Ra-den - Who He Is and How He Got Where He Is Now
Ra-den is first encountered after defeating Heroic Lei-Shen in Throne of Thunder. But his background isn't found within the instance itself, instead it is scattered around the Isle of Thunder on scrolls depicting the rise of the Thunder King. Originally, the Mogu were created by the Titans to help defeat the Mantid swarm who worshiped Y'Shaarj as a god (who was actually an Old God). When Y'Shaarj was defeated by a Titan who fell (we assume this to be Sargerus) the Mogu no longer had any orders to follow as their Keeper, Ra-den, fell silent and hid himself away inside of Mogu'shan Vaults. This left an army without a commander and they began to fight amongst each other. That was until Lei Shen came along and decided to unite all of the Mogu clans, began to speak for the silent Keeper and eventually ventured into the mountain Ra-den was secluding himself in and ripped out his heart to gain his power so he could rule the Mogu with an iron fist.
During his encounter with players however he says quite a few interesting things that can make us speculate somethings about both Ra-den and the Titans as a whole. Ra-den explains before he is defeated that he can see the determination in our eyes to save the world and that he doesn't believe that we can. Once he is defeated he changes his heart and says that he still doesn't believe that we can win because we don't understand the power of the Old Gods that are only getting stronger but we deserve the right to try. This is exactly the same thing that happened when we met Algalon inside of Ulduar almost to a T. This can be interpreted in a few different ways that is pure speculation until we meet with a Titan/Keeper that can clarify for us.
The first thought is that the Titans never received the Alpha Reply Code signal. We never saw Algalon again after he retreated from our fight and it was up to us to use the Alpha Reply Code in Dalaran. We're not sure if the Alpha Reply Code even worked, let alone if it reached any of the Titans. I would assume that it did because if it didn't then I would think a new Titan or Keeper would have come to Azeroth to see why they never received an answer from Algalon if he wasn't able to make it back to the Titans.
The second possibility is that Ra-den is secluded from the rest of the Titans and has no communication with them at all. Ra-den says that he has been in silence for a thousand years which suggests that he hasn't had any communication with other Titans as well. However, why would he have inclination to tell us about conversations with Titans to creatures he sees as corrupt and insignificant? If he has been completely secluded from the Titans then that also means that he doesn't know what happened in Ulduar and the Alpha Reply Code.
The third possibility, and the theory that I tend to agree with the most, is that the Titans received the Alpha Reply Code and are ignoring it and coming to destroy us anyway and Ra-den agrees with them. Ra-den is a Keeper, created by the Titans to oversee their creations on worlds. It has been thousands of years since the death of Y'Shaarj and the recall of the Titans and the Curse of Flesh which corrupted the rest of the Keepers on Azeroth. Ra-den had already gone into seclusion before the Curse of the Flesh occurred so it is unclear if Ra-den was corrupted at all. Ra-den is the voice of Amun-Thul, who is a Paragon Champion of the Titans, and was who he spoke for once the Titans left the world. This means that Ra-den must have still had connection with the Titans after they left. So either he mysteriously lost his connection to the Titans and had no desire to return to them to figure out what they wanted from him or he never lost his connection to the Titans and still listened to them.
Ra-den is the Keeper on Pandaria, similar to the Keepers within Ulduar who were corrupted by Yogg-Saron. Although it is unclear if Ra-den was ever corrupted by the Curse of the Flesh, if the Titans know what happened in Ulduar (which they did because they sent Algalon to assess the situation) then they must have a connection to all their Keepers even if they are corrupted and they must know what happened with the Mogu and subsequently what happened with Throne of Thunder with the player characters. However, this time they didn't send a representative. Or at least, they haven't yet. But all of this supports that Ra-den still have a connection with the Titans in some fashion.
What This Means For Us
What this says to me is one thing. The Titans are coming for Azeroth. If Ra-den and the Titans still had a connection and Ra-den still believed that the races of Azeroth have no chance against the Old Gods and they should be destroyed then that means that the Titans still believe they need to cleanse Azeroth which means that they ignored the Alpha Reply Code that Algalon sent. Since we have defeated several corrupted Keepers, killed two Old Gods and their strongest corrupted Aspect it is obvious if they simply send one watcher like they did with Algalon we will defeat them.
Either the Titans believe we are not strong enough to deal with the Old Gods. The Titans believe that the Old Gods are nearly as powerful as they are and cannot be killed without destroying the planet since they are so intertwined with the planet. This means that mere sub-species are not capable of taking the Old Gods down and we are corrupted as well and must be destroyed. Which is an odd way for them to think since we've killed or cleansed all of their corrupted Keepers and killed two Old Gods of the five that were imprisoned inside of Azeroth.
The other possibility is that the Titans believe that we have become too powerful. It has been shown by Lei Shen that it is powerful for mortals to gain the powers of Keepers by stealing them so it may also be possible for the Titans to instill those powers into us. This means that the Titans could come to Azeroth to destroy something they see as a threat or forcibley attempt to make us their Keepers or Champions to those who show enough power. This would force us to fight back to save our home or stop the Titans from taking us away.
The speculation that the Burning Legion is going to return for the next expansion and that we might attempt to defeat Sargeras (which would mean it is possible for us to kill/defeat Titans) would be a good reason for the Titans to make an immediate path for Azeroth. I have some more theories on what will happen will the next few expansion but that will come in a future MMM!
Either way, the Old Gods, Titans and Keepers is always an interesting topic to discuss because it is what shaped Azeroth in the beginning. And it is always fun to sit and speculate about what could be in the future. You know you're doing some really good story telling when people sit around and discuss possible different scenarios of what could be from what has been!
Next week on Monday Morning Musing I will go over what I believe the expansion lore cycle will be for the next three expansions and what I think could be the end of World of Warcraft!
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