Filmmaker Reacts: World of Warcraft - Warbringers Sylvanas

[@PhilipHarts]

What is Arthas' greatest crime? 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

[@099Nitro]

either the genocide of Quel'thalas or the Purge of Stratholme.

[@WilBgames]

Legally, probably the regicide and treason from killing his own father.

[@miriamweller812]

Just in general becoming Undead Hitler and try to genocide all life on the planet to create the undead masterrace he wanted to rule as Lich King. No reason to take anything out of it. Purge of Stratholm was a brutal solution, but there was at least some kind of reason left you could argue about. What followed... nope. Just nope. To everything.

[@martinjacobsen2992]

Arthas Greatest crime was without a doubt the Culling of Stratholme, an arguement can be made that Frostmourne had corrupted Arthas by the time he reached Quel'thalas, so while the Genocide of the elves is horrible, it was not his crime alone...However the Culling of Stratholme was before he picked up the cursed sword and thus his actions there was entirely his own, including killing little Timmy :(

[@UltimateGamerCC]

enslaving Sylvanas and doing... other unsavory things to her in undeath... in the game there is a box of Arthas' possessions, which includes Jaina's Locket, Uther's Tome and a Vial with Sylvanas' blood inside. it is implied in game that he tortured her in more ways than making her a banshee, no confirmed but... it could've even been sexual.

[@hugomendoza5665]

Sylvanas's "Can't I?" is so haunting and menacing. Perfect delivery by the va.

[@TheStarSquid]

Still gives me goosebumps

[@Thenovarivers]

Patty Mattson is one of my fave voice actors in WoW, in the reckoning video when she said "I trusted you" to saurfang... beautiful delivery

[@miriamweller812]

That part makes it likely (in case that burning of the tree itself wasn't necessary for the plan), that she got the order to get a stream of souls needed to break the prison, by causing more death than normal, but while she planed to reach that with a war between horde and alliance, it wasn't the direct plan to just burn the worldtree. But when the elf guard made that remark, she just thought: oh, you are like that? Fine, then I take nightelf souls. Likely got mor anima anyway than that of orcs and humans and alike, because they live longer.

[@UCvow2TUIH0d2Ax2vik9ILzg]

That's the Shadowlands fanfic though...

[@DirtCheapFU]

That line taught me how to exude my chad when I worked a front desk at a hotel. Rowdy guest thinking they will stay and not pay the $300 for their night. Look up from kiosk, "Oh. You wont?".

[@attila535]

Keep in mind, that this is a simplified version of Sylvanas' story. In the books she was tortured by Arthas for days.

[@space.raider.2271]

Yeah, she definitely ranks very high among the beings that suffered the most from Frostmourne, right up there with Bolvar, Arthas, and the OG Ner'zhul.

[@Theheadless1858]

How do we know that's cannon though? Most of the books have materials that were expressly contradicted later.

[@Joromonni]

@Theheadless1858 because nothing else has contradicted with that part.

[@Cifer77]

@@Theheadless1858Being contradicted doesn't erase lore. Most of WoW lore has eventually been contradicted.

[@miriamweller812]

@@Cifer77 Not really, more details = contradiction. That you got some probs here and there when an MMORPG with such a big story and lore runs for over 20 years, well, of course, but it's actually fascinating how little that is the case. Since years many writers don't even manage that in an 2 hour movie or a single game. Take the oh so praised BG3. The story is absolut nonsense and makes zero sense, not even starting with how much it contradicts the whole D&D setting and BG2's story and charakters. And to write such a coherent story is easy, it's a story cRPG what itself is way easier to write then an MMORP story/setting and it's a single one, not something going back so many years with constant developement.

[@Stryfe2000]

"They will come for us now! ALL OF THEM!!" the cinematic that followed this scene, was awesome telling Saurfang's story "Old Soilder"

[@TheCombatWombat0]

I played Night Elf, this was a gut punch to watch as a player.😢

[@lordmortarius538]

And then the quest for Alliance players right after, where you're given 2 minutes to save 1000 civilians or something like that and you obviously can't do it, but you try anyways, hearing the screams all around you, the buildings burning everywhere and smoke filling the sky... Talk about getting an emotional buy-in to the story.

[@MrSpaceAngel]

She was a Ranger General. And was such a big pain in the ass of Arthas on his way, that he didn't kill her but turned her into a banshee, his servant and slave, and tortured her for a long time. Later she became free from his power, returned her body (dead body, of course), and this is just a beginning of her story.

[@1990erre]

Keep in mind, there is an entire elf city on that tree! It is the most holy of places.

[@EloquentTroll]

It was the only functional World Tree at the time, Azeroth was bereft of functional World Trees until 10.2 and Amirdrassil's appearance at the end of the raid. Nordrassil isn't dead, but it's still very much recovering from the events of WC3. Also not going to lie my Sylvanas loyalist heart wanted to burn down Amirdrassil to keep Fyrakk from corrupting it. I'm a Blood Elf main, and seeing the Night Elves suffer is kinda my deal. They kicked the Highborne out, and letting the Nelfs have Mages was an insult.

[@kaylaisler5647]

Sylvannas is my favorite Warcraft character. Her story is heart breaking if you follow it chronologically as she becomes worst then the monster she hated so much.

[@BritGirlJay]

Same - my first vanilla character was an undead so she is still one of my faves despite her fall.

