World of Warcraft players who wander into Dalaran’s Violet Citadel will be hard-pressed not to come across an imposing mage named Rhonin. He began as a character in the Richard A. Knaak novel Day of the Dragon and is now leader of the Kirin Tor and ruler of the floating city of Dalaran. However, how did he get there?

Rhonin: The Unsung Hero

Rhonin is one of those characters that was created to have a large role in important events like those in the War of the Ancients. He first appeared partnered with his future wife, Vareesa Windrunner, to rescue Alexstrasza from Grim Batol. Since then he has become an important figure in WoW's lore. He is a father, a husband, and a friend to several dragonflights and a leader to boot.

He’s interacted with everyone from Deathwing and Illidan to Krasus and Cenarius and risen from a disgraced mage to leader of the Council of Six. He even saved Azeroth by relaying the Reply-Code Alpha back to the Titans (even if we had to defeat Algalon the Observer to get it). It’s a pretty impressive achievement but now he just sitting on his heels in the Violet Citadel.

A hallmark of Knaak’s characters is that he creates ones who are going to play important roles in lore, characters like Rhonin and Alexstrasza’s beloved mate Korialstrasz, better known as the mage Krasus. The pair - along with Broxigar - played an important role in the War of the Ancients, in which Rhonin became the mentor of Illidan Stormrage and both human mage and dragon essentially renamed Neltharion by referring to him by his future moniker, Deathwing.

Rhonin came into his own during Wrath of the Lich King, welcoming mages of both factions and the rest of us to his city, mailing us congratulation gifts upon dinging 80 and taking an active role in the storyline of patch 3.1, the Secrets of Ulduar. But his involvement in lore was fleeting.

Rhonin and the Future of Dalaran

With Malygos’ war on spellcasters over and Kalec appointed the new Aspect of Magic, it’s a new era for the magi of the Kirin Tor. Like Shattrath before it, though, Dalaran has become a ghost town. There are no portals except to the capitals so people don’t visit so much and there’s no lore to lure us back. Yet. The wonderful thing about Dalaran is that it’s mobile. Prior to WotLK, it was dragged out of the earth in the Alterac Mountains and magically moved to its current position above Crystalsong Forest. What’s to stop it moving again in some future patch or expansion?

Rhonin and the Kirin Tor could - and should - easily play a bigger role now the threat of Malgyos has been ended. The Pandaren have their own understanding of magic and I, for one, would love to see Dalaran move once more, perhaps to float above their fabled isle. Failing that, perhaps Rhonin could be seen more, traveling to both Stormwind and Orgrimmar. He certainly deserves more than just waiting for adventurers to come and say hi.

Do you think Rhonin deserves more time in the limelight? Should Dalaran move again and if so, where to? Let us know in the comments below.


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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