This video is brought to you in colaboration
with WoWhead.com Tuhtuhtuh tuh tuhtuhtuthuthuh] Hello everyone! WoWhead has been hard at work datamining the
next patch and a sexy new model showed up. Wrathion will finally have his part to play
in the future so I thought it would be good idea to sit down and cover a bit of what we’ve
seen on the ptr so far as well as give osme background information and talk about the
future. Do keep in mind that spoilers will come, I’ll
give you a heads up once we enter spoiler territory...for now lets go way back in time
and talk about that sweet dragon lore. Azeroth did not always have dragons, but they
did have proto-dragons that evolved from elements left behind when the keepers send the elemental
lords to their elemental planes. The proto-dragons were a great help to keeper
Tyr in his battle against Galakrond, so much so that they decided to empower them and turn
them into the dragon aspects. Alexstraza, Y’sera, Neltharion, Nozdormu
and Malygos. They were the very first, leaders of their
individual flights, all of them having their own domains to guard. To keep their race going, more eggs and proto-dragons
were evolved into dragons. Red, Green,Black,Bronze and Blue these flights
would have safeguard the land against threats without and from within. Threats like the old gods who were burried
in their own prisons deep beneath the world. They longed for their freedom. To return to the days where they ruled the
planet. The days of the black empire. With Neltharion being the earth-warder, given
charge over the mountains and deep caverns of the earth. He embodied the strength of the world but
this connection to it, also made him incredibly volnerable to the corruption of the old gods. They whispered to him for millenia. Ever so subtle, they pitched him against his
fellow dragons until his madness was revealed over 10.000 years ago. During the war of the ancients he convinced
his fellow aspects to place a portion of their power into a device of his making called the
dragon soul. It was planned to be used against the invading
legion forces, but instead Neltharion, or deathwing as he would now be known, turned
against them He used the device not only against the demons, but also the resistance fighting
the invasion as well as his fellow dragons. Although he would eventually be defeated,
this was a mighty blow against all dragon kind and they would take years to recover. Years that allowed the old gods to lay seeds
for future plans. Seeds like the corruption of the emerald dream,
Y’sera’s domain, a corruption known as the Emerald Nightmare. The madness of deathwing went further then
just the aspect himself. His entire flight was under the sway of the
old gods and would cause a lot of problems for the world of Azeroth. This was not exactly what the keepers had
in mind when they granted him these powers. This was not what an earth-warder was meant
to be. Fast forward millenia into the future to the
time period of the cataclysm. Deathwing, in order of the old gods, was going
around trying to bring about the hour of twilight. The moment in which the old gods would break
out of their prisons and rule the world once more. He would find his demise at the end, by the
hands of Go’el and the other aspects, turning that dragon soul against the corrupted aspect. “The champions who fought at our side assured
the survival of our world, but now...we must see it with mortal eyes. We dragon aspects have fullfilled our great
purpose and our ancient power is expended.” It sounds like this is the end of all dragons,
like they fullfilled the titans wishes and now pass on the torch to the mortals of the
world. It’s their duty to safeguard azeroth. There’s a reason why this ending is my least
favorite one for multiple reasons. I’m a big fan of dragon lore and taking
care of deathwing was never the ultimate purpose given to the dragons. They were meant to safeguard the world and
threats like the old gods, N’zoth for example, they’re still out there. Then again, I understand they wanted to give
it a bit of closrue so they took away a huge chunck of the aspects powers which is fine. We mortals have proven that we can be defenders
as well. That’s not the major problem, but next to
that they also made them mortal AND on top of that, they can also no longer reproduce. This was first mentioned on twitter and later
confirmed in a questline. The race of dragons, these mythical creatures
that have been around for millenia would eventually die out. Jesse cox, another big lore nerd had the oppertunity
to interview Ion Hazzikostas and 2 years ago, they talked about the future of dragons. What this choice at the end of the cataclysm
meant for their future. “Are we gonna have more dragon story in
the future?” “That seems very likely. At 112 you learn in the chromie scenario,
dragons are going to be very important. But part of the storytelling and the world