[@kaylaisler5647]

@@BritGirlJay my first character for vanilla was a human mage and my first alt was a Blood Elf I made in BC. I fell in love with the Blood elf lore and never went back.

[@Whitewolf8772]

yeah same here, is just so a tragic story, i know this was so wrong but i cannot blame the true sylvanas for this

[@miriamweller812]

Uh, no, not even close. Arthas was 100 times worse and that for literal nothing. What Sylvanas did here had a clear reason: She KNOWS the Shadowlands and how brutal those are for mortal souls and fights for chaning this. Life in comparison to the eternity of Death is just a "flicker", as she calls it and even in life you are often condemned by other powers just to be judged for it in death. See: look in RL, what the allies did to stop the german Nazis. Brutal genocide on their own, setting cities on fire, killing hundredthousands of civilians - and that not even for much reason, since it didn't really do much in regard of stopping fascism. Meanwhile Sylvanas did this, because the god who she helped and who helped her in return needed that extra power to break free and then change the system of Death for the better forever. That was her plan. And no, there is no argument that he is "the jailer" and alike, because the other Death Gods made him that, created Domination magic to distort and bind him. That wasn't his choice, by that no argument to see him as evil or whatever. The other Death Gods run the whole torture show for mortal souls as lifestock. Yes, Sylvanas was betrayed at the end - and the instantly went against that god, proving, that she never lied about it. Because she could have easily go along with him and just let mortals die and keep all the power and her position at the side of the most powerful being in the universe. She instantly threw this away and stayed with what she was fighting for: freedom for all mortal souls. Arthas meanwhile cut his own heart out instead.

[@Whitewolf8772]

@@miriamweller812 🤓☝ sorry i had to do it, ( not in a disrespectfull way)

[@theallstar3784]

Don't forget! It's not the BfA cinematic next! It is "Old Soldier" first, it bright things right up to the exact moment the BfA trailer starts! :) Edit: Wanted to say, never forgot this as Alliance. As the player, you fly into Teldrassil and you have to try and save 982 civilians on a 3 minute timer. Of course you can't. You pass out from the smoke and heat. You can't save them all. And due to this, it causes the Alliance to launch a full scale retaliation.

[@superbnns]

I think it's ok to watch those in release order.

[@hospitalcakewalk]

the effect this had on my mental state as a healthcare worker, as someone who's had to watch people die and couldnt help them kind of so fucked me up. I stopped playing for nearly a year because it just threw me back to having to explain to family members nothing could be done. :,(

[@kyerinn]

@@hospitalcakewalk I can tell you’re very compassionate. Thank you for all you do to help others.

[@Raemon777]

I disagree with this - I think a lot of the impact of Old Soldier comes from seeing it _after_ the initial Battle for Azeroth cinematic, and adding more context to it.

[@MegaChickenfish]

It's crazy to think this was 5 years ago now. No moment in WoW quite imprinted on me like this one and the alliance quest afterwards that sends you into the inferno.

[@TheStonerification]

Yeah, tasked with the responsibility of saving civilians. Running around desperately putting out fires until the realization you can't save everyone, and then you pass out from exhaustion. One of the most significant pre-patch experiences I've had.

[@Kalolui94]

bro stop time

[@Arthera0]

My main is an undead and i always followed her even when her actions were questionable but this event shook me. At this point she was no longer my leader/queen.

[@chipstarshine8150]

I think there’s a lot to consider, the devs want you to understand what she went through, not as an excuse for what she does but at least so you can understand how she came to this point. As someone who struggles with complex ptsd I can totally see how She ultimately came to this. Dealing with ptsd sucks and over time if you don’t get proper treatment it will jade you and turn you into something terrible which is exactly what we see here. Granted we now know more, she was working with the jailer and had an obligation to give him more souls but she also made a great point to anduin later when she says “you always ask for peace when it suits you, (meaning the alliance likes to switch to war at a moments notice too)

[@shirtlessviking9225]

as alliance, when the tree burned, you had a quest that said ''save 995 residents'' or something, and you had 2 minutes, i think i got like 59 and hen you were forced to leave...

[@AkridianRU]

Yeah, after all tries I may be was able to save 72.

[@mendiganina6001]

This was devastating. The sentiment of being powerless to stop it was really really well done. It was so frustrating and infuriating, but eh, we got a cool hippogryph, lol.

[@AkridianRU]

@@mendiganina6001 still using it in memory

[@rachelc4786]

My main is a druid night elf and I literally cried while doing that quest.

[@kyerinn]

@@rachelc4786Another druid main here and me too… it was hard.

[@arewhyinoh8595]

Listen, can I just say thank you for respecting the lore enough to want to learn. A ton of creators watch and yay it's pretty, but it seems like you're actually invested. And for those of us who are actually invested, it means a lot. I really hope you take the opportunity to look into more of the ingame cinematics. If you're really interested in the lore, there is a ton of stuff that is very important.

[@sospokemika1197]

You missed 2 very important cinematics in Legion tied to the current events in WoW. -Rejection of the Gift -Illidan's Sacrifice Argus Ending

[@kyerinn]

@PhilipHarts - I want to tell you how much I’ve been enjoying your WoW reaction videos. I don’t usually watch reaction videos but yours are something different: your awe and enthusiasm are infectious, your humility is endearing and most importantly, you share your knowledge of filmmaking with the rest of us. We are learning from each other. I’m happy to see the WoW community being so welcoming to you in sharing our passion for the game. As a player since vanilla, this whole experience has reinvigorated my own love for the game and my many fond memories over the years. We Loremasters look forward to further adventures with you! For Azeroth!

