Ebyssian

Ebyssian, also known as Ebonhorn, is one of the last few remaining black dragons. His egg was purified before he was born and was thus freed from the corruption of his dragonflight in Neltharion's former lair by Huln Highmountain 10,000 years ago, making him the oldest uncorrupted black dragon in existence. Ever since, Ebyssian has watched over Huln's descendants under the disguise of a Highmountain tauren spiritwalker named Spiritwalker Ebonhorn.

When Ebyssian leaves Highmountain, he risks the Old Gods' forces trying to corrupt him, which happened when he attended a feast in Thunder Bluff or arrived to the Chamber of Heart during the Fourth War.

Birth
Shortly after the War of the Ancients, the tauren hero Huln Highmountain used the Hammer of Khaz'goroth to banish the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing from the Broken Isles. Afterward, Igrul the Scalebane and him came across a batch of black dragon eggs in the back of Neltharion's Vault. Igrul argued that they should all be destroyed, but Huln instead used the Hammer to purify one of the eggs, permanently freeing it from the corruption of the Old Gods. Soon, it hatched, and the black whelp emerged. Huln declared that he would call it "Ebonhorn" after its tiny black horns.

While Ebyssian apparently chose his own name to go by, in gratitude he has since faithfully served the Highmountain family under the guise of Spiritwalker Ebonhorn, guiding each of Huln's descendants during their reigns as High Chieftain and only revealing his true identity to them upon their secretive ascension ceremony.



A Mountain Divided
When the Burning Legion returned to Azeroth, Ebonhorn called a meeting between the leaders of the tauren tribes — Ulan Highmountain, Jale Rivermane, Lasan Skyhorn and Torok Bloodtotem — as well as the Underking of the drogbar, Dargrul. There, he revealed that he had seen a message left by the spirits deep within Neltharion's Vault: that the Legion's fall would come at the hands of champions from outside Highmountain, empowered by the Hammer of Khaz'goroth and aided by all the peoples of an undivided Highmountain. This caused outrage among Dargrul and the tauren chieftains, who said that the Hammer belonged to the people of Highmountain alone. Ulan responded that the Highmountain Tribe would obey the spirits, and Jale, Lasan and Torok begrudgingly said that their tribes would do so as well. Dargrul, however, claimed that he had also visited Neltharion's Vault but had seen nothing of outsiders — only that strength would drive back the Legion. Without warning, he leaped forward and grabbed the hammer, using it to kill Ulan before fleeing. Distraught, Ebonhorn said that he never meant for the tragedy to happen. Ulan's daughter Mayla, now High Chieftain, replied, "But it did."

Legion
Ebonhorn is first seen at Riverbend, the home of the Rivermane tribe, moments prior to the drogbar attack. Jale Rivermane calls him a "fool", but nonetheless asks the adventurer to evacuate the Riverbend villagers and direct them to the spiritwalker. When Dargrul arrives and uses the Hammer of Khaz'goroth to destroy most of Riverbend, Ebonhorn directs the adventurer to kill the drogbar raiders and rescuing some of the tauren caught in magical stone fists, after which they meet up with Warbrave Oro. After Oro's failed attempt to kill Dargrul, which results in the death of him and all of his warbraves, Ebonhorn asks the adventurer to escort Jale to Thunder Totem, after which he travels there as well.



According to Mayla, Ebonhorn insists on showing the champion the ways of the Highmountain tauren to make them better understand what is to come. Through a series of visions, the spiritwalker shows the hero the tale of Huln Highmountain, the legendary tauren hero who fought in the War of the Ancients. After the visions conclude, Ebonhorn travels with Mayla to the Path of Huln in order to perform a ritual to aid in her ascension to the title of High Chieftain. Asking the hero to act as Mayla's champion during the vision quest, the spiritwalker escorts the adventurer and the chieftain to Neltharion's Vault. Together, the three witness several visions depicting Huln Highmountain using the Hammer of Khaz'goroth to banish the corrupted Earth Warder Deathwing from Highmountain. Before entering the final vision, Ebonhorn says that the tauren need a leader like Huln, who has the strength and courage to face any obstacle, and that there is one final vision Mayla must see before she is ready to become High Chieftain.

Upon entering the vision, the story of Ebyssian's birth is told, as Huln uses the Hammer of Khaz'goroth to purify a dragon egg as Igrul the Scalebane and the adventurer protect him from the vault's guardians. As the vision ends, Spiritwalker Ebonhorn transforms into his true form and reveals himself as Ebyssian to Mayla. Mayla is shocked at this revelation, but Ebyssian assures her that he is still the same spiritwalker she has known her entire life before at last pronouncing her as High Chieftain.

