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hey m8, you ever seen the animated music video for starship velociraptor? the animation and style is fire! id be interested to see your reaction and thought on it. id love to see more reaction to fan made or indie animations like for example murder drones... yeah i think youd like murder drones. its great at building an atmosphear of tenson and mystery and fear.
I'm actually going to start another video type on this channel, one where I can react to exactly what you mentioned plus in-game cinematics, gameplay, short films and maybe features (unsure on that last one). I won't be able to break them down but I can certainly give you my reaction and thought process on it. My gaming cinematic breakdowns will still be the main focus, this is just additional content for you guys to enjoy and I get the pleasure of experience amazing new stories and content. Win, win I say. Sound interesting? KZ
man... the number one gaming cinimatic and character experiance... the mass effect trilogy... god its amazing, like nothing else yet made, where characters fates are decided in the moment by you the player... its incredable, it even forced me to go against my own moral priciples to save a characters life that id become emotionaly attached to... this game makes you care so much about its characters that at least for me... i wiped out a species rather than see that person die. and it was slightly trautic in the first playthrough when i saw them die... no spoilers on the off chance ya ever play it.@@kaizammit
The narration done by Arthas' father, the king, is incredibly ironic considering it was made specifically to raise him well as person and a ruler, to impart wisdom, and to eventually take over the kingdom. Now that the son has lost his soul, become undead, killed his father, destroyed his kingdom, and blighted the land, one would think those wise words would no longer apply... but they do. He stil has loyal people, he still has a vast land, he still has the crown. He is truly a king, now.
This is something I feel a lot of people miss about Arthas. Even when his corruption was completed by the Helm of Domination, Arthas wound up the dominant personality of the Lich King; in other words everything done by the Lich King was done willingly by Arthas. This was no cat's paw, Arthas truly was the Lich King.
@@gingerbardman2391 not according to the Matthias Lehner questline (an anagram for Arthas Menethil) or the Lich King book which expounds on it. Arthas is in constant battle with Nerzul, the original Orc spirit bound to the armor and his Humanity, represented by Matthias is the only thing holding back the full wrath of the Scourge, which is why the amalgamation of the Lich King (Arthas, Nerzul and "Matthias") force that portion of his soul out so Nerzul can have a better foothold and control more of the body.
@@J.SeverinI don’t remember what happened in WC3, but in WotLK, the story that I remember is that Arthas cut out that innocent part of his heart/soul and cast it away in Icecrown. An unnamed adventurer (the PC) finds the heart and then learns of how Arthas came to become the Lich King. The heroes then come up with a plan to try to use this weakness to defeat the Lich King. Unfortunately the Lich King is able to find the piece of that was cast away and destroyed it, getting rid of the weak point but leaving him vulnerable for a time, which kicks off the assault on ICC as the heroes try to make the most of this vulnerable period.
battle for azeroth is the best, people only say this is better because of nostalgia. That and BFA totally sucked so people try to forget it existed, but the cinematic was rated highest by film makers
@@daltonred7774 Or you know... People can have different opinions. Yes, the BFA cinematic was awesome, not saying it isn't - but personally I also find the WOTLK cinematic to be the best one by far.
@@Kvickenyou cannot tell that there is any bad Addon cinematic in wow universe. I like them all. But for me the best they’ve ever made is warlords of Draenor.
The story is really what makes this, it's an amazing juxtaposition of when the pictured character, then Prince, Arthas, was a young paladin leading the people of the human kingdom. The narration is done by his father, the King, and was likely given shortly before Arthas became corrupted by the Lich King through, arrogance, that sword and armor, and murdered his own father becoming the Lich King. It's a good "golden child fallen to darkness story"
@@Jirodyne in his own eyes perhaps... He went after a cursed blade, and after the obtaining of Frostmourne and killing Uther, he did so with no remorse or regret. He followed the words of a Nathrezim, brought back Kel'thuzad as a lich after having killed him. He killed the citizens of stratholme (this might've been the one big choice he felt was perfectly justified due to the corruption of the grains being sent there). He is a great character, but to say he did NOTHING wrong is a bit of an overstatement.
@@Zindoriffic In the beginning, he's just wanna save Lordaeron and fall in Scourge's trap with Kel'thuzad and Mal'ganis. After, he just became mad and anger, he did not hesitate to sacrifice his soul, thinking he was doing the right thing, save his people. But his soul was the first Frostmourne claim, so he begin the famous psycopathic monster we all knew. When he died, he's relieved to finally be freed from this nightmare. That's why people said Arthas did nothing wrong
@@Zindoriffic killing the citizens of stratholme was the CORRECT choice to make. The corrupted Grain went to every citizen, it was impossible to tell who was, or wasn't, infected without killing the citizen and seeing if they turned. The correct thing to do, to contain the poison and undead, was to kill everyone there, and prevent it from spreading. As for the Cursed Blade, remember that he was Lied to about it. He was told that it would help save his people. Author has ALWAYS been about saving his people as a whole, more than anything else. Willing to Sacrifice himself to do just that if needed. It wasn't until he was standing right in front of the blade, he found out how cursed and evil it was, and that he was lied to. But at that point it was too late. It had already stolen his soul, corrupted him, and from that point on, Arthas was gone, dead, and no longer existing. EVERYTHING after him picking up the blade, was NOT Arthas. We see this at the end of the WotLK Expansion, when the Cursed Blade is Destroyed. Him, dying, returns to normal green color, no longer corrupted. His eyes losing their blue glow and returning back to his normal color. Asking his father, "Is it over?" Where his father answers "At long last. No king rules forever." And Arthas answering back "I see. Only darkness, for me." As he finally dies for real. Arthas is a tragic story, of a great man, wanting to protect his people. But was lied to, and given an object that destroyed his soul, corrupted his mind, and took over his being and made him evil. Arthas did NOTHING Wrong. Because he died when he picked up the Cursed Blade. Everything done after, was no longer done by Arthas.
When you have played Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft from the start, you really feel the movie. You played this character, Arthas Menethil, from his training as a paladin to his corruption and becoming the Lich King. This movie continues his story from where we left him in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. They made the transition so good. They followed the lore. And then we got to fight his hordes and minions. And in the end, we faced him. And that moment was truly epic.
Honestly I was late to the party with WoW. My youth did consist of a lot of wc3, weather it was playing, or just reading through the books that came with the battle chest. My fiancé got me to play WoW when BFA was going on and I was just going through the world at my own pace and I finally felt leveled enough to travel to northrend. It was just a roller coaster there. I bout had a heart attack when I found out Muradin lived.
@@JintalJortail ah another latecomer. I was also a latecomer to WoW. I played Warcraft games up to frozen throne, read some books, and watched lore videos, but I started playing WoW when Legion started. It was soo satisfying, as a girl who played Wc3 and saw the cinematic of Archimonde destroying Dalaran and the Battle of Mount Hyjall, to fight in raids against the Legion, especially in the Tomb of Sargeras and Argus. My greatest regret in WoW is never have a chance to play WOTLK. I loved exploring Northrend and WOTLK quests (have you encountered a certain ghost and do the Hall of Reflection dungeon? They add so much to Arthas tragic story), but there is this regret of never doing a proper ICC raid and see the final chapter of Arthas story. I am so temped to jump into WOTLK classic, but I try not to because there is no way I can finish my work when I start raiding 😅
@@akuntansibersamaratna2166I started playing wow during TBC, I peaked in WOTLK, damn those were some good old days. Raiding, Pvp, the event before wotlk came, when you got infected and turned into a ghoul and you could also turn everybody in the raid into a ghoul, it was fun. After this I kinda just grow out of it, didnt had the same time to play anymore.
This has always been my favorite WoW cinematic because of the juxtaposition of the narration with what's happening onscreen. The narrator is King Tyranus Menethil speaking to his young son Arthas. During the events of Warcraft 3, Arthas had become a Paladin who set out to save his land from a plague of undeath. Instead, he became corrupted by the forces that started the plague in the first place and ultimately became the Lich King. So everything his father told him is now shown to us in a twisted parody. "I watched with pride as you grew to a weapon" we see Arthas drawing Frostmourne, the very blade that corrupted him in the first place and the same blade he used to kill his father. "And I know you will use restraint when exercising your great power" we see Arthas raise an undead dragon! "But the truest victory, my son, is stirring the hearts of your people" we're shown his undead soldiers.
TERENAS Menethil.. sheesh he was anything but Tyrannical! LOL Same actor did all the racial intro voiceovers save the last 2 or so.. Sadly the actor passed away this year (maybe last). So Any future starting zones wont have his dulcet tones.
Blizzard's cinematic team is something else. Not just from a film making point, but technically. This cinematic came out originally around 2008 (the exp came out Nov 2008, so it was months before that). And yet, it looks better than lot of modern CGI.
This S tier cinematic from Blizz -- I love all of their cinematic's, but this definitely is one of their best and still gives me goosebumps when Arthas gets to Sindragosa's fall and resurrects her. This was definitely one of the cinematic's that captured my heart with this game.
You'd be pleased to know that the lyrics of the song that the child sings had it's own language developed for the song. The boy singing is supposed to be Arthas as a boy, from when he first had his run-in with the undead IIRC and his horse ran to death trying to save the boy. Not sure if that was what actually happened, but what the lyrics say in english places that image in my mind. The song is called "Invincible." It is a magnificent song with that crescendo that you talk about with excellent vocals. Arthas is kind of Like Darth Vader in that he sacrifices himself to save his kingdom but ends up being its downfall. And the thing is... Arthas... He was denied the light of the afterlife after the Lich King no longer posessed him. Players struck him down, the helmet fell off, and he was himself again at death, his father, the man he slew with the sword, Frostmourne, stood over him. "Father... Is it over?" "No king lives forever, my son." "I see... only darkness." And he dies. He was a hero before he fell to the sway of the Lich King. Tragic, just like the song.
Powerful stuff man! I love a game with so much lore. Everyday you learn something new. Right now for me, this is almost too much lore. Thanks for watching, KZ.
Minor note: Arthas didn't run into any undead as a child. He was just out for a ride on his beloved horse, Invincible, in winter as the weather turned bad and when they tried to do a (probably ill-advised) jump, Invincible's hoofs slipped on the ice and he failed the jump. The horse was horribly injured, shattered foreleg(s) I believe and bleeding, and there was no way Arthas could get help for him in time. I believe he actually had to mercy-kill Invincible, and he was just a kid. This of course scarred him as he'd known and loved Invincible its entire life, had watched it being born actually, and he blamed himself for his friend's death, figuring the jump was reckless and he failed to save him (as a paladin like Uther probably would have been able to heal the horse through the power of the Light). It's part of what drove him to never fail anyone again, but tragically his drive to save his people at any cost is what led him to destroy himself and them.
As I said, "IIRC". The point wasn't what caused the death, moreover, the point was the horse died saving him, and Arthas had to witness said death in a very intimate way.@@abbiejo6822
lol 2 minutes ago! I was waitting for your reaction to this masterpiece. To this day, we have 7 more cinematics for 7 more expansions, but this one remains one of the playerbase favourites. The music, the characther, the visuals... Give us a treat and do this other 7 quickly!! We can't wait!
