The Infinite Dragonflight is perhaps the most confounding and confusing set of villains in Warcraft for the very simple reason that time travel always makes things more complicated. But I happen to be a lover of time-travel shenanigans. (Incidentally, Doctor Who is back, and Peter Capaldi is great!)
The nature of the Infinite Dragonflight seemed relatively straightforward when they were first introduced in the Burning Crusade. They seemed to be trying to sabotage the success of the Third War by changing the past - either killing Thrall before he could become Warchief and lead his people to join with the Alliance and Night Elves, or preventing the Horde from ever getting to Azeroth in the first place, which would of course would mean that the Alliance would never form, and the Orcs might never redeem themselves. Their interference in the actual Battle of Mount Hyjal was nowhere to be seen, and it's here that some of the gameplay and story kind of butt heads.
There was always something a little tricky about it, though. The Infinites attempted to stop the opening of the Dark Portal, which in a vacuum seems like a pretty noble thing to do. Likewise, the Infinites seemed very invested in preventing Arthas from diving down the slippery slope at Stratholme. In some ways, the Infinites almost seemed to be trying to do the right thing, but in a way that changed history, and thus had the potential to cause terrible chaos.
Our last interaction with the Infintes was in End Time - a post-apocalyptic future in which Deathwing had succeeded in destroying all life on Azeroth, including himself. It was there that we faced Muruzond, and the truth of the Infinites was confirmed. Nozdormu and the Bronze Dragonflight (perhaps all of it) would one day become the Infinite Dragonflight. Nozdormu watched - even aided us - as we killed his future self, and he was there to provide his own eulogy. Just as Aman'thul had shown him when he was made Aspect of Time, Nozdormu now saw his death for the first of two times with his own eyes, and with solemnity and a little Tralfamadorian wisdom, accepted its eventuality.
All of this made some sort of sense (at least for those who are used to the logical gymnastics required for time-travel stories.) There was definitely a big loose thread, which was that we had defeated Deathwing and prevented End Time, which would seem to have erased the reality in which we killed Muruzond.
Well, kids, things just got a whole hell of a lot more complicated.
Spoilers for Warlords of Draenor and the Hellscream short story to follow.
Nozdormu was told by Aman'thul that there was one true Timeway, and that his job was to keep it pure. But was that correct?
If we are to take it to mean that there is only one universe, one chain of events, then that is completely false.
The Draenor that Kairoz took Garrosh to is just simply not our Draenor. It never was. It's an entirely parallel universe - emphasis on the definition of parallel, which means NO INTERSECTION. (Ok, technically that's if it's two lines in a plane, but I'm not here to give a Middle School geometry lesson.) This is not a tangent universe that was spun off by Garrosh's actions. It was a separate universe long, long before Garrosh arrived. It's a universe where Kil'jaeden went directly to Gul'dan, one where Rulkan was still alive, where Akama was a Paladin as opposed to a Priest, and one where Garrosh Hellscream was never born, his father Grommash a widower.
The people in that universe are real. They are alive. They have hopes and dreams.
So is that universe somehow not "true?"
And what does that mean for the Infinite Dragonflight?
I had been deeply curious about how Nozdormu became Muruzond, now that the Aspects were depowered and the Hour of Twilight had not come to pass. And only now did it occur to me:
Was Aman'thul lying?
First off, I'm not suggesting this was a malicious lie. The problem is that, when you start to deal with parallel universes, you have to imagine that there are other copies of most of the major figures. Sure, Garrosh was never born in this Draenor, but there are lots of alternate versions of various characters.
The Warlords cinematic proved that this is not just some pocket universe that only holds those on Draenor. Mannoroth appeared and was killed here, which not only means that there is an alternate Legion (there's also a little vanity item that lets you eavesdrop on Archimonde, who is still alive in that universe.) And if a figure as important as Mannoroth (or Archimonde) does not transcend the Timeways, can we not extrapolate that the Titans are similarly non-immune?
Perhaps Aman'thul did not mean that there was one single Timeway in the whole multiverse that was "true," but instead meant to warn Nozdormu that any interaction between the many Timeways could prove chaotic and destructive.
We don't know how explicitly the Titans interacted with the Dragon Aspects. I had assumed that they spoke to them directly, at least in the distant past, but it's possible that they simply programmed knowledge into them when the dragons ascended. Perhaps Nozdormu misinterpreted the information Aman'thul had given him.
And perhaps he was wrong about something else.
Nozdormu believes that Muruzond is his fate. He believes that one day, he will fall to corruption, and so he aided the heroes of Azeroth in defeating his future self. He knows that one day he will go mad and attempt to undo all the good he had done before, but that thankfully, he will fail.
But what if the vision granted to him from Aman'thul was not a portent of his own fate, but a warning about a threat he would have to defeat?
In short: what if Muruzond is not, and never was Nozdormu?
There are countless, or very possibly infinite Timeways. There's one in which Blackmoore became King of Lordaeron. There's one in which Grommash lost his wife before he could have a son. For all we know, there's a universe out there where the benevolent King Arthas Menethil rules over Lordaeron after his victory against the Scourge and the Burning Legion. And there might be a universe out there where Deathwing destroyed all life on Azeroth.
And perhaps, somewhere out there, the Infinite Dragonflight was born. And now, they travel not just through time, but across universes, amassing its forces and bringing about untold chaos. And perhaps our Aspect of Time is resigning himself to eventual corruption and madness when we should be mobilizing for the greatest threat Azeroth has ever faced.
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