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Hoo boy, my friend; asking Warcraft fans to educate you about the lore of their favorite setting is like asking a fireman for a sip of water from that there hose. There's 30 years of the setting's development, retcons, great writing, decent writing, sometimes writing so bad people agree to forget it. And there's nothing we love more than gushing about it all. The characters here are Thrall, and Anduin. Thrall is pronounced like it looks - after the failed orc invasion of the world, humans put the surviving orcs in interment camps. As an infant, he was found by the operator of one of these camps and raised by the madman as a slave and gladiator who hoped ultimately to use him to rally the orc prisoners into an army, which he could control by proxy. Thus, the name 'thrall' - given to a child-slave, who would choose to keep the name even as he went on to escape captivity, to learn and master the shamanic heritage of his people, to free and unite the captive orcs, and defeat his former master. Later, he would lead the orcs to a new homeland and make a compact with various tribes in the new land. Fans of the series sometimes jokingly call him 'Green Jesus' because of his savior role, but I think the Moses imagery is much stronger. He's been through a great deal of trials and travails in his time, but at this point in the series, he is a paragon; he represents everything good and noble about the 'Horde' he helped to forge. Fans of the game met him first in Warcraft 3 (2002) and have watched him develop as arguably the most influential character in the series. Like many warcraft players, Thrall was a young man/orc back in 2002 and is well into the middle of his life, with more than a few failures in that time from which to draw wisdom. Anduin Wrynn (Ann-Doo-In Rinn) is the rightful king of Stormwind, the primary human kingdom civilization in the Warcraft world of Azeroth and the thematic epicentre of the 'Alliance' - the coalition of classic fantasy races that banded together to stop the Orc invasion in a very Battle Of Five Armies kind of way. When the orcs invaded initially (Warcraft 1, 1994) it was his grandfather Llane who faced them and perished, and his father Varian fled Stormwind as a child after Stormwind was sacked and burned by the orcs. But gamers first met Anduin in 2004 with the release of World of Warcraft, where the child-king Anduin sat quietly in the stately halls of rebuilt Stormwind after his father had been lost and thought dead. Later his father would return to take up the crown, and the dymanic of the Warrior-King Varian and his more timid, priestly son was a focus of the Alliance storylines in several expansions. Anduin would teach his father the value of compassion, and instill him with a hope to one day see a world where the Horde and Alliance lived in peace. Varian would teach his son that idealism only takes a man so far; and there are times those ideals must be left behind to do what a king must do. Ultimately, Varian would perish in a great war against a demonic enemy (the one responsible for that sword), and Anduin would inherit the throne to see that enemy finally destroyed... but to then have to navigate a world in which the peace between Horde and Alliance collapsed and the 4th war began in earnest. After prosecuting that war to the point of exhaustion and escaping it into a new and promising peace, he was immediately targeted and subjugated by new supernatural threats seeking to dominate his mind and use him as a weapon. That was a complicated plot, but suffice to say he suffered greatly and was forced against his will to perform terrible evils, and only at the 11th hour was the memory of his father's love able to break him free from that domination. Profoundly traumatized, he left the kingdom in the hands of a capable friend and wandered off into obscurity. This cinematic is the first fans have seen of him since early 2022. Since then, he has gone from a clean cut priest-king full of ideals and defined by his gentle nature (some mock him for how often Blizzard has written scenes in which he sheds tears) to the ragged wanderer in the cinematic. For gamers like myself, who first knew him as a small child sitting on an oversized throne and watched him grow over the years, it's heartbreaking to see him shattered, and having lost faith in himself. Anduin and Thrall are natural friends - the idealist orc and the idealist human, both desiring peace in a world born to the name 'Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'. Thrall has also had his dark night of the soul where he lost his faith in the shamanic elements, but has come out the other side; so he's an obvious choice to send to speak to Anduin in his moment of similar darkness. Warcraft might be unique as a story for the way it is told across 30 years of games, and fleshed out in novels that are meant to fill in the spaces between the events of the games. There's no obvious 'jumping on' point to get into it; you just sort of have to... plop in somewhere and be open to nerds blasting you with their firehoses of nostalgia, or checking out the wiki's and youtube lore videos. I hope, for however long or deep you choose to engage with it, you get to enjoy it like the devotees have. :)

One thing to note is the Blizzard Cinematic team said in an interview that they did not use mo-cap for this cinematic, but rather an actor was used for reference and the 3d artists animated by hand

My favorite part was how Thrall (the orc) stepped forward and pressed himself into Anduin’s sword. The simple visual of seeing the sword shaking (due to his hand trembling) become still and steady represents Thrall’s friendship, his loyalty and trust, stabilizing his friend, just as his body is, literally, keeping the sword from shaking. Beautiful thematic imagery.