You're a savage! I love it, I will get to them as soon as I can. I didn't realise there was that many. You guys are keeping me busy and it's awesome. Thank you for being with the channel, means a lot. KZ
@@Zileas01 Thanks for the information, it really depends on what you guys (viewers) want to see. Everything I've selected has come from you, this channel is led by you. KZ
Great vid as always Kai ... Quick translation to the child's choir lyric King..... Long live the king, May he reign...forever. May his strength fail him never. First in battle last in retreat. Even in death...
The child singing is supposed to be Arthas when he was a child. The song is named after his horse, Invincible. He loved his horse dearly, and even went so far as to ressurect Invincible with the power of his sword, Frostmourne (Seen in this cinematic), several years after its death.
This is my favorite game I had put in many many hundereds of hours. Because every cimematic they have put out is 9.9/10 and just stands forever in gamemaking and cinematic. Pure beauty, rest my king, your time has come. No king rules forever.
that undead dragon (blue dragon flight) is Sindragosa, she fell up in Northrend and he raised her and his minion. all the undeads down below is something called The Scourge, a major enemy of the Horde and Alliance (us, the players)
There is also a storytelling aspect to it, whether one knows that the voice is Arthas' literal father or not. First, "the forests whispered your name" - and we see that the character is surrounded by ice, snow - the idea of winter, when nature goes through the death part of the cycle, the opposite of a forest - a barren land of ice. Then, we hear the voice describing the character growing in power, but we hear about righteousness, about something good, and what we see is a character who wears metallic skulls all over his armor. We hear him being referred to as a weapon for good, but we see his weapon is just as grim as his armor. We hear the voice telling him about how a good king behaves, and we see a twisted interpretation of it, we hear the voice referring to Arthas becoming king, and his helmet does look like it could be a crown - but it too is a grim sight, and this king does not rule from a throne, surrounded by his people, he rules from on high, alone, with a weapon in hand, overseeing his armies. Taking the voice's words in consideration, we can guess that this person has perhaps not always been this way, and was meant for a different kind of greatness, but along the way he lost that, and became a darker reflection of everything we hear - all of it still applicable. What is a missed opportunity is not showing how it got to that point - why he wants to conquer the world or how his armies came to be. Being undead, it's easy to assume they were simply risen from their graves, or killed and made part of the army immediately after - showing us both his own interpretation of recruiting people for his armies, whether he raises everyone from their graves or chooses only those who showed great potential in combat, as well as what his goal was for conquering the world. From what we see strictly in the cinematic, we can only infer that once he does conquer the world, he will return to be frozen on his throne.
As for the growing animation and visdev artist your breakdowns are the best here on TH-cam. Without spreading the butter too thin on a bread you give a great insight into filmmaking. Clearly you are passionate about the art of it, love your stuff!
Great analysis! Even with the limited lore you were able to piece together the story of Arthas in that moment. I see that the wow loremasters have already filled you in on the back story for the voiceover. The lichking cinematic was the first story type cinematic for the wow franchise and they knocked it out of the park. (Previous cinematics were to introduce the game and playable characters to the players). The expansion cinematics are great, but blizzard has done some amazing storytelling with their other in game and pre-release videos. “Daughter of the Sea” and the entire “Old Soldier” cinematics are wonderful.
I will be covering the other WoW cinematics and I'm even thinking about doing a video on Warcraft 3. Watch all the cinematics and share my thoughts on them, what I liked, didn't like maybe? Who knows. I hope you come back to the channel and thank you for watching 🙏🏻 KZ
@kaizammit Oh man, I'll be back for every single one of those. WoW definitely holds a special place in my heart. The stories are just so engrossing. Lots of storytelling meat to be had in the Warlords of Draenor shorts as well
You all remember Game Of Thrones? When the ice walker guy raies Daeneris's dragon from the dead, and he got himself an undead dragon. I immediately thought of this cinematic, they were so similar.
World of Warcraft may have gone downhill so fast in the past 10 years, but there is one thing nobody can possibly deny: the Blizzard artists produce some of the most beautiful cinematics we've ever seen.
It doesn't matter how many times I've watched this cinematic since I first installed & launched Wrath, it gives me goosebumps. Still my fav cinematic from WoW. I love watching Sindragosa rise.
You can feel everything in this trailer. Depth, weight of the moment as he stabs the ice with his sword and how cold the whole area feels. The goosebumps get even more real when you know the backstory.
Since you are a big fan of story telling you definitely have to check out Varok Saurfang’s Mak’gora!! It’s the storyline leading up to and ending the battle for Azeroth expansion. I can’t explain why but it pulls the emotion out of me every single time.
This whole cinematic is a one big irony. Like this sword. While narrator talks about Arthas growing into weapon of righteousness, it shows him unsheathing Frostmourne, a cursed blade, that consumes souls of it victims...and it wielder. It was one of the main reasons for Arthas fall, as it sapped his soul and corrupted his mind. Or talking about restraint, as Arthas reanimates Sindragosa, formerly blue dragon, as frost wyrm. As far as Scourge goes. At first one might even think that this army came for Arthas. Due to all the atrocities he committed, humans assembled a force with intent to finally put down the prince. You dont even see initially they are undead. A bit of misdirection. And of course narrator. His father. Who he killed.
The VO is also laden with dramatic irony, where the audience knows something that the character doesn't. "The very forests... whispered the name" we're listening to the whispers of the icy winds, harsh and cold instead of the friendly rustle of trees, and the whispers are... unfriendly. "I watched as you grew into a weapon... of righteousness" does that look like a righteous weapon to you? "Stirring the hearts of your people" we're looking at a vast army of the undead. Arthas has literally stirred their hearts through evil magic rather than metaphorically. "For when my days are done, you shall be king." Arthas murdered his father and took the crown.
i think one of the most impressive things about this trailer is that it is so well made that even a decade later it can still put most new CGI to shame
This cinematic is just so good, as is the story it's part of. All of the individual pieces of this cinematic do such a good job of telling the story of this character, and they work so well together. Also, if you're interested, there's a video of MarcoMeatball (an opera singer) going over the music alone.
@@ZakhadWOW here's a link to the video th-cam.com/video/ezyqtcrB_f8/w-d-xo.html He's got an interesting channel, talking about a wide variety of video game music
I was never a big WoW player. But all of us who love a great story via films and games LOVE lich king. It is one of the most respected game stories ever told. I remember watching the story on TH-cam and crying my eyes out in the end. AND I DIDN'T EVEN PLAY IT! That's just how impactful it was. 😢❤ Like that introduction cinematic is also extremely important. The undead dragon is actually a previous companion in the game. Who we actually get reintroduced to in dragon flight. (A reminent of them.) And the disruption of the undead race after his rise. I love how interconnected old Blizzard story telling was. 😊
@@kaizammit I'm sure there's various youtube Warcraft 3 story versions. What's really powerful for those who are in the know is the narrator is Arthas' father. And the son whose forests where whispering his name on birth became the exact opposite of what the father had hoped. The story is good but told in and 20 year old videogame, so the visuals will be spotty (though it did get a hd remake recently). I think you should check it out but im not sure how it will translate to youtube content. He becomes a weapon, yes , but not of righteousness. his father wishes for him to use his power wisely and with restraint, instead he shows none and uses it to summon a big ol' undead dragon. And the final nail: he does become king after his father, but not of his kingdom, instead, king of the undead scourge.
@@kaizammit Quick version: th-cam.com/video/VfsHW8oWXLs/w-d-xo.html, but if you search for warcraft arthas story, there are several much longer versions
In case nobody else has mentioned it, the actor doing the narration is the late Earl Boen. You might recognize him from his role as Dr. Silberman from Terminator, Terminator 2, & Terminator 3, if not his other roles on film & in TV shows. He's also the one who narrated many of the cinematics for the races in the game. The last expansion that he had a voice role in is Legion.
2:51, we have use of the Rule of Thirds. Lich King is framed to the left but usually shots in film position the character to the right to reduce claustrophobia. In a four line grid, two vertical and two horizontal, where the lines intersect at the top left, Lich King eyes match that intersection. This creates a cinematic feel, and the reason he is composed to the top, is like you eloquently stated, is to demonstrate his power to the audience. Position to the left or right generally can be done in film, and I have seen it depending on the mood the cinematographer wants to setup. I think the cinematographer chose to use the left side for Lich King to build on the uncertainty of what is being revealed behind him.
There's more to Arthas crouching in the snow. Watch his right hand, how his thumb and forefinger move together. When returning to his homeland as an avenging hero, the citizens of Lordaeron showered him with flower petals. Arthas caught one and did that exact same gesture with the petal as he considered what he was to do next. The quick head snap into attention forwards was also identical to the same he displayed rising from a crouching salute before murdering his own father to seize the throne
The bit where he looks at the snow in his hand after wiping it off the ice is also a callback to the cutscene in Warcraft III where he crumbles a flower petal in his hand with the same motion before killing his father King Terenas
I really love your channel. In a world where criticising bad films seem to be abundant, your channel is a breath of fresh air. I may have watched this cinematic more than a hundred times, and it gives me goosebumps every time. Now I can appreciate that, for what it is, and I will watch it another hundred times. However your breakdown of why it is so good adds to my appreciation of it. You demonstrate how, being knowledgable about a subject, makes you appreciate it so much more. And passing that passion and appreciation on to others is very generous. Thank you for that
Thank you and it's great you've noticed that I like to keep the mood positive. I'm not interested in destroying someone's work, appreciate the why and what makes it good. Every now and then I'll say, I might not like that but normally I'll say what I would have done. Thank you for watching.
Its absolutely mind boggling that this came out 2008. You should have seen us reaction to these trailers back then because it was such a incredible hype and they always blew our sky high expectations.
This was the peak of WoW and arguably the Warcraft franchise in general. I've seen this cinematic countless times over the last ~16 years and I get goosebumps every time.
