C ' Thun C ' Thun ( ) is an Old God that created the qiraji and resides within the city of Ahn ' Qiraj in Silithus . He appears in " World of Warcraft " as the final encounter in the Temple of Ahn ' Qiraj , implemented in patch 1 . 9 . Biography . Before the Ordering of Azeroth . As one of the four Old Gods - who are known to be among the most powerful beings that ever walked Azeroth - C ' Thun ruled over the young world . Azeroth was overwhelmed by elemental storms and the Old Gods held tyranny over it . Along the journey of the Titans they happened upon Azeroth . As the Titans made their way across the primordial landscape , they encountered a number of hostile elemental beings . These elementals vowed to drive the Titans back and keep their world inviolate from the invaders ' metallic touch . The Pantheon , disturbed by the Old Gods ' penchant for evil , waged war upon the elementals and their dark masters . Though the elementals were powerful beyond mortal comprehension , their combined forces could not stop the Titans . A battle between a titan and C ' thun and power raged in Silithus . It is commonly believed that a Titan died in the war against the Old Gods , though it could simply have been just a titan - forged that perished or possibly many titan - forged . The Pantheon shattered the Old Gods ' citadels and chained the surviving three evil gods far beneath the surface of the world . Without the Old Gods ' power to keep their raging spirits bound to the physical world , the elementals were banished to an abyssal plane , where they would contend with one another for all eternity . With the elementals ' departure , nature calmed , and the world settled into a peaceful harmony . Creation of the Qiraji . For countless ages , C ' Thun slept and watched as races evolved , fought each other , saw invasion of the Legion and still , created plans for the future - its future . In the desert into which it fell , C ' Thun found primitive life - forms known as the Silithid . The Old God created avatars from the Silithid in its own image . These avatars were to be known as the Qiraji , a sapient race that would come to occupy the western lands of Kalimdor . The great fortress city of Ahn ' Qiraj was created to house their growing armies and prepare for the coming of C ' Thun . War of the Shifting Sands . After his children had spent thousands of years building an army capable of exacting revenge upon the whole of Kalimdor the moment that C ' Thun had so patiently waited for had finally arrived . The Titans had long since vacated this world . Only the Night Elves were here to defend . As the whole of Silithus was soon engulfed by the Silithid and their Qiraji hosts the Night Elf army was pushed back through Un ' Goro , to the borders of the Tanaris desert . With the aid of the four dragonflights , the Night Elves could finally push the Qiraji back to the city of Ahn ' Qiraj . There a barrier was erected out of rock , stone and roots from beneath the sands to create an impenetrable wall . The Qiraji who remained outside the wall were quickly slain . Reawakening . Centuries later the Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj had been reopened , and the war reached its conclusion . Rumors circulated that C ' Thun is present here with its great , horrifying lidless Eye , surrounded by a sea of tentacles and will vaporize every ignorant mortal who thinks of daring to challenge its supreme power and right to the world of Azeroth . Mortal Heroes battled both the Silithid and the Qiraji to reach the heart of the great temple of Ahn ' Qiraj where the Old God was defeated and his invasion into Azeroth was halted . After C ' Thun was defeated his remnants were brought to Caelestrasz . Resurrection . While the Lich King attacked Stormwind City and Orgrimmar - distracting King Varian Wrynn and Warchief Thrall - Cho ' gall began the resurrection of his new master - the Old God C ' Thun . This deformed the ogre ' s body which became monstrous and with similar features to his master ' s . The Whispers of C ' Thun . Throughout the Ahn ' Qiraj instances , players can periodically hear the whisperings of the Old God , C ' Thun : Composition . C ' Thun in the encounter is a composition of different NPCs : Inspiration . The name C ' Thun bears a resemblance to of novels , as well as the , one of additions to the Cthulhu Mythos . Also pointing towards a reference to Cthulhu is the idea of insanity , such as the Dark Edge of Insanity item drop , as well as possibly several of his quotes , such as " Your friends will abandon you " , and " You will betray your friends . " Cthulhu in H . P . Lovecraft ' s novels deals very heavily with insanity as well , with both his followers often being described as mad , as well as those who find themselves in the events surrounding him often losing their sanity . It is likely that the words C ' Thun , Cthulhu , Cthonia , and C ' Tan are all derived in some form from the Greek word " " ( Xθωνιος ) , which means " under the earth or " inside the earth " . Although there was no specific god named Chthon in Greek mythology , the word " chthonic " ( sometimes spelled " cthonic " ) is still used in mythological studies as an adjective to describe earth - related deities . It seems that Blizzard , Lovecraft and Games Workshop adapted the word for their own uses . While C ' Thun bears no striking physical resemblance to artists ' renderings of Cthulhu , it is an Old God , possibly similar to the " Great Old Ones " from Lovecraft ' s novels , of whom Cthulhu is the most prominent ( though not the most powerful ) member . C ' Thun ' s eye , however , does greatly resemble Tolkien ' s . The eye of C ' Thun looks very much like the Dungeons & Dragons god , Gruumsh , the chief - god of the orcs . C ' Thun ' s physical form bears at least some resemblance to the Zerg Overmind of Starcraft . Resemblance between C ' Thun and the C ' Tan is that the old gods fought against the titans , and the C ' Tan fought the Old Ones . Old Gods and C ' Tan are described in a very similar way , as titans and old ones do . The name Cthun is referenced in the Stephen King short story " N . " featured in " Just After Sunset . " In the story , Cthun is a hidden world of old gods and abominations that is kept at bay by a shifting circle of stones in an abandoned field , where a caretaker must stand watch and , through his perception , constantly " fix " the circle by making sure there are eight stones instead of seven . The rite induces severe OCD - like symptoms in its practitioners , resulting in a string of identical suicides . One of the beings that frequently attempts to pass through the circle is described as an inhuman , three - lobed eye , and a strange leathery helmet . C ' Thun may also be a reference to from the Legacy of Kain series .