The whereabouts of Varian Wrynn
by Matthew Rossi 
Jul 30th 2008 at 2:30PM
If you've been reading the World of Warcraft comic book written by Walt Simonson, you've gotten to know the fellow over there as Lo'Gosh. An amnesiac washed up on the shores of Durotar, he's moved from mysterious gladiator to escapee from Thunder Bluff to helping cleanse an ancient idol of fel energies and is now revealed to be the one, the only Varian Wrynn himself. Currently, in the comic, he's doing heroic things like bisecting naga, breaking fear to decapitate a blood elf warlock, (it's official, Varian Wrynn is definitely a warrior... how interesting that his arena comp is a warrior, druid and rogue. You don't see many of those) and other suitable acts of badassery.If you're wondering how it all works out, then continue to read beyond that dread chasm... make the jump, if you will... and you'll find out where Varian Wrynn is now.
While in the comic book (I'm up to issue nine, so I may be behind) Lo'Gosh and his allies are heading after some Dark Iron Dwarves in Blackrock Depths who have kidnapped a friend, and have dodged assassins sent by a mysterious woman in the shadows who isn't fooling anyone, it appears that in the Beta, Varian and his allies have come home to Stormwind. Now, as a reader of the comic (I became a fan during the scene where Varian freaks the heck out at a naga and cuts her in half while bellowing "I am the King of Stormwind and I will return to my people!") I'm very curious as to the fallout from the comic. How did Lo'Gosh/Varian get home? What happened to the various sinister folks in Stormwind responsible for his kidnapping? What's the deal with his dead wife? Is Anduin okay?
You can also see that Broll Bearmantle and Valeera Sanguinar are with the King, which befits his traveling companions/arena team. Besides making me curious as to their arena rating, this makes me wonder if Valeera's uncle, Lord Sanguinar, is ever going to drop into Stormwind for a visit. (No actual relationship between the two has been stated in the game or comic, I just find the idea funny.) I'm also wondering why, as of current Beta, there's no Stormwind Keep whatsoever. Our intrepid Adam Holisky explored the area for us... is this a sign of some world event or another that will help open Northrend the same way that the Dark Portal opened prior to The Burning Crusade? Is this the end of the Onyxia attunement questline? Adam found that Lady Prestor, Anduin and a second Fordragon (there's one on the docks with Varian, too) are all inside the keep, if you can manage to get in. But from the outside it's a void. Who knows what will be implemented in the future?
I'm excited to see the various in and out of game sources of lore merged again, especially since Lo'Gosh/Varian is an interesting and conflicted character. I'm looking forward to seeing this storyline develop further in Northrend.
Thanks to tipster BruddaWakka, and to Adam for his work in creating the gallery for us.
Filed under: Druid, Rogue, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Procris Jul 30th 2008 2:39PM
I honestly hope they update his character model before release. As right now, he doesn't quite look as heroic as depicted in the comic.
Saiforune Jul 30th 2008 3:02PM
I compeltely agree. I think Broll and the Belf rogue get some awesome model updating too. After reading the wow wikis of btoh of them they deserve to look epic and better than any druid or rogue could look in game. They deserve to be awesome.
Badger Jul 30th 2008 3:31PM
Totally agree. Specifically: Why is Valeera in Rogue starter gear?
jake Jul 30th 2008 3:57PM
Give him a Vrykul model :))))
Braundo Jul 30th 2008 2:40PM
"Hey, The King's Back!"
Sundae Jul 30th 2008 2:46PM
Cookie for you Sir.
Badger Jul 30th 2008 2:49PM
You win the Thread, Braundo. ^^
Though, I wonder if Wrynn's return-trip passed between "A Couple of Towers."
DNathan Jul 30th 2008 2:43PM
I hope they keep the Onyxia questline in the game show how. her unmasking is one of the coolest moments in WoW.
