Titan

The titans (sometimes capitalized) are a race of colossal, planet-sized cosmic beings, composed of arcane magic and the primordial matter from which the universe was born. They roamed across the cosmos like walking worlds, imbued with the raw power of creation itself. The titans used this incredible force to find and awaken others of their kind. Hailing from the far reaches of the cosmos, they shaped and brought life and order to countless worlds across the Great Dark Beyond. They were described as perfect and majestic beings who are akin to gods.

Description


The titans are colossal godlike beings made up of the primordial matter from which the very universe was born. Imbued with the raw power of creation itself, they roam the cosmos like walking worlds. Titans are born from world-souls, spirits who are formed within the fiery cores of a small number of worlds and who slumber for ages, suffusing the planets they inhabit with Spirit energy before finally awakening. Described as living worlds, their bodies are covered in mountain peaks and rivers, their forms wrapped in cloaks of stardust and their eyes shining like brilliant stars. Bastions of purity and good, the titans are unable to conceive of evil or wickedness in any form.

Titans are heavily tied to the cosmic force known as arcane. In fact, arcane is their very lifeblood. The original Well of Eternity, an enormous lake of volatile arcane energies, was literally the very lifeblood of Azeroth's world-soul. They are also uniquely susceptible to fel magic, but full-grown titans are also immune to the corruptive influences of the void lords.

According to the cosmology chart, the titans, as the embodiments of Order, are most closely associated with the element of Earth, as well as sharing an association with the element of Water with the Wild Gods.

Mentions of titans

 * Wrathion mentions a being called "The Final Titan" after eating the heart of Lei Shen during Heart of the Thunder King (quest). He may or may not have been referring to Azeroth.
 * Some titanic creations were implied to be titans (as in Fate of the Titans), but this is not the case. Actual titans (albeit their spirits and avatars) were only introduced to the game with Patch 7.3.0, almost 13 years after the release of World of Warcraft.
 * In BlizzCast 12, Chris Metzen said "Will we see actual titans one day? Will we ever get to the truth and origin of the Old Gods? There's all sorts of meta-themes that's all rich fertile ground and we will get there." These questions were ultimately answered in Chronicle Volume 1.
 * According to a prophecy by Skeram, a titan battled an unimaginable evil (C'Thun) in Silithus. The titan fell, but may not have been vanquished in the battle. Chronicle Volume 1 states that this was not the case.
 * Some dwarves believe that Greatfather Winter is a titan, but this is not the case.
 * According to Magni Bronzebeard, they built the Hall of Communion.
 * The Core of an Unknown Titan item in Korthia.

In the RPG


Many believe them to simply be a progenitor race, akin to gods. Their figure is humanoid but gigantic, with gleaming metallic skin and a perfection of form that makes the heart ache. Each titan cultivates specific interests that relate to particular elements or energy types — essentially, to some small aspect of creation over which the titan holds a measure of dominance. Some titans refer to the piece of creation upon which they focus as their "sphere of power". Furbolgs have legends of seeing the coming of the titans to the world from their homeland in Northrend, implying they predate the titans.

There are two types of titan:
 * Aesir "storm giant", platinum-skinned, stronger, smarter and more agile
 * Vanir "earth giant", bronze-skinned, tougher but less powerful

Scholars have postulated that there are other subspecies of titans. No titans have ever been spotted, and it is believed that they live among the stars where they continue to this day shaping new worlds. Sargeras is believed to be a vanir titan as well as a dark titan. It is believed that there may be other subspecies than the aesir and vanir.

Titans generally believe they are invincible. They wade into the thickest of battles using their most powerful abilities, or even just swinging with massive, alloyed fists. Titans with well-defined spheres of power have wildly varying combat tactics, focusing primarily upon the strengths of their spheres.

Titans can be fighter, barbarian, gladiator, healer, druid of the wild, shaman, expert, wizard, warrior, mage, sorcerer or warlock.

Some accounts of the titans give them titles such as "Patron of All Life".

The ancient Iron Forge is perhaps the greatest titan artifact ever unearthed.

Notes and trivia

 * It has been hinted that when titans die, their souls would return to their own Order plane.
 * Two in-game models are called "titans" in the files, but are used for titanic watchers rather than actual titans.
 * The non-canon RPG described two races of titans: aesir and vanir. This categorization was used in-game to describe storm and earth giants, but was later re-defined in Chronicle Volume 1 to describe instead the two original types of titan-forged.
 * Prior to the publication of Chronicle Volume 1, the Pantheon were the leaders of all titans, implying there were more of them, and were described as metallic-skinned.
 * Though Chris Metzen said the titans were godlike and the Warcraft Encyclopedia states titans are not gods, the Ultimate Visual Guide, the Sunwell Trilogy, the Magazine, and Loreology have stated that they are "metallic-skinned gods" as described in Mythology of the Titans. The Senior Historian later clarified that by "gods" he meant "perfect specimen rather than an actual divine being".
 * Reconciling the various sources, Chronicle Volume 1 described them as godlike beings.
 * The titans do not transcend all realities like demons do.
 * The name "titan" is inspired from the eponymous giants or proto-gods from who inhabited the world during the First Era, and later ruled it during the Second Era. Their leader was Kronos. Notable titans include Rhea, Atlas, and Prometheus. Unlike their Warcraft counterparts, most of them were inherently malevolent. They were defeated by Zeus and the Olympians at the start of the Third Era.
 * The Æsir and Vanir come from . The Aesir are the rulers of Asgard and the more altruistic force in the universe, the greatest of them being Odin and Thor. The Vanir come from Vanaheim and are allied with the Æsir. They mostly live apart from each other, but a few Vanir have been taken into Asgard and are considered as "one of the Æsir." Both have a common enemy in the Jotnar (giants). In an interesting contrast from Blizzard's direction, which places the dwarves close to the titans, the Vanir of Norse myth had stronger ties to the elves.
 * When the titans ultimately appeared in World of Warcraft, they largely seemed to ignore the descriptions presented in Chronicle Volume 1, being the metallic giants seen in the RPG books and Warcraft Saga or orbs of energy in their soul form.
 * In the artwork of the titans from Chronicle Volume 1, the titans resemble constellar.
 * There was to be an in-game feature called Path of the Titans in Cataclysm but it was cut before release.