I was in the dragon school in dragon isles earlier after doing a quest and clicked on the black dragon and it says something about being happy people can start to understand their powers now instead of being so feared. What specifically is so frightening about the black dragons power
It’s more about what they used that power for. Deathwing, Nefarian, Onyxia. They have something of a track record for misbehaviour.
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Their actual power now that they’ve been uncorrupted? Nothing, at least as far as draconic powers being compared to one another goes.
Before that? Well, the entire Black Dragonflight was corrupted by the Old Gods.
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But yeah there’s nothing inherently evil about the Black Dragonflight inparticularly, just that they and the Blues have both had leaders driven to madness and because they’re so powerful, having them turn from noble to villanous is kind of a problem.
Well, Night of the dragon tells us, Black dragons were for a time, like their Aspect Neltharion, the defenders of Azeroth, living deep in the caverns of the earth. They shaped the lands, raised mountains, and created valleys. The black dragonflight represented the strength of the earth itself. Even the symbol of the black dragonflight is a volcano, as it represents great power of earth and elements
They seperated nations and races by tall mountain ranges and made natural barriers to prevent the conflicts
When the Blakc Flight went mad, they destroyed those and made possible for the armies to march against each other
But more importantly, their powers were something that was understandable enough to be feared
Magic? Sure, feared, but the Blues were more associated by ice and cold
Time? Many don’t even know what the Bronz Dragons actually do and have connection to time
Dreams? Similarly, not many Greens were seen out of the Emerald Dream or people felt their powers
Life and the fire that brings life… yeah, something familiar and hard wired in to the mind Dragon=Fire=Death and destruction
But the Blacks’ power? Lava, magma, vulcanos, earthquakes, earth that swallows you, that depressing feeling when you enter a cave, deep and darkness?
These things triggers something very primal in every sentinent and non-sentinent being, primal fear
Awe, terror and horror when you see a mountain starts to smoke and that low rumbling starts in the silence - silence because animals alread got the hell out of there - then came the rain of fire and blazing boulders followed by the crimson red glowing “river” of hot death, cracks on the earth that opens and swallows whole villages
THATS the power everyone fears
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I think the fear mostly comes back to black dragons as being seen as agents of destruction and the void up until very recently. Not the actual power over the earth itself.
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I think there are some very clear, visual explanations
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Deathwing when he was zonked off his gourd on insanity and world ending cataclysmic destruction.
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This never made sense to me, as the Sundering did most of that, I assume?
I mean, what armies and/or mortal races did the Blacks kept apart before that? Because (Zandalari) Trolls and (Night) Elves having been marching into each others territory way before the Black Dragonflight let go of their sacred charge and before that? You hardly had any other race at large scale wars with each others, except maybe the Dragons themselves and Titanic Keepers/Watchers vs holdout Old God minions?
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I don’t believe that the uncorrupted powers of the Black Dragonflight, despite being impressive, are the source of the stigma they bear. As mentioned above, they until recently were considered entirely lost to madness and their powers could quite literally move mountains.
Of course there is Neltharion, known as the Betray- Euhh, Deathwing! For any of the ancient races native to Azeroth they know him and his kind as envious, destructive and merciless. To the other dragonflights they were kinslayers, treasonous and monsterous beyond imaging who killed without mercy. An example that comes to mind is Veritistrasz who had many friends and even a loved one in the Black Dragonflight, yet the latter slaughtered his family and he in turn killed her.
Then there is the tale of Loreth’Aran, a now ruined Kaldorei city located on Bloodymist Isle. Here the Green Dragonflight and the Kaldorei lived in such harmony that it gave rise to dragonriders long before it became the norm in BFA. Until Neltharion showed his true face and his kin descended upon the city, slaughtering every man and green dragon to the last.
I think I speak for everyone when I say that’s just unsportsmanlike.
