Project Lore

Proverb is an occasional column discussing the lore of Warcraft. It is spoiler heavy for all past, present, and future Warcraft games, novels, and other media. Comment on this post or send a tweet to @Heartbourne and let us know what you would like to see in future columns!

Blood Elves are pretty

Be sure to read part 1 first! It is possible that Quel'Delar could be the "Prismatic Quel'Serrar" that Lydos mentioned. Remember, a High Blade must be forged in the breath and blood of a dragon, imbuing it with some of its powers. The area "Quel'Delar's Rest" has five arches and five lanterns. It could represent each of the dragonflights that theoretically contributed to forging the sword, or the lanterns could even have been lit by the flames of each of the dragonflights. Much of the data for the questline surrounding Quel'Delar has been datamined, and World of Raids has a great database for it. The long questline for Quel'Delar does not yet seem to reference a dragon to use to forge it, so it is possible that these flames at Quel'Delar's rest could be the location where the flames forge it. Regardless, there is a hilt stuck in the ground there that could start the questline. It is unknown from where the hilt of Quel'Delar will come from, but it is known that it will start the questline. The current knowledge of the questline is broken and is missing dialogue, but here is what has been surmised: After getting the hilt from an unknown source, players take the hilt to Rhonin, who forwards players to Krasus to identify the sword. Some missing quest or dialogue occurs here, and some shady Blood Elf in Dalaran named "Magister Hathorel" has been meddling around the black market and he has an important tome that can identify Quel'Delar. The tome is titled "Ancient Dragonforged Blades" and likely is used to identify the sword.  It is not clear if this Blood Elf will be a High Elf for Horde players completing the quests. This elf borrowed it from Wyrmrest Temple and never returned it. Alliance players have to infiltrate Sunreaver's Sanctuary to get the tome, which they do by borrowing a Sunreaver's Tabard from some dirty laundry. The tome is then taken to Caladis Brightspear, presumably of the Argent Crusade, at the Argent Tournament grounds. He then instructs players to enter the Pit of Saron to get some Infused Saronite and the forgemaster's hammer to reforge Quel'Delar. Players then enter the Forge of Souls to temper the blade. Some missing dialogue occurs, and players must take it to the Halls of Reflection. It seems that the spirit of Uther comments that one cannot wield the blade while it is under the Lich King's control, and so players must cleanse it in the Sunwell. Players ask Halduron Brightwing, current ranger-general of Silvermoon, for entrance to the Sunwell, as it is heavily guarded (likely by Silvermoon and the Shattered Sun Offensive), and he intends to do so upon the presentation of Quel'Delar. First, he wants players to visit the grave of Thalorien Dawnseeker, who was the last person to wield the blade. He was a High Elf who fell in defense of Silvermoon to the Scourge, and he lies in the Dead Scar. The data-mined data ends there. It is unclear if players will be able to wield, or what its ultimate fate will be. This could be the questline that forwards the Ashbringer story, or at least the Icecrown story that is supposedly intertwined to the Frozen Halls. I really hope the sword is tempered by dragon's fire. Perhaps Sindragosa's breath will bless it with the power of magic and the sword will end up being for casters. It is still not clear if this will be a tanking blade, a caster's blade, or even obtainable by players. Time will tell, and we will keep you updated! Part 3 of this post will be posted as soon as more news is available!

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Quel'Delar's Rest

Proverb is an occasional column discussing the lore of Warcraft. It is spoiler heavy for all past, present, and future Warcraft games, novels, and other media. Comment on this post or send a tweet to @Heartbourne and let us know what you would like to see in future columns! Little is known about the new sword Quel'Delar. Patch 3.2 introduced the Argent Tournament and the area known of Quel'Delar's Rest. Speculation began even then about what or who Quel'Delar was, and now Quel'Delar has been revealed as a one-handed sword, as was Quel'Serrar. Parallels are being drawn between the two, so lets take the opportunity to remember the story behind Quel'Serrar and and review what we know about Quel'Delar. Quel'Serrar is the name of a particular sword that players could obtain, however, the name merely means "high blade" in Thalassian. There may exist several Quel'Serrar. Players obtained the first named Quel'Serrar by taking Foror's Compendium of Dragon Slaying, a rare drop in Dire Maul, to Lorekeeper Lydros. He claims that the book is "one of their greatest compilations" and presents the player with A Dull and Flat Elven Blade and confides the following story to the player:

