The black flight endures without an openly present Deathwing

Full History

The black dragonflight had become feared long before the events of Warcraft III, but its infamous leader was no longer openly present. The original manual describes Deathwing as missing or possibly dead, a statement of uncertainty rather than proof of his destruction. Black dragons nevertheless survived as hostile creatures. The absence of their former master did not undo the consequences of his betrayal.

Neltharion had once been the Earth-Warder, one of the Aspects chosen to protect Azeroth. During the War of the Ancients he turned the power entrusted to him against the other flights, causing devastation that outlived the first Legion invasion. His later identity as Deathwing became synonymous with that breach of trust. A surviving black flight could therefore remain dangerous without new sightings of its leader or a settled explanation of his whereabouts.

Contemporary Warcraft III material places some black dragons in the Barrens and leaves Deathwing's fate unresolved. That presentation must not be rewritten with knowledge supplied only by much later adventures. The historical endpoint here is a world in which the old enemy's influence is remembered, his offspring still threaten travelers, and his actual condition is not established by the available original-era account.