The Story of Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire [Artifact Lore]
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Legion offers players the opportunity to collect artifacts and wield these legendary weapons against the demonic forces of the Burning Legion. In this video we take a look at the artifact questline for Shadow Priests to get our hands on Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire.
I hope you'll enjoy ^_^
Xal'atath whispers: wow.gamepedia.c...
================================================
Want More Lore?!
The Story of Ragnaros the Firelord: • The Story of Ragnaros ...
The Light in World of Warcraft: • The Light (and Shadow)...
The Story of Blackrock Mountain: • The Story of Blackrock...
The Story of Broxigar: • The Story of Broxigar ...
================================================
Twitter: / nobbel87
Facebook: / nobbel.denoble
Twitch: / nobbel87
Ask: ask.fm/Nobbel
Patreon: / nobbel87
================================================
Intro screen made by Pakulia:
/ wowpaku
Outro screen made by Whammo:
/ whammo_
The music in this video is provided royalty free. (Creative Commons License)
Songs:The Path of the Goblin King
Music by: incompetech.com/
© 2001-2008 Kevin MacLeod
World of Warcraft® and Blizzard Entertainment®
![The Story of The Priest Order Hall Campaign [Lore]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3OVFE0N2QlA/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Story of The Priest Order Hall Campaign [Lore]](/img/tr.png)
![The Story of Titanstrike [Artifact Lore]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VkNO4gQe9Sc/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi new people, here's a more up to date story on Xalatath: ua-cam.com/video/sLYjfZHPZ5E/v-deo.html
People wonder why I choose to play Shadowpriest. They say things like "Why don't you just roll a Warlock" or "FFS, we need a healer!" but they don't understand. They can't hear her. They don't know her sweet promises, the beautiful secrets she reveals to me...
That was amazing. (from another Spriest main =D)
I agree!
Erik Le Blanc Pleym they say not to believe the blade.. but really, when has she ever lied? she doesn't lie..
TheMMObro Never lie huh? Kill the sisters of the moon on heroic Tomb of Sargeras. She literally kills you while trying to steal Elunes power or something...
Elune kills Priest, not the dagger itself.
This is easily one of the coolest artifacts, if not the coolest, in the game
goldi947 yeah it really is
I would give my vote to the scepter of Sargeras. but Xal'atath is a close second.
Blades of the Fallen DPS Class are pretty cool
ASHBRINGER ASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGERASHBRINGER!!!!!!!!
I have as an alter a shadow priest just because of this artifact weapon.
Haha you /flirt before picking up the Knaifu, I knew Nobbel gonna embrace this meme too xD
World of Warcraft: The Sleeping City
I like the sound of that
Jacob Garcia world of Warcraft: return of the black empire
World of Warcraft: Call of The Void.
Shadow Over Azeroth
World of Warcraft: The Dark Below, already TM by Blizzard.
Akbar Bagus
www.mmo-champion.com/content/3339-Blizzard-Trademarks-The-Dark-Below-WoW-or-D3-Expansion
I think Xal'atath IS the 5th Old God. She doesn't talk like she's a servant, she talks like she's one of them. That would make one of the rumors true (the blade being the remnant of a 5th Old God), and put some context to what she's saying. I don't understand why she seems to be willing to help us against the others though. Unless they betrayed her or something.
From the looks of it, the other four transmuted her into a weapon, and she still hasn't gotten over that.
Perhaps with the four wanting to get out, and the Titan Relics acting as some doorway, I would consider the possibility of granting Xal'atath the chance to avenge her 'weaponization'...
As with all things, though, such an action will have an unimaginable number of possible repercussions. All one can hope for is that she would consider a 'balanced diet'.
All the Old Gods don't really like each other, they fought amongst themselves for control during the Black Empire, it's not at all far-fetched that they might have consumed whatever Xal'atath used to be.
This is what I think at the moment: She refer to the Old Gods and herself as "us" either she was the weakest of the Old Gods or she is truly N'Zoth (hidden artifact appearance). So they likely betrayed her during the war against the Elemental Lords to get some buff since they thrive on chaos, or she just died because she was weak. She didn't finish her phrase because the follow up names would have been "N'Zoth and herself" if she's another Old God. In that case, the only reason she had to not pronounce N'Zoth name is because he's not defeated yet, the last one standing before her rise. But she's very confident that he will be stopped by us.
