Know Your Lore: The Dragon Soul
by Anne Stickney 
Nov 27th 2011 at 4:00PM
It was a tiny, small, inconsequential disc. Golden in color, simple in appearance, the talisman was far more dangerous than any could comprehend. Well ... almost anyone. The goblin servants of Neltharion, the Earth-Warder, created the object, and even they weren't truly aware of just how terrible that creation truly was. For the golden disc held not only the power to tear through the Burning Legion; it held the power to control every dragon, every flight in the world -- with the exception of Neltharion, of course.
For he would rule them all. The voices told him so and promised him glory above all creatures of the world, mortal or immortal, no matter how insignificant. The Burning Legion was simply an army of pests to be eliminated, as were the kaldorei; the War of the Ancients was a petty squabble marring the glorious moment of his ascension. It was only a matter of time.
The Dragon Soul was perhaps the most dangerous creation in existence, and it was held in the claws of a dragon that was most certainly completely insane.
Today's Know Your Lore contains some information regarding Thrall, Twilight of the Aspects, the 4.3 5-man dungeons and the Dragon Soul raid. If you're avoiding spoilers, I'd skip this for now.
Neltharion the Earth Warder was charged with watching over the deep places of the earth, which made him particularly susceptible to the whispers of the Old Gods that were buried below. They whispered of betrayal, that the other Aspects were seeking to someone steal his power or otherwise dominate, that the night elves were entirely out of control on a mad mission to destroy the world. Quietly whispered that the kaldorei, the dragonflights, and the Aspects were no better than the demons that sought to invade.
And Neltharion listened and agreed. The whispers had started out as faint and far between, but as time passed, their hold grew stronger, until the Earth Warder couldn't even sleep without hearing them, persistent in the back of his mind. It was as if his thoughts and the mad whispers of the Old Gods were one. And the Old Gods gave him a gift -- an idea, one that his goblin servants could easily construct.
The original intent of the Dragon Soul was as a weapon against the Burning Legion. Neltharion had his servants create the small, seemingly innocent artifact and promptly used it against various demons of the Burning Legion that had been captured for this very purpose. The disc absorbed the very essence of the demons, shriveling them into piles of dust and ash, the artifact growing stronger with each subsequent test.
But as time passed and the whispers grew more insistent, those plans altered. You see, he had more to worry about than just the Burning Legion -- or at least, that's what the voices led him to believe.
Part of this problem arose with the arrival of Krasus -- or Korialstrasz, consort of Alexstrasza. He and his friend Rhonin were sent back in time by Nozdormu to address an anomaly that kept the Bronze Aspect trapped between different times. Rhonin, Krasus, and an orc named Broxigar were transported back to the days of the War of the Ancients, and while Rhonin and Broxigar were largely unaffected, Krasus was weakened. This was because he existed twice in one time -- the future Krasus, red dragon in half-elf disguise, and the Korialstrasz from the past, who was similarly affected.
Krasus knew he had to warn the dragonflights of what the night elves were up to and of the upcoming Sundering, but he was shocked to see Neltharion present at the meeting of the Aspects. Since Krasus was from the future, he knew what was to become of Neltharion -- how he would turn on the flights and become the creature known as Deathwing. And as he stared, shocked and trying to tear his eyes away, Neltharion returned his gaze and saw with utter clarity that this strange creature claiming to be a dragon knew what Neltharion was up to.
Neltharion also knew that the little creature would likely give his secret away, and so he placed a spell on Krasus that rendered him unable to speak about Neltharion or any events he might be planning. When he tried to explain, he blacked out. The Aspects left, one by one, and Neltharion traveled back to his chambers and worked further on the Dragon Soul. It was no longer to be used just on the Burning Legion. It was clear he would also have to use his creation against the dragonflights as well.
Despite the maddened state of the Earth Warder, none suspected his duplicity -- and when he asked for a gathering of all dragons for the purpose of charging the artifact he created, they complied. After all, the object was to be used against the Burning Legion, and of course a weapon of that magnitude would require the essence of all dragonkind. As far as the dragons were concerned, Neltharion was acting as a savior, someone who would deliver them all from a dire fate at the Burning Legion's hands.
