wow Before the Storm Novel Spoilers

[Stan 5,240]

Before the Storm by Christie Golden is coming on June 12 and Amazon made a portion of the book available for preview. This article contains spoilers.

Note: Only an excerpt of the book is available, and we need to wait until June 12 learn the backstory and see the full picture. Before the Storm explains events that lead to the Burning of Teldrassil and the Siege of Lordaeron.

It seems that Amazon has removed the preview now. The epilogue can be found here and pages describing key moments here (courtesy of redditor dreamfisher).

We've highlighted some interesting facts below:

• The novel describes both factions coming into contact with the mysterious substance known as Azerite, in line with the Legion epilogue cinematics.
• Azerite is described as having "drug-like" attributes and according to Anduin, it makes him feel like he can "move mountains" and secure peace wherever he wants. Could Azerite be similar to Yogg-Saron's Saronite? Remember the mad miners in Northrend back in Wrath?
• Anduin and Sylvanas arrange a meeting between Humans and their Forsaken family members, even though Sylvanas claims it will only hurt her people.
• Before the meeting, Sylvanas gives her word that no Alliance member who attends the meeting will be harmed.
• After initial distrust, most Humans and Forsaken get along well without any issues.
• Genn comes to a conclusion that not all Forsaken are treacherous murderers and some are the same people they once were.
• Now comes the interesting part -- Calia Menethil (a would-be usurper, and the rightful heir to the throne) secretly attends the meeting, but some Forsaken recognize her disguise and tell Sylvanas.
• As a result, Sylvanas starts going bonkers, claiming that the meeting was a setup to overthrow her and put Calia on the throne. She does not blame Anduin, because he's surprised to see Calia there, so that was definitely not planned.
• Sylvanas told her Dark Ranger to blow the horn for retreat, but some Forsaken remain frozen, not sure what to do. Some even start running towards the Alliance. Sylvanas calls them traitors and orders her archers to kill the Forsaken that hadn't returned immediately, including those who initially froze, but returned later. Sylvanas does not trust anyone who comes to her only due to fear and not loyalty.
• Calia gives a speech, telling the Forsaken that it's time to stop living in the shadows.
• Sylvanas kills Calia Menethil in the process. She did not break her promise, because Calia was never supposed to attend the meeting in the first place.
• Calia is then risen as a Holy Forsaken (yes you read that right) by Anduin, because a naaru told him to do so. Maybe we'll see Holy Forsaken as an Allied Race in the future.
• Sylvanas had the chance to shoot Anduin, but decided not to do so.
• Anduin says that Sylvanas would never change, claiming she's "well and truly lost".

(Source // Source #2)

[tkioz 229]

Oh so Undead is okay so long as it's the light that brings you back... Yeah sounds like Alliance logic all right. It's not like the people living in the Undercity are the original inhabitants of the area after all and have far more right to the place than Anduin and his puppet. I mean what did Sylvanas do... apart from free all the Forsaken and lead them for more than a decade, but I suppose 'royal bloody' is more important.

[Yridaa 490]

This shit is going way too far tbh. First we have lightforged Dreadlords...

 

Now we have Lightforged Forsaken; It's both apparently easy to do (Sylvanas has been looking for a way to "replenish" Forsaken for years and apparently doing so with the Valkyr didn't work out too well (She did it in Cataclysm but ended up desperately looking for other ways somehow?)) and it's completely not a moral issue.

 

Blizzard stepped on the boundaries of "what makes sense" and now just leaped over it. It also causes severe homogenization. Both light and shadow can create Forsaken (Except the Forsaken themselves apparently...), the color is the only difference?

 

3 hours ago, Stan said:

• Calia gives a speech, telling the Forsaken that it's time to stop living in the shadows.

You're one to talk Calia, you've been on the down-low until the priest order hall, show up hiding in the shadows yourself, and then say that.

3 hours ago, Stan said:

Calia is then risen as a Holy Forsaken (yes you read that right)

The text in that link... Yeah sure, TOTALLY not "shape of light water"

3 hours ago, Stan said:

Genn comes to a conclusion that not all Forsaken are treacherous murderers and some are the same people they once were.

I guess the Argent Crusade wasn't enough evidence in and of itself.

