00:00:03
We know where this all ends. The last
00:00:04
Titan is set on Northrand. But we're not
00:00:07
just going back to Ulddir to do Titan
00:00:09
things. And Northrand has not spent the
00:00:12
last decade in a bubble where nothing
00:00:14
happens. That's far from the case.
00:00:16
Arthus is gone. The Shadowlands are
00:00:18
sealed away. But take Nax Ramis. It's
00:00:20
still there. It's not fallen to the ice.
00:00:22
It is in fact waiting for someone to
00:00:24
return. And today I'm fairly sure I
00:00:27
actually know who. But it's not just
00:00:29
that. Take as an example the Shadow
00:00:31
Vault. It's an Eban Blade base that we
00:00:33
established a decade ago, but as of
00:00:35
today, it's all but fallen. The Scourge
00:00:38
are canonically back. Northrren is
00:00:40
canonically right now in a state of
00:00:43
chaos. And that word chaos is not me
00:00:46
speculating. It is a quote from inside
00:00:48
the game. So today's lore then is not me
00:00:51
dredging up a bunch of old unfinished
00:00:53
stories from an expansion from 2008.
00:00:56
This is Blizzard's recent work. It's
00:00:58
what they've pointed us towards. It's
00:01:00
work they've done with intent and it's
00:01:02
work that we will see a little bit in
00:01:04
the Midnight expansion and a lot in The
00:01:06
Last Titan. Whenever people send me
00:01:08
things, first impressions count. And
00:01:11
that's where today's sponsor,
00:01:12
Squarespace, can let you make that
00:01:14
strong first impression so you actually
00:01:16
get through to the people you want to
00:01:17
get through to. And today, they're
00:01:19
easier, faster, and less fictitious than
00:01:21
anyone else. And that's all because of
00:01:23
the new way that you build a site. And
00:01:24
I'll walk you through it. So, first
00:01:26
blueprint guides you through making your
00:01:28
own template. And this really is
00:01:29
amazing. It helps you select what pages
00:01:31
you want, what fonts are best, what
00:01:32
color palette to use. And by them, of
00:01:35
course, doing the hard work of curating
00:01:37
all of those and making it all just
00:01:38
work. They keep you right. And that also
00:01:41
extends to them adding new features. You
00:01:43
can sell digital and physical products.
00:01:45
There's courses. There's bookings for
00:01:47
physical and digital. And there's even
00:01:49
native video. Yes, native, not just an
00:01:51
embed. Basically, just means it looks
00:01:54
and feels way better. and way more pro.
00:01:56
Now, it's all designed to work together
00:01:58
and rather than be a bunch of cobbled
00:02:00
together features with inconsistent
00:02:02
design, it's actually seamless and
00:02:04
professional so that your customers
00:02:06
actually have a great first impression,
00:02:08
which is what you want. And whenever
00:02:10
they convert, well, you have seamless
00:02:12
buying with Squarespace payments. They
00:02:14
really are the complete package.
