In the last post , I mentioned the disturbances around Azeroth- unusual earthquakes, fires, droughts, storms. Also, some sort of massive shift in the power of the ley lines, which seems to have strengthened my spellcasting, and others. I was just falling asleep last night after giving some divination lessons in the Sanctuary. Some of the energies of the repeated spell-casting demonstrations must have remained latent within me, because just as I was about go under, I was had a vision of the Destroyer.
It was too terrible, and vivid, to write off as simply a dream. This could only be some kind of warning about Deathwing.
Naturally, as I was in Dalaran, I consulted with my Kirin Tor brothers and sisters. I spoke much with the archmage Rhonin, and the mage Krasus, whom I’d heard had dealt directly with the black dragonflight. Krasus himself being a red dragon, was particularly concerned about it. They told me much of the history of his evil, and we talked at length on the subject of what the meaning of the images could mean.
Deathwing used to be Neltharion, Aspect of Earth, until the whispers of the Old Gods drove him insane. It was when his body became overwhelmed by the power of the Demon Soul- the one that destroyed the first Well of Eternity- that it began to erupt with lava and fire, the essence of which he was formerly the steward of in Azeroth. So he had had goblin fashion metallic plates and hammered them in to his very bone to hold his body together. (They also told me that what I saw was confusing to them. They’d thought that the plates on his body had already been applied over 10,000 years ago in the time of the War of the Ancients, which incidentally, the two had been there for, by goblins. But those in the vision did not look like goblins. Who were they?) This is what I was seeing, they said. As they do so he slams into the walls of his cavern, oddly causing the earth to shake and break. And he finally makes the world break when he emerges to reign fire.
And they told me the stories of the twilight dragon flight in Grim Batol, which I’d already faced in the Ruby Sanctum. It was indeed a brazen attack and a massacre in that place. Halion, the Twilight Dragon in command that we defeated, called himself the Herald of the Deathwing.
And his words:
Pain. Agony. My hatred burns through the cavernous deeps. The world heaves with my torment. Its wretched kingdoms quake beneath my rage. But at last the whole of Azeroth will break, and all will burn beneath the shadow of my wings.
To me he seems...vengeful, full of spite. Unsurprising, but still...I do not quite understand where his hatred comes from. From what they told me, all of his pain and agony and torment physically are of his own doing. But then, he is corrupted by the Old Gods. Tormented by them in his mind, long before he inflicted this pain on himself, perhaps. I almost pity him. I can’t say that I know what that is like. And now he wants to take out his fate on the rest of us. I sense this time of peace after the Lich King’s fall will be over very soon.
Odd...in that way he is much like our newly old foe, Arthas, wanting the world to suffer because he did. Yet, in some way, I fear this more. Arthas wanted something in particular from us. He had a story to tell us. He wanted us to understand him, and wanted our pity, twisted though his methods and ruminations were. He asked the spirit of his father “Is it over?” just before he took his last breath. In moments of reflection, I sometimes believe that Arthas wanted to be defeated. From his words and his appearance, all I can tell is that Deathwing simply wishes to live up to his long-held title of Destroyer. And make no mistake- he has the power to do it.
All three of us, sitting here floating above the world, sensed the unmistakably ominous portents of recent events and my vision. All we were able to figure out was that none of this was good.
Something is happening. Thrall has sensed a disturbing change in the elements...there have been strange earthquakes, not severe ones, but worrisome. They're occuring everywhere. The Horde, and the Alliance, we're butting heads more than ever. And I can sense that the ley-lines are being disturbed. Many casters, and indeed even many non-casters, have felt radical shifts in the amount of power they're able to summon. What power I am able to summon with my own casting has increased dramatically, seemingly coinciding with these other disturbances, and without any effort on my part. Interesting. The wars in the north are over, but the peace feels...I don't know...precarious?
When I was in Shattrath Voren'thal taught me, when in doubt, start scrying.
