The idea that some people don't know who thrall is is making my head spin. Not in incredulity, but just realizing how long he's been in the background.
Thrall pushing his chest against the blade to stop it from shaking was such a great bit of cinematography. And a really clever bit of character writing. I don't know if something like that would actually work in real life, but when watching it play out, I firmly believed it worked in that moment. Anduin, shaking and lost, and then Thrall, without even touching him, stabilises his shaking hand. It was a beautiful moment. I've not been following the story much recently, but that cinematic was fantastic.
I cried a little bit when Metzen got on stage with that presentation. Just takes you back to the good days, hopefully everything will be on the up from here forward.
@@youngcracker9517They're not exactly wrong. Metzen was only brought back to try to bring people back to WoW because numbers (allegedly) aren't great. I'm happy Metzen is back and think the writing will improve, but they didn't do it for the love of Warcraft.
Just wanna say I really appreciate the videos you put out on the lore and I especially appreciate that you take the time to recap past events instead of assuming everyone already knows everything. Been watching your content since 2014. You're the man, Nobbel.
I actually made a parallel between Thrall and Anduin on reddit and it caught a lot of attention. The connection i made here was, Thrall lost his shamanistic abilities after slaying Garrosh, Doomhammer went quiet, the elements he could no longer hear, he lost his power, due to his own inner conflict, and doubt. Anduin has much the same, he admitted he has no light, and he's not that person anymore. Again.. i think it's a self doubt and inner conflict thing. I think blizzard likes doing throwbacks in cinematics to get people hyped, that's all. But i think this is more about.. Thrall relating to Anduin.
I somewhat agree, but he used Astral Recall? at least, the colors of the icon in game were depicted in the cinematic. of the two, Green Jesus is the one who specifically touches the ground & gets hit with a vision, as opposed to Andu who closes his eyes. they both receive the 2nd vision afterwards, but the initial contact of Thrall’s hands on Azeroth’s ground felt v shamanistic. perhaps it’ll be a theme of stepping back into power for these big names? or finding something new altogether via “Hero Talents?”
also very well represented having both of them at the center point of the cinematic since Thrall suffered his own war within and now Alduin is also suffering his own war within.
They like to toy with throwbacks, but also with internal topics and player psychology. Anduin and Thrall could technically, realistically be stand-ins for so many different levels of things.
I like to think that Jaina knew exactly where Anduin has been, but Thrall whom has kinda went through a similar crisis of self character, kept telling her and others that Anduin needs time away to heal himself
Given that Jaina has been through some trauma herself (though not the same kind, obviously), I'd imagine she and Thrall would be the ones telling others to give him space while keeping tabs on him from a distance.
No exaggeration, this cinematic was fantastic. Anduins face doesn’t trigger any sort of uncanny valley for me, and his face alone makes me feel for him
Loved this. Nobbel always made the story easier to follow. I am so happy you uploaded BOTH parts the reflection on it and your initial reaction live. Thank you
You made a great point about balance in storytelling. If all you have is action, you end up with dumb stuff like Michael Bay Transformers. If you have nothing but emotions, you end up with... Dragonflight. Action and emotional storytelling should compliment and support each other, not have one be a substitute for the other.
@@neugassh3570 Why use the word garbage? Just say you don't like it. I was pretty disappointed that it didn't feature a "hook", like some action, but to call it trash is... come on.
Alleria isn't getting visions from the World Soul at all. She is getting visions from the Void directly, trying to move her towards siding with Xalatath. That is why it is emphasizing the amulet of Iridikron in Knaifu's hand, and focusing on her (Knaifu) and the Nerubians. She even mentions that in her dialogue in the features trailer. The World Soul wouldn't and I believe couldn't individually target people right now outside of Magni. Alleria gets the knowledge of the visions from Turalyon, and he probably knows her visions, as they tend to share these things. It wouldn't make sense that suddenly Azeroth herself just goes "Hey Alleria, see these visions!" when everyone else can just barely hear her.
Yeah alleria be hearing the call from the void/different message as the others, that's what she says in the trailer. The part about visions/hearing voice for multiple people comes from the anne stickney wowhead interview: Anne Stickney: It's a part of the Saga. The World Soul is calling to people, and calling for a reason. And a lot of people have been hearing these words and these visions.
I didn't go that far, i thought it was just extreme guilt. Like seeking atonement for causing something and feeling to be isolated as a self-punishment and believing that you're either not the same person anymore or don't deserve the reverence that was you based on the thing you did.
Hes not deleting their old stories. Hes more like weaving them into his own. If he was throwing out their ideas out then Anduin wouldn't have PTSD from the Jailors domination. And wouldn't have callbacks to Shadowlands.
Anduin looks like he's suffering a bad case of PTSD. He hacked off his hair (you can see parts where his scalp shows through). Flashbacks, hypervigilance, isolating himself. It should be intriguing to see if he can truly pull himself together. Thank you for showing this and giving your insights into it.
I would love for the throne of SW to be contested now. That there is now a faction within the alliance that is mad Anduin abandoned the throne and does not accept him back so easily.
