Cataclysm - part 2

7/23/2019 Cataclysm - part 2

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Know Your Lore: Lore summed up part 6 -Cataclysm EndsLet's be up front about this. The Cataclysmwas Deathwing himself. The events were the result of

Deathwing's assault on the world of Azeroth - his eruption from Deepholm, his rampage through theTwilight Highlands, his summoning of Ragnaros into ount H!"al, the ma#hinations of his

minions. Deathwing, in all his rampaging insanit!, was e$a#tl! what he #laimed he was. He was theend of the world, and had he not been stopped, Azeroth would be no more. %rom the Twilight

Highlands to the depths of &ash"'ir, the events Deathwing set in motion unraveled the world.

Let's loo over the world, #ast our e!es from the "agged peas of H!"al to the submerged depths of

&ash"'ir, des#end into Deepholm and then #omb the deserts of (ldum for answers to the )uestion -what did the mad dragon want* +h! did his Twilight's Hammer ere#t their bastion in the Twilight

Highlands, where the aw of so'rath erupted from the ver! soil* The old gods seemed on the verge

of their an#ient goal, thans to Deathwing.

At this very moment, Hyjal burns

+e mentioned last wee how ueen Azshara herself made an appearan#e in Ashenvale, taunting

alfurion tormrage that all her naga minions had done had distra#ted him from the danger to theslowl! healing +orld Tree. alfurion made his wa! to the #rown of the world, to dis#over that the

danger had been understated - the Twilight's Hammer had invaded in for#e. /n their wa! to supportthe beleaguered druids of the 0enarion 0ir#le adventurers witnessed Deathwing himself, and saw

the ne$t stage of his plan unfold - for the self-st!led Aspe#t of Death summoned forth the %irelord,

Ragnaros, unleashing him and his fire elemental minions on the alread! strained rans of H!"al's

defenders.

At the same time, the upheavals of the Cataclysmhad #aused a small island to push its wa! up out

of the waters off the western #oast of the 1astern 2ingdoms, and both the Horde and Allian#e saw

that these islands would mae a strong staging ground for further Horde in#ursions into the ver!heart of the Allian#e in those lands, the human 2ingdom of tormwind and the dwarven #itadel of

2haz odan. oon Horde and Allian#e for#es and assorted mer#enaries were streaming steadil!into what turned out to be a trap, as the naga saw an opportunit! to refresh their rans of slaves b!

using /zumat, a dread raen leviathan, to sin their ships and seize them as the! nearl! drowned.

The 1arthen Ring, nowing that the naga presen#e so #lose to a rift to the Ab!ssal aw 3home of4eptulon the Tidehunter5 was a bad sign, intervened.

The Destroyer and those who destroy

These two events signaled that Deathwing was a#tivel! re#ruiting elementals, and if the! would not"oin with him b! #hoi#e 3as 4eptulon did not5 then the /ld 6ods would offer whatever aid

Deathwing needed to bring them into line. n addition to the 4aga, legions of %a#eless /nesswarmed the deeps to assault 4eptulon - in time, /zumat himself poisoned and battened upon the

elemental lord, dragging him bodil! awa! from his own demesne. His fate and even lo#ation were

left unresolved, but with him removed from the board, the elemental plane of water was ruled nolonger and water elementals #ould be summoned with impunit!. Troubled b! these events, the

1arthen Ring turned to even more troubling ones - Deathwing's entran#e into Azeroth had #reated a

#risis that needed to be solved immediatel!.


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The +orld 7illar, a Titan #reated magneti# artifa#t with the power to eep Deepholm separate fromAzeroth 3thin of it as an a$is around whi#h the various elemental planes were ept in deli#ate

balan#e5 had been shattered b! Deathwing upon his return. n so doing, the Aspe#t had set the

planes out of their Titan-#reated alignment, and Deathwing was taing full advantage of it. Thereason that he was able to summon Ragnaros onto H!"al's slopes, and that the Ab!ssal aw was

brea#hing the o#eans, was related to its destru#tion. +orse, the rift between worlds that was #alledthe aelstrom was widening. f it #ontinued, Azeroth and Deepholm would #ollapse into ea#h other

with #atastrophi# results. %ormer +ar#hief Thrall, now one of the leaders of the 1arthen Ring,

#onta#ted mortal heroes to aid in the stabilization of the rift b! finding the fragments of the +orld7illar. This led them on adventures throughout the plane of Deepholm itself, and in time, even an

allian#e of #onvenien#e with Therazane the tonemother 3whose own daughter, Theradras, had beenslain b! mortal adventurers5 to oppose Deathwing and his Twilight's Hammer followers. A raid on

the tone#ore led to the dis#over! of e$a#tl! where Deathwing had hidden while his armor was

rebuilt with elementium. t did little to e$plain what he was planning or how to stop him, however.

%ollowing the restoration of the +orld 7illar, a Titan wa!gate was dis#overed lining to (ldum, the

long-hidden and m!sterious land to the south of Tanaris. ndeed, until the Cataclysmit was believedto merel! be a long abandoned Titan installation, notable for its mention in the Dis#s of 4organnon

found in (ldaman. The devastating geologi#al #hanges #aused b! Deathwing revealed that them!ths were true - (ldum e$isted, a vast hidden valle! of shifting deserts and oases no longer

#on#ealed b! Titan te#hnolog!. And the !wall, the pala#e of the 1lemental Lord of the air,

Al'Air, was floating over the sies of the desert. Lie Ragnaros, Al'Air had willingl! "oined for#eswith Deathwing, as he had on#e served the /ld 6ods dire#tl!. 8ut it was onl! after aligning with the

Ramahen tribe of the tol'vir people that the true purpose of Deathwing's atta# on (ldum wasrevealed - for it was within (ldum itself that the fabled Halls of /rigination la!, and it was that ver!

