Warcraft Well Read discussion

A few initial thoughts as I progress through the novel…

As a casual WoW player who has never truly pieced together the fragments of the game’s lore origins, this novel’s prologue is incredibly enlightening. Rooting the motivations and all primary lore inertia back to the dark titan Sargeras, I found myself eagerly trying to place the book’s details into game context. Until now, I recognized Sargeras as the Burning Legion leader, but this reading that finally drove-home the fact that he was the destroyer of the eredar (draenei races) and catalyst to undo the peaceful orc clans.

Aside from the corrupted leaders, Kil’jaeden and Archimonde, do you feel that the World of Warcraft will eventually draw to a close with an escalation to a confrontation with Sargeras? In other words, does a story arc to battle/defeat Sargeras become *the* pivotal end-game in WoW’s ‘final’ expansion?

Visualizing Velen’s escape through his point-of-view helped me connect, once again, with the (arguably) overlooked Draenei leader we’ve come to know. His centuries of experience and painful origin make him, seemingly, the perfect protagonist in any present-day discussion of Alliance leadership.

Do you feel that this documented introduction of the Draenei people into Azeroth lore and Velen’s role as a divine leader was effective?

I've always thought WoW will keep going so long as Blizzard is making money, and with 10 million subscribers, I don't think it's going to slow down anytime soon. However, as far as Sageras goes, I think they've painted themselves into a corner and will have to bring him in next expansion or the one after it (assuming there is one). In Mists, Wraithion shows us a vision of what looks like the Legion attacking and destroying Azeroth, so that's coming soon. Whether or not that will be the final battle for WoW, the subject of an expansion before introducing another enemy (we haven't heard from the Titans lately, and Sageras is a former Titan), or an opening act for, say, WoW 2.0, remains to be seen.

I did enjoy the prologue as a good introduction to the draenei and a glimpse into their culture prior to Sageras. Most of it was as expected given that, as a roleplayer, I've read up a bit on draenei before using online resources, but one line did jump out at me:

"Velen thought again of the image shown to them by Sageras. Worlds for them to conquer, and more importantly, to explore and investigate; for above all, the eredar were curious."

It's the conquering part that stuck out at me. Not even Velen seems fazed by the idea of taking over another land/world. I more expected them to want to explore and study other races, cultures, what-have-you a la Star Trek (more TNG than TOS), maybe observing from afar. Yes, it does say they're curious and seem a bit like scientists, but generally scientists aren't soldiers who destroy the very thing they're trying to learn about.

Furthermore, why would the draenei want to conquer other worlds? Are they running out of space on Argus? Do they fear they might run out of resources? Or is the desire to conquer something new, a latent hunger Sageras woke in Archimonde and Kil'jaeden? It'd make sense given that Sageras corrupts and even the draenei aren't wholly perfect and would have wants and desires that could be twisted for a purpose, and we do know Velen saw that Archimonde had always yearned for power.

Also, I still wonder if the draenei were always long-lived, or if that's an affect of being around the Naaru. Though it was ages before K'ure revealed itself to Velen, the crystal had been there for so long even the draenei had forgotten its origin, so were they infusing the draenei with their power, or were the draenei already a night-immortal race?

As for making Velen the perfect protagonist, I'd agree if all we were looking at was the Prologue, but after that I think Velen fails in many ways as a leader and a so-called champion of the Light. However, that'll come up in later chapter discussions, so I'll just focus on Prologue-Velen who acts bravely, with caution, and is the only one of the eredar who seems to listen to his instinct. Archimonde and Kil'jaeden are so enamored with the power Sageras has promised that they won't even listen to Velen's warning.

Finally, as an aside, where was this Christie Golden when she was writing Twilight of the Aspects, or Tides of War? The writing is so different, so much better and has really pulled me in.

I really love the prologue because I feel like Christie Golden gifted me with some knowledge of the beginnings of the Draenei and that it adds so much to my gaming experience, since I play a Draenei. I am not much of an RP-er, but this kind of backstory could certainly inspire that and actually makes me love the Draenei even more.

Sargeras as this central figure who is responsible for so much evil does make him THE perfect bad guy for an ultimate expansion (or the beginning of a Wow 2.0, as Skolnick suggests). The story is so rich. Who in Azeroth wouldn't want to take him out? My knowledge of the titans is very sparse. This is part of the reason I wanted to be part of a book club; to learn more to fit all these pieces of the story together.

Good catch on the "conquering", Sylvia. Velen doesn't seem particularly motivated to conquer usually, so I'm wondering if this is written because it is the images that Sargeras is showing them. He was tempting Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, and Velen with promises of power. Thus, power must be important to the eredar for it to be such a desirable temptation to make two of these leaders sell their allegiance (souls?) for it. There is no temptation for something that is not desired or valued.