Posts with tag arthas-rise-of-the-lich-king

Today, in between the panels and the announcements at BlizzCon 2010, we had the distinct pleasure of meeting Christie Golden, author of the latest World of Warcraft novel The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm. Christie was kind enough to give us a few minutes and talk about her writing, her latest work and some glimpses at the behind-the-scenes work of novel writing.

WoW Insider: Christie, thank you so much for joining us. The WoW Insider readers are big fans of your books, especially The Shattering. Can you tell us a little bit about the challenges about writing within the Warcraft universe?

Christie Golden: One of the biggest challenges is that it's constantly growing and changing; with every new patch there's something new that comes along -- it's almost a living entity. Books take about a year from start to finish, so we're a little bit more locked in to our schedules. So there's a lot of back and forth. Things will change sometimes from one draft to another, so there'll be something new -- it's like, "Oh by the way, this character blahblahblah, can you update." Unfortunately, a book can't be tinkered with right up to the release date like a game can.

You can't hotfix a book, then?

I'm sure a lot of authors would love that! That's probably the biggest challenge, though. But the creativity and the appreciation I get from working with Blizzard certainly makes up for the inconveniences.

WARNING: This interview does contain some spoilers for The Shattering. Caution is advised!

WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for the novel Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, and the final battle with the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel. They're all pretty much contained on Page 2, and I'll give you another warning later just in case you forget about it.

Most players are, by this point in Wrath of the Lich King, more than familiar with Arthas Menethil and his fall from supposed grace into the arms of the Lich King. Players may be slightly less familiar with Ner'zhul, the orc shaman who originally took on the mantle of the Lich King, but we've got an article for that.

This article on the other hand, isn't so much about Ner'zhul, or Arthas, as it is about the Lich King -- the position that Arthas, and Ner'zhul before him, had foisted upon them. What exactly is the Lich King? What is its purpose, and why does it exist? To answer these questions, we have to go very, very far back into Azeroth's history.

Azeroth was created by a group of creatures known as the Titans, a group of almost god-like giants that roam from world to world for a very distinct purpose -- to create and make order. There are a lot of conflicting stories surrounding the Titans, their origins, and the creation of Azeroth -- however, one story stands out above all others; the story of the corruption of Sargeras, champion of the Titans.

WoW.com continues celebrating Winter Veil with our Twelve Days of Winter Veil contests. Today is day ten of our countdown and we are giving away a set of World of Warcraft novels written by Christie Golden to one lucky winner courtesy of Pocket Books. The set includes:

• Arthas
• Beyond The Dark Portal
• Rise of the Horde
• Warcraft Archive

The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), and everyone who enters must be 18 or older. To enter, leave a comment on this post before 12pm ET (noon) Friday, December 25, 2009. Please be sure to use a real email that you check often to enter, so we can contact you should you be the winner. You may enter only once and one winner will be selected randomly. The winner will receive 1 set of Christie Golden World of Warcaft novels including Arthas, Beyond The Dark Portal, Rise of the Horde and the Warcraft Archive with a total retail value of US$58. Click here to read the official contest rules.

And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back later today for loot card giveaways and tomorrow for more contests -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!

EDIT: Contest closed. Thanks everyone!

For our final contest celebrating World of Warcraft's 5th anniversary we have four, count them, four novels from Pocket Books' WoW fiction line to give away. Well, two novels and two compilation books. So whether you're a Christie Golden or a Richard Knaak fan enter for your chance to win one of these great lore-filled books.

The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), and everyone who enters must be 18 or older. To enter, leave a comment on this post before Thursday, November 26th, at 12p ET (noon), and please be sure to use a real email that you check often to enter, so we can contact you should you be one of the winners. You may enter only once and a winner will be selected randomly for each one of the following prizes:

• Arthas:Rise of the Lich King retail value of $25
• Night of the Dragon retail value of $16
• Warcraft Archive retail value of $17
• War of the Ancients Archive retail value of $17

Click here to read the official contest rules.

EDIT: Contest closed. Thanks so much for participating!

During Day One of BlizzCon this past weekend, I was given the opportunity to sit down and talk with author/novelist Christie Golden, the woman behind the best selling Warcraft novel Arthas and the upcoming Cataclysm novel(s) which we learned about in this very interview. I asked her questions about her personal background in Warcraft, her writing process, and what it's like to work with Blizzard's worlds.

WoW.com: If you don't mind, we'll kick things off with a question I pretty much ask everyone... Horde or Alliance?

Christie Golden: Yes.

WoW.com: Good answer!

Golden: Seriously, I play both, and I love them both. I have characters on both sides, I don't prefer one over the other.

WoW.com: That definitely comes through in what you've written in the universe, starting with Horde material and then moving onto Arthas. When you say you've played both, how far? Are any of them level 80?

Golden: I've been so busy with all of the writing I've been doing lately that I haven't been able to hit 80, I haven't seen as much of Northrend as I've wanted to. Around 70 is where I'm stuck for now.

WootZoot asked...

"Any word on if Blizzard is working on a new novel or RPG book?"

Warcraft book author Christie Golden (who, you'll probably remember, wrote Arthas, the book our guys loved so much) will be signing copies of that book at a bookstore called the Book Revue in Huntington, NY this Saturday at 7pm. In a quick interview with Newsday there, she also talks about both her background in fantasy and sci-fi (she remembers the days when sci-fi and fantasy were seen as silly diversions rather than premises for multi-million dollar movies and videogames, as do most of us older nerds, probably) and her experience with WoW. She says that having the chance to jump in and virtually visit the actual setting of her books is a real plus when doing research -- if she has a question about the layout of Stormwind, she can go over to that city and check it out herself.