They set up this awesome plurality of alliance leadership in legion: Greymane, Mekkatorque, that dwarf lady, etc Then proceeded to never use any of them ever again. I'd really like to see the geopolitics of azeroth explored a little more, some clashing of values, that kind of thing.
as someone also pointed out to me, Anduin even with all his doubts and fears, always had the Light to turn to, he believed that it's divine power would never fail him. but yet The Jailer was able to smash his barrier and capture him with ease, he probably begged the Light to come help him, to save him somehow, but the Light never answered, hence why he feels unworthy and without Light as he states in the Cinematic, since he ultimately had to save himself.
Guy in chat: I would like this if it wasn't done in Shadowlands. ... that's the point. Anduin has been hiding out for 3 years since escaping the Maw. He was tortured beyond all reason, forced to do abhorrent terrible things. The fact he is sane at all is a miracle, that's part of the point of this cinematic. To reflect on where Anduin's mind has been.
Thanks Nobbel. I can always count on you to catch me up. Well done on putting this together and getting us caught up, especially for those of us who got turned off after BFA. I got goosebumps from this cinematic.
The funniest thing to me is after rewatching the cutscene of Anduin picking up Shalamayne I remember that the Garothi world breaker has a protective face plate, cause Varian one-shot the prototype at the broken shore.
This is so well done! I have been playing since vanilla and even I have a hard time sometimes with the story line but videos like this really does help so much! Thank you for this!!!
I really hate people complaining about how Anduin feels and acts like. They have such a toxic view on masculinity it feels, that they can't let a man be depressed or struggle with PTSD.
men complain that their mental health struggles aren’t taken seriously and then proceed to be the biggest parts of their own problems lol. so frustrating to see.
@annaborchion9285 Keep in mind that many of the the same people shaming men for not taking mental health seriously are also propagating an ideology that views men as the root of all societal ills. Its difficult to take them seriously on the things that they are right about when they simultaneously perpetuate that mental crisis with their ideology.
It is tough, for sure. I think it is important to Keep in mind that many of the same groups ridiculing men for not taking mental health seriously are also propagating a set of ideas that views men as the root of all societal ills. Its difficult to take them seriously on the things that they are right about when they simultaneously perpetuate that very same crisis with their ideology. It's a lot like war profiteering. Creating conflict so that you can create solutions to the conflict, but if anyone is able to see what you're doing, they won't take you seriously when you day how horrible the conflict is.
this whole cinematic feels like metzen finishing up anduins sad arc in 2 minutes and then "but look at that EXPANSION ENTRANCE RIGHT THERE" and honestly i feel thats a good thing
I loved the cinematic, the quality is stunning! I like how they have aged Anduin, with the last several years of his life it would be lame if he didn't age because of it. I dont see what they are doing as really going back in time though, more like following up on story lines that were left in the dust and finishing them off or pushing them forward. All the new stuff coming out is intriguing for sure.
"We need to address the sword! Who knows what the sword is about?" "None of us were ever told what the sword was about!" "Then bring me someone who was!" *Enter Metzen*
Haven't played WOW for a very long time now , age and time waits for no one sadly but i have followed the trailers and story. The graphics and tone for this new trailer are absolutely beyond belief. Looks utterly insane my god.
Tbh, it makes sense to go back in time now, the aspects probably regained their power at this point so it would theoretically be better to deal with the sword now.
I think a LOT of people are so hung up on the Arthas/Anduin parallel (or even thinking Anduin is somehow Arthas's kid, bc we can't let characters just die apparently) buuut ... it's extremely obvious how they're casting Anduin as being so obviously the successor of Varok Saurfang (to the point that he's saying his lines from Old Soldier, and has the PTSD), I wonder how that's gonna play out.
I think the Arthas parallel is more to do with how Anduin sees himself. He was corrupted just like Arthas was, forced to become a monster, and I suspect it's just his own guilt they show with that pose. He fears he'll become another traitor, another monster, because his stint as the Jailer's pawn, had him lose all faith in himself as a good person.
@@1Kapuchu100 oh ofc. I'm not saying some parallel isn't there but I believe it's kinda surface lvl compared to the Varian/Varok. Arthas wanted orcs dead since he saw them in an internment camp, while Anduin around the same age was holding down peace talks in Theramore. They're both dominated but it's night and day how one basically sold his soul for it while the other one had to be dragged kicking and screaming. I wonder if now that he lost the light he'll just go warrior
@@kch1303 I think it is more likely that he at least partly finds the light again. If you go by game terms he was always a discipline priest, not a holy one. I remember back in Pandaria he used mind control on one of his "keepers" so he could get away.
I fucking love this intro. 2 of my favorite characters front and center. Finally staring down a resolution to Azeroth and the void. Please blizz writers, make it worth the wait.
Think about this cinematic on a meta level: Anduin represents the dwindling playerbase, and Thrall is Metzen. Anduin's PTSD parallels players' alienation caused by the failed narratives of bfa, shadowlands, and dragonflight. ThrallMetzen has returned to coax us back, promising better long term storytelling that's in the spirit of Warcraft and not Stephen Universe(Dragonflight) Don't get me wrong, I do think the Daneuser writing team is going to keep writing dark girlbosses over and over (look at the Alleria teaser), but maybe they'll be nested in a more holistic story that Metzen can help them develop. The sad thing is that girlboss characters can totally work. Look at Cersei, Marjorie Tyrell, Olenna Tyrell (from asoiaf) The Dansnoozer writing team thinks that being a strong woman is a REPLACEMENT for characterization rather than one color in the tapestry. Case in point: DF's Alextraza and Vyranoth.
