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Absolutely. The Alliance part was cool and all, but it came across as a little anticlimactic after the Horde rally. If the sequences were reversed then it would have felt more epic.
@@laugh8574 it's been a minute since I played Warcraft 3. I was just commenting there was a reason for the "haunting" scream. I remembered seeing this cinematic when it dropped and thinking it was cool they incorporated that part of her character.
OK, quick lore explanation to clarify characters. Basically, World of Warcraft has 2 factions, Horde and Alliance. Horde is composed of honorable Orcs (like Saurfang - "Old Soldier"), Trolls (3 fingered slim blue guys), Tauren (Ox-like minotaur bull-guys), Blood elves and Undead (Sylvanas the Banshee Queen, witch gal). Horde is traditionally led by orc Warchiefs but last warchief has named Sylvanas as the Warchief upon dying. Alliance is the Anduin's faction, composed of Humans, Dwarfs, Gnomes, Night Elves, Worgen (Werewolves), etc. They were led by Anduin's father but he died a few years before this cinematic and left Anduin as the King. Anduin is actually a Priest, servent of the Holy Light. For some reason, when Sylvanas became the warchief, she began to act violent and burned down the great tree of Night Elves. (We saw the scene briefly in Old Soldier, Saurfang has confronted Sylvanas and said "there's no honor in this".) So there's an internal struggle within the Horde about the motivation of Sylvanas. Though she leads this battle as the Warchief, many Horde members are questioning her leadership. This expansion is going over this story.
plate armor and a big sword does not always make a paladin. But to try to clarify why he looks like a one instead of a priest, Anduin is not only the King of the human kingdom of Stormwind, he's the High King of the entire Alliance faction, which would make him basically the highest priority target for the opposing faction, not exactly someone you want on the front lines in a robe, hence the plate armor. As for the sword, it belonged to his father (a great king and a powerful warrior). Not only would it have a personal importance to him, but also represents (and serves as a reminder of) his duty/responsibility as leader of the Alliance as well as of his father's legacy that he's trying to live up to.
To add: Anduin's part is very symbolic with him trying to live up to his dad's warrior standards, but he is a priest. When they start losing the battle, he looks at his father's sword and throws it down to show he's deciding to be true to himself and not trying to live in his father's shadow anymore.
@@lilithamberle6470 Absolutely. Also, the devs already pointed out Anduin is a hero character who combines factors the player characters never can due to the limits of the game. Lots of the big npc's do odd but epic stuff like that. Thrall, baddest enhance shammy of his generation, literally fought with us through Cataclysm and Pandaria in a linen cardigan! :D
When Anduin is introduced sword first, hidden behind shiny armour, it carries subtle story elements too. Anduin is a priest, an instinctive diplomat, thoughtful and compassionate, a peacemaker at heart, but he succeeded to the throne quite young after his larger-than-life, widely beloved warrior father died making the ultimate heroic sacrifice for his people. He enters his new role as king grief stricken, still somewhat naive and unsure of his ability to fill the huge boots of his charismatic hero father. Here he is introduced wielding his father's sword in shiny plate armour, his own face hidden inside it, at the forefront of the combat, and quickly involved in the melee. He is committed to that role, determined to be who he thinks he is supposed to be. But the fight ultimately pushes him to drop his inherited warrior's sword (at least for a moment) and reach deeper inside for something more authentically his own. As gamer-observers who have watched him slowly growing up as something of a foil to his battle hardened father-king through several game expacs, this is the first moment we see him stepping into leadership in his OWN way, using his priestly abilities to steady and bolster his people before leading them back into battle. Even as a Horde player I always find that subtle shift in him quite moving in this cinematic.
The last badass moment that made us feel like Sylvanas was worthy of Warchief. Before she.. poisoned her own troops to kill the enemy.. turned against her most trusted advisors.. and straight up started tearing the horde up from the inside.. You don't see those in cinematics, but in-game cinematics. And Anduin... Always wanting to live up to his father, Varian. I've come to love him, great character development. That scene.. That's the light he referred to. The light that he claims, failed us, because he failed us.. What he used, was mass resurrection. Yes, he just brought an ENTIRE army back to life.
it was a mass ressurection-spell Anduin casted. (or mass heal) anyway. in the war within he said "im not that person anymore... i have no light..". Well he defenetly had it here :D
Hi, just gonna give a short story about the sword drop moment, it's powerful narrative for those who know. Anduin's father Varian was a great warrior and tried to make Anduin one too, however Anduin was always more gentle, leaning towards priesthood (servant of light). After Varian's death, Anduin took up his sword and mantle and tried to lead the Alliance but he wasn't natural-born leader like his father. What the dropping of the sword symbolises (to me) is Anduin letting go of the burden of trying to be his father and instead being who he is.
Thanks for bringing that up! I was going to post the significance of the first appearance of the sword (just before the Genn Greymane reveal) which lets us know who is standing there.
I think the reveal of the sword is the most underappreciated and easily missed part of this cinematic. I could be wrong but as a Horde only player, I think it's the first time we see it since Varian's death. A quick couple of tidbits on the sword then; Most of the main characters in wow have named Weapons. This one is called Shalamayne, and is actually two separate blades called Shalla'tor and Ellemayne which were magically fused in the lore. It is said to be forged by Valor and Honor, the later being possibly more critical if you watch all the BFA cinematics. Interestingly enough it can be split back into two to be dual wielded. I don't think there is any hard lore on this, but it appears you may need to be worthy of the sword to use its full potential. True valor and honor are rare and even more so for 1 faction... IYKYK. I think it takes a while for the glow to reappear once Anduin takes possession.
@@puggzz988 Excellent work on explaining Shalamayne. If i could add just a tid bit of info. Anduin's father is King Varian. When he Varian was split into two separate people by Onyxia, Jaina gave them each one a blade, Shalla'tor and Ellemayne. While fighting Onyxia she accidentally fused Varian back into one, being and as they were holding the swords they got fused as well. I believe True Valor and Honor splits them.
I was shocked that he was shot by arrows, I was like nah, can't be but I eventually figured it, out I just didn't say it out loud. Thank you for watching!!
@@kaizammit - Varok being shot by 3 arrows is also a jab at "Old Soldier" movie, where he does the remark "Claiming what is mine!", as he's been seeking death in battle. However it always eludes him, which haunts him after losing his son.
@@Sanzor1984it's also a nod to the burning crusade cinematic where an orc takes 3 arrows in the same place and dies before the Belf priest resurrects him.
Whatever my problems with BFA was, I can't deny that they sure as hell hyped me up with this cinematic. More so than Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. Kudos for the content mate, interesting as always!
The blue guy on the ground and also in the last video is a Troll. Fun fact: The races of Elves (the one speaking in the beginning is Sylvanas Windrunner) and Trolls are related (Elves descended from Trolls through many stages.) Also the wolf (worgen) guy is Genn Greymane (they can transform between a human and worgen). The Orc (from the last video) is Varok Saurfang.
There's a series of these for BFA. It basically completes the story of this fourth war in WoW. If you've seen Old Soldier and this, then you still have to see "Lost Honor", "Safe Haven" and "Reckoning".
In case you will watch the Draenor trailer. The guy in the hood is the son of the war chief, he came from the future to prevent orcs from becoming furious bloodthirsty horde under control of demons.
this to be is the best cinematic blizzard made for creating hype for wow, for an expansion for me, i still get tears when i watch it after she goes "FOR THE HORDE!" and the battle cry is taken up! Lich king is the most beautiful when it comes to the perfect mix of the lore, story forward and the music is the best to date.
Man i have to give you a huge compliment with your breakdowns - especially with this and the one before. Huge Warcraft Fan here so this hits home with me.
35:32 - Lady Sylvanas Windrunner is, at this moment, the Banshee Queen. She was the Ranger-General of Silvermoon before she was killed by Arthas, and she was turned into a Banshee. She reclaimed her body so is sort of a mix of Banshee and Darkfallen (undead elf). She's also, after her return from The Maw after her suicide, something more.
Blizzard cinematics were famous for bringing people back to their game. This was actually the last one to rope me in, but the story lost me eventually. I really love these breakdowns of some of my favorite game cinematics, they give me a new perspective on why I loved them so much. Honestly could listen for hours
As bad as the game got and hence why I quit after Legion ( I considered the story "done" by then), I will always come and watch the cinematics because that department will always give 110% effort
I like how hype they are just to fight, it was a pretty serious cinematic but I like how at the end they're all just kinda giddy to brawl like the players
@@kaizammitthere's a little extra there too. This moment is the first real time Anduin has been truly tested as King. As a former General and leader in her own right (having also fought along side his father), its one of those "Alright I see you kid, you've got some teeth" moments. May also be for the fact he's partially playing into her plan, but that's in game cinematic info haha
The shot of Anduin looking down at and dropping his sword works not only by the literal cinematography, but it's also gorgeous storytelling in one shot, granted you know a little bit of wow lore. The sword was his late father's, who was more of a warrior king type of character. He looks up to his father, and he mantles the responsibility as king in the war, but very reluctantly. Deep down he knows he's not like his father. He wants peace for all people, not just for his own. His hand is forced into war. It's why they make him look distraught after putting down the orcs and the troll with his sword (3:52).
funny you should mention you want to watch a movie about this - there is a Warcraft movie it's live action, but with lots of fairly good special effects it tells the backstory of how the orcs ended up coming to Azeroth, thus sparking much of the titular "Warcraft"
It's also not very good if you know the actual lore, because they absolutely butchered it for the film. If you know nothing about Warcraft it's a decent fantasy flick, but it's not REALLY Warcraft :P
@@lordmortarius538 well, i wasn't gonna get into that bit, but yes, it deviates from the original story and also doesn't make much sense but it has an OK story adaptation, good effects and is a great showcase of the continent, at least
@@JM-nothing-moreI agree, but there's also the fact that the first war really didn't have satisfying resolutions. Just a quieting as chess pieces moved. For a singular film and the story they chose to begin with, I think it did surprisingly well. But yes, Garonas backstory is fraught with issues and Llanes death would certainly be harder to do working in more and more of guldans manipulations. Also it really, really doubles down on the abusive elements of that story, which may have been needlessly explicit for general audiences, ya know? A topic I think both blizz and the film makers probably wanted to avoid while simultaneously erasing the possible mention of her and Medivh's non-canonical son :/
This is the Battle of Lordaeron, and it is the second major engagement in the Fourth War between Horde and Alliance. The war started with Sylvanas' unprovoked attack on the Great Tree, Teldrassil, home of the Night Elves. We see the aftermath of that of that in "Old Soldier", and it's what provokes the Alliance to lay siege to Undercity (Lordaeron's capital) here. As an aside, I recommend you watch the Warbringers series, as it (re-)introduces us to several characters who are critical to the story of the _Battle for Azeroth_ expansion. They use a very different art style. Sylvanas is a very naughty lady and has made some dark alliances. What we see in this cinematic is her core Banshee power, since she's undead. What we see from Anduin is his Priest abilities. Specifically, he's casting a mass heal/resurrection spell to bring his allies back into the fight. The cinematic deliberately juxtaposes this light vs. dark motif, which has been prevalent throughout the Warcraft saga. There are some excellent in-game story cutscenes that you may also want to take a look at, but the next full-on cinematic in the series is "Lost Honor".
What we need is a super rich gamer who grew up with these cinematics to hire the original creators to create a full movie that depicts the universe. Especially to get the perspectives of the players of certain big events that the players created in the world. My fiancee played WoW and still to this day tells of stories of her adventures with the Horde.