#omple$ that #ontained the ma#hines that #ould destro! and re#reate Azeroth in a few moments. t

was these devi#es that would have a#tivated had Algalon sent Repl! 0ode /mega from within(lduar, and it was these devi#es that Deathwing sought to dire#tl! a#tivate now. The Halls were

brea#hed and the ma#hines dea#tivated to prevent "ust su#h an out#ome, leaving Deathwing no#hoi#e but to pro#eed without a##ess to the world engines of (ldum.

Ending the Beginning of the End

n the Twilight Highlands, the for#es of the Horde and Allian#e waged war against one anotherwhile also seeing to re#ruit allies 3the Allian#e seeing +ildhammer dwarves and the Horde

all!ing with the Dragonmaw or#s5 in order to se#ure bases both to fight ea#h other as well as theTwilight's Hammer infesting the area. 6rim 8atol, the former +ildhammer base and thenDragonmaw fortress 3where Ale$strasza had been ept imprisoned b! them5 was now infested b!

agents of the Twilight's Hammer, and needed to be #leared out. The 8astion of Twilight, a redoubtof the #ult, dominated the s! of the Higlands, daring an! to oppose them. Led b! 0ho'gall, these

madmen sought the ultimate in nihilism - the destru#tion of ever!thing - and dared the for#es of the

Horde and the Allian#e to tr! and stop them. eanwhile, inside 8la#ro# ountain, Deathwing'sson 4efarian sought to return his slain sister to life, and had to be stopped before he #ould unleash

his host of abominable e$periments upon his old enemies among the mortal ra#es.

(p until this point, Deathwing's minions drove events forward - aside from o##asional appearan#esfl!ing around the world destro!ing things, the big dragon didn't seem parti#ularl! interested in howtheir plans were unfolding. Therefore, after s#rambling a#ross the planet, fighting Ragnaros ba#


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into the %irelands, tr!ing and failing to save the Ab!ssal aw, rebuilding the +orld 7illar and

preventing Deathwing's servants from a##essing the Halls of /rigination, those minions were theones targeted b! the mortal heroes of the world. Deathwing's son 4efarian and daughter /n!$ia

were halted within the boiling heart of the 8la#wing Des#ent. Deathwing's all! Al'Air was

destro!ed in the !wall, the first of the elemental lords to be destro!ed within his home plane.%inall!, upon the storming of the 8astion of Twilight, the true horror luring in the depths of the

earth was revealed - the prime #onsort of the destro!er, inestra, who in her ravaged form 3searedhorrifi#all! b! Deathwing's attempts to for#e her to breed despite his own bod!'s molten

degradation5 wat#hed over the last brood of stolen red dragon eggs that were to be transformed into

twilight dragons. Although it #ost him his life, 0aelastraz of the red dragonflight aided in herdestru#tion.

There was barel! enough time to #ontemplate the ne$t move when both the Horde and Allian#e was

for#ed to divert their attention to long forgotten threats. The 9andalari, last seen recruitingheroes to

aid them against the 8lood 6od Haar and stud!ing the fall of the Draari in 9ul'Dra, now hadtheir own diffi#ulties to deal with - Deathwing's assault upon Azeroth had led to a #alamit! on

9andalar, and the 9andalari prophet nown onl! as 9ul sought to unif! all trolls in a war of

#on)uest for their survival. /nl! &ol'"in of the Darspear tribe re"e#ted his proposal out of lo!alt! tothe Horde, and moved to assemble for#es 3behind his nominative +ar#hief's ba#, no less5 to enter

both 9ul'6urub and 9ul'Aman in order to defeat the 9andalari before the! #ould bring these twotribes full! under their swa!.

The situation on top of ount H!"al grew ever more dire, however. Although Ragnaros himself had

been pushed ba#, the minions of the %irelord surged into our world with ever greater fre)uen#!

and savager!, as if Ragnaros would empt! his fier! domain out of pure spite. The 6uardians ofH!"al needed help to put an end to it before 4ordrassil itself was destro!ed, and with it, perhaps all

of 2alimdor. After several sorties and raids into the %irelands themselves, a full-fledged in#ursionstormed the plane, striing down several of Ragnaros' servants, dealing with the traitorous

Al!srazor and then the demented former Ar#hdruid %andral taghelm, first of the Druids of the

%lame. Then the battle was taen to Ragnaros himself, and alongside Hamuul Runetotem andalfurion, the heroes of Azeroth dealt Ragnaros the death blow he'd long avoided. The %irelord

"oined the +indlord in death.

