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Since you watched the second horde, cinematic, you have to watch the second alliance one. Anduin returns to the place of his father’s death. I personally it’s one of my top three cinematics they’ve ever done.
Sylvanas makes the choice to "pull back" because the horde just lost their warchief. Zul'jin their warchief just took a near fatal blow, and it was a hopeless battle. all of warcraft's heroes got swamped in the first assault on the broken shore
Even as a lifelong horde main, I don't think there was a single one of us who didn't have an insane amount of respect for Varian. One final salute for the warrior-king. o7
As a Horde only player, I to have much respect for Varian. I wanted to merk Guldan so bad after this. Varian was a real G. I wish they showed him in Shadowlands.
@@kockypi5702 The souls of opponents are used by the Legion as a kind of fuel for their ships etc. We couldn't see him in SL except where we saw him because part of it has turned into Shalamayne.
As a Blood Elf Death Knight started during this war as a Paladin, I too have respect for Varian, The Warrior-King who may have Lived and Died for the Alliance, but died as an honorary Human Horde member
The way you talk about feeling - mad and pissed at Gul'Dan - is pretty much how we felt at the time. We went into that expansion pissed and as motivated for a raid as I can ever remember. It felt personal. Btw: That letter he hands Genn for his son is the letter we saw him writing in the Legion launch cinematic, the one about how he now feels peace is the highest goal, but sometimes you have to fight for it.
it WAS personal. that fel-loving bastard took our king from us, not to mention what he did to Tirion. his end was well deserved in The Nighthold, may his suffering in the Twisted Nether, NEVER end.
This is probably one of my most memorable scenes in warcraft history. The way Varian sacrificed himself to save others was absolutely legendary. Truely heroic on another level.
This takes place almost immediately after the Legion cinematic where they invade the Broken Shore where the portal the Legion is using to enter the world is located. We had a whole ass expansion without the High King of the Alliance that we'd known ever since the game started back in 2003. Genn Greymane is the King of the human kingdom of Gilneas, that once bordered Lordaeron in the north, but closed itself off during the Third War by building a huge wall across the peninsula that it occupied. The reason for this is that the Worgen curse was running rampant through the land, transforming everyone into violent, animalistic werewolves. This was caused by the Scythe of Elune, a Night Elf artifact that brought the worgen to Azeroth from another world, and as such, the Night Elves offered their aid in helping the Gilneans to control the curse, allowing them to shift between human and worgen form. Genn has since become Varian's (and later, Anduin's) most trusted advisor and ally, but Genn also has a VERY serious hatred for Sylvanas Windrunner, as it was she who shot his only son Liam dead in his arms when she invaded Gilneas to absorb the whole of the northlands into the Forsaken's grip. THAT thing that came crashing down from the sky is called a Fel Reaver, a gigantic construct of machinery and fel magic used by the Legion to level strongholds. They were a terror during the BC expansion because back then there was no real ambient sound design to hear them from far away, so they'd pretty much sneak up on people and one shot them (elite world boss level mobs, took a big group to kill them). To see Varian one shot one with a cometary stab to the dome was pure awesomeness. Varian's sword is a magical Elvish blade known as Shalamayne, which lights with the color of the wielder's soul (for Varian it's red because he is a Warrior, it become golden for Anduin as he is a Priest). It is a fusion of two other blades, Shalla'tor and Ellemayne, forged during the War of the Ancients 10000 years ago and wielded by twin warriors. The swords eventually came into the posession of Jaina, who gifted them to the two Varians (back when his soul was literally split in two and he was two different people, Lo'Gosh the Ghost Wolf (for his savage and combative nature), and Varian. When the two halves of his sould were fused back together, the swords were as well, becoming Shalamayne, and allowing him to split them into their two halves again at will. Defiant to the end. Never give up, NEVER surrender. That's my King. *FOR THE ALLIANCE*
I've been waiting for this, for you to get to this point... (I saw it on stream). For me, this was the hardest scene to watch in all of WoW cinematography. No other death, so far, has hit me the way this one did.
"This guy" is Genn Greymane, who is Worgen, essentially a race of werewolves. He is also the wolf in the cinematic. His kingdom was invaded by Sylvannas in a previous expansion, so he never trusts her.
He is the King of Gilneas and a human affected by the Worgen curse like all other Gylneans, not just a worgen. Worgen's in WoW are almost mindless beasts.
@@westsidermetalhead4997 The worgen curse is actually a druidic curse its actually the reason worgens were the second alliance race to be a druid. It is actually one of the most powerful duidic transformations but it also takes away your free will... that is until the night elfs helped the Gilneans with a ritual and helped them control their transformations.
One thing that cannot be expressed verbally in the cinematic..... is that Genn Greymane has even more added psychological trauma invested in the outcome of this fight. Because his people the Gilneans were also responsible for the Alliance having a major loss in the 2nd War, because they refused to show up with the other 7 major human kingdoms when they most needed the help. So him being ultra dedicated to never abandoning the alliance again..... means this hits him even worse.
@@laertesindeed That was during the Third War, Gilneas was very active during the Second War, assisting in the punitive action against the nearby kingdom of Alterac after their treachery against the Alliance came to light (allowing Horde troops to move through their lands unmolested in exchange for the same in return)
As someone who's played the Horde since I joined in 2014, Vol'jin was by far my favorite character. So when this expansion released and i witnessed his death, I was ready to tear through the Legion. It made me sad he was taken from us only 2 expansions after being made warchief
Philip you missed the best Cinematic! Plz Check out ''A Found Memento: Raising a King'' It deals with Varian's son after his father died. It's so good. I would love to see you react to that.
In case no one mentioned it, the giant robot that Varian kills in a single shot is called a fel reaver. Giant Legion weapon that, in game, roams Outlands' Hellfire Peninsula and stomps all over people of you aren't paying attention.
Even when I'm leveling, that massive fel reaver sneaks up on me and strikes absolute terror into my bones. For an unnamed (in the sense that it is a generic name for a mob) enemy, it is truly one of the most memorable encounters in WoW history. That Varian could solo one (even with a death at the end) is a massive nod to the power he wielded as a leader.@@MaemuraLonewolf
You really need to see the rest of the in-game cinematics. And the final one for Legion will give some story to that huge sword you saw in the War Within trailer.
Stumbling upon your channel has been amazing! I love hearing how to breakdown things after hearing your initial reactions being just like how I felt watching this stuff! eager to see you continue to explore wow/genshin and other game cutscenes!
Love your Content, Phillip! Side note, Varian's Death was tragic.. but it was for Anduin to finally sit himself into the seat of being a King for Stormwind and the larger aspects of the Alliance. The Lion cub became a proper lion like his father. You will see it as we get to Battle for Azeroth, Shadowlands in particular. Shadowlands is the reason why you saw the pain in Anduin's eyes in The War Within.
King Genn Greymane is the king of the Galneans, those big Worgen wolfmen you see. He's the big grey wolf in many scenes. He and Varian have worked together and are friends. Genn becomes the advisor to young Anduin Wrynn after Varian's fall. When he hands the letter to Genn, the music that follows Varian down to kill the Fel Reaver (you hear that sound in your sleep after playing in Outlands) is the music of Anduin's Theme. He's doing it for his son, for the Alliance. When you watch Anduin go to where his father died, you hear it as he looks at the dead Reaver. I cried literal tears and had to stop playing for awhile and let my emotions settle down. I'm Alliance, always have been, even with Horde characters and this just hit way hard. And I was uber pissed off at Sylvanas until I finally logged into my Horde character and saw it from the other side. Understanding didn't blunt the sadness, though.
There is a wonderful tribute cinematic titled "Forged by Fire" that was created for Blizzard's MOBA game - Heroes of the Storm - when they added Varian as a playable hero after this event. Narrated by Jaina, and showcasing Varian's endless determination and courage... it's really beautiful.
As a Horde player this is the cinematic where I fell in love with Shalamayne but didn't know it yet. 😄 I'm not going to post spoilers here obvs, but that weapon has a whole theme around who wields it and why and how and it ended up becoming one of my personal favourite subtle story symbols in the lore.
Note the timelapse after Sylvanas is named Warchief, it's a huge part of the storytelling in this cinematic. She literally stands, unmoving, in the same place for what I assume is at minimum half an hour, while others tend to the removal of Vol'jin's body just feet from her. I think it's obvious that she's in shock at being named Warchief, especially since the Forsaken joining the Horde was initially an alliance of convenience, and the Forsaken were perceived as not able to fully be trusted, even within the Horde. (also, probably should have fully finished watching because it seems like you pick up most of this lol)
RIP to the greatest King Stormwind has seen. But yeah, no joke Horde and Alliance players were at each other's throats. The Alliance perspective was released first and for a whole week, maybe two threads were full of fighting and even in game Alliance players made it their mission to go and slaughter Horde players and the Leaders. Then the Horde perspective came out and we realized our mistakes. Vol'jin is almost as respected as Varian was in the game and his reign was short lived.
