Onyxia

Onyxia (pronounced Oh-NIX-ee-uh) was the daughter of Deathwing and his Prime Consort Sintharia and the broodmother of the black dragonflight on Azeroth. Like her father and her brother Nefarian, she had a human guise, appearing as Stormwind noblewoman Katrana Prestor. Seeking to take control of the Kingdom of Stormwind, she manipulated a conflict between the Stonemasons and the House of Nobles that led to the death of Queen Tiffin Wrynn. She later had King Varian Wrynn abducted by the Defias Brotherhood on route to Theramore Isle. Prestor subsequently became a royal councilor to his 10-year-old son Anduin Wrynn and controlled Highlord Bolvar Fordragon with the Drakefire Amulet. Onyxia was slain and beheaded in her lair by King Varian upon his return when her true identity was revealed, thus restoring the line of Stormwind's kings. After the return of her father and the Shattering that resulted, she was reanimated by her brother Nefarian as an electrical undead monstrosity. Ultimately, she would be destroyed once more, along with Nefarian, in the Blackwing Descent.

Onyxia serves as one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside her brother Nefarian) in classic World of Warcraft and one of the supporting antagonists in Cataclysm.

Chronormu's visage
Onyxia believed that humans were the mortal race that posed the greatest threat to dragonkind. When deciding on her mortal guise, she chose the form of an attractive female human so that she could manipulate their kind and allow her to seize all she wanted from them.

At some point, the bronze dragon Chronormu—who could not make up his mind on what mortal form to choose during his upcoming Visage Day ceremony—sought an audience with Onyxia in the caverns of the Obsidian Dragonshrine, where the daughter of Deathwing was overseeing drakonid laborers and sparring drakes. Onyxia scoffed at Chronormu's view that dragons chose a visage to better relate to the mortal races, stating that it sounded "like something Nozdormu would teach his whelps". She assumed her human form and continued that no visage could change a dragon's nature as a hunter and killer. Like their other abilities, shapeshifting was a tool to take what they wanted from the young races. Though Chronormu protested that this was not how he wanted mortals to see him, Onyxia offered to let him stay by her side and teach him everything he needed to know about mortals and allow him to become the greatest member of his flight, great enough that even Nozdormu would kneel before him. Upset at Onyxia's words and realizing that she was merely toying with him, the bronze fled from the cave, pursued by the sound of Onyxia's laughter. However, the encounter nonetheless caused him to realize that he now knew what he wanted to be.

Onyxia and her entourage attended Chronormu's Visage Day at Wyrmrest Temple, even though the bronze noted that the black flight was clearly out of favor with the others. After it was revealed that Chronormu had chosen the form of the female gnome Chromie, Onyxia gave her a slight nod before leaving, which Chromie chose to take as a sign of acceptance.

Beyond the Dark Portal
Shortly before Deathwing's departure for Draenor with the Horde of Draenor, Deathwing commanded Onyxia and Nefarian to secure orcs of the Blackrock Spire as their new force. His children agreed to do that.

After Draenor's destruction, Deathwing returned as Daval Prestor to Lordaeron, sowing chaos. He secretly called on Onyxia to accompany him, also disguised as a human noble. Together, they spread distrust among Alliance's nations. After the Battle of Grim Batol, Onyxia was left behind to carry on her father's work and she relished it. As Alliance relations deteriorated, Onyxia decided to spread her influence in the kingdom of Stormwind. After Deathwing's departure, with the aid of his sister Onyxia and the orchestrations of their human personas, Nefarian worked toward replenishing the black dragonflight.

As Katrana Prestor
For several years, Onyxia masqueraded as one of the highest nobles in Stormwind, Lady Katrana Prestor, preventing the people there from sending much-needed aid to the areas near the Burning Steppes, where Nefarian, her brother, had great power and influence. Her final goal was to become the ruler of Stormwind, through manipulation and evil schemes.

