Ragnaros

Ragnaros the Firelord was the incredibly powerful Elemental Lord of Fire. After being summoned to Azeroth by Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan, he took control of Blackrock Mountain and ruled there for more than two hundred years over his minions from deep inside its fiery core. Banished back to the Firelands, he aligned himself with Deathwing and Al'Akir in the effort to bring about the Hour of Twilight. Ragnaros laid siege to the sacred Mount Hyjal in an attempt to incinerate the World Tree Nordrassil, unleashing his most powerful minions in the process. Despite the incredible destructive forces at his disposal, the Cenarion Circle aided by mortal champions of Azeroth were able to lay siege to the Firelord's domain, where they bested all of the challenges he laid before them and eventually destroyed him within his own fortress. Years after his death, he was replaced as Firelord by Smolderon. Ragnaros was known to be seconded by a Majordomo.

Ragnaros serves as a major antagonist in classic World of Warcraft and the secondary antagonist in Cataclysm.

Ancient history
In the beginning, the world that would become known as Azeroth was ruled by the elementals. A nascent titan maturing within the world's core had consumed much of the fifth element, Spirit, and without this primordial force to create balance, the elements were thrown into chaos. The four Elemental Lords, who each ruled over innumerable lesser spirits, constantly clashed with one another on the surface of the primordial world. Ragnaros the Firelord employed brute force to destroy his enemies and longed for nothing more than to boil the seas and choke the skies with ember and ash, and wherever he went, volcanoes erupted, spewing forth rivers of fire. The other three Elemental Lords came to foster a deep hatred for the Firelord for his devastating and brazen assaults.

When the entities known as the Old Gods arrived from the Great Dark and established their empire, the Elemental Lords saw the invaders as a threat to their dominion. For the first time in Azeroth's history, the native spirits of the world worked together against a common enemy. Ragnaros' fiery servants joined with Al'Akir the Windlord's tempests, creating blistering firestorms and cyclones of flame that reduced the Old Gods' citadels to ash. Eventually, however, the elementals of the world could not stand against the endless swarms of n'raqi and aqir, and were all enslaved.

When the titan-forged arrived on Azeroth to battle the Black Empire, the Old Gods sent their enslaved Elemental Lord lieutenants to face them. Ragnaros battled for weeks against Tyr and Odyn, yet the keepers' metallic forms kept them safe from the Firelord's flames. Eventually, the two keepers managed to push Ragnaros back into his volcanic lair in the east, where he was most powerful. Ragnaros waited for his enemies to come to him and called fire from the sky to waylay Tyr and Odyn. Smoke descended on the land, however, Tyr's great hammer shone in the darkness. Its erratic movements confused the Firelord and gradually let his guard down, believing his opponents were too cowardly to face him in battle. However, it was exactly what the keepers had been waiting for. Tyr pierced through the smoke and scored a blow against Ragnaros with his hammer. Odyn then flanked the staggered Firelord, and the two keepers overwhelmed their foe and defeated him. The Firelord and his minions were thereafter banished to a smoldering corner of the Elemental Plane known as the Firelands.

It was then that, at the core of this world, the brothers turned on each other. For five millennia, a battle was fought. It was during the Elemental Sundering that Ragnaros attacked Thunderaan, Prince of Air. Thunderaan was utterly defeated and the Firelord feasted upon his essence but was unable to consume him entirely. Ragnaros divided what remained between his servants, Baron Geddon and Garr.

In the center of a vast sky of fire in the Elemental Plane stands Sulfuron Keep, the home of Ragnaros. Until comparatively recently, he ruled his burning land with a molten iron fist.

War of the Three Hammers
Around two hundred and fifty years ago the ambitious and ruthless Dark Iron clan reinitiated the War of the Three Hammers against their dwarven brethren, the Bronzebeard clan and Wildhammer clan, still bitter over losing Ironforge. The Dark Irons launched a two-pronged assault: Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan against Ironforge and his sorceress wife, Modgud, against the Wildhammers' capital city of Grim Batol, in order to prevent one clan from coming to the aid of the other.

