Warcraft Retrospective: A Blog Post Series (latest issue: #39, 2024-10-19)

Argent Dawn
262

Not gonna take up too much of Lintian’s thread with it(Sorry!) but googling around, the account which accused him is deleted, and the court not only cleared him of at least those charges, but also allegedly found that the initial accuser had been setting up several accounts over different social medias to harass his family members. And apparently also got a restraining order from all of this.

Beyond there there is no direct court cases, and from what it seems at worst, people have said he is creepy. There is almost no information about it or him since 2021.

3 Likes
263

Warcraft Retrospective 23: Darth Arthas

https://lintian.eu/2024/04/25/warcraft-retrospective-23/

Excerpt:

Which… I suppose explains why Arthas has lost all his remaining moral inhibitions, but it doesn’t explain why his goals changed. Why has he suddenly turned from trying to stop the Scourge to working for them? Does he have a choice in this matter? Is he under a mental compulsion, a slave of the Lich King, or has Frostmourne basically rewired him to the point that he’s not Arthas anymore, but just some… thing puppeting his body and using his memories? What are his own goals? What does he himself want now, as opposed to what Tichondrius and the Lich King want him to do?

The game isn’t interested in exploring these questions. It presents Arthas’s personality overwrite as a given and acts as if all he cares about now is doing whatever the Lich King asks of him. The end result is that undead Arthas feels like a completely different person who just happens to have human Arthas’s memories.

(Sorry about the long gap in updates: I was working on a large-scale update to Chaos Archives!)

7 Likes
264

The long awaited continuation returns!

Again, a really great write-up.

One thing I noticed though which is…interesting is specifically this:

In the human campaign, the Lich King had a direct line to Arthas through Frostmourne, giving him a surprise order to kill Mal’Ganis. Here, the Lich King never contacts Arthas directly, and instead all the orders come from Tichondrius. It doesn’t seem like anything happened to the sword in the interim, so it’s weird that the game sets up the plot element of “the Lich King can covertly contact Arthas behind the dreadlords’ backs” and then never uses it again."

The curious thing with this is that’s exactly what happens again during the TfT campaign. There’s entire plot threads in TfT which relies on that the Lich King can communicate directly into Arthas’s mind without the dreadlords knowing.

So it’s really strange how its glossed over in the original undead campaign. Especially when it was important just before it and becomes crucial to the story later.

4 Likes
265

Though it’s not outright said, I get the feeling that it’s a case of the dreadlords and the Lich King keeping a close eye on each other and trying to outwit each other.

I have no doubt that the dreadlords would be somewhat suspicious after Mal’Ganis got smote by a directly controlled Arthas.
So rather than directly issue commands to Arthas, the Lich King loosened his grip and gave Arthas free rein to do as he wished, which gave the dreadlords the opening that they needed to direct and manipulate the death knight themselves.
This would explain why death-knight-Arthas has a personality of some sort, while Arthas-with-a-newly-acquired-Frostmourne seemed like more of an automaton who mindlessly obeyed the Lich King.

If they were keeping a close eye on the Lich King, I suppose it makes sense that the Lich King would want to avoid directly informing or controlling Arthas, in order to give the dreadlords the feeling that they had some control over the situation.
However, Ner’zhul knew that Kel’thuzad was vital to the plan and that the dreadlords would demand his reanimation, and that Kel’thuzad was a loyal servant who would warn Arthas and set him on the right path, without the Lich King needing to personally involve himself and risk alerting the nathrezim.

Very little of this is actually written anywhere, it’s just what I infer from the narrative and the fact that Ner’zhul is presented as a master manipulator who is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

But I criticise modern Blizzard for writing plot holes that require headcanon and a whole lot of inference in order to make any sense, so you’re right for criticising old Blizzard for the same thing. This should be made more clear and shouldn’t be something that we have to figure out for ourselves.

6 Likes
266

Some amount of interpretation and vagueness is cool. For example warriors doing superhuman feats of strength with no magic whatsoever, thanks to rage.

We don’t know what kind of a energy rage is in the game and that males it an infinitely cooler sourcw of power than all the others in the cosmic chart, for one.

But when it creates obvious speedbumps then it is bad.

