Filmmaker Reacts: World of Warcraft - Warlords of Draenor Cinematic

[@PhilipHarts]

Who is your favorite Warlord in World of Warcraft? 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

[@brightestlight9462]

so that structure at the end is the same exact structure from the burning crusade cinematic, its a portal from the orc world of draenor/outland to azeroth--from warcraft 1/2. they are rebuilding the portal, but instead of going to that times version of azeroth, garrosh is taking them to OUR azeroth, except with new technology, like the device shown in this cinematic. all kinds of devices and tech of iron. this new horde is called the Iron Horde, and garrosh plans to use it to enact his revenge on us, and redeem his father grommash.

[@blah8063]

Rewatch the first 10 seconds of the Burning Crusade trailer, then re-watch the last 10 seconds of this one :). (10 seconds...ish)

[@tyrgannusgaming6657]

I think the game wants me to like Grom the most, but I've always been partial to Kargath's "heavy metal" inspired aesthetic and attitude

[@aseelsmadi7773]

Great reaction, I love your videos! If I can make a recommendation, Riot has another band (like K/DA) but they're called HEARTSTEEL and their song is 'Paranoia' you should really check it out.

[@alexlabelle3049]

Blackhand is my favorite warlord, and I love that every single time we see him in any timeline he looks like a completely different and unrelated character. Helps that he has a big part in the 'threat structure' of Grom's Iron Horde both the stuff that made it in and the stuff that got cut, and one of my all-time favorite cutscene cinematics. Heck, I even enjoy his raid boss fight!

[@akariaTXreaper]

Garrosh time traveled back 35 years, to before the First War (before WC1), to the corruption of the orcs to prevent them from drinking the Blood of Mannoroth. The green orc is the first warlock, Gul'dan who willingly sold their people into slavery to the Burning Legion. Garrosh prevented the corruption and convinced his people into a war of conquest against the world of Azeroth. The "temple" at the end is the Dark Portal, they're building it to travel into the future azeroth (current timeline)

[@MannequinMeat]

It's an alternate timeline. Not the past of the current timeline

[@pepparmostheelder]

Not just travled back. Travled into an alternative and earlier timeline. So its a 35 year younger as well as alternative reality with some subtle changes besides the ones Garrosh make happen. So for example Garrosh mother is already dead while in the "real" reality/timeline she survived and had Garrosh

[@masufame]

So is this all not canon or does it play a role in other expansions

[@Weir436]

And as i'm sure Phillip is thinking, the entirety of this lore was and is bullshit. But the cinematic was cool.

[@dylnfstr]

@@masufameit was pretty much a spin-off. Other than one of the dungeons being in the current Mythic + rotation, it didn’t really have much effect on the normal timeline. We do have the uncorrupted (Mag’har) Orcs as allied races that are playable. They join the horde after being defeated.

[@RohtAnuum]

Your energy is so contagious when watching your live reactions.

[@SomethingScotty]

The thing they were constructing at the end wasn't a temple, it was the Dark Portal. A gateway that would allow the Orcs of Draenor to invade Azeroth.

[@jeremymbuss]

This is the other end of the portal shown in the Burning Crusade cinematic.

[@kymykaly]

It is not, it's Hellfire Peninsula side. The portal shown in the BC cinematic is from the Azeroth side@@jeremymbuss

[@McSireson]

@@kymykaly Yes, thats what he said

[@kymykaly]

@@McSireson You're right lmao

[@apollion1]

Btw, "that wind sound" you hear when Hellscream is flying through the air is his axe Gorehowl. It got its name from the "wind" sound it makes when flying through the air. You can hear it again when Garrosh throws the axe to him after he pulls it from Mannoroths skull.

[@DOProductionsNL]

Came here to say this. Lok'tar friend!

[@PatrickHenryWoW]

This cinematic is nice because it not only is just really frickin epic, it's a retelling of a PIVOTAL moment in orc history... Heck, Azerothian history! Contrasting the drinking of the demon blood in original history, with the refusal in this alternate timeline, and ending with the slaying of Mannoroth which originally tied up a big part of WCIII, to slaying the demon now and starting the Iron Horde's own journey.

[@KickstarterRadio1024]

As learned in the Movie... the fel destroyed the orc world and they had to invade Azeroth to find new pastures, only to come head to head with the Alliance.

[@DraconX3]

@@KickstarterRadio1024 Aaaah I wouldnt put much stock in the Movie. The Orcs invaded Azeroth after the Dark Portal was opened in order to plunder and conquer Azeroth, unwittingly doing the Burning Legions will in providing a foothold on Azeroth once more to try and claim the energy of the Well of Eternity, which up till the end of Warcraft 3, was the World Tree The Draenor was destroyed subsequently at the end of the 2nd war after Nerzhul opened TO MANY portals to other worlds to try and find places new to escape. The energies ripping Draenor apart.

[@JoseCruz-e9u]

Too bad blizzard abandoned this expansion for Legion

[@straighttalkwithkyle7947]

@@DraconX3 Most of the Orcs didn't realize they were pawns of the Burning Legion at that time. Everything was being controlled by the Shadow Council and Guldan behind the scenes. That's part of why Orgrim Doomhammer killed Blackhand and overthrew the Shadow Council because of the corruption.

[@arasdeeps1852]

@@JoseCruz-e9u This expansion, and the return of Gul'dan, are what lead to Legion.

[@MetaJebus]

Remember the portal in the second cinematic? "Banished from my own homeland". That's the portal under contruction back before Draenor became Outland.

[@KodyCQYep]

With Legion being next, if you don't mind some story spoilers, I highly encourage you to watch the Broken Shore cutscenes that take place at the beginning of the expansion, after you watch the cinematic. Beyond it being one of the most memorable and emotional in-game cutscenes, it helps to paint some of the context behind why Anduin is so broken in The War Within's cinematic.

[@straighttalkwithkyle7947]

I second this! Yes those need to be watched.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

Legion was the best expansion ever, the Borrowed Power was the low point of it, but the Class Fantasy, Story, Quests and all else was top notch.

