War Of The Realms Lore/theories (wall Of Text)

Hello!


So due to recent questions about the Nether and Dern's similarities, I got to thinking, and I decided that I would share the entire story of the War of The Realms that I have learned from playing and finding lore in-game. If you don't want spoilers for the Silent Expanse or (by some miracle) don't already know everything about the new update, I recommend you not read this. Anyways let's get started with this gigantic wall of text:


Defining Realms:

To start, we must establish that there are two major forms of Realms: Realms of Physicality, and Realms of Influence [Silent Expanse Discovery: Space Between Realms]. Physical Realms include the Normal World (that's where Wynn, Gavel, and the other provinces are) and the Nether. Influence Realms include the Realm of Light, and the Realm of Darkness (Dern). It should also be noted that there is another type of Realm which will be called The Space Between or The Void (such as what is explored in the above mentioned discovery). From this point forward, these Realms will be explained as to why they are in this placement.


Realms of Influence:

Realms of Influence are best defined as higher worlds as they use Physical Realms as a sort of battle ground to gain territory. The Realm of Light, which took root in Gavel, spread outwards from the Light Forest, with its most obvious influences being in the magical creatures that have spread through Gavel’s forest and plains regions. Due to the nature of Realms of Influence, it is very possible that the magical creatures of Gavel all come from the magic of the Realm of Light, with those in decaying areas being twisted into more sinister forms. This theory comes from the way that Dern influenced the Silent Expanse, with all the creatures in its boundaries being vastly different from the rest of Wynn. Speaking of which, the Realm of Darkness that took root in Wynn, had a very similar way of spreading, although it was much more drastic (The Realm of Light is full of plants and mushrooms, so it generally didn't look that different when it grew). With its spread, it destroyed the empire of the Olm, who all but disappeared afterwards. There isn't too much else to say about the Realm of Darkness, as Dern has not been fully released to clarify (or discredit) this theory.


Along with there being people living in the lands these Realms of Influence invaded, the realms have their own inhabitants. It must be clearly stated here that the Heliolux are not the leaders of the Realm of Light, but are merely inhabitants of the realm. To find the true leader, one must look to the quote from Heliorion, "He [Orphion] is Light. The Light Beast." [Quest: The Realm of Light]. This is important, because Heliorion uses the term 'beast', which is also used to describe "a beast from an unknown realm" [Silent Expanse Discovery: Final Moments]. This beast that attacked the Olm is in fact the creature from the ultimate discovery for the Silent Expanse, as looking at the monster from the discovery, it is shown to have claws and tower over Bak'al [Silent Expanse Discovery: Silent Expanse's Secret]. These two are the real leaders of the realms, with their beastly forms acting as their physical bodies, used to interact with the Physical Realms or beings that live in them. This is confirmed by Heliorion when he says, "Orphion is the physical representation of our realm" [Quest: The Realm of Light]. These beings are creatures of Influence, which act as a sort of force that watches and controls the lands of their domain, with influence being their ability to watch the land and will being their control over it [Silent Expanse Discovery: Silent Expanse's Secret]. This is explained by Bak'al's master when they tell him: "Peon, you have spread my Influence. My will remains foreign." [Silent Expanse Discovery: Silent Expanse's Secret]. This development with Bak'al will be further analyzed later in this post.


Physical Realms:

So now we get to the actual meat of this discussion. The Nether portal does not lead to a Realm of Influence. Instead, it leads to a Physical Realm that has already experienced the War of the Realms that the Normal World is experiencing in the main story. To understand the reasoning I have for this, you must listen to what the Aldorei Elves say: "Two forces which should never touch. It seems Gavel got off lightly, after hearing about the hundreds of years of torment the Wynn province endured" [Quest: Aldorei's Secret Part II], and the story told in the 4th Wynn Excavation Site which tells how "However, when the two [Light and Dark] touch through influence, it is not twilight that is formed. But a land of corruption." [Quest: Wynn Excavation Site D] So the only way that a world of Corruption could form is if these two Realms had fought before in other worlds similar to the Normal World. This is proven by the fact that the Roots of Corruption have both a room of light spirits [Quest: Temple of Legends], and one with monsters of darkness on the other side [Quest: A Journey Beyond] which together in such a close space would lead to Corruption. It is unclear how a portal could open, but it is very likely that it was done by some ancient group, which used the weapon Cataclysm as it's description tells how "Despite the existence of the Nether Portal, few believe that it is possible to open such rifts with sheer force alone. None believe that a tool with enough power to accomplish such a monumental feat could exist. And yet..." [Item: Cataclysm]. This heavily implies that Cataclysm or a weapon like it caused the Nether Portal to be opened, and with the light and dark elements nearby, it is very likely that the rift created by such a weapon could open in a similar location.