Lovely breakdown, Kai! I remember when this was revealed to the WarCraft players in November of 2007. I've seen it countless times since then, and yet I'm still learning new insights into the cinematic 16 1/2 years later. I also played WarCraft 3 when it came out in 2002, and because of that I have an emotional connection to Arthas due to playing him on his journey from Golden Prince to Lich King and all of the gut-wrenching choices he had to make. It's always amazing to me how people who haven't played the games can glean so much of the lore and history of the world and its characters from the cinematics. You mentioned the narration, and I do want to touch on that for a minute. When Arthas' sword, Frostmourne, kills someone, it takes the soul of its victim to power the runes on the blade. This can be clearly seen in the in-game cinematis for The Wrathgate. The first soul Frostmourne ever took was Arthas', though not by a blade strike, but by Arthas wandering around with the blade for several months. It slowly leeched the soul from him, making Arthas the first victim of Frostmourne. The second life it took was King Terenas, Arthas' father. This is why King Terenas is the narrator of the cinematic. His soul is housed in Frostmourne, and Arthas has, essentially, a telepathic connection with the blade. Terenas is speaking directly to what remains of Arthas through Frostmourne, trying to reach his son by reminding him of a conversation they had after Arthas had taken his vows to become a Paladin of The Silver Hand, serving the Holy Light. This is why Arthas slumps a little when Terenas reminds him that he was , "a weapon of righteousness."
very nice review of the trailer and also a really good interpretation of what they were trying to convey... what would blow your mind Mr Kai Zammit, is the relationship of what you correctly understood as the character being defined and being reinforced visually, to what the actual character actually is - its poetic that the narration is quite literally what his father wanted him to be, and what Arthas grew into is the direct opposite - "weapon of righteousness" he became a weapon corrupted and wicked - "rule with wisdom" rules through brute strength - "stirring the hearts of your people" quite literally brainwashed and took over them - its just so poetic... one of the best stories in world of warcraft and the best cinematic imo :)
I'm going to make a video soon once my everyday work has slowed down on Warcraft, my reaction to the in-game cinematics and I can chat about them a little more loosely. What I liked and just enjoy the franchise a bit more before I cover even more cinematic stories. I'm glad you enjoyed the breakdown and thank you so much for watching! KZ
If you're not a WOW player, you should know the following; This World of Warcraft expansion, it's associated storyline, and the cinematics that came with it were some of the most iconic lore of the franchise. Many of us came to the game because of the Lich King himself, of course some were already playing. It is a struggle to find a more epic telling of a light to dark fall of a beloved character turned worldwide threat than that of Arthas into the Lich King. This cinematic still tugs at our hearts...
I love that you chose this as your first Warcraft cinematic. The Rise and Fall of Arthas Menethil is quite possibly the best story Blizzard Entertainment has ever told. It is absolutely incredible. The story spans Warcraft 3, Warcraft 3 - The Frozen Throne, and World of Warcraft. This cinematic hits me so hard every single time. On the level of Horizon Zero Dawn's memorial of Elizabet Sobek...a woman you know has been dead for 1000 years, but the ambiance, the voice recordings of her mourners evoke such strong emotions, and the swell of the music when you hear Margo say, "Oh no." I was so disappointed that the Warcraft movie was so terrible, that it will probably not get more attention from Hollywood. "The First War" (warcraft 1) was boring but necessary for laying the foundation...the Third War and beyond would have made billions.
@@kaizammit To say that I enjoyed it, is wildly understating it. :) My first exposure to your channel was your Astartes reaction, which was fantastic. Finally, the YT algorythm did something right for me. I can't wait to see what you produce next for us. Thank you.
Thank you so much! Just by watching you're helping my little channel grow and it means a lot man. Really does... good boy algorithm! The next cinematic breakdown will be a League of Legends video. They take a while to put together around my working hours hence they come out every two weeks normally. This is why I'll be adding more reaction and general thought videos to give you guys (viewers) extra content while I work away on the breakdowns. It all depends on my current film projects off TH-cam. Thank you again for being apart of the channel! KZ
I dont know how many times ive watched this trailer over the years, but seeing your breakdown of it gave me a new perspective of appreciation for it as there were a lot of subtle details I hadn't tohught about/noticed. Thank you for the video!
What a great breakdown. I've always liked this cinematic, because even at first glance it easy to see that the people who made it actually put real effort into making it.
The dragon raised, unless I am mistaken, is Sindragosa. Once a proud Blue dragon, but since slain and re-arisen as an undead creature. Serving with this special kind of magic. Where you hear the voice of a child, I hear the voice of a trained singtress
There is one part I'll point out that was mentioned ages ago in the Warcraft 3 DVD. There is a scene where the cinematic filmakers said was disappointing. Archimonde puts his hand in the sand and picks up the sand. They said it look too unnatural and they couldn't get it right at the time. So they left it as is. However, in Wrath of the Lich King, they redeemed themselves. When Arthas puts his hand in the snow and wipes it away. I know they were super proud of themselves. TH-cam "Archimonde destorys Dalaran" to see the hand thing.
@@kaizammit Just another note for cinematics if we're going to hit Warcraft stuff because a lot of them are mostly just spectacle. I think from storytelling, the best line comes from the Battle for Azeroth expansion. The order I recommend are "Battle For Azeroth", then three Warbringers shorts (Sylvannas, Jaina, then Azshara), and then the other official cinematics for the expansions, "Old Soldier", "Lost Honor", and "Reckoning". Some will say to watch Old Soldier first because chronology, but they are supposed to be told in the order I've laid out here, I promise.
This was the first video of yours that I watched, and I loved it! You filmmaker’s breakdown of the cinematic was interesting and informative. Immediately subscribed and will be watching your other videos soon. But I first wanted to take a moment to voice my hope that you will be reacting to the other World of Warcraft cinematics as well, as I want to hear your breakdowns of them.
The wow cinematics are all amazing. Cataclysm has an even better dragon. And that's not spoilers. You should finish the starwars the old republic ones too
If you're getting goosebumps without even knowing/playing the games... After thousands of hours put within the Warcraft games, starting with Warcraft: Orcs vs Humans when I was a kid, everytime I watch these cinematics I get tears in my eyes. And shit, they screwed Arthas and Ner'Zhul so bad in the next cinematics... :( You should watch the latest "The War Within" Cinematics that's released a week ago!
The War Within video, I've recorded it. I'm currently away on a business trip but once I'm back, I'll start editing it. I hope you return to the channel and check it out.
what's even more wonderful about you got the visual backup of what the narrator (his father) says is that - if you know the lore - everything turned out to be the exact opposite and instead a good king, he became the Lich King. Arthas has one of the most tragic faith in fantasy stories
Check out the translation for the Lyrics of the “Arthas” and “Invincible” song during the scene. They essentially tell his whole story and even has a touch of irony in it.
Thank you! Hopefully one day they can translate these masterpieces into full length films! The warcraft movie was.....not awful, but not as masterful as this. The condense, precise story being told here is enveloping.
Its a crying shame they didn't make Arthas' story into a movie but chose to go for a chronological order. The failure of that movie ensures we will never get a warcraft movie(s) about Arthas.
Someone already mentioned that doing the Warcraft 3 Human ending cinematic together with this would have been nice. I'd like to suggest doing the Warcraft 3 Orc ending cinematic together with the World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor cinematic. In the same episode (double feature). Not just for the story relationship between the two, but would be good reflection of the technology of the time 2002 vs 2014. (also note that Warcraft 3 reforged was a remake of Warcraft 3 with higher video resolution and I think higher res textures too in 2020 so up to you if you want to use that version or not)
The army of undeads that we see on cinematic was going to attack Arthas, when the voice says "the truest victory is inspiring the heart of your people" and Sindragosa roars, and everyone of the army get the blue fire and blue glowing eyes, same as him, like a perversion of a true king a good king... this cinematic makes me chill everytime, it was a masterpiece everyone who plays this game love Arthas... most iconic Raid Boss ever
5:41 This was part of the final shot and scene from years prior in Warcraft 3 the Frozen Throne. The final cinematic for the Scourge: Arthas becomes the Lich king. Even though it's old, you should watch the final cinematic for the Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos Scourge finale. "Arthas kills his father." Despite being made 20+ years ago it held up extremely well.
That makes total sense now. I'm surprised it was placed at the beginning but there you are, I enjoyed it regardless! Thanks for watching and commenting, means a lot. KZ
there is another reason for back lighting - Arthas is an antagonist he was a holy warrior, a prince, a hero, he was corrupted into becoming the lich king, even killing his own father, the lighting and his dad speaking in the background telling him how to rule over when he is gone, shows he is no longer in the light.
This cinematic will always give me chills, as someone who played WoW from the OG days. (And I have been able to defeat Arthas in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, but now I have no reason to want to play more because Cataclysm Classic is coming and that was the end of WoW for me.) So this cinematic is a reminder of the nostalgic days.
I'm sure this was explained in comments already. but Arthas is the single most fan favorite villain in world of warcraft to date. and this came out over a decade ago. other expansion stories have failed for daring to use this lore and change/add details to their new stuff. Also his entire story from beginning to end has to be one of my favorites, because so few times does the threat to realm of Azeroth rarely actually come from one of its denizens. There's tons of great lore channels that have gone over it, (and i never like name dropping channels in others comments, feels weird, but I highly recommend learning of this characters story in general, even if you don't plan to play the game, that section of lore itself is just so good! Also just found this channel recently and it is just so quickly climbing into favorite channel position, love the excitement, open minded attitude and in depth yet simple way of commentary, I have already learned a ton of terminology and ways of looking at the media I consume and really see the effort and art applied in more areas of production! Loving this channel!
Would love to see you react to the other warcraft cinamatics. This one however is my favorite. The most amazing, serene and jaw dropping in terms of beauty, pace, and even storytelling as the voice over speaks more about the Lich Kings life and its such a cold (pun) opening. Its amazing. Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you so much!! I'm starting a new line of videos where it's more of a discussion, sharing my thoughts after a reaction. I can give you more content, still talk filmmaking and it will go along with these Cinematic Breakdowns. Thank you for being here, KZ.
The world of warcraft cinematic team has always delivered epic trailers for the game. I've often found myself watching them all, in sequence, even though I stopped playing 5 yr ago.
I'm absoluty intrigued by your analysis of the video. Arthas' Story is one of my all time favorites since I was a child and you managed to break it done perfectly without deeper knowledge o the lore ( I assume). Big fat Kudos to you.
Still hard to believe this was 13 years ago. That expansion was my introduction to mmorpgs, and it gave me so many good memories! Looking forward to more Blizzard analyses 😊 Blizzard and Riot's cinematic works are pretty hard to beat.
This is a really accurate enelysis of the video, you nailed every feeling it gave me when I first saw this about 15 years ago. Experiences like this stay for a lifetime! May I ask what is that nice chill background music you have going on under the breakdown part of the video?
Sapphiron was an ice dragon and he was killed by Arthus in the frozen throne. He was then raised from the dead with necromancy. A powerful piece in the game but only has a limited range of use.
I've been playing this game for over 16 years and this is by far my favorite Blizzard cinematic and the best WoW expansion imo. Excellent breakdown, my dude! Subscribed.
Some backstory Kai....The narrator is the father of the character in the trailer. Arthas,the guy in the trailer basically was the prince of a kingdom and the only child of the king. He was also a powerful Paladin (holy knight) . There was a plague spreading in the kingdom which turned people into zombies and he went with his mentor to investigate,only to find out a demon was spreading the plague. He went too far with his quest to defeat the demon,ignoring any and all dangers,being consumed by vengeance. He picked up the runeblade shown in the trailer which gave him an edge with which he killed the demon,but in return he sacrificed his soul,becoming evil himself,betraying his companions and killing them all off and remaining in the frozen wasteland where the trailer takes place. He picked up a helmet which gave him the power to control the dead (zombies) and he also murdered his own father too. That's why the music is so tragic,because he is a fallen hero who sacrificed everything for his people,even his people too when he fell from good. Glad this is your first WoW trailer video,because it's the high point of the game story-wise. It's a lore rich expansion with plenty of iconic characters who came to light much earlier in the story of Warcraft,some truly shaping the entire world with their actions (Arthas being one of them). It's also Blizzard's best villain by a far margin. No other villain comes even close.