building it’s always this trick of balancing the story telling now without closing possibilities
for the future. They are litterary devices right? Yes, you killed Illidan in the black temple. He was seemingly defeated but as we’re planning
out this framework for the legion expansion...wouldn’t it be awesome to have illidan around. Wouldn’t there be so many oppertunites. What if we tweek a couple of things, little
bit of retconning going on, open up this door to let us tell an awesome new story. It was never our intent back in cataclysm
to close the door forever on dragons. Dragons are gone, wthere’s never gonna be
any in the future. Can’t ever do anything with them again. No dragon raids with them in the future. We know there’s rebuilding to do there if
we ever want to focus the storyline around them in the same ways.” We know there’s rebuilding to do if we ever
want to focus the storyline around the dragons in the same way so in essence if they feel
like bringing back dragons into the story, they got some things to explain but there
are ways to make it so. Keep that in mind for when we reach the end
of this video. So during the cataclysm we battled with Deathwing,
while some members of the red dragon flight thought that it would be really nice if we
actually had a proper earth-warden. A black dragon that wasn’t corrupted. They had no knowledge of Ebonhorn hiding out
in Highmountain. He too is an uncorrupted black dragon, only
he was cleansed all the way back during the war of the ancients and has been hiding out
with the tauren ever since. They had no idea that he existed so instead
they performed their own experiments, trying to figure out some way of creating the first
uncorrupted black dragon in millenia. By gathering wild black dragon eggs, wild
black dragon corpses and Nyxondra’s eggs we combine those with an ancient titan device. Let it scan and excise anomalies, remove the
corruption and voila! We had ourselves an egg. Despite deathwing trying to obtain it, the
egg remains safe long enough for Wrathion to hatch. He’s not exactly happy with what the red
dragons have done, but he’s more concerned about his own corrupted flight. Rogue heroes are recruited to help him exterminate
each and everyone of them, including his own father. To his knowledge, all of them are dead, but
that’s not exactly true. Disregarding Ebonhorn who was added to the
story later, even back then we knew about Sabellian, a black dragon stationed on outland. Regardless, Wrathion believed his mission
to be completed and then traveled to a whole new land previously hidden by mists, the lands
of pandaria. Despite stepping away from the red dragons
and refusing to follow their orders, our mission was still a success. We did indeed create an uncorrupted guardian
of the world and that’s exactly what Wrathion is about. A vision has shown him that the Legion is
coming for another invasion and he believes that a divided azeroth will never stand a
chance against them. That’s why, with the promise of beautiful
legendary items, he recruited heroes from both factions to follow him around and help
him achieve his ultimate goal, one faction to whipe out the other. Sadly though, that never played out. His carefully layed plans were foiled by Varian
who decided, after Garrosh was kicked out of the mantle of warchief and placed on trial,
to notdismantle the Horde, but instead step away. Wrathion never understood that the alliance
and horde were stronger because of one another. They had stood shoulder to shoulder against
massive threats like the old gods and the legion before. By working together they’re a force that
even the old gods are warry about. Sure enough, time and time again they fight
with one another , but together they’re an incredible powerful force. Lessons our young black dragon friend seems
to stubborn too learn. Now while on pandaria, a close friendship
with prince Anduin Wrynn developed. During garrosh’ trial, Wrathion and Anduin
confirmed that they see eachother as friends, but not even that bond would stand in the
way of Wrathion and his goals. The legion was still coming. He did not believe Azeroth was strong enough,
but perhaps if they had another horde, another army to stand with them...they would have
a chance. The plan was created. With the aid of the bronze dragon Kairozdormu,
garrosh escaped and was transported to a whole new reality. One where he would form the horde, to have
it stand with our Azeroth, but garrosh wasn’t down with being used like that. He murdered Kairoz, yet formed this Iron Horde
all the same. Not for the defense of Azeroth, but to conquer
it. The dark portal turned red and heroes ventured
forth to take care of this threat. Even Wrathion made his way to this alternate
draenor as we learn from the log found at Admirol Taylor’s garrison. If you were quick enough you could even find
a glimpse of the whelp flying away from khadgar’s tower... You have to wonder what they exactly had planned
