Forsaken: Forgive and Forget

I don't know how the story goes once Cataclysm comes out. As I have said, I don't have key to the beta. That's probably a good thing. You know. For my life and stuff.

But what if I was dead and stuff? I'd love Sylvanas even more than I already do. Probably the hawttest dead chick around, these days. Also, good with a bow. But I've heard and read, and I'm sure its the same for all you other people without beta keys, little tidbits of the kind of stuff we can expect story wise in Cataclysm, and one of those most tantalizing bits is not only interfaction conflict but some delicious intrafaction conflict.

After this, if you haven't played through a lot of Wrath of the Lich King, it is SAFE: Spoilers Are Fucking Everywhere.

Apparently, Garrosh Hellscream, the new Warchief, doesn't get along with Sylvanas all that well. Something about a Val'kyr, some name-calling or something. I don't know. It's easy to see how they wouldn't, even without knowing the exact events that go down. There is the fact that Garrosh is a pretty bull-headed jerk and he didn't even drink the Blood of Mannoroth. Sylvanas is an independent type of woman, sort of the Beyonce of incidentally-necrophilia-related-fantasy-inducing ranger elves. Strong enough to flip off the first Lich King and claim some of his kingdom as her own, and then go toe-to-toe with the second one. There is also the fact that nobody really likes the Forsaken in the first place, unholy by-products of demonic machinations they are. They smell pretty awful as well. Yep. That's pretty much it.

What?

Omg, I knew you were going to bring this up. Yes, I know, then there was that whole Wrathgate thing. Again with this? Fine. So the Forsaken betrayed the Alliance and the Horde at a pivotal moment, nay, the very inception of their siege on Icecrown, destroying the Scourge and the living alike with their New Plague which they'd been clandestinely developing for years to unleash vengeance on an unsuspecting world, whether the victims actually perpetrated it or not. Big deal. How long are you going to keep throwing that in their faces? Bolvar didn't actually die, you know. And most of the people there ran away screaming, not dead, so....yeah. No big deal.

Playing Dumb

Yeah, its tough to get over that. But I, and my character, a blood elf mage, actually do believe that Sylvanas and the Forsaken as a whole had no intention of betraying the Kor'kron and the 7th Legion at the Wrathgate.

Why do I believe that? Well, notice what I said. I didn't say Sylvanas did not know the New Plague was being developed. I didn't say that she did not know that its purpose was to lay waste to the Scourge and to the living alike. I didn't say that Sylvanas and the Forsaken had no intention of betraying their allies in this war. I didn't say that they had no intention of eradicating or enslaving every other race and lording over Azeroth.

As far as the statements of the last paragraph are concerned, its almost impossible to play as Horde through any set of Forsaken given or related quests and not run into the development of the New Plague. Remember a Forsaken telling you to test the latest formulas of something or other on unsuspecting mobs or prisoners? Remember some Apothecary telling you gather worm bladders, or some shit, giving you something to take to some other Apothecary? The "New Plague" article on Wowwiki linked above lists fully 7 quest chains which make some direct reference to the development of a new plague. And you help test it on the living at least as often as the undead. Doing nearly anything for the Hand of Vengeance in Howling Fjord and especially Dragonblight means you were directly involved in the finalization and perfection of the New Plague's formula. As far as we Horde players go, who among us can really claim ignorance? Check out this quest text:

Executor Dahlia, The Battle of Hillsbrad:

"I am under direct command of Varimathras. We are to quell
the human infestation until our apothecaries can develop the
new plague."

"Quelling the human infestation"? The people you kill in this quest are not Scourge, nor are they even Scarlet Crusade. They're just some humans. Also, that Varimathras is the Varimathras who was working with Putress.

Apothecary Renferrel, A Recipe for Death:

"Arthas's numbers are overwhelming. But with a New Plague we could eradicate both the Scourge Army and the Human infestation once and for all."

Again with this "Human infestation," which he goes so far as to distinguish from the Scourge.

Apothecary Lydon, Elixir of Pain:

"I look out my grimy window and long for the day when our New Plague brings this world the death it deserves."

The New Plague is not just to kill the Scourge. It's to bring death to "this world". As in, Azeroth.

Apothecary Renferrel, Journey to Hillsbrad Foothills:

"The Royal Apothecary Society is under extreme pressure from the Dark Lady to develop a New Plague."

And here is evidence that it goes all the way to the top, to the Dark Lady herself. If you've read Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, there is a scene where you can see that she directly oversees the Royal Apothecary Society's activities when they test it successfully on the living.

Keep in mind, this is several years before Wrath of the Lich King even started. You might argue that all these references the NPCs make might be only in reference to the coming Scourge War in Northrend, and the Humans which are encroaching upon what the Forsaken believe are their lands, or the Scarlet Crusade. That's quite an equivocal statement, fit for the Azeroth United Nations World Summit. Anyone who has dealt with the Forsaken for anything more than one or two quests at a time knew about the Plague, and what they intended to do with it. If Putress was treacherous, it was only because the rest of us were complacent, or didn't read the quests (which you did, right?) Give me a break. We all knew.

Pointing Fingers, Dead Puppies

And are you really going to tell me that you and I, some random Horde adventurers, knew about the plans of the Forsaken to rain death over Azeroth with the New Plague and Sylvanas didn't? Come on. Clearly she was biding her time, waiting for the right moment to pounce and take Azeroth, or at least a very large portion of it for herself. No one has ever denied that the Forsaken have always been looking out for #1. It's just that Putress and Varimathras jumped the gun on her. What Sylvanas is trying to do, when she claims innocence in all this, is make puppy dog eyes at the rest of the Horde.

