Lessons in Lore - The Construct Quarter

So we've seen the bosses of the Military Quarter. Let's take a look one of the other quarters. The one with all the bosses you just want to grab a hold of and hug and squeeze....until all the pus and bodily fluids come flying out. Yes, that's right, the Abomination Quarter. Also known as the Construct quarter because all of the bosses are basically constructions.

Contruct Quarter

Patchwerk

Commander Eligor Dawnbringer wrote:

"Behold, Patchwerk. When word of his existence first reached the ears of the Brotherhood, none believed the tales of an abomination with such immense speed and strength. Fewer still believed it when he fell the first time..."

I'm not sure if I understand our friend Eligor in this quote. Maybe a reference to Patchwerk taking out some good guys as he fell? Regadless, Patchwerk simply boils down to a highly gifted abomination. Abominations are created from piles of plague ridden corpses, stitched together and given animation by a necromancer of some sort. Patchwerk is Kel'thuzad's Avatar of War, which although it sounds really cool, appears to be an Everquest reference in which there was a monster called "The Avatar of War" that had similar abilities. His quotes lead us to believe that Patchwerk, while the toughest of the tough when it comes to abominations, is fairly simple minded, exclaiming that he just wants to play.

He can also be found in the Death Knight starting area, and actually has some humorous quotes as well about being on loan from Naxxramas.

Grobbulus

Commander Eligor Dawnbringer wrote:

"Grobbulus, the first of what was to be an army of flesh giants. It carried the plague slime of Naxxramas within its body, injecting the living ooze into the bodies of its foe. The recipient of this foul injection would usually flee to his allies, bringing them down with him."

This guy is ugly. And gross. He's got a freaking tube coming out of his FACE!? He's basically a plague spreading machine made of flesh. He contains the plague within him and has a giant needle arm so he can just inject whoever he likes with it. Eligor's quotes also lend themselves to how the fights with these monsters work. During the fight, Grobby will inject people with poison that they have to run "away" from the group to get rid of, otherwise, everybody dies. Pretty clever.

Gluth

Commander Eligor Dawnbringer wrote:

"Gluth, the foul plague-dog of Naxxramas, was said to have an appetite so voracious that even the living were not enough to satisfy his hunger. Feugen was said to feed him an army of zombies daily, recycling the remains of undead too weak to use in combat."

Isn't he cute? Sort of, in a weird, pieced together way. Like all of the bosses in the Construct wing, Gluth is also a pile of corpses stitched together and reanimated, but this time in the form of a giant zombie-eating dog. Not so cute anymore, is he? And guess what? If you happen to be a sorry undead who can't keep himself in the real fight for the Lich King out on the front lines, you get fed to the dog. I guess that's incentive to stay in tip top fighting shape.

Thaddius

Commander Eligor Dawnbringer wrote:

"Thaddius, built from the flesh of women and children, it is said that their souls are fused together - eternally bound within that foul prison of flesh."

I'm surprised Eligor doesn't have more to say about Thaddius. Again, he's a construct like all the other bosses in the wing, but he's a special construct, made with specifically the flesh of women and children. Perhaps the idea is that the souls of women and children create a bigger menace than regular old men flesh? Or maybe they conduct a current better since Thaddius is electrically charged. He's like a giant battery actually, and killing off his two henchmen, Feugen and Stalagg, turns him on and makes him mad.

For all of these guys, there's really no history. They were made out of corpses and flesh from various things and placed in Naxxramas to guard the citadel of Kel'thuzad. They are the elite of the Lich King's army.

Next week we'll take a look at the Plague wing. Put on your dancing shoes.

Lessons in Lore - The Military Quarter

So the Four horsemen took up a lot of space. Not every boss in Naxxramas has that much to talk about, so I'll tackle these next bosses by where you find them. Since we already looked at the four horsemen, let's look at the other bosses in the Military/Death Knight quarter.

Military Quarter

Instructor Razuvious

Commander Eligor Dawnbringer:

Pay attention. This is Instructor Razuvious, Kel'Thuzad's appointed trainer of all death knights. It is said that his own technique is so potent, only a disciple of his could possibly withstand his might.

It is nice that they've brought Eligor to Northrend to give us some small tidbits of in game lore. We should go up to Wintergarde sometime and follow him as he tells us about Naxxramas. Sadly, this is about as much as I can find on the guy. So we know he is the trainer of all Death Knights. This is significant in that Razuvious is in Archeron: The Ebon Hold and hands out some quests to people starting Death Knights involving their first Runeblade. Eligor also gives us a hint as to how we have to fight Razuvious by mind controlling his cronies, since they are the only ones that can withstand his attacks. And this is true, Raz basically one shots any regular tank who tries to take him on.

Raz also has a side job cleaning up the streets by fighting against contenders from around the world in a know holds barred street brawl. He goes by the name Guile. He's also my personal nemesis. I've killed him going on a dozen times now and he has yet to yield the [Accursed Bow of the Elite]. Jerk.

Gothik the Harvester

Commander Eligor Dawnbringer:

Gothik, the Harvester. A master of necromancy and conjuration, Gothik is said to be able to beckon forth legions of the undead at a moment's notice. It is with his guidance that even the weakest of Death Knights can raise the dead.

