Kyrestia the Firstborne
- "Archon" redirects here. For the Forsaken named Archon, see Archon (Forsaken).
- For the quest, see
[10-53] Kyrestia, the Firstborne.
 Kyrestia the Firstborne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Title | <Archon> |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Eternal One (Humanoid) |
| Level | ?? Boss |
| Resource | Mana |
| Reaction | Alliance Horde |
| Affiliation(s) | The Ascended, Kyrian Covenant, Pantheon of Death |
| Occupation | Archon of the Kyrians, Ruler of Bastion |
| Location | Archon's Rise, Bastion |
| Status | Active |
“She is the example, the beacon in the darkness, for aspirants and ascended alike. Her light illuminates the path you now walk. Her will keeps Bastion aloft! Her infinite wisdom safeguards us for all time.”
Kyrestia the Firstborne, the Archon, is the first of the winged kyrians,[1][2] the most stalwart and dedicated of the Eternal Ones,[3] and the ruler of Bastion and the Kyrian Covenant. She resides at Archon's Rise in Elysian Hold. Kyrestia is wholeheartedly dedicated to the laws of Bastion and is very resistant to change, reacting to evidence that the Path of Ascension may be flawed with indignant anger.[4]
At the start of the Bastion storyline, the Archon and her servants were slow to acknowledge the true threat of the Forsworn and the Jailer. When her former champion Devos personally led the Forsworn on an attack on the Spires of Ascension, Kyrestia finally began to consider a change in Bastion. During the Chains of Domination campaign, she lost her sacred Sigil to a mind-controlled Anduin Wrynn and was finally willing to unite both the Kyrian Covenant and the Forsworn to create a new Sigil, thus forging a new destiny for Bastion.[5]
Biography
Ancient times
According to her brother, the Primus, Kyrestia was "the first to be borne aloft by wings of duty and service".[2] Like her fellow Eternal Ones, Kyrestia was forged by the First Ones in their realm of Zereth Mortis.[6] The Prototype of Duty is an incomplete prototype of her.[7]
After the Pantheon of Death had to unite in order to defeat Zovaal,[8] they placed him on trial[9] in Oribos where Kyrestia pronounced him guilty of betraying his duty as Arbiter.[10] As punishment for his treachery, the Eternal Ones decided to banish Zovaal to the inescapable Maw, where he would forevermore be its Jailer.[11] They stripped him of his anima, his sigil and his very essence were used to create a new Arbiter to judge souls in his place.[12][13]
Kyrestia has then ruled Bastion for countless ages and overseen the transforming of the virtuous and valorous into Ascended. Her process critically involved mortal souls to purge themselves of their memories, storing them away, so that they could perform their tasks with objectivity and neutrality. However, this process has long had flaws, as aspirants had to give up their good memories as well as their bad ones. Once upon a time, it was rare that an aspirant would find this process so difficult that they abandoned her path and rejected her. They would become Forsworn, wandering the outer reaches of Bastion, lamenting their failure.
Afterlives
When the Paragon of Loyalty Devos learned from her student Uther's memories that an agent wielding the power of the Maw was running rampant on a mortal world, she tried to convince Kyrestia that the path of purging new kyrian of their memories was flawed. Kyrestia interrupted Devos, telling her that the Shadowlands depended on the kyrian carrying out their charge and that she had to abandon her rebellious course. In response, Devos took matters into her own hands by turning Uther into an Ascended and later convincing him to cast Arthas' soul into the Maw.[14]
Shadowlands
As the Shadowlands were struck with severe drought caused by the Arbiter's incapacitation, many kyrian, both aspirant and ascended, found themselves without their tasks and contemplated and questioned their decisions. They began to feel that they were giving up their identities arbitrarily, and slowly more and more began to reject the Archon's ways. When they lost their way they would be sent to the Temple of Loyalty, and right into the hands of Devos.[15] Many Forsworn would go further to become Mawsworn for the Jailer.