Note that when you deliver Saurfang's armor to his father after the Wrathgate, Sylvanas is found kneeling in front of Thrall. Does Sylvanas seem like the type to kneel in front of anyone? Seems a bit obsequious for her. And notice what she says to Thrall as she has fled to Orgrimmar from the coup,

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner says: Lady Proudmoore, the Warchief
speaks the truth. This subterfuge was set in motion by Varimathras and Grand Apothecary Putress. It was not the Horde's doing.

See? It was their fault, not hers. Really, she has been digging her own grave the whole time (see what I did there?).

But so were the rest of us. If Varimathras and Putress were treacherous, then the rest of us, including the other Forsaken, were complacent. So that if you think of the Wrathgate as the precipitating cause for the coming hot war with the Alliance (as opposed to the previous cold one), none of us can really point fingers. My character, Ambassador Luqa stands up at the Azeroth United Nations and uses some expert doublespeak here: No one can blame anyone because we are all guilty.

The complacent culpability of the Horde is evidenced by the internal Horde political response, which was predictably too-little-too-late. Instead of the abominations guarding the city, there are now Kor'kron Overseers. Of course, this was after they've won the battle and the rebellion put down, when there is a relatively small chance of more Forsaken starting shit after the decisive victories in the Battle for the Undercity.

You might argue that Sylvanas could have been in on the Wrathgate plan and some kind of dispute broke out beforehand which resulted in Putress and Varimathras betraying her. I'm not sure I believe that. One the one hand, it doesn't seem like such a brilliant military tactician as herself would choose the beginning of the siege on Icecrown to pull the rug out from under it, and Sylvanas might be tricky to deal with, but she is pragmatic if nothing else. On the other hand, she did try to solo the Lich King in the Halls of Reflection. Still though. Trying to figure out how to point the finger at her, or the Forsaken, is pointless. It was either all of our failure or it was none of ours.

Let Bygones Be Bygones

In a sense, playing as a member of the Horde, and as a Blood Elf in particular, I have to believe this. It is a very convenient way of thinking about things for a few reasons. Let me speak in character for a minute here.

First of all, in a twisted sort of way, it's actually good that the Wrathgate happened the way that it did. If Sylvanas really cannot be trusted, then we all got lucky at the Wrathgate (except those who died). The lesser traitors were exposed and elminated before they did something that could really have broken the combined war effort against the Scourge, even though they came damn close. More importantly, Sylvanas was beat to the punch; to save her own ass, now, she has to get in line.

To put it back in terms of the coming war, King Wrynn and the Alliance, they don't place the blame on the Forsaken or Sylvanas, either. They place it on the Horde as a whole. That's with them only having a hint at what we were confronted with repeatedly. So what good does it do us? It will only fracture and divide us at a time when we need to unite and put our collective boot snugly up the Alliance's haughty, self-important ass.

Like it or not, the Forsaken are an indispensible military ally. No one can say Sylvanas doesn't know what's what when it comes to the battlefield, and her people who weren't killed in the rebellion are fanatically loyal to her. They advanced through southern Northrend all the way to Venomspite on their own, fueled pretty much by pure hatred. The Undercity and its surrounding territory is a key vanguard and stronghold for the Horde on the Eastern Kingdoms. They have held their own against the rest of the Alliance and the Scarlet Crusade and the Scourge since they took Lordaeron City from the Scourge. With the Scourge threat largely neutralized, they're only going to get stronger.

And as a Sin'dorei, there is a strong cultural and political tie as well. It isn't just the "enemy of my enemy" thing. Forsaken aid at Tranquilien in the Ghostlands was key to helping us defend ourselves from the Scourge, the Amani, and to integrate ourselves into the Horde. We should not forget that. With the Undercity sitting south of Silvermoon, they are a buffer between the elves and the humans, dwarves, and gnomes that haven't had the cojones to try to step to them yet.

The rest of the Horde, surely we can identify with them being an outcast, demonized, suffering and/or severely threatened people. Maybe we can't all get along, but we can at least get where they're coming from. The Forsaken may not be the nicest looking, or smelling, or nicest in general, but they are useful.

Oh, Sylvanas. What Will We Do With You?

Here is the dilemma, though. It's clear that the Forsaken cannot be completely trusted, yet it is also clear that we cannot leave them to our own devices. We'd lose a key ally first, and second, we risk adding another faction to the list of Horde enemies. A strong one, at that. We should not forget how important they are and have been, or they will not see the need to remain our allies. Yet we can't make it clear to them that we need them that badly, or they will not see they should follow the agenda of the Horde. They are a double-edged sword, and a cumbersome one to wield at that. Garrosh could be the best Warchief to walk that tightrope. He doesn't take shit off nobody, except for maybe Saurfang. Yet he may desire total victory enough to admit that he needs Sylvanas.

Or he could be the worst. Many people are as distrustful of the foaming-at-the-mouth new Warchief as they are the calculating, cold-on-the-inside-and-outside Sylvanas. We might see two camps within the Horde rising. Especially because it will be interesting to see how the Sin'dorei-Forsaken alliance plays out in the future, particularly because of the geographical split with Silvermoon and the Undercity on the east of the Great Sea, and Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and the Echo Isles on the west.

It will be interesting, to say the least. I don't know what will happen, cause I still don't have a beta key. All I can say, is that once Cataclysm drops, shit is going down, and not just geologically.

Bolvar Fordragon, We Hardly Knew Ye

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?

Well, yes.

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.