Sorry I wasn't able to include "Old Soldier". It was one of my favorites too! Which trailer is your favorite?

"What's underneath the ice? Is there something under there?" Meanwhile, I'm tearing up over, "My son," for the thousandth time.

For context: Mak'Gora is a challenge, traditionally it was a combat to the death but became non-lethal under Thrall's leadership of the Horde. Refusing a Mak'Gora means dishonor, and to the Orcs, honor is everything. If Sylvanas refused Saurfang's challenge, the orcs would have abandoned her. The rules differ and set by the participants, but usually there are no specific rules. There are only two consistencies. One, once dropped, a weapon cannot be retrieved by either opponent, and that they must fight until death or submission. A traditional "Old way" rules for Mak'gora were: Combat to the death. one weapon allowed, and can be blessed by a shaman of their choosing. Body armor and clothing were forbidden, only a loincloth allowed. And each participant had to have at least one witness. In the instance of Sylvanas and Saurfang, Sylvanas had her two blades, and Saurfang used Thrall's axe as well as Anduin's sword. And although Saurfang lost Mak'gora, he was also victorious in driving Sylvanas out of leadership.

Anduin is the little boy whose picture was in a compass, held by Varian Wrynn, his father, who was the king of Stormwind. In what we call "Classic", the base game, Anduin was a little boy who stood by the throne.

The dude with the dope skull armor in the snow is Arthas, basically Warcraft's version of Anakin. He was your stereotypical prince charming a literal prince son of the king, learning to be a paladin, but events happened and he wanted to save his kingdom so bad that it became his downfall. Revenge and a desire to do good and save his people was twisted and slowly but surely he became a death knight. He picked up that badass sword called Frostmourne on his journey which was whispering to him constantly and essentially stealing his soul. What he didn't know that the sword was part of a "set" that was a prison of another being locked in ice. He killed his father, the king and went on to claim the armor. When he put the helmet on the being imprisoned in the armor and him became a single being called the Lich King. This is the really really short version of it, the lore is actually pretty amazing starting from Warcraft 3 (2002?). In the video that's his father talking to a young Arthas but the visuals are a twisted version of what he's teaching, just like how Arthas became twisted.

To answer your question about factions - there's about 10 million factions, Azeroth is an extremely divided planet. However, there are only 2 big factions that dictate pivotal world events - the Horde and the Alliance, each are composed of 7-10 of the largest races by population and their capital cities. Neither side is inherently good or bad.

Something that may help you: -Sylvanas has her power from Arthas Lich King. He kinda killed her and stole her soul, giving her such power. She used to be an elf. -To understand the Sword thing at the end you should watch Legion expansion ending cinematic :) -And to understand Anduin beeinng depressed - he was turned into evil for a while by Sylvanas and he killed important characters beeing controlled. Also his father who was one of the best kings, was killed years ago by Legion. And his "ghost" met him and helped him to cure from madness. That's why in the last cinematic you see a flashback second when his father puts hand on his arm

WoW cinematics are just on another level. Whenever you think other studios caught up they just break the ceiling again. Even the ones from WC3 are still watchable and the first WoW one stood the test of time. Goosebumps every time

The Orc that Saurfang went to meet on the farm is Thrall (or Go'el which was his birth name) who was the first Warchief of the Horde and probably the most famous Orc. He established the Horde and organised the building of Orgrimmar, its capital city, on the continent of Kalimdor. He is an honorable and strong Orc who turned away from leadership some years before to go with his family and try and find a peaceful life. Sadly, war has a habit of catching up with you, eventually. His character is voiced by Chris Metzen, one of the founders of WoW and a very famous person in the world of WoW.

