The Last Starfighter
"Listen, Centauri. I'm not any of those guys, I'm a kid from a trailer park." - Alex Rogan
"If that's what you think, then that's all you'll ever be!" - Centauri
Look at all them sources. That fer sure addresses the question "where was the difference established". Also, Thrall isn't the Earthwarder? Then how could he stand in for him?
And according to WoWPedia, pages 56 and 59 of UVG say that he held the place of Aspect of Earth during the fight against Deathwing. It's in trivia part of the page where sentence long tidbits of info are mentioned and links to specific pages of UVG so I kinda doubt they'd make it up. And really? Aspects are missing one of their own and have no black dragon to combat a part of Chromatus. Hell, you even said this yourself. Yet deny Thrall's rise in status. This is just sad. And I wasn't even talking about what Deathwing did to Thrall in Charge of the Aspects. Be a dear and read the whole thing and not just those that fuel your inane fantasies:
"At that time, the shaman had acted merely as a conduit to Azeroth. Now, however, he was much more than that. He was the answer... the fulcrum by which the Dragon Soul could be turned against its maker."
"The artifact was imbued with the essences of the four Aspects, but Deathwing never imparted his into it. If we are to use this weapon to defeat him, we must infuse it with the power of the Earth-Warder. You, Thrall, possess a portion, however small, of that exact thing: the essence of Azeroth itself."
Would you look at that, the only reason Dragon Soul even worked against Deathwing, which otherwise was impossible due to him not imbuing it himself, was because Thrall did that instead. And the second quote was after Earthen Ring returned Thrall to his body. Whoopty fucking doo.
He could stand in for him in his capacity as the World Shaman. As for the difference, well, one is a giant Dragon Aspect anointed by the Titan Keepers with vast power over the structure and substance of Azeroth, and the other is a powerful shaman that is not a dragon and not empowered by the Titan Keepers. Outside of *those* differences I'm afraid I can't be more forthcoming.
He held the position of the lost Aspect during the ritual - he didn't *become* the Aspect, gain the Aspect's power, or even bestow those powers on the assembled other four Aspects. So as for inanity, I'm unsure what you mean unless you are conflating your own confusion onto others.
Yes, his experiences with Neltharion coupled with his position as the World Shaman meant he possessed a scintilla of what was required to use the Dragon Soul as a weapon against Deathwing. Note that this was "the essence of Azeroth itself" and not "a portion of the Earthwarder's power" or "a part of the Aspect of Earth itself."
"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see." ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Emperor Ninjter was also mentioned as the boy king in an archaelogy achievement and the archaeology ring. The Tol'vir will totally make a comeback!
To be honest I also think anduin is the boy king. Just feels right that way.
He hides his identity, that's at least one lie. And anyone working against the legion is "sitting at the master's table". They are literally doing the old god's work by removing a threat to them. Thus Illynoth is most likely fucking with us by offering half-truths.
Is it still canon that Anduin had the throne when he was younger when Varian disappeared... When Anduin was 'king' at the same time Bolvar Fordragon was regent...
Anduin was literally a boy king at one time. Literally. If it's canon (hurry up Chronicles...).