Meralygos

Sources for the dragon bestiary

This is something i am looking forward. I always liked the idea to collect sources about dragons and put them into an huge detailed topic about the very dragons! How do dragons hunt their prey? How to they usually spend their time? I think in quests/novels there is much of this stuff! So here we go. If anyone is interested, by all means, let us post informations!

As this post was full already, the actual dragon bestiary has been redirected here: http://scaleaccord.webs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/13323839-dragon-bestiary

Here we post useful sources to translate into lore objects!

I'm very interested! Will compose something myself when I have the time! Alygosa here is a fan of hunting mammoth, usually descending and clawing at their sides and back from above, letting them slowly die, then landing and finishing it off with a quick bite! Or, if lazy, she just roasts it. It's almost like cooking

Well, in Tides of War so does Kalecgos eat like mortals does, potatoes, meat etc etc (Can quote if wished for! :)). And he seems to have eaten stuff like that several times. I always kinda imagined Eri doing something similar. Rather than hunting in a more beast-like manner which I have hard to see her doing so do I imagine she prefers to simply take to the dinner table at an inn or such. Cliché, I know.

Right, for when dragons' fight, I wrote down the two scenes were Kalec fights in Tides of War. Excuse the wall of text.

Suddenly there was a great hue and cry. Everyone was pointing skyward and shouting. Garrosh squinted against the already-bright sunlight and saw a black sillhouette. It was long and sleek and--

"Dragon!" he roared. "Bring it down!"

Even as he shouted the wind riders were attacking. The Horde had an aerial front as well, composed not only of the beloved wyverns of the orcs, but bats, dragonhawks, and other creatures domesticated and used for their unique abilities. The dragon dove as it came under attack, flying irregularly to avoid huge polearms, thrown spears, and the sting of a dozens of arrows, all doubtless targeting the leviathan's sensitive eyes. It opened its mouth. A wyvern and his rider halted, encased in a sudden sheet of-

"Ice!" cried Garrosh. He threw back his head and laughed, even as the unfortunate wind rider and mount plummeted like a stone to the earth. He clapped Malkorok on the back. "Ice!" he repeated. "Behold, Malkorok, it is a blue dragon who attacks us"

The Horde members who surrounded him did not know why he laughed, but it fueled them nontheless. Those on the ground cheered on their embattled comrades in the sky, who harred the dragon as sparrows harry a hawk, while they set up ballistae and catapults and loaded canons. All were now pointing skyward.

Garrosh, giddy with pleasure, raced among his people, shouting encouragement. It was he who gave the order to fire a flaming, pointed bolt almost vertically, and he who led the cheers when it was clear from the blue's erratic movements that the bolt had struck home.

Agony ripped through Kalecgos. He had been so engrossed in the following emanations of the Focusing Iris that he had flown right into peril. The Horde had reacted swiftly and in a manner that reminded Kalec alarmingly of the battle of at Wyrmrest Temple not so long ago.

The fiery bolt had seared a black groove in his side. It was not a lethal blow, not even one that had knocked him out of the sky, but it btought home that although he was a dragon, he was one, and they were many. He would not be able to help Jaina if he were kiled now, foolishly staying to try to fight. The Focusing Iris, though close, was still heading northward as the Horde troops marched south. His worst fear--that the Horde had captured it-- seemed to have been a false one. For surely if so powerful an item were in their possession, they would be bearing it south with them to use against the hated Alliance in the upcoming battle.

He steeled himseld against the aching pain in his side and lashed out with his tail, sending a bat hurtling end over end while it flapped frantically, and its rider fell to a doom certain enough even for a Forsaken.

Kalec's might wing beat carried him higher, safely out of range of the earthbound weapons and too swiftly for wyverns, bats, or dragonhawks to follow. Once out immediate danger, Kalec stretched out his long, sinuous neck and tucked in his paws, making himself as aerodynamic as possible. He headed due south determined to give Theramore--and its lady-- as much warning as possible that the Horde would soon be beatinf down the door.

------------------------------------

Kalecgos flew over Theramore, doing reconnaissance to see how the battle was progressing and where he was needed. He saw the Horde flood into the city and immediatly began pressing the attack. He breathed a cloud of frost on them, slowing their movements, then rose, wheeled, and attacked a second time.

He dove, caught Jaina up in his forepaw, and bore her upward--not taking her out of her battle, no, but giving her a dragon's-eye view.