Oh, all the questions. It would take a long time to give you all the story, from 2004 to now, 20 years of story, characters, worlds (plural) and just a journey of exploration and emotion. You have it right, Anduin Wrynn, current King of Stormwind and leader of the Alliance was the kid in the compass and the father is the late King Varian Wrynn. The big worgan (wolf guy) is King Genn Greymane of Gilneas is his advisor. Worgen is a playable race, you can shift between human and worgen due to a curse. Genn does NOT like Sylvanas Windrunner. Back when her Undead invaded the main city of Gilneas, she was aiming to kill Genn but his son threw himself in front of the arrow and died. He wants to kill her, of course. The Alliance is made of of Humans, gnomes, night elves, Draenei (the guy with the tentacles--he's from another planet, crashed onto Azeroth), Kul Tirans (Look up Lady Jaina Proudmore, she's a main character from there--we go to her home area during Battle for Azeroth). There are also Dwarves, Pandaran (the pandas, which can join either faction) and Dracthyr (the smaller dragons, who can also join either faction). The organization of the Alliance is a long explanation that I can't really document here well. See the WowWiki for all the details. The Horde is the other faction (although factions for warfare are on their way out currently, we will have bigger people to fight). They are lead, currently, by a council. All of the races represented by the council are playable races in the Horde. Thrall-- Chieftain and representative of the orcs of Durotar--the orc in the War Within trailer. He was Warchief for a long while but that position is now not used. Rokhan --Chieftain and representative of the Darkspear jungle trolls. He's the one you saw wielding lightning in the Battle for Azeroth (BfA) trailer. He was almost a son to Saurfang, who lost his own son fighting the Lich King. He was at Saurfang's death. Baine Bloodhoof--High Chieftain and representative of the Tauren tribes of Thunder Bluff. He's the big bull bashing his way through the barracades at the fight before the gates of Lorderon in the BfA trailer. Lilian Vos--Member of the Desolate Council and representative of the undead Forsaken. Sylvanas Windrunner was the head of the Forsaken before she caused a lot of trouble in Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands and is currently doing "penance" for that. Lillian was one of her advisors. Lor'themar Theron--Regent Lord and representative of the Blood Eves of Quel'Thalas. Sylvanas was a Blood Elf before she was killed and raised as an undead Banshee (her scream in the BfA trailer was a banshee scream). Monte Gazlow--Trade Prince and representative of the Bilgewater Cartel Goblins. Interesting race, into money and goods (think mafia). Ji Firepaw--Master and representative of the Huojin Pandaren clan of pandas. Thalyssra-- First Arcanist and representative of the Nightborne of Suramar. The Nightborne are another race of Elves, discovered in Legion. Mayla Highmountai--High Chieftain and representative of the Highmountain Tauren. They are another race of Tauren, discovered in Legion. Geya'rah--Overlord and representative of the orcish Mag'har Clans. The Maghar are brown orcs, a different tribe of orcs. Talanji--Queen and representative of the Zandalari Empire Trolls. The Zandalari are one of the troll tribes, she became queen after her father's death in Battle for Azeroth. Kiro--Caravan leader and representative of the Voldunai Vulpera. The Vulpera are small desert squirrels found in BfA. They're nomadic but have joined the Horde. The green stuff is Fel. There's fel magic that used the power of fel. This is used by the demons (which is what the big nasty thing in the Warlords of Draenor cinematic but there are other kinds). The purple stuff is void energy. Sylvanas was given her powers by the Jailer, the big bad guy of the Shadowlands, whom she was working for. She kidnapped Anduin Wrynn, Thrall, Baine, and Jaina Proudmore and took them to the Shadowlands (basically the heaven/hell of the game). She ended up helping the Jailer force Anduin to work for them (domination magic, it wasn't his idea and it's why he's a mess during the War Within trailer, he's been gone for 5 years between the end of Shadowlands and the trailer). There's so much more to all this. I would say check out the Nobell87 channel on KZfaq and watch a lot of his lore stuff. He's been doing a "catch up" of the lore so folks who missed part of it can get the story. He's also very good at the lore videos.