Deathwing's s#hemes were hardl! done, however. +hile the heroes of Azeroth sought to end

Deathwing, Thrall had endured an assassination attempt b! Deathwing's minions that had torn himapart and s#attered his being to four elemental lo#ations. After aiding Aggra in reuniting the +orld

haman 3as he was now nown5 there was little time for rest, as the 8lue Dragonflight had finall!moved to #hoose a su##essor to al!gos. Two #andidates, 2ale#gos and Ar!gos, #ontended for the

position during the lunar #on"un#tion #alled the 1mbra#e. t was revealed that Ar!gos was in leaguewith Deathwing, however, and ultimatel! 2ale#gos was #hosen 3although not without the sa#rifi#eof Tare#gosa, an intimate #onfidant of 2ale#gos, whose life was onl! saved b! binding it to that of a

mortal hero5 whi#h led Ar!gos to full! betra! his flight, and the world. n so doing, he "oined thes#hemes of the Twilight %ather, whi#h ultimatel! led to Ar!gos' death and the awaening of

0hromatus the fivefold dragon monstrosit!. After an e$tended so"urn through an alternate timewa!,

Thrall "oined his power to the four aspe#ts, and 0hromatus was defeated. (nable to destro! the#reature, the last produ#t of all of 4efarian's twisted e$periments in 8la#wing Lair, the four

Aspe#ts were for#ed to imprison it in an ar#ane vault.

%inall!, the four Aspe#ts were read! to tae a#tion. 1mpowered as he was b! the /ld 6ods,

Deathwing was a bloated mass of hatred and power, as Ale$strasza had dis#overed attempting tobattle him in the Twilight Highlands - even the Aspe#ts #ould not strie him down dire#tl!, as the

might of the /ld 6ods would simpl! return him from seeming death. 4ozdormu proposed a wa! -


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the onl! artifa#t powerful enough to defeat Deathwing was the Dragon oul on#e #reated by

Deathwing as the urging of the /ld 6ods eons ago, during their attempt to es#ape their prison inAzeroth b! taing advantage of argeras' arrival. However, the Dragon oul had been destro!ed b!

the mortal sor#erer Rhonin in a battle with Deathwing earlier, and the last fragments of it were

drained of power b! inestra when she first #reated a stable twilight dragon, Dargona$. There wasno wa! to usethe Dragon oul against Deathwing, as it no longer e$isted. 8ut what 4ozdormu

suggested was simple enough - it all hinged around the words 'no longer'. The! would simpl! goba# in time to when the Dragon oul was first #reated and its power at its greatest, and tae it from

that moment in time to use it against Deathwing. Heroes would be pressed into servi#e to a#hieve

this end.

8ut first the! had to travel to the 1nd Time, the horrible potential future of Deathwing's vi#tor! andthe devastation of all life from the surfa#e of Azeroth, and defeat urozond, the head of the nfinite

Dragonflight who was preventing 4ozdormu from sending the heroes ba# to the #reation of the

Dragon oul - be#ause urozondwas himself a future version of 4ozdormu. The Aspe#t of Timewitnessed his own demise, the #losing of his own time loop, and then sent the heroes ba# to the

time of ueen Azshara's attempt to bring argeras bodil! into Azeroth, allowing them to defeat the

demon annoroth and retrieve the Dragon oul. Thus began the final #onfrontation betweenDeathwing and those that sought to halt his rampage.

The Dragon oul was pla#ed in Thrall's possession, and the shaman was es#orted to the base of

+!rmrest Temple while the san#tuar! #ame under the full assault of the Twilight's Hammer and theminions of the /ld 6ods, in#luding the maws of h'uma and 6o'rath, in to so'rath. Thrall's arrival

at the base of the Temple was inter#epted b! Ar#hbishop 8enedi#tus of tormwind - aa the

Twilight %ather, servant of Deathwing. He demanded the Dragon oul, but re#eived onl! his owndestru#tion. However, the atta# on the temple b! the for#es of Twilight onl! intensified - leading

an arm! of allied heroes to storm their wa! through the elementals atta#ing and mae their wa! toT!rigosa within the Temple. After battling their wa! through two generals of the %a#eless /nes,

the! found themselves as#ending to the pinna#le of +!rmrest, where the Aspe#ts and Thrall were

debating the proper use of the Dragon oul. After Thrall ob"e#ted that infusing his own earth-derived energies into the Dragon oul and using it would ill him, 2ale#gos suggesting retrieving

the %o#using ris last used to help give life to 0hromatus and using it to #hannel the Dragon oul'senergies safel!.

After destro!ing Hagara the tormbinder and her Twilight for#es, the heroes brought the %o#usingrish to +!rmrest, and then prote#ted the Aspe#ts from the last weapon in Deathwing's arsenal, the

vora#ious energ! vampire (ltra$ion, greatest of the twilight dragons. +ith (ltra$ion dead and theDragon oul full! #harged with power, Deathwing barel! managed to avoid Thrall's first atta# with

the artifa#t, fleeing the battlefield. However, he was not allowed to es#ape this time, for fear that hewould simpl! return again later - he had to be stopped on#e and for all.

0limbing aboard the Skyfire, the #ombined for#es of the mortal heroes and the Aspe#ts 3along withThrall5 flew in pursuit, onl! to be ambushed b! +armaster 8la#horn in a displa! of the strangest

timing an!one's ever displa!ed. 3A hint, +armaster - ne$t time, atta# while the Aspe#ts are bus!

#harging their Dragon oul up and we're bus! fighting a lot of adds an!wa!5. 8la#horn and hisservants manage to stall the !fire's engines and stage a protra#ted battle on the de#, but it fails to

prevent the Allian#e airship from ultimatel! #at#hing up to and dropping several heroes ontoDeathwing's ba#, where the! begin woring to peel up the elementium plates in order to allow

Thrall to hit the Aspe#t of Death dire#tl! with the Dragon oul. The blow Thrall stries with the

artifa#t goes straight through his #hest, dropping him into the aelstrom in a shrieing plummetthat appeared to have illed him, for a moment.