OR
She is N'Zoth, the weakest, the wisest, more cautious and patient than the other Old Gods and deceive us using Xal'atath as a medium. The blade is medium of power and consciousness outside the prison, in a way more potent and influential way than Saronite is/was. But she can become more powerful by using her knowledge not just by us. She had observed us trough millennia, she can mind control very powerful and influential figure to get the necessary resource to eventually raise or reconstruct a body, she doesn't care about revealing too much because she always abandon her welders or they eventually die...
It's not that they don't "like" each other. They are beings of chaos. Fighting with each other creates chaos, which they thrive on. It's just a type of thinking we can't understand. tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlueAndOrangeMorality The Old Gods do work together when it furthers their goals (chaos).
Xainfinen t
I'm falling in love with the blade's voice! Or... Is it messing with my mind already?
as the voice belongs to Claudia Christian, accomplished actress of both screen and voice, it's not suprising you would fall in love with it She's magical! ( and super hot)
Xal'atath? Oh you must mean Knaifu
Indeed
.... Knife + Waifu?
Really now...
Xal'atath is best girl
or Baeblade
+deathdoom8 perfect
Finally, I've been waiting for this video. I even consider making a shadow priest because of this.
Nobbel, I look forward to each and single one of these videos, keep up the great work.
I feel like people take this weapon's quotes at face value way too easily, considering that it *is* an Old God weapon and their modus operandi is messing with people's heads. I mean heck, its flavor text even says not to trust it.
I really like how they tied it into old lore like Modgud's curse though.
That's true. I mean it goes on and says That N'zoth is the weakest, but also goes to say that we should "hurry up" and defeat sargeras cause N'zoth is a bigger threat. Which seems odd since the retcon that Sargeras is stronger than the old gods.
Yaibatsu well it could mean that N'zoth is trying to get a void lord to azeroth which is more powerful than even a titan
Franz Prueller
Could very well be, since the Old Gods are minions compared to the Void Lords themselves.
Well there is no confirmation that Sargeras is still out there in full power. Kil'jaeden seems to be the one doing all the work for the legion and he has in the past tried to take it over from Sargeras. N'zoth is a bigger threat to Azeroth herself.
It would be interesting if N'zoth summoned a Void Lord, and the only thing the people of Azeroth could do to protect themselves is to summoned Sargeras and let them fight. Kinda like the Godzilla movie, but with the Legion vs the Void. Although it would probably result in the death and destruction of everything.
So Intresting to see how far the story has gone just from this one little dagger!
Was really looking forward to this video. Not just because I'm a shadow priest but because there's so much lore that will/could come from it throughout this and possibly the next expansion.
4:20 Holy cow. Now that's attention to detail. It reminds me of what would happen in Scarlet Monastery when you brought the Corrupted Ashbringer. *That's what I call a legendary.*
I feel like Xal'atath really could be the fifth old god or at least a remnant of it. When it is showing the quotes towards the end it says, "It is ironic that the weakest of us may be the ultimate victor", (17:00) then it proceeds to name the other old gods. It seems to say it in a way that includes itself in the list of old gods.
But she didn't refered to N'Zoth as well...
Dimitris Tzennetoglou she did but not by name. She called him the weakest of us
About time!! I was patiently waiting for this one the most!
Thank YOU very much Nobbel! I have been waiting for so long to see a video about this artifact! It is almost like a christmas present for me! :D
Have a merry christmas!
Finally!!! I have been waiting FOREVER for this one!
tfw your waifu is a knife... shadow priests truly are insane 8^)
aaaaaaaaaaaand I'm spent. thanks for finally doing this Nobbel!! Xal'atath is my fave of all the artifacts and the insight into the lore she puts into gameplay is just ...
At 6:18 the picture of the weapon really blends in with the background. :O
"It is ironic that the weakest of us may be the ultimate victor" "They will pay for what they have done to me" - Xal'atath is 100% the 5th old god that was betrayed by the others.
As an Spriest main since BC, I am SOOO GLAD to see this video.. LOVE your Priests Name
Thanks Nobbel, your videos are always good, the best thing for a loreseeker, keep up the good work !
She's baaaaack! :D
* blows a kiss to knaifu *
It's finally the Knaifu turn!
