The Druids of the Flame are a reoccurring antagonistic faction in the World of Warcraft series, serving as secondary antagonists in the Cataclysm Expansion as well as the final antagonistic force in the Dragonflight Expansion. They are a cult made almost entirely of night elf druids that have turn their backs to the teachings of their goddess Elune in favor of serving the Elemental Lord of fire Ragnaros. Driven insane by the primal fires they where infused with, they seek to burn all of Azeroth into a lifeless husk of primeval flame.
Thou initially associated with the Twilight's Hammer Clan and there fore Deathwing and the Old Gods, the current day organization is now in league with the Primal Incarnate of fire Fyrakk, hoping he would infuse his fiery essence into the new world tree Amirdrassil in a bid to regain the immortality that they once possesed.
Biography[]
Early Sightings[]
The teachings of The Druids of the Flame can be traced back to the foundation of Teldrassil and it's creator Fandral Staghelm, the former archdruid of Darnassus. Fandral Staghelm created Teldrassil from branches of the now destroyed Nordrassil to act as a new home for the night elven people, and to more importantly regain the immortality they once had when Nordrassil was still alive. Thou Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind disagreed with the creation of Teldrassil, Fandral was still adamantly convinced that the Dragon Aspects would surly arrive and bless the tree to make the night elves immortal once more. They did not, and so Fandral and his followers felt betrayed and bitter they won't ever have immortality again, a bitterness that was further accentuated with the brutal death of his son Valstann Staghelm at the hands of the Old God servants, and the Dragon Aspects' refusal to assist him until the very last second.
Over time Fandral began to receive visions of his deceased son Valstann begging his father to bring him back to life. Fandral would do anything to bring his beloved son back from the dead and so followed the visions for answers. The Spirit of Valstann stated that if he ever wanted to see him again he would need to corrupt the new world tree with the essence of the Emerald Nightmare, and so Fandral did just that with a few corrupted branches. As time time passed the corruption began to spread into Teldrassil as the local wildlife started to become insane and feral, the night elves started to feel on edge, wanting to know the source of the corruption. As this was happening Fandral received even more visions from his son, telling him that he needs to keep Malfurion Stormrage asleep by force feeding him a herb known as morrograin in order to keep him trapped within the Emerald Dream. In reality these visions Fandral was having where actually from the demon Xavius in disguise who was merely manipulating Fandral from the shadows in order for him to torture and kill Malfurion Stormrage. But eventually Malfurion was able to break free from Xavious' grasp and revealed the truth behind Teldrassil's growing corruption. Fandral Staghelm at first refused to believe Malfurion's words, that spirt of his son was actually a conniving demon, but Malfurion opened Fandral's eyes by showing the vision of his son crumble before him and slowly turn into Xavius. This revelation left Fandral shell-shocked and insane, a broken husk of the man he once was, and so he and his conspirators where rounded up and imprisoned within Teldrassil, leaving him in a state of catatonic insanity, forced to relive watching his son die over and over again.
Cataclysm[]
Many years later, Fandral Staghelm was relocated to Barrow Dens in Mount Hyjal, still mind-broken over the revelation he had witness. During this time black dragon aspect, Deathwing had broken free from his imprisonment and had begun his cataclysmic rampage over Azeroth. During his rampage, he made an alliance with the elemental lord of fire Ragnaros to assist him in the destruction of Azeroth. Ragnaros sends his elemental armies as well as the Twilight's Hammer Clan to wreak havoc over the continent of Kalimdore. As this was happening, a green dragon named Alysra, fearing that the Twilight's Hammer Clan would want to use Fandral to learn his mastery over druidism, decided that she should whisk Fandral away to Moonglade Prison in order to deny the Hammer Clan their prize. However most of Alysra's kind (particularly the green dragon aspect Ysera) thought of her decision to be too risky, foolish, and suspicious. their suspicion proves correct as Alysra turns out to be a double agent working Ragnaros the entire time, and she was actually sending him to the Firelands instead.
Ragnaros offered the mind-broken Fandral Staghelm great unimaginable power if he where to serve him and his cause. Fandral at that point had finally accepted that his beloved son is long gone and that there is no way to bring him back, so instead of trying to find away to reunite with him, he would see all of Azeroth burn to ashes as a nihilistic vengeance on the wretched world that killed his son and the hypocrisy that followed. And so Fandral Staghelm was reborn in flames, and was given the title Majordomo Staghelm, acting as Ragnaros' new right-hand man.
Majordomo Staghelm began recruiting night elves far and wide, many of these night elves that joined his cause where disillusioned by Malfurion's neutrality towards the Horde even after they have killed so many of their loved ones, while others joined believing that they would regain their immortality once more. these night elves like Staghelm himself, where infused of Ragnaros' fire, becoming power crazed druids with command over fire, and thus the Druids of the Flame came to be.
The Druids of the Flame began wreaking havoc on Kalimdore, particularly in Mount Hyjal. During their skirmishes they captured the shaman and former warchief of the Horde, Thrall, and tortured him in an attempt to permanently shatter his connection with the elements. As this was happening Malfurion Stormrage rallied members of the Alliance and Horde in a massive counter attack against the Druids of the Flame. During the conflict the heroes of the Horde and Alliance rescued Thrall and destroyed the Solar Core, a weapon infused with the essence of the Firelands that was meant to destroy Azeroth. Then they turn their sights on Flame Druids themselves. With battle after battle, the coalition was able to push back the invading Flame Druids into the Firelands from which they originated from, there they confronted and eventually slayed Majordomo Staghelm and Ragnaros respectively. With their leaders now dead, the Druids of the Flame fell into disarray as the remaining members where rounded up and either imprisoned or killed. The Alliance and Horde felt that this would be the end of the Druids of the Flame, but a few surviving members where able to survive by sneaking further away into the outskirts of the Firelands.
Dragonflight[]
For the next seven year or so, the surviving members of the Druids of the Flame remained within the Firelands, bidding their time until the perfect opportunity arises. They would then get that opportunity with the War of Thorns, a conflict in which the current warchief of the horde Sylvanas Windrunner burned Teldrassil to the ground, resulting in a catastrophic loss of life. This not only reignited hatred between the Alliance and the Horde, but also left many night elves extremely demoralized, believing that none of these tragedies would have happened if they weren't immortal. With a perfect string of tragedies, the Druids of the Flame began recuperating their numbers one by one until their army was as big as it once was during the Deathwing's rampage, but they where still in desperate need of a proper leader if they want to mount a successful attack on Azeroth.
That chance for a leader came with the arrival of Fyrakk, the sadistic primal incarnate of fire. Fyrakk and his Primalist armies have been trying for quite some time to find a way to break into the Emerald Dream and corrupt the new growing world tree Amirdrassil. At some point of his conquest he encountered the Druids of the Flame, both Fyrakk and the druids where united by their desire to destroy the Dragon Aspects and plunge Azeroth in flame and so the Druids of the Flame swore loyalty to Fyrakk as their new leader. The Druids of the Flame taught Fyrakk how to access the Emerald Dream and in return, Fyrakk created Fyr'alath the Dream Render, a powerful battle axe that he could use to tear open portals into the Emerald Dream. With the Dream now accessible and Fyrakk's forces rallied, the Druids of the Flame launch a missive assault on the Emerald Dream, hoping to final corrupt Amirdrassil and use that corruption as the congregation that would burn away all things.
Gallery[]
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