Things did not go the way they hoped it would. Madoran Bronzebeard ultimately led his clan to a decisive victory over Thaurissan's army, who then fled to Thaurissan, the Dark Iron capital. The Bronzebeards pursued.

Modgud used her powers, eventually broke through Grim Batol's gates and laid siege to the fortress itself. The siege was broken and the Dark Irons routed when Thane Khardros Wildhammer waded through the battle and killed Modgud. Pursued by the Wildhammers, most of her forces also fled back to their city, only to meet Ironforge forces sent to help Grim Batol. Trapped between the two armies, Modgud's forces were annihilated.

The Wildhammer and Bronzebeard armies united to destroy the treacherous Dark Irons once and for all and marched for Thaurissan. Thaurissan, seeking to summon a supernatural minion that would turn the tide of the war back to his favor called upon the ancient powers sleeping beneath the world with seven of his most powerful Dark Iron allies in the area known as the Molten Core. To Thaurissan's surprise, and ultimately his doom, the creature that emerged was more terrible than any nightmare he could have imagined.

Now, freed by Thaurissan's call, Ragnaros erupted into being once again. Ragnaros' apocalyptic rebirth into Azeroth shattered the Redridge Mountains and created a raging volcano at the center of the devastation. The volcano, known as Blackrock Mountain, was bordered by what is now known as the Searing Gorge, to the north, and the Burning Steppes, to the south. Though Thaurissan and the seven were killed by the forces he had unleashed, his surviving brethren were ultimately enslaved by Ragnaros and his elementals. Many Dark Iron dwarves remain within the lower areas of the mountain, especially Blackrock Depths, toiling away at the behest of Ragnaros and the Firelord's lieutenants. They worship Ragnaros.

Witnessing the horrific devastation and the fires spreading across the southern mountains, the Bronzebeards' King Madoran and Wildhammers' Thane Khardros halted their armies and hastily turned back towards their kingdoms, unwilling to face the awesome wrath of Ragnaros.

The Firelord was incapable of straying far from the Molten Core, so after Ragnaros and his minions settled there, the lava elemental Lord Roccor ended up angering the Firelord and was expelled from the core and forced to guard Blackrock Depths in isolation. Little did Ragnaros know that this was Roccor's plan all along; loathing the scheming and backstabbing of his fellow fire elementals, the mighty being came up with the risky gambit just to avoid serving alongside them.

After the Dark Irons forged their new capital, Shadowforge City, the dwarves were forced to serve Ragnaros and his lieutenants. Years later, Emperor Dagran Thaurissan ruled the Dark Irons on behalf of the Firelord. However, while Thaurissan delighted in the power that Ragnaros had bestowed upon him he bristled at his servitude to the Firelord. When Ragnaros ordered Thaurissan to prepare the Dark Irons for a new war, the emperor was overjoyed. He had long dreamed of conquering the other dwarf clans, not only to rule over them but also to wield their combined power to break free of the Firelord's control.

World of Warcraft
Now he lies at the bottom of that volcano on Azeroth, striving to find a way home, as well as to gather his strength once again so he can burn away Azeroth and take it for his own. Meanwhile, in Sulfuron Keep and elsewhere across the Firelands, his elemental princes battle constantly for dominance. He and his dwarven minions took control of the Blackrock mountain's volcanic depths and made war on the orcs in the Upper Blackrock Spire, which served as the seat of power for Nefarian the black dragon. Ragnaros has uncovered the secret to creating life from stone and plans to build an army of unstoppable golems to aid him in conquering the whole of Blackrock Mountain.

Ragnaros sent Ambassador Infernus to Angor Fortress to mind the Shadowforge clan seeking lost artifacts in Uldaman.

After Dagran Thaurissan's death, Moira Thaurissan made sure that the involvement of the fire elementals with the Dark Irons was known to the world. In response, the Hydraxian Waterlords recruited scores of powerful adventurers of the Horde and Alliance to enter the Molten Core and defeat his army and the Firelord himself. Ragnaros and his elementals were banished back into the Firelands.

