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Dissecting WoW's Dragonflight Leaders - Aspects of Power & Drama

As World of Warcraft's Dragonflight expansion emerges, we discuss the five different Dragonflights in WoW lore, focusing on the leaders, aka Aspects.

By Wessel Minnie |

First Published November 29, 2022, 05:52

Dissecting WoW's Dragonflight Leaders - Aspects of Power & Drama

Dragons, dragons everywhere! While the five main dragon types have always been part of the world...of Warcraft, Blizzard is putting them front-and-center for WoW Dragonflight. In the latest expansion, players will join the dragonflights of Azeroth as they return to claim their ancestral home, the Dragon Isles.

These five dragonflights are led by specific dragons, ancient beings of great power. The five Dragon Aspects' history has been filled with drama, intrigue, and betrayal, so much so that it sometimes felt like a season of The Kardashians.

Books have been written about World of Warcraft's dragon leaders and their flights. Don't worry; we won't go into that much detail, but instead, provide fans with an overview of what Dragon Aspects are in Warcraft lore and who the leader of every Dragonflight is leading into the latest expansion.

Check out our video below (and continue reading!), where we dive deep into the lore of the Dragon Aspects in World of Warcraft, discussing all the leaders, their history, and some family drama!

The Original Dragon Aspects in WoW Lore

wow dragonflight aspects dragon leaders world of warcraft dragon isles — Five Proto-Dragons who would become the original Dragon Aspects, fighting Galakrond. (Picture: Blizzard / Glenn Rane)

To understand the different Dragonflights, one needs to go all the back to the beginning of Azeroth.

Starting as merely five powerful Proto-Dragons, the five originals stood against Galakrond, the Father of Dragons, who threatened to destroy the dragon race. See, we told you there was a lot of drama, as the original Dragon Aspects' story kicks off with a bit of patricide...

The intelligent and powerful Proto-Dragons were Alexstrasza, Ysera, Malygos, Nozdormu, and Neltharion. They stood against Galakrond and defeated it alongside Keeper Tyr.

After this immense victory, the aforementioned Keeper Tyr went behind the other Keepers' backs to the Titans, asking these godlike beings to make the five dragons the defenders of Azeroth. See, some betrayal as well!

The Titans granted each of the Proto-Dragons a portion of their power to protect Azeroth, and they were henceforth known as the five Dragon Aspects, who can also turn into humanoid form at will.

Keep this a secret, however, as mortals of Azeroth think the Dragon Aspects were created by Galakrond, as spread by the five Aspects themselves.

The five original Dragon Aspects and their respective dragonflights are:

Red Dragonflight - Alexstrasza the Life-Binder - Aspect of Life
Bronze Dragonflight - Nozdormu the Timeless One - Aspect of Time
Green Dragonflight - Ysera the Dreamer - Aspect of Nature
Black Dragonflight - Neltharion the Earth-Warder - Aspect of Death
Blue Dragonflight - Malegos the Spellweaver - Aspect of Magic

Neltharion, the leader of the black Dragonflight, betrayed his fellow Aspects during the War of the Ancients, stealing a portion of their power via the Dragon Soul, an immensely powerful artifact.

Now let's fast-forward a bit to the Cataclysm expansion, where Neltharion, aka Deathwing, became the World Breaker, breaking Azeroth.

Deathwing's corruption was thanks, in part, to the Old Gods' master plan to eliminate all the Dragon Aspects and put an end to life in Azeroth. For this discussion, we won't go any further into the Old Gods, an exciting topic in its own right; but that would be considered opening a particularly complicated can of tentacles.

Deathwing, as we all know, was destroyed at the end of Cataclysm.

In the Hour of Twilight saga, the Dragon Aspects expended their powers, sacrificing their Titan-given roles to save Azeroth and ushering in the Age of Mortals.

In the Battle for Azeroth, the essences of the five Dragon Aspects were used to give power to the Hearth of Azeroth to heal the world, yes, the world, from a stab wound left by the mad Titan, Sargeras.

Now, in World of Warcraft's Dragonflight expansion, players alongside the different dragonflights will have to reclaim the Dragon Isles, fighting ancient Proto-Dragons, called Primal Incarnates, who hang on the teachings of Galakrond...mentioned at the very start of our discussion.

But who are the current leaders of the five dragonflights since some have been fought and killed off? Who will help heroes defeat the Primal Incarnates?

Our next section discusses the five current dragon leaders at the start of Dragonflight.

Red Dragonflight Current Leader - Alexstrasza

Alexstrasza, the Aspect of Life, queen of the dragons, is the current leader of the Red Dragonflight.

Interestingly, she is the only Dragon Aspect that players have not fought in World of Warcraft in some way, shape, or form.

