Bolvar
Latest
Know Your Lore: Never to rise again
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. There will be spoilers for the revamped Scholomance Mists of Pandaria heroic in this post. Arthas Menethil is dead. He's not just dead; he's really, most sincerely dead. He is no more. He has ceased to be. Bereft of life, yes, but as Sylvanas Windrunner saw during her own recent experience in Northrend, he does not rest in peace. The Lich King lives on in the form of Bolvar Fordragon, but Arthas? Arthas is dead. No king rules forever. And yet Arthas' hand reached far across the world before he died. Even before he became a Lich King, Arthas forever warped the world of Azeroth. Even before his soul was blasted and rent asunder by Frostmourne and he became a servant of the then-Lich King, the former Ner'zhul, Arthas destroyed a city by his own hand and his own will. What Arthas did can never be truly undone. As much as they hate him, the Forsaken of Undercity owe their freedom from the Burning Legion to Arthas' move against the Dreadlords following the Battle for Mount Hyjal. As much as she hates him, Sylvanas owes not only her current existence but the val'kyr that have twice raised her from death to Arthas. Unlike Tinfoil Hat KYLs, this particular post is speculation and rumination without a theory to support or prove. It's musing on the nature of undeath, the role of the Lich King, the discordant notes and unreliable narrators of this particular part of the story. It asks several questions and does not have any answers to them. Does Bolvar Fordragon sit alone atop the Frozen Throne? Does Sylvanas Windrunner rule herself? Can we trust the val'kyr's word? And if Arthas Menethil still existed within the Lich King, holding the Scourge in check, then what did Tirion Fordring destroy in the Cathedral of Darkness? What of Matthias Lenher? I have no answers but many questions.
Lichborne: Divining the direction of death knight lore in Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Let's face it: We had it pretty good in Wrath. Since that expansion was our grand debut, we were everywhere. We had an opening experience where we connected with our origin and found out that our own factions, for obvious reasons, barely trusted us. We were instrumental to the battle in Northrend, doing things other factions wouldn't do, with a clear goal of destroying those who wronged us. We were perfect tragic figures with some robust story and great characters in the form of Thassarian, Crok Scourgebane, and Darion Mograine, among others. In Cataclysm, things have been, to say the least, a little bit sparser. With Arthas dead, do death knights have a purpose in lore anymore, or are we just around because it'd be sort of silly to remove the class and have everyone reroll? I tend to think death knights are still a pretty interesting and dynamic class, story-wise, and this week, we'll look at where we are at the end of Cataclysm and where our story might go in Mists of Pandaria.
The Queue: Mists of the Naaru
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mathew McCurley will be your host today. Click my name! It won't hurt ... FOR LONG! You know who I miss? The naaru. What's up with our wind chime friends? Are they all on vacation from fighting the Legion? I don't think I've spoken to a naaru since I helped out old crusader What's-His-Face in Icecrown, dying his slow and painful death just moments away from the fun and merriment of the Argent Tournament. More naaru! I hope the next expansion is called Mists of the Naaru and we get playable naaru because naaaaarrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuu ... Arrohon said: [In reference to yesterday's title image] If most of the TCG artwork is anywhere near the quality of that, I will probably have to start collecting them. Yes, it is. We say it all the time, but it always bears repeating: The Cryptozoic artists are some of the most talented in the business. Big, big props to its art team for coming up with all of the amazing art that they do. I love it all.
Know Your Lore: Bolvar Fordragon
WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Players still leveling or playing through this expansion may want to veer away, especially if you want to avoid Icecrown Citadel spoilers. I'll throw another message in before we get to the really huge stuff, just in case! The above image is a little special to me, as it is a screenshot of the first moment I saw Bolvar Fordragon in action, taken January 19th, 2005. I was playing with a friend, and we saw an odd procession in Stormwind headed to the throne room -- upon arriving, a level 60 told us that we probably ought to stand back. Being what I thought was a resourceful player, I hid behind one of the guards, counting on them to protect me. Needless to say, Onyxia appeared, the guards turned into dragonkin, and I had a split second of sheer panic before I got a "6 Minutes until release" message. But this article isn't about my untimely death and subsequent 'when someone says stay far away, stay far, far away' lesson. This is about the man under that pile of dragonkin, who we observed in awe as he fought and killed the entire pack of elites single-handed -- Bolvar Fordragon. Bolvar in that moment became one of my favorite characters in the game, and I didn't even know who he was. It didn't matter.
