Villainpedia: Edwin VanCleef 

Van Cleef's most villainous arc was his role in the miracle rogue hearthstone meta

I always loved classic wow for it's more down to earth narrative and feel where the world didn't feel like it was in constant danger. Where you felt like some random adventurer not the champion of your faction and savior of the world.

Edwin VanCleef has ALWAYS been my favorite character in the WoW universe. Everything about him just clicked with me. Something fascinating to note, it's mentioned that VanCleef has an ordinary appearance, an unremarkable face. I enjoy the theory of a double taking his place during the fight and him living on in the shadows to this day

"Through different eyes a man called a terrorist could be a freedom fighter if he's fighting for the side you're with."

As someone who ended up playing a human rogue during TBC and did all those quests I've got a soft spot for the Defias knuckleheads and the mask was BiS for looks until level 60+

Don't want to sound para-social, but your video's mean a lot to me and give me a break from all the bullshit going on all the time. Keep it up man your passion shines through your video's

A stone mason coming back to a destroyed home town is like wining the lottery he will have work for years. Might even become a merchamt from all that wealth.

Here's a suggestion: Villianpedia: Senator Armstrong

this channel is a goldmine of videogame lore

I'd go as far as to say Edwin is a parallel to Varian: -They both worked honestly for the sake of Stormwind and their people -They both got manipulated by lady Dark -They both get enraged by pollitical shenannigans -Edwin wanted revenge for his guild and started riots and stuff, Varian wanted revenge for the queen and slaughtered the rioters. -They both stop at nothing to get what they want and pretty much never considered giving up The difference is that Varian get a lot - and I mean A LOT - of help from people everywhere, including the horde. Edwin gets shunned and is left to his own devices.

I had no idea that VanCleef had such a deep and even kind of relatable story. Rather see him go out the way he did, it would have been great to be able to side with him or mediate the conflict in some way in the game. Great video once again, Ghost!

I’m stealing this entire story for my D&D campaign and giving VanCleef a proper sendoff. I just hope I have what it takes to write the story needed if they do decide to join him.

My favorite villain. Love him. Sucks that there's not much room for a Defias plot because the Defias were absorbed into the Uncrowned.

Loved the "You must gather your party before venturing forth" nod to Bauldur's Gate! Great series of videos you've made on villains. Very glad I've subscribed!

Another great video! VanCleef holds a special place in my heart, and I really didn’t expect to see him here. You should totally cover Irenicus from Baldur’s Gate 2. Holy shit, what a villain.

As far as minor villains go in Warcraft Edwin is one that deserves some kind of expansion such as a short story from his perspective.

The Brotherhood shall prevail!

He is the best villain I've ever met. Damn that video made me cry. I wish that Blizzard did a Defias-themed raid back then in classic.

28:51 Yes! I always wanted to join Edwin and the Defias, take up their struggle. Being railroaded into killing him was such a disappointment.

Brizzard was villifying unions from the start.

Edwin Van Cleef's Story is so relatable, that even i, as a gardener would join his cause. Doesn't matter what foul shadowplay is at work in the background, for me the nobles of Stormwind treated him in the most unfair way possible.

First time seeing the warcraft movie edited with some lore, so nice!

You are phenomenal at telling a story about nuanced villains. I went from not knowing or caring about this stonemason chap to devouring your other villain videos.

You're one of my favorite new RU-vidrs that i've come across recently, and you inspire me to start my own youtube journey. Keep up the amazing videos, I've exhausted all of your -pedia series videos and it's a delight every time I see a new one.

Man. I just wanna say that EVERY time you post it's the first thing i click. Your video structure, hosting and info is always great. I don't know anything about 60% of the characters you post but i absolutely love learning about them. Excellent channel

You are truly an underrated channel. I found it by pure accident, and I've been in love with it since then. You probably hear this a lot, but I truly appreciate your great work!

how is this guys content so engaging yet so relaxing at the same time, crazy

It's funny to think that this is essentially the background of Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. He was a worker in the mines, wrote poetry opposing the classist state (at the time, your alt-mode/vehicle-mode determined your 'use,' thus your lot in life), inspired his co-workers, gained a following. He eventually got into underground gladiator rings to better defend himself in the ensuing riots, and the rest is a steady spiral down just the same

26:45 That's what I like about tabletop RPGs. Yeah, you're still a group of clowns in armor, but the story isn't set in stone to always end in the same way. Imagine being able to join Edwin to siege Stormwind. That would be really cool.

