#17 - For Azeroth!: “The Banshee Queen”
3/6/17
• Garrett • Jocelyn
Sponsors:
Intro: Welcome to For Azeroth!
What We’re Up To
Suck It Gul’dan!
Get Your Crit Together downed Normal Gul’dan last night, so happy! Also I’ve started playing Ret Pally, oh the stories I have to tell...
- Sucking at the Breath of Sindra DK rotation
- Getting the itch to go back to my Ret Pally.
- Still really want a Mage.
Lore
Sylvanas - The Banshee Queen
Leader of the Forsaken and current Warchief of the Horde, Lady Sylvanas Windrunner has made a name for herself as a force to be reckoned with.
Ranger-General of Silvermoon/Death
- A member of the prominent high elven Windrunner family, Sylvanas joined the Rangers of Quel’Thalas and eventually became their leader, earning the title Ranger-General of Silvermoon
- During the Second War, with her older sister Alleria and her band of Rangers gone fighting with the Alliance, Sylvanas and her squad set out to investigate sections of the Quel’Thalas forest that were burning
- Sylvanas came across both her sisters (Alleria and Vereesa) being chased by trolls, which is when she was warned of the approach of the Orcish horde, who were burning the forest with dragon fire
- The Rangers attacked the horde, trapping them up against the Alliance forces led by Turalyon, forcing the horde to give up their attack on the high elves
- Shortly after, the horde was defeated, the Dark Portal was destroyed, the Second War ended and the High Elves withdrew from the Alliance
- Sylvanas and her Rangers were tasked with patrolling and defending Silvermoon, but didn’t see much action until Arthas arrived unexpectedly with an undead horde at his back
- Sylvanas fought valiantly, but was forced to retreat time and time again as Arthas killed everything in his path
- Eventually, Sylvanas was surrounded, unable to warn Silvermoon, and was cut down in battle by Arthas himself
- She asked for a clean death, but Arthas refused. After all the trouble she had caused him, he wanted her to suffer. He corrupted her body and soul, bringing her back as a banshee full of torment and hatred
The Banshee Queen
- As an undead being, she was completely under the control of the Lich King Ner’zhul, and so aided Arthas in his quest for the Sunwell
- Sylvanas became one of Arthas’ primary generals, staying behind with Kel’Thuzad and the dreadlords in Lordaeron
- During this time, she became more powerful, and was able to use her power to repossess her corpse, becoming a corporeal undead creature
- Arthas returned from Kalimdor with news that Archimonde and the Legion had been defeated at Mount Hyjal and his intention to take over control of the Scourge
- Not wishing to take on the new King of Lordaeron, the dreadlords fled
- Arthas ordered the death of everything in Lordaeron as a tribute to Ner’zhul. He, Sylvanas, and Kel’Thuzad slaughtered villages and the humans attempting to escape them, before arriving at the headquarters of the paladin order and defeating them as well, removing the last of the humans from Lordaeron
The Dark Lady
- Around this time, Sylvanas realized that she was in control of herself again
- Ner’zhul lost control of her and some of the other banshees, but did not realize it as Sylvanas continued to serve Arthas and waited for the right time to strike
- She was approached by the dreadlords and told that Arthas and Ner’zhul were weakening, and that they were going to take the opportunity to take back Lordaeron for the Legion
- Sylvanas agreed to assist, focused only on vengeance against Arthas. When the dreadlords failed to kill him in the capital, her banshees ensured he escaped to the woods where she was waiting
- Her banshees killed Arthas’ bodyguards as she struck him with a paralyzing arrow. Arthas was furious at her betrayal and demanded a quick death, but she refused, as he had
- Kel’Thuzad intervened, saving Arthas and causing her to realize that she no longer had access to the powers of the natural world. From this point on, she would use the powers that came naturally to her in her new form, necromancy
- She returned some of her banshees to their high elven bodies, creating the first dark rangers
Mistress of the Forsaken
- Sylvanas and her banshee sisters were freed, but she was still troubled even with Arthas gone to Northrend