The look in his eyes, the legendary arthas pose, literally stopping his friend’s trembling hand/weapon with his own body as a sign of trust Absolute masterpiece cinematic

When you learn the story behind Anduins pain and anguish its really sad. His father (King Varian) sacrificed himself to allow the Alliance forces to escape a brutal battle against the Burning Legion. Then he was crowned King himself, he was friends with Thrall (The orc in this cinematic) who at one point was the leader for the Horde, and after a million things going right and wrong with the truces they were able to foster swinging back in forth from peaceful to all out war he was captured and dominated by the Jailer (A recent big-baddie), who used him to attack the Shadowlands (afterlife realm) Archon and attempted to remake reality in the Jailer's image (Sorta a walmart thanos kinda plan). Though Anduin ultimately fought back and was able to be saved, he did an awful lot of murder and destruction under the Jailer's mind control, and he came out of it very traumatized. He was a Paladin/Priest of light seeking peace, and was violated in the worst way being used as a weapon of murder and destruction. I'm no lore expert, but that's basically the gist.

"is this going to be emotional?" My brother in film, they always... always are. I swear I have yet to get through one without goosebumps and tears welling up in my eyes.

the quality is just stunning. like you can spot every grain of the sand, every hair, pores on their skin. and the emotion that they transported through anduin's eyes and even very little movements on his expression, it's just amazing.

For Anduin's current condition you need to really go from the BFA intro cinematic (which in itself is amazing), and have every cinematic from BFA > Shadowlands, including the ingame storytelling. He's suffering from a bit of PTSD from being mind controlled by a character called the Jailer, and incidentally involves the Spirit of Arthas (the old Lich King), it's why the sword shaking is significant and the way Thrall (the orc) steadies it, and the way the music reaches a point there. It's a great cinematic as you said. But yeah I recommend looking at the BFA intro and the Mok'gora one from the same expansion.

