Moira Thaurissan

Queen-Regent Moira Thaurissan (born Moira Bronzebeard) is the daughter of King Magni Bronzebeard of Ironforge and the widow of Emperor Dagran Thaurissan of the Dark Iron clan. As such, she is both Princess of Ironforge as well as Empress of the Dark Irons. Since the Cataclysm, Moira serves as the Dark Iron representative on the Council of Three Hammers, Ironforge's ruling body.

An only child, Moira's relationship with her father Magni would become strained as she reached adulthood, particularly following the death of her mother Eimear. Eventually, the princess was ambushed and captured by the order of Emperor Thaurissan of the Dark Iron clan. Despite the circumstances, Moira and her captor would ultimately fall in love, and have a child — Dagran Thaurissan II.

King Magni, believing these events to be mere rumors, sent a squad on a rescue mission that resulted in Emperor Dagran's death. However, Moira refused to return to her home. Having inherited the Dark Iron throne, Moira would steadily consolidate her power and that of what she considered her new people. After Magni's petrification during the Cataclysm, Moira marched on Ironforge and tried to seize power, but the attempt was thwarted by the King of Stormwind Varian Wrynn and the Alliance.

Under Varian's suggestion, the clans established the Council of Three Hammers, the new ruling body of Ironforge and the united dwarven people, with Moira representing the Dark Iron clan. She would continue to be heavily involved in Ironforge's politics as conflict between the clans constantly threatened civil war. Since the campaign in Pandaria, the Queen-Regent has also taken a more active role in the Alliance itself, and was a prominent member of the Conclave, an order of priests that fought the demons during the third invasion of the Burning Legion. Later, she was a driving force behind the Dark Irons' official entry into the Alliance during the Fourth War.

World of Warcraft
Moira Bronzebead was born to King Magni Bronzebeard, King of Ironforge. While Magni did love his daughter, he had always wanted a son to rule the throne after him, and was disappointed that Moira was not the male heir he had hoped for. Nevertheless, Magni did love and raise Moira. But after her mother Eimear was killed by the Frostmane trolls, Magni - acting on Eimear's last wish to always be there for Moira - began training Moira in the ways of the warrior to prepare her for anything. This formed a rift between the two of them, as he forced her to be something she was not.

The laws of succession for Ironforge state that Moira, having no brothers, would be the rightful heir to the throne. However, even though it would have been highly unlikely that Magni would ever dispute that claim, he still believed that a woman could not rule with the same ability as a man would be able to. His opinion on the matter was known to those he would have had some regular contact with, such as Advisor Belgrum, High Priest Rohan and others, such as Aerin.

Magistrate Solomon of Lakeshire later sent envoys to Ironforge to ask for aid against incursions from the Blackrock orcs. Moira volunteered to help and set out toward Lakeshire with twenty-one guardsmen, but as the group was traveling through the Burning Steppes, they were ambushed and captured by Dark Iron dwarves. Moira was brought to Emperor Dagran Thaurissan in Shadowforge City, who intended to use her as a hostage of last resort once war began. Thaurissan believed that Magni would never consider assaulting Blackrock Mountain if it meant putting Moira in harm's way. However, Thaurissan found himself falling in love with Moira; she had a sharp wit and strong will, and was not intimidated in the slightest by her predicament. The two dwarves began to speak at length about their hopes for the future, and Thaurissan confided in Moira that he wanted to free his people from enslavement and was willing to do anything to achieve that. Kharan Mighthammer, the only escorting guard to survive the kidnapping, came to believe that the Princess was presumably ensorcelled, reporting this to adventurers that came to rescue him.

King Magni, upset that Moira was with an arch-enemy of his family, sent a team to kill Emperor Thaurissan and retrieve the presumably ensorcelled Moira back to Ironforge. However, Moira refused to come home and announced that she was pregnant; additionally, the death of her husband has left a terrible, fiery rage within her heart. She would not be heard from for a few years, estranged from her father, who still preferred to believe that she was captured and seduced via magical means rather than contemplate that she had fallen in love and married a Dark Iron of her own free will. Although devastated by the news and despite the rift between father and daughter, Magni hoped that some day Moira would return to Ironforge, and never made any move to disinherit her.

