Sign inAlexandros Mograine
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Alexandros Mograine was a Highlord of the Knights of the Silver Hand and the original wielder of the Ashbringer, a sword built to destroy the undead. Betrayed and killed by his own son, he was raised by Kel'Thuzad as a death knight. In Classic he is the leader of the Four Horsemen in Naxxramas, and he carries the [[forever:item:22691]] that raiders can loot from his cache.
Biography
Alexandros was a paladin of the Silver Hand who led Alliance troops in the Second War. During the siege of Blackrock Spire he took a corrupted orb from the orcs and kept it hidden for years. During the Third War, with the help of his fellow paladins, he purified the orb into a crystal of pure Light, and Magni Bronzebeard forged it into a two-handed sword. Alexandros named it the Ashbringer, because it left nothing of the undead but ash.
After Uther the Lightbringer was killed by Arthas Menethil, Alexandros became the leader of what remained of the Silver Hand. With the Ashbringer he became the Scourge's most feared enemy in Lordaeron.
The Scourge did not try to beat him in the open. Kel'Thuzad and the dreadlord Balnazzar worked on his elder son, Renault, who resented his father. Renault led Alexandros into an ambush at Stratholme and there killed his father with the Ashbringer. The betrayal corrupted the blade. Kel'Thuzad took the body and the sword and raised Alexandros as a death knight, his personal champion. Renault joined the Scarlet Crusade, which was itself secretly led by Balnazzar.
In World of Warcraft
Highlord Mograine in Naxxramas
Naxxramas was added in patch 1.11 (June 2006). In its Military Quarter, players face the Four Horsemen: [[forever:npc:16063]], [[forever:npc:16064]], [[forever:npc:16065]] and [[forever:npc:16062]], whose title is "The Ashbringer." The four must be fought at once, and each places a stacking mark on nearby players, which forces the raid to rotate its tanks between the corners of the room.
After the fight, the Four Horsemen's chest can hold the [[forever:item:22691]], an epic two-handed sword described as the "Blade of the Scarlet Highlord." It steals life from its target on hit, and its equip effect, [[forever:spell:28282]], "inflicts the will of the Ashbringer upon the wielder":
- it makes Scarlet Crusade NPCs friendly and Argent Dawn NPCs hostile to the wielder;
- Alexandros's voice occasionally whispers to the wielder in broken phrases, such as "I... was... pure... once" and "Balnazzar's... crusade... corrupted... my son."
The Scarlet Monastery event
Carrying the sword into the cathedral of the Scarlet Monastery triggers one of the best-known scripted events of Classic. The Scarlet Crusaders kneel before the wielder. Scarlet Commander Mograine, who is Renault, offers his soldiers to the new holder of "my father's blade." Then the spirit of Alexandros appears, confronts Renault with his betrayal and strikes him down. The spirit also frees High Inquisitor Fairbanks from his undead form, and Fairbanks tells the player the history of the Ashbringer and where to find Mograine's other son, who could forge the blade anew.
Normally, Scarlet Commander Mograine is a level 42 elite in the cathedral who drops [Mograine's Might], fought alongside High Inquisitor Whitemane.
Later history
The Ashbringer comic (2008-2009) tells Alexandros's story in full, with his younger son Darion in the role the player plays in the Scarlet Monastery event. Darion fights his undead father in Naxxramas, carries the corrupted blade to the exiled Tirion Fordring, and finally kills himself with the sword during the battle for Light's Hope Chapel, freeing his father's soul.
In Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Naxxramas returns with Baron Rivendare in Alexandros's place among the Four Horsemen. Darion, now a death knight and Highlord of the Ebon Blade, brings the corrupted sword to the second battle at Light's Hope, where Alexandros's spirit appears and Tirion purifies the blade. After the Lich King's fall, Alexandros's soul is freed from Frostmourne. In Shadowlands (2020), he appears in Maldraxxus as one of its necrolord barons.
Trivia
- A legendary item simply called [Ashbringer] exists in the game data from early in Classic but was never obtainable. For years it fueled rumors about how players might earn the real Ashbringer.
- Equipping the Corrupted Ashbringer also tints the wielder's character slightly darker.
Sources
Categories: Characters