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Only a moment

utated even more b! the /ld 6ods, Deathwing rose from the aelstrom a thing utterl! devoid of

a stable form, seeing onl! to e$pel the stolen power of the /ld 6ods to fuel a titani# spell that

would potentiall! rip open the aelstrom and undo all the wor of se#uring the +orld 7illar. 4omore did Deathwing even pretend to s#hemes - d!ing, he sought to drag Azeroth down with him.

/n#e again the heroes of Azeroth were for#ed to engage the monster in #ombat, and in the end, theirvi#tor! allowed the Aspe#ts to gain the time needed to use the Dragon oul to e$pend their own

great power in a wa! that utterl! destro!ed their former brother - and removed their Titan granted

gifts forever. Thus dawned the Age of ortals, in the end of the Aspe#ts' power.

There were loose ends of #ourse - the %o#using ris would be stolen b! Horde for#es and used toempower a mana bomb to destro! Theramore, illing Rhonin of the 2irin Tor in the pro#ess. The

ma#hinations of the red dragon Rhea led to the #reation of +rathion, the last of the bla# dragons.

The su##esses of the Horde during the Cataclysmled to the events of the iege of /rgrimmar,ultimatel!. 8ut for a brief moment, the world sighed in relief as Deathwing finall! died.

Know Your Lore: Cataclysm for Dummies, ActIIo, A#t of our Cataclysm for Dummies guide went over the basi#s of Cataclysm-- how it #ame to

be, "ust who that Deathwing gu! is, an!wa!, and wh! he's so anno!ed with the world in general. +ealso found out wh! we're going to all those new level :; to :< zones and, more importantl!, wh!

we're wandering around in three different raids in three #ompletel! different lo#ations around the

world. f !ou made it through the basi#s, #ongratulations= >ou're #aught up through pat#h ?.;.

8ut we're in pat#h ?.@, aren't we* And !ou've probabl! still got )uestions. uestions lie +hat's upwith the troll dungeons -- didn't we ill those gu!s alread!* And wh! did we have to go fight

Ragnaros again* +h! is Thrall friendl! as all get-out with the Dragon Aspe#ts* +h! do we have to

do all this sill! time travel* The good news is, b! the time !ou're done reading this guide, !ou'lltotall! understand what Cataclysmis all about.

Please note: !ere are spoilers !ere for t!e no"el Thrall: Twilight of the Aspets# If you$re stillplannin% on readin% it, you may want to do so beforeyou !it t!is recap#Thrall and his amazing dragon friends

The Dragon Aspe#ts needed to unite to defeat Deathwing, but there was a small problem --al!gos, leader of the 8lue Dragonflight,was dead. +e illed him ba# in Wrathbe#ause he'd

gone #raz!, and the blue flight still didn't have a leader. /n top of that, 4ozdormu, Aspe#t of the

8ronze Dragonflight, was still missing somewhere in time. n order to address these problems oneat a time, >sera and Ale$straza met up with the members of the 8lue Dragonflight to tr! and pi# a

new leader. 8ut the blues weren't happ! about this, seeing as how it was Ale$strasza who hadordered al!gos' death in the first pla#e.

The! met at +!rmrest Temple, but the meeting was interrupted b! an atta# from the TwilightDragonflight, and the Temple was nearl! destro!ed as a result. 4ot onl! that, but all of the eggs

from the Red Dragonflight that were ept under the Temple were destro!ed, too -- and Ale$straza's

#onsort, 2orialstrasz. Ale$strasza was so grief-stri#en that she too off on her own, and >sera wasleft to figure out how to handle this matter of the Hour of Twilight she'd seen in a vision. n order to

move on, she needed the Aspe#ts, and in order to do that, she needed to find 4ozdormu -- and in
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order to do that, her visions told her to go find Thrall.

eanwhile, Thrall was doing an amazing "ob of being terrible at being a shaman, mu#h to the

disma! of the 1arthen Ring. +hen >sera showed up and ased him for his help, he was almost

unwilling to help her, but a few harsh words from Aggra, who he had been happil! falling in lovewith, sent him on his wa!. After a #ompli#ated bout of time traveling, Thrall found 4ozdormu and

brought him ba# to the present, helped the 8lue Dragonflight pi# a new leader, and helpedAle$strasza #ome to terms with her overwhelming grief.

8ut he helped in another wa!, too -- one the Aspe#ts hadn't e$pe#ted. Thrall was a powerfulshamanB he "ust didn't )uite have a handle on things !et. And when he finall! did get a handle on

them, he united with the Aspe#ts to fight off a horrifi# Twilight #reation made b! a m!sterious mannown as the Twilight %ather. Thrall too the pla#e of Deathwing as the warder of the earth, briefl!.

After that was finished, 4ozdormu 'fessed up to where he had been -- when he was given power

over time, he was shown the moment of his death. /ne timewa! had him rise as the leader of thenfinite Dragonflight, and he wanted to find out wh!.

n finding this out, he dis#overed that the issues plaguing the various dragonflights were all part of a#onspira#! b! the /ld 6ods. 8ut at that point, there was little to be done, and Thrall returned to the

aelstrom, a better shaman for his "ourne!s.

