Day of the Dragon

Day of the Dragon is a fantasy novel written by New York Times bestseller Richard A. Knaak, and set in the Warcraft Expanded Universe. The first of Blizzard Entertainment's tie-in novels from this franchise, the story is set several months after the events of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal. As the Horde's remaining territories in Azeroth become increasingly besieged and the nation of the Alliance begin to squabble, the human mage Rhonin is sent to the heart of the Horde's operations to free one of their last remaining advantages, the imprisoned Dragonqueen Alexstraza. Of course, not everyone wants to see her freed, and Rhonin soon becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to see the Age of Dragons restored, and mortal life on Azeroth destroyed.

This story is notable for defining the nature of the dragonflights and the Aspects, as well as creating three new dragonflights to add into the canon. Many of the details in this book would be touched upon in the War of the Ancients trilogy, as well as many of the quests in World of Warcraft, particularly in the most recent expansion.

This book contains the following tropes:


 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Vereesa and Rhonin hated each other in the beginning. Their later romance surprises nobody.
 * Bound and Gagged: Vereesa and Falstad experience this at the hands of some hungry trolls...
 * Canon Immigrant: Many of the Dragon Aspects and other characters in the novel would find their way into the Warcraft games eventually.
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Faux Action Girl: Vereesa Windrunner kicks very little ass in this story, considering the family pedigree she has to live up too. Screaming, getting hit on and getting knocked out are the grand majority of her contributions to the plot.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Or an elfitarian or dwarfitarian, as the case may be.
 * Large Ham: Deathwing, particularly with his evil laughs.
 * Lawful Stupid: Duncan Senturus, in the first part of the book.
 * MacGuffin: The Demon Soul.
 * Mama Bear: Alexstrasza, both for her own dragonflight specifically and for life of Azeroth in general.