Titan-forged

This article is about the races made by the titans. For the boost to item stats, see Titanforged.

The titan-forged battling the Elemental Lords.

The titan-forged (also known as the seed races or the titanspawn) were the armies crafted by the Pantheon of Order from Azeroth's crust to fight the armies of the Black Empire and their eldritch masters, the Old Gods. The first generation of titan-forged was divided into the aesir, fashioned from metal, and vanir, from stone, now collectively known as the watchers. A number of them were later imbued by the Pantheon's members with their specific likeness and powers to lead the titan-forged in battle. Those empowered beings became the nine keepers.

Following the ordering of Azeroth, the keepers created more titan-forged through the Forge of Wills in Ulduar, in order to compensate the heavy losses suffered during the war on the Black Empire.

Aedis, Tarneth and the dark keepers of Antorus are keepers separate from Azeroth's who have sided with Sargeras and his Burning Crusade.

List of titanic creations

A frost giant and a group of earthen.

Titan-forged

Race	Role(s)
Watchers	The first generation of titan-forged, most of them would later be tasked with the protection of specific places across Azeroth.
Keepers	Watchers chosen by the Pantheon to lead the titan-forged, they were granted immense power and host a portion of each titan' soul.
Earthen	Created by the Keepers, the kindhearted earthen specialized in crafting mountains and carving out the deep places of the world.
Iron dwarf	Created by the corrupted Keeper Loken for his project of an army that would do his bidding and ask no questions.
Mechagnomes	The clockwork mechagnomes were designed by Keeper Mimiron to help him build and maintain his extraordinary machineries.
Iron vrykul	The task of safeguarding many of the Keepers' holdings fell to the iron-skinned vrykul and the chiseled tol'vir.
Tol'vir	The task of safeguarding many of the Keepers' holdings fell to the iron-skinned vrykul and the chiseled tol'vir.
Anubisaths	They helped Highkeeper Ra install the Forge of Origination and build the fortress of Ahn'Qiraj, which they would both watch over for millennia.
Mogu	The stone-skinned mogu would dig out the myriad waterways and rivers of the world.
Giants	The giants were created by the Keepers through the Forge of Wills to protect and oversee the land and ocean of Azeroth.
Sea giants	The sea giants were conscripted to help the titans dredge out the seas and lift the land from the sea floor of Azeroth.
Stone giants	The stone giants were conscripted to roam the breadth of Azeroth, lifting towering mountain ranges.
Frost giants	The frost giants are creations of Keeper Hodir, most of them belong to the Sons of Hodir in Northrend.
Iron giants	The iron giants were led by the keepers to make war on the Old Gods and free Azeroth from their will.
Fire giants	The fire giants are creation of the titans, some were created by Keeper Loken to produce soldiers for the Iron army.
Refti	Crafted by Keeper Tyr to work in harmony with dragonkind. They were sometimes sent to distant shores to carry out important missions.

Other titan-related races

See also: Curse of Flesh#Afflicted races

Race	Description
Stone troggs	The Keepers' first creation, they are a failed prototype of what would become the earthen through the Forge of Wills.
Dragons	After they helped Tyr take Galakrond down, the titans empowered five proto-dragons through the Keepers, creating the mighty Dragon Aspects. The titan-forged then imbued hundreds of proto-dragons and their eggs with Order magic, so they would become dragons. They are divided into several types called dragonflights to safeguard the world of Azeroth.
Storm giants	The storm giants are titan-forged giants afflicted by the Curse of Flesh. Most have been decimated by the Scourge and turned into flesh giants.
Valarjar	Elite vrykul warriors given Stormforged bodies to serve Prime Designate Odyn and protect Azeroth even after their death in glorious combat.
Val'kyr	Elite shieldmaidens personally chosen by Prime Designate Odyn and gifted with power over life and death to raise vrykul into Valarjar.
Goblins	Grand Architect Mimiron created the goblins by experimenting on a native race of Azeroth with kaja'mite in order to determine its properties.
Breakers	The descendants of the great giant Grond who was created by Aggramar to free Draenor from the Evergrowth.
Gold Beetles	Tiny, autonomous machines created by the titans to clean and maintain their mighty edifices.
Winged Guardians	Mighty winged lions designed to protect Azeroth's most ancient secrets.
Seekers	Infused with the Light by the Keepers, the finest specimens were trained to serve the titanic watchers, speeding them to sites of corruption in accordance with containment protocols.