After all of this happened, Aerin and a few other qualified women were promoted to become a part of Magni's elite guard. Aerin believed this was a result of him finally realizing that his sexist attitude had not been very fair to Moira.

Moira stayed in Shadowforge after her husband's death. Hoping to further Dagran's plans to free the Dark Iron from Ragnaros' tyranny, she spread the news that the Firelord was amassing an army and that Dagran Thaurissan's death only had delayed its formation. She also told of riches and artifacts hidden in his stronghold, the Molten Core. She hoped that this would attract adventurous (or greedy) heroes that would strike at the Firelord and banish him. Her plan succeeded, with her finding an unsuspecting ally in the Hydraxian Waterlords, who had their own rivalry with the denizens of the Firelands and offered their own rewards for striking against Ragnaros. Soon, powerful champions broke into the Molten Core, destroyed Ragnaros' protective runes with the aid of the water elementals and banished him back to the Firelands. The Dark Iron dwarfs celebrated and many pledged themselves to Moira for orchestrating their liberation.

Now, Moira turned her attention to the Dark Horde that occupied the Upper Blackrock Spire. She knew that the Black Dragonflight had entered an alliance with the orcs and conducted experiments to create draconic monstrosities. Her spies made sure that word of that reached Durotar, where the Horde was infuriated. Champions traveled to Blackrock and defeated both Warchief Dal'rend Blackhand and his master, Nefarian, taking the head of the dragon with them to Orgrimmar. The Dark Irons had lost another enemy thanks to Moira's shrewdness.

The Shattering
In the wake of King Magni's petrification, Moira returned to Ironforge with her infant son Dagran Thaurissan II to claim the throne. Backed by the Dark Iron clan, Moira ruled Ironforge arrogantly and with an iron fist. She had the gryphons moved out of the city and the Deeprun Tram closed, holding all the people of Ironforge hostage, including Prince Anduin Wrynn, who was there as a Stormwind diplomat that would aid the dwarves in such troubling times.

Being royals, Moira and Anduin proceeded to engage in a subtle battle of political niceties and social status. Moira 'invited' (ordered) Anduin to a private official dinner to which she was intentionally late and kept him standing by his chair; to her annoyance, he in turn only bowed to her as an equal and not a ruler. During dinner, having learned the more personal details of her past from Aerin, Anduin managed to subtly trick Moira into dropping her guard for a short while in order to provoke an honest reaction from her and learn her true motives. Moira revealed that she was never ensorcelled by her husband but rather fell in love with him because he respected her, unlike her father who always wanted a son and didn't think a female was fit to rule. While Anduin privately agreed that she had been wronged, he quickly realized that Moira had not turned that into a strength, but had allowed her resentment of Magni to eat away at her.

After Anduin escaped to Theramore, King Varian Wrynn learned from Anduin of how Moira and her Dark Iron clan had taken over Ironforge and had held him hostage. Enraged, Varian and eighteen 7 operatives embarked on a mission to liberate Ironforge and assassinate Moira. When Varian was about to execute Moira, Anduin — who had rushed back to Ironforge — convinced Varian that it would be better to guide Moira to be a better leader instead. Despite Moira being a tyrant who held the city hostage, she was still the legitimate heir to the throne and killing her would only put the succession of Ironforge into question, thus leading to more chaos and conflict that could lead into another bloody civil war and suck the rest of the Alliance into it. Where as if she lived; through her and her son all dwarven clans could unite. Varian slowly agreed but was also conflicted as Moira had caused so much chaos and had already threatened the safety of his son. Varian agreed to spare Moira’s life but stipulated that if Moira was to be a leader and unite the dwarves, then she’d have to earn her crown by earning her people's respect. In order to take into account the opinions of all dwarves, Varian called for the formation of the Council of Three Hammers, which includes Moira's uncle Muradin and Wildhammer Thane Falstad Wildhammer.