And so, one by one, all of the dragons gave a small part of themselves to the Dragon Soul, while Neltharion watched. When it was over, he assembled the dragons and launched the first assault against the Burning Legion.
As the amassed dragons flew into the Burning Legion's army, the desperate kaldorei below watched in shock and disbelief. All were overwhelmed by the apparent assistance of the dragonflights -- all, that is, save Rhonin and Krasus, who knew exactly was what coming and were unable to stop it. And the sands of time played out exactly as Krasus remembered. The flights lent their power to the Dragon Soul, and Neltharion cut a swath through the demonic armies and then turned on the Aspects, demanding that they and all mortal races of Azeroth bow to him.
Malygos and his Blue Dragonflight tried to stop Neltharion, and in return, the Earth Warder executed the entirety of the Blue flight, save Malygos. When Korialstrasz intervened, Neltharion was forced to retreat, the Dragon Soul clutched in his claws. Though all the dragons in the world had imbued part of their essence into the Dragon Soul, Neltharion was the only one who had not -- and as such, Neltharion, now known as Deathwing, was the only living creature that could damage the artifact. And the artifact could damage him as well. The Dragon Soul corrupted Deathwing's body, causing the great hide to tear and split. In response, he had his goblin servants bolt plates into his ebon scales.
The kaldorei and the dragonflights were left in tatters, with one obvious course of action: They had to sneak into Deathwing's home and steal the Dragon Soul, so that it could not be used against them again. The druid Malfurion Stormrage managed to sneak in and steal the talisman, but on his way out, others who also held a great interest in the powerful artifact intercepted him.
Queen Azshara was patiently waiting for Sargeras to appear, and the formation of the portal was taking quite some time. The Dragon Soul was the perfect bit of magic to assist in opening the portal, and the Queen's soldiers, led by Malfurion's own brother, intended to take it to her.
This is where we, the players, come into the fray. Although the Dragon Soul in the original timeline was retrieved, hidden away, destroyed, reconstructed, and shattered utterly again, we as the mortal heroes of Azeroth are sent back in time to this moment. The Dragon Soul waits in Azshara's palace, an artifact of unimaginable power, and we must retrieve it in order to use it against Deathwing. I know what you're thinking, and it's what I was thinking too -- how are we supposed to use the artifact against Deathwing when he is the only dragon it cannot affect?
It's not that the Dragon Soul doesn't affect Deathwing. It does, quite readily, as evidenced by the need to have plates nailed to his hide. The Dragon Soul cannot control Deathwing, but it can control the other dragons. However, the sheer power of the Dragon Soul can and did readily begin to tear Deathwing apart. A shot of the Dragon Soul, fully imbued with the powers of the Aspects, would be more than enough to tear Deathwing apart, particularly if the plates that barely hold him together were removed or weakened.
The other dragons cannot use the Dragon Soul -- but as an orc, Thrall most certainly can. In Twilight of the Aspects, Thrall worked closely with the dragonflights and gained their trust in a fashion that few mortals have. Between proving his worth in the novel and his powers as a shaman, Thrall is the logical choice to wield the Dragon Soul as far as the Aspects are concerned.
But what does this mean for the time line in which we stole the Dragon Soul away? What does this mean for the future of the artifact? There are a few speculations that can be made, the easiest being this: There are multiple time lines in the universe, and Nozdormu watches over each and every one. Though the Dragon Soul may have been removed from the time line that exists in the Well of Eternity instance, that pocket timeline has no effect on the time line of today.
But wait -- let's go back for a moment and look at the beginning of all of this. The Dragon Soul was created at the point in time that Krasus, Rhonin, and Broxigar were sent back to. Consider this: Perhaps it was the appearance of this alternate time line Krasus that caused Neltharion to move forward and try to use the Dragon Soul to enslave the dragons as well as the mortals. Neltharion saw Krasus, he knew that Krasus knew what he was up to, and he acted to prevent it -- and then he warped the Dragon Soul and embued it with the essences of the Dragonflights.
