In today's video we react to World Of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King & Fall of the Lich King Subscribe To Our Vlog Channel:bit.ly/2RmUZVQ Original Video: • World of Warcraft: Wra... • Fall of the Lich King ...
I'm continuously amazed that no youtube-streamer gets that the background narration of the wrath of the lich king cinematic pretty obviously in in opposition of what is shown. The narrator talks about righteousness and the character shows a sword with skulls details beginning glowing icy blue. The narrator talks about holding back power and the character just summons a badass ice dragon from the icy depths. The narrator talks about hearts of the people and you are shown mindless hordes of undead. All together you see character, who does very limited abrupt movements just to convey power to the audience. You just are just not filled in if its a bad, good or morally grey character without the backstory, but you could make an educated guess.
all true, but you must remember, there is 30 years of Warcraft lore. Asking someone to understand the plot from just even the past 10 years of information, your still gonna be confused. Honestly, it actually just amazes me how much of the lore ties into itself so well.
he could be the king of the undead tho, which he literally is, so for some1 with 0 lore knowledge, it might seem like he is doing everything right. They have no clue that Arthas was a paladin once.
Check out Geeks of Mucklebee, they're a family and the dad is a fantasy fan and they're all pretty smart about how it all works and show genuine interest. NOT taking away anything from Mario and Nicole, they're great too.
In this video you are looking at Arthas (Former Lich KIng) we as players had to kill him and Bolvar took his place ( the one in the other video), there needs to be a Lich King on the throne always to keep the undead at bay otherwise they would go everywhere and it would be caothic. Arthas was supposed to be king of azeroth but went against his father and killed him , became Lich King in search for power wich corrupted him and became evil, Bolvar was a good guy and sacrificed himself to be the next Lich King to keep the undead army at bay
@@majinefe2219 Arthas wasn't evil, he got corrupted in his weakest time. There in fact is a speculation that Arthas held Ner'zhul back the whole time and tried to resist him.
@@DrobusMaximus Yeah but when someone is corrupted that doesn't mean that he is not evil. In example anakin was also corrupted by Sidious in Star Wars and turned evil. That's what corruption is to me when it comes to Humankind. He had a good intention but got into a evil path.
Hey Nicole and Mario, i've been loving these WOW reactions. But you should really go back and start from the Warcraft 3 cinematics and then move onto the early WOW cinematics to better understand the world and the backstory of all the main characters like Arthas and Sylvanas :)
"Lich King" only serves as a vessel. The true Lich King is Ner'zhul, and his soul is locked into the helmet. He controls the Scourge, which is an army of the dead. Arthas Menethil was the prince of Lordaeron, a human kingdom, who fought against the Scourge. He was so desperate to save his kingdom he ultimately got tricked into claiming the sword Frostmourne, which started to corrupt him and led him to destroying his own kingdom and claiming the helmet, which allowed the Lich King to claim him completely and use him to do his bidding. In the first cinematic, you see Arthas waking up after years of being dormant in Northrend, which is the home of the Lich King, ready to dominate the world. There is a theory that Arthas tried to resist the Lich King until his last breath and held him back. In the second cinematic you can see his death, Tirion Fordring led the assault on Lich King's citadel and managed to defeat him with the help of the champions (players). Without a vessel, the Scourge doesn't have leadership and would just ravage the world, so Bolvar, an Alliance soldier, accepts the burden of being the Lich King's vessel with the intention of holding the Scourge and the Lich King back. Sylvanas was slain and enslaved, and her kingdom was destroyed by Arthas, so Sylvanas absolutely hates the Lich King, even though now it is Bolvar and not Arthas. When she died, she went to "hell", but was returned by the Val'kyr, and since then, she was trying to do what is in her power to never go back there, she wants to become immortal. In the cinematic where you see her fighting Bolvar as the Lich King, she made a pact with the Jailer, who is a "big dog" in Shadowlands, the land where all the dead souls go in WoW universe. She fought Bolvar and broke the helmet to open the gateway to Shadowlands and fulfil her job given to her by the Jailer, which is yet unknown. Even the last war provoked by her was artificially created by her so as many people from Alliance and Horde would die, and their souls would go to Shadowlands, feeding the Jailer's power.
Not really full up on the lore, since Ner'zhul basically lost control of Arthas a long time ago, and what ended up being was basically a fusion of the two. Arthas was a willing Lich King, in the end. You actually learn that through some of the quests in Wrath.
It was not even really a fusion of them at the end in the book wrath of the lich kings its revealed that its arthas in complete control now as he basically shatters Ner'zhul and even in the chronicle 3 it basically says the same thing and that all that was left of Ner'zhul but a wailing echo at the back of Arthas mind that he had no trouble ignoring
To be more clear. The real Lichking is the Arthas himself. But only potion of him. The bad potion. Arthas seal away corrupted Nerzul and the good Arthas in the Frostmourne. Those spirits are gone forever. But In Artifact quest we found factions of these souls still inside the broken blade and we had to fix things
Well bad writing of a book. Just because Arthas was everybody darling doesn't mean that not Ner'Zhul was the Lich King and Arthas just the body. Wow just fucked it up and then there was a book created by a third class autor.
I'd highly recommend watching Nobbel87 he make amazing lore vidoes, that'll answer your questions about Arthas. Oh and also, I highly recommend watching "The Wrath Gate" cinematic, that ties these two videos together.
@@xecelus You're thinking of the Shadowlands cinematic. Warbringers Sylvanas is the artistic one which flashes back to the Assault on the Sunwell in WC3, which shows Arthas killing Sylvanas and raising her as a Banshee
The other two videos that really fit these two cinematics together are : "Arthas Betrayal" cinematic and the "Wrathgate" cinematic. If you can watch those two videos you can start to piece the story a little better. You'll see what really transpired in Arthas' life and how it got to that point. But as others have said, you just have to watch the cinematics from the beginning....these are so fun to watch!!
Yeah, particularly the similarities between Wrathgate and Reckoning are interesting to notice: Sylvannas exiting through the Orgrimmar gates looks very similar to Arthas exiting through the wrathgate, Varok yelling "Let it be finished!" just like Draenosh did.
