#wrathionposting

[jerek]

hc for black dragons their voices are such that if nelth wanted to he could sing 'backwards' and project his voice through the solid rock beneath his feet.

[jerek]

If I was Sabellian and I came back to Azeroth after hearing the old gods were gone... and the black dragon who killed the one responsible for everything that happened to my flight and family was actually a 12 y/o drake... And I'm stronger than him.... But I didn't come back until he'd killed N'zoth for me...

I'm ngl I would have apologized at least.

[jerek]

I think the biggest flaw of the red and black flights is time-blindness tbh. Not amnesia, not for the black flight, because the black flight knows damn well why there's 5 of them. But a lack of vision for the road ahead because most of them have either been horrible people, isolated to a specific culture, or Not Born Yet for most of their history. And then the red flight is full of 10k+ers who've been around and victorious for so long that they assume their megafauna hypercarnivory is in service to nature's laws, while everyone else's megafauna hypercarnivory is just a sad side-effect of the same.

[jerek]

Thinking about Wrathion having his "Champion!" voice and his 'real' voice, when he's only talking to Left and Right in the early morning, and as he goes from dozens-of-rogues Ravenholdt to two-bodyguards Pandaria to Just The Champion for all of BFA, his 'real' voice shrinks further and further against the fake voice he uses for the player, until it eventually disappears in early Dragonflight.

[jerek]

The discourse was right. Wrathion is delusional to believe Anduin still considers him a friend. First and foremost because Anduin never treated him as an equal.

Anduin and Wrathion have similar backstories, both taking on adult responsibilities far too young. Except Wrathion was even younger, and Anduin had the added benefit of a royal court to advise him.

He didn't make huge decisions. He didn't have to. The most we hear about Anduin doing while Varian's missing is allocating funding to the royal library.

Wrathion was expected to prove he was worthy of life to both the red flight and all the mortal races. He was born and raised on the fringes of society, more specifically raised in a secluded manor full of assassins. The red flight came to kill him anyway.

In Mists of Pandaria, Anduin can barely talk to Wrathion without bringing up Wrathion's age, or his race, or how he doesn't trust him. We have maybe one example of what might be Anduin giving him "advice," if you squint.

Remember too, Wrathion has nothing to rule over. And nothing to do with his time except, again, try to prove himself.

Anduin's already had a lifetime of political education at this point. If this is the only advice he ever gives Wrathion, who's been alive for two years and, again, was raised by assassins while hiding from dragons... it's just not fair to call that a friendship.

Friends don't set each other up to fail.

Let's say everything Anduin ever said about Wrathion was right. That Wrathion's criminally incompetent, at least in part because of his age. That Varian's dead because of Wrathion.

Who was Wrathion's closest companion?

Who, out of everyone, had the best chance of getting through to him?

Anduin could have prevented his father's death, if he was only willing to show compassion and respect to Wrathion the same way he did for Garrosh and Sylvanas.

[jerek]

In all honesty, if some scary evil whispers wanted to change Wrathion for the worse, they wouldn't need to make him a caricature of who he was in Pandaria.

Wrathion is still a deeply insecure smooth-talker. He cares more about his public image now than ever: because not only do people still hold him responsible for the Legion invasion, but because now he has a family full of older dragons who are completely open about seeing him as inferior. Who know what he did in Cataclysm.

Ebyssian pronouncing him 'the diplomat' hits like a curse: like 'you're so mature,' like 'I thought you knew better.' In that instant, he faces down the rest of his life as an eternal mediator, the one who holds the flight together, and more importantly, the one to blame if it falls apart.

Maybe the madness doesn't come from the whisper urging him further down the spiral, or demanding he prove he's worth listening to for the third time this week. Maybe it comes from the last corner of his brain to remember that the whispers and his brothers seem to agree, whispering back: "When you said your family couldn't be saved, you had no idea how right you were."

[jerek]

canon wrathion is so sad like where's the 500 ocs i made specifically to be your friend. are you really just gonna sit there and wait for anduin to come back. baby he doesn't even like you. you were a phase he's gonna try to recreate and then he's gonna leave again and say 'i forgive you i just needed closure' or some shit and never talk to you again. he doesn't like you. you're too grown for him and he can't control you. nothing you can do to get back on his good side will ever make him forget that he can't control you.