[@straighttalkwithkyle7947]

@@UltimateGamerCC It makes me wonder how great Wrath of the Lich King could have been with how they have done more modern expansions. They were in their story telling, class fantasy, quest chain, and cutscene infancy in those days compared to Legion or now but Wrath had the best build up in the back round story to any expansion ever we just weren't at that point in the game yet where the story really came out in the in game experience the same way it does these days.

[@KodyCQYep]

@@UltimateGamerCC I still wish they would have made artifact weapons a permanent fixture in the game. They already had the solution to replacing weapons as the thing you upgrade (artifact relics). They didn't even need to add any new talents to them, they could have just done cool stuff with relics instead.

[@Kaotiqua]

He's watching in order, so, several Draenor cinematics, leading to several Legion, as well.

[@_moondream]

I remember watching this for the first time and losing my mind when Garrosh saves Grom. Such a well executed callback at an iconic shot that perfectly conveys the idea that this moment changes destiny. So glad you watched the WC3 cinematic yesterday because your reaction brought me right back to how I felt almost 10 years ago.

[@IamDeathIncarnate1337]

haha I love how with each cinematic you know more and more about the lore and start recognising people.

[@IamDeathIncarnate1337]

that look on Hellscreams face isn't resolve, it's that he knows that Mannoroth hasn't figured out that it's all a trap, until the artillery starts flying.

[@arasdeeps1852]

@@IamDeathIncarnate1337 yeah, that was totally a smirk.

[@nathanielcohen364]

LORE TIME! When Garrosh was put on trial (seen in a great book called "War Crimes"), the black Dragon Wrathion, with the aid of a bronze dragon (the bronze flight have time powers) used an artifact to send Garrosh to the past of Draenor to a point before the Legion weaponized the orcs against the Draenei. With plans from an expert engineer (we the players kill him in the Siege of Ogrimmar) in hand, he helps to build up the Iron Horde and build another Dark Portal so he can once again try and conquer Azeroth, this time by the side of his father. That is where the expansion begins, with the forces of the Alliance and Horde working in unison to battle back the Iron Horde forces from our world, pushing them back through the portal where we trap ourselves on Draenor with them. And the time travel is... cool but unclear. We the player don't have access to it, and the people that do are guardians of the timeways, and they only use it if they really need to, or in some cases if they go rouge.

[@eriklunden5218]

4:20 It's a small detail, but I thought this was cool: When the axe is caught, the fel blood on it still has momentum and splashes off. I mean, who thinks of that as an animator?

[@BattleF08]

At Garrosh' trial, a time dragon (that we got tricked in time to help gain the power to do this), freed Garrosh and sent him back in time, to an alternate timeline version of the Orcish Homeworld. The dragon wanted to redo things to forge this Horde into an army to protect Azeroth with in the true timeline. Garrosh killed him. He only wanted revenge on Azeroth.

[@maruraba1478]

Bronze Dragons are keepers of time and guardians of the timeways. There are 5 flights of dragons, Bronze, Red, Blue, Black and Green. Each corresponding with and element and purpose, Bronze usually breath sand and watch over time, Red are fire dragons that use their restoring flames to bring new life, Black are earth dragons that protect the planet itself (ironically Deathwing was the leader of the black Dragonflight), Blue are ice dragons that guard the magics and leylines of Azeroth, and Green dragons are nature themed they maintain nature and the emerald dream where azeroths Wild Gods and other animal denizens reside.

[@zargodan6082]

This is an example of missed in game storytelling they fell into, why Garosh was there was told in a book not in game

[@tinkshawins]

War Crimes :)

[@iyaramonk]

@@tinkshawins It was a crime all right :)

[@arasdeeps1852]

I guess you missed the quest, from Chromie, which details what happened.

[@zargodan6082]

@@arasdeeps1852 I did, warlords was one I didn’t play fully through good to know I will have to go back and run it thanks

[@BattleF08]

Time Travel is possible with arcane magic, technically in WoW. Not many people have those sort of powers. The Bronze Dragonflight maintains the true timeline and keeps people from interfering. Though slowing things, speeding things up, or like reversing wounds seems allowed. One bronze dragon went rogue and took Garrosh into the past of an alternate timeline.

[@Jacobstx]

Basically, timetravel on this kind of scale is a big no-no. This is supposed to be the kind of thing that gets the Bronze Dragonflight hunting your ass - but this was done by a disgruntled Bronze Dragon, who knew how to hide this new timeline until it literally invaded the 'true' timeline. And by that time, the Bronze Dragon was already dead, killed by Garrosh whom he thought he could manipulate. The remaining Bronze Dragonflight have done their best to seal off the timeline since then - letting it sail its own course as a fragment of time that doesn't influence anything about the true timeline any longer.

[@harlequingnoll5]

There's some companion videos released around the same time giving small history of each of the "warlords". For the expansion after this one "Legion" one of the companion videos includes Gul'dan's back story.

[@yoslo6832]

He goes into them on livestreams

[@BattleF08]

The one with the red eyes is Gul'dan. In the original version of events, he and his Shadow Council led the old Horde in secret, following the will of the Legion. He gave the Orcs the Blood of the demon Mannoroth. Grommash Hellscream was the first one to drink, in this case told not to by his time-travelled son Garrosh. It's why Grom killing Mannaroth was his redemption.

[@Ebonmane]

well, guldan also being apprentice to the shaman leader Nerzhul, and betrayed said master with the demons becoming the first warlock while Nerzhul got tortured till he agreed to become the first lich king.

[@lazarusfitness3892]

One thing I wanna say because it's a great moment. Is when Garrosh ever so slightly grins as the fireballs enter the frame. It's because Mannaroth is like "Why would you come here just to reject my blood? You know you are going to die. So why?" But in my head Garrosh hears him say "And did you bring these mongrels here just to watch you die?" The grin is Grom basically being like "No. There here to watch you die." Garrosh told Grom everything. Every detail of mannaroth and then taught them how to build the war machines Garrosh started constructing and developing in Cataclysm and MoP. Like the rolling spiked ball is called a Flaming or Burning Star or something in that vein. The timeline deviates the second you see him ever so slightly look back over his shoulder at his son Garrosh hooded and cloaked. He is basically looking back, saying... "It's Showtime." But yeah I just wanted to clarify he wasn't resigned to death or found his resolve their. He knew he was going to win. They had prepared for everything Mannaroth had up his sleeve and he had his resolve about it long before he stepped foot on that fountain of Chaos. It's alot of great subtle moments. Edit: I am not nitpicking or scolding either lol, alot of those things a person would not pick up on unless they had seen Garrosh from TBC to Wod and his entire story. Along with all of Groms missions and cinematic. To see them basically walk up to the devil himself and Mannaroth, not realizing that unlike in the original timeline where he was the Wolf and they were the sheep. Now he is the lamb being led to the slaughter. I just wanted you to get the full subtlety and nuance of it from me explaining so you can go back and watch it again in your own time and see all the moments click. :) Great as always man. Keep rocking.

