The Lilac and the Stone - New Warcraft Short Story about Moira and Dagran Thaurissan

Posted 2024/06/17 at 12:04 PM by Anshlun

Queen Regent Moira Thaurissan is exhausted. Her son, Dagran II, is rapidly coming of age and stands to inherit leadership of both the Dark Iron and Bronzebeard Clans. But Dagran is bookish and odd: He would easily choose the company of his library over leadership. Can Moira inspire her son to take up his birthright, or will her fears for his future—and the future of the clans—prove true?

Among all the great craggy, unfeeling boulders of our people, Dagran was always my flower.

For all the good it ever did him. Or me.

Few can imagine what it costs a gentle soul to grow up a dwarf. It may even be worse than to come into this world saddled with the soul of a daughter instead of a son. That one singular roll of the bones determined much of my life before my fist first found my mother’s braid. My body robbed me blind with its first breath: it was a girl’s, and therefore not what my father wanted.

I am Moira Thaurissan, daughter of Magni Bronzebeard and his bride Eimear, princess of Ironforge, widow to the Dark Iron Emperor, mother to his heir Dagran II, and I have been angry since I was old enough to walk the path set before me. Sometimes, I think my anger will outlive me. That they will close up the earth over my body, and long after I am forgotten, some brutal, black hardened jewel left from my rot will work its way up out of the moss, hissing and spitting and still scalding hot. Maybe they will use it to warm a village somewhere. An eternity of cozy hearths and ready stews fueled by this bitter fury I carried but could never fully satisfy. I like the idea of that.

For a long time, I wore my anger on my chest, glinting like one of the gems on that shield they can’t stop squabbling over. As if it could shield me, as if it could shield anyone. But in time I learned that anger shown is anger wasted. It only puts others on guard, makes them fearful or defiant, pushes them to dig into defensive positions, fuels rumors of madness and whispers of revolt, and blunts its own edge as even fear fades with overuse. So I learned to make that shield gem inside myself, pushing the rage deep down into the caverns of my heart, compressing it into a crusted geode of pain, all so that my husband’s people might like me a bit better. All my mistakes have come from that horrid boiling crushed place inside me. Sometimes . . . I wonder who I might have been without it.Read and Download the Rest of This Short Story by Catherynne M. Valente

Comment by SalvWaiting for the book and audio book to come out to enjoy those!Comment by markdallI’m sorry but I just cannot get over the hundreds of times we killed Moira as one of the end bosses in BRD or whatever.

It’s weird that we’re supposed to accept her now and will never not be weird.Comment by Aquanaut88I’m sorry but I just cannot get over the hundreds of times we killed Moira as one of the end bosses in BRD or whatever.

It’s weird that we’re supposed to accept her now and will never not be weird.Comment by ShadrazaarI’m sorry but I just cannot get over the hundreds of times we killed Moira as one of the end bosses in BRD or whatever.

It’s weird that we’re supposed to accept her now and will never not be weird.Comment by oomuYou were supposed to save her from « captivity » by Thaurissan

It was already in vanilla you could to not kill her, and then it was implied her love for thaurissan.Comment by PalemoonI’m sorry but I just cannot get over the hundreds of times we killed Moira as one of the end bosses in BRD or whatever.

It’s weird that we’re supposed to accept her now and will never not be weird.Comment by OneminutemonkeyIn here to wait for someone to ask if Catherynne M. Valente is a real author. :)
(Since -some- people seem to be concerned about who's writing these shorts!)

Also, I feel a little bad about widowing Moira, but to be honest, her husband had some sweet sweet loot.Comment by PastafiedYou misspelled the name in the title, it's Dagran not Dragran.Comment by Iceman3317I’m sorry but I just cannot get over the hundreds of times we killed Moira as one of the end bosses in BRD or whatever.

It’s weird that we’re supposed to accept her now and will never not be weird.Comment by emperorcrawlwhy cant we just have a strong leader somewhere for once?
why does this nerd need to awkward and frail.
im so tired of these zoomer plotsComment by SinREven more weird to me is that they never changed BRD like they did with DM and SFK when Cataclysm came out.

Like now, you go in there and we kill him, even though canonically he's been dead for like 5 years as of The Shattering.

I enjoyed the short story. So far the only one I haven't read was the Anduin one. seems too predictable (Oh I used my powers against my will but I kinda liked it I have weird feelings about it)Comment by TokenScramblesAlliance leadership coming of age who doesn't actually want the responsibility and would rather look towards scholarly ventures. Huh...almost like we've already done this.Comment by ZachenThe weakest story thus far. Not flat out horrible, but not great. Dagran as Dwarf-Anduin is just not interesting.Comment by SecretSapphicwhy cant we just have a strong leader somewhere for once?
why does this nerd need to awkward and frail.
im so tired of these zoomer plotsComment by OwlDarkWhen I knew Moira so long ago since leveling in dungeon. Something I remember about Dagran...
But, never knew both made baby! Maybe I forgot since long time.

Not idea Moira loved with Dagran. Was wondered why her son look gray. So his dad is dark iron.Comment by robertmfrostDagran's the GOAT. Excellent story. I'm a fan.Comment by BeronoI hope we can share with Dragran during the expansion the great tales of how we kill his dad for loot. He would love itComment by slemairewhy cant we just have a strong leader somewhere for once?
why does this nerd need to awkward and frail.
im so tired of these zoomer plotsComment by ArchieAngelI’m sorry but I just cannot get over the hundreds of times we killed Moira as one of the end bosses in BRD or whatever.

It’s weird that we’re supposed to accept her now and will never not be weird.Comment by ClinoclaseThe idea that it’s harder to be a nerd in dwarven society (who demonstrably revere scholars) than it is to be a woman (when their king was demonstrably sexist) is a bizarre statement…

If they wanted to make her and her child commiserate it would have made more sense to make it a daughter. Have Moira break the cycle, y’know