By Jen Thorpe
Dragon Hunt is the title of the first book in the Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy. The entire trilogy is manga, and all three parts were written by Richard A. Knaak and illustrated by Jae-Hwan Kim. Dragon Hunt was originally published in 2005. The series caught my attention shortly after it was published because I am a big fan of Richard A. Knaak, and I also enjoy reading manga.
The book has been out for a few years now, and I figure there must be dozens of in-depth reviews of the storyline, plot, character development, and even the artwork that appears in it. So, instead of writing a typical book review, I decided that it would be more fun to see if I could find any of the locations or characters mentioned in Dragon Hunt in the World of Warcraft game as it exists today, at the tail end of the Cataclysm expansion.
I am also going to try and leave out as many spoilers as possible. Yes, the book has been out for years, but, that doesn’t mean that absolutely everyone has had the chance to read it.
At the start of the story, a blue dragon is flying towards “what little remains of Southern Lordaeron”. This refers one of the three continents that have merged together to make up Eastern Kingdoms. Lordaeron includes the zones Eastern Plaguelands, Western Plaguelands, and Tirisfal Glades (in the northern part), Alterac Mountains, (in the middle), and Silverpine Forest, Hilsbrad Foothills, The Hinterlands, and Arathi Highlands (in the southern part of Lordaeron).
The Burning Crusade, or TBC, expansion was released in 2007, a few years after Dragon Hunt was published. There have been many changes in Lordaeron between TBC and Cataclysm. Players can still visit Lordaeron, but it is different now.
The blue dragon is named Kalec, (when in Human form), and Kalecgos (when in Dragon form). In game, he can be found in the Sunwell Plateau, which is a raid instance located on the Isle of Quel’Danas. He is the first boss that you encounter in the instance.
Another main character in Dragon Hunt is Anveena. She is a Human who came from Quel’Thalas, but later moved with her Human parents to somewhere near Tarren Mill. Quel’Thalas, in game, is a Kingdom located the Eversong Woods zone. In the Burning Crusade expansion, and today, players can easily visit Quel’Thalas by rolling a Blood Elf. Quel’Thalas is the starting zone.
Anveena, however, is, (or appears to be), Human – not a Blood Elf. Already, readers of the manga can tell that there is something different about her. I’ll leave you to read the series to learn more about Anveena. In game, there is an item called Anveena’s Touch. It is a ring with +42 Stamina, +30 Intellect, and +28 Spirit. This item requires a player to be at least level 70 in order to equip it. The item level is 141. It is a unique item that binds when picked up.
Anveena meets Kalec in near Tarren Mill. This town is located in game in the northeastern part of the Hillsbrad Foothills zone. If you want to visit Tarren Mill in game today I would suggest that you go as one of your Horde characters, (or as a high level Alliance toon).
Another interesting character that you run into in Dragon Hunt is Tyrygosa. The first time readers see her, she is in the form of a Blue Dragon. When not in dragon form, she appears elven, and sometimes goes by the nickname Tyri.
She appeared in game after the TBC expansion at Celestial Ridge in Netherstorm, a zone in northeastern Outland. She was who players went to in order to start the quests “A Promising Start”, “Troublesome Distractions” and “Securing the Celestial Ridge”, (which is a group quest). After Cataclysm, Tyri appears at Wyrmrest Temple during the Dragon Soul raid. Wyrmrest Temple is a city that is located in The Dragonblight zone on the continent of Northrend.
Ok, so that covers the main protagonists. Every good story also needs some “bad guys”. The main one in Dragon Hunt is Dar’Khan Drathir. He is an Undead High Elf necromancer who is seeking the power that was once in the Sunwell. I’ll leave you to discover more about Dar’Khan on your own.
Dar’Khan appeared in game during TBC. He shows up as a level 21 NPC elite undead at the Tower of the Damned, which is located in Deatholme in the Ghostlands zone. Horde Players can follow a quest chain that starts with a level 20 Blood Elf NPC named Magister Kaendris. He is located at the Sanctum of the Sun in the Ghostlands zone.