[@Retnoob]

Patty Matson is an amazing VA and so nice in person!

[@jimmiekarlsson4458]

Shes the best that has ever voiced a warcraft character . I really enjoyed the sylvanas soundbook that was voiced by Patty

[@antoinebrg6299]

yeah her voice and performance made Sylvanas so iconic

[@dustyroo666]

as a main night elf player. the War of the Roses (an event that came right before BfA) and the burn of the tree (the home of all the night elves) really hit me hard, didn't think I forgot it even after the new expansions came out.

[@stitchingrealms]

I have to admit the hopelessness I felt as a player trying to save as many of my people as I could and failing at it was something that has stuck with me even to this day. No other quest has made me feel so connected to the game as that event did.

[@irvinggutierrez4845]

Not sure but wasnt war of the torns?

[@stitchingrealms]

@@irvinggutierrez4845 quick google search says yes it was War of Thorns

[@wrecknor]

Fyi, "The Tree" Theldrassil is a full City (Darnassus) and several villages, also the starting area of the Night Elves in the game.

[@AkridianRU]

And hundreds of civilians.

[@wrecknor]

Yep, thou we got a quest in game to evacuate many of those to Stormwind via portals.

[@In5ane956]

The sad part is the night elf watches her home burn as she is dying herself.

[@BerishStarr]

The effect of this burning tree in game 🤯 A place where we have leveled and loved, all that is left is a ashy husk of a tree. And all Night Elves that are left in game, are refugees in Stormwind.

[@TheStarSquid]

Despite how controversial that entire storyline was, this cinematic is still my favorite for the raw brutality of it. Especially in the voice acting

[@corbin_4738]

Sylvanas was a huge thorn in Arthas's side when he was trying to devastate the land. She was Ranger General and was superb at battle. When he turned her, he made her a banshee bound to him. "Banshee Queen" is her name. She was so strong and Arthas wasn't at his full power yet that she continued to try to break away from him. When she did, she became leader of the playable faction called the Forsaken (undead raised by Arthas who broke free of his control).

[@joaooliveira7032]

best moment of the video besides the appearance of the LK, is when sylvannas says "cant i?"

[@jDs2946]

Still to this day these cinematics have been the most amazing! the fact that there is a full on city and towns/villages inside the tree and she just lights it on fire. Crazy story telling.

[@erdems2]

I can't believe I am saying this after all these incredible cinematics and shorts but yeah, it is now time for the next level good stuff. Old Soldier, I believe is the next.

[@Calmasaurus]

The memories that Sylvanas had there started out as missions from the campaign in Warcraft 2 Frozen Throne. The Wrathgate takes place a couple years after the events of Warcraft 2.

[@LethalOwl]

As someone who loves the night elf (kaldorei) people and have done so ever since Warcraft 3, this expansion and onwards made me increasingly despise Blizzard's writing. As one who pays very close attention to how things play out in-game, the constant battering of the night elf people throughout the later expansions is just insane. It's like they *want* them to go extinct. Even in the most recent expansion, they supposedly are giving the night elves 'hope' again with the main story line, but at the same time half the NPCs we've killed in this expansion (dragonflight) have been night elves that for some unexplained reason joined the "primalists", against their own people's best interests. Night elf genocide never ends.

[@kyerinn]

I’ve been playing a night elf druid since vanilla and I have to agree with you that they get a substantial amount of grief in blizzard’s decisions. I really hope that this latest story will give them some relief already.

[@chimerakait]

what's most tragic is Theldrassil (The great tree) was the Night elves attempt to literally regrow their lives after loosing their 1st world tree Nordrassil to the demons in their frequent invasions. These world trees were originally created by the titan Eonar in the Emerald Dream which was an unsullied blueprint of life for Azeroth. Eventually the Dragons gave seeds of the trees to the elves as thanks for helping them, giving them powers of the realm of nature itself. The bronze Aspect Nozdormu blest their 1st tree Nordrassil so they might have their immortality back that was lost in the Sundering (of course they lost that when loosing the 1st tree). The Night Elves are a little different than the High Elves that lived around the well of Eternity. They are more spiritual and traditional with a more druidic way of thinking. Their primary deity is the elusive and mysterious moon goddess Elune. They venerate ancestors and the power of the Emerald dream, The Emerald Aspect Ysera's realm. They are very close to dragons and nature and above all else HATE the use of arcane magic and mistrust the other races. After the sundering they saw the use of magic as a sin, thus the surviving high elves were driven east and joined 1st the alliance than turned to the Horde. The elves just kept getting loss after loss lately; the War of the Ancients, The Great Sundering, the Orcish Hordes, and now the loss of the only home they had left do to Sylvanas becoming a complete maniac. Sylvanas was a high elf who died defending her realm from Arthas' march north to resurrect the lich Kel'Thuzad by corrupting the High Elvan Sunwell (mini Well of Etrernity). After this horrific event and loss of life the high elves renamed themselves to the Sin'dorei or 'Bloodelves', they walked away from the alliance, which was dead at this point in history, and joined the beginnings of the horde. The human and dwarven survivors of the scourge eventually banded together in a freshly rebuilt City of Stormwind to revive the alliance, sending a branch of peace to the normally zenophobic Kal'dorai "night elves" to join them out of necessity. The north was now completely abandoned and/or crawling with undead. Arthas was so infuriated my Sylvanas' interference that he tortured her for days and ultimately turned her into an undead banshee to serve him. Yada yada things happened; eventually the Forsaken escaped the lich king and her faction joined the horde. She always had an ulterior motive and was at most in a neutral partnership with the horde, but she always had a secret agenda to continue the survival of her unnatural undead race. She wheeled and dealed in the background, commiting hate crimes and atrocities secretly until what she was doing finally boiled over when she was declaired Warcheif after 2 died in quick succession, do to the main story getting really serious. A suitable Warchief she is not, if she only cares for her Forsaken. As a Gilnean Wargen main, I know her atrocities well.