Hey man, I'm currently doing my own take on Warcraft on a Dungeons and Dragons game I master. I setted it around the wotlk timeline, and this video just gave me soooooooo much needed backstory for the Defias, VanCleef and the co! Really appreciated it ^^ Now I feel like my game is so much richer

I have literally ZERO interest in WoW, but I could listen to you talk about anything.

Edwin Vancleef is one of my favorite characters. Not because he's very deep or anything, but his unique design really sparked my joy as a kid Edit: Plus he dual wields swords and I thought that was the coolest shit

This channel deserves more popularity

Dude - gets robbed by nobility and state wants him and his men to die for queen stupidly entering a riot zone. Player - murders him. I hope you feel good about yourself MURDERERS.

28:42 That's one of the issues with older games for sure. It happens in a game like Oblivion too. If you aren't actively reading quest text, as well as picking up, reading through, absorbing and piecing together the info provided in the plethora of books and notes you're offered along the way in a lot of quests to get some perspective on what you're actually doing, you can end up missing quite literally the entire story. It's definitely a double-edged sword. Because while that is a very real possibility, I like that they at least had the confidence to put so much depth into characters who ultimately have three short lines in their respective boss fights, whose lore many will certainly miss just by focusing on the experience points. Most probably don't even know what actually went on through all of the Defias quests from back then to this day. Deadmines was just one of the first dungeons people could do for a lot of really great loot and elite quest experience. Still, I highly prefer that to a character like Sylvanas (as she's been written in the recent years of WoW). They tried to make her schemes appealing to everyone, all but shoving her down your throat for multiple years worth of cinematics, main story quests, and patch content straight, and all that did was sour her to so many who aren't even aware of how cool she used to be. Devastated the legacy of what was once one of the most badass, interesting, and complex OG characters out of WC3. And ironically, now that I'm thinking about it, they did have the Lich King pitch his side of all of it around when he kills everyone in his Icecrown Citadel fight. The prospect of us, the world's mightiest champions, being risen to serve as his elite in the world that he's planning to create was probably enticing to many. Even now, thinking about an Azeroth totally dominated by Undeath is awesome. That is, if we're disregarding all of the incredibly disappointing, supposedly gigabrain mind control nonsense attributed to the Jailer in Shadowlands.

I've just gone through a lot of your videos, instant sub. I rarely comment as well. But this is some quality work. Really enjoyable and in depth. Keep up the fantastic work!

You should do one of these for Stalvan Mistmantle also, specifically the original vanilla version of his questline was so epic for just low level quests, with so much backstory if you actually read all those journal pages you were collecting for the quests.

Ghostcharm bro I love getting notifs for your videos they’re so well edited and have so much effort and passion put into them and they’re great to listen and watch whenever possible, hope to see lots more

Dude been addicted to your videos lately hooked me with the Dagoth Ur Villainpedia and been nonstop ever since, particularly everything elderscrolls. You should REALLY do an NPCpedia on Jiub *ahem* "saint" Jiub you know that dunmer that wakes you up in morrowind? Commited Cliff River Genocide, died at the battle of kvatch, became a Saint, definitely deserves a deep dive

Just found your channel today and I'm loving this Villainpedia stuff.

The algorithm is gonna bless this channel any day now

Could easily branch off this into a Heropedia with Mathias Shaw. Or another villainpedia with Vanessa Vancleef and her role in the rogue story line in Legion. The Uncrowned organization and all that.

just stumbled on ur channel on my recommended and binged all of your vids! keep up the good content my man!!!

Not only that, you kill him and after that, his belived daughter is killed by you too by Stormwind guard command.

These videos makes me miss when I was hooked on wow and it was still good so much... It will never be the same again.

I think that a good addition to the villainpedia would be Cat-Lon, from Kenshi. A long insane robot with a distaste for humans, thralling his brothers and calling them traitors.

You’re an incredible narrator and writer. Love watching your videos and particularly this series on Villains.