(I went out to Barnes and Noble the other day, not actually knowing when the lastest Loremaster must-have, The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm was going to drop, but remembering it being sometime in October. Turns out I was one day early, and they had copies in the back which were not even available on the shelves yet, and they got me one.
We, including both Barnes and Noble, are awesome. I got a 36-page headstart. One thing I'm going to do is probably exactly two weeks I'm going to update Wowwiki with the plot, as I have been meaning to do with other novels. Two weeks is the general blackout time for new novels so as to give people a chance to actually read the book. But there's a woeful poverty of lore in the articles. They usually feature only the plot synopsis on the back.
I wrote most of the article for Stormrage. That was an interesting book. More on that later.
Anyway, I am currently reading The Shattering. Pretty awesome so far. Won't spoil anything at least until I finish it, but lets just sat in the first few chapters they are getting into some stuff that I really would like to know about, and talk about...so yeah.)
It occurred to me that although the ending to Wrath of the Lich King was not very surprising for the most part, there was one thing that actually was a surprise. Spoilers are absolutely everywhere in this post.
Bolvar Fordragon, is the new Lich King, the self-styled Jailor of the Damned. There are a few reasons you couldn’t be blamed for saying WTF? during this cutscene.
Merely a Setback
But wait. Fordragon died at the Wrathgate. Right? I mean, he did watch Saurfang the Younger get roflpwned by Frostmourne, then he did get betrayed by Grand Apothecary Putress and some of the Forsaken with the New Plague, which almost killed even the Lich King himself, and then, wasn’t his body, even if it did survive the battle and the plague by some sort of miracle, incinerated by the fire breath of the Red Dragonflight?
But, you see, it turns out that that was all merely a setback (Scroll down to the Warcraft series list of instances after that link. It’s huge.) Now, there is no good in-game explanation offered as to why the hell Bolvar would still be alive after dying at least two deaths. This is not to mention the horrific torture that he suffered at the hands of the Lich King after they recovered him from the battlefield in order to pimp him out for the Scourge. I do believe, though, that this is a perfectly plausible outcome, and I will tell you why. If you accept that the cutscene of the Wrathgate only shows him falling, not necessarily dying.
Fordragon was a paladin. Although he might have made a misstep or two as regent of Stormwind while Varian was on his little excursion, he did a reasonably a good job for guy who did not intend to be the king. He is supposed to be quite an upstanding, honorable paladin. Wowwiki says that he was “as stalwart and loyal of a soldier as they come.” When King Wrynn returned, Fordragon became the commander of the 7th Legion forces, one of the most elite Alliance units, at the Wrathgate, where they faced the Lich King in battle. You don’t hand that command to just any random dude.
I think it’s a fair to say that this was a very disciplined and honorable champion of the Light. This explains why he would be able to survive the Lich King's tortures. As far as discipline goes, we know Dranosh Saurfang rushed forward impetuously and got schooled while Bolvar stayed back. As far as his holiness and honor goes, Tirion Fordring is apparently good friends with him. They refer to each other in very familiar terms- “brother,” “old friend.” If you’re BFF with Tirion and you’re a paladin, you’re probably a pretty good one. So he can withstand all the torture, fair enough.
Eternal Flames
Even Tirion was surprised to see him alive, but here’s my theory on that. Putress and the Forsaken rebels (we could argue about whether they were rebels or not, I know) unleashed the New Plague killing the Scourge and the living alike. The Red Dragonflight, guardians of life as they were, were understandably uncool about this happening right in their own backyard, so they handled it by breathing fire and burning away every trace of it.
Now, let’s consider that for a moment. These dragons are the guardians and protectors of life, and I think it reasonable to assume that their fire breath has some life-giving properties (which of course come and go at the will of the writers). Especially because, after the Wrath gate, the zone that you are then phased into shows that the area where the battle took place, which was previously frozen wasteland, is now suddenly growing wildflowers and plants everywhere. Alexstrasza, Queen of the Dragons, the Life-Binder, is sitting right in the middle of it. So their fire breath burns, but it is also the fire of life.
