Ragnaros

Ragnaros the Firelord is an incredibly powerful Elemental Lord and master of all fire elementals. He rules over his minions from deep inside the fiery core of Blackrock Mountain. It is possible for two handed mace wielders to obtain a mortal-sized copy of his weapon, Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros.

Ragnaros is voiced by Chris Metzen. Notably, Ragnaros' quotes are also always written in capital letters (lots of yelling).

Ragnaros appears in World of Warcraft as the final encounter in Molten Core, and has a prominent role in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Ancient history
The Firelord and his brethren once held sway over the entire world. As a servant of the Old Gods, he fought against the Titans for domination over the planet. The victorious Titans banished him and his brethren to the Elemental Plane — there to remain imprisoned until the end of time. It was then and there that the brothers turned on each other. For five millennia a battle was fought at the core of this world. It was during the Elemental Sundering that Ragnaros attacked Thunderaan, Prince of Air. Thunderaan was utterly defeated and the Firelord feasted upon his essence, but was unable to consume him entirely. Ragnaros divided what remained between his servants, Baron Geddon and Garr. In the center of a vast lake of fire in the Elemental Plane stands Sulfuron Keep, the home of Ragnaros. Until comparatively recently, he ruled his underground land with a molten iron fist.

War of the Three Hammers
Around three hundred years ago the ambitious and ruthless Dark Iron clan initiated a war against their dwarven brethren, the Bronzebeard clan and Wildhammer clan, thinking that they were about to unite against the Dark Irons. During this War of the Three Hammers, the Dark Iron dwarf leader named Thaurissan lay siege to the Wildhammers' capital city of Grim Batol and destroyed it. Due to this victory, the Wildhammers and Bronzebeards did decide to unite against the Dark Irons and were ultimately able to push them back to the city of Thaurissan, the Dark Iron Dwarven home. Thaurissan, seeking to summon a supernatural minion that would turn the tide of the war back to his favor, called upon the ancient powers sleeping beneath the world. To Thaurissan's surprise, and ultimately his doom, the creature that emerged was more terrible than any nightmare he could have imagined. Now, freed by Thaurissan's call, Ragnaros erupted into being once again. Ragnaros' apocalyptic rebirth into Azeroth shattered the Redridge Mountains and created a raging volcano at the center of the devastation. The volcano, known as Blackrock Mountain, was bordered by what is now known as the Searing Gorge, to the north, and the Burning Steppes, to the south. Though Thaurissan was killed by the forces he had unleashed, his surviving Dark Iron clan brethren were ultimately enslaved by Ragnaros and his elementals. Many Dark Iron dwarves remain within the lower areas of the mountain, especially Blackrock Depths, toiling away at the behest of Ragnaros and the Firelord's lieutenants. They worship Ragnaros, considering him not only a Elemental Lord but also an Old God, although he is only affiliated with the Old Gods. The Bronzebeards and Wildhammers, however, remain free.

Witnessing the horrific devastation and the fires spreading across the southern mountains, the Bronzebeards' King Madoran and Wildhammers' King Khardros halted their armies and hastily turned back towards their kingdoms, unwilling to face the awesome wrath of Ragnaros.

World of Warcraft
Now he lies at the bottom of that volcano on Azeroth, striving to find a way home, as well as to gather his strength once again so he can burn away Azeroth and take it for his own. Meanwhile, in Sulfuron Keep and elsewhere across the Firelands, his elemental princes battle constantly for dominance. He and his dwarven minions took control of the Blackrock mountain's volcanic depths and made war on the orcs in the Upper Blackrock Spire, which served as the seat of power for Nefarian the black dragon. Ragnaros has uncovered the secret to creating life from stone and plans to build an army of unstoppable golems to aid him in conquering the whole of Blackrock Mountain.

Elemental War Reborn
During the Midsummer Fire Festival, high level players can face the true threat facing the world. The Earthen Ring send adventurers across the globe on a quest to save the world from an Elemental War. The Twilight's Hammer plans to summon the Frost Lord into the world so that he may face Ragnaros bringing an elemental war to the world once again. Players are then sent to Slave Pens to face Ahune and defeat him before he may gain full strength and begin his attack on the Fire Lord.