Shalamayne existed before advent children, Varian was a split personality in Vanilla WoW and each one of they had a part of the sword, and when Onyxia (Dragon) fused them together again the swords fused also...
I knew Sylvanas was gonna get blamed for Varian's death, but she was following her warchief's orders. I'm sure she felt like she didn't have a choice. The Warchief was lied to, Sylvanas was not their savior in the end.
So. I didn't see anyone mention this. It's very important. AT THE TIME, we knew Varian was killed by pure fel energy. Painful death. However, it gets worse. Dying to the fel like that destroys not just the body, but the soul as well. No afterlife, no great reward, no nothing. Only oblivion. I hadn't been so pissed at a villain since Sephiroth.
this cinematic (and expansion trailer because of what happens to Varian) always makes me sad because Varian was my favorite character along side Anduin, i feel like they both had a lot of great development in the story mostly because they were there for a lot of it but what makes it even more sad for me is that in the expansion cinematic Varian shouts "For Azeroth!" which was a signal that he was learning from his son to work collectively with the horde for the greater good, but when he believes he was betrayed and meets his fate he says "for the alliance" instead 😩 just a little note i come back to every time i see these two cinematics that i can't get over.
I made my first Horde character in order to experience that side of events. I remember thinking that Varian died spitting in the face of evil while Vol’jin just faded away ignobly and, as we later learned, had been tricked into passing the mantle to Sylvanas.
The Sylvanas and Voljin cinematic is when the Sylvanas character direction changed. Also, the game director for the story changed and had a different vision from the original intention. Sylvanas went in a direction many players didn't like. That was a creative decision made by someone who wasn't the original visionary for the WoW franchise.
Sylvanas' story was logical and understandable. Only you fanbois were and are not able to see that. And you probably haven't read the book either, because reading isn't for everyone
This is cinematic is the symbol of why I dislike so much the direction that Sylvanas character went after it. It effectively ruined the last moments of Vol'jin, one of the wisest and most honorable WoW-original members of the Horde, instead of making him take a bold but wise decision that could've strengthened the Horde more than ever (more on this latter) they just went for "nah this random Loa just lied to him cause ThE JaIlEr waS BeHinD iT AlL", the dude was the Prime Troll and Horde Warchief got manipulated by a Loa to make a decision that would ruin the Horde? That's effectively like writing Elune sending Nelfs to their death... oh wait. Yeah, much like some recent decisions around the Nelfs, that one took a massive dump on Troll culture, but then they went for the Forsaken. The relationship between the Forsaken and the rest of the Horde was always shaky, which is why the Horde trusting Sylvanas and defending Undercity after the Wrathgate meant a lot and then characters like Lilian Voss questioning the idea of what it menas being a Forsaken were so interesting, then they sided with Vol'Jin during the Horde civil war and this happened in Legion. Sylvanas words of encouragement to Varian during the Broken Shore and her promise of avenging Vol'Jins death was so promising, it was, as Vol'jin said pushing the Forsaken out of the shadows which could've effectively reshapend their role within the Horde, fulfilling what the faction meant in WoW from the beginning (or in other words what Thrall was leading the Horde towards): A unity of ostracized cultures who found a common home in the Horde. But then BFA happened.... and for the shortest of times it looked really promising, Sylvanas screaming "For the Horde" in the Battle for Azeroth trailer cinematic was impactful af, supposedly the Forsaken were the only ones she cared about and supposedly they were in the Horde just for their own benefit but now she looked like a proud Warchief, heck, even the first gossips of Calia Menethil coming back and shaking things up within the Forsaken was interesting too, and they were building all this mystery around what the fuck happened in Teldrassil and who actually burnt it... and then expansion came out and the answer was the most boring and stupid answer possible, and then Before the Storm came out and Sylvanas was killing dozens of Forsaken ("the only ones she cared about") just because, and the answers in Shadowlands were so dumb that it simply killed a lot of my care for the WoW Lore.
@@Kyriae Most people, regardless if their read the book or not don't see that, because it's actually jus Sylvanas fanbois who do, because they are fanbois. Christie Golden should be given a freaking award for everything she did for that plot line in the Sylvanas book, but it says it all when you have to write a book just to fix all the nonsense of a multiexpansion plot instead of, you know, writing said plot to makes sense from the get go.
@@Kyriae -- Just because people didn't read Warcraft doesn't mean they don't read. You should keep insults to yourself instead of trying to insult people you don't know. Maybe playing World of Warcraft didn't inspire many to go back and read the books. I bet more people read the books due to the efforts of the Warcraft franchises before the World of Warcraft. Many of us never played those games and received the lore via other sources like UA-cam and etc.
It was the ingame cutscenes (this one and Ysera) from Legion that made this expac my all time fave... the story was so epic...major feels. The Sylvanas/Vol'jin cutscene gets me everytime....so emotional... "Vol'jin is dead. Who among you will help me avenge him?" Those words inspired me for the entire expansion.
The thing with in game cinematics, back when they made Wrathgate they didn't realy have any tools to make cinematics. They used custom server for WoW and characters had to be moved like players do and camera was just a player character with first person mode. By the time of Legion they already had a lot of proper animation tools to make cinematics so they could animate the characters however they want.
we lost many good men that day.. Varian, Vol'jin, Tirion Fordring (the man who helped defeat Arthas and whose brother now sits upon the Frozen Throne.) and just a whole lot of people. should never have happened, damn Gul'dan.
One of them before he even had their chance to shine. Remember Vol'jin. Never forget who they took from us. The greatest Warchief the Horde could have asked for. If Vol'jin had survived, there wouldn't have been a 4th war.
Varian is also called lo’gosh (ghost wolf) but mostly horde members. A name he got many years ago when he was living the life of a gladiator on horde territory (no one knew he was a human king and if I recall correctly he had amnesia so he didn’t know either)
It's been years and I still feel seing Varian's heroic sacrifice. He was the sole reason I went Ally back in the day, as Thrall was my reason for originally play Horde.
Note that before he dies, Varian says “for the Alliance”, whereas in the landing cinematic (where he writes the letter to Anduin) he says “for Azeroth”. He therefore dies thinking that Sylvanas has betrayed him and thus having lost hope of a lasting peace between the Horde and the Alliance, which adds a layer of drama to his death
At this time in the story for Sylvannas it was a practical matter. Horde position being overrun. And in the Before the Storm book it’s described that Sylvannas felt when Varian died it was one of the last true heroes dying.
the death of a warrior king. to save his people, for the alliance and for azeroth (since he believes in peace as the highest good now), defiant to the very end. 9:28 idk if its what they used for this cutscene, but there is a technique of painting 2D graphics animations over 3D footage. with 2D being able to be photorealistic (in this case realistic to the engine/style of the game) its often hardly noticeable whats been edited in later on. they probably had a rough render of the cloud that they painted over. that said, the game itself also had absolutely gorgeous, painted textures everywhere. another company i follow also started doing that more and more for what used to be a very simple 3D "anime" in the beginning, ~5 years ago, and it looks fantastic these days. even if people say "this billion dollar company doesnt need your love", i am proud of how far they've come with this game and its presentation. though all the ups and downs no one can deny that they have always poured heart and hard work into this franchise. 14:57 i've seen advent children and the way clouds sword works is quite different from this, so i doubt that specifically inspired it. especially because there's been "changing" swords and other weapons in WoW as far back as vanilla (Sul'thraze, forged from two separate blades, Stormstrike/Shadowstrike polearms that can transform into one another, same as Benediction/Anathema for staves). its probably inspired by something, but hard to say what. 28:15 to elucidate: there is a quest at some point... i think it might be for rogues only? during which you find out that the invasion of the broken shore was a trap laid out by the legion. the rogues gathering intel before the invasion found out that the legion were preparing an ambush, then got ambushed and killed(?) themselves, so no one could warn the combined forces that were ready to move out. during the battle the trap sprang and a demon portal opened up, right behind the horde lines, who were supposed to secure the alliance flank, the alliance being more numerous, was intended to bear the brunt of the attack on the broken shore head-on. the horde forces, above all their leadership, would've been wiped out if sylvanas didnt sound the retreat, which was a direct order from her warchief, no less. sadly, these intricacies are lost on a lot of people. sylvanas can absolutely not be blamed for this action, she made the right decision. varian had to sacrifice himself to guarantee the survival of the alliance, sylvanas had to sacrifice the trust put into her and the horde by her allies, to guarantee the survival of the horde.