Even if you had seen all the Cinematic Trailers to the expansions, there's so many backwards references that you would not have picked up on unless you had also seen all the InGame cutscenes (the low fidelity scenes). Anduin you wi.l see when you watch the Battle for Azeroth cinematic. He's the human in it. During the expansion we players did quests and missions which rewarded fragments of Azerite, the "coagulated" blood of the planet after it got stabbed by that massive sword at the end. So we who played back then feel fairly certain that the glowing orb that whispers is Azeroth, the World Soul within the planeet based on it having the same colour scheme as the blood we collected (and because the subtltiles calls it the "World Soul"). In the opening questline of the Shadowlands gameplay Anduin gets caught and interrugated by Sylvanas. Eventually he becomes the mindpuppet of the expansion's antagonist. He is then basically turned into Arthas from the Warath of the Lich King cinematic (the guy with the dragon and the undead armies). You will maybe recognize the same pose of the outstretched sword that Anduin does here and that Arthas does just before thrusting the sword into the Ice and bring back the Dragon. During the later half of Shadowlands we see Anduin do some bad stuff, things he would never have done if he was not under mindcontrol. On Screen we see him kill, we see him just be an agent of Death and we can only speculate what he dod OffScreen that we never got to see. In the final Raid, Anduin is a Raidboss. We don't kill him but as his health drop dangerously low they play a cutscene of the sword he wields, a similar version of Arthas's sword that eats souls, drain his soul into it which would kill him. But the memories of his father and of an Honorable Ally we meet throughout Battle for Azeroth gives him the determination and strength to break free of his mindcontrol and he survives and we see a call-back to that cinematic here as we dark-blue flows from Anduin's face and the voice of his father plays in the background (that is lterally a scene from that end-of-fight cinematic with Anduin). As the Shdowlands expansion draws to a cluse, we get a few cinematics to try to wrap up the quite wierd and badly told story. We see Anduin speak to Sylvanas about what it means to have been mindcontrolled (him by the expansion's antagonist and her by Arthas) and how to cope with all the bad stuff they did while under the control of someone else. Sylvanas says along the lines that she was not herself and she had no choice in if she should do the bad things or not and so whatever she did should not reflect on her and her morality. Anduin on the other side is scared because all his life he has been Rightous, Honorable and in tune with the Light (think Holy Light). During the opening questline of the expansion Anduin is literally able to call on the power of the Light in something that's as close to Hell as we can get in World of Warcraft. But now he realized that deep within him there's something that enjoyed doing all that bad stuff. For the first time he realized he has a dark side within him. Which leads us to this cinematic. For the entire Dragonflight expansion we have not seen Anduin, barely a word said about him. We find him here, his sense of self in complete turmoil because he is no longer the Holy and Rightous man he thought he was (not to mention the probable PTSD from being an agent of the bad duy in a war where thousands died) and he is afraid that not being that Holy person means that if he calls on the Light for guidance it will no longer answer, him and he is not ready to lose the last thing that still made him to who he was/is. If he doesnt call on it he can still think that it might actually answer him, instead of calling on it and realize that the Light has forsaken him.. Anduin is a man currently in deep personal and psychological trauma. The reason Thrall (the Orc) was sent to be the first to talk to Anduin, apart from beiung a very recognizable character for 90% of everyone who ever played any Warcraft game, is that Thrall went through a similar journey where he felt he was not worthy and did not dare use his Shamanistic powers to call on the Elements because without trying he could still live on thinking they might still honor him. The Sword itself was thrust into the planet at the end of Legion expansion (an end-of-raid cinematic played as we killed the final boss of the expansion). The sword has been in the ground for almost 3 full expansions (almost 6 real-world years) and finally the developers even recognize that it's there. The last year it's been a meme that the Devs don't want to talk about it and players were not sure if it would just be like that forever. The Game Director of World of Warcraft even went on stage during their BlizzCon with a shirt that said "What Sword?" over a picture of the Sword.

His reaction to THAT SWORD being an outsider is just amazing! I mean yeah, WTF is that sword right???

Okay, so one tiny detail I haven’t seen anyone mention is a very subtle eye movement Thrall does when speaking to Anduin at first. “You needed time, we stayed away.” Thrall’s eyes look down at the ground only for a split second. I don’t know if anyone else has seen this look before but it’s dripping with regret. It’s almost as if he really wants to say, “You needed time, we stayed away, but I wish we hadn’t.” I genuinely believe Thrall wishes he could’ve helped Anduin through this very difficult time instead of leaving him to figure things out on his own. Just that small look says so much. It goes to show just how much story and emotion can be packed into a very small look and their facial expressions.

You should do the Battle for Azeroth cinematic. They tell a fairly cohesive story and Blizzard’s cinematic crew was showing off that expansion. Start with Old Solider!

Anduin's theme has forever been my most favorite track from Blizzard. every iteration of it gets me. Add a cinematic behind it, I'm an emotional mess.

I still cannot believe how ridiculously talented the team is. There is no motion capture used. Crazy talent.

The amount of story they push out in this short clip of insane. Every frame establishes something important.

THAT sword is Gorribal, greatsword of the Dark Titan and Lord of the Burning Legion: Sargeras. Forged from a shard of his original sword Gorshalach, which he wielded when he was still loyal to the Titans' purpose; the other shard was taken by the Titan Aggramar and forged into a sword he would wield named Taeshalach. You'll learn more about him in the Legion cinematics.

The Blizzard cinematic team are masters of their craft. I’ve had the pleasure to meet & interview a couple of them & they are genuinely passionate about their art.

I have been playing World of Warcraft from the start, nearly 2 decades and this cinematic was just amazing. The human is Anduin - the King of Stormwind and the Alliance and the Orc is Thrall - Former Warchief of the Horde. Anduin has been though a lot in the last 2 expansions and has PTSD, something Thrall sort of went through in a way and has come out the other side after killing his friend Garrosh - Who he made Warchief after him and Garrosh caused major issues (see Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor) I did get very emotional watching this cinematic as we have not seen Anduin for the last 2 years nearly. The Warcraft Cinematic team nail it every time with these fully rendered cinematics. But this one really is amazing for how well the characters look. I could watch a whole movie done like this no problems. Thanks for the breakdown and look forward for more from you :)

I really love the way you put together your analysis of the scene. Many reactions talk about how the camera work or placement of shots are good, but few really explain WHY those techniques are powerful. Mostly citing your examples of how the eyes are used and the steady vs shaky cameras

Thank you for checking out my suggestion! Another very interesting reaction and breakdown, love it!