POST 4.

Not at all a cliché! However i'd argue it is a rarity among dragons: some of the Aspects (in Dawn of the Aspects) frowned upon Kalec's human-like behavour and he himself mentions often his uniqueness.

Also, what you wrote is amazing Eri! A lot of useful informations! It is likely confirmed that wyverns, bats and dragonhawks are no match for a mature dragon's wings! Plus, confirms the sensitive spot of the eyes! And a lot of information upon aerial combat itself! Thanks a lot! 

Here is some info a brought from other books, more shall come:

Blue dragons are still attuned to arcane magic (Dawn of the Aspects part I) despite the loss of their power. This line, atleast, suggest this is the case: " Altough no longer an Aspect, Kalec was still a blue dragon and thus more attuned to arcane magic in all its varied form." The passage suggests that being a blue dragon grants you a greater attunement to arcane magic than other races. Even after the cataclysm.
Terminology: clutch brother:  "dragons from the same clutch were considered the closest siblings" (Dawn of the Aspects part I)

Draconic combat: 

-Dragons have two main weakspots: the eyes and the soft area between the neck and the skull.

-While normal weapons may not suffice against a dragon, enchanted and dwarven forged weapon may actually leave a valuable amount of damage.

-Swords and daggers are ineffective against dragons. When dwarves fight dragons, they rather using axes rather than their stormhammers.

-Dragons have a relative high resistance to magical attacks (even drakes) of arcane. They appear to survive if hit by lightning magic, albeit the blow may be hard enough to turn them unconscious/make them fall to the ground. Blue Dragons, while fighting, rather fly and release spells from safe distance. Red dragons rather the usage of their maws and physical combatte (Sunwell Trilogy, Twilight of the Aspects). All dragons appreciate fighting with breath and tail swipes.

The case of Kaldrigos (archeology). Kaldrigos, referred to as "the dread wyrm",and "the great wyrm"was a dragon slain years ago by a group of at least four mortals. At least three of the mortals were killed, but it is known that they ultimately triumphed over the blue wyrm.

Many details about the battle are shrouded in mystery. What we know so far:

Tunadil the Redeemer was a paladin, who fell upon his own sword at some point in the battle, breaking it. Shadow Priest Anund was caught in Kaldrigos's arcane breath, which also severely damaged his or her staff. At some point during the battle Horuz Killcrow found himself directly in the path of the dragon's tail, which cost the storied warrior his life due to Tail Sweep. The band of adventurers was apparently victorious, and it seems the final blow was made by Korl, who struck his dagger deep into the Dragon's heart. According to what we know of dragons from most encounters, tail sweep and dragon's breath appears rather common attacks from mature dragons.

Day of the Dragon:

Apparently, three wildhammer gryphons managed to take down a dragon by themselves. (source: Day of the Dragon). "Altough much smaller than the crimson giant, the gryphons made up for the size difference with huge, razor-sharp talons that could tear off the dragonscale and beaks that could rip into the flesh beneath. In addition, they could move swiftly and rapidly through the sky, turning at angles a dragon could never match. ... The dwarves themselves did not simply manage their mount. Altough their favourite weapons when patrolling the skies where the legendary stormhammers, this trio carried the great double-edged battle-axes with lenghty handles that the warriors manipulated with ease. Made of a metal akin to adamantium the blades could cut through even the bony, scaled heads of the behemots."

It is mentioned that most swords are ineffective against dragons, unless they hit the rear side of the skull, which is a vulnerable spot for dragons. It seems that hammers are also rather ineffective (or atleast do not leave any serious damage) while a more effective attack are dwarven axes. The paladin Duncan manages to kill a dragon by stabbing in a similar fashion: Lord Duncan Senturus rammed the blade deep into the soft area between the neck and skull, burying his blade halfway into the leviathan.

Day of the Dragon. Dragons are resilient to arcane magic -- Yet, just as death came within inches of her, the dragon suddenly pulled back his claws and began squirming in midair. The claws raked against his own torso. In fact, every set of claws was trying toscratch somewhere, anywhere, as ifÂ?as if the leviathan suffered an incredibly painful itch. Atop him, the orc struggled for control, but he might as well have been the very flea that seemed to trouble the dragon for all the beast obeyed him now ..."What did you do to the dragon?" she finally managed to gasp. Rhonin, intent on finding the end of the blaze, did not even look back at her. "Something that didn't turn out the way I planned! He should've suffered more than an intense irritation!?"