[@BattleF08]

With Garrosh Hellscreams's interference, in this timeline the old Horde embraced not demonic corruption, but industry. Forming the Iron Horde. Garrosh made this Iron horde in an Alternate Timeline to get his revenge on his Azeroth, rather than invading the Azeroth of that timeline. This let the players come to that timeline and experience the original Orc homeworld.

[@lordmortarius538]

And at the end of the expansion, after having finally defeated Archimonde (again) and seeing Gul'dan get sucked into a fel portal, you think everything is just fine and dandy. Sadly, Exarch Yrel became overzealous, and created the Lightbound, an organization dedicated to the eradication of the Shadow Lords on Draenor. She began forcing indoctrinations and eventually binding captured Orcs' will to that of the Light, and became a tyrant. You as the player have to save the remaining Mag'har orcs to have them join the Horde as an allied race before Yrel's army arrives to crush the last dregs of resistance.

[@superbnns]

9:52 Warlords of Draenor was considered the worst expansion ever put out up until then, but one thing the WoW community always credits is the art teams. Blizzard nails their cinematics, art, and music pretty much every time. Despite being attatched to a lackluster expansion this is one of the most beloved cinematics they've made.

[@domdom3938]

Hellscream is Garrosh's father, although not in this timeline. Garrosh was sent to this alternate reality by a bronze dragon, dragons that have control over time itself. The mission here was to get the Horde to not submit to the felblood and the demons and instead rebel so they prove a valuable army for when the Legion next invades Azeroth.

[@corbin_4738]

The portal construction at the end, remember the Burning Crusade cinematic. It was the portal to Outland (to meet Illidan). This is a different timeline, and this is what the construction of the portal looked like on the orc side (Draenor is name of planet).

[@aisiren9728]

Explaining the Time Travel: Bronze Dragons were blessed by the Titans to be custodians and defenders of the One True Timeline (aka the in-game universe). In the One True Timeline, Gromash Hellscream drinks the Blood of Manoroth, cursing his people and leading to all the events of the Warcraft Games, culminating in that WC3 cinematic you watched where he slays Manoroth and breaks the curse. 35 years later, Garosh breaks out a his prison in Pandaria with the help of a Bronze Dragon. They travel to an alternate timeline (more like an AU than the classic idea of traveling backwards in time), where Garosh convinces his father to never drink the blood. His plan is to use his modern technology and an uncorrupted orc race at the height of their empire to create a new Iron Horde that he will take back to the One True Timeline and conquer all. Side note - Gul'dan is a huge figure in the lore who dies in the One True Timeline, however this alternate Gul'dan plays a hugely pivotal role in the next expansion, Legion.

[@Demorthus]

7:14 if I remember correctly, for the Superbowl their teaser trailer was just literally Hellscream in that frame (well a different one to be exact) but it's just him breathing heavily. I thought it was impressive at the time given it's only a single ad (Superbowl commercial) but it's one character breathing heavily - like in anticipation of a roar. But it worked

[@ericbyo9472]

The flying through the flames and planting the axe is just perfect in every aspect.

[@pedrohln]

I've been loving to be a part of your journey through WoW cinematics. As someone said, your energy reacting is awesome and I cannot wait to see you react to the other videos :D I'll try explaining a few things about the vid and characters and possible give some insights in what to come from the Legion cinematic. Gul'dan: he was a powerful Orc Warlock that made a pact with Sargeras (a fallen Titan and leader of the Burning Legion - the army of the demons). Gul'dan + Medivh (a human whom had a piece of Sargeras' soul within) opened the Dark Portal (that massive construction we see at the end of this trailer, or the portal at the beginning of Burning Crusade Cinematic) to link both worlds: Draenor (the home of the Orcs and the place of this Cinematic) and Azeroth, so the Orcs could destroy the forces of Azeroth to pave the way for a Legion Invasion. He offered Manoroth's blood to corrupt the Orcs to the Burning Legion's will without their knowledge. But the orcs didn't know those facts at that time, they were told the portal was to save the orc race by finding a new home, as Draenor was collapsing, and that "drink" was to make them stronger. Fast foward a few years, Grommash (father of Garrosh) Hellscream dies, as you already saw, and the Orcs became free from the Legion's corruption. Garrosh became Warchief of the Horde because of his heroic deeds against the Lich King as Thrall left the Horde to side with the Dragons Aspects to save Azeroth against Deathwing (Dragon from Cataclysm Cinematic). Garrosh became obsessed with power and thought only Orcs deserved to be a part of the Horde. In this pursuit of power, he alienated the Tauren, Trolls, Forsaken (undead race led by Sylvanas), Blood Elves (the elves from Burning Crusade cinematic) and most of the Goblins and Orcs. So he was defeated and stood trial in Pandaria. A Bronze Dragon (which has the power to travel through time) plus Wrathion, Deathwing's son, helped Garrosh escapes and moved him to a Draenor in the past, but it wasn't our Draenor, it was an alternate one. Those dragons foresaw the coming of the Burning Legion in the future, and they thought only a united force could stand a chance against them, so their brilliant idea was to send Garrosh to make a new Horde capable of conquering our Azeroth so we could defeat the Burning Legion when they come. By the way, the Green Fire/color in WoW isn't a Illidan thing alone, it represents the Fel, a source of energy that's Demonic and corrupts all living beings. Illidan in the past was a powerful mage (they use Arcane magic), but pledged himself to the Burning Legion to gain Fel powers, but his secret goal was to use these powers to defeat the Burning Legion (Sargeras neither the other Night Elves knew this at that time and because of this "betrayal", after the first Legion's Invasion supression, Illidan was locked up for 10000 years). During the second Legion's invasion (Warcraft 3 campaign) Illidan consumed the skull of Gul'dan (yeah, that Gul'dan) and gained even more Demonic powers (this gave him wings and horns). If you rewatch the Burning Crusade cinematic, in the end you see Illidan holding Gul'dan skull. I 'd love to watch you react live to Warlords of Draenor Lords of War and the other Warlords of Draenor patch and in-game cinematics. Cheers

[@gunnarholst]

I just love how excited you get from these cinematics! 😄 I still get goosebumps from these no matter how many times I see them!

