Was the lord of fire just following his nature in setting things ablaze or was he diabolically evil? There is precedent for Lords of Fire settings things on Fire, but wanting to kill the noble shaman with the very sword they gave him, is such an act of pure evil.
So help me, my fellow story forum goings… what is Smolderan?
Before we can answer this, we need to establish some facts.
So the question is, would he have done this without the lies of the Druids of the Flame?
Personally, I don’t think he would have. I don’t see him as evil. I see him as a victim who was conned by a very charismatic con man and died because of it. And considering that the Earthen Ring and the Cenarian Circle were probably keeping tabs on him to ensure he would not pull a Ragnaros… I can see why Smolderan believed the lies Tindral was saying.
I never caught Tindral’s quote before. I guess I was too focused on Smolderan wanting to kill me with the sword I gave him and that I should be honored about it.
Meanwhile I can’t help but wonder who among the Druids of the Flame knew of this secret plan. Like was it just among the Senior Leadership or a secret deal between these two? Like was Ashendir Hartwood, the Druids of the Flame leader, aware of this plan or did Tindral seize the opportunity after his death?
There’s a pattern. Did, you notice Sargeras and Fyrakk are written in the same font?
funnily enough the real deception here is that we’re part of the titan’s followers, otherwise this is pretty much exactly what the titans intended in the first place.
Huh? Can you elaborate?
I wanna know how the Cult of Ragnaros factor into all of this. During the Dark Iron recruitment quest, they referred to Smolderon as if they knew where he was, yet they were attempting to resurrect Ragnaros (which I was unaware you could do with an elemental killed in its plane).
Was Smolderon aware of this? If so, why was he cool with a former Firelord being resurrected when he currently held the position? Was the Cult just taking advantage of Smolderon’s absence? Did Smolderon know the Primalists were planning to release Fyrakk, and was in league with them as well?
It’s all just… very messy. I’m sure they’re not really gonna dip their toes into answering these questions, because we’re moving onto the next story and they’re prone to leaving the old one in the dust.
It’s not certain if Ragnaros even can be resurrected.
There are apparently still embers of Ragnaros in existence, so… as long as at least one of those exists, I guess you could er… rekindle him with the right ritual?
Honestly, I view Smolderan being a raid boss just another case of Blizzard butt-pulling another random character from a past expansion because they couldn’t think of something else and just threw him in there. And because there’s no explanation given, players are the ones left trying to piece things together because Blizzard are terrible at “show, don’t tell” with their writing.
I rather like the boss banter in this raid. I noticed today that Fyrakk mockingly quotes Igira’s commentary on Gnarlroot when he dies after we kill her.
“His screams were beginning to bore me”
“Her screams were beginning to bore me”
Meme “written in the same font” is comparing different people/characters and how they share similar story/attributes/patterns or even looks.
I made a twitter post about it. But since I can’t post visuals due to my status, it will lose too much in just explaining it.
he got tricked
Man Smolderon really got to you. Personally as a fellow shaman player I didn’t particular care. If anything I sort of forgot I gave him a weapon.
Do I think he is evil? As evil as Ragnaros in that if we didn’t kill we would all be dead so yeah, seeing him betrayed by Fryakk was simply icing to a cake.
It’s the audacity of it all that got to me. Him wanting to kill me with the sword I gave him is one, after all it’s his weapon. However his declaration that I should be honored by it, crosses the line.
Personally I have gotten immune to the whole thing. All these villains will die to a lava burst to the face so let them gloat while they can.
On the subject of him being compared to his dad/Fryakk being compared to Deathwing, I keep thinking of this iconic scene from our movies:
I do enjoy lava bursting their faces.
It’s hard for me to judge Smolderan’s morality, just because it’s always seemed like he was so… well, extremely unintelligent. He’s incredibly dull and slow compared almost every other Elemental we’ve ever seen.
I think Smolderan was conned. In the boss fight, some of the PCs are shamans; likely some of the same Shamans who helped him rise to power in the Firelands in Legion, and who he helped fight back the Burning Legion. Does he acknowledge that in-game?
Because lorewise, that’d be some at least worth acknowledging in-universe.
While he does have a nature to burn, he was one of the more moderate fire elementals (which is why the shamans chose to help him succeed Ragnaros and kill his rivals).
So, I think he wasn’t evil, just deceived. Given that he’s a fire elemental and led the Firelands, when convinced there was an enemy to fight his approach is to go scorched earth (pun intended).
If Fire do one thing, fire burn.
Reminds me of the Darkspear Shaman who were entreating upon the Fire elements to help Teldrassil burn more effectively. The fire was just happy to burn away, having a good ol’ time being its best self living its best life.
Say what you will about the Horde or the Shaman involved in the burning - the fire itself was more than willing to burn when called.