Cinematic was beautiful & amazing. Once again shows the Cinematic team needs more funding & a larger crew to do more like this. However, this cinematic. Was in my opinion, *Not* a expansion reveal cinematic. It was more of a high end patch cinematic. It was beautiful & thoughtful, amazingly done. But where was the adrenaline & excitement? The call to battle, the call for the heroes to help. I can't stress how amazing this cinematic was. But also it just felt lacking for an expansion reveal cinematic specifically.
It was a good teaser about the return of Anduin, but I hope they make a more action cinematic once we are closer to the release. Maybe featuring Xal'atath.
imo, since we know this is the start of a three expansion journey, it’s ok to start on more of a quiet, character focused tone. I imagine as the action ramps up in midnight and last titan we’ll get more action out of the characters. (I’m kind of ignoring dragonflight being a quiet tone the whole time bc it REALLY feels like a filler arc now)
Poor Anduin having his first person experience with vietnam flashbacks. They really made PTSD of his bring out the character. The amount of weight he was put on as a king of Stormwind and other responsibilities.
@@Valfara770 That and on top you have the Domination from the Jailer, trapping him in his own body, forcing him to see and feel what he did (or tried to do). That alone would break basically anyone.
Am I the only one recognizing the Saurfang voiceline?! "After what I've seen, after what I've done"? That's exactly what Saurfang said to Zappy boi when he attacked him. I love it.
Ended 2019 bright eyed believing in hope and peace. Ending 2023 broken, gaunt, beaten and devoid of hope Anduin enters the halls of Literally me frfr charcaters.
I agree on the balance thing with Void and Light, it's going to be a thing. Here's a back and forth with someone on another review of the video and my take. Anduin has been my favorite since way back (and then Wrathion too) and I'm going to be very curious to see how that whole thing plays out. I noticed that the whole hand on the shoulder was an updated look with the older Anduin in place of the younger one. @CharlayneD That was the look of a man who has seen way too much and he's got a heavy dose of PTSD from it. The "I trust you" from Thrall, who he's always looked up to, brought to him a trust he didn't and couldn't find within himself, a life-line to maybe becoming less haunted, although never again whole. Yeah, I've seen that, my brother who was a Marine saw some serious shit and has it. I'm wondering now about Turalyon and Genn Greymane. Can Genn handle a lion with his roar and can Turalyon give up that throne he's been keeping warm and how is THAT all going to play out? @UltimateGamerCC young Anduin needs to understand, everyone has both light and shadow within them, it's the choices we make that determine where we fall under that scale. the things that were done under Zovall's will, were not his actions, and maybe there is a side of him that liked it, but that doesn’t mean that's who he is. @charlayned @UltimateGamerCC True, and I think that's where his disconnect lies, in the dependence on the light to all else. He's spent his life trying to live up to what he thinks is his father's expectations, that he become a good king to succeed his father. A boy's admiration for the dad type of thing. And that pushed the light, remembering that scene at the gates of Orgrimmar when he throws down the sword to pull the light to bring back his dying army. He has, basically, avoided even trying to deal with the shadow side in the quest to be good enough. And when he wasn't, in his own eyes, good enough, that broke the whole thing. I think this expansion will see him either grow into that balance or die, and I can't imagine the second one. And the war that would result with people vying to gain the Wrynn throne.
this scene! i want to raid again! the CGI has gotten so good! and i did think of that comic where Anduin was with Velen(?) and they were about to face the shadow/darkness
im so glad that so many people never encountered real and hard trauma in their time on earth. Just as an idea. Anduin is a child, grows up without a mother(he only hears how awesome she was) and a father that fights depression and the vanishes. gets kidnapped by a dragon, later made a child hostage by dark iron dwarfs while in IF. has a father that returns with anger issues and nothing he does is good enought for Varian, until Malfurion helps him out of his trauma. Gets allmost killed by an psycho ork warchief and needs long time to heal like all brocken bones. Finally makes up with his dad (and then dad dies) And now as a Teen/young adult has to shoulder all that was his larger then life dad did. (and Varian had big shoes to fill) Has to go to battle as a young adult/teen and fight a crazy spycho zombie elf , starts to like saurfang and see another father figure in a way die. gets taken hostage in shadowlands and forced/tortured to do stuff he doesnt want and at the same time your personality and soul ripped to pieces. And now he suffers and has all the (in the animation) signs of ex soldier/torture victims PTSD signs and still everyone calls him a B. (imagine this is the way all Army Veterans feel and nobody gives a damn about them in the end, because MAN up men cant and arent allowed to suffer and show it) I know how this feels and especially the nobody cares part......
so the next 3ish expac (as arcs usually mean a story/journey of beginning middle an end) unlike previous expacs will be directly related to each other instead of having a linking sub story/plot that led to new ones as past xpacs did?
13:35 I'm pretty sure for so long that same balance has been gone for over 3 expansions so far with the focus on emotions and feelings rather than action.
Balance in season 1 of dragonflight was the best it had been in multiple expansions. This is literally false. Also, people don't actually want balance. They have NO idea what they want.
I disagree that Dragonflight is all emotions. Just because there's no pvp doesn't mean it's lacking in action. There's plenty of action in the form of the primalists. It may not burn as hot as all out war between the Alliance and Hoard does, but for the sake of balance, sometimes a slow burn is better.