WoW Comic (Issue 05, 12, 13, 14).

A mature dragon has such an armored scaled armor that normal daggers wont damage him/her. However, unsurprisingly, a rather weak spot of the dragons are the eyes (this weakness is stated in both Dawn of the Aspects and World of Warcraft Comic, issue 12). World of Warcraft Comic, Issue 12. A mention to the fact that dragon's eyes are vulnerable to arrows.

-12- the dwarf Thargas believes that Onyxia may be wounded by hardened dwarfs weapon (while normal steel is ineffective).

- 13 - Broll Bearmantle releases a lightning storm against a group of four drakes. Then, he uses water to make them drown. This spell is rather effective. One may argue that lightning energy is more effective than the arcane magic against a dragon. Furthermore, they were only drakes and not yet grown dragons (their skin is likely more vulnerable to magic - in fact, in Warcraft III most drakes did not have magical immunity, while mature dragons do).

In order to vanquish Onyxia (and pierce her skin), Varian Wrynn uses the magic elven blades Shalla'tor and Ellemayne (from the War of the Ancients). The highborne (and possibly the blood elves)'s magic may know enchants capable of breaking such scales.
World of Warcraft issue 14 - As the archers attack at Onyxia, Jaina empowers their arrow with magic. The damage appears limited. Before it is shown (WoW comic issue 12) that common arrows do not damage a dragon skin.

14 - fighting Onyxia. A group of archers strike at the dragon. As the fights begins, Onyxia opens with her lava breath, incinerating three stormwind soldiers. The dwarf Thargas suffers a tail swipe, it is not clear if he has attacked the tail with his mace... but if he did, it was unsuccesful. Broll Bearmantle summons roots from the grown to prevent the dragon from flying into the air (and also kills a group of summoned whelps). As she is rooted, Onyxia cast a fear spell upon the archers. Broll Bearmantle fails to keep Onyxia to the ground and she frees herself from the roots. Tail swipe against jaina aswell (turned unconscious). Onyxia releases a spell against Varian (which doesn't turn out as expected, as it actually removes her previous spell). Varian leaps against Onyxia (as she lava breaths) dodging the attack and falling upon her skull. He strikes at the upper side of the head with the highborne blade. She dies.

05 - Green dragons can become corporeal and incorporeal at will.

Thrall Twilight of the Aspects:

Despite the blue dragonsÂ? affinity with cold magic, Kalecgos felt warm to Thrall. Warmer than either Desharin or T ick had felt when he had ridden atop them. If what Thrall had experienced flying atop the other two dragons had been a whisper, sitting on the back of the blue Aspect was a joyful shout. Energy, the crackle of magic, flowed through Thrall, and he held on as Kalecgos darted and dove. Kalec swooped down on a pair of twilight dragons, breathing a deadly, icy breath. They bellowed in pain and turned translucentÂ?everywhere save where KalecÂ?s breath had touched them, freezing the flesh solid. Kalec turned and struck one with his tail, shattering her frozen foreleg. The otherÂ?s wing had been frozen, and now the twilight dragon fell frantically, her useless wing unable to bear her. The orc and the Aspect were in beautiful synchronicity. Thrall stayed atop Kalec as if he were welded on, feeling no fear as the great being dove and banked and swerved. Kalec attacked with magic, illusions that lured one twilight dragon one way while Kalec dove toward another, moving almost close enough to touch a third so that Thrall could make his own attack. "The back of the skull!" shouted Kalecgos. Thrall sprang, in such perfect sync with Kalecgos that he did not give it a second thought. He landed on the neck of one of the twilight dragons and brought the Doomhammer crashing down where Kalec had told him to strike. So surprised was the beast that she didnt even have a chance to shift, instead dying instantly and plummeting toward the earth. And there was Kalec, swooping in smoothly, and again Thrall leaped from the back of one dragon to another. The AspectÂ?s wings beat, and up they climbed, ready to continue the battle. The orc glanced about, barely winded, senses at peak alert, and permitted himself a small smile. The blues were winning.

