Where? Drak’Tharon Keep, Grizzly Hills
I know probably the most futile thing I keep hoping for in World of Warcraft is continuity. I can get behind lore that changes as time moves on (What do you mean the World isn’t flat? Retcon, I say! RETCON!), I can understand discovering something that vastly changes how we previously understood things (Vrykul is human! Human is vrykul!) and I will even support a radical change in character if it seems legitimately within reason (Screw you, my people. With the demons now. Luvz, Kael’Thas). What I can’t understand is when something pops up for no reason and with no explanation, and we’re all supposed to run with it simply because it is a neat idea. Case in point? King Dred.
Most people I’ve pointed this out simply respond with “So? There’s raptors everywhere.” True. There are raptors everywhere. Stranglethorn, Durotar, Blade’s Edge, Zul’Drak. There isn’t a piece of land that we’ve visited that doesn’t have raptors. But what about Pterrodaxes? Where are they found? What about the Stegodons? Hmmm? That’s right. Only in the Un’Goro Crater. What else is in the Un’Goro Crater? Devilsaurs. Do they have any business being somewhere else? Well, that depends actually.
We know that there is a direct connection between Sholazar and Un’Goro, we’ve all been through the Waygate (totally different than a Stargate or Fargate) and I don’t find it that unreasonable that the occasional devilsaur could wander through and end up in Sholazar. However, Zul’Drak is on the opposite side of Northrend. How did a bunch of trolls drag one all the way there? Why are they keeping it in a not-really-fenced off area of Drak’Tharon Keep? There is no Devilsaur in ANY incarnation of the Troll pantheon that we’ve seen thus far. Maybe they think it’s just a big raptor and wanted to ride it.
However, devilsaurs seem to have a weird way of showing up in places that they have no place being – like in Netherstorm – but I’m still able to concoct a better B.S. reasoning for it than King Drek. Why? Because I can blame the whole thing on the Twisting Nether! It has the power to instantly fill plot holes! There’s tons of stuff in those domes that have no business being there. Like lynxes, moths, or crocolisks (there’s also more raptors, but they are the Outland species of Raptor). Actually my assumption was that they were brought there by either the Blood Elves, or the Ethereals for some unknown purpose (Zoo? But there’s only one devilsaur in Outland, how is it going to breed?) but even if that’s still stretching it… Twisting! Nether! (Blizz gets to do it, so do I)
The amazingly simplistic reason that Blizz themselves have given for King Drek being stuck in a place that has no explanation for it: “T-Rex’s are Cool” Yes, sure, whatever, wonderful. Meanwhile, you explain the origin of the gnomes, the secret revelation that humans are descended from vrykul, and overwhelming amounts of history about another world tree, bear gods, furbolgs, the Titans, and the Old Gods, but you drop a dinosaur in the middle of a dungeon for no other reason than you wanted to put a dinosaur in a dungeon. YEEEEEAAAARRRGGGHHHHWAAAWAWAAAAAAYYYAAYAA (<– This is the sound of a man tearing his own hair out at the sheer WTF-ness of this situation. Thank you.)
Give me SOMETHING to work with here, Blizz. The infinite dragonflight messing with the time stream drops a devilsaur in Northrend, Goblin scientists from Venture Bay have successfully cloned an ancient devilsaur but it got loose and trapped in Drak’Tharon Keep, you are working within the fantasy/sci-fi genres! You can just say whatever and we will find a way to work it in the continuity! Hell, Star Wars has been filling in plot holes for years with the thick paste that is the Expanded Universe and the fans buy it. Don’t just tell us it was NEAT. That’s Michael Bay territory.
Man, now I’m all depressed. I need to go write some fan fiction exploring the burning man-crush hidden behind the hate between Garrosh and Varian.
Vrykerion 
This. Is. Pure. Amazingness.
Well, Thank you. 😀
Very good points made there. But more importantly, how is that giant devilsaur being kept prisoner by the *small wall* around it’s pen. Clearly the Drakkari Trolls learnt something from the Romans (yes the Scots = Dinosaurs in this analogy).
I’d also like to bring up another species-in-the-wrong-place issue that makes absolutely no sense to me: Wolves. They exist on both Draenor and Azeroth in huge numbers and are completely identical as a species. This makes no sense whatsoever. I used to assume that wolves were actually native to Draenor and the Orcs just brought loads with them when they migrated, which would actually make sense given the importance their culture places on them. However now that we have wolves as far away as Northrend (where the Horde had never been) it seems that 2 completely identical species developed on 2 completely different worlds, independently…
Twisting Nether?
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My hunch on wolves is that they were an Azerothian native species that were probably taken back to Draenor and bred there at some point during the First or Second War. I have nothing to back that up, but it works in my opinion. However, I wouldn’t be as opposing to the idea of 2 species developing on 2 seperate worlds. See: Raptors.
The Devilsaurs on the other hand, seemed to have the majority of their population left within the land of the lost that is the Un’Goro Crater, and are otherwise supposed to be extinct. The only exceptions to this, is a single devilsaur in Netherstorm and the two that show up in Northrend (King Mosh and King Dred).
I do quite like the mental image you suggest of the Drakkari capturing Dred in Sholozar and bringing him all the way back across Northrend. Seems like the kind of crazy thing a troll a would do.
OR…. the Titans had some kind of dinobot-style constructs which were affected by the curse of flesh to become devilsaurs? No I think I’m getting carried away there…
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