Winter Is Coming
Hearthstone’s sixth expansion has been revealed – Knights of the Frozen Throne! After the sweltering heat of the jungles of Un’goro, we’re travelling north to the icy land of Northrend. Take a trip back in time to the fight against the notorious Lich King, and have a moment to wonder – what if, instead of getting a nice happy deus ex Menethil, everybody just died?
Don’t worry though! The Lich King has been kind enough to revive the most powerful heroes – and Gul'dan, I guess – as Death Knights. These revived heroes have glowing blue eyes and sickly grey skin; hailing from the frozen north, they’ll be returning to our screens this Sunday!
Looks like the Warcraft Movie sequel is coming along great.
Death Knight 101
There have been a few different versions of Death Knights in the Warcraft universe. The first Death Knights comprised members of the Horde. After Orgrim Doomhammer – for whom the Doomhammer is named – seized control of the Horde, the Warlocks of the Shadow Council were executed as traitors, leaving only Gul’dan and a few others who pledged their undying – heh – allegiance to him.
In an attempt to curry favour with this new leader, Gul’dan promised an undead army loyal only to Orgrim. After much experimentation, Gul’dan finally succeeded in instilling the soul of a former Council member, Teron Gorefiend, into some poor knight’s corpse. In order to resurrect the rest of the Shadow Council, Gul’dan sacrificed the rest of his followers. Orgrim was pleased with these Death Knights, though unaware that they remained loyal to Gul’dan, not him.
I love a good full circle story.
These original Death Knights were spread throughout the Horde clans, some even making their way to Draenor and joining Mogor the Ogre or the Shaman Ner’zhul. These Death Knights were not accomplished physical fighters, but had horrifying command of dark magics and necromancy, summoning armies of their fallen foes to wage war.
However, the Alliance eventually overcame the Horde, and the majority of these first Death Knights were killed. Those that survived offered their allegiance to Ner’zhul in exchange for a world they could ravage – this ended rather poorly for them, as they ended up captured by the Burning Legion before being transformed into liches under the service of the new Lich King.
But wait, the new Lich King? The guy who’s taking control and reanimating our heroes? Well, you see…
Death Knights 2.0 – The Revival
During the Third War of Azeroth, the undead Scourge was assaulting the land, with many a hero attempting to combat them. The future king Arthas, who at this point had fairly isolated himself from his allies with his rash actions, found himself trapped in Northrend with several of his men and an expedition force led by Muradin, brother of the dwarven king Magni Bronzebeard and of course Brann Bronzebeard.
Convincing them that the only way they could escape would be to obtain the runeblade Frostmourne, they headed to find it together. Upon discovering it to be cursed, Arthas readily accepted it, the process knocking Muradin unconscious. Arthas then used Frostmourne to kill Mal'Ganis, who’d driven Arthas to madness and was leading the Scourge in their destruction. Arthas then fled, abandoning his men and disappearing for months.
That probably means nothing though, I’m sure he’ll be fine.
Given that upon his return, he killed his father and handed the kingdom over to the Scourge, I’m gonna say Northrend is not a good place to vacation to. Arthas had become the first of the Lich King’s new Death Knights, now powerful fighters wielding Runeblades in battle. Others would soon join him.
Former members of the Silver Hand, embittered by the scorn they received from people they were trying to cure of plague, travelled to Northrend to try and find the source, only to join forces with the Lich King, enticed by promises of power. Others were brought in by the allure of immortality, like our friend Baron Rivendare – I suppose that makes his Naxxramas boss fight even more fitting.
Look out for these guys returning to the store soon! Truly the masters of reanimation.
While the Third War ended in defeat for the Burning Legion, the creators of the Lich King, the Death Knights that had been created would end up scattered around Azeroth. Kel’thuzad housed many within Naxxramas, where they trained many new recruits for the Scourge. Death isn’t even a permanent solution to these Death Knights, as many are simply raised into the service of the Lich King again – the Four Horsemen serving Baron Rivendare in Naxxramas are actually multi-rez recipients, and The Black Knight is too.
It is these new Death Knights that our heroes would be joining the ranks of. Instead of defeating Arthas, who has now become possessed by the Lich King – long story, we might have to cover that in full sometime – our heroes are defeated and raised to join his ranks. Perks include living forever, a cool new title and probably being on the winning side, given that the living have just lost their best fighters. You are completely without free will though, and I’m not sure if you get time off to play Hearthstone or like, not go around killing everyone. Pros and cons.
Ebon and Flow – Or, Everyone Has A Good Side
There is a group of Death Knights free of the control of the Lich King. While you won’t find them in this Hearthstone expansion, the Knights of the Ebon Blade are how the Death Knights became a playable class in WoW – they too fight the Burning Legion alongside the other class orders.
No longer are Death Knights restricted to a bunch of resurrected Paladins and mostly human – now anyone can enjoy the feeling of their flesh rotting away as they shamble through the world, an abomination of their former self. Well, anyone except Pandarens. Something tells me they’re not too cut up about it though.
So if you were upset that the Death Knight hasn’t been made a class in Hearthstone, don’t worry! There’s plenty of hope for you yet.
I dunno, anything that can make Anduin this badass is fine by me.
HearthStone Cold Killers
So how have these delightfully murderous minions been translated into Hearthstone? As mentioned before, we’re following what could be referred to as the ‘Probably Bad’ Timeline, in which all nine of the original Hearthstone Heroes were sent to take out the Lich King – including Anduin Wrynn who was like, 12 – and they failed miserably.
They’ve now been resurrected as a brand new card type – Hero Cards! Each class will be receiving a Legendary Hero card in addition to a normal Class Legendary, much like the Quests last expansion. While we’ve only seen one Hero Card so far, the basic design of them is rather simple – when played, they replace your current hero, give you a small amount of armour, some sort of extra effect, and give you a brand new Hero Power.