<Lydros reaches into his robe and presents you with a dull, flat elven blade.>

In ages past well before even the War of the Ancients, there existed this blade. The blade itself had to be crafted in ceremony with the children of the Aspects. A rare occurrence indeed... For not only would a dragon have to willingly heat and mold the enchanted metal with their breath, they would also need to contain the fury of their own enchantment by using their blood as temper. Over the course of 8,000 years, only a handful of these blades were created - each blade unique in both power and appearance. The blades of Quel'Serrar would take on the characteristics of their creator. Rumors exist of a single, legendary blade of Quel'Serrar crafted for an unknown entity by the combined might of the five Aspects. Before the abominations of Nefarian and Deathwing were thrust into our world, such meetings of the Aspect were represented by the term 'Prismatic.' I could only assume that the Prismatic Blade of Quel'Serrar was a most glorious creation. What I offer to you now is one such blade, unfired, unheated, untreated - the most raw and basic form.

Now you merely need to find a dragon that will willing enchant the blade.

If you had an eternity to live, this might be a possibility; but since you are mortal and could very likely cease to exist at any moment, might I recommend trying to persuade one of the lesser dragons to do your bidding.

Have you heard of the brood mother of the Black Flight? I believe she is called Onyxia...

Players would then be provided with the Unfired Ancient Blade, which they would then take into combat with Onyxia. After the sword was placed on the ground and hit by a deep breath, players would need retrieve the Heated Ancient Blade from the ground, which would only remain heated for 20 minutes, and drive it into the corpse of Onyxia after slaying her to temper it in her blood. Players would then return it to Lydros to receive the Quel'Serrar. As of Onyxia's revamping in patch 3.2.2, players can obtain new versions of the Quel'Serrar as drops from Onyxia; there is the Burnished Quel'Serrar that drops in the 25 player version and the Gleaming Quel'Serrar in the 10 man version. Like the reintroduction of Onyxia, these items have no place in the lore and are in the game just for fanservice. So now we come to Quel'Delar, which is another of these High Blades wielded before even the War of the Ancients. Through data-mining, a variety of information has been gleamed about this sword. First, we have its model. These High Blades should each have its own unique look, although still look similar. Compare the Quel'Delar (left) to the Quel'Serrar (right):

The coloring, runes, and shape are slightly different, but the blades appear very similar.

Continue to part 2...

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Patch 3.3 has been in the limelight the past couple days. With the Frozen Halls preview, patch notes, and PTR released in such a short period of time, there is an information overload! First and foremost in my mind is the introduction of two new named weapons - Quel'Delar and Shadowmourne. Quel'delar seems to be a one-handed sword that is part of a long, epic quest chain involving Rhonin, Vereesa Windrunner, the Sunwell, and Icecrown Citadel. Shadowmourne is a legendary two-handed axe that drops from Arthas in place of Frostmourne, as Frostmourne has a "unique fate". Models for both of these weapons were data-mined by World of Raids: Another change that has yet to be reflected in the Patch Notes are the addition of race-specific totem models for Shaman. The current models in patch 3.2 are the Horde model that seems to be Tauren-themed and the Alliance model which is Draenei-themed. In patch 3.3, all races that are capable of being Shaman get their own totem model. Tauren and Draeni seem to keep the current models, while Trolls, Orcs, and Dwarves (in preparation for Cataclysm) get their own models:

	The lack of Dwarf keg totems is saddening. Other new models include Terenas Menethil II (Arthas' deceased father) and the ghost of Mr. Bigglesworth (Naxxramas was only a setback):

	There are also a series of loading screens for the 5-mans and Icecrown Citadel available. Hop over to World of Raids to check them out. In-game maps for the 5-mans are also in the game. Looks like there is a lot of development going into the art for this patch. Hopefully this patch will be a content-packed conclusion to Wrath of the Lich King!

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