Questing: Storms Peaks, Icecrown, and Norse Mythology, Oh My!
iTZKooPA on Monday, April 13, 2009 - 10 Comments Tags: PvE, fun quests, loken, lore, lore discussion, mythology, norse mythology, questing, sons of hodir, thorim 
Mythology, folk lore, legends, all words to describe ancient stories. These tall tales were created to explain the unexplainable, scare children, hail fallen heroes and even to just entertain. Every civilization has them, from perhaps the best known - of the Western world - stories of Ancient Greece to the Samurai, onto the homegrown tales of Native Americans. And to me, every single myth is captivating, no matter how similar they may be.
While much of the Warcraft lore is based on more recent, or original, stories, Wrath of the Lich King added an entire race dedicated to a civilization that has been plundered by the video game industry, Norse mythology. Final Fantasy, Tales of Symphonia, Odin Sphere, Too Human, Viking: Battle for Asgard, and even earlier parts of WoW (World Tree as well) have lifted from stories of the long dead viking culture. Players can see the Norse influence on WoW all over Northrend, from Howling Fjord, The Storm Peaks and the final zone of Icecrown. No matter what soil you step on, there is a good chance that the Vrykul, or their Undead version, the Val'kyr, have made it their home.
If you want more than mobs based on oversized vikings, then the Sons of Hodir/Thorim quest line is for you. Without spoiling the experience, allow me to whet your appetite a bit. The quest line is one of the longest currently in WoW and contains some of the best lore, that has its own twists on the ancient story. For better or for worse, the lengthy chain is not required for anything too substantial, unlike the exhausting Onyxia chain, meaning many players may have dropped the line, or skipped over it entirely. Not all of the 40+ quests are worth the time, but the culmination of the events your toon has taken part in are something that should not be missed. Plus, it gives you a reason to tackle Halls of Lightning, other than helping out a guild mate.
I am no Norse expert, but there are many obvious references to their deep tales. Here is the basic, spoiler free, tip of the iceberg information for the adventure:
- Dun Niffelem - Niflheim is one of two places that existed before the known world. It is intensely cold and likely the basis for Dun Niffelem's name.
- Thorim - Thorim, the protagonist of our long quest line, is based upon the God of Lightning, Thor. Lending credence to these claims is that the name of Thorim's wife, Sif, is the same name as Thor's beloved.
- Loken - Loken is based on the tricky bastard known as Loki, and in this telling, happens to be Thorim's brother. Constantly up to shenanigans in Norse mythology, Loken follows his basis well, upsetting Thorim so much as to send him into a deep depression. His acts are the start of our quest.
Believe it or not, this is actually the third time I have touched upon this quest line. I revisited it for my favorite area in all of Northrend, an area that was created by Thorim's butterfingers. There is plenty more to the quest than what we touched on here, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't tackled the full line. Anybody who hasn't finished the line should avoid visiting the comments section until they do so - but feel free to leave a comment if you have the willpower to skip reading everyone else's thoughts. If you enjoy lore in general, then this is one quest chain you should not miss. It has everything, love, betrayal, deceit and epic battles. It makes me want to dig up some more books, anyone know a good Norse mythology collection? Preferably one that isn't incredibly difficult to grasp. I recently read the Divine Comedy, so I need a break for the difficult stuff!
Probably worth noting that Thorim is actually a Titan, while Loken is a Dark Titan serving the Old God Yogg-Saron. Not exactly a spoiler, more of a setup for Ulduar.
Reader Comments (10)
The lore in Northrend really tickles my imagination. In general, I always thought that Viking Lore would be interesting, but the twisted version of it that WoW uses not only makes it even more interesting to, in a small way, experience the lore of the vikings, but makes me want to actually learn more about the actual lore of the vikings.
In general, lore was always something I looked at in any massive game. The story behind something is really what I like to dig my teeth into sometimes, and learning about it just makes it more enjoyable to play the game in whatever current time it's in.
Agreed on the Storm Peaks lore, it's lovely tie-ins with Norse mythology leaves you with a sense of utter excitement for the upcoming Ulduar patch.
On my way to 80, i skipped Storm Peaks in lieu of Icecrown, eager to continue my delving into the lore of Arthas/Lich King and the Scourge. However, when bored one day after raiding, i decided that, seeing as i am a reasonably-geared L80 dps, questing in the storm peaks would be a relatively quick and easy way to some gold. (I wouldn't need any of the Quest rewards, and 12g+ per quest was quite alluring). I expected to be bored with lore after the Drakuru (Grizzly Hills/Zul'drak) and Wrath Gate questlines, but i was surprised and entertained when i was confronted with so much lore that related to the upcoming patch's biggest PvE highlight.
Now all i'm eagerly awaiting is for the Daily Hc's to be Halls of Lightning and Halls of Stone so i can finish off quests for those dungeons (and get some free emblems, of course ;])
May advice is, if you're Level 80 and haven't given the Storm Peaks much of a look-in yet, get yourself down there and questing. You'll be pleasently surprised and hooked to your QuestLog when a seemingly innocent reconaissance mission for a friendly goblin lands you elbow-deep in the ddep lore of the Vrykul and the Titans.
I was one of those players that actually missed storm peaks completely in questing (I leveled in Icecrown) and after months of never giving it a thought, out of boredom, went there. I am one of those people that read quests (try it, its fun!) and I admit, the whole quest line was actually pretty engaging. I can't say all of WoW's story is really fun to read but this was something I actually looked forward to seeing the next step.
I completed all the quests in Storm Peaks at Lv 80 (Newly new level 80 Fury Warrior.) xD
The Lore & The 12g for most of the quests is pretty nice. I even liked the Ending of the Lore at Thorim's Demise. >.>;
Okay, i just got my DK to 76 and ive been questing awsy in ZD. And ive discovered something...im bored. ZD isnt as appealing as lets say...Howling Fjord and the super awsome Dragonblight!. Wraithgate quest was by far the coolest questline ever. So far the only kewl part about ZD was when i got to fight on the back of the Stone Giant king guy. now tat was fun.
btw...
FOR THE HORDE!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda
Here is a link to some info about a book written in the 13. century. This was written by an icelandic viking/poet and it contains the most information of norse mythology i have seen so far. But since the book is almost entirely written as a poem, there might be other books based on the information gained there that could help you greatly, that is to say if you are truly interested in norse myth.
Divine Comedy, that's the book they use as a reference for Sunwell yeh? How KJ "stuck" halfway on the floor/portal was portrait the same like Satan stuck halfway on the ice, and one of his general was called Apolyon, same as the sword KJ drop, wait, am I spoiling? I'll stop,
Loved the quest line but have yet to kill Loken. Never got around to doing HoL. Just one of a million things on the neverending list.
Liked this quest line a lot, especially Thunderfall!
I'm glad I've taken the time to explore the quests in Northrend, especially in Dragonblight, Storm Peaks and Icecrown. I love how progressing through the lines can affect the area you're in and how it gives your questing a bigger goal; pre-WotLK I never felt a sense of direction from the quests you were given to do, and so never felt inclined to stick around in an area and see how the quest lines played out.
I'm impressed (and a little startled :P) with how immersed I've become with the 'plot' of WotLK and think that more of these epic, saga-like quest lines can only be a good thing!
you should do the Sons of Hodir questline for the shoulder enchants if for nothing else