My reaction was: MY POOR SWEET BABY BOY!! oooh... My POOR SWEET BABY MAN?!!! 😢 Then it was uuuugh, why is Asmon in my head right now, "...Blizzard is one cinematic away..."
My guess is that Azeroth is being modeled after Sophia.... the goddess of wisdom that did not have any opposite pair god or goddess and had to gain knowledge from creating and observing little mortals to achieve wisdom while imprisoned by the other gods and goddesses.
"No old friend, you've freed us all" man I still get chills when I see this cutscene. I'm very cautious because I got burned in BFA. The cinematic and pre-patch were amazing, had so much promise. And then the main game was just meh and didn't deliver at all on the promise of the Horde-Alliance conflict. I left during BFA, skipped Shadowlands and only play one week of DF. I don't know if I can ever go back even though I love some aspects of the lore.
I havent played since Mists of Pandaria. I do keep up with the expansion lore, and the music....oh Blizz Deities, the music 🥹🫶🤘 I will always roll a Death Knight.
I would just like to point out 2 things. New Anduin looks like Stephen Amell. And when he raises his sword to Thrall its very much the same motion from the WotLK Arthas cinematic.
The idea that some people don't know who thrall is is making my head spin. Not in incredulity, but just realizing how long he's been in the background.
crazy aint it?!
I just thought the same, with a strange feeling of "Have I became that old, that it has to be explained who Thrall is?" Craaazzzyyyyyyy!
man this reminded me how when we saw chris metzen again...i forgot how it had been a while and he just looked so much older than i remembered XD
I hope they retcon everything from bfa to dragonflight the same way they tried to retcon metzens ideas 😅
my god the CGI on anduin is absolutely ridiculously good. He looks real. The emotion they put into his face is just... unbelievable.
Asmongold hated it
@@shadowzach00 Asmongold seems to hate everything these days
@@shadowzach00 doesn't mean I gotta hate it too just because he does.
@@shadowzach00 Completely wrong information - Asmon said the CGI was absolutely amazing and superb, he didn't like Anduin bitchin and crying.
@@shadowzach00don’t care. Me see fancy pretty thing.
Thrall pushing his chest against the blade to stop it from shaking was such a great bit of cinematography. And a really clever bit of character writing. I don't know if something like that would actually work in real life, but when watching it play out, I firmly believed it worked in that moment. Anduin, shaking and lost, and then Thrall, without even touching him, stabilises his shaking hand. It was a beautiful moment. I've not been following the story much recently, but that cinematic was fantastic.
Absolutely! Highlight of the cinematic for me!
Been a fan of warcraft since wc3.
Seeing Metzen back on stage put a smile on my face!
I've played since BC (2008) and *I* got excited to see Metzen.
I cried a little bit when Metzen got on stage with that presentation. Just takes you back to the good days, hopefully everything will be on the up from here forward.
He was hired to pick up sales and be the hype man 😂
@@omensoffatemust suck being so miserable. 😢
@@youngcracker9517They're not exactly wrong. Metzen was only brought back to try to bring people back to WoW because numbers (allegedly) aren't great. I'm happy Metzen is back and think the writing will improve, but they didn't do it for the love of Warcraft.
Just wanna say I really appreciate the videos you put out on the lore and I especially appreciate that you take the time to recap past events instead of assuming everyone already knows everything. Been watching your content since 2014. You're the man, Nobbel.
I actually made a parallel between Thrall and Anduin on reddit and it caught a lot of attention. The connection i made here was, Thrall lost his shamanistic abilities after slaying Garrosh, Doomhammer went quiet, the elements he could no longer hear, he lost his power, due to his own inner conflict, and doubt. Anduin has much the same, he admitted he has no light, and he's not that person anymore. Again.. i think it's a self doubt and inner conflict thing. I think blizzard likes doing throwbacks in cinematics to get people hyped, that's all. But i think this is more about.. Thrall relating to Anduin.
I somewhat agree, but he used Astral Recall? at least, the colors of the icon in game were depicted in the cinematic. of the two, Green Jesus is the one who specifically touches the ground & gets hit with a vision, as opposed to Andu who closes his eyes. they both receive the 2nd vision afterwards, but the initial contact of Thrall’s hands on Azeroth’s ground felt v shamanistic. perhaps it’ll be a theme of stepping back into power for these big names? or finding something new altogether via “Hero Talents?”
@@hotlikesauceThrall got his shaman abilities back in Shadowlands.
That's a great point!
also very well represented having both of them at the center point of the cinematic since Thrall suffered his own war within and now Alduin is also suffering his own war within.
They like to toy with throwbacks, but also with internal topics and player psychology. Anduin and Thrall could technically, realistically be stand-ins for so many different levels of things.
8:16 love how Anduin repeats what Saurfang says in the Old Soldier cinematic.
I like to think that Jaina knew exactly where Anduin has been, but Thrall whom has kinda went through a similar crisis of self character, kept telling her and others that Anduin needs time away to heal himself
Given that Jaina has been through some trauma herself (though not the same kind, obviously), I'd imagine she and Thrall would be the ones telling others to give him space while keeping tabs on him from a distance.
@@Beredaman08 yeah… that’s true. Anduin adopted parents lol
Given that Thrall is a shaman, he understands Anduin's pain. He was there to help him and comfort him
The War Within is not only within Azeroth. Is within Anduin.
Oh snap this is Velens vision he had back when Anduin was a child.