3 Likes
267

Good to have these back! My interpreting of Arthas’ turning relies on him being at the absolute bottom of his life when he makes it to Frostmourne. He’s depicted as being out of it, shifting from droning into the distance to bouts of frustration and rage, to singleminded callousness to get /something/, to achieve anything beyond a pyrrhic victory.

Picking up Frostmourne, overpowering and slaying Mal’ganis with ease must be the first time he’s felt good in what must’ve been a couple of months. He’s thrown away everything, and the Lich King has the thrill of the kill open the way to enthrall him - make every atrocity thereafter feel just as rewarding.

His values are flipped, and then he’s set on another hero’s journey, overcoming the Silver Hand and High Elves, learning from Kel’thuzad’d counsel and knowing the treachery of the Dreadlords – he achieves this as somewhat of an free agent, because that’s the way Ner’zhul plots him to grow in ambition, cunning and ruthlessness. A mindless thrall would never be half as useful as another thinking monster like Kel’thuzad.

5 Likes
268

It is a fair criticism and I believe it may be connected to the arc in which we save Kel’Thuzad. It would be a bit redundant to have both Kel’Thuzad and the Lich King speak to Arthas as these mysterious voices inside his head, hence the latter fades in the background as Kel’Thuzad becomes a new guide in the campaign.

It is not explained, but the choice pays off. Through Kel’Thuzad, we see what a great manipulator this Ner’zhul can be, while also giving the necromancer his time to shine as a schemer.

I sometimes wonder if the character of Kel’Thuzad was a concept developed later, and that originally the lich model was intended for Ner’zhul himself, which Arthas would have had to resurrect in the necromancer’s place. A lich’s skull, after all, is more similar to an orc than a human’s. And how many other liches are just that, undead orcs? Yet this narrative point is barely, if ever, touched upon in this or any other game. Perhaps indicating that this was part of an original plot point that faded in the background.

I also believe it is intentional that we don’t know what kind of goal Arthas has. Before, it was vengeance. But now, he’s just a pawn in someone else’s game. In this case, I believe it is part of the authors’ philosophy. It is as if there is anger, there is emotion, even before there is a clear need or want.

Overall, this is likely bound to older narratives such as the '90s characterizations: they were about portraying existential states (such as anger, rebellion) before they’d portray a goal. I think the game manages to capture that: this insufference coming from Arthas. And imho, it works, because it makes him even more terrifying. You don’t know what he might be up to, and this creates a lot of suspense in a videogame which has a rather slow pace.

4 Likes
269

Good Lord I remember the second Quel’thalas mission on hard… what a female dog that was to play. I could barely get out of my base because the elves just -kept- attacking , so it was mostly turle up real hard with ziggurats and keep acolytes nearby for repair duty. Doesnt help when you’re bad at micro and the elves bring a ballista…

There’s indeed some things that look strange and needed more explanation ,but, I reckon Blizzard later felt the same way given they had Christie Golden write the Arthas novel ( which I already referenced earlier in the thread.)

I reckon first and foremost Blizzard just wanted to create a cool game before they decided to think of filling in some plotgaps… and that mentality still exists today.

“Continuity exists to enhance a story, not tie the hands of it’s crea-…” I end up smacking the dude who said that.

3 Likes
270

I do wonder if liches were originally supposed to be orc followers of Ner’zhul, based on the model alone, and if Ner’zhul himself was supposed to have a lich model. It always struck me odd that the Lich King looked nothing like a lich when we finally saw him in TFT (he wasn’t shown in RoC).

We know Warcraft 3’s story went through numerous rewrites.

5 Likes
271

Considering necromancy initially(atleast in this time before lore changes) came from the orcs, it wouldnt be surprising at all.

2 Likes
272

Actually googling around, thats exactly it. Apparently in the original manual its straight up said liches are orc warlocks who’s souls were taken by Kil’Jaden, exactly what happened to the lich king.

