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by Mathew McCurley 
Aug 9th 2010 at 3:00PM
WARNING: This post contains spoilers about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm. Do not read further if you do not wish to be spoiled on major plot points.
Cho'gall's sound files, in Dire Maul, indicate that there are two traitors, an Alliance and a Horde figure, who are working from within to give the Twilight's Hammer Cult a leg-up in recruiting. We can now surmise that those traitors are Archbishop Benedictus, now known as The Black Bishop, for the Alliance and Grand Magister Rommath for the Horde. Sound clips follow:
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 7)
musicchan Aug 9th 2010 3:44PM
Honestly, I'm kind of surprised they didn't do away with Rommath after the whole Sunwell thing. He was appointed by Kael'thas and believed in what they were doing in Outlands. I was always a little dissatisfied by his position in the throne room after that and this whole thing with him doesn't actually come as much of a surprise to me.
Besides, saying that ONE elf is going to ruin the reputation of absolutely all of them is kind of harsh, isn't it? Lor'themas and Liadrin are doing good things with the new and improved Sunwell, according to the Quel'dalar quest. It's not like Rommath is the embodiment of the sindorei.
Kylenne Aug 9th 2010 4:07PM
@Rossi: You're missing my point. I'm NOT saying it's at all unbelievable--Blood Elves tend to be power hungry as a I'm saying it's trite and annoying. I'm also saying it's pretty freaking demoralizing to lose yet another hugely important figure to my favorite race, to the exact same kind of shenanigans that made us lose our faction leader.
Also, seriously, why now? I'm not being snarky--I genuinely want to hear a plausible explanation for why he would pick now to go off the deep end as opposed to, say, when Kael kidnapped M'uru and dragged him off to the Sunwell. If he really was such a traitorous asshole, that would have been a prime opportunity to turn on everyone, considering how loyal he was to Kael. Instead, he just sort of sat back and did nothing, or we can infer that he supported the SSO or what have you. That was a wasted opportunity, imo.
So yes, you're damned right I need more than "lol now he crazy", which is what we generally tend to get as explanations go when heroes go bad in this 'verse. Yes, I'm well aware this is just a sound clip of a spoiler that was datamined and taken completely out of context, but if history is any indicator where the Blood Elves are concerned, I'm not terribly optimistic.
Heilig Aug 9th 2010 4:20PM
"This is TWO leaders we're going to have to put down, now."
Everyone has their traitors that had to die. Here is a simple and very incomplete list up to the end of Wrath. Bear in mind that some of these may have been lower levels or relatively minor lore figures as far as we are concerned (much like Rommath - I guarantee you most people have no clue who that dude is) but they were significant to their own faction.
Orcs: Grom Hellscream, Rend Blackhand, Kargath Bladefist
Blood Elves: Kael'thas Sunstrider, Rommath
Trolls: Zul'Jin
Humans : Arthas Menethil, Daelin Proudmoore
Night Elves: Illidan Stormrage
Dwarves: Dagran Thaurissan
Gnomes: Mekgineer Thermaplugg
Forsaken: Varimathras and Putress
And let's not forget the Prestors. We spent the entirety of Vanilla WoW being shown how weak and gullible Humans were that they could be completely controlled by Onyxia and Nefarian. Those two created the entire Defias problem and got the King of Stormwind kidnapped.
Whining because a relative unknown from you pet race is going traitor is as silly as it gets. Every race has their traitors. Comparatively, I would say Blood Elves got off lightly. At least your race's prince didn't destroy and enslave half a continent as mindless undead before retreating to a DIFFERENT continent and doing the same thing, all while horribly torturing the greatest champion of the Alliance who then becomes the Lich King on his own.
TL;DR: Blood Elves need to stop crying, it will smear your mascara.
Kuro Aug 9th 2010 4:24PM
eh... why couldn't it have been a Tauren... well I guess we're getting some lore with Bloodhoof...
but then there's Forsaken.... but we have Sylvanas and her "Back to work" program for the recently unemployed Scoruge.
but what about the Darkspear? oh yeah.. Vol'Jin had a lot of air time with his split from Garrosh...
Speaking of wihch, I still think Garrosh is the short list of faction leaders we'll see as raid bosses.. He's certainly the type that I can see going off the deep end.
Poor Rommath...some deeper BELF lore would be nice though.... and I wonder who we'll get to replace him.