Cataclysm
After being defeated in Molten Core, Ragnaros was banished back to the Elemental Plane. He is featured in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, where he is located in Sulfuron Keep, his seat of power within the Firelands. He and his armies are launching a full scale assault on Mount Hyjal, attempting to burn the now-regrowing World Tree. He is allied with Deathwing, therefore ending his war against Nefarian's forces, and uniting them as a single army. He is one of two Elemental Lords allied with Deathwing, the other being Al'Akir.

In the ensuing conflict, many brave heroes gave their lives to protect Hyjal from destruction. By their noble sacrifices, the impossible was achieved: the Guardians of Hyjal pushed Ragnaros's minions back into the Firelands. Now, the battle to protect Hyjal rages in Ragnaros's smoldering realm. As territory is gained and Azeroth's champions edge closer to the Firelands' inner sanctums, a monumental task lies ahead. Entrenched around Ragnaros's lair - Sulfuron Keep - are his most trusted guardians, including the turncoat Druids of the Flame and their mysterious leader. Yet Hyjal's defenders cannot afford to shy away from any of these dangers. Should Ragnaros prevail against the incursion and succeed in destroying Nordrassil, Azeroth will suffer a blow from which it might never recover.

At the Maelstrom, Thrall strains himself attempting to commune with the elements. Able to feel how broken the world is, and with the elements remaining silent for him, Thrall tells Aggra that he will have to work without limits to fulfill this task. As he ponders the meaning of this, his elemental calls are finally answered - by none other than Ragnaros the Firelord. Ragnaros gives Thrall a vision of the Firelands, ensuring him that its flames will engulf both the world tree and the world beyond it, showing Thrall's reinforced home of Orgrimmar washed over in a tide of fire as the final Hour of Twilight approaches. Stunned, Thrall falls to the ground, and the cackling Firelord dissipitates.

Because Ragnaros will be fought in his plane, the Firelands, he will also suffer the same fate as Al'Akir, that being an eternal death.

Trivia

 * Ragnaros’s model was completely rebuilt from scratch for Patch 4.2.0. Ragnaros was given a new hammer, new armor and legs. Since this is the first time players get to see Ragnaros on his home realm, so the designers wanted to make him look even bigger, stronger, and tougher than before. He is now much closer to his seat of power and they needed to convey that through his model.


 * During the PTR, a new design of Ragnaros with legs was datamined, and received generally negative reviews. Blizzard responded by stating that this model wasn't final and you would only see them on Heroic difficulty, commenting that this was why they don't want people datamining unreleased content. The Dungeon Journal makes a reference to the dataminers' reaction by stating, "He has legs now. Who knew?" Lead environment artist Gary Platner pointed out that Ragnaros with legs is "best of all."


 * The Midsummer Fire Festival involves festivities including a "rebirth" of player activities involving Ragnaros. During the Festival, there is a number of references to Ragnaros the Fire Lord including a Summer Scorchling that, when given an incense, grows in size until he "jokes" about becoming the Herald of the Fire Lord and showing new players a slight glimpse of Ragnaros himself.


 * In the comic Shaman it is revealed that part of Ragnaros' power was absorbed by Shotoa which gives the him power to command elemental spirits, mainly the spirit of fire.


 * The companion Lil' Ragnaros is is available from the Pet Store for $10 US or €10


 * Ragnaros' name is derived from Ragnarök, the end of the world in Norse mythology, but he seems to be based on the leader of the Fire giants, Surt. This battle would be fought between the gods (the Æsir and the Vanir), and the jotuns (the giants): the hrímþursar (frost giants) and the eldjotnar (fire giants led by Surtr), together with Loki and his children. The word Ragnarök comes from the Norse mythology and means Twilight of the Gods. It is possible the Ragnaros' name was inspired from the latter meaning as well as by the fire giants.


 * Ragnaros may be a reference to Tolkiens' idea of Balrog. This fiery demon was awakened deep in mines of Moria by dwarves, which is very similar to Dark Irons' summoning of Ragnaros.


 * In an article on PC Gamer, Ragnaros was voted as #36 of the top 47 "most diabolical video game villains of all time".


 * The first Worldwide Ragnaros kill was by the Ascent guild on Medivh. Ascent has since transferred to Detheroc under the new name, Gong Show.