How can the former (and now late) Aspect of Earth, who has permanently altered Azeroth (and forced me to gear up and get my revenge).. be a lesser threat than a fog bank?
I’ll tell you.
So I was going to Val’shara’s opening questline after hitting Level 110 (and needing to do it in order to unlock World Quests). Was told that this place is “a mirror image of the Emerald Dream”.
I learned about the Emerald Dream back in Vanilla WoW, by uncovering the strange portal in Duskwood (in an area called ‘Twilight Grove’). Heard this was one of the four portals connected to the Emerald Dream in Azeroth.
With this, were four female green dragons who were tasked by Yashara to guard these portals from mortals like ourselves. However, they were hiding a secret. A secret that happened before WoW even started.
This, is that secret. The Emerald Nightmare. It caused a fog unlike any other. It caused anyone who was exposed by it, to go insane to the point of wanting to kill themselves.
It feeds on your emotions, and turns your thoughts into living nightmares. Your past mistakes. Your lost loves. It will use them to drive you insane. It also changed the landscape and its wildlife to face similar fates.
The only ‘cure’ for if one was affected by the corruption, is death. So many innocents had to die, to save the un-affected.
It would had affected all of Azeroth, if it wasn’t for one powerful Druid; the same guy I was talking to that escorted me through the zone — Malfurien Stormrage. He alone defeated the Nightmare Lord, Xavias, and stopped the corruption.
Yet for some reason, Xavias lives, he’s pissed off, and has corrupted Val’shara’s World Tree. The Emerald Nightmare lives again. It’s only a matter of time until the fog shows up again.
.
But here’s something that puzzles me. Back in Cata, I could had sworn that I was told the green dragons were killed in the Emerald Dream. Yet they are alive (and corrupted) in the Emerald Nightmare raid. Perhaps they were brought back to life to serve Xavias against their will.
It also states that “before the Cataclysm, they showed signs of corruption”. Maybe it was the OCCASIONAL words in caps that MADE them seem like THEY were corrupted (or it could be the fact their eyes were closed, so they were probably sleepwalking).
My greatest fear is these dragons would emerge from their four portals and start corrupting Azeroth. Maybe we’re in luck and the portals have been long since deactivated(and even destroyed). Yet I can still clearly see them in these spots.
But the fact we can go into the Emerald Nightmare and kill Xavias this early in the expansion, I don’t think that would be a problem.
However, there has been mentions that the tree is corrupted by one of the Old Gods (the same ones that corrupted Deathwing). There’s even this video that shows this old god whispering to players while in the raid. Even being attacked (and eventually dying at the end).
Overall, this seems creepy as anything. Legion really has taken the game on a dark turn.
But let us not forget the endless might of the Burning Legion. We still got to deal with Gul’dan eventually (and get our revenge.. For the Alliance!)