Argus (titan)

Argus, "the emerald star",A Thousand Years of War was a titan world-soul found by Sargeras when he visited the planet Argus where the eredar dwelled. The slumbering titan was tortured beyond redemption by the Burning Legion who harnessed his power to fuel the demons' infinite army,Antorus, the Burning Throne: The Death of a Titan allowing them to endlessly and rapidly regenerate in the Twisting Nether.Storming the Citadel (quest) The Legion's connection to the world-soul had to be severed in order to bring an end to the Burning Crusade once and for all. To do this, the Pantheon brought Argus' soul to their Seat, where he was defeated by the adventurers of Azeroth. The titans then used the last of Argus' power to imprison his master Sargeras forever.
When Argus died, his soul traveled to the Shadowlands, where it slammed into the Arbiter and disabled her, as the soul of a titan is not intended to be sent there. This was a result of the nathrezim, secret agents of the Jailer who had infiltrated the Burning Legion long ago, who convinced Sargeras to let them twist Argus' soul with Death magic in order to power a resurrection engine for his demonic armies.World of Warcraft: Sylvanas, chapter 25Acquaintances Forgotten In actuality, the nathrezim had done this in order to turn Argus into a "death titan",Dapperdew#Quotes using its soul as a "maul with which to crush the Arbiter" as part of their master's plans. 
Azeroth was described as a "much more powerful" world-soul than Argus.
Argus the Unmaker is the final boss of Antorus, the Burning Throne and the final raid encounter of World of Warcraft: Legion.
==Biography==
===The broken world===
Like other world-souls, Argus began his existence as an energy that spun out in the cosmos before settling near a sun. A planet—which also became known as Argus—formed around him, and generations of life lived and died on its surface. The fallen titan Sargeras eventually found Argus, and entrapped it in a prison of fel at the Burning Throne, a titan temple located in the heart of Antorus at the world's core. The world-soul's own memories speak of being "betrayed" and "bound by something powerful".
The nathrezim—who were secretly loyal not to Sargeras, but to the Jailer and the force of Death—suggested to Sargeras that they could create a resurrection engine that would allow the Legion's armies to resurrect instantaneously, as he was displeased by the time it took for his demons to naturally regenerate in the Twisting Nether. They would only require the necessary fuel: a world-soul infused with Death magic. In truth, this was part of Zovaal's "gambit": by corrupting Argus with Death, the nathrezim ensured that, upon its death, the titan's soul would be sent to the Shadowlands and slam into the Arbiter. As she had been made to judge mortal souls and not something as powerful as "the mad, hate-filled essence of a broken world", this would cause her to break down.
The process of using his strength to revive fallen demons was extremely painful to the world-soul, but he could do nothing but scream in horror and pain, his only solace laying in his dreams. The corrupted titan Aggramar was stationed to stand guard over the world-soul within the temple, which was considered too sacred for any demons to enter.World Soul quotesAggramar's Adventure Guide Argus was vaguely aware of the Legion's Burning Crusade across the cosmos and of their desire to claim the much more powerful world-soul of Azeroth.
===A Thousand Years of War===
The existence of Argus' world-soul was unknown to the Army of the Light before the Second War. Xe'ra had a vision of the "emerald star" for the first time during the Invasion of Draenor, when Turalyon and Alleria Windrunner ventured into Draenor; she claimed to have seen the two of them traveling through the cosmos until they reached the emerald star. Xe'ra believed that she had not been meant to see the latter, and it was only there for a flash before disappearing again. She further believed that the Legion was hiding it from prying eyes and that once they reached it, it would be key to finally destroying the Burning Legion. Xe'ra believed that this vision of the emerald star was the reason Eradication was sent to assassinate both Turalyon and Alleria. Turalyon would later claim to have seen the emerald star after being Lightforged by Xe'ra, saying their war with the Legion would eventually reveal it to them, and that they needed to be patient.
During the invasion of Outland, many of Argus' demonic forces had moved to Outland, leaving it undefended enough for Turalyon and Alleria to infiltrate the world. As they approached Antorus, the world-soul noticed their presence and screamed for help. He tried to communicate with Alleria, sending her visions of his prison and, in a single burst, memories of his entire lifetime. Turalyon didn't see the vision but swore to return and free the world-soul from the Legion's clutches. The world-soul's distress alerted the Legion forces on the planet to Alleria and Turalyon's presence, forcing them to retreat.
===Legion===
With the arrival of the Armies of Legionfall to Argus during the Argus Campaign, Magni Bronzebeard was able to talk to Argus' titan much like he speaks to Azeroth thanks to the Sacred Stone in the possession of the Krokul of Krokul Hovel,Visions of Torment revealing the emerald star's nature as a titan to the Army of the Light. Compared to Azeroth, Magni claimed Argus spoke in a tormented and broken voice due to his torture. Magni and an order leader used the stone to receive visions from Argus, where it revealed to them that Sargeras sought to resurrect and corrupt the souls of the Pantheon and turn them into his service, with Aggramar having already fallen to corruption.Visions of Fear
In the heart of Antorus, the Burning Throne, the Army of the Light and the order champions confronted the Avatar of Aggramar, who presided over the world-soul of Argus, before the freed spirits of the Pantheon transported the world-soul to the Seat of the Pantheon in order to sever its connection to the Burning Legion. However, by Sargeras' command, Argus the Unmaker rose into his true form and confronted the order leaders, with the Pantheon providing their support. A battle that should not be winnable ensued, during the course of which Sargeras would intervene and infuse Argus with some of his power, turning the titan red. Ultimately the battle ends with the Unmaker being put out of his misery, finally freeing him from his endless torment. A trickle of Argus' blood would be taken by the champions and later shown to Khadgar.Blood of a Titan (quest)
Using the last of Argus' energies combined with their own, the Pantheon imprisoned Sargeras within the Seat of the Pantheon with Illidan Stormrage as his jailer, bringing an end to the Burning Crusade and to the third invasion.