Nozdormu was not present at the formation of the Dragon Soul because he did not wish to be seen. He sent along his essence but did not appear in person, presumably entangled in a prior engagement. It is presumed that this entanglement was the time anomaly that caused Nozdormu to send Krasus and Broxigar back in the first place. But what if Nozdormu wasn't there at the ceremony because he knew Deathwing would be able to detect his ultimate plan?
What if the formation of the Dragon Soul was something set into motion by Nozdormu? What if the Nozdormu of the future, the one who saw his own destiny, knew that in order to create that moment of his death -- create the moment of Murazond's demise -- he would have to shift the threads of fate in this fashion? What if he knew he would have to create an artifact so dangerous as to nearly decimate the Blue Dragonflight, in order to create the event in which we are sent back in time to retrieve it?
Time is less of a circular pattern as it is a gigantic tangle of threads -- and Nozdormu stands astride them all. He is the only creature that knows the various paths of fate as intimately as he knows himself. He is quite possibly the most powerful Aspect of them all, and it is entirely possible that the entire span of our time line has been nothing more than the Bronze Aspect setting the wheels in motion that would eventually place him at the exact moment in time that he needed to die.
If that is the case, Deathwing's corruption, his return, the uprising of the Old Gods, all of it was merely the machinations of the Bronze Aspect -- not for honor, not for glory, not for the good of the world, but to simply set himself at last to rest, as fate intended all along. It's food for thought.
For more information on related subjects, please look at these other Know Your Lore entries:
- The Bronze Dragonflight
- Rhonin, leader of the Kirin Tor
- Sinestra and the Night of the Dragon
- War of the Ancients
- Queen Azshara, Light of Lights
While you don't need to have played the previous Warcraft games to enjoy World of Warcraft, a little history goes a long way toward making the game a lot more fun. Dig into even more of the lore and history behind the World of Warcraft in WoW Insider's Guide to Warcraft Lore.
Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Task Nov 27th 2011 4:38PM
@Anne Stickney
First of all, awesome KYL as always.
After reading your brief TFH explanation about Noz being the cause and creator of the Dragon Soul, I'm inclined to say that if he did all of this all along.... Noz is 1 hell of a strategist. Essentially, DW could have been played by Noz the whole time.
Arizor Nov 27th 2011 4:43PM
Wow this is yet another incredible KYL.
I kind of hope Nozdormu isn't quite that selfish as to sacrifice his brother's flight (almost) and cause untold suffering to the whole of Azeroth simply for himself.
Things get so complicated when time travel gets involved, I'll tell you.
"Time is less of a circular pattern as it is a gigantic tangle of threads" - and the term you are looking for is Timey Wimey....Stuff.
Vitos Nov 27th 2011 6:24PM
I don't think he's being selfish even if he did 'arrange' the destruction of the Blue Dragonflight. He sees that we need to kill him. And he sees that Murazond won't confront us unless he has to, so Noz has to arrange it so that there is something that Murazond would protect with his life.
ChaosPrime Nov 27th 2011 6:34PM
It's not really for himself, as to stop himself. The loss of all those due to Deathwing would be nothing If the whole of time could be undone if he wasn't stopped.
ThatGuy Nov 27th 2011 6:58PM
i wouldnt say "selfish" as the end result of these machinations is making it so its possible for him to go insane and kill himself.
We where worried in wrath that Noz might be usurping his flight in order to save himself. but it looks more like DESPITE knowing he will go mad and try to usurp himself later, that he is doing what is necessary in order to make it happen.
In other words he COULD try to save himself, but he is going to sacrifice himself to keep the timelines as they should be...or something. Either way he dies in the end of all this so he isnt doing it for his benefit.
I wonder if Nozdormu is trying to make the timelines as they should be by manipulating them for certian results (He knew before he got his power how he was suppose to die, so even if he has to change the past, as long as the future is how it was told to him by amun'thul it is correct and as it should be) while His negative self said something that makes it sounds like He (Morzdornu or w/e) knows something AMun'thul doesnt.