I don't know much about World of Warcraft but I remember watching the cinematic with Sylvanas defending a castle against Anduin, it was so intense you have to watch it and Blizzard always makes great cinematics, they really need to make more of it and movie! I had the same reaction as you when I saw the big sword haha I agree that the eyes always make the cinematic more alive and emotional. I've never really thought about "camera focus", but it helps to focus attention on the important things and make thing more real. I think it's also one of my favorite cutscenes, even if I don't know much about it the universe keep the good work man ^^

To continue your thought process, I’d say don’t worry about taking a “stab in the dark” most of what you said, outside of your knowledge of cinematic( being able to read the room was exactly what was going on), was spot on. It really was amazing watching your reaction. If I didn’t know better I would just assumed you were a newer player who knew some of the lore by how you clued in on what was going on (your film knowledge really shined threw that). And the sword reaction was priceless, you see it and are like “what” and that’s exactly it, it’s so random that it just stuns new people who have no idea why it’s there and it stunned all of us when it happened. There were some very dramatic things happening at the time to the point that some players were even turned off by how far blizzard went.. the tree is a good example, you will understand. Anyway thanks and great reaction, spot on!

Was waiting for it so long. Thanks man!

Ths is the one I was waiting for! Thank you!!

I wont go into details about the lore, only to say that Anduin, who is the human in this video, is extremely powerful, and has been a supreme force for good, was forced against his will to fight for the big evil bad bad earlier in his life, and those events has left him broken, but not lost…. He was before a tad naive, but now he seems to have a new resolve that i can’t wait to see,I simply adore Anduin and his character growth, and this is by far my favorite world of warcraft cinematic. I love,that you picked up on the eyes, his eyes are so expressive, and tell a story of a thousand words without actually speaking. As usual i LOVE your videos, please keep them coming, big hugs from me 🤗🤗🤗

Finally! :D Told You it was good! Cheers!

Not sure why, but I'm not usually a reaction video watcher, but I have been drinking up all these folks watching the War Within cinematic and realizing there's a reason we've stuck with the IP this long XD I also do appreciate the breakdowns from someone who knows nothing about the IP, but is an expert of the medium - I love the film makers watching to give me names for the things I've been seeing in the cinematics. It gives more depth to what is being told in the story, especially knowing why things are important.

This is probably the best cinematic blizzard has done yet. I agree it’s always all about the eyes. But I didn’t catch, or maybe took for granted, the camera work! Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Also the moment where the sword touches Thrall is so amazing for the simple detail of how the point indents the leather it touches. It all just looks so real. It’s masterful. I only wish they’d do a full movie someday.

I’ve asked before but I’ll ask again. Varok Saurfang’s Makgora. It’s a series of cinematics spanning 2 years that brings so many emotions.

Let's say to understand well what leads to this cinematic, you have to watch legion (when Anduin became king after his father's death) - battle for azeroth (the war he has to lead against the Horde) - and even more Shadowland (where the dark things happened). Main cinematics and (!) in-game cinematics, as most of the story is told there and they are worth it. But I would recommend just to do a full marathon from cataclysm or mist of pandaria till today (dragonflight) for a better comprehension. Cataclysm just being useful to understand a bit more of the current expansion, dragonflight.

I will never give up the Hope, that there will be a Movie in Cinematic Form one Day. It would be so great.

*waves hand* You will react to the Star Wars old republic cinematic next Kai

Josh Keaton's performance in this cimematic is quality

I love this cinematic and the Blizzard cinematics team, they always do a great job. Though I think at 5:04 they should have had the sword sticking out of the world with some cracks emanating from it to top it off.

Been waiting for this! ❤

The point in the story for the principle character is a turning point from his life where he is trying to find his focus again. He went from a place of hope and certainty to a very low point of loss so I felt the focus in and out with the tight frame was very appropriate. The closeups put us very uncomfortably close into his personal space to enhance that mood but also feel very personal. Love the work the animators did on all the micro-expressions. So good. Love your take on it.