Pro: the “played like a fiddle” line had a clip to go with it Con: the clip was not Kazuhara Miller

i only know the skyrim characters on your channel but i love your writing and directing on these videos so much i have to watch each one

I had seen other videos of yours, and I liked it, but now that I see this one I am going to subscribe, because I see that you are another adventurous comrade who once roamed the lands of Azeroth and beyond, and still keeps a corner in his heart for that world, for the real World of Warcraft and not the rotting corpse it has become

With WoW: Classic WoTLK launching this year, I would love to see more about the Warcraft villains especially those connected to that story!

WHAT? i played 15 years alliance and never heard that SW was "stolen" from the workers or vancleef beeing more then a thief WOW crazy what you can learn in 1 video.

Your videos are freakin great , did not play warcraft or wow that much but always been interested in the lore, story around it and the way you present it make me emotionally invested , and I love it! G'day to you mate :)

This is so far my favorite series on youtube. Good job on this!

Loving all of these villains and heroes video! Someone I wouldn't mind seeing a villain/hero video on would be Urza from Magic: The Gathering

dude I love the Warcraft 3 vibe your World of Warcraft videos have specially love the Warcraft 3 music you have in the background makes this video so much better

I always felt the weight of the battle against can Cleef as he emerged weapons drawn from his cabin. He pulls so many strings, he’s omnipresent, and he is down to earth. Of course he’d try take us out if we just waltzed into his lair.

Loved the gnome hitting lag while he was running 😂

As a kid playing this in 2004, who didn’t read the quest text i missed out on this epic story… recently playing sod as an older man now involved in free masonry, this quest was amazing.

Even better than your Arthas video I just watched. I was equally familiar with Edwin's story, the Stonemason Guild, their rebuilding of Stormwind and the plotting of Onyixia that set everything into motion, but hearing in through your storytelling made it even more vivid and engaging. While watching I came back to a thought I've had many times about how Warcraft the movie was a product of bad timing more than anything. When Blizzard first started plotting the movie, streaming was still rather new and novel and even Netflix wasn't producing their own content so the idea of a series based on a video game was kind of unheard of. Based on the history of video game movies it was enough of a gamble just making a 1 off movie. Times are so different now and I keep thinking how great all these 2nd and 3rd and 4th tier stories from Warcraft could be turned into great fantasy genre series. I'm watching this video on Edwin VanCleef and I'm immediately thinking about Cassian Andor and how great that series was despite it not having any of the major characters, conflicts or lore of the greater Star Wars universe. Could VanCleef carry a whole season just on his story? Perhaps not, but it shows just how much is there in established Warcraft lore to work with. I'd see it more as one of multiple plot lines simultamously going on like GoT handled so well even when those individual story arcs didn't meet up or cross paths at some point. There's just so many unique facets to Warcraft I really hope "The Powers That Be" (Microsoft?) revisit the idea of branching back out into scripted content, preferably a series. I'm off to watch Warcraft movie video now. Well done!

Thanks for releasing the most rewatchable content ever

Regarding the intro, I personally think that Lautrec is the only villanpedia character that doesn’t really fall under a villain category, considering the fact that the majority of souls characters are always deeper than they seem at first glance. I definitely think that the killing of Anastacia was out of mercy, definitely don’t think he’s a hero, but he isn’t a villain either. Anyway, love your videos hope you have a great day :)

Defias: We fight for the common people! Also the Defias: Burn farmers fields and salt the earth and be shocked when the farmers form a militia to fight them

Please do a video on the Penitent One OR Escribar/ The High Wills. I absolutely love the game and it's lore. I know there may not be a ton of info to go off of being that the game is relatively new. But I'd love to hear your breakdown. Thanks!!

that whole queen - stone macon incident is actually way better writing than the habitual Warcraft lore

Fools our cause is righteous! The brotherhood shall prevail! Excellent video good sir was a joy to watch. Kudos.⚔️🍀⚒️

It took me a solid 5 minutes to place where that MtG art is from. (25:40 mark) Love the utilization of it.

I’m so glad to have found this channel! Keep up the great content Ghost!

Man, I love your videos. Your narration is great and quality is superb. A passion project that's for sure

This channel is so under rated it hurts. You’ll be massive in time.

