Maybe it's just something the Val'kyrs can control at leisure. But, in the context of vrykuls being quite a proud and competitive race, being raised a vargul was both a mark of shame and good for motivating others to try harder.

Where the difference between ascension to death knight or spawning as a vargul really is, I imagine would be at the discretion of individual val'kyrs.

Arthas himself became a Death Knight without thresholding through death first.

Ultimately, I'm pretty sure that "death knight" is a condition where an individual of great personal strength and/or talent is taken over wholly by the will of the Lich King. A powerful warrior can be killed, raised into undeath, and made into a Death Knight, but someone could also become a death knight if the proper ritual (ie getting shanked by Frostmourne) is performed on a living, willing subject.

Universally, though, being a death knight means you're dead, regardless of how you became one.

The new elemental models (those are 'bound' and 'unbound' elementals) and the new Twilight Ascendant seem to indicate a much more apparent relationship between the Old Gods and the Elements.

Even more so than the Revenants (who were also used as 'generic' elementals in WotlK encounters), these bound elementals seem like true foot soldiers of the Old Gods.

Do you think "unbound" elementals are not controlled by the old gods and the "bound" ones are?

The latest Cata screenshots of the day feature the Tol'vir in Skywall, seems rather odd unless they're running with a storyline of them being brainwashed, or acting as their wardens (ala Maiev) somehow. With the various model list of Tol'vir posted on MMO-C, looks like they were also hit by the curse of the flesh.



edit - after putting more than 10 seconds thought into it, with the Tol'vir being enslaved by the Qiraji, who themselves fell under the sway of C'thun, who exerts control over elementals, it somewhat fits.

Also, the Skywall's proximity to Uldum and the fact that a few Tol'vir have developed wings adds some more plausibility to them being picked for the Air Realm. Adding to their mind-control, of course.

On a side note, Tol'vir models are extremely well done, kudos to the art department. Even if this means Blizzard just keeps on making us feel worse about our models with each passing day. I kind of wonder why they never established character models' revamp as a priority. Sure, content first, but...it's a really customer-sensitive issue. I guess they need to have us all brain-numbed on Cataclysm so as to soothe the massive roaring about Orcs looking 1000 times better than Gnomes, etc. I can understand that.

On the subject of the elemental models released a couple of days ago...who exactly enslaves them? I mean, apart from the earthkin, shouldn't they be more than willing to work for the Old God's success?

Is it not in the elementals very nature to be chaotic and 'unbound'? They spend their free time fighting with what are essentially their cousins for very little reason beyond the enjoyment of chaos, they don't willingly create alliances even when it would favour them (The elemental conflict could be ended quite quickly with an alliance between two of the four) so naturally they could only be coerced into servitude. They don't have to enjoy it, they're under the thumb of a larger power which implies the Old Gods are behind it again.

I don't think the elementals are naturally aligned with the Elemental Lieutenants. I think Draenor/Outland and the orc shamans show that the elements are manifestations of, well, the elements. I suspect the Old Gods actively corrupted them, and maybe even created the Lieutenants and the 'feudal' hierarchy to control them. I don't remember seeing very many 'Lords' and such on Outland, apart from the water elementals enslaved by the naga.

I think we need to be careful when talking about Shamanistic powers of the elements and elementals.

Unless I am mistaken, a shaman's abilities to wield elemental magic do not come from the elemental lords but from the elements themselves, sothese elementals bound or otherwise should not really effect shaman. I think it's an area where we could use some clarification as to how the relationship really operates, but my (potentially deeply flawed) understanding is that even the elemental lords themselves are merely embodiments of an elemental power, for exampleRagnaros is a powerful; beig of fire, but I don't think he would have dominion over all fire on Azeroth so the ability of shaman to use fire magics should not be effected by him not being a very nice chap.

What will effect shaman gameplay wise (along with a great many other classes who use either nature, fire or frost damage) is that they will not be able to use certain abilities on certain elemental foes, which will be inconvenient but not game breaking (unless Blizzard make a serious mistake)

To go with the newest fashion: my understanding is that the elements (fire, water, etc) are a bit like an Overmind of sorts, to high and distant from mortal affairs, but having personality - they seem to value respect a great deal - although a transcendent one. Elemental Lords, on the other hand, would be like Kerrigan. They're the field commanders. As the "higher powers" never step on the field, I'd say most elementals would obey their respective Elemental Lord immediately.

From what sources I recall, elements are not exactly schools of magic. In Lord of the Clans, Thrall had to deal with the various natures and personalities of each element - and he actually talked to them.

During his duel with Blackmoore, the fire offers to burn the human to a crisp, but Thrall declines, saying that this is his fight alone.

Apart from the weak, mindless ones, elementals aren't simple embodiments. For the most part, they seem to have distinct personalities - arguably, the more powerful an elemental, the more complex his personality. True, though, their personalities follow a series of traits associated with the element's spirit's nature (the Big Guy): so, fire elementals are all more or less pyromaniacs and rash; water elementals tend to be wiser and prone to cold rage; air elementals are scheming, petty and cruel; rock elementals are immovable juggernauts, fonder of action than thought.

If memory serves, the tiny elemental that appears in The Shattering's preview says he must feed and grow, so I guess it's plausible to think that elementals are "born", a bit like the other races, grow and mature, developing their personality and power. Don't want to go too far down this route, though.