History

War on the Black Empire

Main article: War between the titans and the Old Gods

When the Pantheon of Order discovered Azeroth, Aggramar proposed to create constructs that would make war against the Old Gods and their Black Empire, as he feared the titans would damage or even kill the world-soul with their colossal forms. Under the guidance of Khaz'goroth, the Pantheon crafted their servants from the crust of Azeroth itself: the aesir were fashioned from metal and would command the powers of storms, while the vanir were formed from stone and would hold sway over the earth. Collectively, these mighty creatures would be known as the titan-forged. The titans then empowered nine of their servants, now called the keepers, with their specific likenesses and powers to lead the rest of the titan-forged in battle.

During the war between the titans and the Old Gods, the arrival of the titan-forged caught the Old Gods completely off guard. Their resilience and strength made them an unstoppable force, scouring legions of n'raqi and aqir and sundering their temples. For their counterattack, the Old Gods called upon the enslaved elemental lords and their minions, leading the keepers to split their own forces and dispatched each group of titan-forged to make war on a specific elemental lord. After the elemental forces were defeated and banished in the Elemental Plane, the titan-forged fought the aqir until most of their race was destroyed, with the exception of those that had tunneled deep underground to escape the keeper's wrath.

In time, the Pantheon's armies made their way their way toward the mountainous form of Y'Shaarj, while the broken and mangled bodies of titan-forged and n'raqi alike riddled the landscape. The enemy was more powerful than the keepers had expected, as it poisoned the minds of the titanforged, drawing out their fears and darkening their thoughts. The titans gradually grew concerned that the Old God would overwhelm their servants, until Aman'Thul himself took direct action and tore Y'Shaarj from Azeroth, shattering mountaintops and obliterating hundreds of titan-forged where they stood. Unable to kill the other Old Gods without potentially destroying Azeroth, the titan-forged devised a plan, at the Pantheon's behest, to shatter the last vestiges of the Black Empire forever. They would battle each of the Old Gods directly, and once they had weakened the creatures, the keepers would work together to imprison them with their magic and technology.

Great battles soon tore across the land as the titan-forged fought their way to the eldritch horrors, until only Yogg-Saron remained, and unleashed the C'Thraxxi to swarm the titan-forged on all sides and thinning their ranks. By the time they reached the last Old God, the Pantheon's forces were greatly diminished, to the point that they would have been destroyed if not for the heroic efforts of Keeper Odyn, who managed to inspire and lead the last of their attacks to defeat and imprison Yogg-Saron.

The Ordering of Azeroth

During the Ordering of Azeroth, Keeper Odyn was granted the title of Prime Designate, leader of the titan-forged on Azeroth, for his leadership, determination, and courage. Soon he and the other keepers built Ulduar to serve as the main bastion of their armies on Azeroth. Within the fortress, the Forge of Wills was created to shape the world-soul's budding sentience, but also to draw on the life essence of Azeroth itself, giving shape and sentience to creatures of living stone and metal—not only giants, but other types of titan-forged as well. This new generation of titan-forged would help the keepers bring order to the world. After Highkeeper Ra safeguarded the Forge of Origination in Uldum, he notably tasked his servants to expand the prison of C'Thun in Silithus, ultimately constructing the mighty fortress of Ahn'Qiraj, then ordered them to safeguard the stronghold.

At some point after the war, the keepers used the Forge of Wills to create new titan-forged, but their first designs proved too complex and overambitious. Rather than making the perfect servants, they had created stone-skinned savages known as stone troggs. They quickly refined and perfected their designs, and the next generation of titan-forged to emerge would he known as the earthen.

When the keepers began to reshape the world, the titan-forged played different roles in ordering and protecting the world. The earthen specialized in crafting mountains and carving out the deep places of the world. The clockwork mechagnomes, designed by Keeper Mimiron, helped build and maintain the keepers' extraordinary machineries. The stone-skinned mogu digged out the myriad rivers and waterways of Azeroth. The task of safeguarding many of the keepers' holdings was entrusted the iron vrykul and the chiseled tol'vir. And to shape the environment, the keepers conscripted the powerful stone and sea giants, who roamed the breadth of Azeroth, lifting towering mountain ranges and dredging out the fathomless seas. In time, all of them stabilized Azeroth's main landmass, and as twilight fell on the world they had shaped, they named the primary continent Kalimdor: "Land of Eternal Starlight".

