Lady of Thorns


 * "The gardens of Dragon Shire. Radiant, are they not? And yet, they are founded on a lie. Activate the sun and the moon shrines, and the magic that seals away my Dragon Knight will weaken. I shall lend you its power. Burn your enemies. Shatter their fortifications. Remind this world of its true heritage. The dragon will be reborn. Control its power, or be destroyed by it."

Raena, the Lady of Thorns, is the ruler of Kings Crest and the announcer for the Dragon Shire battleground.

Background
The Lady of Thorns is the Realm Lord of Kings Crest and lives among a large population of human nobles. Since her husband, the king of King's Crest, was cursed and turned into stone, she rules in his stead, but evidently feels more solidarity with the dragons who used to rule the realm. Consequently, she periodically empowers two shrines named for the sun and the moon and allows either team to activate them; once one team controls both of them, they can release the Dragon Knight sealed in a statue at the centre of the map and lay waste to their enemy's fortifications.

Throughout the game the Lady remains friendly and helpful, encouraging players to make liberal use of the Dragon Knight's power but never ordering, coercing or forcing them to do anything. It's unclear if she's a villain or not. However, she cites wanting to "remind this world of its true heritage" as her reason for helping the heroes.

Secrets of the Storm
When Deckard Cain and Orphea reports the Raven Lord's actions of him unleashing the forces of the Dark Nexus to destroy and conquer more realms, she immediately believes him, though she is at first reluctant to interfere, as she lacks support in her own court and is slowly affected by the same curse her husband suffered. When Cain explains that her people are already in danger too and that the Raven Lord has already set his eyes on a new realm which would give him more power than her, she rallies her armies and allies to defend King's Crest and oppose the Raven Lord's forces in his plans to conquer Alterac Pass. The Lady of Thorns supports the Stormpike Expedition against the Frostwolf Clan, which are manipulated by the Raven Lord.

Fall of King's Crest
As being the Lady of Thorns' most trusted knights, her children Verick and Delia are tasked with shepherding the civilians of King's Crest to safety when the Raven Lord attacks their realm. In an attempt to turn the tide against the Raven Lord's invasion, the two awaken their father, which allows the Raven Lord use the powers of the Dark Nexus to possess him. Afterwards, the corrupted Dragon Knight is sorrowfully forced to attack both of his children.

Seeing her childrens bodies lying on the throne rooms floor, the Lady of Thorns draws her sword upon her husband. She blinds him long enough with her magic to thrive her sword through the Dragon Knights head and kill him. The Lady of Thorns in her weakened state is in no position to fight back against the Raven Lord as he disarms her. The Lady of Thorns uses the last of her power to open a portal, allowing Cain and the last of the remaining civilians to escape. Without any power left and under the attack of the Raven Lord, the Lady of Thorns curse slowing consumes her and turns her into stone. The Raven Lord takes King's Crest singularity, corrupts it with the enegies of the Dark Nexus. As she slowly lost her fleshly body, her final moments witnessed a mortal wound delivered to the singularity of her realm, something she didn’t even know was possible and the implications of which she couldn’t comprehend. The Raven Lord then cast the realm aside like unwanted garbage.

Petrified
The singularity of her realm is still in her possession and still remains at the location where it was dropped by the Raven Lord in the throne room of Dragon Shire. She now speaks to her people (and heroes on the battleground) via the singularity and remains the realm lord of King’s Crest.

Due to the Raven Lord's conquest of her realm, she's become much more angry and bitter. Notably, the voicelines played when the Dragon Knight is summoned are now from the Lady of Thorns rather than the Dragon Knight himself, and they're much more bloodthirsty than anything in her old lines. Her updated voicelines indicate that she plans to have the Dragon Knight destroy her own realm rather than let the Raven Lord take it.

Trivia

 * On November 13, 2018, some new lines were added to her announcer voice lines on Dragon Shire to bring the battleground in line with the state of King’s Crest after the events of comic 3.

In-Game

 * Dragon Shire (Announcer)
 * Last Stand Against the Raven Lord

Out of Game

 * Secrets of the Storm (Comic)
 * Fall of King's Crest (Comic)