The latest World of Warcraft novels have hit Rhonin and Krasus pretty hard. The problem is that both characters got affected deeply within a very short time-frame consecutively. This article isn’t meant to fans who haven’t read World of Warcraft: Thrall and World of Warcraft: Jaina. Heavy Spoilers a la “SNAPES KILLS DUMBLEDORE”.

–SPOILER ALERT–

Warcraft: Day of the Dragon

The Dragon Queen Alexstrasza was dealt a terrible strike to her heart when her dragonflight was enslaved by the Horde during The Second War — as depicted in Warcraft: Day of the Dragon. That novel is currently included in the compilation hardcover of novels: WarCraft Archive.

In this novel by New York Times Best Selling Author Richard A. Knaak, her consort Korialstrasz worked undercover within the Kirin Tor in the guise of a High Elf named Archmage Krasus.

He devised a plan to send a maverick mage, Rhonin, in a mission of no-return into the heart of Grim Batol. The purpose — to make the Dragonmaw Clan leaders go into panic thinking if a single mage scout had penetrated their magical wards and defenses, an invasion would most likely follow behind.

The Queen Alexstrasza and the red eggs were mobilized from Grim Batol toward Dun Modr, fearing an invasion within Grim Batol. This would allow Krasus to swoop down suicide-style from the sky to free his beloved Alexstrasza.

Things got nasty when Deathwing got in the way, but Rhonin saved the day using Deathwing’s black scale to destroy the Demon Soul. Doing so restored the powers of the Dragon Aspects. For those new to the story, the Demon Soul was created during the War of the Ancients. You can read about its origin in the WarCraft: War of the Ancients Archive.

World of Warcraft: Thrall, Twilight of the Aspects

In World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, Krasus had mysteriously decided to stay behind in the Ruby Sanctum when all Dragon Aspects and their dragonflights were meeting to decide who to name the new Aspect of Magic after the demise of Malygos.

The Prophet — who turned out to be Archbishop Benedictus — and the Twilight’s Hammer assaulted the Wyrmrest Temple. Their plan was to infiltrate all of the dragonflights’ sanctums to infest their eggs. They managed to find a way to create a Twilight dragon with some sort of magical goo infestation.

Krasus did all he could to protect the eggs from within the Ruby Sanctum. Krasus’ hand got bathed by the same goo. In a desperate move Krasus decided to use his powers over life to grow roots that connected all sanctum portals and created some sort of magical implosion that “apparently” destroyed the sanctums — destroying the infested eggs and ending Krasus’ life in the process.

World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore, Tides of War

In World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War, Jaina Proudmoore is alerted by a Tauren Longwalker (Perith Stormhoof) on behalf of High Chieftain Baine Bloodhoof that Garrosh is preparing to invade Theramore, and the Tauren would be forced to comply.

Jaina sought the help of King Varian Wrynn, but the fleet would likely not arrive in time to protect Theramore. Jaina teleported to Dalaran to seek the assistance of the Kirin Tor. Rhonin and a few of his best archmages arrived to Theramore in the function of defense. The gates were magically warded to contain the invasion.

However, one of the Sunreavers sent by Archmage Aethas Sunreaver betrayed the Kirin Tor, weakening the wards and allowing the Horde to enter Theramore’s courtyard.

As players may know, this allowed a special ops team (players) to infiltrate Theramore from behind to kill the Gryphons. This let the Zeppelin to drop the Focusing Iris magic bomb on Theramore.

As the bomb fell through the sky, Rhonin opened a portal and pushed Jaina Proudmoore through to save her life. Boom!!! Theramore was no more. And that meant, Rhonin died.

Krasus and Rhonin Dead?

Personally, I hate these two characters died in such a small time-frame. There were so many potential stories for these characters. I couldn’t believe my eyes were reading these demises.

On the other hand, those were glorious demises. They went out as heroes. Self-sacrifice to save others.

Had the eggs in each Wyrmrest Temple sanctums been infested and converted into Twilight dragons, the Dragon Aspects and their flights — no … All of Azeroth would have been destroyed, leading to the Hour of Twilight.

Had Rhonin not sacrificed, Jaina Proudmoore would have died and the Kirin Tor would have fallen to the leadership of Aethas — a traitor to the Kirin Tor, currently helping Garrosh Hellscream obtain the Divine Bell.

Rhonin.

Krasus.

Both dead. I dwelled. I mourned their glorious deaths. I cussed some (still love Christie Golden), and dwelled some more. Then it hit me.

Wait … is there some ultimate design hidden somewhere? There are no corpses. Krasus’ body was never recovered. All those bodies in Theramore resembling dusty mannequins as if frozen in time … but there is no sign of the Tower or Rhonin’s body.

Reality-check: “There are no corpses of Krasus and Rhonin.”

Ultimate Design

Let’s go back to World of Warcraft: Thrall. Krasus insisted he wanted Alexstrasza to go to the big meeting and to leave him behind taking care of the Ruby Sanctum. If you read that chapter again, and again — you will notice Krasus’ behavior was suspicious. As if he knew what was about to happen.

With Rhonin, there was something mysterious about him too. I couldn’t place what it was, but there was just something odd about this scenario painted by Christie Golden.

Was she aware of a ultimate grand design set in motion along with Chris Metzen? Was she simply doing all of this on purpose to leave the open question mark so that it could be possible to undo their deaths (from a writer’s point-of-view), or am I just still dwelling and on denial (ahem, shut up consciousness!).

No. I’m not delirious. Sounds like when drunk people say they aren’t drunk, but whatever.

