Ruins of Lordaeron

(Update May 1, 2010 - putting this at the top of the Blog since it's the video I created.)

One of my favorite tourist destinations in WoW are the Ruins of Lordaeron just outside the Undercity. If you walk through it with the music off and the environmental sounds on, you can experience the ruins and echoes of a former capital city.

Well, I finally documented those sights and sounds in a video clip. You might want to turn up the sound to hear the ghostly whispers.



When I brought the Ruins up to a friend of mine, he suggested I would enjoy the ambience ten-fold if I had played the human campaign of WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos. So I did.

Wow, was he right. If you don't know what Arthas went through to "save" his people, I would recommend either playing the campaign or reading about it (Arthas Menethil in WoWWiki or Wikipedia).

In short, Arthas was the prince of Lordaeron who would do anything to save his kingdom, even slay his own people - eventually setting his sights on revenge against his father, the king, for trying to stop him from doing what he felt had to be done. But of course, his chosen path corrupted him.

This video is the ending cinematic of the Human campaign. Arthas returns home to Lordaeron to see his father:

Warcraft 3: Human Ending Cinematic


Voila, context.
Those are Arthas's words that whisper in the royal chamber. Cross the same bridge in the courtyard. The hall is littered with the rose petals that welcomed home the tragic hero. The bells still toll for his return.

Perhaps the citizens wouldn't have welcomed him so heartily if they had known what he had done. Or that their graves and ghosts would litter the courtyard today.

Much appreciation to Blizzard for the tie in to the Lore. Thanks also go to Emp for suggesting I play the campaign. And kudos to this video creator who remixed the cinematics and added a great piece of music to really give Arthas's story the epic feel it deserves:

Arthas destiny - Loreena McKennitt by Ohkami

Ghosts of the Lordaeron Video

Happy Halloween!

For some spooky fun check out these previous posts:

The Ruins of Lordaeron video or

The Haunted Children of Goldshire post.

Today, here's some more information about the Lordaeron video.


You may notice:

• On the way IN - there are (apparently) no ghosts in the courtyard
• But on the way OUT - the ghosts show up

What's with the ghosts?

• Who are they? - They're Citizens of Lordaeron.
• Why are they there? - Check out this Warcraft III Footage in which Arthas must kill the Citizens of Lordaeron. They had contracted a plague that would turn them into servants of Mal'Ganis. Arthas killed them before Mal'Ganis could to prevent this.
• How can you see them? - Find a friendly neighborhood Warlock to cast "Detect Invisibility" on you. Voila. They they are.

I didn't have a Horde Warlock of a level high enough to "Detect Invisibility" so I had to ask around for one. It took a while to get someone to do it.

The discussion in General Chat was pretty much like this:

"Is there a Warlock in Undercity who could cast Detect Invisibility on me?"
... silence ...
Then I waited few minutes to ensure I wasn't becoming a spammer...
"Are there any Warlocks in Undercity willing to cast Detect Invisibility on me?"
... silence ...

It took a while.

Every once in a while someone would tell me to do a /who warlock, but I hate when people do that to me. As a priest I would get cold "tells" all the time and I hated them.

Eventually I got a response:

"Why?"

I explained it was to see the Ghosts in the Lordaeron courtyard and I was summarily laughed at.

After an amount of time I'm not willing to admit to trying my requests in "General" chat, I finally remembered my Cialdini (people will more likely respond when asked individually rather than when asked as a part of a group). So I walked around Undercity until I found a Warlock that looked like I wasn't bothering. Sure enough, he was happy to give me the buff I needed.