If only Hurricane would do his treatment. God, his videos are gorgeous renditions of WoW. Blizzard got him to make some videos for the classic expansions. Kai, if you want to see a different art style on wow cinematics, check out Hurricane's account. Highly recommend you start with his Blackwing Lair 2015 video where his unique art style starts to shine (everything before that are raid video compilations of in game footage). Below is his unique take on story videos in order of content released by blizzard. Also by the naxx one, he teases his next video at the end. Sadly, he never made the Sunwell video he teased. Or at least I couldn't find it. UA-cam is weird about links in comments, so I've left them out. 1. Blackwing Lair 2015 2. Ahn'Qiraj 2016 3. Naxxaramas trailer 2017 (not the release one) 4. Black Temple Trailer 2020 5. Journey Trailer | Wrath of the Lich King Classic (Official WoW Channel) 6. Fall of the Lich King Launch Trailer - Justice (WoW Official Channel) 7. Cataclysm Classic Announce Trailer (official WoW Channel)
If you're talking story and lore, you really mainly need Metzen. Of which blizzard still has. Just because some of the og crew have moved on in life doesn't mean they necessarily had a hand in crafting the narrative.
So much to talk about with this cinematic, but the one thing I will point out is the contrast between the two leaders. Both Sylvanas [the dark elf] and Anduin [human king] had their own moments where they spurred on their troops "For the horde!" "For the alliance!" But did you notice? They both did it in different ways that reflect their personality and the perspective of their particular side. Sylvanas rallied her troops with a show of force, spurring them on with violence and fighting and power, whereas Anduin rallied his troops with healing, with restoration, spurring them on with protection of life.
"Why'd they stop it there???" Mate, we've been saying that for years 🤣 They need to hurry up and make a movie in this style. Blizzard's cinematic team are absolutely the best in the industry.
yeess!! it's here! great video as always mate! you're in for a ride with these trailers, this one is epic, but the end of this series always has me in tears. anyway thanks for all the work you put in to create these great videos. And as always it's so interesting to hear you thoughts!
Thank you for watching them, spending my free time making all these videos is sometimes really taxing :S. Reading your comments and hearing you're enjoying them makes that pain not seem so sharp. Thank you. Kai
elf carrecter name is lady silvanas windrunner. and tnx for the videos i really enjoy that. i really got my eyes full of tears when watching the world of warcrafts cinematics comes up.
Just for context: while this cinematic takes place directly after the Old Soldier cinematic, this was actually released several months earlier as this was the teaser cinematic for the expansion.
The woman is named Sylvanas Windrunner. She was the leader of the Horde. She hails from the 2003 Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (base game) and the Frozen Throne expansion. She was killed by Arthas the Lich King in that RTS video game and raised as a undead Banshee. The shadowy smoke you saw when she jumped off the tower-catapult is part of her Banshee powers. However, she allied with the Shadowlands jailor behind-the-scenes and might have granted her some power. We learned this an expansion after Battle for Azeroth. The blue guy on the horde is dubbed Zappy Boy by the community. He is a young troll named Zekhan. He was introduced in Battle for Azeroth. He plays an important role later on as possibly a love-interest to the queen of the Zandalari, helping her join the Horde. Zekhan is heavily featured in the novel World of Warcraft: Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux. The big orc in the cinematic is named Varok Saurfang. He was a beloved character introduced in World of Warcraft many years ago in 2004. He was the one announcing in-game to every player in Orgrimmar that [yourname] has slain Nefarian, son of Deathwing, and placed his head on a pike for everyone to see. Saurfang was brother to Broxigar -- an orc character that debuted in the novel trilogy titled Warcraft: War of the Ancients by Richard A. Knaak. So the cinematic invested a lot into putting big characters in the foreground that players know well, and new characters: Zekhan. The big wolf is actually a human named King Genn Greymane, king of Gilneas. Back in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (2010), the character was introduced into the game along with the Worgen and Goblin playable races. The short story is that ages ago Malfurion exiled a group of night elf druids who succumbed to the rage and bloodlust of their wolf shapeform. The Worgen resurfaced in Gilneas and when they bit humans, the humans were infected with the curse of the worgen, allowing them to transform into wolfmen. Later, an alchemist found a way to pacify their minds to have human control of their actions. Now they can shapeshift into human and back to worgen form at will. King Genn Greymane actually debuted in a 2001 novel titled Warcraft: Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak. So is well known for over 20 years. About Anduin's lion helmet: The lion crest is the symbol of Stormwind, and it has been adopted into the Alliance banner and crest. Anduin's sword Shalamayne is his father's sword. King Varian Wrynn died in World of Warcraft: Legion -- you might have watched the cinematic when he jumps off the airship to prevent a giant felreaver from crashing the airship to the ground. Gul'dan the orc warlock killed Varian, and the sword fell to the ground. The sword was later picked up by Anduin. When Anduin dropped the sword in this cinematic, you can see a flare of light in the sword. Anduin was like, I'm not a warrior like my father. I am a priest of the Light. My people needs Anduin the priest. That bunch of light cascading down was he using his power to heal and resurrect the fallen soldiers. His connection to the Light was great back then. Note: I have been a World of Warcraft player since Beta 2004. Fansite editor/writer. I have read all the novels as well.
14:02 - Strategically, too, it makes sense to keep the Siege Tower oriented so that incoming shots will hit at the 45 at best and glance off. With the positioning of the camera and the Dutch angle you get this lovely shot of The Crest of the Alliance with the Lion Shield of the humans.
27:52 It could work so well not only because of the angle and back lighting, but the gold halo lighting around Aduin's head that similar to the gold flashes erupting above him.
Hey Kai, really enjoyed your breakdown. I've been noticing more and more filmmaking techniques, like: Camera angles, lighting on characters, and as you put it in the video "Voice of God". I could tell with the King in the lion armor and his wolf commander ("power struggle"), that the former was the main protagonist. Like you said, the first shot is of his "holy" sword, which helps sets up for the importance of that character (at least that's my perspective of it, agreeing with your statement). The next angle is the wolf commander speaking to the king. The wolf commander is an important character with him being more center framed in the first shot while he's giving orders, but he's still behind behind the king. When this is happening, the camera is looking up towards the king (the king also looks as if he's slightly looking downward) which helps define his character more. Keep up the great work!
Man this one has always been top notch. Your girl at the start is Sylvanas Windrunner. She became the Banshee Queen after being slain and resurrected by the Lich King Arthas, who you'll remember from the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic, as well as your Warcraft 3 series. Freed from Arthas' control, she became the leader of the other undead who were likewise freed from control. They are known as the Forsaken. Ironically, the city under siege here is Lordaeron, the very same city that would have become Arthas' seat of power and the same city where you see him murder his father Teranas in Warcraft 3. Sylvanas took Lordaeron over, and it has been her stronghold ever since. The Orc is indeed our boy from before. High Overlord Varok Saurfang. He is very important through the story of Battle for Azeroth as you will see moving forward. The "blue orc" is a Troll. His name is Zekhan or, as he is popularly known online, "Zappy Boi." Saurfang is indeed an old soldier, as he drank the blood of Mannoroth, passed through the first Dark Portal, and fought in the first war. His age at this point would be somewhere in the vicinity of 90-100 years old, (Orcs have a bit longer avg. lifespan than humans) and truth be told is likely one of the few remaining orcs that remembers the old clans. Between the Legion cinematic and this point, King Varian Wrynn was killed in battle fighting the demons of the Burning Legion. His son Anduin is now king and his right hand man, Genn Greymane, is a Worgen. Kinda like a werewolf that can transform at will. The former Warchief of the Horde, a troll by the name of Vol'jin, was also mortally wounded during the battle against the Legion. Before he passed, he crowned Sylvanas as Warchief of the Horde. She quickly stirred up war with the Alliance by burning the great tree Teldrassil, the home of the Night Elves. You saw this briefly in the Old Soldier cinematic. Saurfang, as you saw, was less than pleased with her actions. I love your reactions and analyses on this videos. I'm sure your Patreon probably has you all squared away on this, but just in case, next up should be "Lost Honor" followed by "Safe Haven" and then "Reckoning" before moving on to Shadowlands.
Yes that blond boy was Anduin. In this cinematic he's supposed to be around 18 years old. During this battle he saw so many die, and during the Shadowlands Expansion he was mindcontrolled, or rather his body was controlled while his mind was wathcing unable to stop things. He was forced to slaughter, kill, and do unspeakable things by the Jailer (the big antagonist of Shadowlands). Doing this horrified him even more but what really got under his skin was that somewhere he thought he enjoyed it. Anduin has always been a bit of a goody two-shoe, a Holy Priest, blessed by the powers of the Light (usually seen as Divine power even if it's unclear what kind of god or divinity grants the power) and as you can see in this cinematic he can call down the healing powers from the Holy Light to restore his soldiers from the brink of death. Fast forward to The War Within. He's now just shy of 30 years old I think. He's still haunted by what he witnessed, by the people dying in his name and by his order, the people he murdered under the control of the Jailer and how he is still not sure who he is. He's afraid that if he ever calls on the Light he will not be able to wield it. Without the Light and being a just and strong leader, who is he? Just a normal man? So he don't dare to call on it. because as long as he don't he can still think that there is a chance. He will not know that he still can wield it, but he also won't know if it's truly left him. In The War Within, when he tells the orc Thrall that "I've lost my Light" he is not sure, but he believes it to be so. And without it, who is he?
After Anduin yells "stand as one for the Alliance!" We can hear a chorus. They sing in latin : "decideratus fatum, decideratus bellum". We embrace fate, we embrace war. This cinematic is maybe in my opinion (more than 25 years warcraft fan) the most epic one from all the warcraft franchise. I really hope that you will do the other ones with the good time line of the "Battle for Azeroth" cause it's going to be epic and dramatic. And also a big reference to a Ridley Scott movie. I'll wait for it. Thank you for all the informations that you give. We learn a lot :)
Interestingly, even though Old Soldier takes place the night before the battle in this cinematic, this was released first, as it was the announcement trailer for the expansion, and I believe was debuted at BlizzCon. This was the actual first appearance of the young Troll Shaman who squares off with Anduin. The Community also immediately fell in love with him, and he was given the nickname "Zappy Boi" in reference to the lightning bolt he throws.
The first character is Sylvanas Windrunner. She's an undead Blood Elf (Forsaken) Banshee (hence the scream.) She's the head of the Horde right now. She's started a war with the Alliance, setting fire to the world tree the Night Elves lived in, killing a bunch of people. The guy in red from the Old Soldier is Varek Saurfang, the Warlord of the Horde. The worgen (werewolf, does switch into human form too) is King Genn Greymane of Gilneas, who is an advisor to King Anduin Wrynn. Anduin here is about 18 or 19, add about 5 years for the one in the War Within trailer. Genn was a friend of Anduin's father, King Varian Wrynn, who died in the start of Legion. Sylvanas jumps from the tower and screams, the void energy surrounding the fighters (hers and Anduin's both) kills them. Anduin doesn't notice as he's paying attention to what is going on with those coming for him. The "ox" looking guy is KIng Baine Bloodhoof of the Tuaren. Yes, they're cow people, even their women. It's an interesting race, shamans quite often. Once he's knocked down (by Zekhan, the troll from Old Soldier), he notices all of the men he has are down and dying. He stands up, thinks of the power in the sword, and puts it down to grab for the Light. He pulls it down surrounding the fighters, it's a healing and resurrection spell (he's a priest with a lot of paladin training as well). This is a wonderful cinematic. You really need to see Safe Haven next, and then Cinematic: “Reckoning”. It's amazing how they have gotten better and better.
