Filmmaker Reacts: World of Warcraft - Warbringers Azshara
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- čas přidán 19. 11. 2023
- World of Warcraft - Warbringers Azshara Reaction ! Subscribe for more and follow my twitch to discuss live!
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The annoying thing is that these cinematics for Battle for Azeroth were all top tier, yet the expansion was the main trigger for most of their subscribers leaving the game.
Like me, over a decade of playing the game, that expansion broke the camels back.
For the expansion before Battle of Azeroth, the Legion expansion, they did a similar thing like this Warbringers series. It's called Harbingers. There are 3 of them. Khadgar, Gul'Dan and Illidan. Check 'm out if haven't done so.
Pretty sure there is a Warbringers: Sylvanas as well
I just noticed he did miss Harbingers
@@corbin_4738 dont forget Lords of War for every Warlord of Draenor :D
Azshara looks almost sympathetic in this cinematic. But it's important to note that she's a villain. She isn't protecting her people here. But her kingdom and her glory as their queen. For her glory and power, she led her noble highborne into corruption, and offered the Legion her world and the lives of all others. Even here, to be queen again, she drags her people into her corruption.
Half true. She has hubris yes, but we do find out in expansion she dos care for her people.
@@joseonwalking8666 How do we find that out? Cause she mostly just seems to be sacrificing them as her slaves.
@@BattleF08 in the game
She cares about them...but not the way Anduin or Thrall do. She still sees them as beneath her, more like property than people.
@@joseonwalking8666Azshara cares for the Naga about as much as a chess player cares about their pawns.
She allied herself with demons but she lost leading to her empire crashing below the waves. She then allied with herself with an old God nzoth to save and transform her people into the Naga
And then she lost again 😅
Not just Demons, but Sargeras himself, once a Titan-Champion corupted by fear of the void and then leader of the Burning legion
@@Guemmel01 yea, Azshara is a fucking badass
I mean she didnt really do it to save her people, she did it for power just like she did it with demons.
@@Gaz4113Her people were just massacred to the tsunami, if she didn't turn them into Nagas, they were dead anyways, she still saved them, they just chose to serve her lol
One thing to note is how after her confident proclamation, N’zoth (the old god) makes her worry by nearly letting her drown before transforming her.
I always loved that part. Where you slowly see her arrogant confidence fade as doubt seeps in if she pushed it too far. Where the enraged N'Zoth has little choice, but makes her sweat first.
Of course he has a choice. Hes an Old God. A thousand years is nothing. He could easily wait for another, but playing up her arrogance and letting her believe he gambit worked makes her easier to manipulate, N'zoth's favorite tactic.
Azshara tricked herself with that move.
Yep. If Azshara didnt do, someone else would eventually. He made it clear here that he doesnt need her THAT badly... But in the end decided his plans were worth pretending she was in control
@@thorveim1174 but how long till he finds a candidate as qualified as her though?
I love Darin de Paul's voice acting for N'Zoth so much. Has to be my favorite Old God voice, but it's pretty darn close with Yogg'Saron too.
Yog laughing at you is one of the creepiest sounds you'll hear
@@CRSB00 "Feel the twitch in your spine. That, is where I exist." Idk dude, G'huun creeped me tf out...
@@DOProductionsNL G'Huun is creepy for sure! A horror franchise kinda creepy, like Resident Evil villains! I like N'Zoth's kind of alluring, sinister vibe and Yogg's more menacing, maniacal vibe, just more of my cup of coffee. 😄
He is so good!!
@@Aceries_ Don't forget C'Thun's paranoia, "Your friends... will betray you"
The 'Deal' she referred to in the initial underwater scene was the one she made with Sargeras and the Burning Legion, which allowed the demons to invade in the War of the Ancients (This invasion is also referenced in the Burdens of Shaohao series). The new voice from the fish/giant tentacle monster was one of the Old Gods, N'Zoth (The beating heart in the chest during the Siege of Orgrimmar patch trailer belonged to another old god, Y'Shaarj [yah-sha-raj]). If the Burning Legion is Fel magic (Chaos), the Old Gods are part of the Void (Madness, Nihilism, etc.) Neltharion was also corrupted by the Old Gods to become Deathwing.
5:06 I love the sybolism of N'Zoth being trapped in a cage.
what I love is that after she does the "A god of nothing...." And the vision of The Black Empire fades, he basically is like "Okay, you're confident...how's your lungs doing for air..." and it is its own way of saying that he has power over her before transforming her. And you can see that worry where she's like "Hah! Gottim!" and then nothing happens....
Cockiness is often confused for confidence. It's what lead to her losing her empire twice.
I loved that bit. He was showing her who was really in charge of the whole thing.
Exactly right. She got him, but he reminded her she needs him too.
That was indeed a very strong part, how he waits to the last second to save her.
Manipulative as N'Zoth is (he isn't very strong in the physical sense) it's even likely, that he started with the low offer of a servant so she makes the choice to become a serving queen on her own, thinking that she tricked him.
A long time ago, the night elves were the greates empire on all of Kalimdor. They drew immense power from the well of eternity. Azshara was their queen and the most beautiful and powerful of all.
However, their rampant use of arcane magics sent signals into the wide cosmos, drawing the attention of the infinite burning legion and their leader, Sargeras. He sent her visions and promised her untold power if she used the well of eternity to open a portal to her world. She and the night elven aristocracy obeyed. But then the rest of their people found out what was going on and the war of the ancients began.
