Eternal Ones

The Eternal Ones (sometimes called the Eternals or lords of death) are the most powerful beings in the Shadowlands and rule over the realm of Death. They founded four covenants for the purpose of carrying out the many duties required to maintain their respective realms, and each one rules over one of the six main realms of the Shadowlands: Kyrestia over the kyrian and Bastion, the Primus over the necrolords and Maldraxxus, the Winter Queen over the night fae and Ardenweald, Denathrius over the venthyr and Revendreth, the Arbiter over the attendants and Oribos, and Zovaal over the Mawsworn and the Maw, which does not have a covenant as it prefers to torture souls rather than work with them.

Together, the Eternal Ones make up the Pantheon of Death. They are one of several pantheons that were created by the First Ones to embody the six cosmic forces and were created by the First Ones in their realm of Zereth Mortis. Their physical bodies were forged in the Endless Foundry within the Sepulcher of the First Ones and then infused with souls. The Prototype Pantheon are a group of incomplete prototypes of them. The Eternal Ones are forbidden from returning to Zereth Mortis according to the laws of the First Ones. Long ago, each Eternal One was given a sigil symbolizing their covenant's purpose. Zovaal served as the original Arbiter, until he betrayed the rest of the pantheon. Led by the Primus, they united against him, imprisoned him in the Maw, and created a new Arbiter to replace him.

The pantheon's traditional meeting place is the Crucible atop Oribos. The pillar where Zovaal once stood has since been broken.

At least some attendants pray to the Eternal Ones like deities.

• Lead designer Morgan Day described the Eternal Ones as being on par with the titans. Art director Ely Cannon described the Winter Queen as "something kind of right below [a titan]". Game director Ion Hazzikostas said that the end boss of Shadowlands, Zovaal, needed to be "titan-level" or "titan plus plus level", like Argus and N'Zoth for, respectively, Legion and Battle for Azeroth, implying he was being metaphorical rather than literal. Zovaal is apparently more powerful than the rest of the pantheon, since all of his kin needed to unite to banish him.
• If a player dies and resurrects in the Maw, they temporarily gain the Edict of the Eternal Ones buff.
• The Archon refers to the Sire as "our" brother, the Primus refers to the Jailer as "our" brother, and the Jailer refers to himself as the Archon's brother, but the Winter Queen refers to the Primus as an "old friend" and to Elune as her sister.
• After a bug enabled a warlock player's Doomguard to kill Kyrestia the Firstborne within the Spires of Ascension, the message "bossemote" was displayed. This seems to suggest that the death of an Eternal One destroys their corresponding realm. However, since the message could only be triggered by exploiting a bug, it is likely a remnant of a scrapped earlier version of the encounter and its canonicity is uncertain.
• In The Looming Dark, Prince Renathal represents the Venthyr Covenant in place of the traitorous Denathrius, but no one represents the missing Primus or the Necrolord Covenant. In Voices of the Eternal, Baroness Draka represents the Necrolords.
• The four governing zones of the Shadowlands have aristocratic secondary leadership. The Winter Queen has the Court of Night, Sire Denathrius has the Court of Harvesters, the Primus has the margraves of the five houses, and the Archon has the Paragons of the five temples. The Arbiter is served by attendants of various ranks. The Maw's hierarchy below the Jailer is unclear, though he does have Sylvanas Windrunner and Helya acting as primary lieutenants.