It’s likely we’re nearing the eventual conclusion of WoW Dragonflight, and as the expansion approaches its final stretch, the story is going to undoubtedly take a hard turn into the meat and potatoes of its actual narrative. For the last few patches, we’ve been completing side quests and slowly inching our way through the campaign as things progress. Now though, players should expect the story of the Primal Incarnates to really take center stage.
The Primal Incarnates—Iridikron, Fyrakk, and Vyranoth—are the main villains of WoW Dragonflight, and it’s likely we’ll deal with them once and for all in a future patch. We’ve already dispatched one Incarnate, Raszageth, and as Patch 10.1.7 and Patch 10.2 loom around the corner, the Incarnates’ story is surely going to heat up; players should familiarize themselves with the threats they’re going up against.
Here’s everything you need to know about Dragonflight’s Primal Incarnates, including a bit of their history, as well as the story of how they fit into the expansion so far.
Who are the Primal Incarnates and why are they so important?
The Primal Incarnates are the main antagonists of WoW Dragonflight. Essentially, they’re important to the story because they serve as the antithesis of the Dragon Aspects. Whereas Nozdormu, Alexstrazsa, Ysera, and the other Aspects accepted the “gift” of the titans, the Incarnates refused the gift, claiming dragonkind should remain pure and unaffected by outside magic.
The Incarnates are totally focused on elemental magic, something inherent to dragonkind, and in Dragonflight, all four of the Incarnates are closely associated with their respective elements. Raszageth is the Storm Incarnate, Iridikron is the Earth Incarnate, Fyrakk is the Fire Incarnate, and Vyranoth is the Frost Incarnate.
Many years ago, the Dragon Aspects and the Primal Incarnates engaged each other in a conflict that ultimately ended with the Aspects’ victory. The Aspects caged the Incarnates in prisons across the Dragon Isles, with Raszageth being locked away on the Forbidden Reach and the other three Incarnates being imprisoned in the very-appropriately-named Vault of the Incarnates. Now that all four of the Incarnates have been freed, though, they’re very rightfully upset with the Aspects, and are taking the fight back to them.
Man, Raszageth really made a mess, didn’t she?
After defeating Raszageth in the Vault of the Incarnates, the final cinematic of the raid showed her freeing the other three Primal Incarnates from their prisons inside the vault with her dying breath. This move plunged the Dragon Isles into a state of unrest, and set the stage for the conflict we’re currently seeing in the later patches of WoW Dragonflight.
Related: All bosses in WoW’s Vault of the Incarnates
Raszageth was one of the Incarnates herself, and was the first to be released from her prison, which was located on the Forbidden Reach. By unleashing her siblings from their prisons, she set in motion the entire main storyline of Dragonflight.
Is Iridikron going to be the final boss of Dragonflight?
In a possible full-circle moment, just as Raszageth was the first boss of Dragonflight, it’s possible that Iridikron will be the expansion’s endboss.
Iridikron is one of the only “main villains” across WoW’s many expansions to take the players seriously. Throughout history, bosses like Deathwing, Garrosh, and many others have thrown the “adventurers” to the wayside, only to underestimate them when the final encounter of the expansion rolls around. That’s not the case with Iridikron, though. Repeatedly throughout Dragonflight, the Earth Incarnate can be seen telling his siblings not to underestimate the power of the adventurers, as it’s likely that when the time comes to face off against him, he’ll have to up his game to take on the characters who have taken down countless threats before him.
It’s also possible that Iridikron remains a factor in the game’s story through the end of Dragonflight. While it would make sense to have the story of the Incarnates wrapped up in one expansion, Iridirkon is a strong-enough villain to be present in another expansion. There are plenty of loose story ends that have yet to be closed off, so it’s possible Iridkron is dealt with in the game’s next expansion after Dragonflight. Personally, we’d like to see the self-contained story of Dragonflight totally wrapped up in one expansion, and it’s definitely possible to have that happen in Patch 10.2, or even the currently-unannounced Patch 10.3.