"Harrison Jones: You may not have been there Genn, but the Horde worked hard to help us stop Arthas during our crusade in Northrend. Even the Forsaken lost most of its army and Sylvanas has been leading the assault and nearly died herself to stop him in The Halls of Reflection!

 

Genn: Well... they're still all treacherous murderers.

*years later they have a small talk for 10 minutes*

Genn: Some Forsaken are the same people they once were."

 

 

 

Yeah, this all totally makes sense and doesn't feel like it's been written by a 12 year old.

[Brutalis 165]

Blizz's lore team need to take a good, hard look at themselves. And then stop this nonsense.

[Erialis 22]

That alliance glorification all the time is just too much. Sylvanas ress Forsaken with val'kyr and its disgusting but when alliance do that with Light its mercy and other shit. Double standards in finest form. Also what they expected when let Calia show up on meeting? For anyone it would look like try to coup Sylvanas as leader in Forsaken which would be major problem and weaken Horde. Whole meeting of undead with their living family members is just huge retcon to times when Sylv contacted allianace and tried to make some pact. And what did Alliance done back then? They just refused any connection and started hunting forsaken. Suddenly they are so eager to meet them and accept? Portraying every alliance leader and their followers as saints and victims all that time is just boring and without any imagination...

[Dejo93 1,023]

The only consolation in this shitshow is that this isn't written by Karen Travis. If you think Golden sucks, oh boy, are you in for a surprise. Just ask any Halo fan

[Pauly02 0]

Honestly it feels like they want to force Sylvanas in being the new Garrosh. Sylvanas always was the kind of person, who took her duty (to protect her followers) very serious and it was always her highest priority. Thats one reason why the forsaken even followed her in the first place. Now they force her into the roll of a paranoid dictator, who'll be killed sooner or later anyway... Battle for Azeroth would be a brilliant oportunity to uncover the irrational hatred of some high Tier Alliance members but nope... lets kick the Horde some more

Edited May 18, 2018 by Pauly02

[Vorguz 33]

In my opinion Blizzard isn't going overboard with the light-dark things. I think they want to show that both are sides of the same coin.
Light is the same as the void, created at the beginning of the universe and both want to force their will upon the universe: Light want absolute order while the void want absolute chaos. In their own ways both are similar oppressing.

As for the Alliance creating undead - It shows that the Alliance is not so shiny and glorious as they seem to be. Bunch of hypocrites.

I'm kinda interested what Blizz is doing with Sylvanas. It seems like she is completely overhelmed by her new duties. She was a general once and lead her people in a military fashion, but actual politics are new to her. Maybe Blizzard wants to do a proper character development?

[Vorguz 33]

9 hours ago, Yridaa said:

Genn: Well... they're still all treacherous murderers.

*years later they have a small talk for 10 minutes*

Genn: Some Forsaken are the same people they once were."

In my opinion this development is utter bs. It could have been so much better.

[Granis 12]

*sigh* I give up at on the lore at this point.

1 hour ago, Pauly02 said:

Honestly it feels like they want to force Sylvanas in being the new Garrosh, which really sucks tbh. Sylvanas always was the kind of person, who took her duty (to protect her followers) very serious and it was always her highest priority. Thats one reason why the forsaken even followed her in the first place. Now they force her into the roll of a paranoid dictator, who'll be killed sooner or later anyway... Battle for Azeroth would be a brilliant oportunity to uncover the irrational hatred of some high Tier Alliance members but nope... lets kick the Horde some more

In response to the bold statement, no she has not been that way since before her original death. She has seen her people as nothing but tools to be used. The undead starting zone even suggests, that while Forsaken do have freewill, Sylvanas returns them to live KNOWING that they really don't have a choice to not serve her because the rest of the world hate the undead would like to see them put back into the ground. The way she has been written up to before this novel doesn't make sense with this whole "I care about the Horde" crap they pulled out of no where with Legion. Not saying she couldn't change, but dear god proper character development has left the building.

 

1 hour ago, Vorguz said:

In my opinion Blizzard isn't going overboard with the light-dark things. I think they want to show that both are sides of the same coin.
Light is the same as the void, created at the beginning of the universe and both want to force their will upon the universe: Light want absolute order while the void want absolute chaos. In their own ways both are similar oppressing.

As for the Alliance creating undead - It shows that the Alliance is not so shiny and glorious as they seem to be. Bunch of hypocrites.