Again, not much too him. He's a necromancer of some renown. Enough to get him a favored position in Naxxramas. He's also a quest giver in the Death Knight starting area and has a few funny lines referring to his quotes from the fight in Naxx. Reading into the text a little bit explains that Gothik is somewhat responsible for training Death Knights to raise the dead.

It's kind of cool that they use these guys in the Death Knight starter area. It gives them a little bit more of a personality, even if it doesn't explain at all where they came from. Most likely they were people who joined the Cult of the Damned started by Kel'thuzad to spread the plague and were able to rise among the ranks of the Lich King.

Lessons in Lore - The Four Horsemen

I've been doing a few forums posts in my guild forums on the backgrounds of the bosses we fight. It's a lot of fun to know why you're killing some of the things you're killing in game, besides the phat purples. Our guild leader asked me to do some research on the four horsemen, and so I posted this today on our forums, and I'm cross posting it here.

The Four Horsemen

Quote:
"The most powerful death knights within Naxxramas are the four horsemen. They represent the pinnacle of Kel'Thuzad's guard. The first, Thane Korth'azz, holds the power of flame. The next, Lady Blaumeux, calls forth the power of shadows, drawing the souls of the living into the voracious embrace. Sir Zeliek, a paladin in life, so strong in his faith, that even in undeath, the power of the light still heeds his call, smiting his foes in battle. The final death knight, Lord Mograine, was the finest warrior that the death knights had ever seen. However, after the events of Azeroth, he vanished without a trace. Kel'Thuzad has appointed Baron Rivendare in his place."
—Commander Eligor Dawnbringer


If you go to Wintergarde Keep, there's a guy walking around in one of the buildings talking about the bosses in Naxxramas. That's Commander Eligor Dawnbringer, and that's what he has to say about the four horsemen. He was previously at Light's Hope Chapel, mediating between the Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade, but enough about Eligor. You wanted to know about the four horsemen.

Well, for those that may not know, there are actually five horsemen. One of the original Horsemen, from pre-Wrath Naxxramas, was replaced with Baron Rivendare when Naxxramas moved to Northrend. That horsemen was Alexandros Mograine. There's a lot of lore around Mograine, and surprisingly, there's fair amount about Rivendare as well. There's less so about the other horsemen, but we can make some assumptions based on what we know about them. Here they are, one at at time.

Alexandros Mograine


There's a lot of lore behind Mograine, and his story is even current in the game through his son Darion. I wrote a blog post about him some time ago, you can read that here if you like. Here is the short version. Mograine was a Paladin of the Silver Hand, one of Uther's men, and an outstanding guy. On the battle field in front of Blackrock mountain he finds an orb of dark power, and takes if from an orc warlock. Then he and several followers of the light use their holy power on the orb, turning it from black to a glowing white. Then he makes a sword out of it and calls it the Ashbringer. Turns out this sword does a good job of killing scourge. Mograine actually founds the Scarlet Crusade, but unbeknownst to him, the Burning Legion possesses one of the commanders of the Scarlet Crusade and plots against Mograine so that they can turn the Crusade to their own purposes. They do this by possessing one of Mograine's two sons, Renault. In front of Stratholme, after a horrific battle in which Mograine slays thousands of scourge with the Ashbringer, Renault appears and murders his own father. Renault is then made a High Commander in the Scarlet Crusade and is the High Commander Mograine within the Scarlet Monastery.

Mograine, now dead, is raised as Death Knight and placed in the service of Kel'thuzad as one of the four horsemen in Naxxramas. This next part is a little screwy due to game mechanics. When Mograine was a horsemen in old Naxxramas, he would sometimes drop the Corrupted Ashbringer. If a player then equipped it and went to the Scarlet Monastery, the NPCs would recognize the sword and bow to you. And when you got to Highlord Mograine, Renault, Alexandros Mograine's spirit would rise from the sword and slay his son for murdering him. Pretty cool, huh? Well, lore-wise, the person who did this was Darion Mograine, Alexandros' second son, who went to Naxxramas to find out what happend to his father, killed him, took the sword, and then went to find his brother and tell him what happened, only to have his dead dad's spirit rise up and kill his brother in front of Darion's eyes. Trippy.

This last part is a bit of a spoiler, but it helps explain where Darion is currently. After the events in Naxxramas and the Scarlet Monastery, Darion returns to Light's Hope Chapel where the Argent Dawn is preparing for war against an innumerable amount of Scourge. The war is nearly lost until Darion realized that in order for his father's spirit to truly rest, Darion must make a sacrifice of love. In the middle of the fight Darion kills himself with the Corrupted Ashbringer. His sacrifice causes a holy light to obliterate the entire scourge army, but at a huge loss. Kel'thuzad then raises Darion as a Death Knight. Anyone who has played through the Death Knight area will know who Darion is, as he plays a huge role there. And he can be seen later in Icecrown as the leader of the Knights of the Ebon Blade.

