2024-08-16
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Blizzard is quietly doing great things! TodayWorld of WarcraftThe official social account posted a short animation video with the caption: "Coming soon." This is a trailer for an animation project set in Quel'Thalas, and it contains a lot of information!
"War to the Center of the Earth" Animated Short: Aurelia - Light and Shadow
From the forests of Quel'Thalas to the far reaches of the Twisting Nether, witness Alleria Windrunner's journey through light and shadow.
World of Warcraft: The War Within Animated Short: Alleria - Light and Shadow
The most obvious is the setting, with a very obvious shot of the high elves fighting against orcs and trolls in Quel'Thalas. What might not be as obvious in a quick shot is that the spires of Silvermoon City in the background are not their modern signature red, but a very different blue from when they were high elves. While Silvermoon City had blue spires for most of its existence, it also took on the modern color when it transformed into the race known as the blood elves, in honor of those who died when Arthas and the undead Scourge razed the country to the ground.
Additionally, you can see the appearances of a few characters, some of which look very different than the rest. The most obvious is Lor'themar, who is dressed in modern clothing and has blue eyes, again indicating that this takes place before Quel'Thalas fell to the Scourge. It was during that invasion that Lor'themar lost an eye and nearly died. In modern times, his and most other blood elves' eyes are not blue, but green and gold, reflecting their time with fel magic and the restored power of the Sunwell, respectively.
Furthermore, it's clear that the enemies the elves are facing aren't the Scourge or the Void as we might have seen in our midnight return to Quel'Thalas, but rather the trolls and orcs. During the Second War, Quel'Thalas was one of the main battlegrounds in Lordaeron's battles against the orcish Horde, and it was there that the orcs allied themselves with a tribe of forest trolls known as the Amani.
The conflict between the Amani and the high elves dates back thousands of years to the Troll Wars, and their hatred runs much deeper. While we associate Quel'Thalas with the modern blood elves and their great city, the land now known as the Eversong Lands was once considered a sacred burial ground by the Amani trolls. When high elven settlers arrived from across the sea and desecrated their holy lands with their settlements, the resulting conflict became a hatred that transcended the boundaries of life, even for the long-lived high elves.
We also see footage of trebuchets being fired, which again suggests that this upcoming animated feature takes place during the Second War. One of the main actions that the Orcish Horde carried out against the High Elves during their attack on Quel'Thalas was to burn large swathes of forest. Not only did they use siege weapons, but they also did so with the help of red dragons. While the Alliance of Lordaeron didn't learn this until much later, these red dragons were enslaved by the orcs thanks to the conquest of the Red Dragonqueen Alexstrasza. She was later freed, but the orcs' mastery of dragonfire gave them a significant advantage during the Second War.
The final shot is perhaps the most telling, but it's only obvious if you look closely at the images. The two elven women we see look like regular rangers, but they are actually two of the Windrunner sisters. The first is clearly Alleria, dressed in her classic pre-War Within the Core High Elf attire, with the addition of a corset. She's also holding the Thas'dorah bow, an ancient relic of the Windrunner family that has been passed down through the hands of the current Ranger-General since the Troll Wars, a legacy and ownership that continues all the way to Alleria.
Another elf is perhaps even more striking, but not in this form. Sylvanas Windrunner is best known as the Undead Queen of the Forsaken, but instead of a banshee, we see her in her once living form. The clothing she wears matches the new look she gained during Shadowlands, where we saw fragments of her soul still retain the features of a high elf.
All evidence points to this being a project centered around the Second War. It could just be a brief flashback to explain some of Alleria's key backstory and tell a modern story that ties into it.
Alleria lost her parents and brother in the Second War, a loss that defined her vengeance, ultimately leading her to hunt them into the Outlands and become lost in the Twisting Nether for thousands of years, where she embraced the Void.
Showing this off in a series of quick flashbacks does a great job of introducing this crucial backstory to new and returning players.
However, it could also be a longer series. Quel'Thalas is not only relevant to Alleria's backstory in the World Soul saga, but it is also the main setting for our upcoming Midnight expansion.
A longer series, looking back at the entire history of Quel'Thalas and its important characters, would nicely set the stage for the next expansion after War to the Core, and give us one last look at the familiar elven land before it was remodeled.
Regardless, this is a very different style than the typical 2.5D animated shorts we get, and no matter what the end result is, it's a groundbreaking attempt by Blizzard.
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