Ask a Lore Nerd: Like finding a needle in a boneyard
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 15th 2009 at 6:00PM
Welcome to another fine Sunday evening! Things are going to be shorter and sweeter than usual this week, as I've only recently gotten the internet back. Moving into a new apartment has its drawbacks, and needing to wait a week for Time Warner to get things installed is one of the worst. It's done now though, so next week will be grand, I just need to get my bearings back.
Remember, the entire history of Warcraft is fair game in this column, not just Wrath of the Lich King. If you have a question that's a blast from the past, that's fine! We'll take it. Now, on with the show.
Jardal asked...
What's going on in the Ebon Hold where the DK trainer is killing a druid to explain how plague strike is the lifebloom eater? Wouldn't the alliance kind of frown on killing their allies or is this kind of a "what they don't know won't hurt them" thing?
It's the latter, for the most part. The Alliance doesn't really know that happened, and they probably never will unless someone inside Acherus tells them about it. Heck, if you did tell them about it, what would they do? Go to Acherus and search for a corpse? They would be there awhile.
Eternauta asked a pair of questions...
What's the Horde counterpart to the 7th Legion?
I think that would be the Kor'Kron, though it's made up of all Orcs rather than being multiracial like the 7th Legion. I don't think the Horde currently has a direct translation to what the 7th Legion are, but the Kor'Kron would be closest.
You mentioned that, "There is a very real force that's pushing these changes on the Crusade, but I'll let you find out for yourself (if you haven't already.)" How can I find out? It's a quest chain?
It is a quest chain, yes. If you haven't done the stuff in Dragonblight yet, I suggest going through that. Afterwards, you'll need to work through Icecrown until you reach Death's Rise and the Ebon Blade daily quests there. While you're on the daily quest Intelligence Gathering, you have a chance to get a Note from the Grand Admiral out of the chests/trunks you open up. It has a low droprate in my experience, so you might be cracking open trunks for quite awhile. Just do the quest chain that note starts you on, and you'll find out what's up.
Sirg asked...
I've asked this before - what is the story behind the Sartharion encounter. Why do heroes have to go and kill him in his lair? Aren't the black dragons part of the Accord?
I've also answered this before, but it gets asked often enough that I'll do it again. The story behind Sartharion and what's going on in the Obsidian Dragonshrine is detailed in Night of the Dragon. The Twilight Drakes are a dragon crossbreed made by Sinestra (who you see on the Netherwing Ledge in Shadowmoon), they're a cross between Black Dragons and Nether Dragons. They eat magic (including Dragon magic), are huge jerks, and need to die. Sartharion is watching over a huge mass of Twilight eggs, so we gotta smash 'em.
Ask a Lore Nerd is here to answer all of your questions about the lore and story of the Warcraft universe. From the religions of the universe to the 'evils' of Azeroth, everything is fair game. If you want more in-depth answers to some of your questions, you may find what you're looking for in Know Your Lore.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King, Ask a Lore Nerd
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
kozom Feb 15th 2009 6:22PM
they're doing WHAT to us druids?!?!?!
Angus Feb 15th 2009 7:06PM
Target practice and doing what everybody in seasons 2-4 wanted to do to resto druids... Killing lifebloom.
Jayeless Feb 15th 2009 11:04PM
One of the overpowered DK spells that didn't make it into release would have "corrupted" a healing over time spell, turning it into a damage over time spell.
The Unholy trainer demonstrates this on a tree druid.
The Unholy trainer also detonates some ghouls killing a few DKs, so she doesn't just pick on druids.
Dementron Feb 17th 2009 8:25PM
They're showing how Plague Strike can be used to remove heal over time spells.
And if I remember correctly, the Nelf druid they kill is Cenarion, not Alliance.
Dobmeister Feb 15th 2009 6:30PM
So, seeing as the Nether Drakes are essentially "Black Dragon + Twisting Nether-ness", we can take the parallel that Black Dragons are 'spoons', and the Nether Dragons are 'sporks', if we assume that "Twisting Nether-ness" is the 'fork' in our analogy. And when you try to crossbreed a spoon with a spork, things go horribly, horribly, wrong...
http://xkcd.com/419/
Zeplar Feb 15th 2009 6:42PM
omg fellow xkcd person, I love you!
NoTomorrow Feb 15th 2009 7:06PM
I frakkin' love XKCD! best webcomic ever!
Nellius Feb 15th 2009 6:45PM
I have a question about Sartharion. During the encounter (with all 3 drakes still alive) one of them (can't remember which one) says "Father was right about you, Sartharion, you are a weakling!"
