Naaru

The naaru (pronounced ) are a race of living, sentient energy beings made up of scintillating holy energies. They are perhaps the purest expression of the Holy Light that exists in the Great Dark Beyond, and have vowed to bring peace and hope to all mortal civilizations and waylay the forces of the Void. They are known to travel through dimensions, and are the sworn enemies of the Burning Legion.

Not all naaru necessarily have the same motives, and they have their own personalities and own goals, with Xe'ra, who was notably different from other naaru players have met, being the best example of this. As such, not all naaru are necessarily good from the player's perspective, for while Xe'ra believed that she was indeed doing good, that good was not necessarily good for everyone.

Origin
In the primordial era following the birth of the universe — a result of the clash between the Light and Void — shards of fractured Light occasionally gathered in the Great Dark Beyond and formed clouds of Light from which powerful beings emerged, among which were the benevolent naaru. When the naaru gazed out across the universe, they saw limitless possibilities and vowed to use their mastery over holy magic to nurture life and hope throughout the cosmos. Although the titans were described as "more extraordinary" than the naaru, and presumably considerably more powerful than the average naaru, the naaru far outnumber the known titans of the Pantheon. The prime naaru were the first naaru to be forged during the great ordering of the cosmos. Velen believed that the naaru's powers greatly resembled those of the moon goddess Elune, and Archmage Khadgar found in an ancient cosmology tome a passage indicating that the prime naaru may have been created by Elune during the great ordering of Light and Shadow.

According to the Naaru Prime, Xe'ra, the Light and the Void have been at war since the beginning of the entire universe, before time itself, and she notably reacted with cold disgust to the idea of the Army of the Light cooperating with the Void even against the Legion, as the Void sought to destroy or enslave everything in existence; she also declared that the two forces could not exist together. Alleria Windrunner herself briefly glimpsed the cosmic conflict between the Light and Void affecting millions of lives across countless worlds and planets. At least some of the naaru such as A'dal, however, recognize the Void's creatures as "a necessary part of the universe", but they must nevertheless be held in check by the Light. Xe'ra also refused to tell the Army of the Light that the naaru, like L'ura, were able to fall into a Void state, but D'ore openly acknowledged it was a facet of the naaru condition, and furthermore stated that without the Void, the Light could not exist.

While the naaru regarded them as "horrors to be resisted", the void lords and their servants apparently regard the naaru as "beloved brethren that lost the true path" which will return to their embrace eventually.

In addition to their struggle against the Void, the naaru have also been waging open war against the Legion for thousands of years, apparently sustaining heavy losses, with the Xenedar described as the Light's largest remaining refuge, and despite Sargeras believing he has already defeated the Light, they were apparently the last major cosmic force openly opposing the Burning Crusade after the Pantheon's destruction.

Shepherding the draenei
When Sargeras came to the world of Argus and began convincing the eredar to join the Burning Legion, Velen, one of the three eredar leader, prayed for help. The naaru appeared to him in visions, offering to take Velen and any other like-minded eredar to safety. Velen and his faction accepted, and the naaru came to rescue Velen and his followers with a dimensional ship named the Genedar. They thus began to call themselves draenei, meaning "the Exiled Ones" in eredun. The Genedar then split into two different ships, the Genedar and Xenedar. The draenei who boarded the Xenedar would become the Lightforged, and went their separate ways, with the former fleeing across the cosmos, and the latter openly striking back and fighting the Legion.

During the draenei's journey, the enigmatic naaru race taught them the ways of the Light, though they already had a certain experience with it through Velen and T'uure. The naaru explained that there were other forces in the cosmos that would stand against the Burning Legion. One day the naaru would forge them into a single unstoppable Army of the Light. The naaru also bestowed a blessing, the Gift of the Naaru, upon the draenei to signify their new connection the Light, Velen's sigil being visible at all times, and to this day, all the draenei are able to tap into this power to heal themselves and others. Deeply affected by the naaru's words, the draenei vowed to honor the Light and uphold the naaru's altruistic ideals.

Communing with humans
Following the Troll Wars, a number of human priests began having faint dreams and visions of angelic forms thrumming with living light. They did not know it, but they had actually managed to commune with the naaru in the Great Dark Beyond, and through this connection, the Holy Light was introduced to the early humans for the first time.