00:02:15
Everything that you need. And by
00:02:16
following my link,
00:02:18
squarespace.com/balulargaming, you get
00:02:20
to build your site for free. And then
00:02:22
when you're ready to send it live, my
00:02:23
code value their gaming gets you 10% off
00:02:26
your first purchase of a site or
00:02:40
[Music]
00:02:43
domain. As Lich King, Arthus created an
00:02:46
unending army of death. And when he
00:02:48
fell, Bolvar took his place, claiming
00:02:51
the helm of domination. Without it, the
00:02:53
scourge would have no centralized
00:02:55
control. There would have been a power
00:02:57
vacuum, and that would have been
00:02:58
dangerous. And so, for the decade after
00:03:00
Arthus fell, Bolvar did what he could to
00:03:03
hold the scourge together and most
00:03:05
importantly to hold them back. Now, the
00:03:08
Knights of the Aban Blade at the time
00:03:10
did not trust him. So, for Bolvar, it
00:03:13
was thankless, isolating work. By the
00:03:16
time we and the Aben Blade engaged with
00:03:18
him again, the toll that it had taken
00:03:20
was clear. During the Legion expansion,
00:03:23
Bolvar sounded less and less like his
00:03:25
old heroic self. In time, he may even
00:03:28
have turned against us. But in breaking
00:03:30
the helm of domination, Sylvanas both
00:03:33
put an end to that and set the board for
00:03:35
today's situation. Because if you
00:03:37
thought the Scourge ended with
00:03:38
Shadowlands's launch event or Kelazad's
00:03:40
demise, you would in fact be wrong. Not
00:03:43
only does a whole in-game Scourge
00:03:44
storyline happen after the Jailer's
00:03:46
defeat, there is even hard confirmation
00:03:49
of active scourge within Northrren. Now,
00:03:52
not long after the Shadowlands, Calas
00:03:54
came under major attack from the old
00:03:56
scourge fortress of Deathmol, which was
00:03:59
a remnant of Arthus' invasion decades
00:04:01
and decades ago before he was the Lich
00:04:04
King. But of course, that was a very
00:04:05
different time. It was a different
00:04:07
scourge. Today's scourge is nothing like
00:04:09
that one. Vorathth, member of the
00:04:11
Sandlane, who our commander cast within
00:04:13
Arthus' scourge, had returned home. He
00:04:16
had gathered the scourge around him, and
00:04:17
by the time we got involved, it was
00:04:19
almost too late. Blood Elf lands almost
00:04:21
fell, but of course, not quite. We,
00:04:23
along with the blood elves, take the
00:04:25
day, we press through to the Ghostlands,
00:04:27
and we put an end to Vorath. And it's
00:04:29
easy for us players to see this as a
00:04:31
self-contained plot for blood elf
00:04:33
characters, but I assure you, it is not.
00:04:36
What matters is that this plotline
00:04:38
happened after the Jailer was defeated
00:04:40
and it could only have happened then.
00:04:43
And the reason why is control over the
00:04:45
scourge should have been the Jailer's
00:04:47
after Arthus' downfall. But thanks to
00:04:49
Bolvar taking up the helm, it wasn't.
00:04:52
That's because the strength of Bolvar
00:04:54
soul was able to keep the Jailer at bay
00:04:56
as well. But of course, with the helm
00:04:58
destroyed and the jailer defeated, the
00:05:01
lower scourge are now feral. Back in the
00:05:03
day, those of us with an interest in the
00:05:05
lore essentially thought that was a bit
00:05:07
silly. The idea that they would be feral
00:05:09
and somehow that would be dangerous. But
00:05:11
Vorath shows us that actually it's an
00:05:13
opportunity that those lower scourge can
00:05:16
be dominated and this can lead to
00:05:17
opportunistic warlords. And here's the
00:05:20
thing. Loramar, leader of the blood
00:05:22
elves, knows that Vorath was just a
00:05:26
symptom. I will inform the Eban Blade of
00:05:28
what transpired. If the scourge caused
00:05:31
such problems here, I suspect matters in
00:05:34
North End may be even worse. Those lines
00:05:37
from Loramar are our first Northrand
00:05:39
clue. We get more clues then from
00:05:41
exploring Azeroth Northrand. This is a
00:05:43
book that details the Bronzebeard
00:05:45
brothers travels through Northrand after
00:05:49
Shadowlands, right after the Jailer. And
00:05:52
when they're traveling, they discover
00:05:54
that it's very much a continent that is
00:05:56
active. They in fact explicitly
00:05:59
reference Knack Ramis. And it's the way
00:06:01
they describe Knack Ramis that's the
00:06:02
most important. But to properly
00:06:04
understand that, we've got to jump
00:06:06
forward and go to a direct in-game
00:06:09
reference that's very
00:06:13
fresh. Another warning came to us from
00:06:15
the final Tears Guard quest in
00:06:17
Dragonflight. And being honest with you,
00:06:19
it completely passed me by. So, Talifus,
00:06:22
a paladin obsessed with order, worships
00:06:25
Tier as a paragon of all the virtues.
00:06:28
And of course, knowing Tier's history in
00:06:30
the continent of Northand, he says this.