I'm kinda interested what Blizz is doing with Sylvanas. It seems like she is completely overhelmed by her new duties. She was a general once and lead her people in a military fashion, but actual politics are new to her. Maybe Blizzard wants to do a proper character development?

I disagree with you on them going over board on the whole light-dark subject, mainly on the grounds that it is SO forced. As for Alliance creating undead, what the hell Blizzard!? Lets just completely ignore previous lore that has established that the Alliance would NEVER DO THIS FOR ANY REASON! Instead what they should have done is worked the whole "but they are still people" angle The justification for this action is as asinine as the reason Vol'jin made Sylvanas Warchief, "Meh spirits says so!" Just replace sprirts with Naa'ru.

I agree with your assessment on the nature of light and dark can be seen really as just order and chaos. However the problem with this within WoW is that light and darkness have been clearly defined in the old "good vs evil" kind of way since the start and as such makes no sense in this re-guard.

1 hour ago, Vorguz said:

In my opinion this development is utter bs. It could have been so much better.

I agree with you completely here. If they were going to have Genn do a 180 it should have been developed throughout BfA, but then again the only reasonable development for him is the "consumed by vengeance" route, seeing as there is NO WAY in hell he would ever forgive Sylvanas.

10 hours ago, Yridaa said:

This shit is going way too far tbh. First we have lightforged Dreadlords...

 

Now we have Lightforged Forsaken; It's both apparently easy to do (Sylvanas has been looking for a way to "replenish" Forsaken for years and apparently doing so with the Valkyr didn't work out too well (She did it in Cataclysm but ended up desperately looking for other ways somehow?)) and it's completely not a moral issue.

 

Blizzard stepped on the boundaries of "what makes sense" and now just leaped over it. It also causes severe homogenization. Both light and shadow can create Forsaken (Except the Forsaken themselves apparently...), the color is the only difference?

 

You're one to talk Calia, you've been on the down-low until the priest order hall, show up hiding in the shadows yourself, and then say that.

The text in that link... Yeah sure, TOTALLY not "shape of light water"

I guess the Argent Crusade wasn't enough evidence in and of itself.

"Harrison Jones: You may not have been there Genn, but the Horde worked hard to help us stop Arthas during our crusade in Northrend. Even the Forsaken lost most of its army and Sylvanas has been leading the assault and nearly died herself to stop him in The Halls of Reflection!

 

Genn: Well... they're still all treacherous murderers.

*years later they have a small talk for 10 minutes*

Genn: Some Forsaken are the same people they once were."

 

 

 

Yeah, this all totally makes sense and doesn't feel like it's been written by a 12 year old.

One hundred percent agree. Clearly the writers are either....well new, and not familiar with the lore, or they simply are running out of ideas. Of course I have no idea why I am so surprised at how things have been developing lately, as the longer a universe goes on the more screwed up it lore gets because of "too many cooks". We have reach the equivalent of the "End Times" for Warhammer in terms of sheer stupidity of the plot.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Granis
Proofreading, Additional Thoughts

[PatrickHenry 293]

Just to play devil's advocate here, but in Legion we found out quite clearly thru Illidan's story as well as Alleria's, that the light-shadow 'dichotomy' isn't as much of one as we may have been made to believe.

They could be playing into the less-awesome Light as creating 'lightforged forsaken' purely for its own ends.  More warriors for the light, as it were.

[Yridaa 490]

32 minutes ago, PatrickHenry said:

They could be playing into the less-awesome Light as creating 'lightforged forsaken' purely for its own ends.  More warriors for the light, as it were.

Uther the Lightbringer is turning in his grave right now.

[Migol 433]

Ok seriously what the hell?     This is approaching Twilight levels of insipid teenager writing.    HOLY based Undead?     Genn does a 180 on his well documented hate after spending a luncheon conversing?     A Naaru says that creating undead is A-OK?    Why would anyone say a Menethil still has a rightful claim to the throne?!?    Don't they remember a certain other Menethil that probably waived all rights to anything good forever in perpetuity?

To say nothing about how this butchers the in game logic.    Forsaken already have priests that have been using Holy Magic as just one example.   

[Lawrenz 105]

I have to say, i really like how the story wraps up for the start of battle for azeroth.