Fire and Iron
Moira is trying in every way to integrate the Dark Iron clan into the Ironforge Kingdom. To do so, she planned to reconstruct the Hammer of the High King (even with fake pieces if need be) as a symbol of unity between the dwarven clans. Kurdran Wildhammer hesitated to give his piece but after several days of convincing all three parts were together and ready to be forged. The next day, Moira and Drukan found Kurdran and Sky'ree during a walk. Drukan feared the gryphon and even disrespected her but Moira convinced her advisor to apologize. Moira then thanked Kurdran for giving the final part of the hammer and left. After Sky'ree's death, Kurdran was shocked and took the Wildhammer piece. Moira saw this and the two started to argue. Kurdran then realized that she also tried to focus estrangement on the Wildhammer clan in order to shift the Bronzebeard dwarves' alienation away from the Dark Irons. During the public ceremony to reforge the Hammer of the High King, Kurdran smashed the Wildhammer piece, justifying that the dwarves' unity could not be based on a physical artifact that could be broken apart one day, and they should begin anew with a clean slate. Muradin gladly agreed to this, and Moira having been politically outmaneuvered, was forced to follow suit, having also the Dark Iron piece of the hammer smashed.

Cataclysm
Even though Moira is Queen-Regent to the Dark Iron clan, some Dark Irons are not loyal to her or her son. After the Twilight's Hammer loyal Dark Iron clan attack the Ironforge Airfield and was repelled, Commander Stonebreaker sends an adventurer to inform the Council of what had happened. Moira refuses to believe that Dark Irons are attacking Ironforge until Muradin vouches for Stonebreaker's loyalty. After Muradin and Falstad call her out for not being able to control her own people, she determines who is responsible for the attacks and has Dark Iron Ambassador Slaghammer, who is working for the Twilight's Hammer, arrested for treason.

The three rulers were visited by Li Li Stormstout who was looking for Magni. The Council could not help her and Moira was indignant at how rude Li Li was.

Blood in the Snow
One day, King Varian's scouts had discovered that Zandalari trolls threatened the dwarven capital by rallying the Frostmane trolls against them. Surely, the king thought, if he helped them with their troll problem, they would give him more troops for his campaign against the Horde. But what the King did not realize is that the dwarves did not trust one another. When Varian sought the help from the Council of Three Hammers, both Muradin and Falstad declined to offer aid in Ironforge’s defense for they feared that if they left to fight the Frostmane trolls, the Dark Irons would take advantage of their absence to defeat the remaining clan and take over Ironforge. Frustrated, Varian argued that if no one would help, then Ironforge will fall under siege. Only Moira offered aid, stating that the Dark Irons will prove their loyalty to the Council, Ironforge, and the Alliance in the defense of Ironforge. And so Moira, her personal guard and the High King set out in the snow to save the city, leaving the others to think about their actions.

When they arrived at Shimmer Ridge, they discovered that their enemies were using an unnatural storm to prevent their forces from advancing on them. At Varian's request, Moira led her personal guard against the enemy troll village once the king's champions stopped the magical storm protecting Shimmer Ridge. After rescuing the surviving mountaineers and slaying the elemental that the trolls were satiating with blood sacrifices to elicit the unnatural storm, the king's champions regrouped with Moira’s Forgeguard and together their forces slew the Zandalari leader and captured the Frostmane village.

In the aftermath of the battle, Varian commended Moira and the Dark Irons on their victory, even stating that the Bronzebeards and Wildhammers will regret not having been there to share in her glory. Moira however, humbly stated that her intention was to protect and impress, not to shame; to which Varian acknowledged that she accomplished just that. Both returned to Ironforge to announce her victory to the Council. On their return, the other dwarven leaders were ashamed of their behavior and vowed never again to allow fear or distrust to cloud their judgment. Free to trust one another, all three dwarven leaders pledged their full strength to the Alliance cause.

Siege of Orgrimmar
Moira Thaurissan and a contingency of dwarven troops drill into the Siegeworks. They encounter Siegecrafter Blackfuse, who unleashes his newest creation, the Ironstar, against the Alliance heroes. Moira orders her men to attack the monstrosity but her dwarven troops are slain by it. Siegecrafter Blackfuse escapes leaving Moira and the Alliance adventurers. Witnessing the destructive powers of Blackfuse's creation, Moira warns the Alliance heroes to be careful.