never clicked so fast in my life. Really looking forward to you doing the rest of the cinematics all the way to current. Theyre amazing and I'm enjoying your insights on these! Keep it up! Oh and some background story of why this war broke out. Sylvanas (banshee elf lady) is the leader of the horde and in an attempt to get the edge on an upcoming war, she did a horrible warcrime, killing many innocents and burning the home of the night elves (Teldrassil). War broke out and the alliance is coming for her head. Her burning Teldrassil is mostly condemned by the horde, as can be seen in the Old Soldier cinematic when Saurfang says "theres gonna be no honor today". Cause there was no honor in her actions. The horde is loyal though and still follows her into battle in this cinematic
A couple of points: 1) At 4:07, Anduin is the King of the Alliance, but he was trained as a Priest of the Light, which technically makes him almost a paladin when armored. However, all healers in WoW received a spell in... Warlords? Mists?... called "Mass Resurrection." It's a wipe recovery spell (a wipe is when you give up on a boss fight in a raid so you can reset it and try again). Instead of having to sit there slinging one resurrection after the other, one healer casts Mass Rez and it resurrects the entire raid when not in combat. This was the first time that it was shown in a cinematic, and because Anduin is a healer class as either a paladin or a priest, he casts mass resurrection. There is also a very lore-significant reason that he throws down the sword, as it was his father Varian's sword, Shalamayne, which are two high elven swords (Shalla'tor and Ellemayne) that were magically fused together. It can be used as either a single handed sword, to split into two swords for dual wielding. Anduin, however, by his priest training and learning statecraft and such while his father was the warrior archetype, is much more a pacifist, a diplomat, and someone that wants to inspire through the Light and its teachings, not by winning wars. So when he absolutely craters the Troll that was attacking him after infusing the sword with the Light in the way a paladin does (an armored warrior priest, essentially), he realized that he was severely outnumbered and that he didn't have the martial skill to win, which is why to this day, he is still a priest first and then a King, working hand in hand. When he looks into the light of the sword, it's the same as when he found the sword in the Legion expansion, and his fathers' words to his question of "What do I do now?" Varian, his father, replies with "What a King must do." So, when he throws down the sword, he is centering himself in the Light, because what a King must do is inspire his troops and shore up his lines, and at the moment, with all of his best troops and advisors around him, he knows he needs to heal them. So, he finds his priestly connection to the light and calls down a dome of pure light magic, healing everything within it. It's a few seconds in a cinematic, but the zoom on his face as he's channeling the light shows just how strong his connection with it is, as he is almost in tears from the sheer power and peace it brings him. 2) At 5:06, they stop it there because that is THE Warcraft shot: An armored human facing off against a lunging orc. It was one of the first pieces of art ever shown for the then-new Warcraft IP in the mid-1990s, and it's just stuck with it for over a quarter of a century. It is literally the shot that the entire franchise is based off of, so it's just fitting to end it there.
That smile Sylvanas gives when Anduin heals his allies is actually so meaningful once you know the continuation of her story. Sylvanas is starting these wars to cause death to feed souls to the Maw.
Yes the orc you're referring to is Varok Saurfang or "Old soldier". In another cinematic Varok Saurfang challenges Sylvanas Windrunner to Mak’gora and there is where she refers to him as Old Soldier.
1: The other reason the forest is desaturated is that it's all pines. 2: Yes, that is the character from Old Soldier; his name is Saurfang. 3: Sylvanas, the elf archer, actually has glowing eyes. She's the leader of a faction of undead and is technically a ghost possessing her own dead body. 4. Plate armour dude is named Anduin Wrynn, yes like the river in LotR. Despite the plate he's a priest of the Light. 5. The guy with the lava burst is the troll from Old Soldier, name of Zekhan. The one Anduin fights is a different guy, though it's hard to tell.
Yes! Love the reactions and breakdowns of WoW cinematics, the Blizzard cinematic team is incredible. Hope to see you reacting to more WoW cinematics in the future, thanks for the videos, all the best - Rasmus 😊
Huzzah, another step on the journey! Thanks for your analysis again, Kai. As always, your fresh impression and your superior expertise in the craft of visual storytelling peel back another layer of this story we love. Like you said, there’s a lot happening here - a lot of visual references for the old fans, a lot of things you recognized from _The War Within_ trailer and _Old Soldier_. But I’ll post a big old comment pointing at some of the other stuff, just because. You’re right, that is the ‘old soldier’ Varok Saurfang again, immediately after the last cinematic. He (and the young troll Zekhan, whom players sometimes call Zappy Boi) are facing the battle with honor after the brush with despair. You can see Saurfang still only has his armor half donned, the gorget dangling open, only one pauldron on. But he’s just there for us to recognize and remember, while the poles of the struggle are Anduin and Sylvanas. Sylvanas Windrunner, the elf with the eyebrows, told you all you really need to know with the visuals you described. She’s a disquieting blend of warrior nobility and troubling darkness - darkness that has been teased since _Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne_ (2003) but not torn open for us until this expansion fifteen years later, and more so in the next one. Once a ranger-general of the elven people, she was cut down and spitefully raised as a banshee by the Lich King until she managed to break free of his power, retrieve her own body and somehow incorporate it into her banshee nature, and found new purpose as leader and protector of the Forsaken. The Forsaken are for lack of better term, intelligent zombies. They are mostly the inhabitants of Lordaeron whose capital is under siege in this cinematic, betrayed by the Lich King and raised as the living dead only to break from control and try to find some semblance of meaning within the Horde. Sylvanas’s ultimate goal was to get revenge on the Lich King - but the players dragged him down and killed him back in _Wrath of the Lich King_ (2008), and her purpose has been uncertain since. She was a key figure in the expansion before this one banishing forever the demons that have plagued the world of Azeroth for the whole franchise, but after a botched assault got Anduin’s father Varian killed during that war, the Horde and Alliance are at odds again and Sylvanas intends to end that conflict once and for all by any means necessary. Anduin is opposite her here, having freshly inherited the crown of his kingdom after his father’s death and being confronted with exactly the kind of calamitous conflict he spent his youth convincing his father to avoid. Now his father is gone, leaving him with the injunction that sometimes we do not choose our wars, and he must do what a king must do. After Sylvanas burned the great tree that was the sacred home to one of the Alliance’s constituent peoples, he felt he had no choice but to bury his soft, peaceful nature and rise to the occasion. I love the way there’s this soft-faced man, almost a child still, vanished inside an armor shell with the likeness of a lion. It’s not his most natural self, but it’s who he needs to be. He’s more priest than warrior, and we see him reach for divine assistance when his confidence in filling the role of warrior-king flags. The other two minor poles of the cinematic are Saurfang whom you know (and we’ll see more of in other cinematics) and King Genn Greymane, the wolfy fella you liked. Genn’s a great character too, but we won’t see him again in the big cinematics because there just isn’t space for him. In brief, he’s the king of a now ruined kingdom called Gilneas, composed of humans and worgen (werewolves). Sylvanas destroyed that kingdom during previous expansions, under orders of the Horde Warcheif of that time. She drove the Gilneans out and in the process killed Genn's son, whom Genn had become isolationist and short-sighted trying to protect. When Anduin’s father died, he came into focus in Anduin’s circle - a father without a son, a son without a father. Strictly speaking he’s Anduin’s peer now by virtue of being a king himself, but he slots into the roll of grandfatherly advisor and seems to prefer it that way. Aside from that, the city itself is worth a mention. This is Capitol, the capital city of Lordaeron, the kingdom around which much of classic Warcraft had revolved. Back in _Warcraft 1: Orcs & Humans_ (1994), the invading demon-fueled orcs sacked and burned their way through the world. They killed Anduin’s grandfather Llane, prompting an exodus from the survivors out of the ruins of Stormwind. The leader of this exodus was the hero Anduin Lothar, for whom Anduin Wrynn would later be named. Lothar led the Stormwind refugees to Lordaeron where the brother-kingdom took them in, rallied the alliance (including Genn’s kingdom, Gilneas), and ultimately won the war in _Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness_ (1996). The day was saved, the refugees returned to Stormwind to rebuild under the young king Varian Wrynn. Now that king, too, is dead. ‘Anduin’ has led Stormwind to the gates of Lordaeron again, but this time the orcs are manning the walls of the ruin that once sheltered the fathers of the soldiers laying siege to it. Alliance players have been desperate for a chance to reclaim the lost city for years - raiding it was a point of pride in game, and as a Human Paladin player, I can’t tell you how bittersweet and vindicating it was to be part of this battle. I’m interested to see if you end up doing the handful of other cinematics in this series, or if you’re going to roll in some of the in-game cutscenes that fill out the blank spaces as well. They have some cinematic juice of their own now, but they’re definitely not the same quality as these. But whichever way you choose to go, I’m sure some windbag in the comments will over-explain everything. Looking forward to the next one!
Thank you for the information! I'll cover the other four I believe to this and then see where the wind takes me. I'm more than happy to cover in-game cutscenes if that's what you guys would like. Thank you for watching and that healthy chapter you've typed here :D.
The "witch" is actually an elf ranger raised into undeath as a Banshee (One of her many titles is "The Banshee Queen") thus the cool ghosty shadow powers you see here.
12:05 - Very apt observation. Genn Greymane is about 73ish and Anduin Wrynn is about 19 or 20 here. Genn's incredibly physically powerful, too. Also Gilneas has been isolated from the Alliance up until the events of the Cataclysm which reshaped their world.
Always a joy to see others enjoy these trailers and to see how you break them down (Especially your jaw drop at 2:50 when she went all banshie queen). I really hope you do the first World of Warcraft cinematic one day, if only to show how they have progressed with their cinematics over the decades. Bit of info/lore for you, the "Bull guy/minotaur" is a Tauren, a rather peaceful lot with native american vibe about them who are part of the Horde (Horde aren't the bad guys). ;)
3:12 - Even with what happens, as a Horde player this moment still gives me chills. There is a Warcraft movie, but it should be consider related not a direct lore ancestor. They change enough of the story that it doesn't fit with the games, but the concessions make sense for translating from one medium to another.
If you are going to keep going with these I highly recommend looking into doing it in the right order so you don't end up with any out of order stuff. That's for the BFA cinematics as they are really the only ones that go together and had a bunch of CGI ones. Loving these videos keep it up./
Man. Incredible reaction. You get it,you pay attention to the music even (made by amazing Neal Acree - he made Anduin theme and Nightsong!!!!) and you react just like us players! Ive been playing for 16 yrs,and even tho I never gave a shit about Anduin - when he drops that sword,and when he pops that mass rez,that is the most powerful scene ever,honestly makes me cry every time. And Anduin theme playing,music by incredible Neal Acree🤌🏽✨the BIG choir,the big orchestra,the display of power. And that’s incredible film making. Its basically perfect. They did everything. One of the best cinematics. Its insane. I dont even know how many times I’ve seen it. Phenomenal reaction,I felt like I was watching a fellow player talk,you were so spot on with everything,like you know the universe! You should watch all of Blizzards work. Rejection of the gift! That one is a must. Its an ingame cinematic but its amazing. The script is insane,the voice acting is unreal.
This was released before the Old Soldier cinematic. This was the general hype-up cinematic for the new expansion. When Old Soldier was released, it was like "Oh this is right before the fight at Lordaeron" and it kinda filled in the gaps in the story. Watching them in 'technical chronological order" isn't that important though at this point. The rest of what you'll watch will be in the order it was released.
10:55 I believe they introduce you to THAT sword because it was not HIS (Anduin's). It was in fact his father's sword, so in your mind you might think: "wait, is that Varian? Didn't he die?" and even then the character of Anduin is masked, although if you know, you know he was the lion...
13:02 - Lordaeron, the city they're defending, was once a human city and was taken by The Scourge (enslaved Undead) and is now claimed by The Forsaken (freed Undead and members of The Horde under Sylvanas.) The forest is tainted from what it once was.
24:25 - This clash, Varok Saurfang vs Genn Greymane, is also symbolically powerful. Leaders of their own groups, but subordinate to the leader of the faction.
