The Fate of Val'sharah

This one hit me. Hard.

I just noticed that the grass in the courtyard is in the shape of a dragon.

How to put what that cinematic did to me into words...

I love Alexstrasza as a character; I've always liked her personality, her strength, her portrayal in the books. I've enjoyed her storylines in the game; her resurrection of Bolvar at the Wrathgate, and the 5 1/2 minute cutscene in Cata where she ends up wrestling Deathwing down a ****ing mountain definitely stand out. But my main character is a night elf druid, the druidic lore has always been near and dear to me, and I've always been disappointed that Ysera hasn't been given those same opportunities to really shine.

For years and years she was removed and untouchable, endlessly silent in her sleep. The more we got to interact with the other flights and their aspects, the more I longed to interact with her, to have the power of her presence and her meaning to my druid's identity explored and gratified, rather than treating her like so much background noise.

Then Cataclysm came, and it was such a joy to see her awake in Mount Hyjal. Finally, she was here! I was getting to work with her and the Wild Gods to save Nordrassil and push back the armies of Ragnaros! And yet...it seemed so brief, after so long, only to have her quickly shunted aside again. Her role in the remaining fight against Deathwing was given little unique value, and it's been back to silence ever since.

I don't know what I would have done differently, if I were writing the game's story. I don't know that it would have been reasonable to expect anything else, especially after Cataclysm; the bronze flight was the only flight involved in Pandaria, and the dragons had nothing to do with Draenor. I do know that I farmed for ages to get the emerald whelpling and then named it Lysera. I know that I rode the red drake mount for years because there was no emerald drake, and the aspect of life was the closest I could get to the aspect of nature and dreams. I know that I saw Alexstrasza orchestrate and perform amazing things over the years, and wished I could be fighting alongside my patron aspect to protect our world. I know that I've been so psyched for the Emerald Nightmare raid because it's Ysera's domain, where she could be as powerful, majestic, creative and awe-inspiring as I've always believed her to be.

I know that I watched that cinematic, eyes wide and jaw dropped, waiting for Elune to take it back and purify her. I know that this version of Night Song (the night elf theme song) left me heartbroken and covered in goosebumps. I know that the moment the lyric "Nordrassil" was sung and Ysera's spirit lifted free from her body, I started saying "No" over and over again in tones devolving from disbelief into anguished denial. I don't know how many times I said it, and I don't know when exactly I started crying, but I know I couldn't stop doing either until well after the cinematic was over.

Losing Tirion hurt. Losing Varian hurt, especially with the emotional whiplash created between the Legion opening cinematic and Varian's death. Losing Vol'jin hurt, too, despite me being primarily an alliance player; I rooted for him during MoP, I enjoyed getting to know him through his struggles in the novel Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde, and I had hoped to see more of what he'd do as Warchief.

Losing Ysera didn't just hurt me; it crushed me. Losing her to a quest death at the beginning of the expansion that should have been her moment of true triumph enraged me. And losing her like that, being one-shotted by some b**** a** attack that she apparently couldn't defend against or resist, despite Xavius failing to even break a sweat, offended me.

Ysera, I'm so, so sorry. You deserved better than this.

We deserved the chance to get to know you for the force of nature you were.

Good news is Ysera has Emerald Dream immortality like Wild Gods, when she dies her spirit simply goes into the Dream. She helps us in the Xavius raid fight.