And then, when you actually see Bolvar at the Frozen Throne, he is scorched, but the flames are perpetually crackling and burning. Without consuming him, or at least consuming him very slowly. Hmm. Something that burns without being consumed. That sounds a lot like the Burning Bush from the Bible, which was a holy place, and arguably touched on the theme of purity and holiness. Fire is a process that many believed and is often thematically understood to be a purifying one, but the bush and the ground on which it stood were perfectly pure and holy. Therefore, the fire, the process of purification, continued on eternally without consuming the bush. I forget when I heard this in the few times that I went to church, the point is, I think its fair to say that although it may not be a direct reference to the Bible, it is certainly analogous and thematically referential. It’s not a stretch to think of the fire of life as also having purifying properties as well. That is in fact, what the dragons used it for- to purify the land of the unholy New Plague.
Bolvar was a champion of the Light, who battled evil with all his might and did not waver or falter. He was a holy and righteous man. My guess is that the powerful magic of the dragon’s breath would probably have simply overwhelmed and destroyed some random dude or chick. But Bolvar, due to his spiritual, mental, and physical fortitude and purity brought on by his service to the Light became something of a burning bush for the Light, and for life itself.
Now what?
As we all have seen, there must always be a Lich King- Terenas Menethil’s creepy last words before his spirit vapored off to…wherever. Without something to control them, the Scourge would devour Azeroth whole. So Bolvar makes one last sacrifice, donning the Helm of Domination, insisting that he is screwed anyway and Tirion and his champions still have something to live for. Now he will be the Jailor of the Damned, keeping the Scourge in check. But the Scourge is evil and demonic in origin, and so is the armor that allows you to control them. In fact, Frostmourne to some extent controlled Arthas. So why should we believe that Bolvar will be any better than Arthas? Why should we believe now that the Scourge will be any less of a threat?
You might have wondered why I focused specifically on the burning bush reference and the fire imagery. Think about it: A pure, holy man who takes the burden of the sum of so much evil onto his own body for the rest of eternity, who sacrifices himself to singlehandedly rid the world of it? Who does that sound like? The answer is Jesus (Not like, the answer is Jesus. The answer to my rhetorical question. Happened to be Jesus.).
Look at the imagery of the old Lich King versus the new, particularly his eyes. Check out this video from WCIII, where Arthas dons the Helm of Domination for the first time.
Skip to 2:00, and we see that what signifies his transformation is that his eyes glow an icy blue.
And in the awesomely epic opening cinematic for Wrath of the Lich King, showing his reawakening.
At 0:25, we see the first thing that happens is his eyes lighting up, frosty and blue once again. And when Arthas dies in the final cinematic, the first thing we see is that signature glow fading as he returns to his mortal self once again just before taking his final breaths.
Compare that to the end of the cinematic, when Bolvar takes the Helm on, his eyes explode with the same orange fire that is burning his body, at 3:15. And, if you look at the Northrend loading screens for Cataclysm, there is a strong focus on how his body is permeated by this fire. Just after the cinematic is over, you can see that the fire is not extinguished by the ice of the Frozen Throne, even as it encases him. His pose is on the loading screen is one of, I don’t know, tenacious lamentation? Is that how you would say it? Like, life sucks for me, look at how much I got screwed over, but I have no choice, it’s the right thing do.
All this points to the fact that whereas Arthas eventually became the epitome of the evil he had set out to destroy, this will not be the case with Bolvar. Arthas did a lot of things that made the other Knights of the Silver Hand and his closest friends question how righteous and just of a person he really was. To some extent, it was Arthas’s personal flaws, namely his hubris and brashness, and his poor understanding of the ways of Light that made him so corruptible, not just the demonic magic of the armor. Arthas started this war to lure the champion’s of Azeroth into corruption as a reflection of his own journey, and what does he say to you when he finally attempts to deliver his final master stroke?