"Only a little risk," said Arygos, "for such a great reward." He was more relieved than he had anticipated. He knew the history of this human, knew his hatred for Thrall. Blackmoore wanted the orc dead. Just as Arygos wanted Kalec dead. Arygos flew toward the platform bearing the human, positioning himself next to and slightly below it so that Blackmoore could easily climb atop him. They could do this. He knew they could. Then the obstacles would finally be cut down. He would be Aspect, as he had always yearned to be. His heart lifted with each wing beat as he rounded toward the whirling portal. Below him, the pieces of the platform turned almost lazily. Arygos looked down in time to see one of them roll over, revealing the Focusing Iris directly below him. The pain was sudden, shocking, and brutal: a white-hot needle piercing the base of his skull. As Blackmoores sword thrust down, down, Arygos clung to life long enough to see a drop of his red blood splash on the Focusing Iris, to watch it snap wide open. And as he hurtled downward, watching Blackmoore make a daring leap from his back to land on a slowly turning piece of platform, Arygos, son of Malygos, understood that he would die betrayed.

Lightning against a group of drakes. It appears that, while damaging and stunning them, it is not lethal per sé: "Holding the Doomhammer in one hand, Thrall lifted the other. Lightning crackled, zagging in a chain of scorching death between no fewer than four twilight dragons. The strike stunned them momentarily, blackening their sides and searing their leathery wings. They shrieked in pain, staying in their corporeal forms long enough for Thrall to again leap from Kalec�s back onto a twilight drake, lift the Doomhammer, and bring it smashing down on the drake�s skull. It was a glancing blow, though, and the drake had the wherewithal to turn incorporeal. Thrall abruptly started to fall. He glanced downward at the snow rushing up to meet him, but then suddenly he saw the broad, shining blue back of Kalecgos. Thrall landed hard, but safely."

"Blues! To me!" Kalec cried, his voice sounding amplified and deeper and trembling through Thralls very sinews. "Our enemy is escaping we have the advantage! Destroy them before they can reach their lord!" If Thrall had thought Kalec was swift before, now he found himself barely able to breathe, so fast did the Dragon Aspect fly. The twilight dragons were giving their best to their frantic, abrupt escape. They were too busy fleeing to fight, all of them in their incorporeal forms. The blues responded with solely magical attacks. The air crackled and sparked with white arcane energy, shimmered with icy frost and the sudden squalls of an isolated blizzard. Several fell, but more escaped. The blues followed, grimly determined.

Laying eggs:
Laying eggs: As he always did, Nekros inspected her latest clutch. Five eggs this time. A fair number, but most were a bit smaller than usual. That bothered him. His chieftain had already remarked on the runts produced in the last batch, although even a runt of a dragon stood several times higher than an orc. (Day of the Dragon). 

Dawn of the Aspects part I:
The fact that Nekros was seeking dragon whelps in order to use them in battle, also means that dragons may mature quicker than what the RPG says. Kalecgos in the Dawn of the Aspects mentions having 4 clutch brothers: Clutch brother. kalec knew that term. Dragons from the same clutch of eggs were considered the closest of siblings. Kalec had been one of four, but was now the only survivor. He has assumed that proto-dragons had larger clutches and thus more chances of survival for the young, but evidently familial bonds still existed, at least for some like this female. (Dawn of the Aspects, part I) - (It also hints that whelp's mortality is rather high) According to those informations, we may argue that laying eggs is not extremely common and that each clutch counts between two-three (minor) to six (rare) eggs.

More facts upon dragon lifespan:

Dragons can no longer lay eggs. Dawn of the Aspects: Part I, pg. 84: "...and her ability to lay more had been forever taken away, but in addition to all that she lived with the knowledge that the other dragonflights had also suffered so. She might have accepted her loss of power, but not this loss of her kind’s future."

The fact that Nekros was seeking dragon whelps in order to use them in battle, also means that dragons may mature quicker than what the RPG says.

Wrathion is a whelp during the last events of cataclysm (and we can assume he remains such during Mists of pandaria). By the events of Legion, he is a drake.

Furthermore, during the events of Warlords of Draenor, a whelp from classic WoW becomes an actual dragon (albeit small). While we do not know how old the whelp was, we can argue that drakes are still very young dragons. One may argue that the lifespan is more or less at it follows.

Krasus in the War of the Ancients claims most dragon whelps wont make it to dragonhood. Mortality is likely high among young dragons.

Speculated Lifespan:

Whelp: 1-5 year old (source: Wrathion in Legion is a drake already)

Drake: 5-11 year old (Awbee is a dragon in WoD already!)