No exaggeration, this cinematic was fantastic. Anduins face doesn’t trigger any sort of uncanny valley for me, and his face alone makes me feel for him
Loved this. Nobbel always made the story easier to follow. I am so happy you uploaded BOTH parts the reflection on it and your initial reaction live. Thank you
You made a great point about balance in storytelling. If all you have is action, you end up with dumb stuff like Michael Bay Transformers. If you have nothing but emotions, you end up with... Dragonflight. Action and emotional storytelling should compliment and support each other, not have one be a substitute for the other.
This is so true.
I like pepper, but if there's too much pepper in a dish it tastes bad.
you need action in an expansion reveal...it was utter garbage
@@neugassh3570 Why use the word garbage? Just say you don't like it. I was pretty disappointed that it didn't feature a "hook", like some action, but to call it trash is... come on.
@@hybridh9702 WoW isn't a drama though. So this comparison is entirely meaningless in this situation.
@@eyrindirkharneus3815 everything is drama : |
Alleria isn't getting visions from the World Soul at all. She is getting visions from the Void directly, trying to move her towards siding with Xalatath. That is why it is emphasizing the amulet of Iridikron in Knaifu's hand, and focusing on her (Knaifu) and the Nerubians. She even mentions that in her dialogue in the features trailer. The World Soul wouldn't and I believe couldn't individually target people right now outside of Magni. Alleria gets the knowledge of the visions from Turalyon, and he probably knows her visions, as they tend to share these things. It wouldn't make sense that suddenly Azeroth herself just goes "Hey Alleria, see these visions!" when everyone else can just barely hear her.
Yeah alleria be hearing the call from the void/different message as the others, that's what she says in the trailer. The part about visions/hearing voice for multiple people comes from the anne stickney wowhead interview: Anne Stickney: It's a part of the Saga. The World Soul is calling to people, and calling for a reason. And a lot of people have been hearing these words and these visions.
He looks so cool in this, I kinda like that they're dealing with the issues of PTSD as well with him. You don't see that in video games very much.
I didn't go that far, i thought it was just extreme guilt. Like seeking atonement for causing something and feeling to be isolated as a self-punishment and believing that you're either not the same person anymore or don't deserve the reverence that was you based on the thing you did.
I also felt that Metzen threw out the old story team's ideas instantly :)). Essentially trying to delete shadowlands
Good
Metzen was still working on WoW during BFA and contributed to the Chronicle books. He was involved in setting all that up.
@@SuzakuX He was involved with every wow property and let things slip. And definitely was not part of shadowlands
Hes not deleting their old stories. Hes more like weaving them into his own. If he was throwing out their ideas out then Anduin wouldn't have PTSD from the Jailors domination. And wouldn't have callbacks to Shadowlands.
@farkas266 What is shadowlands? Never heard of it.
Anduin looks like he's suffering a bad case of PTSD. He hacked off his hair (you can see parts where his scalp shows through). Flashbacks, hypervigilance, isolating himself. It should be intriguing to see if he can truly pull himself together. Thank you for showing this and giving your insights into it.
I don't play WoW but that was a great trailer, the graphics were amazing!! I hope the expansions will be triumphant for you guys! ♥
Thanks, I hope you win in real life :P
I would love for the throne of SW to be contested now. That there is now a faction within the alliance that is mad Anduin abandoned the throne and does not accept him back so easily.
They set up this awesome plurality of alliance leadership in legion: Greymane, Mekkatorque, that dwarf lady, etc
Then proceeded to never use any of them ever again. I'd really like to see the geopolitics of azeroth explored a little more, some clashing of values, that kind of thing.
i love politics i hope they do it, but i don't think they will. they seem to be setting up another epic adventure type story
Every single time I hear Anduin's theme it gives me chills
Well put on a sweater homie.
as someone also pointed out to me, Anduin even with all his doubts and fears, always had the Light to turn to, he believed that it's divine power would never fail him. but yet The Jailer was able to smash his barrier and capture him with ease, he probably begged the Light to come help him, to save him somehow, but the Light never answered, hence why he feels unworthy and without Light as he states in the Cinematic, since he ultimately had to save himself.
Anduin is stated to be 25 by the time Dragonflight takes place, so if we assume it follows the usual 1-year cycle, he'd be 26 in The War Within.
Guy in chat: I would like this if it wasn't done in Shadowlands.
... that's the point. Anduin has been hiding out for 3 years since escaping the Maw. He was tortured beyond all reason, forced to do abhorrent terrible things. The fact he is sane at all is a miracle, that's part of the point of this cinematic. To reflect on where Anduin's mind has been.
Thanks Nobbel. I can always count on you to catch me up. Well done on putting this together and getting us caught up, especially for those of us who got turned off after BFA. I got goosebumps from this cinematic.
I agree, there is nuance in Anduin's situation, people who did not quit the game can see it more clearly or maybe just more empathic people. I love it
Anduin in this cinematic had the internet collectively saying “I can fix him”, and I’m here for it.
Yes I am one of them lol
All he needs is a hot shower and some tea.
The funniest thing to me is after rewatching the cutscene of Anduin picking up Shalamayne I remember that the Garothi world breaker has a protective face plate, cause Varian one-shot the prototype at the broken shore.
Great video Nobbel - like always! - ty for inserting fragments from the old cinematics!
This is so well done! I have been playing since vanilla and even I have a hard time sometimes with the story line but videos like this really does help so much! Thank you for this!!!