Hey Kai! At around 13:00 you mention that the forest would be lush green, but actually the coloring shown is accurate to the world at this time! The zone that the ruins of Lordaeron (Undercity, capital of the undead) are in is called Tirisfal Glades, which has been overrun by plague and undeath for a very long time at this point of the story, leaving the forest there in a state of decay. This is also the zone you begin your journey in if you create an undead character in game! Thought you might find that interesting 🙂
I remember when I first started playing World of Warcraft, Anduin was "the Boy King" a literal child NPC who would be sat on his fathers giant throne surrounded by powerful advisors. His father, King Varian, was a renown warrior who was missing for the longest time. He returned when Anduin was a teenager and the two always butted heads; Anduin had chosen the path of a pacifist and was trained as a holy priest, and thought his father a warmonger. King Varian thought his son was too soft. In the expansion before The Battle For Azaroth, Leigion, King Varian was convinced by Anduin to team up with the Hord and drive back the Leigion. This resulted in his death (caused by the Hord, some night say) and put Anduin back on the throne. When this cinimatic launched it was so shocking! The glowing sword that gets a big focus in both this cinimatic and the War Within is dead King Varians sword, Shalamayne, and is instantly recognisable. We all knew only Anduin could be weilding it. To see the peacful Anduin using his fathers sword to commit violence was just shocking, we knew some shit had truly gone down. His helmet coming off was another big reveal, his model in game up to this point had still been a teenager, this was our first look at an adult King Anduin and after this they updated him in game model too (he was henceforth known as Manduin LOL). The shadows hiding his face as he pauses to look down at his fathers sword shows his interal struggle to be the strong warrior king his father wanted him to be. You see in his eyes that he realises he can't be that kind of king and he drops Shalamayne, the symbol of his father, and uses his holy powers to summon the light to heal his men (priests cannot use swords in World of Warcreft lol) it was such a beautiful scene! Sorry for the massively long post, I just thought I'd share some context. I love your WOW cinimatic reactions, and look forwards to seeing the rest.
Sylvanas .... My queen her VA Patty Mattson is absolutely top shelf and Kai everybody and their mother KNEW it as Anduin behind that mask ... nothing secret about that...
@@Ztormzz lool, you take that way to seriously , and just to trigger your sorry ass again, best written storyline ever, and showing how thing work irl, with horror, no honor, betrayal, and victories
@@Ztormzz lmfao bro her storyline was telegraphed from day 1 of vanilla. you can hate a character while still appreciating the story of that character.
What I like about this cinematic is that Anduin kinda looks clumsy when he fights, you can tell he's not really used to such chaotict battles, because he's a Priest trained almost like a Paladin, but he's trained with a MACE, so him whacking with his swords so awkwardly is almost comical until he unleashes his true power; his connection to the Light (also because he's royalty he's been trained in more sheltered and controlled enviroments so this also reflects in his fighting style, and since he used to be more of a pacifist and disliked violence you can still see some hestiation in his movements.). This Light is also what he reffers to in War Within when he says "I have no Light!" He means that he can no longer connect with the Light and use it's power. I believe that Thrall was reffering to ANDUIN as a person when he said "We need your light again." as in his positive nature, his empathic heart, and his kind soul, but Anduin took it literally and also (current timeline) now belives that even his very essence as a person has become corrupted and defiled, so he's not worth being compared to "light". Both the Horde and the Alliance has their own share of races, humans were the originals along with the dwarves and high elves for the Alliance, but the Horde has more monster-type of races.
Sylvanas is the Banshee Queen, a former High Elf who died and was raised from the dead to serve the Lich King. So Undead spirit elf. Btw if you finish this BFA streak, the one after that World of Warcraft - Shadowlands kinda continues the last video so might be worth checking out, when the BFA ones are over.
11:13 - Genn Greymane, former king of Gilneas (one of the founders of the Alliance). The Orcs had just broken out of their internment camps at the end of the Second War and Greymane noped TF out of the Alliance deciding he could not keep asking Gilneas to pick up the tab for the actions of others. They built the Greymane wall and hid inside Gilneas. Problem was, trouble wasn't about to leave Gilneas alone. Right around the start of the Third War (Warcraft 3), Genn told his court Archmage to keep them safe from the threat of The Scourge (the Undead slaves of the Lich King, of which Sylvanas was forced to become a member). That... didn't exactly go his way. Signal the start of the Worgen (werewolf) Curse. Worgen became playable characters in the Cataclysm expansion, joining the Alliance.
both sides get a hero's crescendo because both sides have a hero. there are no bad guys or good guys in this game, just guys and gals with sides that both commit great acts of compassion and brutality.
It's probably been said,but Genn Greymane (the wolf guy you like) is a worgen. The original worgen were essentially a pack of druidic night elves who got sort of "trapped" inside their wolf forms and lost their minds. They were banished to what is basically another dimension. Genn, and the other worgen you see in WoW, are not THOSE worgen, but the once-humans of a nice lil region known as Gilneas who were blessed with the worgen curse. Fast forward about 10,000 years to almost current day Gilneas, a peninsula inconveniently situated to the south of undeady-dead territory and to the north, east and west of a bunch of water. The undead army has been increasing in numbers and pushing further south. Genn, then the king of Gilneas, and still human, has heard about the worgen, and in a moment of desperation he has them summoned back into reality-Azeroth hoping they will fight off the undead that are threatening their country. They do, but being insane and uncontrollable, they then turn to attack the Gilneans, transfering the worgan curse to them through their bite. Genn is basically tragically responsible for the fate of himself and his people becoming worgen. He's otherwise a pretty good dude. Also not really related, but something that's mildly hilarious to me. Because Gilneas is basically England (rain and all), everyone from Gilneas, and also the worgen from there, speaks with a super cockney accent for some inexplicable reason. Except Genn?? His daughter even has it.
10:51 - Shalamayne, the blade of the King, is formed by two swords Shalla'tor and Ellemayne coming together. It's the mark of the leader of the Alliance. They're Elven blades forged back in the War of the Ancients, and Render and Reaver (their names) come together as a symbol of unity now. Lady Sylvanas Windrunner is, at this point, the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken (the Undead who reclaimed their wills and minds) and leader of The Horde. There's a beautiful moment of symmetry here in that the villain who corrupted her, the Lich King Arthas, was before his fall a Paladin who looks an AWFUL LOT like young Anduin here and was a servant of the Light. When Arthas was defeated Sylvanas took her own life rather than continue to be a slave to the Lich Kings, and was brought back from The Maw (Azeroth's literal Hell) with an Agenda of her own that is playing out even here. For her there's this moment of terrible purpose when she's reflecting on the hate that caused HER to ally with something.
Zappy Boi eventually got an in-game name, too: Zekhan. Hilariously, the Zappy Boi moniker got a tip of the hat from one of the canonical novels, _Shadows Rising,_ when the Loa of Death Bwonsamdi cheekily calls Zekhan "little zappy boy."
For the record, the cinematic effective occurs as we take up the action in the game itself. Maybe not 1:1, but we were directly involved in what this series would have shown continuing forward
The "Elf Witch" is Sylvanas Windrunner. She was formerly a High Elf in service with the Kingdom of Quel'thalas (Silvermoon City). She was the Ranger-General of the Army. Silvermoon was sacked by Arthas after becoming the champion Death Knight of the Lich King (shortly before he became the LK himself). Sylvanas was killed by Arthas and along with everyone else, her soul was taken. She was reanimated as a banshee but he made sure her consciousness was still intact so that she would have to witness the horrific acts she was forced to do. Later when Arthas fled to Northrend to combine with the Lich King, the power over Sylvanas started to wane and through strong willpower she was able to break free and returned to her body. She then became the leader of the Forsaken (undead humans and elves that had also regained their control) and a member of the Horde. I highly recommend watching "Warbringers: Sylvanas" it shows those events nicely and gives a little backstory into this battle. The other Warbringer cinematics for Jaina and Azshara are also great but kind of need a little bit of background information to understand them.
One of the greatest cinematics and Sylvanas one of the greatest game characters ever written. Great job on video! Keep it up! Can't wait for Shadowlands cinematic!
The reason I believe - why they zoomed in on the sword, and keeping Anduin hidden with the helmet is because it was Anduins father's sword. He died in the expansion before this one. Probably just to screw with fans who doesn't pay too much attention to the lore(?) Cuz there is a cutscene in Legion where Anduin takes up the blade. (you should watch it, or all the WoW cutscenes tbh ^^ )
![FILMMAKER REACTS: TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER 1, 2 & 3 | [ALL TRAILERS!!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ov-u9NvTbY8/mqdefault.jpg)
🟧 If you have a suggestion or a piece of content with an amazing story, please let me know, I would love to see it!
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ua-cam.com/video/44oJi5w2Wjc/v-deo.htmlsi=CI-G8LTUF1bvXt8S
what films have you made ?
Have you seen the darktide trailers? There's also a cinematic from in-game called we are warriors that I enjoyed.
WoW Shadowlands reaction when?
Watching this cinematic for the 114th time and getting goose bumps when Sylvanas yells "FOR THE HORDE" for the 114th time.
You get it because of the camera dollying forward and it hits even harder because there is two of them back to back.
FOR THE HORDE!
Absolutely. The Alliance part was cool and all, but it came across as a little anticlimactic after the Horde rally. If the sequences were reversed then it would have felt more epic.
it makes me want to ball my eyes out its soo good
@@nothingmusic42 The second best "For the Horde" in a cinematic....the one at the Wrathgate will always hold a special place.
They stop it there, because it's classic. Classical shot of Orc attacking a Knight, that alone makes everybody feel nostalgic and good
This and additional thats the point ingame, where we as players play out the rest of this battle.
Yessss🙏🏽✨🤌🏽
@@mathiasreurink4981yesss its like - now! Players!YOUR TURN!
So good
I'm really glad I played this expansion. For all its problems, it was that last expansion of World of Warcraft. Rest in Peace.
her scream was "haunting". I think since warcraft 3 she was given the title "The Banshee Queen".
She's the banshee queen because Arthas killed her and had his banshees enslave her. That's why she's undead, and the queen of the forsaken.
@@laugh8574 it's been a minute since I played Warcraft 3. I was just commenting there was a reason for the "haunting" scream. I remembered seeing this cinematic when it dropped and thinking it was cool they incorporated that part of her character.
@nickchrappa no hate, I was just mentioning the banshee part of her title is literal :)
OK, quick lore explanation to clarify characters.
Basically, World of Warcraft has 2 factions, Horde and Alliance.
Horde is composed of honorable Orcs (like Saurfang - "Old Soldier"), Trolls (3 fingered slim blue guys), Tauren (Ox-like minotaur bull-guys), Blood elves and Undead (Sylvanas the Banshee Queen, witch gal). Horde is traditionally led by orc Warchiefs but last warchief has named Sylvanas as the Warchief upon dying.
Alliance is the Anduin's faction, composed of Humans, Dwarfs, Gnomes, Night Elves, Worgen (Werewolves), etc. They were led by Anduin's father but he died a few years before this cinematic and left Anduin as the King. Anduin is actually a Priest, servent of the Holy Light.
For some reason, when Sylvanas became the warchief, she began to act violent and burned down the great tree of Night Elves. (We saw the scene briefly in Old Soldier, Saurfang has confronted Sylvanas and said "there's no honor in this".) So there's an internal struggle within the Horde about the motivation of Sylvanas. Though she leads this battle as the Warchief, many Horde members are questioning her leadership.
This expansion is going over this story.
I can make it more quick.
American colored side = good
Sovjet colored side = Bad
GG EZ ! :)
Priest with a two-handed sword. Right
plate armor and a big sword does not always make a paladin. But to try to clarify why he looks like a one instead of a priest, Anduin is not only the King of the human kingdom of Stormwind, he's the High King of the entire Alliance faction, which would make him basically the highest priority target for the opposing faction, not exactly someone you want on the front lines in a robe, hence the plate armor. As for the sword, it belonged to his father (a great king and a powerful warrior). Not only would it have a personal importance to him, but also represents (and serves as a reminder of) his duty/responsibility as leader of the Alliance as well as of his father's legacy that he's trying to live up to.