I love that you guys are going through these cinematics, giving me an excuse to revisit them. However I feel that you are missing a lot of the context and emotional punch for them given how much of the story is divvied up into cut scenes, in game text, books and other little snippets. It would be interested to see you find a compilation of as many of the videos as possible and work your way through them together as your reactions are so genuine and entertaining to watch! :)
Ok, let me explain as short as I can the story of The Lich King. The first one was called Arthas, he was a prince of a kingdom called Lordaeron and his father was the king. As he was young, he was trained as a Paladin, a Holy Warrior, but during a set of tragic events that involved a plague that turned his people into the undead he was led down a path of darkness for vengeance against the creators of that plague and was withdrawn to the Frozen Throne where the armor of the lich king was imprisoned. When he took up the sword, called Frostmourne, his transformation began, from a noble paladin, to a Death Knight. He returned back to his kingdom, Lordaeron, murdered his father and imprisoned his soul in the sword, setting the stage for the kingdom's destruction, which happened shortly after. Then he went on a rampage destroying the High Elves kingdom and murdering like 90% of their population in the process. He then returned to the Frozen Throne and picked up the Helm of Domination (the iconic armor piece of the Lich King) and became frozen on the throne for several years in which time he fought a mental battle between his humanity and his new personality as Lich King. The former won eventually and he came back to life, ready to invade and transform the whole world into the Undead under his command. We, as players in the game, finally defeat him and thats where the Fall of the Lich King cinematic took place. Bolvar, the burnt character on the throne in the video was also a great human warrior that was almost killed during a trap, but the red dragons (Aspect of Life in this game) "saved" him, but his body was burnt beyond recovery, or even recognition, so he chose to become the new Lich King, in order to keep the armies of the dead in check. Thats pretty much it, in a short summary.
Quick rundown for you guys, the narrator was Arthas' father, Terenas Menethil II, whom Arthas killed after the helm of domination/frostmourne(His sword) corrupted him, and was formerly a Paladin as well. The scene with the dragon is him reviving the bone wyrm Sindragosa. Bolvar Fordragon was also a Paladin for the Alliance, before Alexstrasza's fire burned his flesh(Ty Rhys). Bolvar is also the same Lich King that was in the Shadowlands trailer, which also explains why he was weaker than Arthas was. Love your guys videos, keep it up :D.
Bolvar is weaker than Arthas because Bolvar doesn't want the power, he is still holding back so it doesn't fully take him, Arthas wanted to use his full might, and also, Sylvanas had some 'help'
This is so funny watching you guys react to these. Even though the cinematics are out of order, I think you both enjoy trying to piece the story together really :) keep going, there's so much more to figure out!
GoT was originally written long before WotLK came out. It's likely the devs took inspiration from George RR Martin's novels or it's purely coincidence.
@@itsjoebro1353 While true, the Lich King was not created until 2002. In 1994, the Lich King was not even a sparkle in Chris Metzen's eye. That having been said, the two works were likely not derivative of one another. The idea of Lich Kings and undead in cold, frozen areas is hardly new or original. Fantasy has been doing that for a long time.
@@wabachi Which copied Tokien and many other folk tales. Most works are derivative of works that came before, much like science. It doesn't diminish the end product, unless, of course, the didn't do anything original with what they utilized.
I was trying to think of a way to help explain some of the characters. There are so many interconnected stories. But maybe this will help. --- |-----Prince Arthas Menethil (First video armored man with the big sword) Prince of Lordaeron and member of a group of holy warriors called Paladins. Arthas and Jaina tried to stop a plague that turned people into the undead. Desperately trying to save his kingdom he took up the sword Frostmourne that consumed his soul, and wound up serving the forces he sought to destroy. ---Related Media: Frostmourne ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bSBJeIKesYo.html --- |-----King Terenas Menethil II (Narrator in first video / spirit/ghost in second video) Arthas' father. King Terenas was killed by his son after Arthas took up the sword Frostmourne. The kingdom of Lordaeron fell after his death. ---Related Media: Fall of Lordaeron ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oK-0ks9YfV0.html --- |-----Tirion Fordring (Armored man in the second video who almost puts the helm on) Tirion is also a Paladin. Many years after the fall of Lordaeron he reformed the order of Paladins and lead them to Northrend to put an end to the Arthas the Lich King. ---Related Media: Fall of the Lich King (Remastered) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-N4BCLP_sojs.html --- |-----Bolvar Fordragon (Burning man seen in second video) Bolvar lead the initial attack on Arthas at the battle of Wrathgate, but that did not go well and he died. Red dragons came to purge the area and their flames reanimated his burnt body. Bolvar takes up the helm and becomes the new Lich King to keep the undead from washing over the world. ---Related Media: Battle of Wrathgate (Remastered) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LwngFEIg8Kw.html --- |-----Frost Wyrm (dragon raised in first video) Frost Wyrms are blue dragons that have been raised into undeath.
If you want kind of a shortened explanation, Arthas was a human prince who was corrupted by an evil lich that was corrupting the town of Lordaeron with a plague that would turn the people into undead (or commonly called "The Scurge"). He tried to save the town but went mad in the process and when he realized he couldn't save them he decided the best action was to kill them all instead and purge the city to not allow the plague to spread. He then found the lich and chased him back to Northrend (the frozen continent he lives on in this cinematic) where the lich, led by a spirit of a dead warlock named Ner'Zul corrupted him and basically said he could give him the power to save and control his people by using that helmet - when he put it on it corrupted him, turning him into a lich as well and allowed him a great power to control the undead but that he was also the harbinger of the undead. He ended up using that power to conquer a ton of lands and people, namely the high elves - which Sylvannas was one of - and in the process he corrupted Sylvannas and turned her into an undead "Forsaken" (which is why she hates him). In one of the expansions of World of Warcraft we encounter Arthas in Icecrown Citadel (his castle where Sylvannas fought the new lich king in the Shadowlands trailer) and we end up killing him along with some of the most well regarded champions in the world (Saurfang who Sylvannas killed was among them, and his son was turned by the Lich King, and he had to kill him personally to break the curse - which is why the flashback of him holding his dead son was in the snow). That said there "has to be a lich king" to control the scourge and not let them go insane and ravage all of the world, as they were when Arthas was in control of them so a man named Bolvar who was already eternally tormented by a constant burn caused by dragonfire sacrificed himself to become the new Lich King, which is who Sylvannas stole the crown from. When she broke the crown and destroyed the spirit of Ner'Zul who was corrupting the helmet it fragmented the pathways between Azeroth and the "Shadowlands" which is essentially the afterlife area of all life. So basically she's trying to go to the afterlife without dying and to somehow find a way to be immortal and all-powerful. I said a short explanation, which that honestly is compared to how much more lore there is there - and I might have messed up a couple points and left out a few key characters along the way - but that's the just of it all. As you said though, you're kind of entering in at different parts in the story without really hearing the beginning of it.