Elemental War Reborn
During the Midsummer Fire Festival, high-level players can face the true threat facing the world. The Earthen Ring send adventurers across the globe on a quest to save the world from an Elemental War. The Twilight's Hammer plans to summon the Frost Lord into the world so that he may face Ragnaros bringing an elemental war to the world once again. Players are then sent to Slave Pens to face Ahune and defeat him before he may gain full strength and begin his attack on the Firelord.

Cataclysm
After being defeated in Molten Core, Ragnaros was banished back to the Elemental Plane and resided in Sulfuron Keep, his seat of power within the Firelands. After the Cataclysm, he and his armies are launching a full-scale assault on Mount Hyjal, attempting to burn the now-regrowing World Tree. He is allied with Deathwing, therefore ending his war against Nefarian's forces, and uniting them as a single army. In the ensuing conflict, many brave heroes gave their lives to protect Hyjal from destruction. By their noble sacrifices, the impossible was achieved: the Guardians of Hyjal led by Cenarius, Malfurion Stormrage and Hamuul Runetotem along with the adventurers of the Alliance and Horde pushed Ragnaros's minions and Ragnaros himself back into the Firelands.

Rage of the Firelands
At the Maelstrom, Thrall strains himself attempting to commune with the elements. Able to feel how broken the world is, and with the elements remaining silent for him, Thrall tells Aggra that he will have to work without limits to fulfill this task. As he ponders the meaning of this, his elemental calls are finally answered - by none other than Ragnaros the Firelord. Ragnaros gives Thrall a vision of the Firelands, ensuring him that its flames will engulf both the world tree and the world beyond it, showing Thrall's reinforced home of Orgrimmar washed over in a tide of fire as the final Hour of Twilight approaches. Stunned, Thrall falls to the ground and the cackling Firelord dissipates.

Now, the battle to protect Hyjal rages in Ragnaros's smoldering realm. As territory is gained and Azeroth's champions edge closer to the Firelands' inner sanctums, a monumental task lies ahead. Entrenched around Ragnaros's lair - Sulfuron Keep - are his most trusted guardians, including the turncoat Druids of the Flame and their mysterious leader. Yet Hyjal's defenders cannot afford to shy away from any of these dangers. Should Ragnaros prevail against the incursion and succeed in destroying Nordrassil, Azeroth will suffer a blow from which it might never recover.

As Malfurion Stormrage rallied Hyjal's defenders in a massive counterattack, the Circle stormed into the Firelands. Soon, the Circle was reinforced by the Alliance and Horde who pushed further into the Firelands until they reached Sulfuron Keep. During the battle against Ragnaros in the normal dungeon he retreats at 10% health saying that his attackers have come too soon. However during the heroic fight when Ragnaros attempts to withdraw from the battle, he is interrupted by the arrival of Cenarius, Malfurion, and Hamuul, who each channel a powerful spell that solidifies the lava surrounding the Firelord, binding him. With nowhere left to run Ragnaros bursts out of the lava and in a final battle with the adventurers, the fire lord is slain. Due to Ragnaros dying in his plane, the Firelands, he also suffers the same fate as Al'Akir, that being eternal death. He was the second Elemental Lord to die.

After Ragnaros perished Cenarius states that the primal power Ragnaros represented can never be truly vanquished and that another will take his power some day. Hearing this, Hamuul suggests that they maintain a constant vigil over the realm of fire.

Ragnaros' heart was demanded by Kalecgos. Ragnaros' death also freed the entire Dark Iron clan from enslavement, although there are those that still worshipped him regardless.

His remains were left where he fell in the lava pool.

Battle for Azeroth
A group of Dark Iron dwarves called the Cult of Ragnaros were attempting to revive the former Firelord in the Firelands because they saw Moira Thaurissan as a weak leader for the Dark Irons. Ragnaros' remains were still in the lava pool where he originally fell. They were stopped by an Alliance adventurer and Anvil-Thane Thurgaden, who had come to the Firelands to rebuild the Black Anvil and weren't initially aware of the cult's existence. However, the cult's apparent leader High Justice Grimstone still lives. Despite the cult's goals it is currently unknown if Ragnaros can be revived.

