Posts with tag chronormu

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.

You'd better believe there's going to be spoilers for War Crimes and Warlords of Draenor in this one, folks. If you're still reading, I can only assume you're absolutely fine with this. Because man oh man, are they coming.

If you played World of Warcraft during the patch 5.4 period, and you did any of the Timeless Isle, you probably know who Kairoz is. Kairoz, or Kairozdormu, is a bronze dragon that we first met on that aforementioned Timeless Isle, where he enlists players to aid him in the creation of a device known as the Vision of Time. After helping him do so by collecting mysterious Epoch Stones, which are infused with the bizarre magical power that keeps the Timeless Isle from being affected by the normal flow of time, Kairoz sends you to use the artifact in the very midst of the conflict between those forces loyal to then-Warchief Garrosh Hellscream and those seeking to depose him.

TV Tropes is justifiably known as one of the most dangerous sinkholes on the internet, and recently I spent hours winding my way through the entry on What Happened to the Mouse? For the uninitiated, the trope concerns secondary or minor characters and plot lines that go unresolved. Some better-known examples include the remaining dinosaur embryos in Jurassic Park, Saruman's fate in the film version of The Return of the King, and what happened to the Libyans in Back to the Future.

Probably the most famous unresolved story line in the history of WoW was that of The Missing Diplomat, which for years was an iconic Alliance quest in pursuit of the missing Stormwind king. You ended up in Dustwallow Marsh with Jaina Proudmoore's thanks for having tracked down one of the conspirators, and then ... silence. Until Wrath of the Lich King, players wondered what on earth had happened to King Wrynn.

Blizzard seems to be wrapping up a few stories that had been eluding players for a while (most recently, where Maeiv Shadowsong went after the battle with Illidan), but others remain. I have two personal favorites: The quest that Chromie gives you in Dragonblight that strongly hints at something weird going on with Nozdormu (admittedly, Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects sort of addresses this), and a question cryptically answered by Chris Metzen and Alex Afrasiabi in the first round of Ask CDev concerning the ultimate fate of Frostmourne. Is there any mouse-like storyline or quest thread you'd still like to see finished in game?

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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.

There are quite a lot of dragonflights all told. So far we've covered the red, black, blue, green, twilight and nether dragonflights. This time, we'll be talking about the Bronze Dragonflight, who are the shepherds and guardians of time itself. Whether it's monitoring anomalies in Andorhal, sending players back to prevent Thrall from running into packs of elites as if he expected motherly hugs and affection rather than fire and pain, or having you plant an hourglass in their dragonshrine and team up with yourself from the future, these guys are all about time. Nozdormu, their leader and father figure, is the Aspect of Time given his powers by Norgannon the Titan and also given certain knowledge of exactly when and where he's going to die to keep him humble. That sounds like a great plan, huh?

And it is indeed their time to be profiled. So suck it up, Anarchronos, we're going in. (I actually still have my Signet Ring of the Bronze Dragonflight and Band of the Eternal Defender in the bank. If nothing else, the Bronze Dragonflight used to be a reliable source for your ring needs.)

Chromie, the little champion of the Bronze Dragonflight, is quite possibly one of the most polarizing figures in World of Warcraft. You love her or you hate her. She's either adorably awesome, or irritatingly stupid. I, for one, hate her because I had to do her quests in Andorhal before they completely redesigned that part of the zone to suck less. My girlfriend thinks Chromie is the greatest thing since sliced bread. There's something you should know, though. Chromie is a man. Well, probably.

How can I make such outlandish accusations? Well, have you run Caverns of Time: The Culling of Stratholme? At the very end, you'll see that Chromie's Dragon form sports a pretty thick beard. More importantly than that, Chromie's Draconic name is Chronormu. Following the naming scheme of the Bronze Dragonflight, names ending with -ormu are male, and -ormi are female. The exceptions being those ending with -os (male) and -a (female) which are general dragon naming schemes. Were Chromie indeed a female, her name would be Chronormi and not Chronormu.

Chromie is a man. A man, or a woman who had very cruel parents.