But this still leaves the question of why they left the previous world. The answer to this is that they lost all ground to the corruption. If light and dark are absorbed by this middle force, then why would the two continue to battle in such a place where said force had already taken over completely? So they would move on to another world that they could reach: the Normal World.


The Normal World has nothing really worth mentioning, other than the Sky Islands and area around the Portal to Dern. If you don't already know of these places, they are both areas made from small chunks of land that float over The Void. These areas do not lead deep into the world's depths as they appear however, instead leading to the lands between realities, as is stated in the discovery Space Between Realities where the player is told that: "Between the realms of physicality and influence lies the vast nothingness of the void". So when places like the Void Islands under Ahmsord are traveled to, the player is actually leaving the Normal Realm.


The Space Between (and the Void):

These are places that don't fall into normal categories but instead exist outside the Physical and Influential Realms.


Void Islands: Already stated above, these islands have fallen out of the Normal Realm. Being outside of one's realm for too long seems to change people as is seen in the Void Village, as is mentioned by Celuuse when they say "We were once Villagers. I think we still are, a bit." [Quest: One Thousand Meters Under].


Portal of Dread: This is the name of the portal in Fantastic Voyage stated by Relend, which in my opinion is not (as unpopular as this opinion may be) a portal to Dern. The area may look like Dern with its purple and black color scheme, but this idea has a few problems. For one, it has no real references to eyes, which play a key role in spread or control of the force from the Realm of Darkness. Second, this portal does not have a pitch black color of the true portal to Dern in the Silent Expanse, but rather it is purple like the Nether portal and the portal used in Other Worldly Occurrence, which are both not Realms of Influence. It is hard to answer what else this could be, but looking at the buildings found in it, I suspect it may be the area around the true Dern Portal that fell into the Void. This has almost no factual evidence though, and this does not explain the reason for having a portal on an island in the middle of nowhere, so don't quote me on this one.


Silent Expanse Strange Dimensions: Showing up in both the discoveries Other Worldly Occurrence and Space Between Realities, these places are reached through portals or Void Rifts and are even stated or implied to be outside of the Normal Realm.


Death's Realm: It may be called a realm, but it doesn't really fall into any other category. It isn't a Physical Realm because it is where one goes when they are dead, and it isn't a world of Influence because it doesn't really have its own power, and it doesn't play a real role in the War of The Realms. It also seems to have not just one version of Death, but instead has at least two as early in the game, we meet (and then kill) Charon, who also is in a gray colored land that looks very similar to that of Death's from Beyond the Grave. Charon is a much more active player in Wynn's history, having played a part in taking Nemract [Quest: Dark Descent]. I personally think that Charon is taking souls from Death for his army, as his domain is full of "lost souls", but to what purpose he really needs to have an army isn't really explained. Like everything in this section, it has gone off on a tangent that means little to the overall purpose of this post.


If I forgot any of these, keep reading and see if I bring it up. If I don't, tell me, and I will do some research and add it.


The Forgery and the Corrupted Dungeons:

If you know anything about Wynncraft, I'm sure your confused as to why I left the Corrupted Dungeons out of all these sections. The reason is that it is its own unique type of place, an Alternate Timeline which never happened.


If you have played through the Silent Expanse, you probably did the quest A Hunter's Calling. To summarize, the player goes through events that never happened, such as the death of Maxie, the fall of Detlas and the Corrupter of Worlds destroying Troms (to name a few). What is interesting about this is that it takes place in the present in the timeline, which means that when events like the fall of Troms, Ragni, and Detlas occur the province of Wynn would fall. This is where the Forgery comes in, as it has portals to a corrupted world where the Wynn province fell to the Corruption. This is where the idea of an Alternate Timeline comes from, and while the theory isn't perfect, I hope that people can help improve or fix it by commenting.


Bak'al and the Nether/Dern Confusion:

If you've seen The Silent Expanse's Secret, then you should be at least a little confused about Bak'al, leader of the Corruption, helping the beast from Dern. Honestly, I really wish this wasn't a thing, but there is an explanation for it.


Bak'al isn't controlled by the Corruption, he merely went mad and was given power from exposure to it. Because the Corruption has no beast or force behind it, Bak'al is able to control that which is created by it, being its leader to fill the gap. Because of this, Bak'al could be influenced and even subjugated by the beast from Dern, as is shown in The Silent Expanse's Secret. However, due to Bak'al's eventual failure, he couldn't exactly spread the will of the beast of Dern, hence why it is angered by his work, stating: "you [Bak'al] have spread my Influence. My will remains foreign." [Silent Expanse Discovery: The Silent Expanse's Secret]. I realize this isn't perfect, but sadly, we haven't really got enough information to make other conclusions. If you know anything that would help, please post it below.