"World of Warcraft: Rise of The Black Empire" - lets go blizz!!!
I think this is the best artifact story so far... Thank you for this story . :)
Omg that dwarf has Reinhardts voice
Was just about to say lmao
and this undeads voice is Fenris from dragon age! this voice actor voices few others too like blood elves leader
N'zoth is the Tzeentch of WoW
All according to my master plan
I think pretty much every Old god is kinda like Tzeentch ^^
Except that Tzeentch is more like a void lord and the Lords of Change are the old gods
And that's based on what/who?
Nobbel I love your videos, they help me so much in my lore understanding of World of Warcraft.
it makes you wonder, there should perhaps be a 4th paladin spec of shadow, or an aberration where you can perhaps if only for aesthetic purposes take on a shadow role as the prot of ret paladin, or even as a healer, no one said shadow couldn't heal if light can damage
I feel that Blood elf pallys (Blood Knights) were the closest to this idea from the establishment of their order and that the Naru actually turned into a void lord or at least a void Naru from their siphon of its light energy
Just picked up this artifact yesterday- thank you explaining it's history!
Rewatching this 7 years later.. for reasons. :)
😏😏
The earth shakes violently, as if the sleeping titan trembles in fear and pain. The world is covered in a shadow of fear, one that not even the Legion could hope to surpass. Evil tendrils erupt from the ground, and a monstrosity of flesh towers before you.
N'Zoth has awoken!
Xal'atath: "Tell him to go eat shit, Johnny!"
My favorite artifact weapon for sure. Says some creepy stuff
together with aluneth this is by far the most creative weapon in the game
skull of man'ari is a good artifact. it tends to say alot of things about the legion and their allies
just a shame demonology is clunky as all hell
Dyanmitefuzz oh right forgot the skull! xD
The best Artifact of this expansion, Tsundere Dagger.
I'm starting to think Xal'atath being the remnants of an Old God might not be a very far-fetched theory after all.
I hope we get to go to Azjol-Nerub in the Old God expansion, as a zone and not dungeons.
no sleep today I guess
I want my ashbringer to yell deus vult memes.
In a Box , lux vult?
God wills it.
This was by far my fav. holy cow man
i would not listen to that blade too often, but sure rings some interesting bells
Great video, this is the most interesting artifact so far!
This artifact has so much interesting lore attached to it.
Rolling an undead priest is like Roleplaying a Lasombra combined with a Malkavian. It blends so well together.
Why is it that these whispers of insanity interest me so? Xal'atath, the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, etc. are just so fascinating... I can't wait for an expansion that focuses on the sleeping city and more Old God lore. The fact that this artifact weapon interacts with you is just amazing. I wish more of them did things like this, but then again, it would make this one feel less special. It really makes you wonder if there really is a being trapped inside the blade or if the voice is simply just a conjuration of your slowly shattering mind.
You know, if you make one side of a conflict very strong and then rob that strength of that side after they won, you will ensure that this side will fall apart, because its unity was built on the strength that was only lent...
So Xal'atath is very effective in bringing chaos and disorder. Strengthen the weak, then weaken them again when they are the strong... Keep the cycle going.
Klony Which is why I think new wow players are naive and walking into a trap without the experience of reading Shadow Priest Allisters book back in the day called “Holy Bologna: “What The Light Wont Tell You!” NOR did they put together the Eye of shadow and the eye of divinity to complete the quest: “The Balance of Light and Shadow” 2005-2008 ... Ill never finish this “THINGS” quest and Im deleting it as soon as this video is over!
the blade of the black empire, finally! praise lore keep man!
hell yeah shadow priest this blade makes interesting whispers
There's new whispers that have been added to Xal'atath, in particular one that she whispered to me during the Helya fight in the Trials of Valor. I've been trying to find this whisper, but have so far been unsuccessful, something about being this close to the void is calming.
8.0 spriest intro: Wake up during the siege trying to find Xal, but only find a note saying. "Legion has been defeated, I must return home, thank you for making it possible. Hit me up if you ever get to Ny'alotha. -Love, Knife!" Followed by montage of boss fights, eating feasts and feeding the knife as well. All to a sad music and in the end can see feet on the chair, before cutting to black and then the last sad piano note.