2 Likes
273

Good catch! I missed that bit when reading the manual. I just checked it, and you’re right:

While on Draenor, Ner’zhul commanded a number of orcish warlocks and spell-wielding death knights. Yet, when Kil’jaeden and the Legion captured these sorcerers after that world’s destruction, they were transformed into twisted, spectral aberrations of their former selves. These newly born liches possessed tremendous magical powers, yet their immortal, undead bodies were bound to the iron will of Ner’zhul. As payment for their undying loyalty to Ner’zhul, the Lich King granted them control over the furious elements of Northrend. Now, the liches wield frost magic along with their own considerable necromantic spells.

I’ll mention it in the next post.

Sometimes it’s an interesting question to ask: what came first, the character or the model? Many campaign characters, like Uther, Antonidas, death knight Arthas, Cairne, pre-transformation Illidan, Maiev, Kael, and Anub’arak, look very similar to their generic hero counterparts, while others, like Jaina, Thrall, paladin Arthas, and Malfurion, have distinct looks.

It seems the death knight hero model was based on this concept art:

https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/File:Death_Knight_WC3_concept_art.jpg

and I wonder if it was used to design Arthas as well, both pre- and post-fall.

In Kel’Thuzad’s case, it’s clear that the model came first and the character second. As far as I can tell, he uses the generic lich model, and given the rampant practice of model reuse in RoC, I wonder if they simply ran out of time to create a unique model for him.

Sylvanas and Shandris are an interesting case. Their model was originally meant for the Ranger, a cut Alliance hero who was a high elf half-elf and had almost the same abilities as the retail Priestess of the Moon:

https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Ranger_(Warcraft_III)

And the ears were more high elf-like. In the released game, this model is only seen in the campaign, with Sylvanas and Shandris using different recolors, but the ears have changed to more night elf-like. I wonder if they were originally going to turn the Ranger from an Alliance hero into a night elf hero before cutting her entirely and giving her abilities to the Priestess of the Moon (who, in the alpha, rode a giant owl, but Blizzard found flying heroes a nightmare to balance).

It does explain why Sylvanas uses Starfall in that cutscene: it’s the ultimate ability of the cut Ranger hero.

3 Likes
274

Its interesting that you bring that up too, especially with the rangers!

Because it reminds me of something ive felt for a while and your bit on the quel’thalas missions reinforced that for me.

We already as you said, know that WC3 went through alot of changes. But I feel like Quel’thalas and high elves were hit the hardest. Their missions arent very fun personally and I feel alot of both their mission designs and writing is pretty lacking and bordering on lazy/rushed with things like “elfgates” and rather blunt dialouges.

With high elf units and a hero also being scrapped, I do wonder if High elf involvement overall took a big hit in the changes and suffered a bit due to this

1 Like
275

All the male models are omega ripped and all the females have a massive rack to boot.

276

Indeed. I remember being very disappointed myself. “Huh, the big bad is just a suit of armor? He’s lame!”.

But jokes aside, even if the narrative has some flaws now and then, an important point to make is asking: does it work regardless? Now I am thinking about this point raised by Shogganosh, here…

What I am trying to ask is. If I recall correctly you stated you wanted to review the games to see where “Warcraft went wrong”, and I believe if we assume that something went wrong, then it becomes interesting to wonder why we (I?) feel like the game is working in spite of these flaws. Why, so-to-speak, we (I?) condone them in Warcraft 3, and not instead for modern Blizzard.

This is a bit of a can of worms, but it is an interesting question to explore.

2 Likes
277

Was missing the write-ups. I think a large (and quite integral, imo) part of Arthas’ story that is quite frequently slept upon is the biblical aspect - unescapable for better or worse when one has a universe (at least at this time of it) with a God-like figure who represents all things good and then dark forces that work within the same jurisdictions as biblical sins seeking the downfall of the holy and righteous.

Arthas and Anakin are compared frequently and for good reason, but they also both go through a similar biblical story of a righteous man, devoted to a deity of good falling from grace due to pride/temptation/doubt and ultimately becoming so lost in their sins that their souls are damned to the point where they both become completely different people until the end of their lives when they’re freed from the sins they committed in life - although only Anakin gets to have a “resurrection”, Arthas’ is cut-short from his in Shadowlands.