If you're in or near Long Island and are a Christie Golden fan or are looking for something Warcraft-y and fun to do on Saturday, there you go. She's got more information on her blog about the signing (looks like she'll be reading as well). If you do go, let us know how it went.

Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.

I didn't intentionally choose today's Scourge theme. Really. These things just happen. That Dragon-specific one I did all that time ago? I didn't plan that, either. I'm just awesome enough that these things come together all by themselves. Yep. It's my pure, radiant awesome.

What? What do you mean current game content dictates what topics are hot or not? Pssh, that's crazy talk. That can't be it. It's all me, y'all.

Briz9 asked...

"Who built Icecrown Citadel and the accompanying structures? Did Arthas build it after he became the Lich King, or was it already there?"

The massive Saronite structures that make up Icecrown as it is today is all fairly new, from what I understand. Most Scourge architecture is based on Nerubian architecture (as you can see in Ahn'kahet) but the Saronite structures in and around Icecrown seem more styled after the Lich King himself. You certainly didn't see that stuff in Warcraft III either, but I suppose that's not always a good indicator.

• HolyPaladin.net takes a good look at the balance between WoW and life and how to find it.
• The Rawrcast spoke with Curse's ckknight on the WoW Matrix controversy, Curse's premium client, and much more this weekend. Give it a listen!
• The Hearthstone Tavern has put out the first edition of their brand new World of Warcraft podcast focusing on RP and lore. This week they discuss Arthas: Rise of the Lich King and how it can bolster your own roleplay.
• The Twisted Nether Blogcast has posted episode number 44, this time with Dezdemone from Will Tank For Healz.
• Can't afford to go to BlizzCon? No worries, Spooncraft's got your backs. Well, the back of one of you. Just one back. They're running a contest to design a Spooncraft t-shirt, and the lucky Grand Prize winner gets a BlizzCon ticket, a free hotel stay, and $500 towards their airfare. Pretty sweet? Yeah, pretty sweet.

BlizzCast #9 was released very recently, and it's quite short this time around, only about 11 minutes long. It's short because it only covers one thing. It contains Chris Metzen reading the prologue to Arthas: Rise of the Lich King.

The prologue is centered primarily on the native races in Northrend and how they react to the unnatural storms brought on by the Lich King's inner turmoil; the Tuskarr through community and the Taunka through defiance. We also see the exact nature of that turmoil, catching a glimpse of just how much of Arthas is left in there (or Ner'zhul for that matter), and we see it all to the tune of Metzen's sultry voice.

Dear readers, you've probably noticed that WoW Insider is downright eager to give you guys free things the last few weeks. To give everyone the best possible chance of winning, here's a reminder for our two current, ongoing contests for those that may have missed them.

1. Your window of opportunity is closing quickly if you want to enter our Arthas: Rise of the Lich King giveaway. It's 3:00 PM Eastern as of this posting, and that contest ends at 6:00 PM Eastern. That's three hours! Head over there and throw your name into the ring!
2. Our Fan Art contest is still ongoing, and you only have until Monday night to enter that. Remember. creativity is more important to our judges than anything else, so even if you think you're a bad artist, you probably have a chance to win if you can make us laugh!

Remember to go through the official rules for each contest (linked on their pages) before entering, and note which regions are able to enter. Good luck to everyone who participates!

The contest we've been alluding to the last couple of weeks is finally here: This is your chance to win a copy of Arthas: Rise of the Lich King through WoW Insider, courtesy of Simon and Schuster.

If you somehow managed to miss Daniel and I talking about this book, Arthas is the latest World of Warcraft novel and its official release is April 21st. It's quite possibly the most hyped up book in Warcraft history, and as you may have read in our review, the hype is warranted. We've talked about this book enough that I don't think I need to say anything else beyond the fact that we have ten (10!) copies of this book to give away.

To enter, leave a comment on this post before Wednesday, April 15th at 6PM Eastern. Ten winners will be chosen randomly, and each will receive one copy of Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, limit one winner per household. You must be at least 18 to enter and a legal resident of the United States or non-Quebec resident of Canada. You may only enter once. Anybody found to be doing otherwise will be disqualified. Please read the official rules before entering.

Be sure to comment with an e-mail address you check often and have easy access to, because that's how we will be contacting our chosen winners. Good luck to all who participate!

UPDATE: Contest closed. We'll be randomly choosing winners and contacting them soon. Thanks to all who participated!

Blizzard announced a brand new contest yesterday, and it's quite possibly their most simple contest yet. Read an excerpt from Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, answer three questions about what you read to enter the contest, and then you're given a chance to win a collector's edition of the Arthas novel. Pretty sweet and, as I said, really easy to enter.

Blizzard's official contest isn't the only one running, either. Fan sites around the blogosphere (good gosh I hate that term) are giving them away like crazy, and we even have a nice stack of our own that we'll be giving away soon. Keep an eye out, and seriously- enter these contests, whether it's ours or Blizzard's or someone else's contest. This book is worth the effort, and the collector's edition is pretty classy. Remember, this is coming from someone who thinks many of the Warcraft novels are pretty terrible.