Pleased that the slumbering world-soul was in good hands, the Pantheon bade the titan-forged farewell and disappeared into the stars to search for other nascent titans in the universe.

Odyn and the Valarjar

Main article: Valarjar

Following the defeat of Galakrond, Keeper Tyr convinced his fellow keepers to uplift five proto-dragons who helped him into the Dragon Aspects. Though he acknowledged their heroism, Keeper Odyn did not agree that the world's fate should be placed on their shoulders. He argued that only the mighty titan-forged could be trusted to protect the world, but the other keepers disagreed and moved forward with their plans. Within Ulduar, a furious Odyn decided to create an elite army of his design, one that he could call on to protect the world should the need ever arise. He saw the vrykul, above all other titan-forged, as the perfect expression of the warrior spirit for his plans. When none of the keepers joined his cause, Odyn called on the titan-forged sorceress Helya to permanently separate one of Ulduar's wings from the rest of the fortress. This floating citadel would become known as the Halls of Valor, from where Odyn proclaimed that the vrykul who proved their bravery by dying glorious deaths in battle would live again. Their spirits would be transported to the hall and given mighty new storm-forged bodies. These Valarjar would serve as Azeroth's foremost guardians and their deeds would live on in the hearts of all titan-forged forever after.

Loken's betrayal

Main article: Curse of Flesh

By the time the Pantheon of Order was defeated by Sargeras on Nihilam, Yogg-Saron had devised a plan to weaken its jailors and escape imprisonment. The Old God corrupted the Forge of Wills in Ulduar, tainting its creation matrix with a strange malady known as the curse of flesh. Any titan-forged created by the machine thereafter would fall victim to this affliction, and some would even spread it to previous generations of titan-forged, gradually transforming them into mortal beings of flesh and blood.

To accomplish his plans, the cunning Old God manipulated Keeper Loken, driving him to despair until he accidentally killed his brother's wife Sif, with whom he had an affair. Personifying her spirit, Yogg-Saron warned Loken of the need to act with haste, because if Thorim learned the truth, the titan-forged would descend into civil war, and every pledge Loken had made to the Pantheon would be broken. The corrupted keeper tricked his brother into believing that King Arngrim and the frost giants were responsible for the death of Sif, causing a war that created a terrible rift between the titan-forged. In the aftermath, Loken discovered that Yogg-Saron's curse had taken root in the heart of the machine while he was creating his titan-forged. This discovery shattered the last vestiges of the keeper's noble heart, who became obsessed with keeping his transgressions a secret, and knew he could defeat the remaining keepers and destroy all evidence of his wrongdoing with the help of the Old God.

When Keeper Mimiron investigated the strange anomalies in Loken's new titan-forged, he suspected that some malfunction within the Forge of Wills was to blame for the impurities. Before he could pursue his theory, Loken sabotaged his laboratory to kill him in a "tragic accident". While Mimiron's soul survived and was recovered by his mechagnome servants who built him a giant mechanized body, his spirit was broken and he decided to lock himself in Ulduar's workshops. In time, Loken and Yogg-Saron managed to put out of order all the other keepers and their titan-forged armies, except for the keepers Tyr and Archaedas alongside Ironaya who hid, waiting and watching Loken's schemes unfold, planning their next move.

For many ages after Loken's betrayal, the titan-forged who were exiled from Ulduar spread across northern Kalimdor. The lumbering giants gradually trickled into the mountains and seas around the region, disappearing from sight. The earthen tunneled into the deep places of the world, where they fought for dominance against a race of brutish and misshapen creatures known as troggs. Many of the vrykul remained aboveground, congregating into small clans. Some of these factions wandered the harsh northern landscape as nomads, while others established dwellings across the forested tundra of the region. A tenuous peace existed between these groups of titan-forged, but it could not last.