The war ended with Malfurion (the current leader of the night elves) destroying the portal before Sargeras could cross. But this caused the well of eternity to implode and literally rip the entire continent apart. The capital city sank beneath the waves and Azshara was left to die.
But then, in the dark, other voices began to whisper to her. They offered her a way to survive return for her cooperation. And thus, she and the surviving aristocracy were forcibly transformed into the naga.
My favorite part is how N'zoth reveals his power and scope, expecting it to overwhelm whomever he reveals himself to. And you can see her go from shock/horror to awe. But it's short lived. She so reveres herself that the awe quickly gives way to her own desires to rule and be glorified.
I just thought I'd add, in the final boss room of her raid, where you get to fight Azshara, if you if you target her before entering combat and use the emote /spit or /insult she sends out a magic bolt and instantly kills you character. This is not normal for a wow boss and i just thought it was such an amazing little detail for the game developers to add - it really shows her power and her pride.
Azshara's Deal: in her search of power, plunged the depths of possibility of the Well of Eternity, the original elven well of magic, attracting the attention of the Burning Legion, and allying herself with them, to "purify" her world, unleashing the first Legion invasion. When the Rebellion collapsed the portal in the Well it became unstable, sinking most of the world in The Sundering.
0:57 - 1:05 This reaction was so funny, i love it 😂 "Oh, a cloud is coming over- Oh no O.O"
This cinematic is set 10,000 years ago, during the War of the Ancients; the very first invasion of Azeroth by the Burning Legion.
This is at the very end of that war, where the Well of Eternity, the source of the Night Elves' magic an immortality, had just been made to explode to destroy the portal that Sargeras was using to bring demons into Azeroth. The explosion was so forceful that it caused what is now known as The Sundering, the violent breaking apart of the primordial supercontinent into the current configuration of landmasses with the Maelstrom, an ever swirling whirlpool, at the center.
The city is Zin-Azshari, the Night Elf capitol, where Queen Azshara, the most beautiful and most powerful of all the kal'dorei. She was beguiled by promises of power and of total obedience by her subjects and directed her sorcerers to open the portal to the Legion. Too late did she learn she was being used and that Sargeras had no intention of making her his queen among other promises.
As the city drowned, and she with it, she was approached by a dark presence, the very same one that had poisoned the mind of Neltharion and turned him into the maddened Deathwing the Destroyer: N'Zoth, one of the four Old Gods sent from the Void to corrupt worldsouls across the Great Dark Beyond (space). These four were imprisoned by the Titans beneath the surface, as destroying them would have destroyed the world, so infested into the planet they had become, after seeing the one they had ripped from the world cause massive destruction. And so C'thun, Yogg-Saron, and N'Zoth were imprisoned, and the heart of Y'shaarj entombed.
But even confined they still held much power, and N'Zoth knew that Azshara could not outwait him in the bargaining. He would be content with waiting millennia more for someone willing to accept his terms, and Azshara's ego and pride would not allow her to die, and so she accepted his offer of continued life and power in exchange for working to free him, and he accepted that she would not be his slave, but rule her people in his stead and work to further his goals. Little did she know that her and her people's salvation would mean a transformation into the vile, serpentine Naga, and thus the undersea empire of Nazjatar was born, in the ruins of Zin-Azshari, where the Queen sits atop her throne, plotting her conquest of the surface world, and of how she can free herself of her dark bargain.
I wish I had known you were doing these at the time you were doing them. Just came across them recently and really enjoy your breakdown of the cinematics.
"At the bottom of the ocean even light must die"
"The drowned god's heart is black ice."
"The fish know all the secrets. They know the cold. They know the dark."
10,000 years ago Queen Aszhara, known to her subjects as the Light of Lights, struck a deal with the Dark Titan Sargeras for power, to conquer the world in his name and rule it for her own. The united forces of Azeroth threw back the Burning Legion in the War of the Ancients, although the demons had been using a pool of primal energies known as the Well of Eternity as a portal to enter Azeroth. The Legion being pushed back through, reversing the flow of the energies of the Well of Eternity, caused the massive continent of Kalimdor to split in half in a gigantic explosion, her own empire at the epicenter of the first cataclysm.
N'zoth, ruler of the Black Empire of Ny'alotha, is an Old God, a creature sent from beyond the veil of the Twisting Nether. The Old Gods were there before most other living creatures on the world had developed any kind of consciousness, and their influence twisted the development of the world, bringing chaos to the elements. The pantheon of gods of the current races of Azeroth, the Titans, happened upon the world in their endless pursuit for more of their own kind, to bring order to a universe of entropy and chaos. The Titans saw the state of the world, and tried to remove the infection of the parasitic Old Gods, but couldn't. They decided to imprison them, contain the infection. After many thousands of years the prisons began failing, the influence of the old gods and their servants began being felt again.
Queen Aszhara was said to be as powerful as Sargeras himself, but ultimately she was still a mortal (from the point of view of a being as ancient as N'zoth, an antediluvian horror, by all accounts). It is true that at the time of the cinematic he needs her, but he had waited thousands of years already, others would come, but he saw the avarice in her heart. She would not be "a slave", so he made her a queen, and clad her in chains as surely as if she had agreed to the pact in the first place.
haha when you said "that's a painting", I actually have that shot as my background :P love Azshara!
Among night elfs, the yellow eyes means they are destined to do great things. Azshara eyes are bright yellow for a second when she said "I am Queen", and become grey when she said "This is not the deal i made".