Firstly, this implies that the three drakes are all siblings. Is this right?
Secondly, who is their father? Is he important? Will we see him in a raid encounter in the future?
Ershiin Feb 15th 2009 6:57PM
The "father" in question is (more than likely) Neltharion a.k.a. Deathwing..
He is the Black Dragon Aspect and basically the "Father" of all Black Dragons.
Johan Strauß Feb 15th 2009 7:22PM
Yeah, Deathwing the Destroyer is "father" here. He is currently either dead (unlikely) or hiding out somewhere. Popular suggestion is that he's in Grim Batol.
There's alot of history with this character lore-wise. He featured in Warcraft II's expansion, and has been in several books. He was originally good per-se, but went crazy, probably with the whisperings of some Old God. Henceforth he was Deathwing the destroyer, and killed alot.
Check out his page at wowwiki.com, "Deathwing".
Jp Feb 15th 2009 8:32PM
Two things here:
Twilight Dragons are not just Black + Nether. As is detailed in Night of the Dragon, Sinestra has actually been stealing eggs from ALL flights for centuries. Krasus(It was written by Knaak, of course Krasus is a main character, if not THE main character) does find eggs from all flights in the nursery/rookery/whatevery in Grim Batol. The book does seem to imply that what Sinestra has been doing is using methods that created the Netherdragons to create the Twilight brood, but doesn't explicitly state it, soo...
This is a SPOILER. So, stop reading if you're really concerned. The final page(yes, page, not pages, page) of NotD, reveal that Deathwing orchestrated Sinestra creating the Twilight Flight from deep, deep beneath Grim Batol, and at the end of the book does save all the eggs from the destruction Krasus et. al. think they have done to them. So, yes, Deathwing IS the father that is talked about.
Actually, the entire book reads much like what was probably a proposed outline for Grim Batol as a raid sometime in BC era. For bosses you get:
-Rask the Drakonid
-Zendarin the Blood Elf
-Zzeraku the Netherdragon
-Sinestra
-Dargonax, the big-bad Twilight Dragon.
As well as new monster-type, the skardyn
Night of the Dragon is really the big fuel for the rumor that 3.2's raid will be Grim Batol. Just would've been nice had they inserted more in-game lore regarding the Twilight Dragons. At least a quest from Krasus, Rhonin or Veressa, talking about what happened there, and why Sarth must be stopped, and the twilight eggs destroyed.
Also, @ Eternauta -
All of Warcraft in the past 10 years has really been a ploy to kill that one, who-will-remain-unnamed Dreadlord. I mean really, how many times do we get to kill him in this one expansion?! :D
Eternauta Feb 15th 2009 6:45PM
Thanks Alex for answering my questions! xD
I've tried to farm the note of the grand admiral but I got bored and gave up. The Intelligence Gathering daily is just the most annoying and boring daily ever made.
So I decided to just go and read the story at wowwiki, and discovered that the bad guy behind the onslaught is [dejavu] a dreadlord who we all thought dead [/dejavu]
Very original, Blizz.
Really.
Ohh and just to make it clear:
[Horde bias] Kor'Kron > 7th Legion [/Horde bias]
Angus Feb 15th 2009 7:14PM
You know what, I'm thinking Frostmourne is a POS.
Seriously.
If it kills you, there's a pretty good chance you can come back.
Maybe it just sucks against demons...
Johan Strauß Feb 15th 2009 7:25PM
Oh come off your high horse.
Dreadlords are dreadlords. They're like space-vampires. There's probably one way to kill them and only one way.
Alanid Feb 15th 2009 7:41PM
If i remember rightly (i think this was mentioned in the Cycle of Hatred book, and perhaps other places) when demons get killed their souls return to the twisting nether so they can be "re recruited" by the burning legion.
When the dark portal re-opened a certain dreadlord could have followed the example of balnazzar, since the scarlet crusade were already very manipulated by him, and without a leader - they would be an easy force to control.
frostymage Feb 15th 2009 7:00PM
Why aren't the knights of the ebon blade flying the acherus to northrend? It said in one of the DK starter quests that it could destroy naxxramas.
jbowtie Feb 15th 2009 7:19PM
They're waiting for me to reach 80 first. Duh.
Angus Feb 15th 2009 7:15PM
Why bother when they can get you and 9 or 24 of your friends to go do it for them?
They must have talked with the snowflakes.
Siorra Feb 15th 2009 7:22PM
Because then the easy content would become no content.
Alanid Feb 15th 2009 7:43PM
That was when it had the full might of the lich king and the scourge behind it.
Now its mainly just death knights.