I was never into the lore of warcraft or WoW to much, but Legion became such a great and enjoyable expansion to me, not only gameplay wise, but lore wise as well. How the characters developed, with all the cinematics and talking npcs "on the go" while questing. It's a waay more comfortable and realistic feeling for story-content. We got to SEE more of the story, as instead "hidden in questtext" which i always ignored before. Legion got me interested in the Background of WoW, and seeing this piece of the book that they release before BfA comes out, hypes me really much.

So in my opinion they are doing a great job of setting up the scene for BfA, so it makes sense for us to be in war with the other faction, but at the same time not being good&evil to much but having understandable reasons on both sides. It seems for me at least.

I mean, yeah, maybe it's a bit late for Genn to have that switch in mind, rather than from previous cooperations with the forsaken, but at this moment i think "better late, than never". Character development is nice, and i would be irritated more IF he STILL would doubt that there are some peaceful frosaken. Then he would be a boring one sided character.

Edit:

i have to add, that i never played on the horde side to much, and didnt see any of legions content from their point of view. So i cant say how the story feels or makes sense regarding sylvanas. But from my view as an alliance player, it's really enjoyable, and from what i see (the little bit), i think sylvanas makes sense.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Lawrenz

[PatrickHenry 293]

3 hours ago, Yridaa said:

Uther the Lightbringer is turning in his grave right now.

Most people familiar with the old 'light is the only good' concept probably were when it tried to forcibly remake Illidan, also.  

[Plergoth 277]

What the rootin' tootin', fresh and fruity, fuck is going on here?

[Granis 12]

10 hours ago, Lawrenz said:

I have to say, i really like how the story wraps up for the start of battle for azeroth.

I was never into the lore of warcraft or WoW to much, but Legion became such a great and enjoyable expansion to me, not only gameplay wise, but lore wise as well. How the characters developed, with all the cinematics and talking npcs "on the go" while questing. It's a waay more comfortable and realistic feeling for story-content. We got to SEE more of the story, as instead "hidden in questtext" which i always ignored before. Legion got me interested in the Background of WoW, and seeing this piece of the book that they release before BfA comes out, hypes me really much.

So in my opinion they are doing a great job of setting up the scene for BfA, so it makes sense for us to be in war with the other faction, but at the same time not being good&evil to much but having understandable reasons on both sides. It seems for me at least.

I mean, yeah, maybe it's a bit late for Genn to have that switch in mind, rather than from previous cooperations with the forsaken, but at this moment i think "better late, than never". Character development is nice, and i would be irritated more IF he STILL would doubt that there are some peaceful frosaken. Then he would be a boring one sided character.

Edit:

i have to add, that i never played on the horde side to much, and didnt see any of legions content from their point of view. So i cant say how the story feels or makes sense regarding sylvanas. But from my view as an alliance player, it's really enjoyable, and from what i see (the little bit), i think sylvanas makes sense.

Legion had only ONE good story line, with a missed opportunity at the end of it. (Suramar). I could go into a long tan-git over this subject, but honestly who cares? At least someone enjoys it. However I do believe overall lore has been borked for some time now, and it's not really just WoW that's having that issue. Even Diablo and Starcraft have....questionable handling of its lore direction.

[Hjaldren 2]

Blizzard, what are you even doing at this point? This is some of the sloppiest and most amateurish writing i've ever seen from an established franchise. In Warcraft 1 & 2 the story was very black & white. The Alliance was good and the Horde were the bad foreign invaders. Ever since Warcraft 3 they've been trying their hardest to twist this narrative and i'm fine with that, i don't like one-dimensional villains, they're boring. And Blizzard did a pretty decent job reinventing the Horde with Warcraft 3, and we've been tumbling down the hill ever since. Sylvanas has always been a selfish, cold and calculating character that acted with pragmatism and ruthlessness.

Since her death Sylvanas has never been a "good" character, and you know what, that was alright. Every character does not need to be lawful good. Sylvanas does have a striking character design and her type of tragic and dare i say it a bit "edgy" story attracts fans. She became a fan favorite (i will however have to say that i highly doubt that the majority of Sylvanas' fans are that well-versed in the lore and have to some degree misunderstood who and what she is and probably haven't taken a good, long hard look at her actions from an objective point of view, because yes, what was done to her by Arthas was horrendous that doesn't justify the countless atrocities that have been committed by her and in her name in her mad dash for immortality and vengeance).