[jerek]

tww wrathion thoughts

pre-legion (and honestly pre-8.3 in bfa) there were a lot of takes centered around wrathion's vision for the future of azeroth. it was a lot of 'he predicted this' and 'he prepared us for this' and 'why isn't he here for this.'

And they were all valid points, of course!! Especially in Legion, because our first indication that Legion was going to happen was HIS vision of a future demonic invasion back in Mists of Pandaria.

But I was thinking about what content he DOES appear in post-MoP, and there's a bit of a worrying trend.

Wrathion tries to protect Azeroth during Cata. We never see anyone question the necessity of dispatching black dragons at this time (not even Fahrad, who barely offers resistance without the influence of the Old Gods.) By the standards of Azeroth's people, he succeeds.

In Mists of Pandaria, Wrathion tries to protect Azeroth...

And by the standards of Azeroth's people, fails.

Varian jumps off a fel reaver into a horde of demons and rushes headlong with an alpha_roar.mp3 into his own death. RIP 37 year old minor I can't believe Wrathion would do this. High king indeed.

Consider Wrathion's cameo in Admiral Taylor's garrison log. Admiral Taylor starts a garrison in Spires of Arak during WoD, and by day 12 Wrathion turns up and gets put under house arrest.

On day 15, a shipment of resources arrives as a gift from Wrathion, who also warns Taylor about the local creepy warlock Ephial. Taylor "doesn't trust either of them."

On day 27, Taylor returns from a trip to the Ring of Blood to find that Ephial's taken over his garrison, and loses his life trying to take it back.

So Wrathion, in Warlords of Draenor, as a fugitive from the Alliance, is still trying to protect the people who drew guns on sight of him at day 12.

The standards drop lower in BfA (Chromie also treats him with imo unnecessary suspicion during the Deaths of Chromie scenario in Legion but that's pretty minor) with Anduin punching him on sight.

"My father is dead because of you."

My brother in the Light your father is dead because he has been waiting for a chance to give up his crown since Jaina dragged him kicking and screaming back from the arena.

But seriously. This is really rich coming from someone whose only political move while at a semi-comparable age was 'I think kids should read more.' Anduin never tried to change the world at that age because he had people who cared enough to tell him it wasn't his job. He might still be waiting around for a uwu thick dwarf dommy gf if he didn't get such a high off lording his 13 years of life experience and political education over Wrathion's head.

Everyone else is born gay: for Anduin, it really is a symptom of sexual dysfunction. Just think: not even Wrathion could keep him away from Garrosh.

Back to illustrating the trend. What else does Wrathion do in BfA?

Well, we find him having brewed an anti-Old God potion. We also find him eager to apologize for past mistakes, take accountability, and in his own words, 'let his actions speak for him.'

When we enter Ny'alotha, it's Wrathion who guards our sanity.

So far, Wrathion's underlying motivations have always been the defense of Azeroth. Whether he succeeds or fails, his ends remain the same.

Now: what about Dragonflight?

"The legacy of my flight." "I will save what matters most to mine." "Claiming the Obsidian Citadel."

Granted, he does mention "defending all of the Dragon Isles."

But where's his passion for Azeroth? Do we really believe Wrathion would be 'at home' cooped up in a citadel full of people he's never met before, with smog choking the sky and blotting out all the stars? Do we really think Wrathion has more of a familial bond with Ebyssian, let alone Sabellian, than with Left and Right?

The ultimate insult to any character (ask Garrosh fans) is to revoke their identity for the sake of someone else's story.

Khaz Algar is going to be full of Titan secrets and lost peoples.

And, unfortunately, I'm not confident that Wrathion will be there... because I'm not confident they'll give him screentime without a chance to 'humble' him.

Where's the runestone enthusiast? Where's the mogu historian? Where's the master weaponsmith, the enchanter who imbued those legendary cloaks? Is he entirely eclipsed by the fugitive?

I want him to see the sun-gem in Hallowfall. I want to hear him laugh. I want to hear him stumble over words he didn't mean to say aloud. When Blizzard says he's arrogant, and he only cares about himself, they forget how many people genuinely loved him before Anduin swung that fist.