To add: Anduin's part is very symbolic with him trying to live up to his dad's warrior standards, but he is a priest. When they start losing the battle, he looks at his father's sword and throws it down to show he's deciding to be true to himself and not trying to live in his father's shadow anymore.
@@lilithamberle6470 Absolutely. Also, the devs already pointed out Anduin is a hero character who combines factors the player characters never can due to the limits of the game. Lots of the big npc's do odd but epic stuff like that. Thrall, baddest enhance shammy of his generation, literally fought with us through Cataclysm and Pandaria in a linen cardigan! :D
When Anduin is introduced sword first, hidden behind shiny armour, it carries subtle story elements too. Anduin is a priest, an instinctive diplomat, thoughtful and compassionate, a peacemaker at heart, but he succeeded to the throne quite young after his larger-than-life, widely beloved warrior father died making the ultimate heroic sacrifice for his people. He enters his new role as king grief stricken, still somewhat naive and unsure of his ability to fill the huge boots of his charismatic hero father. Here he is introduced wielding his father's sword in shiny plate armour, his own face hidden inside it, at the forefront of the combat, and quickly involved in the melee. He is committed to that role, determined to be who he thinks he is supposed to be. But the fight ultimately pushes him to drop his inherited warrior's sword (at least for a moment) and reach deeper inside for something more authentically his own. As gamer-observers who have watched him slowly growing up as something of a foil to his battle hardened father-king through several game expacs, this is the first moment we see him stepping into leadership in his OWN way, using his priestly abilities to steady and bolster his people before leading them back into battle. Even as a Horde player I always find that subtle shift in him quite moving in this cinematic.
Well, you certainly hit the nail with that short explanation.
@getzo5340 I'm not a concise person. 😜 It's a quality I rather admire in others though for that reason.
The last badass moment that made us feel like Sylvanas was worthy of Warchief. Before she.. poisoned her own troops to kill the enemy.. turned against her most trusted advisors.. and straight up started tearing the horde up from the inside.. You don't see those in cinematics, but in-game cinematics.
And Anduin... Always wanting to live up to his father, Varian. I've come to love him, great character development. That scene.. That's the light he referred to. The light that he claims, failed us, because he failed us.. What he used, was mass resurrection. Yes, he just brought an ENTIRE army back to life.
Mass rez scene makes me tear up every time. Fr
@@sonia417 Yeah Horde got the epic warcry, Allies got the epic spell, was a good balance
@@vahdoom exactly! Both amazing!
you mean the horde being evil like original warcraft. get over it. Horde is evil. drink the fel , join the darkside
it was a mass ressurection-spell Anduin casted. (or mass heal)
anyway. in the war within he said "im not that person anymore... i have no light..". Well he defenetly had it here :D
Hi, just gonna give a short story about the sword drop moment, it's powerful narrative for those who know.
Anduin's father Varian was a great warrior and tried to make Anduin one too, however Anduin was always more gentle, leaning towards priesthood (servant of light). After Varian's death, Anduin took up his sword and mantle and tried to lead the Alliance but he wasn't natural-born leader like his father.
What the dropping of the sword symbolises (to me) is Anduin letting go of the burden of trying to be his father and instead being who he is.
Thanks for bringing that up!
I was going to post the significance of the first appearance of the sword (just before the Genn Greymane reveal) which lets us know who is standing there.
I think the reveal of the sword is the most underappreciated and easily missed part of this cinematic. I could be wrong but as a Horde only player, I think it's the first time we see it since Varian's death.
A quick couple of tidbits on the sword then;
Most of the main characters in wow have named Weapons. This one is called Shalamayne, and is actually two separate blades called Shalla'tor and Ellemayne which were magically fused in the lore. It is said to be forged by Valor and Honor, the later being possibly more critical if you watch all the BFA cinematics. Interestingly enough it can be split back into two to be dual wielded. I don't think there is any hard lore on this, but it appears you may need to be worthy of the sword to use its full potential. True valor and honor are rare and even more so for 1 faction... IYKYK. I think it takes a while for the glow to reappear once Anduin takes possession.
@@puggzz988 Excellent work on explaining Shalamayne. If i could add just a tid bit of info. Anduin's father is King Varian. When he Varian was split into two separate people by Onyxia, Jaina gave them each one a blade, Shalla'tor and Ellemayne. While fighting Onyxia she accidentally fused Varian back into one, being and as they were holding the swords they got fused as well. I believe True Valor and Honor splits them.
Yeah that orc was indeed Varok Saurfang and yes that was indeed Anduin Wrynn from the War Within trailer.
I was shocked that he was shot by arrows, I was like nah, can't be but I eventually figured it, out I just didn't say it out loud. Thank you for watching!!
@@kaizammit This is likely after Old Soldier where he talks with the little blue-ish troll called Zekhan.
@@dionysiosbbbb it is after, Old Soldier is the night before this battle
@@kaizammit - Varok being shot by 3 arrows is also a jab at "Old Soldier" movie, where he does the remark "Claiming what is mine!", as he's been seeking death in battle. However it always eludes him, which haunts him after losing his son.
@@Sanzor1984it's also a nod to the burning crusade cinematic where an orc takes 3 arrows in the same place and dies before the Belf priest resurrects him.
Liked this before I watched the video! One of the best cinematics in the game!
Whatever my problems with BFA was, I can't deny that they sure as hell hyped me up with this cinematic. More so than Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King.
Kudos for the content mate, interesting as always!
The blue guy on the ground and also in the last video is a Troll. Fun fact: The races of Elves (the one speaking in the beginning is Sylvanas Windrunner) and Trolls are related (Elves descended from Trolls through many stages.) Also the wolf (worgen) guy is Genn Greymane (they can transform between a human and worgen). The Orc (from the last video) is Varok Saurfang.
There's a series of these for BFA. It basically completes the story of this fourth war in WoW. If you've seen Old Soldier and this, then you still have to see "Lost Honor", "Safe Haven" and "Reckoning".
That scene with Anduin always gives me the chills.
The lore of the game is reflected so well, that and “Warlords of Draenor” are two of my favorite cinematics.
In case you will watch the Draenor trailer. The guy in the hood is the son of the war chief, he came from the future to prevent orcs from becoming furious bloodthirsty horde under control of demons.
this is honestly the best cinematic reaction channels out there, same level of joy as an experienced WoW player gets first time seing it. well done
this to be is the best cinematic blizzard made for creating hype for wow, for an expansion for me, i still get tears when i watch it after she goes "FOR THE HORDE!" and the battle cry is taken up!
Lich king is the most beautiful when it comes to the perfect mix of the lore, story forward and the music is the best to date.
Man i have to give you a huge compliment with your breakdowns - especially with this and the one before. Huge Warcraft Fan here so this hits home with me.
That's awesome to hear and thank you for watching. I really appreciate it.
35:32 - Lady Sylvanas Windrunner is, at this moment, the Banshee Queen. She was the Ranger-General of Silvermoon before she was killed by Arthas, and she was turned into a Banshee. She reclaimed her body so is sort of a mix of Banshee and Darkfallen (undead elf). She's also, after her return from The Maw after her suicide, something more.
Blizzard cinematics were famous for bringing people back to their game. This was actually the last one to rope me in, but the story lost me eventually.
I really love these breakdowns of some of my favorite game cinematics, they give me a new perspective on why I loved them so much. Honestly could listen for hours
As bad as the game got and hence why I quit after Legion ( I considered the story "done" by then), I will always come and watch the cinematics because that department will always give 110% effort
I like how hype they are just to fight, it was a pretty serious cinematic but I like how at the end they're all just kinda giddy to brawl like the players
You can see that with the little facial expressions, I really liked that within this cinematic.
@@kaizammitthere's a little extra there too. This moment is the first real time Anduin has been truly tested as King. As a former General and leader in her own right (having also fought along side his father), its one of those "Alright I see you kid, you've got some teeth" moments. May also be for the fact he's partially playing into her plan, but that's in game cinematic info haha
@@Mikeoneal07 never considered this, very cool thought and fitting for sylvanas
@@generalreign3483 did you play the expansion/ see the lore?
@@Mikeoneal07 not really a lore guy lol I like the cinematics, but I usually blast through leveling just to raid and push keys ngl lol
Yeah, that shriek is from Sylvanas, the banshee queen, ruler of the sentient undead. That gives me chills every time.
The shot of Anduin looking down at and dropping his sword works not only by the literal cinematography, but it's also gorgeous storytelling in one shot, granted you know a little bit of wow lore.
The sword was his late father's, who was more of a warrior king type of character. He looks up to his father, and he mantles the responsibility as king in the war, but very reluctantly. Deep down he knows he's not like his father. He wants peace for all people, not just for his own. His hand is forced into war. It's why they make him look distraught after putting down the orcs and the troll with his sword (3:52).
funny you should mention you want to watch a movie about this - there is a Warcraft movie
it's live action, but with lots of fairly good special effects
it tells the backstory of how the orcs ended up coming to Azeroth, thus sparking much of the titular "Warcraft"
It just turned up on Netflix like 2 days ago!
It's also not very good if you know the actual lore, because they absolutely butchered it for the film.
If you know nothing about Warcraft it's a decent fantasy flick, but it's not REALLY Warcraft :P
@@lordmortarius538 well, i wasn't gonna get into that bit, but yes, it deviates from the original story and also doesn't make much sense
but it has an OK story adaptation, good effects and is a great showcase of the continent, at least
@@JM-nothing-moreI agree, but there's also the fact that the first war really didn't have satisfying resolutions. Just a quieting as chess pieces moved. For a singular film and the story they chose to begin with, I think it did surprisingly well.
But yes, Garonas backstory is fraught with issues and Llanes death would certainly be harder to do working in more and more of guldans manipulations. Also it really, really doubles down on the abusive elements of that story, which may have been needlessly explicit for general audiences, ya know? A topic I think both blizz and the film makers probably wanted to avoid while simultaneously erasing the possible mention of her and Medivh's non-canonical son :/
"Why'd they stop it there?!" because that is what a trailer is supposed to do... get you excited and wanting more.
This is the Battle of Lordaeron, and it is the second major engagement in the Fourth War between Horde and Alliance. The war started with Sylvanas' unprovoked attack on the Great Tree, Teldrassil, home of the Night Elves. We see the aftermath of that of that in "Old Soldier", and it's what provokes the Alliance to lay siege to Undercity (Lordaeron's capital) here.
As an aside, I recommend you watch the Warbringers series, as it (re-)introduces us to several characters who are critical to the story of the _Battle for Azeroth_ expansion. They use a very different art style.
Sylvanas is a very naughty lady and has made some dark alliances. What we see in this cinematic is her core Banshee power, since she's undead. What we see from Anduin is his Priest abilities. Specifically, he's casting a mass heal/resurrection spell to bring his allies back into the fight. The cinematic deliberately juxtaposes this light vs. dark motif, which has been prevalent throughout the Warcraft saga.
There are some excellent in-game story cutscenes that you may also want to take a look at, but the next full-on cinematic in the series is "Lost Honor".
What we need is a super rich gamer who grew up with these cinematics to hire the original creators to create a full movie that depicts the universe. Especially to get the perspectives of the players of certain big events that the players created in the world. My fiancee played WoW and still to this day tells of stories of her adventures with the Horde.
If only Hurricane would do his treatment. God, his videos are gorgeous renditions of WoW. Blizzard got him to make some videos for the classic expansions. Kai, if you want to see a different art style on wow cinematics, check out Hurricane's account. Highly recommend you start with his Blackwing Lair 2015 video where his unique art style starts to shine (everything before that are raid video compilations of in game footage).