Dragon: 11+ Years (source: Awbee, a whelp from WoW Classic, has become a dragon in WoD!)

Wyrm: ??

POST 5.

Dragon transformation into other races and beings.

Night of the Dragon.

Ancient draenei divination may reveal a dragon's identity:

"I would claim no such vaunted position, i am a spellcaster of some power, yes." She had clearly not seen him in his true form. For the moment, he preferred to keep that part of his identity even from her. "You may call me Krasus, child." Her exotic eyes narrowed and a slight smile crossed her face. "Krasus...may I put a hand to your chest? I mean no harm by it. It is a sign of trust among those of my particular order." He nodded. Iridi placed her palm atop his robe, then closed her eyes. Krasus felt a slight warmth. Startled, he pulled back. The draenei's eyes shot open. She wore a look of utter astonishment. "You are not as you appear, Krasus!" "No." The dragon mage said nothing more. "And neither are you, it seems." He felt no anger toward her, despite her trick, in truth, Iridi had astounded him in return. He had not experienced such a spell among the draenei, whether spellcaster or priest. Iridi seemed to have abilities rare even among her own kind. He wondered again about the staff. Krasus knew just enough about the naaru to know that she would not have been given it without a good reason.

The priestess went down on one knee. Her continued reverence made Krasus uncomfortable, for he had no desire for anyone to honor him. "Rise up," he insisted. Iridi did, albeit slowly. Her eyes continued to stretch wide, as if she tried to imagine Krasus as he truly was. "Lord of the air, forgive me for attacking you like a fool—" "There is nothing to forgive, and do not call me by such a title." She shook her head. "But you are one of the winged ones." Her eyes shut briefly, then the draenei added, "Of those who follow the cause of life..." Krasus was more and more impressed by the priestess. She had learned all that simply by touching him. He made a note to himself to not permit the palm gesture any more should he ever meet another draenei who made such a request. Although Krasus now at least somewhat understood how anyone could have tracked him despite his wards—and he vowed that from here on that even to a draenei he would be invisible—there was yet the question of what the priestess was doing in this forsaken land in the first place. However, before he could ask, the dragon mage was suddenly struck as if by an unseen sword through his heart. The sense of loss that he had felt when one of his duplicates had been eradicated overwhelmed him again, but doubly so.

However, in Day of the Dragon, it appears that human (and draconic divination) do not reveal the guise of other dragons. Krasus has been researching upon Daval Prestor (a.k.a Deathwing). 

“On the surface, not a terrible choice. It places Alterac as once more an independent kingdom. The other monarchs find much about him they respect, so I gather. He seems to have single-handedly kept the Alliance from falling apart.” “So you approve of him?” the elder female asked.

In reply, Krasus added, “He also seems to have no history, apparently is the reason we have not been included in these talks, and—most curious of all—appears as a void when touched by magic.” The others muttered among themselves about this strange news. Then the elven wizard, clearly as puzzled as the rest, inquired, “What do you mean by the last?” “I mean that any attempt to study him through magic revealsnothing.Absolutelynothing.It is as if Lord Prestor does not exist . . . and yet he must. Approve of him? I think I fear him.”

Coming from this eldest of the wizards assembled, the words sank deep. For a time the clouds flew overhead, the storms raged, and the day turned into night, but the masters of the Kirin Tor simply stood in silence, each digesting the facts in his or her own way. The youthful male broke the silence first. “He's a wizard then, is he?” “That would seem most logical.” Krasus returned, dipping his head slightly to accent his agreement. “A powerful one,” muttered the elf.

Neither does elven magic or Cenarius' one in the War of the Ancient trilogy.

"Neither does elven magic or Cenarius' one in the War of the Ancient trilogy"

Does that mean that the idea of night elves being able to "sense" dragons can be simply dismissed? Since I've seen that's quite a popular idea. Nobody have been able to provide a source however, away from "somewhere in the novels".

POST 7.

The priesthood of Elune was able to feel an immense power exuding from Krasus. That, however, is far from realizing the dragon's identity. As for Cenarius, he had Krasus for an entire night in his domain and did not realize of his identity. Perhaps a druid may sense in a green dragon a deep connection to the Emerald Dream, but that is it, i believe. Anyway... I found the passage regarding the night elves:

"Tyrande feared that the guards and senior priestesses would be another problem, but, like her, they seemed to innately sense Krasus’s prominence. The elder priestesses actually bowed toward him, although she suspected that they did not quite understand why."