I just found you a couple months ago, and my god, i love how you explain and teach us more about filmmaking, i found it interesting. in other note, this cinematic is from a ERA when Blizzard actually make good cinematics and game. if you knew all the history behind arthas, this cinematic is even more powerfull, special because of the person doing the narration...
Thank you so much! Not all my content will be broken down but the gaming Cinematics will be, that's a series where I can help teach, love it! Thank you again for watching, I hope you stick around with the channel. I've heard this cinematic hits differently if you know the backstory. This is why I want to do another lines of videos where I can catch up, still give you my thoughts and filmmaking thoughts but it would be tough breaking down gameplay footage etc. KZ
Another detail about "the child singing", it is about young prince Arthas' horse, Invincible. I imagine it is Arthas himself singing the song, and it tells the story about this magnificent steed that Arthas eventually had to put out of its misery after it got badly injured. After becoming a death knight (but before becoming the Lich King), Arthas went back and raised the horse into undeath to serve him once again. It comes full circle with the in-game end cinematic to this WoW expansion... :') Such a great story of the fall of a prince and righteous paladin of The Light, from Warcraft 3 and throghout the entirety of this WoW expansion. And the undead dragon he raises in this cinematic is (well, was) Sindragosa, consort to Malygos, the dragon Aspect of Magic. "No biggie." :P
I'm digging that! I love those full circle stories. I mentioned Soul Reaver in this video but it also has some elements of coming full circle for something to happen. KZ
Arthas is a parallel to Arthur. He pulls a cursed sword from a stone on a quest of revenge, knowing it is a powerful weapon. It chips away at his soul until he becomes the Lich King. He's perhaps the most important character in the series in terms of his relationship to the other main characters. In-game loot wise, you can see an insight into him if you kill him while undergoing a certain quest, which gives you a key to a special chest of his full of mementos. They relate to a series of other major characters and lead people to debate whether some part of him was still human. The contrary view being that one of the mementos is a vial of blood from somebody who was never his friend, but is purely a torture victim of his, leading to the view that the chest is just a serial killer trophy case. Each of the mementos relate to somebody whose life he ruined in some way. Most from old friends, which is where the "He cared deep down" part comes in, but some have no business being there if it isn't some kind of twisted trophy case. Analysis of his character also goes into how he was always a bit of a psycho even before he was corrupted, and whether the story is "Noble hero falls to the dark side" or "Everybody thinks this guy is a noble hero because of tropes, but he's constantly showing them otherwise. He's a psychopath. Even after the lich king incident his friends are in denial and blame the sword for his corruption.". The surface level is "King Arthur pulls a cursed sword from the stone". The contrary view is that this is the story the in-game characters are telling themselves because they can't believe the truth as it's too painful for them, and too incomprehensible. The books support the latter view since they emphatically and repeatedly state Arthas is an independent actor with free will and his actions are not down to the blade. There's also a marked transition between Lich Kings. "Ner'Zhul doesn't care to torture one individual ranger who held him up a bit. It's all a means to an end to raise the undead and conquer the world. He's dispassionate. It's a waste of time and resources that could be spent raising more people into his army. Arthas is not like Ner'Zhul.". Arthas' tenure as Lich King is noticeably more sadistic. This has no explanation unless that's just what he is like when given the opportunity. Some fans listen to Arthas's friends (Major lore characters) and their utter denial over what Arthas is and think they're "Telling the story". This is a mistake. You have to remember they're not expositing the story. They're a part of it. And their role in that story is as the friends of a mass murdering psychopath who can't accept what he is. But the narration in the books knows better. The story is "What if King Arthur, prophesized hero, was born a serial killing psycho. And nobody wanted to accept that.". --- "I dearly hope there is a special place in hell waiting for you, Arthas." "We may never know Uther. I intend to live forever.". --- (From "Arthas is the least redeemable character in WoW") "So to all those people who say Arthas had some humanity left in him? You're right. I can think of nothing more damning to say about him than that."
Good video, great insight into the cinematography and storytelling. The Warlords of Draenor expansion had another excellent WoW cinematic, you should check that one out too!
Thank you for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I will be covering more WoW cinematics. I was looking at my list yesterday and World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Cinematic sounded like it would be fun to watch. Let me know, is a good one? KZ
Blizzard always made great cinematic, I even bought a DVD with the cutscenes of Starcraft and Diablo2 back in the day :-) I really liked the "Kiriko" short from Overwatch 2. Other very different shorts, I would recommend (if you also watch other types of animation) are "Ohayo" by Satoshi Kon, "Rain Town" and "Tsumiki no le (La Maison en Petits Cubes)". They are all shorts films without narration and easy to find on YT. "Ohayo" is part of an anthology named Ani Kuri 15 with many great shorts, all about a minute long. I really love "Gathering of Cats" by Makoto Shinkai.
I definitely would recommend dedicating yourself to a series of world of warcraft reactions. It would be highly appreciated. I do suggest to try and do it chronologically as I've seen other reactions where people had fun trying to tailor the narrative for the lore as they watch the cinematics. Additionally, this might be somewhat of a reach since I'm not sure how relevant you would find it, but watching the big moments from "in-game" graphics machinema's that didn't quite make the cut to be big full cinematics on their own would be super cool as well. The story told from these two medias alone conveys an incredibly lore rich world with lots of twists and turns, delivered in a rather comprehensive manner. Man I hope you like the idea. Appreciate the reacts as always!
The amount of cinematics and story content out there, I could easily do that. Currently I'm still enjoying the different worlds from these franchises, little tasters before I start really getting into them. I want to do a reaction and thoughts video soon on the in-game cinematics for Warcraft 3. Another piece of content for you guys to enjoy and hopefully, hear what I have to say about the experience. Thank you so much for hanging out with me again, means a lot! KZ P.S. The reason I don't want to stick to a franchise yet is I don't want the channel to only be associated with that brand. I want all fans from all different franchises to come hang out.
@@kaizammit I sincerely appreciate the explanation of your thought process and completely understand that you might approach it with a rotational release of different franchises. - I have to admit you one-up'd me on including the warcraft 3 cinemstics and in-game cutscenes. That's a splendid idea, especially to make sense and understand the impact of the release of World of warcraft(Vanilla) and the two expansions afterwards, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich king. I'll be enjoying your videos! Cheers!
Enjoyed the review. Epic cinematic. Was SOOOO good when it came out! Your explanation of the framing and point of view.. particularly looking up in most of the frames really resonates. Feel like I've had that kind of perspective with Thanos. For a bit of fun watch Spongbob - Frostmourne (name of the sword btw)
Kai imagine how much harder story hit us, fans who play all Warcraft games, know all story before, know those character and all his path befor those moment. It's hit hard like a track back in a day when game releases. Oh God how lucky we are to leave in present day's, we can see and make magic world and touch em and leave many lives in perfect fantasy and fantastic universe. Hope i can lice long enough to see what humankind can make from so young PC|console game industries. Thank you for your reactions, keep it go ) Hope you react much more fame cinematics (maybe more WoW - Cataclism perhaps) 💙💛
I'm very jealous knowing I won't ever get that experience but I'm happy to get anything from these amazing stories. I'll certainly get round to covering more WoW cinematics, I hope you like them. KZ
If you enjoy World of Warcraft cinematic trailers, you should try watching Hurricane's World of Warcraft: Raid trailers. The most recent trailer, The Black Temple, was an interesting set piece paired with the VFX breakdown, which shows just how much work you can accomplish in a year. (Note: they've been silent for almost a year again.) Here's the link if you feel like looking into his Black Temple work: th-cam.com/video/EM1LxHosiFM/w-d-xo.html
Grab Atlas VPN for just $1.83/month + 3 months extra before the SUMMER DEAL expires: get.atlasvpn.com/KAIZAMMIT 🔥🎬
If you have a suggestion or a piece of content with an amazing story, please let me know, I would love to see it!
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hey m8, you ever seen the animated music video for starship velociraptor? the animation and style is fire! id be interested to see your reaction and thought on it. id love to see more reaction to fan made or indie animations like for example murder drones... yeah i think youd like murder drones. its great at building an atmosphear of tenson and mystery and fear.
I'm actually going to start another video type on this channel, one where I can react to exactly what you mentioned plus in-game cinematics, gameplay, short films and maybe features (unsure on that last one). I won't be able to break them down but I can certainly give you my reaction and thought process on it. My gaming cinematic breakdowns will still be the main focus, this is just additional content for you guys to enjoy and I get the pleasure of experience amazing new stories and content. Win, win I say. Sound interesting? KZ
man... the number one gaming cinimatic and character experiance... the mass effect trilogy... god its amazing, like nothing else yet made, where characters fates are decided in the moment by you the player... its incredable, it even forced me to go against my own moral priciples to save a characters life that id become emotionaly attached to... this game makes you care so much about its characters that at least for me... i wiped out a species rather than see that person die. and it was slightly trautic in the first playthrough when i saw them die... no spoilers on the off chance ya ever play it.@@kaizammit
ill sub to your extre channel bro, rock on.@@kaizammit
the trailer for "Guild Wars 2 :Heart of Thorns"
The narration done by Arthas' father, the king, is incredibly ironic considering it was made specifically to raise him well as person and a ruler, to impart wisdom, and to eventually take over the kingdom. Now that the son has lost his soul, become undead, killed his father, destroyed his kingdom, and blighted the land, one would think those wise words would no longer apply... but they do. He stil has loyal people, he still has a vast land, he still has the crown. He is truly a king, now.
This is something I feel a lot of people miss about Arthas. Even when his corruption was completed by the Helm of Domination, Arthas wound up the dominant personality of the Lich King; in other words everything done by the Lich King was done willingly by Arthas. This was no cat's paw, Arthas truly was the Lich King.
@@gingerbardman2391 not according to the Matthias Lehner questline (an anagram for Arthas Menethil) or the Lich King book which expounds on it. Arthas is in constant battle with Nerzul, the original Orc spirit bound to the armor and his Humanity, represented by Matthias is the only thing holding back the full wrath of the Scourge, which is why the amalgamation of the Lich King (Arthas, Nerzul and "Matthias") force that portion of his soul out so Nerzul can have a better foothold and control more of the body.
@@nofun594 he killed his Human side inside the crown/his head many years ago. there was no Matthias left. Do they retcon that in the game now?
@@J.SeverinI don’t remember what happened in WC3, but in WotLK, the story that I remember is that Arthas cut out that innocent part of his heart/soul and cast it away in Icecrown. An unnamed adventurer (the PC) finds the heart and then learns of how Arthas came to become the Lich King. The heroes then come up with a plan to try to use this weakness to defeat the Lich King. Unfortunately the Lich King is able to find the piece of that was cast away and destroyed it, getting rid of the weak point but leaving him vulnerable for a time, which kicks off the assault on ICC as the heroes try to make the most of this vulnerable period.
@@Sindraelyn ive read the book. what you say sounds like a redcon to the book... but it is ok, its just a game.
