Eranikus

Eranikus is a dragon of the green flight who has fought and lost himself to the corrupting Nightmare spreading within the Emerald Dream.

Eranikus, consort to Ysera, is among the greatest of the green dragons. Ysera gave him the task of guarding the Temple of Atal'Hakkar in the Swamp of Sorrows. However, Eranikus went insane not long after he entered the temple. Since then the trolls in the temple have dispatched a group to Zul'Gurub, and succeeded in summoning Hakkar into the world.

Temple of Atal'Hakkar
After Ysera, the Aspect of the Emerald Dream, had learned of the Atal'ai's plans to summon Hakkar the Soulflayer, she smashed the Temple of Atal'Hakkar below the marshes, attempting to destroy the trolls in order to stop their attempt to awaken the Soulflayer. The great Emerald Wyrm Eranikus was dispatched to deal with the Atal'ai priest, along with his brother Itharius, and four young drakes under his direct command: Dreamscythe, Weaver, Hazzas and Morphaz. Eranikus and Itharius destroyed Hakkar's physical manifestation and believed they had succeeded. However they had underestimated Hakkar and Eranikus succumbed to the same corruption which currently plagues the Emerald Dream. The Atal'ai survived, and resumed their efforts to awaken Hakkar.

In World of Warcraft, upon defeating the Shade of Eranikus in the Sunken Temple, a player character may receive the Essence of Eranikus. Eranikus asks you to cleanse his soul in the essence font but instead becomes trapped within the trinket, the Chained Essence of Eranikus. He begs you to release him by seeking out his brother's aid, and threatens to kill you if you don't. If you choose to give up the trinket it may be given to Itharius in the Swamp of Sorrows, who sends the player to Umbranse the Spiritspeaker, where the questline ends abruptly.

Quotes from the trapped Eranikus

 * whisper
 * whisper
 * whisper
 * whisper
 * whisper
 * whisper
 * whisper
 * whisper
 * whisper

The Tyrant of the Dream


While the Sunken Temple questline has not been continued, Eranikus features prominently in the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline.

The mortal races wish to open Ahn'Qiraj and put a rest to the Qiraji threat once and for all. In order to accomplish this the Scepter of the Shifting Sands must be recombined. One shard was entrusted a thousand years ago to Eranikus by the bronze wyrm Anachronos. The mortal champion is sent to the Sunken Temple to discover Eranikus' fate. Upon visiting a spectral form of Malfurion Stormrage near Eranikus' shade, the champion is sent to an ally of the Archdruid, and is instructed to gather shards of the nightmare from each portal to the emerald dream. He or she is then sent to Keeper Remulos in the Moonglade.

Keeper Remulos opens a portal into the heart of the Dream over Lake Elune'ara, from which Eranikus emerges. Eranikus, still under the control of the Old Gods, demands the body of Malfurion Stormrage. The champion and allies are asked to defend Keeper Remulos from dozens of Nightmare Phantasms, that have accompanied the fallen green to the mortal plane, until the arrival of High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind. As the phantasms are defeated, Eranikus lands himself and attacks the son of Cenarius. Eventually, Tyrande arrives with a half-dozen Priestesses of the Moon. Together they channel the powers of Elune in a prayer to redeem the cursed dragon.

Ceasing to fight, Eranikus changes into the form of a night elf — apologizing for all the harm he had wrought — and leaves to attempt to begin to make amends for his actions. He returns to Malfurion, Cenarius, and Ysera to continue the battle raging within the Emerald Dream. Below is a transcript of Eranikus' redemption.


 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * bossemote
 * yell
 * yell
 * emote
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * emote
 * say
 * say
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * bossemote
 * emote
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say

Stormrage
After being freed of the corruption of the Emerald Nightmare, Eranikus flew back to the Emerald Dream. However, when he felt the Nightmare calling to him again, he fled back to Azeroth for fear that he would again be corrupted. He hid in Ashenvale for many years until he was found by Lucan Foxblood, Tyrande Whisperwind, and Broll Bearmantle. Though initially unwilling to help for fear of being corrupted again, he was eventually convinced to return to the Dream when Alexstrasza informed him that Ysera knew and understood why he turned back, and reassured him that she had not yet been taken by the Nightmare.

During the course of the War Against the Nightmare Ysera was captured, but when Eranikus learned she was still fighting against the corruption from where she had been imprisoned within The Eye he went immediately to rescue her. As Malfurion aided in penetrating the barriers of her prison, the dragon Lethon appeared and attempted to corrupt Eranikus once more. As his body was warped and twisted by the energies of the Nightmare, Lethon preached about a future where the walls of the Nightmare would break down, and the dragons of Nightmare would fly Azeroth's skies unimpeded. Unwilling to let that happen, Eranikus shifted them both into the unstable boundary between the Emerald Dream and Azeroth. Though Lethon desperately tried to draw upon the Nightmare's power, the chaotic energies between the two worlds tore him apart, unleashing the Nightmare's power in a fiery maelstrom. Eranikus made no attempt to avoid it, and was consumed.