[@miriamweller812]

Was one of the reasons why I though that burning the tree might have been necesarry to open the rift to the Shadowlands, because that true could be something that blocked it.

[@chimerakait]

@@miriamweller812 Nah man, the shadowlands never happened XD the story makes so much more sense when her motivations are her own.

[@supremeoverlorde2109]

WoW isn't really my thing, but I've played a bit here and there and my Mom is a big fan. Sylvanas is her favorite character. I still remember when this short came out. The delivery of Sylvanas's "Can't I?" is chilling.

[@tossemback826]

this really hurt so much, I've been an Night Elf Alliance player since Burning Crusade, but I had always loved Sylvanas too. Teldrasil (the tree that was burned in this cinematic) is what made me fall in love with WoW, the beautiful nature of the dark forest, then leaving it and realizing "OMG I WAS IN A TREE?" and I immediately when back up in to it to find an edge and look out and down and it all connected, and I've loved the Night Elves deeply ever since. This moment was so painful, seeing my tree be burned, everyone in the tree, so many innocent people, so many animals, so much life destroyed and burned away with no hope of them being able to protect themselves. All we could do was get to the tree and save as many people as we could, which were so few of how many people were there. Civilians, Traders, Priestesses, Children, even just the souls of the dead who still stayed and cared for the tree how they could, all burned to ash in moments

[@superbnns]

That flashback to Arthas is years before the Lich King cinematic you watched earlier.

[@CapulloSpawn]

In Blizzard's name, morse code Illidan, what Sylvanas did, and he immediately turns around and oneshots her. I always say this, if Illidan finds out what Sylvanas did, then no spot in WoW's history will be safe for Sylvanas. She's so fucked up. I would like to go to Dalaran and have the gnomes and goblins redesign the beacon so that we could use it to send a signal to Illidan. Far in the Distance of the Universe: "Sylvanas.....you are not prepared!"

[@DirtCheapFU]

I always loved the hesitation in Nathanos in giving the order.

[@Anlushac11]

I liked Varok Saurfangs response "There is no honor in this. They will come for us...ALL OF US!"

[@miriamweller812]

From his PoV is makes little sense. He of course doesn't know why Syvanas used that new conflict between Alliance and Horde to just escalate it further. Just reasonable for him to react like that.

[@srkares]

im not much of an RP guy, but for fun i made up a backstory for my first and still primary character, a female nightelf. she was born and raised in Auberdine, before moving to Teldrassil to start her adventure. Auberdine was completely destroyed by deathwing during the cataclysm, simply by flying over it, teldrassil was destroyed a few years later by sylvanas, out of hatred. when Tyrande, the nightelf leader and high priestess of Elune, the nightelf deity, offered to become a Night Warrior, a chosen vessel of vengeance, i didnt hesitate and never went back (its only a character customization option in the game, but its fun to think of it like this. they also granted NElf players burn scars as customization options). on the video itself: i think, apart from maybe what you mentioned, the key arts for this short would've been 0:50 and 4:11 and showing what happened between them. also a "fun" bit is obviously the fact that, in warcraft 3, you played as arthas. you killed sylvanas, raised her as a banshee and destroyed her city.

[@julio4494]

That was Arthas before he became the Lich King

[@Atrop1ne]

Man, the one in-game cinematic I wish you watched was Greymane vs Sylvanas from Legion. It’s another of my favorites.

[@T.tannia]

I would like to point out, that the tree is Teldrassil, one of the main cities of the Alliance, where the whole race of the Night elves live (after the betrayal of their queen Azhara the Light of lights 10 000 years ago, they decided to ban arcane magic and to be the ones with nature. That is why they live in this tree instead of some version of the magnificent city you have seen in the Warbringers cinematic. The whole Azhara and her betrayal had a very strong impact on the Night elves themselves, but at the whole world also, it is the reason, why Azeroth we know look how it looks today.) and where you start your journey, when you choose Night elf character and it has been like this since the beginning of Wow. I would have never expected Blizz to destroy such a major city and imo that's one of the reasons it was such a big deal. I, as a Nelf character, was there and did quests, that followed this and, I can tell you, I will never forget them. As many here said, you get the quest to save survivors, but obviously it is impossible to save them all and you almost die trying. Also, you need to see the Terror of Darkshore, which is ingame cinematic following this event. Also, also, Sylvanas Windrunner is, in my opinion, one of the best and most tragic characters in the game (will never forgive her though :D) and when you get to Shadowlands you need to see Shattered legacies, which will explain her character to you a little bit more and is very well done. In this Warbringers cinematic is a very simplified version of her death. She was the main obstacle in the way of Arthas, when he tried to siege the Quel'thalas, the city of High elves, and he was so angry and frustrated at her endless will and courage to fight him and stop him, that when he finally was able to get her and kill her, he decided to punish her by turning her into the banshee, who was under his full control and with whom he conquered Quel'thalas in the end. It is an extremely important moment in the history of Warcraft and for all the players also, because it was us, who played for Arthas in WC3 and we were there, when this happened.

