N'Zoth

N'Zoth is an Old God, one of several malefic beings that were sequestered by the Titans during Azeroth's primordial ages. N'Zoth is responsible for the "spark" that created the Emerald Nightmare. He is also the being that is largely responsible for Deathwing's corruption and current state.

Speculation
Three active Old Gods, known as "The Three", drove Neltharion the Earth Warder to the brink of insanity, causing him to turn against the other Aspects during the War of the Ancients. N'Zoth may have been among them.

N'Zoth may also have been one of the voices whispering to Queen Azshara during the Great Sundering.

When Malfurion Stormrage contained the Nightmare within the Rift of Aln, he sensed an "ancient evil" that was keeping its foothold in the Emerald Dream from somewhere beneath Azeroth's oceans. This may be N'Zoth.

It may be possible that the physical embodiment of N'Zoth is located below Vashj'ir (under the Scalding Chasm and/or L'ghorek to be more precise). This is hinted by Ick'thys the Unfathomable in the Scalding Chasm who commands the player to return to his master below. In the Undershell are enormous tentacles. They look like the tentacles of Yogg-Saron and may belong to N'Zoth. In the Scalding Chasm, Erunak Stonespeaker says three ogre magi are maintaining a ritual to connect "something immense beneath us" with the ancient demigod, allowing that thing to consume its life energies.

Perhaps the biggest evidence of the presence of an Old God (or at least, the fact that one will be featured in Cataclysm) is in Deepholm. At random intervals Haethen Kaul will do a yell, one of which is "yell"

Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron
Cataclysm introduced a new item, the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, which whispers to the player on each attempt to open it. The whispers seem to describe an old god residing at the bottom of the ocean, like Malfurion's description, lending belief that the whispers are referring to N'Zoth.


 * Whisper
 * Whisper
 * Whisper
 * Whisper
 * Whisper
 * Whisper

Inspiration
N'Zoth's name is most likely derived from Zoth-Ommog (who may have actually been created by the author Lin Carter) of H.P. Lovecraft's shared Cthulhu Mythos. Just as Zoth-Ommog was imprisoned by the Elder Gods beneath the seabed; N'Zoth was imprisoned by the Titans under what is now the Great Sea. Zoth-Ommog is the third son of Cthulhu; and coincidentally N'Zoth is the third Old God to be added to the Warcraft universe.

On the other hand, the whispers of the puzzlebox mention Ny'alotha, which bears much similarity to the name of Nyarlathotep, another of the outer gods from the Cthulu mythos, though given the nature of its presentation in the mythos, that of an Egyptian Pharaoh, he would perhaps work better if he were associated with the Tol'vir.

In addition to the quotes above, the puzzle box also mentions "a black goat with seven eyes" watching the player. The goat itself is a reference to Shub-Niggurath who was known as "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young". It is uncertain if the black goat with the seven eyes in meant to represent N'Zoth but the parallel is notable.