with Wrathion during the expansion, but like so much else, it seems to have been cut out. Then Legion alpha rolled around and again
the black dragon prince was there, in highmountain. Right there, explaining what he was trying
to accomplish by setting Garrosh free. By the time of release, our prince was replaced
by Ebonhorn. Another uncorrupted black dragon except uncorrupted
in a completely different way. Where as Wrathion was a bit of an experiment
with an ancient titan device, Ebonhorns cleaning came with the use of one of the pillars of
creation, the hammer of khaz’garoth. Again, we were forced to wait and wonder what
had happened to wrathion. Where was he now, what was he up too.... A cameo in the chromie scenario of some alternate
timeline was just not enough... So...knowing all that, what exactly does that
have to do with battle for azeroth? Keep in mind that this point in time where
we’re going to go into current lore as well spoilers for the next patch. If you don’t want any spoilers, then thank
you very much for watching so far. It should be obvious now, but Wrathion is
a character like by many and so his return has been desired for quite some time now. One of the first hints about his actions in
battle for azeroth comes from an island expedition quest, you know those quests people don’t
really pay attention too but drop little lore bombs. Like helya is apperantly back in hellheim? Yeah...those quests...one of them stars with
an Unscarred Black Scale. <An utterly pristine black dragon scale taken
from the dragons you recently encountered. The black dragonflight was completely decimated
following Deathwing's demise and Wrathion's rise to power. Yet the size indicates a younger dragon. There is one person, one dragon, that you
know will want to hear of this, but where IS Wrathion? You surmise he may be some place familiar,
fortified, and abandoned.> Outside the entrance to blackwing descent
we find one of his agents who accepts the scale as they were told to expect us. As compensation we get a bit of Azerite as
well as information: Have you heard of the Dragon Isles? Few have, and fewer have been there. We have not found others of the master's kin...
forthcoming in information. Should you uncover anything further in your
travels, we will be awaiting a visit, with payment in kind. Wrathion is apperantly on the hunt for the
dragon isles and it wouldn’t be surpising if you’ve never heard of them before. A lot of what we know about them comes from
a book called World of Warcraft Diary written by Johnathan Staats. The book gives a really cool inside look at
the development behind the game, some of the concepts that never really made it in, like
the dragon isles. Said to be intended as a lvl 65 to 70 raid
located north of lordaeron and west of quel’thalas before being cut. They were intended to be temples to the olds
god with Alexstraza planned to be located there. That’s pretty much all we know about the
dragon isles. An old concept now being revived. It’s not certain if that old idea, having
temples to the old gods there, is actually a thing but considering what we find out in
the next patch...it’s not crazy to think so. We’ll talk about that in just a moment. So we have a hint of Wrathion on a quest,
yet our adventures continued all the same, filling up our Heart of Azeroth in an attempt
to heal the world. MOTHER did some calculating and despite our
best efforts, Azeroth isn’t doing too well. “World unit Azeroth cascading toward terminal
failure. Evaluation: Possible to reserve condition
by Amplifying Heart of Azeroth.” “Amplify it, you say? How?” “Infuse heart with magical essences capible
of nurturing world unit azeroth. Example: Energies once granted by titan watchers
to primitive draconic lifeforms.” “The dragon aspects? But they gave up their powers to save the
world from Deathwing!” “Readings indicate other compatible essences
coalescing in numerous forms and locations. Collection of these essences necessary to
fortify Heart of Azeroth – and its wielder.” So we go out to gather essences of the different
dragonflights to empower the heart and gain access to an ability called The Crucible of
Flame. I won’t be going into too many details surrounding
this questline, that will happen once I’ve actually reached the final quest and it’s
no longer such a spoiler. The main point and connection to wrathion
comes from the first essence we collect which takes us to Highmountain and Neltharion’s
lair. Ebonhorn, the uncorrupted black dragon, join
us on this quest and even decides to stay with us the chamber of heart. We’ve seen him struggle against the whispers
of the old gods before. By leaving highmountain during the Highmountain
recruitment scenario, quite a lot of darkness came after him. Our heroic actions of reactivating the wards
and slaying Uul’gyneth prevented him from falling to darkness yet now, with N’zoth
