Weapons of Lore: Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker

We spend an extraordinary amount of time in World of Warcraft collecting loot of various shapes and sizes. Whether it's tier sets, trinkets or other best in slot items, a lot of players devote themselves to getting the best of what there is to offer. Enter the legendary weapons of the world -- weapons so powerful, so rare, that they are viewed as the best of their kind ... well, at least until another expansion drops with better stuff.

But these weapons aren't just thrown into the world with no explanation. The legendary items of the world are legendary because they are the stuff of legend -- the subject of tales told through time, whether old or new. Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker, is arguably one of the oldest of these weapons. Its story begins at the dawn of creation, when the elements of the world waged war at the behest of the Old Gods.

Back at the dawn of creation, the world of Azeroth was terrorized by Old Gods and their four most trusted and powerful lieutenants, the Elemental Lords. These Lords were Al'Akir, Neptulon, Ragnaros, and Therazane. The four lieutenants may have been under the control of the Old Gods, but their mission was to keep Azeroth in a perpetual state of chaos. The elements gravitate toward a chaos state naturally, so this wasn't really a stretch for the Elemental Lords. However, the titans returned to Azeroth and discovered the wreck that the Old Gods and the Elemental Lords had made of the planet.

Thus began a war the likes of which Azeroth hasn't seen since, titan versus Old God and Elemental Lord alike. And the titans emerged the victors and promptly sealed the Old Gods away, deep beneath the surface of the world. As for the Elemental Lords, the titans banished them to the Elemental Plane, imprisoning them for what they thought was forever. It was in this prison that the Elemental Lords began to fight with each other, warring at the very center of the world.

During this incredibly long war (reports say that it lasted roughly five millenia), Ragnaros decided to strike out at Al'Akir by targeting Thunderaan, Prince of Air. Ragnaros sent two of his lieutenants, Geddon and Garr, to ambush Thunderaan when he least expected it. And before Thunderaan could react, Ragnaros struck and the Prince of Air fell, defeated. Ragnaros feasted on the essence of the Prince, but could not consume him entirely -- and thus, he instead stowed the remnants of Thunderaan's essence away in a talisman of elemental binding. Once that was done, he shattered the talisman into two pieces, handing one to Garr and the other to Geddon for safekeeping.

It is these bindings that you encounter on the way to creating Thunderfury. They are the two halves of Thunderaan's prison, where the last shred of his essence sleeps dormant. And out in Silithus, a man named Highlord Demitrian searches in vain for those bindings, hoping to resurrect his fallen master. Taking the bindings to Highlord Demitrian will start players on a chain to do what Demitrian has been waiting an eternity to accomplish -- but it won't be easy. While the Highlord has the Vessel of Rebirth required for the process, it needs to be fortified with elementium.

And even after finding all of those components, the final piece of the puzzle is a piece of the essence of the Elemental Lord that slew Thunderaan -- Ragnaros, the Firelord. In classic WoW, only the bravest of heroes dared seek out the Firelord in the depths of Molten Core, and those who possessed the Vessel of Rebirth were rewarded for their success. Returning all of the components to Demitrian, however, revealed treachery.

Highlord Demitrian wasn't interested in returning Thunderaan to the Elemental Plane of Air; he wanted to unleash Thunderaan upon Azeroth. Demitrian isn't exactly ... sane. Heroes who gathered all the pieces had to prepare, because upon returning those pieces, they were confronted by Thunderaan himself, and it took an entire raid team of 40 people to bring him down. Upon doing so, the Dormant Wind Kissed Blade could be looted, and after threatening Highlord Demitrian, he turned all of the essential components into Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker.

Thunderfury isn't just any weapon -- it's the weapon once wielded by the Prince of Air. It's a blade forged with the essence and power of one of the higher ranked and more powerful elementals. And thus, he who holds the blade commands the power of the air in devastating bouts of lightning and cyclone attacks. For a former Prince of Air, it's an inglorious end ... but for the one who wields the blade, it's a moment of heroic triumph that echoes the moment of the Titans victory and the banishment of the Elemental Lords so many millennia ago.

For more information on the Elemental Plane, be sure to read our Know Your Lore on the Warcraft cosmos.