Matthew Rossi Aug 9th 2010 4:34PM
Well, without getting to see the event in game, all we can do is wait, but I'd imagine you could pretty easily imagine why Rommath didn't go off with Kael when M'uru was taken to the Sunwell. Because he wasn't invited.
Imagine, then, you are Rommath. You've done everything and more that Kael'Thas has asked of you. You've recreated Silvermoon's mages and directed their powers towards recreating the city itself! No one deserves a more rightful share of the praise for that feat than you. You helped create the new Blood Knights. You're personally responsible for an entirely new and creative way to harness the Light and imbue it into mortal champions.
You stand loyal and ready with a handful of some of the most amazing triumphs in the history of your people to your credit, and what happens?
Your prince returns as a degenerate mockery, a twisted, fel addicted shell of himself who attacks his own people and steals M'uru away. STEALS! He doesn't command, he doesn't reclaim his place, he STEALS it like a thief in the night. He harms HIS OWN PEOPLE! And worst of all, he ABANDONS YOU.
A great shock. A huge blow to the ego. Rommath finds himself not just abandoned, but forgotten... the recreation of the Sin'dorei mages, the reconstruction of Silvermoon, the use of the Naaru to create the Blood Knights, none of it even rated a visitation. Worse yet, when the Sunwell is fully restored it's revealed that you were a pawn of the Naaru all along. It played you, tricked you, used you to recteate the Sunwell and 'redeem' the Blood Elves. It stole their loyalties and forced Kael'Thas to the depths he sank to! The prince would never have forgotten you if not for it!
Clearly, your people are the ones who turned away from the true path. Not you.
Kylenne Aug 9th 2010 4:46PM
@ musicchan: It's not about this one Blood Elf, it's about a consistent pattern ever since Burning Crusade, and arguably TFT (depending on how you view the defection from the Alliance; that was wholly justified IMO, but a lot of people don't see it that way). Liadrin is frankly the exception that proves the rule (and hasn't been seen or heard from since the Sunwell anyway, but for that small cameo during the QD chain). And despite that brief showing of heroism, we had an entire expansion of killing batshit insane Blood Elves that led up to that. It also doesn't help that during the most critical moments of this current expansion, we've been either offscreen, just foils for the Alliance (what did the Sunreavers actually do to help fight Malygos, again? Helping to put on a Ren Faire wasn't why they got invited to Dalaran), or yet again batshit insane villains which is kind of baffling considering the big bad this time was an undead force largely made up of former humans, led by a human. No presence whatsoever at the Wrathgate, even in the background, in spite of the fact that no other Horde race bar the Forsaken has been screwed over as badly by Arthas. There's more Blood Elves in the Scourge in ICC than there are Belf NPCs in the rest of the entirety of Northrend. I mean, there's like a tiny handful in Borean Tundra, and a couple of Argent Crusaders and random Ebon Blade dudes elsewhere. Oh, and Koltira, who's a dick. It's not exactly inspiring. It's pretty depressing that the only time we ever get to do anything heroic is when one of our own goes nuts and has to be killed. There's plenty of races that don't get much time in the spotlight in World of Orcs and Humans Craft, which really sucks, but at least they're also not the butt of this kind of perpetual fecklessness.
And I would beg to differ about what Rommath represents. Rommath isn't some random poker buddy of Lor'themar and Halduron, he's the highest ranking mage of a race that prides itself on its command of the arcane. That's pretty symbolic.
devilsei Aug 9th 2010 5:07PM
@Heilig
Really...? Zul'jin and Grommosh Hellscream?
Zul'jin pulled a Kael'theas on the trolls, and was never really a true leader allied with the current Horde.
As for Grommosh, the most he did was drink from the fountain of demon blood. He was doing what Thrall told him, night elves attacked, he killed them, Cenarius attacked, and in order to protect his clan and succeed in what he was ordered to do, he drank from the fel-blood tainted fountain. After killing Cenarius, Mannoroth took control of them, someting Grom DID NOT want. Any true betrayal occurred when he was not in control of himself. Thrall knew this, which is why he and jaina worked to save him. Hell, if he had truly betrayed the Horde, he would of not slain Mannoroth.
musicchan Aug 9th 2010 5:19PM
@Kylenne: It just seems like you have a completely different view of the blood elves than I do. I don't see the blood elf presence as that negative. Certainly, it was bad in TBC but that's because the whole expansion was about the blood elves and the draenei. The path of the story (and keep in mind that Blizzard was only just getting into story narative in that expansion) was about the depths that some members of the race would sink to while the rest of the people did the best they could to make something of themselves. I saw TBC as the redemption of a people who had lost -everything- and were trying to find themselves.
