The Story of War of the Scaleborn
As I said in my review, if you’re interested in dragons and the story of Dragonflight, if you’re curious about the formative years after the Aspects took care of Galakrond and became the Aspects… this book is definitely worth your time and I’d never be able to tell the story as well as the book does.
With that in mind, let’s go over some of the things that stood out for me:
Order-Infused Eggs
The story begins sometime after Galakrond has fallen to the team-up of Keeper Tyr and our now Aspects. We already learned the major reason behind the conflict as we’ve played through Dragonflight.
Vyranoth says: You promised me you would not force the Titans’ will upon us.
Vyranoth says: But the eggs, Alexstrasza.
Vyranoth says: You did nothing while your masters warped our children still in the shell!
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder says: That abhorrent act should never have happened.
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder says: And I regret my part in it every day.
Which made me wonder why this book wasn’t released at the start. Now, of course, there’s always production lines, and you don’t know what happened in the back-end, but this book would have been very valuable at the beginning of the expansion rather than at the end.
Now, in game, we got some books talking about Galakrond’s corruption by Yogg-Saron and Tyr messing with the life-giving waters of Azeroth, using it to infuse dragon eggs with the order magics. Then we learned more from the dungeon Tyrhold and the Keeper’s Vault itself, but for the longest time, we had no idea how Alexstrasza or the others looked upon the Keeper’s actions. Were they even aware that this is their origin? They still called him friend after all, even though he forced Order upon unborn children – surely someone like the Lifebinder would have some problems with this.
To say that she was completely down with that Keeper Tyr wanted would be wrong, but at the same time, she knew about it – and the other Aspects sanctioned it and full-blown lied about it to the world. Even up to the point where they were called out and they were like, “Where’s your proof, then? You can’t prove anything!” knowing full well what they did. This would also, after centuries of trying to stay neutral, eventually push Alexstrasza’s dear friend Vyranoth to become and side with the Primal Incarnates.
One lie, one choice, that pushed a lot of things in the future.
I will say, the reasons and story in the book I thought were kinda clever and well used. I imagine that the choice of Order magic being the catalyst was not the choice of the writer, but rather one of those story beats that had to get into the book from Blizzard’s side, and then it’s up to the author to weave it in here.
It starts with Tyr’s request: “Think carefully upon my words, Alexstrasza. I only wish to see you thrive.”
The Dragonflights must grow more quickly. Take primal dragon eggs from the wilds and infuse them with Order magic. Your flights must be prepared to defend Azeroth when the time comes.
Alexstrasza had balked at the idea, especially because it hadn’t been phrased as a request.
They then discuss it amongst each other, and fear the repercussions should they decline Tyr’s so-called request. What would happen if the Aspects defied the will of the Keepers? Would they be deprived of the blessings that had transformed their lives, forced to return to the unenlightened existences they had lived before? Or would their lights be snuffed out entirely, gnats before the might of gods?
No, Alexstrasza would not risk turning the Keeper against them, especially with Fyrakk raising a rebellion against the Broodlands. Were that terrible future to come to pass, the Aspects would need every ally they could call upon.
To soften the blow, they argued that the survival rate of primal dragons in the wilds was extremely low and that they could take better care of them. The Titan-forged were ordered to only steal abandoned eggs, but of course if parents just fly away from the nest a little while, the Titan-forged can’t tell the difference – and steal them they did, out of fear of what may or may not be.
Fear-Fueled Preparations for War
And the fear of the unknown pushes a lot of events in the war between the primals and the Aspects.
Not knowing what the other side was thinking or doing. Imagining the worst-case scenarios and wanting to be prepared. The Primalists feared that the dragons were going to force them to embrace their way of life and so we read about them gathering their forces. Iridikron especially will do anything he must to preserve THEIR way of life, scheming and plotting, spreading false rumors and attacking mortals. Funny enough, he had already spread the rumor of the dragons stealing their children and infusing them, not knowing that it was the truth.