Baron Rivendare


We all know Baron Rivendare as the last boss in the dead side of Stratholme. While there's really not a lot else known about him, it's actually a bit more than we know of the other horsemen. Rivendare was a wealthy land owner and a friend of Kel'thuzad before Kel'thuzad was lured by the then Lich King, Ner'zhul. When Kel'thuzad came back and created the Cult of the Damned, Rivendare gladly joined his friend and helped to spread the plague that consumed Lordaeron. For his loyalty and eagerness to destroy the Argent Dawn, Rivendare was made a Death Knight and placed in charge of the Scourge forces in Stratholme. From above, we know that Darion put his father's soul to rest (at the cost of his own), and thus when Naxxramas moved to Northrend, he had to be replaced, and Rivendare is that replacement.

Sir Zeleik


Now we get to horsemen that have a little less background. Zeleik was a paladin, and thus most likely of the Order of the Silver Hand before he was killed and subsequently risen as a Death Knight. What's unique and interesting about him is that while his body is now ruled by the Lich King, his mind is not. Thus when you hear the horsemen shouting in Naxxramas, they will all make threats and say taunting phrases, but Zeleik tries to warn you away. This could be seen as a mark of his power and devotion to the light when he was alive, that he can retain his sanity in death.

Thane Korthazz


He's a dwarf. And quite possibly has the most entertaining taunt when he calls your raid "slack-jawed daffodils." Other than that, we don't know much. Again, he was probably a paladin. In the Ashbringer Comics, he is called one of Uther's Men, so he was also once a member of the Silver Hand. The scourge seem to have a knack for turning the best paladins into our worst enemies.

Lady Blaumeux


And of the Lady Death Knight, we know practically nothing. She uses shadow magic, and is wholly submissive to the Lich King's will. She was probably a former Paladin or Priest in life, and probably also with the Silver Hand as that seems to be a trend among the other horsemen, but beyond that, I haven't found any other information.

So there you have it. Several of the pictures come from the Ashbringer comic put out by Wildstorm Comics, a division of DC. I cannot recommend the series enough, it's great. All of the pictures were taken from Wowwiki.com That's about as much as I could turn up on them all. Thanks for reading and have a good morning.

Lessons in Lore - Kel'Thuzad

Because we had a long weekend and I forget to put it up last week, here's a lore post for you.

Kel'Thuzad was a high ranking member of the mages of Dalaran at the time of the second war. About 20-25 years ago. He had long been interested in Necromancy and was one of the key people who interrogated Khadgar about Medivh after the Guardian had been killed in his tower. His goals and views often differed with others in Dalaran, which made him all the more susceptible to the calling of the Lich King.

When Ner'zhul was made into the Lich King, he sought out people who may be willing to be his hands as they worked out his plan to weaken the inhabitants of Azeroth before the arrival of the Burning Legion. Kel'Thuzad was a prime target and he responded just as the Lich King had hoped. Drawn by the Lich King, Kel'Thuzad went to Northrend and offered his service to the Lich King in exchange for immortality and power beyond his wildest dreams. His mission was to return to the Eastern Kingdoms and begin a secret following of people that would worship the Lich King and undeath as a religion of sorts. Eager to prove his worth, Kel'Thuzad was more than happy to do this. And so was created the Cult of the Damned.

Eventually, the time to unleash undeath upon the people of Lordaeron came. Kel'Thuzad and his cult put cauldrons filled with the plague of undeath in towns around Lordaeron that were actually controlled by the cult. There is actually a quest involving these cauldrons in the western plague lands. This plague is what turned normal humans into the undead that would then mindlessly serve the Lich King. Many members of the cult were eager to sacrifice themselves in this manner. While undergoing operations in Brill, Kel'Thuzad was found by Arthas and Jaina Proudmoore. Arthas eventually killed Kel'Thuzad in his fight against the Scourge, but it was only the beginning of the end.

Haunted by Kel'Thuzad, Arthas was eventually driven into the grasp of the Lich King and became a servant himself. He then recovered the remains of Kel'Thuzad and burned a scar of death through the city of Silvermoon to the Sunwell where he resurrected the mage as a Lich, destroying the Sunwell in the process (or so we thought). Kel'Thuzad, along with Arthas, were then able to draw the Burning Legion into the world by summoning Archimonde, who then proceeded to wage war against the alliance and horde forces in Kalimdor, and was killed in the process. Arthas was then called back to the Lich King to protect him from Illidan, who had been tasked with destroying the Lich King for his betrayal of the Legion. Arthas prevented this and was reborn as the Lich King himself. Throughout all of this Kel'Thuzad kept a low profile, supporting the ultimate goal of the Lich King to be free of the Legion and to rule as he saw fit.

This culminated in Kel'Thuzad overseeing the Scourge operations in the plague lands from his citadel of Naxxramas. Within the context of the game, he was defeated by us, the adventurers in the game, but his phylactery, the source of his power, was given to the wrong hands, and not destroyed. This meant that Kel'Thuzad lived on. As of today, when Patch 3.0.2 is loaded, Naxxramas will have moved to Northrend, to fight another battle of the Lich King. I don't know all the details, but I'm eager to find all of the reasoning behind the move of Naxxramas and Dalaran in the expansion.