[@Celticshade]

i actually own a print of the before and after of the burning of teldrassil. its genuinely beautiful. i got it at pax east when BFA came out.

[@lycos94]

The quests you get to do in the tree while it's burning is heartbreaking one of them is like ''' save the 3000 innocents'' and you can only save a few dozen because there's no time as everything around you is burning and dying

[@SilverKnight16]

The most impactful part about the burning of Teldrassil was, for the duration of the pre-expanson event, there was a story quest where the objective was to "Save the civilians of Teldrassil 0/927" and you had _one minute_ to take people to the portal--one by one. It was literally impossible to complete, and to my knowledge (twice Loremaster, by the way), it was the only time in WoW's history where a quest was _deliberately_ designed to be uncompletable. It really drove home the fact that you, the player, simply weren't able to get the job done and save the day. I really wish WoW used their systems creatively like that more often; it was a brilliant way to tell the story.

[@Raemon777]

I want to make a pitch for the ordering of next things to watch. I think this ordering/combo will give more depth, and ask/answer questions in a good order. And it shows some sides of Sylvannas that I think make Battle for Azeroth more compelling. 1) The Horde version of the Legion: Broken Shore cinematic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXaceYmvZtuardU 2) Sylvannas and Vol'Jin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rImbc5x7fpqWbMU 3) Battle for Azeroth Intro Cinematic kzbin.info/www/bejne/oISto2aajb-Zmck 4) Old Soldier kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4jCmWOnm56ppqM Old Soldier is chronologically before Battle for Azeroth, but it was released afterwards, and I think it's more powerful as something you watch second which adds more context.

[@lordmortarius538]

Sylvanas Windrunner was the Ranger-General of Silvermoon, the High Elves' capitol in the lands of Quel'Thalas, to the north of Lordaeron. In order for Arthas, the newly-christened Death Knight, to raise the necromancer Kel'Thuzad (whom he had previously killed before his turn to darkness), the power of the High Elves' Sunwell was needed, and so he led an invasion of Quel'Thalas by the Undead Scourge. The trail of their march was left blackened and lifeless, and known thereafter as the Dead Scar that went almost straight north all the way to the gates of the city. After having thwarted Arthas' advance several times and delaying him significantly, she finally faced him outside the gates to Silvermoon, and was cut down by Frostmourne. But, Arthas was not content to simply give her the peace of death, not after all of the trouble she had caused him, and so he ripped her soul from her body and bound her as a banshee, along with many other elves on the battlefield. This is why she is known as the Banshee Queen, because she was the first to become part of the Scourge. After some time, Arthas was recalled by the Lich King to Northrend to defend his master from Illidan's attacks on the Frozen Throne, and the hold that the Lich King had over the Scourge began to falter. Sylvanas freed herself from this control, and along with the other undead that were also left leaderless, moved to secure their own place in the world, with her as their Dark Lady. She found her corpse in Deatholme in southern Quel'Thalas, now called the Ghostlands, locked into a coffin. Her Dark Rangers managed to force the locks and she re-possessed her own body, but it's never been the same, disconnected in a way. Her initial driving force has always been to protect those she termed the Forsaken, those who broke from the Lich King's control and joined her, but obviously as undead, they have no way to replenish their numbers without raising new bodies, and so she would do that, but give those raised a choice, to become Forsaken, or try to find their own way. Over the years, however, she became more and more afraid of her own re-demise, and while she did end up obtaining the allegiance of the Val'kyr who once served Arthas, after he was killed, they were few in number, and once when she was actually proper killed, one of those Val'kyr had to sacrifice itself to save her. It was then that she saw what had become of the Shadowlands, that realm beyond death, which ended up changing her perspective on the state of the world drastically, but that's a story for the Shadowlands expansion :P Just like Arthas, hers is a tragic tale, but instead of being subsumed by a stronger will like Arthas was, Sylvanas leaned into her ruthlessness and hatred to become an even greater villain than Arthas could hope to have been.

[@TommyBartley-s1i]

Love this one.. Sylvanas is my favorite character… her story is sad but beautiful..

[@ArcanaMythra]

There was a pre-patch quest before Battle for Azeroth that had your character in Teldrassil, and the quest was trying to save as many people as you could. It started out with 0/1000. It was impossible to save everyone before the smoke made you black out. I managed around 250 people, and the ENTIRE time I was just sobbing. Definitely one of the hardest hitting points in the story for me. It was so painful but so well done lol

[@Grandy_UiD]

There was mentioning of the Wrath Gate, are the reactions to the in-game cinematics somewhere as well? You also knew about Garrosh and Hellscream's first encounter with Mannoroth, so are there Warcraft 3 reactions as well?

[@RetroGuy_77]

Wait... why is he already in BFA content? You guys let him go through Legion content without directing him to the Varian versus Gul'dan cinematic??? Arguably the hardest moment in all of WoW lore to watch!

