World of Warcraft's new expansion is coming very soon, November 28th, and given that it's going to focus heavily on dragons, I figured a little recap of the history of the Dragon Aspects that have gone through Ages of Azeroth would be a good idea. So, let's embark on a journey of several millennia, to discover these ancestral Dragons and their children!
In our previous article, we left the Dragon Aspects at the end of the Second War, when Alextrasza, prisoner of an orc clan, managed to regain her freedom and Deathwing was defeated and forced into exile.
La Guerre du Nexus (Wrath of the Lich King)
As the Lich King begins his conquest, Blue Dragon leader Malygos regains his sanity only to find that magic has taken over Azeroth uncontrollably. He then begins a crusade against magicians who manipulate arcane energies irresponsibly, to cut them off from magic altogether.
He diverted the magical ley lines to direct them to his own lair, the Nexus, and send them straight into the Twisting Nether, where no one could use them anymore.
After an investigation, the Kirin Tor found out what was going on and called on the Alliance and Horde for help in an attempt to stop Malygos, even though all resources were used in the fight against the Lich King. The other Flights, under the leadership of Alexstraza, Ysera and Nozdormu, joined the mortal camp, resigning themselves to defeat their lifelong friend, his spiral of struction having lasted far too long. Even if it broke their hearts. The assault on the Nexus was finally launched and the Spellweaver was slain, leaving the Blue Flight with no Aspect to lead.
Nexus instances in Northrend will allow you to relive these tragic events (The Purple Fort, The Nexus et L'Oculus). The raid The Eye of Eternity centers around the end of Malygos itself.
The Cataclysm
In AD 28, the Lich King was defeated and the Scourge was no longer the threat that was about to sweep across Azeroth. But the Old Gods were still there, and especially N'Zoth, who felt this was a good opportunity to regain power. The war in Northrend had left the Alliance and Horde very weak, the Dragon Aspects were preoccupied with other threats.
From his prison, N'Zoth breathed his power into Deathwing, a refuge in the Deepholm since his defeat 18 years before. He also sent some of his worshipers to the ancient Aspect to reinforce his body with elementium plates. The process being extremely painful, it finally plunged Deathwing into madness and fury.
Then came the moment when the dragon was ready to come out of his rest and bring down his wrath on the world. Rising from Deepholm, he tore the boundaries between the Elemental Planes and Azeroth, unleashing the elements on the surface of the globe. Disasters followed on all continents, causing what has since been called the Cataclysm.
Deathwing rained death down all over Azeroth, associated with the Twilight's Hammer sect, the boot of N'Zoth. Realizing that his former brother was behind all these disasters, Alexstraza decided to act and confronted Deathwing in the Twilight Highlands. The fight turning to the advantage of the black dragon, Alexstraza had to flee.
Welcome help could have come from the other Aspects, but sadly, Nozdormu was missing and Ysera suffered the consequences of the corruption of the Emerald Dream, beset by visions of a potential future. Nor could Alexstraza rely on the Blue Dragonflight, two dragons vying for the succession of Malygos: Arygos, Malygos' own son, belligerent and arrogant, and Kalecgos, wiser.
Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion, Twilight's Hammer cultists imbued eggs with each Void Energy Flight, corrupting them and slowly turning them into Twilight Dragons. The intervention of Alexstraza's consort, Korialstraz, thwarted the cultists' attempt, but he had to sacrifice himself by exploding the eggs with him. A gesture that will be taken for treason by the other dragons until they learn the truth, much later.
It was too much for Alexstraza who decided to leave Northrend. Deathwing had certainly not been able to corrupt the eggs of the other Flights as he wished, but he had managed to disunite the Flights even more.
There was still hope in the person of Thrall. The Shaman spared no effort in trying to restore the balance of the elements. And Ysera had a vision in her dreams that the orc would have a primary role in the fight against Deathwing. In particular, he found traces of Nozdormu, trapped in time.
He then allowed the blue dragons to choose Malygos' successor for their Flight. And thanks to Thrall, advising them to listen to their heart rather than their reason, it is finally Kalecgos who becomes the new Blue Dragon Aspect.
Finally, he tracked down Alexstrasz in Desolace, where she had fallen into a deep depression. However, it allowed him to regain hope and the desire to fight by showing him the vision of Korialstraz and the reasons that had pushed him to destroy the eggs of all the Flights.
Through the selflessness and efforts of a lowly orc, however powerful, the dragonflights were finally reunited and were able to relaunch the assault on Wyrmrest Temple to drive out Deathwing's forces there.
But they still had to defeat the one who was their brother and they had no idea if that was even possible. The solution came from Kalecgos, who proposed that Thrall use the Dragon Soul. Indeed, the artifact had been enchanted and no dragon could use it. Which was not the case with Thrall.
But the Dragon Soul no longer existed. It was then necessary, with the hard-won blessing of Nozdormu, to return to the past and recover the precious weapon. This involved the Keeper of Time facing off against the Infinite Flight and their leader, a corrupted version of himself, Murozond (anagram of Nozdormu...well done, huh!). He was, however, able to lead the heroes of Azeroth through the War of the Ancients and brought the Dragon Soul back to the present, to the Temple of Wyrmrest.
Having heard of their plans, Deathwing unleashed all his forces on the Temple, gathering the Twilight's Hammer cultists, the Twilight Dragons, the n'raqi, the faceless. Opposite them stood against them red, blue, green and bronze dragons by the thousands. And this fierce defense allowed the Dragon Aspects and Thrall to use the Dragon Soul against Deathwing, injuring him very badly. Realizing that his end was near, he tried to flee to the Maelstrom, but was overtaken by Thrall and the heroes of Azeroth. The Dragon Aspects made a final sacrifice, that of their remaining powers by infusing them into the Dragon Soul, increasing its power and defeating Deathwing once and for all.
Azeroth was saved, but at the cost of many losses. The Dragon Aspects also no longer had their powers and passed on their role of protectors of the world to those who had shown that they were capable of it: the mortals. The Age of Dragons came to an end.
Deathwing's final defeat can be experienced in the raid The Soul of the Dragons (in the Caverns of Time, on Kalimdor).
Age of Mortals
Even though the Dragon Aspects had lost their powers, they were still very powerful creatures and continued to take care of business on Azeroth. Alexstraza and Ysera were notably present at the judgment of Garrosh Hellscream in Pandaria.
However, the misfortunes of the Dragon Aspects did not end. As the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth for the third time (in the Legion expansion), the Nightmare once contained within the Emerald Dream began to expand and Xavius was then able to corrupt Ysera. With the help of the heroes of Azeroth, Tyrande Whisperwind had to resolve to kill her. However, we were able to witness the intervention of Elune, who took the body of the Dragon Aspect towards her.
We will find Ysera later in the Shadowlands, returning to life (or rather death) in a seed of Ardenweald. But being now linked to Sylvarden, she will not be able to leave the Shadowlands to return to Azeroth. She nevertheless advised Tyrande, who had received a seed from the hands of the Winter Queen, to take it to her own daughter Merithra, who "should know where the seed should be taken."
In over 10 years, there's no denying that the Dragon Aspects have had a major impact on the history of Azeroth, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. And it looks like it's not over, with the next expansion taking us back to the original home of the Dragons. We should then learn more about their origins. I don't know about you, but I can't wait!