After the adventurer departs from the Obsidian Overlook outside of the vault, Ebonhorn is not seen for the remainder of the Highmountain storyline, but later travels with Navarrogg and a small group of adventurers into the drogbar capital of Neltharion's Lair, where they are to put an end to Dargrul's reign and reclaim the Hammer of Khaz'goroth. After overcoming the inhabitants of the drogbar city, the heroes succeed in killing Dargrul and securing the hammer, thus ending the drogbar threat. Ebyssian commends them for their accomplishments before departing, mentioning that he has some "other family matters" that require his attention.

Battle for Azeroth
After corresponding with Chieftain Baine Bloodhoof in the aftermath of the Argus Campaign, Mayla Highmountain accepted an invitation to attend a feast in Thunder Bluff. Yet when Baine and the Horde champion greeted their Highmountain tauren guests, Spiritwalker Ebonhorn was tormented by the Old Gods' forces of Uul'gyneth attempting to corrupt him, and he and Mayla were forced to retreat back to Thunder Totem while Baine and the Horde champion defended Thunder Bluff from Uul'gyneth's invasion force. Apparently, the wards Ebonhorn had been maintaining in Highmountain weakened just enough to let the Darkness seep through.

Later on, Baine and the Horde champion traveled to Thunder Totem to offer their aid to mend Ebonhorn, who has been fighting unconsciously to keep a darkness from consuming him. Mayla sent the Horde champion to Spiritwalker Graysky, who has the Horde champion undergo Spiritwalker rituals to walk in the memories of Igrul the Scalebane, Oenia Skyhorn, and Huln Highmountain in order to restore the wards that kept the dark corrupting forces at bay. After restoring the wards, Ebonhorn regained consciousness and revealed Uul'gyneth sought to return and conquer Highmountain. Baine, Mayla, the Horde champion, and Ebonhorn left to join Lasan Skyhorn, Aviash, and Jale Rivermane at Highmountain Summit to thwart the Necrodark's ritual to incarnate Uul'gyneth and restore the final ward. They failed, however, and Uul'gyneth was summoned into the physical realm, leaving the Horde champion little choice but to vanquish Uul'gyneth. Ebonhorn revealed his true, draconic form, but Baine agreed to keep it a secret. As a result of these events, the Highmountain tauren pledged themselves to the Horde.

At Baine's request, Ebonhorn participated in a seance alongside the trolls Master Gadrin and Princess Talanji to call on the spirit of the late Warchief Vol'jin. When Baine asked Vol'jin who it was who had told him on his deathbed to make Sylvanas the new warchief, spirits of the dead attacked to silence the question. Ebonhorn then traveled with Baine to the Broken Shore, the place where Vol'jin was mortally wounded, to call on Vol'jin's spirit there and hopefully shed light on the mystery.

Rise of Azshara
After Magni Bronzebeard called adventurers to return to the Chamber of Heart, he asked them to speak with MOTHER, who directed them to obtain the magical essences of the dragonflights in order to fortify the Heart of Azeroth. With the task at end, MOTHER directed champions to Highmountain, where they encountered Ebonhorn. Upon meeting with adventurers, Ebonhorn remarked that he had sensed something deep beneath Highmountain within Neltharion's Lair. After Navarrogg brought the pair into the lair, Ebonhorn was stunned to discover that the essence was in possession of Ma'haat the Indomitable, a stone lord from Deepholm. Noting that their kind harbors enmity toward the black dragonflight, Ebonhorn directed champions to heal the fissures with the Heart of Azeroth. Seeking the essence, Ebonhorn and his ally clashed with Ma'haat, who yielded to their power. Declaring them worthy, Ma'haat gave them the essence while warning that the Stonemother would be watching.

Feeling that he owed it to his fallen kin to prevent the power of his fallen kind from being used for evil, Ebonhorn journeyed to the Chamber of Heart, where he was welcomed by Magni and identified by MOTHER as a black dragon. After pointing out that Neltharion was once tasked with protecting Azeroth, Ebonhorn revealed that he saw it as his duty to ensure that the Petrified Ebony Scale carried on that legacy. Thus, he gave the essence to his allies so that they could empower the Heart Forge with its power.

Ebyssian was later joined by Kalecgos, Alexstrasza, Merithra, and Chromie in empowering the Heart of Azeroth.

Sometime after N'Zoth was freed, Ebonhorn nearly succumbed to its whispers and would have been killed by MOTHER without Magni's intervention. Seeking to save Ebonhorn, Magni called on heroes to venture to the Chamber of Heart. Under the advice of Kalecgos, the hero sought out Wrathion in order save Ebonhorn. Though unable to meet with Wrathion, heroes did acquire a potion of his creation that they used to save Ebonhorn.