If, Edwin has rallied WITH, Westfall rather than against them I think he either would have broke away to form a new nation, or maybe even would have won against, Stormwind. Because of the eco-political situation with, Westfall not receiving aid and falling into destitution, Westfall would likely have loved to stand with, Ed against the heartless nobles IF he had worked with the local residents; helping them build homes, sewing crops, and using his criminal contacts to smuggle in supplies for the people, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

Thanks for doing the good work, might be redundant with Hirumared but I'd like to hear your take on Stalvan from the Duskwood questline

Ironically in his quest for revenge he created a organization that could simply leave and create their own ideal nation. Edit: Now to do one of his successor

What a channel! Its simply awesome to hear you and your content. Such an amazing work!

Who knew that bandits could be so captivating and sympathetic. Awesome villain, awesome video.

please can you do caesar from fallout new vegas for a new villianpedia?

I love Edwin, his plight is sympathetic and he isn't some larger than life mustache twirler, as you said, he's literally just *a guy.* Also, I can't wait for the inevitable Illidan episode.

As a Horde player, doing the Deadmines dungeon for the first time will always click with me. If you're coming at the Alliance from the angle of "They are racist, religious zealots that wants us exterminated" and then you go into Deadmines and learn that this Dungeon is what happens when their own people stand up against them, it amplifies your hatred for "the other side" so brilliantly. Early World of Warcraft did this in such a beautiful way where if you had played 30 levels of one race, on one side, you were convinced that your side was in the right and the enemy was in the wrong. The themes were so well done.

This is one of the best videos on the Defias Brotherhood and Van Cleef I've seen

Brilliant! Thank you for sharing all this insight. Edwin, in my humble opinion, deserves a movie or a season in a series at least.

Blizzard needs to make an animated standalone of VanCleef

"Lapdogs! All of you!" VanCleef is loved by Hearthstone players as well as Classic players

Vanilla unironically peaks with Van Cleef. You go from a boots on the ground local hero to some world saving chosen one regularly invading lairs and murdering dozens of dragons and undead lords after you kill Van Cleef.

I just found your channel and really enjoy your content, idk if you’ll see this with this being so far back but I think you’ll enjoy doing a villanpedia on savathun from destiny She’s got some insane lore going on right now

"You're not given artifacts willy nilly" - this man is still in the year 2014.

You’d think the guy that built stormwind would realize it didn’t have a harbor to attack with his shiny new boat.

these videos NEED more views. i love these

Edwin not only preached but practiced solidarity til his death. A Champion of the working class.

Chancellor Lei Shen did nothing wrong! He was only trying to protect the pandaric republic from the mantid threat. Thats why he had to form the Mogu Empire

Edwin Van Cleef is so good, man. One of the greatest villains in fiction and he has less than 5 lines of dialogue!

I remember I had a gaming mag containing a walkthrough of his dungeon

Just did Deadmines on Classic Era. I always feel a little bad for Van Cleef.

The key of doing good is to do it despite all problems it may cause you. VanCleef, tragically, could not make that choice as a leader, and so became a criminal and villain just as planned by the Broodmother. But a tragic villain is still a villain - see Dagoth Ur, betrayed and driven mad by former friends; or the Master, noble intentions fine through the cruelest of means.

I aint gonna lie I tended to skip a lot of the reading in WoW so the only story I learnt was from other players or videos... I had no idea this was VanCleef's backstory and holy hell do I feel guilty now for farming Deadmines. Screw that, down with the Nobles!

I've never actually played WoW, but Edwin does seem like the rather tragic character. He stood up for his workers who gave their all like a good boss would, but everything began to slip south with the lack of proper payment from the nobles.

Srsly hope you do one on Porky from EarthBound/MOTHER 3. That psychosis is a half hour dissertation waiting to happen. Him and Kreia from KotOR 2. Masterfully done villains in their own ways.

Not sure if you read comments on your old videos…. Don’t know why it took so long to get recommended to your page but I have watched some of your WoW related videos and absolutely love the content! I will probably stick mainly to WoW related stuff but some of your other content looks interesting and look forward to watching/listening to more! Keep up the great work and I hope that YT keeps pushing your content to others!

I'm seriously impressed by the dedication, ingenuity, and compassion you have for each project. Please keep it up. All your content is enjoyable.

If I hear that music I want to immediately jump back in.

Ultimately his downfall was from the dragon broad. We as players of that world at that time don’t know there’s a subversive dragon living in our capital city