You must watch the previous cinematics too! would love to see your reaction!!

I love how they added that ringing before he raised his sword, much like people experiencing ptsd can hear at times right before experiencing an 'episode' of sorts, like it tunes out every sound around them and they, heart rate increases and that mind just snaps into fight or flight, in Anduin's case fight as he had his hand on his shoulder. Really strong stuff!

Great reaction as always

Fantastic commentary like always, Kai! I ADORE the bit about the camera, something I didn't notice until you pointed it out, how drastically different it was from Anduin to Thrall. How would you say that can translate in a more visual (I mean art/concept art, and not video) medium? I had the same reaction as you at the end with the sword, the delivery of the words "that sword was aimed at something" as it reveals the sheer SIZE of that thing. I literally had tears in my eyes from the epicness of that moment, which felt like it was being built towards since the beginning of the cinematic, but so subtle because the turmoil of the characters was in front. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion with us. Also, in your thumbnail you look a bit like Anduin! haha

I think my favorite part of this trailer is the sound. The sword tip in the sand, the leather of his gloves creaking. So good.

I noticed a lot of people who are unfamiliar with the lore reacting to The War Within cinematic, so I attempted to put together a list of cinematics (in order) which should explain everything relevant to this particular cinematic, some of which are more relevant than others. Beyond Anduin’s pain for his previous actions, the cinematic includes a series of references to things that have been said in previous cinematics (Like the “We don’t get to hide” line, or Anduin’s pose after Thrall touches his shoulder which mirrors The Lich King). Ill try to give a short and to the point description for each of these cinematics and why they are relevant. Some basic background of these characters which are not completely explained in the cinematics I picked out. Anduin Wrynn (The human) - A priest of the light and the son of King Varian Wrynn. Anduin became the King of the Alliance when his father died. Thrall (The orc) - A shaman and former warchief of the Horde. He stepped down and named another orc as warchief (Garrosh). - Garrosh turned out to be very power hungry and very bad, so Thrall used his shaman magic to kill Garrosh, which goes against many of his beliefs, and is also against the rules of “Mok’gora” (Essentially a one on one melee fight to the death) between him and Garrosh. So Thrall felt he abandoned his beliefs in that moment and isolated himself from everyone and has not used most of his shaman abilities since then … This largely mirrors Anduin’s struggles lately, though the circumstances are different. So in that way, Thrall sort of knows what Anduin is going through because he went through it too. Thrall is the green orc, Garrosh is the brown orc kzfaq.info/get/bejne/epeDl7l0l9PWqmw.html When The Burning Legion began their assault, King Varian Wrynn fought against them and was killed. After this moment, Anduin Wrynn became King. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ip-KZsh9qtbcgWw.html At the end of the battle against The Burning Legion, Sargeras made a last ditch effort to attack the world of Azeroth, for largely unknown reasons. But that is the sword they are looking at kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gpeIoNiTzK_doWg.html Later, in a war between the Horde and the Alliance, another orc (Varok Saurfang) starts to question his loyalty to Sylvanas (The Horde warchief) and her war against the Alliance. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l72Pm5Oiy5_aoHU.html Later in the war, Anduin captures Saurfang and discovers that he has turned against Sylvanas and is no longer loyal to her. Anduin frees Saurfang who then ends up allying with Anduin against Sylvanas kzfaq.info/get/bejne/grGKatyYsbq2YJs.html Saurfang finds Thrall and convinces him to end his self imposed exile and come back and fight with him and Anduin against Sylvanas. This is where the “We don’t get to hide” line comes from. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q9NxmseHuajFlWQ.html Anduin, Thrall, and Saurfang make a final stand against Sylvanas where Saurfang ends up challenging Sylvanas to Mok’gora (a one on one melee fight to the death). Which ends with Sylvanas fleeing and largely ends the war between the Horde and the Alliance. This also somewhat reveals that Sylvanas had ulterior motives all along. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/brSCf9iG09ariZs.html Sylvanas continues in her plans by returning to Icecrown Citadel and faces off against Bolvar (The new Lich King after the fall of Arthas). She tears open the veil between life and death. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qZqXdaaZzJyleX0.html Sylvanas and her allies kidnap a number of people, including Anduin and Thrall and drags them into the Shadowlands kzfaq.info/get/bejne/htFyg7CUkt3Mkok.html Sylvanas, at the behest of The Jailer attempts to convince Anduin to join them, and when he refuses, they use their power and similar magic to The Lich King’s blade, Frostmorne, infused into Anduin's sword "Shalamayne" to dominate Anduin and more or less mind control him kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mcibhKiYy8W4cac.html Sylvanas ends up realizing that she has been a pawn all along and assists us against The Jailer. But before we can get to The Jailer, Anduin stands in our way and we have to defeat him. Once we do defeat him, he manages to break free of The Jailer’s hold. This is where the flashback comes from in The War Within cinematic kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d86qe9l02bOao4k.html Traumatized by his actions, Anduin begins to question whether it was him or the domination that was controlling his actions. He starts to wonder whether deep down his actions were his own and as a result is scared to use his power at all. This is what largely leads to the “I have no light” line in the cinematic, and also it is noticeable that his sword “Shalamayne” is not lit up like it normally is. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i654nZhyvcq0o2Q.html It has been roughly 5 years since that moment and The War Within cinematic, so clearly Anduin is not doing well and still is carrying that weight. Hope that helps