To finish here, the Nether is NOT Dern, it's de facto-leader simply works under the beast from Dern.


The Confinement of Dern's Will:

One of the last things to cover is why the expanse is stuck in such a small part of Wynn, and did not spread with the fall of the Olm. The reason for this is actually related to the discovery A Wynnic Excavation, and the four part questline Wynn Excavation.


In this quest we learn of four ancient crystals that if combined, give one godlike power. These crystals were created through the mixing of Light and Dark influences, which gives them great strength and also quite likely, the strength to contain these forces. Within the mountains around the Silent Expanse, these crystals can be found buried [Silent Expanse Discovery: A Wynnic Excavation], which may explain why the Realm of Darkness could not easily extend its influence without first weakening the lands outside of where it was contained through Bak'al's attacks on Wynn [Silent Expanse Discovery: The Silent Expanse's Secret]. However, this seems to not have mattered anyways as in the Alternate Timeline, Wynn is only corrupted and not changed like the Expanse.


If you have anything to add to this, please do as I probably missed something somewhere.


Problems To Bring Up:

There are likely many problems with the things I have mentioned above, but I must mention a few things before you start attacking this theory.


Cosmic magic is from space, not other realities. If the player can go onto the moon in A Recipe For Disaster, then I can assure you that space exists and that there is some strange stuff floating around up there.


I am aware that will and influence is kind of confusing. I really wish they hadn't used the term will, and had just left it at influence, because it makes all the things people say about influence seem cheaper. But it still works, it just is less theory-friendly.


Sections from Forgery and the Corrupted Dungeons and below are highly speculative for the most part, so take them with a grain of salt (or to be safe the whole thing that I've written if you have your own ideas)


Closure:

Thank you for reading this gigantic wall of text about Wynncraft's lore! I hope you enjoyed, but most of all learned something from this, as I spent quite a bit of time on this. If you are going to comment below, please be nice. I don't think I would enjoy reading ten people saying how this is stupid after all the time and effort it took to make this.

 

this is a really good explanation, cleared heaps of stuff up for me. thx

 

This is a really cool thread. It’s sad that there is lore that doesn’t make sense within the rest though, as unpopular as it would be (I think) I seriously wouldn’t mind a lore update

 

I cant wait to play the quests and discoveries myself! So much lore...

 

The main problem isn’t that the lore doesn’t make sense, it is that we don’t have enough of it to explain certain things.

 

Seeing how the update has come out, I suppose I should bump this to get some feedback

 

Quite a lot of things to think about in this one. I think one of the biggest reasons we have trouble coming up with complete theories, is because we haven't gotten actual Dern yet. (also, no mention of Qira or how she's supposed to be from a different land? I don't remember specifically what her lore is, but I know it's relevant to the Dern lore, and I thought I might just mention it) I'm definitely no expert on the lore, so for most of it, I agree with you.
One thing that's interesting to note is how the Corruption isn't necessarily the Darkness' fault, it's a consequence of Light and Dark, right? Both Dark and Light seem to warp the Normal World in ways that could be seen as both bad. (Even the light forest has aberrations and strange and deadly creatures. The Light Obelisk in Lutho isn't necessarily good for the Lutho citizens.) Also where do these obelisks come from? (both dark and light) There's not much about them, besides the way that the light one "protects" Lutho, while the dark one does.... something, I guess.

Since Light and Dark are not meant to touch each other (influence each other? physically meet each other? was the Nether like our world before Light and Dark had a war and corrupted it all? how does Gavel's greed affect it all?), does that mean that the Eye actually needs Bak'al to destroy Wynn because Darkness can't actually destroy Light without creating corruption? I guess the Corruption works more in favor for the Darkness, but it seems to have no care for either side, except for Bak'al's alliance(?) with the Eye. Much to think about...

 

And why Lutho isn't corrupted because of the contact of the light (the white obelisk) surrounded by the dark (silent expanse) ?

 

It is to an extent, look inside the obelisk, and you can see that some of the mushrooms are black and I believe there is a corruption spike in the corner. In better Lutho these mushrooms look normal, hence why it is likely that in the Normal World, they are corrupted.

 

This has to be the longest thing I've read this week

Can you explain what actually is the Olm? I don't really know anything other than what happens in fate of the olm.
Also, is there a connection within the Olm and the Nii/Az/Ek guardians? (as said in Az's lore)