Fans just about to get into World of Warcraft before the new Dragonflight expansion hits the shelves would be highly thankful for the level advancement system. At its core, this feature in the Warcraft game allows players to experience a “condensed” version of expansions they choose as they race toward Level 60, giving them the means to catch up with other players without grinding hundreds of hours’ worth of content. This advancement feature in the Warcraft game isn’t just out of gameplay convenience.
Instead, the World of Warcraft system comes from Chronomu, a bronze dragon tasked with preserving key moments in Azeroth’s history. Interestingly enough, Chronomu does this out of obligation, as she is part of the Bronze Dragonflight, a group of Bronze Dragons tasked to protect the timestream. For fans interested in the deeper aspect of Bronze Dragonflight lore, what is there to learn about Azeroth’s timekeepers and their leader Nozdormu?
10 Blessed By The Highfather, Guardians Of Time
Similar to the other proto-dragons that would become the Dragon Aspects, Nozdormu also received a blessing from the Titans after he and his companions defeated the massive cannibalistic proto-dragon Galakrond. While other Titans blessed the other proto-dragons to become Dragon Aspects and protect Azeroth, Nozdormu was blessed by Aman’Thul the Highfather himself. This blessing granted Nozdormu and his ilk, the Bronze Dragonflight, access to the timestream and with it the responsibility to maintain the one true timeline.
Throughout the years, the Bronze Dragonflight would stick to this obligation and remain rather distant from “present” affairs. Unlike other dragons, members of the Bronze Dragonflight are capable of seeing both past and future events from their home in the Caverns of Time. While they are mostly secluded, they do seek help from mortal characters in Warcraft every so often, transforming those who ally with them into their Watchers.
9 War Of The Ancients, The Sundering
While the Bronze Dragonflights largely retreated to their duties, it’s during the War of the Ancients where they will face their first real ordeal. The War of the Ancients began when the Night Elves accidentally brought the deadly Warcraft faction the Burning Legion through the Dark Portal, forcing the Dragonflights to act. It’s around this time that Neltharion revealed his greatest creation, the Dragon Soul, which needed portions of the Aspects’ powers in order to take control of their demon enemies.
Although Neltharion successfully demonstrated this goal, this was also the time he revealed his newest allegiance: that of the Old Gods. Now known as Deathwing, the Black Dragon Aspect almost forced the whole of Azeroth to his heel had it not been for a distraction. While the Dragonflights’ counter-attacks forced Deathwing to retreat, the ensuing destruction caused not just the near-annihilation of the Blue Dragonflight but also distrust between the Dragonflights in general.
8 The Case Of Blessing Trees
Prior to the corruption of Fel Magic from Sargeras and the Burning Legion, it’s Arcane Magic that really dominated Azeroth. Its biggest source was the Well of Eternity which empowered the Night Elves until its untimely destruction (the Sundering) during the War of the Ancients.
To alleviate the woes of devastated Night Elf survivors of the tragedy, some of the Dragon Aspects went to the new Tree of Life that guarded the second Well of Eternity, named Nordrassil. Whereas Alexstrasza and Ysera blessed it and the Night Elves with empowered bodies and access to the Emerald Dream, respectively, it was Norzdormu that blessed the Night Elves with immortality.
When Malfurion decided to use the Nordrassil’s latent power to protect Azeroth from the Burning Legion, it resulted in the Tree’s apparent destruction, as well as the loss of the innate gifts of the Night Elves. The Night Elves created another tree, Teldrassil, but was not blessed by the Aspects until just before the Cataclysm. This time around, Nozdormu didn’t bless the Tree, meaning the Night Elves remained mortal.
7 War Of The Shifting Sands
Centuries after the War of the Ancients, the Night Elves who wished to bring life back into the Silithus Desert accidentally activated the Ahn’Qiraj, a temple dedicated to imprisoning the Old God C’thun. With the insectoid silithid under his control, they almost conquered the Silithus Desert area in World of Warcraft. And while the Bronze Dragonflight hesitated to help the Night Elves, the silithids breaching the Caverns of Time forced the Dragonflight to act.
While initially successful, the combined forces of the Night Elves and the Bronze Dragonflight weren’t enough to repel the insectoids. It’s at this point that they sought the help of the Greens, led by Ysera, to secure their victory. After repelling the Old Gods’ forces, they sealed the Temple through the Scepter of the Shifting Sands, with the Bronzes acquiring one of its shards for safe-keeping.