Battle for Azeroth became quite a messy expansion. The final villain was that Old God, N'Zoth. But they didn't dare to put him on the box as main villain. So it was marketed as a Horde vs Alliance expansion. And an Azeroth is dying from a sword expansion. With Azshara and the Naga as the middle section.
It really suffered from the lack of a consistent narrative. Because they didn't exactly transition cleanly from the War to Azshara to N'Zoth. It felt a lot like none of the storylines were fully fleshed out and were rushed instead.
Dont agree with u, it might been promoted as a alliance vs horde expac in the cinematic. But literally tons of the quests ingame are giving hints of nzoth . I knew who the end boss would be even when the first raid tier was out, simply by reading some of the quests in stormsong valley
The Sundering to this day is STILL the most darkest event in Azerdoth's history. It marks the end of the war of the anchients where the legion first discovered and invaded. Super cliff notes version:
To know how it happened you must know 'The Well of Eternity'. In the beginning years of Azeroth the great Titans who were ordering the universe found our world filled with great evils called old gods. Aman'Thul the titan equivalent of Zeus took it upon himself to reach down and grab the old one Y'Shaarj and pulled him straight out of the middle Pangea continent of Kalimdor, like removing a tick. This severely harmed the young planet causing a hug geyser of the planet's blood to flow out. The titans got to work fixing the damage they've done, creating a huge fountain of controlled energy to stabilize the injury, than began setting up monitoring stations and facilities all over the planet's surface. They knew their was more old gods (4 more) and imprisoned them away in vaults instead, along with Y'Shaarj's heart locked away in Pandaria.
This fount of power attracted the attention of the natives of the land, mainly trolls, who began drinking the water. The people eventually became elves and set their seat of power around this great pool. Generations pass and these Kaldorei elves became immortal from the power, calling it The Well of Eternity. This unrestricted use of magic has attracted the sight of the burning Legion, Azeroth was now in their sights after they had devoured countless other worlds. The great queen Azshara began to lust for more power, vain and brutally selfish she was, wanted to purge the other LESSER races, and so made a deal with the corrupt titan Sargaras who led the Legion. In return for turning The Well into a doorway for the legion to come through, she would be granted ever more power, and her city spared. NOTHING she does is to save anybody, only for herself.
Thus began a war that lasted centuries where gods and immortal elves fought endless streams of demonic forces, meanwhile a great shield was over the city of Azshara to keep it safe from the carnage, whilst the rest of the world burned. Eventually the Stormrage brothers (Malfurian & Illidan) and their forces got a plan in motion to reverse the well to stop the endless stream of demons...this worked and the demons were sucked back to the twisting nether... It WORKED TOO WELL and triggers a huge implosion that literally blasted the continents across the oceans! (Deathwing's betrayal of the other aspects also happened during this time)
A huge title wave rushed into the huge void, the sundering had begun. the city of Azshara and what remains of the Well were now the bottom of the central sea. Billions of lives have been lost in an instant, the elves were nearly extinct. This is the wave we see in the cinematic. Queen Azshara makes a last stand to stop the rushing water, but death is inevitable. In desperation she bargains her life to the old one N'Zoth who sensed her weakness. She would be queen of her people, now transformed into the undying kingdom of the Naga, who are snake people, and worship only the old gods. The Naga, to this day are still a reason to fear beaches and open water in Azeroth, we will always be fighting them and Azshara keeps coming up in lore. What a selfish B.
What is truly impressive of this, is just how strong Azshara is. The details of this moment in time and the true manner of control Azshara had for that long. The Well of Eternity just imploded, the highborne and Azshara had their limitless source of magic ripped from them as a blast wave erupts from the now gone well as the land cracks and waves rise to claim Zin'Azshari (the city they are in). For her to hold out against the blast, the wave, the magic ripped from her. Azshara is and always will be the QUEEN.
Laura Post is the voice actress for Azshara, amazingly impeccable work
Yeah, I don't feel like I appreciated enough the emotion she captured in this performance when I first saw it. Among other things, I liked the way you could hear the commanding tone of a queen in her voice. I think 16:04 is a good example where she demands the voice reveal itself.
The voice is N'Zoth: one of the Old Gods that dominated the primal Azeroth when they arrived. The Titans arrived later to give it its current form suited for life like us. They defeated the Old Gods and sealed them in prisons, as they were too deeply burrowed within the planet to remove safely. (They tried once, and nearly destroyed it. The wound became the magic Well of Eternity)
She recognized it was an Old God that was imprisoned in the planet itself, Azeroth. The Old Gods take a great deal of inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft.
Did you notice at 8:40 of this reaction video that as the wave approaches, even the buildings seem to scream? One tower appears to have a screaming face. Another tower in the background that has already been torn asunder, the "eyes" wide, the water overtaking it from below like blue blood.
Lastly, the episode portrayed in Azshara's cinematic is a trip back several thousand years. It establishes what has remained a mystery for players and NPCs alike: what happened exactly when Azshara and her city of High Born Elves sunk into the ocean? We've encountered Naga on many occasions, the creatures they were turned into. Over thousands of years the in-game characters have learned much, encountered some of her lieutenants and wannabe usurpers, but not the specifics or Azshara's deal. The cinematics of all quality tiers for Battle for Azeroth were stunning and competing, the storytelling marvelous. The issues players had derived from the complicated, poorly thought-out gearing mechanics in the xpac, as well as where the story went, and that too much of the story was not well-shown in-game (meaning we had to read external material, including books, and play too many characters to see the in-game content). The quality of the storytelling itself was amazing, which only highlighted the mistake of parceling it out too much. I like unique player character experiences of different classes and races, but it was overwhelming to try and keep up with it all, had to rely on loremaster vloggers to piece it all together-again, out-of-game. Oh well, at least they seam to be learning.
