Dreadlord
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dreadlords are a race of demonic creatures found in the fictional Warcraft Universe.
Known as the Nathrezim in their native tongue, they were discovered by Kil'jaeden, first in command of the Burning Legion, the army of the fallen immortal titan, Sargeras. Kil'jaeden realized that they were a race for whom trickery, deception, and manipulation came naturally and enslaved their entire race to use as puppets for Sargeras' destruction from world to world.
In the Burning Legion's Second Invasion of Azeroth, the Dreadlords were used as commanders among the race of Undead in their attack on the peoples of Azeroth. With their vampiric powers they were great generals to the Undead army, but it was not enough to overcome the might of the mortal races combined with that of the Night Elves.
Three Dreadlords were left behind to guard the fallen lands of Lordaeron and were unaware of the fall of the Burning Legion at the Battle of Mt. Hyjal and were waiting for news from their lord, Archimonde. Though they rousted King Arthas from the Capital City and gained control of most of his previous forces, the Banshee Queen Sylvanas Windrunner, no longer under the control of the weakening Lich King, fought with them and successfully defeated the Dreadlord's grip on the Plague Lands, establishing a faction known as the Forsaken, a variation of the Undead not loyal to the Lich King.
For the time being the few remaining Dreadlords still alive in the world of Azeroth are Varimathras, Solenor the Slayer who disguises himself as a gnome while roaming the southern part of the Silithus desert, and nameless dreadlords that infest the Tainted Scar in Blasted Lands along with other demonic entities.
Varimathras is a co-ruler of the Forsaken as he saved his own life by obeying Sylvanas and turning upon his own brother, Balnazzar, by killing him (however, it is later apparent that Balnazzar only feigned death, as he has been seen being in command of The Scarlet Crusade, based in the ruined city of Stratholme). Although he has proven himself loyal to Sylvanas on many occasions, she still keeps a close eye on him, knowing that a creature of his intelligence and deceptive nature would likely cultivate hidden loyalties.
Solenor the Slayer is one of the four demons that are deemed as great threat to this world by the spirits of the ancients, and thus hunters that obtain an Ancient Petrified Leaf from the Molten Core are dispatched on a quest to bring those demons down.
More about the Dreadlords will be revealed in the MMORPG World of Warcraft.
[edit] Dreadlords in other media
- Dreadlords are also high ranked servants of the Dark One who can channel, in Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series, that were used as generals in The War of Power (aka The War of the Shadows).
- Dread Lords are also found in the Midkemia based books by Raymond E. Feist, where they portray many of the same features as in Warcraft, such as being from another hellish plane of existence and sucking the life out of whatever they touch, even the grass beneath their feet; they are commonly confused with the Forsaken by the less educated.
- The evil branch of the precursor race in Galactic Civilizations II is named Dread Lords.