One beard strand of Anduin in that cinematic has more polycount than a full WoW character model
I really hate people complaining about how Anduin feels and acts like. They have such a toxic view on masculinity it feels, that they can't let a man be depressed or struggle with PTSD.
Emotional maturity is at an all-time low. Welcome to the tiktok generation.
men complain that their mental health struggles aren’t taken seriously and then proceed to be the biggest parts of their own problems lol. so frustrating to see.
@annaborchion9285 Keep in mind that many of the the same people shaming men for not taking mental health seriously are also propagating an ideology that views men as the root of all societal ills. Its difficult to take them seriously on the things that they are right about when they simultaneously perpetuate that mental crisis with their ideology.
It is tough, for sure. I think it is important to Keep in mind that many of the same groups ridiculing men for not taking mental health seriously are also propagating a set of ideas that views men as the root of all societal ills. Its difficult to take them seriously on the things that they are right about when they simultaneously perpetuate that very same crisis with their ideology.
It's a lot like war profiteering. Creating conflict so that you can create solutions to the conflict, but if anyone is able to see what you're doing, they won't take you seriously when you day how horrible the conflict is.
It's trama it just proves that people never experienced it In there lives before because if they have they wouldn't be talking shit
this whole cinematic feels like metzen finishing up anduins sad arc in 2 minutes and then "but look at that EXPANSION ENTRANCE RIGHT THERE"
and honestly i feel thats a good thing
Did people really ask the question of how he got there...in a world where teleporting magic is an everyday thing lol.
The jailers theme played when they showed the sword, we cannot get away from this man
I was just watching other reactions and waiting on this. Yay I'm early for once
I loved the cinematic, the quality is stunning! I like how they have aged Anduin, with the last several years of his life it would be lame if he didn't age because of it. I dont see what they are doing as really going back in time though, more like following up on story lines that were left in the dust and finishing them off or pushing them forward.
All the new stuff coming out is intriguing for sure.
"We need to address the sword! Who knows what the sword is about?"
"None of us were ever told what the sword was about!"
"Then bring me someone who was!"
*Enter Metzen*
Thanks Nobbel for keeping me up with the story of WoW. Nice Soul Reaver chat font ;)
I love Anduin's story it's been amazing so far and looks like it'll somehow get better and better.
Is it just me or does Anduin look exactly like Stephen Amell from the arrow tv show?
I thought the same the second I saw him
Steve Daneuser is punching the air right now with Metzen back LOL
He's lucky he not punching a pink slip with how badly he's been doing.
Thanks for all the content Nobbel
I really enjoyed the reveal and the cinematic.
We have been colleting his vagabond robes since July 🙂. Should be interesting to see where they take him.
Haven't played WOW for a very long time now , age and time waits for no one sadly but i have followed the trailers and story. The graphics and tone for this new trailer are absolutely beyond belief. Looks utterly insane my god.
Honestly the Grom killing Manneroth and the talk with Thrall is probably still my fave Warcraft cinematic.
That's a hard one! That one for sure but the WC3 Intro, the Tomb of Tal'Rasha in D2 or the BC and WotLK cinematics are definitely up there for me.
Haven’t watched Nobbel in a MINUTE but the nostalgia that clicked when he opened with “Helloo evryonnnnnne” 😂
Such a great video putting all of the references together. I didn't finish Shadowlands, so this was super helpful as a lore fan.
Quality of animation is ok but there is nothing actually there besides face of a guy who was forced to play Shadowlands and now suffers PTSD
Perfectly said . Thank you as always. ❤
Halloh Nobbel. I wish this was 10 years ago, but here we are. Trilogy hype :)
The cinematic was incredible!! 🤩
Tbh, it makes sense to go back in time now, the aspects probably regained their power at this point so it would theoretically be better to deal with the sword now.
Those 3 frames at 8:32; 8:43 and 8:49 are epic and nicely put together there. Well done!
Great vid as always Nobbel ...ur the lore GOAT!!
Anduin ist such a fanfiction character, it hurts.
I think a LOT of people are so hung up on the Arthas/Anduin parallel (or even thinking Anduin is somehow Arthas's kid, bc we can't let characters just die apparently) buuut ... it's extremely obvious how they're casting Anduin as being so obviously the successor of Varok Saurfang (to the point that he's saying his lines from Old Soldier, and has the PTSD), I wonder how that's gonna play out.
Man I can't wait until Blizzard brings Arthus back
I think the Arthas parallel is more to do with how Anduin sees himself. He was corrupted just like Arthas was, forced to become a monster, and I suspect it's just his own guilt they show with that pose. He fears he'll become another traitor, another monster, because his stint as the Jailer's pawn, had him lose all faith in himself as a good person.
@@1Kapuchu100 oh ofc. I'm not saying some parallel isn't there but I believe it's kinda surface lvl compared to the Varian/Varok. Arthas wanted orcs dead since he saw them in an internment camp, while Anduin around the same age was holding down peace talks in Theramore.
They're both dominated but it's night and day how one basically sold his soul for it while the other one had to be dragged kicking and screaming.
I wonder if now that he lost the light he'll just go warrior
@@kch1303 I think it is more likely that he at least partly finds the light again. If you go by game terms he was always a discipline priest, not a holy one. I remember back in Pandaria he used mind control on one of his "keepers" so he could get away.