You know, I could watch an entire movie made in this kind of limited animations style - I know it's basically just an extremely high quality storyboard but god damn its good
The deal referred to is a deal Azshara made with Sargeras to help the Burning Legion enter Azeroth in exchange for more power. Azshara wanted Sargeras to be her mate and rule Azeroth together, just like what she suggested to the Old God N'zoth. They used a massive magical lake called the Well of Eternity as a portal to bring the Legion in. Eventually a resistance reversed the portal, and it ended up sucking the magic lake in with it. This caused an event called the Sundering, where the supercontinent of Old Kalimdor split apart into the continents that exist today, and the center of Azshara's kingdom was flooded, as seen in this cinematic.
not only is she a villain, she's someone who has been whispered about in WoW since at least classic WoW, she was always this mysterious almost godly figure that seemed like she was worshiped by the Naga (one of the monster races in Warcraft, and the fish people you see at the end of the Cinematic around Azshara) with statues of her in many of the places that Naga could be found, I remember back in the day I was always really curious about her and who she was and why there were so many statues of her before I knew anything about her, and when this cinematic came out so many years later I was amazed getting to see her real personality and that in truth, the naga may have seen her as a goddess, but Azshara DEFINATELY saw herself as a goddess
Her story was pretty much all in the war of the ancient books (2004/2005), I wouldn't call that "whispering" 😅 even so it's a really fascinating character
They did not do 'Queen Azshara, ruler of the Kaldorei Empire', 'Queens of all Queens' justice tho!... She was one of the most powerful mages to ever walk the face of Azeroth! Even illidan himself said that her power rivaled with Sargeras' own. Why she was so strong from the start, we dont really know and if she got stronger after naga transformation is hard to tell, N'zoth had a leash on her.. but again.. Blizzard did not do her justice thats for sure. She was was a force unit never seen before and for so long we all heard lore storys about her and was just hopeing for her to go live in the game.. and when she finally did she was just.. *meh* really sadge.. :(
Something a lot of people miss is how extremely small azshara is, compared to just n'zoths eye.
We also know he has watched her for a thousand years.
So she might be smug and think she has beaten him, with her grand talk about beeing a queen.
But silently and subtly, the visual storytelling shows us differently!!
"It's going to be a rainy day"
Lol. Yes. Yes it is.
@PhilipHarts Love your content! Started watching your videos right around BlizzCon time when you first did The War Within. Really looking forward to even more to come from you, and I can’t wait for you to release Warbringers: Sylvanas! 💜
Chris Metzen, the original WoW writer, was a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft. Not only are the "Old Gods" a part of WoW Lore, but they have very similar names as Lovecrafts gods. It's my absolute favorite part of WoW.
I'm glad this came across my recommendations on youtube. As much of a mess BFA was it really had some amazing moments like these warbringers shorts. The artwork, voice acting and sound design are really incredible and I wish they still made things with this level of intensity. So much detail and storytelling. Azshara's complete confidence in the face of an old god, to manipulate the situation to suit her and in turn, Nzoth waiting long enough for that confidence to waver- to make her doubt that he will save her and instead let her drown- before he grants her his power. Just so good.
Azshara is one of my favourite Lore characters. The cinematic shows what happened ten thousand years ago when the Well of Eternity exploded and the face of Azeroth was changed forever. As others in the comments have mentioned: she is a villain. She was the most powerful living mage, she was INCREDIBLY vain, and had a neverending lust for power. Zavius (who later becomes a Satyr for his part in things) and her council were seeking more power and the power from the Well of Eternity caught the fallen Titan Sargeras's attention. He made a deal with Azshara to grant her immenser power in exchange for summoning him to Azeroth so he could continue his Burning Crusade across the cosmos.
N'Zoth (the fish) was an old God who struck a deal with Azshara after the well exploded and sunk her grand empire. She became the queen of the Naga, and you do end up facing her in Battle for Azeroth.
It always makes me so happy to watch people in the industry react to cinematics; and this one is one of my faves so far that Blizzard has done. Their team does so well.
I'm so glad you're doing Warbringers!
Azeroth was very similar to Earth. At one time Earth had Pangea where all the continents were once together. Azeroth was the same way. All the continents were one. Azshara was one of the primary causes the continents split apart. The bargain she made for power then caused the sundering of the world.
I like that Azshara's naga form looks like she's wearing a crown.
From now on I will refer to Queen Azhara as GigaChad 😆😆 brilliant!
Love you, man. Great videos!
My internet went out during the stream :(
Good to be able to watch now :D
There are some warbringer cinematics from the expansions called Warlords of Draenor and Legion, same level of complexity and crafsmanship :) . Nice job there, you have pointed things that have eluded me, was nice watching your reaction
i forgot how goddamn good this cinematic was.
it pretty much perfectly shows off Azshara, her power - being one of the most powerful mages ever*, strong enough to stop a force of nature... albeit temporarily, her pride - not giving into the demands of others, even a god** and her cunning - being able to immediately pinpoint the weak point in the god-beings plan and turn it around on him.
shes the most insidious kind of villain there is, since shes so smart and cunning, but she will also have my eternal reverence, in part because when i started playing WoW (and to this day) my main character is a Night Elf and i happened to pick the Azshara server.
