Project Lore

Varian'd Hit It Both Ways

Blizzard's Extended Universe for World of Warcraft is a bit lopsided.  The developer has farmed out an entire collection of lore to various companies, but for the most part, the Alliance material is what's been selected for production by the outside parties.  Sure, the Horde out there have a few books, and the various mangas , which happen to be the most balanced of any material, but outside those select few items the misunderstood faction hasn't received too much attention.

There is a rebuttal though.  The case being made by some Alliance players is that the vast majority of Horde-based lore has been already told in game.  For evidence simply look at all of the faction leaders.  The history of each leader, and in the case of the horde, some sub-leaders like Garrosh, is known fairly well.  That is except for one leader who was missing for years, Varian Wyrnn (purists will note that he was in the game until Patch v1.10).  The World of Warcraft comic by Wildstorm has managed to take care of that problem.

Volume 1:  The initial compilation of the monthly serial is an absolutely fantastic ice breaker.  Written by Walter and Louise Simonson the opening story arc revolves around an amnesiac warrior that awakens on the shores of Kalimdor.  After being quickly captured and turned into a gladiator, we are given our first inklings as to who this warrior is, by his captor no less.  Lo'Gosh, as the warrior eventually is called, is written as a true leader, tactician and all around badass warrior who's quick to fight, and has no qualms with shedding the blood, or limbs, of his victims.

The compiled seven issues feature a story arc of their own that mainly revolves around the introduction of Lo'Gosh and the pair of Elves, Broll Bearmantle, a night elf druid and Valeera Sanguinar, a blood elf rogue, that are part of his team.  The Simonson's do an amazing job of developing the drastically different backstories to each character, while simultaneously keeping the run full of brutal action.  The abilities of artist Ludo Lullabi does a fantastic job of driving the action throughout the 170+ pages without the pages becoming an unreadable mess.

A tip of my hate for the heavy fan service, including the use of Dire Maul's arena.  I guess a gladiator's life tends to make for some brutal depictions of war.

Volume 1 is a stunning book that really sucked me into the story, and even managed to make me feel for previously unknown characters.  It wasn't justLo'Gosh's quest that I became infatuated with, but the tales of Broll and Valeera as well.

*SPOILER ALERT* Volume 2's review has some unavoidable spoilers for Volume 1 in it.  Read it only if you've already read Volume 1, or don't care about spoilers.

Volume 2:  Volume 1 culminated with the closing of two major story arcs.  Broll regained the use of all his druidic forms after much internal strife and external struggles.  We also learned exactly who Lo'Gosh really is, Varian Wrynn.  To keep things moving the story ended in a bit of a cliff hanger thanks to Valeera's use of arcane energies.  That's essentially where the second arc kicks off, with Valeera attempting to secure more magical energy.  Unfortunately, Valeera's magic addictions, and Broll's attempts to help her, are kicked to the curb as a secondary arc behind the main plot.  It's as if the authors didn't feel that the supporting cast from Volume 1 fit in the coming campaign.

Valeera and Broll's own story may have been cut back, but they by no means abandoned Lo'Gosh in his quest to reclaim his throne.  It just takes them awhile to even get there.  The band of warriors are constantly distracted by various nuisances, the raptors outside Menethil Harbor and the Dark Iron Dwarves raiding Thandol Span for instance, that seem forced and out of place.  Sure, the Thandol Span episode allows for the development of Thargis Anvilmar, but the excursion, coupled with the other distractions, left a bitter taste in my mouth.

The interruptions did offer additional time for the author's to play with Anduin, Lo'Gosh's son and the now-former King of Stormwind.  Of all people to question the supposed return of Varian, and Lady Katrana Prestor's intentions, it was a child who did it first, and demanded a deeper inquiry.  Anduin became a major player in Stormwind thanks to the brains he showed throughout the seven chapters of Volume 2, and a character that I can't wait to see develop.

If you haven't picked up on it, Volume 2 didn't impress me all that much.  Outside of the development of Anduin, the second volume just didn't ring with me as much as the first.  It's a bit of recycled content, the plot outside of raiding Onyxia isn't original, things were forced and the cast of characters who've been helping Lo'Gosh since his re-birth were pushed to the side.  Even the art is of lower quality when compared to Lullabi's.  Its relative lackluster offering won't stop me from continuing the series.  It wasn't bad, just not awesome.

*</SPOILER ALERT>*

Believe it or not, now is probably the best time to get your nose in the comics.  Not only has Varian become a recent staple in the Alliance, but Volume 2 deals with not only the Black Dragonflight, but Onyxia herself.  And in case you didn't notice, her revamped encounter is being added to the live servers today!  Volume 3 will likely be out later this year, and will conclude Varian's story.  From there the comic is becomes more Horde focused.

I feel obligated to point out this absolutely stellar recap of Varian's current main enemy, Garrosh Hellscream, written by WoW.com's Matthew Rossi.  If you're an Alliance player who loves lore discussions it is a must read.  Hordies who've dealt with Garrosh time and again likely know Garrosh's ins, outs and mood swings, but could see the orc in a new light.