Anti-Aliased: Mourning Frostmourne, part 2
This leads us to the most noble road of all -- simply not putting the sword into the game. If the players kill Arthas, the sword needs to go somewhere that isn't the hands of the player community. Another NPC perhaps, back into the ice, or to simply never leave the corpse of the Lich King.
This seems like it's a poor solution at first glance, but truly this is the best solution of all. Frostmourne is not the Twin Blades of Azzinoth that Illidan carries -- it is something more. Leaving exactly what Frostmourne does in the dark actually gives it more credibility and more power than defining it inside of the game would. What you don't know is spookier and more interesting than what you do know. It's the usual "the grass is greener" concept, except now it's being applied to a blade that has the power to consume your soul.
When you neglect to define exactly how powerful the blade is, you also never truly disappoint the player. Sure, there are those who probably would wish the blade was included in the game. But if you, the player, don't know exactly what the sword does, then the magic that it provides will never die. You can keep thinking and keep speculating to your heart's content.
If the sword is included and everything about it is revealed, then there is a strong possibility that players would not be happy with it. Something about the sword would not please them, something about the stats would be off, or something about the penalty would cause players to cry foul and tug on the skirt of Mother Blizzard until it was changed to be in their favor.
Adding Frostmourne to the game would shatter the icy sword. In truth, it would no longer be Frostmourne. It would be Item ID #103821, or whatever variable is assigned to it. The magic would die, and it would no longer be an infamous symbol of hate and malice -- it would just be another bunch of pixels on the screen, carried around by yet another jerk who wouldn't be worthy of its name.
We all keep telling ourselves we play this game to level, to earn achievements, to make new friends. Certainly, all of that is true and then some. But we would be lying to ourselves if we said there wasn't some magic, some great mysteriousness to the main figures of the story. Something that kept us coming back in the state of suspense, of wanting to know more. So, my question to you is, "Why shatter the magic now?"
If you live in the greater Pittsburgh area and feel like meeting Colin, he'll be attending tomorrow night's Wrath of the Lich King Midnight Launch at the GameStop in the Oakland district on Forbes Avenue at 10 PM, just outside of the University of Pittsburgh campus. If you need directions, here it is on Google Maps!
Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who treasures lore as much as he treasures loot. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's over running Epic Loot For All! with his insane roommates. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com.