*while an extremely powerful and capable mage, she rarely chose to wield that power directly, usually wielding her magic in more subtle ways. subconsciously influencing people, making them adore her, agree to her suggestion. she was a queen beloved by all, but that love might have been a kind of mass-suggestion. we dont know either way.
**she was very willing to go along with sargeras plans, doing everything he wanted to become his mate (or however that would work), in her pursuit for power. but in the end that was still her conscious decision.
also of note is that she immediately included her subjects into the bargain. at the same time saving them and dooming to a fate thats possibly worse than death.
...though many of them (nobles, her inner circle) deserve such fate and would've taken the same bargain.
I’m a night elf main and respect her? Not at ALL. She cared for nothing but herself, even protecting her own people was because they were “hers” and she wasn’t even the first ruler of the night elves though they did expand their empire under her rule so half credit to her claim of building it.
She was more then happy to let all but the highborne (think very high ranking nobility) just go off and die under the efforts of the demons, and when the world was shattering after those that rebelled routed her plans and forced the legion back she goes and does this just cause of her arrogance and desperation to remain “Queen”
Man nice work with reactions and i love how every time you see a trailer you have more questions then answers :D , but yea think som1 already mentioned that Legion expansion had simular stuff like this + Toomb of Sargaras audio drama (but thats lengthy one so maybe for off stream xD ) and for Warlord of Draenor shorts "Lords Of War" for every warlord
I recommend also checking out the harbingers series, it’s the equivalent of warbringers for the Legion expansion and they’re great!
her first deal was with the demons of the Burning legion this deal is with the the Old Gods (basically Cthullu monsters)
Azshara is such a massive badass, I don't care how strong you are, holding a tsunami back like that is insane
Ok super extra long lore explanation incoming:
1- In the WoW universe there exist diferent planes of Existence, a Cosmology Chart. The world of Azeroth resides in the plane of order, the "reality plane" so to speak. Then exist the plane of Chaos, also known as "The Void". The OLD GODS are fragments of the Void Lords, the supreme entities of the plane of Chaos, sent as viruses to infect planets in the realm of Order, because the planets in the realm of order, such as Azeroth, can contain dormant world souls: The Titans. And their initial goal was to infect them, corrupt the unborn soul, so a void titan can be born to open the way for the Void Lords.
N'zoth, the old god depicted in this cinematic was the last one alive (For the time of the cinematic there were 2 other alive but we killed them before we reach present time) That cinematic happens around 10 thousand years prior to now in the game.
2- The old gods invaded Azeroth way before the Titans found it. They conquered the planed, subyugated the Elemental Lords, and build an Empire knows as the Black Empire. But then the Titans arrived and battled the Old Gods and their Armies.
EDIT: Elemental Lords - Before everything, before the Old Gods, the world of Azeroth was ruled by the elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Spirit. Each element race has a powerful leader, known as the Elemental Lord. Also the Element of Spirit was consumed by the world soul, which caused the Elements to go in disarray and war between them, until the Old Gods arrived and they had to fight the Old Gods.
3- The leader of the Pantheon of Order, Aman'Thul, killed the first of the 4 old golds: Y'Sharg, by literaly plucking him out of the planet (Titans are of the size of a planet, tho they can change their size at will) But this left a big wound in the planet which hurted the world soul, so they created a "bandaid". They created what is called The Well of Eternity. A fountain of magic waters connected to the world soul. This is important.
4- A race of Trolls made their home thousands of years later around this well, and they drank of their water, which gave them great magical capabilities and made them evolve into what is now known as Elves, and they founded their city around this well. THAT city that you saw. It was a giant city, but at the center of it lied the Well of Eternity.
5- Queen Azshara was then the first ruler. She was the most gifted mage, way above the others, and said to be the most beautiful of them. The problem with Azshara is that she finds power beautiful, no matter what form it takes.. so long is strong... the more powerful, the most beautiful.
6- Due to the constant use of the magic of the Well of Eternity, the existance of our world was found by Sargeras, the mad Titan. Now, for him to travel from the other end of the universe would have taken too long, so he came up with a plan. He contacted a servant of Azshara, offering him power, in exchange for his services. Not long after however Azshara found out, but she did not realy disagreed with her servant plan... The plan was to use the energies of the well of Eternity to open a portal for Sargeras and his armies to cross over and conquer this world, In exchange, Azshara would function as Sargeras queen. A titan remember, is far more powerful then an Old God. So a portal was opened, legions of demons crossed over and decimated a big part of the elven population, sparing of course the nobles of the society, and started to channel a giant spell, to make a portal strong enough for Sargeras to cross over.
7- Obviously there was a resistance. Not all of the elves were as fond of magic, nor the methods of Azshara, so there existed towns and other cities, with Elves that took in arms to fight the demonic armies. Three particular notable elves were Tyrande Whisperwind, and the twins Malfurion and Illidan Stormrage.
8- In a battle in front of the Well of Eternity they managed to revert the spell of the portal, making it so the portal absorved the demons back, but this created an instability on the magics of the well which made it explode... The powerful explosion caused a cataclysmic event that separated the continents, and sank big parts of the land under the sea. What you saw in this cinematic is that. The giant Seawave that sunk the city of Sin'Azshari IS part of this cataclysmic event.