Katrana was present in Stormwind City during the coronation of King Varian Wrynn after the Second War on his 18th birthday.

The nobles of Stormwind ran up a huge debt by expanding the kingdom's military presence through Elwynn and into Stranglethorn. The massive debt crippled the kingdom's economy and stripped the Stonemasons' Guild of their promised rewards. After spending years toiling to rebuild the glorious city, the Stonemasons were left broke, forgotten by the city's officials. Upon returning from a foray, King Varian Wrynn was unable to negotiate a resolution that appeased both parties. Varian agreed that the Stonemasons' fees were excessive, but felt the amount offered by the council of nobles "too niggardly". In retrospection, Varian realized that the nobles were unduly influenced by Lady Katrana, and later suspected that half of each side had been ensorcelled by Prestor.

Indeed, Lady Prestor had secretly meddled with the rebuilding of Stormwind City, causing the nobility to feel unsatisfied with the craftsmanship of the Stonemasons' Guild. Meanwhile, the workers continued to demand extravagant sums. Lady Prestor had played both sides, encouraging them to dig in their heels and never compromise, until the disagreements escalated into unrest. When the nobility announced that they would not be paying Stonemasons for their work, riots erupted.

The civil conflict led to Queen Tiffin Wrynn's death. Varian entered a profound depression, which Onyxia used to her advantage, using foul sorcery on him while she politically outmaneuvered him during the span of the Third War. Over time, she increasingly lost control over Varian as his attachment to Anduin grew. He started to assert his will and fight off his lethargy, and started to reassert his control over the Stormwind government. Despite Katrana's objections, he still accepted to meet the Horde's leader, Thrall, at Theramore at Lady Jaina Proudmoore's suggestion, convinced by Anduin. Onyxia thus planned to reassert her control over the king. She made a deal with the Defias to kidnap him. While their first attempt failed, the second was successful. He was brought to a remote island where the black dragon conducted a ritual to sunder Varian's personality, getting rid of his will, strong, confidence, which would take the name of Lo'Gosh, and leaving behind only Varian, an easily manipulable puppet.

Abduction
Soon after the dust had settled from the Third War, Varian journeyed to Theramore to speak with Jaina Proudmoore regarding Horde/Alliance relations. On route, he was abducted by the Defias Brotherhood hired by Onyxia and brought to Alcaz Island. There, Varian was tied to the ground; cloaked figures casted dark magic causing unbearable pain as Varian desperately tried to break himself free. In a blinding flash of light he awakened to find himself laying next to an exact duplicate. Onyxia unmasked herself intending to kill the strong-willed Varian but was stopped by the arrival of Morgala Darksquall and her naga. The cloaked figures and Onyxia turned into dragonkin and battled the naga while the strong-willed Varian broke himself free and began to fight. He tried to free the other Varian and implored him to find a weapon but discovered his other was too unnerved to properly wield a weapon. The other Varian was knocked off a cliff, fell into the ocean and was captured by the naga. Varian was left alone to fight and tricked Onyxia into believing she had killed him. Pleased, Onyxia left before more naga appeared.

After King Varian Wrynn went missing under suspicious circumstances while en route to a diplomatic summit to Theramore Isle, Stormwind was believed to be going through a state of disarray. Young Anduin was given the crown so that order could be preserved within the kingdom of Stormwind, at the behest of the royal councilor, Lady Prestor. Highlord Bolvar Fordragon acted as Regent Lord of Stormwind or the Supreme Commander of Stormwind's forces on behalf of King Anduin. When Magistrate Solomon gave warnings of Blackrock orcs allying with the Black dragonflight, Bolvar was debilitated from sending Stormwind's thinly spread troops to aid Lakeshire without proof. Bolvar sent Alliance adventurers to Lady Prestor, who knew much of dragons and dragonkin. However, Lady Prestor thought very little of Magistrate Solomon's claims and advised against providing the military aid. Though Bolvar respected Lady Prestor's stance, he could not let Solomon's plight go unheeded and thought of a compromise to appease all parties: Bolvar deputized the Alliance adventurer and empowered them to solve Solomon's problems.