Its niche but they both suffer a “Judas” moment as well when they give up their ideals, their beliefs and principles at the precipice; Anakin kills Mace, Arthas kills Uther, Muradin (until WotLK) and his Father and its symbolised in both characters stories by them losing the grace of God (or in this case, the Light side of the Force and the Holy Light) and its at this point they both feel deep pangs of regret, realising they’ve now turned from Good and their actions have already damned them so the only way forward is Evil. Judas betrays Christ and then, realising what he had done, dispatches his own life (and is later forgiven), with the same story repeating in both Anakin and Arthas’ tales.

“But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” is from James 1:14-15 and, whilst I don’t think its intentionally done, its almost a complete summary of Arthas’ life and death, he is tempted by the lurings of the (quite literal) Devils (Nathrezim) and makes a “deal” with them through Frostmourne (his oath of paying any price to ‘save’ his people) then he commits fully to his Sin when he realises that he has “killed” Muradin and killed most of his Men, leading to his return to his Kingdom (Lordaeron being a Kingdom of faith could arguably be allegorical for Heaven, or simply earth itself) and brings forth Death (again, quite literally). There is also the Four Horsemen references with the Death Knights in general, but that’s on the nose enough that I don’t think it bears pointing out, although the fact that Death Knights and Paladins are intended as moral mirrors of one another has its own implications, as if falling from the grace of the Holy Light could lead to you becoming a Death Knight.

There’s a lot more to the biblical mirrors in Warcraft but that’s deserving of its own forum thread.

5 Likes
278

Warcraft Retrospective 24: Paint This Continent Black

https://lintian.eu/2024/05/04/warcraft-retrospective-24/

Excerpt:

Here’s another question to ponder. So the Legion wants to invade Azeroth in full force. To do this, they need Kel’Thuzad to summon Archimonde. Kel’Thuzad serves the Lich King and has no love for the Legion. So can he just… not summon Archimonde? What’s stopping the Scourge, at this point, from betraying the Legion and offing the dreadlords to free the Lich King from their influence? Is it because there are dreadlords in Northrend holding the Lich King’s undead body hostage to make sure he doesn’t try exactly that? It would be nice if the game explained this.

5 Likes
279

Great read as usual!

I remember that I liked Archimonde as a villain even back then. He was scary and powerful without needing to brag about it. The destruction of Dalaran is an iconic moment.

It’s a shame that the undead campaign is weaker than the others while still being good. They did make up for it in TfT, but its noticeable that it had some issues during RoC.

I was also waiting for you to bring up the frost wyrms as you mentioned in an earlier post that RoC in particular(But all of Wc3) had issues with flying units and balancing. And the frost wyrms are a prime example. While expensive, unlike a majority of the other units, they could attack both land and air. During RoC most air units could only do one or the other and only got changes to this in TfT.

The Wyrms are also some of the tankiest creatures in the game with stupid damage, so a common tactic in ladders as undead was to just rush wyrms as there was little counterplay beyond just trying to kill you before you could.

3 Likes
280

Also to double post a bit,and this is just a personal thought, but I do think undead had a bit of a struggle in its gameplay identity. Sure, the aesthetics were well thought out, and they did have unique mechanics, but there still seemed to have been some issues from Blizzard on figuring out exactly what their core was.

Humans are a bit of a rush faction. Militia provides surprisingly effective rush and early defense, they can churn out both buildings and units fast and everything is relatively cheap.

Orcs are turtle paradise with strong, tanky units and really good base defense with burrows and later on their spikes.

Night elves are map control with their unique abilities to basically pick up and move whenever they want and alot of map vision and ambush abilities.

Undead however…is a bit unbalanced. On one hand they’re a bit of an all-rounder, able to pump out ghouls super cheap. The blight gives them a bit of a home advantage, and some basis of it is very zerg-like.

But they’re also not zerg as going rush route even early is often a bad idea with them. They also got the whole corpse mechanic which, while cool and seems like both a solid defense and rush, are not strong at neither. The biggest strength in the undead comes from their late game units which are some of the toughest in the game.

You could say that some of their unique identity is their utility with so many different spells and bonus mechanics, but I wouldn’t still really call it a core to build it all around. At best, as said, they’re just a bit of a mixed bag, but also with some heavy balancing issues.

4 Likes
281

Your story made me search the new Antonidas boss fight. It looks kinda epic. Another great piece as always Lintian!

2 Likes