9- "This wasnt the deal i made" - All that is going on, the cataclysm, the destruction of her empire, etc, is the result of THE DEAL she made with Sargeras. Obviously it did not end up the way she wanted.
10- N'zoth was said to be the most cunning of the old gods. And his prission was somewhere in the deepds, somewhere close to the well of Eternity. Hence the "I been looking at you for thousands of years"
11- The imagery N'zoth shows to Azshara is the Black Empire. Suppousedly the Black Empire covered a big part of our world before the Titans arrived. An empire that ruled the whole worlds for thousands of years... This got Azshara's interest.
12- In order for the elves to survive, N'zoth transformed them into Nagas. Nagas are a common enemy through the warcraft games. There is a ton of lore behind them, like how the first time they appear is when Illidan summon them, but that'd take too long to explain. More importantly is that ALL Nagas serve Azshara blindly.
During the events of Battle for Azeroth we travel to the sunken city of Sin'Azshari, which btw means Glory to Azshara (yeah gives u an idea of Azshara's personality) They used a titan relic to part the waters, and Azshara is the final boss of that Patch, that ends with us releazing N'zoth from his prision.
Azshara created the longest lasting and most powerful elven civilization by mining magic for all its worth. The only quality she possessed greater than her beauty was her vanity. Her lust for ever growing greatness led her to discover the burning legion, and made a deal to open a portal for them to come to Azeroth in exchange for knowledge and power. The rest is history. She rages against the destruction of her empire not the deaths of her people.
This apocalyptic end was her own doing. Her arrogance and lust for power caused an event known as the sundering. She is one of the great villains of Azeroth but she and her people (The Naga) remained unknown for thousands of years beneath the waves.
N'zoth the " old god" in this video is very lovecraftian in appearance
Love seeing someone being just as amazed at the treasure trove of art that was Battle for Azeroth (BFA)! You could honestly watch even the in game cut scenes of that expansion as my favorite character is Bwansamdi the Loa of death, who is like a keeper of souls god for the trolls 🖤
Warcraft the story of a thousand of villains both big and small throughout. Corrupted Titans, Old gods, Demon Legion, Dragons and many mortals or demi mortals who were corrupted by them. All influencing the mortals in their struggle to find peace in the lands, old hate and new hate. The story has many twists and turns in it if you haven't noticed. What started us out as two sides, The Aliance vr The Horde ended up being much deeper and much of it had roots from the very formation of the planet they are all on and as well, a couple other worlds as well, introduced. Each race and faction of any one race has an entire backstory to them and each one is explored during the expansions as they dropped. In game, there were always ruins and Naga but, didn't get a backstory on them with any extensive gameplay to unravel it until expansions later, along with what ever the Main story line for the expansion was going on. Orcs themselves came from the fractured planet of Draenor (through that portal) and conquered the right side continent (for the most) and they formed the Horde, the left side for the most remained the Alliance. You first start playing the game with most content revolving around those two factions with a few towns of goblins where it is neutral gameplay and getting hints of other races (not in one of the playable race or faction groups) out there via dungeons, side quests and special events.
WoW borrows heavily from the H.P Lovecraft universe which you might be familiar with (C'thulu for example) for Azara and the old gods. You are right that the old gods (N'zoth in the video) are a kind of primordial gods/beings in a sense.Old gods in particular borrows, or even lifts straight out, a lot from the Lovecraft mythology in that his city/empire is described as the sunken city (Same as cthulu's lore). This city is called Nyalotha in WoW but R'lyeth in Lovecrafts myth. The name Nyalotha is also likely derived from Nyarlathotep which is another H.P character. Even the drumming sound is heavily tied to another Lovecraftian old god called - wait for it - Azatoth. Very similar to Azeroth?
thats actually my favorite of the Warbringers. I love the old Gods
Starts off like the fall of Atlantis or Numanor from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Novels. And the fall of Atlantis and Numanor absolute power, corrupted, absolutely which lead them to the demise of they’re empire, and sunk beneath the waves. Azshara’s no different.❤❤❤
I think the Legion cinematic was supposed to be before Jaina and Asharas warbringers. Legion expansion was before battle for Azaroth expansion
Legion cinematic is out!
Oh oops I missed that one.
Just a heads up that was not a tsunami. That was 10.000 years ago before games took place, basically a huge explosion happens that rips apart the mega continent, and turns the world into what it is. Azshara's city was at the heart of the said explosion. ENTIRE city just plummets down into the ocean floor, and she holds back the ocean from caving in
Hey Philip, loving the reactions. I was curious though, did you miss the Harbingers series? There's 3 of these animated shorts from Legion that I think you haven't seen yet. Harbingers: Khadgar, Harbingers: Illidan and Harbingers: Gul'dan. They really help explain some of the others characters you've seen in various cinematics! :)
Update: Just noticed you watched them on a stream you did. Nice! Though you seem to have missed my personal favourite of the series, Illidan. That one is amazing and explains that character you see at the end of the Burning Crusade cinematic.
He did Khadgar and Guldan live, it should be under the live tab
I'm sure another comment already beat me to it but:
That's not just a regular old tsunami. That's the flooding of the entire world, known as the "Sundering".
Basically, the world originally had one supercontinent called "Kalimdor". If you looked at a world map of Azeroth, you'd see 4 major continents. "Kalimdor" to the West. "Eastern Kingdoms" to the East. "Northrend" to the North. "Pandaria" to the South. The supercontinent "Kalimdor" spanned *ALL* of those continents and everything in between. During the "Sundering", the vast majority of the landmass sank into the sea.