If you have read World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore, Tides of War, you also read what I did — Rhonin left behind in Dalaran a letter from Krasus. A letter that talked about future events in some sort of hidden code. Words that sounded like poetry, hiding a truth behind a play of words.

In this Krasus letter to Rhonin, he mentions Lady Jaina Proudmoore would become the new leader of the Kirin Tor.

Holy Paradox, Krasus

Krasus was the consort of the Red Dragon Queen Alexstrasza, but he was also a Dalaran Archmage delving into magic. There are many questions to ponder.

  • Why did Nozdormu trust red dragon Krasus so much to alert him about the time-anomaly in War of the Ancients Trilogy and not a bronze dragon?

  • What’s so special about Krasus?

  • What was Krasus delving with with safe-keeping a piece of the Demon Soul during World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon? It’s never revealed what he sought with it.

  • Did Krasus know what would happen in the Sanctums, and decided to mask his apparent demise and to take all of the red, blue, green, black and bronze eggs into a tesseract for protection?

  • If so, by what means did Krasus learn of future events? Did Nozdormu’s past or future self alerted him off-panel? Or did someone else travel back in time?

  • Could Medivh be behind Krasus knowing future events?

There is a moment in World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects where Thrall is traveling through Caverns of Time in a parallel Azeroth where he found Medivh. This Medivh in particular recognized Thrall and from what timeline he had come. Medivh told Thrall in cryptic ways how to find Nozdormu.

Wait … didn’t Medivh also warn Thrall about a future where the Burning Legion won during the Third War?

Medivh

Medivh: “The sands of time have run out, son of Durotan. The cries of war echo upon the winds. The remnants of the past scar the land, which is besieged once again by conflict. Heroes arise to challenge fate, and lead their brethren to battle. As mortal armies rush blindly towards their doom, the Burning Shadow comes to consume us all. You must rally the Horde and lead your people to their destiny! Seek me out…”

Medivh: “Hear me! The only hope for your people is to travel West, to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor!”

Medivh: “I failed humanity once before, and I will not do so again. If you can not take up this cup, then I shall find another who will. The warning has been given. Their fate is now their own.”

Looking back to recent events, the Dragon Aspects defeated Deathwing at the price of losing their powers — in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion.

Alexstrasza: “The champions who fought at our side assured the survival of our world. But now, we must see it…with mortal eyes. We Dragon Aspects have fulfilled our great purpose, and our ancient power is expended. But though our day draws to an end life endures, and new generations will be born. Today’s victory belongs to all who stood against the Shadow. You are Azeroth’s true guardians, and the future of this world is in your hands. For the dawning of the Age of Mortals…has begun.”

Those who have read Warcraft: The Last Guardian by Jeff Grubb (included in the WarCraft Archive) might remember the Tower of Karazhan had this particular magical property of showing sights into the past and future. At the end of the novel, Khadgar was burying Medivh’s decapitated corpse and sensed a presence he had previously felt when he first arrived to Karazhan.

This presence revealed himself to Khadgar. It was Medivh … from the future.

As revealed in the World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred, Aegwynn resurrected the decapitated Medivh previous to the events of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Thus, it was no ghost what Thrall met. It was a resurrected Medivh.

Putting two and two together, it might be possible that when Medivh departed at the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos final cinematic — he actually traveled back in time to the moment Khadgar was burying his corpse. if this was the case, at that moment Medivh siphoned the power from Kharazhan for a yet-unknown reason.

Next, we see Medivh in this alternate Azeroth telling Thrall how to find Nozdormu — who not even the Bronze Dragonflight knows is at.

Are you noticing something here?

Why was Medivh in that timeline, knowing perfectly who Thrall is and when in time he comes from and yet also knows where Nozdormu (the Dragon Aspect of Time) is.

Now think about Alexstrasza’s words: “… the Age of Mortals.”

A mortal … Thrall, wielded the powers of the Dragon Aspect of Earth in order to manipulate the power of the Demon Soul during the “Fall of Deathwing” raid dungeon event. What if Medivh knowing Nozdormu would eventually lose his Dragon Aspect powers over Time, and die at the hand of heroes in Caverns of Time: End Time, took upon himself the task to monitor Time (Medivh the Timekeeper).

What if in order to safe “Time” he warned Krasus of what would happen at the Wyrmrest Temple to avert the Hour of Twilight?

Wait, remember how Krasus letter also mentioned Lady Jaina Proudmoore would become the new leader of the Kirin Tor? What if Krasus also alerted Rhonin in that letter what would happen at Theramore?

Read the destruction of Theramore once more in the “Tides of War” novel. Corpses became some sort of magical dust — looking alive. However, the tower is completely gone and Rhonin’s corpse was nowhere to be found — whereas all other bodies on Ruins of Theramore were found.

What if all of Theramore was time-displaced sort of like all of Dalaran was moved to Northrend, but time-wise. What if those were not the corpses of people but the chronal-residue left behind like an echo.

If Medivh was the new Timekeeper, and he needs the help of powerful heroes … two top heroes to have under his wing are definitely Krasus and Rhonin. With no corpses for evidence, I’m going with Medivh raptured them from certain death to help behind the scenes.

The way Christie Golden wrote those glorious deaths she left a door open to a possible return in the future.

Medivh. The New Timekeeper. Krasus. Rhonin. Hmm.

Have you noticed how after Cryptozoic Entertainment publishes a new World of Warcraft TCG expansion, shortly after Blizzard Entertainment announces a major content patch or a new expansion related somehow to the previously released World of Warcraft TCG expansion?

What’s the current World of Warcraft TCG expansion? The Timewalkers. (The Dawning of the Age of Mortals has begun!)

Rhonin the Time-Lost ?!