Intriguing speculation about the Sha

[Vephriel]

I've always been a fan of tin-foil-hat theories. I just think the speculation is so interesting, regardless of what comes out to be true or not.

This WoW blogger made some awesome discoveries about the Sha, so I figured I'd share them: http://www.orcisharmyknife.com/2011/10/ ... ially.html
Scroll down towards the bottom for the paragraph on Sha specifically.

[Chimera]

Omg, now that is a hook, seriously, i am DYING to know more about the Sha. Did blizzard plant that stained glass window with them in mind? Did they create the Shaa based off the stained glass? WHO WAS THERE SPEAKING EREDUN, how did the Sha manifest into a real and dangerous creature? Are the Mantids trying to escape their side of the island? If so, what are they escaping from? Is it the Sha? Or are they turning murderous? If so, whya re they turning murderous to the point where they're digging through the wall? Why was the wall built there to begin with? GAH SO MANY QUESTIONS, theres so many i cant even think of them all

@_@

[Rubywashere]

Maybe the panderans never really gave them a name.
maybe the energy was just too little floating around before the mists disappeared and the alliance and horde came, maybe then the draneis called them that or something

[Chimera]

Draenei have never been to Pandaria tho, they're a recent race, never seen Azeroth before, Velen couldnt of been there, the only other Eredar that might of would of been Archimonde or Kil'jaeden but if they were able to set foot on Azeroth, the planet would be a smoking ruin, only explanation i can possibly have the the naming which is very unlikley is that theres events we dont know about that might of happened during War of the Ancients o_O

Squeeeee i love rolling around in lore like this im having so much fun trying to answer all the questions floating in my head

[Rubywashere]

Actually what im suggestions is before the mists dissapeared they never really existed
being away from war for all those years
so therefore they were nameless
When the mists disappeared alliance and horde rolled in with their wars
and then they were named

[Vephriel]

These lines of thought are just so fun to speculate with. I'm looking forward to this expansion so much, I think Blizz has a lot up their sleeves than what first meets the eye.

[Rubywashere]

Yeah im so excited for this!
I have another theory, about the Foo Dog ogre race
It suggests the panderan had a war once, maybe they killed most of those off
also why do these beings only show up there?

[Moonlost]

Or the Sha named themselves. Because they speak demonic. :O
Regardless, I'm kicking myself for not noticing the name sooner, given how much much I love draenei lore. Part of me wants to brush this off as coincidence; their name just so happens to share the word the draenei use for "light"...
... Or we have some serious symbolism here along with possible connections to the Burning Legion. And oh Light do I hope it's the latter. XD

Very nice find Veph. And I have to agree, this only hypes me up for Pandaclysm further.

[cowmuflage]

It could be a old god. :/ Do you think there could be a prison cell for one there? There is like 5 of them no? They seem to be good at makeing people crazy. Allso I don't trust fish people who can talk to the earth.....they sound fishy.

[Lupis]

Oh, now that is interesting. That is very interesting indeed. I remember wondering about that window…

[Wain]

Very cool Whether they're right or wrong, someone there is very observant!

[SylviaDragon]

ok blizz.... now you have my attention.

[Andine]

I'm thinking it might be just a coincidence. They wanted a Chinese-sounding name for them, and it accidentally sounded like an established word in other language in the setting.

But who knows?

[Teigan]

Very interesting find. MoP had my attention before....but now, it really, really does!

[CrystalKitten]

I'm thinking it might be just a coincidence. They wanted a Chinese-sounding name for them, and it accidentally sounded like an established word in other language in the setting.

But who knows?

The thing is, assuming they have dedicated writers/lore people to come up with names for things, and all that (which, I'd say is a safe assumption, given all the story there is in WoW, and lore), there would NOT be a mistake like this. (gonna seem sidetracked for a moment here, but stay with me). When Brandon Sanderson took over finishing Wheel of Time, I remember him talking about all sorts of "errors" he'd make in naming places, or people. They didn't fit with the region they came from. Or were something that according to the background of the story.. REALLY shouldn't be used in such a context. In order to prevent this kind of thing, there were THREE people who's job it was to make sure these things got fixed before print (aside from the other editors). Three people who's job it was to go through the book, and make sure the lore wasn't wrong, or didn't hint at things that shouldn't have a connection to that person/place. If Blizzard doesn't have at least that same number to check for consistency in WoW, I'd be surprised. They could have easily come up with another asian sounding name.

To the comments saying "Maybe it was named after the alliance and horde landed".. I don't think so. Why would they name something that's pure evil/darkness "Light"? "Light eater" maybe... "Light Devourer" maybe.. But just pure "light"? It seems a little strange...

I do kind of like the theory that it may be demonic in origin. I'll admit my lore knowledge is a bit.. okay.. really slim.. But could it be possible that this is some kind of eredar which "escaped" to azeroth some time in the distant past? Perhaps it calls itself "Light" as it thinks it reached some sort of.. ascension, but really, was just corrupted by greed or something and now is just a mad being who clings to that name.. "Sha".

[Harvoc]

I believe that there are demons on Pandaria that we just haven't discovered yet and maybe they named the Sha because they were beings of light previously but became beings of darkness, and the demons just kept the name.

[Pokerfase]

Oh crap... we're going to be creating the Big Bad of MoP, aren't we?

[GormanGhaste]

And this, boys and girls, is the First life stage of the Naaru...

[Rades]

Hey guys! I wrote that post and I love seeing the further speculation it's causing here. Some great theories!

I'm thinking it might be just a coincidence. They wanted a Chinese-sounding name for them, and it accidentally sounded like an established word in other language in the setting.

Personally, I think it's TOO coincidental for it to be a fluke. Like, if it was another Draenei/Eredar word, like "refuge" or "home", okay, maybe it's a coincidence. But I think the fact that it's LIGHT, and these are creatures essentially of darkness/negativity, I think there has to be some kind of connection!

Oh crap... we're going to be creating the Big Bad of MoP, aren't we?

And this, boys and girls, is the First life stage of the Naaru...

Now these are great ideas! :O They DID say the Horde/Alliance fighting would be a big focus of MoP - all that negativity might end up creating something on a scale Pandaria's never seen before! As for a Naaru connection, there is that whole "light becoming darkness" theme with the Naaru, only reversed here with positive/negative energy. Definitely something to think about.

[Sigrah]

I think some of the bigger questions are these:

1) What makes Pandara so special that negative energy literally manifests itself into a sentient being? Are they drawn here because the land inherently has such a positive vibe that this energy is drawn here like a magnet? Or is it the result of the Pandarens efforts to keep harmony in the land, which in turn makes it that much more appealing for negative energy to come in and "balance things" and/or devour all that is good and kind? Or, is there something else about the land that hasn't been revealed yet that makes negative energy manifest itself into a sentient being?

2) How will the concept of "The Sha" tie into monks and their use of "Dark Chi"? Are monks inherently trained in the use of Dark Chi simply as a means of controlling the negative energy so it limits the spawning of Sha beings? Are they trained in it for another reason related to "The Sha"? Or is it all unrelated?

3) And perhaps the biggest stretch question in all of this: Is the concept of these being similar in nature to Murmur, the so-called primordial cosmic being of sound? Meaning, could these "Sha" beings be representative manifestations of some primordial cosmic being of negativity? Personally, I doubt it given Murmur was supposedly mindless and had to be summoned into the world, but you never know until the story unfolds.