The city this took place in was roughly near the center of the ancient supercontinent, which today has a *massive* whirlpool called the "Maelstrom". That happens to be in the literal geographic middle of the ocean. Azshara was holding back the *entire* ocean as the water level continued to rise above the dome she made. Just to top off how busted she is, she's *canonically* the single most powerful Mage known in the lore.
You absolutely nailed Azshara's pride. The city was originally named Elun'dril (City of Elune) for the night elves' Goddess, but when Azshara became queen she had the city renamed Zin-azshari (Glory of Azshara). So there's definitely an element of her being punished for her pride in this event - and Azshara's response is to double down on it. Great setup for the expansion.
Cause Illidan was imprisoned after a part of this event it takes place more than 10000 years ago. Elves were immortal till battle for Nordrassil. So Azhara and many others still looming around.
She made a deal to use elven Well of Eternity as a portal for Legion. Malfurion with friends destroyed this portal which caused shattering of the world into continents we can see now. That is why tsunami here. Now we can see endless whirlwind on place of Well in the middle of map.
She ends up one of the best boss fights of all time
Her deal was to help bring the Legion to Azeroth. She was to sit with Sargeras, the Sunami was the well of Eternity collapsing and sundering the world. Also the city at the beginning should be in flames not shown as a utopia.
"A cloud coming over.... its going to be a rainy day"..
Well, kinda :D
this is my favorite cinematic.
Azshara is powerful, so powerful it's honestly kinda nuts. She straight up looked Satan in the face and was like, "yeah, you'd be a worthy husband to me."
The reason she's protecting her people isn't just out of altruism, but rather that they're _her_ people. They're her empire, her subjects, and she's protecting them so that they might serve her. She's not actually a prisoner of N'Zoth, she's more like an independent contractor.
I love the H.P. Lovecraft inspired old god themes in WoW. Was hoping you'd react to this trailer hehe.
Azshara knows as well that this entity's power IS limited - 'oh, you've watched me a thousand years? And you're still down here locked up though? Riiiiiight. So you need me. '
1:04 the poor building screeming for his life..
The First scene in the video I am picking up Atlantis and Númenor vibes, both Empires that broke some sacred agreement and the empires paid the price sinking to the bottom of the sea.
can always appreciate the Blizz art and sound teams. they always knock it out of the park. always get us hyped for the next expansion. sadly, the game always lets us down in other ways.
You mentioned Kingdom hearts, and i immediately subscribed
The deal she made: She sold out her people and empire to a demonic army for even more power and the chance of being queen of the demons and possibly the universe (the demons were on a 'burn all life away crusade').
The plan fails when a group of heroes from her empire opposes her and the demons are banished back at the last moment.
This leads to the opening scene you see. The cataclysmic tsunami triggered by the Sundering of their world when the demon portal she created imploded.
ah, Queen Azshara, the original betrayer. she made a deal with The Dark Titan, Sargeras to help the Legion take over Azeroth, with the Sundering of the world, Azshara and her High Elves were sent beneath the waves. there she makes a deal with another devil, the Old God of Madness, N'Zoth.
The deep lore of WoW was HEAVILY (did I mention HEAVILY?) influenced by Lovecraftian horror. This cinematic depicts the vein and powerful Queen Azshara and her encounter and pact with the OLD GOD, N'zoth. She sacrificed her people, equally conceited elves who called themselves Highborne, to N'zoth in the deal to increase her power, and in turn they are altered into a new race called the Naga. In Lovecraftian fashion, there are other Old Gods on Azeroth, who have manipulated and corrupted the world for their mysterious ends for thousands of years.
Boss is right, Azshara is the most powerful magic user in all of Azeroth. Perhaps Medvith would be her equal, but the two never crossed paths. In the expansion, during her plot to release N'Zoth, she was able to block both Alliance and Horde leaders from using magic to get away. In the previous one, it was lore that she destroyed and cursed an entire area (Azsuna) for defying her. You'll find many places bare her name for how powerful she was during the Kal'dorei empire. Her time as the Queen was her deal with the Burning Legion that caused this event, the Sundering as it is called. This cinematic is the beginning of the Naga, like how they had been before the change as loyal subjects, they are still ferociously dedicated to their Queen. While with current lore, N'Zoth has been defeated, Azshara is still out there, and she is done working with the "middle man" when it comes to power.
The Old Gods had been part of lore for a long time. When Azeroth was young she was unfortunate besieged by seeds that the Void flung into the cosmos. The Void's goal is to corrupt a world soul to their will, and that fact alone created the Burning Legion. But the Titans decided to try to stop the influence in hopes that Azeroth will awaken as a Titan. When they found her, the Black Empire was all over the surface. It was found the Titans couldn't pull the Old Gods out without damaging the planet, so the rest were chained away. Over time, the prisoners reached out of their cages and through influence spread their corruption. They made the curse of flesh, which turned the Titan Keepers' helpers from metal and stone to flesh and gave rise to other mortal races such as humans and dwarves. N'Zoth was considered the weakest of all the Old Gods, however was the only one that managed to break free. In lore, they say the Old Gods have been defeated, and yet we know for a fact that the Void is not done trying to get Azeroth.
Also note that She is the most powerfull mage on Azeroth.
I forgot about Sylvanas Warbringer. I think you'll love it.