released from his prison, not even the Chamber of Heart is safe... ‘Champion, we’ve got a problem. Ebonhorn he...” “Old god contanimation detected. Initiating sanitzation protocol.” ‘No, don’t sanitize! Champion, you’ve got to get back to the
chamber right now!” “The voices...I can’t”
“Hold it together, Ebonhorn! Don’t give into them!” “Champion, I know...someone...who might
be able to help.” And that someone is Wrathion! To prevent the dark forces that corrupted
the black dragonflight once before, we’re going to need his help. He’s apperantly been studying the old gods
in order to better combat their insidious powers. Not an easy guy to track down though. First stop is checking in with his associates
in Pandaria at the tarven of the mists. “Hurry champion find Wrathion. He may be ebonhorn’s only hope.” At the tavern we seethat N’zoth likes to
keep an eye on things. Lurking observers roam the area that needs
to be removed before it’s safe to talk with the blacktalon bodyguards. They were told to stay here and wait for us. Said his brother would need his help eventually. Quite interesting that Wrathion now see’s
Ebonhorn as his brother while in previous expansion the others of the dragonflight were
nothing to him but targets to take out. Is he aware that Ebonhorn is not corrupted
and there for on the same level as he is? Perhaps, the message left by Wrathion comes
in the form of a torn journal page. Number seven to be precise. Wrathion has gone to dire maul to delve into
the knowledge of the Shen’dralar. References to the old gods are vague and oblique,
existing only as archeological footnotes from a time before the sundering. The shen’dralar adept in the arcane arts
as they were, could not completely unravel the intricacies of the black empire’s dark
magic. Yet a few of them did dabble in the void,
and the lessons they learned grant me hope that N’zoth’s own power can be wielded
against him... We do have an empty blade left behind by Xala’tath,
brought over by horde members to the banshee queen who then had Nathanos use it to guide
us to Nazjatar. Will the ultimate play be setting N’zoth
free to then completely remove him? Who knows. Even in it’s abandoned state, the library’s
meticulous organization truly impressed me. If only more of it had remained intact. Such an extensive loss of wisdom is lamentable. The shen’dralar tolled ceaselesly to collect
the librams that lined their bookshelves, only for the lion’s share of it to be consumed
by the flames of war. But such is the nature of warfare, is it not? Seldom does it accomplish the intentions of
its architects, and never without leaving immeasurable devastation in its wake...especially
when the Horde and the Alliance are the forces in conflict. Can one ultimately say that victory is worth
the price that must be paid to achieve it? Perhaps it is, in some cases. But the verdict is not as easily reached as
I once thought. Our little prince is growing up it seems,
shaping and forming his thoughts about the world. Obviously, the black prince isn’t here. Not even his bodyguards know where to find
him, but they point us to blackrock mountain all the same. Theres’a terace carved into its slopes...
where Nefarian once made his lair. Wrathion has been monitoring that place for
a long time and even if he himself isn’t there, we might find someone who knows where
to look. At the spot where we turned in our island
expedition quest, we now find the blacktalon watcher being drained of all knowledge by
n’zoth’s minions. Forcing their way into his mind to find out
what he knows. The minions go down easy enough. Another journal page was left with this guard
as well as instructions to go to Karazhan next. Torn journal page #16; makes mention of his
time in pandaria, hanging out with the lorewalkers and the shado-pan, learn more of their interactions
with the sha. This dark force originates from the essence
of the old god y- shaarj, the underlying principles of their tecniques could prove effective in
resisting the whispers of the old gods. I must admit, I felt a certain kinship with
the shado pan that i did not anticipate. The pandaren do not maintain a standing army,
and so the shado pan serve as their sole defense against both the mantid and the sha. Though they have trained themselves to seal
away their emotions, there is an air of solitude about them that I recognize all too well. It is no easy task to stand alone against
the darkness so that others may bask in the light. But someone must always make that stand. And they can never allow themsleves to falter. That’s how wrathion see’s himself I guess,
the man working from the shadows trying to protect the world. As instructed we fly out to karazhan but N’zoth’s
minions have learned much from this interogated blacktalon watcher and are on the same trail
as we are. A slain blacktalon lookout took out several
of the sleepless operatives at the cost of his own life. On his body we find page #25: Few mysteries intrigue me more than the lost
