206:, the villainous Deathwing, once a fellow Dragon Aspect named Neltharion, manipulated the Dragonmaw Clan, a group of orcs, to use a magical artifact known as the Dragon Soul to capture and enslave Alextrasza in the mountain fortress of Grim Batol. She and her mate Tyranastrasz were forced to breed drakes for the Dragonmaw riders before she was freed by a band of adventurers and the other four uncorrupted aspects. Meanwhile, Tyranastrasz perished before he could be rescued.
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254:" created to draw male players, and a 2010 video of an all-male panel of Blizzard developers that mocked a female fan who asked about more varied female character designs later resurfaced and went viral during sexual harassment allegations towards the company. This question was stated to have been initially inspired by the armor design of Alexstrasza, who had recently been introduced.
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In her new design, Alexstrasza takes the appearance of a massive and powerful red dragon with golden bracelets, four horns, and horn ornaments. She is able to become a High Elf to better blend in with other humanoid races, though she retains her horns. While she can transform into any race, she chose
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server, had the player going back in time to prevent the
Dragonmaw Clan from misplacing the Dragon Soul in order to maintain the timeline. The fact that this ultimately led to Alextrasza being imprisoned, tortured and exploited caused an uproar amongst fans and led to the quest's removal. It was
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stated that
Alexstrasza's ability to transform from a humanoid healer into a dragon felt "great", "exciting and challenging", and that it "feels incredible to unleash those dragon powers and turn around a team fight". However, she also noted that Alextrasza's powers felt lessened compared to
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as being the first expansion to make her "more of an actual character" as opposed to a "boring" goddess-like figure. She noted the fact that
Alexstrasza was given additional character flaws, such as acting cowardly and prioritizing "her powers and the peace of Azeroth above even her closest
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into the form of a High Elf, she is the queen of all dragons and the leader of the organization known as the red dragonflight. Her power as guardian of all life was granted to her by the titans, ancient primordial beings of godlike power. While appearing in
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fighter, Blizzard developers were forced to lower her power from its canonical levels, saying that making her an accurate size and power "broke the game". In order to ensure game balance, they reduced the size and destructive abilities of her dragon form.
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For thousands of years, Alexstrasza was a member of the benevolent Dragon
Aspects, who were given their power by the ancient primordial titans in order to ensure order in Azeroth. About twenty years prior to the events of
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to introduce evil into the world, specifically mentioning her agreement to act as a puppet for evil forces in order to save her children. Her initial in-game outfit was described by
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After being saved, she agreed to honor her debt by helping the people who rescued her fight back against
Malygos, the crazed Aspect of the blue dragonflight.
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and forced to breed mounts for them also drew controversy, with a time-travel quest involving it being rewritten after encountering backlash from fans.
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replaced with a rewritten quest in which players helped free her from Grim Batol instead, and its dialog was made more empathetic. Cass
Marshall of
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312:, in which Alextrasza asks the player if she has "big mom energy". While this can technically be taken literally, it also references the idea of a
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appearance when in humanoid form has caused controversy and was changed over time. Part of her backstory in which she was enslaved by villainous
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Alexstrasza was noted as one of the most prominent of the game's female characters but also an exception in a male-dominated fictional history.
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Alexstrasza has been praised by critics and fans as a prominent and powerful heroine, and she remains an ambassador character for
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character was generally praised, but received complaints regarding its lack of accuracy in comparison to her
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603:"I regret to inform you that WoW players are once again thirsting after Alexstrasza in Dragonflight"
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and subsequent expansions. She has since featured as a playable character in the spin-off game
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Alextrasza's and the roles of other major women in the game as replications of
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chains, and is used to generate new dragon units. She did not appear as an NPC until
440:"Alexstrasza's True Dragon Form "Broke The Game," Says Heroes Of The Storm Director"
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509:"What Really Happened At That BlizzCon Panel, According To The Woman In The Video"
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lore since 1995, she was first seen as a non-player character in the 2008
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the High Elves because they revered her the most throughout history.
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acknowledging
Alextrasza's reputation as an enticing character, or "
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Digital
Culture, Play, and Identity: a World of Warcraft Reader
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472:"World of Warcraft as a Playground for Feminism"
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373:"Know Your Lore: Alexstrasza the Lifebinder"
277:As part of the Fractures of Time update to
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186:World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
141:World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
1489:Video game characters introduced in 1995
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257:Alexstrasza's appearance as a playable
173:Alexstrasza first appeared in the 1995
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217:When interpreting the character as a
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1494:Video game characters who use magic
926:World of Warcraft Trading Card Game
403:Wachowski, Elizabeth (2007-09-27).
234:Digital Culture, Play, and Identity
49:depicting both forms of Alexstrasza
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189:, where she was given a redesign.