15 years after this came out, I am still having goosebumps everytime I watch this. It is by far Blizzard's most epic cinematic.
I came into wow late back when I was high school 10 years ago and I'm glad wotlk was my first
battle for azeroth is the best, people only say this is better because of nostalgia. That and BFA totally sucked so people try to forget it existed, but the cinematic was rated highest by film makers
They ruined it retroactively.
@@daltonred7774 Or you know... People can have different opinions.
Yes, the BFA cinematic was awesome, not saying it isn't - but personally I also find the WOTLK cinematic to be the best one by far.
@@Kvickenyou cannot tell that there is any bad Addon cinematic in wow universe. I like them all. But for me the best they’ve ever made is warlords of Draenor.
The Irony of the voiceover is that Arthus is actually a complete perversion of everything his father was actually talking about in the speech.
the best part of the voice over is how it turns the morals of all the lessons his father was trying to teach, on their head. it's so well done.
Thank you for watching fella 🙏🏻 KZ
@@kaizammit I thoroughly enjoyed your breakdown of Astartes.
The story is really what makes this, it's an amazing juxtaposition of when the pictured character, then Prince, Arthas, was a young paladin leading the people of the human kingdom.
The narration is done by his father, the King, and was likely given shortly before Arthas became corrupted by the Lich King through, arrogance, that sword and armor, and murdered his own father becoming the Lich King. It's a good "golden child fallen to darkness story"
Arthas did nothing wrong.
@@Jirodyne still my King.
@@Jirodyne in his own eyes perhaps... He went after a cursed blade, and after the obtaining of Frostmourne and killing Uther, he did so with no remorse or regret. He followed the words of a Nathrezim, brought back Kel'thuzad as a lich after having killed him. He killed the citizens of stratholme (this might've been the one big choice he felt was perfectly justified due to the corruption of the grains being sent there). He is a great character, but to say he did NOTHING wrong is a bit of an overstatement.
@@Zindoriffic In the beginning, he's just wanna save Lordaeron and fall in Scourge's trap with Kel'thuzad and Mal'ganis. After, he just became mad and anger,
he did not hesitate to sacrifice his soul, thinking he was doing the right thing, save his people. But his soul was the first Frostmourne claim, so he begin the famous psycopathic monster we all knew. When he died, he's relieved to finally be freed from this nightmare. That's why people said Arthas did nothing wrong
@@Zindoriffic killing the citizens of stratholme was the CORRECT choice to make. The corrupted Grain went to every citizen, it was impossible to tell who was, or wasn't, infected without killing the citizen and seeing if they turned. The correct thing to do, to contain the poison and undead, was to kill everyone there, and prevent it from spreading.
As for the Cursed Blade, remember that he was Lied to about it. He was told that it would help save his people. Author has ALWAYS been about saving his people as a whole, more than anything else. Willing to Sacrifice himself to do just that if needed. It wasn't until he was standing right in front of the blade, he found out how cursed and evil it was, and that he was lied to. But at that point it was too late. It had already stolen his soul, corrupted him, and from that point on, Arthas was gone, dead, and no longer existing. EVERYTHING after him picking up the blade, was NOT Arthas.
We see this at the end of the WotLK Expansion, when the Cursed Blade is Destroyed. Him, dying, returns to normal green color, no longer corrupted. His eyes losing their blue glow and returning back to his normal color.
Asking his father, "Is it over?" Where his father answers "At long last. No king rules forever." And Arthas answering back "I see. Only darkness, for me." As he finally dies for real.
Arthas is a tragic story, of a great man, wanting to protect his people. But was lied to, and given an object that destroyed his soul, corrupted his mind, and took over his being and made him evil.
Arthas did NOTHING Wrong. Because he died when he picked up the Cursed Blade. Everything done after, was no longer done by Arthas.
Sindragosa (the undead dragon) spreading her wings atop of the cliff is the most iconic shot in all Warcraft universe indeed.
As someone who has almost three decades in the universe, this is absolutely, inexplicably true.
When you have played Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft from the start, you really feel the movie. You played this character, Arthas Menethil, from his training as a paladin to his corruption and becoming the Lich King. This movie continues his story from where we left him in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. They made the transition so good. They followed the lore. And then we got to fight his hordes and minions. And in the end, we faced him. And that moment was truly epic.
Coming full circle story, boy those are good! KZ
Honestly I was late to the party with WoW. My youth did consist of a lot of wc3, weather it was playing, or just reading through the books that came with the battle chest. My fiancé got me to play WoW when BFA was going on and I was just going through the world at my own pace and I finally felt leveled enough to travel to northrend. It was just a roller coaster there. I bout had a heart attack when I found out Muradin lived.
@@JintalJortail ah another latecomer. I was also a latecomer to WoW. I played Warcraft games up to frozen throne, read some books, and watched lore videos, but I started playing WoW when Legion started. It was soo satisfying, as a girl who played Wc3 and saw the cinematic of Archimonde destroying Dalaran and the Battle of Mount Hyjall, to fight in raids against the Legion, especially in the Tomb of Sargeras and Argus.
My greatest regret in WoW is never have a chance to play WOTLK. I loved exploring Northrend and WOTLK quests (have you encountered a certain ghost and do the Hall of Reflection dungeon? They add so much to Arthas tragic story), but there is this regret of never doing a proper ICC raid and see the final chapter of Arthas story. I am so temped to jump into WOTLK classic, but I try not to because there is no way I can finish my work when I start raiding 😅
@@akuntansibersamaratna2166I started playing wow during TBC, I peaked in WOTLK, damn those were some good old days. Raiding, Pvp, the event before wotlk came, when you got infected and turned into a ghoul and you could also turn everybody in the raid into a ghoul, it was fun. After this I kinda just grow out of it, didnt had the same time to play anymore.
Not to mention the cinematic starts from almost the exact same position as the WC3 one ends with (disregarding the zoom out)
The words meant for young Arthas who was supposed to be king - being also related to him as becoming Lich King is impeccable impact.
This has always been my favorite WoW cinematic because of the juxtaposition of the narration with what's happening onscreen. The narrator is King Tyranus Menethil speaking to his young son Arthas. During the events of Warcraft 3, Arthas had become a Paladin who set out to save his land from a plague of undeath. Instead, he became corrupted by the forces that started the plague in the first place and ultimately became the Lich King.
So everything his father told him is now shown to us in a twisted parody. "I watched with pride as you grew to a weapon" we see Arthas drawing Frostmourne, the very blade that corrupted him in the first place and the same blade he used to kill his father. "And I know you will use restraint when exercising your great power" we see Arthas raise an undead dragon! "But the truest victory, my son, is stirring the hearts of your people" we're shown his undead soldiers.
TERENAS Menethil.. sheesh
he was anything but Tyrannical! LOL
Same actor did all the racial intro voiceovers save the last 2 or so..
Sadly the actor passed away this year (maybe last). So Any future starting zones wont have his dulcet tones.
And just a tinge of humor as the army "copy-cats" Sindragosa's roar
Blizzard's cinematic team is something else. Not just from a film making point, but technically. This cinematic came out originally around 2008 (the exp came out Nov 2008, so it was months before that). And yet, it looks better than lot of modern CGI.
Blizzard cinematic team has always brought teh goods, even if everything else at Blizz is falling apart.
@@vahdoom Crying shame too, loved WoW back when I played it.
This S tier cinematic from Blizz -- I love all of their cinematic's, but this definitely is one of their best and still gives me goosebumps when Arthas gets to Sindragosa's fall and resurrects her. This was definitely one of the cinematic's that captured my heart with this game.
You'd be pleased to know that the lyrics of the song that the child sings had it's own language developed for the song. The boy singing is supposed to be Arthas as a boy, from when he first had his run-in with the undead IIRC and his horse ran to death trying to save the boy. Not sure if that was what actually happened, but what the lyrics say in english places that image in my mind. The song is called "Invincible." It is a magnificent song with that crescendo that you talk about with excellent vocals. Arthas is kind of Like Darth Vader in that he sacrifices himself to save his kingdom but ends up being its downfall. And the thing is... Arthas... He was denied the light of the afterlife after the Lich King no longer posessed him. Players struck him down, the helmet fell off, and he was himself again at death, his father, the man he slew with the sword, Frostmourne, stood over him.
"Father... Is it over?"
"No king lives forever, my son."
"I see... only darkness."
And he dies. He was a hero before he fell to the sway of the Lich King. Tragic, just like the song.
Powerful stuff man! I love a game with so much lore. Everyday you learn something new. Right now for me, this is almost too much lore. Thanks for watching, KZ.
Minor note: Arthas didn't run into any undead as a child. He was just out for a ride on his beloved horse, Invincible, in winter as the weather turned bad and when they tried to do a (probably ill-advised) jump, Invincible's hoofs slipped on the ice and he failed the jump. The horse was horribly injured, shattered foreleg(s) I believe and bleeding, and there was no way Arthas could get help for him in time. I believe he actually had to mercy-kill Invincible, and he was just a kid. This of course scarred him as he'd known and loved Invincible its entire life, had watched it being born actually, and he blamed himself for his friend's death, figuring the jump was reckless and he failed to save him (as a paladin like Uther probably would have been able to heal the horse through the power of the Light). It's part of what drove him to never fail anyone again, but tragically his drive to save his people at any cost is what led him to destroy himself and them.
As I said, "IIRC". The point wasn't what caused the death, moreover, the point was the horse died saving him, and Arthas had to witness said death in a very intimate way.@@abbiejo6822
lol 2 minutes ago!
I was waitting for your reaction to this masterpiece. To this day, we have 7 more cinematics for 7 more expansions, but this one remains one of the playerbase favourites. The music, the characther, the visuals...
Give us a treat and do this other 7 quickly!! We can't wait!
You're a savage! I love it, I will get to them as soon as I can. I didn't realise there was that many. You guys are keeping me busy and it's awesome. Thank you for being with the channel, means a lot. KZ
@@Zileas01 Thanks for the information, it really depends on what you guys (viewers) want to see. Everything I've selected has come from you, this channel is led by you. KZ
You are not prepared.. for that..
@@kaizammitTo wholly understand this cinematic, you should watch it's prequels from WarCraft 3. They're quite old but still pleasing to watch.
Maybe I could do an all cutscenes from Warcraft 3 video.... 🤔. Get me ready for the story.
Great vid as always Kai ... Quick translation to the child's choir lyric
King.....
Long live the king,
May he reign...forever.
May his strength
fail him never.
First in battle
last in retreat.
Even in death...
Love it! Thank you so much fella. KZ
The child singing is supposed to be Arthas when he was a child. The song is named after his horse, Invincible. He loved his horse dearly, and even went so far as to ressurect Invincible with the power of his sword, Frostmourne (Seen in this cinematic), several years after its death.
Loving the lore tid bits from you guys, so cool! KZ
This is my favorite game I had put in many many hundereds of hours. Because every cimematic they have put out is 9.9/10 and just stands forever in gamemaking and cinematic. Pure beauty, rest my king, your time has come. No king rules forever.
that undead dragon (blue dragon flight) is Sindragosa, she fell up in Northrend and he raised her and his minion. all the undeads down below is something called The Scourge, a major enemy of the Horde and Alliance (us, the players)
There is also a storytelling aspect to it, whether one knows that the voice is Arthas' literal father or not.