"Arthus? Ha hehe. What a dorky name." Huh. Maybe that's why he went crazy, committed patricide/regicide, slaughtered his own kingdom, and raised them into undeath. People thought he had a dorky name.
In the original cinematic you watched, it was King Terenas voice over talking to his son, Arthas. Arthas was going to be king of Lordaeron (the city in the Battle for Azeroth cinematics where the war is happening). However, Arthas became desperate trying to stop a plague from consuming his people. He eventually took to purging an entire city. Killing thousands. Becoming more desperate, he sought out the help of the weapon Frostmourne. Which he used to defeat Mal'Ganis. In the process, he lost his soul. He became an evil being, slave to Frostmourne. During this time, he ended up leading the undead through Lordaeron to destroy it, during these events he fought Sylvanas (crazy elf chick) He stabbed her with Frostmourne, turned her into a Banshee to live out her days in death and solitude. Sylvanas was able to get her body back and then she harboured a huge grudge with Arthas. At this point Arthas finds his way to The Frozen Throne, and joins with Nerzul...becoming The Lich King. At this point, we as the players defeat him and then the second video you watched happens. He's defeated, and Bolvar Fordragon takes up the mantle of Lich King in order to control the undead and keep them at bay. That's where he's been this whole time until we see him again in the Shadowlands trailer where his crown is destroyed and cracks open the veil between life and death.
The first Lich King was a Orc called Nerzul, and he spirits lives in the crown. Arthas was a prince of lordareon (one of 7 humans kingdon) and a honorable paladin that was corrupted by Nerzul in his jorney to save his kingdon and people. After that he kill his own father (the king of lordareon) travels to the lands of north (Northerend) he put crown of the Lich King and he's spirits in first time becomes one with Nerzul. But some time after he "won" the "spirits fight" angainst nerzul, and assume total control of the crown. And when he woke up (thats is the first cinematic that you saw) the events of Scourge's invasions has begun (World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - 2007). Bolvar was regent of another human kingdon (Stormwind) a honorable man that "died" in war against the Lich King. But the dragons of life with they fire burned Bolvar and he becomes like a "undead" of fire. After that Lich King Arthas was trying to corrupt him, but fails because he was a honorable man but torturated him until the end. Tirion was a grand master paladin of holy light that fought against lich king and won. All this is a simple and little resume about Arthas, Bolvar and Tirion, they have much more insteresting history and lore. Bolvar becomes the new Lich King and becomes a "Jailer" of the Undead, because the undead answer only to the Lich King. In the end he puts the undead army under control. But even with this he becomes, how can i say this.... Hum... "Little evil" when Tirion puts the Crown on his head. Like a "Ok i will control them, but dont threat on me, or even talk to me...." And about the Lich King and Night King it is so mutch crazy the similarities between this two carachteres. The Lich King (and his undead army was born in Warcraft 3 - 2002). The Nights' King doesnt exist in books, but, the Other, exist since 1996 in books. Now look at this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T8vH0TaIDNY.html . Did HBO get inspired by the cinematics of the Lich King (2007) to make the end of the 7th season of GOT (2017)?
It is interesting to see the reaction from those who don't know the backstory of Warcraft to these cinematics. Gives an idea of how much of it can be gleaned just from the movies themselves.
Billy Booze Why would you be annoyed at that? The whole point is they go in blind, if they know enough to order everything properly they’ll be spoiled. Instead of being annoyed, maybe we as a community can just give them an order without giving spoilers
I love the inferences that you guys are making on these, as someone who was raised playing this game, it makes me really happy seeing people who don't know it taking interests and trying to get into the story!
So: the voice in the first cinematic was the father speaking, but it was a memory from Arthas' youth, when he was a young prince and paladin (kind of like a mid evil crusader, part knight/ part priest). Later in life, the world is being attacked by demons, and Arthas seeks power in order to push the demons back and ends up being corrupted by an evil power (that of the Lich King, master of the undead) and betrays his father, and ends up basically killing his entire kingdom and raising them as undead servants. About 10 years later, Bolvar Fordragon and Tirion Fordring (two paladins of the same order, which is why they call each other brother) lead a crusade against the Lich King to keep him from taking over the world and raising everyone as zombies. The players of the game go with them and are the ones that kill Arthas (the Lich King) and the ghost of his father tells Tirion that if there is no Lich King, then there is no one controlling the undead, so they will just run amok and be an even bigger danger to the rest of the world. Check out the videos "Arthas Betrayal" which is when he starts losing himself to the evil powers, and "The Wrathgate" which happens between these two cinematics.
i LOVE watching these vids. you guys interpretation of the vids are actually surprisingly accurate for having no knowledge of the Warcraft history. Good stuff!
I've recently found your reaction videos to World of Warcraft cinematics and it's refreshing to see people who are unfamiliar with the story be so intrigued and engaged by it. Many in the comments have small snippets of info for each video, but the truth of the matter is that there is no way anyone could summarize these stories in a way that makes sense in a comment. These stories have been built and expanded on since the first Warcraft games, through books, and the current MMO game. They are very complex and intertwined stories between characters, places, and events. The books are amazing reads, even if you don't like the game itself.
