What does it take to fall to darkness?
World of Warcraft's greatest villains tend to be corrupted heroes. Arthas, Sargeras, and Neltharion/Deathwing are some of the game's most iconic big bads. The current patch, 10.1, which opens up the first true underground zone - something that had evidently been planned for Azjol-Nerub in Wrath of the Lich King, but wasn't even implemented - also gives us a new raid: Aberrus.
Aberrus is the ancient laboratory where the Black Dragon aspect experimented, seeking to discovery new powers that could serve to safeguard Azeroth, but his experiments also led him to corruption.
When, precisely, did Neltharion fall? We know that in the War of the Ancients, he revealed himself as Deathwing and slaughtered most of the Blue Dragonflight, and dragged his entire dragonflight along with him into murderous rampage. It would be ten thousand years before Deathwing was finally put down.
But because the Dragon Isles were locked away similar to Pandaria for those ten thousand years, Aberrus is a bit of a time capsule.
As we see in the first wing of the raid's LFR version, the Sundered Flame has been enticed into pillaging the laboratory for magic that will give them the power they feel they need to be free. But we're greeted by a projected echo of Neltharion - ostensibly before his fall to corruption - to guide Wrathion, Sabellian, Emberthal, and Ebyssian through the raid along with us.
And you know what? He's kind of a dick.
How did the Old Gods manage to worm their way into his mind? Well, sure, he's the aspect of the deep places, so he was positioned to be nearer their whispers. But we also see a callous and ruthless pursuit of power here. Was this adopted only after the whispers began? Or was it this single-minded quest for power, regardless of the lives he both created and destroyed in the process, that made him susceptible in the first place?
The truth about Arthas' story is that he turned to evil before he ever became a Death Knight. And I think that, despite the stories we've heard about Neltharion being a noble champion prior to his corruption, we might now be seeing that he always had it in him.
To borrow D&D terms, one could almost imagine that he was already leaning Lawful Evil - maybe more lawful than evil, but still leaning down that way. The Old Gods merely tipped him instead onto the Chaotic side of things, and any restraint of his evil impulses he had was broken.
Anyway, the first LFR wing is fun and not too difficult - I've run it on a ton of characters.
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