Know Your Lore: Wrathion the Purified

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.
While we've been busy putting Cho'gall in his place, dealing with Nefarian, and otherwise addressing Elemental Lords Al'Akir and Ragnaros, the rest of Azeroth has been busy in its own way. Players wandering through the Badlands are taken along on quests to help the red dragon Rheastrasza perform a bit of important research on the black dragons. Though at first it seems as though Rhea's work is mundane, her ultimate plans are soon revealed.
Rheastrasza is attempting to find one purified, untainted black dragon egg. And she's successful, but the egg is in immediate danger. Deathwing doesn't want this egg to exist, and he'll do anything to get rid of it. The egg has been shuffled around constantly, hidden from Deathwing's sight -- a faint shred of hope in the post-Cataclysm world.
... unfortunately, nobody bothered asking the egg's opinion on the subject.
Today's Know Your Lore contains spoilers for the rogue legendary quest line.
While we've been busy putting Cho'gall in his place, dealing with Nefarian, and otherwise addressing Elemental Lords Al'Akir and Ragnaros, the rest of Azeroth has been busy in its own way. Players wandering through the Badlands are taken along on quests to help the red dragon Rheastrasza perform a bit of important research on the black dragons. Though at first it seems as though Rhea's work is mundane, her ultimate plans are soon revealed.
Rheastrasza is attempting to find one purified, untainted black dragon egg. And she's successful, but the egg is in immediate danger. Deathwing doesn't want this egg to exist, and he'll do anything to get rid of it. The egg has been shuffled around constantly, hidden from Deathwing's sight -- a faint shred of hope in the post-Cataclysm world.
... unfortunately, nobody bothered asking the egg's opinion on the subject.
Today's Know Your Lore contains spoilers for the rogue legendary quest line.
Rheastrasza had only the best interests of the dragonflights at heart when she captured the black dragon Nyxondra, forcing her to produce eggs for Rhea's research. If Rhea could somehow find an untainted black dragon egg, it would mean that the black flight could continue to exist free from the corruption of the Old Gods. After all, the Red Dragonflight is all about the preservation of life; to wipe out every black dragon on the face of Azeroth is an action that flies in the face of their duty. But if the Red Dragonflight could somehow find a way to preserve the black dragons, it would mean that the Black Dragonflight would continue to live on, if with a slightly different perspective.
Deathwing was corrupted by the Old Gods, turned against his winged brethren back in the days of the War of the Ancients. The rest of his flight quickly followed suit -- and the maddened, chaotic mind of black dragons became a common trait of the flight. But what if a dragon could be produced free of that corruption, free of any influence of the Old Gods? What would a black dragon be, if it were free of Deathwing and the Old God's corruption?
The Red Dragonflight took the egg that Rhea nobly sacrificed her life for and hid it away at the Vermillion Redoubt in the Twilight Highlands. There, it would be kept safe until it hatched and the black dragon could be raised far from the eyes of his maddened father. But the egg abruptly disappeared. What Rheastrasza and the others failed to realize was one minor, irrefutable fact.
Black dragons as a whole are a bunch of incorrigible bastards.

Once at the manor, it didn't take long for the egg to hatch. Calling himself Wrathion, the one and only untainted and pure black dragon of his kind thought long and hard about his future. He didn't wish to be raised by a bunch of red dragons; he didn't wish to be in the spotlight at all. In fact, the only thing he really wanted was to be left alone, free to live his own life without having to worry about being some sort of shining example to black dragon society.
Though Rheastrasza and perhaps the rest of the Red Dragonflight had grand visions for Wrathion's future -- visions of a world in which the Black Dragonflight could repopulate free of the madness of Deathwing -- Wrathion's goals did not echo their sentiments. He could have been a savior of Azeroth, the new Aspect of Earth, or any other number of shining accomplishments, but Wrathion was far more interested in solitude. But first, there was the pesky matter of the Red Dragonflight trying to get him back that needed to be addressed.
Once the Red Dragonflight was warned away from any further meddling, Wrathion was then free to continue with his task -- or rather, free to assign someone else to do the dirty work for him. This is where rogues come into play. Wrathion's ultimate goal is to eliminate the last of Deathwing's family and live his life alone and unnoticed by any who would even think of looking for him. In payment for each successful elimination, Wrathion offers some surprisingly effective weapons for any rogue who completes the tasks.
