The Queue: Literature is lovely
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. You will have to pry Anne Stickney's (@Shadesogrey) book collection from her cold, dead hands.
Pictured above are two books from my collection. Both are significantly older than my father, and he was born in 1929. There is something so keenly beautiful about holding something that has passed through the hands of I don't know how many people in its 100+ years of existence, and I can't really describe it. Yes, they are books of stories -- fairy tales, actually -- but the books themselves are a story, delicate and winding and impossibly long, trapped within the fragile spines and soft, worn pages. I'm glad they've found a home with me.
Now stop trying to sell me on a Kindle.
ejunk77 asked:
Q for the Q: Are you rooting for Lilian Voss to return in one of the remaining MoP patches? I know I am!
Not especially. But there's a reason behind that.
While Lilian Voss is a perfectly lovely character (and one whom I hope to see in the future), she's not really relevant to anything that is going on in Pandaria right now. I am, however, hoping we'll see her again once the focus shifts back to Sylvanas and the Forsaken -- presumably at some point when this expansion is over, or maybe when the expansion is winding down. I like her quite a lot, and I think there's more to her story than we've been shown, and I don't think she's been given as satisfactory an ending as I think she deserves.
Mind you, I say the same thing about Vanessa VanCleef, but I don't know if we'll see her again, either. Which would be a pity, because she was also pretty awesome.
Edymnion asked:
I just faction changed my monk over to Alliance the other day, and have been playing through Jade Forest again on them to get the Alliance perspective. What other zones or quest chains are considered "must play"? I know for the Horde you'll get answers like Silverpine, Into the Machine in Hillsbrad, etc. Surely there must be some Alliance counterparts.
Westfall, definitely -- because you'll see the story of Miss VanCleef from beginning to end. Redridge was interesting as well, but I'd have to say hit up Darkshore and Ashenvale. They are not happy, they are not funny, they are in fact kind of depressing but my god the writing out there is really well done. Plus you can drop through a sinkhole in Darkshore and chitchat with a demon hunter, so there's that.
Northrend is where you're really going to see a lot of amazing stuff. There are some excellent quests in Howling Fjord, but the chain that plays out in Dragonblight is pretty amazing -- there's a lot of references to events from Warcraft III. It's absolutely awesome, particularly if you're a fan of Arthas' story. For sheer fun factor, I have to say I really enjoyed the Alliance version of the Twilight Highlands. Meeting Fargo Flintlocke was awesome, and every bit as er ... explosive as you'd think it would be.
Any other amazing Alliance places to go, guys? Let's see some recommendations in the comments, if I've forgotten anything!
BaronOfTheLake asked:
Ok, lore question for ya. Is Frostmourne a demon forged weapon? If I remember my lore correctly, wasn't it the demons who created the Lich King, and so, by extension, the blade he wields? I know frostmourne has disappeared, and I've been wondering, with a possible demon invasion of Azeroth, if Frostmourne would be desirable to them (or maybe even an effective weapon against them). Basically, I just miss my ol Lich and want him/her to come back soon.
According to the novel Arthas, yes. Frostmourne was created by the Nathrezim. When Ner'zhul was transformed into the Lich King, his spirit was shackled to both Frostmourne and the Lich King's suit of armor, including his infamous helm.
zengarzombolt11 commented:
i can never follow the whole Mograine thing who killed who and who is the good and who is the bad
Renault killed his father, Alexandros. Alexandros was good, and Renault was bad. Alexandros was taken in by Kel'Thuzad, and became one of the Four Horsemen, which basically turned him from good to bad. Darion killed Alexandros in Naxxramas and took the corrupted Ashbringer back to Scarlet Monastery, where Alexandros' spirit promptly killed Renault. Then Darion, overwhelmed with grief because his father's soul was forever trapped in a cursed sword, killed himself to set his father's spirit free.
Basically, Renault was always bad, Alexandros was good when he was alive and bad when he was undead, but released from badness by Darion, who was good all along, to the point where he sacrificed his own life to save his father.
And then the Lich King got to him and he became bad again, but he broke free so now he's good. Or not. He's ... in a nebulous space. Poor Darion, full of conflict and woe.
Look, nobody ever said the Mograines were a simple family.
@applecidermage asked via Twitter:
Where the hell is Azora, as in the mage who owns Tower of Azora
Although Azora has servants galore, it would seem she's taken her leave. On vacation. Someplace far away, where the world isn't in a constant state of disaster.
Or an orc ate her during the First War. You never know.
@sergel92 asked via Twitter:
Which Outland, Northrend, Cata, and Pandaria zone has the best lore and storyline in your opinion.
Outland would have to be the Horde chain in Nagrand, hands down. Love seeing the replay from Warcraft III. Northrend, it would have to be the creepy appearance of Matthias Lehner in Icecrown and the series of quests that follow. For Cataclysm, I really liked the quest chain that sent you into Iso'rath -- it really threw me for a loop the first time I did it. As for Pandaria, I love the end of the Jade Forest, but I really love the lore we've been given so far in patch 5.1, too. Honestly, I love pretty much all of the stories in Pandaria -- I have yet to find a zone that makes me go "Man, I wish I could skip this stuff" on any alt I've played.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