When Lady Jaina Proudmoore found evidence of the Defias Brotherhood being involved in King Varian's disappearance and had a powerful ally in Stormwind, she sent the evidence to Bolvar. With their newfound patronage and apparent role in the king's disappearance, Bolvar saw no choice but to plan a renewed offensive against the Defias. While Bolvar sought to pursue the Defias and their backers until King Varian's return, Lady Prestor tried to belittle the issue as just baseless speculation and a waste of Stormwind's resources.

Onyxia controlled Highlord Bolvar Fordragon through the use of the Drakefire Amulet. She may also have used the kidnapping to convince Stormwind's nobles (particularly Bolvar) to not send troops to Westfall, Lakeshire, and Darkshire, in an attempt to increase the strength of the Brotherhood and the Blackrock clan in those regions, which are both rumored to be allied to the black dragonflight, and cause chaos throughout the human lands.

At some point, Onyxia drove the Stonemaul ogres from the caves in Dragonmurk, a dismal swamp located within Dustwallow Marsh. She did so in order to procure a place to raise her numerous children, who would then leave to infest the Wyrmbog. She and her children became known for terrorizing any travelers who strayed too close to her home.

Return of the kings
Some time later, a massive ceremony was held in Stormwind to welcome home their king. However, the Varian that returned was arrogant, frivolous, and markedly interested in Katrana Prestor. The people of Stormwind had only been informed that Defias had ransomed the king, a ransom paid with a painful new tax. Upon his return, however, Varian seemed concerned only with spending more of his people's money, leaving affairs of state by the wayside. Anduin Wrynn was distressed by his father's change.

One day in Stormwind City, King Magni Bronzebeard was on a visit and was discussing war plans against the orcs and Dark Iron dwarves with King "Varian" and Bolvar Fordragon. However, Varian Wrynn was counseled by Lady Katrana Prestor to not send troops to help the dwarves fight against the dark irons. King Magni left disappointed in Varian's subservience to Lady Prestor's wishes and his dishonorable demeanor.

Meanwhile, a masked man witnessed a gladiator fighting in Dire Maul, so he informed Lady Katrana of the event. Lady Katrana subsequently sent Gakca to kill the masked man, and then to order an assassin from the Stormwind Assassin's Guild to assassinate the gladiator named Lo'Gosh during his perilous journey to Stormwind. All their attempts to dispatch Lo'Gosh failed however.

Eventually, the other Varian - Lo'Gosh - and his friends arrived in Stormwind and were halted by General Marcus Jonathan under the direct jurisdiction of Katrana Prestor, who ordered their immediate arrest and execution as traitors. Marshal Reginald Windsor succeeded in convincing Marcus of his loyalty to Stormwind as they had previously served together under Turalyon. Katrana Prestor hastily gathered soldiers only to have the frivolous Varian tell her that she was disobeying the chain of command and was not in charge of Stormwind. Entering Stormwind Keep, Lo'Gosh declared Katrana's masquerade was over and called her by her true name: Onyxia. Revealing her dragon form and transforming multiple guards into dragonspawn, Lo'Gosh and his allies began battle in the great hall of Stormwind Keep. The arrival of Highlord Bolvar Fordragon along with Anduin greatly aided them in securing the keep but Reginald Windsor was killed moments later by Onyxia. Lo'Gosh engaged his doppelganger, claiming he threatened the stability of his kingdom and nearly cost the Alliance Thandol Span, only to have his doppelganger retort he was starting to repress her spells and regain control of his actions. Anduin, surprised by seeing two Varians, urged them to stop fighting each other and face the true threat, the brood mother Onyxia. The great dragon snatched Anduin and teleported them to her lair daring Varian to follow suit. Regrouping with their friends, Varian and Lo'Gosh were left to grieve the loss of their son. Lo'Gosh announced to their friends and allies that the final battle would end in Onyxia's Lair.

