You know he’s the end boss of the upcoming World of Warcraft Firelands raid releasing with Patch 4.2. You know that his very name strikes a combination of fear and nostalgia in old school raiders. You probably know his catch phrase, even if it’s been permanently fixated in your brain as an utterance of his mini-me.
But there’s much more to Ragnaros, and plenty of lore to refresh in your memory before heading to extinguish his flame in the upcoming patch.
Ragnaros the Firelord has been influencing Azeroth as the master of all fire elementals into antiquity in Azeroth. He once served the Old Gods and fought against the Titans in hopes of dominating the world. But the Titans won, and banished Ragnaros to the Elemental Plane. There, he had been ruling over his kingdom, Sulfuron Keep, and harboring a grudge against all of Azeroth for millenia –up until a fortunate accident brought on by the Dark Iron Dwarves during the War of the Three Hammers 300 years ago.
After launching an unsuccessful attack on Ironforge, the Dark Iron Clan leader Sorcerer-thane Thaurissan sought to call upon a supernatural minion in a last-ditch effort to defeat the Bronzebeard Clan. He summoned a great power that lay at rest beneath the surface of Azeroth — but got more than he bargained for and paid the ultimate price for awakening Ragnaros once again.
Ragnaros’ eruption into the surface shattered part of the Redridge Mountains and formed Blackrock Mountain, which became his new home. Ragnaros enslaved the remaining Dark Iron Dwarves and planned to use his new found power of animating life from stone to create an army to conquer first Blackrock Mountain, then all of Azeroth.
But adventurers defeated the Firelord in Molten Core, banishing him back to his keep in the Elemental Plane.
Deathwing‘s self-expulsion from his own prison on Azeroth became Ragnaros’ next opportunity to wreak havoc on the world. Allying with the fallen Earth-Warder, Ragnaros launched an assault on the World Tree, Nordrassil. Questers in Mount Hyjal, in turn, took the opportunity to release their own army of sorts in the form of released ancients eager to set Azeroth back on its former course. The combination of forces repelled Ragnaros from Hyjal, but in doing so have pushed ever closer to the inner sanctum of the Firelands in the Elemental Plane.
The Firelands in and of themselves are a deadly place for none but the bravest, strongest of fighters of Azeroth. Consisting mostly of heat, ash, fire and molten lava — and beings composed of the same — the desolate area is in constant flux as elemental princes battle each other for dominance. Soon, their fury will be turned on you.
The confrontation will come to a head soon, with the fate of the World Tree, the gradual regrowth of Azeroth and, ultimately, the future of the world hanging in the balance — who will prevail this time?
Ahhh, good refresher.
It won’t be Soon enough until we Soon see Rag at his Soon too be Full Power.
…soon. :P