Quick Overview
The Dark Iron dwarves' defeat in the War of the Three Hammers did not end their ambitions. Thaurissan attempted to summon an elemental power that could overthrow his enemies, but Ragnaros answered the ritual and devastated the land. Blackrock Mountain rose from the catastrophe, and the surviving Dark Irons became bound to the Firelord beneath it. Their rulers had traded a failed war for servitude to a power beyond their control.
Full History
Thaurissan's Dark Iron clan left Ironforge determined to build its own strength and someday recover the influence it had lost. Its ruler and Modgud attacked the Bronzebeards and Wildhammers in a war that scattered their armies across Khaz Modan. Neither front delivered the triumph they sought. Modgud died before Grim Batol, and the Dark Iron campaign against Ironforge failed.
Rather than accept defeat, Thaurissan turned to summoning. He sought an elemental power mighty enough to overcome the dwarves who had resisted him. The ritual reached far beyond any bargain the Dark Iron could enforce, and the Firelord Ragnaros emerged into Azeroth.
The result was a disaster that remade the country itself. Fire and upheaval created Blackrock Mountain, and the surviving Dark Irons found themselves under the domination of the force their king had called. Their new domain in Blackrock Depths stood beneath a mountain whose very existence was the mark of Thaurissan's failure.
Other powers would later compete for control of Blackrock Mountain, but the Dark Iron story began with this loss of freedom. The clan had sought to become stronger than the Bronzebeards and Wildhammers; instead it became bound to an elemental master. The war that had divided the dwarves ended by making one of their peoples answer to a ruler no dwarf could overthrow by ordinary means.
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