[@blackwolf_majik]

I love Hellscream's "Watch me die? Heh, I know something you don't..." smirk right before the fireballs start coming.

[@SoulHuN7eR]

This Garrosh is from our timeline. Following his defeat at the pandaria events, the story unravels in a book and the aftermath of which sets motion the draenor expansion. Garrosh, with the help of a bronze dragon, escapes to the past and tries to alter the course of events by warning his father about the future. In case you didn't realize the long haired orc from the video is actually his father Grommash. In retrospect, the idea of time travel was stupid, like every other time it was used in movies and tv series, with the sole exception of back to the future. It created more questions it could answer and the writers fell short on that as well. Moreover, Blizzard realized early it was a megaflop and rushed things and with the addition of the garrison, a customizable subzone inside the game where you create your own base with NPCs, pretty much removed the need of players to interact with each other. The idea was good, but the execution was way bad. People playing from it's early days started leaving after a while. It was a huge disappointment. 😢

[@alansalas1880]

The spherical bomb is called the "Iron Star", and its the tech that Garrosh got from the future/present to kickstart the now called "Iron Horde" and as shown in-game it can be re-purposed into an engine, as it fuels the Iron Horde warmachine.

[@luzart9328]

A very curious detail is that in the scene in which Grommash stabs the ax is the characteristic sound of this weapon when brandishing it because when he uses it it makes a very characteristic whistle before taking the lives of his enemies.

[@JohnsCarnivorousPlants]

Saw a bunch of comments explaining what Garrosh did, but not the time travel rules. Bronze Dragons have control over time, one defected to send Garrosh back in time to that moment (there's a splinter faction of bronze dragons called the Infinite that want to change time). Once events change course, a parallel universe is created (that is still 35 years behind the Original timeline). In game, there's a quest from a recent expansion that explains the alternate timelines exist in parallel to the prime one (and the bronze dragons usually prevent them from interacting).

[@SaltyHoldy]

Also that structure at the end is the Dark Portal, the same one from burning crusade trailer. At the end of the burning crusade cinematic Illidan is holding Gul'dan's skull.

[@TheTalewright]

Wonderful, another one of your videos about a game I love. It's really nice to see a filmmaker's perspective on these things. I'm a writer so that aspect of it is already familiar, and I often watch music analyses since I love the way music interacts with stories. A filmmaker's perspective is pretty new to me and it's really refreshing to watch. I hope you keep making WoW, FFXIV and Genshin Impact content! Especially analysing some of the less dramatic, lower production value parts instead of only the big cinematics. Assuming there's anything to analyse there, there might not be.

[@baxtab1]

Also, when you mentioned garrosh knew how to beat the demon, you were spot on. Garrosh took goblin tech from his time in padaria to the past.

[@Sonstbenannt]

Hey i came from MarcomeatBall and i love how you dissect and see the personality in every shot. You both guys have such a good synergy its inspiring.

[@ryankomisarz1643]

Wrath is my favorite expansion cinematic - but when we get To Battle for Azeroth I’ll be excited for to check out the Old Soldier cinematic. Warlords had a fist-pumping cinematic - and the story cinematics were awesome too! I’m glad to be on this journey with you. Lok’tar!!!

[@Ogre32890]

That Monnoroth reveal still gives me goosebumps.

[@canuckasaurus]

The structure at the end was the Dark Portal. You saw its other half at the beginning of the Burning Crusade cinematic.

[@usernamenotavailablee]

Hello Philip! I just discovered your channel and I gotta say you're killing the reactions. I love seeing someone who actually passionately gets invested into the story and your breakdowns are also insightful and amazing. Not too technical and still entertaining, please keep at it

[@SecretAgentBob0]

There is a miniseries like how Mists and Battle for Azeroth available that came out with Warlords of Draenor called "Lords of War" that helps give context for a lot of the characters you interact with in the expansion's story. Warlords definitely played into the Timeline travel aspect of the lore with Garrosh escaping into the past to create an alternate universe.

[@Toneman72]

Bro I started playing WoW since september 2005. I played Warcraft 2 and 3 aswell. I always loved the cinematics of WoW. But you explaining shizzle movie and story wise give me goose bumps all over again. It's cool hearing you talk about coloring, voice acting and more details. Keep up the good work. We have some epic Cinematics to go like Legion so I can't wait to see your reactions on that.

[@CC_Seig]

As you watched the "Burdens of the Shaohao" in the latest Stream; there are other animated shorts about other Storys too. For example the "Lords of War" series which involves the Warlords in Warlords of Draenor and their Story/past. If you want to know more about them there are 5 - Kargath, Grommash, Durotan, Killrog and Maraad, which i think anybody can highly recommend. Furthermore there are also a couple for the next addon - Legion - which are called Harbingers who involve Guldan, Khadgar, Illidan. Non the less they are a nice addition to any addon if there were any made for the addon. Thanks for the video! :D

[@LethalOwl]

I'm officially hyped for the rest of your journey through the warcraft cinematics. Your attention to detail is amazing. Hope you also watch more of the in-game ones, like you did in the streams, for story context. As someone else already said, you *need* to see the Broken Shore in-game cinematic(s) (there's an alliance and horde version) after the Legion intro cinematic.

[@CPNTT]

Thanks for these reactions! You have an incredible energy and curiosity, it’s a pleasure to rewatch those with you. You got an incredible attention to details, I get to discover new stuff!