In turn, fear for what was to come also had Neltharion do a whole bunch of things the light of day should never see – we played through that while exploring the Zaralak Caverns and his hidden laboratory. His dragonslaying dracthyr were one of the pre-emptive defenses he came up with, which Razsageth found out about and it pushed her to do what he feared: directly attack. Her imprisonment then led to retaliation.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Primalists are completely good and right, nor am I saying that the dragons did no wrong. There was stuff happening on both sides, some of it fueled by fear. I personally thought that the way they escalated the conflict with pre-emptive movements was rather clever and I can’t help but think back to what happened with our Wrathion.
His fear of the coming of the Legion, his actions to try and get the world ready to stand against it, actually made the next Legion invasion happen.
Wrathion says: …the fire that once burned the sky will return. It is inevitable. The Burning Legion WILL find Azeroth.
Wrathion says: Seas of blood, cities in ruins! Who are we – one divided world – to stand against a legion?
The connections don’t stop there either, as you might remember that we were the ones who created Wrathion by messing with his egg as well. Back then he told us:
Wrathion says: Don’t look so surprised! We dragons are conscious, even within our shells. As I grew, I could hear the plotting and scheming. I was to be born a prisoner.
While our intentions might have been pure, to restore and recreate a purified black dragon to stand in the defense of Azeroth, Wrathion wasn’t given a choice.
Now, what an opportunity here for Wrathion to learn about what they’ve done to these eggs, and side with Vyranoth and the Primalists for a while, be a bridge to learn more about their side of the story, and eventually get Vyranoth on our side as we see it in-game… but sadly that’s not how the story went.
They do make great use of the consciousness while still being inside of their eggs. Some of the primal, now-Orderd dragons, they remember being stolen from their nests. They remember “eyes in the rocks”, creatures that hide there and take them away. Or sometimes they dream about how it felt be to transformed – body, mind and soul. Future generations would simply be born from dragons, and have their parents and lineage, but these ones? These were taken away from where they belonged, and they don’t even have a family to call their own.
There’s definitely the argument to be made that the eggs wouldn’t have survived in the wilds anyway, but that doesn’t take away that for them… choice was removed. This pushes some amongst the flights to rebel and aid the Primal Incarnates during the war and with time, as they grow older and mature, some even have a change of heart again.
Others, while acknowledging that they were taken, don’t see it as a bad thing. What exactly did they lose? The right to die an early death in the wild? To have to fight and struggle for their existence, all so that they have a so-called choice?
Story in which one truth, one side of it does not wipe out everything else, and there’s something to be said from multiple angles.
That’s the origin of the war, and I’m hoping that in-game we’re to going to learn more about how Alexstrasza and the others look at Tyr now. We’re rebuilding the Keeper, are we going to confront him on anything? We’ve got a scenario in which it’s hinted that Alexstrasza is going to betray him, could this be her standing up to him? Standing against the path of Order? Make the choice that she was afriad to make back in the day?
I think it would be really interesting if they would make Tyr responsible for the corruption of Galakrond. That would put him as the source behind the Dawn of the Aspects, and could play strong connection with whatever it is that Iridikron wants from Galakrond.
I also really loved how they described that this war formed them – the dragons were created to be guardians of the world, and their fear of outside forces attacking them made them a hostile force. At some point, you read about children cackling as they take on the djaradin, and it was really cool to see how, while starting out with good intentions, the escalations slowly but surely formed them – made them more hostile, more like a warlike force. Really cool to see.
The Dragon Aspects
With that, let’s talk a bit about our main stars of the story, the Aspects and the Primal Incarnates:
The book has the opportunity to show what the Aspects were like in the very beginning. Empowering them to perform the different roles: guard time, life, the dream, earth, and magic – that’s great and all, but nobody is good at their job right at the start. They had to grow into these roles and into their powers, which works for all of them, but Nozdormu remains an interesting beasty.
I can really imagine that writing a character that can predict time must be incredibly difficult. Time and again, they need to nerf him down – he’s the superman of our tale – because having somebody there that can spoil the story just doesn’t really work. In this case, they’ve gone with the idea that the Bronze flight needs to grow into its powers, and they can’t see the future clearly – which leads to some of my favorite dialogue. At some point, they ask Nozdormu if the letter they received is the truth, to which the Bronze Aspect replies: “Sometimes.”