The first target is a dragon disguised as a human using the name Creed. Creed disguised himself as a Gilnean and deluded a group of Gilneans into thinking they could take their land back. Not only this, but he's corrupted the humans of Gilneas with his essence, the very thing Wrathion is trying to prevent. And so capable rogues are sent in to sneak past the sentries and dispatch Creed as soon as possible. Once completed, Wrathion hands over a fine set of daggers, Fear and Vengeance. But that's not the end of Wrathion's plot.
Next, players are sent to the Dragon Soul raid to collect Shadowy Gems, faceted jewels that the Twilight's Hammer uses to control powerful elementals. Once collected, Wrathion sends rogues on to the next target, a familiar face for those who played through Wrath content: Nalice, formerly the ambassador of the Black Dragonflight to the Wyrmrest Accord.

From the Master's Cellar, Nalice is performing some sort of arcane experiments. Again, the details of these experiments are unclear at this point, but one can assume that if it has anything to do with the massive amount of power concentrated in and around Karazhan, there's nothing good to come of it. Once Nalice is defeated, Wrathion has one more target -- and one final task. His father, Deathwing, must be defeated, and the lucky rogue who manages to do so, live, and bring back a piece of Deathwing's shell is richly rewarded.
This is why the Fangs of the Father continually gain their strange appearance reminiscent of the Old Gods. Rogues aren't just building any daggers; they are building daggers infused with the essence of dragons that have been tainted by the Old Gods. Using that essence in conjunction with the daggers creates a product that is as deadly and tainted as the members of Deathwing's brood.
But Wrathion isn't all bad, for a black dragon. He could have gone out and slaughtered all the mortals who were working for Creed and for Nalice. Instead, he spares their lives, preferring to send in a rogue sneaky enough to get by all the mortal followers and strike at the heart of the corruption. Though he may be devious and conniving, Wrathion doesn't blame the mortals assisting these black dragons. He knows that they are simply under the influence of powers greater than their own and will revert back to their own destinies and their own lives when left to their own devices.

Though Rheastrasza's grand experiments didn't result in the savior of Azeroth, her work wasn't done in vain. Wrathion may wish to simply be left alone, but in the process, he managed to eliminate -- with some help, of course -- any last vestiges of Deathwing's corrupted flight on Azeroth. These final few black dragons weren't even considered as threats by the rest of the world that is completely focused on Deathwing's demise. Of course, there's still the matter of Baron Sablemane over on Draenor, but that's out of the scope of Wrathion's sight, and Sablemane is likely not worth caring about at this point anyway.
Wrathion is simply a black dragon -- not a savior, not a benevolent ruler, not an Aspect of Earth. After all is said and done, Wrathion takes his leave and presumably disappears into the sunset as the first and last of his kind. Deathwing's demise signals a new age, an age of mortals -- not an age where dragons will rise to power and glory. Thankfully, though Wrathion is as devious and cunning as any black dragon around, he seems to lack the lust for power and control that the others of his kind prized above all. In the end, this should probably be viewed as an asset.
For more information on related subjects, please look at these other Know Your Lore entries:
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.
Wrathion is simply a black dragon -- not a savior, not a benevolent ruler, not an Aspect of Earth. After all is said and done, Wrathion takes his leave and presumably disappears into the sunset as the first and last of his kind. Deathwing's demise signals a new age, an age of mortals -- not an age where dragons will rise to power and glory. Thankfully, though Wrathion is as devious and cunning as any black dragon around, he seems to lack the lust for power and control that the others of his kind prized above all. In the end, this should probably be viewed as an asset.
For more information on related subjects, please look at these other Know Your Lore entries:
- Azeroth's savior and the Badlands
- The Black Dragonflight
- The Red Dragonflight
- Cataclysm's end
- Sinestra and the Night of the Dragon
- The Old Gods
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
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Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Omegan01 Dec 19th 2011 1:36AM
Everything about Wrathion rubs me the wrong way.
First his name. 'Wrathion.' Every time I read it I feel like a brain cell's been killed. At least 'Nefarian' was amusing in the blending of 'nefarious' into a black dragon name. 'Wrathion' just takes a word and bolts it onto the -ion suffix for "oooh, more dragon-y" factor. This is why you don't let little kids name themselves.
