The New Characters of The War Within - 'Shadows Beneath' Cinematic Rundown
Blizzard recently released the Shadows Beneath cinematic, and here we help explain some of the characters and settings shown off to prepare players for The War Within.
Rather than a story-centric trailer like the one revealed last Blizzcon, the most recent cinematic takes a broader approach, teasing locations and characters we'll be meeting during the leveling campaign. In lieu of a story analysis, here we will give a brief rundown of the cinematic's major focal points to better inform new and returning players of who they'll be meeting in the upcoming expansion.
The Earthen of Khaz Algar
While our opening shot does not feature any named character in the expansion, the distinctly stony dwarf is one of the Earthen, an artificial race forged by the Titans who ordered the planet in ages past. Players may remember the Earthen from their adventures in Titan facilities across the planet, such as our recent escapades in Uldaman during Dragonflight, or the iconic raid Ulduar in Northrend. In particular, this is an Earthen of Khaz Algar, the new continent that we will be traveling to in The War Within.
The Earthen's central capital of Dornogal sits in the surface-placed Isle of Dorn, but we instead see this Earthen in the second zone of the expansion that initially takes us below the planet's surface, the Ringing Deeps. Although they share the space with the local kobolds, the Ringing Deeps is firmly held by the Machine Speakers. This esoteric clan are the ones responsible for forging the tools and machines that the Earthen use to guard the Coreway, a massive tunnel around which their society and purpose was built by the Titans.
Players will have to discover the true purpose of this artificial tunnel for themselves in the expansion, and ally with the Machine Speakers to ensure its operations are maintained against the encroaching forces of Xal'atath.
The Arathi of Hallowfall
In contrast to the Earthen, the holy