In the RPG
"The being approaches you, sheathed in flame. Inside, you see what is plainly a humanoid figure, with two arms, two legs, a head, and eyes that glow with a blue-white fire. The heat radiating from its body is intense, even at a distance. The air between you shimmers like the waves rising from the desert in the heat of deep summer."

Background
Ragnaros the Firelord is the most volatile of the Elemental Lords and revels in destruction, especially that of growing, living things. This activity puts him constantly at odds with Therazane the Stonemother, who lives in symbiosis with plants and animals. Whenever possible, Ragnaros splits the earth and sends fiery trails of lava through and over her care-fully wrought creations. Ragnaros has a tenuous alliance with Al’Akir the Windlord, for there can be no true conflagrations without air to fuel them. He is the mortal enemy of Neptulon the Tidehunter, against whose might he is usually swept away.

At the end of the dwarven civil war known as the War of the Three Hammers, Ragnaros was mistakenly summoned by the Dark Iron king, Thaurisan. Ripped into the physical world, his arrival proved so catastrophic that he shattered the Redridge Mountains and created the Blackrock volcano. Ragnaros now lives within the volcano, biding his time to escape the physical world. Although he has enslaved the Dark Iron dwarves who summoned him, he hungers still to ravage the world around him.

Combat
Ragnaros is a violent sort who delights in causing pain and anguish whenever possible. In battle, he avoids those who are immune or resistant to fire and instead concentrates on those he can harm through burning. If he cannot cause his foes to writhe in agony, he instead forces the ground beneath them to open up, calling forth lava to immolate his foes. Should this tactic fail to achieve the desired result, he generally loses interest and retreats. He has no honor and feels no shame in quitting the battlefield should he be threatened or become bored.

Portfolio
Ragnaros the Firelord is ruler over flame, heat and conflagration. He is revered by all fire elementals and creatures that employ fire as a primary weapon, as well as more than a few pyromaniacs. Some wizards believe they have heard his mocking laughter in the high-powered fire spells they cast, but this is most likely just their imaginations. Ragnaros is presently absent from his plane, having been summoned by the Dark Iron dwarves of Khaz Modan. He presently commands their utter allegiance while struggling to find a way to return to the Elemental Plane and the Firelands.

In Hearthstone

 * Ragnaros appears as HS Ragnaros the Firelord (a legendary card) in Hearthstone. His flavor text reads: "Ragnaros was summoned by the Dark Iron dwarves, who were eventually enslaved by the Firelord. Summoning Ragnaros often doesn’t work out the way you want it to."
 * Ragnaros, along with Majordomo Executus, serves as the HS Ragnaros the Firelord (encounter) (final boss) of the Molten Core wing in the Blackrock Mountain adventure, where Executus must be defeated before the player can face off against the Firelord himself. Players who defeat Ragnaros gains Majordomo Executus as HS Majordomo Executus (a legendary card) who, upon dying, destroys the player's hero and replaces them with Ragnaros (similar to the card effect of Lord Jaraxxus). Later on in the adventure, Ragnaros reappears to aid the player as they HS Lord Victor Nefarius (face off) against his nemesis Nefarian.
 * An alternate version of Ragnaros, known as HS Ragnaros, Lightlord, appears as a legendary card for the paladin class in the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion. According to Ben Brode, this version of the character, upon seeing his former Old God masters returning to terrorize the world, has decided to begin wielding the Light and lead the charge against the Old Ones. Like several other cards in the expansion, the Lightlord is a non-canonical, "What if?" look at Warcraft lore, which nonetheless sparked some controversy from players who felt that the card's design was stretching Hearthstone's take on the lore too far. Brode responded to the criticism by stating that the card was for him "the very edge" in terms of playing with the game's lore. The Lightlord's flavor text reads: "What happens when you try and corrupt a corrupted firelord? DOUBLE NEGATIVE, INSECT!"
 * Additionally, the Ragnaros HS card back was rewarded for achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Season 12, which took place during March 2015. The flavor text reads: "The Firelord is most often seen relaxing in his hot tub, even when he’s trying to burn down the world."
 * HS Lil' Rag is a minion in the Battlegrounds game mode.
 * Ragnaros also appears as an HS Ragnaros (Shaman hero) (alternate portrait) for the Shaman class, available as part of the 2021 Fire Festival bundle. Purchasing Ragnaros awards another card back named Firelord, the flavor text for which reads: "Ragnaros has decided to flex his almighty power by having multiple card backs named after him."

