Aegwynn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Magna Aegwynn

Gender	Female
Race	Human
Character class	Former Archmage
Affiliation	The Guardians
Occupation	Guardian (second-last)

Aegwynn is a fictional character in the Warcraft universe, mother of the last Guardian of Tirisfal, and a Guardian herself. Her actions and arrogance led to the invasion of Azeroth by Orcs, depicted in the game Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. She appears in the Warcraft series game manuals and two novels, Warcraft: The Last Guardian and World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred.

[edit] Biography

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Aegwynn was the penultimate Guardian appointed by the Order of Tirisfal to protect the world from the Burning Legion and its agents. She was selected both for her magical talent (as a first-year apprentice, she had mastered the Meitre Scrolls, a set of powerful spells that most wizards were dissuaded from even attempting to read) and for overcoming the challenges she had faced as a female apprentice.

She is famous for meeting and defeating the fallen Titan Sargeras with remarkable ease on the field of battle. Unbeknownst to her, however, Sargeras had merely allowed her to destroy his physical form, channeling his spirit into her body when she collapsed after her apparent victory. The battle is depicted in the epic poem entitled 'The Song of Aegwynn'.

Her victory over Sargeras instilled in her supreme arrogance; she began to ignore the demands of the Order, and felt that, as the destroyer of Sargeras, she should choose her own successor. Thus, a few centuries later, Aegwynn conceived a child with Nielas Aran, a court conjuror and advisor to the king of Stormwind. This was for the sole purpose of bearing a child to be the next Guardian; according to Aegwynn, the relationship was one of convenience, rather than love. Aegwynn left Aran and gave birth to a son, Medivh, channeling into him the powers of the Tirisfalen to ensure that he would replace her as Azeroth's Guardian. However, Sargeras's spirit had also entered her son, and eventually came to dominate him.

Aegwynn began to suspect that Medivh was responsible for unleashing the orcs upon Azeroth. She confronted him, attempting to return him to the path of the Guardian, but he would not be swayed. Aegwynn battled her son, but having given him her power, she was soon defeated, and Sargeras revealed himself. However, he was unable to kill her, due to the resistance of what little remained of Medivh's will, and so instead stripped her of her power. Before he could finish, however, she used the magic of her anti-aging spells to teleport herself to the continent of Kalimdor, where she lived in self-imposed exile, only able to watch helplessly as the orcs, and later the Scourge, ravaged Azeroth.

While in exile, she slowly regained her strength and formulated a plan to use her remaining anti-aging magic to resurrect Medivh (who had been slain by his apprentice, Khadgar and the knight Anduin Lothar), in an attempt to atone for her sins. Her efforts were successful (after 21 years of biding her time), and the uncorrupted soul of Medivh was brought back to Azeroth, where he succeeded in convincing the orcs, led by Thrall to travel to the safety of Kalimdor before the Scourge ravaged the Eastern Kingdoms. However, Medivh failed to convince the human kingdoms to make the journey as well, although his warnings were enough to persuade Jaina Proudmoore to lead a small contingent to Kalimdor, where they landed in Theramore.

Jaina later discovered the exiled Aegwynn, and after the two defeated a minor demon attempting to rekindle war between the humans of Theramore and the nearby orcs, Aegwynn agreed to assist Jaina in defending Theramore and working towards a lasting peace between the orcs and humans, and for Azeroth as a whole.