I don't even care man, I don't even care. If I see a Nobbel video and hear his intro along with "Hello, everyone!", My day goes better than it normally would be.
I'm a shadow priest main yet i missed this on your page? wait actuallt i mighta seen it.
xal'atath is the shit dude, i love the random insight she gives on certain areas. also, in the NW corner of azsuna (i think?) with the ghost wine makers, when you get drunk after killing tbose oozelings from the barrela, xal'atath will laugh at you xD
it happened twice so idk if coincidence, think intentional
they brought cult of forgotten shadow into the game and only to grant u a follower lol. they turned this obscure powerful character into a followet
Did you guys just miss that Nobbel just flirted with the Knaifu?
That aside, ive bene waiting for this for a logn time Nobbel, I freaking love old god lore. glade to finally see your take on it.
"Look Arghgh has returned" made me crack
Looks like Xal'atath will get her day in the dark in War Within. Thanks Nobbel🙏
The first one of her whispers you showed is the same as one of Thal'Kiel's whispers, just worded differently. "We will face my kin in this conflict. Good! They will pay for what they did to me.." or something like that
Those whispers coming from the blade are really covfefe
Even after quitting wow I still enjoy watching your videos. But I would just like to know if you're working on the warlock order hall yet? 😬
Thank you so much for making this!
Omg, That Moment when you realize that (almoust) everything leads back to Trolls...
Old Gods stuff, Elves as a whole and the Ancient War, Humans gaining Arcane knowledge through those Elves, consequently Medivh's ability to bring the Orcs to Azeroth... The only playable race more connected to the lore's roots might be the Draenei/Eredar!
who else came here to learn more about xal'atath after seeing The Worldsoul Saga reveal
this is my favorite artifact aswell, although I play mage as main, it seems it tries to give us a glimpse of what's coming ahead and why the naga is stepping forward, only time would tell, for now I remain curious about the subject as the rich text explicitly says it, take what you need of it but don't listen to it, we could face our demise whilst decending on the spiral stairway to madness... it would be fitting though, as to master, comprehend and play with the energies of the void, one must be completely insane.
"Its a gift! Why not USE this weapon against the remaining Old Gods?"
"No Boromir, she is too dangerous and corrupting. We must toss Xal'atath into the fires of Mount Kezan."
Shadow priests worldwide... "They mustn't take... my precious..."
Probably my favorite of all the artifacts
So I guess saying that Odyn has no chill in regards to Loken's last words is a bit of an understatement?
@18:27
What is the proper name of that dimension/forces map? I see a lot of UA-cam videos showing sections of it, but I don't know what the correct name is, so I haven't been able to find a full version to look at.
Knaifu best weapon
I'm calling her Knaifu from now on
Join the meme legion
That's amazing.
Really hoping there will be more Twilight's Hammer members.
Kinda a hidden army of all of them hiding well in Nazjatar.
They send troops and the Void to destroy their enemies.
a dwarf prrriiieeessst, thanks the grind
Maybe You could update this video with info from new whispers (from 7.2ptr) Nobbel? They're quite interesting, indeed :)
Damn you Dobbel, how dare you call yourself the noble one? Made me stay up...
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!!!!!!!
FUCK YEAH!!!! NOBBEL YOU MAKE ME PROUD!!!!!!!
Captain Squid America f#$@ yeah
COMING TO SAVE THE MOTHER FUCKIN DAY NOW!
Makes me really want to get this xpac over with, and also makes me want to level my shadow priest xD I love the lore!
this weapon backstory looks cool
A Gurubashi troll but the background is Zul'Aman? Tsk tsk, Nobbel
Keep up the good work nobbel!
"...The ambicious Witch Doctor hailed from the mighty Gurubashi tribe..."
*Shows a picture of Zul'Aman, home to the Amani tribe.*
Nobbel, you silly goose.
Also, I'm pretty sure that this is the very same Slaghammer, considering that he is referred to as a double agent at some point. I don't quite remember where, but it makes sense to me for Moira to get him out of the public eye like that, not only upping her reputation with the other two dwarven factions while also gaining a sleeper agent among the remaining Twilight's Hammer members. Perhaps this "family debt" comes from being pardoned for initially being a full-on nutjob in service of the cult?