11:43 You commented that you didn't want to speculate about the lore of the characters but it might be interesting to hear your impression of their relationship from what you can see (with the natural disclaimer to fans for errors hehe) as I would like to hear your take & compare to mine (I have not played the game), you also can get the "How close or wrong was I?" comment suggestion 🤔I was interested in your 'Blink, Look BacK' comments, I had looked at that look as a "I know who that is & what do they want look?" where as the just look back would have been a more surprised but not concerned look.

Oh boy! Its happening!!

excellent analysis and surprising from one so young.,

Is it just me, or does Kai bear a striking resemblance to Anduin, or perhaps it's the other way around? 🤣🤣🤣

Anduin going full arthas there with the sword is incredible.

I do absolutely love this cinematic, but it really leans on you already being familiar with World of Warcraft to understand what the heck is happening. Who Anduin is,what he’s gone through that caused him to be in his current state (and parallels with other characters) and his relationship with Thrall. Who’s sword that belongs to, why it’s there. It’s a beautiful trailer and I love it, but it’s not one made to be accessible to an audience outside of those who are already fans. All that said, I love your breakdown. Even without all that context for the story, you still absolutely nailed your breakdown and it was a joy to listen to.

Thrall steadying Anduin's sword has a double meaning: Thrall was created (and is voiced by) Chris Metzen over 20 years ago for Warcraft III. Metzen is basically the "daddy" of Warcraft lore, but he left Blizzard a few years back. The in-game story telling and the general direction of the game have suffered since then, but now Metzen is back to set the course straight* as the 'Creative Director of the Warcraft universe'. *Edit: This coming expansion also picks up from the end of a couple expansions ago, that came out around the time when Metzen initially left.

There's an interesting use of blocking and framing in this cinematic. Anduin is always in the right half of the frame, and Thrall is almost always in the left. Even when the perspective moves behind Anduin, it keeps him on the right. It almost drags him in a direction, especially with him looking beyond the scene. When Thrall goes to help him up, Anduin reaches to him with his left hand, then literally rises with the frame up and into the remaining light of the sunset as he regains some confidence. It's just dang artful.

in World of warcraft, there is a force called the pantheon, they created and shaped worlds. Sargeras was one of the patheon but became corrupt. During the end of the Legion expansion, all the other Pantheon pull on their power to bring their brother home to face punishment (Sargeras) while doing that, he impales Azeroth with his sword. Pantheons are like X10000+ the size of azeroth or any planet. hence the big ass sword :s

I really liked the video, I'm a big fan of World of Warcraft and I love seeing the incredible work they do on the cinematics, I would suggest you watch the World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth cinematic, it would be great to see your analysis.

I noticed that the focus on Anduin's face tended to be more soft than on Thrall's, which made the internal struggle Anduin had more clear

god. anduin in the arthus pose just hits so bloody hard.

Why is no one talking about how Kai and Anduin are literally the same person?