[@Alt-o-holic47]

So, I've been binge watching your stuff for a little bit; and I've gotta say, I love your stuff so far. Not only are you giving legitimate information for filmmaking, but you're showing that you're genuinely interested too. I'm not sure if someone already gave you the information yet, but here it is. At the end of Mists of Pandaria, in the book War Crimes, we learn that everyone opted for Garrosh to be put on trial instead of execution. In this book, he basically said that if he were given the option to right his wrongs, he would gladly make those choices again. There is no remorse for the people who suffered from his attrocities. In Mists of Pandaria, Wrathion, Son of Deathwing, was warning us of the return of the Burning Legion. The world would be engulfed in their flames, and they would noone in their path. Their invasion of the planet was inevitable, and he believed the only way for the world to survive was for everyone to be rallied under one banner. In the War Crimes novel, Wrathion and the bronze dragon Kairozdormu (bronze dragons are able to time travel) freed Garrosh from his trial before they could convict him of his crimes. In World of Warcraft, Time Travel works a lot like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is one primary timeline and a plethora of timelines that are different. Wrathion and Kairozdormu's whole goal when bringing Garrosh to a different timeline set 35 years into the past was to bring the orcish horde into the primary time and help fight the Burning Legion. Garrosh had a different plan, though. Wrathion came back, leaving Garrosh with Kairozdormu. Garrosh strangled Kairozdormu and then warned Grommash Hellscream about the Legion and what happens in the primary timeline concerning Grommash's fate. Garrosh then helped his father rally all of the orc clans under one banner, making the Iron Horde. Their whole purpose was to travel back to the primary timeline and conquer everything and everyone on the planet. Anyway, you've earned my subscription. Keep up the good work!

[@Chingoryu]

Hey Philip! Your World of warcraft Journey has become part of my evening routine haha. You make a great analysis each time and it's enjoyable to see you appreciate these cinematics most of us here have been enjoying and cherished all these years. I can't wait for all the upcoming cinematics you will view and I'm looking forward to your reactions. Cheers!

[@TheRust7]

They were building the Dark Portal - which you saw in the Burning Crusade trailer - just the opposite side of it. This side of the dark portal is on Draenor, the Orcs' homeland. Later called Outland (scattered remains of Draenor) - which Illidan claimed. If you want to know more about the 'Warlords' - check out the LORDS OF WAR animated series, which was released before this expansion - It will tell you more about Grom, Gul'dan, etc. - Events here took place before Warcraft 1 by the way - but other 'loremasters' told those parts :)

[@juantorres5615]

4:34 "FOR THE HORDE!" You won a new subscriber here cause of that 👏🏼👊🏼.

[@heragon58]

They were constructing the dark portal, the same gate we see at the begining of the burning crusade trailer. Outland is basically an alternate version of Draenor. Garrosh travelled back in time and created a new timeline basically

[@mbrandao2555]

another banger from philip, loved your enthusiasm as always, thank you so much for the reactions my guy! you're awesome! your videos just make my day!

[@Dragonroot95]

I have to give proper likes and sub now! The energy, the enthusiasm, the appreciation for both detail and the whole, the knowledge! Such an amazing breakdown, thank you very much for this!

[@srkares]

havent seen anyone comment on your question about the reception of the xpack and time travel. from what i remember, as you can imagine, peoples reaction was super mixed, many didnt like time travel at all and called it a cheap copout because they ran out of ideas. there were also several other issues with the xpack that players found grating. personally, i think its really nice that we got to see the alternate draenor, which only exists nearly completely barren and destroyed in the main timeline. there were many absolutely gorgeous zones. as alliance player, i also really enjoyed the story of a character that wasnt in the cinematic at all. Yrel is a young draenei woman that only exists* on AU draenor and through trials, tribulations and sacrifice of people near to her, mentoring her, had the burden of leadership thrust upon her and we, the player helped her and saw her grow along the way. shes imo one of the best characters that blizzard has ever written that wasnt already present in warcraft 3 or the warcraft novels. purely from fresh material. *apparently she also exists in another AU too? or possibly the main timeline somehow? and does some... not great stuff there? but its a quest exclusive to one of the horde factions, which i never unlocked, so i never got to see it myself, so far. as far as im concerned its not canon, because its implementation is asinine and assassinates her character for no reason.

[@Aurleis]

Great reaction video. I must admit that I was looking forward especially to seeing your reaction to this cinematic over the others. I'm not sure if it was mentioned yet, but Gul'dan wasn't killed by Garrosh - sort of pushed as Garrosh let go of him, followed by Garrosh going up the steps to grab Gorehowl and throw it to his papa, Grommash. The object that you had said looked like a temple was actually the Dark Portal leading between Draenor (35 years ago) to present Azeroth being built. It is being built because a member of the Bronze Dragonflight freed Garrosh from prison on Pandaria and took him back in time in order to create a new outcome that would ensure Azeroth and her champions would prevail against the coming storm. Also, the device that Grom uses against Mannoroth (large winged alien that wow calls demons) is called the Iron Star (wheeled spikey thing), which was technology that Garrosh brought from the future in order to prevent the drinking of the blood of Mannoroth (which would corrupt/enslave the orcs and turn them green). WoD (Warlords of Draenor), in my opinion, delivered a great story and level up experience, but failed horribly with end game content and the overpowered nature of the player Garrison (long story here, but basically the player's base on Draenor). So raids and leveling story were top notch, but the aside from the few raids released, there wasn't much excitement at max level. To say that Grom is a bad guy isn't 100% accurate. The prevention of the drinking of the blood of Mannoroth was a good thing in making peace possible between Azerothians and the Iron Horde (orc clans led by Grom). Them drinking the blood turned the orcs into slaves for the Burning Legion (led by the Dark Titan Sargeras who is the boss of Mannoroth's boss - to see this guy's end watch the cinematic finale of the next expansion Legion, which will also shed light on the sword that Anduin and Thrall are staring at in the War Within cinematic that was just released). There's a lot more to this story, and I'm sure you don't want to read a comment longer than a certain book by Tolstoy)

[@blackbyrd7171]

Garrosh was throne into an alternate timeline 35 years in the past where he prevents the horde from consuming the blood of the pitlord, which enslaved them to the legion. Then the new Iron Horde, uses guldan and his warlocks to open a portal to azeroth's current timeline where another war ensues

[@JohnPates]

To understand what happened, there was a book called War Crimes by Christie Golden and some quests in game for Warlords of Draenor that I think were removed when they removed the Legendary Ring quest line. But the gist is that a Bronze Dragon named Kairoz was wanting to free Garrosh from his trial for what he did in Pandaria to send him to the past Draenor to prevent Gul'dan and the demons from converting the orcs and unite them into a single Horde and bring them all to the present Azeroth to prepare for the return of the Burning Legion. But this was to occur on multiple alternate Draenors too. Sort of having an infinite army to fight the Legion. It did not end well for Kairoz as Garrosh killed him after they got to the alternate past Draenor.