Corruption ends
Leading a mounted charge, both Varians cut bloody swathes into Onyxia's dragonspawn ranks. Jaina disabled the impeding magical barriers while Varian and his allies used steel and magic to slay Onyxia's brood. Eventually, they encountered the brood mother herself, with Anduin imprisoned under her iron grip. Onyxia held Anduin hostage, threatening to kill him if Varian didn't surrender Stormwind over to her. Anduin urged his father not to give in to her threats and Lo'Gosh agreed to fight and die with Anduin if need be. Lo'Gosh threw a knife at the dragon's claw to loosen her hold over Anduin. Anduin fell at a great height but was caught and saved by Broll Bearmantle, who had taken his raven form to catch him mid air. With Anduin's safety secured, the Stormwind army continued the battle.

Leading an assault against Onyxia, both Varians engaged her in battle. Weapons and magic clashed with her numerous dragonkin with both sides determined to win. Onyxia cast a fear spell on Broll and tail swiped Jaina, removing them from the battle after growing agitated by their constant spellcasting. Becoming desperate to end the fight, Onyxia began casting the spell she was going to use on Alcaz Island to kill Lo'Gosh, but Lo'Gosh's double responded by stepping in front of the blast, saying he should die because Lo'Gosh was the embodiment of the true Varian. Not willing to sacrifice his double, Lo'Gosh leapt alongside his other self hoping to save him. The magic spell became disrupted by having the two Varians in the spell, and after a moment of silence Varian emerged, his two halves fused back together. Onyxia desperately tried to incinerate him, but Varian swiftly reached Onyxia's head and impaled her with his newly-fused elven sword, Shalamayne. With Onyxia dead, Varian reunited with his son and friends, telling them their long and noble deeds would be rewarded and Stormwind has been reborn with a new hope for the future. King Varian then decapitated Onyxia and sent her head to be hung from the ramparts of Stormwind while Broll Bearmantle summoned roots from the ground to seal her lair's entrance and to kill her unhatched progeny.

Blackwing Descent


This wasn't her end, however. Onyxia's body and head were somehow retrieved by Nefarian and taken inside Blackwing Descent. When players engage Nefarian, as Lord Victor Nefarius, he will reveal that he has found a way to raise Onyxia from the dead. A platform then rises from the lava in the middle of the vault with Onyxia's stitched-together form lying on it, and she is restored to a semblance of life via bolts of electricity. The first phase of the Nefarian fight consists of trying to kill Onyxia while also managing Nefarian, who will attack the raid after a brief respite.

Battle for Azeroth
The remains of Nefarian and Onyxia remained untouched in Blackwing Descent for several years. When N'Zoth awoke at the conclusion of the Fourth War, his servants attempted to raise Nefarian and Onyxia into the Old Gods' service once again. Dark Inquisitor Xanesh and Vexiona lured Wrathion to Blackwing Descent and intended to use his essence to revive the draconic siblings, but their efforts were thwarted. At Wrathion's command, their remains were completely destroyed, and the last remaining scales used to craft a cloak to protect against N'Zoth's corruption.

Political influence
In World of Warcraft, Onyxia's human alias, Lady Katrana Prestor, was the woman who used to stand immediately to the right of the boy king, Anduin Wrynn. She could be revealed as a dragonkin by Hunter dragonkin detection, and did not show up as a humanoid when using "Track Humanoids".