The gift of the High Father made him very cryptic, but also very useless. I get that you need to nerf his powers because somebody spoiling the plot is fun for nobody, but at the same time, he is still charged with keeping the so-called ‘true timeline’. Even in this book, they once again make mention of it, but how are you supposed to do that if you can’t see what the future is going to be? How are you going to guard the true timeline if you don’t know what the true timeline is? Personally, I wonder if it’s not time to let go of the idea of a “true” timeline because it’s very vague, it’s contradictive, and just doesn’t seem to work.
Now for Malygos the blue, he has some cool tricks and abilities that are used in some interesting ways, like an early version of the hearthstone – or creating illusionary armies. I do wish we would see more of that funny, humorful Blue Aspect that loved magic, the way he was described in the past. That part of his character doesn’t really get a chance to shine through.
Ysera does a lot of things offscreen and is mainly used to support her sister Alexstrasza, who definitely has one of the bigger roles in the story. It’s interesting how in-game, the Queen has so little story to talk about and just kinda keeps things together – yet here in this book, you really get an insight on how it wasn’t Order magic that transformed her, but rather a duty to her people.
After watching centuries of Primalist cruelty, I do not regret saving those whelps from the wilds. You mourn those eggs, Vyranoth, yet in the same breath you march on the Broodlands to slaughter the drakes they’ve become. Who then is the monster? Ever have I fought to protect life. Ever have I sued for peace, but you will not relent. Therefore, I will defend my flights by wing and by talon!
There are moments in which she simply laughs at the idea of mortals being useful – early mortals which, as I read their description, I have to assume were trolls – then embraces these mortals and works towards the potential foreseen by Nozdormu. The trolls would eventually spread out as we know, playing their part and, of course, some of them would evolve into the elves, who would stand with the Aspects during the War of the Ancients. This is also what motivated them to create visages – to make it easier to communicate with the mortals – and this was such a neat trick that not only did the Primal Incarnates steal the idea, it also gave Alexstrasza the edge she needed in her 1v1 fight with Vyranoth.
The motif of mortal lives actually playing a critical role in the life of the dragons is something that would echo on for millennia – just think back to the role Thrall played back with the Cataclysm – and it was cool to read how some of those early steps developed, stumbles and pitfalls included.
And then our last Aspect, the other one that got a lot of time in the story – that was Neltharion, or Deathwing, as we would get to know him better as. I love that they remembered that even as a primal dragon, Neltharion could hear the whispers of the Old Gods as described in Dawn of the Aspects. As the Earth-Warder, those whispers from the four Old Gods, the number in this book, are assaulting him constantly. Over the years, they had increased in intensity, making Neltharion question his own thoughts – his own actions.
They were inescapable. Omnipresent. Neltharion had not told another soul about them – not even Malygos, who had long been his closest confidant and friend. They made him feel small and insignificant, crawling like a whelp in his chamber as they assaulted him from the dark.
One thing that blew me away was how in this moment the old Gods are constantly tearing him down. He has quite a brilliant strategic mind, one that goes head to head on the war board against Iridikron. He plans for futures that do come to pass centuries later – all the while, there are voices in the back of his mind just going “You’re not good enough, you’re not strong enough, you’re going to fail. Embrace our power and we will let you accomplish your wildest dreams.” Compare that to how they whispered to him during the War of the Ancients. By that time they were cheering him on. “You are the greatest. The others will only betray you, they will hold you back. You should be the leader of all dragons with us at your side.” Right now, they’re tearing him down until he inevitably embraces their powers – for the greater good, as he would write it off – keeping the darkness and secrets to himself. Once they’ve fully torn him down, at some point in the future they’ll start feeding his ego, and I really liked that dynamic.
Of course, embracing the powers of the Old Gods is not the only thing he does for the so-called greater good. There’s also the development of the dracthyr, which did not go without horrific experiments. You’ve probably played through it, if not seen the video around, Aberrus. Those things happened here as well – it’s interesting what you’re willing to do when you think you’re working out of a spot of righteousness.
And again, there are parallels to be drawn to Wrathion. Wrathion was a proper Earth Warder, a true black dragon uncorrupted by the Old Gods. He would do anything and everything it took to take care of Azeroth. To defend her. To uphold his charge.