Shortened history lesson on the Lich King in Warcraft lore: here you're looking at Arthas Menethil. He used to be the prince of Lordearon, as well as a very powerful paladin (a holy warrior, or to use his father's words, "a weapon of righteousness"). His people were under constant attack from the Scourge (aka the undead), under the control of the old Lich King Ner'zhul. Arthas threw everything he had into the fight against the Scourge, trying to protect his people. During the fighting, he learned of an old blade that was so powerful even the Lich King wouldn't be able to withstand it, called Frostmourne. Arthas decided to go get it, and actually managed to retrieve it. However, there were two crucial pieces that were left out of the stories that Arthas had heard about Frostmourne: the sword captures the souls of those it kills, and the sword has a will of its own (much like the One Ring in Lord of the Rings), and slowly corrupts the wielder into doing horrible things to feed yet more souls into the blade. This corruption led to Arthas slaughtering his own people in an attempt to purge the Scourge from his city, as well as killing his own father. Eventually, Arthas did manage to kill the old Lich King Ner'zhul, only to find that there must always be a Lich King, else the Scourge will run rampant and kill all life on the planet. Arthas took it upon himself to put on the Lich King's crown (called the Helm of Domination) and thus control the Scourge, and stop them from killing everyone. Over time, the corrupting influence of Frostmourne, amplified by the Helm of Domination's own influence, cause Arthas to basically go insane and launch an all-out attack on life across the planet. During this attack, he "created" Sylvanas, twisting her from the First Ranger of her people into the Banshee Queen that she is now. We, the player base, stepped up and killed Arthas, with the help of a few storied characters, including Tirion Fordring and his brother Bolvar. Bolvar was struck down in an earlier battle, and was engulfed in literal dragon fire, but instead of killing him, the fire somehow sustained him and kept him alive, albeit horribly burned and in pain. After we killed Arthas, Tirion stepped up to make the sacrifice play to become the new Lich King, but Bolvar showed up and took the sacrifice instead, demanding that "everyone must forget this, so nobody will come looking for this place again." Even before the dragon fire, Bolvar was not nearly as powerful as Arthas had been, and he was considerably weakened after the dragon fire incident (which is probably the reason Sylvanas refers to him as a usurper and unworthy). Bolvar is the Lich King that you saw in the Shadowlands trailer, him turning from fiery orange to blue was him accepting the full power of the Lich King because he knew he wasn't strong enough to stop Sylvanas on his own, so he was hoping that the extra power would be enough (obviously it wasn't). Had it still been Arthas up there, I doubt Sylvanas would've even shown up to confront him, and she definitely would not have won that fight.
This cinematic is 12/13 years old from an older period in the games history. This Lich King is Arthus who has his own tragic backstory as a human paladin and heir to a different throne, before he became the Lich King. The monologue his father is giving is referring to the throne he was to inherit as a normal human. As the Lich King though Arthus committed many monstrosities and so he was the bad guy. The Lich King in the Shadowlands cinematic was Bolvar who took the burden upon himself when 'we' (the players) defeated Arthus 10 years ago. Sylvanas defeated him because she has some force behind her giving her new 'powers', otherwise she wouldn't stand a chance.
I've really been enjoying these videos. Seeing the reactions of people without real context has reminded me of just how deep the story really is. There's so much that I wish you folks could watch, because there are so many amazing stories! The story of Arthas is an amazing one, from his rise as a prince to him becoming Lich King. Should you guys watch Warbringer Jaina, do yourself a favor afterwards and watch the Taliesin and Evitel deep dive video because it has such incredible granular detail and Taliesin's love for the character really brings a great appreciation for every small detail in there.
to explain in game of throne terms, arthas, the guy who died in the 2nd video, was the evil white walker, and the crown controls all the undead. By giving the crown to a good guy, he can keep the undead from invading the living kingdoms, and make peace. thats why he calls it being "the jailor of the damned"
The very short of it is that Arthas was a prince of a human kingdom called lordaeron, and through a series of unfortunate events engineered by demons, he pursued the sword and helm in the pursuit of power to protect his kingdom. The helm actually possesses him, and makes him the lich king, arthas is a separate person. He then went back and killed his father the king, wiped out the human kingdom, and then went north and wiped out the high elven kingdom, silvermoon being the capital city, which was the most powerful kingdom in the world at the time. (He wiped out 90% of them and they renamed themselves blood elves in their quest for retribution. )Sylvanas was in charge of the defence of silvermoon, and he raised her as a banshee to fight for him, which is why she has a hate boner for him. He then used their magical sunwell to resurrect his general, which left rhe blood elves without a source of magical nourishment, which killed or withered more of them. Then he went to Northrend, the ice place, and went to sleep for a decade or so and slept while the undead built a citadel around him. Then the cinematic begins. Funnily enough, we didn't actually beat the lich king. He lured azeroths greatest fighters to him, and actually killed us all, and was raising us as his champions, when the "light" intervened, and let a good guy break his sword and resurrect us . The souls trapped in his sword ravaged him and let us defeat him.
This was such a huge expansion for many of us. A little backstory with Arthas. He was the prince of Lordaeron, the kingdom he was lined up to become King of. You get to play and follow Arthas and his fall in the strategy game, Warcraft 3. By the end of the Warcraft 3, Arthas had lost his kingdom to the Undead. He followed what he believed was the leader of the Undead to a place called Northrend (where you see Arthas as Lich King in the cinematic), where he claims Frostmourne (the sword he wields), which took his soul for trading of power to kill the Demon who was helping control the Undead. After killing the Demon, he became Undead and lost his soul. He ventured back to Lordaeron, and killed his dad, the King, and the kingdom fell to the Undead. The reason this expansion was huge for us, is because many of us are fans of Arthas, and this expansion ended Arthas's story. The huge frozen undead dragon you see him raise I believe is Sindragosa, one of the final bosses in the raid leading to Arthas. As the Lich King, Arthas commanded the Undead. The reason they needed another Lich King after Arthas's fall, is if there isn't a Lich King to command the Undead, they'd go wild and go anywhere and everywhere. This expansion enjoyed the highest player count World of Warcraft ever had. Many of us were excited to go to Northrend and see how Arthas's story would end. It was a great story in the making over many years with our favorite character. The ghost that was holding Arthas at the end of the cinematic was his Father, the King. Hope this helps understand the video a little bit.
For the confusion with the red and blue flames, I would 1st of refer to one of the comments explaining very well on who the Lich King is, who Arthas is, and who Bolvar is. The one you saw was Bolvar, whom was very close to death before attaining the Lich King's Crown, and was only kept alive thanks to a dragons breath / flame, hence the red flare. The blue is all Lich King.