[@MrGanon360]

The burning of Teldrassil was a traumatic experience, in fact it was an in game scenario for both the alliance and horde, and the book that came with the collectors edition for battle for azeroth was intense

[@franramirez2335]

And after this @philipharts is when the action in the "Old Soldier" series starts

[@TheBlaert]

The hesitance of the Blightcaller when she gave the order to burn it speaks volumes.

[@roguedoodle9948]

The flashback is early on in the lore, with Warcraft 3. Arthas had gained Frostmourne, killed his father and is a Death Knight of the Lich King (not merged yet). He is there to bring the ruined urn of his father now carrying the remains of Kel'thuzad to resurrect him into a lich. The kicker is that Kel'thuzad was a mage who was swayed by the Lich King, created the Cult of the Damned and was killed by Arthas, who at that time was still a Paladin and investigating the plague. But with Arthas corrupted, his enemy is now his ally. Marching the Scourge to Quel'thalas, Arthas killed Slyvannas, the ranger general of high elves, and raised her as a banshee and his minion. He was successful in raising Kel'thuzad into undeath by using the Sunwell (a fount of power) to do so. This ensured Kel'thuzad was powerful himself as a lich. Quel'thalas was in ruins with their king killed by Arthas, the prince Kael'thas was away during this but swore revenge to the point where the High Elves changed their name to Blood Elves. Slyvannas was of the Scourge until Illidan, along with Kael'thas and Lady Vashj (Naga) used a spell powerful enough to attack the Lich King, the spell failed due to interruption by Illdian's brother but it weakened the Lich King's power. That time allowed for Slyvannas to regain her free will and with other undead formed the Forsaken and went after Arthas. Kel'Thuzad managed to save him, though there was no more controlling Slyvannas, and she would hunt him down. Arthas himself was determined to save his master and was doing what he could to get to Icecrown. Illidan tried to stop him, but was defeated/persuaded to chase something else. In the end, Arthas got to the frozen throne and merged with the Lich King to where he remained until Wrath of the Lich King expansion, however having a psychic connection to the Scourge during the slumber. An interesting note is that the Scourge and Illdian both involve the Burning Legion; the Scourge was made by Kil'jaden to fight for them on Azeroth with this undead army. But the Lich King (Ner'zhul) didn't want to be controlled, so he played along until he could find a means to break free. Kil'jaden found out about this plot and had Illdian go after put the Lich King back in his place. Yet Illdian's plans all along has been to defeat the Burning Legion and double-crossed, with failing to kill the Lich King he went to Outlands to avoid Kil'Jaden and build up (Burning Crusade and Legion expansion). Sylvannas eventually gets her revenge and after throws herself off Icecrown only to find out terrible things and made a deal with a different devil (BFA and Shadowlands).

[@rickhobson3211]

"Who burned the tree?" That was one of those questions which roared through the community. When this came out, Forsaken players were gobsmacked. Being a worgen player, I (ahem) knew it all along. >.>

[@WilBgames]

Sylvannas is voiced by Patty Mattson. I thought she was gonna be a broadway performer or something, but no, prior to World of Warcraft she did country music and ad/robocall voiceovers.

[@jimmiekarlsson4458]

Shes the best voice actress Blizzard have had id say

[@RainbowQueen23]

The VA for Sylvanas also read her audio book which is AMAZING and one of my favorite books ❤

[@133774c05]

This is the intro of the old Soldier mini film. My favorite part of wow lore since the fall of the lich king.

[@2impgaming]

This is Death Knight Arthas, and at the Wrath Gate that was Lich King Arthas.

[@oneblueguy5124]

I'm loving the series - but did we skip the entirety of Legion in-game cinematics? Or did I just miss them? I can't wait for the BFA "Old Soldier" series either, but we've skipped a bunch of Legion content, again, unless I've missed it.

[@xecelus]

The voice actor of Sylvanas did the original intro for the world of Warcraft cinematic back in 2004.

[@willo1345]

I need a link. Most people say it is actually Debi Mae West which is the voice actress for Maiev. I am inclined to agree because the original cinematic voice sounds nothing like Sylvannas.

[@kaybailey-jones3740]

I was born in that tree……..

[@kyerinn]

That’s very poignant… you’re right, a lot of us were.

[@Langerleff]

Thank you for your video. By the way, it is worth noting that the game itself has excellent work with light. The light from the torch, the flame of the fire, the sun, etc. is dynamically displayed on your face. As a photographer, sometimes I can't help but take a cool screenshot, just because there is a very beautiful light on my dwarf's face.

[@AkridianRU]

So this is War of Thorns. After events of Legion Horde and Alliance sent their forces to the south of Kalimdor to Silithus to take control over whatever found. From Alliance on Kalimdor only night elves are present. Their forces were sent away when Sylvanas turned Horde army 180 and rushed to north, to Teldrassil. They pushed through Ashenvale forest and were stopped only near Darkshore. But Horde maid pact with neutral troll tribe to pass through mountains and attacked in the back. After that they got to Teldrassil and burned it. What was the goal? Send as many souls to hell. No matter Horde or Alliance.

[@publicguy1664]

Actually it's moon light aa the night elves worship the moon goddess Elune. It goes gray when she dies because that's what happens when you die in-game, you see everything in gray tones.

