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The cinematic team from Blizzard puts together an emotional trailer and reveals that Varian Wrynn and Ragnaros the Firelord from World of Warcraft will soon arrive to the Nexus.
Some of the largest selling points for Blizzard’s MOBA Heroes of the Storm is that it gives players the ability to charge into battle while directly controlling legendary characters from throughout the company’s 25-year history. However, the newly revealed hero for Heroes of the Storm at this year’s BlizzCon really took the sentiment to new heights when Blizzard announced that the two most popular World of Warcraft characters, Varian Wrynn and Ragnaros, will be joining the Nexus.
Take a look at the trailer below, but before you do, bear in mind that the rest of this post may contain major spoilers for recent events in World of Warcraft.
The trailer starts with the narrator’s words “A king has fallen”, over an image of Varian Wrynn looking defeated. It’s obvious as the voice carries on saying that she is reading a eulogy for the former king of Stormwind. The words are clearly meant to remind WoW players that Varian Wrynn in fact died this past summer while making sure the Alliance survived during the World of Warcraft: Legion pre-launch event. So why is he showing up on this video, looking pretty much alive?
The trailer continues with Varian walking into an area filled with molten lava. All of a sudden, there’s another voice. “Insect!” After a couple of seconds, the King of Stormwind is standing toe to toe with Ragnaros the Firelord, one of the most cherished raid bosses from WoW, dating back to the game’s release in 2004.
Ragnaros gets the upper hand on Varian and it seems like he is defeated. But then, the narrator returns with additional words to that eulogy. “Wherever he has gone, Varian Wrynn will remain a hero. Always.” Varian comes back to life as the same music used in the battle where he died in World of Warcraft starts to play. Varian uses the same leaping move on Ragnaros that he used to defeat a giant demon creature in World of Warcraft, with the suggestion being that in this game at least, he will survive the aftermath.
Many longtime fans were shocked by Varian’s surprise death in World of Warcraft this summer and Blizzard’s ability to channel all of that emotion into Varian’s reveal trailer for Heroes is really impressive. The fact that it’s a double reveal with Ragnaros simply makes it even better. Blizzard doesn’t always get it right, but the team responsible for cinematic deserves a great round of applause for this one.
Heroes of the Storm is available now on PC and Mac.