War Crimes
Moira, alongside other Alliance leaders, received a letter from Xuen inviting them to the trial of Garrosh Hellscream. She traveled to Pandaria and Jaina noticed her arguing with a pandaren about the cart they were traveling by to the Temple of the White Tiger. She was present during the trial itself and a vision from the past, the one when Moira was almost executed by Varian, was shown.

The Jade Hunters
Moira and the other members of the council would blackmail Fendrig Redbeard, Fenella Darkvire and Carrick Irongrin to form a team and help rebuild the Jade Serpent statue.

Fault Lines
Four years after Magni's petrification, Moira was asked by Muradin and some of the priests to talk to her petrified father, as she often did when times were trying, in the hopes that it would wake him up. Moira herself saw it as a fool's errand and scolded her father, saying that the thought of his daughter sitting the throne of Ironforge would eat him up inside and that he never gave her a chance to prove herself due to being female. However, to the vast surprise of both Moira and Advisor Belgrum, Magni suddenly awoke with a mighty crash as a living statue made of diamond. Though the Council of Three Hammers were worried about what Magni's return would mean for the political stability of Ironforge, Magni replied by saying that he had not come to reclaim his crown, but to offer a warning about the Burning Legion's return. He asked his daughter to see him off and talked with her outside the gates of Ironforge. He revealed that he had watched her progress and develop into a leader since her return, and unlike what she had thought earlier that day, that he couldn't be prouder of what she'd become. Saying that he had failed her as a father and hoped she would give him another chance to be a family again, the former king headed off to warn the rest of the Alliance, wanting to give Moira time to think about it and letting her know that his connection to the earth would allow him to watch over her. As Moira watched him walk away, she began to cry.

Legion
Moira along with the other members of the Council of Three Hammers led the defense of Dun Morogh during the Legion Invasion event.

After the battle at the Broken Shore, Moira attends the funeral of Varian Wrynn and says she knows what Anduin is going through, for she too has lost a father and king.

She later works with Velen and Alonsus Faol to unite priests of every religion at the Netherlight Temple. She sends the priest to Vicar Eliza to train Zealots in Netherlight Temple and needs Lumenstone for crafting armor and weapons in the battle against Balnazzar.

When an Alliance player reaches Prestige Rank 2, Moira can be found in Stormwind Keep alongside other notable leaders of the Alliance. During A Royal Audience (Alliance), she is present at the ceremony hosted by King Anduin Wrynn that congratulates the character for their battles against the Horde, following their receiving of the Grand Marshal's Medal of Valor from the King, as well as an artifact appearance.

Before the Storm
As a member of the Council of Three Hammers, Moira welcomed King Anduin Wrynn who had gifted Ironforge ten wagons of Barley, being the primary ingredient of dwarven brews. Ironforge treated Anduin and his entourage to a feast to celebrate this gift. By the time dessert was being served, Moira, Anduin, and her son Dagran Thaurissan II strolled through Old Ironforge to help them digest their meal. As they walked, Anduin reminisced about his last visit to Ironforge and thanked the Council of Three Hammers for attending his father's funeral; especially Moira since the last time Varian and Moira met in Ironforge, he tried to kill her. Moira made light of the past event and explained that she and Varian made peace with that moment a long time ago and stated that they even grew to respect each other. She also admitted that if she had been in Varian's position and Dagran had been held hostage, she'd probably have done the same thing. Both Moira and Anduin spoke of their fathers, how the Council of Three Hammers are now much more harmonious, and Aerin Stonehand's influence on Anduin's swordsmanship. As Anduin and Moira had a pleasant conversation while Dagran explored Old Ironforge, a messenger told them that Magni Bronzebeard has returned to Ironforge and required a conference with the both of them. Moira and Anduin found Magni in the Library section of the Hall of Explorers, conversing with High Explorer Muninn Magellas and Prophet Velen, while Falstad, Muradin, Gelbin Mekkatorque, and Captain Tread Sparknozzle stood beside them listening intently. Magni explained that Azeroth is wounded, and that they must set to healing her or all will perish. Thus Magni has been recruiting priests and other healers for that express purpose. Moira proposed that they reach out to the Conclave to aid in this endeavor. Anduin also showed the council of Alliance leaders the shard of Azerite he had and explained its relevance to Azeroth and technology. With their purpose clear, the leaders of the Alliance set out on their tasks. Before Moira left, however, she introduced Magni to his grandson.