So to clear out some of the confusion you guys had with these, the person in the first cinematic is the son, the voice of the narrator is his father (the ghost you see in the second cinematic), the narration is kind of ironic as Arthas basically did the exact opposite of what the narration says, as he killed his father and trapped his soul in the sword, and razed his kingdom and turned all it's inhabitants to undead. In the second cinematic you see his fall, the sword was shattered by Tirion (the guy with the gray beard who was going to put the helmet on first), which released all the souls that had been trapped in it and the torrent of their unleashed wrath killed Arthas, which included his fathers spirit, who gave those passing words to Tirion before fading away about how there would always need to be a lich king to keep the undead hordes in check. Bolvar, the fiery guy you saw sitting on the throne, was another paladin (brother to Tirion in the way they were both paladins of the same order, no actual relation), who was mortally wounded in an earlier battle and scorched by dragon fire, (the Wrathgate cinematic shows this event, it is something worth checking also to understand more of the story), who then took on the burden of being the keeper of the dead as he had no place in the world of the living anymore.
I recommend re-watching these whenever you can in the order they originally came out, and also watching the original Warcraft cinematics to understand the story a little more.
Remember the other video for shadowlands. "that power will be your prison" Before she broke the helmet. That is what he is doing becoming the jailor of the damned. THe one that fell and was in the first cinematic is Arthas Menethil. He was a paladin, and did horrible things, killed an entire city to stop a plague of undeath. Then went to the ice lands, found the sword. Came back to his kingdom and killed his father. Then he went to the throne and gained power being frozen. We killed him in game. And bolvar took his place. Bolvar you will see how he became burning like that in the Wrathgate cinematic. Which will also show you what happened to saurfangs son. So watch the wrathgate and you will get more of the story.
That was the Helm of Domination, which controls the undead Scourge. While the Arthas sword was Frostmourne, which takes the souls of who is killed. Making the sword more and more powerful. Ner'zhul was the first Lich King, with Arthas becoming the second, with Bolvar Fordragon being the last. This really explains why the Shadowlands cinematic went from fire to ice. It was Bolvar giving up control to Ner'zhul. When Sylvanas riped off the helm from Bolvar, he returned to his dragon fire effect. The destrution of the Helm of Domination now means no one is controlling the Scourge. Which will be bad.
In a nutshell, without tryna overcomplicate it with lore details: The guy who raised the dragon is Arthas. He is a Prince who went evil and killed his dad (who is the guy speaking as a ghost). He is cursed by a sword and can raise undead, hence the dragon. He is killed by players and thats who you see die, with his ghost dad holding him. But there must always be someone to control the undead, so the burnt guy in the throne took over the role. (Thats Bolvar, he got smoked by a dragon). This is the version of the Lich King that you saw in the other cinematic where he had his helmet torn off and destroyed. He can and does survive without it, but his power is weakened without it. Thats basically it!
Wrathgate is definitely a cinematic you should watch! Its a cinematic no longer really available in the actual game as far as I know. You'll meet Bolvar Fordragon (The new Lich King) And Saurfang's son, who you see Saurfang morning the death over in those cinematics with the electric troll guy. Arthas was a holy paladin who's kingdom was under attack by an unknown villian. His strong will and beliefs led him to burning down a potentially plagued town before the people were even zombies, and his chase against the villian led him to that frozen kingdom Northrend. He found a sword known as Frostmourne which was cursed, but he said he would do anything to save his people so he picked it up. Once he did that, his fate was sealed and he became the Lich King, one of the greatest WoW villains ever. The Lich King killed countless folks of all race and creed, and he even raised the dead blood elf known as Sylvanas. It has been a great pleasure watching these videos of you guys reacting to WoW (and those few Overwatch videos). Please keep them coming! Edit: For another important Arthas video, find the one (from Warcraft 3 so its REALLY old) where he returns home to Lordaeron. You'll know its the correct one because in the beginning flower petals fall on his hands while bells ring.
Ok, you need the middle now lol. The Wrathgate video chronologically falls in between these two; that will help fill in the gaps. Love the reaction videos!!
Bolvar (the red guy) was cleansed by the dragon fire after he fell at The Battle of Angrathar the Wrath Gate (gates of Icecrown Citadel); Alexstrasza the Life-Binder cleansed the entire area where the soldiers fell. There is a cinematic about this too. Arthas wanted more power to revenge his people that were turned into scourge minions, but the same powers (sword first, then the helm) turned him against his kingdom and life. He killed Sylvanas Windrunner (the lady from the other cinematic) too and turned her into a Banshee; later she managed to escape him and she became the ruler of the Forsaken (undead). Arthas killed his father (the ghost from the cinematic), and his soul was the first that was trapped within the sword and he was released after the sword was shattered. He mentions that there must always be a Lich King because otherwise, the entire army of the scourge will invade Azeroth and kill everyone, so order must be maintained.
The man talking was King Terenas, he was the King of Lordaeron and Arthas’ father. He was also the one who told the Lich King that no king rules forever. His son, Arthas, was the one with the long hair, Aka the Lich King. Arthas’ story is pretty long but to sum it up he picked up a cursed sword called frostmourne in a bid to save his kingdom but he went insane and he became the Lich King. The man who was ready to be killed is Tirion Fordring. He is the one who killed the Lich King with a group of adventurers (the players) and Bolvar Fordragon is the one who became the Lich King afterwards. To understand why, you’ll want to watch the Wrathgate cinematic. Basically he got a plague thrown in him and the only thing keeping him alive were the flames of a dragonflight.
I’ll try to explain lore spanning decades: Arthas Menethil was the prince of Lorderon and a righteous paladin. After a plague was unleashed on his lands that turned people into zombies a chain of events corrupted him into becoming the Lich King, fusing his soul with the soul of an orc shaman hosted in the Helm of Domination. He murders his father and ravages the lands with the Scourge, the army of the dead he now controlled. We as players defeat him with Tiralion, a paladin, on top of Icecrown Citadel and Bolvar Fordragon takes the burden of holding the Scourge at bay in the frozen wastelands. Years later Sylvannas Windrunner comes and fucks everything up. Her connection to the Lich King is that she was a High Elf ranger commander that was killed and cursed to undeath by Arthas (Lich King version). I suggest the Warbringers: Sylvannas animated short for this moment. Have a nice day, you guys are cute, good luck with the channel
In the older games he’s a paladin and a good guy who becomes corrupted in order to protect/avenge his people, kills his father and takes over the kingdom. Then goes north and starts an army of the dead until the players kill him and someone takes his spot
Arthas (guy from the first cinematic) killed his own father and sealed his soul inside his weapon, reason why we see his fathers spirit when the weapon gets shattered. The Lich King controls the Scourge, an army of mindless zombies, and if the control isn't maintained, they would spread and kill everyone. Bolvar sacrifices himself and takes the Crown, but the secret must be kept, otherwise someone would come after him to kill him out of fear or greed for the power he possesses.
