The Voice in The Darkness

[Roland]

I know, I know this topic is overloved, put honestly it seems like blizzard is setting us up for an antagonist against the Xel'naga. For the record, my writing style was directed towards the new lore forum at sc2armory, so it may seem a little goofy to you guys, as it's more informative than it would be had I written it for you, given that you have higher lore savvy per poster levels. Click here for the original thread.



I recently stumbled on the wiki article for The Voice in The Darkness. I recommend you follow the link , as I can't explain it in detail here, but Blizzard isn't one to let the ancient enemy of the Xel'naga escape it's prison at a time like this without following it up at all. If it isn't resolved in the comics, this entity will be a major plot point. Obviously, before we can work o any theories, we need to know it's agenda and abilities.

Agenda: This thing is no Lovecraftian monster. We know almost exactly what it wants. (1) Revenge against it's captors, the Xel'naga. It's actually somewhat emotional, if it get's chance to wipe out the Xel'naga, it will certainly do so. (2) Worshipers. It considers itself a god, and has extremely advance mind-control abilities. That a dangerous combination in an ancient evil monster. It considers anyone it possess a convert, in addition to greatly enhancing their physical abilities (one possessed, unarmed terran scientist almost beat two Dark Templar in hand to hand combat.) If the "covert" is a psychic it also feeds on them, replenishing and increasing it's own power. Dark Templar are the only ones capable of resisting this given their void based powers and mental discipline. (3) Food. As I said before, it feeds on psychics, making Protoss the ideal meal.

Abilities: The Voice is extremely powerful, and the only known way to fight it is by using void powers, particularity those related to Argus crystals, which can store void energies, the Xel'naga originally used just that to bind it to a dead planet. We don't know much about it's abilities, but what we do know will give us some insight as to how it will try to achieve it's agenda. (1)Long range telepathic communication. Hence, "The Voice," It doesn't really seem to have any limit on how far, or to whom, it communicates, it also appears to be able to "convert" anyone it can speak with, as it had the leader of a Terran expedition doing as it told her before it was freed from it's prison. (2) Mass mind control. While still weak and contained in it's planet, it possessed between 25-50 terran scientists easily, they were absolutely dedicated to it, much more powerful than before their conversion, and provided the Voice with a snack, albeit there were no powerful psychics in the expedition. (3) All Void related abilities It's been known to go invisible, and become far harder to detect than even a cloaked Dark Templar, it's control over the Void makes it virtually undetectable, plus it allows it to do anything the Dark Templar can do in the extreme, and more, considering how mysterious the void is we can't really say, but it doubtless is extremely powerful. (4) Psychic Feeding. This is a bit of a mystery, it doesn't really need to consume psychics (it was locked away for aeons with no food and came out perfectly fit) but it has a kind of hunger for them regardless. It's possible "feeding"doesn't just replenish it's energy, but adds to it, making it stronger with each psychic it consumes.

Like I said in the preface, if this isn't solidly resolved in the comic series it originated from, then there's no way Blizzard will let it go stagnate, it provides far to much potential, and we all know how much Blizzard loves multi-sided battles. An obvious issue with any theory is that the Voice has been trapped during all the evens of Brood Wars and The Great War, this naturally leads some to dismiss the theory he could have had any involvement in them, but it was able to communicate with the Terran expedition which freed it while still trapped, albeit at short range, but it proves that the Voice was not powerless, not to mention it seemed very much aware of what has happening in the galaxy, as it knew of the Xel'naga's downfall to the Zerg, and the Aeon of Strife.

By all means, speculate below, an interesting theory is that is somehow has some influence of Duran and Ulrezaj, and is helping them create the false hybrids, which could be used to counter the correct hybrids once converted, they would provide a way to accomplish all three of it's goals. Revenge on the Xel'naga, worshipers, and a food source. The obvious issue is that if Duran or Ulrezaj was really converted, then it would be easier to free the Voice then make the hybrids.

Discuss.

[Gradius]

What I'm interested in, is how the Protoss thought they could fight a psionic entity such as the voice with their starships? The voice is probably from another universe, and resides in higher dimensions for all we know. How can he be targeted with energy weapons while not currently possessing anything?

An obvious issue with any theory is that the Voice has been trapped during all the evens of Brood Wars and The Great War, this naturally leads some to dismiss the theory he could have had any involvement in them, but it was commented that his prison was weakening, it was able to communicate with the Terran expedition which freed it while still trapped, albeit at short range, but it proves that the Voice was not powerless, not to mention it seemed very much aware of what has happening in the galaxy, as it knew of the Xel'naga's downfall to the Zerg, and the Aeon of Strife.

Where was it commented that his prison was weakening? I think it was totally locked away the entire time. It probably gained knowledge of the Aeon of Strife, etc. by reading minds. Morrigan was possessed because she went directly to his prison; the voice at that time was kind of like a prisoner reaching out through the prison bars.

This is a bit of a mystery, it doesn't really need to consume psychics (it was locked away for aeons with no food and came out perfectly fit) but it has a kind of hunger for them regardless.

Again, probably because it was locked away, and inactive, and didn't need to feed. Also, he's already consumed many worlds & civilizations, so I bet he has enough energy to last him a long time.

[Roland]

My timeline must have been mixed up, the Voice only said the prision was weakening after Morrigan opened it. The point remains though that it is not impossible that it may have made contact with the outside world, wither through Ulrezaj getting forbidden knowledge, or if anyone landed on it's planet before Morrigan.

Honestly though I don't think it's on a Lovecraftian level of higher dimensions and virtual invulnerability, I made this post on the armory.

I'd like to emphasize that despite the similarities, this is not Lovecraftian, in fact, it's ironically human in it's though process, it's abilities are the only thing incomprehensible about it.

Imagine a 10 year old with god-like powers. It wants revenge on those mean kids that hurt it, everyone to think he's the coolest kid in the world, and he wants metaphorical poptarts and twinkies. Hardly mind-boggling, despite it's power levels, this thing is no multi-dimensional super-brain.

[n00bonicPlague]

[Roland]

For better or for worse I actually thought of that Star Trek movie too.

[Triceron]

The Voice's personality is Blizzard's twist, but it's not so different that you can say it's not based on Lovecraftian horrors. The whole role of the Voice is playing out to be a primal force from another dimension that threatens the world as we know it.

[Roland]

Am I missing something about it being extra-dimensional? I thought it was just made out of energy, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's out of our dimension, or even our galaxy.

[Gradius]

The Protoss fleet scanned the entire part of the galaxy it was in, and found nothing, even though it was still there. Therefore, it can probably float up in higher dimensions to hide itself.

[Roland]

The wiki mentions that it's control of the Void is so strong that it can just bout perfectly cloak itself to a point where it would be invisible to all scans. Maybe it can bend not only light but space.

[Gradius]

I don't know if it would work that way. The Protoss would have detected huge gravity waves if it bent space to hide itself.