On another note, Farthing is confirmed to be the serpent king, since he can do anything. Let's see who gets that one.
hey nobbel do you know if there is any books or warcraft comics about the black empire? I really enjoy the lore of the old gods
This series is amazing
So new hero for Heroes of the Storm has been announced to be Zul'jin. Lore video on him when?
The retcon of there being only 4 old gods being imprisoned could include an unnamed old god considering Y'Shaarj was already dead and wasn't really imprisoned as much as his heart was just sealed away.
The skull of the man'ari should be the next artifact you cover and like Xal'atath it also has a mind of it's own. I main demo lock so I have heard alot from that skull
Intriguing, the blade tells a lot~ Can't wait to see what is the greater evil after Sargeras and the Old Gods.
Void Lords. They are way way way stronger.
I haven't played my human shadow priest yet, but this is definitely one of the weapons I'm looking the most forward to try. A talking dagger with a female voice made from an old god sounds like the perfect weapon for Lady Gisette. The whispers sound more straight- forward than those of Il'gynoth though. While Il'gynoth only gives out vague lines, Xal'atath says straight out what she means. The only question is: which of her whispers are true and which are false? Is she hinting at the expansion following Legion, or is she just trying to drive us mad? Regardless, I feel an encounter with N'zoth is inevitable and I hope Blizzard ties it together with the Naga and the South Seas.
i love these Lovecraft style themes
Odyn is one of the weirdly admired ambiguous characters, revered by the warriors of course with the Halls of Valor being their order hall and his positive actions to attempt to shape the land, but his arrogance towards subjugating Helya then being pissed at her rebellion of imprisoning him, we still take his side because he's... shinny... this is a disney trait, in the way we see evil and good, similar to the actions of Xe'ra, who is the embodiment of good and light yet forcing her position upon Illidan, we have extensive background knowledge of Illidan's path and some sort of crush on him as far as the lore is concerned but none the less very comparable circumstances
will you be doing the healers and tank weapons also?
As I've seen in a few comments before, I too think Xal is the 5th Old God. Like, what if one day she asks us to do something crazy like find her old body or body pieces and put her back together, but in secret. Like she could disguise her favor by saying that they belong to someone else who is evil and we need to gather all the pieces, perform a ritual and supposedly defeat this evil being once and for all. But, BOOM! It's her, and she's an Old God! Of course, this would have to happen over a period of time, but it could play a part in Nobbel's expansion idea of World of Warcraft: The Sleeping City :p
if Zan'do is from the gurubashi then why is Zul'aman in the background? (home of the Amani)
fun fact: the actress who voiced Xalatath also posed for Playboy. I'll let you do the Googling, but the voice definitely matches the body!
Farabee 🐙 she's all right if your into that high class metropolitan type pretty.
I just realized that the 5th Old Gold might be the Forgotten One in Warcraft III.
Remember the one Arthas and Anub'arak killed? Yeah, that one.
Makes sense if you ask me. He was "Forgotten" after all...
:3
I think that thing can be safely considered non-canon.
Blizz has stated that to be a minion of Yogg Saron
MrJustinArt non canon but it was in wc3? huh
They can retcon previous lore ;)
Thinking about it again, there's one of those things in the Twilight Highlands, so I guess they aren't that important...
where did u get all this lore? def outside the game.. was it a book or comic? i didn't know my weapon had so much background.
slaghammer has the old mind flay animation, i want it back!
I believe one of the whispers of the dagger says that she will take revenge on her brothers for what they did to her. That suggests to me that the possibility of it being the claw of an Old God destroyed by the others is more likely.
will you do the priest order hall campaign with Xal'atath?
Did Odin really just murder you at the end of the video xD He is such a bad ass
I have been waiting for Nobbel to come out with this video.
Although I am not a fan of tentacles coming out of my character, I love his weapon. Every time she talks, I listen. I always thought that her brothers betrayed her so she sees us as a method for revenge and later freedom. It is interesting to think she might be N'zoth. In any case, i sure hope we get to keep this weapon into the next expansion, only upgraded. This game might become boring if I do not get to hear her evil laughter every day.
Beautifully timed flirt emote Nobbel.
How do you make this weapon louder? I have dialog on max but I can't understand her properly when some drog bar or any other npcs screams his dialog at the same time, it's so frustrating.