Arthas Menethil, son of Terenas Menethil III was the heir apparent to Lorderon, a human kingdom in the north of the Eastern Kingdoms. When the Scourge (Undead with no will of their own) started to infect and spread throughout Lorderon he became very desperate to save his people, to the point that when Stratholme (Second largest city in Lorderon) became infected he ordered it purged of all life and burned to the ground to prevent the spread. His Paladins (Lead by Arthas' mentor Uther the Lightbringer) mostly said no, this is where Jaina left his side also. Those who followed Arthas into the city did indeed purge it and raze it to the ground, and met the dreadlord Mal'Ganis. Mal'Ganis told Arthas of Frostmourne (The sword you see him with) to the frozen kingdom of Northerend, and Arthas went north, and when he claimed the sword it struck down his best friend and claimed his soul as it's price. This is when Arthas became a Death Knight (Not yet the Lich King). He then returned home, killed how own father, ruined his own kingdom and then marched on Silvermoon (Sylvanas Warbring video) to place the ashes of Kel'Thuzad (Necromancer in service of the ligh king, Ner'Zhul, and orc trapped by the burning legion in the helmet of domination) to raise him up as a lich. Kel'Thuzad then helped arthas return north to claim the helm of domination to merge with the light king, which he did. This is about 7 years later, the dragon he raises is Sindragosa, the voice over is his father King Ternas Menethil III repeating lines said to Arthas in WC3. The guy who was red and turned blue is Bolvar Fordragon, he is the new Lich King, as there must always be a Lich King to hold back the Scourge (Mindless unead doing whatever the Lich King demands). Bolvar was struck down by rogue forsaken at the wrath gate with alliance and horde soldiers alike in their attemtpt to kill arthas. The red dragon flight (which represents life) burned the corpses. Bolvar, being a strong paladin with a great command of the light managed to survive both the blight thrown by the rogue forsaken and the flames of life by the draonflight. Arthas found him, took him atop ice-crown and tortured him for weeks/months. When arthas fel, Tirion Fordring was going to become the new lich king, but Bolvar stepped in to do it. He is the lich king you see in the Shadowlands trailer.
The Blade and Armour that is constant in the previous films is cursed. Anyone who bears them will become Lich King - who rules and keeps the undead in check. So as one dies, the two other paladins (Tirion and Bolvar) decided amongst one another who shall bear the burden of such a grim task. As Bolvar did say from the Shadowlands trailer to Sylvanas - "This power will be your prison"
I have a suggestion that I think you guys would enjoy from the Warcraft universe 'Legion cinematic Trailer', followed by the 'Broken Shore Alliance', followed by 'A Found Memento: Raising a King'. It's 3 videos total but they're pretty interesting, with plenty of feels.
I love the genuine reactions to people who have no idea what's going on. Being a player of the game, dying a little on the inside with what you think is happening versus what's actually happening in game. But, it's great that more people are exposed to it, and see the great storytelling Blizzard does.
what irritates me a little whit non wow players watching these videos now is that they say that its just like this or that show and say it like that show did it first even tho that cinematic was uploaded like 9 years before that tv show existed xD
The dad (named Terenas Menethil II) is narrating the clip, but "The Lich King" is Arthas Menethil, who was the crown prince of Lordaeron when he was young, and was actually brought up as a Paladin (a holy warrior, protector of the light). But as the Scourge (undead plague) invaded the world (Azeroth), and the people living there fought it. Arthas became desperate in his methods to defeat this threat, and he even purged a city (called Stratholme). He eventually managed to defeat and kill both the necromancer Kel'Thuzad and the undead leader Mal'Ganis, but lost his soul in the process. He then became a Death Knight, and went on leading the undead army (The Scourge), which he had previously fought against. Resulting in the destruction of 3 major cities (Lordaeron (his home), Quel'Thalas and Dalaran (the home of his childhood love)). He then moved on to the Frozen Throne of Icecrown (the cold, frozen place you saw in the video), and became the Lich King. He's later defeated in combat by brave adventurers from the Horde and the Alliance (the players of WoW), and the crown of the Lich King is handed to a noble soul (Highlord Bolvar Fordragon, a highly respected Paladin of the Silver Hand, which was the place Arthas was schooled as a boy), because the crown needed to be worn to keep the armies of the Scourge at bay, preventing the end of the world. So Highlord Bolvar Fordragon actually sacrificed himself for the cause. And that was the one you saw in the other video, where Sylvanas Windrunner came and tore the crown (the mask) in half. So yes, she is a evil lady (a Banshee actually). This is a short version of the story. But you get the gist of it :)
Kil'Jaeden (major bad guy demon) killed an orc Shaman named Ner'zuhl and trapped his spirit in ice. Mal'Ganis was a demon who served Kil'Jaeden and corrupted the city of Lorderon and turned the inhabitants undead. The plague moved across to another city called Stratholme and Arthas in an attempt to stop it murdered all the citizens in case they were infected. After that he followed Mal'Ganis to Northrend where he became enslaved by Ner'zhul and forced to be the Lich King. The gem on the helmet is Ner'zhuls prison/soul. After Arthas is defeated by the player base later in the expansion Bolvar sacrifices himself to take the place of Arthas.
