Posts with tag lore-characters

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

One of the interesting aspects of the Warcraft setting is which characters have achieved a kind of iconic status. The lore of the game is the unfolding story, and the story is ultimately shaped and defined by its characters. The story is what happened to, and because of, these people be they orc, human, troll, night elf, gnome, tauren or pandaren.

Take Rexxar, for instance. He's one of my favorite characters in Warcraft. Why? Why do I love Rexxar? Well, in part I enjoy that his mixed heritage makes him an outcast in a faction of outcasts, that he was one of the few to see how twisted and warped the old Horde was in time to step away from it before it began its campaign of atrocity across Azeroth. I like his simple faith in the ideals Thrall represented for the Horde in Durotar, his willingness to fight to preserve them, and the lengths he went while at the same time knowing exactly when to finally stop. Rexxar knew that defeating Theramore and Admiral Proudmoore was enough; he didn't have to destroy it.

It's become sort of an undercurrent in a lot of WoW lore discussion lately that not everyone is happy with their leaders. Varian is too angry and doesn't do anything. Jaina's an appeaser and a crybaby. Malfurion's a jerk. Sylvanas is so evil that she makes Arthas look like a little puppy.

Of course, Blizzard has a whole new expansion coming soon, so we may just see more from these leaders that could change our minds -- or at least let us accept their story arcs. That said, what if Blizzard took an opposite tack? What if it just either killed off the leaders or swept them to the side and let other characters step up to drive the narrative going forward?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

You've all heard the premise before: You go out on a cruise and are shipwrecked. The island has plenty of food, water, and shelter for you to live pleasantly for a long period of time (well, at least as pleasantly as one can live without an internet connection). Now the person talking to you says, "You only managed to find one music CD in the ship wreckage, and a working CD player. What CD will get you through this marooning?" More often than not, the person you are talking to then laughs at you when you answer, because you listen to weird music and and are inherently weird yourself.

Well, that is what happens to me, anyway.

Moving on, here is my version of the situation: You are stuck on an island. There is plenty of food, water, and shelter to survive. However, it's all in very basic form; there is no cup of never-ending chicken soup or fancy hotel. I hope you like bananas, and don't mind the rain. Now, in this scenario, there was one person who survived the cruise with you!

Here is where you come in to making this scenario. Name one person from Warcraft lore or an NPC from in game that you survived the wreck with. Did you manage to survive with Garrosh Hellscream? You could spend your time wrestling and training until you are rescued! Maybe Kael'thas Sunstrider, so you would have someone who would never, ever, ever, ever tire of talking. Or perhaps you would like to have that bread vendor from Ironforge, to supplement your diet of bananas. So who would you bring and why? (By the way, if you bring a mage, no portal or teleport runes were recovered from the wreck. No cheating!)

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