Varimathras' replacement: "B"

And if by "anyone," you mean the denizens of the Blizzard forums, they all seem to think it's Nathanos Blightcaller, a Forsaken who has been sitting in the Eastern Plaguelands since the game began. He's recently been mentioned again in the game, as Varian Wrynn has sent Alliance players after him in Bolvar's place, and so it makes sense that he may rejoin the Banshee Queen and take his place at her side. Balnazzar, Varimathras' demon brother, is another guess, though he's currently serving secretly with the Scarlet Crusade, so who knows how he'd come to that position. And of course, besides Bornakk, anytime you hear B you have to think of our friend Bolvar, whose fate we'll probably learn in patch 3.3 no matter what. As for who it really is, we won't know for sure until we see them in the Undercity.
Filed under: Horde, Undead, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Blizzard, Lore, NPCs, Wrath of the Lich King
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Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
RogueJedi86 Sep 25th 2009 10:07PM
Drek'thar's in AV, BGs don't really move forward in time. But Nathanos Blightcaller is in EPL, in Azeroth, which is being moved forward in time with Cataclysm. But how can they move it forward and promote a character who would be dead and killed by the Alliance many times over by the time of the events of Cataclysm? Selectively deciding which events to move forward, blatantly ignoring many events which kill characters is just weak. It'd be like if Bolvar stayed in the SW Keep after the Wrathgate cinematic. You don't promote characters who are supposed to be dead.
Snuzzle Sep 25th 2009 10:38PM
He's a pretty major lore character though, and if the Plaguelands are getting revamped in Cata, it's entirely conceivable that Nathanos will be pushed out of the Plaguelands. Someone as badass as him wouldn't just roll over and die (taken from someone who played Alliance in vanilla and remembers what a pain in the hide he was to kill).
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Sep 25th 2009 11:09PM
Eastern Plaguelands was only a setback?
Torlaz Sep 26th 2009 12:18AM
He's also undead.. there is nothing to say that he wasn't recovered. The Alliance may have killed him but they didn't destroy the body.
Blizzard may have made him killable for quest purposes but never intended to kill him off in the lore. Just meant to make it a really tough fight which he barely escapes or has a mortal injury and is just barely saved.
The way Blizzard tells their in-game story has become much more in-depth as time has progressed. I would say there wasn't as much put into some of those quests as they would have like to, at the time.
There is no better lore character to revolve the dark ranger/ undead hunter class around than Blightcaller. Maybe the quest to bring the undead hunter to the faction will involve recovering him.
RogueJedi86 Sep 26th 2009 12:22AM
"There is no better lore character to revolve the dark ranger/ undead hunter class around than Blightcaller."
What about Sylvanas herself? She was a High Elf Ranger/Hunter before she succumbed to the Plague of Undeath. As the leader of the Forsaken, she could introduce Hunting to the Forsaken. It wouldn't require ignoring quests like the one that had Nathanos Blightcaller killed.
Torlaz Sep 26th 2009 1:11AM
His death was never acknowledged other than by the Alliance. There is nothing to say that the quest lines of EPL weren't completed and that Sylvanas would not go recover someone of that skill if it were at all possible.
We'll have to wait to see what Blizz does as there is no definitive answer to his fate.
Candina@WH Sep 25th 2009 9:35PM
Nah... it's gonna be Bolivar. Raised by the Liche Kings minions, freed by Horde players in Ice Crown and rejected by the 'noble' King Varian Whynn. (pronounced 'whine').
Candina@WH Sep 25th 2009 9:45PM
In a similar vein, I can see Saurfang the Younger being 'saved' and StY becoming the new 'chief' of the Horde DKs.
Which brings up a question I've had...
If the Foresaken are Undead raised by the plague, but free of the Liche Kings control. Does that, by default, make all DKs Foresaken? Does this make Foresaken DKs redundant? Or are Foresaken DKs actually the same as Human DKs, just horde side?
Some of use need to get more sleep...
Guildenstern Sep 25th 2009 9:46PM
If Bolvar doesn't die in 3.3, there's no reason Varian wouldn't have him back if he took the DK's back.
Rodrigo Sep 26th 2009 6:58AM
Isn't Bolivar Donald Duck's dog?
Candina@WH Sep 26th 2009 9:27AM
re: Guildenstern
I agree that Varian _SHOULD_ take Bolivar back. But from a story perspective, this is a Blizz special. The fall of a hero, the players 'saving' the hero, the hero rejected by his own people, the hero finding acceptance among old enemies. It's a great story arc.
traptinacivicsi Sep 27th 2009 10:05AM
I've always said Undead DK make no sense.
"So you you were a human.. who was killed and raised as an undead.. who broke free of the lich king and became 'forsaken'... who was then killed(?) again and raised as a DK... who broke free of the lich king AGAIN (god that guy must be dumb) and became a Forsaken DK Forsaken??? Stop dieing!!"
Stupid. Even Draenei make more sense since they've been on the planet over a year before the undead attacks of 08'..
phaer Sep 26th 2009 7:21AM
Considering Mr. Blightcaller was the only trained human ranger by elves, he is a very likely candidate to replace Varimathras. Undead Hunters, amirite
Isendre Sep 27th 2009 3:43AM
Rules 1 and 2 are deader than dead.
You can thank Time Magazine and Encyclopedia Dramatica for that.
traptinacivicsi Sep 27th 2009 10:06AM
Encyclopedia Dramatica is excellent.
Todoroku Sep 30th 2009 3:34PM
What about Baine Bloodhoof?
alpha5099 Sep 26th 2009 1:47AM
I would be shocked if it weren't Nathanos. They've been laying the groundwork for a lot of the new classes, and bringing the second most accomplished Undead Hunter (or Ranger, if you wanna quibble) into Sylvanas' inner-circle would be a great way to set up our new zombie marksmen buddies. Get him there, and give him and Sylvanas some dialogue discussing the need to train a new batch of Rangers.
I wanna see more of this groundwork-laying. Are we just gonna start Cataclysm and get Human Hunters and Orc Mages and get no explanation, just Blizzard saying, "Meh, they make sense"? I'd much rather see the foundations being laid for all the new combos: have some Dwarfs start making pilgrimages to Nobundo, some Gnomes learning about the Light, some Blood Knights discussing their waning faith but wishing to preserve their warrior lifestyle, some Trolls lurking on the outskirts of Moonglade.
Blizzard, you got one major content patch left, and I could care less about Icecrown. If you wanna make it count, give us the first inklings of new class lore.
StillWaters Sep 26th 2009 3:30AM
It has to be Barack Obama!
flaskamel Jan 20th 2010 8:51AM
Alexandros Mograine.
>>B
splodesondeath Sep 26th 2009 8:23AM
I bet Belgrom Rockmaul is going to move to UC! Haha, of course!