Thank you for taking the time to try to better understand the cinematics, and doing so with genuine curiosity and respect. 💜

Awesome! Thanks for those reacts. You would also love "World of Warcraft - Warbringers" series, Jaina and Azshara ones are amazing.

"You are not prepared" kept us hyped for 15-sh years lol

Damn art team at blizzard has been carrying WoW for 20 years.

I didn't actually start playing until TBC, so that always has a place in my heart - plus the raids and dungeons were so vivid and fun. WoTLK was my absolute favorite. I didn't actually main my DK until the end of Cataclysm, but every time I go back to ICC I can't help but call Arthas "Papa Lich". 😂 I miss those days and the people I raided with so much.

Sylvanas is the Banshee Queen, prior she was a Ranger General. She was killed by Arthas with Frostmorne. Her rage turned her into a banshee because Arthas was killing her people. Following her death and transformation, she lead the forsaken at Lordaeron, later becoming warchief of the Horde. She fractured the veil during a cinematic for Shadowlands. There are other cinematics from Shadowlands where you learn more about her story as well as what happened to Anduin.

Thank you for doing this with all of them - I've been playing WoW for 20 years and the nostalgia is REAL. I didn't realize the number of lines I know by heart from these cinematics. the War Within date announce cinematic is also very good, if you want another one. Also someone mentioned the Warbringers series. So good. The song from the Jaina Warbringers video is often stuck in my head.

So there are multiple types of elves. The Night Elves (purple-ish complexion) fight for the Alliance. The Blood Elves (pink-ish complexion, formerly the High Elves) fight for the Horde. Sylvanus (grey skinned elf with the big scream) was once a High Elf, and was turned into a banshee (hence the scream) by Arthas (the guy who raised the Undead dragon in the 3rd video). There are also other types of elves

after all these years i still have chills with the mak'gora !

Deathwing was the Black Dragon Aspect named Neltharion. He was corrupted by a Old God that was deep in the planets ground. Black Dragons deal with earth magic. You learn a lot about the Aspect in the Dragonflight expansion.

Great video, the Battle for Azeroth trailers are my favorite, together they all tell the story of the old soldier so it’s hard to pick just one. I think you might play as either a Pandarian monk or an Orc hunter if I had to guess.

A human mage to start with, or nightelves. Green is pretty much all about demon. She was already horde, she didn't turn. She was on the horde side at the begining if you watch it again. You miss a lot of the main story but Dragonflight is what make me come back to wow for 3 months. The longest streak since i started 20 years ago and played 5 or 6 years straight. I stopped during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, tried a few till i got to the highest level but Dragonflight got me good. I did raid in it and everything, really nice expansion. You guessed right, in Dragonflight you ride dragon and it's awesome! Yes' you're missing a lot of in game cinematics where it explain everything but rarely that kind of quality. It's more like cinematics with the game engine, but for the sake of the story, totally needed. Liked the last trailer, guess i'll try it hehe

Yay a new reacting to WoW vid! I am so happy you decided to wartch them all this time, hope you enjoyed the ride :D I througoutly enjoyed watching your entire video.

You mentioned the music several times...the soundtracks for World of Warcraft are well worth checking out. The music has always been exceptionally well done.

In Azeroth there are 2 major factions (Alliance and Horde) none of them are good or evil, since both have their lights and shadows, they fight between them and against other major powers like: - The Old Gods, Deathwing the big armored dragon of Cataclysm cinematic was the Herald of the Old Gods - The Burning Legion, the army of demons using fel magic (the green energy) - The Plague, the army of undead controlled by the Lich King, different of the Forsaken who are undead that recovered their conscience and got free of the Lich King control, btw we watched 2 different Lich Kings in the cinematics, the first was Arthas Menethil in WotLK cinematic and Bolvar Fordragon in the Shadowlands cinematic These are the 3 main antagonist with the war between factions that we can find across the different expansions in this 20 years of WoW, representing the cosmic powers of Death (The Plague), Void (Old Gods) and Chaos (Burning Legion)

Glad you enjoyed all the cinematics. I highly suggest you watch the in-game cinematics too. You miss out on a lot of otherwise fun characters like Wrathion, Jaina, Kadgar, and more who are very important lore-wise. Legion was one of the most beloved expansions because of Illidan (the "You are not prepared" guy) and the Legion cinematics show how the giant sword got involved in the story. It's also fun to watch the Warcraft III cinematics which show a bit of the rise of the Lich King and Illidan (Warcraft III explains how Illidan got out of prison after 10,000 years).