this is so funny to watch! I think the reason for ur misunderstanding is clear, as u watch the videos from very modern time - to connect the dots properly u will need to watch way more cinematics or read about what is going on - but keep it up it is way funny to watch :)
My wife and I have been playing since close to the very beginning of WoW as an mmorpg. I played the earlier games that lead up to it becoming such. There is a lot of history and lore that has been created for the game. For a bit of that lore history look up Arthas kills his father and there is a kind of long story that fills in what some of the background on the human side anyway. Human Campaign All Cutscenes | Warcraft 3 Reforged The Scourge of Lordaeron
Basically Arthas is the lich king in this video, Arthas was the protagonist of the old warcraft games but then he became evil, killed his father (the narrator) and became the lich king (while lich king he killed sylvanas the elf girl and turned her into an undead), everyone banded together to stop him. During the battle Bolvar who was one of the good guys took collateral damage form the flames of the dragon of life basically and so since there has to be a lich king at all times he decided to "sacrifice" himself and become the jailer of the undead
so the story is the father (the ghost who disappeared in the second clip) was the king of a human kingdom, his son Arthas (the lich king in the first clip) went to the northern continent for a weapon against the undead. He became corrupted, returned home and killed his father. He returned north and became the lich king and took over the undead. The players come in and kill him. Bolvar (the guy who becomes the lich king at the end of the second clip) was earlier caught in the undead blight poison and was dying until the lifebinder dragon burned the blight away, leaving him the burnt undead but because of her fire he stayed good(ish). In the clip you seen with sylvanas (undead elf woman) taking the crown from Bolvar, is years after Arthas had died.
From someone who has been play WoW since Beta, your confusion is because there are quite a few cinematics that come before and in between the 2 you reacted to that should clarify things. The cinematics to look for are the All Cinematics from Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) and Warcraft: Lich King Arthas & Sylvanas Story - All Cinematics & Cutscenes. Enjoy!
Sylvanas was a high elf and she was killed by Arthas(1st lich king you saw)when he invaded her country, and then turned into Banshee undead. But later she and thousand undeads freed from his controll and they formed faction Forsakens and their goal was vengeance to Arthas.
I love the innocence and enthusiasm of first time viewers, thanks for this, I watched ya'll seen the BFA and Shadowlands cinematics (among others) and it's good fun. But definitely recommend to start with the early Warcraft lore (esp Warcraft 3), then work through World of Warcraft from the start.
The first clip is supposed to be very tongue in cheek. Athas was the heir to the throne of Lordaeron, but things went astray, and he ended up being the Lich King, leader of the undead scourge army, after sacking his father's lands, and killing him.
This lich king is Arthas, while the one in the other trailer is Bolvar. The fire u see in Bolvar's eyes are from the dragons flame when the dragons came to cleanse the poison at the wrath gate after the battle between Alliance and Horde against the scourge (Artha's forces).
Must say I’m loving, watching more people getting into these and even figuring out a good bit while not know everything. They need to watch the BFA sylvanas animatic
Its really really entertaining to hear your interpretations, your assumptions and so on :D Ive played the game almost always, and in the recent years i've really dove into the story(lore) of the universe. Hearing you guys guess left and right, mostly wrong(dont worry) is just so fun :D Reminds me of what my fellow WoW-gamers take from the game
Its a very important distinction that this is not the Lich King that you saw in the shadowlands cinematic. That Lich king is Bolvar Foredragon. He became the new Lich King after we "the players" defeated Arthas Menethil at the end of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Bolvar became the Lich King as a sort of self sacrifice to keep the remaining Scourge army in check. Otherwise they would have run rampant across the continent causing mass destruction. Bolvar's backstory is a very different one from what you are watching now.
The king from shadowland cinematic was not the father nor the son. He was a replacement after killing the son to protect the world from chaos. As it is required to be or the undead will be uncontrollable and go lose across the world to bring chaos. The father of that king died by his son hands and he was a king of the castle that was attacked by the alliance from the firas movie(in the past). That king was a leader of a high human unity. It is a very huge story. Thee are even books about it.
One of the key things you are missing is that the mask holds the power to control the undead, without it the living world would be besieged by the dead. Arthas used the power to make war and try to win control of Azeroth, he's the one that initially killed and resurrected Sylvanas, the elf chick in the first cinematic. Bolvar took over after Arthas was defeated and died in a selfless act in order to protect the world from armies of the undead. When Sylvanas came back, dethroned him and broke the crown/mask of the Lich King she took away the means of controlling the undead because she wants the entire world to join her in death. Everyone in this story started off as a well-intentioned good guy, only Bolvar remained one. Arthas actually killed the father we see the ghost of in this segment. Sylvanas tried to commit genocide at Teldrassil but as Saurfang said, she failed.
Undead were attacking Lordareon (Arthas' fathers kingdom), Arthas tracked the source of the undead to a dreadlord who led him to Northrend (a frozen continent in the north) where he found Frostmourne (a cursed sword that takes the souls of its victims and corrupts the user). It let Arthas to betray his friend and kill his father in search of more power. The sword led him to the Frozen Throne where the Helm of Domination was frozen. Combined with Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination, Arthas became the evil Lich King and possibly the greatest antagonist in Warcraft lore.
Teranas Menithil was Arthas' father. Arthas was cursed by the sword that he is wielding in the first cinematic and consumed his soul because that's what it's designed to do. He then returns to the kingdom of Lordaeron where his father rules and murders him on the throne., and adds another soul to the many that are inside Frostmourne the rune blade wielded by the Lich king, at least until it gets destroyed by Tirion Fordring (the guy that picks up the helm at first) who is/was a very powerful paladin of the Light. The blade being shattered is part of a battle against the Lich King in the raid Icecrown Citadel from the expansion Wrath of the Lich King. The Lich King's job is basically to keep the forces of the undead known as the Scourge in check, this is why Teranas says their must always be Lich King.
a TLDR version of the Lich King lore... Arthas was the Prince of Lordaeron, he went off to fight the scourge(undead), he was a paladin and blinded by revenge. He went to Northrend and got corrupted by the runeblade Frostmourne (his sword in the first cinematic), and the curse's whispers lead him to return home to Lordaeron where he murdered his father/the king. He then returned to Northrend, where the whispers lead him to the crown of the damned, which he put on to become the Lich King. The first cinematic happens many years after these events, and his narrated by his father. After Arthas falls, Bolvar Fordragon is the burned husk of a man that takes up the crown, because if there is no Lich King, the undead will roll over the lands of the living like a plague. Bolvar was once a paladin and Highlord of the Alliance. Since becoming the Lich King he has done some questionable things, but has kept the scourge in check. Years later, the Shadowlands cinematic brings us up to date. This is a VERY TLDR version, as a LOT of stuff goes down in both Arthas and Bolvar's stories to lead them to where they would become Lich King, but you get the gist just to kinda understand what's going on. But none of the Lich Kings have been related in any way, it's just who puts on the crown. They've all had varying reasons to do so.