Wanna try your hand at Frankensteining some critters? Check out our Zombeast Simulator!
Blizzard has been feeling rather generous lately, and as a reward for completing the Prologue mission of the new adventure content, you’ll be given one of the brand new Hero Cards at random. Even better, this random card will also conform to the ‘No Duplicate Legendaries’ rule, so you’re guaranteed to be getting one you don’t already have.
What do you think of the new Death Knights? What powers do you think the other undead heroes will have? Do you think this third question is just here because of the rule of three?
Keep up to date with all the new expansion content by visiting our guide. Remember, July 24th is when the official reveals start back up!
Ahh Hardhome: one of if-not the best sequence in all of Game of Thrones. The wights breaking through the wall and storming over the cliff, the Night King raising his arms as the newly slain arose to take their place in his army, the episode ending in total silence...goddamn it was so good.
Nice article, by-the-by lol
Correct me if I'm missing something but why isn't death knight Uther cannon I mean. He's a powerful warrior who was killed by Arthas wielding frost morn, isn't that like the leading cause of becoming a death knight? Was their some sort of explanation?
You must read the novel "Arthas : Rise of The Lich King" (You can download it if you want , here's a link , all the Novels are there)
Arthas had a very hard time fighting Uther , Hell , Uther was nearly killing him while doing so , Uther was always holding back because Arthas was the son of his best friend afterall , His mentor ... He was so powerful that according to the book , His entire body was infused with the Light (He was one of the first paladins and he had a great faith in The Light) But then Arthas pulled a trick learnt from Muradian Bronzebeard (This dwarf was such a skillful warrior , as Arthas's Mentor , he had taught him ALOT of fighting tricks that if it wasn't because of him , he would have got killed in both his fight with Uther and later on , Kael'thas) He cut through Uther's Throat ... Killing him instantly
But why didn't he raise him tho ? Well , Arthas was busy with the mission given to him by Tichondrius , He had to kill Uther to get his Father's Urn (Which it holded King Terenas Menethil II's ashes , He was Arthas's father ... Arthas dumped the ashes out of it anyways) and to put Kel'thuzad's ashes inside of it instead (Soon he'll take it to silvermoon and to Resurrect Kel'Thuzad)
Also Getting killed by Frostmourne doesn't necessarily cause you to become a death knight , it will steal your soul (you can raise the person as either a mindless servant or a death knight , but Arthas didn't do it to Uther because He didn't want to)
I get the rest of it but why wouldn't he want to resurrect Uther. I mean he made the time to resurrect Sylvanis well he still had a lot missions going on mostly just to be a ass? I mean if he didn't want to bring his old master back because he thought it would be to dangerous, or he wanted to bury the memory of his old master I would get it but it feels like something that should be explained.
The reason why he raised Sylvanas was due to the fact that , she was a pain in the ass to him (defending Quel'thalas at all 3 gates ... it's really annoying) so as a punishment for over-defending her homeland , he torn her spirit out of her body (He did this to all other high elves as well , that's why the scourge has so many Banshees) He even told sylvanas that it didn't had to be this way , and that the fate of her and the rest of the high elves rested on their choices
As you said it yourself , The memories from the past haunted him pretty much anytime , hell he even heard Uther's voice when he was going to the top of the frozen throne (It was this phase from the novel "Remember, Arthas. We are paladins. Vengeance cannot be a part of what we must do. If we allow our passions to turn to bloodlust, then we will become as vile as the orcs.”) ... it was THAT deep , that's why he never Raised him as a Death knight under his service , same reason goes to King Terenas
Death Knights have 3 specs in WoW lore :
1) Blood : They use Blood Magic , usually Red-colored spells , They suck the Blood out of their opponents (does in fact , both healing yourself and damaging the enemy which is of course the most effective way of fighting)
2) Frost : They use Frost magic (Not to be confused with how Ice mages use Ice/Frost magic , Death Knights are unholy warriors so they mix Unholy magic type with all their spells) , They slow their enemy and eventually kill them when they are fully frozen
3) Unholy : Pretty much the original and classic Death Knight style , they use Unholy magic entirely and don't even bother using Blood/Frost magic , they are known to destroy the enemy's skin with their spells and when they die , raise them as their slaves (Scourge rule : 1 Enemy Dies = 1 Ally Reborns , The lore is so Complicated that this rule doesn't apply if the enemy is a demon)
The Lich King , as the creator of the 2nd generation of death knights has mastered all 3 specs (Well except for blood , he hasn't been shown to use one in ICC raid , But that doesn't mean he can't use it)
Every time I see the card Mogor the Ogre I hear that cry of his in my head.
Think it was something like Mogor Desu
Mogor Destroy
No! Mogor kill..
something like that.
Really enjoy the inclusion of (and references) to WoW lore.
Fantastic post. Lore of wow in hearthstone? Sign me in
Anduin is so much badass. I love it :D
Really appreciate these articles, it's nice to understand some of the background behind new expansions/cards.
Anybody know the exact date that the double gold events will expire??
Approximately the 19th of July (when the current Fire Festival ends)
What is happening this Sunday?
New Game of Thrones is back this Sunday!
This is great. I've never played WoW, so I'm way behind on the lore.
I may just have to start a trial or something...
Check out this channel, translated WoW lore into Hearthstone really well.
Try WoWpedia or WoWwiki (WoWpedia is way better , updates happen earlier but brings more Accurate lore then wowwiki does) it provides a summary of each character's story (if you want a complete view , then you have to read the novels)
I agree WoWepedia is responsible for all the lore I know which because I have no life is extensive. Some of the videos are pretty great to like the one were Thrall freaking murders Garrosh.
Genial aporte :3