[@asmrnicole2638]

Now your next cinematics to watch have to be varok saurfangs mak'gora. Basically a continuation from here with hard focus on Saurfang

[@yellowsocks2835]

Love seeing your perspective of the amazing cinematic team from Blizzard. Great reactions sir!

[@Wolfsire-pt6be]

My Dark Lady. Her story is so full of lost. The majority takes place in the novels Starting in Arthas: The Lich King. I recommend reading it.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

and thus with this atrocity she committed, so began the Fourth War. now for the Old Soldier cinematic, followed by the BFA intro.

[@steviet6878]

Recommending Battle for Azeroth: Varok Saurfang’s Mak’gora video. 23 minutes long but it tells Saurfangs whole story. Beautiful cinematics

[@nicksanfilippo9513]

i know i recommended the book for Arthas on your Wrath of the Lich King rejaction but...... the audio book World of Warcraft: Sylvanas is read by the voice actress of Sylvanas, and a must listen to for any fan of the character

[@Drake844221]

The burning of Teldrasil was... a war crime. Plain and simple. That's not just a tree. It was the fledgeling world tree to take the place of Nordrasil, which was destroyed at the climax of Warcraft 3. It was the new home of the Night Elf race, and its destruction was an atrocity. Sylvanas as warchief declared war on the Alliance as the Horde, yes, but she was waging her own war against life itself. That's not even Hyperbole. She was basically playing a game of "let's you fight with them" with the two sides, using the blood of the planet - Azerite, which started welling up from the world after Legion, when the sword was plunged into the world (the one you saw in The War Within) as a weapon of mass destruction. Sylvanas is very much hated by the community for everything she's done. Yes, she was ripped from life, and made into the first banshee by Arthas... but she has done so much damage to the world ever since then. Taking her trauma and inflicting it on the entire world.

[@TheSpoegefugl]

And here's the thing! In WC3 (without expansion), you play as Arthas when he invades the homeland of the high elves, and since Sylvanas was the ranger general, she shows up repeatedly to stop Arthas, but ultimately only slows him down. When he finally gets to her and kills her, she asks for a clean death, and he denies it to her, mostly because she caused trouble for him. So he reanimated her out of spite!!! (Although it is worth noting that they have a tendency to retcon lore, so this might not be canon anymore)

[@manytoo4407]

you can't kill hope... Sylvanas : Can't I ? Pure Evil

[@miriamweller812]

Not really. Evil = egomanical. Sylvanas isn't doing this for herself, but to change the torture system of the Afterlife. Life is a joke in comparison, a "momentary flicker", since every mortal will die sooner or later and will get to the Shadowlands for a much, much longer time. That's why Sylvanas mocks the armies and leader of Horde and Alliance about it, their "tin soldiers", "howling for honor", because it's stupid and pointless.

[@manytoo4407]

you're definitely right on a global perception of the story, i just though that saying this in front of this elf that is litteraly dying for hope was evil to do :p @@miriamweller812

[@mattfarley9136]

BRO!!!!! I am thoroughly enjoying this WoW series! And I am very glad that you are doing more than just the main cinematics. The "Warbringers" series is cool, the "Lords of War" series is cool, and the "Harbingers" series is cool. BUT..... You are out of order, my friend. AND, you MUST go back and cover at least 2 of the in-game cinematics. The first one chronologically takes place immediately after the main "Legion" cinematic. It is called "The Broken Shore" cinematic. PLEASE cover that one after you finish the "Warbringer" series... THEN, please cover the "Antorus End Cinematic".

[@akaHius]

Arthas in these memo is not Lich King yet, only death knight.

[@Lillyanna707]

Eager to see your reaction to “Reckoning”!

[@davidhauks]

Warhammer 3 !!!!!

[@Dakodi_]

You should check out Sylvanas voice from Warcraft 3. I thought it was even better.

[@MrBern-ex3wq]

This story was disliked by many (myself included) as Horde players, mainly because we'd already gone through one like this before. At this point in the story Sylvanas is the Warchief of the Horde. And starting on WC3, the Horde's story was headed towards redemption, right? Becoming a people and claiming their place in the world. Then during Cataclysm there was a change, Thrall stepped down as Warchief because he had cataclysm-preventing shaman duties to attend to and Garrosh Hellscream (son of Grom) was placed as Warchief and he basically went nuts with a lust for war and made the Horde out to be progressively more like the bad guys, startign grey but then definitely shifting to evil, until MoP when all of the other leaders of the Horde went "no, fuck this, this has gone on long enough" and started working in their own ways to rebel against Garrosh and reclaim the Horde. And they succeded! So in MoP the Horde got this huge character development of "no, this is not who we are anymore" and actually owning it by rebelling against this war-thirsty Warchief that was Garrosh. And then in _this_ expansion it's just... It's like they erased all of that character development that the Horde got, all to enable this story about Sylvanas. Because through other twists of fate Sylvanas ends up as Warchief and they wrote most of the Horde as just going along with her insanity, except a few who wound up rebelling again, EVEN THOUGH they already learned the lesson of not letting hateful, warthirsty tyrants lead their people years ago. Just made most Horde fans feel awful. And then the expansion that this one was setting up turned out to be the worst expansion in current WoW history, one we'd all rather forget about, so the Horde's character development got rolled back and replayed again for _nothing_.

