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Dragons in Shadowlands - Expansion Lore Hints from Ahead of the Curve Mounts
RPT
Publié
26/12/2019 à 16:13
par
perculia
While Shadowlands easily lends itself to speculation about the Titans and ongoing storylines surrounding Bolvar, Vol'jin, and Tyrande, the Ny'alotha Ahead of the Curve mount hints at ongoing stories for the dragonflights. The past three Ahead of the Curve mounts have tied into the next expansion's story, so in this article, we'll look at how the Uncorrupted Voidwing could hint at Shadowlands developments.
Past Ahead of the Curve Mounts
In the past few expansions, defeating the final boss in an expansion on Heroic difficulty awarded a guaranteed mount. While not all of these mounts made sense in the context of the expansion's current story, they fit thematically into the greater narrative.
Mists - Kor'kron War Wolf
Rênes du loup de guerre kor'kron
, rewarded from Siege of Orgrimmar, represents the elite forces that serve the Warchief. Under Garrosh's leadership in Mists of Pandaria, the Kor'kron guard grew increasingly xenophobic, comprised mostly of Orcs defending Garrosh to the bitter end.
Rênes du loup de guerre kor'kron
does thematically fit Siege of Orgrimmar, although it's an odd choice to cap off the expansion which predominately featured Pandaren lore.
However
Rênes du loup de guerre kor'kron
also fits the next expansion, Warlords of Draenor, in which Garrosh travelled back in time to prevent the Orcish clans from drinking the Blood of Mannoroth, uniting the Warchiefs under the Iron Horde banner. This expansion predominately explored Orcish lore, with spikes, tusks, and wolves featured prominently in the expansions aesthetics.
Warlords - Grove Warden
Rênes de gardien du Bosquet
, rewarded from Hellfire Citadel, is a nature-themed moose from the Emerald Dream--a bit far afield from the "savage" aesthetics of Tanaan Jungle and the Iron Horde.
Rênes de gardien du Bosquet
was added with Patch 6.2.3, launched soon after BlizzCon 2015 which revealed the inclusion of the Emerald Nightmare and Val'sharah in the
Legion
expansion.
As transitioning between AU Draenor and the Legion was a big leap, Blizzard needed to add story elements to make the jump more plausible. The
Vestige de Chaos
needed for
L’ombre du Profanateur
was our first tie-in for the
Emerald Nightmare
. Upon turning in the quest, we receive more foreshadowing for the
Legion
expansion:
Malfurion: This... you are certain this came from the Defiler himself?
Malfurion: I have encountered this power once before, within the depths of the Emerald Dream, near an abyss known as the Rift of Aln.
Malfurion: That place radiated an ancient evil with such intensity that we dared not venture closer.
Malfurion: It was all we could do to attempt to seal the taint away from the rest of the Dream. But it appears that we failed.
Malfurion: And now, to find a fragment of that power in the hands of the Legion? A terrible portent....
Malfurion: I must return to the place of my tutelage, the primal groves of Val'sharah, to seek guidance.
Malfurion: By giving us warning of this danger, you may have saved us all. Please speak with Keeper Remulos before you depart.
Xavius
, located in the Rift of Alm, was the final boss for the Emerald Nightmare raid, and the repercussions of the Val'sharah storyline and Ysera's death are still playing out in WoW's current story--first in the
Heart of Azeroth Essence Questline
which took us to the Emerald Dream and the
Vestige du Vide
, and later in Ardenweald, a Shadowlands zone that's the darkened reflection of the Emerald Dream and the
continuation of Tyrande's story
.
We then saw the evil twin of
Rênes de gardien du Bosquet
, the
Rênes profanées
from the
Gloire à l’écumeur de raids de Legion
achievement, from the first raid in Legion.
Legion - Violet Spellwing
Cristal d'invocation du Kirin Tor
, rewarded from Antorus the Burning Throne, is a shimmering bird, quite different in appearance from the fel and demonic aesthetic of
Legion
. The mount does tie in with
Legion
, as the Kirin Tor played a prominent role and Khadgar uses a mount similar to the Violet Spellwing.