First, "the forests whispered your name" - and we see that the character is surrounded by ice, snow - the idea of winter, when nature goes through the death part of the cycle, the opposite of a forest - a barren land of ice. Then, we hear the voice describing the character growing in power, but we hear about righteousness, about something good, and what we see is a character who wears metallic skulls all over his armor. We hear him being referred to as a weapon for good, but we see his weapon is just as grim as his armor. We hear the voice telling him about how a good king behaves, and we see a twisted interpretation of it, we hear the voice referring to Arthas becoming king, and his helmet does look like it could be a crown - but it too is a grim sight, and this king does not rule from a throne, surrounded by his people, he rules from on high, alone, with a weapon in hand, overseeing his armies.
Taking the voice's words in consideration, we can guess that this person has perhaps not always been this way, and was meant for a different kind of greatness, but along the way he lost that, and became a darker reflection of everything we hear - all of it still applicable.
What is a missed opportunity is not showing how it got to that point - why he wants to conquer the world or how his armies came to be. Being undead, it's easy to assume they were simply risen from their graves, or killed and made part of the army immediately after - showing us both his own interpretation of recruiting people for his armies, whether he raises everyone from their graves or chooses only those who showed great potential in combat, as well as what his goal was for conquering the world. From what we see strictly in the cinematic, we can only infer that once he does conquer the world, he will return to be frozen on his throne.
Well you might know that those missing parts were all told during WarCraft 3 in gameplay and cinematics. :)
@@odorric I do, I'm strictly speaking about this cinematic, as not everyone who played WoW played Warcraft 3.
@@domacleod But then it's not a missed opportunity of the trailer itself. It's not meant to tell otherwise it would be redundant as a whole.
a weapon - shows a weapon,
of righteousness - holds weapon with right hand
As for the growing animation and visdev artist your breakdowns are the best here on TH-cam. Without spreading the butter too thin on a bread you give a great insight into filmmaking. Clearly you are passionate about the art of it, love your stuff!
Thank you so much and thank you for being here at the start of this TH-cam journey of mine. Means a lot! KZ
Great analysis! Even with the limited lore you were able to piece together the story of Arthas in that moment. I see that the wow loremasters have already filled you in on the back story for the voiceover. The lichking cinematic was the first story type cinematic for the wow franchise and they knocked it out of the park. (Previous cinematics were to introduce the game and playable characters to the players). The expansion cinematics are great, but blizzard has done some amazing storytelling with their other in game and pre-release videos. “Daughter of the Sea” and the entire “Old Soldier” cinematics are wonderful.
I will be covering the other WoW cinematics and I'm even thinking about doing a video on Warcraft 3. Watch all the cinematics and share my thoughts on them, what I liked, didn't like maybe? Who knows. I hope you come back to the channel and thank you for watching 🙏🏻 KZ
@kaizammit Oh man, I'll be back for every single one of those. WoW definitely holds a special place in my heart. The stories are just so engrossing. Lots of storytelling meat to be had in the Warlords of Draenor shorts as well
You all remember Game Of Thrones? When the ice walker guy raies Daeneris's dragon from the dead, and he got himself an undead dragon. I immediately thought of this cinematic, they were so similar.
I've never seen it but I hear from others that it was a carbon copy, almost. Thank you for watching, KZ.
World of Warcraft may have gone downhill so fast in the past 10 years, but there is one thing nobody can possibly deny: the Blizzard artists produce some of the most beautiful cinematics we've ever seen.
It doesn't matter how many times I've watched this cinematic since I first installed & launched Wrath, it gives me goosebumps. Still my fav cinematic from WoW. I love watching Sindragosa rise.
The World of Warcraft cinematics from this one on are all fantastic. These are what I wish they'd make a film out of.
You can feel everything in this trailer. Depth, weight of the moment as he stabs the ice with his sword and how cold the whole area feels. The goosebumps get even more real when you know the backstory.
Since you are a big fan of story telling you definitely have to check out Varok Saurfang’s Mak’gora!! It’s the storyline leading up to and ending the battle for Azeroth expansion. I can’t explain why but it pulls the emotion out of me every single time.
Wow, that sounds good! Maybe a breakdown is in order to see what the filmmakers did there. KZ
@@kaizammit would love to see a breakdown of it!
This whole cinematic is a one big irony. Like this sword. While narrator talks about Arthas growing into weapon of righteousness, it shows him unsheathing Frostmourne, a cursed blade, that consumes souls of it victims...and it wielder. It was one of the main reasons for Arthas fall, as it sapped his soul and corrupted his mind.
Or talking about restraint, as Arthas reanimates Sindragosa, formerly blue dragon, as frost wyrm.
As far as Scourge goes. At first one might even think that this army came for Arthas. Due to all the atrocities he committed, humans assembled a force with intent to finally put down the prince. You dont even see initially they are undead. A bit of misdirection.
And of course narrator. His father. Who he killed.
The VO is also laden with dramatic irony, where the audience knows something that the character doesn't.
"The very forests... whispered the name" we're listening to the whispers of the icy winds, harsh and cold instead of the friendly rustle of trees, and the whispers are... unfriendly.
"I watched as you grew into a weapon... of righteousness" does that look like a righteous weapon to you?
"Stirring the hearts of your people" we're looking at a vast army of the undead. Arthas has literally stirred their hearts through evil magic rather than metaphorically.
"For when my days are done, you shall be king." Arthas murdered his father and took the crown.
i think one of the most impressive things about this trailer is that it is so well made that even a decade later it can still put most new CGI to shame
This cinematic is just so good, as is the story it's part of. All of the individual pieces of this cinematic do such a good job of telling the story of this character, and they work so well together.
Also, if you're interested, there's a video of MarcoMeatball (an opera singer) going over the music alone.
PLEACE PROVIDE LINK would very much like to see
@@ZakhadWOW here's a link to the video
th-cam.com/video/ezyqtcrB_f8/w-d-xo.html
He's got an interesting channel, talking about a wide variety of video game music
I really like the over the shoulder shot as it feels like the voice (his dad) standing beside his son looking down at what he has accomplished
I was never a big WoW player. But all of us who love a great story via films and games LOVE lich king. It is one of the most respected game stories ever told. I remember watching the story on TH-cam and crying my eyes out in the end. AND I DIDN'T EVEN PLAY IT! That's just how impactful it was. 😢❤
Like that introduction cinematic is also extremely important. The undead dragon is actually a previous companion in the game. Who we actually get reintroduced to in dragon flight. (A reminent of them.) And the disruption of the undead race after his rise. I love how interconnected old Blizzard story telling was. 😊
How did you watch the story? Could be interesting for the channel. Thank you so much! KZ
@@kaizammit I'm sure there's various youtube Warcraft 3 story versions. What's really powerful for those who are in the know is the narrator is Arthas' father. And the son whose forests where whispering his name on birth became the exact opposite of what the father had hoped.
The story is good but told in and 20 year old videogame, so the visuals will be spotty (though it did get a hd remake recently). I think you should check it out but im not sure how it will translate to youtube content.
He becomes a weapon, yes , but not of righteousness. his father wishes for him to use his power wisely and with restraint, instead he shows none and uses it to summon a big ol' undead dragon. And the final nail: he does become king after his father, but not of his kingdom, instead, king of the undead scourge.
@@kaizammit Quick version: th-cam.com/video/VfsHW8oWXLs/w-d-xo.html, but if you search for warcraft arthas story, there are several much longer versions
In case nobody else has mentioned it, the actor doing the narration is the late Earl Boen. You might recognize him from his role as Dr. Silberman from Terminator, Terminator 2, & Terminator 3, if not his other roles on film & in TV shows. He's also the one who narrated many of the cinematics for the races in the game. The last expansion that he had a voice role in is Legion.
2:51, we have use of the Rule of Thirds. Lich King is framed to the left but usually shots in film position the character to the right to reduce claustrophobia. In a four line grid, two vertical and two horizontal, where the lines intersect at the top left, Lich King eyes match that intersection. This creates a cinematic feel, and the reason he is composed to the top, is like you eloquently stated, is to demonstrate his power to the audience. Position to the left or right generally can be done in film, and I have seen it depending on the mood the cinematographer wants to setup. I think the cinematographer chose to use the left side for Lich King to build on the uncertainty of what is being revealed behind him.
There's more to Arthas crouching in the snow. Watch his right hand, how his thumb and forefinger move together. When returning to his homeland as an avenging hero, the citizens of Lordaeron showered him with flower petals. Arthas caught one and did that exact same gesture with the petal as he considered what he was to do next. The quick head snap into attention forwards was also identical to the same he displayed rising from a crouching salute before murdering his own father to seize the throne
I look forward to watching that one then. KZ
The bit where he looks at the snow in his hand after wiping it off the ice is also a callback to the cutscene in Warcraft III where he crumbles a flower petal in his hand with the same motion before killing his father King Terenas
I really love your channel.
In a world where criticising bad films seem to be abundant, your channel is a breath of fresh air.
I may have watched this cinematic more than a hundred times, and it gives me goosebumps every time. Now I can appreciate that, for what it is, and I will watch it another hundred times. However your breakdown of why it is so good adds to my appreciation of it.
You demonstrate how, being knowledgable about a subject, makes you appreciate it so much more. And passing that passion and appreciation on to others is very generous.
Thank you for that
Thank you and it's great you've noticed that I like to keep the mood positive. I'm not interested in destroying someone's work, appreciate the why and what makes it good. Every now and then I'll say, I might not like that but normally I'll say what I would have done. Thank you for watching.
Its absolutely mind boggling that this came out 2008. You should have seen us reaction to these trailers back then because it was such a incredible hype and they always blew our sky high expectations.
This was the peak of WoW and arguably the Warcraft franchise in general. I've seen this cinematic countless times over the last ~16 years and I get goosebumps every time.
Lovely breakdown, Kai! I remember when this was revealed to the WarCraft players in November of 2007. I've seen it countless times since then, and yet I'm still learning new insights into the cinematic 16 1/2 years later. I also played WarCraft 3 when it came out in 2002, and because of that I have an emotional connection to Arthas due to playing him on his journey from Golden Prince to Lich King and all of the gut-wrenching choices he had to make. It's always amazing to me how people who haven't played the games can glean so much of the lore and history of the world and its characters from the cinematics.
You mentioned the narration, and I do want to touch on that for a minute. When Arthas' sword, Frostmourne, kills someone, it takes the soul of its victim to power the runes on the blade. This can be clearly seen in the in-game cinematis for The Wrathgate. The first soul Frostmourne ever took was Arthas', though not by a blade strike, but by Arthas wandering around with the blade for several months. It slowly leeched the soul from him, making Arthas the first victim of Frostmourne. The second life it took was King Terenas, Arthas' father.
