Highlights
- World of Warcraft's Fractures in Time update introduces a new mega-dungeon centered around the Infinite Dragonflight.
- A special questline explores the story of Eternus, an Infinite dragon who turned against the Bronze Dragonflight.
- The questline could have been even more emotional if it revealed that the whelp saved by Eternus was actually a young Chromie, a beloved character in World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft’s Fractures in Time update added a whole new mega-dungeon to the game, all about the Infinite Dragonflight. Aside from this, there were also some bonus quests for players to dig into, many to do with these wayward dragons. While heartwarming, one of these extra quests could have made a much bigger impact with just a small change.
The Infinite Dragonflight has been a constant threat to World of Warcraft’s heroes, stringent in their never-ending quest to disrupt the flow of time. Naturally, a time-traveling foe is never easy to vanquish, as a version of them is bound to return at some point. However, players may have struck such a powerful blow in Dragonflight that even these time-hopping dragons won’t interfere again.
One Special World of Warcraft Quest Should Have Included Chromie
An important character that features within Dragonflight’s Thaldraszus questline is Eternus, the Infinite dragon. Like most of her brethren, she was once a Bronze dragon who spurned the rules and dogma of her flight and instead manipulated the timeways as she wished. But despite her grievances, she does actually end up cooperating with Chromie to save the day. For this, the Bronze Aspect, Nozdormu, spares her.
Initially, players thought that perhaps Eternus was Chromie’s Infinite alter ego from another timeline, but this has been dispelled. Instead, Eternus’ story is explored in full through a special questline. After the fall of the Infinites' leader, Deios, Eternus had to confront her disdain towards the Bronze flight if she wanted to move forward.
It was soon revealed that Eternus turned from the Bronze Dragonflight’s ways because they would not allow her to change the past, despite it being within her power to do so. All she wanted was to save her sister, Moraidormi, whom a corrupted Black dragon had killed, but Nozdormu refused. Baffled and enraged at the Aspect’s indifference, Eternus grew to hate the Bronze’s obsession with preserving a single timeline.
The Bronze Aspect Nozdormu, having grown himself as a character, allows the timeways to bend, if only to show Eternus why he would not let her change events. With the player’s help, she returns to that fateful moment and tries to save her clutch-mate from an awful death, but each attempt fails. What’s more, it soon becomes apparent that had Eternus’ sister not sacrificed herself, an entire clutch of Bronze eggs would have been revealed and destroyed.
Thus, Eternus realized her folly. The questline shows how, mere moments after Moraidormi's death, a little Bronze whelp emerges, now safe from danger. This is the moment that the questline should have identified this tiny whelp. It would have made the quest so much more poignant and touching if that tiny whelp had turned out to be none other than Chromie.
Chromie, or Chronormu, is a young Bronze dragon with an adorably optimistic outlook. She has helped players save the world many times over, and in Dragonflight, she almost single-handedly rescues Nozdormu from an awful fate. Players are very familiar with Chromie, and she’s become one of World of Warcraft’s most popular dragons. Given her previous tense and cheeky relationship with Eternus, it would have made all the more sense for the whelp in the aforementioned vision to be a baby Chromie.
If Chromie had been the one saved by Eternus’ sister, then the Infinite dragon would understand all the more how important that sacrifice was. Had Chromie been killed as a whelp, she wouldn’t have been there in Dragonflight to save Nozdormu, and the entire timeline would have collapsed, taking Azeroth with it.
It may be loosely implied that this past event took place during Cataclysm, but this doesn’t have to be the case. The Black Dragonflight became corrupted long before then, so Chromie’s hatching could easily slot into the established lore’s timeline as coinciding with Eternus’ loss. Regardless, it would have made for an incredible reveal if Chromie’s life were so intertwined with Eternus’ past. The emotional impact would be all the greater, as Chromie is such a beloved dragon in World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available now for PC.