Azshara the last queen of the Night Elf people, one of the greatest mages, destine from birth to have a great destiny as signified by her golden eyes in NE society. The promise of power whispered to her through the well of eternity, a great ancient evil promised to make her queen of the world should she bring him through to Azeroth. After the events of War of the Ancients the super continent was sundered and the NE lands destroyed. The creature talking in the video is an Old god, terrible manifestations of the void shot throughout the universe to infect planets in the voids attempt to claim and corrupt a slumbering titan world soul (Azeroth). Before the titans brought order and life to the planet 5 ( number changed several times over the years) old gods infected the planet, and the one who slumbered in the sea was N'zoth, a creature of deals and whisper of secrets, he always plots and schemes. Azshara accepting the deal turned to the race we would come to know as the Naga. For years we knew about them, about Azshara but never their true intentions but we always knew they were there. I hope they do more with her story as they left it open ended.
If you want more lore tidbits and more of the voice of Arthas' father, you should watch the intro cinematics for all the WoW races.
The start of this, the tidal wave, is the result of the huge event called The Sundering. Azshara was known as the most powerful mage to walk the land. She ruled over the entire world, the world was as one, like pangea, and at the center was the Well of Eternity.
Long story short, it blew up. It caused the world to literally shatter into the contients as they are now. Azshara's world sunk beneath the waves and she encounters the Old God, N'Zoth. N'Zoth's vision in this showed his kingdom called The Black Empire. The Old Gods were imprisoned within Azeroth a long time ago by the Titans and their influence slowly breaks through to the surface, so with Azshara sinking, she was reaching him.
Azshara's influence was huge, but also kind of wrong. She almost enchanted her people to love her and it gave her the huge ego she shows here lol. At the end, N'Zoth grants her a part of his power, changing them into the race known as The Naga.
So the deal queen azshara made, was for her people to not just thrive with the well of eternity, but to rule the universe with the Burning Crusade and Sargeras.
Essentially she was seduced with power and corrupted just like Archimonde, kil’jaeden, and the eredar before her.
after the war of the ancients, the well imploded inward on itself, which is what sundered the continent into 4 landmasses and many smaller landmasses, and caused the tidal wave that sent her and her people into the ocean.
Coincidentally, the well, and the city, was close to where the old god N’zoth, was imprisoned, which is who is talking to her.
They made a deal that she would remain queen of her people, her people would gain the ability to breathe and swim underwater (which also turned zin’ashari into an ocean capital not unlike Atlantis) and she gained IMMENSE magical power added to her already ungodly magical strength, through her alignment to the void.
The race she and her people turned into, are known as the Naga
The well itself only exists because Aman’thul, the leader of the titans, literally grabbed another old god, Ya’sharajj, out of the planet, and because the old gods were so ingrained in the planet for so long, removing any of the others meant Azeroth, both the world soul and the planet, dies. So the rest were imprisoned and the wound left by Ya’sharrj was stabilized into the well of eternity, inadvertently creating Night Elves (who azshara was a part of) to evolve from Trolls.
When the Burning Legion first invaded 10,000 years ago, Night Elves dominated the land, Queen Azshara ruled. She made a pact with Sargeras, leader of the Burning Legion, to get more power, save the higher caste of her society (the rich nobles), and dooming everyone else.
The Legion failed, and her Kingdom was wiped out, sunk under the sea.
Bravo.
Its not just a Tsunami. Its the entire azerothian ocean. Azshara held back the entire ocean. Thats how powerful of a mage she was.
I have been loving your journey thru the Warcraft cinematic universe. 😊
*Follows a step behind taking a trip down memory lane.*
Defo need to do the Warlord wow series, but you have to do that in order, possible all 5/6 in one video as they are only a couple mins long each
When do you gonna continue with the real expansion cinematics? Cause with the "real" Battle for Azeroth cinematic and especially the one from "Shadowlands", you're still missing some oft the best ones along with Warth of the Lich King.
By the way, for the next Warbringers, "Illidan" (the badass guy at the end of the Burning Crusade Cinematic) would be great. His storyline is one of the best in the whole Warcraft lore. (like Sylvanas, he's been there form the beginning)
Love your vids, keep going! (;
These stories are actually painted by an artist.
Well in Short she struck a deal with Burning Legion.
Give her power and Technology instead she will let legion armies a portal from here.
But obviously Legion don't care about pacts. And destroys everything. Illidian use a counter spell to invert the Portal effect destroying the portal and everything around causing a continental drift.
Shes not evil character but more Prideful and power hungry.
BFA does a few things quite well. I feel like its only real weak point is its pacing. It tried to do too much and didn't really give its story time to breathe.
You should definitely watch the harbingers, lords of war, and burdens of shaohao series in addition to these. They are a similar format and storytelling.
Where are The Harbingers from Legion ?there are 3 Harbingers Vods Illidan, Guldan and Khadgar.
MY LIFE FOR THE FISH QUEEN
Was N'zoth own mistake (maybe, could be that 'he' did it on purpose), telling her, that he was bound under the waves. Without that, she shouldn't know how important she is as a servant and that her death would just be a giant loss for him. That gave her the power to bargain for a better position.
This sad: Old Gods and especially N'Zoth are very manipulative. Not unlikely that this was done on purpose to make her think, that it was all her idea...
Dunno if it's just me, but it's awfully quiet. I had to download a browser extension to amplify the audio to get it where I wanted it.
There are 2 more warbringers: Sylvannas and Gul'dan.
N'Zoth is the best old god and no one can change my mind!