[@Aceries_]

So much fun catching you live for this and the original Warcraft version of this scene! Oh man, the nightmare of logging into this expansion drop 😂 So many d/c's and lag. Garrosh went back in time with the help of a rogue Bronze Dragonflight member. Each Dragon Aspect (Bronze, Red, Blue, Green, and Black) were empowered by the Titans with abilities to protect Azeroth and its denizens. Bronze is the Aspect of Time. Garrosh and the Bronze member went back 35 years to this scene and basically changed this moment when Orcs became slaves to the Burning Crusade by drinking the demon blood, turning their skin green. In WoW, this created a separate pocket universe with timeline parallel to the "normal" one where the original Warcraft cinematic played out.

[@_Naaraaja]

A fun fact about the axe that Grom wields. The axe is called Gorehowl and when Grom/Garrosh swings it, the axe has a howling sound. It can be heard on the trailer when Garrosh tosses the axe to Grom.

[@UltimateGamerCC]

preceding the release of WoD, there was a 5 part cinematic series called "Warlords" that gave the backstories for the main Orcs of the story.

[@eucalyptus2249]

If you want to know more about Gul'Dan, you can watch one of the superb "Harbingers" cinematic. It's 3 cinematic very likely to "Warbringers" one about Illidan, one about the greatest mage of Azeroth: Kadgar, and finally one about the past of Gul'Dan and how he became a demonist.

[@AkridianRU]

I highly recommend to watch all in-game cinematics starting from this expansion. Shadowmoon Valley, Nagrand... they hit hard. Also there is series of cinematics called Lords of War I believe.

[@theblackshawarma3605]

That cinematic is a throwback to a cutscene/plot point in warcraft 3. This ins an 'alternate' universe where hellscrem refused the blood. In Warcraft 3... well, it was different 'back then'

[@starthere13]

love your reactions bro! keep up the awesome vids!!!!

[@Exloar]

This structure they are building is the Dark Portal. Same one as the Burning Crusade cinematic. It's how the orcs originally came to Azeroth.

[@nachoquesoso947]

So Mannoroth was an extremely powrfull demon, but with 1hp since he was one-hit killed xD

[@Winningrose77]

So interesting hearing someone with your level of knowledge on wow speculate based off these cinematics. In hindsight it seems obvious we were gonna team up with them against the legion considering the tone and perspective here.

[@Morrohg]

Your reaction was top notch, that you remember Garrosh and Grommash Hellscream and Made the Connection that somethis was Off was so nice

[@playaz1337]

The skull in Illidans hand that he drops at the end of the TBC cinematic is Guldans.

[@Lain3695]

Its worth watching some of the 'warbringers/harbingers' animations too - usually 3 short films prior to the new expansions which shows us major characters. These started for Warlord of Draenor and feature before each expansion after

[@derderun]

These reactions are really fun and insightful. If you have fun with these, please also watch the WoW cinematic mini series like Warbringers, Lords of War, Afterlife and Harbingers. Each of these consist of 3 to 5 episodes a couple minutes long. They have more of a comic like look but are no less intense, have the same quality of story telling, music and voice acting. Plus, you mentioned, you wanted more characters explored. Each episode is about a major player of their respective expansion, like Illidan, Jaina Proudmore and such. Either way, thank you for sharing your view on these cinematics!

[@Heidar08]

In regards to the time travel, there's a group of dragons, the Bronze Dragonflight, that are stewards of time travel. It is their responsibility to protect the "true timeline of the Titans (Think greek pantheon, but more cosmic). Basically a rogue bronze dragon helped Garrosh travel to an alternate timeline to alter the course of the orcs of Draenor, from the War Crimes novel. (There is also the Infinite Dragonflight, which are, for the purpose of summing them up in one statement, corrupted and altered bronze dragons, that can also travel through time.) The structure at the end is the Dark Portal, which how the first orc invasion of Azeroth occurred. You see the Azeroth side at the very beginning of the cinematic for The Burning Crusade.

[@Startrance85]

The big building at the end, is the dark portal that teleports orcs to the human,dwarf, elf world. "Eastern Kingdoms"

[@omok2]

It's less of him chaging the timeline and more creating an alternative time thread, the Bronze Dragon Flight are the time wardens in the game and there are a lot fun time themed quests and stories.

[@samuru101]

Gul'dan wasn't destroyed but he was used as a battery for the portal they were building.

[@harmonyhall4186]

Loremaster here: The best way to explain the rules of time travel in universe here without completely taking the piss out of it is. There are multiple time lines numbering in countless number and ours is referred to as "The One True Timeline", the term being coined by the Titan Aman'thul who helped the pantheon order the cosmos. On Azeroth their were Dragons gifted with the powers of the Titan's to protect the planet (skipping over a lot of detail in that) but the Bronze Dragon Flight lead by Nozdormu was gifted with the ability to see an traverse time (mainly to protect the one true timeline) after Garrosh's defeat at the end of Mist of Pandaria one of the Bronze Dragons went rogue took Garrosh from his trial, and opened a portal to this alternate Draenor his goal was to go to many timelines and create an endless Horde to overtake Azeroth in the one timeline, and he was immediately betrayed and killed by Garrosh who decided to invade the one true timeline with his Horde subverting their fate and without the help of the Dragons...and that is the absolute shortest I can explain it without it sounding completely crazy.

