Hello everyone!
Hollowfall is the third leveling zone for the war within. We’ve heard rumors from the earthen
up above that they’ve had arathi visitors so we join a curious Anduin and go deeper into Azeroth,
into a massive cavern that’s lit up by a crystal. I haven’t been able to figure
out what exactly the crystal is, but Anduin says its not Azerite, the blood of azeroth we
collected during battle for azeroth, but its its close enough that he thinks they
are connected. The light of the crystal has allowed vegetation to grow and flourish down
below and the moment we step into the zone, the radiant song rings out. A voice in Anduin’s head
“Anduin...”
but he’s not the only one that can hear this perticular tune.
In the zone we meet with Arathi that are following the vision of their emperor,
a prophecy of light. To fight in something called Renilash, the final battle between light and dark.
Their armada set out 15 years ago and braved the Storming Sea with its impassable tempests.
The storming sea has been mentioned recently in books added with the
dragonflight emerald dream patch. Keeper Tyr said only ruin lies beyond the Storming
Sea but the green dragon Erinethria refused to be chained by fear. Some
believe she was lost to the storming sea while others claim that they saw
her in their dreams. That she reached a land beyond, where she raised a brood of her own.
This seems to heavily confirm that there’s another side to Azeroth completely unexplored,
a part of the planet or atleast landmass hidden behind an impassable storming sea. That would
also explain how all of a sudden we have so many of these arathi hanging around as the
arathi empire or the Empire of Arathor on our side of the world has all but evaporated into
city-states. The history is that once upon a time the early humans lived in individual tribes until
Thoradin of Arathor decided that man is stronger together and he would unify them through politics,
diplomacy of violence into the first human kingdom. They became such a powerhouse that
the high elves of quel’thelas noticed, saw them as a potential ally against the hostile Amani Trolls
and together, after teaching the humans some of their magics, the alliance of high elf and human
decimated the amani’s. After that it was party time. Considering our new friends are half elf,
half human, i guess the party was really good. Over time this kingdom would spread out and
slkit up into places like Lordaeron, Dalaran, Gilneas but apperantly a whole bunch of them
also someway ended up beyond those storms as our land is mentioned as the old world.
That’s where these arathi come from and only time will tell what their home, their emperor,
their way of life is like. Will they be friends or will they be foes? Who knows! So the armada
is send out by the emperor and nearly loses to the storms. Instead there was a radiant flash,
the emperors vision, exactly as he had forseen. The light transported them beneath the surface
of Azeroth, but still under the light of this star they named Beledar. So many died as the
armada crashed into the clifs, including all of their high mages so the knowledge
of making a portla back home is lost. They also thought that their eternal flame of Arathor was
snuffed out that day, but it was not. It was saved by the most unexpected thing,
a small stowaway child that wasn’t even supposed to be here.
Faerin Lothar stowed away to escape a family that only ever saw her as
a failure and lost an eye and an arm for it. In town she’s offered a new prostetic arm...
“Thank you raen but the shield oyu made me is all i need. Im sure your talents
would be better spent on other inventios. Its my pleasure to make a new arm you would
use. YOu told me about the discomfort and how it impacts your mobility so i was thinking...
Raen...no. I have lived with my injury since i was a child. Ive learned to do everything from
sword fighting to dressing myself with 1 hand. But what if i figure out the weight balancing.
You said that was what you didnt like about the first few i made.
Then I think some of our veterans who will lose an arm to the nerbuaisn will be very
gratful you have improved the design. Reign ive learned to navigate my life without a
prosthetic. I dont want to relearn everything. But if yo uwant to improve something of mine,
a better shock absorber on the shield would be a blessing of the flame. Those
nerubians are getting bigger and it puts all that weight on the shoulder. “
Lance and shield are at her side she braves the darkness as a lamplighter.
Where others would retreat or hide in their homes, these brave arathi shine bright.
So a stowaway child was able to save their eternal flame of Arathor,
preserve embers of the flame, at risk to her own life, holding on to that symbol of hope.
Lore lovers will recognise the family name lothar.....
“Did i hear that right earlier...yorue a lothar? You know the name?
Know it? I was named after anduin lothar, one of stormwinds greatest heroes. He was close friends
with my grandfather king llane wrynn. Few names hold highest esteem. You must be a lady or...
Oh no dont you start using formalities on me. MY family is noble but its been
long since we’ve seen great fortune. To think i had relatives in the old world.
Wonderful. I hope i can live up to such legends.”
15 years ago they arrived here, Faerin still a child and then 10 years ago, when we were
fighting the legion on the surface during the expansion legion, they’ve set up the city of
Mereldar. Please keep in mind alpha will be alpha and i’m putting pieces of the puzzle together,
but it makes sense because we were fighting the legion in year 32 where as Dragonflight was year
40. No timeskip has been mentioned and the normal trend is around a year or two per expansion. That
would put the war within at year 42, exactly 10 years. Faerin was the only child when they
arrived and they founded the orphanage for her which comes across as weird to me. Not impossible
ofcourse but if she was the only child and she did this heroic thing of saving their flame...wouldn’t
there have been 1 family willing to take her in? Why did they need to build an orphanage for one
child? These days as time past on and they put down roots in Hollowfall, more families have
been formed and more children are born. Seeing how there are plenty of creatures tthat go bump in the
dark, more orphans are made as well so i guess its good to have an orphanage ready i suppose.
