forums.rs

Forums

Xau-Tak: God of the Horrors

Quick find code: 341-342-37-65701262

of 98
Uncle Harper
Jul Member 2015

Uncle Harper

Posts: 396 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Gamez X said :
I dont know, they said "dungeon 2 isnt related to what you think" and they know EVERYONE is thinking xau tak content. Given they said its related to an elder not on gilenor that leaves mah (unless they really want admit the 6th is a thing which i doubt they'd let slip) so given its all lava like i highly suspect it means its on freneskae, theres no other place like it. Also while it seems theres a theme of "ties to xau taks story" which tells me they're finally looking to use him, i just really hope they dont make xau tak lava themed, that just isnt him at all. Also i do hope they dont leave him to just be side content like this and actually bring him into quests like sliske was

I mean he kinda already is lava themed as they describe him as hands of black obsidian. Obsidian of course is produced in lava. The real thing here is Xau makes no sense. Which is a good thing because the Cthulhu based gods aren't supposed to be conceivable by human reasoning. I have seen the dark universe yawning, where the black planets roll without aim;
Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.

17-Apr-2018 20:09:57

Gamez X
Sep Member 2014

Gamez X

Posts: 885 Gold Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Yeah they've started saying he's got black hands (which i always thought as odd). But theres lore books from the 2nd age dealing with xau tak that describe sailors hauling up writhing masses of tentacles (very lovecraftian). Every description of him before has been of a giant maw and writhing mass. V said his tendrils are everywhere and he's visited his corpse oceans. He's apparently made the crassians (ocean creatures), stalkers (described as fish eyes with tentacles), had horrors walk themselves into the sea and return mutated with tentacles

Everything about him says lovecraft (heck even the achievment for reading all the horror books in named this) and everything lovecraft and ingame so far says oceans and tentacle creatures. So its just odd and weird how they seem to be like "nah scrap that, we'll make a stone hand monster". This is why i hope they DONT make him lava based, he's clearly meant to be an ocean creature

17-Apr-2018 20:23:49

AesirWarrior
Jan Member 2021

AesirWarrior

Posts: 1,060 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Gamez X said :
Yeah they've started saying he's got black hands (which i always thought as odd). But theres lore books from the 2nd age dealing with xau tak that describe sailors hauling up writhing masses of tentacles (very lovecraftian). Every description of him before has been of a giant maw and writhing mass. V said his tendrils are everywhere and he's visited his corpse oceans. He's apparently made the crassians (ocean creatures), stalkers (described as fish eyes with tentacles), had horrors walk themselves into the sea and return mutated with tentacles

Everything about him says lovecraft (heck even the achievment for reading all the horror books in named this) and everything lovecraft and ingame so far says oceans and tentacle creatures. So its just odd and weird how they seem to be like "nah scrap that, we'll make a stone hand monster". This is why i hope they DONT make him lava based, he's clearly meant to be an ocean creature

Honestly, I don't think Xau-Tak is meant to be an anything creature. I'd argue most descriptions we've had of it are more about what feelings it can invoke in mortals, or what it represents. When it's referred to as the "the gaping maw of eternity" I wouldn't interpret that as if it's a literal maw. And when V referred to "tendrils" of Xau-Tak I took that as a reference to its far reaching influence. When it comes to lovecraftian horror, tentacles are just a common theme anyway, fear of the unknown and hopelessness are way, way more important.

Hell even the stone hand from Pieces of Hate barely appears if your insanity is low, implying it's just our mind's interpretation of it. -
I have noticed your kind does tend to blindly stumble forward towards danger simply because it exists. What is your word for that?
- We call it being a hero.

18-Apr-2018 03:11:10

Uncle Harper
Jul Member 2015

Uncle Harper

Posts: 396 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
AesirWarrior said :

Honestly, I don't think Xau-Tak is meant to be an anything creature. I'd argue most descriptions we've had of it are more about what feelings it can invoke in mortals, or what it represents. When it's referred to as the "the gaping maw of eternity" I wouldn't interpret that as if it's a literal maw. And when V referred to "tendrils" of Xau-Tak I took that as a reference to its far reaching influence. When it comes to lovecraftian horror, tentacles are just a common theme anyway, fear of the unknown and hopelessness are way, way more important.

Hell even the stone hand from Pieces of Hate barely appears if your insanity is low, implying it's just our mind's interpretation of it.

Bingo! This may also be why the player sees Xau-tak as a kitten at several points throughout the pirate quest series. I have seen the dark universe yawning, where the black planets roll without aim;
Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.