When the Maw Walker came to Bastion to inform the Archon about the kyrian serving the Maw, they needed to walk the same path of ascension as the kyrian to get an audience.[16] They eventually attracted the attention of Kalisthene, who simply said she'd shared the Maw Walker's news with the Archon.[17]
After Kleia and the Maw Walker discovered that the Forsworn were planning an attack on Temple of Courage, they met up with Kalisthene at Hero's Rest to get an audience with the Archon.[18] At the hold, the Archon finally appeared and told Adrestes to inspect the wards protecting Bastion's temples.[19] All this culminated in the Forsworn launching an offensive in tandem with the Houses of Constructs and Rituals from Maldraxxus, who proceeded to launch a surprise attack against the Temple of Courage as the kyrian were distracted by grappling with the Forsworn.[20]
It was during a ritual of ascension at Elysian Hold to create new Ascended kyrian that Devos revealed herself to be leading the rebellion, confronting the Archon herself and shattering the Crest of Ascension in a surprise attack.[21] When Devos and the Forsworn attacked the Spires of Ascension, Kyrestia led the defense while a group of mortal Maw Walkers came to lend their aid. The mortals cut through the Forsworn's forces, eventually arriving in time to prevent Devos from destroying the Archon and, with some small help from her, managed to destroy the corrupted Paragon instead. Kyrestia was not ultimately enraged at Devos' betrayal, but rather mournful. After seeing that mortals had been the ones to save her and her realm from destruction, she admitted that the path she designed may indeed have been flawed and that once the crisis with the Jailer was ended, there would be much for the kyrian to discuss.[22]
Chains of Domination
During a discussion between Kyrestia and the remaining Paragons on how to counter the threat of the ever-growing Maw, the Ascended Kleia arrived to tell the Archon that the mortal king Anduin Wrynn sought an audience with her. Once the outsider stood in front of her at Archon's Rise, however, Kyrestia realized that Anduin was under the control of the Jailer and demanded that the latter release Anduin from his grasp. In response, the Jailer's voice spoke through his vessel to proclaim that "He is bound to me, just as you once sought to bind your own brother". Anduin then used his sword Kingsmourne to stun the Paragons before leaping at Kyrestia and stabbing her through the chest to extract her sigil, a magical key—one of several desired by the Jailer. He subsequently returned to the Maw to deliver the key to his master.[23] The Archon survived the attack.[24]
Along with the Winter Queen, Kyrestia was stunned at learning from Prince Renathal that Denathrius betrayed them by causing the anima drought and sending it into the Maw itself, revealing his allegiance to the Jailer. After Kyrestia agreed to the Winter Queen and Renathal's reasoning that the Maw Walker could turn the tide in their favor, she declared that each mortal must join a covenant.[25]
In time, the kyrian planned to name a new Paragon of Loyalty and retake the Forsworn-occupied Citadel of Loyalty in order to recreate their lost covenant sigil, but Uther the Lightbringer's words caused Adrestes to realize that Bastion needed to follow a new path. Along with Nikolon and other Forsworn who regretted their alliance with the Maw, Adrestes told the Archon in Elysian Hold that the virtue of Loyalty should be replaced by Devotion. The Archon agreed and declared that from then on, all kyrian would be offered a choice between keeping their memories or letting them go.[26]
Eternity's End
Through projections, the Archon and the other covenant leaders later attended the trial of the Jailer's former ally Sylvanas Windrunner in the Crucible.[27]
Quotes
- Greeting
- I will hear your words.
- Your path has brought you to us.
- Speak, mortal.
- You may approach.
- Duty and service.
- You walk among the Ascended.
- Much is expected of you.
- Farewell
- We will see this through.
- Proceed upon the path.
- Persevere. Endure.
- The past is prologue.
- Go in service.
- Trust the path.
- Honor our ways, mortal.
- Irritated
- You are either very brave or very foolish to pester me. I am inclined to believe the latter.
- Careful: Bastion has many, many high places from which annoying mortals can quite easily fall!
- My people's duty is to carry mortal souls into the Shadowlands. It would be a simple matter to escort one back out again... permanently!
- Dialogue
- Main article: Kyrestia, the Firstborne (quest)#Notes
- Main article: The Looming Dark#Notes
- Main article: A Proper Reception#Notes
- Main article: Convene the Paragons#Notes
- Main article: The Archon's Will#Notes
Notes and trivia
- Kyrestia is voiced by Courtenay Taylor.[28]
- The Archon is a composite of Greek and Babylonian mythological motifs.
- Kyrestia as a name may share an inspiration with kyrians (see Kyrian#Notes and trivia) as well as the Greek goddess Hestia.
- The Archon's visual aesthetics may be based on the Babylonian goddess Ishtar (Bastion's files are named "Babylonzone"), who is usually depicted as a crowned woman in a loose dress with wings wielding a spear, whose archaeological depictions resemble the model, as well as the seven-pronged helmets worn by deities in ancient Mesopotamia.
- The term Archon was used as a title for various offices throughout Antiquity and even into the Middle Ages, particularly in the context of someone who ruled through military power or served as a judge in a dispute. Historically, the latter role was carried out in a basilica, today considered a word foremost associated with Christian temples, perhaps inspiring the various Kyrian temples.
Gallery
Concept art.
On the loading screen for Shadowlands.
"Covenants of the Shadowlands" key art.
Close-up.
Close-up of Kyrestia in the Kingsmourne cinematic.
A statue honoring Kyrestia at Hero's Rest .
Videos
Patch changes
- Patch 9.0.2 (2020-11-17): Added.
References
- ^
Blizzard Entertainment. Kyrian - Covenants - Shadowlands. Retrieved on 2019-11-02.
- ^ a b [60] New Sigil of the Kyrian
- ^ [10-53] A Fate Most Noble
- ^ Afterlives
- ^ [60] The New Path
- ^ [60] Oracle, Heal Thyself
- ^ Prototype Pantheon#Adventure Guide
- ^ World of Warcraft: Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond, pg. 135
- ^
[Binding of the Banished One]
- ^ Sepulcher of the First Ones cinematics
- ^ [10-55] The Door to the Unknown
- ^ [60] Covenants Renewed
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 4, pg. 176 - 177
- ^ Afterlives: Bastion
- ^ [10-53] Lysonia's Truth
- ^ [10-53] The Aspirant's Crucible
- ^ [10-53] The Archon's Answer
- ^ [10-53] Go in Service
- ^ [10-53] Kyrestia, the Firstborne
- ^ [10-53] Imminent Danger
- ^
[60] The Forsworn Onslaught
- ^ Spires of Ascension#Script
- ^ [60] The First Move
- ^ [60] A Gathering of Covenants
- ^ [60] The Looming Dark
- ^ [60] Blind Loyalty
- ^ [60] A Long Walk
- ^ Courtenay Taylor on Twitter - "Who's playing World of Warcraft: Shadowlands? Look out for me I'm Archon"
External links
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