The importance of the Wrathgate story in Icecrown Citadel
Zubon of Kill Ten Rats has been playing through Northrend lately, and it sounds like he's right around where my paladin is: working through the Wrathgate questline. The zombie invasion was the most important kickoff event for this expansion, but especially with what we've been seeing of Icecrown (spoilers there) lately, it looks like the events that went down at Angrathar might be the defining moments of Wrath of the Lich King. So much we're seeing in Icecrown and even beyond seems to be debris spinning off of the clash in that cinematic. Zubon has mostly high praise for the storyline -- I agree that Borean Tundra and the Howling Fjord are preludes to the real anti-Scourge action you find in the Wrathgate questline. But then he goes one step further, and says that the end just shows how old Blizzard's game really is. Even while such an epic story is unfurling, graphical glitches and the realities of Blizzard's game (one of the phases is essentially an ongoing fight in which you personally have no effect) bring the experience back down. Wrathgate is certainly an epic event, and every indication is that we're going to be feeling its repercussions a lot in the next dungeon. But five years after launch, it's also a sign that Blizzard is pushing this old game as hard as they can. Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
Varimathras' replacement: "B"
Earlier this year, we wondered just what would happen now that my favorite dreadlord, Varimathras, was vanquished in the Battle for the Undercity, and now Kisirani has provided us with a hint: someone whose name includes a "B." When someone repeats the question on the forums, she posts a note delivered by a bronze whelp hinting that someone will be back in Varimathras' place as of patch 3.3. The note is signed only with a "B," and (as Kisirani probably intended), it's anyone's guess just who that is.And if by "anyone," you mean the denizens of the Blizzard forums, they all seem to think it's Nathanos Blightcaller, a Forsaken who has been sitting in the Eastern Plaguelands since the game began. He's recently been mentioned again in the game, as Varian Wrynn has sent Alliance players after him in Bolvar's place, and so it makes sense that he may rejoin the Banshee Queen and take his place at her side. Balnazzar, Varimathras' demon brother, is another guess, though he's currently serving secretly with the Scarlet Crusade, so who knows how he'd come to that position. And of course, besides Bornakk, anytime you hear B you have to think of our friend Bolvar, whose fate we'll probably learn in patch 3.3 no matter what. As for who it really is, we won't know for sure until we see them in the Undercity.
The Queue: Deconstructed
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.For a brief moment, I considered embedding 10 Minutes of In The Mountains in place of the XT-002 remix, but come on. That joke is already dying a slow death, and I don't want to be the guy that puts the last nail in Thorim's coffin. I'll leave that to the guy that made the video. No, today is an XT-002 day. It helps that the Deconstructor remix is actually good.eevul asked..."Do you think the faction transfer will allow us to carry over heirloom items in order to help level our Worgen/Goblins?"
Ask a Lore Nerd: Looking to the future
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.This week I have a special request: I want any questions you might have about potential future expansions. Any questions at all are welcome, but I'm on a speculation kick recently, so next week's column will probably focus on the future and then we'lll be back to our regular deal after that. So no matter whether you think the Maelstrom could be next or something else entirely, ask!Mark asked..."Any chance that the Vrykul will be a playable race in a future expansion?"
Bolfang and the future of the Horde and the Alliance
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Wrathgate in-game event.So Callouse of Vashj posted a theory on the General Forums that is so elegant that I'm sort of ashamed I didn't think of it myself. At the Wrathgate, we know that Arthas absorbed the soul of Saurfang the Younger into his sword. Evidence also points to the idea that he stole Bolvar Fordragon's body. This has lead to rampant speculation that we will eventually fight one or both as thralls of the Lich King. But Callouse posits that we may end up seeing one and both at once. That is, we'll see Saurfang the Younger's soul in Bolvar's body.
The Queue: Going to the movies
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.The Queue is generally a weekday affair, but since this Saturday is going to be a busy day for us WoW players, we're going to be doing a special edition this weekend. You didn't forget about BlizzCon tickets going on sale this Saturday, did you? I hope not! If you have any BlizzCon related questions, get them in over the next couple of days, and we'll see what we can do for you this weekend.Erogroth asked..."What is the status on the Warcaft movie? I have not heard anything in a long time. Is it even in production? Will we ever see it? Is there even a website?"
Blizzard releases Wrath Gate trailer in HD
With the release of Wrath of the Lich King and its inclusion of world-changing phased events, Blizzard's stated goal of ramping up their dynamic storytelling seems more and more like a success, but it doesn't stop with quests alone. The in-game cinematic for the final legs of the epic Wrath Gate quest line really shows what Blizzard is capable of outside of CGI with the in-game engine and a bit of creative tinkering. Not to mention it's a huge lore explosion that fuels the story for the rest of the expansion!Yes, yes, old news for some. For those of you among us who haven't yet experienced this particular quest line, of course, it's not to be missed. For those who've seen it in-game already or who just can't contain themselves, though, you can stream the incredibly spoiler-heavy cinematic in full HD on Blizzard's site now or download it directly from BigDownload. If you're into it, there's also a nice short story/summary of the momentous events directly under it.We can hope for two things--that Blizzard continues to put these kinds of awesome scenes in the game, and that when they do, they give those of us with nice monitors/TVs the ability to watch them all pretty-like.
Spoilers: Angrathar the Wrath Gate cinematic
In today's Wrath beta patch, a cinematic was added to accompany a questline in Northrend that involves Angrathar the Wrath Gate. That's all I'll tell you here, so you know what you're getting yourself into by going on. Before you read the rest of this post, I want to warn you guys that behind the cut below, there are massive spoilers. Like huge, epic spoilers. If you like being surprised, I would seriously advise against reading this post or watching the video.