Below is his unique take on story videos in order of content released by blizzard. Also by the naxx one, he teases his next video at the end. Sadly, he never made the Sunwell video he teased. Or at least I couldn't find it. UA-cam is weird about links in comments, so I've left them out.
1. Blackwing Lair 2015
2. Ahn'Qiraj 2016
3. Naxxaramas trailer 2017 (not the release one)
4. Black Temple Trailer 2020
5. Journey Trailer | Wrath of the Lich King Classic (Official WoW Channel)
6. Fall of the Lich King Launch Trailer - Justice (WoW Official Channel)
7. Cataclysm Classic Announce Trailer (official WoW Channel)
If you're talking story and lore, you really mainly need Metzen. Of which blizzard still has. Just because some of the og crew have moved on in life doesn't mean they necessarily had a hand in crafting the narrative.
"why did they stop it there?......Bastards!" Hahahaha sorry that was very Monty Python to me :D
This was honestly one of my favorite cinematics from the blizzard team
So much to talk about with this cinematic, but the one thing I will point out is the contrast between the two leaders. Both Sylvanas [the dark elf] and Anduin [human king] had their own moments where they spurred on their troops "For the horde!" "For the alliance!" But did you notice? They both did it in different ways that reflect their personality and the perspective of their particular side. Sylvanas rallied her troops with a show of force, spurring them on with violence and fighting and power, whereas Anduin rallied his troops with healing, with restoration, spurring them on with protection of life.
The monster guy you liked is Genn Graymane, he's a Worgen. Worgens are able to shift between their human and wolfen forms.
"Why'd they stop it there???" Mate, we've been saying that for years 🤣 They need to hurry up and make a movie in this style. Blizzard's cinematic team are absolutely the best in the industry.
yeess!! it's here! great video as always mate! you're in for a ride with these trailers, this one is epic, but the end of this series always has me in tears. anyway thanks for all the work you put in to create these great videos. And as always it's so interesting to hear you thoughts!
Thank you for watching them, spending my free time making all these videos is sometimes really taxing :S. Reading your comments and hearing you're enjoying them makes that pain not seem so sharp. Thank you. Kai
This one is one of the legendary classic WoW cinematics. It's super well done
elf carrecter name is lady silvanas windrunner. and tnx for the videos i really enjoy that. i really got my eyes full of tears when watching the world of warcrafts cinematics comes up.
Going trough these one by one and learning a lot! Thanks and looking forward to more videos.
thank you for watching and letting me know. KZ
You should watch WOW: Reckoning and WOW: Shadowlands cinematics too
Will do fella, thank you for the heads up.
Just for context: while this cinematic takes place directly after the Old Soldier cinematic, this was actually released several months earlier as this was the teaser cinematic for the expansion.
The woman is named Sylvanas Windrunner. She was the leader of the Horde. She hails from the 2003 Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (base game) and the Frozen Throne expansion. She was killed by Arthas the Lich King in that RTS video game and raised as a undead Banshee. The shadowy smoke you saw when she jumped off the tower-catapult is part of her Banshee powers. However, she allied with the Shadowlands jailor behind-the-scenes and might have granted her some power. We learned this an expansion after Battle for Azeroth.
The blue guy on the horde is dubbed Zappy Boy by the community. He is a young troll named Zekhan. He was introduced in Battle for Azeroth. He plays an important role later on as possibly a love-interest to the queen of the Zandalari, helping her join the Horde. Zekhan is heavily featured in the novel World of Warcraft: Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux.
The big orc in the cinematic is named Varok Saurfang. He was a beloved character introduced in World of Warcraft many years ago in 2004. He was the one announcing in-game to every player in Orgrimmar that [yourname] has slain Nefarian, son of Deathwing, and placed his head on a pike for everyone to see. Saurfang was brother to Broxigar -- an orc character that debuted in the novel trilogy titled Warcraft: War of the Ancients by Richard A. Knaak.
So the cinematic invested a lot into putting big characters in the foreground that players know well, and new characters: Zekhan.
The big wolf is actually a human named King Genn Greymane, king of Gilneas. Back in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (2010), the character was introduced into the game along with the Worgen and Goblin playable races. The short story is that ages ago Malfurion exiled a group of night elf druids who succumbed to the rage and bloodlust of their wolf shapeform. The Worgen resurfaced in Gilneas and when they bit humans, the humans were infected with the curse of the worgen, allowing them to transform into wolfmen. Later, an alchemist found a way to pacify their minds to have human control of their actions. Now they can shapeshift into human and back to worgen form at will.
King Genn Greymane actually debuted in a 2001 novel titled Warcraft: Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak. So is well known for over 20 years.
About Anduin's lion helmet: The lion crest is the symbol of Stormwind, and it has been adopted into the Alliance banner and crest.
Anduin's sword Shalamayne is his father's sword. King Varian Wrynn died in World of Warcraft: Legion -- you might have watched the cinematic when he jumps off the airship to prevent a giant felreaver from crashing the airship to the ground. Gul'dan the orc warlock killed Varian, and the sword fell to the ground. The sword was later picked up by Anduin.
When Anduin dropped the sword in this cinematic, you can see a flare of light in the sword. Anduin was like, I'm not a warrior like my father. I am a priest of the Light. My people needs Anduin the priest. That bunch of light cascading down was he using his power to heal and resurrect the fallen soldiers. His connection to the Light was great back then.
Note: I have been a World of Warcraft player since Beta 2004. Fansite editor/writer. I have read all the novels as well.
14:02 - Strategically, too, it makes sense to keep the Siege Tower oriented so that incoming shots will hit at the 45 at best and glance off. With the positioning of the camera and the Dutch angle you get this lovely shot of The Crest of the Alliance with the Lion Shield of the humans.
27:52 It could work so well not only because of the angle and back lighting, but the gold halo lighting around Aduin's head that similar to the gold flashes erupting above him.
Hey Kai, really enjoyed your breakdown. I've been noticing more and more filmmaking techniques, like: Camera angles, lighting on characters, and as you put it in the video "Voice of God". I could tell with the King in the lion armor and his wolf commander ("power struggle"), that the former was the main protagonist. Like you said, the first shot is of his "holy" sword, which helps sets up for the importance of that character (at least that's my perspective of it, agreeing with your statement). The next angle is the wolf commander speaking to the king. The wolf commander is an important character with him being more center framed in the first shot while he's giving orders, but he's still behind behind the king. When this is happening, the camera is looking up towards the king (the king also looks as if he's slightly looking downward) which helps define his character more. Keep up the great work!
Man this one has always been top notch.
Your girl at the start is Sylvanas Windrunner. She became the Banshee Queen after being slain and resurrected by the Lich King Arthas, who you'll remember from the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic, as well as your Warcraft 3 series.
Freed from Arthas' control, she became the leader of the other undead who were likewise freed from control. They are known as the Forsaken. Ironically, the city under siege here is Lordaeron, the very same city that would have become Arthas' seat of power and the same city where you see him murder his father Teranas in Warcraft 3. Sylvanas took Lordaeron over, and it has been her stronghold ever since.
The Orc is indeed our boy from before. High Overlord Varok Saurfang. He is very important through the story of Battle for Azeroth as you will see moving forward. The "blue orc" is a Troll. His name is Zekhan or, as he is popularly known online, "Zappy Boi." Saurfang is indeed an old soldier, as he drank the blood of Mannoroth, passed through the first Dark Portal, and fought in the first war. His age at this point would be somewhere in the vicinity of 90-100 years old, (Orcs have a bit longer avg. lifespan than humans) and truth be told is likely one of the few remaining orcs that remembers the old clans.
Between the Legion cinematic and this point, King Varian Wrynn was killed in battle fighting the demons of the Burning Legion. His son Anduin is now king and his right hand man, Genn Greymane, is a Worgen. Kinda like a werewolf that can transform at will. The former Warchief of the Horde, a troll by the name of Vol'jin, was also mortally wounded during the battle against the Legion. Before he passed, he crowned Sylvanas as Warchief of the Horde. She quickly stirred up war with the Alliance by burning the great tree Teldrassil, the home of the Night Elves. You saw this briefly in the Old Soldier cinematic. Saurfang, as you saw, was less than pleased with her actions.
I love your reactions and analyses on this videos. I'm sure your Patreon probably has you all squared away on this, but just in case, next up should be "Lost Honor" followed by "Safe Haven" and then "Reckoning" before moving on to Shadowlands.
Yes that blond boy was Anduin.
In this cinematic he's supposed to be around 18 years old. During this battle he saw so many die, and during the Shadowlands Expansion he was mindcontrolled, or rather his body was controlled while his mind was wathcing unable to stop things. He was forced to slaughter, kill, and do unspeakable things by the Jailer (the big antagonist of Shadowlands). Doing this horrified him even more but what really got under his skin was that somewhere he thought he enjoyed it.
Anduin has always been a bit of a goody two-shoe, a Holy Priest, blessed by the powers of the Light (usually seen as Divine power even if it's unclear what kind of god or divinity grants the power) and as you can see in this cinematic he can call down the healing powers from the Holy Light to restore his soldiers from the brink of death.
Fast forward to The War Within. He's now just shy of 30 years old I think. He's still haunted by what he witnessed, by the people dying in his name and by his order, the people he murdered under the control of the Jailer and how he is still not sure who he is. He's afraid that if he ever calls on the Light he will not be able to wield it. Without the Light and being a just and strong leader, who is he? Just a normal man? So he don't dare to call on it. because as long as he don't he can still think that there is a chance. He will not know that he still can wield it, but he also won't know if it's truly left him.
In The War Within, when he tells the orc Thrall that "I've lost my Light" he is not sure, but he believes it to be so. And without it, who is he?
5:55 - In the Warcraft movie you see a very, very young Varian Wrynn (Anduin Wrynn's father) and Anduin's namesake, Anduin Lothar.
After Anduin yells "stand as one for the Alliance!" We can hear a chorus. They sing in latin : "decideratus fatum, decideratus bellum". We embrace fate, we embrace war.
This cinematic is maybe in my opinion (more than 25 years warcraft fan) the most epic one from all the warcraft franchise. I really hope that you will do the other ones with the good time line of the "Battle for Azeroth" cause it's going to be epic and dramatic. And also a big reference to a Ridley Scott movie. I'll wait for it. Thank you for all the informations that you give. We learn a lot :)
I think the directors of cinematics like that, could easily fill a movie with it and it would be amazing! :O So professional and perfect
Interestingly, even though Old Soldier takes place the night before the battle in this cinematic, this was released first, as it was the announcement trailer for the expansion, and I believe was debuted at BlizzCon. This was the actual first appearance of the young Troll Shaman who squares off with Anduin. The Community also immediately fell in love with him, and he was given the nickname "Zappy Boi" in reference to the lightning bolt he throws.
The first character is Sylvanas Windrunner. She's an undead Blood Elf (Forsaken) Banshee (hence the scream.) She's the head of the Horde right now. She's started a war with the Alliance, setting fire to the world tree the Night Elves lived in, killing a bunch of people. The guy in red from the Old Soldier is Varek Saurfang, the Warlord of the Horde. The worgen (werewolf, does switch into human form too) is King Genn Greymane of Gilneas, who is an advisor to King Anduin Wrynn. Anduin here is about 18 or 19, add about 5 years for the one in the War Within trailer. Genn was a friend of Anduin's father, King Varian Wrynn, who died in the start of Legion. Sylvanas jumps from the tower and screams, the void energy surrounding the fighters (hers and Anduin's both) kills them. Anduin doesn't notice as he's paying attention to what is going on with those coming for him. The "ox" looking guy is KIng Baine Bloodhoof of the Tuaren. Yes, they're cow people, even their women. It's an interesting race, shamans quite often. Once he's knocked down (by Zekhan, the troll from Old Soldier), he notices all of the men he has are down and dying. He stands up, thinks of the power in the sword, and puts it down to grab for the Light. He pulls it down surrounding the fighters, it's a healing and resurrection spell (he's a priest with a lot of paladin training as well).