[@vi-r22]

It is difficult to give the full lore of any one character in a comment section. For a brief breakdown on Sylvanas, what happened and important people who go along with her story, I find this vid helpful but, it was made 5yrs ago and so, does not cover events since then. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpiXlXSmfdugjMk (there are literally books on each.)

[@timpastor4951]

Did you miss the Illidan Legion arc?

[@luksp96]

It might look amazing but this is the moment the WoW story died for myself and a lot of other people. From this moment on you could predict the next 2 years of story with ease and almost nobody liked where it would eventually go. It single-handedly ruined the expectations for this whole expansion, that hasn't even properly started yet, and made the players that actually follow the story see anything that followed in a bad and apathetic light, that still plagues and persists to this day. I can definitely say that is true for me, my interest in the story hasn't recovered yet and I don't think it ever will, no matter how many good cinematics or how good the story gets. This cinematic will always exist.

[@AkridianRU]

Check Darkshore warfront in-game cinematics to see aftermath of this event.

[@TheMahaffeymg]

Please tell me you are going to watch the Saurfang cinematics from BfA!

[@viper9833]

You should react to the Reckoning cinematic, BfA’s final cinematic, which is pretty damn good

[@badveyron40]

You really need to see Battle For Azeroth cinematics (there a lot of them in that patch). I rly like that you want to understand lore and characters, you so amazing viewer.

[@eyeofthasky]

he didnt survive wrathgate, he attacked sylvanas' home even before he took on the helm in icecrown, so way before all the wow cinematics you watched.

[@alystormrage1825]

Try all cinematics with illidan in Legion

[@joeyplays4340]

Idk if youre aware but she committed a genocide of the night elven people with this cinematic 😢

[@TheOesi1989]

Your wow rundown is missing the three Harbingers from legion

[@con.x]

Nothing crushes hope more than death. Death is final... Eventually we all succumb to death. All things die. Parents, Spouses, even Children... continuing beyond past a loss is heart wrenching, and the more death that comes the harder it is... Sylvannas has been made to believe as Arthas did, because of the Jailer, that death is just the natural end of all things, why resist it, hope is a fools errand, and so she embraces it. Her turn at the end, after watching how death uses Domination against Anduin... was the only breaking point for her. Domination was unnatural. I don't think she can possibly see it here, that her domination of the Night Elven people was not natural. We are still in the middle of that arc I think, Anduin visibly has lost a lot of hope.

[@miriamweller812]

In WoW Death isn't final. You get to the Shadowlands - where you end up as lifestock for the Death Gods. That's the actual war Sylvanas fought. And while she was betrayed at the end, she still reached a lot. And showed, that she indeed always fought for the freedom of ALL mortal souls. Else she wouldn't have instantly went against Zovaal as soon as he betrayed her. And no, Domination of Anduin wasn't her breaking point. It was temporary anyway to reach their goal in case that Anduin wouldn't help willingly. It simply raised her doubt about the motives of Zovaal, that way she acted faster when the betrayel came, since she had thought about it for a while already. If everything would have went fine till then, she may have followed him with the idea in mind, taht she could still reach what she was fighting for. But Zovaal: a death god without any care for mortals, so much, that he sees them as a dangerous waste of energy, simply didn't care anymore to hold up the lie and went full "I will just get rid of mortals all together and rewrite the system to my will alone". And no, that wasn't obvious. It wasn't him who created Domnation magic, but the other Death Gods. Even now it could be, that he was distorted by Domination magic like this on purpose and just another tool in a greater plan. The other Death Gods aren't really trustworthy at all - and still the players just do.

[@Yolosopher27]

Duuuude, where is BFA reaction?

[@anthonyschwartz1084]

eventually! He is traveling so these are from live streams. Were a little out of order at first

[@TruOnyxfire]

This is war. If you declare war or accept a declaration of war, you play to win. Wipe out your enemy, completely, or force an unconditional surrender. I've never understood these "friendly rules" of war. War isn't friendly, death is death, no matter how you deliver it. If the Night Elves joined the Alliance in their war against the Horde, they are open game, just as anyone on the Horde side is open game. The Alliance should have been protecting the World Tree better. I bet Stormwind was well guarded enough against an attack like this. The tree housed innocents, but it was also the place where Night Elf warriors trained, provided help and assistance to their soldiers, was home to many bases that supported the NE factions against the Horde. You don't use civilians, women and children, as shields against attacks from the enemy and then get to cry "war crimes" when you are attacked.

[@hospitalcakewalk]

Invincible's cameo thoooooo

[@enlightendbel]

And elf killing a world tree on purpose is fucked up on so many levels.

[@vincentgaspar3327]

I’m waiting for him to watch some Warhammer 40k cinematics.

[@slob1105]

Still waiting for him to do the diablo 4 trailer But doing all these wow ones is 🐐d

[@JohnnyBlake-bu4hl]

Sylvanas Slays

[@Cenforge]

Bravo.

[@rgytos]

Pls check out burdens of shao hao

[@TyrannosavageRekt]

I still hate the Delaryn Summermoon got raised from the dead, even more so that she got such a shitty model. She was such a cool character for someone that was a relatively minor one. Her interaction with Sylvanas here is very memorable.

[@nwcustomdecals]

arthas tortured her. Without the world tree, she proved that she could take their hope

[@zenmindgamer]

Sylvanas proved she could fail at her endeavors maybe.