Void Lords

The Void Lords are an enigmatic race of creatures that inhabit the Void in the Warcraft series. Responsible for the creation of the Old Gods and indirectly responsible for the corruption of Sargeras and the creation of the Burning Legion, they are perhaps the greatest antagonists in the Warcraft series, even more so than Sargeras.

Since the moment of the physical universe's creation and possibly before, the Void Lords dwelled in the Void and watched as the titans came into being. Though immensely powerful in the Void, the Void Lords could only manifest themselves in the physical universe for short amounts of time, requiring enormous amounts of matter and energy in able to do so. Jealous of the titans' power, the Void Lords decided to destroy the physical universe so that it would enter the Void, so making them supreme once again. However, the Void Lords found they could not manipulate the titans sufficiently to effect them, and so pooled their energies to create the Old Gods. Sending the Old Gods into the universe, the Void Lords planned to have their creations latch on to planets that housed a titan "world-soul" that would eventually manifest into a full-fledged titan, essentially controlling it parasitically before it was born. Though the Void Lords had no way of telling which planets housed world-souls, they hoped that enough Old Gods would infect those that did in order to pull off their plan.

For their part, the titans were unaware of the existence of the Void Lords or the Old Gods, with the demons of the Twisting Nether posing more of an active threat. That changed as the titans' greatest champion, Sargeras, began to discover demons wielding void energy. He soon came across a planet housing a world-soul that had already been badly corrupted by Old Gods. Ruthlessly interrogating the demons he found on the world, Sargeras discovered the truth about the Void Lords and their plot. In order to prevent the Old Gods from corrupting the unborn titan fully, Sargeras cleaved the planet in half with his sword, killing the world-soul within.

Warning the other titans about what he had discovered, Sargeras urged them to purge the universe of all life in order to deny the Void Lords of their goal. To him, a lifeless universe was better than one under the control of the Void Lords. The titans refused and chastised Sargeras for killing the corrupted world-soul, feeling that they could have cleansed it given time. Unsatisfied with the other titans' response, Sargeras decided to take it upon himself to purge life from the universe, freeing the demons he had once imprisoned and creating the Burning Legion.

Eventually, the Old Gods stumbled across Azeroth, a planet housing a world-soul more powerful than any yet discovered. They knew that if they succeeded in corrupting Azeroth, they would have a titan puppet under their control with enough power to make the Void Lords' plan a reality. Sargeras also discovered Azeroth and its' potential, and was determined to deny the Void Lords this weapon. And so the battle for control of Azeroth began. Centuries later, when Sylvanas Windrunner attempted to commit suicide by leaping off the top of Icecrown Citadel, she found herself in a dark void where countless souls, including that of Arthas Menethil, were tortured by dark figures described as "things she didn't recognize, because nothing so terrible could exist in the world of the living." These may have been the Void Lords.

Trivia

 * The Void Lords are not to be confused with the voidlords (armored voidwalkers that appear in World of Warcraft) or the void gods (corrupted naaru that have turned into creatures of the Void). Both are servants of the true Void Lords.
 * Just as the Old Gods are based on the Great Old Ones of Lovecraftian lore, it is likely the Void Lords are based on the Outer Gods, as they created the Old Gods and are their masters.