===Shadowlands===
As the nathrezim had planned, their corruption of Argus' soul caused it to travel to the Shadowlands after he was killed at the Seat. The soul crashed into the Arbiter in Oribos and rendered her dormant, causing all new souls entering the Shadowlands to flow directly into the Maw instead of being sorted to their rightful afterlives,Audience with the Arbiter which in turn set off a chain of events playing into the long-term plans of the Jailer.
When a Maw Walker and their allies tried to create a new Arbiter in Zereth Mortis by infusing an empty vessel at the Crypts of the Eternal, a nathrezim infiltrator sabotaged the ritual and summoned an Echo of Argus so that the titan could take the vessel and become "Eternal". The Maw Walker and their allies managed to defeat Argus, but the nathrezim's interference succeeded in disrupting the creation of a new Arbiter until Pelagos volunteered his own soul for the role.For Every Soul
==Appearance==
Argus was equipped with black and gold armor on his limbs and waist, while a massive helm adorned his head, vaguely in the shape of a pharaoh crown. His body was pierced in multiple areas with spikes and through his armor. Argus' glowing, deep blue skin made him distinct from the rest of his titan brethren. A close look at Argus' head reveals that he lacked lips, and his lower jaw appeared skeletal. Removing the helm geoset from his model reveals that his face lacked muscle tissue as well. These signs show that he was not entirely formed yet.
Despite having been tortured by the Burning Legion for millennia, Argus seemed to lack the classical signs of fel corruption, instead mainly wielding the power of Death. See Fel#Effects on beings and Demon#Characteristics. This ultimately proved to be a result of being corrupted primarily by Death instead of fel. During the battle with the order leaders and the Pantheon, Argus would take on a red tone after he was infused with Sargeras' power. This would carry over after his death, with his soul taking a red color.
==Quotes==
==Notes and trivia==
*There is contradicting information regarding demonic regeneration on Argus. See Demon#Demonic death.
*Argus' weapon, the Scythe of the Unmaker, can be looted from his boss chest, coming in blue (Raid Finder, Normal and Heroic) and red (Mythic) variants.
*Argus' helm bears a certain resemblance to the headgear worn by , a notorious antagonist from Marvel canon.
*Argus's spells in the database are labeled "deathtitan". His Grasp of the Unmaker ability was also originally called "Grasp of the Death Titan" on the Public Test Realm but was renamed in a later build.Grasp of the Unmaker changelog on Wowhead At BlizzCon 2017, Alex Afrasiabi called Argus and, likely as a mistake, Outland, "death titans".BlizzCon 2017 - "When we say Battle for Azeroth a lot of people think about all the territories and all that we take for ourselves and you know, that's being selfish. Because reality is, look, Azeroth is a titan. A titan that is potentially dying. We need to save this world. Because you know what, a death titan, that's Outland, a shattered world, that's Argus. So we'll fight on two fronts, the surface, you know, and also, the heart of the world." In Shadowlands, Dapperdew calls Argus a "Death Titan", marking the first in-universe usage of the title.
*There is an unused raid model named 7du_argusraid_corewing01 in the game files, suggesting that Argus was originally meant to be a giant titanic body in construction and bound in chains (see Gallery below). He would have been a scene model, constituting a wing of the raid, rather than a boss model.MMO-Champion - Early Antorus, Legion build the Titan!!, by olddog This is also supported by the model name for Kin'garoth being named TitanBuilder,Wowhead - New 7.3 PTR Creature and Mount Models (Spoilers) indicating that he was intended to be working on Argus' titanic body.
:* The idea may have come from the Human-Reaper boss from .
*Argus appears as in the expansion. His flavor text reads: "Once a proud titan, Argus was fated to meet a darker end. Sargeras and his demons would later corrupt and shatter Argus to use his power for themselves." In Hearthstone, Argus notably speaks of wishing to create and shape the future according to the Pantheon's wishes, using elementals of Argunite to serve his will. This implies that this version of Argus was never corrupted by Sargeras or the Jailer. 
==Speculation==
He was very likely to be a part of the Dark Pantheon.
==Gallery==
File:Argus the Unmaker.jpg|Argus in the Seat of the Pantheon.
File:Argus Headshot.jpg|Close-up on Argus' face.
File:Argus the Unmaker concept.jpg|Concept art of Argus.
File:Argus alpha model.png|Unused titanic body model (see above).
File:Argunite Army HS.jpg| in Hearthstone.
File:Crystal Carving HS.jpg| in Hearthstone.
File:Show of Force HS.jpg| in Hearthstone.
==References==
Category:Titans
Category:A Thousand Years of War characters
Category:Deceased characters
Category:World of Warcraft: Sylvanas characters
Category:Hearthstone legendary cards