The trolls be trolling

eanwhile, in other parts of Azeroth, &ol'"inwas summoned to a meeting b! the leaders of the

9andalar tribe. The 9andalar were slightl! upset about something. ee, the troll ra#e used to be themost powerful, dominant ra#e on Azeroth, but over the #ourse of time and millions of traveling

adventurers looing for Troll weat,the tribes had dwindled down to nothing. The 9andalar had aplan that was delivered b! the m!sterious prophet onl! nown as 9ul -- to unite the remaining troll

tribes into one might! troll empire and retae their position as best spe#ies in the whole wide world.

As for the other ra#es of the world ... well, the! weren't reall! worth! of sti#ing around.

&ol'"in, friend to Thrall and a whole host of other spe#ies and leader of the Darspear, a tribe thathad been summaril! booted out of tranglethorn &ale b! the other troll tribes of the area, wasn't

reall! een on this whole tribal unifi#ation thing. 4or was he parti#ularl! happ! about the idea of

murdering his former allies, nor did he reall! want to suddenl! be friends with all those trolls whohad i#ed his tribe to the #urb wa! ba# when. o &ol'"in did the best thing he #ould thin of to do

-- he told the leader of the 9andalar where he #ould shove it, and then he )uietl! sent outambassadors to re#ruit adventurers from both Horde and Allian#e to help him tell the 9andalar

where the! #ould go.

He did this )uietl!, be#ause he still wasn't on awesome terms with 6arrosh Hells#ream, and the

Allian#e weren't on awesome terms with an! of the Horde. +hether or not 6arrosh found out about&ol'"in's asing the Allian#e for assistan#e is #urrentl! unnown ... but !ou #an bet if 6arrosh found

out, there would be hell to pa!.

Uh-oh, Ragnaros

8a# at the aelstrom, Thrall was doing his best to tr! and soothe the ravaged elements of the

world, when he had a wonderful vision from a fier! overlord in response to his pleas.Raganaros

was more than happ! to show Thrall e$a#tl! what the world would loo lie when he got done withit -- a flame-filled world, of #ourse. ee, while we were messing around with #leaning up the

8astion of Twilight, 8la#wing Des#ent, and the Throne of the %our +inds, Ragnaros was e)uall!
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bus! #harging his lasers and getting read! to burn the world, starting with H!"al and those pes!

druids.

peaing of pes! druids, Ragnaros managed to get the allegian#e of %andral taghelm,former

Ar#h Druid. %andral prett! mu#h went #ompletel! nuts ba# when his son died during the +ar ofthe hifting ands, and this es#alated to the point that he deliberatel! tried to ill alfurion

tormrage in his sleep. alfurion got better, %andral got lo#ed awa!,and he was freed b! randomheroes in H!"al, given over to a green dragon, and then promptl! taen to Ragnaros b! the green

dragon, who wasn't terribl! ni#e.

Ragnaros promoted taghelm to his a"ordomo and gave him the powers of flame -- and taghelm

immediatel! began re#ruiting druids to his #ause, #reating the Druids of the %lame. As for that not-ver!-ni#e green dragon, she got a fier! upgrade, too, along with a name #hange from Al!sra to

Al!srazor. n order to defeat the a"ordomo, Al!srazor, Ragnaros and all of his minons, pla!ers

have to travel to the domain of Ragnaros -- the elemental plane of fire, otherwise nown as the%irelands.

In the threads of time itself

8ut the problem of Deathwing and his plan to bring about the Hour of Twilight still needed to beaddressed. The Aspe#ts and their flights would not be enough to stop Deathwing. And >sera had

another thought, this one a little more far-fet#hed -- in order to defeat Deathwing, the! needed anob"e#t of immense power. And the most powerful ob"e#t out there was the Dragon oul.

(nfortunatel!, the Dragon oul had alread! been destro!ed ... but 4ozdormu #ould #ertainl! send

pla!ers ba# to retrieve it.

There was one problem with that, however, and it was #alled the nfinite Dragonflight. The infiniteshave been woring on wre#ing the paths of time ever sin#e The Burning Crusade, and b! this point

in time, it was impossible for the bronze flight to travel an!where but the end of time, where the

nfinite Dragonflight began. t was also the home of urozond, the twisted version of 4ozdormufrom the one timewa! that spawned the nfinite Dragonflight. n order to send an!one to the past for

the Dragon oul, the nfinite Dragonflight had to be taen #are of first ... b! traveling the timewa!to urozond's home, a dar pla#e where the Hour of Twilight had taen pla#e, and putting an end to

urozond.

/n#e this was #ompleted, it was possible to travel ba# in time, to the time when the Dragon oul

was first #reated and the +ar of the An#ientsswept over night elf #ivilization. And on#e the Dragonoul was retrieved from ba# in time, it had to be taen to a pla#e of power and the pla#e where

Deathwing had been woring on bringing the Hour of Twilight to pass -- +!rmrest Temple, or whatremained of it.

There was one more little problem about using the Dragon oul against Deathwing. 8e#ause theDragon oul had been given part of the powers from ea#h dragonflight, none of the dragons #ould

a#tuall! wield the thing. o the! turned to the person who had helped them not too long ago, Thrall.

As a shaman of the 1arthen Ring, his powers weren't an!where near the s#ale of an Aspe#t of 1arth.8ut as an or#, he #ould use the Dragon oul and its powers without worr! of harm.