This is a wonderful cinematic. You really need to see Safe Haven next, and then Cinematic: “Reckoning”. It's amazing how they have gotten better and better.
That last scene is a tribute to the very first Warcraft game Orcs and Humans. Those of us who have been around that long remember. lol
never clicked so fast in my life. Really looking forward to you doing the rest of the cinematics all the way to current. Theyre amazing and I'm enjoying your insights on these! Keep it up!
Oh and some background story of why this war broke out. Sylvanas (banshee elf lady) is the leader of the horde and in an attempt to get the edge on an upcoming war, she did a horrible warcrime, killing many innocents and burning the home of the night elves (Teldrassil). War broke out and the alliance is coming for her head. Her burning Teldrassil is mostly condemned by the horde, as can be seen in the Old Soldier cinematic when Saurfang says "theres gonna be no honor today". Cause there was no honor in her actions. The horde is loyal though and still follows her into battle in this cinematic
Thank you so much for watching! ✌🏻💪🏻
A couple of points:
1) At 4:07, Anduin is the King of the Alliance, but he was trained as a Priest of the Light, which technically makes him almost a paladin when armored. However, all healers in WoW received a spell in... Warlords? Mists?... called "Mass Resurrection." It's a wipe recovery spell (a wipe is when you give up on a boss fight in a raid so you can reset it and try again). Instead of having to sit there slinging one resurrection after the other, one healer casts Mass Rez and it resurrects the entire raid when not in combat. This was the first time that it was shown in a cinematic, and because Anduin is a healer class as either a paladin or a priest, he casts mass resurrection.
There is also a very lore-significant reason that he throws down the sword, as it was his father Varian's sword, Shalamayne, which are two high elven swords (Shalla'tor and Ellemayne) that were magically fused together. It can be used as either a single handed sword, to split into two swords for dual wielding. Anduin, however, by his priest training and learning statecraft and such while his father was the warrior archetype, is much more a pacifist, a diplomat, and someone that wants to inspire through the Light and its teachings, not by winning wars. So when he absolutely craters the Troll that was attacking him after infusing the sword with the Light in the way a paladin does (an armored warrior priest, essentially), he realized that he was severely outnumbered and that he didn't have the martial skill to win, which is why to this day, he is still a priest first and then a King, working hand in hand. When he looks into the light of the sword, it's the same as when he found the sword in the Legion expansion, and his fathers' words to his question of "What do I do now?" Varian, his father, replies with "What a King must do."
So, when he throws down the sword, he is centering himself in the Light, because what a King must do is inspire his troops and shore up his lines, and at the moment, with all of his best troops and advisors around him, he knows he needs to heal them. So, he finds his priestly connection to the light and calls down a dome of pure light magic, healing everything within it. It's a few seconds in a cinematic, but the zoom on his face as he's channeling the light shows just how strong his connection with it is, as he is almost in tears from the sheer power and peace it brings him.
2) At 5:06, they stop it there because that is THE Warcraft shot: An armored human facing off against a lunging orc. It was one of the first pieces of art ever shown for the then-new Warcraft IP in the mid-1990s, and it's just stuck with it for over a quarter of a century. It is literally the shot that the entire franchise is based off of, so it's just fitting to end it there.
Please continue with these! There's 5 videos total in the series, this one is is 2 of 5 in the series. 💜
I will be returning and when I do, I'll be covering them quite quickly so you and the others aren't waiting, I hope that's okay
That smile Sylvanas gives when Anduin heals his allies is actually so meaningful once you know the continuation of her story.
Sylvanas is starting these wars to cause death to feed souls to the Maw.
Yes the orc you're referring to is Varok Saurfang or "Old soldier". In another cinematic Varok Saurfang challenges Sylvanas Windrunner to Mak’gora and there is where she refers to him as Old Soldier.
The de saturated forest is like that in game, its called Silverpine Forrest and is one of the undead zones where Sylvanas is/was faction leader.
1: The other reason the forest is desaturated is that it's all pines.
2: Yes, that is the character from Old Soldier; his name is Saurfang.
3: Sylvanas, the elf archer, actually has glowing eyes. She's the leader of a faction of undead and is technically a ghost possessing her own dead body.
4. Plate armour dude is named Anduin Wrynn, yes like the river in LotR. Despite the plate he's a priest of the Light.
5. The guy with the lava burst is the troll from Old Soldier, name of Zekhan. The one Anduin fights is a different guy, though it's hard to tell.
I loved your reation. Also you are teaching so many details including english. Deserves a subscribe
Im glad you finally made it the this WoW cinematic. Its definitely one of my favorites.
Thank you for telling me about it!
The worst expansions always have the best trailers 😂
Yes! Love the reactions and breakdowns of WoW cinematics, the Blizzard cinematic team is incredible. Hope to see you reacting to more WoW cinematics in the future, thanks for the videos, all the best - Rasmus 😊
I'll be covering the rest of these... absolutely!
Huzzah, another step on the journey! Thanks for your analysis again, Kai. As always, your fresh impression and your superior expertise in the craft of visual storytelling peel back another layer of this story we love. Like you said, there’s a lot happening here - a lot of visual references for the old fans, a lot of things you recognized from _The War Within_ trailer and _Old Soldier_. But I’ll post a big old comment pointing at some of the other stuff, just because.
You’re right, that is the ‘old soldier’ Varok Saurfang again, immediately after the last cinematic. He (and the young troll Zekhan, whom players sometimes call Zappy Boi) are facing the battle with honor after the brush with despair. You can see Saurfang still only has his armor half donned, the gorget dangling open, only one pauldron on. But he’s just there for us to recognize and remember, while the poles of the struggle are Anduin and Sylvanas.
Sylvanas Windrunner, the elf with the eyebrows, told you all you really need to know with the visuals you described. She’s a disquieting blend of warrior nobility and troubling darkness - darkness that has been teased since _Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne_ (2003) but not torn open for us until this expansion fifteen years later, and more so in the next one. Once a ranger-general of the elven people, she was cut down and spitefully raised as a banshee by the Lich King until she managed to break free of his power, retrieve her own body and somehow incorporate it into her banshee nature, and found new purpose as leader and protector of the Forsaken. The Forsaken are for lack of better term, intelligent zombies. They are mostly the inhabitants of Lordaeron whose capital is under siege in this cinematic, betrayed by the Lich King and raised as the living dead only to break from control and try to find some semblance of meaning within the Horde. Sylvanas’s ultimate goal was to get revenge on the Lich King - but the players dragged him down and killed him back in _Wrath of the Lich King_ (2008), and her purpose has been uncertain since. She was a key figure in the expansion before this one banishing forever the demons that have plagued the world of Azeroth for the whole franchise, but after a botched assault got Anduin’s father Varian killed during that war, the Horde and Alliance are at odds again and Sylvanas intends to end that conflict once and for all by any means necessary.
Anduin is opposite her here, having freshly inherited the crown of his kingdom after his father’s death and being confronted with exactly the kind of calamitous conflict he spent his youth convincing his father to avoid. Now his father is gone, leaving him with the injunction that sometimes we do not choose our wars, and he must do what a king must do. After Sylvanas burned the great tree that was the sacred home to one of the Alliance’s constituent peoples, he felt he had no choice but to bury his soft, peaceful nature and rise to the occasion. I love the way there’s this soft-faced man, almost a child still, vanished inside an armor shell with the likeness of a lion. It’s not his most natural self, but it’s who he needs to be. He’s more priest than warrior, and we see him reach for divine assistance when his confidence in filling the role of warrior-king flags.
The other two minor poles of the cinematic are Saurfang whom you know (and we’ll see more of in other cinematics) and King Genn Greymane, the wolfy fella you liked. Genn’s a great character too, but we won’t see him again in the big cinematics because there just isn’t space for him. In brief, he’s the king of a now ruined kingdom called Gilneas, composed of humans and worgen (werewolves). Sylvanas destroyed that kingdom during previous expansions, under orders of the Horde Warcheif of that time. She drove the Gilneans out and in the process killed Genn's son, whom Genn had become isolationist and short-sighted trying to protect. When Anduin’s father died, he came into focus in Anduin’s circle - a father without a son, a son without a father. Strictly speaking he’s Anduin’s peer now by virtue of being a king himself, but he slots into the roll of grandfatherly advisor and seems to prefer it that way.
Aside from that, the city itself is worth a mention. This is Capitol, the capital city of Lordaeron, the kingdom around which much of classic Warcraft had revolved. Back in _Warcraft 1: Orcs & Humans_ (1994), the invading demon-fueled orcs sacked and burned their way through the world. They killed Anduin’s grandfather Llane, prompting an exodus from the survivors out of the ruins of Stormwind. The leader of this exodus was the hero Anduin Lothar, for whom Anduin Wrynn would later be named. Lothar led the Stormwind refugees to Lordaeron where the brother-kingdom took them in, rallied the alliance (including Genn’s kingdom, Gilneas), and ultimately won the war in _Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness_ (1996). The day was saved, the refugees returned to Stormwind to rebuild under the young king Varian Wrynn. Now that king, too, is dead. ‘Anduin’ has led Stormwind to the gates of Lordaeron again, but this time the orcs are manning the walls of the ruin that once sheltered the fathers of the soldiers laying siege to it. Alliance players have been desperate for a chance to reclaim the lost city for years - raiding it was a point of pride in game, and as a Human Paladin player, I can’t tell you how bittersweet and vindicating it was to be part of this battle.
I’m interested to see if you end up doing the handful of other cinematics in this series, or if you’re going to roll in some of the in-game cutscenes that fill out the blank spaces as well. They have some cinematic juice of their own now, but they’re definitely not the same quality as these. But whichever way you choose to go, I’m sure some windbag in the comments will over-explain everything.
Looking forward to the next one!
Thank you for the information! I'll cover the other four I believe to this and then see where the wind takes me. I'm more than happy to cover in-game cutscenes if that's what you guys would like. Thank you for watching and that healthy chapter you've typed here :D.
@@kaizammit Any time brother. You can rely on me to crank out a novella on Warcraft lore at almost no provocation at all. :) appreciate your work.
The "witch" is actually an elf ranger raised into undeath as a Banshee (One of her many titles is "The Banshee Queen") thus the cool ghosty shadow powers you see here.
12:05 - Very apt observation. Genn Greymane is about 73ish and Anduin Wrynn is about 19 or 20 here. Genn's incredibly physically powerful, too. Also Gilneas has been isolated from the Alliance up until the events of the Cataclysm which reshaped their world.
Always a joy to see others enjoy these trailers and to see how you break them down (Especially your jaw drop at 2:50 when she went all banshie queen). I really hope you do the first World of Warcraft cinematic one day, if only to show how they have progressed with their cinematics over the decades.
Bit of info/lore for you, the "Bull guy/minotaur" is a Tauren, a rather peaceful lot with native american vibe about them who are part of the Horde (Horde aren't the bad guys). ;)
3:12 - Even with what happens, as a Horde player this moment still gives me chills.
There is a Warcraft movie, but it should be consider related not a direct lore ancestor. They change enough of the story that it doesn't fit with the games, but the concessions make sense for translating from one medium to another.
Dude, I’m not even into World of Warcraft like that but I clicked on your video anyways because I knew I’d still enjoy your breakdown
Thank you so much, that's so awesome to hear!
If you are going to keep going with these I highly recommend looking into doing it in the right order so you don't end up with any out of order stuff. That's for the BFA cinematics as they are really the only ones that go together and had a bunch of CGI ones. Loving these videos keep it up./
Spooky eyebrow lady is a banshee, that's why her epic moment is screaming and killing people with it.