Oh yeah, speaking of the eyes; Artist Brian Froud (Who worked on the film the Dark Crystal) would draw his characters starting with the eyes. He said the eye is the most expressive part of the body. As for that sword...😅 Not many fantasy worlds that I can think of where the literal world gets stabbed! Its a shame they haven't done more with it in game... Of the characters name are Anduin (The Human) and Thrall (The Orc)

This actually had me in tears the first time i watched it. just so beautiful. Also the scene when he first gets up and points the sword to thrall if you look carefully is pretty much shot for shot where arthas does the same in the wrath of the lich king cinematic, before smashing his sword into the ice. Now i think this is deliberate, hard to explain without spoiling the lore, but i will say Anduin and Arthas/lich king have walked similar paths, just both have taken different routes. So i think that shot was a call back to that. Or its just a nice easter egg to the wrath of the lich king cinematic.

Simply put; Blizzard Cinematic Studios have done it again.

An absolutely fantastic trailer and a lot of wow "fans" would benefit from watching this video for your breakdowns as it sheds important light on how good stories are crafted.

If you wanna see the sword it’s done in an in game cinematic and not an expansion reveal cinematic

The things that really got me in this cinematic were Anduin's pose when he held the sword was so similar to Arthas in the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic and the 'my son' call back with Thrall's hand now replacing his father's. People who have been through the whole story will always feel those words. They should be careful not to abuse that though. Thrall has been through so much in his life. Eventually he will die. They really need to be careful how they do that.

You need to react to the Sargeras Legion Cinematic! It explains the sword a bit and it's one of WoW's best In-Game cinematics ever done.

Anduin, the human, has PTSD. There's a long back story to it.. However, you can pull it from this cinematic without knowing that... That said, this was the best on-screen representation of it I've ever seen. It sits in you, gnawing, hurting... and when it gets triggered, it comes to the surface and you lash out.. Thrall, the orc, letting Anduin know that he trusts him, even though Anduin can't trust himself. It's the best battle-buddy thing I can think of that he could've done to help him re-orient.

They rock in this

Never clicked on a reaction so fast

It seems like a good trailer and I don't even play WoW There is also a parody version called World of TherapyCraft: An HONESTCON Cinematic, which a lot of people resonate with

My father who doesn't know anything about this game thought this was an actual person before Thrall (the orc) came

A comment about the sword reveal: those of us who have played WOW long enough know that there's a giant sword stuck in the world. During the BFA expansion we were always being sent over there to do stuff. But since it happened, there's sort of a joke "ignore the sword" they haven't done anything story wise with the sword for years. So by having the reveal, they both get to shock the general audience (Look at the huge sword!) and also give the in-group a nice feeling of knowledge, oh yeah the sword! Finally! I think it's really well done unlike when they pop "famous" characters into a film and you sort of know it's just a cameo and there is no big plot reason for specific famous people to show up for the big fight all pausing for the cameras like a red carpet. They are promising that the sword is there for a reason, Thrall says it directly. I suppose it's rewarding people who have stuck with the game and followed the lore telling them see, the past is going to be important.

if you watch IN GAME Legion expansion cinematics that sword will make SO much more sense.

BEST EPIC GUITAR RIFF EVERRRR

To underrstand Anduin's Journey, you need to go back at least to the Legion Cinematic. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m79-dqamld-Reac.html to the Legion in-game cinematics: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aNB3qrF2spe9cYU.html The Battle for Azeroth in-game Cinematics: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bdh4lMR90pPOp3U.html The sword... kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gpeIoNiTzK_doWg.html The Shadowlands in-game cinematics: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/btF3lNJ606rPYY0.html

"Is this going to be emotional?" You don't even know...