Dragon's Capacity: Scales.

Apparently scales have amazing properties. This topic is touched, to my knowledge, atleast twice: one in the Day of the Dragon and a few times in the War of the Ancient trilogy. Apparently, dragons can craft artifacts (amulets) with their own scales that allows the user to communicate (and, to an extent, even control) an individual. Furthermore, it appears that said scales are extremely precious as they share a portion of the dragon's power (albeit only resourceful sorcerors may use them, it seems).

DAY OF THE DRAGON.

Rhonin's thoughts raced. What had he once heard? "To bear some bit of the greatest of the leviathans is to have a hold on their power" But that's never been done! You need tremendous magic yourself to make it work!

Although she likely thought the stone in the center only a gem, it was, in fact, a very part of the dragon. Fashioned through magic into its present form, it had begun its existence as one of his scales. The ensorcelled scale bore properties that would have astounded any mage—if they had known how to cast dragon magic. Fortunately for Korialstrasz, few did, else he would not have risked creating the medallion in the first place. Both Rom and the elf clearly believed the gem only useful for communication purposes, and the dragon had no intention of correcting their misconceptions.

War of Ancients trilogy: more on dragon's scales.

Dragons generally lost scales in much the way other creatures lost fur. The areas exposed generally hardened, eventually becoming new scales. At times when more than one broke free, a dragon had to take care, for the soft flesh was, for a time, susceptible to weapons and poison.

Taking the tiny scale, the mage went to where Korialstrasz had scratched free his own. The area was still red and soft and large enough for any good archer to hit. Whispering words older than dragons, Krasus pressed the scale directly on the center of the open region.

The scale flared a bright yellow as it touched. Korialstrasz let out a gasp, but did not otherwise react. The dragon’s eyes gazed intently on what his companion did. Krasus chanted the elder words over and over, each time increasing the speed with which he spoke them. The scale pulsated and with each pulsation seemed to grow a little larger. Within seconds, it had become almost identical to those surrounding it. “It will adhere to your flesh in a matter of seconds,” Krasus informed the leviathan. “There will be no chance of losing it.”

A moment later, he stepped back and inspected his handiwork. The dragon’s head came around to do the same. “It feels…normal,” the leviathan commented.

Always in Day of the Dragon, a bit regarding dragon's aging:

The orc had once assumed that dragons were immortal, only dying when slain in battle; but he had discovered over time that they had other limitations, such as disease. Something within this venerable behemoth had stricken Tyran with a slow but fatal ailment.

POST 8.

It is also interesting in your post, Eri, that Garrosh manages to identify the dragon according to his breath spell. This may hint towards the fact that each flight do have their own inherent flight's spell.

In the Dawn of the Aspects, Malygos uses frost breath, Alexstrasza's breath is fire while Nozdormu uses sand. Neltharion releases lava breath and Ysera casts a poison mist breath. In World of Warcraft, we see blue dragons using arcane breath (Malygos, Cyanigosa, Nexus Warden) and frost breath (Kalecgos, Azuregos). Some black dragons, such as Nefarian, also use shadowflame breath.

War of the Ancients: information upon dragon's breath and aging.

The larger of the two beasts—and, therefore, the older—began to push ahead of his companion. He roared again, and a burst of what at first seemed like flame shot from his savage maw.

It came within only a few scant yards of the wizard, causing his mount to squawk loud and heating the air around the fleeing figures several degrees. The “flames” began falling earthward, revealing themselves to have actually been a column of molten lava, a breath spell inherent to the black flight.

Proto-dragon hunting:

Malygos lost interest for the moment in the two females, forcing Kalec’s perspective to shift to watching other hunters. The proto-dragon took mild interest in a coarse brown male’s technique. The other male would hover over the running herd, then, seemingly prescient, dive toward it just as it made a sharp turn designed to put the winged predators off their mark. Not so the brown male. In fact, he seemed to know at just what angle and what speed the grazers would turn. Where more than one other hunter ended up only with mounds of torn dirt and grass, he plucked up two tasty morsels in rapid succession.

...As she pulled up, she was joined by none other than Alexstrasza, who had just snatched up another of the grazers. Unlike the other hunters, the fire-orange female had quickly bitten through the neck where the animal’s great vein was located, killing it instantly. Kalec could sense Malygos’s amusement at such a tactic; most proto-dragons preferred their prey alive and fresh until the last moment. Alexstrasza, though, appeared to almost feel guilty about having to hunt at all.