Mereldar was the first of these prophets, receiving visions of holiness, protection, justice, retribution, and compassion. With others who had also reported seeing the visions, they codified and wrote down the wisdom of this higher power. The movement sparked widespread faith in the Light and became the predominant human religion, and centuries later the different Light-based traditions and belief systems were codified by Lordaeron's leaders into the Church of the Holy Light.

Outland
Right before the invasion of Outland began, Khadgar and Velen reached out to the naaru independently, both seeking aid against the dark forces of the Burning Legion amassing on Outland. The Army of the Light heard their pleas but the Army's battles with the Legion were costly and ceaseless, so they could not spare soldiers to protect Outland. Instead A'dal, M'uru, and O'ros volunteered to help the people of Outland and arrived with Tempest Keep.

When the shattered realm of Outland became a strategic battlefront in the Burning Crusade, the naaru used the mighty fortress of Tempest Keep to reach the shattered land. However, when the naaru set out from their stronghold, Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider and his blood elves quickly raided the dimensional fortress and assumed control over its satellite structures. Though most of the naaru had already left the fortress, the blood elves succeeded in capturing the sole remaining guardian of Tempest Keep, M'uru, and transported it back to Silvermoon City to serve as power source for the blood elves. Grand Magister Rommath, Astalor Bloodsworn and Liadrin created the Blood Knights order.

Meanwhile, A'dal, leading the Sha'tar and later apparently joined by other naaru including V'eru, G'eras and Xi'ri, traveled to Shattrath City, its presence managing to keep the Legion at bay, and O'ros journeyed with the draenei to Azeroth upon the Exodar, crash-landing with them with them on the Azuremyst Isles.

An elder naaru met Illidan Stormrage some time before the siege of the Black Temple and granted him a vision of a possible future in which he is one of the leaders of the Army of the Light battling both the forces of the Burning Legion and the Void. His feature was described as "calm and strong and at peace. His face was filled with confidence, shorn of all suffering". Illidan was, at first, not sure whether he could trust the naaru, nor if it was even actually a naaru at all.

During the Scourge Invasion, using the concentration of Light from the naaru of Shattrath, and the shared benedictions from the faithful, the Church of the Light created holy artifacts of profound power to strike down the Scourge necropolises.

After Kil'jaeden was defeated, Velen was able to purify and reignite the Sunwell using the dying spark of M'uru, restoring it as a fount of arcane and holy power, and thereby beginning the rebirth of the soul of an entire nation.

Wrath of the Lich King
A'dal and two other naaru, M'ori and K'uri, were able to purify Crusader Bridenbrad's soul from the Scourge's corruption, guaranteeing him "paradise eternal" in his afterlife after promising that the Light does not abandon its champions.

Warlords of Draenor
The Dark Star worshipped by the was in fact the fallen naaru, alternate K'ara. The Velen of the alternate universe sacrificed his life to purify K'ara and return it to the Light.

In, alternate Cho'gall drained alternate K'ure of its power and transformed it into the void god Decimatus.

Legion
Light's Heart, the core of the naaru prime Xe'ra, was sent to Azeroth by High Exarch Turalyon and crashed off the coast of Suramar on the Broken Isles. It was to be brought to Velen aboard the Exodar. O'ros, as the last naaru in the line of Xe'ra, was the only one with the ability to unlock the core, but the Burning Legion attacked the Exodar and killed O'ros to prevent that from happening. Light's Heart was then stored within a Class Order Hall for safekeeping, and was finally unlocked using the Tears of Elune.

Xe'ra later started communing with the order leader through Light's Heart and revealed that she was searching for her prophecized "child of Light and Shadow" destined to bring an end to the age of demons: Illidan Stormrage. Xe'ra then taught the order leader the story of Illidan, and revealed at the end that the goal was, in fact, not to prepare Light's Heart but to prepare the class leader, for Xe'ra wept over the death of Illidan at the hands of the then-adventurer and in her eyes, the class leader needed to redeem their self.

At Netherlight Temple, priests across Azeroth worked together to transform the void god Saraka the Lighteater back into the naaru Saa'ra, and succeeded.

