The War Within Shadows Beneath Cinematic: Characters & Lore
A character-by-character lore guide to The War Within's 2024 Shadows Beneath cinematic: the Earthen, Arathi, Haranir, Nerubians, and Xal'atath.
By:
John Langan
Key Takeaways
- Shadows Beneath is The War Within's pre-launch CGI cinematic, released July 27, 2024, about a month before the expansion went live on August 26, 2024.
- The cinematic introduces the Earthen of the Isle of Dorn and the Ringing Deeps, the titan-forged people the player allies with first.
- Faerin Lothar, a young Arathi paladin descended from Anduin Lothar, leads the Sacred Flame faithful of Hallowfall beneath the crystal Beledar.
- Orweyna and the Haranir guard the Great Roots, a reclusive druidic people Blizzard kept hidden until The War Within.
- Queen Ansurek rules the Nerubians of Azj-Kahet after betraying her mother and bargaining with Xal'atath.
- Xal'atath, the Harbinger, drives the expansion's conflict and remains the through-line antagonist into the Midnight expansion.
With the cast laid out, here is who each figure is and why the cinematic spends its short runtime on them.
The Earthen and the Ringing Deeps
The cinematic opens on a stony, unnamed figure of the Earthen, the titan-forged race that first took shape at Ulduar and was long sealed inside Uldaman. The setting is the Isle of Dorn and its capital, Dornogal, before the view drops underground into the Ringing Deeps.
Down in the Deeps the Earthen share their caverns with kobolds and answer to the Machine Speakers, the faction that keeps the Coreway running at the heart of earthen society. This whole region of Khaz Algar is the first zone players settle into, which is why the cinematic grounds itself here before reaching for the larger threats above and below.
The Arathi of Hallowfall and Faerin Lothar
The Arathi are descendants of humans from Arathor and high elves from Quel'Thalas who crossed the Storming Sea after the Troll Wars and founded a new empire in isolation. They no longer think of themselves as humans or elves, only as Arathi, and they worship the Holy Light as the Sacred Flame.
The cinematic follows Faerin Lothar, a paladin and Lamplighter who is a scion of the Lothar family, descended from Anduin Lothar himself. She arms for battle aboard a great airship, fighting with a prosthetic shield-arm after losing an arm and an eye. Her home, Hallowfall, is lit not by a sun but by Beledar, an immense crystal the Arathi call "the Emperor's Vision." Beledar is a calcified shard of Azeroth's world-soul, and its light keeps the cavern-realm of Hallowfall alive.
Orweyna and the Haranir
Orweyna is a Haranir druid, a Keeper of the Roots who guards the Great Roots against the spreading Black Blood. The Haranir are a secretive people Blizzard withheld through most of the pre-launch marketing, so the cinematic's brief look at Orweyna was the community's first real introduction to them. Her appearance signals the alliances and threats that would unfold deeper in Khaz Algar as the story progressed.
The Nerubians of Azj-Kahet and Queen Ansurek
The expansion's central foes are the Nerubians, descended from the ancient insectoid Aqir. This splinter broke away from the Old Gods long ago and built an independent kingdom in Azj-Kahet, the City of Threads. They are not recycled undead from past raids but a living civilization with its own politics.
Their ruler, Queen Ansurek, seized the throne by betraying her mother and then struck a bargain with Xal'atath, using Black Blood to twist her own people toward the Void. That bargain is the thread the rest of the expansion pulls on.
Xal'atath, the Harbinger
At the center of it all sits Xal'atath, the Harbinger of the Void. By The War Within she inhabits the body of the high elf Inanis, which gives her the void-tainted elven form the cinematic shows. She is the manipulator behind Ansurek's rise, steering the Nerubians toward her own ends, and she carries the story forward as the saga's through-line villain.
| Character or group | Origin | Role in the cinematic |
|---|---|---|
| The Earthen | Khaz Algar (titan-forged) | First allies; keepers of the Coreway |
| Faerin Lothar and the Arathi | Hallowfall, via the Storming Sea | Defenders of the Sacred Flame and Beledar |
| Orweyna and the Haranir | Subterranean Great Roots | Reclusive guardians against the Black Blood |
| The Nerubians of Azj-Kahet | Descended from the Aqir | Antagonists under Queen Ansurek |
| Xal'atath | The Void, in elven form | The Harbinger pulling the strings |
That covers the figures themselves. The bigger question is what the cinematic was setting up.
What Shadows Beneath Set Up for The War Within
Shadows Beneath was a primer, not a plot resolution. Everything it teased played out across The War Within's content: the Earthen alliance, the descent into Azj-Kahet, and Xal'atath's long game against Azeroth. It reused footage from the earlier "Echoes of Azeroth" announcement video, so it read as the polished, character-first version of the pitch.
With Midnight now the live expansion, the cinematic has aged into a useful catch-up tool rather than a hype piece. The same antagonist, Xal'atath, still drives the Worldsoul Saga forward, so anyone returning to the story can watch Shadows Beneath and immediately understand who the major players are and why they matter.
FAQ
When was the Shadows Beneath cinematic released?
Shadows Beneath debuted on July 27, 2024, roughly a month before The War Within launched on August 26, 2024. It reused scenes from the earlier "Echoes of Azeroth" video and served as the expansion's main character-focused cinematic.
Is Shadows Beneath an animated short?
No. Shadows Beneath is a CGI cinematic. The War Within's 2D animated-short prelude series is a separate set of releases, namely "Threads of Destiny" and "Alleria: Light and Shadow." People often conflate the two, but they are different formats from different teams.
Who is Faerin Lothar?
Faerin Lothar is a young Arathi paladin and Lamplighter of Hallowfall, descended from Anduin Lothar, the Lion of Azeroth. She fights with a prosthetic shield-arm after losing an arm and an eye, and she became one of The War Within's most prominent campaign characters.
What is Beledar?
Beledar is the enormous glowing crystal set into the ceiling of Hallowfall. The Arathi call it "the Emperor's Vision," and it is a calcified shard of Azeroth's world-soul. It acts as the zone's sun, and its shifting light between Light and Void phases is tied directly to the region's events.
Why are the Nerubians fighting the player?
Queen Ansurek leads the Nerubians of Azj-Kahet in alliance with Xal'atath, after seizing power from her mother and using Black Blood to corrupt her people. The Nerubians descend from the ancient Aqir and broke from the Old Gods long ago, making this a fresh faction rather than a returning raid threat.
Is Xal'atath still the villain in the current expansion?
Yes. Xal'atath, the Harbinger, remains the central antagonist as the Worldsoul Saga continues into the Midnight expansion. Shadows Beneath is where her War Within plan begins, which is why it still works as a starting point for the wider story.
Last reviewed 2026-06-23 against Patch 11.0 The War Within — Maintained by WowCarry's WoW team.