@@ThisistheTale they did that in Shadowlands
I fucking love this intro. 2 of my favorite characters front and center. Finally staring down a resolution to Azeroth and the void. Please blizz writers, make it worth the wait.
at 5:20 "But the banshee queen is not his father" =D =D great one Nobbel, someone that haven't have enough sleep =D
To me its just painfully awkward that liders of the world don't know about the world soul of Azeroth
Think about this cinematic on a meta level: Anduin represents the dwindling playerbase, and Thrall is Metzen.
Anduin's PTSD parallels players' alienation caused by the failed narratives of bfa, shadowlands, and dragonflight.
ThrallMetzen has returned to coax us back, promising better long term storytelling that's in the spirit of Warcraft and not Stephen Universe(Dragonflight)
Don't get me wrong, I do think the Daneuser writing team is going to keep writing dark girlbosses over and over (look at the Alleria teaser), but maybe they'll be nested in a more holistic story that Metzen can help them develop.
The sad thing is that girlboss characters can totally work. Look at Cersei, Marjorie Tyrell, Olenna Tyrell (from asoiaf)
The Dansnoozer writing team thinks that being a strong woman is a REPLACEMENT for characterization rather than one color in the tapestry. Case in point: DF's Alextraza and Vyranoth.
Cinematic was beautiful & amazing. Once again shows the Cinematic team needs more funding & a larger crew to do more like this.
However, this cinematic. Was in my opinion, *Not* a expansion reveal cinematic. It was more of a high end patch cinematic.
It was beautiful & thoughtful, amazingly done. But where was the adrenaline & excitement? The call to battle, the call for the heroes to help.
I can't stress how amazing this cinematic was. But also it just felt lacking for an expansion reveal cinematic specifically.
It was a good teaser about the return of Anduin, but I hope they make a more action cinematic once we are closer to the release. Maybe featuring Xal'atath.
imo, since we know this is the start of a three expansion journey, it’s ok to start on more of a quiet, character focused tone. I imagine as the action ramps up in midnight and last titan we’ll get more action out of the characters. (I’m kind of ignoring dragonflight being a quiet tone the whole time bc it REALLY feels like a filler arc now)
Each of the expansions of the WorldSoul Saga are refocusing on the first three parts of WoW: Silithus for Vanilla, Sunwell for BC, and Ulduar for LK.
Poor Anduin having his first person experience with vietnam flashbacks.
They really made PTSD of his bring out the character. The amount of weight he was put on as a king of Stormwind and other responsibilities.
I think he never really had sufficient time to grief for his father also since there was just responsibilty pilled up one after the other on him.
@@Valfara770 That and on top you have the Domination from the Jailer, trapping him in his own body, forcing him to see and feel what he did (or tried to do). That alone would break basically anyone.
that sword scene was not from shadowlands....that was almost just like the lich king/arthas
Am I the only one recognizing the Saurfang voiceline?! "After what I've seen, after what I've done"? That's exactly what Saurfang said to Zappy boi when he attacked him. I love it.
Thrall got his hands on some Rogaine
Ended 2019 bright eyed believing in hope and peace. Ending 2023 broken, gaunt, beaten and devoid of hope Anduin enters the halls of Literally me frfr charcaters.
i agree balance is needed for the storytelling, and same as others in the comments, im happy to see chris metzen back on stage
Midnight Expansion we might just see Anduin vs Turalyon
The vision they are seeing, and the logo of the burning world...we've seen it before..... all the way back in Pandaria.
I agree on the balance thing with Void and Light, it's going to be a thing. Here's a back and forth with someone on another review of the video and my take. Anduin has been my favorite since way back (and then Wrathion too) and I'm going to be very curious to see how that whole thing plays out. I noticed that the whole hand on the shoulder was an updated look with the older Anduin in place of the younger one.
@CharlayneD
That was the look of a man who has seen way too much and he's got a heavy dose of PTSD from it. The "I trust you" from Thrall, who he's always looked up to, brought to him a trust he didn't and couldn't find within himself, a life-line to maybe becoming less haunted, although never again whole. Yeah, I've seen that, my brother who was a Marine saw some serious shit and has it. I'm wondering now about Turalyon and Genn Greymane. Can Genn handle a lion with his roar and can Turalyon give up that throne he's been keeping warm and how is THAT all going to play out?
@UltimateGamerCC
young Anduin needs to understand, everyone has both light and shadow within them, it's the choices we make that determine where we fall under that scale. the things that were done under Zovall's will, were not his actions, and maybe there is a side of him that liked it, but that doesn’t mean that's who he is. @charlayned
@UltimateGamerCC True, and I think that's where his disconnect lies, in the dependence on the light to all else. He's spent his life trying to live up to what he thinks is his father's expectations, that he become a good king to succeed his father. A boy's admiration for the dad type of thing. And that pushed the light, remembering that scene at the gates of Orgrimmar when he throws down the sword to pull the light to bring back his dying army. He has, basically, avoided even trying to deal with the shadow side in the quest to be good enough. And when he wasn't, in his own eyes, good enough, that broke the whole thing. I think this expansion will see him either grow into that balance or die, and I can't imagine the second one. And the war that would result with people vying to gain the Wrynn throne.
If Blizz partnered with Netflix and animated a show like this, 10/10 would definitely watch and play.
