflicting with tier 22 gear.[14]
Patch changes
Patch 9.2.0 (2022-02-22): Added.
References
- ^ a b [60] The Crown of Wills
- ^ [60] The Pilgrimage Ends
- ^ [60] The Broken Crown
- ^ [60] Our Last Option
- ^ [60] The Not-Scientific Method
- ^ [60] Two Paths to Tread
- ^ [60] Aggressive Excavation
- ^ [60] Where the Memory Resides
- ^ [60] What We Wish to Forget
- ^ [60] What Makes Us Strong
- ^ [60] What We Overcome
- ^ [60] Forge of Domination
- ^ [60] Prisoner of Interest
- ^
Skald. 9.2 Double Legendary acquisition. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. “Totally fair question. We looked at what slots players have crafted legendaries in, and tried to pick the slot we thought would disrupt as few people as possible. Also, given that tier sets are back in Eternity’s End, we want to avoid putting this new Unity legendary in any slot that conflicts with tier gear. As with many things in design, there’s not an objective right or wrong choice here, but that was the thinking behind picking the Waist slot.”