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919:World of Warcraft: The Board Game
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1469:Female characters in video games
1464:Dragon characters in video games
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615:from the original on 2023-12-07
583:from the original on 2023-12-07
553:from the original on 2023-12-07
521:from the original on 2023-12-18
470:Corneliussen, Hilde G. (2008).
452:from the original on 2023-12-07
385:from the original on 2023-12-07
348:from the original on 2023-12-07
1170:WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon
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405:"Know Your Lore: Good dragons"
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115:, is a major character in the
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958:Arthas: Rise of the Lich King
601:Bailey, Dustin (2022-12-01).
571:Marshall, Cass (2023-06-23).
336:Marshall, Cass (2023-07-20).
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308:", amongst fans was added to
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1474:Fictional superhuman healers
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371:Ziebart, Alex (2008-07-10).
265:incarnation. Maddy Myers of
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539:Myers, Maddy (2017-11-07).
438:Myers, Maddy (2017-11-11).
113:Alexstrasza the Life-Binder
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507:Gach, Ethan (2021-08-02).
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1157:Defense of the Ancients
92:In-universe information
780:Wrath of the Lich King
703:Beyond the Dark Portal
672:Blizzard Entertainment
123:Blizzard Entertainment
72:Blizzard Entertainment
936:Comics and literature
696:II: Tides of Darkness
121:franchise created by
989:Other licensed media
912:The Roleplaying Game
1499:Warcraft characters
1236:Heroes of the Storm
1051:Sylvanas Windrunner
972:The Sunwell Trilogy
872:Heroes of the Storm
801:Warlords of Draenor
773:The Burning Crusade
712:III: Reign of Chaos
259:Heroes of the Storm
220:Heroes of the Storm
147:Heroes of the Storm
16:Fictional character
1363:Greg "Idra" Fields
1347:Greg "Idra" Fields
815:Battle for Azeroth
486:. pp. 69–70.
129:with the power to
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1443:ahq e-Sports Club
1373:CompLexity Gaming
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1041:Illidan Stormrage
979:World of Warcraft
951:Tides of Darkness
944:Rise of the Horde
850:Other video games
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794:Mists of Pandaria
740:World of Warcraft
719:The Frozen Throne
689:Orcs & Humans
493:978-0-262-03370-1
482:. Cambridge, MA:
279:World of Warcraft
272:World of Warcraft
263:World of Warcraft
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617:. Retrieved
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419:. Retrieved
415:the original
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387:. Retrieved
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294:Dragonflight
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283:beta testing
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1433:Tempo Storm
1428:Team Liquid
1398:Mousesports
1251:Alexstrasza
1089:Hearthstone
1026:Alexstrasza
858:Hearthstone
822:Shadowlands
608:GamesRadar+
306:thirst trap
213:Development
176:Warcraft II
109:Alexstrasza
60:Warcraft II
22:Alexstrasza
1458:Categories
1438:Virtus.pro
1413:Team Curse
1393:G2 Esports
1286:Jim Raynor
1244:Characters
1120:Nostalrius
1108:Unofficial
1099:in esports
1091:in esports
1019:Characters
882:(canceled)
765:Expansions
619:2023-12-07
587:2023-12-07
557:2023-12-07
525:2023-12-18
456:2023-12-07
421:2023-12-07
389:2023-12-07
352:2023-12-07
320:References
302:Easter egg
197:Background
181:adamantine
169:Appearance
159:sexualized
131:shapeshift
86:Wendee Lee
68:Created by
55:First game
787:Cataclysm
484:MIT Press
228:Reception
204:Lich King
78:Voiced by
32:character
1337:BlizzCon
1306:Sylvanas
1291:Kerrigan
1193:Category
1135:Wowpedia
1125:Thottbot
1012:Universe
864:gameplay
749:Gameplay
726:Reforged
680:Warcraft
662:Warcraft
613:Archived
581:Archived
551:Archived
519:Archived
450:Archived
383:Archived
378:Engadget
346:Archived
292:praised
240:meeting
136:Warcraft
118:Warcraft
29:Warcraft
1418:Team DK
1276:Illidan
1144:Related
1130:Wowhead
1080:Esports
965:Illidan
755:Classic
577:Polygon
410:Joystiq
342:Polygon
289:Polygon
242:Lucifer
97:Species
1388:Fnatic
1368:Cloud9
1316:Tracer
1311:Thrall
1261:Arthas
1256:Anduin
1115:Glider
1061:Tauren
1046:Thrall
808:Legion
514:Kotaku
490:
445:Kotaku
267:Kotaku
247:Kotaku
127:dragon
101:Dragon
63:(1995)
1321:Zarya
1296:Lucio
1281:Jaina
1271:Hanzo
1341:2015
1003:Film
488:ISBN
250:as "
163:orcs
1408:OMG
1301:Mei
300:An
238:Eve
150:.
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478:.
474:.
448:.
442:.
430:^
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361:^
344:.
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328:^
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1339:(
1227:e
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1213:v
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