Warcraft Retrospective 35: Code Charm: Sylvanas of the Rebellion

The Frozen Throne redesigned all faction themes to be more upbeat and more suggestive of action, but whereas it’s very obviously the case with the human, night elf, and orc faction themes¹, it’s less so with the undead one. There are more war drums compared to the original one, but overall it’s still sticking with the feel of the previous undead theme: slow, spooky, and eerie.

As for the campaign, we’re going to take a one-mission break from Sylvanas’s plotline and once again focus on Arthas.

Warcraft Retrospective 34: Something is Rotten in the Ruins of Lordaeron

And so, Illidan, Kael’thas, and Vashj are preparing to storm Icecrown Glacier and destroy the Frozen Throne, and with it, the Lich King. Of course, the Scourge is hardly going to sit idle while an enemy strikes at their leader, and we’re about to find out what they’ve been up to since we last saw them.

Warcraft Retrospective 33: Somehow, Draenor Returned

Last time, we left Kael, Vashj, and their blood elves and naga as they leapt into a portal to the unknown. Now, on the other side, they behold…

Warcraft Retrospective 32: Ah Yes, the “Alliance” Campaign

As we saw last time, much of the expansion night elf campaign, especially the second half, might as well not have existed. Sure, it introduced Maiev, a now-iconic character, and the Broken Isles, which later became the setting of a well-liked expansion (albeit in a heavily retconned form), but most of the events of this campaign specifically are never mentioned again in later Warcraft lore.

The events of the next campaign, however, became very important and foundational to Warcraft lore as we know it now.

Warcraft Retrospective 31: Paved With Good Intentions

Before we proceed to the second half of the Terror of the Tides campaign, I should mention that Illidan gives me heavy Fëanor vibes.

One of the most skilled elves ever, whose pride and arrogance led to his downfall; thinking he alone could save the world, even if it’s to be accomplished through mass murder, betrayal, and by defying the will of everyone else, even the gods, because clearly they don’t have what it takes and don’t know what they’re doing. In fact, to hell with them and their “help”; they’d only be a burden. In fact, let’s not share one’s plans with anyone else and burn the ships to ensure nobody can follow.

And of course, both Fëanor and Illidan have massive fandoms insisting they have done nothing wrong.

Chaos Archives Feature Update: Dawntrail Edition

Over the past month, there have been a few smaller-scope Chaos Archives updates, mostly regarding images. Here they are.

Warcraft Retrospective 30: Inspector Maievert

Before we move on to The Frozen Throne, I should point something out: World of Warcraft was already long in development by the time the original Warcraft 3 shipped. The book The World of Warcraft Diary: A Journal of Computer Game Development, by Johnathan Staats, helped me appreciate just how far into development it was. Warcraft 3 and WoW were developed in parallel, and they piggybacked off each other’s worldbuilding. This might explain, somewhat, why there are some inconsistencies between them, both factual and thematic: the Warcraft 3 story went through a number of iterations, which were costly to change by the time WoW shipped.

Warcraft Retrospective 29: Interlude: The Value of Mystery

Let’s catch a break from the fast-paced storytelling of Reign of Chaos, take a step back, and look at the big picture.

This story is not particularly novel or groundbreaking, not even by video game standards. If we judged games solely by the quality of writing and depth of characterization, I could easily name some games even from the same year that beat this game fair and square. Where Warcraft 3 excelled was presentation, and that was made this story and these characters so memorable and evocative.

Warcraft Retrospective 28: All In

Previously on Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos…

Bravely bold Tyrande rode forth from Ashenvale.
She was not afraid to die, o brave Tyrande!
She was not at all afraid of the humans and the orcs,
Brave, brave, brave, brave Tyrande!

Warcraft Retrospective 27: Beneath the Stars of Ever-Eve

And so we get to the final campaign of Reign of Chaos: the night elf one. And… oh boy, it’s going to be awkward for me to talk about it.

It’s no secret that I like night elves. This website is, after all, named after a night elf roleplay character of mine. It’s furthermore no secret that I like elves as a fantasy concept. It might, however, surprise people who know me as the Argent Dawn realm forum’s resident elf-lover that I’m really not that fond of the elf concept in general, except for two races in all of fantasy that I know of.