12:50 not just because more people would have died, but because that ship carried the best of the best of the alliance(the players) and he knew that if they lost them it was game over
Vol'jin ordered Sylvanas to sound a retreat because the Horde was simply fighting off demons pouring out from two portals to keep that flank clear while Alliance troops pushed towards the main portal in the Tomb. Both factions were caught by surprise with the invasion, so the amount of forces they did manage to bring to the Broken Shore was simply not enough, and they got overwhelmed.
Now as for some Horde context and why they retreated, something we learn later in game with rogues through some spying on the Legion's ranks, is that the Burning Legion had agents in both factions that allowed this battle to happen in the first place. They fed them false information on Legion numbers so that they'd _think_ they had a shot to win when in reality they didn't, and thus the greatest champions of both factions would charge in to meet their deaths. The Horde retreated because they were simply overwhelmed. They did not have the numbers to survive, and neither did the Alliance, or both of them combined. If they stayed they would have all died. And this is not a guess or speculation, this is a lore canon _fact_ Rogue players learned later on in the expansion through their campaign. In the Horde side of this battle in-game, we fight good but then we start losing . Sylvanas notices, then the Warchief is dealt a lethal blow, and she just orders the retreat. The head spymaster of the Alliance, Matthias Shaw, learned of this weeks before the attack as he scouted the Broken Shore (the place where these cinematics take place) and RIGHT as he was going back to warn the factions like "hey we can't just go in and fight straight on, there's too many, we need a different approach" one of the Dreadlords named Detheroc finds him, captures him and then steals his identity to feed false information to the Alliance and eventually the Horde so that they _would_ walk into the deathtrap that was the Broken Shore.
its a crying shame that this is locked behind the rogue guild hall, iirc, so many people never encountered this quest and dont know that this entire operation was doomed before it even began. meanwhile other classes like warrior have guild hall quests that dont matter at all to any bit of the world.
The guy Varian hands the letter to is Genn Greymane. He's the King of Gilneas. The whole kingdom befell the worgen curse-essentially turning them into werewolves. He's a very good boy! Yes he is!
Shalamayne, the sword, was conceived way before Legion released. However, I cannot find a timeline to see if it was before or after Advent Children in 2005. Varian return as king until Wrath in 2008, although he was a known character before that, and did canonically participate in Onyxia's fall at the end of vanilla WoW (the raid was introduced in 2004), which is when the two blades were combined into one. However, I'm not sure how much of his involvement was written at that time or retconed later when he returned in Wrath. So, Shalamayne may be influenced by Advent Children, but I'm not sure. It was fun to dig into this and try to figure it out, though.
What’s often overlooked is he said “For the Alliance” at the very end, as compared to “For Azeroth” during the intro cinematic. Varian died believing the Horde betrayed them yet again, and that the unity they achieved was a false hope after all.
It's interesting because you can tell between these two cinematics that in the heat of battle with with things always so tense between the Horde and Alliance that the original intention was that Sylvanas made a difficult decision she didn't want to make because of Vol'jin being mortally wounded and the battle going so poorly, not that she intended to abandon the Alliance as it seemed from their perspective. She had always been concerned for the wellbeing of the Forsaken prior to the changes made to her character arc in BfA and Shadowlands as, in lore, once the Forsaken died, that was it. Their numbers were only diminishing. I think Sylvanas would have been an amazing Warchief if they hadn't messed with her character arc afterward. You can see the clear regret, and the way she acts upon Vol'jin dying and her being named Warchief is entirely counter to how she acts in BfA and shadowlands.
The worst part is.... Fel Magic consumes the soul, so Varian didn't even get to go to the Shadowlands, which we visited a few expansions later. He would have been a great fit in Maldraxxus.
As to the Horde side: The Legion had opened a portal behind their position supporting the Alliance and flanked them. Thrall was down, with Baine Bloodhoof helping him. Vol'jin, the Warchief, was stabbed in the gut by a fel blade. They were being overrun just like the Alliance were, and with Vol'jin's words "Don't let de Horde die dis day", she felt she had no choice but to sound the retreat, or risk losing 4 of the leaders of the Horde along with all of their best troops. Obviously Sylvanas has always had her own plots and schemes, but it became clear to us during this expansion that for the most part, she put those on the back burner to do what was best for the Horde, as the Legion is THE enemy of all. There was the little matter she and Genn got into in Stormheim, but that's for later :P And those winged beings are the Val'kyr, of which there are two kinds: the noble sunborne Val'kyr who were created by the Titan keeper Odyn to ferry fallen valorous vrykul to his Hall of Valor to become his favored warriors, the Valarjar. The other are the servants of death, Val'kyr created by the Lich King from the vrykul who served him in Northrend. When the Lich King was defeated, several of these Val'kyr swore their service to Sylvanas and the Forsaken, and she uses them to raise new Forsaken to swell her ranks. They also have the ability to revive powerful fallen undead, like Sylvanas (who can't just be re-raised so simply), by sacrificing their own energies to restore her. This has happened at least once already, and it terrified her so much knowing that she has a limited supply of these 1-ups, that she sought out a magical artifact called the Soulcage, a lantern that can compel the soul of any being, which she planned to use on the Titan keeper Eyir, the leader of Odyn's Val'kyr, so that she could make more to serve her. Genn Greymane caught up with her in Stormheim, however, and battled her for it, eventually smashing it. "You took my son's future... and now, I've taken yours" he utters as he walks away, leaving Sylvanas to watch Eyir disappear in a flash of golden light.
The sword is called Shalamayne, and they were gifted to Varian by the night elves. Many years ago, the evil black dragon, Onyxia, daughter of Deathwing, split Varian's soul into two halves, the warrior Lo'gosh, and the noble king. The blades were originally two as well, wielded by night elf twins. By bringing the swords together, his soul was merged back into one and sealed with the warrior's spirit. It is said they can only be split into two when wielded with a warrior's true honor and fighting toward a just cause. When Varian splits them, he is summoning forth his warrior's spirit and becomes Lo'gosh once more.
To answer your question: “What does it mean when he splits his sword?” Allow me to provide backstory. Shalla'tor and Ellemayne were a pair of magic elven blades forged during the War of the Ancients and wielded by the twins Vor'Illian and Lo'Vellian. In Darnassian, Shalla'tor means Shadow Render, while Ellemayne means Reaver.While Ellemayne had a red gem, Shalla'tor had a blue one instead. The blades eventually came into the possession of Lady Jaina Proudmoore. After Varian Wrynn was split into two people by Onyxia's magic, the two ultimately found each other again and resolved to slay the black dragon. They were granted the night elven blades by Jaina, who aided them in the assault on Onyxia's Lair. When Onyxia inadvertently combined the two Varians back into one person, the two blades were merged into a single weapon as well. This sword became known as Shalamayne, and its first target was the black dragon Onyxia, who was slain by the merged Varian using his new sword. Shalamayne.
I still remember hopping on the Alliance side after this to troll in Trade chat, making fun of Varian dying "for nothing". People got *so* salty. Good times.
A bit of context about the Horde retreating, which had convinced the Alliance characters(and many players, some that still believe it to this day) that the Horde betrayed them: Every class had a unique campaign during Legion and later on in the Rogue campaign we discover that the head of the Alliance's intelligence organization had been replaced by a Dreadlord(high ranking demons in the Legion that are masters of disguise and deception) that was feeding them false information about the state of the Broken Shore and the number of the Legion's forces. We basically walked right into a trap that neither faction would have survived if Sylvanas hadn't sounded the retreat when she did.
The downpour a tribute to Varian. I kid you not: it never rains in Stormwind on the game, but after Varian died it was raining there for several months.
what happened? basically after so many battles we thought we were invincible, the infinite Burning Legion showed us, as Lord Illidan said, "the true burden of sacrifice." so many were lost on that Broken Shore, Tirion, Voljin, Varian. but the new warchief Sylvanas was resilient during these hard time and was merciless in her war against the Legion, along with the new king of Stormwind and all the other mortal races including Illidari Demon Hunters, and even Deathkights, she lead us Horde to victory against the burning shadow. i was proud of her, but then she showed us all that she has no honor. her curse, arthus, twisted her into a monster and she was dealt with in kind. us Horde bear her shame even to this day.