In Heroes of the Storm
Ragnaros is a in Heroes of the Storm.

Notes and trivia

 * The Blood of the Mountain was called the "tears of the Fire Lord" by the Dark Iron dwarves.
 * The Dark Iron Dwarf (and Legion version), Dark Iron Saboteur, Dark Iron Tunneler, Dark Iron Demolitionist (and Legion version) and Dark Iron Rifleman (and Legion version) mobs all used a spell called Gift of Ragnaros.
 * This is apparently a nod to the shared history between the dark dwarves and Ragnaros.
 * Dorius Stonetender betrayed his own people and turned to Ragnaros who gave him a new purpose, commanded him to summon Obsidion and named him Lathoric the Black.
 * Ragnaros' model was completely rebuilt from scratch for patch 4.2.0. Ragnaros was given a new hammer, new armor, and legs. Since this was the first time players got to see Ragnaros on his home realm, the designers wanted to make him look even bigger, stronger, and tougher than before. He was now much closer to his seat of power and they needed to convey that through his model.
 * During the PTR, a new design of Ragnaros with legs was datamined and received generally negative reviews. Blizzard responded by stating that this model wasn't final and we would only see them on Heroic difficulty and that the reaction was a consequence of datamining unreleased content. The Dungeon Journal makes a reference to the dataminers' reaction by stating, "He has legs now. Who knew?" Lead environment artist Gary Platner pointed out that Ragnaros with legs is "best of all."
 * The Midsummer Fire Festival involves festivities including a "rebirth" of player activities involving Ragnaros. During the Festival, there is a number of references to Ragnaros the Fire Lord including a Summer Scorchling that, when given an incense, grows in size until he "jokes" about becoming the Herald of the Fire Lord and showing new players a slight glimpse of Ragnaros himself.
 * In the comic Shaman it is revealed that part of Ragnaros' power was absorbed by Shotoa which gives him the power to command elemental spirits, mainly the spirit of fire.
 * Elder shaman have warned that wisps of Ragnaros, loyal servants of the Firelord, have taken to the Molten Front. Vigilance is advised.
 * The Firelord formed the Cindermane Charger as a gift for the daughter he never had.
 * The companion Lil' Ragnaros is is available from the Pet Store for $10 US or 10 €.
 * Ragnaros' name is derived from Ragnarök, the end of the world in Norse mythology, but he seems to be based on the leader of the Fire giants, Surt. This battle would be fought between the gods (the Æsir and the Vanir), and the jotuns (the giants): the hrímþursar (frost giants) and the eldjotnar (fire giants led by Surtr), together with Loki and his children. The word Ragnarök comes from the Norse mythology and means Twilight of the Gods. It is possible that Ragnaros' name was inspired by the latter meaning as well as by the fire giants.
 * Ragnaros may be partially based on the called  who appears in 's . Ragnaros' summoning by the Dark Iron dwarves could be considered analogous to the Balrog's awakening by the dwarves of Khazad-dûm (Moria).
 * In an article on PC Gamer, Ragnaros was voted as #36 of the top 47 "most diabolical video game villains of all time".
 * The first Worldwide Ragnaros kill was by the Ascent guild on Medivh. Ascent has since transferred to Detheroc under the new name, Gong Show.
 * It is possible for two-handed mace wielders to obtain a mortal-sized copy of his weapon, Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros and Sulfuras, the Extinguished Hand.
 * Ragnaros is voiced by Chris Metzen in World of Warcraft and Matthew Mercer in Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.