The Winterskorn War

Main article: Winterskorn War

During the Winterskorn War, the fire giants Volkhan and Ignis created by Loken took control of the vrykul Winterskorn clan by force. They fortified their metal hides with enchanted armor, forged them powerful weapons to shatter the iron and stone skin of the other titan-forged, and despite the first symptoms of the curse of flesh, the Winterskorn army marched first against the earthen. Utterly unprepared, only a small group of survivors escaped the onslaught and sought the help of Tyr, Archaedas, and Ironaya, who had thus far eluded Loken's wrath. Incensed by what they learned, the group immediately journeyed to aid the beleaguered titan-forged, with Tyr himself leading the bravest of the earthen in battle, while Archaedas and Ironaya constructed defenses to ward off future attacks. In time, the scales tipped in favor of the Winterskorn, and knowing that he and his allies could not win alone, Tyr called on the five Dragon Aspects for help. The noble dragons grew enraged upon seeing so many dead titan-forged and that proto-dragons had been enslaved. Working in unison, they unleashed their powers to destroy the Winterskorn forces, and also created a spell to lock them away in tomb cities across northern Kalimdor.

Meanwhile, the war had given the Primalists another reason not to trust the keepers, titan-forged, and the Aspects. They were furious that the Winterskorn were not outright destroyed for their crimes against dragonkind and saw the Aspects' mercy as further evidence of their obeisance to the keepers. The increasing tensions between the dragonflights and proto-dragons would eventually give rise to the War of the Scaleborn.

The Discs of Norgannon

With the Winterskorn defeated, Keeper Tyr at long last turned his attention to Loken, knowing that if Ulduar remained sealed off and the titan-forged divided, more conflicts would arise. He grimly concluded that unless he took action against Loken, Azeroth would spiral into an abyss of war and chaos. Tyr and his allies would bide their time and hatch a daring plan to steal the Discs of Norgannon from Loken in the hopes that studying the recording within (which included Loken's actions) would allow them to beat the fallen Keeper. They eventually were able to pull off a daring plan and acquire the Discs, though valiant Tyr would lose his life against Loken's agents sent to retrieve the discs.

Within the titan-forged vault named Uldaman, where Archaedas and Ironaya placed the Discs of Norgannon and vowed to protect it, some of the earthen exhibited signs of the curse of flesh as the years passed. Many of these titan-forged feared that the effects would only worsen, and asked to be placed in hibernation until a cure could one day be found. Even though they knew the curse would one day overtake them as well, the mechagnomes heroically vowed to watch over Uldaman and maintain its wondrous machineries. In the ages that followed, many of the other titan-forged, such as the tol'vir, vrykul, mogu, and giants would suffer a similar fate. Very few of the keepers' servants fought off the affliction, and just as Yogg-Saron had hoped, the curse of flesh would weaken the titan-forged. But it would also give rise to mortal qualities of necessity that the Old God had never anticipated: courage, resolve, and heroism.

Legion

This section concerns content related to Legion.

By the time of the Burning Legion's third invasion of Azeroth, the titan-forged have been reintegrated into Ulduar's defensive systems by the keepers, their forces consisting of the iron vrykul, iron dwarves, earthen, frost giants and the mechagnomes. When Odyn attempted to unify the titan-forged against the Legion, they were seen defending Ulduar from invading demons. After they repelled the attack with the help of Battlelord, Thorim accepted to pledge the forces of Ulduar to the cause of the Valarjar.

Notes and trivia

• Legend holds that the bodies of the titanspawn are so saturated with the energy of the creators that they leave behind fragments when the mortal host dies.
• Though there are similarities between the descendants of Grond, the Breakers, who include ogres and orcs, and the titan-forged, Chronicle never refers to Grond and his lineage as titan-forged, likely because Grond was created in a very different manner to the titan-forged by Aggramar. The titan focused the elemental energies into a mountain, bringing it to life, whereas the titan-forged were made from a chunk of Azeroth's crust imbued with the life essence of Order. Both Breakers and titan-forged eventually turned into fleshy beings, the former because of the Spirit energy released by the Sporemounds turning element to organic matter, and the latter through the Curse of Flesh that was designed by the Old Gods to turn the titans' servants to flesh.
• The RPG-only Sister of Steel class hinted two years before the actual release of Wrath of the Lich King that humans, dwarves and gnomes shared a common "metallic" ancestry.