On Argus, a disembodied Xe'ra was rescued aboard the Xenedar. Returning her to the Vindicaar, she was made whole again as Light's Heart was returned to her. She however died shortly after, slain by Illidan as she attempted to forcefully fill him with the Light. Xe'ra had mentioned Tempest Keep to the Army of the Light, but they had never seen it in person.

Upon landing on Mac'Aree, Velen reminisced about the naaru named L'ura who stayed behind to fend off the demons in order to allow the draenei to flee Argus, thousands of years ago. L'ura was captured and imprisoned within the Seat of the Triumvirate on the order of Kil'jaeden, where she would gradually turn into darkened naaru. She was eventually slain, and her Void absorbed by Alleria Windrunner.

Battle for Azeroth
After Calia Menethil was killed at the Gathering in Arathi Highlands, she was brought to Saa'ra at Netherlight Temple and, with the aid of Anduin Wrynn and Alonsus Faol, she was revived as an undead infused with the Light.

While only a handful of years had passed on Azeroth since the events of Warlords of Draenor, in the alternate universe several decades had passed. In the initial years after the Burning Legion was pushed off the planet and Archimonde was killed, the draenei and orcs lived together in peace. Eventually, however, more naaru arrived on Draenor and the draenei became fanatical. Led by the, the draenei formed the Lightbound and began spreading the Light to the orcs whether they wanted it or not; while some went willingly, others had the Light forced upon them. The Lightbound and their naaru masters waged a war against the resisting orcs in the name of bringing them together under the Light, and the Light Mother granted Yrel a vision of the Lightbound becoming an Army of the Light that would spread the Light across the universe.

Shadowlands
Two naaru are found within the Shadowlands. Z'rali is imprisoned in the Sanguine Depths of Revendreth, and the dark naaru Ti'or is imprisoned as a fighter in the Theater of Pain in Maldraxxus.

Long ago, the forces of the Light assaulted Revendreth in retaliation to an affront against them by Sire Denathrius. The affront was the nathrezim, Denathrius' creations, infiltrating the forces of Light and being discovered. The location of the battlefield between the Light and the Venthyr is now a Light-scorched ruin known as the Ember Ward. Z'rali was injured in the battle, captured by the "unseen ones", and held prisoner by the Venthyr until being freed by the Court of Harvesters, a rebellion of Venthyr against their Sire. After she was freed Z'rali was moved to Dawnkeep in the Ember Ward. She cannot return to her home because the other naaru would only consider her tainted by the touch of Denathrius, and so she remains in Revendreth to ensure that the Light is felt there, that justice is rendered, and that Death is made to know its place.

Biology
Naaru are composed of scintillating holy energies, from clouds of fractured Light gathered in the Great Dark Beyond, that may freely move around a central "core."

Naaru may leave a "spark" when they die, as in the case of M'uru. Just like demons in the Twisting Nether, Naaru can normally only be killed within the realm of the Light itself, as if they died in the mortal realm their essence returns to the Light to reconstitute, so it is necessary to go to the realm of Light to destroy them definitively. However, some exceptionally powerful forces can intervene in the process. But it takes a significant influence as it’s not something that casually happens.

It is unknown whether or not the naaru have separate genders. K'ure, A'dal, Xi'ri and M'uru have all been described using the pronoun "he," and K'ara and L'ura are referred to as female. However, the pronoun "it" has also been used. It is possible that the naaru are genderless, given that "gender" only exists in races that engage in sexual reproduction, and it is unknown if naaru do, though O'ros was stated to be part of Xe'ra's lineage which means they do reproduce somehow.

Dark naaru
Naaru can die, but if their physical form is damaged, it may bleed their energy causing them to enter a darkened state in which they are weakened and produce void energies, becoming dark naaru (Dark Naaru) or darkened naaru. A naaru's darkened state is different than death. Their energy may take up to one thousand years to regenerate. It should be noted that some darkened naaru still appear to harbor altruistic intentions; however, their weakened state may be exploited for nefarious purposes, such as creating void minions and raising the undead. It is unknown if this cycle occurs naturally without an external catalyst. Examples of darkened naaru are D'ore, M'uru, K'ure, and K'ara. Thrice, darkened naaru have also been shown to transform further into void gods; though in all known occasions this was only when their light was forcibly drained by an outside party, so it does not seem to be a natural phenomenon and is normally extremely rare. The ethereal Locus-Walker noted that the few cases of naaru falling into Void he knew of had occurred when mortals were involved, which he thought carried fascinating implications.