The brave heroes he was talking about was us player characters that helped take down the Lich King so yes Tyrion and Bovar must keep what happened there a secret but that secret also falls on us as well.
Basically the lich king jn the first cinematic is arthas. As a child he was very innocent but as in real life events happened and the helmet has a soul in it that is evil that corrupted him and he thought the best way to save everyone was to kill and raise them as the dead to prevent a strong power in the future known as the legion among other things so this huge fight went down and they killed arthas but if no one wears the helmet the undead army is uncontrolled so someone has to wear the crown but if someone knows the lich king exists then the fear will spread again so it has to be kelt secret. Even from his daughter
The man talking over the Wrath of the Lichking trailer is Arthas's father, who he killed when he became 'The Lich King'. Bolvar fordragon took over the crown because the scourge needs a king to create balance over the dead. The Lich King from the Wrath cinematic (Arthas) killed Sylvanas and turned her into a Banshee. She was skilled bloodelf ranger before. And this was during Lichkings attack on Sunwell (I believe?) I'm not too sure on the lore myself. I just know alittle bit. Incase you want to watch Ingame trailers/cinematics. I'd suggest you watch the Wrathgate cinematic. The orc from the Battle for Azeroth cinematics you watched is the father of the orc (saurfang) dying in the Wrathgate cinematic. If you remember the necklace he wears etc. And it also showcase Bolvar before alittle bit.
The father was the king of a different human kingdom. The son (Arthas) started out as a hero but eventually turned evil, killed his own father and then became the lich king. The new lich king (Bolvar) is the fiery one you see and he only became the lich king to protect the world. Arthas was also responsible for killing and resurrecting Sylvannas who also used to be a hero before she became undead.
You should probably watch how Sylvanas became what she is (and thus learn what she actually is), which could shed some light on the whole story you've been watching. I think that you should watch Warbringers: Sylvanas next, because it explains a bit of what you watched in Battle for Azeroth trailer and how Sylvanas became what she is. Either way, Warcraft story is huge and knowing only bits and pieces, not everything will fall into place. But in the end, it all aligns together really well.
TLDR: Narrator is King Terenas, Arthas' dead father. Shown in the Wrath cinematic is the Lich King Arthas after killing his father, raising the ice dragon at the height of his power. In the in-game cinematic, the more cartoony one, Arthas is killed. Because the hordes of undead need someone controlling them through the Helm so they don't overrun the world, Bolvar accepts the Helm. The video of the Lich King Bolvar being defeated by Sylvanas comes many years after these ones. Now that the Helm is destroyed, it's likely the undead will swarm out of control, and the players' next task will be to control or eradicate them. Then, we go to Shadowlands.
On wrath of the lick king the person you are seeing is arthas menetril on the fall of the lick king you are seeing bolvar Fordragon. In the lore says there's always necessary to have a lick king and after arthas was defeated Bolvar who was mortality wounded took the mantle of the lick king so that his brother Tirion didn't sacrifice himself to be the lick king. btw Tirion is a paladin which means he's a warrior of light and the mantle of the lick kind was a road of darkness so that's why his brother took the role and also because he was mortality wounded.
Arthas was a paladin, but he was eventually consumed by vengeance, corrupted by the sword Frostmourne, becoming the Lich King. Check out the warcraft 3 cinematics for his story.
I think the key part that was confusing you about the second video was the whole "There must always be a Lich King" thing. Basically, Arthas was in control of the scourge when he was the Lich King. But now that he died, they have no leader. Nobody to control them. So without someone in control, they would relentlessly consume everything. So Bolvar offered to be the stand-in Lich King just so they'd be controlled. And he told Tirion not to tell anyone because if the world knew that there was still a Lich King, they would continue to live in fear of him. It's better that they don't know.
I am loving these videos of yours, looking at Warcraft cinematics. The in-game cutscene (the second video) really shows how far the current game has come in terms of visuals. The similarities between this and Game of Thrones is very interesting, as it's well-known that the OG folks at Blizzard who made Warcraft were into lots of different fantasy series, including the books by George RR Martin. In the Warlords of Draenor expansion, there are many more direct ties/hints to A Song of Ice and Fire, particularly in the Frostfire zone (Horde garrison zone). So it's of little surprise that there would be such similarities between the White Walkers and the Scourge, as A Song of Ice and Fire had released up to A Feast For Crows (2005) before this expansion was release (2008). That's the fourth book in the series, so loosely tie that to the fourth season of Game of Thrones. And if you like seeing references to other literature to varying degrees, it's all over the place in WoW. From Back to the Future, to GoT, to Plants vs Zombies, to Gordon Ramsay, to Indiana Jones.... there's a ridiculous amount of literary & pop-culture references scattered throughout the game.
The first cinematic has a speech from before Arthas became the Lich King (Ruler of the undead in World of Warcraft). Guess its suppose to be ironic that his father gave him a speech about being a good king long ago and now he is the most infamous evil king in Warcraft.
the thing they did in this trailer (ubisoft did the same thing in their recent assassinscreed trailer although alot less subtle) is that the narator actualy is polar oposite to the character shown the trailer is like "oh arthas my son youre such a good boy" etc in the mean time arthas was the the main villain of the expansion
edit what i mean by polar oposite for example "i am certain you will show restraint when wielding your power" and thats at the same moment as he uses his power to awaken a giant ass dragon or "the greatest victory my son is stiring the heart of your people" while it shows his undead who are essentialy mindless slaves etc
Also I concur with the others who’ve recommended Nobbel87. He has videos on the full stories of the Lich King and Sylvanas (the evil elf lady) and many other major characters. If you want a laugh though, check out Sharm’s parody called “Banshee Queen” which has footage from the BFA duel cinematic you watched.
Yeah it's kinda long story Short version is that Arthas was a human prince and during the fight with the undead he slowly slipped into the control of the undead. He then turned on the demons who took him in and took the lich king helmet for himself. Then he killed his father and almost destroyed the human kingdom. That speech of his father is before he turned, it's meant as kind of irony that he still fulfilled his father's will/advice but in his own way as a lich king not the king of humans as his father wished.