The Lich King yells: No question remains unanswered. No doubts linger. You are Azeroth's greatest champions! You overcame every challenge I laid before you. My mightiest servants have fallen before your relentless onslaught, your unbridled fury... Is it truly righteousness that drives you? I wonder.
So it seems, the way I interpret this comment, that Arthas is implicitly admitting that it was not righteousness that drove him. In a way, he’s been trying to prove to the world that they were just as corruptible as him. Seems that Arthas is at least somewhat jaded and cynical about this whole Scourge thing and that makes sense given all that horrors that he endured- and perpetrated. But is that how a true holy warrior thinks?
That is what the all the visuals of fire inside of Bolvar’s body is alluding to, and the burning flames in his eyes represent. Arthas went through the motions of serving the Light because it was his duty, but he made it evident on a number of occasions that he was always cold-hearted and proud. There has never been anything to suggest that Bolvar was not a paragon of humility and compassion (perhaps because he just wasn’t that important of a character before now), including his final act of sacrifice. He’s a burning bush and Jesus allusion combined into one noble sufferer- and I think that his holiness and perpetual purificiation will be what allows him to serve as the Jailor of the Damned, and resist the temptation to bring about yet another attempt at unholy dominion over Azeroth. Because check this out:
The Lich King says: The breaking of this one has been taxing. The atrocities that I have committed upon his soul. He has resisted for so long, but he will bow down before his king soon. Highlord Bolvar Fordragon says: NEVER! I... I will never... serve... you. The Lich King says: In the end you will all serve me.
Ironically, Bolvar ascended to the Frozen Throne by fighting the Scourge like Arthas did. And yet there is double irony: Arthas proved Bolvar was the perfect candidate for King by trying to make him his minion. Bitter and evil as Arthas was, he completely failed to corrupt Bolvar, despite doing his damnedest. That’s a good sign. The Real Question
But is Bolvar up to the task? Frostmourne has been destroyed. If you’ve forgotten (and I don’t see how you could have), it was forged along with the rest of the Helm of Domination and the Plate of the Damned by the Nathrezim for the purpose of creating and controlling the Scourge. Frostmourne was a powerful and integral part of that, and when Ashbringer destroyed Frostmourne, the Lich King was severely weakened. It’s like losing a set bonus. Seems important that they stay together. Can we assume that the new Lich King will have the same amount of control over the Scourge that the old ones did? That is not clear to me. The first Lich King, Ner’zhul, was not immune to losing control; that’s how we got the Forsaken. So it will be interesting see how well he can do from the Frozen Throne. Does he have the strength of will to make up for Frostmourne’s absence? Does anybody?
Speaking of strength of will, and the Forsaken, what will happen if he does lose control? The spirits of Terenas and Uther the Lightbringer suggest that this is a bad thing. But is it necessarily? I personally have the feeling that mindless Scourge would spend so much time aimlessly making trouble they’d be fairly easy to contain, though the more sentient and purely evil members, perhaps not. And when Ner’zhul lost control, some of the mindless regained their free will, and it freed Sylvanas, who is pretty hawt for a dead elf chick. We also know that the Val’kyr actually join the Forsaken after Arthas dies. Uther and Terenas were stuck inside Frostmourne for much longer than I was, so they would know better, but really last time it wasn’t all bad. Those who aren’t Forskaen, including Bolvar, might think differently. But might Bolvar also purposely release control over some of the Scourge, if he believes they would regain their will and do something good? Or might he lead the unholy legion of the Scourge to some cause of righteousness?
Only time will tell how this Jailor of the Damned thing will play out. We can be sure from the ominous ending of the final cinematic that we haven’t seen the last of Bolvar, and the devs have confirmed we haven’t even seen the last of Ner’zhul yet. They are saying that’s going to be a good one. But I’m excited: A tortured Jesus figure charged with keeping an unholy undead army in check with the use of demonic armor and magic? There’s no way this won’t be good.