- One of the three dreadlords, Varimathras, approached Sylvanas, asking her to join their new order, but she demanded to be left alone, unwilling to bow to another commander
- He warned that those who were not part of their alliance would be cast aside, but Sylvanas still refused him
- She was sure that the dreadlords would attack, but with only her banshees, dark rangers, and some lesser undead, Sylvanas knew she would be defeated. She needed an army
- She sent her banshees out to possess the leaders of nearby forces, including gnolls, ogres, bandits, and murlocs
- Together, her forces were able to defeat Varimathras when he attacked, who then begged for his life and offered to help Sylvanas by giving her information about his brothers
- With his assistance, Sylvanas moved against Detheroc and his forces
- She swept through his base, killing all inside, including the dreadlord, swiftly and almost with ease. Sylvanas promised his human puppet Garithos that she would relinquish the capital to him if he helped her defeat the final dreadlord, Balnazzar
- Garithos attacked from the rear of the city as Sylvanas and Varimathras attacked from the front
- Despite Balnazzar’s demonic allies, Sylvanas and her forces were victorious. She ordered Varimathras to kill his brother Balnazzar as a final show of loyalty
- He refused at first, saying it was forbidden for one nathrezim to kill another, but when she persisted, he obeyed. She then ordered Garithos’ death, which he carried out with a lot less fuss
- With their enemies dead, Sylvanas proclaimed they would rule the Plaguelands as the Forsaken, and that none would stand in their way
Links
Emails
You can send your emails to FAZpodcast@gmail.com
Derek of Minnesota
Hello!
I've followed your podcast trail from TAC to Embrace the Spoilers to now FAZ. I haven't played WoW since BC, but I've always had that itch to keep up with the stories and plots of the WarCraft universe and your podcast has been awesome for learning all kinds of cool lore stuff. The more I listen to your podcast, the more I'm contemplating giving WoW another go. I'd love to find a way to convince my wife to give it a try with me, but she's extremely skeptical of games like WoW, because she plays games for stories. She loves Zelda and Final Fantasy titles for that reason and dislikes games like Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and feels she wouldn't like MMORPGs. So I have a question, what kind of fun and interesting plots are there in the early game of WoW? What could pull someone into the story of WarCraft enough to overcome the inevitable and arbitrary "go there and kill/gather X of those things" quests?
Thanks!
Derek of Minnesota
- The Drakkensryd: The climax of the questline where you help Thorim get his memories back and fight his brother Loken. The whole line is pretty cool. But this quest has you harpooning from dragon to dragon as you ascend a mountain in the Storm Peaks while fighting enemies in the process.
- DK starting zone: The whole DK starting zone is incredible. The Battle for Light’s Hope Chapel at the end is the coolest part but the whole questline is top notch.
- Later expansions (Cataclysm - Present) are full of quality narrative-driven quests. Cataclysm actually comes to mind as one of the strongest in retrospect. See Alexstrasza face off against Deathwing still sticks with me to this day.
Name
Text Goes Here
Outro
iTunes Thanks
- Ben-Adar - I preface this that I very much dislike iTunes, but I went and created an account just give Garrett and Joce a fantastic 5 star review for making my graveyard shift fly by each and every week with their fantastic lore stories.
- Derek of Minnesota - Even better than listening to Evanescence in a crater!
Subscribe to For Azeroth! on iTunes and on Youtube.com/Amovetv.
Catch the live show Monday mornings at 12pm Eastern on Twitch.tv/amovetv. Catch the live show from virtually any device thanks to AlphaGeekMedia.com.
Personal Stuff
Joce where can you be found?
Follow Jocelyn @JocePlays
The Gamers’ Inn
Follow Garrett @GarrettArt
NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.
Into the Nexus: The Heroes of the Storm Podcast!
The Angry Nerd: Amove.tv/angrynerd