6 Battle Of Grim Batol
It was during the aftermath of the War of the Ancients that the Dragonflights had enchanted the Dragon Soul to ensure no dragon could wield it. Deathwing will find a way past this technicality by luring Orc Warlock Nekros to wield it for himself, and even so much as to use it to imprison Alexstrasza and take full control of the Red Dragonflight. This renewed fighting force made the Horde a tough opponent during the Second War, which occurred in Warcraft 2.
When Korialstrasz, the consort of Alexstrasza, sought Nozdormu’s help, the Bronze Aspect initially disagreed and even erased their meeting from the timeline. However, Ysera’s conviction had Nozdormu reconsider and even aid in the renewed effort against Deathwing. Thanks to mortal intervention, the fragile Dragon Soul was destroyed through Deathwing’s own doing, with the locked powers inside returning to the Aspects once more and making them whole.
5 The Hidden War To Save Time
Contrary to the involvement of other Dragonflights in major conflicts in Azeroth, a lot of the adventures of the Bronze Dragonflight often involve preserving the timeline from ne’er-do-wells who wish to abuse it. As early as the Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft, Bronze Dragons are seen stopping agents from altering historical events, such as the creation of the Dark Portal and the battle of Mount Hyjal.
In Wrath of the Lich King, Bronze Dragons are also seen protecting Wyrmrest Temple from the Blue Dragonflight that sought to eradicate all magic at the time. The Bronze Dragonflight also recruited adventurers to send them back in time to Stratholme during Prince Arthas’ battle with Mal’Ganis prior to his corruption, to ensure the mysterious Infinite Dragonflight doesn’t tamper with the timeline.
4 Trapping The Old Gods In The Past
Despite the hidden victories of the Bronze Dragonflight to restore the timeline, Nozdormu was missing in action once again after the Third War in Warcraft 3. This time around, it’s been revealed that Nozdormu was lost in the timestream, seemingly fighting the Old Gods by himself.
Thanks to adventurers and the Red Dragon Korialstrasz, they were able to go back in time to the War of the Ancients to save the captive Nozdormu. It was revealed that the seemingly-powerless Nozdormu was able to fend off the all-powerful Old Gods by summoning different versions of himself from the timestream to aid him in combat. This was also where it was revealed that the Old Gods had been manipulating Deathwing to use the Dragon Soul to eventually free them. Thanks to the efforts of the adventurers, Nozdormu managed to close the great portal the Old Gods were planning to use to go to Azeroth.
3 Time Is The Weapon Against Deathwing
When the threat of Deathwing resurfaced once more in the Cataclysm expansion of World of Warcraft, the dormant Dragonflights seemed entirely powerless until the Bronze Dragonflight had an idea: empower the Dragon Soul further by acquiring its purest form from back in time.
And this is exactly what they did: Nozdormu sent Azeroth’s adventurers way back into the War of the Ancients to grab the uncorrupted Dragon Soul and send it back to the present. It’s through this Dragon Soul that the Aspects once again poured in their energies, doubling its output, which was then used to eliminate Deathwing once and for all. Unfortunately, this process cost the Dragon Aspects their blessings from the Titans.
2 From Controller To Observer
After the events of the Cataclysm expansion of World of Warcraft, the Bronze Dragonflight also lost their powers to control the timestream. While they can still travel between time, they have no control over timelines themselves. This means the Bronze Dragonflight have become mere observers of events, with the ability to send themselves and others back in time or into the future.
Interestingly enough, the Bronze Dragonflight still retained their expertise and knowledge over timelines. It’s why they’re the go-to specialists when observing the Timeless Isle in Pandaria, which is apparently an island that has no connection with time. However, their diminished powers to fully control the timestream meant there’s not much they could do to understand this phenomenon completely - something they may desperately need this time around in the Dagonflight expansion, now that the Primal Incarnates are in play.
1 The Enigmatic Infinite Dragonflight
While most Dragonflights have a keen focus on stopping cataclysmic events, the Bronze Dragonflight has a more obvious threat: the Infinite Dragonflight. Having first encountered them during a sudden attack in the Caverns of Time, the Bronze Dragonflight realized that the Infinite Dragonflight seeks to control time itself and not just preserve the timeline, despite being of the same color.
Thing is, the Bronze Dragonflight has no idea from which point in time did the Infinite Dragonflight come from. It’s hinted that the disgruntled Kairozdormu, a Bronze Dragon who wants to use the timestream to create a better future, may be a part of the faction that would eventually become the Infinite Dragonflight.
World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight is set for a November 28, 2022 release.