Now you need to watch the end of the Nighthold Raid cinematic, to see how Gul'dan dies ;) I don't know that it is long enough or has enough story in it to warrant an analysis video like this, but I believe you'll take relief in knowing how Gul'dan was slain.
Something important in the Horde side, is that the Val'kyr that Sylvanas uses are remnant of what the Lich King used, but unlike the Lich King she cant get new Val'kyr, so every one she loses is one less she will have and they are important to her, so Sylvanas risking to lose her Val'kys shows how compromised she was in getting the Horde out of there.
I like’s that he said that varian said « for the alliance » and not for Azeroth. Guldan killed him using fel magic (the worst kind of magic) warlocks use it and blood elfs who were before night elfs ,have green eyes due to fel magic aswell.
I know people who quit playing for a while because of this. The only satisfaction we got was knowing that Illidan killed Guldan in the same way he killed Varian. And in the scene with Anduin, A Found Momento (Raising A King), seeing him pick up his father's sword and the fire of Shalamayne ignite again? That was everything for me as a life long alliance member.
There is a small bit of emotion from Guldan as he is killing Varian that i enjoyed so much. It almost seems like the amount of Fel energy he was using to kill Varian didnt seem enough, and he looks pissed that he had to push MORE energy into him to kill Varian. Just a small expression, but so well done.
As for sylvans retreat her war chief got stabbed the same time varian was dealing with the fel demon so sylvans went to the aud of Voljin because it was important to the horde so yeah she chose her own side during this incident. As for varian I was so said the way the did him in I was so pissed that from there own I made sure at every turn that involved guldan I beat his ass..I'm still very upset that they had this happen to varian but they needed to progress the story into his son anduian future. This is probably one of my all time favorite. Cinematics omg all the feels .
Many years later, I still cannot believe Blizzard's plan was to have Sylvanas actually be working for the Shadowlands' Jailer from everything she did since Wrath of the Lich King. Like, when I saw these cinematics, when she was standing there in the great hall of Orgrimmar, I thought she was overburdened with the weight of being the Warchief of the Horde adding-up on top of her being the Queen of the Forsaken, the weight of the defeat at the Broken Shore... Naaah. She was thinking "oh man, the plans of the Jailer are actually taking shape, sweet." When she said "who will help me avenge him?", I thought she wanted to take the Legion down. But nah, all of this time, she was actually thinking "let's galvanize these suckers!" I still can't believe it. I still can't believe Blizzard meant any of this at that point. I'm still sure they came-up with the Jailer idea as they were making the Battle for Azeroth expansion, and retrofitted that new narrative. I still want to believe Legion's Sylvanas was actually concerned with the weight of the Horde, of Vol'jin's death, of her people's survival, of the Legion's invasion. Case in point, she only drastically changed her leadership style in the following expansion.
players DID NOT see the opposite cinematic unless you looked it up. even horde players have a lot of respect for varian, but they have their own problems with their warchief dying and felt justified, while alliance never find out why the horde abandoned them, it really fanned the emotions that drive the next expansion for the players in addition to the characters
Lord Genn Greymane, King of the human kingdom of Gilneas, the people who were all cursed to be werewolves and lost their realm to the Forsaken (Undead).With a rightful heir to Lordaeron after Arthas' fall, the mantle of leader of the Allliance, in essence the high kingship, became the responsibility of Stormwind. That's why Genn, a king, still calls Varian, and later Anduin, "My King." Varian's sword predates the FF stuff. It was in Vanilla WoW, so at least 19 years, and I think Warcraft III. Now Varian himself was not PRESENT in vanilla, which was a whole saga in itself; however he was in earlier parts of the franchise, as a kid, mostly, and clearly had time to father Anduin. While Varian was missing, Onyxia and Neltharian pulled a lot of strings in Stormwind in their undercover human guises. Gah, I've forgotten so much. Now I want to go play Classic to relive it. As it is, I didn't start playing until a few weeks before the first expansion. In-game, the Horde gameplay immersed the player in the experience of being overwhelmed and why Sylvanas called the retreat. The Alliance version kept the mystery, fueling the anger between the factions. Sylvanas and Varian were really never anything but enemies; however, they earned each other's begrudging respect. That's the emotional undertone of their collaboration to fight the Burning Legion. Mind you at this time, we still didn't know for sure whether Sylvanas had been in on the betrayal at the Wrathgate. Really, nobody but Forsaken trusted her. Spoiler alert: the loa of death that informed him that she must become warchief was plotting, lied to him. His last words, his last command, were based on a lie.
Toda mi vida siendo horda y aun asi me puso muy triste la muerte de tremendo lider, la musica para su velorio "Canto del Sacrificio" es muy triste. Mi respetos o7
That THING that comes through the portal is a FEL REAVER....there are many in Outland..but there's ONE that roams around the question area that is so HUGE you don't see it...the ground shakes and you HEAR that reverb sound when it's near..but by then it's too late. I doubt there's a single original player who hasn't died to it while questing and gathering.....and then has gone back as a max health several expansions later and twatted it for revenge Just me? oops 😅
Looking at both sides, you understand that the Horde had to retreat. Their position was being overrun. Thrall couldn't fight, Baine (the cow-humanoid that was fending of an attacher) was just doing everything in his power to defend a downed Thrall. Vol'jin was fatally stabbed in the guts. They didn't have a choice if the leadership and members of the Horde were to survive. They had to retreat. Now, as an Alliance player who didn't touch the Horde side into later in the expansion, I didn't know why they ran away. But knowing both sides makes the whole make more sense. Alliance players hated her because it just looked like she ran away. Yet when you look at the cinematic, it almost looks like Sylvanas... kind of respects Varion. So it was pretty jarring to see her run away like that.
This is still the most epic shit a character performed in the whole lore.... and I'm here for quite a while now, since Warcraft (I). Alliance never had a leader such as Varian and Blizz decided to "terminate" him... Awesome way to do it.... but damn... I cry every time! 😂 Shit is too EPIC! I never liked Anduin too much... but I liked him in War Within cinematic. I'm hopeful. But he has big shoes to fill! He better come through!
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"For the Alliance"
Since you watched the second horde, cinematic, you have to watch the second alliance one. Anduin returns to the place of his father’s death. I personally it’s one of my top three cinematics they’ve ever done.
Sylvanas makes the choice to "pull back" because the horde just lost their warchief. Zul'jin their warchief just took a near fatal blow, and it was a hopeless battle. all of warcraft's heroes got swamped in the first assault on the broken shore
the horde one
Even as a lifelong horde main, I don't think there was a single one of us who didn't have an insane amount of respect for Varian. One final salute for the warrior-king. o7
As a Horde only player, I to have much respect for Varian. I wanted to merk Guldan so bad after this. Varian was a real G. I wish they showed him in Shadowlands.
"For the _Alliance_ "
@@kockypi5702
The souls of opponents are used by the Legion as a kind of fuel for their ships etc. We couldn't see him in SL except where we saw him because part of it has turned into Shalamayne.
o7
As a Blood Elf Death Knight started during this war as a Paladin, I too have respect for Varian, The Warrior-King who may have Lived and Died for the Alliance, but died as an honorary Human Horde member
his death still makes me so sad.. he was an amazing character with his insane heroism vibes
Varian is my favourite he was awesome
Yeah, Vol'jin was a true hero 🙃
i was so sad about him too lol@@ltwatlas6948
Him and Ysera for me
:( i cried at ysera.. i play a night elf druid.. so it hurt so much@@dtulip1
The way you talk about feeling - mad and pissed at Gul'Dan - is pretty much how we felt at the time. We went into that expansion pissed and as motivated for a raid as I can ever remember. It felt personal.
Btw: That letter he hands Genn for his son is the letter we saw him writing in the Legion launch cinematic, the one about how he now feels peace is the highest goal, but sometimes you have to fight for it.
it WAS personal. that fel-loving bastard took our king from us, not to mention what he did to Tirion. his end was well deserved in The Nighthold, may his suffering in the Twisted Nether, NEVER end.
Im still torn on this one
I'm Horde for life as Blood Elf Paly (Edit: turned Death Knight End of Edit) and this was personal even for me
"Varian is becoming one of my favorite characters." Famous last words.
right :)
This is probably one of my most memorable scenes in warcraft history. The way Varian sacrificed himself to save others was absolutely legendary. Truely heroic on another level.
This takes place almost immediately after the Legion cinematic where they invade the Broken Shore where the portal the Legion is using to enter the world is located. We had a whole ass expansion without the High King of the Alliance that we'd known ever since the game started back in 2003.