BigDaddyJay Jul 30th 2008 2:49PM
I have a question for you rossi... it's a little off topic, but nobody replies to days old posts, so I'm going to ask you here.
I have a question about TITAN'S GRIP... What I keep reading is that this talent is great for early level grinding, but not so much for instancing. What's been said is that overall DPS output isn't quite what some had thought. So having 2xslow2H overall isn't as good as 2x1H. My question comes from the fact that I've seen alot of the new gear from the Beta contains Haste Rate increases. It seems that it would be significantly easy to stack alot of haste, almost negating the 20% slowdown thats inherent in the talent. I wonder if you could even over-stack haste, so that you swing that heavy TROLL BUTCHERER even faster than the advertised 3.1 secs. Couple that with flurry, and it seems DPS would go way up. How come nobody is talking about the abundance of +haste gear and its effect on TITAN'S GRIP?
edit:someone also mentioned WF totems in raids, but i was thinking of the more common 5mans. I want to see my toon carrying two weapons each as big as he is, but i also want to see my name at the top of the DPS meter...
MisterMoose Jul 30th 2008 3:01PM
Haste works on normal weapons too though, so there's no net difference there (save haste from the weapons themselves, which won't be that big a difference overall).
BigDaddyJay Jul 30th 2008 3:07PM
good point, mistermoose. I guess that means if I can stack enough haste to make my 2h weapons speed
BigDaddyJay Jul 30th 2008 3:08PM
good point, mistermoose. I guess that means if I can stack enough haste to make my 2h weapons speed less than 3secs, then my 1h weapons would probably less than 2secs, and then DPS would probably scale relatively. I just would like to hear from a beta tester about this, because all they've said so far is TG is a little disappointing.
ps sorry for the double post. "less than" sign seem to break up the text.
Matthew Rossi Jul 30th 2008 5:24PM
I'm wondering myself if fast 2h weapons are going to make a comeback of sorts... a 2.2 speed polearm in the offhand could be more rage than a 3.5 or slower weapon.
jbodar Jul 30th 2008 6:30PM
Sorry to further derail, but don't you also need to consider:
- Bigger Whirlwind hits
- Extra stats from 2x 2handers
- Dual wielding with Slam
I'm no theorycrafter, but it just sounds badass.
Khass Jul 30th 2008 2:51PM
Next on MLG Ironforge, Varian's WRD faces former champions, Jaina's RMP. Stay tuned!
Badger Jul 30th 2008 2:51PM
Wait ... Why'd they make him look like a Mage? Shouldn't he be decked out head-to-toe in Plate?
makishima Jul 30th 2008 3:02PM
My exact same thoughts. I think we can all agree with Procris that he should get an overhaul before Wrath goes live. But from what I understand there are a lot of placeholder models/skins up in Northrend at this point so we can only hope his is a placeholder as well.
Badger Jul 30th 2008 3:30PM
Yeah. I mean, there are enormous differences you can see just from looking at his depiction in the comic. He's got wild, shoulder-length hair; he wields two swords like a pro; he's clad in heavy armor from head to feet; he's got have some sort of obvious scarring by now ... Physically, he's just huge and intimidating, not, ya know ... "Political." Like the NPC in those screenshots.
Coincidentally, I think the greatest evidence for the being a placeholder is the fact that the model shown above was the same model that used to appear on Alcaz Island off the coast of Dustwallow Marsh, before Blizzard's most recent revamp to "The Missing Diplomat" quest line. (He was removed entirely from the game after that revamp, if I recall.)
RadSprack Jul 30th 2008 5:01PM
Yes, his scars should be insanely evident. He's got two giant scars on his face from the comic book. One across his face over his nose, and one down his left eye.
Timothy Bower Jul 30th 2008 4:45PM
That's actually his model before they removed him from the game on Alcaz Island.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Image:VarienWrynnKingofStormwind.jpg
I thought it was a cool to see that guy down there, but with the Ahn'Qiraj patch he was removed.