I don't have a beta key, but I read obsessively about Cataclysm to know that, at least at this point, Garrosh is not well-liked. Let me preface everything I am saying by saying that I spend far and away more time as a Horde mage than I do as an Alliance anything, and I'm also an Ambassador to the Horde, so I like to think I know a little something about Horde politics. Or at least, my character does. I as a player spend a lot of time pondering over it, in any case. To tell the truth, as things stand now, I don't particularly like him myself. Generally, from now on, when I say "I", I mean "Luqa, the Blood Elf."
Of Blood and Honor.
Let's talk about the old Warchief. Thrall is not without his criticisms, but I've always had a great admiration for him. If you've read Lord of the Clans, you know what rags-to-riches story he is. Thrall was pretty much the lowest of the low. He grew up as a slave gladiator in the orcish internment camps following the Second War, treated like shit, and thinking that he deserved it. I didn't even realize this until I read the book that thrall is actually a synonym in English for slave (vocabulary expansion win; I thought it was just some made up name like every one else in every fantasy name ever). Thrall, with the help of others, reconnected to his orcish heritage then liberated and united a broken people, who were already fugitives from a shattered world. Then, he took them across the Great Sea and forged an entirely new home for them, while garnering allies in the Sin'dorei, the Forsaken, the Tauren, and the Darkspear Trolls, all the while leading the New Horde to defend Azeroth from some of its recent threats. That's not such a bad resume. Also, he basically goes around calling himself "Slave". How fucking badass is that?
What I respect most about him was insistence that the New Horde not be the Old Horde, that they were not the blindly warlike and bloodraging beasts of some decades ago (although its arguable whether they were really that, if you ask me). The Alliance was not some great foe that needed to be cleaved and smashed at every opportunity, nor was anyone else. Sometimes you have to work with them, like with Jaina, or the War of the Shifting Sands, or the reinvasion of the Draenor. And how could anyone with a brain judge otherwise? Azeroth is a tough place to live. Someone's always trying to enslave you, corrupt you, or just plain murder the shit out of you. You can't go around destroying and raping and pillaging constantly. Thrall is a smart guy, and each of the Horde races has enough problems without going off and creating new ones for their own sake.
Garrosh Whoscream? Now look at Garrosh. He's warmongering, bloodthirsty, hot-tempered, and brash. He was appointed the Overlord of the Warsong Offensive (at the end of Wrath of the Lich King). And how did he get there? Well, first he was chieftain of the dwindling, ailing Warsong clan, in Nagrand, and he reconnected with their now Azerothian counterparts through Thrall. Thrall brought him back as a personal advisor for no clear practical reason of which I am aware. Then, he has the nerve to give Thrall lip about how he intends to handle the Scourge threat, which leads to an out-and-out duel, rudely interrupted by the Scourge attack on Orgrimmar. Then he appoints him the Overlord. Like, of the Warsong Offensive. To defeat the Scourge. As in, the single greatest threat to Azeroth remaining as far as they know.
So this guy, Garrosh, he comes out of nowhere and rocketed straight to the top of New Horde leadership, talking all this shit about who everyone should be and what everyone is doing, and meanwhile he is probably the least experienced warrior and leader of nearly all of his new peers. Where do you get your stones, buddy?
Actually, I can see where his stones are coming from. He thought that he was the last of a dying breed of worthless, dishonorable curs, and that we next in line to shame his family. His father was, after all, Grom Hellscream, the first to drink the blood of Manneroth. But then he learned, through my (or any player's) help, that actually not Grom had been the one to finally kill Mannoroth and free the orcs from their corruption. He went from depressed wretch to a newly empowered alpha male foaming at the mouth pack leader type. It's got to feel great to realize that you are worth something, and now he wants to do something with himself.