Admitedly, I would have liked to see more of a presence in Northrend, but I believe the blood elf people are still trying to put their society back together. I was certain I saw a few blood elves in the horde forces in the Wrathgate. Not a lot, no, but their weapon stance stands out. They're not at all highlighted (just as some of the alliance races are barely in that cinematic) but they were there.
At any rate, I think Rossi summed up what I think about Rommath. Like I mentioned earlier, I was never happy with how they handled him after the Kael'thas incident and I still believe that his defection should NOT speak for every blood elf everywhere. He is the last piece of a regime that died in TBC and this, to me, is a logical conclusion to his character.
Heilig Aug 9th 2010 6:45PM
"Really...? Zul'jin and Grommosh Hellscream?
Zul'jin pulled a Kael'theas on the trolls, and was never really a true leader allied with the current Horde."
Neither was Thermaplugg, Blackhand, Thaurissan, etc. That doesn't change the fact that they were great leaders within their people. Just because the side we play on in the game is different from theirs doesn't make them less of a great and important person in their lore. Hell, man, the troll charge emote is "FOR ZUL'JIN!" Before he went batshit nuts (like Rommath is doing right now) he was simply an iconic troll leader that they ALL looked up to.
"As for Grommosh, the most he did was drink from the fountain of demon blood. He was doing what Thrall told him, night elves attacked, he killed them, Cenarius attacked, and in order to protect his clan and succeed in what he was ordered to do, he drank from the fel-blood tainted fountain. After killing Cenarius, Mannoroth took control of them, someting Grom DID NOT want. Any true betrayal occurred when he was not in control of himself. Thrall knew this, which is why he and jaina worked to save him. Hell, if he had truly betrayed the Horde, he would of not slain Mannoroth."
I may be wrong here since it's been a while since I played the campaign, but as I recall, Grom knew what was going to happen and did it anyway. He chose to drink the blood so his CLAN wouldn't be destroyed, not so the entire horde wouldn't. Granted, he was on Thrall's mission, but he didn't exactly have battle plans. he was given a strategic goal and told "Go get it done" and the way he chose to do it was nearly suicidal for the entire Horde. He is considered a great hero still because he managed to shake off the effects at the very end and kill Mannoroth, but that redemption doesn't change the facts of his prior actions, or its motivation being a very selfish one, regardless of what he may have thought. As in many cases, the end doesn't justify the means. The rabid demon-caused bloodthirst of the Warsong clan helped to keep Horde and Alliance at a distance from each other to this day.
All of this is beside the point though. The man was complaining that OMG A WHOLE TWO BLOOD ELVES were portrayed as betrayers. Boo hoo. Welcome to high fantasy. Backstabbing and betrayal is the most dramatic thing you can offer in a game like this. They didn't pick the dude because he's a blood elf. It isn't racial profiling. They picked him because the events that have shaped his character would very much lead to this sort of thing.
Oh BTW, did we mention that he's being corrupted by one of the things that HELPED CORRUPT THE FREAKING KEEPERS OF ULDUAR? It's not like he just sat there and one day said "I think I'm gonna join the Twilight Council." He happened to be in a position useful to C'thun and his ego was simply exploited by an OLD GOD.
SR Aug 9th 2010 10:24PM
Y'all are forgetting Ner'Zhul, Gul'Dan, and Archimonde/Kil'Jaeden. Before WoW even existed, the two orcs have been a HUGE influence to their culture (They were, after all, leaders at some point); except one of them betrayed their race to Kil'Jaeden and the other is... well, you know. The LICH KING. And don't even get me started with Archimonde and Kil'Jaeden, who were TWO OF THE TRIUMVIRATES of the Draenei people. And now, Kil'Jaeden is still a threat to Azeroth.
If you want to QQ about how Belfs don't have enough involvement in Wrath, just look at Draenei. They had about ONE show at the beginning of Borean about how the human farmers were racist and won't be comfortable around aliens. Which, apparently, was the work of the cult.