I have you pegged as an Orc Warrior. Although I could also see you as a Human Warrior. Always happy to see more people getting some enjoyment out of WoW, even if you can't play. If you're interested, I could record an overview of the character creation options for all the playable races. I've never recorded a video for KZfaq before, but I'm sure it can't be that hard. And if there's any chance I can persuade you to play then it's worth it.

the red dragon that caught the watcher that woke up? yeah she's the queen of the dragons and her and the other 4 you saw are the dragon aspects...the red one is the aspect of life hence when you saw her breathe fire in the launch trailer everything was brought to life, the yellow one is of time, the blue one is of magic, the black one is of earth, and the green on is of the dream...anduin in the war within cinematic at that point he's been through a lot...literally...he was kidnapped by sylvanas and then tortured by her and mind controlled by The Jailer/Zovaal and did unfathomable things during Shadowlands hence his behavior in the War Within trailer...and in case you want to know the "her" in question is Azeroth...at least that's what we believe...the sword has been there since Legion

The Cinnematics are, what's bringing me back all the time. They tell a little part of the story and I'm always curious whats happening in the world I lived in for so long. But now with wife and kids, I don't have enough time for it. I hope that WoW will never end, so I can come back in the future.

Yes, I love these kinda videos. Thanks for doing it.

The green energy is Fel. Fel ties into with demons.

The green energy is from the Fel, which is related to the Burning Legion and the demons aligned with that.

You are very observant, i really enjoyed seeing you call out your thoughts and then being so right lol. Is something underneath the ice, is that a dragon, are they underground? Good eye mate!

37:07 they're undead, or the Forsaken. Sylvanas is the queen of the Forsaken, so it means she's the one who sent the assassins after Thrall. Also, when Saurfang was talking about the world being broken and falling apart, its because Thrall was on Outland, which is present day Draenor. tldr for Outland is that Draenor was sundered during war, and pieces of the planet were thrown towards the Twisting Nether (basically the astral plane between worlds). A large piece of this is what is now known as Outland, and is in a constant state of degradation. oh, also! 44:30 the people who start hitting the flag staff into the ground are carrying Sylvanas's standard and are all Forsaken. At that moment they're putting the Horde over her after she betrayed them by saying the Horde was nothing, because the Horde took the Forsaken in when no one else would.

Finally!! Been waiting for this! Great content my guy

The voice that speaks to all in the last trailer is their own world's soul voice, Azeroth herself. And yes, Azeroth is a girl :) You can actually realize that in Dragonflight trailer. Alexstrasza, queen of dragons (red dragon that catches stone dude in trailer) says "The world is healing. But HER fate is yet uncertain"