This is why King Terenas is the narrator of the cinematic. His soul is housed in Frostmourne, and Arthas has, essentially, a telepathic connection with the blade. Terenas is speaking directly to what remains of Arthas through Frostmourne, trying to reach his son by reminding him of a conversation they had after Arthas had taken his vows to become a Paladin of The Silver Hand, serving the Holy Light. This is why Arthas slumps a little when Terenas reminds him that he was , "a weapon of righteousness."
Thank you so much for watching and explaining so much in your comment. 🙏🏻
very nice review of the trailer and also a really good interpretation of what they were trying to convey... what would blow your mind Mr Kai Zammit, is the relationship of what you correctly understood as the character being defined and being reinforced visually, to what the actual character actually is - its poetic that the narration is quite literally what his father wanted him to be, and what Arthas grew into is the direct opposite - "weapon of righteousness" he became a weapon corrupted and wicked - "rule with wisdom" rules through brute strength - "stirring the hearts of your people" quite literally brainwashed and took over them - its just so poetic... one of the best stories in world of warcraft and the best cinematic imo :)
I'm going to make a video soon once my everyday work has slowed down on Warcraft, my reaction to the in-game cinematics and I can chat about them a little more loosely. What I liked and just enjoy the franchise a bit more before I cover even more cinematic stories.
I'm glad you enjoyed the breakdown and thank you so much for watching! KZ
If you're not a WOW player, you should know the following; This World of Warcraft expansion, it's associated storyline, and the cinematics that came with it were some of the most iconic lore of the franchise. Many of us came to the game because of the Lich King himself, of course some were already playing. It is a struggle to find a more epic telling of a light to dark fall of a beloved character turned worldwide threat than that of Arthas into the Lich King.
This cinematic still tugs at our hearts...
I love that you chose this as your first Warcraft cinematic. The Rise and Fall of Arthas Menethil is quite possibly the best story Blizzard Entertainment has ever told. It is absolutely incredible. The story spans Warcraft 3, Warcraft 3 - The Frozen Throne, and World of Warcraft. This cinematic hits me so hard every single time. On the level of Horizon Zero Dawn's memorial of Elizabet Sobek...a woman you know has been dead for 1000 years, but the ambiance, the voice recordings of her mourners evoke such strong emotions, and the swell of the music when you hear Margo say, "Oh no."
I was so disappointed that the Warcraft movie was so terrible, that it will probably not get more attention from Hollywood. "The First War" (warcraft 1) was boring but necessary for laying the foundation...the Third War and beyond would have made billions.
I listen to you guys (viewers) to what I react and breakdown. This is why it was my first, I hope you enjoyed it. KZ
@@kaizammit To say that I enjoyed it, is wildly understating it. :) My first exposure to your channel was your Astartes reaction, which was fantastic. Finally, the YT algorythm did something right for me. I can't wait to see what you produce next for us. Thank you.
Thank you so much! Just by watching you're helping my little channel grow and it means a lot man. Really does... good boy algorithm! The next cinematic breakdown will be a League of Legends video. They take a while to put together around my working hours hence they come out every two weeks normally. This is why I'll be adding more reaction and general thought videos to give you guys (viewers) extra content while I work away on the breakdowns. It all depends on my current film projects off TH-cam.
Thank you again for being apart of the channel! KZ
Illidan's story is also great
I dont know how many times ive watched this trailer over the years, but seeing your breakdown of it gave me a new perspective of appreciation for it as there were a lot of subtle details I hadn't tohught about/noticed. Thank you for the video!
Glad you liked it my friend! KZ
What a great breakdown. I've always liked this cinematic, because even at first glance it easy to see that the people who made it actually put real effort into making it.
The dragon raised, unless I am mistaken, is Sindragosa. Once a proud Blue dragon, but since slain and re-arisen as an undead creature. Serving with this special kind of magic. Where you hear the voice of a child, I hear the voice of a trained singtress
There is one part I'll point out that was mentioned ages ago in the Warcraft 3 DVD. There is a scene where the cinematic filmakers said was disappointing. Archimonde puts his hand in the sand and picks up the sand. They said it look too unnatural and they couldn't get it right at the time. So they left it as is.
However, in Wrath of the Lich King, they redeemed themselves. When Arthas puts his hand in the snow and wipes it away. I know they were super proud of themselves. TH-cam "Archimonde destorys Dalaran" to see the hand thing.
i absolutely love these cinematics, PLEASE do more
I will be so don't worry. Stick with the channel. KZ
4:42am upload! (lol i know, timezones etc. I just wanted to comment for your algorithm shiz)
You're an animal! Go to bed, get those zzzzzz's. Normally I upload later in the day (evening for me) but work is getting in the way. Thanks man! KZ
@@kaizammit Just another note for cinematics if we're going to hit Warcraft stuff because a lot of them are mostly just spectacle. I think from storytelling, the best line comes from the Battle for Azeroth expansion. The order I recommend are "Battle For Azeroth", then three Warbringers shorts (Sylvannas, Jaina, then Azshara), and then the other official cinematics for the expansions, "Old Soldier", "Lost Honor", and "Reckoning". Some will say to watch Old Soldier first because chronology, but they are supposed to be told in the order I've laid out here, I promise.
What a legend, thank you so much. KZ
This was the first video of yours that I watched, and I loved it! You filmmaker’s breakdown of the cinematic was interesting and informative.
Immediately subscribed and will be watching your other videos soon.
But I first wanted to take a moment to voice my hope that you will be reacting to the other World of Warcraft cinematics as well, as I want to hear your breakdowns of them.
Thank you so much for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed my breakdown. I will be covering more WoW cinematics so stay tuned. KZ
The wow cinematics are all amazing. Cataclysm has an even better dragon. And that's not spoilers. You should finish the starwars the old republic ones too
If you're getting goosebumps without even knowing/playing the games... After thousands of hours put within the Warcraft games, starting with Warcraft: Orcs vs Humans when I was a kid, everytime I watch these cinematics I get tears in my eyes.
And shit, they screwed Arthas and Ner'Zhul so bad in the next cinematics... :(
You should watch the latest "The War Within" Cinematics that's released a week ago!
The War Within video, I've recorded it. I'm currently away on a business trip but once I'm back, I'll start editing it. I hope you return to the channel and check it out.
Getting insight from you about what exactly makes this work of art so good is super interesting.
Thank you so much for watching, it really means a lot. Commenting too... I just love it. KZ
what's even more wonderful about you got the visual backup of what the narrator (his father) says is that - if you know the lore - everything turned out to be the exact opposite and instead a good king, he became the Lich King. Arthas has one of the most tragic faith in fantasy stories
Check out the translation for the Lyrics of the “Arthas” and “Invincible” song during the scene. They essentially tell his whole story and even has a touch of irony in it.
Thank you! Hopefully one day they can translate these masterpieces into full length films! The warcraft movie was.....not awful, but not as masterful as this. The condense, precise story being told here is enveloping.
I was just discussing more Warcraft movies, this definitely would be such a good one!
Its a crying shame they didn't make Arthas' story into a movie but chose to go for a chronological order. The failure of that movie ensures we will never get a warcraft movie(s) about Arthas.
this cinematic was fire...
5:40 This shot also served as a bookend to the previous game in the series even though its supposed to be at least 5 years since those events.
Someone already mentioned that doing the Warcraft 3 Human ending cinematic together with this would have been nice.
I'd like to suggest doing the Warcraft 3 Orc ending cinematic together with the World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor cinematic. In the same episode (double feature). Not just for the story relationship between the two, but would be good reflection of the technology of the time 2002 vs 2014. (also note that Warcraft 3 reforged was a remake of Warcraft 3 with higher video resolution and I think higher res textures too in 2020 so up to you if you want to use that version or not)
The army of undeads that we see on cinematic was going to attack Arthas, when the voice says "the truest victory is inspiring the heart of your people" and Sindragosa roars, and everyone of the army get the blue fire and blue glowing eyes, same as him, like a perversion of a true king a good king... this cinematic makes me chill everytime, it was a masterpiece everyone who plays this game love Arthas... most iconic Raid Boss ever
5:41 This was part of the final shot and scene from years prior in Warcraft 3 the Frozen Throne. The final cinematic for the Scourge: Arthas becomes the Lich king.
Even though it's old, you should watch the final cinematic for the Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos Scourge finale.
"Arthas kills his father."
Despite being made 20+ years ago it held up extremely well.
That makes total sense now. I'm surprised it was placed at the beginning but there you are, I enjoyed it regardless! Thanks for watching and commenting, means a lot. KZ
I absolute love this kind of content, your professional reaction to.
Thank you so much for watching, it really means a lot fella! KZ
there is another reason for back lighting - Arthas is an antagonist he was a holy warrior, a prince, a hero, he was corrupted into becoming the lich king, even killing his own father, the lighting and his dad speaking in the background telling him how to rule over when he is gone, shows he is no longer in the light.
This cinematic will always give me chills, as someone who played WoW from the OG days. (And I have been able to defeat Arthas in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, but now I have no reason to want to play more because Cataclysm Classic is coming and that was the end of WoW for me.) So this cinematic is a reminder of the nostalgic days.
I'm sure this was explained in comments already. but Arthas is the single most fan favorite villain in world of warcraft to date. and this came out over a decade ago. other expansion stories have failed for daring to use this lore and change/add details to their new stuff. Also his entire story from beginning to end has to be one of my favorites, because so few times does the threat to realm of Azeroth rarely actually come from one of its denizens. There's tons of great lore channels that have gone over it, (and i never like name dropping channels in others comments, feels weird, but I highly recommend learning of this characters story in general, even if you don't plan to play the game, that section of lore itself is just so good!
Also just found this channel recently and it is just so quickly climbing into favorite channel position, love the excitement, open minded attitude and in depth yet simple way of commentary, I have already learned a ton of terminology and ways of looking at the media I consume and really see the effort and art applied in more areas of production! Loving this channel!
Would love to see you react to the other warcraft cinamatics. This one however is my favorite. The most amazing, serene and jaw dropping in terms of beauty, pace, and even storytelling as the voice over speaks more about the Lich Kings life and its such a cold (pun) opening. Its amazing. Glad you enjoyed it
I will be covering more WoW cinematics so stay tuned! Thanks for being here, KZ
listening to this is sooo relaxing and educational! loved the video cant wait i need more to look/listen to keep up the amazing work!
Thank you so much!! I'm starting a new line of videos where it's more of a discussion, sharing my thoughts after a reaction. I can give you more content, still talk filmmaking and it will go along with these Cinematic Breakdowns. Thank you for being here, KZ.
The song O thanagor is one of the most dramatics, epics and beautiful itself, that combined with a máster cinematic is a piece of perfection.
When the child comes in, it instantly told me that this was a banger! Thank you for watching, KZ
The world of warcraft cinematic team has always delivered epic trailers for the game. I've often found myself watching them all, in sequence, even though I stopped playing 5 yr ago.
Glad to see this one. Never really played WoW, but it is still so great to watch the cinematics
I have seen it a thousand times, and it still gives me goosebumps :)
I'm absoluty intrigued by your analysis of the video. Arthas' Story is one of my all time favorites since I was a child and you managed to break it done perfectly without deeper knowledge o the lore ( I assume). Big fat Kudos to you.