Visions of N'Zoth
Sometime after Wrathion arrived to the Chamber of Heart, Ebyssian inquired as to how the Black Prince had known he had begun to hear N'Zoth's whispers. In response, Wrathion admitted that he had one of his agents watching over him due to knowing that Ebyssian would become vulnerable upon leaving Highmountain. In surprise, Ebyssian remarked that he was unaware that Wrathion had such a personal concern for his well-being, causing the younger dragon to remark that they were brothers and the only one that Wrathion had left.

Quests

 * Riverbend
 * The Underking Comes
 * Grasp of the Underking
 * The Drogbar
 * Dargrul and the Hammer
 * Get to High Ground


 * Huln's War
 * A Walk With the Spirits
 * The Story of Huln
 * To See the Past
 * Huln's War - The Arrival
 * Huln's War - The Nathrezim


 * Secrets of Highmountain
 * Secrets of Highmountain
 * The Path of Huln
 * In Defiance of Deathwing
 * Titanic Showdown
 * An Ancient Secret
 * The Backdoor


 * Allied races
 * How Fares Ebonhorn?
 * Whispers of the Darkness
 * Ice and Shadow
 * The Final Ward
 * The Darkness (quest)


 * High Chieftains

On-click

 * Greetings
 * I serve the descendants of Huln.
 * I knew you would come.
 * I counsel the High Chieftain.
 * Greetings, outsider.


 * Irritated
 * Do not stand so close, my breath is... potent.
 * You have been warned.
 * Don't make me burn your face off! ... I mean, greetings, traveler.


 * Farewell
 * May the ancestors watch over you.
 * Spirits guide you.

Gossip

 * Thunder Totem
 * We are in luck. Had the Underking learned all of the secrets of the Hammer, we would not be having this conversation.


 * For now he is like a child with a new toy. Dangerous, yes, but not as much as he will be the longer he possesses the hammer.


 * Highmountain Summit
 * The spirits of our ancestors cry out for justice. These Necrodark defile all that they touch.

Gossip

 * During The Shadow Hunter questline
 * Calling up spirits adrift in the space between life and death is one thing. Communing with a spirit that has passed on is quite another. And then there is the task of Vol'jin.


 * I can say it is a task unlike any other I have tried to perform. My respect for Talanji grows.

Ah,. I can feel the pain of the earth beneath my hooves. I hope we are not too late.
 * Snowblind Mesa, War Campaign initial

I must discuss a few matters with Navarrogg,. I will meet you in the chamber.
 * Snowblind Mesa, War Campaign later


 * Chamber of Heart
 * We must all do our part to safeguard Azeroth.




 * Say
 * Say
 * Say
 * Say

Notes and trivia

 * Mayla Highmountain, Baine Bloodhoof, and the adventurer were the only known living mortals to know that Ebyssian is a dragon at the end of World of Warcraft: Legion. Ma'haat the Indomitable also knows. After Ebonhorn ventured to the Chamber of Heart, Magni Bronzebeard, the Maiden of Vitality and MOTHER learned of his identity.
 * It is unknown if any other dragons know of his existence.
 * Ebyssian is so far the only known dragon to use a tauren as his humanoid form.
 * His generic names are Highmountain Shaman and Highmountain Spiritwalker.
 * If the player mounts up during Secrets of Highmountain, Ebonhorn will mount a pale moose. Once inside Neltharion's Vault, however, he instead rides a Black War Kodo. When outside, if the player tries to fly, he'll mount a Highmountain Eagle, but remain grounded.
 * Spiritwalker Ebonhorn's Coin can be fished up from the fountain in the version of Dalaran.
 * In the Legion alpha, Wrathion was the dragon disguised as Spiritwalker Ebonhorn, and at the end of his questline he gathered time-lost black dragon eggs to raise new, uncorrupted black dragons. In later builds, he was replaced as Ebonhorn by Ebyssian and the questline was rewritten.
 * He is voiced by Dave B. Mitchell.

Speculation

 * While Ebyssian hatched from an egg in Neltharion's Vault and refers to Neltharion's Lair as "his father's lair", he also mentions the drogbar digging at "the bones of [his] father" in the latter, even though Deathwing was killed at the Maelstrom in an explosion. If he is speaking literally, this could mean that his father was not Deathwing but another black dragon that died in the lair, as it is impossible for Deathwing's bones to be present. Later, Ebonhorn said that the bones in the lair are "the decaying bones of my kin slain in the throes of Deathwing's fury."
 * It should be noted that Wrathion, who also calls Deathwing his father, is not Deathwing's literal son either.
 * In the Legion alpha, Wrathion was present in the dungeon instead and said the same things as Ebyssian says now. Therefore, this may also be an oversight from when Wrathion was replaced by Ebyssian.