One of the past in the last cinematic you missed a bit by talking and/or need some background info. In Shadowlands, Anduin was overtaken by the jailer. Same happened to Arthas aka the Lich King. Anduin could be freed from his grasp, but he took a hefty toll for it. Like he always was the light. The good natured. The positive, warm person. And with this happening it was like pure torture, as he was forced to do horrible stuff under the jailers influence. It broke him. The important part here is, that this cinematic they had really gone out about the story and our own psyche. Some guys on reddit etc. were in Afgahnistan or Iraq and have PTSD. When Thrall touches him, it all comes back to Anduin and his reaction and behaviour is a perfect match for someone with PTSD as it seems. Don't have it, but I believe those guys somewhat. They nailed a lot. Like the sword shaking etc. The sudden outburst. If you played shadowlands before and saw the story (xpac was not the best, but whatever), you could be immersed right away. That trailer - at least for me - hit different. Btw. I'm playing WoW since the beginning, but only "full time" since the start of burning crusade, so I guess 2006 or so. Started in 2004, but only for like half a year or so. So basically I played every xpac and the game for ... well ... 20 years. 20. holy shit. That's why it's still my to go game. I'm fully invested in the story. And I love it, even if the motivation is a bit lower then before. But I'm 42 now with 2 kids. It's to be expected. :) Can't wait for the new xpac and the whole world soul saga. this streches over 3 xpac with war wihtin being the first. They also said they will release on a faster schedule, so that you won't need your grandkids holding the mouse because of old age to wrap this thing up. It will be glorious.

Unfortunately there has been a ton of retcons to the lore so "Azeroth" is no longer the continent the humans lived on but the entire planet is called azeroth now. What you knew as Azeroth is now the Eastern Kingdoms.

Leigon is my favorite trailer and also my all time favourite expansion

7:06 "like frozen throne" yes... yes it is

you may have put this together but Arthas/the lich king is the guy from the warcraft 3 cutscene you watched where he killed his dad and was like "succeeding you"

Do the cut scenes as well. Thrall and Anduin have long tragic histories of being mislead and used and betrayed. These were the once leaders of the Horde and Alliance.

Yes, the journey makes it better.

the first and second lich kings aren't the same person btw, pretty sure that the first one (arthas) is inmensely more powerful than the second that sylvanas beat, but yeah in lore there's an explanation to her power

Oh, you definitely should watch in-game cinematics, especially for Shadowlands (and Legion cinematics too). The War Within trailer will hit different after that. Nevertheless, great video! Thx!

even though Battle for azeroth and Sylvannas as a character were complete trash. Saurafangs story still makes me cry like a baby every time i watch it. rest in peace you great Orc, Warrior and Father. your son was waiting for you on the other side.

That person that is the elf you think turns is the banshee queen of the undead. A banshee is an undead female elf

Do you remember the Warcraft 3 cinematics? The one where the orc (Hellscream) dies? The other guy (with the hammer) that screams is Thrall.

So Beyond the Veil is basically showing the Shadowlands zones. When Sylvanas broke the sky that's what is on the other side haha.

I think you would play a gnome wizard if alliance (the bad guys) or Tauren shaman if horde ( the good guys). These are two of the most benevolent races. Keep in mind good and evil are really by degree in this game as both sides use demons as weapons and that cannot be good. Some races, like the humans and undead are overwhelmingly evil.

Anduin's speech is how all the WoW players felt after playing Shadowlands.

Deathwing: I AM!!! THE CATACLYSM!!

Need to check out "warbringer" series. Not cenamatics, but they tel the story of the expansion. "daughter of the sea" is amazing

Sylvanas is my Warchief

you should go back and watch all the extra shadowlands cutscenes and cinematics, that would give you better context for the war within cinematic, it will show everything that andiun went through

Mak'gora is a duel to the death

Bravo.

hey, just watch the ingame cinematics and the shorts (warbringers, harbingers, lords of war and burdens of shaohao). i think you will find them entertaining aswell^^

nice

U realy have to See the ingame Videos !!

Missed Chains of Domination

They just released a new cinematic today.

missing video when sylvanas destroyed teldrasil

What Sword :)

You gotta react to Elden Ring boss cutscenes :D

Next journey... the big Diablo 4 cinematics!

Just to know, The lich king who was defeated by sylvanas in shadowlands cinematic is not The Lich King from Wrath of the Lich King expansion…. Actually it is the much weacker version of original Lich King (AKA Arthas)… and yes a guy in the Compass is Anduin

you should play the game and experience it

Play warcraft 3 and you will understand!

Imma guess Human or Orc, Hunter or Warrior