GrumpySatan

Lore from the new zone.

• Goldrinn saves Dire Maul from the Sundering (which was known). And after the Sundering, the methods of Prince Thortheldren to preserve them was not something all the elves agreed with.
• Thortheldren’s plan was to build a network of crystal foci to sustain a power network to replace the Well of Eternity, and these foci would siphon power from a demonic world in the twisting nether using this large crystalline network of pillars. This was ~3,000 years before Immolthar, which in

The Fall of Lordaeron

• The game opens with Arthas’ return to Lordaeron from Northrend. You play as Garek Bandarion (the main campaign character). Garek is a guardsman & paladin that is being mentored by the Guard Captain Landen. You are preparing the city for Arthas’s arrival.
• The events of Stratholme have seemingly been covered up. “Nobody really knows what happened in Stratholme, but I’m sure the Prince did everything he could for his people”, and people that claim they saw Arthas purge the city are thought to be making it up.
• Garek is someone that craves the glory of battle and defending the city
• A bunch of the civilians in the crowd are revealed to be members of the Cult of

The long awaited missing context of the 1st chapter of 12.1 is here. Unlocked today.

Haranir Reveal the Truth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXtWJURokdE

Zul'jan and Kinduru - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm8fAgoRc78

Story issues aside, I REALLY like them mixing their cutscene styles together for these. Especially loved the imagery of the Haranir memory the art itself was great.

Midnight campaign finale dropped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NW8tvcMXb0

https://www.wowhead.com/news/voidspire-raid-finale-cinematic-the-fall-massive-spoilers-380816

The Natural Flow of Energy

This theory begins with Multiversal Energy Dynamics and the Murmuration Paradox’s breakdown of cosmic energy states and the flow of energy in the cosmos.

The big take away for this theory:

• There are high energy or low energy realms. The cosmic realms all absorb and radiate energy within the system.

• Energy naturally flows from higher to lower energy forces. The Void is the ultimate endpoint.

• But two forces are not labelled as either high or low energy: Order and Life.

Inferences & Assumptions

We can infer that ‘high energy’ versus ‘low energy’ could be re

New animation dropped about Arator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKVSzP_sEU8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfs8-n-FqY

Summary (Updating as I listen)

• Umbric and Rommath were both students at Dalaran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPr70IFgr-0

This seemingly takes place at the end of the new prologue quests and is about Alleria getting to the Voidstorm.

Dark Heart is used up and discarded to create the Voidspire to open the way to Xalatath's 'prize' (almost certainly Azeroth's worldsoul). Interestingly, this implies Xalatath may not be consuming the power herself.

This might beg the question, why does she go after the Sunwell then? The Last page of Shandreen's notes may have the answer, suggesting that the Elf Wells were all tied to a specific source of power. The worldsoul would make the most sense, since the Well of Eternity was

Arator is once again in the limelight, which means once again we go down the wild ride of how badly integrated his backstory is. This post is breaking down the history of his development and establishing his current backstory as of Midnight.

The Burning Crusade (2006)

Arator was first created in TBC. At this time, all we really learn a few facts:

• Arator was an infant when his parents left
• Turalyon disappeared from Outland 15 years prior to TBC/26ADP (so 11 ADP)
• At the time, the official timeline was that BTDP began in 8 ADP. So Arator is 18.
• Arator joins the Alliance forces from Stormwind to find his father

He also originally has green eyes, but in Wrath is updated to have

So since Chronicle came out, there has been a persistent argument that Blizz answering mysteries like Elune ruined the sense of wonder in the world. And I can’t disagree more. So many RPGs and TTRPG portray wonder with far more detailed cosmologies and answers than WoW.

So why doesn’t WoW have this sense of wonder or mysticism anymore? This point will break down some of the reasons.

Case Study: Dame Aylin

I want to use this scene as an example of different elements of writing wonder. I settled on Aylin out of the many examples because it's recent, well-known, a video game, and uses Selune (Elune’s direct inspiration).

[I’ll put contex

This post is summarizing some of the big reveals of the Harandar zone for people:

Aln’hara and the Rift of Aln

• It is directly confirmed that their goddess, Aln’hara, is another name for Azeroth.

• Harandar was the Cradle where Azeroth’s worldsoul was originally located. The Titans moved her to the Worldcore . You can see the roots circle exactly where she would be and converge under that spot.

• It is the physical location of the Rift of Aln into the Dream. When Azeroth was taken, the wound left “violence that will not heal” that gives life to formless terrors. This is the Rift of Aln.

• The Rift of Aln is full of Alndust, remnants of her power. This dust gives the Haranir their p

They seem to finally be popping the quark on retconning SL as the afterlife. On the PTR there is the prologue quest to Midnight, which among many things involves us going to the Maw to talk with Sylvanas and seeing her go about her penance (this is done through Venari, who has kept a doorway to the Maw).

At the end of the quest, Sylvanas starts dropping hints about the Maw being weird:

Arator: I expected the Maw to be... alien. Unknowable. But these structures are...

Sylvanas: Familiar? I agree. I have seen past the veil of true death, Arator. There is more to the Shadowlands than it seems. [Emphasis mine but Sylvanas heavily emphasizes these words in her voicelines]

Arator: