Filmmaker Reacts: World of Warcraft - Afterlives Bastion

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[@PhilipHarts]

What do you think of Arthas' final fate here? Subscribe here and Follow me on twitch.tv/philiphartshorn Join my discord to help me choose my next video: discord.gg/J85mKhG Watch my film work here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fILKZpVsl8aafdU Follow my Twitter: Twitter.com/philipharts

[@BrewmasterAdaryn]

Sadly, Arthas (sorta) pops up again in the cutscene where Anduin breaks free of the jailer (eternity’s end?). They did Arthas dirty!

[@MaeLonewolf]

​@@BrewmasterAdarynNo spoilers for him please 😊

[@Klicktot]

Arthas is not undead, till the end he is just a corrupted human.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

he made his bed, therefore his end was deserved, though the simps would argue otherwise.

[@TrafalgarWaterDLaw-dl5cm]

He did lose his entire soul wich we learn in wc3 multiple times. Wich is why his skin was grey, hair white. Aka his body did die without a soul over a long time. We aldo learn the sword (The Soul of Ner'zhul) drove the spulless husk mad right after that.

[@HavocParadox]

i always get teary eyes when he says "he was my student" its said with such sadness because of the betrayal

[@TheStarSquid]

It really gives me Obi-wan vs Anakin vibes, I love it

[@Thromash]

Close your eyes & watch it. Listen to his voice as he speaks & then when he screams as his soul splits. Voice acting is on point. 😢

[@sasthurlive]

So true, feel this words anytime

[@Polloles]

Me too! The pain in Uther’s voice!!

[@fckihate69jokes]

"I see only darkness before me" hit differently with context. Visually at least.

[@Pikacha25]

If only he had managed to finish his sentence.. "I see.. only darkness before me.. this angel creature's hand is... covering my eyes... by grabbing me by the head."

[@hal1385]

The runes on Frostmourne are domination magic, a type of death magic that forcefully subjugates souls. It's known in the Shadowlands because the Primus, who serves as the head military tactician of the Shadowlands, was the inventor of domination magic and used it to make the Maw inescapable for any evil souls sent there. Domination magic was then copied by the Burning Legion when they crafted the original Lich King which was Ner'zhul's soul bound to an empty suit of armor. Devos is alarmed because a being like the Lich King, who can wield death magic to such a degree that he can tear apart and trap souls, existing in the living world can completely upset the balance of life and death.

[@con.x]

Its canon that was a lie. The Primus made the helm of Domination, not the Legion. The Dreadlords lied.

[@miriamweller812]

@@con.x What overall is what they always do, not really a surprise. Imagine they have told a god of order they pushed into becoming insane chaos god of fel that they got some fancy stuff right out of the hands of god of death. Likely would have gone a bit too far. Even more when they wanted to sell that respawn engine to Sargeras - while corrupting the Titan they used for it with death energy by it..

[@clogs4956]

Devos, Paragon of Loyalty, is the hero who spotted a problem and, raising it, was dismissed by the self satisfied establishment, so went off on her own, not unlike Arthas. Interestingly, they both did the right thing and ended up vulnerable as a result, taking the very position they had tried to warn against. They are, in fact, archetypal fallen paladins. Remember, later, the Archon acknowledges Bastion’s failure to heed Devos.

[@razvanrazvan512]

@@con.x Agree, dredlors are only agents.... Primus magic was at fault.

[@semi6544]

The cost of not being ready is talking about him moving past his mortal life. When you arrive at Bastion, your new position in the afterlife is to be a ferry of souls. You can't do it until you have moved past your mortal life. Devos went against the path by dealing with a incident related to someone's mortal life. Many aspirants had this philosophy of leaving their mortal lives and thoughts behind before ascending. Devos and some new aspirants after Devos' change didn't commit to this idea of leaving your mortal life and memories behind. The Maw his hell and a prison for the worst souls and nothing can escape from there. The runes on Frostmourne originate from the Maw but if nothing escapes there how did they appear. If the idea that nothing escapes the Maw is wrong then how many other things could be wrong? Can the path be wrong? Did we have to give up the memories of our past lives and all we had to sacrifice to become Ascended?

[@miriamweller812]

The path thing is mainly about the whole "The Arbiter judges all souls and we accept this no matter what" - what is funny enough since the remaining death gods had made that coup against the actual Arbiter and replace him with not much more than a machine. If you look at the Shadowlands story, it seems the the other death gods were frighened about any idea to not follow the rules and tasks they were given by their creators - like Zovaal did, so it was all about: YOU FOLLOW THAT PATH! NO DISCUSSION! What overall LED to all these problems, including Zovaal. The Shadowlands, no matter how nices it looked, was in the end still just slaughterhouse for motal souls, where they were stripped from their anima/self to either cease to exist or maybe be used to create a new life and do the whole show again from the start. That's the reason why Sylvanas went against it. Mortals are just caddle in that system, lifestock. Even when you are a bit luckier to get into Bastion for example, you have to get rid of who you are and become an eternal slave to that system. That again is the reason why it was easy for Zovaal and Co to sow discord. Maldraxxus is even worse, where you just become cannonfodder until you cease to exist one way or another.

[@xXMikauXx]

The really gut-wrenching aspect is how they use the same sentence twice painted in a different light (pun intended), impeccably delivered by the VA. While Uther deals with his own burdens, his zeal and anger, he laments "He was my *STUDENT* ", i.e., "I taught him and gave him the strength and tools for the atrocities he committed". Then when they finally claim Arthas' soul, above his pending eternal torment, once again Uther laments "He was *MY* student", i.e., "I was not able to keep him in the path of righteousness". Arthas' Tragic Hero story is really something else. Edit: formatting

[@TrafalgarWaterDLaw-dl5cm]

Its also connected to Jainas regret. If booth stayed with Arthas at Stratholme, or even just not have given up he'd not face a Dreadlord alone. Who manipulated his love for his people to hunt him, be forced to pick up froatmourne and lose his entire soul for it. Wich makes this story so great. It's not Arthas having evil in his heart and Uther failing to teach him to be righious. Its that Arthas loved his nation to much where he was ready to do EVERYTHING to safe it. But he was still an unexpirienced student. And it was booth his Mentor and love he needed. And booth left him during this critical moment. Wich is how they broke him enough to end where he ended

[@wow_horac4663]

Something I haven't seen mentioned here is that Devos and Uther circumvent the mechanics of the shadowlands. When souls come to the Shadowlands they are screened by the Arbiter which sorts the souls into the realm of the shadowlands they most belong to. Souls with strong histories of service go to bastion, souls with strong histories of protection go to Maldraxus, Ardenweild is were nature souls go for rebirth, and Prideful souls are sent to the Venthyr to be redeemed. It is implied that there are many other realms in addition to these but these 4 are the primary ones in the expansion. Only souls that have no chance of redemption are meant to be sent to the Maw. Their is some speculation that if Arthus's soul had been judged by the arbiter he would have ended up in one of these realms instead of the maw. It's impossible to say for sure, as you stated he did do many of his worst deeds while being dominated by Frostmorne and the Helm of Domination but he also chose to sacrifice his soul and the souls of his soldiers to frostmorne for power.

[@MaeLonewolf]

This was the first Afterlife cinematic released. As you can imagine this set the community on fire with excitement. Arthas is one of the pillars of Warcraft lore.

[@krushingkobra]

Actually people were worried the modern writers would ruin Arthas' story with retcons... and they were right to be concerned.

[@Mugthraka]

@@krushingkobra They did him dirty and in the end they even tried to make us forget about him. But fuck 'em, we will never forget Arthas.

[@presentedbyzawa5995]

@@Mugthraka They flirted and made us believe that Uther regreted [and he did] and that he would somehow try to bring Arthas's soul to redemption. Arthas didn't deserve the Maw, at most, Revendreth... but the expansion was so bad that they decided to just go the easy way out.

[@RainbowQueen23]

My favorite part of this entire cinematic is she calls it what it is "vengeance" even at the end just before he drops Arthas. This was such an amazing short story, wish it ended better in game

[@clogs4956]

⁠@@MugthrakaI take the opposite viewpoint: seeing the last of Arthas fade away like that was perfect… …and left us with questions, given that Frostmourn splits souls. I suspect something like that happened to him when he took up the blade.

[@con.x]

Oh you think Arthas was done dirty in Icecrown... wait until you see what happens later. :(

[@mattpaonessa]

omgosh i cant wait for the Ardenweald afterlives reaction. it is sooo emotional every time!

[@Kaotiqua]

Cried nonstop during the Ardenweald part of the livestream.

[@Malavander]

Thenios is voiced by Tim Russ who played Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager - really great detached/aloof, even-keeled performance on that character in game. Vulcan-like you might say...

[@abbiejo6822]

For some reason I didn’t realize who the voice actor was until a world quest popped up with him introducing it as “it is wise to…” and suddenly it hit me and I thought “Tuvok? Is that you?”

[@Paul-px1ww]

crazy how you quite always get the right plot and lore points they are trying to communicate visually, and the right questions haha

[@Tichondrius-]

Btw you can speak to Uther's spirit in WoW after Lich King defeat. And that part of the soul forgave Arthas and blame itself, iirc.

[@017renegade]

Watching this makes me want to play the Shadowlands Campaign again. It's auch a great story line and exploring these different realms of the Afterlife was great fun.

[@ben-taobeneton3945]

This is one of my favorite ones from the 'Afterlive' series. it's so dark and sinister. I love it.

[@giuseppe9653]

You see, the "Light save my soul" is important, because as you saw in "Rejection of the gift", the light isn't truly 100% good, the light didn't save all of Uther's soul, it saved the zeal, anger and revenge he felt, and that many other paladins base their entire personalities around, while the rest of his soul was inside of Frostmourne. Edit: And as for "That's what happened to Arthas" yeah, they kinda fucked up with his story this expansion

[@fighteer1]

I hear that a lot, but some souls can't be saved. Arthas' is one of them. From the moment he picked up Frostmourne he was condemned. Only one person in all of history has taken up a Mourneblade and not been consumed by it... and that's coming later.

[@miriamweller812]

I don't think it's about that. There were simply two forces at work and Frostmourn had already burried its teeth into Uther's soul, so a part of him was ripped out. While you shouldn't just trust the Light, it's more than unlikely that this ws done on purpose.

[@miriamweller812]

No, they didn't fuck it up at all, in contrary. You guys want so anime bullshit what would ruin Arthas' story completely. Arthas' story is about the tragic fall of a prince to darkness, how "the end justfies the means" further and further makes you what you started to fight and worse. It would be horribly bad if Arthas' would just be redeemed, since there was ZERO point for that. You can maybe argue abotu Startholme, but what followed was juat plain evil. He literally cut out his own heart to get rid of what was left of his mortal emotions. Yes, it was unncessary to punish his soul further after that, but this just adds to the tragedy, after all, Uther sealed his fate and that solely because Arthas had distorted him with Frostmourne.

[@fighteer1]

​@@miriamweller812Yes, there are a lot of people in these fandoms that fail to appreciate the value of tragedy in heroic narratives. Not all souls can be saved, not all evildoers can be redeemed. What happened to Arthas was horrible, but it wasn't "bad writing".

[@julio4494]

Arthas soul has no place in even having the chance to be redeemed. His story was not messed up

[@kennethvannorwick3557]

These cinematic preludes to Shadowlands were really good. The art style is amazing.

[@semi6544]

The path has nothing to do with light. The Path is just an obligation and duty. More like the way things are and will always be. The Shadowlands is related to Death on the Star chart. It has nothing to do with light.

[@miriamweller812]

The Path is pretty much their jobs they were given by their creators. One of them already almost broke that engine once and they got rid of him by brutal and questionable means, leading to many, many problems. After they did his, they were even more about that you should NEVER EVER do anything that is not following the rules/Path. What in the end led to pretty much all the problems, this stubborn blindness.

[@clogs4956]

I’d just like to point out that the cosmological chart we have - although, granted, it may well turn out to be a lie - puts Death in the purview of Light.

[@infernalz1337]

Every time you say "this would be the perfect opening/ending to a movie" is funny because they are literally the opening/endings of expansions.

[@StormAngelWolf]

This made shadowlands for sure. I remember standing on the edge of the long fall into the maw. My real life close encounter with death. I feared the fall into hell and was praying without voice to the almighty for acceptance into his good graces while my body was only sustained by machines. This expansion reached deep for me. You can tell this story had deeper meaning that reached beyond entertainment. Just remember when you role play that tune part of you remains within him. Yet never forget that the character is only in the game.

[@LogicReel]

The cinematics were amazing, but boy did they fuck everything after it. They did Arthas so dirty.

[@Eventwow]

I’m surprised you missed out on jaina proudmoore and her brother’s reunion. It’s pre rendered in the game engine. But they nail jaina’s rage in battle for Azeroth expansion.

[@MaeLonewolf]

I'm pretty sure he saw it :)

[@Tichondrius-]

He saw it, it was online on stream. He missed a lot of Legion in-game cinematics tho.

[@bounce6958]

Had so much fun on the Live Stream!

[@straighttalkwithkyle7947]

Where they sent Arthus he was going anyway even though it wasn't their place to make the decision. Last night was the first full stream I was able to sit through live. Loved it and the interaction. It was great.

[@MaeLonewolf]

The thing is, we don't know how he would have been judged. Garrosh ended up in Revendreth. Arthas was, at one point, a good guy. That would have been taken into account.

[@straighttalkwithkyle7947]

@@MaeLonewolf Garrosh eventually ended up in the Maw because he would never admit he ever did anything wrong. I actually think he should have gone straight to the Maw as well. Arthus was never a good guy in my opinion. Being a paladin doesn't make you good it just means that you have faith that you are doing the right thing. Arthus killed his father unprovoked. There's no coming back from that.

[@MaeLonewolf]

@@straighttalkwithkyle7947 Arthas went full on bad after he picked up Frostmourne. He returned to Lordaeron to a hero's welcome which means even the kingdom didn't really blame him for Stratholme. Anything after Frostmourne you can say wasn't 100% his doing as the sword stole his soul. Prior to the plague of undeath Arthas was not bad. Had little to do with being a paladin. I'm going by the events of the novel, btw, as that goes more in depth on his character.

[@drAq44]

The whole Wrath expansion was about Arthas trying to prove that even the best heroes are as corruptable as he was. That to me says, he had doubts about his choices, and if he did, he could have been redeemed in Ravendreth. If Garrosh and Kael'thas ended up in Ravendreth, there is a huge chance, Arthas would have to.

[@straighttalkwithkyle7947]

@@MaeLonewolf it's not the whole kingdoms opinion, it's mine. I'm not arguing about how I think characters felt about another characters guilt. I'm saying I think he should have gone straight to the Maw just like I thought Garrosh should have. My opinion only based on my opinions of their actions. The whole kingdom didn't know what he did to Muradin, or his betrayal of the mercenaries or the other things he did in Northrend before he got Frostmourne either.

[@aerynnjoyguerrero1575]

I heard from my dad that before Arthas became evil, he was actually an uber good guy trying to protect his people but became the king of what he wanted to destroy.

[@danellz]

I bet how dissapointed will be for that bet...about the decision of Devos...well, she is carried for her own doubts, and become stronger on the wounded soul touch...maybe corruption in the soul?...and when they took Arthas soul he claims "i only see darkness before my eyes...", in his eyes was printed the mark of the "Maw", he never saw Devos or Uther...Hope you also check the "Shao-hao Buerdens" a really good story too...great video! waiting the next one!! n.n

[@Michael-rp4fd]

I cannot wait for your reaction to the Tyrande - Sylvanas cinematic

[@Kedist6811]

The runes are ancient symbols to seal souls within the sword. In the heroic version of the lich king you fight within frostmourn. Once you see more of the jailors cinematics it may make more sense on how and why the runes are used to restrain or seal souls.

[@Nicholas1994]

7:22 Yeah bro... This one provided a lot of closure, but also like, damn... He ain't comin' back from that. 14:15 What's interesting here is Frostmourne usually just consumes the entire soul of whatever it cuts down, but because Uther begged the 'light' to save his soul in his final moment, part of it was ripped away at the last second, and sent where it should have gone. This is a highly unusual circumstance, which is why Davos has never seen it happen before. Also the reason why she didn't know of Frostmourne's existence is because she'd never normally get to see a soul that has been struck down by Frostmourne. 15:35 The Maw is a Shadowlands realm that is basically the garbage bin / prison. It's where souls are sent that are deemed incapable of any kind of redemption or unfit for any purpose in the afterlife. Sometimes souls that are first sent to a different shadowlands realm eventually end up being sent there if they prove unfit or irredeemable at a later stage, although this is only really common with souls sent to Revendreth because they're the most borderline. 20:15 Mm. The reason Arthas is most people's favourite character is because his turn is one of the best tragedies in Warcraft lore. He ends up being a villain you can't even really do anything but feel sorry for.

[@iyaramonk]

The music when he ascends is so good

[@mathenis]

yes Arthas was supposed to be judged like every soul by Arbiter, she would sent him to either the Maw or to Revendreth where he could have a chance of redemption.

[@AliyaWill]

Another great video Philip !

[@dtulip1]

So his soul was split hence he can't ascend...also Davos has been corrupted by the Jailor..fun FUN fact...Sylvannas has the same wound

[@dylnfstr]

Arthas would have likely ended up in the Maw anyways, but this showed Uther being corrupted to go against the "Path"/Rules of the Shadowland as he and the Archon Devos circumvent the process in which souls are placed in each realm of the Shadowlands. The other episodes of this little series are great too as they show how some legendary heroes and icons of the Warcraft universe end up in the afterlife.

[@The_Scryer]

This is the one I've been waiting for.

[@Charles.de.ruiter]

It's such a conflicting thing. The set up for Shadowlands was all pretty cool but the execution of the expansion itself in game didn't live up to it. Looking back though, these videos are really cool. Just a shame.

[@razvanrazvan512]

Davion was a true Vengefull Paladin. Her story is too sad

[@docrob2236]

Yet another cinematic that seemed to set up a different story than we got.

[@clogs4956]

That’s the beauty of storytelling.

[@Hoigwai]

These were so good but the primary story in the game gets so janky and it becomes clear that they changed gears for the main plot and it doesn't work out.

[@Kaotiqua]

It really does feel like they weren't fully all-in with the lore and lore _changes_ that Shadowlands entailed. Like, if they'd just committed to it, they could have saved what was ultimately an interesting and enjoyable story from getting trashed by the monetization machine.

[@DCPTF2]

fun failure of the animation at 0:47 if you had moved your camera you would have seen the army behind Arthas, This early into his time as a Death Knight Arthas was only given charge over a few basic undead, so Ghouls, Cultist and Meat wagons, however in the background you can see clearly more powerful undead like abominations which where not present for this battle in game

[@theamazingfroboy]

Love the videos! Commenting for the algorithm, also a request todo the Warframe trailers!

[@minicute2234]

blizz did arthas dirty. their reputation was built by arthas story and they killed it. heres a quote: "my son, the day you died. world of warcraft died with you"

[@charlayned]

I think, in all honesty, Uther's utterance of "He was my student" was a small bit of a glimpse into what he's thinking. Uther feels that he somehow let Arthas down, that he did something wrong that set Arthas on the path to the Lich King. That somehow, if he had only....what? That, and the piece of his soul that is gone has put him into a quandary that Devos is curious about. Most souls forget about what their life was like and ascends, he doesn't. And the wound, the broken soul triggers Devos because that isn't what happens and the runes of Frostmourne are pointing to who/what is wrong but she doesn't (and we don't) know the entire picture as of yet, even when Arthas dies, there's more to what happens with that piece. It is in the game and you'll find out eventually. Bastion is the assented "angelic" part of Shadowlands. You'll find each section has its own flavor and story. Some folks didn't like it because it was too different but I liked seeing how they handled the administration of souls. I did have a curiosity outside the game since I made the same type of system for my own work in 2013-2015, way before Shadowlands, with different "departments" in Heaven with the Heavenly Host Assignment Department or H.H.A.D. in my books. So Shadowlands was fun to compare/contrast the different and similar ways we did this. :)

[@phonepolice]

I believe Arthas being returned to the maw without first being drained of his Anima by Revendreth gave the Jailer enough power to kick things off for his plot.

