mankriks-wife
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WoW Archivist: Many memes, handle it
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Last week, Archivist celebrated the Ulduar raid, including Thorim's famous IN THE MOUNTAINS speech -- one of Wrath's most memorable memes. In its eight years, World of Warcraft and its players have spawned dozens of memes. Today, Archivist remembers some of the best and most enduring. If you've ever wondered where some of these memes come from, read on! The earliest memes WoW memes began almost instantly after the game's release. One of the first was Mankrik's wife. For an early Horde quest in the Barrens, the orc Mankrik sent you to locate her. His directions were rather vague, so many players had trouble locating her. It didn't help that she wasn't an upright and alive NPC, but rather a dead body laying on the ground -- killed by marauding quilboars. Confused players asked where they could find her in the zone's chat. Many, many players. Because the massive zone spanned 15 levels, everyone leveling through it saw that same question asked over and over again. It got to the point where people would ask just to troll the chat channel. The quest is no longer in the game, but players can now visit her grave near Grol'dom Farm. Trolling Barrens chat became something of a hobby for early players. Many in the Horde didn't know about the other leveling zones across the ocean. Some who did ran up against the ongoing Tarren Mill/Southshore lagfest wars and took the first boat back to Kalimdor. The combination of a captive audience and a high saturation of new players made the Barrens the perfect zone to troll. In time, Barrens chat became its own meme, even inspiring T shirts.
Breakfast Topic: Rest in peace, Mankrik's wife
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. "... she held off three of the bristlebacks by herself ..." Yeah yeah, Mankrik. Gimme my quest! "Please ... find some sign of my wife." Woah ... Lost in Battle was the first quest I came across that caused a personal, deeply emotional reaction in me. I love the lore and was devouring the story as I went along. Quests had made me cry, laugh, and say out loud, "How in the...? No!" That was as an observer who was loving the story, though. Mankrik's quest made me hold my husband a little tighter that night and tell him I love him a little more. Sure, I admit I've giggled at a cleverly timed "Mankrik's wife" punch line or two! I'm not going to claim to be above that. But I've looked at Mankrik standing there, a proud orc pushed to the point of begging strangers to find his wife, and then looked across the room at my own husband. It's not something I can laugh at then. The first thing I did with my Horde death knight after turning the letter in to Thrall was run down to the Crossroads for that quest. My Alliance RP character has found the body and mourned the death of this unknown orc who was so badly beaten, and she has lamented not knowing who she could possibly go to about this. I've worried about losing Haggle and Mankrik's wife in Cataclysm. At least now I know Mankrik's wife -- excuse me, Olgra -- will finally be laid to rest. I've read what the moment says and cried. If you Hordies see an awfully friendly dwarf coming through with a bear, /cheering animals, I'm just on my way to pay my respects again. Which characters/quests have hit you really hard? Is anybody else worried about Haggle?
The Daily Grind: What's your most memorable MMO rite of passage?
They're not always easy to define, but every MMO has universal moments that every player seems to go through, find incredibly annoying/tedious/laughable, and then complain about to others. These rites of passage are what bond us together, strangers in name, united through a notorious experience. In WoW, it was accumulating enough Goretusk livers from liverless boars and searching in vain for Mankrik's wife. In Star Trek Online, it used to be playing hide-and-seek with Sulu. In my main game, Lord of the Rings Online, it's doing the pie delivery run, or attempting to swim the frozen waters of Forochel, or falling to your doom in Moria. What rite of passage do you remember (not so) fondly from your past and present MMOs? What experiences aggravated you when you went through them, and made you smile as you saw others go through the same thing and complain about it as you had? Where are those invisible lines separating the neophytes from the veterans?
Breakfast Topic: Fun with time travel
I was inspired by the time travel talk from last Friday's The Queue. If you were able to kill Arthas while doing the Culling of Stratholme; you would prevent him from becoming The Lich King, but would cause a much faster spread of the plague. It reminded me of this great piece of short fiction, where going back in time to kill Hitler prevents time travel from becoming possible and is therefore strictly forbidden. I'd like to go back in time and help Mankrik's Wife escape her violent and lonely death. Do we really need another reason to slaughter those nasty boar humanoids? Besides, I bet she had some really great quests that we missed out on. If you could go back in WoW time and change something, what would it be? What do you think the ramifications of your change would be?
Breakfast Topic: What really happens during maintenance?
Last week, there was a thread on the European forums about what really happened during the weekly downtime. Sure, some people said the boring answers of various things having to do with software and hardware. Others were more of the fanciful variety involving the hamsters that run the servers being fed. However, I like the more RP approach to the situation. Goblins and gnomes are using refitted shredders to sweep the streets and repaint the buildings. Mankrik's wife has stopped playing dead for a little while and is grabbing a bite to eat with her husband. The stormforged dwarves are hard at work forging more drops for the raids that have reset. The streets of Orgrimmar are empty with tumbleweeds blowing down the streets and an old orc in a rocking chair is playing the theme to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on an old harmonica (the music was in the tumbleweed's contract). What do you think the World of Warcraft does while we're temporarily forced offline?
WoW Moviewatch: Mankrik's Wife: The Story
Some World of Warcraft quests have taken on a life of their own. These quests are emblazoned in our minds like the shining sun. They will never be forgotten. Certainly, Wrathgate is one such quest. However, before even that epic quest, the Horde traveling the Barrens have dealt with Mankrik and his wife. Such is the power of Mankrik meme that it has now become a machinima of its own. Wowcrendor has taken up the epic tale and created Mankrik's Wife: The Story. This movie has a handful of gags similar to Wowcrendor's previous movies, but this film is a great deal more serious. I mean, it's not straight-face no-laughs serious, but the author is clearly telling a story. It's not quite the same kind of one-liners and sight gags we've seen before from Wowcrendor. The best part for me was titling Mankrik's spouse "Wifeosaurus." That's a pretty fun shout-out to Wowcrendor's first movie, It's a Hard Gnome Life. I like that kind of continuity. I really feel like Wowcrendor is creating his own legacy, and I hope to see him continue to grow. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Garrosh is not well-liked
There are some possible lore spoilers in this one, so we're pushing it after the break. If you're not worried about hearing some crazy future lore and enjoy a good laugh at the son of Grom Hellscream, read on.