00:06:32
I asked Tier what wrongs he planned on
00:06:34
writing first in this world. The chaos
00:06:36
of Northand or the Broken Isles or
00:06:39
Qualas. That's what our character says,
00:06:41
and he literally says chaos in Northand.
00:06:44
That is our third reference, and it's an
00:06:46
explicit one. It's one that Blizzard
00:06:48
made just before the War Within shipped,
00:06:50
and it's one that mentions the setting
00:06:52
of Legion Remix, the setting of
00:06:54
Midnight, and the setting of the Last
00:06:56
Titan. And while chaos can take many
00:06:58
forms, I'm fairly sure this is a Scourge
00:07:00
one. That's because our most complete
00:07:02
account on modern Northrand comes from
00:07:04
Muridan Bronzebeard and his brothers.
00:07:06
They put everything together. We of
00:07:08
course ended up getting the Exploring
00:07:09
Azeroth book. And chaos is no surprise.
00:07:12
As an example, take this passage. Knack
00:07:15
Rama still floats over the keep like
00:07:17
it's waiting for something. No one's
00:07:20
been able to knock it down yet, which
00:07:22
worries me more than anything else. That
00:07:25
passage sparks intrigue. Remember that
00:07:27
it was written after the Shadowlands
00:07:29
happened, but before Dragonflight. Then
00:07:31
toward Dragonflight's end, we learn that
00:07:33
Northrand is in chaos. I think it's fair
00:07:36
to say that these things are likely
00:07:37
connected. And it seems to me the powder
00:07:39
keg has not yet exploded. But I think
00:07:42
it's fair to say that the fuse has been
00:07:44
lit. And Blizzard even has a legendary
00:07:47
character ready to exploit this
00:07:52
situation. We know two things. Let's put
00:07:55
them together. First, Muridan felt as if
00:07:57
Nax Ramis was waiting for something. And
00:08:00
while it could just be him saying it was
00:08:01
a little spooky, ultimately those words
00:08:04
were written by Blizzard. They were
00:08:05
written with intent. Second, we know the
00:08:08
scourge can be controlled as we saw with
00:08:10
Vorathth. Now, if we are to assume
00:08:12
Kelazad's rather pathetic demise in the
00:08:14
Shadowlands was truly the end of that
00:08:15
character, then there are not that many
00:08:18
major scourge names left. There is, as
00:08:20
an example, Darkmaster Gandling. I don't
00:08:23
really think he would cut it. But there
00:08:24
is one character who could cut it, and
00:08:27
that is Baron Titus Rivendere. He was
00:08:30
Keelazad's key to corrupting Lord Ron
00:08:33
nobility. He was the ultimate death
00:08:35
knight of Arthus. And during our last
00:08:37
raid in Nax Ramis, he was one of the
00:08:39
four horsemen who we defeated. The odd
00:08:41
thing then is that Blizzard have not
00:08:43
hard confirmed that Titus Riendere is
00:08:45
dead and gone. And in fact, years after
00:08:49
the Ultimate Visual Guide was published,
00:08:51
Blizzard even hinted at that character's
00:08:53
existence. To cut a long story short,
00:08:56
the Paladin class mount is actually the
00:08:58
redeemed state of Titus Rivendir's son,
00:09:00
Arius. And what happens in this quest is
00:09:02
the Paladins travel to Aras's place of
00:09:04
death. The body had been taken and we're
00:09:07
left wondering who took the body and
00:09:09
why. Now, seconds after this discovery,
00:09:11
we then battle a death knight who did
00:09:13
claim the mount that we were after. But
00:09:15
after defeating that death knight, we
00:09:16
again find no body. And after reading
00:09:19
through all of the evidence, I agree
00:09:21
with the people who speculate that Titus
00:09:23
recovered his son's body. And of all the
00:09:26
Scourge names that are still alive, I
00:09:29
think none best the original Baron
00:09:32
Rivendere. If in the last Titan,
00:09:34
Blizzard wanted a major character with
00:09:36
name recognition to be deeply connected
00:09:39
to a new and dangerous scourge, it would
00:09:42
be Titus
00:09:44
Rivender. The Scarlet Crusade is back,
00:09:46
and it's back in a big way. Not just in
00:09:49
patch
00:09:49
11.1.7 story, but actually on Northrand.