The turn-in quest
Le sang d’un Titan
, while referencing Argus, could easily fit
Battle for Azeroth
by its name alone, as we spent most of the next expansion collecting Azeroth's blood for our Hearts.
Khadgar's dialogue also foreshadowed the war between the Alliance and Horde, the importance of Magni in the upcoming story, and the power of Azeroth's blood:
Khadgar: The Legion is defeated, its master imprisoned. But in his final, spiteful act, Sargeras may have doomed us all.
Khadgar: This mere drop of Argus's blood surges with incredible power. The might of a titan.
Khadgar: Our world is wounded, champion. Its life essence seeps out into the sands... just as Magni foresaw.
Khadgar: If the blood of Azeroth also proves to be a source of such strength... those who seek to rule this world will stop at nothing to possess it.
Khadgar: The days ahead may be dark indeed. For now... go to Silithus. Gaze upon the wound in the world with your own eyes.
Khadgar: We will find a way to save Azeroth, <name>. I know it.
Unlike the
Warlords
mount, revealed after
Legion
was announced, we had no expansion reveal providing additional context for
Cristal d'invocation du Kirin Tor
. The quest and its surrounding text was the first hints for
Battle for Azeroth
preceding BlizzCon 2017.
Battle for Azeroth - Uncorrupted Voidwing
This brings us to the
Aile-du-Vide non corrompue
, a reward from the Ny'alotha raid. This mount thematically relates to the Visions of N'Zoth patch, but based on the history with past AotC mounts, we shouldn't rule out hints for a future expansion.
As we
learn in Karazhan
, Wrathion has been working hard to undo the corruption of the Old Gods:
The insight I gained from the tower's library allowed me 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.
In Visions of N'Zoth, Wrathion crafts a
legendary cloak
for us and sends us into Horrific Visions to build up our resistance to N'Zoth's corruption.
The Twilight Dragonflight, created to serve N'Zoth, has also played a persistent supporting role in recent expansions, making a comeback in the Shaman Order Hall for
Le Maître du Crépuscule
and returning in full force in Patch 8.2 with the
Assault on Vermillion Redoubt
. Vexiona, one of the bosses in Ny'alotha, leads the attack on the red dragonflight in the Vermillion Redoubt.
The
Aile-du-Vide non corrompue
has the flavor text "This spawn of Vexiona, cleansed by Wrathion, comes from a flight with a fractured past and uncertain future" which leaves the story open for future developments. If one Twilight Dragon can be cleansed, why not more?
The quest text for
Le Vol perdu
further emphasizes what a big deal it is that this whelpling, raised so close to N'Zoth, was able to be cleansed:
A small dragon emerges from one of the side chambers found within N'Zoth's great carapace. It appears confused. You surmise that such chambers must have been used to corrupt the dragons, exposing them directly to N'Zoth's dark whispers. At a young age, they would be driven mad, moreso than any other members of the twilight dragonflight that you had met before. There would be no turning back from such madness. But maybe it's not too late for this one...>
Wrathion cleansing a corrupted whelping against all odds nicely parallels his own upbringing as an uncorrupted Black Dragon. And the dragonflights finally regroup as we prepare for Ny'alotha, echoing their unity as we prepared for Dragon Soul. Of course, much has changed since then, most notably the loss of the dragonflights' power.
Kalecgos: I am relieved that the Horde and Alliance have focused their ire toward N'Zoth... and away from each other.
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder: Agreed. Each time they have waged war, the world has paid the price.
Merithra of the Dream: Then why did we not intervene and bring an end to their conflict before so many lives were lost?
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder: It is not our place to impose our will upon the mortal races. To do so would make us tyrants.
Wrathion: There is a difference between issuing edicts and offering guidance. What say you, Ebyssian?
Dragons in Shadowlands
While the
Aile-du-Vide non corrompue
wraps up Wrathion's immediate redemption arc, as he goes from someone out to kill all Black Dragons to one that cleanses a corrupted whelpling, the fate of the Dragonflights remains open in Shadowlands.