Genn Greymane is the King of the human kingdom of Gilneas, that once bordered Lordaeron in the north, but closed itself off during the Third War by building a huge wall across the peninsula that it occupied. The reason for this is that the Worgen curse was running rampant through the land, transforming everyone into violent, animalistic werewolves. This was caused by the Scythe of Elune, a Night Elf artifact that brought the worgen to Azeroth from another world, and as such, the Night Elves offered their aid in helping the Gilneans to control the curse, allowing them to shift between human and worgen form. Genn has since become Varian's (and later, Anduin's) most trusted advisor and ally, but Genn also has a VERY serious hatred for Sylvanas Windrunner, as it was she who shot his only son Liam dead in his arms when she invaded Gilneas to absorb the whole of the northlands into the Forsaken's grip.
THAT thing that came crashing down from the sky is called a Fel Reaver, a gigantic construct of machinery and fel magic used by the Legion to level strongholds. They were a terror during the BC expansion because back then there was no real ambient sound design to hear them from far away, so they'd pretty much sneak up on people and one shot them (elite world boss level mobs, took a big group to kill them). To see Varian one shot one with a cometary stab to the dome was pure awesomeness.
Varian's sword is a magical Elvish blade known as Shalamayne, which lights with the color of the wielder's soul (for Varian it's red because he is a Warrior, it become golden for Anduin as he is a Priest). It is a fusion of two other blades, Shalla'tor and Ellemayne, forged during the War of the Ancients 10000 years ago and wielded by twin warriors. The swords eventually came into the posession of Jaina, who gifted them to the two Varians (back when his soul was literally split in two and he was two different people, Lo'Gosh the Ghost Wolf (for his savage and combative nature), and Varian. When the two halves of his sould were fused back together, the swords were as well, becoming Shalamayne, and allowing him to split them into their two halves again at will.
Defiant to the end. Never give up, NEVER surrender. That's my King.
*FOR THE ALLIANCE*
I've been waiting for this, for you to get to this point... (I saw it on stream). For me, this was the hardest scene to watch in all of WoW cinematography. No other death, so far, has hit me the way this one did.
Varians scream is *haunting*. It's real enough to make me wonder if the voice actor actually had someone stab him so he could power that one.
@@Ryan-ts3pyI wonder if it was Chris Metzen that dubbed Varian in this cinematic. If it was, man, the guy still has it in him.
"This guy" is Genn Greymane, who is Worgen, essentially a race of werewolves. He is also the wolf in the cinematic. His kingdom was invaded by Sylvannas in a previous expansion, so he never trusts her.
He is the King of Gilneas and a human affected by the Worgen curse like all other Gylneans, not just a worgen. Worgen's in WoW are almost mindless beasts.
Possibly the most interesting character left in the Blue Team. At least, in my opinion.
@@westsidermetalhead4997 The worgen curse is actually a druidic curse its actually the reason worgens were the second alliance race to be a druid. It is actually one of the most powerful duidic transformations but it also takes away your free will... that is until the night elfs helped the Gilneans with a ritual and helped them control their transformations.
One thing that cannot be expressed verbally in the cinematic..... is that Genn Greymane has even more added psychological trauma invested in the outcome of this fight. Because his people the Gilneans were also responsible for the Alliance having a major loss in the 2nd War, because they refused to show up with the other 7 major human kingdoms when they most needed the help. So him being ultra dedicated to never abandoning the alliance again..... means this hits him even worse.
@@laertesindeed That was during the Third War, Gilneas was very active during the Second War, assisting in the punitive action against the nearby kingdom of Alterac after their treachery against the Alliance came to light (allowing Horde troops to move through their lands unmolested in exchange for the same in return)
This is one of the deaths that actually made me cry.
As someone who's played the Horde since I joined in 2014, Vol'jin was by far my favorite character. So when this expansion released and i witnessed his death, I was ready to tear through the Legion. It made me sad he was taken from us only 2 expansions after being made warchief
To be fair they did do both Varian and Vol’jin dirty in Legion
ngl - I played Horde all the time since classic. Absolutely always. But the day Varian died was the saddest day in nearly 18 years I play WoW.
Respect for a strong enemy/fallen rival is about the most Horde thing you can do, imo.
Philip you missed the best Cinematic! Plz Check out ''A Found Memento: Raising a King'' It deals with Varian's son after his father died. It's so good. I would love to see you react to that.
In case no one mentioned it, the giant robot that Varian kills in a single shot is called a fel reaver. Giant Legion weapon that, in game, roams Outlands' Hellfire Peninsula and stomps all over people of you aren't paying attention.
The sound those things make.. still give me nightmares lol. That was some crazy sh*t in Hellfire back then.
The ground shaking the first time I got stomped by one...
Even when I'm leveling, that massive fel reaver sneaks up on me and strikes absolute terror into my bones. For an unnamed (in the sense that it is a generic name for a mob) enemy, it is truly one of the most memorable encounters in WoW history. That Varian could solo one (even with a death at the end) is a massive nod to the power he wielded as a leader.@@MaemuraLonewolf
You really need to see the rest of the in-game cinematics. And the final one for Legion will give some story to that huge sword you saw in the War Within trailer.
Stumbling upon your channel has been amazing! I love hearing how to breakdown things after hearing your initial reactions being just like how I felt watching this stuff! eager to see you continue to explore wow/genshin and other game cutscenes!
Love your Content, Phillip! Side note, Varian's Death was tragic.. but it was for Anduin to finally sit himself into the seat of being a King for Stormwind and the larger aspects of the Alliance. The Lion cub became a proper lion like his father. You will see it as we get to Battle for Azeroth, Shadowlands in particular. Shadowlands is the reason why you saw the pain in Anduin's eyes in The War Within.
King Genn Greymane is the king of the Galneans, those big Worgen wolfmen you see. He's the big grey wolf in many scenes. He and Varian have worked together and are friends. Genn becomes the advisor to young Anduin Wrynn after Varian's fall.
When he hands the letter to Genn, the music that follows Varian down to kill the Fel Reaver (you hear that sound in your sleep after playing in Outlands) is the music of Anduin's Theme. He's doing it for his son, for the Alliance. When you watch Anduin go to where his father died, you hear it as he looks at the dead Reaver.
I cried literal tears and had to stop playing for awhile and let my emotions settle down. I'm Alliance, always have been, even with Horde characters and this just hit way hard. And I was uber pissed off at Sylvanas until I finally logged into my Horde character and saw it from the other side. Understanding didn't blunt the sadness, though.
Just remember, that moment in the first cinematic you first watched, War Within, when Anduin was all blue, his flashback, the hand was Varian's.
There is a wonderful tribute cinematic titled "Forged by Fire" that was created for Blizzard's MOBA game - Heroes of the Storm - when they added Varian as a playable hero after this event. Narrated by Jaina, and showcasing Varian's endless determination and courage... it's really beautiful.
Can't wait for you to see the Old Soldier stuff!
It's crazy how goddamn iconic the Fel Reaver Sound is.
As a player since burning crusade expansion it's pure HORROR 😮💨
Emotional Damage for both sides, but your reaction got me
Yesssss Varian
Nooooo Varian
As a Horde player this is the cinematic where I fell in love with Shalamayne but didn't know it yet. 😄 I'm not going to post spoilers here obvs, but that weapon has a whole theme around who wields it and why and how and it ended up becoming one of my personal favourite subtle story symbols in the lore.
Note the timelapse after Sylvanas is named Warchief, it's a huge part of the storytelling in this cinematic. She literally stands, unmoving, in the same place for what I assume is at minimum half an hour, while others tend to the removal of Vol'jin's body just feet from her. I think it's obvious that she's in shock at being named Warchief, especially since the Forsaken joining the Horde was initially an alliance of convenience, and the Forsaken were perceived as not able to fully be trusted, even within the Horde.
(also, probably should have fully finished watching because it seems like you pick up most of this lol)
RIP to the greatest King Stormwind has seen. But yeah, no joke Horde and Alliance players were at each other's throats. The Alliance perspective was released first and for a whole week, maybe two threads were full of fighting and even in game Alliance players made it their mission to go and slaughter Horde players and the Leaders. Then the Horde perspective came out and we realized our mistakes. Vol'jin is almost as respected as Varian was in the game and his reign was short lived.
Shalamayne existed before advent children, Varian was a split personality in Vanilla WoW and each one of they had a part of the sword, and when Onyxia (Dragon) fused them together again the swords fused also...
