The Unfolding Tale of Traitor's Rest: Romance, Deception, and a Bizarre Dual-Headed Beast

The story of Traitor's Rest comes to a close this week. We look back over what we've learned, the surprises we've uncovered, and the questions we're still left with.

The Battle of Traitor's Rest

The Azerothian Archives is a new organization that seems to be something of a stand-in for Archeology. One of the activities introduced by this organization has been the Big Dig at Traitor's Rest, an area in Azure Span, that has always felt a bit mysterious due to the skeleton of a giant two-headed dragon that can be found here. Over the last few weeks, we've finally gotten a chance to learn more about the history behind this place.

In the first week, we were introduced to Traitor's Rest and given a brief description of its backstory. Our Lead Archivist, Eadweard Dalyngrigge, is a Forsaken who has been smitten by Sindragosa ever since he was a child. When the opportunity came to travel to the Dragon Isles, he of course took it, and while we've been messing around with Raszageth and Fyrakk and all that, Eadweard has been happily studying Sindragosa's memoirs at Algeth'ar Academy.

Though this is news to us, we're told Traitor's Rest was already known to Azerothian scholars to be the location of a famous battle between Neltharion's troops - most notably a two-headed dragon - and the cultures of the Dragon Isles, eons ago. According to Eadweard, the real surprise is evidence that the blue dragonflight was involved. Presumably, he's asked them for more information and was refused an answer, because Eadweard says the Blue Dragons are "staying mum", but he's determined to solve the mystery anyway, "for Sindragosa".

• Eadweard Dalyngrigge says:

• "As a lad, I loved dragons--as young children do--and was smitten with Sindragosa. I read all I could about her."
• "When the Dragon Isles opened, I begged the Algeth'ar Academy to let me study the many volumes of Sindragosa's memoirs."
• "In them found a brief mention of a battle at Traitor's Rest."
• "I knew of Neltharion's connection to the place, but Sindragosa?"
• "The Blue Dragons are staying mum, but clearly an epic story played out here."
• "I must solve this mystery. For Sindragosa!"

During our investigations, we discover that a group from the blue dragonflight traveled to Traitor's Rest to meet up with a Scalecommander Abereth. If this name seems familiar, it's because players met Abereth during our Return to the Forbidden Reach. While grappling with the dracthyr's legacy, Emberthal faced Failed Scalecommander Abereth along with several others who now haunt the cave that Neltharion used to test his dracthyr in. Emberthal passed this test, but Abereth was apparently found wanting.

However, we learned during an Azerothian Archives' technoscrying mission that Abereth actually survived the trial, but that Neltharion had him killed afterward, stating that he would allow nothing to stand in the way of his "creation". So far, the Azerothian Archives do not yet seem to know what this creation was. More on that later.

Either way, the group at Traitor's Rest apparently anticipated an attack from Neltharion - and they were right.

We Have Questions

From the get-go, the information we learned in the first week does raise a lot of questions, and not the ones being asked by Archives.

First of all, the idea that there was a famous battle between Neltharion and the creatures of the Dragon Isles long before his fall and betrayal is a bit of a surprise, considering the fact that, back then, he was a trusted leader. Scalecommander Abereth and his weyrn's presence is another confusing mystery - the dracthyr were a closely-guarded secret by Neltharion, kept hidden in the Forbidden Reach and under his command with a powerful Titan artifact, the Oathbinder. The moment this artifact broke, Neltharion organized for Malygos to put the dracthyr under a stasis - and when he did, Malygos was surprised to learn of the dracthyr's existence. The idea that sometime before then some dracthyr were merrily disobeying orders to hang out in the Azure Span with blue dragons - none of whom mentioned these creatures to Malygos - is... weird, to say the least.

What's more, while we do know from the Blue Dragonflight questline that Sindragosa had her suspicions about Neltharion that she regretted keeping to herself, the idea that she battled with him and was aware that he had created the dracthyr and she still didn't say anything to Malygos about any of it... is outright baffling.

But this is just the first week, so let's take a look at what we learned next.

Tuskarr & Djaradin

Over the next few weeks, we learned that the blue dragonflight and dracthyr were joined by a group of tuskarr, led by a strategist named Umtial, and - another major surprise - a group of djaradin, whose leader's name was Gharrin. Djaradin are not know to be friendly towards dragons, but it seems that their involvement may have been inspired by an unusual relationship. In fact, Eadweard outright speculates that Umtial and Gharrin were actually romantically involved.