Granted, Arthas wasn't as much of a pain to them compared to other races, it's not like they're the kind of people that sits back and watch their friends go to battle. They like peace, and they'll fight to get it. And the treatment THEY've gotten in Wrath makes me very, very sad.
Although this post turned into a QQfest, I'm just going to say that I'm glad nobody's defecting from Draenei this time around.
aramis Aug 10th 2010 3:23AM
Heilig - has a GREAT list of the fallen.
Let us not forget even MORE traitors:
Dragons: Uhm, HELLO?... Neltharian, anyone?
Night Elves: Though as a result of severe emotional trauma, Fandral Staghelm can now be listed as a traitor...and let's not forget the Highborne and Queen Azshara
Human: Eddy Van Cleef (though as a result of being a pawn from one Ony-baby's many manipulative plans)
The point is, at some point most of these people were good in their own rite. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions (a la Arthas) and there was a turning point for each and every one of them that resulted in their betrayal. Bloodelves are just amongst the MANY races that have seen their mightiest heroes jump ship.
Sorcha Aug 10th 2010 5:18AM
Am I missing something? I didn't get anything from the clip above that suggested that Rommath 'went craaaaaaazy!', just that he was a traitor all along, meaning that he's a completely sane nasty, calculating, cold-hearted, power-craving despot. And being a nasty, calculating, cold-hearted, power-craving despot wouldn't be out of character for a blood elf, would it? Elves aren't nice. Nothing Blizzard has ever done with elves has suggested that.
Vodkamartini Aug 9th 2010 3:35PM
Hm, Cho'gall is a raid boss.
Does this mean ... raid missions in the city a la Onyxia back in the day? Grab some blokes or roll with your raid party to get drops off the traitors?
Or another solo "watch the NPCs fight and just don't stand in the fire" mission, like the UC trip in Wrath?
Or worse -- watch a fight, dude flees, kill em another day in an instance or raid to be revealed?
Bah.
BTW, who the hell is talking with Rommy?
/btw my priest and warlock want a drop off the Archbishop. The hat alone would rock.
Pauguster Aug 9th 2010 4:45PM
I wonder if these two characters didn't so much turn traitor as instead fall victim to the whispers of one (or more) of the Old Gods. I mean very few individuals have come out sane after an Old God started working on them. This may also mean people connected to the Light are being targeted specifically...
Then again this is all just random specualtion
Siaperas Aug 9th 2010 4:48PM
I was actually kind of wondering the same thing. How long have these two men stared into the brink of the chaos of the world and acted as advisors? Look at what they have both witnessed and been through, 3 wars, the rise of the Scourge, the invasion of the Burnning Legions, political corruption. Rommath watched his hero betray his own people after promising to save them. Benedictus heard as Bolvar died in the North, and I'm sure he's heard that after dying Bolvar became the new Lich King, leader of the Scourge who destroyed Lordaeron. How hard would it be for the whispers of the night, and in their sleep to tell these men about the chaos of it all? How hard would it be to push men who sat back and advised through all that to make some action toward real change? In the end it all falls to chaos anyway, why prevent the inevitable? Embrace it, and put an end to the cycle of battles and betrayals. Kingdoms rise and fall. Invaders come and go. Heroes live and die. But one thing is constant, chaos will always be there, and so will the world's "true masters."
I
cspenn Aug 9th 2010 7:44PM
@Siaperas: You know the thing about chaos is, it's fair.
Elennoko Aug 9th 2010 3:50PM
It's sad. Rommath now hash is own voice and Lor'themar STILL doesn't.
RedMosquito Aug 9th 2010 4:55PM
Actually, he does:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deqEOIrK2J8&hd=1
At least for this event. But considering Blizz went thru the trouble of hiring a voice actor for this, they might as well have him record Lor'themar's default voice. One could hope.
brian Aug 9th 2010 8:36PM
I was very disappointed in his voice in the very beginning of the clip, but it got better towards the end.
The "high treason to Silvermoon" line sounds a little stiff, and the "being a member of the Twilight Council" part sounds blustery, which is a little strange coming from a blood elf. Then again, after listening to it a few more times, it's not quite as bad as I thought on my first impression, but I do kinda hope they are either making it like that on purpose, or it's not quite finished and they put up an early version.
CRtheMighty Aug 10th 2010 3:14AM
Wow, Loth'remar doesn't sound like an elf at all.