[@rachellschez]

That is good wow lore

[@trentsims]

The Maw is only for souls that are completely unredeemable and for most of Arthus' life, he was an honest and righteous person and he only walked down his dark path because he believed it was the right thing to do at the time. He didn't know what he was getting himself into.

[@Kaotiqua]

I would argue that his choice to walk down that dark path was influenced by dark forces. He was faced with terrible and impossible choices- found himself at a very challenging and difficult crossroad, and was at a moment of weakness in that terrible choice. Stratholme being the obvious crux- Sacrifice all for the good of the land, or take on a terrible risk in hope of saving just a few? We know the choice he made. But was it his own?

[@braincruser]

​@@KaotiquaThat isn't the question. The question is is Arthas's soul redeemable. And the answer is yes, child Arthas's soul is part of the lich king. That is the redeemable part.

[@playcasket1519]

Kyrian not being a playable race is still tragic. I understand the lore that they're dead. They could have easily said that those going out to reclaim the Anima that leaked into the living world is a risk of permanent obliteration.

[@xzBorn_]

Devos was the good guy!

[@RainbowQueen23]

This was an AMAZING cinematic as were all the afterlives shorts but the ACTUAL STORY of shadowlands is kinda overlooked because it was not well done and had the worst villan in Warcraft history

[@josejuanandrade4439]

Afterlives is the only good thing about Shadowlands... Everything after that is honestly bad. The worst part? They teased Arthas... and we got FARThas. EDIT: Im talking Lore wise. And the context is that, Shadowlands had so much potential, and they literaly screwed everything to a point of no return. We had characters such as Kael'Thas find his redemption. Uther. Lady Vash. Aggra (Thrall's mother). Kel'Thuzad. We could have had Arthas, and it would have been Epic if Arthas had been with us in the last raid where MAL-FUCKING-GANIS was and they had a final face off! But nope...

[@sak2070]

Man shadowlands was so promising. What a shame it ended up butchering most of the previous lore

[@BaskingInObscurity]

Devos is very much one of her order, strict and unbending, just as self-righteous and unforgiving when she discovers a crack in her world order. I found the Bastion quest line oppressive and triggering. As a neurodivergent, queer man, atheist raised among devout christians, survivor with CPTSD, it felt hateful, domineering, intolerant, and utterly dismissive of one's self. To be fair, it's supposed to be the journey and message for the "normal" people to relate and break out of that same mindset; but as somebody already beset in real life, it's unnecessary torment. For a while, Blizzard permitted a player to endure the full campaign through all the Shadowlands realms merely once, and afterwards skip it on alts. Then, when they launched Dragonlands, they took away that option for characters under 60 or so. So I avoid going there, even though it's good for keeping non-heirloom gear slots updated. Despite now knowing all the story arc, that it indeed "Gets better," it's too much like repeatedly reliving real life traumas. I hope somebody there at Blizzard, who has a say, would finally come to realize they've made Shadowlands part of the problem for many of us real-life survivors, primarily due to Bastion. I don't see why it's so much to ask for Threads of Fate or a skip, especially outside of Chromie Time. Rant over.

[@davidbean6973]

Sorry you had to endure that. I felt pretty uncomfortable about the whole cultlike concept of kyrian “training” esp Temple of Loyalty - found myself rooting for the Forsworn at times! At least they got to choose whether to keep their memories in the end, which was something.

[@RDMCWILL]

They really need to allow threads of fate again. I've got several more alts sitting at 50 and I've quested through Bastion more times than I can count. I want the choice to do ardenweald and revendreth only.

[@luis360123]

Sup Gale

[@whatsappprofile8043]

RIP Arthas, your Legacy will remain in our hearts, too bad how Blizzard treated it.

[@zeriul09]

they could of done so much more with Arthas, just shows that shadowlands was poorly written