Second the way he looks. Good god. He looks like some kind of clockwork toy built like a cheap Prince Ali knockoff dunked in pastel paints. He looks godawful. This is why you don't let little kids dress themselves.
Third his attitude. Why is he such a dick? Seriously? Old-school uncorrupted black dragons weren't dicks. When we saw Neltharion's first appearance in the War of the Ancients trilogy (granted at which point he was already corrupt, but he was still maintaining his friendly demeanour) he was suave, thoughtful, and humoruous. A sort of laid-back Don Juan to contrast Malygos' more energetic friendly-nerd personality and Nozdormu's cool aloofness. Wrathion comes across as more of a wannabe John Malkovich villain. This is why you don't let little kids run around unsupervised.
Fourth his attitude. Sorry, I'm still on this. The red dragon agent in the cutscene is being pretty damned reasonable when he points out that a ten-ton dragon could potentially drop by. Wrathion makes posturing noises about how they should fear him but...seriously? What if so much as one of them found out he'd survived and told their boss? What if Deathwing came by and dropped the entire remainders of the black and twilight dragonflights on the guy? You almost got char-broiled once dude, don't push your luck. This is why you don't let little kids play in hazardous areas.
Fifth his attitude. Yeah, I'm -still- on this. One top of all else, he says he wants the guy to go tell the red dragons that he wants to be left alone...then tells Fahrad to break the guy's legs. Hey genius, how's he gonna go tell the dragons now? You gonna make Fahrad carry him? What if the red dragons take offence to the needless violence? There's no faster way to make a character look like an unmitigated slimeball than a scene like this. This is why you don't let little kids play with sharp things.
Sixth his motives. This attitude of "I just want to be left alone" doesn't just strike me as obnoxiously immature, but also incredibly lazy on Blizzard's part. The dragon aspects just got depowered and the new potential black dragon prince doesn't want to be an aspect? HOW CONVENIENT. No, seriously, that's pretty damned convenient. It smacks of Blizzard rushing to cover up plot holes and loose threads so that Cataclysm and all it brought to the table can be done, done, DONE. Kalecgos' portrayal in that short story is right up the same alley. How UTTERLY convenient for the Blizz team that both the new blue aspect and the potential black aspect are ultimately quite happy not having to be aspects. This is why you don't let little kids choose their career before they finish elementary school.
Seventh, that even though everyone could do the quest chain with him as an egg, only rogues - and only a subset thereof - get to see what he's like now. asdfasdfadf. Thanks Blizz. I don't even have a kiddy joke for this one.
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Bleh. I dunno. Everything about the uncorrupted black dragon egg screamed with potential, and the Rheastrasza quest line was incredibly well-done and touching. But with 4.3, it just feels to me like Blizzard did everything they could to write Wrathion (ugh, that NAME) out of the picture as fast as possible. And for me, it just feels like they hit every single wrong note possible with his character. Wrathion (nnnngh) feels like the draconic equivalent of a high school junior who dresses all in black and bemoans his horrible fate of graduating from a cushy high school, groans about the curtailment of his destiny by his suberbanite parents, and the utter AGONY of driving a Ford instead of a Lexus. I shook my head at that kid then and frankly, I don't like him any more now.
Andres Dec 19th 2011 2:17AM
That's my problem with "Star Wars", frankly. "Darth Plagueis"? " Darth Sidious"? " Darth Malgus"? " Darth Talon"? "Bib Fortuna"? "Grand Moff Tarkin"? "Darth Millenial"? "Salacious Crumb"?
At least when Blizzard makes silly names, they're usually SUPPOSED to be silly.
Pyromelter Dec 19th 2011 2:33AM
Part of being on a legendary quest is getting some cool lore for your eyes only. It's not that hard to level these days, and if you really wanna see it, you can use your guild lockout or pay another guild a few thousand gold to pick pocket the quest item, and then go on the quest yourself.
Also, teenagers made bad/weird decisions. So he's doing that, so what. Also, there is more to it than he just wants to be left alone. He wants the Red Dragonflight to leave him alone, basically telling them to stay out of his business. And as the questline goes on, you find out his business is very much like Michael Corleone at the end of The Godfather (1).