A vast region of the overcast sky broke away, descending with astonishing swiftness. The velocity caused the clouds to quickly scatter, revealing a sight that truly could daunt not only a proto-dragon, but even the most powerful of Kalec’s own kind. This was supposed to be a proto-dragon, but so immense was its size that not even a dragon could be chosen for an adequate comparison. Kalec could think of no creature save one that could be used . . . and that would have meant comparing Galakrond to himself.  He swooped down, passing over the entire region in a matter of seconds. In Galakrond’s wake there came a vicious wind that even tore several proto-dragons from their roosts and sent more than one meal toppling to the ground far below. Galakrond’s roar was no less ground-shaking miles away, forcing Malygos and the sisters to grip their perches tighter. For such a colossal creature, Galakrond turned with remarkable agility. Once more, he passed over the now-panicking herd, but this time with intent. Galakrond seized up two caribou in each of his much larger hind paws and scooped up another whole in his gargantuan maw, then rose up. The grazer in his mouth vanished down his gullet and a moment later so did both of those in his left hind paw. By the time Galakrond leveled, all five of his catches were well on their way down to his stomach. But five was not enough. Galakrond veered back and lunged toward the scattering prey. This time, however, he suddenly pulled back. Confused at first, Kalec watched as the bending of the vast wings during the halt created a windstorm that sent dozens of beasts rolling uncontrollably. Before several of the caribou could rise to their feet, Galakrond plucked them up. With at least eight claimed that Kalec could see, the Father of Dragons soared back into the clouds. 

According to Telaryn so dosn't the breath have to be dependant on the flight.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/13987651054?page=15#289

I however imagine that the majority of each flight have the stereotype breaths. Such as Bronze's with sand, Blue's with arcane/frost etc etc.

I don't think Garrosh is quite the dragon expert, so I imagine that it was much of assumption too. Since well, blues and frost seems very logical.

A good point. I was thinking about that, but i do not recall finding anything which does directly confirm his idea in the Dawn of the Aspects (but maybe once, where Kalec's breath is more proto-dragon than dragon). After all, most of the book explains proto-dragons rather than dragons themselves. They lacked a proper dragonflight at the time. I could be wrong but i think the quote in the War of the Ancients is clear.  That certain breath spells are inherent to a dragon's flight is not that unbelievable.

It makes sense, i think, considering their elemental descent, that their breath is partially tied to their original element (blue dragon have frost breath and so on).

As i think about Telaryn's comment, "Their flight is not always an indicator of what breath attack they inherit", might just hint that a blue dragon may use either frost or arcane breath. A black one magma or shadowflame and so on. Not that, for example, a black dragon breathes sand breath (a bronze's type).

Also, some speculation:

Lorewise, in books, we see Malygos uses frost breath. However, in WoW, he channels both frost and arcane breath... So, most likely, dragons may use more than a single type of breath.

Sounds fair.

Also, in Wolfheart so are night elven hippgryphs able to take down ('orcish') proto drakes, and reversed. Both with riders. The fights seemed quite even, despite the hippogryphs being caught by surprise, but I believe the proto drakes seemed ever so slightly weaker. As a whole, as said it seemed quite even. How this may reflect onto the "normal" dragons I'm not sure, but I felt it was worth adding.

EDIT: I'm checking with Telaryn for clarification, to be sure what he meant. 

Oh, interesting! \o/ 

Also, some stuff on dragon's blood.

http://wow.gamepedia.com/Lord_Hiram_Creed  - black drakonid blood

http://www.wowhead.com/quest=26540/dangerous-compassion - red dragon blood properties

Origin of dragons: http://wow.gamepedia.com/Ask_CDev

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/lore/short-story/charge-aspects/1 -- bronze dragonflight's blood is made of "sand of time". Lesser bleeding may be reverted thanks to chronomancy spells.

Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects:

Now there was no platform. It had been shattered into drifting pieces in the battle that had claimed his father’s life; drifting pieces in the battle that had claimed his father’s life; one such still held the closed magical orb known as the Focusing Iris. Malygos had used his own blood to activate and control this orb, which had lain dormant for millennia. With the open Focusing Iris, Malygos had been able to direct powerful surge needles, using them to pull arcane magic from Azeroth’s ley lines and channeling that magic into the Nexus. And it had been the opening of the Focusing Iris a slender crack with a long-forgotten key that had lured Malygos to what had been his final battle.

