Entries in art appreciation (1)

My Favorite Area In Azeroth

Death\'s Grip Can\'t Reach Me Up HereSnow, what a wonderful way for water to return to the earth.  Snow, in all its forms, makes everything more beautiful.  Formerly gnarled and bare trees take on a new luster when they are covered in a few inches of snow.  Better yet, when the trees are encased in slowly melting ice, giving them an eye-closing glow.  How I miss the Northeast sometimes...so I go to Northrend. Perhaps now you may understand why the frozen tundra of Storm Peaks is home to my favorite area in the game.  I can actually narrow it down far further than that though.  I do enjoy Storm Peaks as a whole, but the area surrounding the destruction caused by Thorim "misplacing" his hammer, and now Blowing Hodir's Horn, struck me more than anything.  I distinctly remember saying "Wow, this is awesome" into Ventrilo when I ventured into the area during my opening Sons of Hodir quests.  It took me close to 30 minutes to finish what should have been a 5 minute quest.  That is how entranced I was by the frozen war scene. I can get even more granular though.  The shot you see below is currently my favorite bit of art presented in World of Warcraft.  While the overall mayhem that was caught in time by Thorim's butterfingers is incredibly awesome, the moment captured here encapsulates the battle perfectly. Yet we kill them both. The Forefather lays waste to the Dwarves directly in front of him.  Little does he know that a pair of their brothers in arms take the opportunity to flank him from his left.  In the flanking party we can see one dwarf in mid-leap, dagger at the ready.  The second is crouched as he prepares his footing for his jump from his bear's haunches to the unsuspecting forefather.  We will never know if the collection of ants managed to topple the massive spider. The frozen struggle, its surrounding lore and the overall presentation of Thunderfall just does it for me.  Since Wrath of the Lich King launched I have been unable to find an area that captivates me so much, from a broad spectrum and then at a microscopic level.  Also, the amount of clouds, honor and mining I get in Thunderfall doesn't hurt. What is your favorite area and why?

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