In other words The titan gave norzdormu a path he needs to follow even if it means his own death, while Future Evil Norzdoru sees this path is wrong (in some way) and knows something his creator doesnt and is trying to change it.
Once again the titan's lack of forsight (or machinations) are destroying and reshaping azeroth.
Akawaka Nov 27th 2011 7:02PM
Although an interesting timey whimy thing in regards to Noz being responsible for the near extinction of the Blues, try this.....
The current Noz of the present knows that a fully "sane" Maly will not react well to the Azeroth we create in WoW. So Noz knows Maly will have to be taken out, but most importantly is who will replace him, Kalec. Kalec is a unique Blue and Dragon overal for having the hardest to find quality; Humility. He will stand for his flight but also knows the value of mortals very well. For Kalec to become the Aspect he does and in so doing (if anyone read the BEAUTIFUL scene of him becoming the aspect.) usher in a new age of not just power but rebirth for his flight. If Maly had lived and not been challenged by us his succesor would most likely have been his son who is shown to not have the spirit to become a true Aspect, let alone one as great as Kalec.
So although Noz allows the Blues to be sacrificed in the War of the Ancients, perhaps he knows this must happen for them to be reborn into a much stronger, humbler and SANE flight, to a degree they had never acheived before.
Just a thought......
paul.morales91 Nov 29th 2011 10:39AM
@akawaka: an excellent point and while I beleive you are correct, it goes a lot deeper than that. Being the aspect of time and having knowledge of all the timeways, Nozdormu must have known of Neltharion's madness long before it became apparent to the rest of the dragonflights. This also means he KNEW deathwing would wipe out nearly all of the blues, meaning he knew of Malygos's madness and that a band of adventurers would rise up to stop him. And remember, before Kalecgos was appointed the new aspect, the blues were a solitary flight, mostly keeping to themselves. Had Malygos remained in charge, the blues would likely have been unconvinced to join with the other dragonflights to stop deathwing until it was too late, and he CERTAINLY wouldn't have been convinced to help them stop Chromatus.
So now the question becomes this: if Nozdormu knew about deathwings madness all along, why didn't he stop it long before Deathwing reached the climax of his power and already set the end of the world in motion. Because the simple truth is this: even with deathwing out of the picture, the old gods still exist, as would the elemental lords as would the Twilights Hammer cult. The mortal races would have become too complacent and reliant on the dragonflights to protect them. If the aspects hadn't been utterly decimated, they would have absolutely crushed the invading orcs in the first and second wars, meaning Thrall wouldn't have existed, meaning no one could unite the remaining four aspects, meaning the world would be helpless against the assault of the old gods. It may not seem like it now, but this was the best possible outcome for history. Every path, every timeline, the world ends either at the hands of the burning legion or the will of the old gods. Except this one.
Revnah Nov 27th 2011 5:05PM
One disc to rule them all!
-sorry, couldn't resist xD
Darky Nov 27th 2011 8:45PM
My priest agrees!
vendeurfrancais Nov 27th 2011 5:58PM
wasn't that video made in warcraft 3? i mean it has the same textures and border.
Rufin Nov 27th 2011 6:12PM
Yes, you can make movies and your own missions through the Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne Editor. This was fan made.
icepyro Nov 27th 2011 5:59PM
And this is why I dislike time travel.
Given an infinite number of possibilities and permutations, anything is possible. Given anything is possible, all outcomes can be accounted for or manipulated into being. Given all outcomes can be accounted for, the resulting outcome can be also be accounted for or manipulated into being.
As a result, what starts as really poorly written material, full of contradictions, can be logically expanded upon and reduced until the desired outcome is achieved.
"A wizard did it" becomes a Xanatos Gambit given enough iterations, and apparently Blizz has finally achieved enough iterations for us to believe any of it. They don't even have to write the story anymore. Instead, they can just don a tin foil hat and talk to their fellow lore nerds then make it happen.
