Project Lore

Project Lore has been a bit hung up on the whole Arthas/Lich King tandem of late.  And why not.  Blizzard has been trickling information on patch 3.3 for over a week now.  Between the model updates - which elude to an awesome in-game Icecrown event - character bios refreshes and general patch updates, there's no better time to get excited. Earlier this week I posed the question, "How do you want Arthas to die?" Only one clear cut morsel of information came of that discussion; that the playerbase isn't in agreement that he should die.  Pixiestixy asked the perfect follow-up question, "Is Arthas capable of redemption?" Before you jump to your conclusion, here's all the well-known people he's screwed over the course of his life, including that as the Lich King: Jaina Proudmoore:  Jaina grew up with pretty boy Arthas, making her one of the few people, that still breaths, to know him through the course of his tumultuous life.  The leader ofTheramore loved the man, only to be pushed away by him during their formative years.  It's at this time that Arthas begins slipping, making ever worse decisions, and all Jaina was able to do was deny helping him.  The budding student of Dalaran witnessed his descent into obsession.  She was even party to some of his acts.  But she never once tried to stop his acts, not even in Stratholme, leaving the proud mage with an immense amount of guilt on her conscious. Even more soul crushing, Jaina knew him when he was good, a true bearer of the Light.  A believer.  That's something she is hell bent on returning, a good, true, loving Arthas.  Hopefully her emotions and feelings don't cloud her judgement if there's no alternative, or if her very life is on the line. Sylvanas Windrunner:  Jaina may agonize over Arthas for knowing him when he was good, but Sylvanas has only known the bad.  The two females have entirely different views of the man; Jaina reveres him as a man who lost his way, whileSylvanas despises him for destroying her home.  Ruining Sylvanas ' way of life wasn't enough.  Instead of turning her into one of the mindless undead, Arthas decided to teach her a lesson for standing up to his Scourge army.  Upon her death he allowed her to retain her memories as a banshee, but he remained able to bend her to his will when needed. That's until she broke free from his control, attempted to murder him (obviously failed), founded the Forsaken, and now continues to seek her revenge. It has already been confirmed that these two leading ladies will be partaking in the assault on Icecrown Citadel. Muradin Bronzebeard:  Muradin is in much the same position as Jaina, only without the sex (we hope).  The former Ambassador to Lordaeron helped train the young Arthas, enabling the prince to become a well-versed warrior in a variety of weapons.  Muradin was witness to some of the worst atrocities Arthas committed in his quest to rid the world of Mal'ganis, including stranding his men on Northrend, and murdering the very mercenaries who helped him get that far. If seeing your student go completely insane isn't enough to tear someone apart, how about a shard of ice through the chest?  That's exactly what Muradin was treated to when he tried to stop Arthas from retrieving Frostmourne and forever becoming bound to the Lich King.  Muradin has never been the same since. Muradin will be in attendance for the Icecrown Citadel festivities. Tirion Fordring: The next three people don't have much beef with Arthas directly.  They just happen to hate the Scourge with more venom than anyone else on Azeroth.  Fordring was one of the original members of the Knights of the Silver Hand before being exiled for saving a greenskin. During the Third War he routinely dispatched minions of the Scourge army to protect his small farmstead and trail his son.  Upon his son's death, Tirion set his mind to destroying the threat, the Lord of the Scourge.  To accomplish this goal he brought the old Knights of the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn under a new banner, the Argent Crusade, that has been bolstered by the death knight faction, Knights of the Ebon Blade.  He continues to run the faction. Darion/Alexandros Mograine:  This father and son duo also lack a direct hatred of Arthas.  As both former Scourge minions, and wielders of Ashbringer, the pair still pose a threat.  Darion remains steadfast in his quest to eliminate the Lich King, while Alexandros' fate isn't known as of now.  It's suspected that Darion saved his father from the clutches of The Dark One when he impaled himself on Ashbringer, but it has not been confirmed. Their tales are told in-depth in the excellent one-shot comic by Wildstorm, World of Warcraft: Ashbringer.  Highlord Darion Mograine is another confirmed raiding member. Varok Saurfang: Saurfang is one of the more recent high profile characters to mix it up with the Dark Lord of the Dead.  He first got on the Lich King's tail when he was sent to lead the Horde warparty in Northrend.  Initially just a routine station, it became personal for Varok after his son, Saurfang the Younger, was killed by the Lich King during the battle of Angrathar the Wrathgate. The newcomer in the Lich King's matrix will be aboard Orgrim's Hammer for the horde encounter. Kil'jaeden:  The current leader of the Burning Legion isn't a nice guy.  He doesn't take failure very well, and he doesn't enjoy people turning against him.  Ner'zhul, whom was the original Lich King, and later one-half of the being, managed to fail and then betray his master.  That's two strikes when normally one is forty two too many.  Arthas himself was never a direct underling of The Beautiful One, but he was indirectly being controlled by manipulation through the nathrezim agents sent by Archimonde.  It's roundabout, but Kil'jaeden was ultimately the creator.  Like how Steve Jobs created the iPod. Kil'jaeden slips many people's minds when they think of the Lich King's enemies, but he'd love to possess the Lich King once more.  Or put him down for failing, and then betraying him.  Still, it's highly unlikely that the spotlight will return to the Burning Legion in this fashion, or any time soon. The list is in a specific order, my order of who deserves it the most.  I still believe that Jaina requires redemption more than anyone else.  You'll have to read the novel to understand all the intricacies, but she's been hurt by Arthas, when he was good and as he became bad, and then when he became the Lich King.  The triple threat.  She's also the only person on the list who isn't in it mainly for the revenge, but to try to save him.  She may gain something from saving his soul, but at least she'd be bringing a person back into the world, instead of dispatching one. I am fairly confident that that encompasses all of the major players.  If I've missed someone important, or overlooked a connection to another character, leave me a note in the comments or @iTZKooPA and I'll check it out.

