I am a little confused by the Dragon Isles.
The Isles have been around for at least 20,000 years. Around the time between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago the Aspects imprisoned the Primals and life flourished on the Isles. But then, 10000 years ago, the Legion arrives, the Isles go dormant and hidden to every dragon outside the Isles…
…but was life still flourishing in the Isles? The corgi-like dragonkin (the tender type mobs) and drakonid in Waking Shores seem to imply yes. They have been awake and maintaining the Isles for 10000 years waiting one day for the Aspects and flights to return.
But then in Ohanaran Plains, the start of the quest chain implies that the centaurs are at war with anyone who practice Primal magic/forbidden magic, that there has been 10s of
centuries of tradition, etc. If the Isles were around for 10000 years with all the inhabitants active, why have the dastardly Primalists made such little headway? Why have the rabid djaradin not overrun everything? It’s a bit hard to believe.
Granted, I am just into Ohnahran Plains, so maybe it is clarified later?
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The Djaradin only recently woke back up when the dragons returned. That’s explained in the Waking Shore questing with wrathion
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My best guess is the Primalists were just a nuisance until they managed to break out Raszageth. Cue Dragonflight.
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There doesn’t seem to be much information on the Primalists, but it seems they haven’t been active on the Isles until recently (when they broke Razsageth out of prison just before the expac started).
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It’s been implied that most of the isles inhabitants were either slumbering and the ones that weren’t, there was a relative peace where species like the centaur were allowed to practice their traditions for thousands of years unopposed.
When the isles woke back up, presumably meaning the elementals became active again is when shamans and others loyal to the primalists came to dragon isles and broke raszagath free.
Hence dragons and mortals answering the call of the isles. And remember, the isles were like pandaria where a mist was covering the isle before the land reawakened again and the mists parted. That’s why the primalists weren’t able to make any headway until recent
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Most of the active primalists we see are of playable races, who wouldn’t have even been on the islands until very recently. Presumably when Grimtotem Boy came to break free Raz, he brought those forces. That’s how we have a nelf lady survivor of Teldrassil among their leaders.
Everything we’ve seen that isn’t a Djaradin has been an elemental, who presumably were summoned like most elementals we see.
This isn’t a big mystery, it just requires a few very reasonable assumptions and paying close attention to the quest text.
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The isles seem to of been largely magically inert for a very, very long time. Beings tied to magic all went dormant, and the isles sort of settled into a sort of not… lifeless state… but a limbo. The centaur and tuskarr continued their traditions, the Dragonkin retreated to the most vital parts of the isle’s infrastructure and worked to maintain it, leaving a great deal of differed maintenance and eventual collapse in its outer regions we see today.
The Primalists did not arrive until we did, when the mists cleared, they were not natives of the isles after all. We don’t know exactly how long the gap between when the isles were revealed and the mortals being invited was… but even a few months is enough time to get to where the Primalists are when we come in like a wrecking ball.
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The elemental energies were extremely low on the dragon isles for the last 10k years, it’s only now that they’ve really returned which is why the elemental-infused beings like the primalists and djaradin woke up.
Also, most general primalist members are from the mortal races so they only joined/got to the isles recently.
Simply put, the primalists were cut off from the world and out of batteries, now they’re recharged and not turned off anymore, and can recruit new members.
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The centaur, gnolls, Tuskarr, Dragonspawn, Drakonids, and wildlife all seem to have been awake and going about their lives. The Djaradin were slumbering, probably due to being humanoid elemental things. The Dragons were away and couldn’t come back due to some kind of camouflage that could only be undone by the beacon on Tyrhold.
Tyrhold couldn’t be activated because the energy of the islands was dormant, thus the Titanforged were also dormant. The islands started waking up, which woke up the elementals, Djaradin, and Titanforged. One of the Titanforged(Koronos) activated the beacon which undid the camouflage which not only let the islands be found but also drew the dragons to it by instinct.
The Primalists were a separate faction of element worshipping extremists that seem to have been waiting for the islands to be found so they can release the Primal Incarnates.
Presumably the Elemental Lords told them to piss off or something because the current ones all seem to be on good terms with the mortals of Azeroth (Smolderon’s status is still in question, though).
Hope this clears everything up.
Because the primal big bad only got released today.
So far I still don’t know why the dragons left the isles. Maybe it was explained somewhere and I simply didn’t catch it, but yeah, I’m still not clear on why.
The flights left during/after the sundering when the energy level of the isles dropped dramatically because the world soul was so badly hurt, and their duty was to protect the world so they needed to try and tend to it. That’s the official line anyways
HOWEVER, though it isn’t said directly, the betrayal of Neltharion and the blacks sort of… broke the dragons, as a culture. The Blue flight was nearly obliterated, and friends and family you had among the Black Flight had just suddenly became insane murder machines and started killing you and your other family and friends with seemingly no remorse. That does something bad to a civilization.
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From what I’ve been able to see implied, along with existing lore, the Isles used to be the center of the Flights’ efforts and where they would interact with mortals the most. It’s clear that Valdrakken was designed with mortal visitors in mind, for example. Likely the dragons felt their influence waning somewhat, and with the world becoming more dangerous, hid the Isles as they left so that their home and a major source of their power couldn’t be destroyed.
My guess is that Nozdormu had a vision of the Legion attacking, and they left to better reinforce the rest of Azeroth just in case. They never intended to be gone longer than a handful of years, I assume, but then Neltharion betrayed them. This inherently damaged/broke their ability to find the Isles of their own accord, and so they needed one of the constructs to light the beacon. There was also likely the secondary concern that unhiding the Isles would expose them to a now corrupted and insane Black Dragonflight.
And by the time things were more settled, the world was in such turmoil they couldn’t stop to find a way home, and then of course all those who were able to guide them back were gone.
Sorry to bump a 4 month old thread but I am confused by another thing related to the dragon isles: the dragons left the isles right? I understand the drakonids and dragonspawns were pretty much everyone they left behind taking care of everything (not counting the other races that also lived in the isles).
So how come there were dragons there also taking care of things, like Selistra? Sendrax says she oversees things and answer emergency callings and etc, so that implies Selistra was also there working with them for some time.
So I’m confused, did all dragons left the isles or only the aspects did?
Aaaa, necromancy.
But anyways. No they all seem to of left. They just barged back in like they owned the place when they returned. Resentment of the Dragons just presumptuously taking over and treating the Drakonids and Dragonspawn like a sub-servant lesser caste is what caused the Dragonkin Rebellion which during 10.1 seemingly gets resolved.
Valdrakken wasn’t deserted this whole time. The other drakonids had been living there the whole time. Then the Queen returned and brought her whole family with her and they quickly reminded them all that this city belongs to dragons. Many didn’t just accept that and adjust
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