Armageddon


 * Note: The title of this article is based on conjecture.

"It was the end times, Matt. Armageddon."

- Jim Raynor

Armageddon is a term used by Jim Raynor to describe a potential future conflict.

Background
"In the fullness of time, the cycle shall draw to its end. The xel'naga who forged the stars will transcend their creation. Yet the Fallen One will remain, destined to cover the Void in shadow. Before the stars wake from their Celestial courses he shall break the cycle of the gods, devouring all light and hope. It begins with the Great Hungerer. It ends in utter darkness."

- The Prophecy of Ulaan

The conflict's origins lie millennila before the conflict itself. As part of their cycle of reproduction, the xel'naga would uplift two species, one with purity of form, another with purity of essence. Over time, these two species would merge and emerge as xel'naga reborn. With the ancient race having come to the Milky Way, the protoss and zerg were chosen for these two respective purities. As part of the process of uplifting the latter, the xel'naga created the Overmind, to ensure that the zerg would not fall into the same strife that consumed the protoss. However, the Overmind was created without free will and came under the influence of the Dark Voice, to break the cycle and attack the protoss. Trapped within its own mind, the zerg ruler was forced to comply and turned upon the xel'naga, assimilating the greater whole of its creator species. This was part of the Dark Voice's greater plan.

The Overmind was not the only one to be aware of the looming apocalypse. A being known as the Supreme Watchmaker imparted knowledge to the terran Pelagius, who formed his own religion based on the prophecy imparted. The Terran Confederacy supposedly knew of this being as well and feared the scope of Pelagius's knowledge. Whatever the truth of the priest's beliefs, he foresaw "a great burning to cauterize the universe," and believed that the faith he preached would spare his followers the fate that awaited all life.

Divergent Histories
''Note: A degree of overlap may be present, but there are essentially two timelines in regards to the events leading up to Armageddon. The article here is presented in such a spirit, with the original timeline presented first, and the altered timeline second, in which prophetic actions are factored in.''

Original Timeline
"On a distant, shadowed world, the protoss will make their final stand. Their heroes will gather, their forces will be marshaled, and they will die bravely. But still, they will die. And my zerg...will be slaves...to the hybrid. All will bow before the power...of the Fallen One."

- The Overmind's vision of the final conflict

In a bid to free the zerg from the Dark Voice, the Overmind ordered the infestation of Sarah Kerrigan, a terran ghost. However, Kerrigan was killed by her enemies after being mistaken for the true threat. Without her, the Dark Voice's plans were free to go forward. It subverted the zerg and, together with the hybrids, went on to conquer the galaxy. All life in the Koprulu Sector (including the terrans) was erradicated over the course of the conflict, a fate mirrored by most, if not all of the galaxy.

In the conflict's final stages, the protoss found themselves isolated and alone against the Dark Voice, with the remnants of their civilization besieged on a distant, shadowed world. They hoped to hold out long enough to prepare an archive to aid future civilizations against the Dark Voice. The Dark Voice taunted the protoss by revealing Kerrigan's importance. Eventually the hybrids and zerg broke the defenses and wiped out the protoss. The zerg, having outlived their usefulness, followed the protoss into extinction at the hands of the hybrids. The Dark Voice proceeded to reshape all life in its image.

Altered Timeline
"Forget what you know, Zeratul. The Overmind saw a vision...the end of all things. And now, you must see it too."

- Tassadar

In the final battle of the Great War, Executor Tassadar had sacrified himself to destroy the Overmind. In this he succeeded, but became a spirit instead of perishing. He learned of what the future held through the Overmind.

Shortly before the Second Great War, Zeratul, having become aware of the looming apocalypse in basic form, received a vision from the Tassadar while probing the Overmind's corpse. What the Overmind and Tassadar saw, the Dark Templar saw as well. He was left to wonder whether the Dark Voice might be a fallen xel'naga. However, he was certain that Kerrigan had to live if the apocalypse was to be avoided. To this end, Zeratul imparted the knowledge he had received to Jim Raynor, urging him that Kerrigan, for all her crimes, was their only hope for the future. He gave the terran an ihan crystal, through which Raynor was to glimpse at what others had before him.

Kerrigan was later de-infested by a xel'naga artifact at the hands of Raynor's Raiders. However, protoss civilization nonetheless came to fracture, separating the Firstborn into splinter factions.