Man. Incredible reaction. You get it,you pay attention to the music even (made by amazing Neal Acree - he made Anduin theme and Nightsong!!!!) and you react just like us players!
Ive been playing for 16 yrs,and even tho I never gave a shit about Anduin - when he drops that sword,and when he pops that mass rez,that is the most powerful scene ever,honestly makes me cry every time. And Anduin theme playing,music by incredible Neal Acree🤌🏽✨the BIG choir,the big orchestra,the display of power. And that’s incredible film making. Its basically perfect. They did everything. One of the best cinematics. Its insane. I dont even know how many times I’ve seen it.
Phenomenal reaction,I felt like I was watching a fellow player talk,you were so spot on with everything,like you know the universe! You should watch all of Blizzards work. Rejection of the gift! That one is a must. Its an ingame cinematic but its amazing. The script is insane,the voice acting is unreal.
I'll add it to my list and thank you for watching!
This was released before the Old Soldier cinematic. This was the general hype-up cinematic for the new expansion. When Old Soldier was released, it was like "Oh this is right before the fight at Lordaeron" and it kinda filled in the gaps in the story. Watching them in 'technical chronological order" isn't that important though at this point. The rest of what you'll watch will be in the order it was released.
As a fan I can confirm I do indeed froth in my pants every time there is a new cinematic
10:55 I believe they introduce you to THAT sword because it was not HIS (Anduin's). It was in fact his father's sword, so in your mind you might think: "wait, is that Varian? Didn't he die?" and even then the character of Anduin is masked, although if you know, you know he was the lion...
Loving the blizzard reactions!
13:02 - Lordaeron, the city they're defending, was once a human city and was taken by The Scourge (enslaved Undead) and is now claimed by The Forsaken (freed Undead and members of The Horde under Sylvanas.) The forest is tainted from what it once was.
24:25 - This clash, Varok Saurfang vs Genn Greymane, is also symbolically powerful. Leaders of their own groups, but subordinate to the leader of the faction.
Hey Kai! At around 13:00 you mention that the forest would be lush green, but actually the coloring shown is accurate to the world at this time! The zone that the ruins of Lordaeron (Undercity, capital of the undead) are in is called Tirisfal Glades, which has been overrun by plague and undeath for a very long time at this point of the story, leaving the forest there in a state of decay. This is also the zone you begin your journey in if you create an undead character in game! Thought you might find that interesting 🙂
Interesting! Love it.
Anduin and Sylvanas, my two favourite characters in a trailer ❤
I remember when I first started playing World of Warcraft, Anduin was "the Boy King" a literal child NPC who would be sat on his fathers giant throne surrounded by powerful advisors. His father, King Varian, was a renown warrior who was missing for the longest time. He returned when Anduin was a teenager and the two always butted heads; Anduin had chosen the path of a pacifist and was trained as a holy priest, and thought his father a warmonger. King Varian thought his son was too soft.
In the expansion before The Battle For Azaroth, Leigion, King Varian was convinced by Anduin to team up with the Hord and drive back the Leigion. This resulted in his death (caused by the Hord, some night say) and put Anduin back on the throne.
When this cinimatic launched it was so shocking! The glowing sword that gets a big focus in both this cinimatic and the War Within is dead King Varians sword, Shalamayne, and is instantly recognisable. We all knew only Anduin could be weilding it. To see the peacful Anduin using his fathers sword to commit violence was just shocking, we knew some shit had truly gone down. His helmet coming off was another big reveal, his model in game up to this point had still been a teenager, this was our first look at an adult King Anduin and after this they updated him in game model too (he was henceforth known as Manduin LOL). The shadows hiding his face as he pauses to look down at his fathers sword shows his interal struggle to be the strong warrior king his father wanted him to be. You see in his eyes that he realises he can't be that kind of king and he drops Shalamayne, the symbol of his father, and uses his holy powers to summon the light to heal his men (priests cannot use swords in World of Warcreft lol) it was such a beautiful scene!
Sorry for the massively long post, I just thought I'd share some context. I love your WOW cinimatic reactions, and look forwards to seeing the rest.
Sylvanas .... My queen her VA Patty Mattson is absolutely top shelf and Kai everybody and their mother KNEW it as Anduin behind that mask ... nothing secret about that...
Sylvanas worst character in wow. Ruined 2 whole expansions and half the lore. Arrogant selfish and psycho
@@Ztormzz lool, you take that way to seriously , and just to trigger your sorry ass again, best written storyline ever, and showing how thing work irl, with horror, no honor, betrayal, and victories
@@Ztormzz lmfao bro her storyline was telegraphed from day 1 of vanilla.
you can hate a character while still appreciating the story of that character.
What I like about this cinematic is that Anduin kinda looks clumsy when he fights, you can tell he's not really used to such chaotict battles, because he's a Priest trained almost like a Paladin, but he's trained with a MACE, so him whacking with his swords so awkwardly is almost comical until he unleashes his true power; his connection to the Light (also because he's royalty he's been trained in more sheltered and controlled enviroments so this also reflects in his fighting style, and since he used to be more of a pacifist and disliked violence you can still see some hestiation in his movements.). This Light is also what he reffers to in War Within when he says "I have no Light!" He means that he can no longer connect with the Light and use it's power. I believe that Thrall was reffering to ANDUIN as a person when he said "We need your light again." as in his positive nature, his empathic heart, and his kind soul, but Anduin took it literally and also (current timeline) now belives that even his very essence as a person has become corrupted and defiled, so he's not worth being compared to "light".
Both the Horde and the Alliance has their own share of races, humans were the originals along with the dwarves and high elves for the Alliance, but the Horde has more monster-type of races.
Sylvanas is the Banshee Queen, a former High Elf who died and was raised from the dead to serve the Lich King.
So Undead spirit elf.
Btw if you finish this BFA streak, the one after that World of Warcraft - Shadowlands kinda continues the last video so might be worth checking out, when the BFA ones are over.
Will do, thanks for the deets. KZ
11:13 - Genn Greymane, former king of Gilneas (one of the founders of the Alliance). The Orcs had just broken out of their internment camps at the end of the Second War and Greymane noped TF out of the Alliance deciding he could not keep asking Gilneas to pick up the tab for the actions of others. They built the Greymane wall and hid inside Gilneas. Problem was, trouble wasn't about to leave Gilneas alone.
Right around the start of the Third War (Warcraft 3), Genn told his court Archmage to keep them safe from the threat of The Scourge (the Undead slaves of the Lich King, of which Sylvanas was forced to become a member). That... didn't exactly go his way. Signal the start of the Worgen (werewolf) Curse.
Worgen became playable characters in the Cataclysm expansion, joining the Alliance.
both sides get a hero's crescendo because both sides have a hero. there are no bad guys or good guys in this game, just guys and gals with sides that both commit great acts of compassion and brutality.
It's probably been said,but Genn Greymane (the wolf guy you like) is a worgen. The original worgen were essentially a pack of druidic night elves who got sort of "trapped" inside their wolf forms and lost their minds. They were banished to what is basically another dimension. Genn, and the other worgen you see in WoW, are not THOSE worgen, but the once-humans of a nice lil region known as Gilneas who were blessed with the worgen curse.
Fast forward about 10,000 years to almost current day Gilneas, a peninsula inconveniently situated to the south of undeady-dead territory and to the north, east and west of a bunch of water. The undead army has been increasing in numbers and pushing further south. Genn, then the king of Gilneas, and still human, has heard about the worgen, and in a moment of desperation he has them summoned back into reality-Azeroth hoping they will fight off the undead that are threatening their country. They do, but being insane and uncontrollable, they then turn to attack the Gilneans, transfering the worgan curse to them through their bite. Genn is basically tragically responsible for the fate of himself and his people becoming worgen. He's otherwise a pretty good dude.
Also not really related, but something that's mildly hilarious to me. Because Gilneas is basically England (rain and all), everyone from Gilneas, and also the worgen from there, speaks with a super cockney accent for some inexplicable reason. Except Genn?? His daughter even has it.
10:51 - Shalamayne, the blade of the King, is formed by two swords Shalla'tor and Ellemayne coming together. It's the mark of the leader of the Alliance. They're Elven blades forged back in the War of the Ancients, and Render and Reaver (their names) come together as a symbol of unity now.
Lady Sylvanas Windrunner is, at this point, the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken (the Undead who reclaimed their wills and minds) and leader of The Horde. There's a beautiful moment of symmetry here in that the villain who corrupted her, the Lich King Arthas, was before his fall a Paladin who looks an AWFUL LOT like young Anduin here and was a servant of the Light.
When Arthas was defeated Sylvanas took her own life rather than continue to be a slave to the Lich Kings, and was brought back from The Maw (Azeroth's literal Hell) with an Agenda of her own that is playing out even here. For her there's this moment of terrible purpose when she's reflecting on the hate that caused HER to ally with something.
Old soldier is a series of cinematics that played through this expansion. There are like 3 or 4 more after this before the shadowlands cinematic.
Awesome to hear, I look forward to diving into the others.
Would be nice to see some more Final Fantasy 14 trailer reactions
For the Horde, forever
Really!? You've sold me on them now.
3:40 Yeah thats King Anduin, this cinematic was 2x expansions before that one, you've watched them, a bit out of order chronologically.
you have earned yourself a new subscriber and like sir
Thank you so much for watching!
2:53 Yeah Sylvanas IS the Banshee Queen for a reason :)
20:06 that character received the fan name of Zappy Boi lol.
Zappy Boi eventually got an in-game name, too: Zekhan. Hilariously, the Zappy Boi moniker got a tip of the hat from one of the canonical novels, _Shadows Rising,_ when the Loa of Death Bwonsamdi cheekily calls Zekhan "little zappy boy."
Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen. Fallen High Elf turned Death Knight.
For the record, the cinematic effective occurs as we take up the action in the game itself. Maybe not 1:1, but we were directly involved in what this series would have shown continuing forward
The "Elf Witch" is Sylvanas Windrunner.
She was formerly a High Elf in service with the Kingdom of Quel'thalas (Silvermoon City). She was the Ranger-General of the Army.
Silvermoon was sacked by Arthas after becoming the champion Death Knight of the Lich King (shortly before he became the LK himself). Sylvanas was killed by Arthas and along with everyone else, her soul was taken.
She was reanimated as a banshee but he made sure her consciousness was still intact so that she would have to witness the horrific acts she was forced to do.
Later when Arthas fled to Northrend to combine with the Lich King, the power over Sylvanas started to wane and through strong willpower she was able to break free and returned to her body.
She then became the leader of the Forsaken (undead humans and elves that had also regained their control) and a member of the Horde.
I highly recommend watching "Warbringers: Sylvanas" it shows those events nicely and gives a little backstory into this battle.
The other Warbringer cinematics for Jaina and Azshara are also great but kind of need a little bit of background information to understand them.
One of the greatest cinematics and Sylvanas one of the greatest game characters ever written. Great job on video! Keep it up! Can't wait for Shadowlands cinematic!
Is that one of the next four in this series?
@@kaizammit Ehm, not sure. It's called "World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Cinematic Trailer". Pretty awesome, nice boss fight kinda scene. Cheers!
"Frothing in your pants" lmao haven't heard that before.
first time here, u are a delight to watch, u explain so much stuff. Love it, Ez sub.
fav line so far: All this shit, giving us texture.
The reason I believe - why they zoomed in on the sword, and keeping Anduin hidden with the helmet is because it was Anduins father's sword. He died in the expansion before this one.
Probably just to screw with fans who doesn't pay too much attention to the lore(?)
Cuz there is a cutscene in Legion where Anduin takes up the blade. (you should watch it, or all the WoW cutscenes tbh ^^ )