Anduin looks like Cal Kestas from Jedi Survivor
A lot of people are saying Anduin looks like Chris Pine. I actually think he gives me more Stephen Amell vibes.
Sounding to me like those Ilgynoth whispers are finally coming to pass
Holy...wow...that flinch is soooo real.
this scene! i want to raid again! the CGI has gotten so good! and i did think of that comic where Anduin was with Velen(?) and they were about to face the shadow/darkness
Anduin looks like Ragnar Lothbrok from the Vikings!
That's it I'm rolling Alliance
Do you guys notice how he held the sword up to Thrall? gives me vibes from the Lich King Cinematic. Wow really likes to tie Anduin to Arthas a lot.
I think it's funny how thrall may have just used the portal from zuldazar to silithus lol
Anduin did the Arhas pose from Wrath of The Lich King Trailer.
Get ready for an Avengers End Game style epic team up of who's who in World of Warcraft come that 3rd expansion in the saga. I'm all for it!
The arathi is gonna be his arc he’s named after the last arathi noble anduin lothar who was the leader of the alliance just like he’s supposed to be
I am PvP player also love lore it hits hard to home. Do it right blizzard
im so glad that so many people never encountered real and hard trauma in their time on earth.
Just as an idea.
Anduin is a child, grows up without a mother(he only hears how awesome she was) and a father that fights depression and the vanishes.
gets kidnapped by a dragon, later made a child hostage by dark iron dwarfs while in IF.
has a father that returns with anger issues and nothing he does is good enought for Varian, until Malfurion helps him out of his trauma.
Gets allmost killed by an psycho ork warchief and needs long time to heal like all brocken bones.
Finally makes up with his dad (and then dad dies)
And now as a Teen/young adult has to shoulder all that was his larger then life dad did.
(and Varian had big shoes to fill)
Has to go to battle as a young adult/teen and fight a crazy spycho zombie elf , starts to like saurfang and see another father figure in a way die.
gets taken hostage in shadowlands and forced/tortured to do stuff he doesnt want and at the same time your personality and soul ripped to pieces.
And now he suffers and has all the (in the animation) signs of ex soldier/torture victims PTSD signs and still everyone calls him a B.
(imagine this is the way all Army Veterans feel and nobody gives a damn about them in the end, because MAN up men cant and arent allowed to suffer and show it)
I know how this feels and especially the nobody cares part......
Anduin is a shadow priest now. Welcome to the emo club, friend.
so the next 3ish expac (as arcs usually mean a story/journey of beginning middle an end) unlike previous expacs will be directly related to each other instead of having a linking sub story/plot that led to new ones as past xpacs did?
Anduin looks like he was lead designer for world of warcraft for a year...
Anduin is really easy to persuade :P Took Thrall like 2 minutes to tell him to come back and fight.
13:35 I'm pretty sure for so long that same balance has been gone for over 3 expansions so far with the focus on emotions and feelings rather than action.
Balance in season 1 of dragonflight was the best it had been in multiple expansions. This is literally false. Also, people don't actually want balance. They have NO idea what they want.
@@Kmaitland89 Talking more so from lore. I wasn't talking about game balance if you bothered to check the timestamp I put in. Idiot.
I disagree that Dragonflight is all emotions. Just because there's no pvp doesn't mean it's lacking in action. There's plenty of action in the form of the primalists. It may not burn as hot as all out war between the Alliance and Hoard does, but for the sake of balance, sometimes a slow burn is better.
My reaction was:
MY POOR SWEET BABY BOY!!
oooh...
My POOR SWEET BABY MAN?!!! 😢
Then it was uuuugh, why is Asmon in my head right now, "...Blizzard is one cinematic away..."
Also holy shit but Anduin is basically WoW Derplander, they tried to give him a swagger.
I wonder if the sword will forever be stuck there or they somehow will be able to dismantle it. Although is improbable, it isn't impossible.
anduin looks like a badass , its so weird seeing him like that
badass? he looks haunted to me
@@CRSB00Being haunted is cool man
@@CRSB00
Considering all the shit he went through, I’m not surprised.
@@CRSB00 It's cool to see him developing
Cool kids nowadays all want to have PTSD, I guess
Damn. You have Agartha, Earth being the center of the universe, more old gods, and more titans. Very esoteric theme to these expansions
My guess is that Azeroth is being modeled after Sophia.... the goddess of wisdom that did not have any opposite pair god or goddess and had to gain knowledge from creating and observing little mortals to achieve wisdom while imprisoned by the other gods and goddesses.
"No old friend, you've freed us all" man I still get chills when I see this cutscene.
I'm very cautious because I got burned in BFA. The cinematic and pre-patch were amazing, had so much promise. And then the main game was just meh and didn't deliver at all on the promise of the Horde-Alliance conflict.
I left during BFA, skipped Shadowlands and only play one week of DF. I don't know if I can ever go back even though I love some aspects of the lore.
I havent played since Mists of Pandaria. I do keep up with the expansion lore, and the music....oh Blizz Deities, the music 🥹🫶🤘 I will always roll a Death Knight.
@@karmaalstad5588 Rogue and DK for me. With a dash of Mage and Warrior.
Spell Chuckers, I mean Mages are fun.
I would just like to point out 2 things. New Anduin looks like Stephen Amell. And when he raises his sword to Thrall its very much the same motion from the WotLK Arthas cinematic.
Anduins pose was the same as Arthas from the LK cinematic