She had significant influence over the following organizations, manipulating them against each other to further her plans and strengthen the black dragonflight:


 * Black dragonflight
 * Stormwind House of Nobles/Stormwind Army (before being discovered by King Varian)
 * Defias Brotherhood
 * Dark Horde

Other allies by extension whom she had influence over

 * The Alliance
 * Riverpaw gnolls
 * Kobolds of Elwynn Forest
 * Bloodsail Buccaneers
 * Strashaz naga

Description
A clever, highly intelligent dragon, Onyxia is fond of assuming mortal guises, which she uses to secretly manipulate the affairs of mortal politics and commerce. Though Onyxia is relatively small for a black dragon of her age, she shares the same powers and abilities as the rest of her terrible flight. Her searing breath weapon can melt both stone and iron. Her physical attacks, whether bites, scrapes or tail lashes, are lightning quick and nearly unstoppable. When cornered, Onyxia is fond of taking flight and blasting her troublesome prey from above.

Though Onyxia has been sighted traveling to and from Blackrock Mountain, her main lair is located in a fiery cave below the Dragonmurk. It's also whispered that her brood of new eggs is hidden within her lair - awaiting maturation. Should anyone ever threaten Onyxia within her lair - within distance of her precious eggs - her wrath would be terrible beyond comprehension.

Quests

 * An Audience with the King

Visage Day

 * Onyxia: "Why do we choose a visage?"
 * Chronormu: "To better relate to the mortal races. To be approachable, and to commune with their kind."
 * Onyxia: "That sounds like something Nozdormu would teach his whelps. No, little dragon. We choose a visage that allows us to control them. Of all the mortal races, it is humans who pose the greatest threat to dragonkind. They are neither the strongest nor the smartest, but they are the most relentless. Yet for all their cleverness, they are vain creatures bent by flattery. I chose a form that would quicken their heartbeats and allow me to seize all that I desire from them. Heed my wisdom, little one: you are a dragon, a hunter, with claws for tearing and teeth for killing. No visage will change that. And just like your other gifts, your visage will be a means to take what you want."


 * "A pity you lack the spine to embrace the truth, little one. You will always be small and insignificant. Befriend mortals, and one day they will be the death of you."

Stormwind Keep

 * Gossip

In the RPG


After carefully calculating her plans for many years, she entered into a pact with her elder brother, Nefarian, to take over for their missing father and gain control of the entire flight. To this end, she had begun manipulating many mortals and dragons alike to her own ends and wielded considerable political power over many groups. Onyxia speaks Common, Darnassian, Draconic, Dwarven, Orcish, Thalassian, and Zandali.

Onyxia initiates combat using her breath weapon and then moves directly into melee, preferably targeting soft targets such as spellcasters. If given a chance to prepare before battle, she uses defensive spells to augment her fighting ability. When she is damaged too much, Onyxia takes to the air. If she is still sustaining a great deal of damage in the air, she sticks to spells, to make sure she can retreat if badly wounded. If heavily injured she either retreats (if in open air) or descends to the ground to reenter melee (if inside her lair). She attempts to land on her enemies and crush them as she comes down to the ground. When she reaches the ground, she immediately uses Deep Breath against the largest group of opponents within range. At this point, she fights to the death if necessary, retreating only if a chance presents itself. If engaged while in human form, she fights using spells unless her attackers clearly know she is a dragon; if her enemies know her identity, she tries to retreat to her lair.

Lady Katrana Prestor and Lord Bolvar Fordragon serve as the king's main advisors, and they pretty much call the shots. However, Bolvar is not one to insult the judgment of an "educated" lady like Katrana Prestor. It seems like her advice is pretty much the exact opposite of anything a logical person with half a brain would come up with. As a result of Lady Prestor's intervention, proper human leadership has become impossible. She doesn't seem to think the other races are necessary. Katrana won't even allow the king to send reinforcements to human lands that desperately need it, such as Duskwood and the Redridge Mountains. Every report of enemy activity on those fronts is shot down for lack of "proof", despite knowledge of dead men and women. It's unknown what she did to get the prince's ear, but for whatever reason she's managed to keep both the king and Lord Bolvar following her directions (and some of them are clearly nonsense). She's just playing games with the Alliance troops when they have good men and women dying out on the front. Her motivations are unknown; she's certainly either working for something malicious, or she is malicious herself.