With parallels made between Ardenweald and the Emerald Dream, and the
Emerald Dream under attack
in
Rise of Azshara
, there's a convenient opening to continue exploring the growing Remnant of the Void, fate of Ysera, and the new purpose of the Twilight Dragonflight.
Wrathion is someone prone to dramatic gestures--eradicating the Black Dragonflight, eating the heart of a Titan, defeating N'Zoth--and it's unlikely he'd want to stop at cleansing just one whelp. Now that he is concerned with leaving a lasting legacy for the Black Dragonflight, he may want to cleanse and save as many dragonflights as possible now that he's stumbled upon a solution to saving one. Besides the Twilight Dragonflight, those flights which aided mortals in Dragon Soul still struggle to recover from the war against Deathwing, which drained much of their powers, ability to reproduce, and inadvertently destroyed the eggs remaining in their Sanctums. Revisiting the dragonflights could further develop the strands of Wrathion's plot from
Battle for Azeroth
, and hopefully result in new story developments for the remaining dragonflights, either allowing them to reproduce or reclaim some of their magical powers so they can continue to play notable roles in upcoming expansions without going extinct.
While it's unlikely that the immediate story in
Shadowlands
would dive into dragon lore, the renewed emphasis on the Lich King, Icecrown, and other aspects of Northrend could mean we'd return to Galakrond, the proto-drake who devoured and raised his prey as undead. Bolvar also has a long and complicated history with the dragonflights, as he was purified and disfigured by the Red Dragonflight after Wrathgate, allowing him to withstand the Lich King's blight and torture. Xal'atath, whereabouts unknown, also commented on the power of Galakrond, noting "A powerful dragon could be a powerful tool. Alas, gone are the days of Galakrond" - so who is to say she wouldn't want to use Galakrond for her plans..or another powerful character?
With Bolvar in
Shadowlands
now leading the new generation of Death Knights, we'll have to confront the lie Tirion Fordring told Azeroth years ago--that Bolvar Fordragon simply died heroically in battle. Galakrond has a similar lie behind his demise--the Aspects spread the rumor that the Titans created the dragonflights from Galakrond, when in reality, Galakrond was likely mutated by accident by Watcher Tyr, eventually growing in power and devouring others to the point where the five Aspects had to kill him themselves. If
Shadowlands
explores the messy reality behind fictional heroic narratives, then Galakrond's story could be a good inclusion.
We've also recently seen
Hearthstone
explore the rise of Galakrond in the
Descent of Dragons expansion
. Both
WoW
and
Hearthstone
influence each other in playful ways, with details from
Hearthstone
later finding their way into WoW such as the Tortollan faction, Zandalari Paladins, and Recruit a Friend rewards themed after the Rise of Explorers. N'Zoth's appearance, kept a secret in WoW's data throughout Battle for Azeroth, was even first revealed through Hearthstone card art.
Now in the Descent of Dragons expansion, the League of E.V.I.L has revived Galakrond, manifested as a beefy hero card with class-specific abilities. While
WoW
likely wouldn't borrow the same plot points from
Hearthstone
, it's interesting to speculate that Galakrond could play a larger role later on in
Shadowlands
, brought back to aid one of the denizens of Death in a power struggle. Or as
Shadowlands
explores the realms of Death, perhaps we'd find Galakrond--and other dragons--already present in these realms which could set up neat interactions between the surviving and fallen dragons.
The Ahead of the Curve mounts have hinted at plot points in unexpected ways, so while the dragonflights have been absent from
Shadowlands
promotional materials, there's always a chance they could play a role in the upcoming story. Just as the past three AotC mounts have tied in with their upcoming expansions, so could the
Aile-du-Vide non corrompue
with
Shadowlands
. There's plenty of rich untapped dragon lore, including Wrathion's tantalizing hints of searching for the Dragon Isles, and with dragons on the brink of extinction, a fresh story twist is needed to keep them thriving on Azeroth for future expansions.
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