Powers and technology


The dimensional fortress Tempest Keep, as well as the draenei dimensional ship/city the Exodar, are examples of naaru technology.

The naaru have advanced knowledge of magic and access to otherworldly materials and reagents that have not been seen in Azeroth. The Mechanar, for example, employs naaru technology to create manacells, objects which provide great amounts of power. The Tempest Keep has "automated" defenses, the ability to fly, the ability to travel through other dimensions such as the Twisting Nether or the Great Dark Beyond, and the ability to teleport itself and anything in it. For example, the Exodar was able to transcend dimensions and warp the fabric of time itself, and even a Shard of the Exodar retains some of its temporal powers.

The power levels and resilience of individual naaru appear to vary significantly, although most appear to be largely immortal and typically channel the Light's holy energies for offensive, defensive and healing purposes. The naaru provided the Gift of the Naaru to the entire draenei race, enabling them to periodically heal themselves and their allies, and are able to temporarily bolster entire groups of people, such as with A'dal's Song of Battle and K'iru's Song of Victory.

For example, O'ros was easily slain by High General Rakeesh, despite being completely healed by Velen, while T'uure's Holy Nova sacrifice was able to banish Dimensius the All-Devouring from Karkora, even its shard became one of the most powerful Artifacts of Light in existence as T'uure, Beacon of the Naaru, able to heal wounds physical and mental, and inspire hope in times of overwhelming darkness. Illidan described A'dal's power as sufficient to destroy entire cities and level mountains. According to Khadgar, who stated he learned more from the naaru in five months than he did in all his years in the libraries of Dalaran, A'dal and his Sha'tar were able to drive the Legion away from Shattrath City, and A'dal was possibly "the most powerful being" the adventurer would ever face. He and two other naaru were able to teleport themselves to Azeroth and prevent the Scourge from raising the soul of Crusader Bridenbrad by sending it directly into the Light, when others such as Remulos and Alexstrasza were only able to delay his fate, and some of the naaru also appear to have immense resurrection capabilities, such as the Prime Naaru on Argus, or lingering remnants of M'uru's Light able to bring back a fallen blood elf. Alonsus Faol, Anduin Wrynn and Saa'ra, who appeared to have prophetic abilities, were able to together revive Calia Menethil as a Light-infused undead.

From abroad the Vindicaar, Xe'ra was able to make Turalyon "an eternal protector of creation", bestowing upon him immortality, and helped Alleria Windrunner share her "pure, infinite love" for her son Arator in Stormwind, filling her heart with joy so intensely that it hurt as she watched him reaching out to her with his hand.

M'uru's spark was capable of purifying and permanently restoring the tainted Sunwell, and was able to instantaneously annihilate most of the Iron Horde's naval fleet in the Defense of Karabor, and provided the final and ultimate blessing for the Alliance commander's legendary ring. Despite being one of the oldest and strongest of the naaru, described as far more powerful than A'dal in their first encounter and even able to help Illidan escape from the clutches of Kil'jaeden, Xe'ra was easily destroyed by Illidan, although Illidan's strength has grown to the point of being apparently able to challenge Sargeras, at least with the aid of the titan Pantheon.

Notable naaru

 * Main universe


 * Alternate universe

As a companion pet
Holy Chime is a reward from Raiding with Leashes III: Drinkin' From the Sunwell.