So like, just chill out, it's a game, who cares if it's stupid. And to Andres, you didn't even mention the worst name ever... I won't even say it because the name just makes me want to rip those flappy ears off and beat george lucas over the head with them.
Emophia Dec 19th 2011 3:48AM
You're a douche.
bitleech Dec 19th 2011 7:12AM
Yes he is rather emo, but then hes also a teenager, so whatever, as long as he gives me daggers and keeps the hanging black hair tucked into his turban.
Also, about the leg breaking comment, dragons dont need their legs to fly. Though I do wonder how or even if broken legs in human form would translate on dragon form.
Skarlette Dec 20th 2011 2:28AM
Omegan01, you said pretty much exactly what I've been thinking. I was giddy with the possibilities after doing Rhea's quest line way back in the Cataclysm beta, and the reality of Wrathion (yeah, that name makes me cringe, too) was very disappointing. There are so many plot holes and unanswered questions surrounding him that it gives me a headache.
It's just silly. I can buy the fact that dragons are aware, maturing, sentient, hearing while inside the egg. He still seems awfully knowledgeable and well-spoken for a being who is so young, but hey, dragons are special. I can allow all that, even if it seems a bit too convenient.
But how did he know all about the Old Gods, Deathwing's past, etc.? Did a bored red dragon sit down by his egg and ramble off a bunch of exposition just for laughs? Even if he did manage to overhear enough about the state of the black dragonflight to piece together all that, how did he know about the rogues of Ravenholdt? There would be no reason for the reds to talk about them. And then how did he contact them? Do baby dragons somehow have long-distance telepathy powers?
Nobody around Ravenholdt looks or dresses like his human form, so how in the world did he dream up that djinn-inspired outfit? I guess he saw it in a book or something?
There must have also been some pretty advanced books on dagger-making and magic in the Ravenholdt library, because assembling a legendary is not something most little kids can do.
Who named him? I can't imagine Alexstrasza's folk naming him WRATHion, as that's kind of the opposite of what they were hoping his path would be. And it would be strange for him to pick that name himself if he really just wants to be left alone, isn't seeking revenge against anyone, and is trying to be altruistic by not killing off the mortal assistants of Nalice and Creed (which is another bizarre name for a dragon that doesn't even follow the -ion naming convention, leading me to believe it's a pseudonym, but we never learn his real name as far as I know...correct me if I'm wrong.)
Sorry for rambling and ranting, but Wrathion (/cringe) just makes me so frustrated. He should have been awesome, but he's just a confusing, jumbled mess, and the wasted potential really bugs me.
Spy Dec 19th 2011 3:44AM
Hang on what about Deathwing's son? I forget his name but the guy in the cave in Dragonblight? He all but disowns his father so is he corrupt too? Or has everyone just forgotten about him?
Killik Dec 19th 2011 6:01AM
Do you mean Serinar, in the Black Dragonshrine? I don't remember anything about him being Deathwing's son...
antkibo Dec 19th 2011 12:19PM
Leveling a rogue... ASAP
Blightmare Dec 19th 2011 2:55PM
why the red dragon guy whispers he actually whispers to you... SO COOL1!
larsonjakea Dec 19th 2011 4:52PM
/roll
goldeneye Dec 20th 2011 3:24AM
I never knew eggs had opinions ...
Taross Dec 22nd 2011 6:41AM
I just find it amusing that most of us, after dealing with Wrathion and possibly finishing the full quest strain are able to bid the LAST Black Dragon alive a farewell and then hop onto their black drake mount and fly of-waitwhat? :P
Also on how dragons are made... considering that there's now a potion that can turn you into a dragon, which is powered by something that is apparently Bronze Dragon blood, I think there's plenty of ways a pubescent Black Dragon can figure out ways of meeting up with non-corrupted kin.
(Personally it's my belief that the potion and the Bronze Dragon blood basically retroactively make one a sandstone dragon who has been using an alternative humanoid form for years... talk about stealthily populating a brood...)
JackOfAll Jan 25th 2012 2:33AM
Wrathion is voiced by Aaron Phillips! He's a fantastic voice actor, and does quite a bit of video game work.