Is there anything left to be said? The
Wrath of the Lich King cinematic was unveiled to the public earlier today on Blizzard's sites... and it's freaking awesome. The trailer features
Arthas, the Lich King, trudging the icy plains of Northrend with the echoing narration of the late
King Terenas Menethil, his father. Haunting music, a chilling narrative, and imagery that shows the frightening power of the Lich King is all packed into the short trailer, which can be downloaded in hi-resolution for
Macs and
PCs.
"The truest victory, my son," King Terenas says,
"is stirring the hearts of your people." I can tell you right off that this cinematic stirred my heart... and sent a shiver down my spine. Check out the full version over at the
Wrath site now.
Update: Our friends over at Big Download now
have the trailer in downloadable form, so if you want to preserve it on your hard drive for future generations (or just to watch it a lot more), you can do so.
Tags: Arthas, Arthas-Menethil, Cinematic, Wrath, Wrath-cinematic, Wrath-intro, Wrath-of-the-Lich-King
Filed under: Blizzard, Expansions, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, Analysis / Opinion
Aug 21st 2008 at 7:50AM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
gameleon Aug 21st 2008 7:52AM
1 word
AWESOME!
Naix Aug 21st 2008 9:39AM
Agreed.
This is the echo of wotlk game launch. Beta is going to be over soon and with a few more tweaks wotlk will be finished.
I predict Oct 14th.
MisterMoose Aug 21st 2008 1:32PM
Over soon? You're joking right? The Des have explicitly said they haven't gotten to brushing up paladins at ALL yet. They have a lot of significant work to do on all tanks still as well (Death Knight tanking talents are probably the most complete, according to them). They still have decided whether to make non-stack raid buffs available to different classes (for instance Druids having a Blessing of Kings buff equivalent) or to do something else. In short, there is still a lot of work to be done for a lot of classes and after all that they then have to balance threat and damage generation among all the classes.
There's no way this is coming out in October. At best the Beta will end that month.
Preston Aug 21st 2008 6:56PM
What a coincidence--Warhammer releases its new trailer, and then Blizzard suddenly releases theirs.
Hmm...
Zedlav Aug 21st 2008 7:56AM
I saw it about ten minutes ago! Also downloaded incase they take it off (because it's up early)
Brian Aug 21st 2008 8:01AM
It's up on time. Leipzig is on CET (Central European time) that's one hour ahead of GMT.
Dinnerbone Aug 21st 2008 7:59AM
It's not early. They shown it at the Games Convention and then released it on the internet minutes later, as they have done for the other Cinematics.
Kiukiu Aug 21st 2008 7:55AM
Badass.
No other words describe this trailer.
Bylak Aug 21st 2008 8:00AM
Time till gnomes complain in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
Jack Aug 21st 2008 10:38AM
Heh, too late.
jeremiah johnson Aug 21st 2008 12:08PM
The lack of Gnomes doesn't bother me in the slightest, and my main is a Gnome. Lore-wise, Gnomes are the little periods at the end of every sentence. No Gnome has been highly influential, none have been legends, but they exist, and provide a means for others to do the work that needs to be done. When was the last time you heard of a carpenter who went on to do good things? Oh. Bad example. When was the last time you heard of a plumber who went on to do good things? Oh yeah, Mario. Hrm. You know what I mean though.
Without punctuation, the written word is a lot more chaotic. Without Gnomes, Azeroth would be a lot more chaotic.
I don't need to see Gnomes in the trailers. I just need to know that they're around, quietly letting their contraptions eat themselves with malfunctions, keeping too much chaos from breaking out.
Can-O-War Aug 21st 2008 11:47PM
Gnomes are almost pure chaos, not exactly goblin style chaos, but chaos the same. You ever seen a tauren turn a leper gnome turn into a rabbit?
brandon is awesome Aug 21st 2008 7:57AM
no gnomes :(
Theungry Aug 21st 2008 10:59AM
Thank goodness.
Yeng Aug 21st 2008 12:04PM
The trailer was about the awesomeness of the Lich King. As it should be. But I'm going to say this, I saw a gnome in that massive army that got turned scourge. So now all of the 'omgz! we need gnomes in CG!' qqers can be squelched.
Oldbear Aug 21st 2008 1:01PM
Like I said yesterday, there are gnomes - you just couldn't see them.
Serathis Aug 21st 2008 7:59AM
Wow. That is all i can say. That chilling singing at the beginning makes me pity him. Perhaps we will see a redemption similar to the death knights?
kabshiel Aug 21st 2008 10:09AM
It's the same music as at the end of the TFT cinematic. Actually, Arthas often seems to have children singing sadly in his cinematic appearances (the human campaign cinematic in WC3 also had one).
jeremiah johnson Aug 21st 2008 11:56AM
OF COURSE he will be redeemed. This is an adaptation of the Monomyth. Joseph Campbell laid all of this out decades ago. Go read "The Hero's Journey" and you'll be able to predict what is most likely to happen.
Whenever Blizzard decides to finish this story, Arthas will see the light again, or see that he's been on the wrong side of it for a while now, conquer/convince his Ner'zhul half to again see the light, and then he will be an unstoppable force of good. Legion & Scourge will fall. Lordaeron will rise, and the Horde and Alliance will lose whatever uneasy truce they have now. In some way, he will be defeated, whether he ends his reign of terror himself or someone ends it for him, he will be redeemed.
That, or some new hero will arise, who has a troubled but talented past, reluctantly (read: be forced to) join the fight against the Scourge & Legion, fall from grace, be resurrected to the light, reborn more powerful than ever, ready, willing, and able to slay the Legion, Scourge, and Lich King.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'll tell you what won't happen. The Lich King will not live out the remainder of his days ruling the known universe, and retire to the shuffleboard court of an afternoon. He won't see the end of his days living in conflict with the other factions of the world. He won't live on, immortal, happy with a stalemate.
I'll tell you what will happen. Someone will win. The era of the Lich King will end. During the final war against the Legion/Scourge/Whatever, those who fought in battle together will find unity in their success, for the most part, and a time of peace will be known. Scryer will hug Aldor. Jaina will renew her friendship with Thrall. The Well of Eternity will be recreated, peacefully. Something HUGE. Anyway, enemies will become allies, foes will become friends. Peace will reign. Slowly, old prejudices and old ways of thinking will slowly grow, forcing allies apart, slowly at first, like a wedge, and this whole story will repeat itself. A few races may change sides during the sundering of this new alliance, but ultimately it will split, and this will all happen again. World of Warcraft 2. A new evil leader will emerge. (S)He may not be called the Lich King next time, (s)he may be a completely different kind of horror, but trust me. Arthas will be redeemed, peace will prevail, and conflict will begin anew.
kabshiel Aug 21st 2008 10:36PM
I'm really not sure that Arthas is redeemable at this point. He's not like Kerrigan, who was corrupted against her will. Arthas was committing atrocities and selling his soul to sinister artifacts even before he became an agent of the Scourge. He was pretty unpleasant even before he became the Lich King's slave/bodymate.