Lessons in Lore - Varian Wrynn

If you've not done the Onyxia key quest chain, or wish not to be spoiled on the events surrounding the return of the king to Stormwind, you may want to skip this post.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm reading the series of WoW comic books available from Wildstorm Comics. The focus of these books is on Varian Wrynn, the rightful king of Stormwind. If anyone has done The Missing Diplomat quest line, you know how the story starts. The Defias Brotherhood, those disgruntled city builders turned bandits, kidnapped an important Diplomat from Stormwind, and whisked him away to the Dustwallow Marsh, where there seems to be Naga and the Black Dragonflight involved. I haven't done this questline, although I want to and plan to with my gnome rogue soon. The gist of it is that the Diplomat was actually the king of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn, and he dissappeared after the kidnapping, from the kidnappers as well as everyone else.

With the king missing, Anduin, his young son, was made king. But being so young he needed an advisor. In comes Lady Katrana Prestor and Lord Bolvar Fordragon. Bolvar is sort of an acting king on Anduin's behalf and an all around good guy. Lady Katrana Prestor is actually tyring to manipulate things from behind the scenes as an advisor as well. Yes, Lady Katrana Prestor is actually that evil black dragon, Onyxia. But I digress, this is about the king.

This is also a little more about recent lore. The comic books start with a man (who we will learn later is Varian) being captured by an Orc Shaman somewhere in Durotar and put into the gladiator circuit to make money for the orc. Varian does not remember who he is. He is partnered with a Night Elf and a Blood Elf. Eventually, they make their escape from being gladiators and find their way to Dustwallow Marsh and Theramore, where Jaina Proudmoore, along with the help of Aegwynn, yes the mother of Medivh, help Varian remember who he is.

Now remembering everything, Varian and his friends rush off to the other continent to return to Stormwind where Lady Katrana Prestor, and an imposter King Varian are trying to pull the wool over Bolvar and Anduin's eyes. As the real King Varian heads to Stormwind from Menethil Harbor, they help the dwarves defend Thandol Span and also end up venturing to Blackrock Depths to free Marshal Windsor from the prison and the Dark Iron Dwarves. This is about as far as the comics have gotten. Obviously a lot more happens in the comics, but I don't want to give it all away. Go read them!

So the point of bringing all this up is that Varian Wrynn is basically just doing the Onyxia key quest chain. If you've done it, you know it starts by doing some quests in the Burning Steppes, which lead to freeing Marshal Windsor from Black Rock Depths, which leads to a huge revealing event in Stormwind, which leads to a raid on Onyxia in her cavern in Dustwallow. The comics treat all of this as if we, the adventurers, didn't have a part in it, but the King of Stormwind did. I feel a little used.

Anyway, with the new patch coming out in a week or two, the new and improved Stormwind Harbor will be open, and King Varian Wrynn will have returned. Hey, the King's back! The next comic comes out on the 15th, so I'm hoping that it details a little bit of what brings Varian from Ironforge to Stormwind. I'm curious to see what he'll look like and what he'll be doing once he is back, too. Will he send us to Northrend? And why? How does that relate to his return? I'm getting anxious for the next expansion!