"While the Primalist Incarnates are revolted by what they see as Dragon Aspects lowering themselves to look like mortals, they also see the value in smaller, mortal-like forms for certain situations, though they choose to make their forms represent elemental forces more than any mortal race."Ah yes, the "Shades of grey writing" The Titans who are bad and evil talk to mortals with a level of respect, but the Primalists literally look down on anyone not a Dragon. It's sort of hilarious how much we've been TOLD that the Titans and their Order magic is bad, but it genuinely sounds like the Titans were the only &*!@s to give a @#$% about anyone.
I know it's not a retcon because it's not overwriting earlier lore, but making Alexstrasza do something that's pretty clearly evil really goes against the grain of all of her characterisation up to this point. The way they could (and should) salvage that is by explaining that when she was young and during war-time she made bad decisions that were necessary and from her regret she changed to be the person we know and love today.
So the "ordered" dragons were a much smaller part of the whole early on, and they promised not to go after everyone else's kids then immediately turned around and went about indoctrinating and manipulating everyone else's kids to bolster their own numbers. Interesting.
Maybe we don't see Razageth's visage form because it looks like a female ogre and Blizzard refuses to show those to this day?
Alexstrasza doing something evil goes against so much of what her character stands for, its makes absolutely no sense, she would NOT do something like this, I feel like every wow character nowadays has this ''shady past but they learned from their past mistakes and are now better'' thing. Yes you can make the argument that a bajillion years have passed and that is the explanation for the change, but Alexstrasza was charged by Eonar to protect and care for all life, its been her thing since the very beginning, seeing this ''revelation'' just feels wrong and weird, like its out of place, another characters script with the Alexstrasza put on it, at least is how I feel about it
Why. Wasn’t. Any. Of. This. In. The. Game? It’s baffling that they keep doing this. This information would have added so much depth and nuance to the story! It would have been so much better if they had even HINTED at some of this. Blizz has got to do better!
I've read the book, so let me clarify a few things.The Egg Thing.Tyr told the Aspects it should be done. Didn't really tell them what the consequences for them would be if they refused. This was still just 10 years after they had been uplifted. The dragons had sworn to do all in their power to protect Azeroth. And Tyr felt this was the only way to get the flights the required numbers to do so. The Aspects weren't happy with it. Alexstrasza talked it down to only let the Titanforged claim eggs in the wilds that weren't being guarded, which have a 1 in 4 survival chance of even making it past whelphood. But it does technically take the choice to get ordered away from these unborn. Alexstrasza had sworn to Vyranoth no dragon would have that choice forced upon them.Two Aspects are in favor. Two fear it may cause the very danger they seek to prevent. Alexstrasza is the one to decide they will agree. They don't tell anyone. It goes unnoticed for 300 years. A main reason for agreeing is that they fear Fyrakk and Iridikron may end up forming an alliance to try and wipe out the ordered dragons. And unbeknownst to them, this has indeed already happened. Primal dragons greatly outnumber ordered ones. When it does come out, it's a big thing for Vyranoth, many primal dragons and also the ordered dragons. But not for Fyrakk and Iridikron. Fyrakk just wants violence. Iridikron just wants Titan influence gone, and had already been falsely claiming the Keepers were doing this. He was surprised it was actually true.Cousin Fyrakk.Fyrakk and Alexstrasza had once been closer. But as he got older he got obsessed with violence. They grew apart well before the war and her becoming Aspect. and the war lasted for hundreds of year. There's really no bond left to explore there. It's not a significant thing.Ingame Representation.It feels like some people missed some things. Like that ingame cutscene where Alexstrasza and Vyranoth meet, where it's spelled out for us that they were once friends, that Alexstrasza made a promise no dragon would be made to submit to the will of the keepers, and that that promise was broken by the changing of protodrake eggs. And that Alexstrasza regrets it.Blizzard has done a pretty great job this time at letting us know all the relevant details inside the game. We know the Primals want to remove the Titans' stain off of Azeroth. We know Iridikron was captured last and is known for making dark deals. We've seen Raszageth's attack on the Forbidden Reach in the past, where Neltharion first gave in to the whispers. We know the sides fought a horrific war. And we got that cutscene that lays out the situation between Alexstrasza and Vyranoth. The book fleshes out these things. But we got all we need to enjoy and understand this story, represented in the game this time.What the book adds is fleshing out those details. Putting it into a narrative. And giving you great insight into the minds of those involved, as it's told from the perspective of a dozen good characters. It also takes place in the past, and over the course of like 500 years. This can't have been shown inside the game much more than it has been.Who was right in the war?Well, not Raszageth and Fyrakk, that's for sure. But it does paint a good and nuanced picture. Tyr barely features, but he is clearly pushing for the Greater Good of Azeroth, from a Titanforged point of view. The Aspects have a more difficult job, having to balance both the good of Azeroth, the good of their flight, their friendships and morals, and oaths that come into conflict. As for the Protodragons? They go into into their perspectives too. They don't understand Order magic, so fear it. They see beauty in natural things. They don't see it in things like cities. A rock spire is beautiful. A tower is a defilement in the landscape. A disruption of nature. The ordered dragons are unnerving to look upon. To them, the Titans are aliens that are terraforming the world and body-snatching their people.Both sides end up making mistakes. But the Primalists are definitely the warmongerers. The side with leaders that will never accept peace. In my opinion, the solution for peace is one no side could see. Not even Tyr, as a being of order. And it is the solution we're going with in Dragonflight. Give the Primalists an equal position at the table for the goal of protecting Azeroth. Get all the dragons that support peace an equal seat at the table. Then murder the warmongerers. But Tyr would not have come up with the idea to put equal trust in dragons that did not give themselves to order. If they'd gone for that, they would not have needed to convert the eggs to increase the numbers on their side.Is it worth a read?It feels like this book was finished when Dragonflight came out, but had its release delayed. There's some ways it could have connected better to things we've seen ingame since then. There's also some lore bits about dragons I would have liked to see fleshed out more. Maybe it'll be in the dragon lore book in December.It's not a perfect book. But what it does well is fill in more details and turning it into a good story. If you like the characters, and want to see more of them, then I can recommend this book. It does the characters a ton of justice, and gives a lot of insight into the Aspects, the Incarnates, and a few others. It's not required reading to enjoy Dragonflight. But I had a good time.