This was my first adventure into World of Warcraft. I very much enjoyed it and thank you for hanging out with me. KZ
Still hard to believe this was 13 years ago. That expansion was my introduction to mmorpgs, and it gave me so many good memories! Looking forward to more Blizzard analyses 😊 Blizzard and Riot's cinematic works are pretty hard to beat.
They're coming! KZ
This is a really accurate enelysis of the video, you nailed every feeling it gave me when I first saw this about 15 years ago. Experiences like this stay for a lifetime!
May I ask what is that nice chill background music you have going on under the breakdown part of the video?
My hang out music... sure thing.
Blue Dream by Cheel
th-cam.com/video/48SuFtm4YC0/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for watching fella, means a lot! KZ
Best Cinematic trailer ever done. Peak of Blizzard.
Sapphiron was an ice dragon and he was killed by Arthus in the frozen throne. He was then raised from the dead with necromancy.
A powerful piece in the game but only has a limited range of use.
I've been playing this game for over 16 years and this is by far my favorite Blizzard cinematic and the best WoW expansion imo. Excellent breakdown, my dude! Subscribed.
Thank you so much! I will be covering more WoW cinematics soon and I hope you like them. ✌🏻
Some backstory Kai....The narrator is the father of the character in the trailer. Arthas,the guy in the trailer basically was the prince of a kingdom and the only child of the king. He was also a powerful Paladin (holy knight) . There was a plague spreading in the kingdom which turned people into zombies and he went with his mentor to investigate,only to find out a demon was spreading the plague. He went too far with his quest to defeat the demon,ignoring any and all dangers,being consumed by vengeance. He picked up the runeblade shown in the trailer which gave him an edge with which he killed the demon,but in return he sacrificed his soul,becoming evil himself,betraying his companions and killing them all off and remaining in the frozen wasteland where the trailer takes place. He picked up a helmet which gave him the power to control the dead (zombies) and he also murdered his own father too. That's why the music is so tragic,because he is a fallen hero who sacrificed everything for his people,even his people too when he fell from good. Glad this is your first WoW trailer video,because it's the high point of the game story-wise. It's a lore rich expansion with plenty of iconic characters who came to light much earlier in the story of Warcraft,some truly shaping the entire world with their actions (Arthas being one of them). It's also Blizzard's best villain by a far margin. No other villain comes even close.
I just found you a couple months ago, and my god, i love how you explain and teach us more about filmmaking, i found it interesting.
in other note, this cinematic is from a ERA when Blizzard actually make good cinematics and game. if you knew all the history behind arthas, this cinematic is even more powerfull, special because of the person doing the narration...
Thank you so much! Not all my content will be broken down but the gaming Cinematics will be, that's a series where I can help teach, love it! Thank you again for watching, I hope you stick around with the channel. I've heard this cinematic hits differently if you know the backstory. This is why I want to do another lines of videos where I can catch up, still give you my thoughts and filmmaking thoughts but it would be tough breaking down gameplay footage etc. KZ
Helll yeahhh 🔥
Hell yeahhh to you for being here brother, thank you so much! KZ
@@kaizammit np man:) been here a long time, it's always nice to see new people :D !
Peak of game cinematography
After 15 years still get goosebumps, nice react
God the frist time i played this addon and saw this cinematic back in the day i was so hyped. And still, this is one of the Best.
This Cinematic HAS NOT FAILED to bring me Chills Everytime.
Is that a pun?! ;) I agree too.
Thank you sir I've been waiting for this!
Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video. KZ
Another detail about "the child singing", it is about young prince Arthas' horse, Invincible. I imagine it is Arthas himself singing the song, and it tells the story about this magnificent steed that Arthas eventually had to put out of its misery after it got badly injured. After becoming a death knight (but before becoming the Lich King), Arthas went back and raised the horse into undeath to serve him once again. It comes full circle with the in-game end cinematic to this WoW expansion... :') Such a great story of the fall of a prince and righteous paladin of The Light, from Warcraft 3 and throghout the entirety of this WoW expansion.
And the undead dragon he raises in this cinematic is (well, was) Sindragosa, consort to Malygos, the dragon Aspect of Magic. "No biggie." :P
I'm digging that! I love those full circle stories. I mentioned Soul Reaver in this video but it also has some elements of coming full circle for something to happen. KZ
This cinematic always brings a tear to my eye.
Got you recommended with the Astartes reaction and have now watched almost all of your reactions. I really like your breakdowns and information.
Thank you so much, I hope you continue to enjoy them, KZ.
Arthas is a parallel to Arthur. He pulls a cursed sword from a stone on a quest of revenge, knowing it is a powerful weapon. It chips away at his soul until he becomes the Lich King. He's perhaps the most important character in the series in terms of his relationship to the other main characters.
In-game loot wise, you can see an insight into him if you kill him while undergoing a certain quest, which gives you a key to a special chest of his full of mementos. They relate to a series of other major characters and lead people to debate whether some part of him was still human. The contrary view being that one of the mementos is a vial of blood from somebody who was never his friend, but is purely a torture victim of his, leading to the view that the chest is just a serial killer trophy case. Each of the mementos relate to somebody whose life he ruined in some way. Most from old friends, which is where the "He cared deep down" part comes in, but some have no business being there if it isn't some kind of twisted trophy case.
Analysis of his character also goes into how he was always a bit of a psycho even before he was corrupted, and whether the story is "Noble hero falls to the dark side" or "Everybody thinks this guy is a noble hero because of tropes, but he's constantly showing them otherwise. He's a psychopath. Even after the lich king incident his friends are in denial and blame the sword for his corruption.".
The surface level is "King Arthur pulls a cursed sword from the stone". The contrary view is that this is the story the in-game characters are telling themselves because they can't believe the truth as it's too painful for them, and too incomprehensible. The books support the latter view since they emphatically and repeatedly state Arthas is an independent actor with free will and his actions are not down to the blade. There's also a marked transition between Lich Kings.
"Ner'Zhul doesn't care to torture one individual ranger who held him up a bit. It's all a means to an end to raise the undead and conquer the world. He's dispassionate. It's a waste of time and resources that could be spent raising more people into his army. Arthas is not like Ner'Zhul.".
Arthas' tenure as Lich King is noticeably more sadistic. This has no explanation unless that's just what he is like when given the opportunity.
Some fans listen to Arthas's friends (Major lore characters) and their utter denial over what Arthas is and think they're "Telling the story". This is a mistake. You have to remember they're not expositing the story. They're a part of it. And their role in that story is as the friends of a mass murdering psychopath who can't accept what he is. But the narration in the books knows better.
The story is "What if King Arthur, prophesized hero, was born a serial killing psycho. And nobody wanted to accept that.".
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"I dearly hope there is a special place in hell waiting for you, Arthas."
"We may never know Uther. I intend to live forever.".
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(From "Arthas is the least redeemable character in WoW")
"So to all those people who say Arthas had some humanity left in him? You're right. I can think of nothing more damning to say about him than that."
Good video, great insight into the cinematography and storytelling. The Warlords of Draenor expansion had another excellent WoW cinematic, you should check that one out too!
Thank you for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I will be covering more WoW cinematics. I was looking at my list yesterday and World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Cinematic sounded like it would be fun to watch. Let me know, is a good one? KZ
Blizzard always made great cinematic, I even bought a DVD with the cutscenes of Starcraft and Diablo2 back in the day :-) I really liked the "Kiriko" short from Overwatch 2.
Other very different shorts, I would recommend (if you also watch other types of animation) are "Ohayo" by Satoshi Kon, "Rain Town" and "Tsumiki no le (La Maison en Petits Cubes)". They are all shorts films without narration and easy to find on YT.
"Ohayo" is part of an anthology named Ani Kuri 15 with many great shorts, all about a minute long. I really love "Gathering of Cats" by Makoto Shinkai.
The singing child is actually a singing woman.
NO WAY! I feel dumb...That's her fault for being so good then haha. KZ
The blizzard I grew up loving. This is the Blizzard I prefer to remember. Their cinematic prowess was second to none.
I definitely would recommend dedicating yourself to a series of world of warcraft reactions. It would be highly appreciated. I do suggest to try and do it chronologically as I've seen other reactions where people had fun trying to tailor the narrative for the lore as they watch the cinematics.
Additionally, this might be somewhat of a reach since I'm not sure how relevant you would find it, but watching the big moments from "in-game" graphics machinema's that didn't quite make the cut to be big full cinematics on their own would be super cool as well.
The story told from these two medias alone conveys an incredibly lore rich world with lots of twists and turns, delivered in a rather comprehensive manner. Man I hope you like the idea.
Appreciate the reacts as always!
The amount of cinematics and story content out there, I could easily do that. Currently I'm still enjoying the different worlds from these franchises, little tasters before I start really getting into them. I want to do a reaction and thoughts video soon on the in-game cinematics for Warcraft 3. Another piece of content for you guys to enjoy and hopefully, hear what I have to say about the experience.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me again, means a lot! KZ
P.S. The reason I don't want to stick to a franchise yet is I don't want the channel to only be associated with that brand. I want all fans from all different franchises to come hang out.
@@kaizammit I sincerely appreciate the explanation of your thought process and completely understand that you might approach it with a rotational release of different franchises. - I have to admit you one-up'd me on including the warcraft 3 cinemstics and in-game cutscenes. That's a splendid idea, especially to make sense and understand the impact of the release of World of warcraft(Vanilla) and the two expansions afterwards, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich king. I'll be enjoying your videos! Cheers!
Enjoyed the review. Epic cinematic. Was SOOOO good when it came out! Your explanation of the framing and point of view.. particularly looking up in most of the frames really resonates. Feel like I've had that kind of perspective with Thanos. For a bit of fun watch Spongbob - Frostmourne (name of the sword btw)
Kai imagine how much harder story hit us, fans who play all Warcraft games, know all story before, know those character and all his path befor those moment. It's hit hard like a track back in a day when game releases. Oh God how lucky we are to leave in present day's, we can see and make magic world and touch em and leave many lives in perfect fantasy and fantastic universe. Hope i can lice long enough to see what humankind can make from so young PC|console game industries. Thank you for your reactions, keep it go ) Hope you react much more fame cinematics (maybe more WoW - Cataclism perhaps) 💙💛
I'm very jealous knowing I won't ever get that experience but I'm happy to get anything from these amazing stories. I'll certainly get round to covering more WoW cinematics, I hope you like them. KZ
Instead of a live movie of the beginning, this is what we wanted. Long live Arthas Menethil!
If you enjoy World of Warcraft cinematic trailers, you should try watching Hurricane's World of Warcraft: Raid trailers. The most recent trailer, The Black Temple, was an interesting set piece paired with the VFX breakdown, which shows just how much work you can accomplish in a year. (Note: they've been silent for almost a year again.)
Here's the link if you feel like looking into his Black Temple work:
th-cam.com/video/EM1LxHosiFM/w-d-xo.html
Thank you so much for the link. I'll add that to my list and I look forward to watching it. Thanks for hanging out with me. KZ