Age of Sigmar: Who is the Eightfold Watcher?
That’s one parlor in the Mortal Realms you wouldn’t want to find yourself in.
Well, it looks like it’s that time again; Games Workshop has given us another tiny glimpse into some of the awesome stuff headed our way in the near future, this time from the Eightpoints. In addition to a (very sparse) bit of information about Red Harvest, which we can only assume is the next incarnation of Warcry, we got a look at a brand new fighter for an as-of-yet unnamed faction of spider warriors.
According to the video intro, they are a warband that worships an entity called “The Eightfold Watcher”, and apparently he’s well pleased with whatever progress the warband has made in the Eightpoints. But just who is this Watcher? And how does he play into the wider Age of Sigmar story? Here are a few thoughts and guesses about who (or what) this entity might be.
Archaon
Since all of Warcry takes place in the Chaos-claimed Eightpoints, and since each warband is trying to gain favor with the big bad Chad in their own way, it would stand to reason that Archaon could be the Watcher this new faction is trying to impress. They even ALMOST got the eyes right, as combined with Dorghar, Archaon does have nine eyes (two of his own, two on each of Dorghar’s three heads, then the Eye of Sheerian on his helmet. However, it is more likely there is something at least partially divine about this entity, so Archaon isn’t the most likely candidate.
Khorne
The number eight is Khorne’s sacred number, so it is possible that the Watcher is just the name the warband has given to the god of war. This isn’t uncommon, as most of the Chaos Tribes have different names for the Chaos gods, so it is possible Khorne would present himself to certain followers as a massive spider. The Red Harvest name and wicked looking weapons wielded by the Broodmaster also speak to a faction devoted to the Blood God, so we’ll just have to see if that pans out.
A Massive Skitterstrand
As likely as anything else, it’s possible the faction just happened upon an Arachnarok Spider that had gotten trapped in the Eightpoints and grown fat and bloated on all the corpses, spilled blood, and varanite. A race as superstitious as the Chaos clans could easily view such a creature as a god, and with the warping influence of the Eightpoints and the potent power of varanite, it’s possible the creature could not only have full sentience but possible grant mutative boons like the extra set of arms the Broodmaster has. Of all the possibilities, this one is the most interesting to me, and I honestly hope (unlikely though it may be) that it pans out this way.
Who do you think the Watcher is?
