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"Hell" in Warcraft
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Post by
Arkham
This is just something I've been pondering recently...
The older Warcraft lore (mostly as told in the Warcraft I manual) has references to "Hell" and to an underworld. Generally this is viewed as outdated and long since retconned/no longer believed in by Warcraft characters (along with the references to angels, heavens, God, etc.)
However, even up to the current point in the storyline, there are still mentions of this particular name/concept. Characters/NPCs will sometimes say "hell" as an epithet (same as us real-life people do). Then there's the warlock Hellfire spell. There's Hellfire Peninsula in Outland. There is of course the famous Grom Hellscream (and his recently much-discussed son Garrosh of the same family name).
Of course, pretty much all of the lore we've seen has made it pretty clear that "hell" or any similar underworld-ish place doesn't really seem to exist at all in Warcraft. Demons are beings of the Twisting Nether, and so on.
Yet, to at least some extent,
these references persist
. Even though there almost certainly isn't a Hell somewhere in Warcraft, it would almost seem that some races/cultures have, at the very least, a belief (or a history of having a belief) in such a place.
So, what to make of all this (from a purely in-universe perspective, of course)? Is the use of the name of Hell just a holdover from old beliefs that still gets some mention here and there? Perhaps the various races that may have believed in such a place could have "transferred" their idea of Hell to being a reference to the Twisting Nether, even though the Nether isn't really an underworld or lake-of-fire type place? Perhaps I'm just completely overthinking things?
Anyway, what do you guys think of all this?
Post by
Queggy
I think it's just real life influences affecting a made up world.
:|
Post by
Morec0
I think it's just real life influences affecting a made up world.
:|
Post by
Rankkor
maybe they don't use "hell" to reference a place but to reference a word, a concept.
when they say "hellfire" they don't mean fire that comes from hell, it means a fire that hurts a lot, and well, hurts like hell
maybe the use for hell in this game would be a noun for suffering, and pain.
just as saying "war is hell"
so far I've seen no reference to Heaven at all on the game :P
and yhea, back on warcraft I these were beliefs on the game, the manual described the northshire priests as "men who did the will of god".
wich has been changed into "men who follow the light"
Post by
Skreeran
And then there are the churchs in Warcraft 2 that say "Deo Gracias" when you click on them.
Honestly, I think that there is not a technical Hell in Warcraft. There's the Nether, which is more like the Greek underworld. There probably is a heaven-like place that the Light followers believe in, while Tauren and Trolls can reincarnate and the orcs go to their ancestors. At least, if their beliefs are right, and judging by how that troll just calls upon his spirits to turn me into a frog, I think he might be on to something.
Post by
Queggy
Hell =
Hel
? Possibly some high-ranking demon in the Burning Legion?
Post by
Adamsm
The orginal Warcraft; Orc's vs Humans, had a "Hell", and the Legion forces in it were called Daemons. But yeah, if you notice, some of the curses: "I hope you burn forever in the Pit." "Let the Void take you." "Your soul belongs to the Nether." 'Hell' is an earth concept, and there is a Warcraft version, but beyond both have 'demons', there is no other connection.
Post by
166613
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Rexz
I've always thought that the emerald dream was kind of a heavenly place, but then i started thinking about the hell concepts that are in WoW. There's really no specific hell in WoW but there are many references to it, such as the nether, void and all those synonyms. >__<
Post by
Rankkor
The orginal Warcraft; Orc's vs Humans, had a "Hell", and the Legion forces in it were called Daemons. But yeah, if you notice, some of the curses: "I hope you burn forever in the Pit." "Let the Void take you." "Your soul belongs to the Nether." 'Hell' is an earth concept, and there is a Warcraft version, but beyond both have 'demons', there is no other connection.
don't forget uther's dying words "I hope hell has a special place for you arthas" (to wich he responded "we may never know, I intend to live forever")
this implyes that people (or at least humans) do believe in the afterlife, and after u "kick the bucket" u go to a good place if u were nice, and a bad place if u were naughty :P
now, believing is one thing, and existing is another.
wheter that "nice place" exists and the "bad place exists" is yet to be determined.
the "nice place" could be the realm were the naaru originate, we know jack about that place, it could be the closes thing to heaven in the game.
the "bad place" could be the chaotic emptyness of the "Great Behond" wich is the zones not conected to the nether, and it's the source of all the chaotic forces of the universe, such as the dreadlords or the pitlords.
how the heck the soul of a person could travel from azeroth to those places is a good enigma xD
Post by
Skreeran
Well, I sure hope Arthas suffers after we kill him, hell or not.
As a matter of fact, it'd be great if his Lich King-iness gave him true immortality, making him impossible to kill. That would put some hilariously sadistic irony on his words to live forever after we chop him up into small pieces, dissolve those down into base molecules with sulfuric acid, and split that Lich King smoothie into glass jars that we send to all the farthest corners of the universe.
He can enjoy living forever as an observer of nothing for the rest of eternity, unable to act or speak.
I hate him.
Post by
Rankkor
believe me bro' I hate him too, but I love to hate him, he's the type of bad guy who I just hate but also admire.
he reminds me so much of Starcraft's main villian, Sarah Kerrigan I can't wait to see her again in Starcraft II.
Post by
437763
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Adamsm
the "nice place" could be the realm were the naaru originate, we know jack about that place, it could be the closes thing to heaven in the game.
the "bad place" could be the chaotic emptyness of the "Great Behond" wich is the zones not conected to the nether, and it's the source of all the chaotic forces of the universe, such as the dreadlords or the pitlords.
That I doubt, as the Dreadlords are from the planet Xoroth, Pit Lords are from their own planet, and the Naaru have their own planet at some point. Again, I think the 'Hell', are examples of the Twisting Nether and the Void.
Post by
166613
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
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