Alexstrasza might not be as powerful as she used to be, still recovering from the events of the Battle for Azeroth. However, she is a wise and compassionate leader, possesses excellent control over life magic, can heal nearly any wound, and her breath even causes flowers to grow...

In WoW Dragonflight, Alexstrasza returns to the Dragon Isles and provides some guidance to Wrathion. More on him later, as time is of the utmost importance.

Bronze Dragonflight Current Leader - Nozdormu

wow dragonflight leaders world of warcraft aspects history current — You can still find Nozdormu in the Caverns of Time. (Picture: Blizzard)

Nozdormu the Timeless One, is the Aspect of Time and the leader of the Bronze Dragonflight.

He was instrumental in defeating Deathwing, as he bound the World Breaker in a moment in time to make sure the killing blow could never be reversed.

In Dragonflight, we are unsure if Nozdormu will even show up. He was absent during the Battle for Azeroth, as Chronormu (aka Chromie) helped gather the scales in his stead.

Nozdormu is still, at this point, the leader of the Bronze Dragonflight. However, it is important to note that for day-to-day Bronze Dragonflight business, we should probably look to Chromie.

We will leave you with this thought on Nozdormu. He is set to become corrupted sometime in the future.

To quote Nozdormu's future self (Murozond, Lord of the Infinite) upon defeat: "At last it has come to pass. The moment of my demise. The loop is closed. My future self will cause no more harm. Still, in time, I will... fall to madness. And you, heroes... will vanquish me. The cycle will repeat. So it goes. What matters is that Azeroth did not fall; that we survived to fight another day. All that matters... is this moment.”

Blue Dragonflight Current Leader - Kalecgos

The Aspect of Magic is dead! All hail the Aspect of Magic!

We all know the Spellweaver was put to death in the Eye of Eternity during the Wrath of the Lich King era.

Enter Kalecgos, Kalec for short, Steward of Magic and the current leader of the Blue Dragonflight.

He was an investigator for Malygos and instrumental in empowering the Heart of Azeroth during the Battle for Azeroth era.

In World of Warcraft Dragonflight, Kalecgos is the undisputed leader of the blue Dragonflight and can be found on Dragon Isles in the Azure Span zone.

At the start of the Dragonflight expansion, he is looking for the archives of Sindragosa...and we expect the leader of the Blue Dragonflight to run into some trouble along the way.

Green Dragonflight Current Leader - Merithra

The Green Dragonflight doesn't currently have an Aspect, as Ysera, the Aspect of Nature, aka the Mother of Dreams, was killed after becoming corrupted during the Legion expansion.

The Green Dragonflight, at the start of the next expansion, at least, does have a de facto leader in Merithra of the Dream. She is Ysera's daughter, taking over from her mother's role and saving Ysera's soul in Shadowlands as she bound Ysera's soul to Ardenweald.

For the Green Dragon fans, there are many interesting ways it could go in the Dragonflight expansion, and we will likely learn much more about Merithra. We know she is not a Dragon Aspect, and not all green dragons want her as a leader.

Black Dragonflight Current Leader - Wrathion

With the demise of Deathwing, Wrathion is another Dragonflight leader that hasn't precisely been elected. He also isn't a Dragon Aspect.

He is the son of Deathwing, The Black Prince, or the Black Emporer. Wrathion is on a mission to redeem the Black Dragonflight.

Wrathion is a hot-headed, going in guns blazing type of leader. He does make for some memorable, almost comedic moments at times, and Alexstrasza has offered him her guidance.

In World of Warcraft's Dragonflight expansion, Wrathion could play a significant role. When the Dragon Isles were discovered again, he traveled to Forbidden Reach with Ebyssian, fought Primalists, and even warned the Alliance.

However, we did promise some more Kardashian-level drama. Well, Seballian has returned. He is the long-lost son of Deathwing, who has spent most of his life in Outland.

These two are now in a power struggle for leadership of the Black Dragonflight, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. Wrathion claims his deeds earn him the leadership role, while Seballian is going with the birthright angle.

Hasn't the Black Dragonflight been through enough?

So that's an overview of the current Dragonflight leaders heading into the expansion of the same name.

We hope you enjoyed this lesson on WoW lore and might be a little more excited about heading to Dragon Isles, working with the Dragonflight leaders to take back their ancestral homeland.

For more World of Warcraft news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or some of our WoW Guides & Tutorials below:

Holiday Events - Hallow's End| Feast of Winter Veil

Featured image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.

Check out our video below, where we dive deep into the lore of the Dragon Aspects in World of Warcraft, discussing all the leaders, their history, and some family drama!

For more World of Warcraft news, be sure to check out our dedicated section or some of our WoW Guides & Tutorials below:

Dragonflight Tier Lists - Best DPS Class & Build | Best Healer Class & Build | Best Tank Class & Build

Holiday Events - Hallow's End| Feast of Winter Veil

Featured image courtesy of Blizzard.

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