And that brings us to the Dragon oul raid, in whi#h we fight the various lieutenants and #reatures

that serve Deathwing and the /ld 6ods, put an end to Deathwing's greatest #reation, (ltra$ion,

bringer of the Hour of Twilight, and then hop an airship to put an end to Deathwing so that he didn'thave a #han#e to bring about the end of the world again. Deathwing is #ompletel! insane, and he is

utterl! a servant of the /ld 6ods b! now. There is no redeeming him or bringing ba# his sanit! --
http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/05/18/know-your-lore-archdruid-fandral-staghelm/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/05/18/know-your-lore-archdruid-fandral-staghelm/http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/13/know-your-lore-stormrage-and-the-emerald-nightmare-part-1/http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/14/know-your-lore-stormrage-and-the-emerald-nightmare-part-2/http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/14/know-your-lore-stormrage-and-the-emerald-nightmare-part-2/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/27/know-your-lore-the-dragon-soul/http://www.wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/24/know-your-lore-the-infinite-dragonflight/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/02/09/know-your-lore-war-of-the-ancients-part-1-azsharas-love-sto/http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/21/know-your-lore-the-old-gods/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/05/18/know-your-lore-archdruid-fandral-staghelm/http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/13/know-your-lore-stormrage-and-the-emerald-nightmare-part-1/http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/14/know-your-lore-stormrage-and-the-emerald-nightmare-part-2/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/27/know-your-lore-the-dragon-soul/http://www.wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/24/know-your-lore-the-infinite-dragonflight/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/02/09/know-your-lore-war-of-the-ancients-part-1-azsharas-love-sto/http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/07/21/know-your-lore-the-old-gods/


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his mind belongs to the /ld 6ods. The onl! #hoi#e we have in the matter is illing him for good.

Why you've been doing what you're doing

And that wraps up Cataclysm. 8ut "ust in #ase !ou need a little more #larifi#ation, here's wh! we'regoing through the various instan#es and raids in later pat#hes.

' The trolls of the 9andalar tribe are starting an uprising, and &ol'"in thins this is a terribleidea. As heroes of Azeroth, it's !our "ob to travel to 9ul'Aman and 9ul'6urub to stop the new

leaders of the Amani and 6urubashi tribes from #ompleting their nefarious s#hemes.

(t loos lie all that wor in H!"al at level :; wasn't )uite enough to stop Ragnaros and

his minions. The end of the main H!"al )uest line has pla!ers ill Ragnaros -- e$#ept !ou

aren't reall! illing him, !ou're "ust banishing him ba# to the elemental plane of fire. n

order to reallyill Ragnaros, the heroes of Azeroth have to travel into the %irelands itself,

fa#ing ea#h of Ragnaros' minions in turn, before putting an end to the %irelord on#e and for

all.

): End ime/n#e Ragnaros is toast, it's time to stop the Hour of Twilight from #oming to

pass. The Aspe#ts thin that the Dragon oul, #ombined with their powers, will be able to

stop Deathwing in his tra#s -- but the!'re going to have to send heroes ba# in time to get it.

8efore an!one #an do an! time travel, the! need to put an end to urozond and thus the

nfinite Dragonflight, whi#h will open up the timewa!s to travel ba# in time.

): *ar of t!e Ancients/n#e urozond is defeated, the heroes of Azeroth #an head ba#

to the da!s of the +ar of the An#ients and grab the Dragon oul, bringing it to the future so

it #an be used against Deathwing.

): +our of wili%!tThe Dragon oul must be taen to +!rmrest Temple to be #harged

and used against Deathwing and his for#es. 8ut Thrall has to arrive safel!, too -- be#ause

he's the onl! one that #an wield the thing.

): Dra%on oul Part '/n#e Thrall has arrived, the fight against the for#es of the Twilight

0ult, the /ld 6ods, and Deathwing begins in earnest. %irst the lieutenants at the base of the

Temple have to be neutralized. Then Thrall realizes the full power of the Dragon oul is too

unstable for him to handle -- however, 2ale#gos #an stabilize it with the %o#using ris in the

1!e of 1ternit! -- a pla#e that is being guarded b! Hagara the tormbinder and other

members of the Twilight's Hammer.

): Dra%on oul part (/n#e Hagara is defeated, the Aspe#ts begin to #harge the Dragon

oul, but the! are #onfronted b! (ltra$ion, Deathwing's ultimate #reation and the bringer of

the Hour of Twilight. The Aspe#ts and Thrall finish #harging the Dragon oul "ust as

(ltra$ion dies, and Thrall uses it to fire a shot at Deathwing -- one that doesn't manage to

ill him. However, Deathwing isn't the most stable of #reatures. He's literall! molten lava on

the inside, and onl! his elementium plates are holding his bod! together at this point. o the

heroes of Azeroth are sent via airship to inter#ept Deathwing and tear enough plates from his

s#al! hide to offer Thrall a #lear shot at Deathwing with the Dragon oul. And it's a shot that

sends Deathwing spiraling into the aelstrom, supposedl! dead for good ... e$#ept that the

/ld 6ods are not about to let their prize minion perish that easil!. The! imbue Deathwing

with a full shot of their power, turning him into a hideous mo#er! of the dragon he on#e

was so long ago -- and the Aspe#ts, Thrall, and the heroes of Azeroth must use all of their


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power and resour#es to destro! Deathwing on#e and for all.

Cataclysmwas a prett! #ompli#ated e$pansion from a stor! standpoint -- far more #ompli#ated than

an! other before it. This was partiall! be#ause the stor!line was a little #onvoluted and largel!

be#ause there were so man! other elements of stor!line being introdu#ed all over the pla#e. These

stor!lines, whi#h !ou #an view if !ou pla! through the level C through ; zones, don't dire#tl! tie

into the main stor!line of Cataclysm. 8ut what the! do is set up #hara#ters, stories and s#enarios

that will be e$panded upon in future #ontent, something that WoWreall! needed in order to eep

moving forward.