Kind of like that fake list of expansions coming to semi-fruition. It's fake, or is it? What if the author simply claimed it was fake so enough people would believe it's fake so he could keep his job/freedom/beta/whatever. Or what if it is fake, but made Blizzard realize they needed a long term goal and ended up using this fake list, modified for current gaming, as the source of a real list.
Or how Wikipedia has been cited as a source by a source cited by Wikipedia and thus inadvertently changing reality.Too bad the best known case of this has now reverted back to reality with major media in Germany actually going back and adding footnotes and ninja corrections to their articles.
Of course, the best part is when logic comes full circle (or more correctly, back to being a single line). There is only one reality, regardless of dimensions, timelines, and other possibilities. If time travel does exist, then logically what many call fate is, in fact, more real than reality itself.
Boobah Nov 29th 2011 1:40AM
THIS. Oh so very much.
If Nozdormu can use time travel to accomplish anything (which is pretty much where Anne's going with this) it really doesn't matter what anybody else does, because clearly ol' Nozzie can take a quick jaunt around the problem and 'correct' things until he gets the right answer.
Worse, the whole 'vision of his own death' thing wasn't presented as a guideline; it was a reminder that Nozdormu was mortal, and that there are limits to even the power he was granted. Noz didn't have to do anything to cause his end; there was simply no way for him to avoid it.
You don't go a-murderin' (or even aiding and abettin') to ensure that rocks fall when you drop them. You take note that rocks fall, and use that knowledge to your advantage when appropriate, but you don't convince a psychopath to murder to make sure it happens.
sidenote: The Blues weren't decimated. That would have been downright merciful. A group that's been decimated is still mostly alive; usually has really bad morale, but 90% of them aren't dead.
muffin_of_chaos Nov 27th 2011 6:22PM
It's always gonna come back to Murozond from now on, isn't it?
It is "Muro-" not "Mura" btw.
Caden Reigns Nov 27th 2011 6:42PM
I love most of the tin foiling and general lore in these articles, my only problem comes when talking about norzdomu/murzond's end. Yes, we now know that norz was in charge of the infinites as most guessed around the bronze quest in dragonblight, but what I think people forget is that as soon as we get the dragonsoul the future where we kill murzond ceases to be. You can speculate about what murzond planned, maybe even that he created multiple timelines to escape death, but you can't count the infinites out just cause the leader dies in a theoretical future that we make never happen.
thegatherer Nov 27th 2011 9:16PM
Is that timeline destroyed? Just because it is not the one we are currently in does not mean it is destroyed. You have to ask, in the WoW universe, when an event "changes" in a given time line, is that time line broken because it is no longer "true" or does it branch from the time line where it "changed"
We know there are multiple time lines in WoW. It is assumed that there are multiple because of meddling from "adventurers from the future/past" to preserve OUR present. Meaning the one where we ultimately don't inadvertently free the Old Gods (as a previous KYL: TFH stated).
And since Norz is kinda outside all the timelines/in all of them as one, when he dies, there is no other Norz to straighten out the timeline. He. Is. Gone. Therefore, when he sends you to kill himself, he is dead, no questions to ask. Meaning if he created a separate time line to hide in, if he died in any of them, he would be dead. Period.
Irregardless of what time line Norz dies in, he is dead. No alternates. Dead.
Raposa Nov 28th 2011 12:03AM
@thegatherer
that creates a problem. if Nozdormu (or Murozond) is outside the timelines and/or in all of them as one, and dies eventually, he should be dead all along. Even if his dead has not yet come to pass in your timeline, it did in some future, which should kill him in all timelines.
and that doesnt make any sense.
too much time traveling makes everything too complicated and kinda ruins it. that makes me agree with Icepyro up there ^
Jayjay Nov 27th 2011 7:11PM
Time is less of a circular pattern because it is, in fact, a big mess of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey...stuff.
Couldn't resist that either :)
Great column as always.
ironsson2012 Nov 27th 2011 8:40PM
ok
thegatherer Nov 27th 2011 9:06PM
With all this talk about the Bronze Dragonflight, I must ask, will we ever see an Infinite Chromie?