Later on, Anduin, Velen, and Moira portaled to Netherlight Temple, where Moira recruited the Conclave in their endeavors to heal Azeroth from Sargeras' destruction. Anduin also told them about Azerite and urged them to recruit other healers such as shaman and druids to their mission. After accomplishing their task, Anduin gave Moira his shard of Azerite to deliver to Mekkatorque, while he made preparations to return to Stormwind.

Battle for Azeroth
Moira was among the Alliance leaders that gathered in the newly-constructed embassy on the outskirts of Stormwind City. There, they would discuss the potential addition of new races into the Alliance, a line of thinking that drew the Queen-Regent's thoughts to the future of her own Dark Iron clan.

At the Black Anvil in Shadowforge City, Anvil-Thane Thurgaden, and Thaelin Darkanvil were smelting Azerite at Anduin's request. As Moira was watching them, the Blackrock Depths were attacked by the Venture Company who damaged the Black Anvil and stole Ironfoe, the hammer used to smelt Azerite. After Ironfoe was recovered from Mogul Razdunk in the MOTHERLODE!!, Moira sent the Alliance champion and Thaelin Darkanvil into the Molten Core to retrieve a piece of the core to repair the anvil. Following that, the champion and Anvil-Thane Thurgaden ventured into the Firelands to charge it with the power of the defeated Ragnaros. While they were there, they discovered the Cult of Ragnaros attempting to revive the Firelord because they saw Moira as a weak ruler. The cult was fought off, but not defeated.

With Ironfoe retrieved and the Black Anvil repaired, Moira returned to Stormwind where she and Anduin made the Dark Iron dwarves' membership into the Alliance official, as it had not been official before due to an oversight. Afterward, Moira is present at the Black Anvil when new Dark Iron adventurers set off to explore the world.

She was later present on the Kul Tiran vessel in Stormwind Harbor with the other Alliance leaders to witness the Kul Tirans gifting the vessel to Anduin and rejoining the Alliance.

Following the fall of N'Zoth, Moira was present at Stormwind Embassy meeting where she learned that the armistice ending the Fourth War between the Horde and Alliance was signed. Moira acknowledged that both sides had suffered terribly during the war, with mistakes being made on both sides. She then declared that what mattered now was how they moved forward, and if they learned something all the bloodshed and loss or rest keep on repeating the past.

Abilities

 * The Imperial Seat, Blackrock Depths


 * Ironforge
 * Heal - Calls upon Holy magic to heal an ally.
 * Mind Blast - Inflicts Shadow damage to an enemy.
 * Renew - Heals an ally every 3 sec. for 15 sec.


 * Blood in the Snow
 * Moira's Majesty - Periodically healing all friendly units within 10 yards.

Quests

 * Demanding Answers
 * Seize the Ambassador

Battle for Azeroth

 * Heritage o' the Dark Iron

Removed

 * The Fate of the Kingdom
 * The Princess's Surprise
 * The Royal Rescue
 * The Princess Saved?

Cataclysm

 * Greetings
 * You stand before Moira, Queen-Regent of the Dark Iron Clan. Watch your tongue!
 * Why have you approached me? Take care, my patience is short!
 * Ironforge has need of our sorcery, as well as our strength.
 * In time, my son shall rule the Dark Irons, and perhaps all of Ironforge as well.


 * Aggro
 * IMPUDENCE!!! YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS!
 * How DARE ye!!


 * Killing a player
 * yell
 * yell


 * Death
 * My son... shall avenge me...

Battle for Azeroth

 * Greetings
 * You address the Queen-Regent of the Dark Iron Clan.
 * Let's get down to business, then.
 * The Dark Iron Clan WILL have the respect it is due!
 * Well? I'm listenin'.
 * Best mind yer manners in the presence of a Queen.
 * The mountain lends us its strength.
 * The Alliance has need of our sorcery, as well as our strength.


 * Pissed
 * Well, at first, I was irritated by all that "YAAAAAS QUEEN" nonsense, but, eh... I'll permit ye to carry on with it.
 * Well, of COURSE I've got a complicated relationship with my da! Hard enough to get along with any parent, let alone one made out of freakin' DIAMOND!
 * Go ahead. Make a short joke. We'll see how well you get along without yer kneecaps!
 * My people live inside a volcano. Keep pokin' me, and I'll show ye how a Dark Iron erupts!