you need to watch the whole WOW cinematics

I've watched this cinematic like a hundred times, by itself, and watching filmmakers and game creators react, and it hits me and brings tears to my eyes every time. I have only one serious criticism of it- the emotional leap Anduin makes from "I have no light" to "I'll stand with you" is too much. Too fast. I'm very familiar with the character, and it _is_ his nature to rapidly steady himself, but he seemed _too_ steady, as if he hadn't, a moment before, looked about to completely collapse under the weight of his own anguish. I feel they should have kept the character a little shaken. Now, the LORE... This would be a massive wall of text. Short cliff notes relating only to this specific scene: Anduin has been "wandering in the desert" (metaphorically,) after having experienced a really horrific assault on his soul and a subsequent crisis of faith. His remark "You're here to tell me 'We don't get to hide' is a callback to a previous scene where the orc is himself called back into action with the same words. Thrall, (the orc,) is sometimes referred to by players as "Green Jesus" because he's both incredibly heroic and honorable, but also empathic and compassionate. Plus, he's just been through _a LOT_ . The giant sword is not a surprise to players- we saw it plunged into Azeroth in a cinematic at the end of the Legion expansion. It belongs to a titan (pretty much a god,) who suspects that the titan-soul that sleeps in the heart of Azeroth has been corrupted by the Old Gods. (Think Cthulu mythos- the Old Gods are essentially Lovecraftian horrors.)

Exactly what I was speaking about last time: in seconds, even if you don' t know the story, you relate to this characters, to their emotion, the pain of the human, the friendship, compassion and respect from the orc... It's incredibly powerful for such a short film. As a side note: I didn't notice that but someone showed me that... when Anduin stands up and raises his sword, his position is the same as the Lich King, before blue snowflakes light up his sword. Wildly different sequence, but this all looks so polished I suppose that's no coincidence. I wonder if that means the the characters and linked in the lore..

"Is this going to be emotional?" heh

I legit thought they were using real actors for this, like till he talked. Crazy

Talking about lighting: Blizzard has this tendency to subtlety use the time of day in their cinematics to show where we are in a story: here we are in the start of the day to start this new story chapter. I predict more cinematics at bright day and evening shot. Especially since the expansion after this will be called Midnight... 😅

The sword!

The sword takes like five minutes to fly to the top of, lol.

Watch the shadowlands cinematics. They tell the story of how Anduin got so broken. He's had a ton of teams in his life but shadowlands broke him.

You should really check out the "Battle for Azeroth" cinematic,. It really hits you.

I’ve played the game for 16 years. I love the game it’s one of my favorite of all time. Their cinematics team do some of the most photorealistic things I’ve ever seen. But each next expansion has incredibly similar graphics and the game doesn’t look anything like the cinematics

I was hoping so bad that you watch this cinematic. First time ever that I see a CGI human and don't have uncanny valley feeling, he just seems so real it's absolutely incredible. And fun fact about this: There is no motion capture, everything in this cinematic is made by hand, which is even more crazy honestly... One thing we can't take from Blizzard, they are genius at cinematics. They really should focus on making movies/series rather than games XD

would love for you to go over all the World of warcraft Cinematics, they are really well done and its a bit of everything, you would have so much to go over. Warcraft 3 has good ones but no where near as good as the WOW ones.

Awesome reaction! Many WarCraft fans thought this trailer was lame, but I really loved it. I don't know if you read this but if you want to see some awesome CGI stuff you could react to the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Cinematic World Premiere Trailer. Best regards from Sweden.

0:25 These are not World of Warcraft cinematics, but Warcraft 3. Two different games :)

Anduin my boy... he's seen and done some shit.

❤

WOW - BFA's Old Soldier is still the best.

For me i like WOW Warlords of Draenor Cinematic .

What sword ?

As much as I love this cinematic, nothing tops Astartes for me.

5:12 that's what she said? 🤣🤣

The sword was put there because one of WoW's biggest villains (not just literally) stabbed the planet over a temper tantrum cause his former posse was pulling shenanigans to arrest him and put him in space jail. Sounds ridiculous but thats pretty much what happened lol. Also, the sword was WAAAAAY bigger in the cinematic where he actually stabbed it compared to this one. The world itself has a soul at its core and thats what he was probably targeting.

The cinematic quality of this game trailer was honestly so superb, there are movie studios that should either be jealous or embarrassed of the quality they release comparatively. Without context I guess you can't get why Anduin is the way he is or why Thrall coming back is a big deal. Story context aside, Blizzard's CGI team really outdid themselves with this, right down to some very fine details in the animation. If you want character/story context, there's one main guy who is kind of the self professed WoW lore historian, that being Nobbel, here's his channel: www.youtube.com/@Nobbel87

What Sword 😉

if u want to know stuff im here as a player sincve start ! theres tons of stuff for u here

you kinda look like this version of anduin