18-Apr-2018 14:36:29

Goldmage162
Oct Member 2009

Goldmage162

Posts: 1,457 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
There's also that one of the Sanctum guardians' in the first Dungeon (who are implied to be corrupting Seryu, the spirit/guardian of pure water - which is Xau is as connected to water as some think he is, might give him issues) is a Crassian, who were also featured in Pieces of Hate and seem to now be connected to Xau-Tac.



As regards to Deamonheim, I always thought, from its release, that whatever was in Deamonheim had nothing to do with Zamorak anyway - either that, or Zamorak would be significantly more sinister then he turned out to be. I thought it was pretty obvious from Bilrach's notes that the writers were trying to seed the idea that Bilrach was being tricked (or simply misinterpeting) by whatever was creating the whispers.

20-Apr-2018 22:46:08

Solmestix
Aug Member 2020

Solmestix

Posts: 477 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
So i recently completed Pieces of Hate, and i found something quite interesting...

This line.

"What dwells below in deepest dark,
betwixt the corpse of squid and shark
With flesh of stone and midnight black,
We cry his name, we cry..."

Xau-Tak.

"Flesh of stone and midnight black," That sounds an awful lot like the hand we fought at the final Rabid jack boss, doesn't it? You know you've gone up in the world when a primordial, ancient, antediluvian horror-god tries to batter your body into dust... wait... "I'll grind you into dust..."-Rabid jack.

"What dwells below in deepest dark,
betwixt the corpse of squid and shark,"

Yeah that reinforces the idea that before we went to Ulthven Kreath (Which has a part of its name that means black coincidentally) Bill Teach tells us there was "something in the water", he described it as being, "Something else. Something huge... like hands of black stone... so many hands." I'm not sure how Xau-Tak is able to fit more than one hand through that portal... but that sounds like there's a full body of hands and whatever else appendages down there, perhaps the portal can expand and fit xau-tak fully through, but he chose not to do so when we arrived?

Also that "corpse of squid and shark" line references the 'corpse oceans of Xau-Tak' line from hero's welcome.

Obviously the final word in that song, as with every other song relating to horrors, or evils, or anything sinister in the pirate related storyline, is...

Xau-Tak. It even says in the chatbox for that poem that the character saying the song does not want to sing the final word, like most others who speak Xau-Tak's name.

05-May-2018 11:23:47

Zulkir

Zulkir

Posts: 7,343 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I've seen speculation of Xau-Tak being the 6th Elder god.

I'm almost certain this isn't the case. I'm also certain Xau-Tak is something we've never encountered, but to call him an Elder god is probably wrong.

Because it's Malice that drives Xau-Tak I think. The want to inflict suffering for the sake of suffering, to cause another pain because you can and lord it over your target, the satisfaction of knowing you're causing harm for harms sake. You get the idea.

An Elder god has no need to lord themselves over another, they just are. Any loudmouth resistance is met with swift death, Xau-Tak on the other hand just keeps going, on and on and on in the background, in the depths of the ocean, from the depths of time itself, just keeps jabbing at us that we simply cannot save them, because it'll all end at him.

Xau-Tak is very ancient, very powerful, and very alien to us, but also very mortal about his way of doing things.
Zarosian Lorehound

Master Questcape Owner

Inconsistent Completionist

05-May-2018 17:29:33 - Last edited on 05-May-2018 19:04:31 by Zulkir

Uncle Harper
Jul Member 2015

Uncle Harper

Posts: 396 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Zulkir said :
I've seen speculation of Xau-Tak being the 6th Elder god.

I'm almost certain this isn't the case. I'm also certain Xau-Tak is something we've never encountered, but to call him an Elder god is probably wrong.

Because it's Malice that drives Xau-Tak I think. The want to inflict suffering for the sake of suffering, to cause another pain because you can and lord it over your target, the satisfaction of knowing you're causing harm for harms sake. You get the idea.

An Elder god has no need to lord themselves over another, they just are. Any loudmouth resistance is met with swift death, Xau-Tak on the other hand just keeps going, on and on and on in the background, in the depths of the ocean, from the depths of time itself, just keeps jabbing at us that we simply cannot save them, because it'll all end at him.

Xau-Tak is very ancient, very powerful, and very alien to us, but also very mortal about his way of doing things.

The "them" in "Do you really think you can save them?" has to be something other than mortals right? I really feel like he is talking about the elder sisters. They are the only thing that can stop him and we might be the only thing that can save them. After all Jas told us to prove ourselves, what better way than saving them from Xau? I have seen the dark universe yawning, where the black planets roll without aim;
Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.

07-May-2018 04:39:46

Quick find code: 341-342-37-65701262 Back to Top