Awesome article concerning Xel Naga

[Shadow Archon]

That thing isn't a Xel'Naga. Blizz stated they had no art for the Xel'Naga far after that cinematic was released. It might be a hybrid though.

Couldn't they have lied?

[Norfindel]

That thing is at the center, where the Protoss and Zerg are going to clash. Maybe it's an Hybrid, or maybe it's the planned future body of the Xel'Naga. Maybe the Xel'Naga aren't even surviving this, just want to make a race that can follow his steps.

[Visions of Khas]

Could be a representation of a past Cycle of Xel'Naga, which could be radically different from either Duran's Hybrids or the new generation of 'Naga.

Or it could be a stylized version of the Energy Birds that tend to erupt from temples. Maybe they were more prevalent in ancient times, and so ancient protoss depicted them as deities, imbuing the Birds with protoss characteristics (torso, two arms, etc).

[hiru]

That thing doesnt have wings, its sporting massive nerve cords. It really seems like a hybrid. But time will tell really. Whatever it is. It promises all kind of psionic goodness.

[Dragoonx]

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a Hybrid. It has the head of a Protoss most definitely. Arms are elongated like a Protoss. The things protruding out of his hands and tail are Zerg'ish. Now it wouldn't make sense if this is what Duran's Hybrids look like since they are of different time periods but maybe this was the image that the carver thought would be the result.

[Roland]

The fact that the Legacy article, mine, and this one are so similar is probably evidence that they're fairly accurate. It's convergent evolution of sorts.

My interpretation of the image is that it's various Zerg and protoss converging on a point, which looks like a Khaydarin crystal to me, although, out of the crystal comes the overarching dominating creature, probably the hybrid. I'd also like to point out that every generation of Xel'naga could be pretty similar physically, they all have both Purity of Form and Essence, and they all must live for extremely long times without reproduction, and are all scientifically capable of guiding the evolution of species. I think that leave relatively little room for change, so the hybrids are probably similar to the original Xel'naga who came to the Milky Way. Twilight does virtually state flat-out that each generation just serves as host for the previous Xel'naga, which could explain why there's no art for the Xel'naga, they're hanging out waiting for their new bodies, quite possibly in the "energy fossils/souls" which are also called artifacts. We may never seen the original Xel'naga, because they simply don't exist any more.

As for the Xel'naga possibly seeing the future, but not changing it, I think that if they could see the future, and it had the potential to change, then they may not have seen the future we see in SC until it was far too late. Say it was unknowable to them until the Overmind severed the link. Otherwise, they could see the future, and it would be unchangeable.

[Kimera757]

Zamara explicitly said the hybrid bodies would not be hosts.

It seems that xel'naga culture is passed down through artifacts. Although that's a guess, too.

[Roland]

When did Razagal say that? I want to look it up, Zeratul seemed to come to a sudden realization that the bodies were hosts when Zamara was telling him about the Cycle, and Zamara didn't oppose it at all.

[Visions of Khas]

I still advocate the possibility that the knowledge and souls of the Xel'Naga are in a "frozen", crystalline state (as introduced in the Warpigs comics) and are among the artifacts everyone is trying to collect.

That, or their memories are stored in the collective Khaydarin crystals, embodying the ancient power that the Overmind states even the Protoss have never known.

I think Kimera meant Zeratul, not Rasz.

[Kimera757]

When did Razagal say that?

I meant Zamara. Whoops. (Edited above post.)