The Primal Incarnates
As I said, Neltharion goes head-to-head with our boy Iridikron. Both of them are connected to the element of Earth, both of them are schemers, planners, whatever you want to call them, with different views and different goals. Where the Aspects were empowered with Order through Keeper Tyr, the Primal Incarnates found their way to something… and not even the book fully explains what they found, which makes me hope that it’s something for the future to be revealed in-game.
Iridikron’s main base of Harrowsdeep is also not in the game as far as I know, and I’d imagine that someone like him would position himself nice and close to the power source. A power source which, interestingly enough, was not discovered by Iridkron – it was actually Fyrakk who found it first. He was the first one who managed to go through whatever they had to do to become the powerful Incarnates. It’s a ritual, an absorption of power with a high mortality rate. We know that much, we know that not everybody can just become an Incarnate, but the where and the what and all the details, they are still very much hidden. So Fyrakk found it first and then led Iridikron there to follow in his footsteps.
Then the earth kinda takes over from fire with his big brain and his big plans – again, very much motivated by the idea of not wanting to embrace the Orderly way of life. I did wonder about a potential Old God influence. If Iridikron is a mirror to Neltharion, how come we don’t read about him struggling with the whispers of the Void? The story takes us into his mind as well, but there’s no mention of the whispers. That doesn’t mean that they’re not there, but he didn’t use any of the darkness.
Fast forward to the current day, and we see him traveling through void portals, potentially hanging out with Xal’atath. When, exactly, did that connection build up? How much did the Old Gods influence these events, this War of the Scaleborn? In the realm of speculation, we currently have the information that Yogg-Saron caused Galakrond to happen. In reply, we see Tyr team up with the future Dragon Aspects and the story of Warcraft plays out. The Old Gods tried to break out of their prisons with the Cataclysm, and we got a glimpse of what it would look like if they succeeded. They had no real love for Deathwing, he was just a means to an end. Did they plant any seeds for the future with influencing this war – influencing Iridikron? If so, will his dealings ultimately lead us into more of a Void story, or is he now more of a free agent considering Azeroth is cleansed?
Things to be revealed in the future, I suppose.
In correlation to the mention of his “dark dealings” that Alexstrasza had, if I lined it up with what happens in the book, the dark dealings to keep the war going – that was his allegiance to the djaradin which, if the other Incarnates knew about – djaradin are dragon-killers – they probably wouldn’t have been too happy about it. It was his dealings with the djaradin, as far as I can make out from this book.
Then Razsageth was third to be accepted amongst their ranks, and for a while it was just them three. There’s mention here and there about them being cousins or clutchmates with some of the Aspects – like Fyrakk, who taught Alexstrasza how to fight when they were still primal dragons. There’s a connection there, which is why they imprisoned the Incarnates rather than just take them out. Razsageth embraced the aspect of the Storm, Fyrakk has the fiery temperament, and Iridikron the calm collection of the Earth – but don’t underestimate what’s hidden beneath the surface.
Throughout the war, more are recruited to their side – the origin of the Primalists – more that don’t want to follow the Aspects and their vision of the world. Nasty rumors were spread, like the Aspects would force order upon them, murder innocents, they would steal their children – little did Iridikron know that that little rumor was actually true. They would use Razsageth and a defected black dragon to assault villages and make it look like the black dragonflight was on the attack. All kinds of nasty games were played here, actions that got reactions, war was brewing – but through it all Vyranoth had still not chosen any sides.
She just couldn’t understand why her beloved Alexstrasza would side with Tyr and Order. Their new city, their new words, their orderly way of life, it was all not for her – but still, she loved Alexstrasza. They had defended clutches together, and she trusted her when the Queen flat-out lied and told Vyranoth they wouldn’t take eggs, they wouldn’t force Order upon them.
Many years passed, and the book makes full use of this big, unknown time period and dragonkind being so long-lived, as it uses big sections like fifty years past, a century passes, two-hundred years. They let big patches of time come and go. Years of loneliness for Vyranoth as she had lost her own kind, Alexstrasza was now busy being the queen, wouldn’t you know it… there is Razsageth showing up and offering friendship. Thrilling rides through the storms, the primal element – Razsageth had a way of quickly making friends all over the world.