Broken Front, Broken Leaders
From what I've seen in Wrath of the Lich King, he is a strong leader, but not a particularly wise one. There is the famous conversation in Warsong Hold at the opening of Wrath of the Lich King, where Garrosh is talking a big game, how they should be killing the Scourge and the Alliance, and he oversteps his bounds, and Saurfang has to take him down a peg. He insists on making war with the Alliance, turning Northrend into the theater for a two-front campaign. He is openly insulting to Varian and even neutral people like Tirion, and disdainful of any attempts to do things other than his way. And look at who the people are he puts in power. Conqueror Krenna, who completely abandons the war against the Scourge in favor of mucking about with the Alliance, so much so that I (or you) had to actually depose her and put her far more sensible sister in power. Korm Blackscar, who commands the Orgrim's Hammer, is clearly more interested in fighting the Alliance than the actual Scourge based on the dailies he gives.
The Broken Front in Icecrown is a quintessential example. In front of Mord'rethar: The Death Gate, the Horde waited til the Alliance were engaging the Scourge and the Hored attacked from behind, pretty much ensuring that the only people not defeated there were the Scourge. Now Garrosh did not directly order nor know about this, and neither did Korm, but Thrall would have been furious, and would never allow such a supremely stupid and brash attack. Under Garrosh, we have so much leadership that just refuses to acknowledges what's at stake for their own personal vendettas and desire to make war. This culminates in the Gunship battle in Icecrown itself. It just never stops with these people does it?
What Garrosh Doesn't Get
I was pretty annoyed by this. And I was thinking, do I really want Garrosh as my warchief? Until last night, when I remembered that I read somewhere (unfortunately I cannot remember where, I've been scouring the internets all day for the long forgotten URL) that Garrosh doesn't really understand what Azeroth is about. I didn't really understand that statement at the time, but then I started thinking about the politics of the Horde, and who its constituent races are. You've got the Orcs, who are essentially a bunch of refugees that have undergone some serious breaks with their heritage in the past few decades, and are trying to carve out a new home for themselves against the wishes of many of the other peoples of Azeroth. You've got the Forsaken, who are just as abhorred as their former peers the Scourge, and, some might argue, rightly so. They are quite proactive about it, but they really just want to have a place for themselves, too. The same goes for the Darkspears, outcasts from their home, and just recently able to take it back. Then there are the Tauren, who share their shamanistic connection with the land and tribal society with the orcs and trolls, but not much else. Finally, you have the Blood Elves, whose ancestors were in the Alliance, another outcast people who has turned toward the dark side in order to ensure their survival and and find a place for themselves.
The Horde is really an alliance of convenience between peoples who need allies to survive, between peoples who do not necessarily want to conquer Azeroth for themselves so much as find some way to live in it. Garrosh does not understand this. He knows only of the deeds of the Orcish Horde, and even of that, he knows very little. So he goes for what is easy to understand: Blood and Thunder.
The silver lining to this for me is twofold. One, you've got King Wrynn on the other side running the Alliance who is just as hot-tempered and brash (mutual foils, anyone?). He wants to go on the offensive against the Horde, and he's going to be doing it. It's going to be good to have a Warchief who is game for this. The best defense is a good offense, as they say. And I think the Horde is a faction that, culturally, and societally, is quite disparate and pulling in different directions- especially the Forsaken who are always trying to do their own thing. A strong leader in time when the Horde is under threat will be invaluable for demanding unity and direction at a time when it is most necessary. I also think that he can spend some time here and learn about the people of Azeroth, even though he has not shown much interest in that.
And now there is no supposed enemy that he has to begrudgingly ally with, except for maybe, as he sees it, the Forsaken. But still, I worry about Garrosh's judgment. It says in the Art of War, if your enemy has a choleric temper, inflame him. Garrosh is quite strong, but its clear what his weaknesses are. By all means, I'm willing to get behind him in a fight where the enemies are clear, and the decisions are black and white. But experience tells me that things in Cataclysm will not be that way, and in general they rarely are, so that's not the measure of a truly good Warchief.
The best Warchief, like Thrall, excels when the situation is the opposite.