I knew Sylvanas was gonna get blamed for Varian's death, but she was following her warchief's orders. I'm sure she felt like she didn't have a choice. The Warchief was lied to, Sylvanas was not their savior in the end.
Phil you are learning so fast. I was explaining the lore to my buddy at work. He was so intrigued.
So. I didn't see anyone mention this. It's very important. AT THE TIME, we knew Varian was killed by pure fel energy. Painful death. However, it gets worse. Dying to the fel like that destroys not just the body, but the soul as well. No afterlife, no great reward, no nothing. Only oblivion. I hadn't been so pissed at a villain since Sephiroth.
this cinematic (and expansion trailer because of what happens to Varian) always makes me sad because Varian was my favorite character along side Anduin, i feel like they both had a lot of great development in the story mostly because they were there for a lot of it but what makes it even more sad for me is that in the expansion cinematic Varian shouts "For Azeroth!" which was a signal that he was learning from his son to work collectively with the horde for the greater good, but when he believes he was betrayed and meets his fate he says "for the alliance" instead 😩 just a little note i come back to every time i see these two cinematics that i can't get over.
I made my first Horde character in order to experience that side of events. I remember thinking that Varian died spitting in the face of evil while Vol’jin just faded away ignobly and, as we later learned, had been tricked into passing the mantle to Sylvanas.
"I'll destroy him myself" you and every alliance player
The Sylvanas and Voljin cinematic is when the Sylvanas character direction changed. Also, the game director for the story changed and had a different vision from the original intention.
Sylvanas went in a direction many players didn't like. That was a creative decision made by someone who wasn't the original visionary for the WoW franchise.
Sylvanas' story was logical and understandable. Only you fanbois were and are not able to see that. And you probably haven't read the book either, because reading isn't for everyone
@@Kyriae Sure and the jailer was behind it ALL ALONG? ::rolls eye::
This is cinematic is the symbol of why I dislike so much the direction that Sylvanas character went after it.
It effectively ruined the last moments of Vol'jin, one of the wisest and most honorable WoW-original members of the Horde, instead of making him take a bold but wise decision that could've strengthened the Horde more than ever (more on this latter) they just went for "nah this random Loa just lied to him cause ThE JaIlEr waS BeHinD iT AlL", the dude was the Prime Troll and Horde Warchief got manipulated by a Loa to make a decision that would ruin the Horde? That's effectively like writing Elune sending Nelfs to their death... oh wait.
Yeah, much like some recent decisions around the Nelfs, that one took a massive dump on Troll culture, but then they went for the Forsaken. The relationship between the Forsaken and the rest of the Horde was always shaky, which is why the Horde trusting Sylvanas and defending Undercity after the Wrathgate meant a lot and then characters like Lilian Voss questioning the idea of what it menas being a Forsaken were so interesting, then they sided with Vol'Jin during the Horde civil war and this happened in Legion. Sylvanas words of encouragement to Varian during the Broken Shore and her promise of avenging Vol'Jins death was so promising, it was, as Vol'jin said pushing the Forsaken out of the shadows which could've effectively reshapend their role within the Horde, fulfilling what the faction meant in WoW from the beginning (or in other words what Thrall was leading the Horde towards): A unity of ostracized cultures who found a common home in the Horde.
But then BFA happened.... and for the shortest of times it looked really promising, Sylvanas screaming "For the Horde" in the Battle for Azeroth trailer cinematic was impactful af, supposedly the Forsaken were the only ones she cared about and supposedly they were in the Horde just for their own benefit but now she looked like a proud Warchief, heck, even the first gossips of Calia Menethil coming back and shaking things up within the Forsaken was interesting too, and they were building all this mystery around what the fuck happened in Teldrassil and who actually burnt it... and then expansion came out and the answer was the most boring and stupid answer possible, and then Before the Storm came out and Sylvanas was killing dozens of Forsaken ("the only ones she cared about") just because, and the answers in Shadowlands were so dumb that it simply killed a lot of my care for the WoW Lore.
@@Kyriae Most people, regardless if their read the book or not don't see that, because it's actually jus Sylvanas fanbois who do, because they are fanbois.
Christie Golden should be given a freaking award for everything she did for that plot line in the Sylvanas book, but it says it all when you have to write a book just to fix all the nonsense of a multiexpansion plot instead of, you know, writing said plot to makes sense from the get go.
@@Kyriae -- Just because people didn't read Warcraft doesn't mean they don't read.
You should keep insults to yourself instead of trying to insult people you don't know.
Maybe playing World of Warcraft didn't inspire many to go back and read the books. I bet more people read the books due to the efforts of the Warcraft franchises before the World of Warcraft. Many of us never played those games and received the lore via other sources like UA-cam and etc.
It was the ingame cutscenes (this one and Ysera) from Legion that made this expac my all time fave... the story was so epic...major feels.
The Sylvanas/Vol'jin cutscene gets me everytime....so emotional... "Vol'jin is dead. Who among you will help me avenge him?" Those words inspired me for the entire expansion.
"Varian is one of my favorite characters."
Sorry buddy 😂
The thing with in game cinematics, back when they made Wrathgate they didn't realy have any tools to make cinematics. They used custom server for WoW and characters had to be moved like players do and camera was just a player character with first person mode. By the time of Legion they already had a lot of proper animation tools to make cinematics so they could animate the characters however they want.
Wow cool to know
we lost many good men that day.. Varian, Vol'jin, Tirion Fordring (the man who helped defeat Arthas and whose brother now sits upon the Frozen Throne.) and just a whole lot of people.
should never have happened, damn Gul'dan.
One of them before he even had their chance to shine. Remember Vol'jin. Never forget who they took from us. The greatest Warchief the Horde could have asked for. If Vol'jin had survived, there wouldn't have been a 4th war.
Varian is also called lo’gosh (ghost wolf) but mostly horde members. A name he got many years ago when he was living the life of a gladiator on horde territory (no one knew he was a human king and if I recall correctly he had amnesia so he didn’t know either)
It's been years and I still feel seing Varian's heroic sacrifice.
He was the sole reason I went Ally back in the day, as Thrall was my reason for originally play Horde.
this is the first cinematic that had me crying like a baby. Varian is the best Alliance leader in WOW
Note that before he dies, Varian says “for the Alliance”, whereas in the landing cinematic (where he writes the letter to Anduin) he says “for Azeroth”. He therefore dies thinking that Sylvanas has betrayed him and thus having lost hope of a lasting peace between the Horde and the Alliance, which adds a layer of drama to his death
At this time in the story for Sylvannas it was a practical matter. Horde position being overrun. And in the Before the Storm book it’s described that Sylvannas felt when Varian died it was one of the last true heroes dying.
the death of a warrior king. to save his people, for the alliance and for azeroth (since he believes in peace as the highest good now), defiant to the very end.
9:28 idk if its what they used for this cutscene, but there is a technique of painting 2D graphics animations over 3D footage. with 2D being able to be photorealistic (in this case realistic to the engine/style of the game) its often hardly noticeable whats been edited in later on. they probably had a rough render of the cloud that they painted over.
that said, the game itself also had absolutely gorgeous, painted textures everywhere.
another company i follow also started doing that more and more for what used to be a very simple 3D "anime" in the beginning, ~5 years ago, and it looks fantastic these days.
even if people say "this billion dollar company doesnt need your love", i am proud of how far they've come with this game and its presentation. though all the ups and downs no one can deny that they have always poured heart and hard work into this franchise.
14:57 i've seen advent children and the way clouds sword works is quite different from this, so i doubt that specifically inspired it. especially because there's been "changing" swords and other weapons in WoW as far back as vanilla (Sul'thraze, forged from two separate blades, Stormstrike/Shadowstrike polearms that can transform into one another, same as Benediction/Anathema for staves). its probably inspired by something, but hard to say what.
28:15 to elucidate: there is a quest at some point... i think it might be for rogues only? during which you find out that the invasion of the broken shore was a trap laid out by the legion. the rogues gathering intel before the invasion found out that the legion were preparing an ambush, then got ambushed and killed(?) themselves, so no one could warn the combined forces that were ready to move out. during the battle the trap sprang and a demon portal opened up, right behind the horde lines, who were supposed to secure the alliance flank, the alliance being more numerous, was intended to bear the brunt of the attack on the broken shore head-on.
the horde forces, above all their leadership, would've been wiped out if sylvanas didnt sound the retreat, which was a direct order from her warchief, no less.
sadly, these intricacies are lost on a lot of people. sylvanas can absolutely not be blamed for this action, she made the right decision.
varian had to sacrifice himself to guarantee the survival of the alliance, sylvanas had to sacrifice the trust put into her and the horde by her allies, to guarantee the survival of the horde.
