The Emotional Breakdown of Watching the Warlords of Draenor Cinematic
Recently, I had the pleasure of watching the new World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor expansion cinematic, and once again Blizzard blew my mind. The graphics were phenomenal, but that’s not what hit it home for me.
Here is a breakdown of the thoughts and emotions from the perspective of a lore junkie; a.k.a me.
Sickening Nostalgia
The cinematic begins with a new (more savage) version of the song Legends of Azeroth off the vanilla WoW soundtrack. Most of you would remember this song from WoW’s original login screen.This specific song has been revisited for every expansion, though the original song still seems to be the best version (a close second would be the WotLK version, which seamlessly blended the context of the expansion with the original song).
This song gave me shivers, it gave me wonderful flashbacks, it gave me painful flashbacks, it also gave me flashbacks of being tirelessly frustrated, but all of this reminded me of the initial awe I held while discovering Azeroth, during the release of the World of Warcraft game.
Grommash’s Luscious Hair
Throughout Warcraft’s history, all the depictions of Grom seem to fall short of this excessively popular warlord. He had a huge role in shaping the Horde we know (and love) today, but it was only in Blizzard art you saw his true ferocity and penchant for conquering. It was understandable that the games could never truly replicate the images put forward from the artwork that was showcased over the years, but my breath was taken away at how the game will finally bridge this gap.
The Grom we’ve all known and loved.
Some things to note about this new cinematic; Grom’s hair and the new Orc nose. I am still on the fence about their new, pug inspired noses. They seem to only be evident in the cinematic, as the new Orc models in the Warlords of Draenor beta have the nose they have always had. Maybe I’m a stickler for detail, maybe I’m looking too hard, maybe I’m still bitter about Cataclysm, but I almost like them. His hair, on the other hand, I am fiercely jealous of. Look at the lustre, look at the volume – he may be savage, but he has hair that rivals Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.
Look at his hair, look at it in awe.
Better Depictions of Mannoroth vs Grom
As I have explained above, Grom looks intense. He is perfect, and everyone involved in the art direction of this depiction of Grom should be treated to a drink for their fabulous work. But wait – it doesn’t stop there. We got to see a truly grisley and shriveled Gul’dan, as well as [*gasp*] Mannoroth. This massive, obscenely powerful pit lord no longer looks like a frog-meets-dragon style kid’s toy.
He looks imposing, and the imagery of Grom fighting him improved by about a thousand times. This brings me to my next point…
“Is he going to kill Mannoroth?!” and “S**t, he did it. He killed Mannoroth!”
This is the part I pooped myself a little bit. Not just because this is an intense, action-packed cinematic, but because they pay homage to the original fight between these two crucial characters.
Lets take a walk, shall we, down memory lane. Back to the pivotal moment in time when (our timeline) Grom killed Mannoroth. We all remember that moment when Grom is slouched over in seeming defeat, but managed to let out a deafening roar and charge the pit lord, landing a lethal blow. At the time it was exciting, but compared to this new cinematic… it seems to fall flat.
Of course the original depiction of this fight can’t compare, because these Iron Horde Orcs are something else. Grom grabs the Iron Star (which was obviously technology brought over with Garrosh – and I am so excited to see what his role/influence is in all this) and launches it at Mannoroth. He then jumps through the fiery explosion to land the killing blow. I was almost in tears.
Garrosh’s Daddy Issues
We all know Garrosh has some major father issues. Even if you compare pre-Cataclysm Garrosh with post-Cataclysm Garrosh, his dad issues are right there on the surface. Well, all of his issues are right there on the surface.
It would have been fantastic if Blizz didn’t turn a try-hard youngster into a war crazed Warchief, but I have always held a place in my heart for Garrosh. He was misguided in his ways, but all he really wanted to do was solidify the Horde and grant all us Hordies the joy of bathing in Alliance blood. This is why my heart swelled and almost exploded when he dives across the screen to save Grom from the fiery explosion, that is Mannoroth’s death that killed him in our original timeline.
Poor Grom, he doesn’t have his future son back in time to save him.
See that lump on the bottom left? Thats Garrosh! Oh the feels…
This was such a pivotal moment in the cinematic, especially for someone who follows lore. Garrosh was able to save his [alternative timeline] father from the exact same death he experienced in our current timeline. Garrosh has also had daddy issues for as long as we can remember, so this one moment must have been monumental for him. I cant wait to see what kind of ego-maniacal ass-hat lines he has in the Warlords of Draenor expansion (anyone remember his snark towards our Dark Lady, Sylvanas; “Shut your clever mouth, bitch.”)
Overall, the Warlords of Draenor cinematic was exciting on a few levels. The lore possibilities going forward are enticing, and the small tweaks they made to past events add what could be a fantastic new dynamic to the game – if you can ignore the timey wimey complications. Casuals, hardcore players, and complete lore-nerds (like myself) can enjoy this cinematic, so I have high hopes for the actual game.
