Ask a Lore Nerd: Yeah, I've been working out

Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.

Last week I answered a question about the Kor'kron and I messed it up a wee bit, which I don't mind admitting. I said that the Kor'kron were all Orcs, but I didn't notice that in Wrath of the Lich King it actually includes a number of Trolls. The Kor'kron were originally only really seen in Thrall's throne room originally, they were his personal guard at the time and 100% Orcs. In Wrath, they've apparently spread out and include a couple of the other races as well.

So who makes up the Kor'kron? The Orcs primarily. Trolls secondary, and there are also a few Tauren and Taunka thrown in as well. I haven't seen any Undead or Blood Elves among the Kor'kron yet, they seem to keep to their own little militaries for now.

frostymage asked...

Why aren't the Knights of the Ebon Blade flying the Acherus to Northrend? It said in one of the DK starter quests that it could destroy Naxxramas.

In the starter zone, Acherus had a lot more support than it does right now. If you just look at who's all in Acherus in the beginning of those quests, it's a lot of really powerful Scourge figures. There are a number of Naxxramas bosses there, and even more. Darion Mograine, the San'layn, the Scourge's Horsemen and Archers, Baron Rivendare, the entirety of the Ebon Blade (pre-split, of course), a Frost Wyrm escort and the Lich King himself. The Acherus offensive was far, far more reinforced than Naxxramas, and far more capable of an all out offensive on a Scarlet Stronghold.

Most of those things are not aboard Acherus anymore. It's really pretty empty now, and all that's left is the Death Knights and a single Lich. Acherus is undermanned and not nearly as reinforced as it was before.

Note that there's a disconnect between in-game powerful and story powerful when I talk about the figures that were originally with Acherus. Sure, we beat most of the San'layn in 5-man dungeons rather than raids, but story-wise that doesn't necessarily make them less powerful than, say, a few Naxxramas bosses. You just can't have everything in a raid zone, right?

Nellius asked...

I have a question about Sartharion. During the encounter (with all 3 drakes still alive) one of them (can't remember which one) says "Father was right about you, Sartharion, you are a weakling!" Firstly, this implies that the three drakes are all siblings. Is this right? Secondly, who is their father? Is he important? Will we see him in a raid encounter in the future?

The father they are referring to is Deathwing (also known as Neltharion), the mastermind behind most of the Black Dragonflight's plots. He's also the Aspect of that flight. Since the Black Dragonflight created the Twilight Drakes, he qualifies as their 'father' and they would be siblings in this generation of Drakes.

Deathwing certainly qualifies as important, he's had his hand in a lot of major story events over the years. He's been a villain in the Warcraft story since the very beginning. I have no doubt we'll fight him someday. Eventually.

ROB13 asked...

In a recent Hyjal run (Which I loved) a question came to me. Why are we even in Hyjal? In every single other Caverns of Time run, the Infinite Dragonflight are stepping in for some reason, to stop the future that we live in. But at Mount Hyjal, there is no sign of them altering anything, or even being there! So why are we even bothering to go on in? Other than fat lewts and fun.

We go there for fat lewts and fun. No, seriously. We do. We can make up reasons and stories and all of that, but there really is no given lore reason why we go in there. In fact, Drysc specifically stated awhile back that the Infinite Dragonflight has nothing to do with the instance and we're not interacting with history. We're pretty much tourists in that zone. Tourists with swords and guns.

Drysc's full quote on the subject: "It's a "time pocket" if you will. There's no intended link to the Infinite Dragonflight or their dastardly deeds of altered timeways, and you're not literally interacting with history. It's simply a way for players to experience some of the larger moments in Warcraft history, and admittedly the Mount Hyjal instance isn't really linked to the world for any rhyme or reason. The timeway presented itself, it's an amazing opportunity to be there and experience such a major event, and Archimonde drops phat purples."

Now you know.

Ask a Lore Nerd is here to answer all of your questions about the lore and story of the Warcraft universe. From the religions of the universe to the 'evils' of Azeroth, everything is fair game. If you want more in-depth answers to some of your questions, you may find what you're looking for in Know Your Lore.