Varian: *gets infused with Fel*
Philip: YES!
12:50 not just because more people would have died, but because that ship carried the best of the best of the alliance(the players) and he knew that if they lost them it was game over
Vol'jin ordered Sylvanas to sound a retreat because the Horde was simply fighting off demons pouring out from two portals to keep that flank clear while Alliance troops pushed towards the main portal in the Tomb.
Both factions were caught by surprise with the invasion, so the amount of forces they did manage to bring to the Broken Shore was simply not enough, and they got overwhelmed.
this was sad. but I was way more distraught over Tirion
sometimes i still hear his scream 😢
i still carry the Ashbringer in his memory, it belonged in his hands, it still does.
Now as for some Horde context and why they retreated, something we learn later in game with rogues through some spying on the Legion's ranks, is that the Burning Legion had agents in both factions that allowed this battle to happen in the first place. They fed them false information on Legion numbers so that they'd _think_ they had a shot to win when in reality they didn't, and thus the greatest champions of both factions would charge in to meet their deaths. The Horde retreated because they were simply overwhelmed. They did not have the numbers to survive, and neither did the Alliance, or both of them combined. If they stayed they would have all died. And this is not a guess or speculation, this is a lore canon _fact_ Rogue players learned later on in the expansion through their campaign. In the Horde side of this battle in-game, we fight good but then we start losing . Sylvanas notices, then the Warchief is dealt a lethal blow, and she just orders the retreat.
The head spymaster of the Alliance, Matthias Shaw, learned of this weeks before the attack as he scouted the Broken Shore (the place where these cinematics take place) and RIGHT as he was going back to warn the factions like "hey we can't just go in and fight straight on, there's too many, we need a different approach" one of the Dreadlords named Detheroc finds him, captures him and then steals his identity to feed false information to the Alliance and eventually the Horde so that they _would_ walk into the deathtrap that was the Broken Shore.
its a crying shame that this is locked behind the rogue guild hall, iirc, so many people never encountered this quest and dont know that this entire operation was doomed before it even began.
meanwhile other classes like warrior have guild hall quests that dont matter at all to any bit of the world.
The guy Varian hands the letter to is Genn Greymane. He's the King of Gilneas. The whole kingdom befell the worgen curse-essentially turning them into werewolves.
He's a very good boy! Yes he is!
VARIAAAAAAAAAAAN 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
The legend 🫡
I LOVE how it was timed with Genn's scream
Stormligth Archive...
A man of culture, I see...
Life before Death my friend.
Strength before Weakness 🗿
Shalamayne, the sword, was conceived way before Legion released. However, I cannot find a timeline to see if it was before or after Advent Children in 2005. Varian return as king until Wrath in 2008, although he was a known character before that, and did canonically participate in Onyxia's fall at the end of vanilla WoW (the raid was introduced in 2004), which is when the two blades were combined into one. However, I'm not sure how much of his involvement was written at that time or retconed later when he returned in Wrath. So, Shalamayne may be influenced by Advent Children, but I'm not sure. It was fun to dig into this and try to figure it out, though.
What’s often overlooked is he said “For the Alliance” at the very end, as compared to “For Azeroth” during the intro cinematic. Varian died believing the Horde betrayed them yet again, and that the unity they achieved was a false hope after all.
idk he does see the clif full of demons a few seconds later he might of realized they had to fall back vs. leaving them but we wont really ever know.
"What is Varian and Illidan's relationship?"
Illidan avenges Varian. In a very satisfying manner. :)
U ahould se "a found memento" its also from broken shore
It's interesting because you can tell between these two cinematics that in the heat of battle with with things always so tense between the Horde and Alliance that the original intention was that Sylvanas made a difficult decision she didn't want to make because of Vol'jin being mortally wounded and the battle going so poorly, not that she intended to abandon the Alliance as it seemed from their perspective. She had always been concerned for the wellbeing of the Forsaken prior to the changes made to her character arc in BfA and Shadowlands as, in lore, once the Forsaken died, that was it. Their numbers were only diminishing. I think Sylvanas would have been an amazing Warchief if they hadn't messed with her character arc afterward. You can see the clear regret, and the way she acts upon Vol'jin dying and her being named Warchief is entirely counter to how she acts in BfA and shadowlands.
The worst part is.... Fel Magic consumes the soul, so Varian didn't even get to go to the Shadowlands, which we visited a few expansions later.
He would have been a great fit in Maldraxxus.
what about a cinematic when Anduin was freed from Jailer's grasp? That wasn't a "real" Varian or writers forgot their own lore?
As to the Horde side: The Legion had opened a portal behind their position supporting the Alliance and flanked them. Thrall was down, with Baine Bloodhoof helping him. Vol'jin, the Warchief, was stabbed in the gut by a fel blade. They were being overrun just like the Alliance were, and with Vol'jin's words "Don't let de Horde die dis day", she felt she had no choice but to sound the retreat, or risk losing 4 of the leaders of the Horde along with all of their best troops.
Obviously Sylvanas has always had her own plots and schemes, but it became clear to us during this expansion that for the most part, she put those on the back burner to do what was best for the Horde, as the Legion is THE enemy of all. There was the little matter she and Genn got into in Stormheim, but that's for later :P
And those winged beings are the Val'kyr, of which there are two kinds: the noble sunborne Val'kyr who were created by the Titan keeper Odyn to ferry fallen valorous vrykul to his Hall of Valor to become his favored warriors, the Valarjar. The other are the servants of death, Val'kyr created by the Lich King from the vrykul who served him in Northrend. When the Lich King was defeated, several of these Val'kyr swore their service to Sylvanas and the Forsaken, and she uses them to raise new Forsaken to swell her ranks. They also have the ability to revive powerful fallen undead, like Sylvanas (who can't just be re-raised so simply), by sacrificing their own energies to restore her. This has happened at least once already, and it terrified her so much knowing that she has a limited supply of these 1-ups, that she sought out a magical artifact called the Soulcage, a lantern that can compel the soul of any being, which she planned to use on the Titan keeper Eyir, the leader of Odyn's Val'kyr, so that she could make more to serve her. Genn Greymane caught up with her in Stormheim, however, and battled her for it, eventually smashing it. "You took my son's future... and now, I've taken yours" he utters as he walks away, leaving Sylvanas to watch Eyir disappear in a flash of golden light.
The sword is called Shalamayne, and they were gifted to Varian by the night elves. Many years ago, the evil black dragon, Onyxia, daughter of Deathwing, split Varian's soul into two halves, the warrior Lo'gosh, and the noble king. The blades were originally two as well, wielded by night elf twins. By bringing the swords together, his soul was merged back into one and sealed with the warrior's spirit. It is said they can only be split into two when wielded with a warrior's true honor and fighting toward a just cause. When Varian splits them, he is summoning forth his warrior's spirit and becomes Lo'gosh once more.
To answer your question: “What does it mean when he splits his sword?” Allow me to provide backstory.
Shalla'tor and Ellemayne were a pair of magic elven blades forged during the War of the Ancients and wielded by the twins Vor'Illian and Lo'Vellian. In Darnassian, Shalla'tor means Shadow Render, while Ellemayne means Reaver.While Ellemayne had a red gem, Shalla'tor had a blue one instead.
The blades eventually came into the possession of Lady Jaina Proudmoore. After Varian Wrynn was split into two people by Onyxia's magic, the two ultimately found each other again and resolved to slay the black dragon. They were granted the night elven blades by Jaina, who aided them in the assault on Onyxia's Lair.
When Onyxia inadvertently combined the two Varians back into one person, the two blades were merged into a single weapon as well. This sword became known as Shalamayne, and its first target was the black dragon Onyxia, who was slain by the merged Varian using his new sword. Shalamayne.
Varian's death reminds me of what one of my favorite anime characters said "if a king doesn't lead how can he expect his subjects to follow?"
I still remember hopping on the Alliance side after this to troll in Trade chat, making fun of Varian dying "for nothing".
People got *so* salty. Good times.
A bit of context about the Horde retreating, which had convinced the Alliance characters(and many players, some that still believe it to this day) that the Horde betrayed them:
Every class had a unique campaign during Legion and later on in the Rogue campaign we discover that the head of the Alliance's intelligence organization had been replaced by a Dreadlord(high ranking demons in the Legion that are masters of disguise and deception) that was feeding them false information about the state of the Broken Shore and the number of the Legion's forces. We basically walked right into a trap that neither faction would have survived if Sylvanas hadn't sounded the retreat when she did.