So we’ve established that the long-lived races have plenty of reasons to view the Black Dragonflight in a dubious light. On to the more recent times:
In the aftermath of the Second War, Daval Prestor pops up in Lordaeron. This is Deathwing in human guise. To one such as he it shows to be but a parlor trick to set up the very leaders of Lordaeron against one another in an attempt to seize control of politics and set things in motion to his own benefit. In the meantime, already having manipulated the Orcish Horde in such a way that his enemy, Alexstrasza, is suffering imprisonment, torture and humiliation at the hands of the Dragonmaw Clan, his ultimate goal is to trick the human mage Rhonin Redhair and the red dragon Korialstrasz into believing Deathwing moves her into the open for a killing blow. Yet his true intent to steal Alexstrasza’s eggs to corrupt them. Alas, his plan is thwarted and he is made to flee (all the way into Deepholm where he licks his wounds) and overall few know of Daval Prestor’s true form except for maybe some of the Red Dragonflight.
In the wake of the Third War (Vanilla Warcraft) we meet Lady Katrana Prestor, who proves to be Onyxia in disguise. Taking after her dear old father she had garnered such political power and influence that, after having Varian Wrynn kidnapped and soul-spliced, she stood at the side of young Anduin as his advisor akin to a certain Bolvar Foredragon. During her time as such an influential person she has done great damage to the infrastructure of Stormwind and divided its people, her corruption even giving rise to the Defias Brotherhood. Her wicked play is eventually unveiled in the middle of Stormwind Keep and I doubt there was anyone in Stormwind who didn’t hear about it at the time. (Considering the amount of people involved and the whole march-up of Marshal Windsor) Blizzard has been known to retcon this event a bit though, ever since they made a comic out of it.
Then there was Victor Nefarius, better known as Nefarian and lord of Blackrock Mountain. He controlled the Old Horde (and through them pretty much large swathes of the surrounding region) and warred with the Dark Iron Dwarves. Although not as politically inclined as his sister, his lair gave rise to nightmare-inducing experiments wherein countless unfortunate dragons found a horrible demise. And I think it is when we fought Nefarian that we were exposed to something truly awe-inspiring associated with the Black Dragonflight; shadowflame and how it reanimates the dead to do his bidding.
In order to refrain from jotting down half a novel, I’ll sum it up a little henceforth:
Neither Onyxia nor Nefarius had the good graces to remain dead for long as they returned after the Cataclsym. During this expansion the people of Azeroth were exposed to the mad Twilight’s Hammer Clan which brought with them a gaggle of dragons, not the least being the Twilight Dragonflight.
Not to forget that Deathwing took his sweet time to fly across Azeroth burning it willy-nilly in order to strike fear in the hearts of mortals, this in order to have them join the Twilight’s Hammer. (R.I.P. Park District)
We also learned (especially during the Fangs of the Father questline that introduced little Wrathion) that the Black Dragonflight often lived amongst mortals, hiding in plain sight and manipulating the lesser races around them.
So for the TL:DR:
The uncorrupted Black Dragonflight possesses the power of the earth. This isn’t awe-inducing per se, yet remains a recent development. Both the long-lived races and the less fortunate have a great deal of truly horrible memories to recall rather than the pleasant ones regarding the Black Dragonflight.
When you ask a random denizen of Azeroth about the magic of the Black Dragonflight they will likely think of shadowflame and how it burns the living and raises the dead. Then they’ll shudder at the memory of everyone in the raid needing to have a damn Onyxia’s Scale Cloak and they will flee in terror!
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The Black Dragonflight were not only known for their terraforming powers and the corruption that turned them into the most destructive dragonflight of all, they were also artificers. As we’ve seen in recently, just one amulet of black dragon design almost brought chaos to Stormwind. While the blue dragonflight created gardens and tried to create power systems, as we saw from Neltharion’s laboratories and works, the black dragonflight made many different gems and stones of power, did wildly dangerous experiments and created unrivalled items of war.
Overall, the Black Dragonflight have proven to be relentlessly ambitious and reckless in their work, vindictively trying to compete with each other and the other flights. It’s no surprise that all of their items aren’t exactly the safest relics around because while the other flights preserve life, protect the dream, mend the time ways and regulate magic, the black dragonflight was left to ward the earth which is very much the preserve of Deepholm.
It was just a phase.
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