In Hearthstone


Onyxia appears as HS Onyxia (a legendary card) in Hearthstone. Her flavor text reads: "Onyxia long manipulated the Stormwind Court by disguising herself as Lady Katrana Prestor. You would have thought that the giant wings and scales would have been a giveaway."

She also HS Nefarian (Hidden Laboratory)/Onyxia (appears) in her reanimated form in the HS Nefarian (Hidden Laboratory) (final battle) against Nefarian in the Hidden Laboratory (Blackwing Descent), the fifth and final wing of the Blackrock Mountain adventure. After removing all of Nefarian's armor by dealing sufficient damage to him, Nefarian flies up into the air and the player must then defeat Onyxia before facing Nefarian again.

Lady Katrana Prestor appears as an HS Lady Katrana Prestor (alternate mage hero), available as part of the pre-order for HS United in Stormwind.

Notes and trivia

 * Her father claims her undead state was just one of a number of experiments towards the creation of Ultraxion.
 * Grazzle mentions that he faced her.
 * While Wrathion is listed as Onyxia's half-brother in the Ultimate Visual Guide and claims to be Deathwing's son, it is hinted that Deathwing isn't Wrathion's literal father. Moreover, at one occasion he called her "auntie Onyxia".
 * Lady Katrana Prestor's Gold Coin can be fished from the Dalaran Fountain.
 * She mothered the Reins of the Onyxian Drake.
 * Before her debut in World of Warcraft, Onyxia was first mentioned in Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game.
 * Daval Prestor II, a second "Lord Prestor", appeared in the World of Warcraft beta, but was then replaced with Katrana.
 * Onyxia's head used to hang from the left arch into Stormwind City or be mounted on a large pillar near the front of Orgrimmar if she had recently been killed. This no longer happens as of 3.2.2.
 * Onyxia is the most used boss encounter: Players fought her in her original level 60 encounter, in the revamp as a level 80 encounter, as a memory in Trial of the Champion and after being reanimated in Blackwing Descent.
 * Onyxia was the first raid boss ever defeated in World of Warcraft, with Chosen from Elune-KR claiming the kill on January 28th, 2005.
 * Both the Horde and the Alliance wanted her dead, and her head was asked to be brought to the capital cities. However, this part was retconned as seen in World of Warcraft: The Comic.
 * According to Micky Neilson the reaction to the death of Onyxia within the comics had an impact on the creation process of the Curse of the Worgen series: "We learned that when Varian killed Onyxia, players had a very visceral reaction to that, because they had a gone through those quest lines and they had killed Onyxia. And so, it was a response from the players saying 'Hey, wait a minute, Varian didn't do that. I did that.' It felt like we had robbed the player of that experience. That was something we took into Curse of the Worgen was figuring out ways not to rob the players experience of going through Gilneas and everything that happens there, but still relaying events and conveying all that information."
 * Lady Sinestra reuses Onyxia's model during her Shadowmoon Valley appearance.
 * Onyxia's name is derived from the word "onyx", a precious stone, opaque and completely black. It is often used to describe something that is extremely black and dark. In Ancient Greek, "ὄνυξ" (Onyx) stands for "hoof" or "talon".
 * Katrana's name may be derived from the word katran (катран in the Cyrillic script) present in several Slavic languages, meaning tar. If this is the case, her name refers to her real identity as a black dragon.
 * A concept for Onyxia existed in Heroes of the Storm. The concept included various types of dragonkin.
 * During the quest Return of the Bravo Company, Krakauer will occasionally say, "So whatever happened to that hot little number in Stormwind? Lady Prestor was her name," referring to Onyxia when she was disguised as a human noblewoman.

Speculation
It is uncertain if Katrana Prestor claimed any relation to Daval Prestor, the human guise of Deathwing, though it is presumed that Katrana claimed to be his daughter, just as her true identity Onyxia is the daughter of Daval's true identity Deathwing.