 * Farewell
 * I dismiss ye.
 * Ye may take yer leave.
 * Well, go on. I've got work to do.
 * The Dark Irons WILL claim their rightful place in this world.
 * May the Black Anvil watch over ye.

Stormwind Embassy
The Alliance an' Horde have both suffered terribly in this war, an mistakes were surely made on both sides.
 * In 8.3.0

What matters now is how we move forward! Do we learn somethin' from all o' the bloodshed an' loss, or do we keep on repeatin' the past?

The Alliance needs strength. Unity. The king's plan tae bring in fresh blood is a good one.
 * In 8.0.1

As fer the Dark Iron clan, the Alliance needs us now more than ever.

If only I can show the rest o' me clan how much we need allies ourselves, perhaps we can finally all agree that we are indeed already part o' the Alliance.

The Alliance needs strength. Unity. The king's plan to bring in fresh blood is a good one.
 * In 7.3.5

But I can't help thinking of my own Dark Iron clan. Of the fractures that divide us.

In Hearthstone
Moira HS Moira Bronzebeard (appears) in the HS Emperor Thaurissan (boss) (boss fight) against Emperor Thaurissan, the last boss of the Blackrock Depths wing in the Blackrock Mountain adventure for Hearthstone. The boss fight revolves around defeating Thaurissan while keeping Moira alive; if she dies at any point during the fight, Thaurissan will deal 30 damage to the player's hero at the start of his next turn, which in most cases means the player's instant death.

Notes and trivia

 * Her eye color is green.
 * Moira is the youngest of the Three Hammers.
 * Unlike most dwarves, Moira prefers wine over beer.
 * One of the possible default names for destroyers constructed at the Lunarfall Shipyard is Moira's Hammer.
 * In Magni's nightmare caused by the Emerald Nightmare, the king led a team to Blackrock Depths to free Moira and kill Dagran. While he accepted that her son would be born, he would banish him from the kingdom of Ironforge. Upon hearing this, Moira stabbed Magni and revealed that "Fenran" was only meant to watch over the throne until her new baby was born, whom she revealed to be the child of Ragnaros.
 * Moira is voiced by Elle Newlands. Some have commented that Moira's Scottish accent sounds fake, even though Newlands is actually Scottish herself.
 * Moira's accent has been inconsistently depicted between World of Warcraft and its literature. In-game, she has consistently spoken with a thick Scottish accent since she first received unique voice acting in Cataclysm. However, in The Shattering, Fire and Iron, and The Jade Hunters, she speaks with no noticeable accent at all, in contrast to other dwarven characters. In War Crimes, it is mentioned that by the time of Garrosh Hellscream's trial, Moira had only recently begun taking on the more typical accent of her people. In Before the Storm, her dialogue is still not written with any noticeable accent (for instance, she says "you" rather than "ye"), though she has apparently started including some typical dwarven phrases like "wee" and "aye" in her speech.
 * Due to storyline issues with Blackrock Depths, Moira is the only racial leader that can be killed by her own race and faction, discounting the echoes in End Time.
 * Moira's headpiece is identical to the ones that Muradin Bronzebeard and Halduron Brightwing wear.
 * In the original quest lines, Thrall sent Horde adventurers to deal with the Emperor Dagran Thaurissan and help the captured princess. However, the Horde quests were later rendered non-canon, as The Shattering, the Ultimate Visual Guide, and Chronicle Volume 3 only mention Dagran being killed by Magni's team.
 * The Ultimate Visual Guide lists Moira as Moira Bronzebeard Thaurissan.
 * Moira's hair style and the outfit that she wore during the classical Blackrock Depths instance was likely inspired by Princess Leia from Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi.
 * Data exists for Moira in Heroes of the Storm. She is currently the only member of the Council of Three Hammers to not be a playable character in that game.

Speculation
Since Kharan Mighthammer says that someone must have tipped off the Dark Iron dwarves that ambushed and kidnapped Moira, one could speculate it was the princess herself.