Sword of Sargeras

The Sword of Sargeras[1][2] (or the dark blade of Sargeras)[3] is a gargantuan weapon "crafted from hatred made manifest"[4] that was used by the Dark Titan Sargeras to impale Azeroth at the end of the third invasion of the Burning Legion. The sword landed in the middle of Silithus in Southern Kalimdor, destroying most of the region and causing the world-soul to start bleeding Azerite all over the world.
History
Prognosis
During their first meeting in the Maw, at the end of the war against the Lich King, Zovaal the Jailer told Sylvanas Windrunner several prophecies of the future, two of them being that "A blade will pierce the heart of the world" and that she would "hold the blood from that wound and sense its power".[5][6] Years later, while trying to use the Machine of Origination to remake reality, the Jailer implied that he had been waiting for a time when Azeroth's world-soul would be left wounded and vulnerable, allowing him to use her power for his plans.[7]
Legion
At the end of the Argus Campaign, as the Pantheon of Order pulled Sargeras away from Azeroth to imprison him at the Seat of the Pantheon, he conjured the Sword of Sargeras and plunged it into the planet. This act, the last and most devastating blow of the Burning Crusade,[4] struck in central Silithus, decimating the life and settlements in the region, which is now referred to as the Wound. The event damaged the titan spirit at the core of the planet, causing it to start bleeding Azerite all over the world. The Explorers' League didn't know how deep the sword goes and what Sargeras might have disturbed or awoken.[8]
The sword's magic emitted a dark-red aura, its fel energies[9] seeping into Azeroth's heart like poison, until order champions drained the sword of its corruption with their artifact weapons serving as vessels for its vast power. The red glow subsided, and the sword went dormant.[10]
Beyond what was visible on the surface, the sword-strike also had major repercussions in Khaz Algar. The earthen on the Isle of Dorn remember it as the day when "the world shook".[11] The cavern of Hallowfall below the surface was shaken by a rumble so great the Arathi thought the cavern was going to collapse. That day, referred to by the Arathi as the Day of Darkness, the crystal Beledar shifted into a Void state for the first time.[12] The sword-strike is implied to have also been responsible for dislodging a large amount of dormant Black Blood and causing it to start spreading through Azj-Kahet.[13]
According to Pixni Rustbomb, the research about the silithid who survived the destruction of the land helped understand the power of Sargeras' sword.[14]
Magni Bronzebeard observing the corruption.
Battle for Azeroth
At the beginning of the Fourth War, Magni Bronzebeard, the Earthen Ring, and the Cenarion Circle set up a basecamp at the base of the sword in their efforts to heal Azeroth's wounds, but initially their efforts seemed to be having little effect.[15]
The War Within
Years after the Argus Campaign, Thrall found Anduin Wrynn in Silithus, overlooking the sword. As they wondered from who they were receiving visions, Thrall surmised that the sword must have been aimed at someone.[16]
Notes
- The sword is by far the largest non-natural landmark anywhere in World of Warcraft, and its pommel is ostensibly the tallest point in the game world that players can fly to—far taller than the invisible walls that previously covered the sky in most of Kalimdor. If a player jumps from the top of the pommel, it can take as much as 50 seconds to fall to the ground, depending on the jump's angle.
- When the in-game view distance setting is set to its maximum, the sword can be seen from as far away as the southern edge of Mount Hyjal. It will only render and come into view once players get within a distance of about one and a half zones from Silithus, such as in southern Desolace, but will then remain visible if they go back further north.
- Anduin Wrynn believed that Sargeras' attack was a "random, angry blow", and that it was only by sheer luck that it struck a nearly empty desert and not a populated area.[4] The Twilight Hermit, on the other hand, believes that Sargeras was too masterful a tactician to have picked Silithus as his target by chance, and that even his final act before imprisonment must've been in service to his goal of destroying all life.[17]
- Historically, Sargeras was depicted with a broken and jagged[18] sword with an eye in its hilt, including in the patch 7.3 key art (see Gallery below). However, when the sword appears in-game and in the 7.3 cinematic, it looks whole, unbroken, and with a red orb of energy instead of an eye, but still jagged.
- The sword is also never given a name in canon, only referred to repeatedly as the "sword of Sargeras".
- In the non-canonical Warcraft RPG, Sargeras' sword was named Gorribal. It was crafted from his original sword, Gorshalach, which sundered itself when Sargeras turned evil. From the remnants of Gorshalach, Aggramar formed a new sword called Taeshalach, and Sargeras forged Gorribal from the other half.
- While the name Taeshalach has been referenced in-game, the backstory of Taeshalach, Gorribal, and Gorshalach has been changed in Chronicle Volume 1 which stated that Sargeras and Aggramar always had their own separate, unnamed swords each, and both swords broke when the two titans clashed.[19] Both Lore in Short and Hearthstone[20] have depicted Sargeras and Aggramar with the swords they are still wielding today, meaning that they have not changed swords after their clash, but they did break as Sargeras' sword is portrayed as broken in half on some artwork, and Aggramar's sword in Legion seems to be missing a half, replaced with fire. It thus seems that Aggramar has always wielded Taeshalach, while Sargeras has wielded two swords: the giant, runic sword he wielded before his corruption as seen in the Chronicle artwork below where he destroys the corrupted world-soul, and the demonic, jagged sword he wields since his corruption (which one might speculate are respectively called Gorshalach and Gorribal since the name "Gorshalach" has been referenced in a trinket).[21]
- The Shard of Gorribal enemy is the first reference to the name Gorribal in canon.
[Gorridar, Darkblade of the Sunderer] and
[Seetheras, Broadsword of the Sunderer] are visually themed after, and emanate the same energies as, the Sword of Sargeras.[17]
- The sword has become a meme due to its lack of narrative presence.
- In the RPG sourcebook Shadows & Light, Sargeras is depicted with Gorribal impaling a planet.[22]
- The sword will play a key role in the Worldsoul Saga.[23]
Gallery
- In artwork
Sargeras wielding a sword before his corruption, in Chronicle Volume 1
The same sword in the Warcraft Saga
In the patch 7.3.0 key art
In the Antorus ending cinematic
Archimonde with the sword in Mercenaries.
In The War Within trailer.
- In World of Warcraft
View from near Valor's Rest. It's difficult to see all of the sword at once while in Silithus.
View from Uldum.
View from the Steam Pools. The Resort Guests are unperturbed.
- Other
What sword? (at BlizzCon 2023)
References
- ^ Before the Storm, chapter 21
- ^ World of Warcraft: Exploring Azeroth: Kalimdor, pg. 106
- ^
[45] Desert Research
- ^ a b c Before the Storm, chapter 1
- ^ Sylvanas, chapter 22
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 4, pg. 9
- ^ The Jailer encounter quotes
- ^ Before the Storm, chapter 14
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 4, pg. 121
- ^
[110] The Power in Our Hands
- ^
[75-78] Underground Economics
- ^
[75-78] Spar Day
- ^ Orweyna quotes
- ^
[45] The Source of Power
- ^
[50] A Dying World
- ^ Echoes of the World Soul
- ^ a b Twilight Hermit quotes
- ^ The Sundering, pg. 307, 323 — "Then, the titan raised one arm and in it Brox beheld a long, wicked sword the upper half of whose blade had been broken off. What remained was jagged and still very capable of slaying."
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1
- ^ Aggramar, the Avenger
- ^
[Gorshalach's Legacy]
- ^ File:Sargeras.JPG
- ^ 2024-08-21, Chris Metzen on the Worldsoul Saga | WoWCast. YouTube, retrieved on 2024-09-11