Hopefull!, this )ui# and dirt! guide helps those of !ou who don't have a huge grasp of the lore

understand what e$a#tl! is going on with Cataclysm. 8ut if !ou've still got a few burning )uestions

!ou're d!ing to have answered, sit tight. 4e$t wee, we'll be turning an e!e to Cataclysm's epilogue,

its effe#t on the world, and what we've got to loo forward to in the future.

Know Your Lore: Cataclysm for Dummies,epilo%uef !ou've read A#t andA#t of Cataclysmfor Dummies, !ou should have a prett! basi#

understanding of what happened during Cataclysm, wh! Deathwing was a threat that needed to be

addressed, and what we've been doing in all of those zones,


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*!at was up wit! t!at w!ole troll t!in% Did we stop t!e .andalar w!en we /eat .A and.0

4o, !ou didn't. +hat !ou managed to do was put a stop to the #ronies the 9andalar managed to

dupe into that whole troll global domination idea. The 9andalar are still ver! mu#h a for#e to bere#oned with, and we haven't even figured out who that m!sterious prophet 9ul is. However, maps

of 7andaria that were released at 8lizz0on last !ear show 9andalari sle as part of the map ... and

that means we'll probabl! be resolving all that troll #haos #omeMists.

If Deat!win% was suc! a !u%e pro/lem, w!y didn$t we 1ust 2ill !im from t!e start

8e#ause Deathwing wasn't the real problem. The big reason that Deathwing was su#h a threat was

be#ause he was woring for the /ld 6ods -- gods lie 0'thun and >ogg-aron. These gu!s are theworst of the worst, and Deathwing was their main lieutenant, in a wa!. 8ut the /ld 6ods had

managed to #orrupt a whole host of other #reatures under Deathwing, sort of amassing a giganti#,#raz! arm! of people who wanted to see the world end.

Deathwing had all of these #raz! groups lie the Twilight 0ult and Ragnaros and his minionsworing under him, #arr!ing out the will of the /ld 6ods and woring toward bringing the Hour of

Twilight into being. 8ut none of us -- not the pla!ers, not the 470s, and #ertainl! not the Dragon

Aspe#ts -- new that the Hour of Twilight was Deathwing's plan at the beginning of the e$pansion.+e "ust new that we had to stop whatever he was doing, and we had to wor from the ground up.

+e had to ill the other bosses and all of those minions be#ause without those minions, Deathwing

had no resour#es to wor with. Thin of all of those bosses as a giant arm! and Deathwing as the

general in the ver! ba# of itB we had to fight our wa! through the arm! before we #ould get toDeathwing. Tr!ing to atta# Deathwing without getting rid of the arm! would have resulted in us

being utterl! smushed two se#onds after we tried.

If Deat!win% summoned t!e end of t!e world durin% t!e 3adness of Deat!win% fi%!t, w!y t!e!ec2 didn$t !e 1ust do t!at w!en !e came out of Deep!olm, instead of tryin% to create4ltra5ion in order to carry it out

+hat we fight during the adness of Deathwing en#ounter isn't reall! Deathwing an!more. t is

prett! mu#h the bubbling #orpse of Deathwing, imbued with the strength and power of the /ld

6ods -- and the abilit! to wipe out the world. Deathwing #ouldn't do that before then, be#ause he

wasn't imbued b! the /ld 6ods at that point. (ltra$ion was the harbringer of the Hour of Twilight,and on#e we destro!ed him, we prevented the Hour of Twilight from #oming to pass.

+hen Thrall shot down Deathwing after the pine event, Deathwing was essentiall! dead. +hat we

fight in the adness of Deathwing is basi#all! the /ld 6ods' last-dit#h effort to bring about the endof the world, using what remained of Deathwing as a bubbling, lava-infested, #orrupted puppet.

/n#e we defeated that, the /ld 6ods lost all #han#e at ending the world.

o we /eat t!e ld 0ods

4o. +e #an't reall! beat the /ld 6ods at this point. n Wrath, there was an event in the Halls of

tone #alled the Tribunal of Ages. This event flat-out stated that if we ill the /ld 6ods, we destro!Azeroth right along with them. o we #an't reall! beat the /ld 6ods or ill them. 8ut what we did

do was remove an! abilit! the! had to bring about the world's end, for now.


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*!at was up wit! t!e Dra%on Aspects at t!e end of t!e cinematic Are t!ey %oin% to die now

The! will, eventuall!. The!'re mortal now. The Aspe#ts basi#all! used ever! last oun#e of their

power to defeat Deathwing, with our help. And sin#e we proved that we're #apable of taing #are of

the world, the Aspe#ts' tas is now done, and the! are mortal. There are no more Aspe#tsB theAspe#ts themselves are prett! mu#h "ust dragons. +hat e$a#tl! this means in terms of their spe#ial

powers and abilities and what it means for the rest of the world, we don't e$a#tl! now "ust !et.

