Lore Watch Podcast

As we head into Midnight, we know this act begins with a direct assault on the Sunwell. But what is the Sunwell? Our Loremasters Joe and Matt discuss the history of Xal'atath's next target. The Sunwell isn't even the only well of power to be found on Azeroth -- they discuss the Well of Eternity, and the Nightwell, too.This isn't the first time the Sunwell has been directly assaulted -- and hopefully, it won't be the last, if our champions have anything to say about it. (Which is to say that hopefully it will be around to be attacked again in the future.)

In the first of three questions we answered this week, a listener wanted to know some of the influences our hosts Joe and Matt see in WoW from literature, movies, and myth, and they talked about a slew of varied media, from 60s sci-fi (no, not that one, though yes, that one) through comics. There are a lot of cultural touchstones and homages to explore in WoW. They also sort of explored the opposite with a different question, discussing which idea or technology they'd bring from real life into WoW. That one is a bit tricky to answer, because in most fantasy the answer is obviously "a gun," but WoW has those already.Plus, if you could bring back any character in WoW from the dead, which one would you pick and why? Everyone who didn't immediately say Tiffin Wrynn, I'm not mad, just disappointed.

Matt and Joe sit down this week to discuss Vampire: The Masquerade: its lore, some of the source material that inspired it, and how it rippled vampires forward in pop culture. They break down what you need to know about the history of vampires in this setting, which goes back almost to the beginning of humans, so there's kind of a lot to discuss. Clans are the core concept to be aware of, as the demi-families Vampires belong to with certain shared traits. They also have Sects, which are political affiliations, adding to the mess of machinations that make up the Masquerade.There is ton to discuss, just from the sourcebooks, let alone the novels and video games. So let Matt and Joe get you up to speed before you play Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 which comes out this week.

Now that we've seen Lorewalking a bit, a listener asks the Lore Watch team what other events in Azeroth's history we should get to go visit through that system. While the listener suggests the War of the Three Hammers -- which Joe and Matt are on board with -- the response runs the gamut of Azeroth's history, from ancient events to a couple from WoW we just weren't there to see, all the way back to the creation of Azeroth herself. They ran through events with dizzying speed, some of which are well known to us, and others which are mostly only known to the loremasters among us.Or maybe we should kill Arthas another time, that would be fun, too.

This week we're having a throwback episode from the Archives. Over a hundred episodes ago, Matt and Joe discussed what they would like to see from an elf-centric expansion, which is more or less coming to fruition with Midnight. They begin by talking about the lore behind elves in general, their historical origins as an offshoot of the Trolls, through the Night Elf schism with the High Elves, then Blood Elves, and then everything that transpired from their various splinter factions. Their vision of a elf-centric expansion definitely includes a bit more unity for those factions -- but they're not sold on the idea of a happily ever after. Not for everyone, at least.This dive into the Archives is both priming and prediction for Midnight.

The topic of Forsaken Paladins is the meat in a three listener question sandwich this week. We start off with the idea of corruption, and just how the Old Gods managed to bend the kobolds eating Milly Osgood's grapes in Elwynn Forest to their will, being that they're generally not all that geographically adjacent. Besides which -- kobolds? Really? Then, the Forsaken Paladin discussion, which dives all the way back into a history lesson on how Paladins came to be in the first place. Lastly, why hasn't Lor'themar stepped up and become king of the Blood Elves already? It's been like 15 years since Kael'thas croaked twice in one expansion, dude, I don't think you're reagent-ing anymore. But why hasn't he made that formality a reality?Disclaimer: management may not agree with the opinions expressed by Matt and Joe and therefore please don't yell at us about it.

This week's show is devoted to two listener questions. The first asks what the Void fears, in reference to a line from our old pal Ve'nari who asserts that she knows what it is -- but doesn't let us in on the secret. Can Matt and Joe unravel the mystery posed by our Broker friend? They go down some twisting paths to discuss their way to the answer, including a lot of discussion of all the elves on Azeroth. Then, more Midnight discussion that goes into what we may see from magic (in a broad sense) as we go forward even further to The Last Titan.Matt and Joe are firmly anti the suggestion that perhaps we could move Zereth Mortis the same way as the Kirin Tor have been tooling around in Dalaran. They're pretty sure something about it is load bearing, but there isn't even OSHA on Azeroth, and if you know a guy willing to take a few risks... well, maybe there's a reason Brann is getting replaced?

Most people think of the 80s as a simple time full of big hair and scrunchies, but those of us who were into Dungeons and Dragons will remember the Satanic Panic, a period of time when parents were terrified that every piece of media was making their children evil. Our hosts Matt and Joe take a walk through a history they remember quite well, drawing from their own experiences as kids trying to get into D&D and comics.A listener asked about the history and influence of the Satanic Panic, so Joe and Matt were more than happy to talk smack about Tipper Gore for an hour.