[@XentheTek]

The one thing i love about this whole cinematic is when Garrosh Hellscream throws his AU fathers Gorehowl to him and the sound it makes as its flying is the "howl" it makes when being used

[@charlayned]

That "wizard" you discuss is Guldan. Remember the Legion cinematic where Varian gets killed? That's the guy who ordered it. He's a verry bad orc and has ruined the Horde for eons. The green orcs are the ones who drank, or whose parents did. And this is an alternate timeline, on the old homeland of the Orcs. This is where the Orcs fell to the Legion (Mannaroth). They've had to redeem themselves, which has been ongoing. The Dark Portal they're building in the last is how the time/space travel happens and that portal is the only way to get there. When you go into the expansion, you and the combined Azeroth contingent go through the portal to stop Garrosh and the other Iron Horde.

[@SaltyHoldy]

My favorite scene is 18:56 when Garrosh gets Gorehowl (name of the legendary axe) and stutter a bit like wait this is not mine yet, and then throws it to his father that at this point I believe still didn't know Garrosh was his son, I might be wrong.

[@pkinggd]

Grommash did know Garrosh was his son at this point, Garrosh eventually managed to convince Grom that he is his son from the future. That's why he went along with the plan to defeat mannoroth with advanced weapons that shouldn't have been available at the time, but with Garrosh's knowledge they where able to turn this into their favour. I think Garrosh gives him Gorehowl since he sees his father as the leader of this new Horde and knows that the other orcs will follow him.

[@RavienGaming]

Your WoW cinematic reaction videos are something I look forward to watching every day!

[@freefall945]

“I would not drink that, personally.” Any pact Philip makes will have to be sealed in water or kombucha.

[@PhilipHarts]

Lolll true!

[@Azarian771]

At the end of MoP when Garrosh is defeated the Pandaren convince others not to kill him and instead bring him to Pandaria to go through trial and then be punished for his war crimes, in the book literally called "War Crimes", Garrosh ends up breaking free through some shenanigans and gets help from a rebel Bronze Dragon (The bronze dragons are basically time dragons.), the dragon guy believes that the only way the world is going to survive another invasion of Burning Legion (which he knows is coming.) the world needs to be united under a single strong faction, so he basically sends Garrosh back in time to 35 years ago on Draenor when Orcs first drank the demon blood, and convinces Garrosh to tell the Orcs about the demon plans and use the modern goblin tech to make an Iron Horde, basically a mechanized industrial version of the Old Horde and never drink demon blood, so that way Orcs never end up under the influence of demons and as a unified force, they can invade the current timeline and wipe both Horde and the Alliance off of the world and take over everything. And this plan basically... goes to shit immediately, as the time traveling creates a separate timeline and allows alternate Gul'dan to end up corrupting the alternate orcs in an even worse way when Alliance and Horde counterattack and beat them up and Garrosh eventually dies fighting Thrall, they eventually fix up the mess and close the alternate timeline but alternate Gul'dan slips into the main timeline and summons the burning legion to Azeroth anyway causing the third Legion invasion of Azeroth and the Legion expansion... Basically Garrosh and random dragon guy end up causing the Legion to invade while trying to prevent it.

[@AkridianRU]

Guldan is a powerful warlock. He works for Legion. Remember skull in Illidan's hand from Burning Crusade cinematic? It was of Guldan...

[@JarvisCE]

Your reactions and commentary are the highlight of my day.

[@dangerbook4807]

I didn't start playing until well after Warlords of Draenor, but even running through it leveling it is very easy to get disconnected from the other players you have the garrison to hub from and take care of all your needs and can pop out and do quests / world content without seeing people. If you're leveling through dungeons you see other people but they might not be doing anything like the same content (because chromie time lets people match up who are at different levels / gear levels). In other early expansions there is a certain amount of bumping into other players in the appropriate cities.

[@victorruiz3014]

In the book World of Warcraft: War Crimes, which is between Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor, they show Garrosh's trial in Pandaria, which Garrosh escapes thanks to a dragon (one of the bronze dragons) which has the task of guarding the timeline of Azeroth and therefore, can travel in time, in this case it is one of those dragons that helps Garrosh escape to Draenor 35 years ago

[@leowyld]

It is not only 35 years in the past (before the events of the first Warcraft game), but it is that point in history in a slightly different universe that a corrupt Bronze dragon helped Garrosh reach after escaping his sentencing - a universe where Garrosh wasn't born, among other small differences. As such, the changes made to it only affect that alternate universe. It was basically all a somewhat convoluted way to bring back a presently deceased character who ends up being a big part of Legion - no spoilers. Another detail, when he looks over his shoulder when holding the cup, that is Garrosh in the background with the torch - who had presumably warned him about the demon blood and what would happen, that is why Gromm is looking to him at that point, it was a plan, he knows the machinery was ready for the attack on Mannoroth (the demon) when he refused.

[@chrisidoo]

Man I can't wait until you get to Saurfang's cinematics.

[@xekon14]

The giant structure they build in the end is the alternate timeline's version of the Dark portal, which is a magic portal that transcends time and space, which the orc use to invade the main timeline Azeroth now. As a champion of Azeroth you actually enter it just like in "The burning crusade". But instead of landing on a destroyed draenor (the home of the orcs called Outland in TBC) you enter a completely intact draenor this time around but with the alternate timeline orcs basically industrializing the planet as a war effort to invade Azeroth.

[@firstGrunt]

Bronze dragons have time travel magic. After pandaria,garrosh forced a bronze drake, called "Kairoz" to take him back in time, and he createe a complete alternative timeline where the horde never drank mannoroth's blood. Their dark portal linked up with current timeline azeroth, and it wreaked havoc... again. Also, the green is called "fel" is is a demonic energy, it is the pure energy form of "chaos" which immediately means demons. Green orcs, illidan, a certain green golem-like creature, called "infernal", which you will see in the cinematic of the next expansion. Gul'dan is an orc warlock that prqctically led the horde through a dark portal, bringing them to azeroth in the first place. He caused the blood curse upon the orcs, he led them to azeroth, and he has way too much lore to toss in a single message.