knowledge and technology left behind by the titans. I know for certain that the Forge of Origination
is the key to dealing the old gods their ultimate defeat, though i have not yet been able to
discern the exact manner in which it is meant to be used. This forge of origination was placed in the
area now known as uldum by the titan keepers in the days of bringing order to azeroth. Not only would it help the titan spirit grow,
it also worked as a fail safe protocol. In case the world would be too corrupted,
this device could be activated to eradicate all life in the world, pretty much a reset
button incase the old gods’ hold over the world became too strong. But that’s not the only way this device
can be used. In the days of Lei- shen the thunderking,
we saw that Lei-shen had his own vision on how to fullfill the keepers plans, how to
lead the world as keeper Ra had fallen to dispair. Lei-shen set his eyes on claiming the forge
of origination, but the Tol’vir, left behind by Keeper Ra to keep an eye on the place were
outraged when they heard what Lei-Shen had done to their keeper. They would never join his side, so the Thunder
King made ready to take it by force. Although the Tol’vir did not have the numbers
to even remotely stand a chance, they did have the forge. They configured it to scour only the nearby
land and everything in it, their enemies as well as their allies outside in the lands
of Uldum, all of them felt the might of the energies of unmaking. What once was a lush jungle, a paradise as
they described it, had now turned into the desert as we know it today. That’s how Lei- shen died for the first
time so the forge can pretty much purge the surface of the world and be configured to
do a much more local attack. Algalon during wrath of the lich king was
planning to use it, but we slapped some sense into him and got a different reply code, one
that deactivated the purge. Deathwing then tried to claim the forge for
his plans during the cataclysm, plans that we prevented. And now his son Wrathion is wondering if we
could use this device to deal the old gods their ultimate defeat. It is strange to think on how these events
predate my own hatching. While i plumb the depths of forgotten lore
from eons past, others have lived through crises I will only ever know from historical
accounts. There must be someone on azeroth who possesses
the understanding I require, and perhaps my next course of action should be to seek them
out. A pity the former aspects are so reluctant
to trust me. Even after all my research, their familiarity
with the titans handiwork surely eclipses my own. But given the troubled history of my dragonflight...of
Deathwing. Onyxia, Nefarian...and myself... I cannot say I blame them, either. Perhaps these actions will help him reconnected
with the other flights, pool their knowledge together and figure out a sollution. Inside the catacombs of karazhan wrathion
continued his research and now agents of N’zoth are crawling over the place looking for the
prince. With any luck, we can find him before they
do. Investigating clues left behind until we stumble
upon Torn journal page #58: It speaks of his time inside the tower, the
insighthe gained from the library allowed him to reach a significant milestone: I have
concocted a tonic that, when imbibed, will cleanse a minor amount of the old gods’
corruption and silence their whispers. Such is merely the first step on the path
to defeating them once and for all, but it warrants celebration nonetheless. Though I knew there were vluable lessons to
learn in karazhan, I did not anticipate that some of them would emerge from my conversations
with Medivh’s lingering spirit. He recounted his struggles under sargeras’s
influence as the dark titan twisted his soul from within, and i was left to wonder if similar
thoughts plagued Neltharion as he descended into madnesss himself. But, Medivh also spoke of his spirit’s return
to the mortal realm, and how it guided azeroth’s champions in the fight against the very forces
that once corrupted him. He said something on which I ruminate even
now; I can never change the actions of my past. he told me. But I can forge a new legacy to leave behind. A new legacy. In the end, perhaps that is what I am truly
after. A way to make amends for my father’s failings...as
well as my own. A legacy worthy of the black dragonflight’s
original sacred charge; the defense of azeroth. The end of the old gods. i do hope these pages
have proven to be of use to you, Nobbel. I would hate to think my agents wasted their
time delivering them to you as instructed. Rest assured that when the time is right,
you will have my aid in the fight against N’zoth. In the true battle for azeroth. Oh...and one last request; Burn this journal. It is time my actions speak for me. I really love these little lore tidbits and
bombs they drop. Medivh’s history in short is a child born
from Aegwynn who was corrupted by the spirit of Sargeras after defeating its avatar in