00:09:53
And they've been there for a while. The
00:09:54
Bronzebeards discovered the Scarlet
00:09:56
Harbor at New Hearth in a state brimming
00:10:00
with activity full of scarlets. Shortly
00:10:02
after that happened, we then dealt with
00:10:04
a new wave of Scarlet attacks against
00:10:06
the Forsaken. And while we fended them
00:10:08
off, we did not resolve them. In fact,
00:10:10
we literally saw Scarlet teleporting in
00:10:13
reinforcements from an external
00:10:14
location. I think that external location
00:10:17
is highly likely to be their
00:10:19
longestablished base in Northrand. And
00:10:22
the thing is, the rest of this video
00:10:23
plays into the hands of the Scarlets. A
00:10:25
active scourge in Northrand actually
00:10:28
helps the Scarlet. It's going to drive
00:10:30
the locals of Wintergard and its
00:10:31
surrounding settlements right into their
00:10:34
arms, providing them on Lorderon with
00:10:36
the reinforcements they would need. Add
00:10:38
to all this then the light undead that
00:10:40
we saw at the end of the reclamation of
00:10:42
Gilaeus. Blizzard added that in for a
00:10:44
reason and in the War Within's Priaryy
00:10:46
of the Sacred Flame dungeon, we saw more
00:10:49
light undead just like it. We've also of
00:10:51
course got the sense from characters
00:10:53
like Fyron that the Arai Empire are not
00:10:56
really that warm to outsiders. We also
00:10:58
see them as lightwielding extremists,
00:11:01
such as in the Priaryy, so expect these
00:11:04
stories to clash. It seems many of the
00:11:06
Arai Empire might actually quite like
00:11:09
the Scarlets. And if Blizzard were to
00:11:11
follow a classic Scarlet tradition,
00:11:13
well, perhaps even there could be a
00:11:15
returning Dreadlord. After all, their
00:11:17
leader in Lordon Dothraan was possessed
00:11:20
by a Dreadlord. Their leader in
00:11:22
Northrand, Admiral Borian Westwind, was
00:11:24
possessed by a dreadlord. What happened
00:11:27
the last time we met dreadlords? They
00:11:29
escaped along with their father and
00:11:31
raising serious questions such as the
00:11:33
true loyalties of Lothraxian, a
00:11:36
dreadlord turned to the light. So I
00:11:38
think we can expect all of these things
00:11:40
to converge and perhaps even to resolve
00:11:44
a longunning
00:11:45
mystery. All Northrren is bathed in the
00:11:48
blood of old gods. It's the ore that we
00:11:51
call Sarinite. And over a decade ago,
00:11:53
Warcraft devs said there was a deeper
00:11:55
connection between Yogeron and the Lich
00:11:57
King, but they just felt they didn't
00:11:59
quite nail it and explain it within the
00:12:01
game. Hints were, however, left, and I'm
00:12:04
going to play one of them for you
00:12:06
[Music]
00:12:14
now. Yes, that's the Lich King, but the
00:12:17
music that's playing is actually Yogon's
00:12:20
theme. Blizzard did tease back then.
00:12:22
We've never had a full explanation. So
00:12:25
now is of course their chance, and
00:12:27
that's just one example of the ultimate
00:12:29
promise of The Last Titan expansion,
00:12:31
which is that it can bring together
00:12:33
almost every classic Warcraft thing that
00:12:35
you can think of. The big ones,
00:12:37
obviously, are Illan and Sargaras. Of
00:12:39
course, there are Dreadlords, the
00:12:41
Scarlets, the Scourge, and perhaps most
00:12:44
of all, the Titans. They are going to be
00:12:47
the next episode in this series. There
00:12:49
may even be a civil war. But until then,
00:12:52
if you want to understand WoW's next
00:12:54
major patch, you'll have to watch this
00:12:56
video next.
00:12:58
[Music]