The downpour a tribute to Varian. I kid you not: it never rains in Stormwind on the game, but after Varian died it was raining there for several months.
what happened? basically after so many battles we thought we were invincible, the infinite Burning Legion showed us, as Lord Illidan said, "the true burden of sacrifice." so many were lost on that Broken Shore, Tirion, Voljin, Varian. but the new warchief Sylvanas was resilient during these hard time and was merciless in her war against the Legion, along with the new king of Stormwind and all the other mortal races including Illidari Demon Hunters, and even Deathkights, she lead us Horde to victory against the burning shadow. i was proud of her, but then she showed us all that she has no honor. her curse, arthus, twisted her into a monster and she was dealt with in kind. us Horde bear her shame even to this day.
You need to definitely watch Old Soldier. They are 3-4 cinematics with connected story.
Now you need to watch the end of the Nighthold Raid cinematic, to see how Gul'dan dies ;)
I don't know that it is long enough or has enough story in it to warrant an analysis video like this, but I believe you'll take relief in knowing how Gul'dan was slain.
He did two livestreams cover all the another cinematic in Legion.
Something important in the Horde side, is that the Val'kyr that Sylvanas uses are remnant of what the Lich King used, but unlike the Lich King she cant get new Val'kyr, so every one she loses is one less she will have and they are important to her, so Sylvanas risking to lose her Val'kys shows how compromised she was in getting the Horde out of there.
I know this was a while ago, but did he ever react to the raising a king cinematic?
I hope you also react to the cinematic with Anduin on the Broken Shore where Varian died
I like’s that he said that varian said « for the alliance » and not for Azeroth.
Guldan killed him using fel magic (the worst kind of magic) warlocks use it and blood elfs who were before night elfs ,have green eyes due to fel magic aswell.
I know people who quit playing for a while because of this. The only satisfaction we got was knowing that Illidan killed Guldan in the same way he killed Varian. And in the scene with Anduin, A Found Momento (Raising A King), seeing him pick up his father's sword and the fire of Shalamayne ignite again? That was everything for me as a life long alliance member.
yes this was a very emotional time for us in warcraft, One of the better expansions pretty insane with arguements in game lol
There is a small bit of emotion from Guldan as he is killing Varian that i enjoyed so much. It almost seems like the amount of Fel energy he was using to kill Varian didnt seem enough, and he looks pissed that he had to push MORE energy into him to kill Varian.
Just a small expression, but so well done.
I cried when this happened in game. I had to stop for a little bit. He was my king 😢😭😭
Without getting into it, Varian's fused swords only respond when held by a person of honor. This will matter later.
The only cinematic that could make any guy cry
The Nighthold ending cinematic will satisfy you :D
As for sylvans retreat her war chief got stabbed the same time varian was dealing with the fel demon so sylvans went to the aud of Voljin because it was important to the horde so yeah she chose her own side during this incident. As for varian I was so said the way the did him in I was so pissed that from there own I made sure at every turn that involved guldan I beat his ass..I'm still very upset that they had this happen to varian but they needed to progress the story into his son anduian future. This is probably one of my all time favorite. Cinematics omg all the feels .
What is that music at the beginning? Its sooo familiar
The hearthstone cinematics are solid too. It's a digital card game based on Warcraft.
Many years later, I still cannot believe Blizzard's plan was to have Sylvanas actually be working for the Shadowlands' Jailer from everything she did since Wrath of the Lich King. Like, when I saw these cinematics, when she was standing there in the great hall of Orgrimmar, I thought she was overburdened with the weight of being the Warchief of the Horde adding-up on top of her being the Queen of the Forsaken, the weight of the defeat at the Broken Shore...
Naaah. She was thinking "oh man, the plans of the Jailer are actually taking shape, sweet."
When she said "who will help me avenge him?", I thought she wanted to take the Legion down. But nah, all of this time, she was actually thinking "let's galvanize these suckers!"
I still can't believe it. I still can't believe Blizzard meant any of this at that point. I'm still sure they came-up with the Jailer idea as they were making the Battle for Azeroth expansion, and retrofitted that new narrative. I still want to believe Legion's Sylvanas was actually concerned with the weight of the Horde, of Vol'jin's death, of her people's survival, of the Legion's invasion. Case in point, she only drastically changed her leadership style in the following expansion.
players DID NOT see the opposite cinematic unless you looked it up. even horde players have a lot of respect for varian, but they have their own problems with their warchief dying and felt justified, while alliance never find out why the horde abandoned them, it really fanned the emotions that drive the next expansion for the players in addition to the characters
Lord Genn Greymane, King of the human kingdom of Gilneas, the people who were all cursed to be werewolves and lost their realm to the Forsaken (Undead).With a rightful heir to Lordaeron after Arthas' fall, the mantle of leader of the Allliance, in essence the high kingship, became the responsibility of Stormwind. That's why Genn, a king, still calls Varian, and later Anduin, "My King."
Varian's sword predates the FF stuff. It was in Vanilla WoW, so at least 19 years, and I think Warcraft III. Now Varian himself was not PRESENT in vanilla, which was a whole saga in itself; however he was in earlier parts of the franchise, as a kid, mostly, and clearly had time to father Anduin. While Varian was missing, Onyxia and Neltharian pulled a lot of strings in Stormwind in their undercover human guises. Gah, I've forgotten so much. Now I want to go play Classic to relive it. As it is, I didn't start playing until a few weeks before the first expansion.
In-game, the Horde gameplay immersed the player in the experience of being overwhelmed and why Sylvanas called the retreat. The Alliance version kept the mystery, fueling the anger between the factions. Sylvanas and Varian were really never anything but enemies; however, they earned each other's begrudging respect. That's the emotional undertone of their collaboration to fight the Burning Legion.
Mind you at this time, we still didn't know for sure whether Sylvanas had been in on the betrayal at the Wrathgate. Really, nobody but Forsaken trusted her. Spoiler alert: the loa of death that informed him that she must become warchief was plotting, lied to him. His last words, his last command, were based on a lie.
Toda mi vida siendo horda y aun asi me puso muy triste la muerte de tremendo lider, la musica para su velorio "Canto del Sacrificio" es muy triste. Mi respetos o7
You really should have watched the Nighthold Cinematic afterwards.
You should take a look at the Warcraft 3 cinematic The Fall of Lordaeron. Gives you some perspective of Lich Kings father.
That THING that comes through the portal is a FEL REAVER....there are many in Outland..but there's ONE that roams around the question area that is so HUGE you don't see it...the ground shakes and you HEAR that reverb sound when it's near..but by then it's too late. I doubt there's a single original player who hasn't died to it while questing and gathering.....and then has gone back as a max health several expansions later and twatted it for revenge
Just me? oops 😅
Looking at both sides, you understand that the Horde had to retreat. Their position was being overrun. Thrall couldn't fight, Baine (the cow-humanoid that was fending of an attacher) was just doing everything in his power to defend a downed Thrall. Vol'jin was fatally stabbed in the guts. They didn't have a choice if the leadership and members of the Horde were to survive. They had to retreat.
Now, as an Alliance player who didn't touch the Horde side into later in the expansion, I didn't know why they ran away.
But knowing both sides makes the whole make more sense. Alliance players hated her because it just looked like she ran away. Yet when you look at the cinematic, it almost looks like Sylvanas... kind of respects Varion.
So it was pretty jarring to see her run away like that.
i just cried my eyes out!! varian forever!
34:55 "This is kind of a moment of growth for her"
If only. If only...
Watching these knowing what comes after is weird.
Yeah these are pre-rendered using the in-game assets. they can do better lighting and effects that way.
The Horde was being over run so they had to call a retreat.
Some wars are worthy of glory.
The idea of peace at any price is a fallacy. Because eventually it always leads to ultimatums.
One of the best cinematics, tho I didn't like some of the animations and the how blurry it is.
The music here is phenomenal.
varian forever will never forget him the hero of the alliance and azeroth
This is still the most epic shit a character performed in the whole lore.... and I'm here for quite a while now, since Warcraft (I). Alliance never had a leader such as Varian and Blizz decided to "terminate" him... Awesome way to do it.... but damn... I cry every time! 😂 Shit is too EPIC!
I never liked Anduin too much... but I liked him in War Within cinematic. I'm hopeful. But he has big shoes to fill! He better come through!
That day both sides lost a leader, the horde lost Vol'jin, the alliance lost Varian. Sad cinematic
For the Alliance!!