ages past. The powers of the guardian as well as Sargeras’
spirit were passed on to Medivh which would lead to a corrupted guardian. One that opened the dark portal and brought
in the orcish horde for their very first invasion. Too weaken it and make it ready for another
invasion from the legion. Medivh’s corruption was eventually discovered
and he was killed too then be brougth back by his mother and recruit the world to stand
against the legion. For a long time people wondered what happened
to Medivh at the end of Warcraft 3. His mothers magics had brought him back to
the physical world for this specific task and his powers were waning, he felt that his
time on the physical plane was coming to an end. The task of safeguarding azeroth now fell
to its inhabitants, just as he had intended. Yet his spirit is still tied to the tower
of Karazhan. We saw it briefly during Legion and now once
more it’s been confirmed that his spirit wanders the tower. One has to wonder if Khadgar is having conversation
with Medivh as well but either way, Wrathion is looking for a better legacy to leave behind
for his flight. An end to the old gods, he will stand with
us in our battle against N’zoth. In our quest of saving the world not just
from the wounds inflicted by sargeras, but also its corruption. “Champion! We need you back in the chamber at once. Ebonhorn’s almost gone! MOTHER”s opened a waygate to get you back
here. Hurry!” So no wrathion to be found here, yet we still
need aid for Ebonhorn. Luckily the prince has thought of this. After slaying X’korr the Compelling we find
a potion of mental clarity and a hastily scrawled note. It’s meant for Ebonhorn to cleanse his mind
of N’zoth’s influence. “The whispers...are silent... Wrathion crafted this potion? So you were able to find him?” “No, he eluded both N’zoth’s minions
and our friend. But it seems he found a way to resist the
influence of the Old Gods. Wrathion’s studies will not go to waste
as MOTHER absorbs the knowledge into her database and they’ll use what they can to reinforce
the chamber’s defenses. That’s where the PTR quest leaves us for
the moment, but man did we learn a lot of interesting lore tidbits not just surrounding
wrathion but just the world in general. We can be pretty certain that Wrathion is
going to show up in the expansion this time. No more teasing or cutting out stories as
he’s got a full blown new model which made the people of the internet fall for him all
over again. Wrathion is growing up and so are his ideas
when it comes to the future of the world. His motivation has always been trying to safeguard
the planet. When we experimented, we wanted to make a
true black dragon, a true guardian of the world, one uncorrupted by the old gods and
that’s we got. He does not get corrupted or influenced on
his mission which also means that his allegiances are not with the factions of the world. If you ask if we can trust him to be there
for us? Then the answer would be no. Even Anduin wrynn, someone he’s very close
too and he considers to be a friend, was pushed to the side when he stood in the way of Wrathion’s
plans. Azeroth has his allegiance and he will do
everything he can, everything that needs to happen to safeguard her future. That doesn’t mean he’s perfect. The plans he made up in the past, having one
of the factions take over the other. Use Garrosh to form the iron horde, yeah they
kinda backfired but his draconic heart was in the right place. I’d love too party with Wrathion again and
perhaps visit the dragon isles. Learn knowledge that will aid us in the battle
against N’zoth. He does mention old gods several times, plural,
which makes me wonder if C’thun and Yogg-saron are still a massive threat to the world. Is that what N’zoth is after? Freeing his brothers or will he be satisfied
with corrupting the world on his own. Is Wrathion perhaps searching for a way to
restore the dragonflights? Ion Hasikostas did mention that they had to
do some rebuilding to bridge that gap again and now we’re infusing the heart of azeroth
with powers from the different flights. We’ve also seen the void infused dragons
already pop up, trying to convert more of their kind. Xalatath is still walking around somewhere,
can you imagine Xalatath and Wrathion in the same room? The boy king serves at the masters table,
3 lies he will offer you... Does wrathion perhaps know more about Anduin
then we do? Will he be the clarification and perhaps ultimate
salvation that we’re looking for? I can’t wait to see this unfold but by all
means let me know what you think is going to happen! The future is still unwritten which has me
very excited, but for now thank you very much for watching everyone! If you’re looking for more details on all
the things we talked about today, then check out the related wowhead article in the description
down below. Subscribe if you like my videos, leave a like
if you enjoyed this one aaaand until next time guys...see ya!