• Eadweard Dalyngrigge says:

• "Gharrin, djaradin bane of dragons and proto-dragons alike, had volunteered to be 'bait' for the monster."
• "It seems Umtila was upset at the prospect--more upset than you would expect a tuskarr to be over a djaradin."
• "I just wonder... Was this an unlikely friendship or something else?"
• "Romantic musings aside, we found important information in their missives giving us proof of Neltharion's involvement."

Sadly, the relationship ended in tragedy. In the fifth week, we learned that Gharrin the djaradin was a traitor, (an evil djaradin, how groundbreaking) who was secretly working as an agent of Neltharion. Based on the body we uncovered, Gharrin was killed personally by Umtila. In his records, Eadweard speculates, once again, that there was more than simple friendship between these two.

It appears that Gharrin fell early in the battle. And Umtila's bone dagger was found near his remains. If what I suspected about them were true. I would not have blamed her for felling the man herself!

Neltharion's Motives

Despite the Battle of Traitor's Rest famously involving Neltharion and the creatures of the Dragon Isles (but also no one knew about the blue dragonflight's involvement, or the dracthyr, or the tuskarr, or the djaradin, until recently... leaving us wondering exactly what people thought the "famed battle of Traitor's Rest" was before this dig...) Neltharion's motives for attacking the area remained a mystery the Archivists were determined to uncover. Ultimately, we discover that he was after a certain tome that was being kept at the Azerothian Archives, and the attack on Traitor's Rest was meant to be a distraction.

This is, in fact, what prompted Sindragosa's involvement. While she didn't know which tome Neltharion was after, she had her suspicions, and so organized for several important volumes to be moved to other locations for safekeeping. Finally, when she was able to confirm his target and that it was safely hidden away from the Archives, she joined the others at Traitor's Rest and helped save the day, defeating Neltharion's dragon personally.

• Eadweard Dalyngrigge says:

• "Once Sindragosa had confronted Neltharion at the Azure Archives and knew for sure the tome he desired was hidden elsewhere, she came to our heroes' aid in their time of direst need."
• "Indeed, some of the wounds inflicted on this beast could have only been made by a dragon of Sindragosa's size."
• "The name of the tome has been lost to the ages, but for now, the story of Traitor's Rest has been told. I feel so much closer to my childhood hero, Sindragosa.

We Still Have Questions

Eadweard may be satisfied with the Big Dig's findings, but we still have questions.

First of all, we still don't understand why a famous battle with Neltharion's forces, one involving a giant two-headed dragon that had to be defeated, is just treated as some famous event without anyone asking questions about the fact that Neltharion was liked and trusted and apparently never really questioned about it.

Secondly, we struggle to understand how blue dragons, djaradin, and tuskarr all apparently knew about dracthyr but not one person mentioned it to Malygos or anyone else. It's also confusing why Neltharion still went ahead with using the dracthyr after this, trusting the Oathbinder to control them (despite this evidence that the artifact failed in its purpose) and only later had them put in a stasis after the Oathbinder broke.

Perhaps Abereth, having managed to somehow break free of the Oathbinder's influence, knew how badly Neltharion would react if he ever found out about dracthyr outside of his control, and so swore everyone who met the dracthyr to secrecy. It doesn't seem that Neltharion actually attended the battle himself, so possibly he never heard about the dracthyr's involvement, despite having a spy at Traitor's Rest. After all, Gharrin was discovered and killed, so maybe the djaradin never got the chance to let Neltharion know about the dracthyr presence.

Sindragosa's decision to just forget to mention the fact that she had to hide an important tome from Malygos's best friend also remains odd. Possibly she worried that Malygos trusted Neltharion enough to simply offer to lend him the tome - but if that was the case, why would Neltharion have to try conspire to steal it in the first place?

Finally, we're intrigued by Neltharion's two-headed dragon. Traitor's Rest is still haunted by the spirit of this "two-headed, shadowflame-infused. malevolent beast", and in fact, every dig ends with needing to once again defeat Doomshadow. Eadweard calls the creature "Neltharion's two-headed experiment" and throughout the dig refers to it as a proto-dragon, though it really just looks like a standard chimaera to us. Could it be that chimaera in general are the result of Neltharion's experiments, like the slitherdrakes? Or was the chimaera model just the closest thing to a two-headed dragon model that the quest designers had to work with.

As we mentioned before, Neltharion later had Abereth murdered, stating that he wanted nothing to stand in the way of his "creation" - clearly, he was still working on something. And Neltharion's family has become somewhat known for their draconic creations that result from experiments, from the Twilight Dragonflight to Chromatus. The name of the tome that Neltharion was after "has been lost to the ages", but maybe it contained some information that might have helped Neltharion perfect his experiment, whatever it was.

At the moment, it's hard to know for sure, but for now, this is where the story of Traitor's Rest seems to end.

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