Their flame, their holy light has been able to secure areas and keep the darkness at bay,
darkness that houses enemies like the nerubians or the kobyss,
fish like creatures that like to eat their victims while they’re still alive. Ofcourse
having a big old shiny crystal in the ceiling doesn’t hurt either, but there was a day of
darkness in which it suddenly turned from brihgt and light to dark and void,
the day Sargeras plunged his sword into Azeroth which means that the speculation of this being the
tip of the sword is truly and well dispelled as the crystal was there already. They also
confirmed that the Arathi know about the black empire and that Xal’atath is not an old god,
but something else. A survivor from the depths of time... So the crystal is turning dark for some
reason, perhaps Sargeras damaged it, perhaps some of the corruption of his sword sunk into
it. Perhaps azeroth’s weakened state allowed N’zoth to make use of it, perhaps xal’atath
being used to drain the corruption actually did the opposite. Plenty of scenarios to think of,
to be explained, but what is certain that in the dark some of the arathi’s faith began to falter.
Aelric Leid, our main antagonist for the zone, left a wornd down book:
Standing here, the closest i have been to beledar, the truth that is deep within my heart tells me
that i have been fooled. We came here seeking the sacred flame and all we have found is a
deeper struggle. We are fighting on the losing side of a war that will never end. Is the light,
the flame true salvation? is it? All i see is darkness around me, around Beledar. So much of
it seems infinite. It is time to embrace the only truth, the light of the star is just an
anomaly within its vast ocean of darkness. I am the seeker of darkness. I am deprived of all hope.
In my very heart is shadow. I am the harbinger of the night. The incredibly edgy Aelric sides
with Xal’atath and works on corrupting more of their light, turn more of the areas to shadow.
That’s the major conflict in the zone and as we go through it,
Anduin, Faerin and Alleria at our side, we learn about the arathi, the crystal,
all the things i just explained. A big part is also Anduin’s struggle with his connection to
the Light. He’s afraid that the Light won’t answer his call, not after the events of the
Shadowlands and he’s not wrong to be afraid. The light has always shown to respond to conviction,
not morality, and Anduin is anything but convinced that he is worthy. Worthy to lead his people,
worthy to call upon the light, worthy to be amongst friends and loved ones.
“I have no light. Not after what i’ve seen. Not after what i’ve done.”
Faerin guides him in this, shows her view on life and the Light. While the former king of
stormwind desperatly wants to help, he can’t call the light, no matter how much he might
wish. For a moment I was afraid they were going to resolve this in a single zone,
simply hold his hand and guide him back into the Light, but it gets treated a lot better
and not resolved at all, perhaps the opposite. At some point we sit down at the tavern to have
some drinks and have a chat too which anduin says: It felt like me. I remember the rage. I remember
the hate. I remember the...exhilaration. Satisfaction, even. Were they my emotions,
or his? I don’t kow, but I felt them. In my nightmares I still feel them. Anduin sighs.
Maybe Faerin’s right. Maybe I need to let it go. But I never understood how. How can one just
decide one day to feel better about everything? Maybe it just means to keep moving forward.
One step at a time as we defend the arathi from threats on the ouside and within until we finally
confront Aelric Leid. The void will not protect them from us, not while we have Alleria at our
side. Some more details of the pre-event have come to light but primarly interesting right
now is that alleria was holding back. Was afraid of giving into her powers which cost her Khadgar
and she won’t let that happen twice. Now she’s one of our most powerful agents against Xal’atath and
her schemes but this also comes with a bit of a downside as xal’atath has direct whispers with
her. Walking so deep in the shadows has the risk of falling off from the edge but for now
she’s fully on our side. We take out Aelric, fight off another Nerubian assault and an advanced real
time cutscene plays out. Its description says: Faerin, Alleria, and player climb the ladder
to the ship, only to see Anduin has been left behind. Anduin sees the nerubians preparing a
ballista that would take out the airship. He finds his resolve, and jumps into the fray to stop them.
Faerin, Alleria and player watch in horror as Anduin is enveloped by the horde of nerubians.
We try to go after him but you don’t just fly into azj kahet and not get captured into a
web. Our final questing zone is not available for testing quite yet and its anyones guess
where Anduin ended up. Is he in the hands of the nerubians that we are going to befriend,
or is he once again having talks with the big bad. The paralels to the shadowlands
story are easily drawn yet the character is very different. Anduin is worn down and lost
his conviction. They once upon a time had him pushed so far to the edge that
a wisp of purple energy traveled down his arm, gathering in his palm. IT happened in an blink,
darkness coming out of him and he was made fun of, taunted that he would serve well.
“The boy king serves at the masters table. 3 lies will he offer you.”
That storyline was turned around in favor of him telling sylvanas how wrong she was,
but what about this time? Could we see Anduin giving himself over to the darkness willingly.
Could his complete plunge be the very thing that shows him his true nature,
brings him back in touch with who he really is,
with a conviction to the light? Discipline perhaps and the balance between light and void?
The vibe xalatath is giving so far is that she’s throwing things at us to play with while her
true plans are running in the background. She’s gathering the blood of the old gods,
she’s messing with alleria, she’s has the nerubians and the queen working for her.
I’ve been asked where else the story might take us and so far the one major thing being
build is going beyond those storms, going to meet the emperor and the arathi empire.
Ofcourse all of that is still future talk, for now you’re up to speed on the major story of
hallowfall so thank you very much for watching everyone! Subscribe if you like my videos,
leave a like if you enjoyed this one aaand until next time....see ya!