[@tinkshawins]

the "again" is so heavy lol

[@LeSkorsh]

A good thing to know is that when Garrosh travelled to the past, he was sent with allies; the black fuze company (high skilled ingeneers of goblins technology) and the Dragonmaw clan (powerfull clan of proud orcs riding and enslaving dragons). They went in with certain knowledge of ingineering, battle, machinery and gunpowder, making possible an industrial revolution in his father's horde, increasing it's siege power against the other races of Draenor and giving them weapons rivalizing with Azeroth's united forces ones.

[@Langerleff]

Thank you so much for your videos. It's very interesting to listen to you. I am a photographer and now I am considering the cinematics of Warcraft from the point of view of frame construction. And when you made your first video, did you think that you would attract so much attention from the Warcraft community?

[@hawfcut2394]

At the end of MoP when Garrosh was imprisoned awaiting trial a Bronze Dragon decided to release hima nd send him back to Draenor to save his father in an attempt to change the time line. It created an alternate Draenor and an Alternate Horde called the Iron Horde.

[@najesta2018]

So this at it's core is the original story of Warcraft. Gul'dan who is an Orc Warlock, makes pacts with demons for power. The Fel magic corrupts him over time. He then basically convinces Hellscream to drink the Fel blood of the demon Manoroth (The one shown). His Orcs then do the same thing, turning MOST of the Orc tribes green. (There is a few tribes that do not at first because they do not agree) They then build a Dark portal with which to escape their dying homeland of Draenor. They escape through to Azeroth and encounter the human races, which starts the first game Warcraft: Orcs Vs. Humans. THIS storyline is done pretty nicely in the WARCRAFT live action movie that came out. There are a few things they changed for the movie, but for someone who's just getting into the lore verse, it's a good explanation of events. Warlords of Draenor sought to ALTAR that original timeline. Posing the question: What would have happened if Hellscream and the other Orc warlords never drank the fel blood and became corrupted and enslaved by Gul'dan, and his Demon denizens. Garrosh finds a way to go back in time and do just that. He warns his father of the future he will endure should he make a pact with gul'dan and readies the clans for war against Manoroth and gul'dan. They still build the dark portal and invade Azeroth, but more out of garrosh's twisted sense of revenge against Azeroth rather than conquest . It was a very timey wimey trip to play through. Unfortunately the game developers kind of botched the expansion halfway through, so a lot of the storyline became very convoluted, and eventually had to be ret-conned for continuity.

[@Argonaut1ka]

You might like the mostly still image cinematics they put out. Harbringers (for Warlords), Warbringers (for Legion), The Burdens of Shaohao (for Pandaria, I really like these ones). Really cool lore and a sort of moving story board style.

[@nethao999]

@PhiliHarts next up is Legion XD did anyone told you about all the legion's ingame cinematic ? if not i can give you a list in chrono order so you can understand what is at stakes. They are emotional rollercoster let me tell you !! totally worth it ! And the voice acting is the best !

[@MaemuraLonewolf]

I hope the list includes the Broken Shore cinematic as well as the Anduin one (won't spoil it). Please please please!

[@nethao999]

YESSSSS @@MaemuraLonewolf

[@alexlabelle3049]

So the answer to 'how did Garrosh get there' is covered very loosely in game, with you the player basically backtracking to figure out how the heck you all got into this mess. But if you want the sequence of events in detail check out the novel 'War Crimes', which covers Garrosh's trial post Mists of Pandaria (they mentioned he'd be tried in Pandaria in the Siege of Orgrimmar ending cutscene you watched early in the stream). There are some very fun cutscenes in this expansion as well, but WoD suffered greatly from being an effectively abandoned expansion. A ton of content we heard about ended up getting cut, and even more that we learned about only later. What we got was incredible moments of what should have been an incredible narrative, but tragically, the timeline was basically dead on arrival. Time travel is basically constantly happening in WoW, there's an entire dragonflight whose job it's supposed to be to keep people from messing up 'the one true timeline'; there's usually some shenanigans helping them keep things in order in every expansion, just not on the sheer scale that Warlords was/should have been.

[@alexhuettl1716]

Warlords is an alternate timeline. Essentially, the Infinite Dragonflight (corrupted version of the Bronze Dragonflight) helped Garrosh to escape and created a different timeline. The Infinite Dragonflight seeks to alter the timelines while the Bronze Dragonflight is supposed to preserve them and follow a specific timeline. Garrosh's escape was covered in a novel, War Crimes, that takes place after the events of Pandaria, but prior to the start of Warlords.

[@mutawi]

Yeah, it's pretty important context to the talk about being conquerors, that the big building shown at the end leads to our planet.

[@JohnnyD10055]

Garrosh was there because, as he waited in Pandaria for a trial for war crimes, he was freed by one of the bronze dragons (time dragons), who wanted to start an infinite army (the beginings of the Infinite Dragonflight, evil time dragons). Garrosh escapes/kills the bronze dragon and goes back in time 35 years to save the orcs from demonic corruption and help lead them on the path of conquerors. Yes, Grommash Hellscream is his father, so he saves his father's younger self.

[@JohnnyD10055]

regarding time travel: Warlord of Draenor has.... definitely caused lore problems. The Infinite Dragonflight are basically corrupted bronze dragons who try to do exactly that: pop back in time whereever they want to change things however they want. The Bronze Dragonflight are all about maintaining the "one true" timeway. Functionally the devs just said that the events of WoD created a separate, pocket timeline that doesn't interact with our timeline at all (except for the Mag'Har orcs who are allowed to come to our world/time for.... reasons).

[@JohnnyD10055]

20:00 Garrosh is definitely still a bad guy, and conquest is still... pretty ominous. These are definitely meant to be the baddies of the expansion.

[@WilBgames]

So basically at the end of MoP, both factions raid the Horde capitol and defeat Garrosh, who was powered up and corrupted by a lovecraftian old god's heart. He's captured and stands trial (which takes place in a book, not in game). He then escapes custody with the help of a time-travelling dragon, and ends up in Draenor in the time before the orcs were corrupted by the burning legion. He changes the course of events there and creates an alternate timeline Draenor that becomes the setting of the WoD expansion. Time-travel is solely the domain of bronze dragons and their corrupted counterparts, infinite dragons. There doesn't seem to be any established limit to that power.