She became a fan favorite. And instead of writing what made sense for her character they immediately flipped the character on her head with Legion and even more so in BfA, especially in the cinematic. I winced at that point in the cinematic. That moment was the complete antithesis of who she was and it showed that Blizzard's writing team has thrown integrity to the wind. They shaped her after what the fans wanted instead of respecting the established character that they had created in the first place that i personally found pretty intriguing. The same thing happened when they named her Warchief. I can guarantee that Blizzard didn't have Sylvanas take up the mantle of Warchief because they thought it made sense for the story, they did that to please the fans plain and simple. And don't get me wrong, i don't mind character's changing direction and evolving over time but what Blizzard seems to have completely forgotten is that it needs to make sense and it didn't. It's amateur writing and i expect better to be honest.

Then we have the incredibly stupid "is the light good or evil?" idea that was hamfisted into the story in such a sloppy manner because now they're desperately pushing for that "morally grey" story telling that they just don't have the talent to pull off nicely by the looks of it. They are trying to paint the light as not objectively good or bad but the light is still objectively good from our perspective. The light doesn't corrupt or mind control in any way. It is simply a force that heals wounds and manifests itself when people believe in their cause. X'era wasn't "the light". The Scarlet Crusade wielded the light, we didn't call the light evil then did we?

This story is making me lose interest quickly and the writing team really need to be replaced with people who actually value integrity and care about the past and don't just make things up as they go along to fit the wishes of others. A story that flows like a liquid to fit the container it is poured into does not have value and i find it very hard to respect such writing. 

 

 

[Guest]

Long time ago Blizzard was actually good at writing stories and characters.

I know it is hard to believe if you grew up with utter trash like the "story" and the "characters" of Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm / Legacy of the Void or Diablo 3.

But it is true.

Same with Bioware. Yes, Bioware.

Believe it or not, but both had great games with great storytelling. A long time ago, in the good days.

Sad how once great game-makers suck this hard in our days.

[Znifler 58]

On 5/18/2018 at 2:48 AM, Yridaa said:

This *filtered* is going way too far tbh. First we have lightforged Dreadlords...

 

Now we have Lightforged Forsaken; It's both apparently easy to do (Sylvanas has been looking for a way to "replenish" Forsaken for years and apparently doing so with the Valkyr didn't work out too well (She did it in Cataclysm but ended up desperately looking for other ways somehow?)) and it's completely not a moral issue.

 

Blizzard stepped on the boundaries of "what makes sense" and now just leaped over it. It also causes severe homogenization. Both light and shadow can create Forsaken (Except the Forsaken themselves apparently...), the color is the only difference?

 

You're one to talk Calia, you've been on the down-low until the priest order hall, show up hiding in the shadows yourself, and then say that.

The text in that link... Yeah sure, TOTALLY not "shape of light water"

I guess the Argent Crusade wasn't enough evidence in and of itself.

"Harrison Jones: You may not have been there Genn, but the Horde worked hard to help us stop Arthas during our crusade in Northrend. Even the Forsaken lost most of its army and Sylvanas has been leading the assault and nearly died herself to stop him in The Halls of Reflection!

 

Genn: Well... they're still all treacherous murderers.

*years later they have a small talk for 10 minutes*

Genn: Some Forsaken are the same people they once were."

 

 

 

Yeah, this all totally makes sense and doesn't feel like it's been written by a 12 year old.

I know change is scary, but by your logic: keep it like the old days, at all times. Never venture out to new frontiers, cause it might be too scary and different. The new modell for the lightforged woman looks insanelly good btw. 

[Yridaa 490]

15 hours ago, Znifler said:

I know change is scary, but by your logic: keep it like the old days, at all times. Never venture out to new frontiers, cause it might be too scary and different. The new modell for the lightforged woman looks insanelly good btw. 

By my logic "keep it faithful". Practitioners of the light always abhorred raising the dead (with good reason). Now all of a sudden - not slowly, suddenly - even someone like Anduin is "no it's ok, I'm the one doing it."

 

It's not progression. Almost, if not all, practitioners of the Light had their switches flipped from "this is bad" to "its ok if it's not the horde raising the dead". Proper character building requires time and setup.

 

Sorry to hear that change is scary, hopefully you'll get over it.