However, !ou now how it too ever! oun#e of their power to stop the /ld 6ods* The /ld 6ods

aren't dead, "ust, uh, halted for the time being. And ne$t time the! show up, we won't have theAspe#ts to help us an! more. 8asi#all!, the training wheels are off and we're on our own now -- a

prett! terrif!ing prospe#t.

o w!at$s up wit!!ists of "andaria *!y are we %oin% t!ere *!at on eart! is %oin% to /einterestin% a/out a /unc! of pandas

Mistsisn't "ust a bun#h of pandas -- it's a #ontinuation of the Warcraftstor!. +e're not sure where

that stor! is going be#ause 8lizzard didn't show us mu#h of it at 8lizz0on. Rather than tae this asmeaning that there is no stor! at all, suggest !ou tae it as 8lizzard's eeping it all as a surprise.

Cataclysmwas so full of stor!, that there is little to no #han#e 8lizzard will leave the stor! out ofMistsaltogether. That'd be ind of sill!=

8ut here's what we do now, taing what we've gotten from Cataclysm. The Horde and Allian#e

were at ea#h other's throats in Wrath, and it's onl! gotten worse in Cataclysm. A lot of that rests on

6arrosh Hells#ream's shoulders. He is not a ni#e or#. He does not want to be friends with theAllian#e lie Thrall. And he has spent the ma"orit! of Cataclysm#on)uering whatever land he #ould

get his or#ish hands on. The Allian#e has suffered tremendousl! in Cataclysm, and a lot of it has todo with 6arrosh, and a lot of that has to do with the Cataclysmitself, and a lot of that has to do with

Wrath.

The humans lost thousands upon thousands of people up in 4orthrend, and the! were "ust starting to

pull the pie#es ba# together when the hattering hit. The night elves were absolutel! wre#edwhen that happenedB Darshore was nearl! torn apart, and Ashenvale was overrun b! various agents

of the /ld 6ods, as well as tonetalon. The 8arrens ripped in half, and the Allian#e had to figure

out a wa! to get supplies around 2alimdor, whi#h resulted in more #lashes with the Horde.

8asi#all!, the Allian#e were #rippled #oming into this e$pansion, and the hattering dealt even moredamage. 6arrosh had the Horde #harge forth and tae advantage of the Allian#e's temporar!

weaness and wrea even more havo#. o the Allian#e this e$pansion have been tr!ing to pullthemselves together and re#over from their losses in the midst of Horde atta#s and natural disaster.

nMists, the Allian#e and Horde #onfli#t erupts in a ma"or wa! -- and the Allian#e ma! ver! wellget the upper hand again. As far as we now, 6arrosh is still in #harge, whi#h means that the Horde

will #ontinue their slow mar#h towards global domination. And the Allian#e* +ell, imagine after

the losses in Wrathand the losses in Cataclysm, the Allian#e has had "ust about enough of theHorde, and the! are foaming at the mouth and d!ing to rip some Horde throats out.

And somewhere in the midst of all of this, the Horde and Allian#e #lash on 7andaria, home of the

pandaren. And that fighting and #haos between Horde and Allian#e has some dire effe#ts on

7andaria, and we're going to have to straighten it all out. n straightening it out, am sure we'regoing to un#over some surprises along the wa! and find man! more bosses to fight.


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*!o is t!e final /oss of Pandaria, t!en

+e don't now. +hat we do now is that we will be fighting, Allian#e vs. Horde, and that will be

our primar! o##upation going into the e$pansion. ome people are irritated that we don't appear to

have a big bad boss, but would suggest that !ou don't dwell on that as a bad thing. Thin of it liethis -- if !ou were thining that Deathwing wasn't a ver! big threat, ma!be part of that was be#ause

!ou new he was there and !ou saw him around all the time.

8ut isn't it far more interesting, surprising, and possibl! terrif!ing to notnow what's luring

around the #orner* sn't the la# of nowledge a little more #reep! than nowing ever!thing that'sgoing to happen in advan#e* There are plent! of options for final bosses inMists of Pandaria, but

8lizzard ma! "ust throw us for a loop and introdu#e something new, something #ompletel! andtotall! amazing that we now nothing about. And in that #ase, it maes it even more interesting,

be#ause nobod! will go into this e$pansion nowing what's going to happen ne$t, and we'll all be at

the same state of surprise when we see it=

Go bac and review

Cataclysm's stor! was prett! straightforward -- "ust as straightforward as Wrath's, in all honest!. +ehad a #reature show up that wanted to end the world, and we had to put a stop to that #reature before

it did so. n Wrath, we had a #reature that wanted to turn the world into a #ourge paradise, so wehad to stop that. +hen !ou thin of it in those terms, it seems lie a simple stor!, but there were

plent! of stories on the sidelines that ept things interesting.

+hat would re#ommend if !ou're looing to learn a little more about the lore or getting a little

bored with the Raid %inder is to go ba# and pla! through the C to ; #ontent. >ou don't have to rolla new #hara#ter to do itB !ou #an go through with !our :< #hara#ter if !ou lie, and the pro#ess will

be a lot faster. 8ut what !ou'll get out of the e$perien#e is a loo at all of the other stories that wereintrodu#ed in Cataclysm.

Though Cataclysm's main stor! involved Deathwing and the Dragon Aspe#ts, there was a lot moregoing on in Azeroth. That C to ; #ontent illustrates a lot of the Allian#e and Horde #onfli#t that

we'll see going intoMists. o tae !our time, pla! through the C to ; zones, read the )uests anden"o! the e$perien#e, and !ou'll be set on lore as far asMists is #on#erned. And he! -- that low-level

green gear loos prett! ni#e and maes for some amazing transmogrifi#ation sets, while !ou're at it=

Documents

Cataclysm - part 2