Right, Vidya helped me communicate with him, so I'll quote down what he said.  

[21:47:51] Vidya: Taleryn - Tänään 22.45

> In Dawn of the Aspects they had breaths varying from molten metal to frost, fire, lightning, poison mist, sand, etc. despite the fact that fire is usually linked with the red flight, sand with bronze, frost with blue.

> Hell, blues alone can even breath fucking magic.

> Yes, that's right. Some dragons can breathe molten metal.

[21:49:22] Leona: Well, we know blues can breath both arcane and frost. But is there anything such as Bronze breathing frost? Or a red poisen mist? Or have I misunderstood it? Which flights breathed what?

[21:56:38] Vidya: Taleryn - Tänään 22.52

> While it's typical that they breathe those, it's not necessarily always the case.

> Some red protodrake (who for the record have followed the same color/breath combinations for the most part so their biology hasn't changed enough for their breath attacks to be altered) for example breathed poison mist, Neltharion breathed this weird sonic boom thing instead of an actual ... breath. Some bronze breathed lightning, some blue breathed molten metal. There was this one purple flight which ultimately got obliterated by Galakrond that also breathed lightning, and only lightning.

> Although Malygos had his faithful frost breath.

> And Galakrond's breath attack was this fog that turned people undead, and he held on to this ability when towards the end of the novel he was a fully grown dragon.

Hmm. I've been looking at the passage where Neltharion uses a sonic attack. I don't think it was a breath spell at all, just a roar. The term sonic had been used just once: in the passage below:

"But instead of Ysera, it was Neltharion who dived into the fray, ignoring the part of the plan he was supposed to undertake. He shrieked loudly as he neared Galakrond’s ear, more loudly, in fact, than Malygos could ever recall the charcoal-gray male roaring. The sonic attack literally shook Galakrond, so close had Neltharion dared to get. A storm of rock and earth rained down on the mountains as the misshapen beast involuntarily released his hold on nearly everything. Growing too confident, Neltharion remained to watch his assault a moment longer than sense indicated. For that, he received a hard blow as Galakrond’s wing swept forward."

I also think that most of the proto-dragons were different from the actual dragons. For example, Malygos is not described as a blue. Rather, he is said to be "blue-white". Neltharion is not black or obsidian, but "charcoal-gray" dragon. Besides, it was extremely rare the find other dragons that actually matched the protagonists' description. Coros, an other blue dragon, was actually a blue-green dragon. The blue-white dragons were only Malygos' family. Same goes for Neltharion: the skin charcoal-gray was used to identify his family. Which indicates that the dragonflights were not completely differentiated from one an other yet. They bore the shade of their own family. I'll look for passages with molten metal. There's this one:

" Galakrond remained under heavy assault. A female of Malygos’s family exhaled on one of the extra hind limbs, then tore off the frozen appendage before it could warm up again.  Another female of a silver hue unleashed a shower of what appeared to Kalec to be steaming liquid metal."

This passage, for example, suggests that dragon's breaths are actually linked to their flight. A blue-white proto-dragon, as Malygos, uses frost while a different proto-dragon, who bears a different color, attacks with liquid metal - which is a spell Kalecgos did not recognize entirely. Some breath spell that has been lost in this age.

I guess this is more of something I'm poking at rather than contributing. But dragons and magic that effects the minds of others? Like the Bronze dragon "knocking out" Thrall and Taretha in the Escape from Durnholde. The infinite dragonflight holds her in some form of shadow prison if I my mind don't dissapoint. Do we have anything on this that might be worth adding or dig deeper into?

Right, sorry for the late reply! And... That's an interesting point. I recall reading that Cyanigosa, the violet hold boss, managed to "convince" a magus of the Kirin Tor to join the mage hunters (and basically become her dragonsworn). Was the name... Crevan? I think. Plus, Onyxia enthralled Varian Wrynn during the comic and Deathwing did something similar to the king of Lordaeron, Terenas, after the 2nd war.

I don't have much regarding this stuff, tough. Never considered such spells might be dragon-specific... However, now that i think about it, Krasus inspired respect towards most night elves, too! I'll look if i can find some good sources.