Ask a Beta Tester: Spell power, phasing, and more
The image above has almost nothing to do with the content of today's Ask a Beta Tester, but I found it funny so you get to deal with it. We'll jump right into things with Turfing's question... I have a priest alt getting close to 70. Planning on doing healing come Wrath. With the conversion to spell power should I be picking up healing gear or damage gear right now? How is, for instance, Spell fire stacking up against Primal Mooncloth? Is spellfire actually able to heal better right now in the beta? How about damage?I strongly recommend hopping over to Wowhead's Wrath site and doing some research on how the numbers turn out. In most cases, DPS gear has better DPS stats (hit, crit) and Healing gear has better Healing stats. The spell power numbers are just much, much closer. In your particular example, the Primal Mooncloth Robe has more spell power than the Spellfire Robe, but it has mp5 and the Spellfire has crit. A DPS spec/class would rather have the crit.A few weeks ago I covered the effects of the spell power change in Hybrid Theory, with some raw numbers to look at. You can read that over if you'd like, but I mostly just suggest hitting up wotlk.wowhead.com for specific items.For more answers to your questions, read on!
Forum Post of the Day: Fordragon, Saurfang, and original armor
I don't know that we've ever credited a Forum Post of the Day award to an actual CM comment (though the GM scam comeback was pretty classic), but this post by Drysc deserves it if anything does: when asked by a player if Bolvar Fordragon will get any more original in the expansion, Drysc says that High Overlord Saurfang punched the originality right out of him. Burn much?And just in case you were worried that a CM would get away with making fun of what might have been a serious player question, Drysc gets burned right back when Aure asks if the same thing happened to Shaman armor sets. "Ouch," as many players say, is about right.Of course, none of the burning actually answers the questions, so I guess that's what we're here for. No, Bolvar probably won't be redone in the expansion: if the King of Stormwind storyline comes to a head, he may be on his way out anyway (although then who would fight off Onyxia's minions?). And be careful what you ask for with Shaman armor -- next thing you know, we'll have totems coming out of our shoulders (actually, that might be pretty cool). And yes, High Overlord Saurfang can punch the whatever he wants out of whoever he wants.
Answers from a Lore Nerd part 1
Yesterday I posted Ask a Lore Nerd, in which I asked you, the readers, to ask me any lore questions you'd like. Your questions came, and I'm doing my best to answer! There were quite a lot of questions, many of them multi-part questions, so I haven't been able to get at all of your questions today. I picked ten comments, answered their questions, and I'll get to the rest of them as soon as possible! Don't be afraid to ask further questions. Keep them coming!Milkingit asks: Where do murlocs come from?Answer: We don't know for sure, but there are many theories. Their appearance on land is supposedly a rather recent event, but it's likely that murlocs have been living on the ocean floor for many thousands of years, walking Azeroth even longer than Trolls. The Trolls have been believed to be the oldest sentient race on Azeroth, so if the murlocs came first, they're a very old race and we may never know their exact origin.There are also a few theories on what has inspired murlocs to move inland. The naga taking over the ocean depths may have driven the murlocs inland. The murlocs may be in cahoots with the naga, and the infestation of the mainlands is a tactical move. The murlocs may also be being controlled by Neptulon or some other force, and are doing his/their bidding. We may learn more in Wrath of the Lich King, as the murlocs make a comeback there.
Mysterious Mysteries: Highlord Bolvar Fordragon cuts off his own head!
Highlord Bolvar Fordragon, bodyguard to the King of Stormwind, was not previously known to be suicidal -- but today in Stormwind Keep a shocking sight was unfolded before the eyes of all citizens on their way to greet the child-king, Anduin Wrynn. As seen here, Bolvar repeatedly used his own sword to slice his head off!Mysterious Mysteries questioned King Wrynn, as he stood there, seemingly oblivious to the horror taking place right beside him. His only reply was to gaze at us meaningfully, and confess in a whisper: "I see dead people."Lady Katrana Prestor, who is actually the dragon Onyxia in disguise, agreed with the King on this matter. "Obviously you are too stupid to see the obvious. Bolvar here may be slicing his head off, but do you see any blood? I didn't think so. Now... go die in a fire."It is a mysterious mystery indeed: Why does Mister Fordragon repeatedly kill himself without success? Why does he allow Onyxia to keep coming back and standing next to him? The draenei emissary to the court of Stormwind, mister Taluun, had this to say: "This is but one of the Light's miracles, my son. The blessings of the Naaru prevent the great ones of the world from perishing -- as you can see, this powerful blade passes right through him."One careful listener, however, was able to get close enough to Highlord Bolvar's mad whisperings as he muttered words to himself before each slice: "She just won't leave me alone... she keeps coming back... they cut off her head a thousand times and she's still here! Aaaargh!" Gift of the Naaru? or curse of agony? It is for you to decide! Have you witnessed any other abnormal behavior on the part of Azeroth's denizens? Send your insider information to Mysterious Mysteries through the top-secret drop off box below this article!