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Who Needs A Body? For reasons unknown I was meet with a good amount of playtime this weekend.  Rather then ponder on my good fortunes I set out to plow through level 73 (accomplished) on my priest in an effort to have her join the raiding ranks before Cataclysm is released.  With most of the quests in Dragonblight accomplished on my dagger lover I went about my business rushing through quests, burning down numerous mobs and getting ganked.  Then I ran into Orik Trueheart and his eye-catching T2 (recolored) Paladin set. Trueheart is a dwarf on a mission.  He was sent to the Forgotten Shore in Dragonblight to free the souls of those that Arthas betrayed.  In case you forgot, upon hearing that his father had ordered Arthas' troops returned to Lordaeron, the crown prince had the fleets boats burned to their frames.  The actions have been retold numerous times, most recently in the novel, so the setup isn't exactly new.  But we've always followed Arthas' journey into Frostmourne Cavern after that.  Turns out that the men Arthas stranded on the chilly shores eventually died to the Scourge around them and were cursed to defend the landing forever.  That's where Trueheart comes in. Trueheart's questline, one that offers a whopping amount of quick, easy and local experience, has players once again leave their bodies to converse with the dead.  After learning their plight, we realize that the souls have been trapped because they forgot how they came to be.  Naturally it's up to us to release them.  Upon finding a use for the unusual emblem residing in the snow we are graced with a scripted cinematic that brings numerous other names into play.  If you haven't played Warcraft III or read Arthas' novel, then the line is a good place to witness Arthas' descent into madness. This Random Emblem Caught Me Off Guard Until... Sick of reliving old lore and wishing Blizzard would introduce more original backstory?  Stop crying and do it anyways.  Upon completion of the Arthas nostalgia I was given the opportunity to crush some Scarlet Onslaught faces.  Seeing as decimating the ranks of the Scarlet followers, Crusade or otherwise, is a favored pastime of mine, I couldn't say no.  Zelig, Trueheart's "bra", and his compadres of the 7th Legion, sent me off to collect information, curb overpopulation and brush up on my reading comprehension.  How could one pass up XP and nostalgic murder?  Little did I know that my face melting would lead me back to ancient lore.  The scripted culmination with Muradin in the Frostmourne Cavern is both new, and highly interesting.  It also offers sick loot too boot. I was privy to the information given in the cinematic, I just can't believe that I missed such a long questline the first time around.  According to my buddy, the chain continues, becoming far more complex than a little Spock-style retconning.  If it stay on the same level of awesomeness then I will definitely have more for you.  Approaching a year from releases Wrath of the Lich King continues to impress me with its quest design, presentation and integration. These Alliance restricted quests make me wonder, what the heck is the Horde revisting?

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