Notes and trivia

 * The Wavestrider's figurehead was carved in the form of a naaru by Anselm Yewtree on Captain Greydon Thorne's strict instructions. Aramar Thorne did not know what it was supposed to be, and if anyone else on the crew did then they didn't say so.
 * This implies that naaru are not common knowledge to the average citizen of Azeroth.
 * The Voice of the Light is a remnant essence of a naaru who shielded Azeroth from the Darkstorm. the naaru was originally defended by the Order of the Seven Suns that Greydon was a member of.
 * When General Turalyon and his command were interrogating a captured death knight, a naaru appeared to Turalyon and encouraged him to proceed with his decision to stop the Horde.
 * On Argus, Prime Naaru serve as the replacement for Spirit Healers. It is unclear why other naaru were not able to directly help the Army fight back against the Legion on Argus in any offensive capability during this decisive struggle.
 * The naaru appear to have different motives and agendas, with A'dal openly calling for Illidan's demise, and Xe'ra championing him as the Child of Light and Shadow, whose destiny would be to destroy the Legion and eventually the Void forever. K'ure informed Velen on Argus that the naaru were unable to stop the eredar's corruption due to "free will", and were only able to save those who chose to reject Sargeras, while Xe'ra disregarded Illidan's free will to the point of trying to directly compel him to embrace the Light, leading to her destruction and even Velen's disapproval. Not only did she inform Alleria that their two cosmic forces could not exist together, Xe'ra also refused to tell the Army of the Light that the naaru were able to fall into a Void state, but D'ore freely told adventurers that it was a facet of the naaru condition, and that furthermore, without the Void, the Light could not exist.
 * Characters used to be able to gain the title 'Champion of the Naaru' by completing certain requirements.
 * The naaru do not have any "proper" attack animation. When they fight, they just spin around in order to face their opponents. While their preferred attacks, such as those used by A'dal, M'uru, and X'iri are spells, it seems they can physically hit their opponents too as evidenced by the ability to auto-attack with melee damage.
 * Naaru do not have any proper death-animation either. When they die, they will simply freeze in the air, and the crystals spinning around them will halt. After a few seconds, the entire being will disappear in thin air.
 * L'ura is the first naaru to have attack and death animations.
 * Specific music plays around naaru, different for their [[Media:NaaruLoopGood.ogg|light]] or [[Media:NaaruLoopEvil.ogg|void]] state.
 * "Naru" means "River God" in Babylonian, and "nūru" (also rendered nuuru) means "light".
 * The naaru act in a similar manner to the angels of real-life religions such as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. They are described as angelic by Dornaa as well as in Chronicle Volume 1, and Chris Metzen has described them as "the angels of the Warcraft universe" in an interview. See Myth for more information.
 * The character of Xe'ra was created to explore the idea that not all naaru are necessarily good from the player's perspective, with naaru all having their own distinct personalities and goals. While Xe'ra believed that she was indeed doing good, that good was not necessarily good for everyone.

Speculation
Speculation existed saying that they are somehow related to certain gods, such as Elune. This has been backed up by Khadgar in Goddess Watch Over You who believes that Xe'ra was created by Elune, potentially confirming the link between at least one naaru, Xe'ra, and Elune.

Dark or Light?
Some players have expressed suspicion of the perceived perfection and altruism of the naaru. Some believe that the naaru have ulterior motives, or there is an undiscovered faction of "dark" naaru.

As D'ore himself says,

"'It is a facet of the naaru condition - without the void, the Light cannot exist.'"

This could be taken to mean that if these naaru are pure light and good, then there must be a polar opposite - that is, naaru or another race who are as much darkness and evil as the ones we have encountered so far are good and pure. After many years, in World of Warcraft: Chronicle, such a race was revealed to have been known to us all along: the Old Gods were actually creatures of the Void, and the twilight magic they wielded was the polar opposite to the Light. Chronicle have also revealed the dualistic nature of the Void and Light: the universe was created through the conflict of these two forces, and indeed they are defined by their opposition to each other.

M'uru, now a darkened naaru, is a boss in Sunwell Plateau. It is not clear if he is now "evil" or simply a darkened naaru whose weakened state has been exploited by Kil'jaeden or Kael'thas. After the raid gets him to 0%, he transforms into a void god named Entropius.

The confusion was later addressed by Blizzard.

Since this time, the game's writing has somewhat contradicted the claim, as the alternate Velen described K'ara's darkened state as a 'stage' of the naaru life-cycle, suggesting that it is indeed a natural part of their life, and not an unnatural rarity as implied in the above Q&A. Dark Naaru are also shown to be capable of returning to the Light; K'ure was nearly at the end of this process when last seen, and the alternate K'ara had the process accelerated to completion by the alternate Velen. A different take is that naaru do naturally, and regularly by their timescale, fall into a darkened state in a manner similar to a phoenix becoming an egg and return to the Light after a time. Injury can exacerbate the darkened state, requiring more time to return to the Light.

In relation to Ashbringer
Speculation exists that Ashbringer was crafted from part of a naaru, or is at least somehow related to the naaru.