Outbreak of War
The Storm-Eater is quite chaotic in her nature, so when she discovers the dracthyr, she immediately strikes out. The legacy episode gave me the impression that they were in the middle of the war, but that’s not the case – she accidentally discovered Neltharion’s new units and she took her forces to take care of business. She nearly won as well. Our brilliant tactician could not believe that she managed to figured out to go for his Thanos glove, but she had, and with control lost, the voices pushed him into embracing their powers – overwhelming the Primal Incarnate and trapping her within the mountain.
This did leave him with a whole bunch of highly trained dragon-killers that he could no longer fully control – and they knew about his secret, his dealings with the Void. Now others, he trusted to keep his secrets, but not the dracthyr. They were locked away and placed in a magical slumber.
News of Razsageth’s imprisonment quickly spreads and it pushes the war from its cold state into – ok, we’re going to go at it now. For Razsageth and for the eggs that were stolen, as Titan-forged were uncovered as stealing their children, Vyranoth finally accepts Iridikron’s request and joins them as a Primal Incarnate. Surviving the ritual, she becomes an incredibly powerful ally, not just because she embodies the power of ice, but also because of how much it would wound Alexstrasza.
I do think, knowing now how much Razsageth meant to them – that their reaction in this cutscene is kinda underselling it.
Vyranoth went through a horrific deadly ritual to try and save her sister Razsageth, the others were pissed at the Aspect for trying to convert them and now seeing their sister dead on the floor… their reaction was a bit mellow. It doesn’t compare to how the story describes their connection within the book.
We’re not going to go into all the details of the many battles that play out, if you want to read out the war then pick up the book. I can tell you that, after Razsageth loses because Neltharion cheats, we get to Fyrakk. Malygos pretends to be Alexstrasza and teleports him to their constructed prison, the Vault of the Incarnates.
Vyranoth ends up in a 1v1 with Alexstrasza, and while the powers granted to them by the Titans allow her to stand up to the Primal’s might, it wouldn’t be the thing that gave them victory. Instead, it was her heart, as well as some clever use of her visage that would give her the upper hand. The heart of the Dragon Queen, she was powerful before their empowerment, and there was a reason why she was picked to be their Queen.
That left Iridikron, who has spent centuries upon centuries gathering power in his lair. Neltharion is separated in the tunnels for another 1v1 confrontation. Earth vs Earth, and Iridikron has some power up his sleeve.
You are weak, the whispers said.
In defiance of the voices in his head, Neltharion pushed himself back to his feet. His joints trembled. After centuries as the Earth-Warder, he had grown accustomed to bearing the weight of the world on his back… but this force took that burden and increased it exponentially. His bones creaked, threatening to snap. Capillaries burst in the whites of his eyes. Every muscle in his body trembled.
The Stonescaled cocked his head, watching the black Aspect with great interest. “No one is stronger than Azeroth itself,” he said softly.
Neltharion could only glare at the incarnate.
Lies, the whispers said. We are stronger.
And they definitely are, as Neltharion once again unleashed the powers of the Void and knocks out Iridikron. That’s how the Incarnates were defeated and honestly, it was a bit of a shame to see a century-long conflict just sizzled out by cheating, by embracing the powers of the Void. I do wonder if those whispers actually nerfed Neltharion, but that’s anybody’s guess.
That also leaves my overall question, which has to do with shining a darker light on the Titans and their motivation. Without the Titans’ influence on Azeroth, the world would still be stuck in the days of the Black Empire. Powers like the Void, powers that single-handedly take out the Incarnates, would still be ruling the planet and keeping the Elemental Lords enslaved. There’s definitely an argument to be made about who still remembers the days of the Black Empire, and enforcing the will of Order too far is not good thing either – but how far can you take this point of view? I really wonder.
Stories for the future, I suppose.
The major questions left after this book, besides how all this history was covered up – but that’s because they only recently came up with the story. Besides that, I’m curious where, how, why, what exactly went down to get the Primal Incarnates going, and, considering the next patch is going to deal with Fyrakk – the first one who got there – I’m hoping we’re going to get some answers.
My second question is what’s up with Iridikron? How did he get in touch with the Void, with Xal’atath, with those Void portals – what is he planning in the background while we deal with Fyrakk, what does he want with Galakrond… and all that spoilery good stuff. Seeing how much of a schemer and a planner he is in the book, I’m really hoping that’s going to play out in the game as well. Time is hopefully going to tell.
